(Uri-^ LIBRARY ' OF THE University of California. OIF^T OK Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October, 1894. ^Accessions No. ffJ^fXc^S^- Class No. w_ . t^^. /In. -- 72 Digitized toy the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/connexionofsacreOOdavirich CONNEXION SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY BBIKa A SKTUW OP TBB PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE WORLD, Afl TBBT BEAK VPOM THE STATE OP RELIGION. FROM THE CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORT, TILL THE ESTABLISHMENT OP CHRISTIANITY. BY D. DAVIDSON. THREE VOLUMES IN ONE. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1849. # ^-' •^^^^V" PREFACE. On the importance of connecting the study of Sacred with Profene History, it would be useless to dilate. V glory gilds the sacred page, majestic as the son ; It gives a light to every age, — it gives but borrows none : it throws a radiance on the records of ancient times, which nothing else can give ; and, mid the darkness and clouds which surround the steps of Providence, it casts a cheering and a guiding light, without which all were uncertainty and doubt. On reviewing history, the Writer has ventured to pass be- ycnd the path of preceding authors : he has reflected on what he believed the evident or probable tendency of an event or a series of events, to promote and give publicity to the true religion, to corrupt, obscure, subvert it, or arrest its progress. Many of the rational creatures work in opposition to the im- partial goodness and spontaneous compassion of the Supreme, and yet thereby only expose their feebleness as well as wick- edness ; for he ruleth over all, and will make all things sub- serve to accomplish his sovereign will : His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Though the superintending power of God over the progress of nations may be as untraceable as His paths in the ocean, yet the effects are everywhere visible, and mani- fest the progressive fulfilment of the prophetic denunciations and promises set forth in the Holy Oracles. All who have wisdom to discern this power operating in passing events, acquire increased knowledge of the inconceiv- able and unsearchable excellences of the Divine nature, and of his benevolent purposes and design respecting our fallen IV PREFACE. race. And what is all other knowledge compared to this ? " This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Men differ greatly in mental capacity and acquirements, modes of think- ing, education, and opportunities of judging correctly, and it is not to be expected that any two persons should view the doings of Providence under precisely the same aspect, or at once agree in their opinion of the result of an event, or se- ries of events ; yet the more closely and constantly candid persons contemplate the transactions of mankind, the more unanimous will they become in judgment respecting their moral and religious influence. This induces the Author to hope, that views of certain events which at first glance some may regard mere fancy or conjecture, will, after more mature reflection, appear just, and adapted to excite Christians to ad- mire the manifold wisdom, boundless power, and overflowing goodness of Jehovah, in his administration on earth. Reference to one or two subjects may convey an idea of the difference between this and similar Works. In the latter, for instance, the captivity of Israel occupies a conspicuous place in the narrative of the wars and victories of Nebuchadnezzar ; but what some modern authors would denominate the religious philosophy of this portion of history, is almost, if not altogether, overlooked. Here we regard Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of the chosen people as the high- est triumph of idolatry ; and consequently infer that it was divinely proper for Jehovah to terminate his long-suffering towards the worshippers of idols, and display his superiority over them. This he did by giving the empire to the Persians, who utterly abhorred idols, the work of man's hands. The capture of Babylon, by Cyrus, overthrew the dominion of idols ; nor did they ever again command the devout reverence and unreserved subjection of all ranks of society. Idols con- tinued, indeed, to be worshipped by all, but many questioned their power, and not a few secretly treated them with con- tempt. And about the same period Divine truth received a m . .. m PREFACE. *« mighty impulse, which occasioned its more rapid and wide diffusion, through successive generations, till its triumphant reign in the age of our Lord and his Apostles. See Vol. I. Chap. IV., pages 81—91. Again, in tracing the course of events, by which the Greeks ascended to universal empire, the apparent tendencies and influences of some of them merit more prominence in a work on the Connexion of Sacred and Profane History, than has hitherto been given them. Pious and benevolent minds must be refreshed when they perceive that the dissemination oT di- vine truth kept pace with the language of Greece, in its as- tonishing progress in the kingdoms conquered by Alexander and his successors. This subject is adverted to in Vol. I. Chap. IX. pagfs 146, 164, 165, 173. ; Chap. XIII. page 186. To contemplate the vanity of the utmost exertions of the mightiest mental and physical powers of men to attain an object opposed the councils and predictions of Heaven, must have a sal- utary influence on all men, especially Christians. How stri- kingly was the weakness of man exhibited in the inefficacy of the schemes and labours of several of Alexander's princes to effect the unity of his empire, which Daniel foretold should be broken up I see Vol. I Chap. XI . The Punic wais, and the final conquest of Carthage by Rome, fill many a page of history ; but authors have not dis- tinctly observed the Divine goodness and mercy to man dis- covered by giving the empire to the latter, rather than the former, although nothing seems more obvious, on a slight re- view of the character, position, and circumstances of these nations. Mow unexpected, and, in the eyes of the most emi- nent statesmen and warriors, how improbable, was the entire subjugation of Carthage by Rome, is shown in Vol. I. Chap. III. IV. That this great event was most important to the in- terests of civilization and true religion, will not be doubted by any who believe that the remarks to be found in Vol. II. pages 49 — 53, are founded in truth. The reign of Herod forms an important part of Jewish !• • ■# PREFACE. history ; yet the Divine propriety of giving the Holy Land to that ungodly monarch has been generally overlooked ; see Vol. II. Chap. IX. 187, 188. The remarkable adaptation of the Fourth Empire for the introduction of the Fifth, is repeatedly noticed, especially in Vol. II. pages 183—186 ; Vol. UI. pages 227—232. The virriter conceives it superfluous to adduce any more examples to indicate the plan of his work. He has written in the hope of inducing readers of history, especially the young, to investigate the designs of God in his administra- tion, and to recognise his unsearchable perfections and abso- lute goodness in all things. How for he has succeeded in producing a proper instrument to attain the desired end, is for others to judge. Consciousness of a worthy motive is ample recompence for much labour, although the ultimate object should not be attained. i vTvn^ CONTENTS. VOL. I. CHAPTER I. The Race of Israel, God's PecuUar People, v. '^1* •^l ' . 9 CHAPTER II. Brief Review of the Rise, Decline, and Captivity of Israel, (firom 1848 to 586 B. C.) 31 CHAPTER III. State of the Jews in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, (from 464 to 424 B. C.) .51 CHAPTER IV. State of the Pagan World in the reign of Arlaxerzes Longimanus, 71 CHAPTER V. Reign of Darius Nothus, (from 424 to 404 B. C.) . . .93 * CHAPTER VI. Reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, (from 404 to 358 B. C.) . . 104 CHAPTER VII. Reign of Artaxerxes Ochus, 131 CHAPTER VIII— X. Reigns of Darius Codomanus and Alexander the Great, (from 335 to323B. C.) . .129 CHAPTER XI. The Contest for the unity of the Grecian Empire, (from 323 to 300B.C.) IW CHAPTER XIL Reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, (from 285 to 346 B. C.) i^ . 174 r ^" CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. The Syrian Kings contemporary with Ptolemy Soter and Phil- *** adelphus, (from 295 to 246 B. C.) Igg CHAPTER XIV. Reign of Ptolemy Euergetus, (from 246 to 217 B. C.) . . 194 CHAPTER XV. Reign of Antiochus the Great, (from 231 to 195 B. C.) . .211 CHAPTER XVI, XVII. Reign of Antiochus Epiphanas, (from 184 to 173 B. C.) . 227, 237 CHAPTER XVIII. Reign of the Maccabean Chiefe, (from 163 to 143 B. C.) . 265 m- CONNEXION SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY. CHAPTER I. THE RACE OF ISRAEL, GOD'S PECULIAR PEOPLE. Elation of mind on account of the antiquity, rank, or ap- plauded deeds of ancestors, prevails more or less among all men : this confessedly has in no small degree been visible among the Jews, or the race of Jacob, and if the cherishing of this feeling be admissible and proper in any people, it is in- controvertibly so in them. The descendants of the faithful patriarch are the only people on tfle face*)f the earth who can, on satisfactory evidence, trace their genealogy up to Adam, the first man. Except ihat preserved in the Sacred Writings, every written history of mankind, or of any race of men, I which ascends much higher than the era of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is justly deemed fabulous by all who havQ thoroughly investigated the subject. The Arabs may trate their descent from Abraham, and others may conjecture that one or other of the sons of Noah was their great ancestor • out the Jews alone can name^he father or chief of each suc- cessive generation of their race, from Seth the third son of Adam down to David their most exalted king; and the name of the chief of every generation of his race is distinctly re- corded till Mary became the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, who was recognised by his people as the son and, by conse- (^uence, the royal heir of David. The Jews can not only contemplate their remote ancestors as the most ancient, but also as the most excellent and most honourable race who have inhabited the globe. They were not, 80 far as the Divine Record teaches, distinguished above 4 f= IQ TH£ KACE OP ISIUEL. Other men by superiority of natural qualities, physical or in- tellectual, great scientific acquirements or immense wealt|j, nor by the possession of vast political or commercial power, or by warlike pursuits; an unspeakably nobler destiny was theirs, — they were the chosen worshippers of the True and Living God. The brief notice of the antediluvians by Moses may origi- nate innumerable speculations, at once useful and entertain- ing ; but a mere allusion to the general delineation of their personal character presented us is enough for our object. They consisted of two races, the Cainites and Sethites, the chiefs of whom received, in common, the most important in- structions on religion which were communicated before the deluge, that is, during the first sixteen hundred and fifty-six years of the world. The Cainites, as a race, appear to have cast oflfthe fear of God, and wjj^^oily renounced the institutes of his worship. In- dividuate or families among them may have retained the truth revealed by Gcsd to their father Adam ; but we perceive no indication m the community of religious principle or practice. They lived without reverence for God, without hope of im- mortality, and without belief in the promise that an Almighty Saviour should be born, and live to destroy the works of the deceiver and destroyer of man. Their strong and daring spirits bowed not. to idols, images, or superstition ; they were unmoved by apprehensions of the invisible world ; and by ambition, violence, and sensuality, they filled the world Mjith ^bloQd ;^ g^nd^^dpot omnipotent power and' just vengeance shortened their course, they would have extinguished human life, or rendered the benevolent and ample provision of Heaven to impart human felicity vain. It is not unworthy of notice that tradition harmonises with the Sacred Record in its description of the first great apostacy of mankind. Hesiod remarks of the gen*'ation who perished by the del^ uge, that " they could not abstain from mutually inflicting violence on each other ^ nor would they worship the immor- tals, nor sacrifice to the blessed ones on their altars. There- fore Zeus (the Deity) removed them, because they would not give honour to the blessed gods." The Sethites continued, probably, nearly one thousand years consecrated to the worship and service of God ; for they were accounted and treated by Him as his sons. That none of them joined the apostates we have no reason to assert or deny ; nevertheless, the record concerning them justifies m= '^ TH£ RACE OF ISRAEL. 1 1 the opinion that they generally feared Gwl and trembled at his word ; and may have given rise to the tradition that the age of gold was the first age of the world. The oldest of | each generation was the chief ruler and priest, and several of these were afeo prophets, as may be learned from the regis- ter of them preserved in the fifth chapter of Genesis. Their religious principles and rites were few and simple, but con- summately adapted to sustain, strengthen, and cherish in them dependence, gratitude, submission, and obedience towards God. He made himself known to them as the Creator and Possessor of the heavens and the earth, and as God, the Saviour of man, pledged by his word to raise up for them One, almighty to destroy by his personal sufferings the works of the serpent the devil ; and, by conseciuence, to restore to them all the life and blessedness which they had forfeited by sin. Of the work of the divinely ordained Deliverer, and its inconceivably happy results, they were, every morning and evening, by sacrificial rites, symbolically instructed, so that they might have them ever present to their minds. A litiU reflection will, we apprehend, produce full persuasion in tht^ minds of all believers in revelation, that the ritual of sacrifict was instituted by God. We have no evidence that Adam and his sons were accustomed to take the life of any animal for their own use ; and is it not therefore probable that th*» skins of which the dress of the. first pair were made, vvert those of animals offered in sacrifice? From the permission to use animal food granted to Noa^ ♦ seems reasonable to infer that mankind had been restrict; • "•- m killing animals, except for religious purposes. Now, il ..ney were not accus- tomed to feed on animals, we have no reason to believe that they could imagine, unless divinely instructed, that the blood of animals could be acceptable to God as a present or offer- ing to expiate their sins. It is scarcely conceivable that such an idea originated in the human mind. Though we may clearly perceive the suitableness of animal sacrifice to symbol- ise an expiation for sin, in consequence of Divine revelation given us on the subject, yet no one can show that, without that instruction, it would have naturally risen in the human mind. And had even the sentiment been conceived by Adam or Abel, they would not have presumed to act on it, and tes tify their homage to God by consuming his creatures by fire, without his authority. Having recently learned the awful effect of doing what he had prohibited, is it reasonable to sup- pose that they would have presumed to consider themselves 12 THE RACE OF ISRAEL. qualified to devise, or beKeved themselves possessed of a right to prescribe a form of worship w^orthy of His approbation? That he approved of animal sacrifice is, however, unques- tionable ; and it is equally certain that he has always said to those who worshipped him according to forms of human in- vention, "Who hath required this of your hand?" Hence we may conclude that the institution of sacrifice is of Divine origin. This is not indeed taught us in plain language in I the Sacred Oracles, but it seems fully implied in the announce- R ment that the cherubim were placed at the east of Eden, immediately on the expulsion of Adam and Eve ; for the whole history of that marvellous emblem proves that the altar for sacrifice always accompanied it. Every worshipper of God, in every act of worship, looked towards the cherubim ; but he never expected acceptance, except for the sake of his sacrifice. This alone elevated his soul above the dreadful apprehension that the burning flame issuing from the cheru- bim should consume him. This form of worship Noah established after the deluge ; and it was propagated over the world, more or less perfect, by all his descendants. The faithful report of the tremendous catastrophe which destroyed the bold and presumptuous sin- ners of the old world, by Noah and his family, was indelibly fixed in the hearts of the three races of the postdiluvian rtno-* vated world. And we have strong evidence that, wherever they wandered, they carried with them deep impressions of the existence of spiritual and invisible agency, powerful and active to protect the just, and inflict vengeance on the profane and profligate. And this may probably account for the fact that the atheism and infidelity of past ages were buried with their advocates in the waters, and have never recovered vi- gour to erase from any great community the entire form of religion. The races of Japhet and Ham became idolaters. But who has examined idol and image worship, in all its forms, and not perceived that it carried strong marks of its original deri- vation from the religious worship of the patriarchs? Every false religion is a perverted imitation of the true. Divine truth, in every age and country, has been, to the extent judged necessary by the rulers of this world, whether kings, philoso- phers, priests, or sovereigns, incm'porated with falsehood. The god of the world, who first attempted to reign under the form of a lion, found it expedient, after the deluge, to as- THE RACE OF ISRAEL. w sume the form of an angel of light, or to assume his ancient disguise of a serpent. The race of Shem, it is generally believed, were the chosen of God, ordained to preserve the Divine revelations to their ancestors, and to maintain his worship. They were favoured with the ministry of Noah three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and consequently till Abraham was nearly sixty years old. During the intervening period, there were nine subordinate chiefs over the Shemites, the fathers of as many generations. Many think that Noah accompanied not the multitude that emigrated from Armenia, till they came, doubt- less by a circuitous route, (which may have had many tem- porary stations,) to the plains of Shinar. It is, however, pro- bable that some of the Shemites were among the emigrants, and adopted the corrupt religion of Nimrod ; for the ancestors of Abraham are said to have served "other gods" east of the Euphrates. The brief record of the chosen race from Seth to Abraham and Moses suggests that they were placed under a superna- tural administration, resembling that by which the race of Jacob were afterwards governed. Thus we know that the gift of inspiration and of prophecy was conferred on Enoch, Lamech, and Noah ; and the translation of Enoch and the ^ deliverance of Noah were remarkable examples of miraculous J interposition, to testify that Jehovah loved righteousness, and with a very pleasant countenance beheld the upright. Nor are we without decisive proof that the public worshippers of God were, as a community, governed by the law of just re tribution in this life. They enjoyed temporal prosperity when they faithfully served God, and endured signal punishment when they publicly dishonoured his name. It was evidently this that occasioned Job's friends rashly to infer that because he was greatly afflicted he was certainly a hypocrite. In proof of this, one of them appealed to the most celebrated maxims of the wisest of the ancients, who distinctly taught the doctrine of retribution: Job xv. 17 — 35. This law, indeed, appears to have been enforced by the rulers ; hence the fearful appre- hensions of seventy-seven fold greater punishment for killing a man, perhaps accidentally, than that denounced on Cain. Jodah and Job attest that the adulterer was sentenced to suffer death, and the latter teaches us that the worshipper of the heavenly bodies subjected himself to the same sentence. When Abraham intimated to his nearest relations that God had appeared to him, and called him to leave Chaldea, they • # 14 THE RACE OF ISRAEL. evidently prepared to accompany him, for his father took the lead of the party ; and they fixed on Haran in Mesopotamia for their future residence. They were all worshippers of the True God ; but, after the lapse of about one hundred and eighty years, their form of worship was debased by the use of images, as we find in the family of Laban, the grandson oi Nahor, who remained in Haran after the departure of Abra • ham for a country which Jehovah promised to show him. That land was named Canaan, from one of the sons of Ham. Few spots of it seem to have been appropriated by any one at the time of Abraham's arrival He and his sons and grand- sons sojourned in it for a number of yearp ; and because God had promised that their descendants should possess it, and es pecially because their families seem to have been more nume rousor more distinguished than the other inhabitants, it came to be known under the name of " The land of the Hebrews." During their absence in Egypt for several hundred years, this country was fully peopled by Canaanites, who were divided into a number of nations or kingdoms. They were chiefly famous on account of the number and strength of their cities, the barbarous and superstitious character of their reli- gion, and the licentiousness of their manners ; no alliance with them and the race of Judah was therefore admissible, had even the land been sufficient to support both communities. Their expulsion or destruction became absolutely necessary, in order to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of Jeho- vah, to manifest, in a signal manner, the perfections of his na- ture and the holiness of his laws, in the land promised to Abraham. The Divine propriety of the instructions given to Moses and Joshua how to treat the Canaanites is the subject of several notes in the Pocket Commentary on the Old Testa- ment ; see Deut. vii. 1 — 4. Canaan, or the Land of the Hebrews, was comparatively a small country, being less than two hundred miles long and one hundred broad. But God announced to Abraham that he would put those of his descendants who imitated his faith and obedience in possession of all the regions stretching " from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates." The former they were authorised by God to seize by force ; the latter they obtained by success in defensive war. Canaan Proper was properly the Holy Land, because in it was the seat of divine worship ; but idolatry was not permitted by the law of Moses 10 exist in any part of the lands conquered by Israel. For 'vherever their power was predominant, they were enjoined t THE RACE OP ISRAEI. It to destroy every vestio-e of idolatry, and establish the worship of, the True God, This, it ought to be carefully observed, was the special object for which God chose for his people or piblic worshippers the,. race of Jacob. He is the sovereig-n Lord of the universe,itnd the impartial Judge ; He respects not men on account of those things which they admire and praise ; moral excellence alone renders one man more thau another beloved by his Creator ; nnd no nation could provt; themselves more destitute of thi^* than the Jews, in all ages They were, with the exception of a comparatively small num- ber, who truly believed God and his prophets, a people ex- ceedingly perverse in heart, and hypocritical or wicked in life. They were, therefore, not selected for the peculiar peo- ple of the Most High because they deserved his favour, but in accordance mth his own purpose respecting the race of Seth, and his promise to Abraham. And his object in the seleciion was that they should be the witnesses that he was the only True and Living God, the depositary of his revela- tions, and the instruments of making known the benevolent and just nature of his administration, as the supreme Sove- reign, Saviour, and Judge of the human race. This great and most important of all objects, in the eyes of every intelligent being, capable of judging of real excel- lencei must be acknowledged to have been absolutely neces- sary in the age of Abraham ; for while it was at once essen- tial to the manifestation of the glory of God, and the welfare of mankind, we perceive not how it could be attained by any other mp;»n^ than that adopted by infinite wisdom; — the separation of a people by whom God should make himself known m the manner he did, through the instrumentality of tho^race of Jacob. This will appear if we reflect on their position and relation to: the nations, from the time that Abraham was called to leave Chaldea till the time when they ceased to be regarded and treated by the Deity as his peculiar people. During this long period, from a. m. 2023 to a. d. 70, they were placed in the position most favourable to the publicity of their principles, form of worship, and the remarkable and marvellous events which befell them. Had Abraham remained in Chaldea, the history of him and his race would have been for many generations almost wholly unknown to the great mass of the human race ; for the events which transpired east of the Euphrates, from the day of Chedorlaomer to the time of Pul, king of Assyria, I .6 IHE RACE OF ISRAEL. who was conteiTiporary with Uzziah, king of Judah, are buried in oblivion, or enveloped in fabulous records. Nor did any nation during this period maintain, as far as history attests, much intercourse with the other nations of the globe, except the Idumeans, on the Red Sea, the Egyptians, and the colonies from the Red Sea, by whom were built the commer- cial cities of Tyre and Sidon. And the latter had most pro- bably not emerged from obscurity before the conquest of Canaan by Joshua ; by consequence, we may see the pro- priety of the long sojourn of Israel in Egypt, the great centre of the early world's activity and commerce. That Israel were then a conspicuous people, no one can doubt who adverts to the dignity and influence of Joseph, the talented and emin- ently religious son of Jacob. The Syrians and other nations were rapidly rising to the ascendancy in political power and commerce when Israel were established in Canaan : and Egypt had adopted what moderns would call Chinese policy, discouraging all inter- course with strangers, admitting not even merchants to trade, except at one or two ports. Canaan, henceforth, was far more suited to the propagation of the peculiar religion, laws, cus- toms, and transactions of Israel, than any other place. For while it was sufficiently isolated from other nations to permit its inhabitants to live according to their own law, the high road of commerce between the eastern and western world passed along its borders, and it soon rose to great distincttion, and at no remote period was an object of ambition to the mighty powers who struggled for the sovereignty of the world. When the Israelites completely degenerated, and ceased to shed pure light on the thick darkness which enshrouded the nations, the terrible vengeance that desolated their land, and scattered them over the surface of the world, visibly accom- plished the end for which they were chosen, perhaps more efl^ectually than any event in their previous history. The judgment of Heaven corrected them ; their love of idolatry was conquered ; their zeal for the Sacred Oracles, and parti- cularly for the laws of Moses, was rekindled ; and their desire and hope of the coming of Messiah exceedingly strengthened. Such was the efl!ect of their captivity in Ba- bylon. Nor ought it to be forgotten that they were not dis- persed over the eastern world till it had become the scene of the greatest transactions which characterise its history, and which deeply interested almost all the human race. How THE RACE OP ISRAEL. 17 marvellous were the incidents connected with the exile of Israel every one knows ; and how inexpressibly must some of these have tended to the dissemination of the knowledge of the True God, may be learned from the proclamations of the kings of Babylon and Persia. The benevolent designs of Heaven in the separation of the Jews for a " peculiar people" were apparently largely fulfilled by the restoration of a part of them to a national state, in their own land ; and the settlement of multitudes of them in small communities, in the great cities of the empires of Greece and Rome ; for they were thus brought into connexion with the most influential races of mankind. And it might be de- monstrated, with no difficulty, and with much profit, that the true religion or Divine Revelation will be found, at all times, in the centre or vicinity of the regions which successively became the chief seats of power, and especially of commerce, on the globe. The star of Jacob will always be seen fixed above the kingdom or kingdoms on whose power appears suspended the destiny of mankind. Several things peculiar to the Jews were remarkably fitted to attract all eyes to them. Thus their avowed belief and un- ceasing hope that one of their race, in a future age, was to surpass all men in excellence and power, and prove himself almighty to save not only his people, but all nations, and restore the world to more than the felicity of pradise ; this sentiment spread so universally, and so deeply aflfected all minds, that in almost every nation, previous to the final de- struction of Jerusalem, the expectation of such an illustrious person prevailed. Again they publicly acknowledged Jehovah alone to be their supreme King, and regarded their rulers the mere ministers of his revealed will. If the latter were distinguished by despising the laws of Moses ar.d the instructions of the pro- phets, they were viewed usurpers while they lived, and were covered with disgrace at death, for no honourable burial was granted them. Other nations either worshipped their chiefs while they lived or after their death, or, like the Greeks, boasted of power to control them ; but the Jews, when subject to their constitution and laws, obeyed no voice except that of the supreme God, announced by them whom they firmly be lieved to be his ministers. In their government, the authority of Deity was all in all. This, as we shall see, characterised the nation, in respect to the gods of the nations, after the cap tivity ; and the phenomenon must have produced a strong im 2* m. --# # 19 IHE RACE OF ISRAEL. pression on every intelligent and reflective mind, accustomed to witness every where the worship of idols, with no sign of the belief in the unity of the Creator. Further, every public transgressor of the laws was sentenced to immediate punishment, exactly proportioned to the rule of rigid justice, the law of retaliation, or of restitution, minutely defined by Moses. The degree of loss or suffering inflicted for crime generally depended, elsewhere, on the pleasure or caprice of the rulers or judges ; but among the Jews, nothing was left to them by the supreme legislators. As no delay in the execution of the sentence of the law was admissible, no in- struction was given to provide prisons. This strikingly ac- corded with the awful nature of the constitution prescribed by Moses, justly named " the ministration of death." Had this argument been adverted to, Christians, at least, would not have been surprised that instant death should be pronounced on all judged worthy of it. The principle which indicates the pro- priety of animal sacrifice for sin is applicable to immediate punishment of death. The administration of Jehovah had not yet demonstrated to all the perfection of his justice, so that man might discern clearly that without an adequate expiation, death for death, no human being could find forgiving mercy with his Creator. But Jesus of Nazareth, having vindicated, by his death for the world, the Divine government and laws, with Divine propriety declared that the law of retaliation, life for life, eye for eye, and the like, had no place in his adminis- tration. Now certainly no one who respects his authority re- quires to be taught by precept or example that " the soul that sinneth shall die." Moreover, unequivocal signs that God was the supreme King of the Jews were frequently witnessed by all intelligent observers of events in relation to that people. His principal ministers were supernaturally endowed ; and the deeds by which this was manifested were performed in the view of all Their power over life and death, over the elements of nature, and sometimes over the minds of men, was not exercised in secret or by arts of deception, like the pretended diviners and priests of the gods of other nations. They acted without dis- guise in the presence of all ranks and characters, and claimed no personal superiority over their contemporaries. They wrought all in the name of God, and resolutely declined re- ward from man. Neither honour nor disgrace influenced their ministrations. And the people were miraculously punished or saved, obtained unparalleled prosperity, or en- T # THE RACE OF ISRAEL. 19 dured extreme calamity, according as they were obedient or disobedient to the mandates of Jehovah, their Sovereign, Law- giver, and Judge. Fmally, their national constitution strongly enforced univer- sal kindness and courtesy, and, consequently, friendly inter- course with all men, while it strictly prohibited offensive or defensive alliances with idolatrous nations or communities, or intermarriages with individual idolaters. In national policy and religion, they were to stand alone among the nations Though on this account they might be regarded by superfi- cial thinkers the enemies of mankind, yet this was absolutely necessary for the attainment of the great end of their separation to serve God, considering the state of the nations, especially of those in their vicinity. In the age of Moses, the whole world had apostatised from God, and idolatry seems to have been establisned, by law or custom, in every nation. But no communities had become more degraded in morals or polluted in religion than those occupying the countries of Syria, Palestine, and Arabia Pe- traea, where four hundred years earlier the true God was worshipped. This dreadful degeneracy was probably chiefly effected by those who had enslaved the multitude. And these were, we know, the wisest of the age, who doubtless discerned that a religion which made the many to trust their future well- being to the power of the few, and ministered, at the same time, to their pleasures, was that alone which could retain the peo- ple in political slavery. Such was the nature of all the an- cient forms of idolatry. By the abuse of physical, and espe- cially of astronomical knowledge, which assumed the name of astrology, the wise deluded the unreflecting and sensual. Claiming the offices of kings and priests, by the deceptive arts and careful observances of the appearances of nature in the different seasons of the year, they easily performed, or rather seemed to perform deeds superhuman in the eyes of the ignorant. Nothing was then more natural than to as- scribe their power to invisible fellowship with the heavenly bodies and invisible agents, whom they confessed could alone enable them to perform superhuman works. These agencies became gods ; and their ministers, bv continually adding whatever rites they conceived adapted to please the people, to those already observed by them, formed the various cor- rupted modes of idolatrous worship, which were rapidly spread over the earth by conquerors, colonization, and com- merce. #= 20 THE RACE OP ISRAEL. Language cannot depict the sanguinary and licentious forms of superstition that prevailed in Canaan and the neigh- bouring countries. This is evident to every reader of the sacred Scriptures. And how strongly Israel were disposed to imitate their neighbours, appears in every age of their his- tory, before the Babylonian captivity. How suitable, impor- tant, and even indispensable was then the injunction that they should hve alone, and utterly abominate the gods of the na- tions ? The peoples, by whose manners Israel were in the greatest danger of being contaminated and demoralized in the earliest periods of their history, were the Egyptians, the surviving Canaanites, the Philistines, Tyrians and Sidonians, the Midianities, Moabites, and Ammonites ; and the Edomites and Syrians. We refer the reader to the brief account of these^ given under their respective names in the Pocket Biblical Dictionary. Almost every one ^f these races had lost power to inflict much injury on Israel before the period of their his- tory to be reviewed in the subsequent chapters. Foreigners had conquered them, and continued to tyrannise over them. The very forms of their religion had been modified ; and its most barbarous features had disappeared. Those on the bor- ders of Canaan had been carried into captivity by Nebuchad- nezzar ; and were probably permitted by Cyrus to return to their native lands. Some of them, we know, were afterwards numerous ; but none of them, except the Edomites or Idu- means, seem to have recovered their former greatness ; and they gradually disappeared as distinct races or nations ; and probably the survivors became marauders, and were not dis- tinguishable from the Arabs, whose mode of life they imitated. It may be remarked in general, that the descendants of these races cherished in all ages, the implacable enmity to Israel, which characterised their ancestors. Of this we shall see many proofs in the future history of the chosen people. CHAPTER II. BRIEF REVIEW OF THE RISE, DECLINE, AND CAPTIVITY OP ISRAEL. In the investigation of the state of the world before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the Old Testament is the exclusive cer- tain guide ; all allusions to the subject by uninspired his- torians, philosophers, or poets, are uncertain or fabulous. And of the ancient races of mankind, whose character, con- duct, and deeds, had no apparent or immediate influence on the race of Abraham, the sacred writers record almost no- thing, except a brief notice of their origin and dispersion over the globe. The especial Divine superintendence of the chosen race, and occasional miraculous interposition in their behalf, pre- viously to the time of Abraham, evidently appear to have been continued to him and his race, who continued the social and public worshippers of the true and living God. On this account the government, like that ordained by Moses, may, with propriety, be denominated a theocracy. For the patri- archs, elders, or heads of families, were required to rule ac- cording to the Divine instructions, communicated to their pre- decessors or themselves. Notwithstanding of the great and precious promises which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received, that a future descendant of theirs should confer on all nations divine blessedness, they were admonished that their race would not become an inde- pendent nation till after the lapse of more than four hundred years. They were destined to serve or to be enslaved during this long period, and consequently it was essential to their happiness " against hope to believe in hope," knowing that Jehovah was able and faithful to accomplish his word of pro- mise. Their trials were as uncommon as their hopes. Be- fore their descent to Egypt, b. c. 1648, the family sepulchre was the only spot to which they could claim an exclusive in- disputable right. Being the first occupiers of the pasture i m , m 22 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND grounds in Canaan, they were indeed viewed by foreigners as the proprietors, and hence this region was called " the land of the Hebrews." But we have no reason to believe that they considered themselves authorised to prohibit others from feeding their flocks on the same pastures. Canaan was theirs by gift of promise, but they were not to enter on tho possession till the cup of the iniquity of the Amorites or Canaanites, who occupied it along with them, was full. And it is remarkable that before this specific time, the Israelites did not require Canaan. The increase of population of this race during the first four hundred years is perhaps one of the most singular phenomena in the history of human society. The descendants of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah, and of Esau by his wives, appear to have multiphed exceedingly and rapidly, while the race by Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel amount to little more than seventy persons in the space of about two hundred years ; while, during the succeeding period of the same duration, they probably amounted to millions. The smallness of their number at first was favourable to their happiness, if we reflect on their situation. God had ordained them to sojourn in Canaan. The pastoral resources of that land had been greatly diminished by a fearful catas- trophe, and its population was rapidly increasing by the rising families of the Canaanites, and most probably by arrivals of of new tribes. The districts of the cities of the plain, well watered by the Jordan, once the richest in Canaan, had been utterly destroyed by fire from heaven, and the lake named the Dead Sea, which appeared in their place, is computed at seventy miles in length and twenty in breadth, having a cir- cuit of three hundred miles. It overflows its banks to a con- siderable extent in the rainy season ; and its saline waters in- flict barrenness wherever they reach. Indeed all the coasts exhibit an awful scene of solitude and desolation. Now, if the pastures were insuflicient to feed the united flocks of Abraham and Lot, till the latter resorted to the plains of Sodom, how could the race of Israel and the Canaanites have lived in Canaan after these had disappeared, had they been numerous ? Few as they were, they repeatedly felt the pres- sure of want, which money could not remove, and but with difiiculty could alleviate. They had, it is true, the promise of Divine interposition, in every season of trial. But this promise was conditional ; they could only confidently expect it when they lived so as to # ^ CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 23 please God. Look at the family of Jacob ; had they not more reason to fear the wrath, than hope in the favour of the God of their fathers ? The only one of the twelve who visibly feared Him had been sold into slavery by his brethren, only two of the eleven were unprepared to murder him because he testified against their wickedness. It became not, therefore, the Divine Majesty to exempt them from suffering with the unholy race among whom they sojourned. But no sooner did they relent, and deplore their iniquities, than Jehovah remembered his holy covenant, and showed them mercy. That they repented and returned to God about the time of their descent into Egypt, seems, from the sacred Record, unquestionable. Hitherto they had been totally dis- qualified to advance the great object for which they had been ravoured by God more than any other race. Instead of being with Jacob, their father, witnesses for God among the de- fraded Canaanites, their general conduct must have caused is name to be reviled and hii worship despised. And the most complete renovation of character would not, for a con- siderable period, if ever, have procured them a good report of all those who had long known them. It was therefore more probable that they would, after their happy recovery to the true religion, promote its interests more extensively in Egypt than in Canaan. No public worshipper of God can have much moral influence on society, if he is manifestly either hypocritical or inconsistent in conduct. Hence univer- sally acknowledged integrity and truth is an indispensable quality in a public teacher ; " a bishop must be well reported by all men." We may therefore conclude that the removal of Jacob's family into Egypt was not more expedient for their future usefulness than for their temporal comfort. They were divinely prepared to strengthen the hands of their brother Joseph in the work of recommending the true religion to the Egyptians, and it was therefore proper that they should join him. Perhaps the moral and religious state of Egypt more deeply concerned the worW, in the days of Joseph, than that of any other country. In the time oi Abraham, no large kingdom or empire appears to have been formed. A shadow of one presented itself in the East. Chedorlaomer, by conquest or alliance, united under him a few chiefs called kings, and ex- tended his power in Canaan and Arabia. But we hear no more of him after Abraham and his feeble allies overthrow his forces. It is therefore not probable that his dominion wai 91 THE RISE, DEOLINE, ASfD great or permanent. The king of Egypt at that period seems to exhibit no more majesty than the king of Gerar, whose power certainly stretched not beyond a small district. And the probability is, that Egypt then contained as many kings as cities. Tradition, indeed, attests that the inhabitants of Egypt were originally governed by seven kings, and conse quently its political state resembled that of Canaan when Joshua conquered its sixty kings. That the inhabitants of Egypt were subjected to one prince in Joseph's time, and that they had constructed a system of religion, we have reason to believe. But we have no evi- dence that the Pharaohs had acquired great physical power in the time of Moses. The most wonderful monuments of its riches, military greatness, and civilization, belong confes sedly to a later age. And it is scarcely credible that Egyp was a mighty power at the time of the exodus of Israel, when we find that its rulers never attempted to revenge the insults and sufferings which they had endured from Moses in Egypt, and still more at the Red Sea. That the Egyptians owed much of their advancement in civilization to the administration of Joseph, is strongly proba- ble. The slight notices of him indicate that he possessed con- summate talents as a statesman. We have, hoAvever, still more evidence that his infliience was almost boundless ; and that he improved it to recommend true religion, we cannot doubt. He was truly zealous for the honour of Jehovah. He and his race were considered sacred. This we conceive origi- nated the practice of circumcision by the priests of Egypt. They monopolized the rite to augment their sanctity in the eyes of the people. And the veneration cherished for Israel during the ministry of Joseph may, most probably, account for the future appearance of many practices in Egypt, which the laws of Moses sanctioned. His code of laws was only an enlargement of those observed by the patriarchal families. And from them the Egyptians, doubtless, received those com- mon to both nations. It is at least certain that Moses solemnly prohibited his people from adopting any customs that were of Egyptian origin. However much advantage the Egyptians may have derived from Joseph and his brethen, their future history too clearlj showed that it was not permanent in respect to religion. Fo while no ancient people, perhaps, made more progress in hu man wisdom and the knowledge of the useful, if not the orna- mental arts of society, none ever more rapidly and completely CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. WD renounced the religious principles and practices which were enjoined by the inspired persons whom God raised up in the early ages of mankind, or devised and established a systen of idolatry more calculated to enslave the human intellect, de base the affections, and demoralise the conduct. This system was, perhaps, not perfectly formed during the period of Is- rael's detention in Egypt. But that it had been introduced, and had even become popular, seems certain, for the Israel- ites were, as a community, deeply tainted with it, before they were emancipated by Moses. This is obvious from their con- duct in the wilderness. And their religious declension suffi- ciently vindicates the Divine pleasure in suffering the Egyp- tians to inflict on them innumerable and overwhelming evils. These were happily blessed to rouse them to serious consid- eration, and to incline them to listen to the voice of the few faithful elders whom God had preserved to guide them. And, when under the pressure of the most oppressive slavery they groaned and prayed before the Lord, he heard them, and com- missioned Moses to deliver them. Crediting his message as truly divine, they tranquilly de- parted in regular order, but without arms, from the land of their slavejry, and God was with them. Though destitute of arms, the Dgypiians amply supplied them with money to pro- cure them. For, terrified by the most fearful and unparal- leled judgments or plagues which fell upon them, they readi- ly gave them whatever they desired. Their first supply of arms was, however, perhaps obtained in a manner the most wonderful and unexpected, — the arms of the army of Egypt, drowned in the Red Sea, fell into their hands, for the dead bodies were thrown upon the coast, Exod. xiv. 12. They had not been long accustomed to the use of arms when they were called to encounter the Amalekites. Per- haps it was this race who had invaded Egypt in the interval between Abraham's descent into Egypt, and the time of Mo- ses, whose conquering chiefs are named in history the " shep- herd kings." They had grievously tyrannised over the con- quered, in so much that the Egyptians continued for many generations to detest all who lived by tending flocks; "a shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians." Whatever probability may be in this conjecture, we know that the Amal- ekites were a very ancient and mighty people, who are sup- posed to have lived in caves or tents, and in habits and man- ners resembling the Arabs. It seems certain that they pos- aessed at least one city in the days of Saul, and must have VOL. I. 3 26 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND been nuhierous and warlike, for the army which he con- sidered necessary to march against them, amounted to 210,000; 1 Sam. xv. 4 — 7. In Abraham's age, they were known as a distinct people, possessing an extensive country, reaching from Havilah to Shur, or from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea, Gen. xiv. 7 ; and Balaam speaks of them as " the first," the head or origin of the nations, which sufficiently shows that they were even then deemed a great people of an- tiquity. Hence they could not belong to the race of Esau, and indeed no hint is ever given in Scripture that they had the remotest connexion with Abraham. They are uniformly associated with the Canaanites and PhiUstines, descendants of Ham, and to him the Arabs trace the Amalekites. Ac- cording to Arabian tradition, they were the only pure Arabs, and those of them who escaped the sword of Saul became mixed Arabs, being blended with other races. That they were to disappear as a nation and separate people was the import of the prophetic curse announced to Joshua ; and we find no mention of them, except as individuals, after the reign of Hezekiah, I Chron. iv. 41 — 43. The fearful and some- what singular sentence passed on them was doubtless occa- sioned by great wickedness ; and the narrative of Moses con- veys some idea of it. They had from their position the most favourable opportunities of knowing the True God, and his peculiar love for Israel. Doubtless they knew the miracles which he had wrought for them in Egypt and at the Red Sea ; and most probably witnessed the miraculous supply of water ; yet it is remarked that they " feared not God." They gave awful proof that they despised him, for they were the first to attack Israel, and that in the most cruel and savage manner : they fell on those exhausted by fatigue, or feeble by age or infancy ; Exod. xvii. 8 — 16. Deut. xxv. 17 — 19. They sought their destruction without the least provocation, and the chief motive probably was, that they might possess the new stream which God had caused to flow in the desert ; for they may .have considered all the products of the desert as their own, and that the water was not the property of Is- rael, although a supernatural gift. How obstinate their infi- delity was is manifest, for notwithstanding their defeat, and the knowledge, perhaps, of the prophecy concerning them, they remained the implacable enemies of Israel. We notice the Amalekites thus particularly, because it would appear that they were the only people occupying the country which divides Egypt from Palestine, that were capable of trying their strength # ^- — ■ ? CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. with Israel ; or, what may be more probable, because their defeat, almost immediately following the miracles in Egypt and the Red Sea, overawed all the other nations, so that Is- rael were permitted to sojourn many years in the wilderness in peace. The mode by which they were overcome in the first contest, was peculiarly fitted to instruct the chosen peo- ple : while Moses held up his hands, Joshua prevailed in bat- tle. Thus Israel were taught that they had no reason to ex- pect success in battle, if their leaders did not accompany their exertions with confidence in their supreme invisible ffing, and persevering intercession to Him for the people. Few of the events which must have happened to Israel for at least thirty-eight years, are recorded. They were during these years organised as a nation and received the law. The generation, indisposed to entire subjection to the authority of God their supreme Sovereign, died, and their children were fully grown and prepared to take possession of the land pro- mised to their fathers. Travellers from the Red Sea reached Syria by different routes. One passed through Edom or Idumea and Canaan. This was the most direct, and first preferred by Israel. But their progress was arrested by the Edomites, who discovered unreasonable suspicion and total want of natural affection, compassion, and courtesy. They knew well their close rela- tion to Israel by their common ancestor Abraham ; nor were they ignorant of the Divine interpositions for Israel in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and at Sinai. But neither the signs of God's favour for their brethren, nor their most earnest entreaty for liberty to keep the high way, and food and drink at the com- mon price, had the least power to raise a kind feeling in their bosoms, notwithstanding of the most pathetic appeal of Moses to their sympathies, by enumerating the unparalleled suffer- ings of Israel in the wilderness. This most barbarous con- duct would have been unjustifiable in any people ; but was also most unnatural, especially among the Arabians, for the allied tribes cherished the strongest attachment for each other ; and this is one of the strongest features which characterise them to this day. The spirit of clanship never burned more intensely in a Highlander than it has always done in an Arab. The guiU of the Edomites was, therefore, of no com- mon magnitude ; and it was just and necessary they should suffer signal punishment. Accordingly, more alarming pre- dictions were not announced respecting any people; and they have been completely accomplished. #= 1EB THE RISE, DECLINE, AKD Another great road to western Asia from the Red Sea, lay eastward, and ran through the regions separated from Canaan Proper, hy the Dead Sea and Jordan, and inhabited by the Amorites. The wilderness to the south was possessed by the Moabites and Midianites, who were connected to Israel by Lot and Abraham. At the time that Israel advanced towards these countries, it seems probable that Moab was superior in power to Midian, for the king of Moab appears the greatest opponent of Israel ; but he was zealously supported by the Midianites ; Numb. xxii. 3 — 7. Calamitous was the passage of Israel through Midian and Moab. They sinned exceed- ingly by joining in the licentious worship of their enemies, and were fearfully punished. In one day, one thousand were put to death by the order of the rulers, and twentv-three thou- sand died by fatal disease. But they ultimately overthrew the army of Moab, and marched onwards still interrupted by the warlike attitude of the Amorites, who had acquired con- siderable power ; and were ruled by two kings, who had ex- tended their dominions towards the east, from the Jordan over a part of the lands which the Ammonites and Moabites had long possessed. Though the Amorites were Canaanites by descent, yet they were not among those of this race devoted to destruction, for their land was beyond the limits which God commanded Israel to conquer and purify from idolatry. If must not be forgotten, that they were not, however, among the nations whom Israel were prohibited from fighting with ; for these only comprised the races of Lot and Esau. Israel would have left the kings Sihon and Og in the undisturbed possession of their fine kingdoms, had they allowed them to pass along the highway to Canaan. The Israelites had there* fore no alternative but to retreat into the wilderness, or fight their way. They first conquered the kingdom of Sihon, and that of Og, who Avas one of the race of giants, who had for generations possessed4he neighbouring regions. The Israel- ites immediately removed by death all the inhabitants, who sought not an asylum in other countries. The lands were rich in pasture. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh desired to possess it, perhaps, because they had more numerous flocks than the other tribes. They received it on condition that those of them fit for war should accompany their brethren to Canaan, and not return to their families till all that country was conquered. This was effected in seven years ; and about ten years latep, Joshua, the faithful and successful captain of Israel, died, and was succeeded m ® ^ CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 29 the offices of Deliverer and Judge, by Othniel, a near rela- tion of Caleb, the noble and pious and upright companion of Joshua. None could lawfully assume these offices without receiving their commission immediately from the supreme Sovereign of the nation. It was only when he intimated his pleasure, that the people were authorised to submit to the decision and obey the command of any one who claimed the dignity of visible chief ruler over Israel. This is evident from the peculiar nature of the constitution made by Moses, and it is abundantly confirmed by the facts recorded in the Book of Judges. Con- cerning this book, Jahn justly observes, that Samuel, the last of the fifteen Judges, was probably the author, and that it could not have been written later tnan his day, for the latest transactions detailed in it transpired when there was no king in Israel, ch. xxi. 25. It seems to consist of memoranda, or notes of the events most interesting to the Church of God, rather than a regular chronological history of the period to which it relates ; and these events most impressively confirm the prophecies of Moses and Joshua, which announced the future apostasies of Israel, the judgments of God on the apos- tates, and the Divine interpositions to deliver Israel as soon as their affliction wrought genuine repentance. If this opinion be correct, it is not surprising^ that the sedulous efforts of a number of eminently learned men to ascertain the chronology of the narrative have hitherto proved most unsatisfactory. In general, however, we find that the number of years during which Israel were nearly destitute of liberty was about 111, which, added to 339, years that they enjoyed good govern- ment under the thirteen judges raised up for them, from the days of Joshua to Samuel, make 450 years ; Acts xiii. 20. Few particulars are given illustrative of the character and conduct of Israel during the three-fourths of the period of the Judges, doubtless because they then conformed to the laws, and fulfilled the gracious designs of Heaven, by exhibiting, on the whole, the true religion to the view of the surrounding nations. Disaffection and infidelity to Jehovah early appeared in Israel. Though they generally worshipped and served him all the days of Joshua and the rulers who were his contem- poraries, yet, before his death, the tribe of Benjamin were nearly annihilated, in consequence of their unholy and pre- sumptuous attempt to prevent the other tribes from inflicting the just penalty of the law on the lawless, and disobedient, 3* -T 30 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND and cruel inhabitants of one of their cities. The first who, as a tribe, sanctioned idolatry were the Danites ; and thus they appeared like a serpent concealed in the way, to destroy the un watchful traveller, and verified the prediction descrip- tive of their character delivered by Jacob, Gen. xlix. 17. Idolatry had been, perhaps, in all ages, adopted by indivi- duals or famihes, either in the form of images or idol-worship. Nor is this wonderful, when we reflect on its power over the hearts of those who feel not the importance of religion, and, nevertheless, retain a degree of conviction that their circum- stances are somehow influenced by invisible agency. While they like not to retain the True God in their knowledge, be- cause the idea of his majesty, and purity, and truth impose restraint on their unhallowed passions, appetites, and pleasures, they cease not to strive to desire the favour of the unknown and invisible powers, whose existence they are compelled to believe or suspect. This opinion was forced on Israel by the voice of antiquity, and the universal consent of all nations, in all ages and countries ; and the fables concerning idols, and rites, and customs, and manners of their worshippers, pleased the imagination of the ignorant and inquisitive, — satisfied the sensual, — and quieted the tumultuous agitation of the con- sciences of the tyrants, oppressors, and profligate. The progress of idolatry was checked in Israel by the many signal, and often tremendous, expressions of the holy vigilance and indignation of Jehovah, whenever it extensively and visibly prevailed among them. One of the most impressive tokens of his wrath was the withdrawing from them of his aid and favour, when any of the nations who hated them invaded their land. By Assyria, Midian, Moab, Ammon, Philistine, and other powers, they were successively enslaved. But as soon as they repented, and returned to God and his worship, they were uniformly liberated unexpectedly, and usually by means not adequate to the end, if we judge according to the maxims of human wisdom, or even by the ordinary arrangements of Providence in relation to the nations of the world. The inconsiderateness and perversion of the human mind were, perhaps, more strikingly exhibited by Israel, than by any people who possessed equal opportunity to understand and attain their best interests. They were truly a foolish and wicked nation, whose character and lot were peculiarly fitted to instruct, warn, and correct the human race. It is remark- able, that the very generation who had most largely experienced the Divine wisdom in the Divine government by judges, # m^ CAPTIVITY OP ISRAEL. 91 should have been the first who deliberately and determinedly desired a king, invested with all the authority and dignity of the absolute monarchs of the East. Samuel's minis. ry appears to have been productive of more spiritual and temporal good to Israel than any one judge from the death of Joshua. They were evidently more intensely desirous of preserving their temporal prosperity than their spiritual. For though they abhorred the unholy conduct of Samuel's sons, and therefore wisely refused to accept them for magistrates, the chief reason of their aversion was, that they believed them destitute of the qualities essential to military commanders. Had they been truly concerned for the reli- gious interests of the nation, they would have humbled them- selves before God, and entreated Samuel to intercede with him to raise up for them a leader like unto himself, who would faithfully labour to maintain and establish the reforma- tion which he had been honoured to effect. That they saw no need for such a leader, is manifest from the very language of their request ; for they did not ask him of God, but of Samuel, and wished him, in order that they might be equal in power with the nations: "Now make us a king to judge us, like the nations." This plainly implied that they regarded the Pi vine constitution which they had received, not so well adapted to promote and secure national prosperity as that en- joyed by the surrounding nations. Thus they showed dis- loyalty of heart and renounced God for their King. Indeed, •it is probablp *h''* \h:-f ascribed all their past calamities to their want ol a king, and not to their own infidelity to Jeho- vah ; and they were probably the more urgent to obtain a king, from the immediate prospect of war with the Ammon- ites, who occupied the country cast of Gilead. God testified his anger by giving them a king — that is, by not interposing to prevent them from choosing a king after their own heart. Siif-h \va^ Suui ; a hero, ambitious of glory, •ind bold in war, destitute of religious principle, but zealous enough to protect and recommend it, as far as he regarded it suited to aggrandise his family, and extend and establish his power. He had not the humility necessary to a king of Israel who was not permitted to act the despot or tyrant, but to con- suh and obey Jehovah in all things. Solemnly was Saul warned of the danger to which this kingly spirit exposed him. Anticipating Israel's folly in desiring to be governed by kings, God, by Moses, had distinctly described the duty of a king. " He limited his power to that of his deputy to execute his laws, ^ UTTT m-- 32 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND ana permitted him not to act as he pleased. He received his royal commission from Heaven, and was strictly enjoined to regulate his whole conduct by the sacred book of the law, and the revektions of God by the high-priests and prophets. Any act of self-will or disobedience to the dictates of God, the su- preme and absolute King, exposed the monarchs of Judah and Israel to certain, and often signal punishment ; Deut. xvii. 14—20 ; i Sam. viii. 7—22 ; xiii. 13, 14 ; 1 Kings xiv. 7—16. Saul, the first king of Israel, was elected 1096 years b. c. His pride and public disobedience brought the nation to the verge of ruin ; but God raised up David to save them. He raised Israel above all other nations, and after a triumph- ant reign of forty years, left a great people to his wise son. They were dreaded on every side. Now the tribe of Judah Jay as a lion or lioness, which no nation ventured to rouse up. The Hebrews were the ruling people, and their empire the principal monarchy in Western Asia. From the Mediterra- nean Sea and the Phenicians to the Euphrates, from the river of Egypt and the Elanitic Gulf to Berytus, Hamath, and Thapsacus ; and towards the east to the Hagarenes on the Persian Gulf, all were subject to the sway of Solomon. The Canaanites, indeed, had been neither annihilated nor expelled, but they were obedient and peaceable subjects. Their whole number might amount to between 400,000 and 500,000: since 153,000 were able to render soccage to the king. The warlike and civilized Philistines, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, the nomadic Arabians of the desert, and the Syrians of Damascus, were all tributary to him. Peace gave to all his subjects prosperity ; the trade which he introduced brought wealth into the country, and promoted the arts and sciences, which then found an active protector in the king, who was himself distinguished for his learning. The build- ing of the temple, and of several palaces, introduced foreigr artists, by whom the Hebrews were instructed. Many for- eigners, and even sovereign princes, were attracted to Jeru- salem, in order to see and converse with the prosperous royal sage. The regular progress of all business, the arrangements for security from foreign and domestic enemies, the army, the cavalry, the armories, the chariots, the palaces, the royal household, the good order in the administration of the affairs of the empire, and in the service of the court, excited as much admiration as the wisdom and learning of the viceroy of Je- hovaL So much had been effected by the single influence T — i& CAPnvmr of Israel. 9B of I>avid, because he scrupulously conformed himself to the theocracy of the Hebrew state." The successors of David maintained not the true glory of Israel. Solomon perhaps equalled him in intellectual talents, and surpassed him in scientific acquirements ; but he had no correct views or suitable feelings of his position as the deputy- king of Jehovah, nor had he firmness of purpose to act ac- cording to his knowledge of the sacred laws of his nation. He was adorned with every excellence which could, upon the principles of human wisdom, qualify him to shed the brightest lustre on the throne of the mightiest empire. And certainly the worldly glory of the kingdom of Israel, in his day, justly deserved the universal approbation of the wise and rich and powerful. But the standard of glory, erected by human wisdom, is always found subversive of the benevolent designs of the Almighty ; for it has never been, and, we con- ceive, never can be sustained, e.xcept at the expense of the moral degeneracy of the higher ranks, and the oppression, poverty, and misery, of all other classes, especially of the in- dustrious and lower ranks, of the community. The grandeur and variety of the pleasures of an oriental court require an immense revenue. And this Solomon could only procure by violating the laws of his country. This conduct alienated from him the hearts of the religious ; and the suflTerings, which were produced by excessive taxation, predisposed the muhitude to reject the royal race of David. Solomon's long reign was comparatively tranquil ; owing, probably, to the in- fluence of his father's name, the vastness of his own power, and the illusive splendour covering his throne. But even while encircled with majesty and honour, the sound of the approaching storm, ordained to shake to its foundation the throne of David, was heard in the distance ; and perhaps So- lomon's sepulchre was not closed on his lifeless body when anarchy and tumult inundated the nation. It was torn in pieces by the dexterous policy of Jeroboam, who acquired a dubious celebrity by founding a new kingdom, and construct- ing a new system of religion. His father, Nebat, was dead ; his mother was a widow m Ephraim. His powerful talents, more than his birth, may have procured him the favour of Solomon. He received the appointment of governor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manas- seh. By his office he became extensively known, for the Ephraimites were numerous. His power, and the unhappy state of the country, mav have led him to show a disposition J 31 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND to act independent of Solomon, and excite the jealousy of his master. But it is more certain that Solomon had learned that Ahijah had declared to him that he was to be king of the ten tribes. BeUeving that his life was in danger, the king im- mediately sought Jeroboam's life, which occasioned his flight into Egypt, where he remained till Rehoboam ascended the throne. He then appeared as the patriot of the nation, and prudently waked till the king had completely destroyed all hope of relief to the nation. Then he found it easy to unite the ten tribes, and prevail on them to form an independent kingdom, and appoint him king over them. He had now every opportunity to rule according to the laws of God ; for he was, by the solemn advice of the prophet to Rehoboam, left to enjoy his kingdom in peace. But he despised the will of Heaven, and endeavoured to establish his power by human policy. He ventured not to establish idol-worship, which would have probably roused the indignation of the people ; but he formed a system of image- worship, to prevent his subjects from intimate fellowship with Judah, at the temple ; and as the priests were hostile to his scheme, he chose "the lowest," pro- perly, a part of the people, not doubtless the least influential part, for he assuredly would adopt every method to increase the power of his government. Thus he was the first ruler in Israel who had established any form of idolatry ; and hence he is often referred to as the author of their apostacy. On ac- count of his consummate wickedness, the prophets of God announced to him the utter destruction of his race ; and as signs of this, his most beloved son died, and his own hand was suddenly paralysed, and miraculously healed ; and, final- ly, the king was expressed by name who was to expose his whole system to universal contempt ; 1 Kings xi. 26 — 40 ; xii. ; xiii. ; xiv. 1 — 20. Jeroboam had witnessed in Egypt the mighty influence of idolatry over the multitude, and as the first object of his gov- ernment was to alienate the ten tribes from Judah, he doubt- less saw that nothing was more likely to produce this than to present to them a form of religion, which combined all the apparent advantages which they derived from going up to sac- rifice at Jerusalem, with all that could fascinate their senses and gratify their appetites and passions. To accomplish these various objects, one cannot, perhaps, conceive any thing more adapted than the ceremonial of image-worship, which Jeroboam established, b. c. 975. To the form of worship at the temple, he added golden statues and splendid temples at OAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 35 Dan and Bethel, the extremities of his kingdom. To assemble in these places was much more convenient than to travel to Jerusalem ; and what could any one, not spiritually enlight- ened, see or enjoy in the latter city, equal in beauty, solemni' ty, or social delights, to the scenes exhibited in the foin.ev cities ? From this time, the ten tribes were usually denominated the kingdom of Israel^ and two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, who continued faithful to the house of David, were called the kingdom of Judah. This disjunction of Israel eclipsed the glory of their race. The decline, of which it was a conspicuous sign, progressed more or less rapidly, till Israel ceased to be numbered among the nations. Instead of continuing to unite to witness for the True God, and to enjoy, as one family, the rich bhssings of Heaven, they became rival powers ; and, each being zealous for its own interests, successive wars prevailed between them^ till the ten tribes, who were generally, if not always the ag- gressors, were conquered and carried into captivity, about two hundred and fifty-three years from the establishment of their kingdom, b. c. 772 ; and during this period naless than nineteen kings had reigned over Israel. Doubtless, their original separation from their brethren wa^; much deplored by every pious and patriotic Israelite. But it must have given rise to grateful and adoring reflection onth<- goodness of Providence in future ages, for the greater number of tho subjects of the Israelitish kingdom proved themselves wholly disqualified to fulfil the great work for which God had chosen their fathers, and exalted them above all nations. "Individuals among them, indeed, continued -to fear and con- fess the True God, so as to risk their all for his honour ; for their adherence to his institutions brought on them a charge of disloyalty and treachery. The majority persevered in image-worship, and gradually imported the idols of the sur- rounding nations. Nor did they thus apostatise from God in consequence of prevailing ignorance. For notwithstanding their rebellion against his government, and their contempt for the noble example of fidelity to him occasionally presented to them by Judah, he suffered long with them, and sent thciu faithful prophets, such as Jonah, Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Moses, who braved every danger from the hatred and malice of the royal and priestly power, to reclaim them from error, rescue them from present misery, and save them from impend- ing, total, and iri>6trievable ruin, — not one* of their kings, nor apparently any of their great men,'evier repented and returned # 36 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND to the pure worship of God. They formed the closest alKances with idolatrous kingdoms ; and some of them put forth their energies to destroy Judah, and, with that kingdom, to extirpate the true reljgion from the earth. Ahaz exceeded all his predecessors in wickedness ; and un- der the influence of his idolatrous queen, the worship of strange gods became universal. Jehu produced a temporary reform ; but the nation was not reclaimed. They ceased to be witnesses for the True God, and therefore their destruction was inevitable. During the period of the long-suffering of Jehovah towards the kings of Israel and Judah, several events transpired strik- ingly illustrative of the holiness and justice of his administra- tion. From the relative position and connexion of these king doms, some of these events strongly and almost equally affected both kingdoms. To obtain as distinct an apprehension as possible of those events, we shall first advert to those which appear to have had the greatest influence on the destiny of the Ten Tribes. Jero- boam was fully occupied all his reign in the employment of every means which he conceived suited to secure his king- dom against any attack from Judah. Many of his subjects abhorred the idolatrous system which his crooked policy im- posed on them. All the tribe of Levi who resided in the regions seized by Jeroboam, with multitudes belonging to other tribes, fled to their brethren in Judah, and greatly aug- tnented the power of Rehoboam; 2 Chron. xi. 13 — 17. In consequence of the increased population and strength of the kingdom of Judah, Abijah the son and successor of Reho- boam believed himself sufficiently powerful to recover the revoked tribes. Accordingly he commenced his reign by leading an immense army against Jeroboam. Though he failed in his object, yet by a complete victory, in which half a million of the Ten Tribes were slain, the power of Jero- boam was broken, and his son and successor, and all his fa- mily, were put to death by Baasha, an Issacharite, who took possession of the throne of Israel. This usurper supported the state religion of Jeroboam, and left the faithful no hope of reformation, which induced a great number of the Israel- ites to join their brethren in Judah, who were happy under the pious king Asa. Contentions for the throne, anarchy, and tumults prevailed several years in Israel, till Omri, one of the generals, overcame every competitor, and built for his capital the beautiful and ^rorlg city of Samaria. His son CAFHVITT 6f ISRAEL. "27 Ahab apparently strengthened his kingdom by marrying Jezebel, the infamous daughter of the king of Zidon. Com- pletely governed by her, he sold himself to commit all ini- quity. He introduced the most abominable form of idol worship, trampled on the liberty, and disregarded the welfare of the people. In his reign the most wonderful condescen- sion and boundless power of God were manifested by the ministry of the great reformer Elijah the prophet ; and it was doubtless for the confirmation of his mission that God granted Ahab a most unexpected and great victory over Syria, and afterwards a still more signal deliverance to his people, by relieving them at once from famine and the overwhelming power of the Syrians, who besieged Samaria ; but instead of acknowledging the True God, he meanly sought the friend- ship of the defeated and idolatrous king. This was followed by the murder of righteous Naboth, who was condemned under the most hypocritical form of piety and justice ever exhibited in any nation. This brought his affairs in relation to God, who claimed the especial sovereignty of Israel as well as Judah, to a crisis ; Jehovah immediately commissioned Eli- jah to predict the most tremendous judgment on Ahab and his house. The king, deeply affected, gave public evidence of repentance of his sin ; and this gave occasion to the mani- festation of Jehovah's love and righteousness, and delight to exercise long-suffering and mercy ; for, notwithstanding the defective nature of Ahab's penitence, the extreme degradation and misery threatened were not inflicted in his day. The awful words of Elijah were literally and fearfully confirmed by the fierce and sanguinary Jehu, who ascended the throne of Israel through the blood of his sovereign and of all the royal race, and of forty princes of the kingdom of Judah. Notwithstanding the imperfection of Jehu's reformation, the righteous Sovereign of Israel and Judah publicly declared that it was His pleasure that the usurper should possess the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. Jehu's grandson-, Jeroboam II. more than restored the kingdom to its pristine glory. He was stimulated to all that was good by the pro- phets Jonah and Hosea. He captured Damascus and Ham- ath, and acquired all the regions which Israel had formerly possessed, east of the Jordan, from Hamath to the Dead Sea. The decline of Israel was rapid from the succession of Zecha- riah, son of Jeroboam, to the throne. He was assassinated by Shallum, a servant in the palace, who, after reigning one ] month, was slain by Menahem, the commander of the troops j VOL. L 4 « 3S TUB WISEj f>ECIlN1Sj JOfD in the metropolis. He ascended the throne b. c. 772: About this time the power of Assyria became conspicuous in the East. Pul, its sovereign^ invaded Israel, but Menahem paci- fied him by a present of one thousand talents of silver, which he compelled his subjects to furnish him. He reigned in peace eleven years. His crown passed to his son, Pekaliah, who was murdered and succeeded by Pekah, the general of his army. Damascus had cast off the yoke of Israel, and, with Rezin, its sovereign, Pekah entered into an alliance avowedly in order to conquer Judah. This alliance eventu- ally occasioned the ruin of its authors and their kingdoms. Tiglath-Pileser, the successor of Pul in Assyria, marched, at the head of an army through Syria, and forced Rezin to re- main at home to defend his own kingdom. The Assyrian monarch then advanced into the kingdom of Israel, laid waste its northern division, and carried captive the tribe of Naphtali. This was followed by a conspiracy against Pekah, conducted by Hoshea, who seized the kingdom, and attempted to save Israel from Assyrian slavery by an alliance with Egypt, who was, at that time, the rival of Assyria for the sovereignty of the East. This brought Shalmanezer, the successor of Tig- lath-Pileser, into the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. His army spread indescribable desolation everywhere; and, after a siege of three years, he captured Samaria, and carried captive all the Israelites who had not fled and who survived the horrors and ravages of this sanguinary invasion. Thus was accom- plished, in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, the many predictions of the total destruction of the apostate tribes of Israel. From this time their existence as^ a nation ceased ; and their very residence no one has been able distinctly to ascertain for ages past. All those who are uni- versally acknowledged to belong to the race of Jacob claim to be the descendants of Judah. The moral aspect of the principal events which befell Judah from the time of the revolt of the Ten Tribes were, if possi- ble, more instructive than those which we have noticed re- specting Israel The perfect separation of the Ten Tribes from the house of David was certainly a strong expression of the displeasure of Jehovah with that house ; but he with- drew not his favour from Judah. He, nevertheless, subjected them to severe discipline. Rehoboam imitated not the vir- tues, but the vanities and vices of his distinguished fether, and provoked the wrath of Jehovah, who employed the grow- ing pawer of Egypt to inflict on him terrible punishment. CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. Hi Shishak, its sovereign, perhaps stimulated by Jeroboam, to whom he had given an asylum, invaded Judah, captured Je- rusalem, about three years after the revolt of Israel, and did not return till he had procured the wealth of the kingdom and the immense riches of the temple ; in so much that Re- hoboara had to substitute for its golden shields and vessels similar articles of baser materials. In consequence of liis public repentance and reformation, which were imitated by his people, God preserved the peace of the kingdom fiftreii years, at which time Abij;ih succeeded his lather; anti not- withstanding his defective fidelity to the invisible king of Ju- dah, he was honoured in humbling Jeroboam, the proud and idolatrous king of Israel. He reigned only three years, and gave place to his illustrious son, Asa, who, during the long reign of forty -one years, governed his people, on the whole, as became a deputy of Jehovah. He puriiied the kingdom from idolatry, repaired and increased the number of the i'or- tresses, and raised an army of five hundred and eight thou- sand men. His greatness awakened the envy or cupidity of Zerah, king of the Ethiopians or Cushites. If by these are to be understood the inhabitants of the country of Africa, bor- dering on Egypt, Zerah must have reduced the latter king- dom, for how otherwise can we suppose that he could have passed through it, as he must have done before marching into Palestine. But he may have ruled over the Cushites, who possessed the Asiatic coasts of the Red Sea, which still con- tinued one of the principal seals of commerce. Be this as it may, his vast army, consisting of numerous war chariots and a million of footmen, were totally routed at Mareshah, in the «outh of Judah; and their rich spoils graced the triumphant return of Asa to Jerusalem. This pious king shaded the glory of his last days ny bribing Benhadad, the king of Syria, to attack Baasha, king of Israel, who harassed Judah, proba- bly because Asa protected the multitude of the Israelites, who sought in that age to dwell under the shadow of the house of David ; 2 Chron. xv. 8, 9. Jehoshaphat surpassed his father Asa in piety, and espe- cially in his unparalleled labours to educate and establish the whole community in the true religion. The most obvious and astonishing proofs of the Divine favour for him were witnessed in the sudden destruction of the immense army of the races of Moab, Ammon, and other nations, which unex- pectedly arrived about thirty miles from the metropolis. Panic- struck in the night season, they rose against one another, =» 40 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND and were almost consumed before morning. Three days were spent by the army of Jehosaphat in gathering the spoil, on account of which they named the place of the encamp- ment, near Engedi, Berachah, " the blessing," 2 Chron. xx. 20 — 30. Inattention to the Divine law, which denounced marriage with idolators, or ambition of family aggrandise- ment, proved a fatal snare to this good king. He married his son and heir, Jehoram, to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel He may have been seduced to make this alli- ance when he witnessed Ahab's repentance. Disastrous were the results of this error, not only to the house of David, but also to the whole nation. Under Jehoram, the inhabitants of Judah appeared united, as became the subjects of one king. Jehoram surrendered himself to the guidance of his wife, who was animated by the diabolical spirit of her mother Jezebel. The court patronised idolatry in all its most sensual and licentious forms ; and Ju- dah, if possible, exceeded Israel in every species of supersti- tion and wickedness. The weak and wicked king slew all his brethren. The glorious works of Asa and Jehoshaphat were destroyed by their worthless son. The Edomites cast off his yoke ; and the Philistines and Arabians overrun Judea, spoiled the capital, and carried away the wives and all the children of the sovereign, except Jehoahaz, the youngest, per- haps the same called Ahaziah. He succeeded to the throne when his father died, after enduring two years one of the most tedious, tormenting, and repulsive diseases which attack the human frame. The power of sovereignty was conferred on Ahaziah, but the exercise of it was completely directed by his mother ; and, by consequence, all the unholy and idolatrous practices and customs characterising the preceding reign, continued to pre- vail ; and the closest alliance was formed between Israel and Judah. Jehoram, king of Israel, taking advantage of this fa- vourable circumstance, determined to recapture Ramoth- Gilead from the Syrians. This city, situated in the moun- tains of Gilead, was strong, and who ever possessed it could, without much difficuhy, give law to Israel. Jehoram and Ahaziah, with their combined forces, obtained possession of it ; but the former was wounded during the seige. Com muting the city to the care of Jehu, his ablest general, he re- turned to Jezreel. Jehu soon contrived to dethrone his mas- ter. Hewas joined by the chief officers of his army. Leav- ing a garrison in the city, they hastily marched to Jezreel, m ^ # CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 41 and put to a barbarous death the whole family of Ahab. Ahaziah, king of Judah, witnessed the scene, and fled. The party of Jehu pursued him, and though he escaped, yet he was fatally wounded, and died before he reached Megiddo, a city of Manasseh. He left only one son, named Jehoash, or Joash, seven years of age, who, in a few days, remained the last branch of the root of Jesse. No child was ever exposed to more violent or powerful ene- mies. Jehu certainly desired his death, for he appears to have aspired to the crown of Judah, as well as that of Israel. What other motive could have impelled him to attempt the murder of Ahaziah, and actually slay forty two of his princes? But the mother of the child was his ^lost dangerous and im- placable enemy. Athaliah probably believed that idolatry could never be permanently established, and the worship of the True God extirpated in Judah, while any one of the race of David lived. Her enmity to the True God, and her pas- sion for the idols of her native city, could only be appeased by the blood of her only son. It was most probably at her insti- gation, that her husband had drenched his hands in the blood of his brothers ; and he was no sooner dead than she mur- dered, as she supposed, all the "seed royal." But not less vain than wicked are the purposes which have for their object to subvert the counsels and invalidate the promises of the Al- mighty. Divine Providence saved Joash. His father's sister had secretly conveyed him to the temple, and she had ample means to conceal him in the sacred edifice ; for her husband, Jehoiada, was the high-priest. He was eminent for his know- ledge and reverence for God and his law ; and had the hap- piness of prevaihng on the child to submit himself to all the laws prescribed by Moses to direct the conduct of a king of the chosen people. Imagining that no one remained to claim the throne, Athaliah reigned six years, the patroness of idol- priests, the avowed enemy of the pure worship of God, the protector of her priest, in profaning the holy temple. Every preparation being secretly made to raise the child to the throne, it was only the voice of exultation of an emancipated people that warned Athaliah that her reign was finished, and her immediate death inevitable ; a solemn warning that as- surance of safety in a course of iniquity is delusion. While Jehoiada lived, Joash imitated the example of his most pious ancestors, and the nation prospered. But zeal for idol-worship was repressed, not extinguished. On the death of the high-priest, who had exercised all the functions of first 4* -^ 42 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND servant of the crown and chief counsellor of the sovereign, the chiefs of Judah persuaded Joash to restore idolatry, and persecute the faithful worshippers of God, 2 Chron. xxiv. 17, 18. His apostacy and extreme callousness of heart were aw- fully manifested by the murder of the faithful Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the preserver of the murderer. He and his sedu- cers were speedily punished. Hazael, the sanguinary king of Syria, desolated Israel, and invaded Judah with a small army, " destroyed all the princes, and seized their weahh." To prevent entire ruin, the king, who was suffering under grievous diseases, " took all the hallowed things that Jehosh- aphat and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, king-s of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lbrd, and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria : and he went away from Jerusalem." While Joash lay on his couch, his servants, by whose solicitations he had probably subverted all the reformation effected in his early days, in- stead of sympathising with his sorrow, put an end to his life. His son Amaziah, in his twenty-fifth year, ascended the throne. This prince, like his father, began his reign well, and received proof of the Divine approbation, by a signal vic- tory over the Idumeans. But he soon became unfaithful to Jehovah, and nothing prospered in his hand. Joash, the grandson of Jehu, king of Israel, defeated the army of Ama- ziah, took him prisoner, demolished part of the wall of Jeru- salem, and only liberated the king, and retired after " he had taken all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria." The ransomed king survived his disgrace fifteen years, but did nothing worthy of record, and his life was terminated inglo- riously by a band of traitors. He was succeeded by his justly renowned son, Azariah, better known by the name of Uzziah. This monarch acted worthy of an heir of David's throne. He was, however, more eminent in the arts of war, agricul- ture, and architecture, than in the practice of religion. He restored his kingdom to a very high rank in the East. God "^strengthened him exceedingly." His latter days were never- theless clouded ; for, probably, believing that his royal digni- ty was defective, without power of offering sacrifice, which heathen kings possessed, he presumptuously assumed the oflice of priest. This was a public violation of one of the first laws of the nation ; and conspicuous and humbling was the #- CAPnvnr or Israel. 43 punishment instantly inflicted by the supreme and invisible King. Uzziah was seized by incurable leprosy, and was shut up, all his future days, in a palace reared apart from society. His son and successor Jotham imitated his father's excel- lencies, and became mighty during a reign of sixteen years. Ahaz, his son, entered on his reign in apparently favourable circumstances ; the cities were multiplied and the fortifications strong. The people, however, continued to degenerate ; idola- trous rites were observed, and immorality prevailed. Ahaz conformed to the manners of the nation, and the storm of Di- vine vengeance seemed about to destroy the kingdom of Ju- dah. This was the avowed object of a league recently made between the kmgs of Israel and Syria. God had compassion on Judah from respect to the covenant made with their fathers. Their enemies in vain attempted the conquest of Jerusalem, but they inflicted dreadful calamities on the country. Ahaz, instead of renouncing superstition and licentiousness, and im- ploring pardon and assistance from the Lord, gave himself up to the most barbarous practices of idolatry, and procured the alliance of Assyria, at a vast expense, an^ substituted the symbols of Assyrian superstition for those Divinely estab- lished in the holy temple. Thus he demoralised his people, and weakened his kingdom, which was only saved from total destruction by the Divine mercy conferred on his son Heze- kiah. This pious prince ascended the throne of Judah about six years before the captivity of the Ten Tribes. He was suc- cessful in obtaining one of the most remarkable revivals of re- ligion which had been witnessed from the days of Joshua, and the strength of his kingdom was exceedingly increased by the multitudes among the Ten Tribes who were recon- ciled to Judah, and joined in the great festivals at Jerusalem. Hoshea, king of Israel, had evidently granted entire religious toleration, either from a secret love of the laws of Moses or entire indifference to idolatry. He not only permitted his people to go up to Jerusalem, but did not prevent the servants of Hezekiah from removing every relic of idolatry in several places in the kingdom of Israel; 2 Chron. xxx. 1, 10, 11 ; xxxi. 1. Hezekiah having restored order in Judah, exerted all his energies to procure the independence and maintain the honour of his kingdom. Being successful in recovering from the Philistines more than they had taken from Judah in the * 44 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND reign of his father, he declined to send the trihute which the king of Syria demanded ; but, threatened by Sennacherib the new king of Assyria, whose warlike powers were known and dreaded, he stripped the temple of its ornaments, and im- paired his treasury to pacify the indignant monarch. His submission was of no avail, and nothing remained but to for- tify Jerusalem and trust in Jehovah. He was encouraged thus to act by the faithful prophets, especially by Isaiah, and he was miraculously delivered. The overthrow of the As- syrians was complete, and no event in the history of the race of Israel more illustriously displayed that they were under the special protection of the supreme Ruler in heaven and eaith. After a reign of twenty-nine years, Hezekiah died, leaving a happy and prosperous people to the care of his son Manas- seh, who was only twelve years of age. This unhappy youth was most probably seduced, as Joash had been, by wicked counsellors. He became the most depraved of all the race of David, and the most cruel tyrant that ever occupied a throne. Enthusiastically devoted to idols, he sacrificed to them his family and the faithful worshippers of God, and filled Jerusalem with their blood. When he had reigned twenty-two years, his country was invaded by Esar-Haddon, who carried him captive to Babylon. Then Divine mercy visited him ; his humble and contrite prayers were heard, and he was liberated and restored to his throne. " From the greatest sinner he became the greatest penitent, and from the bloodiest tyrant one of the best of kings." He zealously pro- moted true religion and the welfare of his people ; he reigned fifty-five years, and was succeeded by his unworthy son Amon, who was killed by his chief officers. The citizens of Jerusa- lem inflicted on the conspirators just punishment, and raised his son Josiah to the throne. This prince was only eight years old when he began to reign, and in his twelfth year he appears to have actively engaged in the administration of his kingdom. But from his eighth year, (the year of his father's death,) he had feared and served the God of his fathers, and to honour him was evidently the principal object of his life. His grand- father's labours, in the last and happy period of his life, to subvert the idolatry he had spent his life to establish, were, it is most probable, comparatively fruitless ; for it is scarcely credible that, had he succeeded to persuade all ranks to re- nounce idolatry, they could have lapsed, during the short • # CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEI* 45 and eventful reign of his son Amon, into that frightful state of superstition and wickedness from which Josiah attempted to rescue them. In personal religion this prince appears to have excelled all his ancestors ; and in fidelity to Jehovah, whose deputy he was, he was equal, if not superior to his father David, "the man according to God's heart." He had his reward ; for Judah enjoyed profound peace and uninter- rupted prosperity till the thirty-first year of his reign. As- sisted by ministers animated by a kindred spirit, and en- couraged by the faithful prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah and the prophetess Huldah, Josiah was honoured to accom- plish a reformation the most perfect conceivable, to the utmost extent at least which human means and efforts could effect. Hence we may see the Divine propriety in making his name and work the subject of prediction in the days of Jeroboam, more than three hundred years before he was born ; 1 Kings xiii. 2. In his time Babylon and Egypt contended for the posses- sion of Syria, if not for universal empire. Egypt had been long celebrated ; and its present sovereign Necho was one of the most distinguished of its kings, as a warrior and con- queror. Babylon was ruled by an able prince, who had already extended his dominion over many countries. Prob- ably Judah had been tributary to his kingdom from the time of Manasseh. And, on this account, Josiah may have con- sidered it his duty and the interest of his country to oppose Necho. whpn ho i:r,\:cy^l fro:n Egypt to conquer Carche- mish, supposed to be the ancient Circesium and the modern Kirkesieh. This was a strongly fortified city on the Euphra- tes, and the defence of Syria on its eastern frontier. The most solemn assurances of Necho that he had no design of attacking Judah, were insufficient to induce Josiah to live in peace. He led his troops nor.tinst the Egyptians, was de- feated at Meijihb, ani luurtaiiy wounded. On reaching Jerusalem he died, exceedingly lamented by all his people ; and v/ith him vanished the last rays of the sun whose light had long cheered the house of David. It is plain from the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zepha- niah, that the reformation by Josiah was, in respect of the community in general, and especially of the chief men, merely external and superficial. In heart they remained the abject votaries of idolatry, and were only restrained by the authority and power of government from every species of immorality and impurity. Hence the king wa.s no sooner I 46 THE RISE, DECLINE, AND buried than the fountain of iniquity overflowed the land. A narchy, strife, and contention reigned ; and an unprinci- pled faction set aside the heir, and raised to the throne the younger brother, Jehoahaz, a young man after their own heart. He had reigned only three months when Necho, having captured Carchemish, returned through Syria, and summoned Jehoahaz to meet him in Hamath, where he made him prisoner, and intrusted the government to his elder brother Eliakim, whom he named Jehoiakim. This prince, bv accepting the dignity and the new name from the king of Egypt, confessed himself his tributary ; and as such, pre- sented him an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold, which he compelled the people to furnish. His brother was carried a chained captive into Egypt, where he died ; and Jehoiakim submitted to Egypt eight years. At that period he acknowledged the superiority of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the founder of the first of the four great empires of prophecy. Three years later he revolted from Babylon, probably at the suggestion of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar speedily conquered all the surrounding nations, the hered- itary enemies of Israel, and found them more than willing to join the Chaldeans and Syrians, to reduce Judah to slavery. The united army laid waste the whole land, took possession of Jerusalem, and threw the king in chains. Nebuchad- nezzar proposed to carry him to Babylon ; but according to Josephus, he was put to death, or died suddenly before the departure of the Babylonians, when they probably undesign- edly fulfilled the prediction by Jeremiah, that his body would be exposed to the beasts of the earth and the fowls of heaven, and buried in Jerusalem. The enemy spoiled the city and temple of all its riches, made captive above three thousand of the young nobles, most admired for their personal beauty and mental and phys- ical accomplishments, and appointed Jehoiachin, called also Coniah^ son of Jehoiakim, king, on condition of an annual tribute. Nebuchadnezzar adhered to this arrangement only three months. He returned to Jerusalem ; and was met on his approach by the king and his court. They were made prisoners, and the city was again sacked ; all were seized for slaves who were most distinguished for intelligence, or for knowledge of the most useful or ornamental arts ; the former were about ten thousand, and the latter one thousand These with the king and his ministers were removed to Babylon. The government was now committed by Nebu- I CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. "Hit chadnezzar to Mattaniah, whom he named Zedekiah, one of the sons of Josiah, and consequently uncle of Jehoiachin. This prince was certainly disposed to maintain his fidelity to Babylon, and to this he was strongly urged by Jeremiah the prophet, as indispensable to the permanence of the dynasty of David, and preservation of the nation from a slavery oi seventy years duration. But almost all whom the Icing chose for counsellors and companions were is^norant, proud, and self-sufficient. They boasted that they alone were true patriots, who sought the independence of Judah, and that they must prosper, for God would never suffer his holy city and temple to be destroyed. The prophet and all who reverenced God and trembled at his word, were regarded and treated as the traitors of their country. The king, if not wicked, was weak and irresolute ; and was at last seduced by the specious reasonings of his real or pretended friends, and the deceitful promises of the ambassadors from Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon ; Jer. xxvii. 3. They prevailed on him to enter into a league with them against Babylon. He declined sending the usual tribute; and in the ninth year of his reign, his land was again covered by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, who found the city strongly fortified ; and, notwithstanding his vast resources he had no alternative but to return, or, by a tedious siege, compel submission by famine or assault. For some time the besieged cherished the hope of aid from their allies. And their delusive expectations were, for a moment, flattered by the rumour of the approach of an army from Egypt. The Babylonians raised the siege, and marched to repel them ; but Pharaoh- Hophra, called also Apries, king of Egjpt, soon retired into his own kingdom, and the siege was renewed and prosecuted with vigour. It was commenced on the very day predicted by Ezekiel, who lived hundreds of miles dis- tant ; and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, in the ninth day of the fourth month, b. c. 588, the city was broken up, and the king and court arrested in their flight ; Ezek. xxiv 1,2; 2 Kings xxv 1—4.; Jer. lii. 4—7. Then fol- lowed the vengeance of the enraged conqueror ; and the fire of Divine jealousy and justice sent forth its flames on every side ; for the long-suffering of Jehovah had come to an end. The city was given up to pillage ; no compassion was shown for the rich or poor, the old or young, the mother or infant ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17 ; Psa. cxxxvii. 8, 9. Every thing val- Bable in the temple and city was seized ; and the whole set ^ THE RISE, DECLINE, AND on fire. All was one scene of desolation, carnage, and blood The royal family and the king's ministers were carried to Riblah, a strong city of Syria, in the district of Hamath, on the JToad to Mesopotamia. There they were condemned as rebels, and put to death. The greatest indignity was previ- ously inflicted on Zedekiah, by depriving him of sight, ac- cording to the prophetic warning which he had despised; Jer. lii. 8 — 11. The whole nation were reduced to slavery, and carried away into Babylon, with the exception of the poorest of the people, who were committed to the care of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch, his friend and companion in the service of the God of Israel. A number of all ranks seem to have escaped falling into the hands of the Babylonians. These fled to the neighbour- ing regions ; and after the departure of the Babylonians, a considerable company returned into the land under Ishmael, one of the princes of the royal race. All the admonitions of Jeremiah to submit to Babylon, as the just punishment of their sins, and all the suflferings endured in consequence of their disobedience to the Divine oracles by the prophet, had produced no salutary change on Ishmael and his party. Ima- gining that to him, in absence of the royal family, belonged the exclusive right to rule the people, he viewed with envy and indignation the exaltation of Gedaliah. Revenge raged in his bosom, and, by the most consummate. h3'^pocrisy, he deceived the pious and unsuspicious ruler. Invited by him to a feast, Ishmael and his party slaughtered Gedaliah, and all the Jews and Chaldeans who were his guests. By simi- lar duplicity he imposed on a large company assembled from various quarters to worship God with Gedaliah, in Mizpah. There he slew them, and cast their bodies into a large pit in the vicinity, Jer. xli. The king's daughters, and all the peo- ple remaining in the city, he carried away captive, and pro- ceeded to the country of the Ammonites. Pursued by one of the chiefs whom Gedaliah had appointed to rule over the va- rious districts, and by the captains of the forces left by the Chaldeans to protect the inhabitants, he was deserted by all, except eight men, who, with him, found safety with the king of Ammon. The poor Israelites, dreading that the Chaldeans would take vengeance on them for Ishmael's contempt of their sov- ereign's authority, left Mizpah, and halted at Chimham, near Bethlehem, purposing to proceed to Egypt. Jehovah, by Jer- emiah, declared that he would preserve them in their own -m « CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 49 land ; but that, if they entered Egypt, he would utterly de- stroy them. The leaders first pledged themselves to obey the word of the Lord ; but they soon lost courage, and basely accused the prophet of announcing falsehood in the name of God ; and persuaded the people, and even forced Jeremiah and all who believed his word, to follow them into Egypt The prophetic warning was speedily verified. Nebuchad- nezzar conquered the king of Egypt, slew multitudes, and carried still more into captivity. Among the latter, Josephus particularly mentions the Jews who sojourned in that country. Thus were fulfilled the many predictions of the captivity of the kingdom of Judah, and the complete desolation of the Holy L^nd. Seventy years it remained almost wholly uncul- tivated ; and nearly as long it was traversed at pleasure by the Arabs, or occupied by the enemies of its native pop- ulation. While, however, Jehovah executed justice on his chosen people, and made them drink the cup full of his holy jeal- ousy and fierce indignation, he showed great mercy to those of them who continued to fear his great and glorious name. These are usually denominated by the prophets, " the rem- nant ;" and are described as consisting chiefly of those who were carried captive at the times of the first invasions of Judah by the Babylonians, previously to the destruction of the city and temple. To this remnant all the Divine pro mises are addressed. While some of them were illustrious by their rank, or respected for their knowledge and wis- dom, they all appear to have excelled in moral excellence and enlightened aevotion ; and the names of some of them stand high in the register of the most eminent men who ever adorned their own nation, and these are, confessedly, the first in the world in relation to true religion. Such were Ezekiel, Daniel, and his companions. During the captivity, others, admired for every excellence, were raised up to invigorate the faith, confirm the hope, and cherish the devotion of their feeble-minded brethren. These were the associates or genu- ine successors of " the remnant," beloved by the God of their fathers. Though nominally slaves, yet their influence was almost boundless over those who considered themselves their masters and proprietors. This is obvious to all who have attentively perused their history. But who can con- ceive the power which they must have had over the opinions and conduct of their own brethren, who were less esteemed, and many of them, doubtless, exceedingly oppressed by tyran- VOL. I. ? dO THE RISE, DECLINE, AND CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. nical masters or rulers ? To this may most probably be as- cribed, in a great degree, the marvellous change on the Jews, from the time of their exile, in respect of idolatry. The zeal for the worship of the True God, and abhorrence of idol and image-worship, exemplified by the Jews, who were honoured in the Babylonian and Persian courts, became uni- versal and most prominent traits in the character of all the Jews. In every place of their exile, they publicly turned from idols to serve the Living and True God. That the Babylo- nians were struck with the pathos and fervour of their devo- tion, seems plain from their urgent request to be entertained by their songs. But it is not probable that, enthusiastic vota- ries as they were to their idols, they did not often persecute the Jews on account of their religion. But it is possible that the Jews were permitted to worship God according to their own laws after the exaltation of Daniel, and the miracles wrought for his deliverance, and that of his faithful associates. Indeed it would seem that the first e5ciles were not treated as slaves, but rather as colonists, subjected in general to the laws of the empire, but allowed to retain the forms and customs of social life, which characterised their nation. This opinion is countenanced by the notice of Ezekiel assembling around him the elders of the colony settled on the banks of the Chebar. Other communities of the Jews may have been so favoured, through the influence of their honoured brethren in the me- tropolis, that they may have exhibited in the land of their ex- ile their religion, and the mode of social life to which they had been accustomed from age to age. That, however, they were exposed occasionally, in some places, to the most cruel and insulting treatment, no one can doubt, who regards the book of "the Lamentations of Jeremiah" as an inspired re- cord. Divine mercy sustained them, and, at the proper time, heard their groans and prayers, and sent them an unexpected, long desired, and great deliverance, by the agency of Cyrus, according to the word proclaimed by Isaiah, many genera- tions before the birth of the conqueror. CHAPTER III. STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. No events in the history of the true religion, from the times of David, king of Israel, to the final dispersion of that people, were of more importance than their captivity in Babylon and their restoration to their own land. The former was the darkest night that had ever descended on the true worship- pers of God, and threatened to extinguish their brightest hopes for time and eternity ; the latter threw an effulgence of light on all the great and precious promises of salvation to all na- tions, and exposed to their full view the solid and stable foun- dations of their faith and hope in Him whom they fervently loved and earnestly expected. And hence may be discerned the Divine propriety in the conspicuous and extensive place given in the prophecies to the captivity and restoration of Is- rael. These events were repeatedly predicted by Moses and all the prophets. When the impenitence and unbelief of the chosen people rendered their exile inevitable, and hastened on that awful calamity, God showed his wisdom and rich mercy to his faithful ones by announcing to them the precise duration of their sufferings, and imparting to them numerous promises of deliverance. Jeremiah was commissioned to de- clare that the captivity would terminate at the expiry of '•' seventy years ;" and to express strongly his beliei in the truth of the prophetic word, he obeyed the Divine command to purchase a portion of the land which was to be immediately seized by strangers. By comparing his predictions with the registers of the Persian court, Daniel, in answer to prayer, was enabled to ascertain that his people were assuredly to be restored about the time of Darius the Mede ; and the accuracy of his knowledge was speedily confirmed ; for in less than two years Cyrus granted to all Israel liberty to return to the Holy Land, and to build Jerusalem and the temple. By con- sequence the beginning of the captivity must have been about #. 52 STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE seventy years earlier than that period. And this number of years, according to the computation of the most learned chro- nologists, exactly corresponds with the interval which elapsed from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when all the Jews, who were eminent for rank, talents, or usefulness, were carried away to Babylon, until the first year of Cyrus. By some writers, however, the "seventy years" are calculated from the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the dedica- tion of the second temple, finished by Nehemiah ; the interval between which comprised neither more nor less than the num- ber of years fixed by prophecy. Those who can appreciate a narrative of the trials and difficuhies, encouragements and final success of Israel, in their labours to re-organize and establish their nation, will find it in the books of Ezra, Ne- hemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah. Their records, equally in- imitable for their simplicity and truth, never fail to produce a delightful, salutary, and lasting impression on every enlight- ened and candid mind. It would be foreign to our object to insert them entire ; a particular enumeration of the facts which they contain would, most probably, impart little pleasure to the reader of this work. We shall merely advert to the state of the Jews in the time of Nehemiah. Malachi, the last inspired writer of the Old Testament, wrote after the restoration of the temple, for he distinctly re- fers to its service. While he ministered, the Jews had a gov- ernor, and consequently he must have been contemporary with Nehemiah, the last governor of the city, and the chief instrument in restoring the original constitution of Moses. He was governor many years, and most zealously and disin- terestedly promoted the welfare of the people. He imposed on them no tribute, at least for his own support ; and, from the liberal grants of Artaxerxes Longimanus, the then king of Persia, to him, and Ezra his predecessor in oflice, for the restoration of the city and temple, and its service, the tribute, if any was required by Persia, must have been trifling. This monarch was distinguished, during his long reign of more than forty years, by his patronage of the Jews in their own land, and in every part of the empire ; a remarkable circum stance, which some ascribe to the influence of Esther the Jewess, whom they suppose to have been his wife. It is, however, more certain that he authorised Nehemiah to re- establish the entire laws of Moses, and to call in the power of the Persian governors of all the districts west of the Euphrates, I m IlEION OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMLANUS. 53 to protect and assist him in the important work which he was appointed to perform. Under Nenemiah's government the daily services of the temple and the great festivals were observed according to the law ; the Aaronic priesthood and several orders of the Le- vites and Nethinims were established, and the separation of the people from all unholy alliances was effected. Some have indeed supposed that, in declaring the marriage of Israelites with idolaters invalid, Nehemiah and Ezra car- ried their national reformation beyond the* constitution of Mo- ses, and in support of their opinion, they appeal to the conduct of Joseph, Samson, Solomon and Esther : it is, however, far more probable that their examples were contrary to the spirit of the law than that Nehemiah and Ezra misinterpreted that law. They were supernaturally guided in their ministerial labours, and their whole conduct demonstrated their accurate knowledge and supreme reverence for the law. How fully persuaded they were that God had prohibited his peo- ple from marrying not orAj the descendants of Canaan, but also the Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians, is plain from Ezra ix. 1 ; Neh. xiii. 23. And the reasons which these ven- erable instructors urged to induce Israel to put away the wives whom they had taken from these people, lest they should tempt them to idolatry, will apply with equal force to every idolatrous nation. If we believe that Israel were chosen out of the nations to witness for God, we can scarcely doubt that it was unlawful for them to intermarry with any idolatrous nation. It will be perhaps difficuh to con- ceive them placing themselves under stronger temptations to worship idols, than by choosing wives indiscriminately from among the heathen nations, those only excepted whom they were commanded to extirpate. Indeed, had they not been exceedingly prone to form conjugal as well as political alli- ances with idolaters, a new law on this subject was scarcely necessary, after what was written. Gen. vi. 2, 3, for it is ob- vious from this passage that the first great degeneracy from the true religion originated in the worshippers of God uniting by marriage v^dth idolatrous families. With such an awful example before his eyes, no man living in the fear of God. and desirous to keep himself from idols, would have ventured to choose an idolater for his wife ; for he must have seen that by such conduct he would expose himself to the strongest temptation to depart from the living and true God. But the law delivered. Exod. xxxiv. 16 ; Deut. vii. 3. was sufficient to 6* »- ^4 STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE guide Israel on the subject ; for the most powerful argument enforcing obedience applied to all idolaters equally with the Canaanites : " Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. For they will turn away thy sons from following me^ that they may serve other gods ; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly." It, how- ever, merits notice, that the Israelites might, without trans- gressing the law, marry heathens, Canaanites not excepted, if they were converted to the true religion ; for religious pros- elytes were incorpqrated with the Jews, not in their civil, but religious capacity : one law was common to the stranger and the home-born. By attention to this principle, we are enabled to account for a prince of Judah, in the best days of the Jew- ish nation, marrying Rahab the harlot, a Canaanite ; and for the venerable Boaz choosing Ruth the Moabite for the wife of his bosom. In respect of Moses, there is strong reason to believe that Zipporah was a religious woman : her father, a prince of Midian, and his family, appear to have been be- lievers, worshippers of the God of Israel, Exod. xviii. 9 — 12. As to Joseph, if we attentively consider his whole conduct, — his zealous regard to personal religion, and his care to pre- serve Israel separate from the idolatrous Egyptians — influ- enced by Christian love, ( 1 Cor. xiii. 5 — 7,) we shall feel dis- posed to conclude that his wife and family were religious proselytes. If the prince of Midian was converted, why not the prince of On ; Joseph was not less disposed to speak for his God than Moses, and the grace of God is rich and free. Many of the Egyptians, a " mixed multitude/' were Jewish proselytes ; by faitn they and Israel passed through the Red Sea, which the idolatrous Egyptians essaying to do, were drowned. Nehemiah appears not to have been much more successful in his ministry than Elijah, Hezekiah, Josiah, and other holy men, who had also attempted to reform Israel. Those who first returned from Babylon were probably in general the most religious of the nation ; and hence Nehemiah, perhaps, was encouraged by them in his work. And it is manifest that he effected a more complete reformation than any pre- ceding reformer. The form of the constitution was completely restored ; but many most imperfectly conformed to it, and not a few others presumptuously violated its generous spirit, and transgressed its most important laws. Though by words and solemn swearing they adopted the form of godliness, yet in practice they renounced its power. Thus they fulfilled the # REION OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANT7S. SS predictions of Moses and the prophets, that the nation would in all ages show themselves a disobedient and obstinate peo- ple. After the captivity, they never relapsed into idol or imag-e worship, the predominant great sin of their ancestors ; and thus they fulfilled another prediction, that the restored from Babylon would be ashamed of their idols : Hos. ii. 4. But according as they multiplied and prospered, they became selfish, sensual, and hypocritical. Being destitute of the love of God, they offered to him in sacrifice animals which they could neither sell nor eat. Conjugal infidelity was not deemed by them a crime, and those who had power or influ- ence, oppressed and crushed the poor ; Mai. i. ii. True religion, however, flourished among a few. They feared Jehovah, unfeignedly loved one another, were accus- tomed to contemplate the nature, perfections, and doings of their God, and frequently associated together for religious con- versation and worship ; Mai. iii. 16. Thus the Israelites of the age of Nehemiah, as a nation, in regard to religion, re- sembled their ancestors in all preceding ages. The majority were unbelievers, hypocrites, or apostates ; and the minority walked in the steps of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have no decided evidence that prophets were success- ively raised up in future as in former generations, to instruct, warn, reprove, and comfort them. It is generally believed that from Malachi to the times of John the Baptist, the Divine Spirit inspired no one in Israel. This, however, seems im- probable, when we observe. than God announces that he would still manifest himself to be their king, by supernatural events. Of this we have ample evidence in the writings of Haggai and Zechariah ; and it is fully implied in the address of Jehovah by Malachi : — " Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat m mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will re- buke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vme cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed ; for ye shall be a delight- some land, saith the Lord of hosts." And had they not been familiar with supernatural communications, it is not easy to account for the ready conjecture of the people on the occasion of Zecharias' silence on coming out of the temple, that he # - a 66 STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE had " seen a vision." But such communications may have been chiefly, if not exclusively, continued through the agency of the high-priests. To their exalted office was attached the privilege of consulting or inquiring for the people what was the mind of the Lord respecting them in cases of great emer- gency, doubt, perplexity, and distress. The answer was re- ceived by the instrumentality of the Urim and Thumraim. Perhaps some may infer, that with the loss of this the high- prifest lost also the privilege of revealing the mind of the Lord after the captivity ; but as the privilege seems to have been enjoyed by the chiefs of the chosen race of the Sethites, who were the chief priests from the beginning till the consecration of Aaron, it may have been continued with his successors after the restoration from Babylon. And it is only on this supposition that we can perceive the propriety of the interpre- tation of the declaration of Caiaphas to the Jewish council : — " It is expedient," he said, " that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." This is considered by John, a prediction and he informs us that Caiaphas was in- spired to utter it, not because he was, by office, a prophet, or even understood the full import of his words, but because he was high-priest that year, John xi. 51. Hence, we appre- hend, that John believed that the gift of predicting future events, or of revealing the secret designs of the Almighty, was inseparable from the office of high-priest. Brief are the notices of the peculiar services of the high-priest after the days of the prophets. The most remarkable instance of any of them receiving supernatural instruction is that which we shall have to record of the high-priest Jaddua, in the time of Alex- ander the Great. The chief ministers of Jehovah, the supreme King, accord- ing to the original form of government, were Moses, his suc- cessors the judges and kings, and the high-priests ; and the inferior ministers were the elders, or heads of the tribes and of families. This form of government was probably restored by Ezra. Seventy elders were chosen in the wilderness to assist Moses ; and the Jews assert that these had successors, who constituted what they call the Sanhedrim, or great coun- cil of the nation, who, with the supreme civil ruler and high- priest, judged all cases of difficulty. Of the existence of this council we, however, discern no distinct trace in the history of the Jews, from the days of Moses till the times of the Mac- cabees ; but from that period it became the supreme court of the nation. That Nehemiah or the high-priest, in imitation m- REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 57 of Moses, occasionally assembled the chiefs of the nation to assist them in the government, we have no reason to doubt ; and this may have given rise to the Sanhedrim. The high- priest, or his deputy, was the president ; and the members were chosen from the priests, chiefs of tribes or families, and from the scribes, or those esteemed for their learning. This council usually met in a hall built partly within and partly without the temple, from which edifice it was excluded by the Romans when they deprived the council of the power of life and death, about three years before the death of Jesus Christ. After this we observe the Sanhedrim assembled in the palace of the high-priest. Appeals from the lower courts, and "other weighty matters, were brought before this tribunal. Among other questions of importance, subject to its decision, the Tal- mudists include the inquiry, ' Whether a person be a false prophet or not ?' Comp. Luke xiii. 33. Its power had been limited in the time of Christ by the interference of the Ro- mans. It was still, however, in the habit of sending its legates or messengers to the synagogues in foreign countries, (Acts ix. 2.) and retained the right of passing the sentence of con- demnation, or, what is similar in effect, of decreeing punish- ment in cases where there was proof of criminality ; but the power of executing the sentence, when passed, was taken from it, and lodged with the Roman procurators, John xviii. 31. There was one exception, it is true, during the procuratorship of Pilate, and only one ; for he permitted the Sanhedrim them- selves, in the case of Christ, to see the sentence of which they had been the authors, put in execution, John xviii. 3 1 ; xix, 6. The stoning of Stephen was not done by the authority of the Sanhedrim, but in a riot, (Acts vii.) James, the brother of John, (Acts xii, 2,) was slain in consequence of a sentence to that effect from king Herod Agrippa. The high-priest Ananus did indeed condemn James, the brother of Jesus, (i. e. relation or cousin,) to be stoned, and others likewise ; but it was done when the procurator was absent, and was disap- proved by the Jews themselves." The first rational, or what may be justly named a liberal constitution, conferred on any nation, we have sufficient rea- son to assert, was that delivered by Moses to Israel. He placed them under just and equitable laws, clearly announced to all, and ordained that all should be taught to know them. The oriental governments were generally despotic, the will of the sovereign was the law, and the law of to-day might be set aside to-morrow ; and in what were accounted free states, # 58 STATE OF THE JEWS m THE such as those of Greece, the multitude were slaves, and re- quired to submit to laws which were framed not for their bene- fit but for that of their masters. The rulers of Israel were not properly legislators : their sole duty was to govern and judge according to institutes, which they were bound not less than the other members of the community to obey. And the legis- lator had delivered the most solemn injunctions, that all ranks and ages should acquire an accurate knowledge of all the laws, and cherish a sacred regard for them, as the revealed will of their God, Sovereign, and Judge. A whole tribe were consecrated to teach and explain them ; and a similar office was assigned to all parents in relation to their children. This supposes that the entire community were to be taught to read and understand the law. That Moses neglected no ap- propriate means to diffuse this species of knowledge among all the tribes, we may be assured, when we reflect on his fidelity to the Lord, and his love for his people. To what ex- tent he was imitated by the rulers who succeeded him, we have no means of ascertaining, for the subject is seldom re- ferred to in the Scriptures. That the people in future ages remembered not his en- treaties to cultivate knowledge of their national constitution, is obvious from their history. Their indifference may have roused the prophets to devise and execute plans to dispel the moral darkness which surrounded them. One of these was the institution of schools or colleges, which were probably open to all who aspired to be instructors of the people. Jeho- shaphat, king of Judah, adopted a scheme still more calculated perhaps, to enlighten all the people. He appointed a number of the sacred order, and of the most learned of the chiefs and rulers, to go over the whole country, and teach all classes. And the prophets and most religious persons appear, during the captivity, to have assembled the people for religious in- struction and devotional exercises. These assemblies proba- bly originated the synagogues. They may have been estab- lished as early as Nehemiah, if not before his time. How solicitous he and Ezra, and other eminent persons were to promote the knowledge of the law among the people, every one perceives who knows the sacred writings. We know not the precise time that synagogues were instituted ; but the apostle speaks of them as ancient, and very numerous : " For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day " While, from the erection of. the temple of Solomon, sacrifice REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 69 and the offering of incense, the principal rites of public wor- ship, could only be lawfully observed at the temple, Israel might attend in any place to all the other services of religion. The places at first selected for their public meetings were probably under shades of trees, particularly near the banks of rivers and streams. These were named proseuchae, ora- tories, or retired spots, usually resorted to by the pious for private and social worship ; and to these, probably, reference is made in Psal. cxxxvii. 1 — 3 ; Acts xvi. 13. Edifices, called synagogues, Josephus says, were early raised by the Jews in foreign countries; but not in Judea till the age of the Maccabees. Their name, signifying an assembly, was de- rived from the object to which they were appropriated. The following extract may suffice for a description of them drawn from the Jewish writings. They " could only be erected in those places where ten men of age, learning, piety, and easy circumstances could be found to attend to the service which was enjoined in them. Large towns had several synagogues ; and soon after the captivity, their utility became so obvious, that they were scattered over the land, and became the parish churches of the Jewish nation. Their number appears to have been very considerable ; and when the erection of a synagogue was considered as a mark of piety, (Luke vii. 5,) or gratitude to heaven, we need not be surprised to hear that they muhiplied beyond all necessity, so that in Jerusalem alone there were not fewer than 460 or 480. They were generally built on the most elevated ground, and consisted of two parts. The one on the most westerly part of the build- ing contained the ark or chest, in which the book of the law and the sections of the prophets were deposited, and was called the temple by way of eminence. The other, in which the congregation assembled, was termed the body of the church. The people sat with their faces towards the temple, and the elders in the contrary direction, and opposite to the people ; the space between them being occupied by the pulpit or reading desk. The seats of the elders were considered as more holy than the others, and are spbken of as ' the chief seats in the synagogue,' Matt, xxiii. 6. The stated office- bearers in every synagogue were ten, though in rank they were but six. Their names and duties are given by Light- foot, to whom the reader is referred. But we must notice the Archisynagogos, or ruler of the synagogue, who regulated all its concerns, and granted permission to preach. Of these there were three in each synagogue. Dr. Lightfoot believes 60 '^ "feft'ol'^^S?^ii% IN THE ^ them to have possessed a civil power, and to have constituted the lowest civil tribunal, commonly known as ' the council of three,' whose office it was to decide the differences that arose between any members of the synagogue, and to judge of money matters, thefts, losses, &C. To these Officers there is probably an allusion in I Cor. vi. 6. The second office- bearer was ' the angel of the church,' or minister of the con- gregation, who prayed and preached. In allusion to these the pastors of the Asiatic churches are called angels^ Rev. ii. iii. The service of the synagogue was as follows : — The people being seated, the minister, or angel of the church, ascended the pulpit, and offered up the public prayers, the people rising from their seats, and standing in a posture of deep devotion, Matt vi. 5 ; Mark xi. 25 ; Luke xviii. 11, 13. The prayers were nineteen in number, and were closed by reading the execration. The next thing was the repetition of their phy- lacteries ; after which came the reading of the law and the prophets. The former was divided into 54 sections, with which were united corresponding portions from the prophets ; (see Acts xv. 21 ; xiii. 27.) and these were read through once in the course of the year. After the return from the captivity, an interpreter was employed in reading the law and the prophets, (see Neh. viii. 2 — 10,) who interpreted them into the Syro-Chaldaic dialect, which was then spoken by the people. The last part of the service was the expounding of the Scriptures, and preaching from them to the people. This was done either by one of the officers, or by some dis- tinguished person who happened to be present. The reader will recollect one memorable occasion on which our Saviour availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded to address his countrymen, (Luke iv. 20.) and there are several other instances recorded of himself and his disciples teaching in the synagogues. See Matt. xiii. 54; Mark vi. 2; John xviii. 20; Acts xiii. 5, 15, 44; xiv. 1; xvii. 2—4, 10—12, 17; xviii. 4, 25 ; xix. 8. The whole service was concluded with a short prayer, or benediction. The Jewish synagogues were not only used for the purpose of divine worship, but also for courts of judicature, in such matters as fell under the cognizance of the ' council of three,' of which we have al- ready spoken. On such occasions the sentence given against the offender was sometimes carried into effect in the place where the council was assembled. Hence we read of per- sons being beaten in the synagogue^ and scourged in the synor gogue^ Matt. x. 17 ; Mark xiii. 9." [t REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANXJS. 61 In later times, the Greek or Alexandrine version was read in the synagogues of the Hellenists, or Jews and Proselytes, who spoke the language of Greece; and this version was long highly esteemed by the Talmudists, till they observed that Christians appealed to it in their controversies with their nation. The doxologies and prayers were also anciently re- peated in the language spoken by the worshippers. The entire structure of the political, civil, and religious polity of Israel was founded on the sacred writings. These were therefore inexpressibly precious to every genuine patriot in all ages ; but their value was much enhanced to the pious after their exile. From the inspired records issued the only rays of hope which cheered and animated them during the long and dark night of their captivity ; and by these were their steps directed, and their strength augmented in their course, after the dawn of their deliverance broke on their wondering eyes. How unfeigned and ardent was their love for the laws, promises, and predictions which God had com- municated to their fathers, may be easily discerned by every attentive reader of the sacred books written during and very early after the captivity. The authors repeatedly appeal to " the law of Moses," as the rule for regulating all the affairs of their nations, and confess and deplore their disobedience to the oracles and instructions of the prophets as the principal cause of all the calamities which they had endured. Can we then doubt that the restored Jews possessed copies of the writ- ings which hrA V.^rn received as inspired by their faithful kings, piiests, and prophets? The second book of Esdras, among the many proofs of its apocryphal and fabulous charac- ter, makes Ezra to assert that the law had been burnt, and that the Holy Ghost would enable him to write it anew, and all things that had been done since the beginning of the world ; and this opinion was entertaii< >d by some of the Christian fathers. It is. however, in Jiiect opposition to repeated de- clarations in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, that they re- established the worship of God according to " the law of Moses, the man of God," and as it was " written in the book of Moses." That these eminent men, and the contemporary prophets, in imitation of the inspired men of former genera- tions, augmented the sacred writings, we may readily believe. Nor is the tradition improbable that Ezra, with their appro- bation, collated a number of copies, in order to present the nation with a perfect copy of all the inspired writings down to his time. For this work he was fully qualified by the con- VOL. I. 6 ^ 62 STATE OP THE JEWS IN THE siimmate knowledge of these writings, by which we find him distinguished above all his contemporaries, and still more by' the spirit of prophecy which we know rested on him. To say with some that the Sacred Scriptures which are in our hands are of no greater antiquity than Ezra, betrays extreme ignorance of the subjects and style of them. What pretended miracle on record may not be credited sooner than the opinion that Ezra, or any one man of his or any future age, composed the books of Moses, the sacred historical writings, and the prophets ? The respective books carry indelible marks of their authenticity and genuineness, as has been in general in- controvertibly proved by not a few learned men ; and, indeed, they all contain internal evidence that they belong to the dif- ferent ages in which they indicate that they were written. A number of explanatory phrases and words occur in some of the most ancient books, which were expedient to enable readers in the later ages of the Jews to understand the record ; and these Ezra was most likely to add, from the strong desire which it is manifest he felt to put his people in possession of Divine knowledge. Thus, for example, to the ancient Laish is given its later known name Dan, Gen. xiv. 14 ; and de- scriptive narrations often conclude with the phrase, "unto this day." Interpolations of a similar nature frequently occur as in Gen. xxxvi. 31, Deut. iii. 11, Prov. xxv. I. With the exception of a few names in the genealogical lists, the probability is strong that during Nehemiah's ministration, before the death of inspired men, the canon of the Old Testa- ment was perfected by Ezra, who is said to have lived to the age of one hundred and twenty years. He divided it, tradi- tion says, into three parts ; the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa or holy writings. To this division our Lord is believed to allude in Luke xxiv. 44, and it is noticed and ex- plained by Josephus ; for in his first book against Apion, he remarks, " We have only two and twenty books which are to be believed as of divine authority, of which five are the books of Moses. From the death of Moses to the reign of Arta- xerxes, king of Persia, the prophets, who were the successors of Moses, have written in 1 3 books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and documents of life for the use of men." In which division, according to him, the law contains, I Genesis, 2 Exodus, 3 Leviticus, 4 Numbers, 5 Deuteronomy: the writings of the prophets, 1 Joshua, 2 Judges and Ruth, 3 Samuel, 4 Kings, 5 Isaiah, 6 Jeremiah, with his Lamentations, 7 Ezekiel, 8 Daniel, 9 the twelve #= REIGN OP AB.TAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 63 minor prophets, 10 Job, 11 Ezra, 12 Nehemiah, 13 Esther: and the Hagiographa, 1 the Psalms, 2 the Proverbs, 3 Eccle- siastes, 4 the Songs of Solomon ; which altogether make 22 books. " This division," Prideaux observes, " was made for the sake of reducing the books to the number of their alphabet, in which are 22 letters. But at present they reckon these books to be 24, and dispose of them in this order, 1st, the law, which contains, 1 Genesis, 2 Exodus, 3 Leviticus, 4 Numbers, 5 Deuteronomy ; 2ndly, the writings of the prophets, which they divide into the former prophets and the latter prophets ; the books of the former prophets are, 6 Joshua, 7 Judges, 8 Samuel, 9 Kings ; and the books of the latter prophets are, 10 Isaiah, 11 Jeremiah, 12 Ezekiel, and 13 the twelve minor prophets ; 3rdly, the Hagiographa, which are, 14 the Psahns, 15 the Proverbs, 16 Job, 17 the Song of Solomon, which they call the Song of Songs, 18 Ruth, 19 the Lamentations, 20 Ecclesiastes, 2 1 Esther, 22 Daniel, 23 Ezra, and 24 the Chron- icles. Under the name of Ezra, they comprehend the book of Nehemiah, for the Hebrews, and also the Greeks, anciently reckoned Ezra and Nehemiah but as one book. But this order hath not been always observed among the Jews, neither IS it so now in all places ; for there hath been great variety as to this, and that not only among the Jews, but also among the Christians, as well Greeks as Latins. But no variation herein is of any moment ; for in what order soever the books are placed, they are still the word of God, and no change as to this can make any change in that divine authority which is stamped upon them." The same intelligent writer adds, that " The five books of the law are divided into 54 sections. This division many of the Jews hold to be one of the constitutions of Moses from Mount Sinai ; but others, with more likelihood of truth, attribute it to Ezra. It was made for the use of their synagogues, and the better instructing of the people there in law of God ; for every sabbath day one of these sections was read in their synagogues ; and this, we are assured in the Acts of the Apostles, was done amongst them of old time, which may well be interpreted from the time of Ezra. They ended the last section with the last words of Deuteronomy on the sabbath of the feast of tabernacles, and then begun anew with the first section, from the beginning of Genesis, the next sabbath after, and so went round in this circle every year. The number of these sections was 54, because, in their inter- calated years (a month being then added) there were 54 sab- baths. On other years they reduced them to the number of m 64 ^'* STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE the sabbaths which were in those years, by joining two short ones several times into one ; for they held themselves obliged to have the whole law thus read over in their synagogues every year. Till the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, they read only the law ; but then being forbid to read it any more, in the room of the 54 sections of the law, they substituted 54 sections out of the prophets, the reading of which they ever after continued. So that, when the read- ing of the law was again restored by the Maccabees, the sec- tion which was read every sabbath outof the law served for their first lesson, and the section out of the prophets for their second lesson, and so it was practised in the time of the Apos- tles. And therefore, when Paul entered into the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, it is said that 'he stood up to preach, after the reading of the law and the prophets ;' that is, after the reading of the first lesson out of the law, and the second lesson out of the prophets. And in that very sermon which he then preached, he tells them, ' that the prophets were read at Jerusalem every sabbath-day,' that is, in those lessons which were taken out of the prophets. These sections were divided into verses, which the Jev^^s call pesukim. They are marked out in the Hebrew bibles by two great points at the end of them, called from hence soph-pasuk, i.e. the end of the verse. If Ezra himself was not the author of this division (as most say,) it was not long after him that it was introduced ; for cer- tainly it is very ancient. It is most likely it was invented for the sake of the Targumists or Chaldee interpreters. For, after the Hebrew language had ceased to be the mother tongue of the Jews, and the Chaldee grew up into use amongst them instead of it, (as was the case after their return from the. Baby- lonish captivity,) their usage was, that, in the public reading of the law to the people, it was read to them, first in the original Hebrew, and after that rendered by an interpreter into the Chaldee language, that so all might fully understand the same. And this was done period by period ; and therefore, that these periods might be the better distinguished, and th*e reader more certainly know how much to read at every in- terval, and the interpreter how much to interpret at every in- terval, there was a necessity that some marks should be in- vented for their direction herein. The rule given in their ancient books is, that in the law the reader was to read one verse, and then the interpreter was to render the same into the Chaldee ; but that in the prophets the reader was to read hree verses together, and then the interpreter to render the -m ®= REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANTJS. " 65 same three verses into Chaldee in the same manner ; which manifestly proves that the division of the Scriptures into verses must be as ancient as the way of interpreting them into the Chaldee language in their synagogues ; which was from the very time that synagogues were erected, and the scriptures publicly read in them after the Babylonish captivity." The division into verses was common to the Greeks and Romans, and it may have been adopted from them by the Jews after the times of Ezra. The present division of the Psalms is obviously of ancient date ; for the Apostles observe it, as in Acts xiii. 13. But the dividing of the Scriptures into chapters is a modern invention, ascrib^ to Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, who died about 1262. He wrote a commentary on the whole Scriptures, and the first concordance of them adapted for the Vulgate. Prideaux adduces strong reasons in support of the opinion that the whole Scriptures were transcribed by Ezra in the Chaldee character ; " for that having now grown wholly into use among the people after the Babylonish captivity, he changed the old Hebrew character for it, which hath since that time been retained only by the Samaritans, among whom it is preserved even to this day. This was the old Phenician character, from which the Greeks borrowed theirs. And the old Ionian alphabet bears some similitude to it, as Scaliger shows in his notes upon Eusebius's Chronicon. In this Moses and the prophets recorded the sacred oracles of God, and in this the finger of God himself wrote the ten com- mandments in the two tables of stone. There are some, I acknowledge, who strenuously contend for the antiquity of the present Hebrew letters, as if they, and none other, had always been the sacred character in which the holy scriptures were written ; and the Samaritan was never in use for tnis purpose but only among the Samaritans, who, in opposition (say they) to the Jews, on the rise of that enmity which was between them, wrote out the law of Moses (which is the only scripture they receive) in this character different from them. Were we to judge of sacred things by their external beauty, we should concur with this opinion, for the Chaldee character is one of the beautifulest, and the Samaritan the uncouthest, and the most incapable of caligraphy of all that have been used among the different nations of the world. But the opinion of the most learned men, and upon good grounds, is on the other side ; for there are many old Jewish shekels still in being, and others of the same sort are frequently dug up in 6* m- 66 STATE or THE JEWS IN THE Judea, with this inscription on them in Samaritan letters, Jerusalem Kedosha, i. e. Jerusalem the holy ; which inscrip- tion shows that they could not be the coin either of the Israel- ites of the Ten Tribes, or of the Samaritans who afterwards succeeded them in their land ; for neither of them would have put the name of Jerusalem upon their coin, or ever have called It the holy city. These pieces therefore must' have been the coin of those of the two tribes before the captivity ; and this proves the Samaritan character to be that which was then in use among them. And it cannot be said that these shekels are counterfeited by modern hands, for Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman tells us of several which he met with in his time which had this inscription upon them in Samaritan letters, who lived above 500 years since. And therefore it must fol- low that the present Hebrew character was introduced among the Jews after the Babylonish captivity ; and the general tes- timony of the ancients is, that it was Ezra that did first put the holy scriptures into it, on the review which he made of them on his coming to Jerusalem. Eusebius, in his Chroni- con, tells us so, and St. Jerome doth the same, and so do also both the Talmuds ; and the generality of learned men, as well among the Jews as Christians, hold to this opinion. Capellus hath written a tract for it, and Buxtorf, the son, ano- ther against it ; they who shall think fit to read them will see all that can be said on either side : but I think the argument which is brought from the shekels cannot be answered." To Ezra was also ascribed the introduction of the Hebrew points ; but the learned generally regard them as the work of comparatively modern Jews ; and that they are of no other use than to intimate the sense in which the original authors understood the Sacred Writings. It is remarkable that the Pentateuch used by the Jews has always been without points, which certainly is enough to excite strong suspicion that they were unknown to the great reformers of the Jewish nation. These eminent men, one of the most prominent charac- teristics of whom was burning zeal for the law of Jehovah, doubtless made provision for the diffusing of the knowledge of that law. And nothing was more essential to this than the multiplying of copies of it, that it might find its place in every family. A class of priests appear to have always existed in the nation. These were denominated Scribes, and must have been numerous almost at all times ; for various duties were imposed on them. Some of them were secretaries to the kings and great men, and others were employed in the forma- REIGN OF ARTAXERXE8 L0NGIMANTJ8. 67 tion and care of the genealogies of the families, and the enumeration of all the men above twenty, and under sixty years old, who were liable to be called to serve in the army. Others, besides being appointed to guard the purity, and sup- ply copies of the sacred writings, were expected to explain their meaning to the people. The Scribes are often men- tioned from the times of the Judges to the last age of the Jews. Among those of them wholly devoted to religious affairs in the time of the re-estabhshment of the nation, Ezra was evi- dently the most esteemed and honoured. This class greatly increased in his day, or soon after, under the name of Maso- rites. This name, most probably, belongs to a future age ; for it is derived from Masorah, which signifies " tradition ;" and indicates that those to whom it was appropriated, were the zealous advocates, and defenders of the traditionary reh- gious opinions of the fathers. In this trait of character, they had no resemblance to Ezra and his companions ; for in the record of their principles or practices we have the clearest proof that they were, in religion, exclusively guided by the revelations written by Moses and the prophets. In opposition, however, to this undoubted fact, the Masorites pretended to believe, and strenuously maintained, that Ezra not only had restored the law of Moses, which they said had been lost dur- ing the captivity, but that he had also restored the true inter- pretations of the law. And that these might be implicitly received by all, they insisted that God had delivered them to Moses, at the same time that the law itself was communicated to him in Mount Sinai. These interpretations, conveyed, as their authors said, down from generation to generation, con- stitute the traditions, which for many ages, have been more reverenced by the Jews than the inspired writings. The Jewisn traditions were, perhaps, comparatively few at first ; but they were so exceedingly augmented in successive ages, that the teachers called in the New Testament scribes, lawyers, rabbis, masters or doctors, judged it expedient about A, D. 105, to collect them in- a work, named the Mishna, or Oral Law. On this work was written many commentaries ; the principal of which are known under the name Talmuds, or Gemera, which denotes perfection. There are two Tal- muds ; one written in Judea, about a. d. 300, and the other in Babylon, a. d, 500. Than these no work contains more striking evidence of the delusion and pride of human intel- lect. Having renounced belief in the pure doctrines and pre- cepts of the Sacred Scripture, the authors and their mentally i 68 STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE blinded disciples, regard as Divine truth the most absurd and incredible opinions ; a curious review of which may be seen in " The Traditions of the Jews," published in 1742, by J. Peter Slehelin, London. Nothing has assuredly more concealed from mankind, the excellence of the true religion, or alienated their minds from its Divine Author and Object, than the demand on his worshippers to believe doctrines, and sacredly to observe ceremonies, merely sanctioned by human authority or antiquity. And nothing has been a more pro- ductive cause of the divisions and animosities, strifes, conten- tions, revilings and murders, which have disgraced and ruined the communities who have avowed themselves the wor- shippers of the True God, the God of love, of order, of holi- ness, and of peace. An instructive illustration of this is afforded by the Phari- sees, the first known and the most influential recognized sect of the Jews. Enough is recorded of them to show that they took their rise among the Masorites, whom they, perhaps, rivalled, and at length far exceeded, in their zeal for the tradi- tions of the elders. The appellation was apparently limited to a class of religious teachers, whose disciples embraced, almost all who pretended to fervent devotion ; see the article Pharisees in the Biblical Pocket Dictionary. Many have supposed that they originated in the introduction of the philo- sophy of the Stoicks, because they admitted with that philo- sophical sect, that all things were decreed by God. This doctrine, which is often called fate, if correctly understood, was common among the Jews in all ages. The most pious acknowledged God in all things ; and while they repudiated the idea that God was the author of any moral evil, directly or indirectly, they firmly believed that every being owed its existence, capacities, and continuance to Him, and that he permitted nothing to be thought or done, but what he would render subservient to accomplish his purposes. Thus they viewed all things of God; he was not only the universal Creator, but also the superintender of all his works, perform- ing in heaven and earth, and ihe invisible state, whatsoever he pleased. Nor were any of the other doctrines peculiar to the Pharisees borrowed from learned pagans. They were the truths of revelation, either disguised or perverted. Thus they taught the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection and eternal duration of the transformed body ; the future re- wards of the righteous, and future eternal punishment of the wicked ; and that good and bad angels existed ; the former I REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGDCANU& 69 ministering for God on earth, and the latter under their chief, Satan or Beelzebub, deceiving or inflicting evil on man in the present world. It seems also, probable, that they believed in- the transmigration of souls, at least to the extent of their pass- ing from one human body into another. This opinion was, however, much more ancient than the Grecian or Roman philosophers ; it was prevalent among the ancient Egyptians and Asiatics. No doctrine was more dear to the Pharisees, or had more influence on their life, than that God had pledged himself to CMicept, protect, bless with special favour in this life, and eter- nally exah the Jews, on account of Abraham's excellence, if they carefully observed the law and the traditions. They be- lieved that he hated every other people, and purposed to re- duce them to a state of slavery under them, when Messiah appeared and ascended the throne of David his father. They extended ceremonial washing far beyond the laws of Moses, and declared the neglect of the most unmeaning of them, such as the washing of hands before meals, a crime equally great as fornication, and worthy of death. They refused to eat with Gentiles or any who adhered not to the traditions. They as- sumed the appearance of extreme gravity and devotion, mak- ing broad their phylacteries, fasting twice a week, praying frequently in public places, and ostentatiously supplying the wants of the poor. * A few of them were distinguished by integrity, steadfastly obeying the laws of justice, truth, and purity ; according to the letter of the law, as interpreted by the traditions, they were " blameless." But the leaders of the sect were generally desti- tute of moral principle, and unmoved by the dictates of con- science. Their ambition, thirst for applause, covetousness, and sensual habits and pursuits, were unbounded, except by whatever was necessary to prevent the multitude from detect- ing their real character ; for they omitted nothing that was calculated to induce all ranks to venerate them for piety and zeal towards God, and to confide in them as the only safe guides in religion and the affairs of life. To augment their authority and power, they laboured and travelled to dissemi- nate their opinions, they compassed sea and land to make proselytes who, might be prepared to execute any scheme, however immoral or atrocious, which they conceived would advance their worldly interests or gratify their malignant and licentious desires and appetites. They indeed claimed to be the legitimate successors of the holy prophets ; their fathers Iff STATE OF THE JEWS, ETC. had killed them, but their monuments they carefully preserved and profusely ornamented. Nothing satisfied these rabbins short of completely enslaving the minds of the multitude. To effect this they undermined the authority of the Scriptures, and exalted their own as that alone which was infallible. Thus, like the corrupt Christian teachers of later centuries they maintained that the written law could not be understood without the Mishna, or traditions of the church The spirit of the pharisees pervades the Tal- muds and their expositors. The oral and written laws, re- marks a rabbi, " depended on each other like two twins of a roe. And to him who separateth the one from the other, are directed the words, ' A whisperer separateth chief friends.' He is as one that hath no God." Others thus write : " To study the Scriptures is neither virtue nor vice. It is something of a virtue to study the Mishna ; but the greatest of all virtues is the study of the Gemara. The Scripture is like water ; the Mishna like wine ; and the Gemara spiced wine. The words of the scribes are more delightful than those of the prophets. You must believe the judge, should he say that thy right hand is the left, or the left the right. He who murmurs against his rabbi, doth as much as he who murmurs against God. He who transgresses the precepts of one learned in the law is worthy of death. It is duty to respect the disciples of the wise, but much more their instructions. The fear due to the rabbins is equal with the fear of God. It is proper for every man to honour his father, but much more his teacher • for the former is merely the instrument of bringing him into this life, while the latter guides him to the life hereafter, which is eternal. He who teaches a Talmud ordinance in the pres- ence of his instructor, is guilty unto death. Every one who partakes of a feast where a wise man is present, doth as much as if he shared in the presence of the Divine glory. To re- ceive the disciple of a rabbi into one's house, is a service equal to offering daily sacrifice ; and to do him any service, or suf- fer him to enjoy and use your goods, is, as it were, to be linked to the Divine glory." CHAPTER IV STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE REIGN OP ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. Cyrus stands in the system of prophecy on a loftier eminence than any other king, if we except good Josiah, king of Judah : the name of each was announced hundreds of years before his birth, by Him to whom all things are ever present. And it is worthy of notice, that the principal work performed by each is described by the prophetic Spirit with a particularity which occurs very frequently in Divine predictions, 1 Kings xxii. 2 ; Isa. xliv. 27, 28 ; xlv. 1 — 3. Whether we can perceive it or not, doubtless these kings discovered, in character or conduct, some peculiar excellence, to show the Divine propriety of the exclusive honour conferred on them. No king of the chosen people exhibited a life as blameless, or a reformation as per- fect, as did Josiah. We can speak with less certainty of the character and deeds of Cyrus. But in two things, and these the most interesting to the true religion, he surpassed all the former kin^s who reigned over the Pagan world. He was the first, and perhaps the last, who, without any apparent ser- vice received from the race of Jacob, bestowed on them the greatest and most valuable favours, which sovereign, ample, and uncontrolled power, and overflowing wealth, can com- mand. He generously and spontaneously liberated them from slavery, — restored them to their land, — and, from his treasures of state, for which, as a despotic monarch, he was responsible to no man, he supplied them with means to rebuild their city and re-establish their religion. But his exaltation had, we conceive, a still more extensive influence on the true religion ; for he was the first of a succession of Pagan sovereigns who exposed idol-worship and idols to the scorn and derision of the human race. Cyrus appears to have been the first conqueror who laid the basis of that political connexion between Asia and Europe, # # 72 8TATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE which eventually produced, or was followed hy, exceedingly great and permanent changes in the principles and conduct of mankind. The only Europeans probably known to the Asiatics were Greeks ; and for them they do not seem to have entertained much respect. They, however, soon learned to admire and fear them. The Grecian race had been for a number of ages rising in rank among the nations. Colonies from Egypt had early brought into Greece the learning, arts, and religion of their native country ; and several of the most talented Greeks, by persevering investigation of the state of knowledge in Egypt, and other countries which they visited, enriched their minds ; and, on returning to their own country, successfully laboured to advance its civilization. Even be- fore the age of Cyrus, the Grecian race had filled Greece Proper, and established large and prosperous colonies along the coast of the JEgea-n sea in Asia Minor, and towards Thrace, on the Italian coast, south-east from Rome, and in Sicily. The principal kingdom in Western Asia at this period appears to have been Lydia, whose capital was the magnificent Sardis, situated at the foot of Mount Timolus, in Asia Minor. Its reigning sovereign, Croesus, celebrated for his immense wealth, had formed an alliance with Babylon, whose king, Nabona- dius, or Labynatus, instead of defending his throne against Cyrus, fled to Sardis, and persuaded Croesus to raise a vast army to subdue the Persians. He collected at Thymbra, a city not far from Sardis, more than four hundred thousand men, consisting of Egyptians, Thracians, Greeks, and natives of all the nations of Asia Minor, who were his allies. Cyrus quickly led his army to Thymbra, obtained a complete victory, and Croesus was among the captives ; but he was liberated by the generous conqueror, on condition of becoming a tributary king to Persia. From this time many Greeks served in the Persian armies, and were acknowledged to excel in war all their companions in arms. " Cyrus, after the conquest of Lydia, continued in Lesser Asia till he had subdued the several nations inhabiting that great continent, from the ^gean sea to the Euphrates. From thence he marched into Syria and Arabia, and having reduced those nations likewise into subjection, he again entered Assyria, and marched towards Babylon, the only city in the East that now held out against him ; the king Labynatus, having blocked himself up in the capital. Cyrus, however, by perseverance, after a vigorous siege of two years, surmounted all difficulties, and became master of the kingdom, b. c. 538. The taking of Babylon =s =# REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANTTS. 73 put an end to the Babylonian empire, and fulfilled the predic- tions which the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, had uttered against that proud metropolis." The siege and cap- ture of this great city are thus described by Keith. — " Baby- lon had been the hammer of the whole earth, by which na- tions were broken in pieces, and kingdoms destroyed. Its mighty men carried the terror of their arms to distant regions, and led nations captive. But they were 'dismayed,' accord- ing to the word of the God of Israel, whenever the nations which he had stirred up against them stood in array before their walls. Their timidity, so clearly predicted, was the ex- press complaint and accusation of their enemies, who in vain attempted to provoke them to the contest. Cyrus challenged their monarch to single combat, but in vain ; for ' the hands of the king of Babylon waxed feeble.' Courage had departed from both prince and people; and none attempted to save their country from spoliation, or to chase the assailants from their gates. They sallied not forth against the invaders and besiegers, nor did they attempt to disjoin and disperse them, even when drawn all around their walls, and comparatively weak along the extended line. Every gate was still shut; and ' they remained in their holds.' Being as unable to rouse their courage, even by a close blockade, and to bring them to the field, as to scale or break down any portion of their stupendous walls, or to force their gates of solid brass, Cyrus reasoned that the greater that was their number, the more easily would they be starved into surrender, and yield to famine, since they would not contend with arms nor come forth to fight. And hence arose, for the space of two years, his only hope of eventual success. So dispirited became its people, that Babylon, which had made the world as a wilder- ness, was long unresistingly a beleaguered town. But, pos- sessed of many fertile fields, and provisions for twenty years, which in their timid caution they had plentifully stored, they derided Cyrus from their impregnable walls, within which they remained. Their profligacy, their wickedness, and false confidence were unabated ; they continued to live carelessly in pleasures, but their might did not return ; and Babylon the great, unlike to many a small fortress and unwalled town, made not one effort to regain its freedom or to be rid of the foe. Much time having been lost, and no progress having been made in the siege, the anxiety of Cyrus was strongly excited, and he was reduced to great perplexity, when at last it was suggested and inmiediately determined on, to turn the VOL. L 7 #. f4 STATE OP THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE course of the Euphrates, But the task was not an easy one. The river was a quarter of a mile broad, and twelve feet deep ; and in the opinion of one of the counsellors of Cyrus, the city was stronger by the river than by its walls. Diligent and kborious preparation was made for the execution ot the scheme, yet so as to deceive the Babylonians. And the great trench, ostensibly formed for the purpose of blockade, which for the time it effectually secured, was dug around the walls on every side, in order to drain the Euphrates, and to leave its channel a straight passage into the city, through the midst of which it flowed. But, in the words of Herodotus, ' If the besieged had either been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected the total destruction of their troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, and to man the embankment on either side, and they might have enclosed the Persians as in a net from which they could never have escaped.' Guarding as much as possibly they could against such a catastrophe, Cyrus purposely chose, for the execution of his plan, the time of a great annual Babylonish festival, during which, according to their practice, the Baby- lonians drank and revelled the whole night. And while the unconscious and reckless citizens were engaged in dancing and merriment, the river was suddenly turned into the lake, the trench, and the canals ; and the watchful Persians, both foot and hoise, so soon as the subsiding of the water permitted, entered by its channel, and were followed by the allies in array, on the dry part of the river. ' I will dry up thy sea, and make thy springs dry. That sayeth to the deep be dry, I will dry up thy rivers.' One detachment was placed where the river first enters the city, and another where it leaves it. And ' one post did run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at the end, and that the passages are shut.' ' They were taken,' says Herodotus, ' by surprise ; and such is the extent of the city, that, as the inhabitants themselves affirm, they who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before any alarm was communicated to the centre of the place,' where the palace stood. Not a gate of the city wall was opened ; not a brick of it had fallen. But a ' snare was laid for Baby- lon — it was taken, and it was not aware ; it was found and also caught, for it had sinned against the Lord. How is the praise of the whole earth surprised ! For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, it 4 m 1 REIGN OF ARTAXE&XES LONGIMANTJS. 73 hath perverted thee, therefore shall evil come upon thee, and thou shalt not know from whence it riseth, and mischief shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to put it off, &,c. — None shall save thee.' ' In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord. I will bring them (fown like lambs to the slaughter, &c. I will make drunken her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers, and her mighty men, and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep,' &c. Cyrus, as the night drew on, stimulated his assembled troops to enter the city, because in that night of general revel within the walls, many of them were asleep, many drunk, and confusion universally prevailed. On pass- ing, without obstruction or hinderance, into the city, the Per- sians, slaying some, putting others to flight, and joining with the revellers as if slaughter had been merriment, hastened by j^e shortest way to the palace, and reached it ere yet a mes- senger had told the king that his city was taken. The gates of the palace, which were strongly fortified, were shut. The guards stationed before them were drinking beside a blazing light, when the Persians rushed impetuously upon them. The louder and altered clamour, no longer joyous, caught the eai of the inmates of the palace, and the bright light showed them the work of destruction, without revealing its cause. And not aware of the presence of an enemy in the midst of Baby- lon, the king himself, (who, as every Christian knows, had been roused from his revelry by the hand-writing on the wall,) excited by the warlike tumult at the gates, commanded those within to examine from whence it arose ; and according to the same word, by which ' the gates' (leading from the river to the city) ' were not shut, the loins of kings were loosed to open before Cyrus the two-leaved gates.' At the first sight of the opened gates of the palace of Babylon, the eager Per- sians sprang in. ' The king of Babylon heard the report of them — anguish took hold of him,' — he and all who were about him perished : God had numbered his kingdom and finished it : it was divided and given to the Medes and Per- sians: the lives of the Babylonian princes, and lords, and rulers, and captains, closed with that night's festival : the drunken slept a perpetual sleep, and did not wake. ' Her young men shall fall in the streets^ and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day.' Cyrus sent troops of horse throughout the streets, with orders to slay all who were found there. And he commanded proclamation to be made, in the ® " # 76 STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE ■ Syrian language, that all who were in the houses should re- main within ; and that, if any were found abroad, he should be killed. These orders were obeyed. ' They shall wander every man to his quarter.' — ' I will fill thee with men as with caterpillars.' Not only did the Persian army enter with case as caterpillars, together with all the nations that had come up against Babylon, but they seemed also as numerous. Cyrus, after the capture of the city, made a great display of his cavalry in the presence of the Babylonians, and in the midst of Baby Ion. Four thousand guards stood before the palace gates, and two thousand on each side. These advanced as Cyrus approached ; two thousand spearmen followed them. These were succeeded by four square masses of Persian cavalry, each consisting of ten thousand men ; and to these again were added, in their order, the Median, Armenian, Hyrcanian, Caducian, and Sacian horsemen, — 'all,' as before, 'riding upon horses, every man in array,' — with lines of chariot^^ four abreast, concluding the train of the numerous hosts. Cyrus afterwards reviewed, at Babylon, the whole of his army, consisting of one hundred and tj\'enty thousand horse, two thousand chariots, and six hundred thousand foot. Baby- lon, which was taken when not aware, and within whose walls no enemy, except a captive, had been ever seen, was also ' filled with men as with caterpillars,' as if there had not been a wall around it. — The Scriptures do not relate the manner in which Babylon was taken, nor do they ever allude to the exact fulfilment of the prophecies ; but there is, in every particular, a strict coincidence between the predictions of the prophets and the historical narratives both of Herodotus and Xenophon." Cyrus, having conquered Babylon, as the captain of the combined armies of the Persians and Medes, generously placed on the throne his relation Cyaxares, or Darius, called in Scrip- ture Darius the Mede. Cyrus succeeded him, and after a prosperous reign of seven years, left an immense empire to his son Cambyses, a vain, suspicious, vindictive, and cruel prince, whose reign was chiefly distinguished by his conquest of Egypt, which he did not long survive. Smerdis, pretend- ing to be a son of Cambyses, whom he had privately mur- dered, obtained the sceptre, as the proper heir, for a few months. The impostor was detected ; and eight nobles freed the empire of the usuper, by putting him to death. One of these, known in history under the name of Darius Hystaspes, was exalted to the throne, b. c. 521, and the others became REIGN OF AB.TAXERXES LONGIMANU8. 77 his hereditary counsel. About the seventeenth year of his reign the Greeks in lona renounced his authority, and the Athenians sent a fleet and army to assist them in their efforts to maintain their liberty. The united army captured Sardis; A soldier undesignedly raised a fire, which rapidly spread over the city, and wholly consumed it, except the citadel. When this event was reported to Darius he was filled with indignation against the Greeks, especially the Athenians. To confirm this resentment, he ordered one of his servants to re- peat aloud every day, at the hour of dinner, " Remember the Athenians." Some years later the mighty army of Persia in- vaded Greece, and were repelled on the celebrated field of Marathon, when the military prowess of the Grecians aston- ished the world. Darius probably ascribed the disgrace of his army to the incapacity of their officers ; and he resolved to place himself at their head. He, however, died before the preparations for the new invasion of Greece were completed. His son Xerxes had no sooner subdued the Egyptians, who had revolted, than he determined to execute the purpose of his father. To insure success, he entered into " an alliance with the Carthaginians, at that time the most powerful people of the West, in which it was agreed, that while the king was to invade Greece in person, with all the force of Asia, the Carthaginians, with three hundred thousand men, were to at- tack the colonies of Greek extraction in Italy and Sicily." The world had never beheld a more terrible array than that exhibited by the fleet and army of Xerxes. The latter, on arriving in Thrace, were computed at " one million and seven hundred thousand foot, and fourscore thousand horse, which, together with twenty thousand men that conducted the camels, and took care of the baggage, amounted to one million eight hundred thousand men ; the former consisted of twelve hun- dred and seven large ships, and three thousand galleys and transports ; on board of all thest; vessels were found to be five hundred seventeen thousand six hundred and ten men. After he had entered Europe, the nations on this side of the Helles- pont that submitted to him, added to his landforces three hun- dred thousand more, and two hundred and twenty ships to his fleet, on board of which were twenty-four thousand men ; so that the whole number of his forces, when he arrived at Thermopylae, including servants, enuchs, women, suttlers, and other people of that sort, amounted to near five million." The noble defence and glorious triumph of Athens and Lacedemon, whom almost all the other states of Greece left 7* ^ STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE to contend against Persia have no parallel in the records of the world. Leonidas, king of Lacedemon, with his three hundred Spartans, withstood the whole power of Persia, died in the contest, and obtained undying fame. The Persian fleet was destroyed ; the army melted away, and the vain and proud monarch with difficulty escaped the vengeance of those whom he had long hated and despised. On the expulsion of his army from the soil of Greece the Grecian name became renowned over the earth, and the great king trembled on his throne. Every successive effort to re- trieve his honour terminated in fresh disasters. And he who had vainly boasted that he was lord of the earth and the ocean, to alleviate the anguish of prostrated pride and disap- pointed hopes, surrendered himself to the low gratifications derived from pompous exhibitions and voluptuous pleasures. While he slept, the chief guardian of his palace deprived him of life, b. c. 456, and, after murdering the heir, placed the youngest son, Artaxerxes, on the throne. He is said to have been the handsomest man of the empire ; but his arms being longer than common, the Greeks usually called him Longimanus. Instructed by his father's experience and his own observa- tion, he very soon perceived that the interests of the empire required him to study the arts of peace rather than those of war and conquest; hence he sedulously avoided all wars which were not necessary to maintain the power and the in- tegrity of his dominions. To escape the fetters by which Providence had rivetted the Persian kings to Asia, they had for half a century struggled in vain, shed the blood of my- riads of their people, exhausted the strength of the empire, and laid waste its richest provinces. The small states of Greece formed an impenetrable defence to Europe. Fully convinced of this, Artaxerxes procured peace with these states by acknowledging their independence, their right to their seas and islands, and gave freedom to the Asiatic Greeks to live according to their own laws. In consequence of this, the intercourse between Europe and Asia on the one hand rapidly extended • and the language, civilization, science, and arts of Greece, were more widely diffused ; and on the other the peculiar principles, customs, and manners of the Asiatics became more accurately and generally known to the Europeans ; and many of the worshippers of the True God, of the fire, and of idols of gold, silver, wood, and stone, ex- changed ideas, while they affectionately mixed together in the KEiaS OF A&TAXERXES LONOIMAMXJS. 79 armies, cities, and villages. This change of circmstances was certainly in favour of the true religion, for rays of light, hov alone swayed the human race ; for monarchs appear to have been as completely their slaves as the people. Very few of the individuals of transcendent talents who sat on the thrones of this world dared to command and control the wise. No one was permitted to utter a thought opposed to the expressed opinion of the arbitrators of knowledge ; nor could any on^e change his position or rank in society, without the consent of the regulators of conduct. Life and property were equally insecure ; for the will of the despot, or of his servants the wise, disposed of both as they pleased. Notwithstanding this tremendous power of the wise, rational freedom was as litli«' enjoyed by themselves as by the multitude whom they en- slaved ; for they were not, by the unalterable rules of their incorporation, permitted or expected to add one thought, dis- covery, or art, to the treasury of knowledge conveyed to them by their predecessors. And as the preservation of that trea- sure depended almost, if not wholly, on the oral instruction or traditions of the wise, its value would doubtless be lessened, although the quantity might be augmented, every successive generation. Thus the world exhibited a scene unspeakably calamitous and terrific. The mind of the human race was still as death, while their passions raged with the fury of hell; and their habitations were " full of horrid cruelty," In their history, according to our apprehension, the cap- tivity of the Jews was an event of the deepest interest. It originated a mighty under-current in the ocean of mind, which, though perhaps not detected, yet was powerfully felt at the extremity of its shores, especially in Central and Western Asia, Greece, Italy, and the adjacent regions. The men of that generation, accustomed to the overthrow and ruin of na tions, might possibly perceive nothing very uncommon or re- markable in the conquest and dispersion of the Jews, the con- I %= 84 STATE or THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE flagration of their holy temple and city, and the desolation of their favoured land. But let any candid and enlightened mind reflect on the nature of the transactions which were produced by the ministry of Daniel and his companions, and on the infinite importance of the subjects specified in the decrees proclaimed by the orders of Nebuchadnezzar, and he will not hesitate to believe that they were consummately fitted to awaken the human mind, to a new, a rational, and spiritual life. The absolute supremacy, self-e.xistence, and all-suffi- ciency of the one God, were announced in the plainest and most sublime phraseology, and the universal acknowledge- ment of those great and eternal truths was enforced by special arguments, which were most appropriate to command the at- tention of the generation to whom they were addressed. From the fact that the authority by which they were made known was treated as infallible, and the power by which they were enforced was felt to be irresistible, and the least expres- sion of disregard of it instant and inevitable destruction, no one could remain unaffected by the subjects placed before him. He might secretly hate them, but his thoughts must have been fi.xed on them. The number who, by these means, came, for the first time, to know the True God, no one can tell. It may be that, through Divine mercy, many became, in this sense, Jews. Similar remarks are suggested by the transactions of Da- rius the Mede, the Cyaxares of profane history, and of Cyrus, which respected the Jewish people. But we proceed to notice the first recorded public expression of contempt for idols. Tradition favours the opinion that the Persians, unlike all other ancient nations, were at no period irZoZ-worshippers, ac- cording to the definite meaning of words. However ques- tionable this may be, it is most probable that the principal men among them, as early as Cambyses, ha^ become image- worshippers, and had thus returned to the first stage of idola- try, when the Supreme Being was adored through the me- dium of various objects, accounted symbolical representations of him. It is only on this supposition that one can believe in the power of that king to persuade his army to rob the temples of Egypt, and destroy them and the various idols of that country. The idols of Phenicia and of other kingdoms were treated with like indignity by future Persian kings. On the death of Cambyses, the throne was seized by Smer- dis, one of the magi, or wise men. It is probable that they were suspected or known to have supported his usurpation ; m REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 85 for they were all massacred at his death ; and this tremen- dous vengeance on the priesthood may have afforded oppor- tunity to Zoroaster to construct and establish the system of image-worship, which long prevailed, as the national religion of Persia. Tradition speaks of several religious leaders or philosophers of this name ; he who is believed to have actu- ally existed, and to have instituted or restored the worship of the sun and fire, is reported to have flourished in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, who succeeded Smerdis. The idols of every country were usually more feared than despised by conquerors ; in so much that they deemed it necessary for the securing of conquered countries to carry the idols captive with the chief inhabitants. Their destruction by the Persians was regarded by other nations with horror, and pronounced a crime unparalleled, calling for the most terrible vengeance of the gods. Scarcely, however, could such a deed have been performed in the presence of all classes of the commu- nity, without rousing the thoughts of strong reflecting minds ; and even forcibly impressing on their hearts, the great and overwhelming truth, that the idols were nothing, and were of no service to states, except to deceive and delude the ignorant, simple, and sensual. The progressive, and it may be imperceptible and invisible diffusion of this feeling may have enabled Artaxerxes to ad- vance more easily and effectually than he could otherwise have done, the liberty of the Jews to worship the True God publicly, in all parts of his empire. In past ages, whoever openly renounced idols would have instantly sufl!ered death. Conquerors were missionaries of the gods whom they wor- shipped. Hence Nineveh is denominated " the mistress of witchcraft, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families or tribes through her crafts." To maintain the domi- nions acquired by the sword and blood, they establish idolatry, and the whole system of divination, which invested it with power to undermine the judgment and brutalize the feelings which elevate man to the highest rank in the visible creation of God. Persecution for opinion had shown itself in Asia imme- diately after the character and conduct of the Jews were un- derstood. It, however, was not witnessed in Greece before the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus ; for it was then that inde- pendence of thought manifested itself in Europe. Anaxago- ras, and Socrates, one of his disciples, who far surpassed his master in reputation, and, it is not doubted, in useful talentj VOL L 8 86 STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE and mental acquirements, certainly were contemporary with Artaxerxes. Anaxagoras was not the first Grecian who in- vestigated the truth of received opinions, and judged for him- self, on the appearance of nature, and the mental powers of man ; and others, perhaps, had discerned the system of decep- tion which universally predominated. But no one hefore him is recorded to have surmised, or declared, that inanimated sub- stances were destitute of mind, and therefore not proper ob- jects of religious worship ; because that creation demonstrated that its Author must possess an infinitely intelligent mind. However deficient may have been his discernment of the In- finite and the Eternal, it is certain that it led him to ridicule the diviners, who pretended to reveal the mind of the gods by the phenomena exhibited by dead or living animals, or by in- tercourse with beings which only existed in the imagination of their devout or self-interested votaries. He conceived him- self " born to contemplate the heavens," neglected his estate, and assumed the office of a public teacher of philosophy in Athens. The profane nature of his instructions roused the indignation of the citizens. He was accused of reviling the gods and their ministers, and condemned to death ; but after an imprisonment, the sentence w^s, through the great influence and exertions of his celebrated pupil Pericles, mitigated into a fine and banishment. He passed the rest of his day^ in Lamp- sacus, a famous city on the Hellespont, whence, by the agency of many whom he instructed, his comparatively rational phi- fosophy was very extensively disseminated over Greece and Asia Minor. Diogenes Apolloniades, succeeded him in his school or academy, and presuming to teach the same truths, was, like him, compelled to save his life by flight. Socrates far excelled all his philosophical predecessors, by the mode of study which he recommended, and the subjects which he communicated; and, as Mitford remarks, "his life forms a new era in the history of Athens and of man." He had acquired juster conceptions than his learned instructors of the Creator, and of the relative and social duties of mankind : and he felt his personal obligations to them and interest in them. Probably it was the voice of his conscience or judg- ment in its very imperfectly enlightened state, that he meant by the divine spirit who, he said, constantly attended him, " whose voice, distinctly heard, never expressly commanded what he was indisposed to do, but frequently forbade what he had intended." He was the first in Greece who had ever even proposed to ascertain and explain the principles of morals I 4^ REION OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. ^ The rule of conduct universally followed in his time was that "might made right." Benevolence, integrity, justice, or other moral excellencies, were scarcely visible in any class of society. The learned sought fame or usefulness by investigating nature or perfecting the sciences apart from morals or religion. This scene provoked the displeasure of Socrates, and he resolved f«> devote his life to learn and teach the duty of man to man. '' H« estimated the value of knowledge by its utility, and recon^- mended the study of geometry, astronomy, and other sciences, only so far as they admit of a practical application to the pur poses of human life. His great object, in all his conferences and discourses, was to lead men into an acquaintance with themselves ; to convince them of their follies and vices ; to in- spire them with the love of virtue ; and to furnish them with useful moral instructions. Cicero might, therefore, very justly say of Socrates, that he was the first who called down philo- sophy from heaven to earth, and introduced her into the public walks and domestic retirements of men, that she might instruct them concerning life and manners. The moral lessons which Socrates taught, he himself diligently practised ; whence he excelled other philosophers in personal merit, no less than in his method of instruction. His conduct was uniformly such as became a teacher of moral wisdom." His views oi Deity and the homage due him by man were most imperfect, and far from harmonious: for while he seems most strongly disposed to recommend him as alone worthy of supreme love and rever- ence, he approved by word and deed of the superstitions which debased the human race. " To unveil the nature of Deity was not among his pretensions. He only insisted on the perfect goodness and perfect wisdom of the Supreme God, the creator of all things, and the constant superintendence of his provi- dence over the affairs of men. As included in these, he held that every thing done, said, or merely wished by men, was known to the Deity, and that it was impossible he could be pleased with evil. The unity of God, though implied in many of his reported discourses, he would not in direct terms assert ; rather carefully avoiding to dispute the existence of the muhifarious gods acknowledged in Greece ; but he strongly denied the weaknesses, vices, and crimes commonly imputed to them. So far, however, from proposing to innovate in forms of worship and religious ceremonies, so various in the diflerent Grecian states, and sources of more doubt and con- tention than any other circumstances of the heathen religion, he held that men could not in these matters do wrong, if they 88 STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE followed the laws of their own country and the institutions of their forefathers. He was therefore regular in sacrifices, both upon the public altars and in his family. He seems to have been persuaded that the Deity, by various signs, re- vealed the future to men, in oracles, dreams, and all the various ways usually acknowledged by those conversant in the reputed science of augury. ' Where the wisdom of men cannot avail,' he said, ' we should endeavour to gain informa- tion from the gods ; who will not refuse intelligible signs to those to whom they are propitious.' Accordingly, he con- sulted oracles himself, and he recommended the same prac- tice to others, in every doubt on important concerns." Notwithstanding his conformity to the religion of his coun- try, by his representation of the pure and spiritual nature of its gods, and his persevering disinterested efforts to reclaim the people from vice and profligacy, he roused the envy of the public teachers, who were supported by their scholars and the people, by condemning their opinions and practices. He was accused of blasphemy, or of reviling the gods of Athens, proclaiming new gods, and corrupting the principal 3'^outh, by selecting passages from Homer to enforce anti-democratic principles. Though no satisfactory proof that he was guilty of the crimes of which he was accused was adduced, the clamour of the people caused the sentence of death to be passed against him. Had he condescended to supplicate the rulers of the city, he might have obtained an acquittal or miti- gation of the sentence ; but this he declared was unbecoming a lover of the truth — a character which, as we shall after- wards have occasion to observe, he was ambitious to exem- plify in his life and death. Though his perception of Divine truth was obscure, and his representation of it still more im- perfect, yet his instructions and example subverted the do- minion of idolatry, and from his time it was insufHcient to maintain the presumptuous assumptions of its chief advocates to direct and control the public mind, and prevent personal inquiry after truth. Succeeding philosophers, however, were either satisfied with the knowledge of Deity which he had communicated to them, or, alarmed by his fate, declined to de- nounce idol- worship, or expose the deceptive arts of its minis- ters. He left no writings, but, by comparing his sentiments reported by those of his friends who were qualified to judge and worthy to be credited, with the opinions of the future philosophers of Greece and Asia, it is certain that not one of them entertained moro just conceptions of the T^ue and m- m m REION OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 89 Living God, the spiritual nature of man, and the invisible state. This is manifest from the numerous works of Plato, the most celebrated disciple of Socrates, and confessedly the philosopher who was most eminent for his knowledge of re- ligion and- morals. This great philosopher taught that there was a Supreme Being, the former of all things ; but this Being, according to him, was neither the only eternal existence, nor in nature pos- sessed of immeasurable perfection. He held that there were two eternal, independent causes*of all things; God and matter. The latter was a substance without form or quality, but received both from the former. Human reasonings are generally inconsistent and contradictory, and Plato's were not an exception. He speaks of nature possessing a power capable of resisting the will and operation of Deity, and this he regards as the origin and necessary continuance of evil in the universe. " It cannot be that evil be destroyed, for there must always be something contrary to good. God wills, as far as it is possible, every thing good, and nothing evil." Plato seems still further to assign limits to the perfection of Deity, by the assertion that He formed a perfect world, ac- cording to eternal, immutable patterns. What i§ to be under- stood by these patterns has never been determined by the learned. Some consider them to consist of conceptions or ideas eternally existing in the Divine mind ; and others, that they mean innumerable real beings, subsisting in God, and proceeding from him, actually distinct from him and matter, but employed bv him to form sensible things, to be contemplated by rational beings. The latter opinion is ob- viously equivalent to the emanations from God, which charac- terised the vain philosophy of the wise men of oriental coun- tries. This imagination probably originated another equallv destitute of truth, — that each material world was endued with a soul, and, like the matter from which it was formed, eternal. It was not therefore difficult for the philosopher to believe that the soul was immortal, although he supposed it material, and on that account partaking of the imperfection and evil belonging to- matter. Hence he ascribes the evident moral defects of the human race to the manner in which God originally formed the universe, and particularly to an act of these souls in some unknown remote period. " God," says Plato, "separated from the soul of the world inferior souls, equal in number to the stars, and assigned to each its proper celestial abode ; but that these souls (by what means, or for 8* m # 90 STATE OF THE PAGAN WORLD IN THE what reason does not appear) were sent down to the earth into human bodies, as into a sepulchre or prison. He ascribes to this cause the depravity and misery to which hu- man nature is liable ; and maintains, that it is only by disen- gaging itself from all animal passions, and rising above sensi- ble objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence that the soul of man can be prepared to return to its original habitation." His system of morals, of course, contained no principle tending to humble man in the presence of his Crea- tor, nor any adequate m&tive to reconcile to God a heart alienated from the holiness of his nature and laws, and con- scious of being justly exposed to his. displeasure and ven- geance. The sum of his morality was that "our highest good consists in the contemplation and knowledge of the first good, which is Mind, or God. All those things which are called good by men, are in reality such only so far as they are derived from the first and highest good. The only povsrer in human nature which can acquire a resemblance to the Supreme Good, is reason. The minds of philosophers are fraught with valuable treasures ; and, after the death of the body, they shall be admitted to Divine entertainments ; so that, whilst with the gods they are employed in surveying the fields of truth, they will look down with contempt upon the folly of those who are contented with earthly shadows. Goodness and beauty consist in the knowledge of the first good and the first fair. That only what is becoming is good : therefore virtue is to be pursued for its own sake ; and, be- cause it is a Divine attainment, it cannot be taught, but is the gift of God. He alone who has attained the knowledge of the first good is happy. The end of this knowledge is, to ren der man as like to God as the condition of human nature will permit. This likeness consists in prudence, justice, sanctity, temperance." The revolution in religious and moral principles which had been thus commenced in Greece, passed to the metro- polis and chief provinces of the Roman empire, rapid as lightning, after the extension of its power to Greece and Asia. It was confessedly superficial, as our notice of it, in its nature, and inefficient to produce a radical and enduring change on the human aflfections, in relation to God or man. It was, however, salutary on the interests of true religion. This every one may discover who adverts to the liberty of religious thoughts and actions permitted from the time of Artaxerxes throughout nearly the whole known world. The worship » REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 91 of the True God gradually and progressively spread in the empire of idols, and multitudes of their votaries became utter- ly regardless of their honour ; and not a few joined the syna- gogues, and ascended occasionally to the temple of the Jews, who had been for many centuries unirersally hated or de- spised, as the enemies of the gods and of mankind. Whence came the dim light of truth which partially illu- minated the minds of the original agents of this moral revolu- tion? Did these men possess talents transcending their learned predecessors who were the very pillars of idolatry ? Or were they naturally more disposed to seek after the One God and Saviour ? No one will, on these accounts, place Anaxagoras, Socrates, and Plato, before Thales, Lycurgus, and Solon. The purer light of the former had doubtless fall- en on them, as it radiated from the holy fire of Moses and the prophets, which every great evemt dispersed wider and wider over the inhabited world. This fire the philosophers, influenced by it, may not have perceived, or in the pride of in- tellect, might have disdained to acknowledge. Nor would this be surprising; for similar has been the mental condition of the philosophers and learned in the Christian age. Every truly candid man is fully persuaded that they own all their superiority over the ancients, in religion and moral ideas, to Christianity, but few among them have discerned or publicly avowed this fact. That Greece was assuming, and Rome about to take, a new position in relation to the countries in which the Jews sojourned, at the period when moral light shone on them, will, we think, be distinctly observed by all who may peruse the subsequent pages ; and the extreme dark- ness in which the learned Greeks and Romans remained must excite the astonishment of all reflecting persons, who are not strongly persuaded of the entire aversion of the hearts of all, and especially of those who deem themselves the exclusively wise and the prudent of this world, from Jehovah the abso- lutely perfect and independent Being. m= CHA.PTER V. THE REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHUS. The death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was generally la- mented, for during his long reign the Persian empire, in Asia, had been, on the whole, prosperous and happy. And had his numerous subjects foreseen the calamitous events which were about to fall on them, their grief would assuredly have been more intense and universal. To the Jews especially his memory was peculiarly dear, for they had been more fa- voured by him than by any of his predecessors. If they, however, appreherjded that his demise would prove detrimen- tal to their interests, the pious among them doubtless soon perceived abundant reason to admire and adore the love and goodness of the God of their fathers ; for the state of the em- pire continued for several years remarkably favourable to the interests of their nation, and of the true religion. The royal family were the first to bewail the loss of their generous and just chief and sovereign. He had left only one son, named Xerxes, by his queen,. but seventeen sons by his concubines. The former ascended the throne amidst the joy- ful acclamations of the people. He appears to have been more disposed to sensual gratifications then qualified to govern a great empire. His ambitious, cruel, and unnatural brother Sogdianus, taking advantage of his weakness and folly, con- spired to destroy him. On a festival day the king had retired to his chamber intoxicated ; he was soon followed by his trea- cherous brother, led on by Pharnacias, one of the king's fa- vourite eunuchs. They easily murdered the king, and found no difficulty to proclaim Sogdianus his successor. He had scarcely taken possession of the throne when he also killed Bagorazus, the most faithful of all his father's eunuchs, and one respected by all the nobles and the army. These there- fore gladly joined his brother Ochur, who raised an army in Hyrcania, the government of which had been committed to ®= REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHUS. 93 him by their father, and hastened to the capital, with the avowed purpose to revenge the death of Xerxes. Having seized Sogdianus, he condemned him to suffer death by suf- focation in ashes, a mode of punishment inflicted by the Per- sians on the greatest criminals, and which is thus described by ancient writers: — " A large quantity of ashes was thrown into one of the largest towers ; the criminal was cast in from the top, and the ashes were, by a wheel, turned perpetually round him, till he was suffocated." Ochus was immediately proclaimed king in less than seven months after his father's death, and changed his name to that of DariuSj to which historians add Nothus, the bastard, to dis- tinguish him from other Persian emperors named Darius. The reign of Darius Nothus, which lasted nineteen years, was far from tranquil. He first had to defend his power against a great rebellion, headed by Arsites, one of his bro- thers' by the same mother. This prince found a fit instrument to fulfil his pleasure in Artyphius, son of Megabyzus, who had been one of the noblest servants and ablest commanders of the army of Arta.xerxes. The son was probably stimulated to revolt from a desire to revenge the disgrace and sufferings inflicted on his admired father. He twice defeated the king's army, and would perhaps have finally triumphed, had not the Greeks in his army been prevailed on by bribes to desert him in the third encounter. On surrendering himself to the ge- neral, Artasyras, by whom he had been conquered, his life was spired for some time through the fatal policy of the queen Parysatis. She persuaded the king to delay the put- ting of the general to death, lest it should render the rebel bro- ther desperate, and thereby prolong the rebellion. The wis- dom of her advice was quickly seen ; for Arsites, on learning the clemency showed Artyphius, delivered himself up to his royal brother. The queen having thus succeeded in her subtle scheme rested not till Darius after a violent struggle with his brotherly affection, yielded to her entreaties, and put to death his brother and Artyphius. Thus occupied in subjugating or punishing with death the real or supposed rivals of his power, who lived in the pro- vmces situated nearest the capital, the more remote most pro- bably were left by him for a number of years to be governed according to the rules prescribed by his father. History, at least, records no change in Syria, Judea, and Phenicia, during the greater part of the reign of Darius Nothus. The Jews were every where distinguished by their fidelity to Persia. ®= •# 9# REIGN OF DARn;S NOTHUS. This was so universally known that they owed to it, as we shall see, the singular favours conferred on them by their fu- ture conquerors. By consequence, every thing known of this period tended to the prosperity of the government of Judea while Nehemiah lived. He is believed to have performed the great act which perfected the restoration of Moses' law, and the last recorded to have been done by him, about a. m. :{595, B. c. 409. The correctness of this date is manifest from the Chronicon Alexandrium, which contains the fullest, and, at the same time, a true account of the succession of the Jewish high-priests. For if, as it is generally understood, Joiada was high-priest when one of his sons was expelled for his profanation of the temple, the last act of Nehemiah could not be much earlier ; for Eliashib, the father of Joiada, only died, B. c. 413. That Nehemiah survived him is not doubtful, but how long is quite uncertain. If, however, he was ap- pointed governor of Judea, b. c. 445, he appears to have held that office more than thirty years, several of which he spent at the Persian court, when he could only rule Judea by a de- puty. Under his able and just administration for so long a period, doubtless the population and the happiness of the restored na- tion of the Jews greatly increased. He found them so few and scattered over the country, that he deemed it expedient to ji people the holy city by persuading those in the rural districts to cast lots to decide who should settle as citizens ; and one of every ten was chosen. That the city and kingdom presented a scene far more animating before his death, we may reason- ably infer, when we reflect on the state in which Judea ap- peared two or three generations later, notwithstanding the nu- merous evils which it had suffered in the interval. Many things contributed in his day to augment the population, and extend the influence of his people : and accomplish such pre- dictions as that in Zech. i. 16, 17. "I am returned to Jeru- salem with mercies : my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jeru- salem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad ; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." The Jews had rest from all their surrounding hereditary en- emies, who quietly submitted to the Persian rule. The Tyri- ans, restored to liberty, resumed their former commercial pur- suits, and were honoured by the rulers of Persia, who owed them much for the use of their ships, when required in war REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHU8. 95 Indeed they were rarely disposed to quarrel with the Jews, from whom they received, in exchange for their merchandise, the most of their articles of food. The Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Edomites seem also to have returned from the Babylonian captivity, and to have multiplied ; but except the last, these nations interfered not much with the affairs of the Jews. The Egyptians were not in circumstances to do them wrong ; for after repeated and mighty efforts, in which they were strengthened by the powerful assistance of the Athe- nians, they were compelledto bow to Persia, except those whom Amyrtceus withdrew to the fens, which were inaccessible tb the Persians. Here the disaffected were permitted to remain in peace many years, and the only attempt they made to re- cover the kingdom, from the tenth year of Artaxerxes to the eleventh of Darius, proved abortive. The care of Nehemiah to preserve the purity of the temple worship, to which allusion has been made, was the unde- signed occasion of the complete establishment of a false but imposing form of the true religion in Samaria, which proved a fertile source of grief to the true worshippers of God, and of much perplexity to the Jews, for several ages. Samaria was the name of the capital of the Ten Tribes of Israel. It was situated in a rich district to which it gave name, about twenty miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Galilee. This district was peopled by a mixed multitude, transplanted from various idolatrous countries in the East, by the king of As- syria, to supply the place of the Israelites, whom he had car- ried away captive. From the original narrative of this peo- ple in 2 Kings xvii. 24 — 41. we learn that on taking up their residence in the holy land, they suffered much from the in- loads of beasts of prey, which they conceived to be a punish- ment inflicted on them for their idolatrous practices. Terror impelled them to desire instruction how to worship the God of Israel. In compliance with their desire, the Assyrian king sent them a priest belonging to the Ten Tribes. Probably they durst not have submitted to be taught by a priest of the kingdom of Judah. Unhappily their new teacher taught them not the true nature of idolatry or of the true religion ; and the resuh was, that, like the Ten Tribes, they for some- time professed to worship the True God and their native idols. It seems, however, probable that they had really become, or pretended to be, ashamed of idol-worship before the return of the Israelites from captivity ; for they t"hen expressed a wish to be considered one with them in the worship of the True 96 REIGN OP DARIUS NOTHDS. God. But the Israelites had no confidence in them, and in- deed they seem to have had ample reason to suspect their sin- cerity, if we may judge by their future conduct, for they showed themselves the most active and most dangerous ene- mies of the restored captives. They persecuted them by every means in their power ; and gladly received among them every Israelite who was unwilling to submit in all things to the laws of Moses, or who subjected himself to pun- ishment among his own people. But their power to seduce the Jews and disunite them was comparatively insignificant, while their form of religion was distinctly diflferent from that instituted by Moses ; for religious errors are powerless if not exhibited in the semblance of truth. This defect in the arts of the Samaritans to injure the Jews was most probably sup- plied by the son of Eliashib, the high-priest, when he joined them. Having married the daughter of Sanballat, the Persian governor of Samaria, his father-in-law built him a temple on mount Gerizim, intended to rival that on mount Sion, and of it he was constituted the first high-priest. This memorable event happened, according to Josephus, at a later j)eriod. But it is more probable that he made a mis- take in chronology than that there were at diflferent periods a Persian governor named Sanballat, and that a son of a high- priest who succeeded Joiada, also apostatised and married the governor's daughter. To Joiada's son, called^ by Josephus Manasseh, may, most likely, be ascribed, not only the erection of the temple on Gerizim, but also the adoption of the books of Moses by the Samaritans. A temple would have been no proper bond of union without a form of worship ; and a Jew- ish high-priest ambitious to seduce his countrymen to imitate his example would, at once, from policy, prefer the form pre- scribed by Moses. This was especially natural to Manasseh, who had not renounced the religious rites, but rather the moral restraints of the lavvs of Moses. By these circum- stances, the previous alienation existing between the Samari- tans and Jews was confirmed and strengthened ; each main- tained that they alone were the chosen people of God. The number of Jews evil-affected towards their own nation who joined the Samaritans, became so great that they denied their original descent, and insisted that they were the legitimate decendants of the patriarchs. Hence the female's address to our Lord at Jacob's well. — " Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle ?" Their pretensions, as well as • KEIGN OF DARIUS NOTmJB. "91 their unconquerable opposition, exceedingly provoked the pride and indignation of the Jews, who had the pleasure of conquering them years afterwards, under their great leader Hyrcanus. He erazed their temple, but he could not change their hearts. The Samaritans continued to regard its site sa- cred, and used it as the seat of their national worship. This is still done by those who claim at the present day the honour of being their legitimate descendants. They are now very few in number, and reside in Nepolose, the ancient Shechem or Sychar, a town beautifully situated about forty miles from Jerusalem. They acknowledged no part of the Scriptures inspired ex- cept the Pentateuch, probably because the other portions re presented Jerusalem and its temple as the exclusively sacred seat for the public worship of the True God. The present race possess a very ancient manuscript, which they assert to be nearly 3000 years old. They respect the books real or apocryphal of Joshua and the Judges. They profess to look for Messiah, whom they regard only as a man, who shall assume the royalty, and make their town the metropolis of his universal empire. They show a catalogue of their high- priests regularly descended from Aaron, and vaunt that they alone retain the Hebrew characters in which God gave the law to Moses. Ezra they regard as an imposter, and pro- nounce cursed the characters used by the Jews in their writ- ings.— See Chr. Teacher for Nov. 1839. The Samaritan Pentateuch deservedly holds a high place in sacred literature. Several of the Christian fathers knew and quoted it ; but it was afterwards lost sight of till Joseph Scaliger called the attention of the learned to it. The first copies that appear to have reached Europe, w^e owe to the venerable archbishop Usher. Two versions are extant ; one in the Arabic, and the other in the Samaritan characters. The latter, Horn observes, " was made from the Hebrew-Sa- maritan text into the Samaritan dialect, which is intermediate between the Hebrew and the Aramasan language. This ver- sion is of gjeat antiquity, having been made at least before the time of Origen, and not improbably before the commence- ment of the Christian sera. The author of the Samaritan version is unknown, but he has in general adhered very closely and faithfully to the original text ; so that this version is almost exactly the counterpart of the original Hebrew-Sa- maritan codex with all its various readings. This shows, in a degree really surprising, how very carefully and accurately VOL I. 9 I 98 REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHUS. the Helbrew Pentateuch has been copied and preserved by the Samaritans, from the ancient times in which their version was made. The Arabic version of the Samaritan Pentateuch is also extant in Samaritan characters, and was executed by Abu Said, A, D. 1070, in order to supplant the Arabic translation of the Jewish Rabbi, Saadia Gaon, which had till that time been in use among the Samaritans. Abu Said has very closely followed the Samaritan Pentateuch, whose readings he ex- presses, even where the latter differs from the Hebrew text ; in some instances, however, bdth Bishop Walton and Bauer have remarked, that he has borrowed from the Arabic version of Saadia. On account of the paucity of manuscripts of the original Samaritan Pentateuch, Bauer thinks this version will be found of great use in correcting its text. Some specimens of it have been published by Dr. Durell in the ' Hebrew Text of the Parallel Prophecies of Jacob relating to the Twelve Tribes,' &c. (Oxford, 1763, 4to.) and before him by Castell, in the fourth volume of the London Polyglott ; also by Hwiid, at Rome, in 1780, in 8vo. ; and by Paulus, at Jena, in 1789, in Svo." A brief but satisfactory account of the Samaritan Pentateuch is given by Home in his introduction to the Holy Scriptures, vol. 2. pages 93 — 97. Sixth Edition. The construction of a corrupt system of religion in the vicinity of the Jews was followed or accompanied by other ;ilarming events. The Egyptians, who were never reconciled to the Persians, were prepared to cast off their yoke, and only waited an opportunity, which the feeble and distracted aa- ministration of Darius Nothus encouraged them to expect. The least evil which the Jews had reason to dread from the revolt of Egypt was, that their country would be traversed and impoverished by the Persian army on its way to that country. In addition to this, many of them would be called to join the invaders. And if the Egyptians succeeded to ren- der themselves independent, it was most probable that they would invade Judea, and revenge themselves on the Jews, who were well known as the most faithful friends of the Per- sians. That such events must have been anticipated by the principal Jews, to whom the state of the empire was known, cannot be doubted. Darius discovered little of the wisdom or firmness of mind indispensable in the sovereign of a great people. He permitted himself to be entirely governed and directed by his queen and three of his chief eunuchs. Of the latter Artoxares was the most loved, honoured, and trusted by his master, who almost in all things was guided by his m REIGN OP DARIUS NOTHUS. 99 counsel. This man beceime intoxicated by the power with which he was invested, and rashly aspired to the throne. " He had found Darius's weak side, by which he insinuated himself into his confidence. He had studied all his passions, to know how to indulge them, and governed his prince by their means. He plunged him continually in pleasures and amusements, to engross his whole authority to himself In fine, under the name and protection of queen Parysatis, to whose will and pleasure he was the most devoted of slaves, he disposed of all the affairs of the empire, and nothing was transacted but by his orders." He could, in these circum- stances, at any time, cut off his king, and he believed that his appearing a eunuch was the only thing which might indis- pose the Persians to acknowledge him his successor. To re- move this impression, he wore an artificial beard, married, and caused it to be propagated that he belonged not to the class of eunuchs, although he had deemed it expedient to as- sume the appearance of one. He revealed his design and object to his wife, who discovered the whole to the king. The traitor was seized, and dehvered over to the ambitious and re- vengeful queen, who, on account of his boldness in deceiving her, feh malignant pleasure in inflicting on him an ignomini- ous and cruel death. This fortunate deliverance of the king from the fatal snare laid for him in his palace gave no stability to his throne. Anarchy and rebellion were widely spread. Lydia, one of the most valuable and important provinces of the empire, was governed by Pisuthnes. He knew well the weakness of the imperial government, and resolved to constitute himself the independent king of his province. " What flattered him with the hopes of succeeding in his attempt, was, his having raised a considerable body of Grecian troops, under the command of Lycon the Athenian Darius sent Tissaphernes against this rebel, and gave him, with a considerable army, the com- mission of governor of Lydia, of which he was to dispossess Pisuthnes. Tissaphernes, who was an artful man, and capa- ble of acting in all characters, found means of tampering with the Greeks under Pisuthnes ; and, by dint of presents and promises, brought over the troops with tVieir general to his party. Pisuthnes, who, by this desertion, was unable to carry on his designs, surrendered, upon his being flattered with the hopes of obtaining his pardon ; but the instant he was brought before the king, he was sentenced to be suffocated in ashes, and accordingly met with the same fate as the rest of the *.^-. f -m 100 REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHUS. rebels. But his death did not put an end to all troubles ; for Amorges, his son, with the remainder of his army, still op- posed Tissaphernes ; and for two years laid waste the mari- time provinces of Asia Minor, till h.e at last was taken by the Greeks of Peloponnesus, in lasus, a city of Ionia, and deli- vered up by the inhabitants to Tissaphernes, who put him to death." A fiercer tempest burst on Egypt, a province, if possible, of greater consequence than even X^y^ia. While the latter country was in a state of revolt, Amyrtaeus left his fens^ for this was the common name of the region of which Persia had not been able, or at least not inclined, to deprive him of The Egyptians, being generally disaffected, hasted to his standard, and the Persians were speedily expelled. Amyrtaeus, having been acknowledged the sovereign of all Egypt, restored the kingdom to peace, and formed an alliance with the Arabians, with the avowed purpose of invading Phenicia. His schemes were no sooner made known to Darius than he resolved to anticipate him. In order to do this effectually, he recalled his fleet from the Lacedemonians, whom it had been appointed to aid in their efforts to obtain the sovereignty of Greece. While his fleet proceeded to Egypt, he led, in person, a great army thither, and succeeded in reducing it. It is probable that Amyrtasus fell in defence of his kingdom, for we find that his son Pausiris was appointed by Darius its tributary sovereign. During the war in Egypt the Arabians and Medes revolted, but they were soon brought into subjection, and Darius re- turned in triumph to his capital. Those who permit their affections to sway their judgment never learn wisdom by experience. Of this Darius Nothus was an example. He passionately loved or feared his queen Parysatis, and had not courage to refuse her any thing which she desired. Their youngest son, Cyrus, was her favourite, and she eagerly sought to place him in a condition to succeed immediately to the throne on the death of his father. This induced her to prevail on the king to appoint Cyrus to the supreme command of all the provinces of Asia Minor ; an office which a youth of not more, perhaps, than sixteen years of age could scarcely be supposed qualified to hold ; and this his conduct fully proved, and occasioned much misery to the empire. His hasty elevation awakened and strengthened his ambition, uncontrolled by reason. Dazzled with the splen- dour of high authority, to which he had been little accustomed, 'w REIGN OP DARIUS NOTHUS. 101 and jealousy of the least omission in point of ceremonial hom- ag^e, discovered by a remarkable action the secret of his heart Brought up from his infancy in the reigning house, nurtured under the shade of the throne, amidst the submissions and prostrations of the courtiers, entertained long by the discourses of an ambitious mother that idolized him, in the desire and hope of empire, he began already to affect the rights of soveteignty, and to exact the honours paid to it with surpris- ing haughtiness and rigour. Two Persians of the royal fam- ily, his cousins-german by their mother, his father Darius's sister, had omitted to cover their hands with their sleeves in his presence, according to a ceremonial observed only to the kings of Persia. Cyrus, resenting that neglect as a capital crime, condemned them both to die, and caused them to be executed at Sardis without mercy. Darius, at whose feet their relations threw themselves to demand justice, was very much affected with the tragical end of his two nephews, and looked upon this action of his son as an attempt upon himself, to whom alone that honour was due. He resolved therefore to take his government from him, and ordered him to court, upon the pretext of being sick and having a desire to see him.". On his arrival at court, his mother succeeded to re- concile him to his father, and to maintain him in the govern- ment of Asia Minor. This was an unhappy event, especially to Athens. The preceding governors of Persia, in Asia, had studied to preserve the balance of power in Greece, by assist- ing the weakest states. But he adopted a different policy; and by profuse expenditure enabled the Lacedemonians to conquer and subdue the Athenians, by which the celebrated Peloponnesian war was terminated, and the Grecians united under Sparta, whose rulers soon attacked Persia, apparently in the confident hope of overthrowing the empire. About this time, b. c. 404, Darius Nothus was seized with disease, which soon terminated fatally. The queen had at- tempted in vain to prevail on him to declare Cyrus his suc- cessor, instead of his elder brother, named Arsaces. The latter attended his father in his illness, and earnestly desired him to say by what means he had so successfully reigned, that he might imitate his example, and be blessed. The an- swer deserves to be recorded in letters of gold : " I have ever done to the best of my knowledge, whatever religion and jus- tice required, without swerving from the one to the other." Our slight retrospect of the reign of Darius sufficiently shows that many well educated Jews of the higher orders 9* =4 102 REIGN OF DARIUS N0TRD3. must have, at this period, become well known to the Greeks ; for multitudes of both nations served and mixed together in the Persian armies. And as we know that the Jews were distinguished at this time by their correct religious and moral principles, the true religion must have been more extensively known in Europe than in any former age. Does not this support the opinion suggested of the true origin of the vast improvement, at this period, in Grecian philosophy, in our brief review of idolatry and philosophy in chapter third ? It may be proper to add here, that Socrates is the universally acknowledged instrument in his noble work, which was steadily pursued by his disciple Plato. He was, like all the citizens of Athens, occasionally a soldier, had made many campaigns, and was present in many battles ; consequently he may have had ample opportunity to acquire knowledge of the Jewish people, their character, principles, and religion ; and his capacities fitted him to appreciate them. Happy had it been had he searched more diligently for Divine truth, and not limited his research almost wholly to the principles which merely contribute to secure man's temporal happiness in the various relations of this life. In this attainment he indeed far surpassed all his teachers and the Pagan philosophers of preceding generations. Socrates was put to death about three years after the death of Darius. His father was a sculptor, and he first learned and excelled in this trade; but "Criton is reported to have taken him out of his father's shop, from the admiration of his fine genius, and the opinion that it was inconsistent for a young man capable of the greatest things, to continue perpetually employed upon stone with a chisel in his hand. He became the disciple of Archelaus, who con- ceived a great affection for him. Archelaus had been pupil to Anaxagoras, a very celebrated philosopher. Socrates' first study was physics, the works of nature, and the movement of the heavens, stars, and planets, according to the custom of those times in which only that part of philosophy was known ; and Xenophon assures us of his being learned in it. But after having found, by his own experience, how difficult, abstruse, intricate, and at the same time how little useful that kind of learning was to the generality of mankind, he was the first, according to Cicero, who conceived the thought of bringing down philosophy from heaven, to place it in cities, and intro- duce it into private houses ; humanizing it, to use that expres- sion, aad rendering it more familiar, more useful in common life, more within the reach of man's capacity, and applying # « REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHU8. 103 it solely to what might make them more rational, just, and virtuous. He found there was a kind of folly in devoting the whole vivacity of his mind, and employing all his time in inquiries merely curious, involved in impenetrable dark- ness, and absolutely incapable of contributing to human hap- piness, whilst he neglected to inform himself in the ordinary duties of life, and in learning what is conformable or opposite to piety, justice, and probity, — in what fortitude, temperance, and wisdom consist, — what is the end of all government, what the rules of it, and what qualities are necessary for command- ing and ruling well." Socrates, on the whole, surpassed his contemporaries, as far in the purity of his life as in his know- ledge ; and though, by sacrificing to iEsculapius, he died as as a fool dieth, yet his inflexible adherence to what he deemed the truth, renders his memory melancholy dear to all true philosophers. # m CHAPTER VI. REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. The most prominent subjects of the history of the church of God, or his avowed worshippers, are not their usual con- duct and the ordinary events which befell them, but their most remarkable declensions and reformations in the true religion, and those deeds by which, collectively or individu- ally, the power of faith was displayed in them, and those pro- videnc6s which most signally discovered that they were the peculiar objects of the Divine care and protection. Such subjects are overlooked or contemned by mankind generally ; and as common historians write only for their instruction, and to procure their applause, they bring before them only those things which they know will interest or please them. It is not therefore surprising that we have little direct information of the state of the Jews in the writings of the heathen histo- rians of Greece or Rome. Now, as Greeks and Romans were the exclusive recorders of the events which transpired in those times, we could not expect that they would inform us of the religious state of the Jews ; and when they are silent concerning their political state, we may conclude that nothing of the kind very striking had occurred among them. This remark applies to all the histories extant of the latter kings of Persia. Josephus, the Jewish historian, passes wholly over thirty-one years of the reign of Artaxerxes Mne- mon, doubtless because he found no facts on record which he judged worthy of preservation respecting his own nation. It is therefore probable that the Jews had hitherto continued to prosper, although not. under native governors, chosen by the Persian king, as in the previous interval from their resto- ration. In the thirty-second year of Arsaces, known in history by the name of Artaxerxes, one incident noticed by Josephus shows that a foreigner was their governor, and ruled over # ' ^ # <► REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. 105 them "wnthout any respect to their laws, at least when obe- dience to these suited not his views, and that the Jews were still, as a nation, rigid observers of the ritual laws of Moses. On that year Joiada the high-priest died, leaving two sons, Joiiathan and Jesus ; the former was his father's legitimate successor, and held the office about thiity-two years : but he owed his actual possession of his official dignity not to fitness to perform its duties, but to the religious zeal of his people. Jesus or Joshua was ambitious; and having acquired the friendship of Bagoas the Persian governor, he obtained from him the promise of the high-priest's office. On the death of his father, he claimed the office, and in an altercation with his brother, within the temple, he received a stroke from him which occasioned his instant death. The governor appears to have been in the city at the time of this melancholy and wicked deed, and hastened to the temple to ascertain its real- ity ; for, according to Josephus, the report of so great a crime was incredible, one so cruel and impious having never been committed by the Greeks or Barbarians. Bagoas attempted to enter the temple ; this roused the indignation of the multi- tude, who were filled with horror at the tnought of the sacred place being defiled by his presence. On being repulsed, he exclaimed, " Have you had the audacity to perpetrate a mur- der in your temple, and now refuse me admittance? Am I not purer than the dead body whose blood pollutes it ?" Filled with wrath, he resolved to punish the whole nation, and de- manded that henceforth they should pay a certain sum to Persia for every victim which was offered for sacrifice daily in the temple. The oppressive law was enforced during the life of Artaxerxes. Nor is it probable that this was the only oppressive act of Bagoas' administration; for a man who conceived himself at liberty to dispose of the chief office of the religion of the Jews, would not hesitate to advance his own interest by every possible means which he considered expedient. Indeed, his tyrannical government was perhaps the cause of the first and only revolt of the Jews from the Persians ; for this happened very soon after the murder of Jonathan. If Bagoas the Jewish governor was the eunuch of this name who was a chief favourite in the next Persian reign, he could have no sympathy with the Jews, and was qualified by his great talents to inflict on them great injury, by means which he could easily make appear to his sovereign as just and necessary, so that they could have no hope of re- dress by an appeal to the Persian court. 1P6 REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. Though the Jews are scarcely mentioned by the ancient writers concerning the Persians in the long reign of Artaxer- xes Mnemon, yet several great events of this period had more or less influence on the interests of the true religion. This feature seems strongly impressed on the first, and perhaps most momentous event, the conspiracy of Cyrus to obtain the sovereignty of the empire. The talented Parysatis, the mother of the king, retained her influence notwithstanding the death of her husband; and to secure it, by false accusations, the employment of assas- sinators, or by poison, she removed from the palace all whon^ she hated or feared. But our object requires not the detail of the intrigues or sanguinary deeds of the court, which were common enough in Persia almost always, but were unparal- leled while this demoniacal princess swayed the minds of her husband and son. In compliance with her solicitations, the former on his death-bed had assigned to Cyrus the perpetual government of Asia Minor, and the latter acquiesced in that arrangement. Reverence for God, and love and friendship to man, have never been regarded by historians indispensable to the formation of a great and perfect monarch ; they estimate human character by exterior accomplishments rather than by moral excellence: this accounts for the too illustrious charac- ter given of young Cyrus by Xenophon, not from report but form personal knowledge. '• He was," he says, ••' in the opin- ion of all that were acquainted with him, after Cyrus the Great, a prince the most worthy of the supreme authority, and had the most noble and most truly royal soul. From his in- fancy he surpassed all of his own age in every exercise, whe- ther it were in managing the horse, drawing the bow, throw- ing the dart, or in the chase, in which he distinguished him- self once by fighting and killing a bear that attacked him. Those advantages were exahed in him by the nobleness of his air, an engaging aspect, and by all the graces of nature that conduce to recommend merit. When his father had made him satrap of Lydia and the neighbouring provinces, his chief care was to made the people sensible that he had nothing so much at heart as to keep his word inviolable, not only with regard to public treaties, but the most minute of his promises ; a quality very rare amongst princes, and which, however, is the basis of ail good government, and the source of their own as well as their people's happiness. Not only the persons under his authority, but the enemy themselves, reposed an entire confidence in him. Whether good or ill were done =# 1 REIGN OF ARTAXERXES BffNEMON. 107 him, he always desired to return it double, and that he might live no longer, as he said himself, than whilst he exceeded his friends in benefits, and his enemies in vengeance. Nor was there ever a prince that people were more afraid to offend, nor for whose sake they were more ready to hazard their possessions, lives, and fortunes." This accomplished prince, whom the admired Grecian philosopher, the disciple of Socrates and leader of ar- mies, indiscriminately eulogises in the finest and most anima- ting glow of eloquence, burning with ambition, resolved to assassinate his brother in the temple of Pasargades, in the presence of the whole court and the multitude assembled to crown him. He was seized, and justly condemned to die. The prayers and tears of the mother, whom he resembled in intellectual power and immeasurable depravity, procured not only his pardon, but obtained an order mstantly to return to his government. On arriving in Asia Minor, ample proof of his surpassing power over the minds of all ranks was speedi- ly manifested. Treating with contempt the generosity and compassion of his royal bi other, he conspired to dethrone him, and determined to attack him in the seat of the empire. He exerted all his energies to prepare for this great enterprise ; his court at Sardis was established on a scale of Asiatic gran- deur ; he received the numerous Persians who resorted thith- er with such condescension and affability as induced them to perfer his interests to those of their sovereign. He neg- lected no means calculated to impress the subjects of his pro- vinces with the opinion that he was not less desirous of their welfare than of his own ; he mingled with the common sol- diers, and appeared their friend, without laying aside the au- thority and dignity of their commander. By various arts, he seduced the army and inhabitants of the provinces goverped by Tissaphernes, one of the ablest and most faithful servants of the king. They refused obedience to their own governor, and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of Cyrus. This gave him an opportunity of declaring war against Tissapher- nes, and under pretence of this, he augmented his army. In all his warlike plans he was assisted by Clearchus, one of the ablest generals of Lacedemon, who, being banished from Sparta, had found refuge at his court. To him alone of all the Greeks he revealed his secret designs, and employed him to raise a body of Grecian troops, from whom he hoped to re- ceive more efficient aid than from any others. His friends in the Persian court increased, and most assiduously propa- gated whatever tended to elevate his character in the eyes of 1 # 108 REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. the multitude. The reigning king was universally known and admired in the beginning of his reign for his resemblance in conduct and manner to his noble father. He was most ge- nerous, affable, just, and never better pleased then when he had an opportunity to do good to his subjects ; but he was more inclined to peace than war. He was therefore, however wor- thy, not fitted to advance or maintain the glory of the great empire. Thus secretly reasoned the emissaries of Cyrus, whom they pronounced truly deserving of the throne of his celebrated ancestor, whose name he bore. Cyrus had been the most efficient instrument by which the Lacedemonians had subdued the Athenians and all Greece. He sought their assistance, and they instantly gave orders to their fleet to join his, and to obey Tamos his admiral in all things. In the meantime, to deceive his brother and the court, he sent him grievous complaints against Tissaphernes, and besought, in the most submissive language, his majesty's protection and aid to reduce to obedience an unfaithful ser- vant. This was his avowed purpose in preparing a fleet and army far exceeding what was necessary to conquer the pro- vinces in revolt. The troops consisted of thirteen thousand Greeks, which were the flower and chief force of his army, and of an hundred thousand regular men of the barbarous nations. Clearchus the Lacedemonian commanded all the Peloponnesian troops, except the Achaeans, who had Socrates of Achaia for their leader. The Boeotians were under Pro- xenes the Theban, and the Thessalians under Mnemon. The barbarians had Persian generals, of whom the chief was Ariseus. The fleet consisted of thirty-five ships under Pytha- goras the Lacedemonian, and of twenty-five commanded by Tamos the Egyptian, admiral of the whole fleet. Tissaphernes, rightly judging that all these preparations were too great for so small an enterprise as that against Pisidia, had set out post from Miletus to give the king an account of them. This news occasioned great trouble at court, and Artaxerxes hastily assembled a numerous army to meet his brother. Cyrus having ordered the fleets to sail along the coast, left Sardis, and marched with his army towards the upper pro- vinces of Asia Minor. The army knew neither the occasion of the war, nor into what countries they were going. Cyrus had only caused it to be given out that he should act against the Pisidians, who had infested his province by their incur- sions. In his progress he made it his sole application to win the affections of the Greeks, by treating them with kindness • # REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. 109 and humanity, conversing freely with them, and giving effec- tual orders that they should want for nothing. He advanced continually by great marches. What troubled him most on the way was the pass of Cilicia, which was a narrow defile between very high and steep mountains, that would admit no more than one carriage to pass at a time. Syennesis, king of the country, prepared to dispute this passage with him, and would infallibly have succeeded, but for the diversion made by Tamos with his fleet, in conjunction with that of the Lace- demonians. To defend the coasts against the insults of the fleet, Syennesis abandoned that important post, which a small body of troops might have made good against the greatest army. When they arrived at Tarsus, the Greeks refused to march any farther, rightly suspecting that they were intended against the king, and loudly exclaiming that they had not en- tered into the service upon that condition. Clearchus, who commanded them, had occasion for all his address and ability to stifle this commotion in its birth. At first he made use of authority and force, but with very little success, and desisted therefore from an open opposition* to their sentiments. He even affected to enter into their views^ and to suppoit them with his approbation and credit. He declared publicly that he would not separate himself from them ; and advised them to depute persons to the prince, to know from his own mouth against whom they were to be led, that they might follow him voluntarily if they approved his measures ; if not, that they might demand his permission to withdraw. By this artful evasion he appeased the tumult and made them easy, and they chose him and some other officers for their deputies. Cyrus, whom he had secretly apprised of every thing, made answer that he was going to attack Abrocomas, his enemy, at twelve days march from thence upon the Euphrates. When this answer was repeated to them, though they plainly saw against whom they were going, they resolved to proceed, and only demanded an augmentation of their pay, which the prince readily granted. The information soon after that he was marching against the king occasioned some murmuring, which, however, magnificent promises silenced, and called forth the strongest expressions of satisfaction and joy. The army of Cyrus met with no serious interruption till they reached Cunaxa, about twenty-five leagues from Baby- lon. Here they were opposed by nine hundred thousand of the royal army, commanded by Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and Arbaces. Three hundred thousand more, under command VOL. L 10 • 110 RfiIGN OP ARTAXERXES MNEMON. of Abrocomas, arrived, not till three days after the battle, which terminated in the death of Cyrus, and the destruction of the greater number of his friends and soldiers. In the be- ginning of the battle the enemy was routed by the Greeks, and Cyrus was proclaimed king ; but the fierce ardour of the victors, and, it is said, their imprudence in pursuing a fleeing enemy, prevented them from reaping the fruit of their victory. As soon as the Greeks learned that Cyrus was slain, they sent deputies to Ariseus, his Persian general, to offer him the crown of the empire. He approved not their scheme, because, he said, many Persians more distinguished than he was, would li never submit to him. He requested them to join him in the I night, and march along with his army next day for Ionia. In the ineantime, Artaxerxes sent a herald to the Greeks, de- manding them to lay down their arms. Their only answer was, that they expected " Peace in continuing here, or war in marching. It became not the defeated to require the con- querors to submit." They avowed that they would rather die than resign their liberty. That night they made a cove- nant with Ariseus, which 'was solemnly confirmed by sacri- ficing a ram and a buU, a wolf and a boar, in whose blood the Greeks dipped their swords, and the Persians their javelins. On their route to Babylon they had found no provisions for seventeen days ; this sufficiently justified Ariseus in pro- posing to return by another way. On the evening of their first day's march heralds from the king reached them propos- ing a treaty of peace. The result was, that on swearing that they would commit no injury in the countries through which they travelled, they were permitted to proceed, as soon as Tissaphernes was prepared with his troops to return with them to his government. This occasioned a delay of several weeks. The three parties marched together for a few weeks, notwithstanding occasional quarrels about provisions and wood. After passing the Tigris, and the great city of Casnae they arrived at the river Zabates. The Greeks had often reason to suspect that the Persians planned their destruction. But, while they rested here, Tissaphernes succeeded in allay- ing their suspicions ; and prevailed on Clearchus and the chief leaders to meet him in his tent. They had not been long there when they were murdered, and some troops of horse were ordered to scour the country and destroy every Greek whom they could find. The Greek army, on dis- covering the treachery and cruelty of their pretended friends, and the loss of their officers, were overwhelmed, and could #= REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. Ill neither eat nor sleep. In the middle of the night, Xenophon, a young Athenian, and afterwards the illustrious author of the work which has perpetuated his fame and that of his com- panions in arms, went to some of the surviving officers, and urged them to call immediately a council to decide how they were to act ; for there was obviously not a moment to delay. He details his own speech, and adverts to the speeches of other members of the council, which was held in the presence of the soldiers. Leaders were chosen in place of those who had been seized and killed ; and the whole army resolved to set fire to their tents and carriages, and retaining only what Was absolutely necessary, to march the following morning, whatever might be the conduct of their deceitful and bar- barous enemies. They were pursued, and had to repel not only the troops of Tissaphernes, but also those who withstood them in some of the countries through which they marched. After many days' trials, and inexpressible sufferings through the interior of Asia, passing the Euphrates, the sources of the Tigris and the Araxes or Phasis ; they traversed the region of the Chalybes, and at length were compelled to ascend a very lofty mountain named Tecqua, whence they first beheld the ocean. The first who observed it shouted loud for joy for a considerable time. His cry alarmed Xenophon, for he dreaded that the vanguard was attacked, and hurried to sup- port it. The further he proceeded the cry became more dis- tinct, the sea ! the sea ! and joy and delight succeeded the alarm. But when all had reached the summit of the moun- tain nothing was heard but a confused noise of the whole army, crying out together, the sea! the sea I whilst they could not refrain from tears, nor from embracing their generals and officers. And then, without waiting for orders, they heaped up a pile of stones, and erected a trophy with broken buck- lers and other arms. Thence they advanced through the mountainous country of Colchis, and rested thirty days near Trebisond, a Greek colony on the Euxine Sea. Here they performed their vows to the gods, that they might regain their own country ; and for thirty days they celebrated with great joy the games in which they delighted. Ships were procured to send by sea to Greece their women, old and sick men, and superfluous baggage, and the rest proceeded by land. Of those Avho had survived the battle, forty horse, and three hun- dred foot, who were Thracians, had surrendered to the king of Persia. Ten thousand had commenced the retreat ; and of these eight thousand six hundred arrived safe in the ^ < '«i .»..yii».."im , rr - r . T , f i .-j' . - .. - , ■ • *&-r . Ti . -iy . r .---.: — 1 12 REIGN OF AXTAXERXES MNEMON. vicinity of Greece, after a march of more than two thousand three hundred miles, in a hundred and twenty-two days. This retreat is unparalleled in the annals of war, and indeed no enterprise could be formed with more valour and bravery, nor conducted with more prudence, nor executed with more success. Ten thousand men, five or. six hundred leagues from their own country, who have lost their generals and best officers, and find themselves in the heart of the enemy's vast' empire, undertake, in the sight of a victorious and nu- merous army, with the king at the head of them, to retire through the seat of his empire, and, in a manner, from the gates of his palace, and to traverse a vast extent of unknown countries, almost all in arms against them, without being dis- mayed by the prospect of the innumerable obstacles and dan- gers to which they were every moment exposed ; passes of rivers, of mountains and defiles ; open attacks ; secret ambus- cades, from the people upon their route ; famine, almost in- evitable in vast and desert regions ; and above all, the treachery they had to fear from the troops who seemed to be employed in escorting them, but in reality had orders to de- stroy them ; for Artaxerxes, who was sensible how much the return of those Greeks into their own country would cover him with disgrace, and decry the majesty of the empire in the eyes of all nations, had left nothing undone to prevent it ; and he desired their destruction, says Plutarch, more passion- ately than to conquer Cyrus himself, or to preserve the sovereignty of his estates. Those ten thousand men, how- ever, notwithstanding so many obstacles, carried their point, and arrived, through a thousand dangers, victorious and tri- umphant into their own country. Antony long after, when pursued by the Parthians almost in the same country, finding himself in like danger, cried out, in admiration of their invinci- ble valour, Oh the retreat of the ten thousand! The expedition of the Greeks under Cyrus, their triumph in the battle of Cunaxa, and their glorious retreat, had an in- fluence on the future destinies of man perhaps incalculable. These events were doubtless more universally known, in that age, than any of the former achievements of the Greeks ; and while by them that people were stimulated by the most power- ful passions of revenge on the Persians, and thirst for military renown, and confident assurance of their ability to conquer the world ; their name became almost sufficient to cause a panic in any army sent to contend with them in battle. The Grecians had seen the weakness of the Persian power, and i REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. ^110 Decame convinced that it consisted almost wholly in pride and vanity; in wealth and sensuality; in luxury and voluptuous- ness ; and that the Persians were almost destitute of physical and intellectual vigour. 'J'hey looked on them henceforth without dread, and were fully prepared to follow any one who appeared qualified to lead them to combat for universal empire. From this time the Persian emperors trembled on their throne; and the name of Greece made the heait of their princes and chief men faint. All who felt interest in the af- fairs of the world were now solicitous to acquire the language of this narrow spot, and an accurate knowledge of its politi- cal state. It was a phenomenon more wondejful than man- kind had ever witnessed ; and every successive year paved the way for Divine Providence to accomplish the prophetic word, that Greece should be constituted the third gieat em- pire, by whose deeJs he might in due time unfold his secret purposes respecting his own universal and eternal kingdom. The fierce four-headed leopard of Macedon was shaking him- self in his den, and was only restrained by invsisible agency from going forth at once to devour the wild bear of Media and Persia. Tissaphernes returned to Asia Minor invested with power •equal to that which had been conferred on Cyrus. This un- common reward for his services against that prince was enough to make his presence terrible in the eyes of all ranks who had supported Cyrus, and these included nearly all the inhabitants of some provinces. These immediately applied to the Lacedemonians for protection from the rage of their governor, and for assistance to preserve their liberty. The latter fulfilled all their wishes ; and this they did the more zealously from their knowledge of the superior talents, but most unprincipled, and savage conduct of Tissaphernes, who was justly regarded the most dangerous enemy of Greece. This war prevailed six years from b. c. 399, and spread to a wide extent much misery in the fine regions of Ionia and other provinces of Asia Minor. The Grecians had main- tained their high character for wisdom and bravery ; but their resources became exhausted, and compelled them to make a dishonourable peace, — a resuh to be expected when Sparta received not the support of the other states of Greece, especially of the Athenians, whose happiness she always envied almost as much as she intensely desired the ruin of Persia. By the treaty which procured this peace, the Gre- cian cities in Asia whose liberty Greece, when united, had 10* il T 114 REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. compelled the Persians to grant, were declared entirely de- pendent on the Persian king-, and with them the Grecian isles of Cyprus and Clazomenae. This treaty, however, Athens and all the cities of Greece, except Sparta and those subject to her, indignantly rejected ; and were consequently more desirous and determined than ever to resist the mighty power of Persia. Opportunity to gratify their ardent wishes was soon afforded them by the schemes which the great king pro- posed 'to prosecute ; and these we shall see had a visible ten- dency to extend the knowledge of the true religion, and deeply to effect the interests of the chosen people. The beautiful island of Cyprus was assigned by the recent treaty to the king of Persia, but from the prosperous condi- tion in which it was, he clearly perceived, that to acquire the possession called for the employment of no ordinary means. A Phenician who had usurped the throne, and subjected the whole island to Persia, had been succeeded by Evagoras, a descendant of Teucer, of the island of Salamis, who, at his return from Troy, after its fall, had built the capital, which had named Salamis, after the name of his native land. Eva- goras had been carefully educated, and early became distin- guished amongst the youth by the beauty of his aspect, the vigour of his body, and more by the modesty and innocence of his manners, which were the greatest ornaments of that age. As he advanced in years, the greatest virtues, valour, wisdom, and justice, were observed to brighten in him. He afterwards carried these virtues to so conspicuous an height, as to give jealousy to those that governed ; who perceived justly that so shining a merit could not continue in the ob- scurity of a private condition ; but his modesty, probity, and integrity, reassured them, and they reposed an entire confi- dence in him, to which he always answered by an inviolable fidelity, without ever meditating their expulsion from the throne by violence or treachery. A more justifiable means conducted him to it ; Divine Providence, as Isocrates says, preparing the way for him. One of the principal citizens murdered the person upon the throne, and had contrived to seize Evagoras and to rid himself of hirn, in order to secure the crown to himself; but that prince escaping his pursuit, retired to Solos, a city of Cilicia. His banishment was so far from abating his courage, that it gave him new vigour. At- tendend only with fifty followers, determined like himself to conquer or die, he returned to Salamis, and expelled the usurper, though supported by the credit and protection of the ■» #= L REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. 11^ king of Persia. Flaving reestablished himself in Salamis, he soon rendered his little kingdom most flourishing, by his application to the relief of his subjects, and by protecting them in all things, governing them with justice and benevo- lence, making them active and laborious, and by inspiring them with a taste for the cultivation of land, the breeding of cattle, commerce and navigation ; he formed them also for war, and led them conquerors from city to city. But many of the Cypriots had no inclination to submit to his govern- ment. These sought the aid of Artaxerxes to oppose him and he hastened to meet their wishes. During his war with the Lacedemonians, Arta.xerxes had made e.xtraordinary efforts to raise a fleet; and for this pur- pose had many people employed in the ports of Phenicia in building ships, and procuring sailors accustomed to naval war. The war with Sparta being over, orders -were sent to the servants of the king of I^ersia in Phenicia to renew and augment those works ; and a fleet was prepared, consisting of three hundred grilleys. Tiribasus, a Persian of the high- est rank and the oreatest reputation, was appointed admiral, to be assisted by Gaos his son-in-law. The invading army, amounting to three hundred thousand men, was commirtided by Orontes, who was a son-in law of the kingr. Evagoras, notwithstanding the aid afforded him from Athens Egypt, and other dominions disafTefted to Persia, had no means of preventing such a mighty army from landing on his island. His fleet scarcely exceeded one hundred galleys, and his' army, twenty thousand. But he made a noble resistance; and when forced to yield and resign Cyprus, was acknow- ledged king of Salamis, its metropolis, on condition of an an- nual tribute. He survived this event about twelve years, and was succeeded, n. c. 373, by his son Nicocles, who proved worthy of his noble descent. The two preceding wars, especially the latter, we may be- lieve occasioned the religion of the Jews being more fully known than hitherto, to many thousand subjects of Persia collected almost in the vicinity of Jerusalem. It is most probable that they procured, by money or by force, the prin- cipal part of iheir provisions from Judea. That country was the usual granary to supply Tyre and its dependencies ; and nowhere else could the Persians, engaged in building the ships, or assembled to sail for the Grecian seas or for Cyprus, so conveniently find the provisions indispensable to the execu- tion of their plans. Some of them may have known the # 1 1 G BEIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. Jews who sojourned in their respective countries, and mast have felt desirous to behold the temple and its service, of which they, doubtless, had often heard them speak with rap- ture; and many more would be led to view these scenes in the course of their journeys to procure supplies to the navy and army. While, however, they might thus obtain an accu- rate conception of the form and ceremonies of the religion of the Jews, there is a strong probability that they beheld not in the most favourable light its moral influence; for an anec- dote, related by Josephus, (adverted to in page 78,) indicates that the priesthood was greatly degenerated since the days of Nehemiah ; and we have reason to suspect that the people would resemble them, in accordance with the proverb, '• Like people, like priests." In all the national declensions of Israel, they were visited by adversity ; and the circumstances in which they were now placed may have inflicted on them much suflferings. \i the then Persian governor was Babhorrence they had of their apostacy. This their enemies construed as done in opposition to the king's or- ders, which so enraged Ptolemy that he resolved to extirpate \he whole nation, beginning with the Jews who lived in Al- exandria and other parts of Egypt, and then proceed with the same severity against the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem. Pursuant to this resolution, he commanded all the Jews who lived in any part of Egypt to be brought in chains to Alexan- dria, and there to be shut up in the hippodrome, which waS a very spacious place without the city, where the people used to assemble to see horse races and other public shows. When the news was brought him that all the Jews who lived in Egypt were, agreeable to his orders, confined within the hippodrome, he sent for Hermon, master of the elephants, and ordered him to have five hundred of them ready against the next day, to be let loose upon the prisoners in the hippodrome. But when the elephants were prepared for the execution, and the people assembled in great crowds to see it, they were all disappointed for that day, by the king's absence ; for having been late up the night before with some of his drunken and debauched companions, he did not awake the next day till the •time for the show was over, and the spectators returned to their respective homes. He therefore ordered one of his servants to call him the day following betimes, that the people might not meet with a second disappointment. But when the person appointed awakened him, he was not yet returned to his senses, having a little before withdrawn exceedingly drunk ; and therefore, not remembering the order he had given, flew into a violent passion, threatening the person who spoke to him of it, which caused the show to be put off to the third day. " In the meantime, the Jews who continued shut up in the hippodrome, ceased not to offer up prayers to the Almighty for their deliverance, which he accordingly granted them. For on the third day, when the king was present, and the ele- phants brought forth and let loose upon the prisoners, those fierce animals, instead of falling upon the Jews, turned their rage upon the spectators and soldiers who assisted at the exe- cution, and destroyed great numbers of them ; which, with m 216 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. Other appearances seen in the air, so terrified the king, that he commanded the Jews to be immediately set at Kberty, — acknowledged the power of the God they worshipped, — and, to appease his anger, restored his people to the full enjoy- ment of their former privileges, bestowing upon them besides many favours, and loading them with presents at their depart- ure ; for the king not only allowed them to return to their re- spective homes, but would himself bear the charges of their journey. The Jews, seeing themselves thus restored to the king's favour, demanded and obtained leave of him to put all those of their own nation to death who had abandoned their religion ; which permission they soon made use of, without sparing a single man." In memory of this great deliverance, a festival, it is re- corded, was kept by the Jews during several centuries ; and their gratitude to the king was strongly expressed by the in- conquerable courage with which they supported him in the civil war which originated in the revolt of the natives of Egypt. In the contest, sixty thousand Jews are said to have been slain. But it is probable that the unjust conduct of Ptolemy Phi- lopater towards the Jews completely alienated from him the inhabitants of Judea, and thus they prepared them to acknow- ledge in season Antiochus the Great. By this means they most probably escaped more evil than it was in the power of Egypt to inflict. For though Antiochus saw it expedient to enter into a treaty of peace with Egypt on the most humilia- * ting terms, yet he rapidly rose to be the first sovereign in Asia. Achaeus had not only reduced under him all the provmces over which he was appointed governor, but had forced At- talus, king of Pergamus, to connne his exertions within the limits of his small kingdon. His success had kindled the jealousy and envy of his ungrateful sovereign and court, and he considered it indispensable for his own safety to declare himself an independent prince, and, it is said, to contend with his cousin for the sovereignty of Syria, which he had for- merly nobly refused. These circumstances occasioned a bloody war, which, by the treachery of two officers of AchjEus, natives oi Crete, terminated in the loss of his domin- ion, his liberty, and life. Having entire confidence in them, they found it easy to seize him, and deliver him up to Antio- chus, who immediately caused him to be beheaded. Confident that Syria was safe from the power of Egypt, be- REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. 217 » cause its brutal sovereign had given himself up to the indul- gence of every vile appetite and passion, and having settled the provinces of Asia Minor, Antiochus determined to proceed to reduce the revolted provinces in the East. In this expedi- tion he spent several years ; but after repeatedly defeating the Parthians, and combating the Bactrians, he became hopeless of overcoming them, and consented to a peace with the re- spective sovereigns, on condition of the king of Parthia re- nouncing all claims on Media, and the king of Bactria grant- ing him one hundred and fifty elephants. On his return to Antioch, through Persia, Babylonia, and Mesopotamia, Antiochus learned that the king of Egypt was dead, and its throne possessed by his son, Ptolemy Epi- phanes, who was only five years of age. He was not slow to devise a scheme by whicn he hoped to dethrone the child, and acquire at least a large portion of his dominions. In order to do this he formed an alliance with Philip, king of Macedon, b. c. 203, the basis of which was to conquer and divide between them all the countries subject to the king of Egypt. This most unprovoked and unjust alliance brought utter ruin on its authors, and issued in the establishment of the supremacy of the Romans over the chief regions of the Grecian empire, and occasioned the display of the mighty energies of the Fourth Beast. Philip was one of the most skilful warriors a^inst the powerful, but the tyrant of the weak. Rarely did he dis- cover any indication of a refined mind or a humane heart. His predecessor, Antigonus Dorson, had assisted the Achae- ans in their illustrious enterprise to restore and sustain the liberty of all the States of Greece ; and they judged it neces- sary to request him to continue the same assistance. This they the more willingly did, on account of the gentleness and moderation, combined with wisdom, which marked his con- duct in the early period of his reign. Success, however, awakened pride and ambition ; and whoever bowed not to his authority, or submitted not to his will, provoked his rage, and exposed themselves to his implacable resentment. The intelligent soon perceived that he had set his heart, not on the freedom but the conquest and slavery of Greece. That country was threatened at the same time with ruin by the Lacedemonians, who had fallen under the dominion of ty- rants. In these circumstances, the friendship of the Romans w£is acceptable to many of the Greeks, for they pretended to desire nothing more than to protect the natural rights of aU VOL. I. 19 f ^ ^\S AGIQN OF ANTIOOHUS THE GREAT. nations, and especially of the enlightened states of Greece Though Philip was chiefly indebted for his ascendency in Greece to Aratus and his son, who was truly worthy of his father's name, yet he secretly effected the death of the for- mer, and the mental derangement of the latter, when he per- ceived that they resolved to counteract his rapacious designs. He adopted a different method to secure himself against the opposition of Philopcsmen, the last brave general of the Achgeans, and who, from the excellency of his character, and heroic deeds, has been justly called, "the last of the Greeks." Philip endeavoured in vain to gain this celebrated man over to his interests. But the ambitious views of this prince were more fully developed by the alliance which he formed with Hannibal, the chief of the Carthaginians. The wars of this powerful and commercial people with the Romans astonished the Greeks, who had always regarded these nations as mere barbarians. But the king of Macedon contemplated them with the deepest interest ; for the compar- atively narrow Adriatic Sea alone separated his kingdom from Italy. Hence the invasion of that country by the cele- brated Hannibal was gratifying to him ; and on ascertaining that the Romans had been defeated by him in three succes- sive battles, he sent ambassadors to the victor to make a treaty with him, the terms of which he cheerfully accepted ; for the purport was, that Philip should cross into Italy with a fleet of two hundred sail and lay waste the sea coasts ; and should assist the Carthaginians both by sea and land : That the latter at the conclusion of the war, should possess all Italy and Rome; and that Hannibal should have all the spoils: That after the conquest of Italy, they should cross into Greece, and there make war against any power the king should nominate ; and that both the cities of the continent, and the islands lying towards Macedonia, should be enjoyed by Philip, and annexed to his dominions. This treaty af- forded a plausible reason to justify their persevering interfer- ence in the affairs of Greece, and to make war with Philip. But till they conquered Hannibal they could not vigorously prosecute their schemes respecting Macedon. They there- fore readily entered into a treaty of peace with Philip, by the terms of which they were careful to appear as the protector of Grecian liberty, while he had by his conduct during the war alienated from him all who venerated the religion, the literature, and arts, of the Greeks. He acted the barbarian in every city which he captured. He laid waste the sur 1 fLEIGN OF ANTIOqHUS THE QVJ^T. 219 ^Qunding district — made a prey of whatever was valuable — destroyed the temples and the most admired monument of antiquity and art. Thus he showed himself a prince completely prepared to join Antiochus the Great in the most unjust plans, which that prince proposed as the foundation of an alliance, which they made b. c. 204, the same year in which peace was es- .tablished between PhUip and the Romans. The terms of this alliance were in substance, that they should attack the dominions of the infant king of Egypt, remove him from the throne, and divide them ; Philip to receive Caria, Egypt, Lybia, and Cyrenaica ; and Antiochus all the rest. By this agreement the latter was brought into a collision with the Romans, which ultimately ruined him, and placed all Asia within their wide grasp. They had kept up occasionally correspondence with the court of Egypt, from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus ; and on the death of Ptolemy Phil- opater, the senate of Rome declared themselves the guardians of the young king, and entrusted Aristomedes with the ad- ministration of the kingdom. This representative of the Romans was, by birth, an Acar- nanian, but he had been for a considerable time in Egypt, and was one of the generals of the army most distinguished by fidelity and prudence. Previously to his appointment, Anti- ochus had conquered all Ccelo-Syria, Judea, and Phenicia. To recover these provinces, Aristomedes sent Scopas with an army. This general, at first every where triumphant, was soon overcome, when attacked by Antiochus in person, and the Egyptians returned to Alexandria overwhelmed with dis- grace ; the general and those who sought refuge in Sidon fell into the hands of the conqueror, and were by him dismissed naked and destitute. Scopas seems to have treated the prov- inces as newly captured, and his overthrow was hailed by the inhabitants, especially by the Jews, who had always till now been celebrated for their attachment to the dynasty of Ptolemy. As soon as they knew that Antiochus was advancing to their country, they crowded very zealously to meet him, and deliver up the keys of all their cities ; being come to Jerusalem, the priests and elders came out in pomp to meet him, paid him all kinds of honour, and assisted him in driving out of the castle the soldiers which Scopas had left in it. In return for these services, Antiochus granted them a great many privileges ; and enacted, by a particular decree, that no stranger should be dlowed access to the inner part of the temple ; a prohihi- 220 REIGN OP ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. tion which seemed evidently to have been made on account of Philopater's late attempt to force his way thither. Antio- chus, in his eastern expedition, had received so many services from the Jews of Babylonia and Mesopotamia, and depended so much on their fidelity, that when a sedition broke out in Phrygia and Lydia, he sent two thousand Jewish families to quell it, and keep the country in peace, and was exceedingly liberal to them. It was from these Jews, transplanted at this time, that descended many of those who were dispersed or " scattered abroad,^ whom we shall afterwards find so nu- merous, especially in the gospel times. The favours bestowed on the Jews by Antiochus the Great are minutely detailed by Josephus. This second and more permanent subjugation by Antiochus was, like the first, the subject of Divine prediction : " For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army, and with much riches. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south : also the robbers of thy people shall exalt them- selves to establish the vision ; but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities ; and the arms of the south shall not with- stand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him ; and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed." Dan. xi. 13 — 16. And his last and greatest exploits, directed against the Romans, whose re- gions in Europe are denominated the isles^ are foretold in ver. 1 7 — 19, of which an illustration is presented to us in the events which we proceed briefly to record. Antiochus was resolved to raise his empire to its original greatness and grandeur in the days of its founder Seleucus Nicator. That he might direct all his resources to the con- quest of Asia Minor and the regions in Europe, which had been wrested from the Syrian power, he procured peace with Egypt by betrothing his daughter to Ptolemy, with the pro- mise, when their marriage was consummated, of all the prov- inces, which he had recently conquered. He had scarcely finished his preparations for the war, in the prosecution of which he must have calculated on the opposition of Rome, when h6 was deprived of the co-operation of Philip, king of Macedon. For though the peace which he had made with the Romans had been broken, yet he was compelled to # # RBION OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. 221 acquiesce in another more humiliating to him, 198 b. c. The conditions were, That all the Grecian cities not voluntarily subject to him, whether in Greece, Asia, or Europe, should be free, and be governed by their own laws : that Philip, be- fore the celebration of the Isthmian games, should evacuate those in which he then had garrisons : that he should restore to the Romans all the prisoners and deserters, and deliver up to them all the ships that had decks, (five feluccas ex- cepted,) and the galley having sixteen benches of rowers : That he should pay a thousand talents ; one half down, and the other half in ten years, fifty every year, by way of tribute. Among the hostages required of him, was Demetrius his son, who accordingly was sent to Rome. This treaty was accept- able to all the Grecian States, except ^tolia, whose chief men declared that the Romans had bound the Greeks in chains, because they had reserved the right of placing strong garri- sons in Corinth, Colchis, and Demetrius, to prevent them be- ing seized by Antiochus. The complaints of the iEtolians occasioned much perplexity, and induced many to think that the Romans would never evacuate the numerous cities which they had taken. Flaminius eagerly embraced the opportu- nity aflforded him by the solemnization of the Isthmian games, to tranquillize all Greece. The immense multitude, consisting of all ranks, being assembled from every state, in the stadium, he ordered a herald to proclaim that the " Senate and people of Rome, and Titus Gluintius the general, having overcome Philip and the Macedonians, ease and deliver from all garri- sons, and taxes, and imposts, the Corinthians, the Locrians, the Phocians, the Euboeans, the Phthiot Achseans, the Magnesians, the Thessalians, and the Perhaebians : declare them free, and ordain that they shall be governed by their respective laws and usages." When this proclamation was fully understood, the innumerable hearers aban loned themselves to the highest transports of joy, and broke iiito such loud and repeated ac- clamations, that the sea resounded them to a great distance ; and some ravens, which happened to fly that instant over the assembly, fell down in the stadium ; so true it is, that of all the blessings of this life, none are so dear to mankind as lib- erty ! The games and sports were hurried over with neglect and disregard ; for so great was the general joy upon this oc- casion, that it extinguished all other thoughts and regards. The games being ended, all the people ran in crowds to the Roman general ; and every one being eager to see his deliv- erer, to salute him, to kiss his hand, and to throw crowns and fes- 19* 2(22 REIGN OF A>rriOCHUS THE GREAT. toons of flowers over him : he would have run the hazard of being pressed to death by the crowd, had not the vigour of his years (for he was not above thirty-three years old,) and the joy which so glorious a day gave him, sustained and enabled him to undergo the fatigue of it." These events, however adverse to the views of Antiochus, were insufficient to change his plans. Having, by a dexter- ous policy, secured the peace ,of Syria, he had ordered his sons, Arduas and Mithridates to conduct the army to Sardis, and wait his arrival there, for he proposed to lead a large fleet to the coasts of Asia Minor. On his taking possession of the principal maritime cities, and laying up his fleet at Ephesus for the winter. Smyrna, Lampsacus, and other free cities, indisposed to submit to him, applied for aid and protec- tion to the Romans. Before ambassadors from Rome reached him, he had passed the Hellespont to Europe, and conquered the Thracian Chersonesus, which he proposed to constitute the nucleus of a kingdom to his second son, Seleucus, and to make Lysimachia its capital. He apoligised for his proceed- ing, by asserting that he subjected to his dominion only those countries of which he was the legitimate heir, as the descend- ant of Seleucus Nicanor, who had ruled over them. This apology the ambassadors of Rome reported to the senate, but the only decision passed was, that Flaminius should watch the proceedings of the Syrian king, whose power they avowed must be limited to Asia. Meanwhile Hannibal, who had lived retired in Carthage several years from the time of his total defeat, which had ter- minated in the temporary restoration of peace between Rome and that city, carried on correspondence with Antiochus. On discovering that this was suspected, and having some rea- son to apprehend that his countrymen would deliver him up to the Romans, he fled to Ephesus, and was joyfully received by the Syrian king, who, by this event, was strongly con- firmed in his purpose to pursue the measures which he judged best, in defiance of Rome. One of the Roman ambassadors to Antiochus visited Han- nibal at Ephesus, with the design of persuading him that he had nothing to fear from the Romans, and that it was rfbt his interest to join their enemies. Though he attained not this, yet Hannibal was pleased repeatedly to meet him ; a circumstance which induced Antiochus to suspect the sin- cerity of his friendship, and from this time he was much less disposed to respect his advice than that given him by the i # REIGlf OP ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. 228 flatterers with whom he was surrounded. This may be re- garded as one of the principal causes of his final overthrow. Hannibal always insisted that the Romans could never be successfully attacked, except in Italy. The -^tolians persuaded Antiochus that he had only to fight the Romans in Greece to secure a complete triumph, for all the Greeks would assured- ly join his standard. He followed their counsels, and his troops were totally defeated ; and the ^tolians, who were the only one of his allies possessed of much power, were compelled to throw themselves on the compassion of the Ro- mans. This event transpired b. c. 191, and in the succeed- ing year Antiochus was forced to contend with Rome for his Asiatic possessions. The strength of both parties was exerted to the utmost ; for the prize was the empire of the world. The Roman armies, on land, were led by L. Cornelius Scipio, the new consul ; his brother, Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal, served as lieutenant. L. iEmilius Regillus commanded the fleet, which was strengthened by a large fleet from Rhodes. The latter first attacked and dis- persed many ships in which Hannibal was conveying troops from Syria and Phenicia to Asia. iEmilius obtained a com- plete victory over the principal fleet of Antiochus, on the coast of Ionia. In consequence of these disasters, Antiochus was disabled from arresting the progress of the Roman army in their march into Asia. The report that they had passed the Hellespont struck terror into his heart, and seemed to de- prive him of understanding. He ordered his troops to be withdrawn from the very fortresses, which stood in the way of the enemy, lest they should take them prisoners ; and in despair he sent an embassy to propose terms of peace ; and, on learning the conduct of the Roman general on reaching Asia, he entertained hopes of pacifying him. " The Romans halted some time at Troy, which they considered as the cra- dle of their origin, and as their primitive country, from whence they set out to settle in Italy. The consul offered up sacri- fices to Minerva, who presided over the citadel. Both parties were overjoyed, and much after the same manner as fathers and children, who meet after a long separation. The inhab- itants of this city, seeing their posterity conquerors of the West and of Africa, and laying claim to Asia as a kingdom that had been possessed by their ancestors, imagined they saw Troy rise out of its ashes in greater splendour than ever. On the other side, the Romans were infinitely delighted to see themselves in the ancient abode of their forefathers, who had #- ^m m- « 224 BEION OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAt. , given birth to Rome ; and to contemplate its temples and dei- ties, which they had in common with that city." The army observed the festival named Ancilia,in which the sacred shields were carried m solemn procession with great pomp. Scipio Afncanus, who was one of the salii or priests of Mars, whose olfice was to keep these shields, had not yet crossed the sea ; for, being one of the salii, he could not leave the place where the festival was solemnizing, so that the army was obliged to wait for him. What a pity it was that persons of so much re- ligion were no better illuminated, or directed their worship to such improper objects! This delay gave Antiochus some hopes ; for he imagined that the Romans, immediately upon their arrival in Asia, would have attacked him on a sudden. Besides, the noble character he had heard of Scipio Africanus, and his greatness of soul, his generosity and clemency to those he had conquered, both in Spain and Africa, gave him hopes that this great man, now satiated with glory, would not be averse to an accommodation, especially as he had a present to make him which could not but be infinitely agreeable. This was his own son, a child, who had been taken at sea, as he was going in a boat from Chalcis to Oreum, according to Livy. Scipio Africanus, though grateful for the gift of his son, informed the ambassadors of Antiochus, that by allowing the Romans to enter Asia, he had put the yoke on his own neck, and that he ought now to lay down his arms and accept any articles of peace proposed to him. This announce- ment left him no alternative but to try the strength of his arms, and he instantly proceeded to meet the enemy. His army consisted of seventy thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and fifty-four elephants. The Romans amounted only to thirty thousand men, and sixteen elephants. The battle, which was fought near the city of Magnesia, was dreadful, but was soon terminated in the entire overthrow of the army of Antiochus, and the voluntary submission of all the cities of Asia Minor to Rome. Antiochus retired to Sard is, from which he soon fled to Phrygia to join his son Seleucus. They both returned to Antioch ; and immediately sent ambassadors to sue for peace. The conditions prescribed by Scipio Africanus were, " that Antiochus should evacuate all Asia on this side Mount Taurus: that he should pay all the expenses of the war, which were computed at fifteen thousand Euboean talents, and the payments were settled as follows ; five hundred talents down ; two thousand five hundred, when the senate should have ratified the treaty, and the rest in twelve years, a thou- m m B.KION OP ANTIOOHUS THE GREAT. 225 sand talents every year. That he should pay Eumenes the four hundred talents he owed him, and the residue of a pay- ment on account of corn with which the king of Pergamus his father had furnished the king of Syria ; and that he should deliver twenty hostages, to be chosen by the Romans;" and, finally, that Hannibal, and Thoas, the general of the iEtolians, who had been the chief agent in fomenting the war, should be delivered up to them. These terms were accepted by An- tioclius, and approved by the Roman senate. Thus the Grecian empire vanished, and Rome triumphed. The fourfh beast exultingly raised his throne, in the world ; and the human race, astonished, beheld that it was truly " dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns," Dan. vii. 7. The Romans, however, still continued the avowed protectors of the freedom of all nations, especially of the Greeks, in Asia as well as Europe ; and for a considerable time treated them with respect. Indeed, every Roman who aspired to intelli- gence, distinction, or superiority in literature, science, or the fine arts of eloquerice, poetry, sculpture, and painting,. was happy in having the opportunity of sojourning a longer or shorter time in the principal Grecian cities. And nothing contributed more than this to advance the civilization of the Roman people. Nevertheless, their acquisition of Asia ex- tinguished their most dazzHng qualities ; for they exchanged their temperate habits, moderation, patience, and fortitude, for Asiatic wealth, luxury, effeminacy, and licentious pleas- ures. Antiochus, confounded by his fall, perished in the first at- tempt to secure the friendship of the Romans, who, if pro- voked, were sufficiently powerful, and inclined, to strip him of all his dominion. On recovering somewhat from the tre- mendous shock which he had endured, he was perplexed how to procure the sum which he was pledged to remit to Rome, The only scheme that appeared eligible was to make a pro- gress through his eastern provinces, and levy the tribute due him. He appointed his son Seleucus regent of the kingdom during his absence, and declared him his heir and successor. Arriving at Elymais, capital of the northern division of Susi- ana, he was informed that its temple of Jupiter Belus con- tained considerable treasure. Being a votary of pleasure, ra- ther than of idolatry, he rashly invaded the sacred edifice, in ^- — ._~-=™* -^ 226 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. the darkness of night, and carried off its riches, and gifts of devotion religiously preserved for many generations. This act excited the horror and rage of the citizens ; and, in the tumult, his life was the forfeit of his presumption and pro- fanity. He was characterised, till fifty years old, by wisdom, prudence, and bravery, by which he acquired the title of the Greatj but, from that period, pride, inconsideration, and in- dulgence of the meaner passions, produced self-confidence, imprudent conduct, and love of ease ; and these proved fatal to his power and fame. -» CHAPTER IVI REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. NoTHTNG important is recorded of the short reign of Seleu- cus Philopater, the son and successor of Antiochus the Great, except his unjust and presumptuous spoiling of the temple of Jerusalem. And to this he was excited by his circumstances rather than by any alienation from the Jews. They had en- joyed a considerable period of peace and prosperity under the government of his father, and appear to have been favoured by pious and faithful high-priests. That this was the charac- ter of Simon II. who succeeded the covetous Onias II. b. c 249, is probable from the silence of history concerning his pontificate ; for the Jewish historians usually thus treat thf^ lives of their leaders who kept the even tenor of their way, especially when no remarkable event happened to them dur ingthtir administration. His son Onias III, who was or- dained high-priest, b. c. 199, was greatly beloved by all the true worshippers of God. But he was hated by the wicked, and from the wrath and honour connected with his office, they envied him, and sought his destruction. Among these was, unhappily, Simon, a Benjaminite, who had been ap- pointed governor of the temple. When this man failed to se- duce Onias from his duty, he resolved to act the traitor of his nation, and charge Onias with the crime. He knew the ex- treme difficulty which the king of Syria felt to raise the fine or tribute imposed on his kingdom by the Romans. Indeed this was the principal object of Seleucus Philopater's life, for the loss of his dominions, he was certain, would speedily fol- low the neglect to send them annually one thousand talents. Thus this prince completely vindicated the character given of him in the Divine prediction : " Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle.'* # t -m 228 REIGN OF ANTIOC'HUS EPIPHANES. Dan. xi. 20. The contemporaries of Seleucus mig^ht justly have denominated him " the collector of taxes." To him Simon introduced himself, assured of procuring his favour, by intimating to him that the temple at Jerusalem, of which he was governor, contained immense treasure, of which the king might easily obtain possession. To this monarch no information could be more acceptable, and he quickly availed himself of it. This part of his conduct, so deeply interesting to the Jews, is plainly detailed, with all the accompanying circumstances, in the Second Book of Maccabees. " Now when the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and the laws were kept very well, because of the godliness of Onias the high-priest, and his hatred of wickedness, it came to pass that even the kings themselves did honour the place, and magnify the temple with their best gifts ; insomuch that Seleucus, king of Asia, of his own revenues, bare all the costs belonging to the service of the sacrifices. But one Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who was made governor of the temple, fell out with the high-priest about disorder in the city. And when he could not overcome Onias, he gat himto Apollonius the son of Thraseas, who then was governor of CoDlo-Syria and Phenice, and told him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of infinite sums of money, so that the multitude of their riches, which did not pertain to the account of the sacrifices, was innumerable, and that it was possible to bring all into the king's hand. Now, when Apollonius came to the king, and had showed him of the money whereof he was told, the king chose out Heliodorus his treasurer, and sent him with a com- mandment to bring him the foresaid money. So forthwith Heliodorus took his journey, under a colour of visiting the cities of CcElo-Syria and Phenice, but indeed to fulfil the king's purpose. And when he was come to Jerusalem, and had been courteously received of the high-priest of the city, he told him what intelligence was given of the money, and de- clared wherefore he came, and asked if these things were so indeed. Then the high-priest told him that there was such money laid up for the relief of widows and fatherless children, and that some of it belonged to Hircanus, son of Tobias, a man of great dignity, and not as that wicked Simon had mis- informed ; the sum whereof in all was four hundred talents of silver, and two hundred of gold ; and that it was altogether inpossible that such wrongs should be done unto them, that had committed it to the holiness of the place, and to the ma- HI REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 229 jesty and inviolable sanctity of the temple, honoured over all the world. But Heliodorus, because of the king s command- ment given iiim, said, that in any wise it must be brought into the king's treasury. So at the day which he appointed he entered in to order this matter : wherefore there was no small agony throughout the whole city. But the priests, pros- trating themselves before the altar in their priests' vestments, called unto heaven upon him that made a law concerning things given to be kept, that they should safely be preserved for such as had committed them to be kept. Then whoso had looked the high-priest in the face, it would have wounded his heart : for his countenance, and the changing of his colour, declared the inward agony of his mind ; for the man was so compassed with fear and horror of the body, that it was mani- fest to them that looked upon him what sorrow he had now in his heart. Others ran flocking out of their houses to the general supplication, because the place was like to come into contempt. And the women, girt with sackcloth under their breasts, abounded in the streets ; and the virgins that were kept in ran, some to the gates, and some to the wails, and others looked out of the windows. And all, holding their hands toward heaven, made supplication. Then it would have pitied a man to see the falling down of the muhitude of all sorts, and the fear of the high-priest, being in such an agony. They then called upon the Almighty Lord to keep the things committed of trust safe and sure for those that had committed them. Nevertheless Heliodorus executed that which was decreed. Now, as he was there present himself with his guard about the treasury, the Lord of spirits, and the Prince of all power, caused a great apparition, so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God, and fainted, and were sore afraid. For there appeared unto them an horse with a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with a very fair covering, and he ran fiercely, and smote at Heliodorus with his forefeet, and it seemed that he that sat upon the horse had complete harness of gold. Moreover, two other young men appeared before him, notable in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, who stood by him on either side, and scourged him continually, and gave him* many sore stripes. And Heliodorus fell suddenly unto the ground, and was compassed with great darkness : but they that were with him took him up, and put him into a litter. Thus, him that lately came with a great train, and with all his guard, into the said treasury, they carried out, being unable VOL. L 20 # $80 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. to help himself with his weapons : and manifestly they ac- knowledged the power of God : for he by the hand of God was cast down, and lay speechless without all hope of life. But they pruised the Lord, that had miraculously honoured his own place: for the temple, which a little afore was full of fear and trouble, when the Almighty Lord appeared, was fil- led with joy and gladness. • Then straightway certain of Helio- dorus' friends prayed Onias, that he would call upon the Most High to grant him his life who lay ready to give up the ghost. So the high-priest, suspecting lest the king should misconceive that some treachery had been done to Heliodorus by the Jews, offered a sacrifice for the heahh of the men. Now, as the high-priest was making an atonement, the same young men, in the same clothing, appeared, and stood beside Peliodorus, saying, Give Onias the high-priest great thanks, insomuch as for his sake the Lord hath granted thee life : and seeing that thou hast been scourged from heaven, declare unto all men the mighty power of God. And when they had spoken these words, they appeared no more. So Heliodorus, after he had offered sacrifice unto the Lord, and made great vows unto him that had saved his life, and saluted Onias, returned with his host to the king. Then testified he to all m6n the works of the great God, which he had seen with his eyes. And when the king asked Heliodorus, who might be a fit man to be set yet once again to Jerusalem, he said, if thou hast any enemy or traitor, send him thither, and thou shah receive him well scourged, if he escape with his life : for in that place, no doubt, there is an especial power of God. For he that dwelleth in heaven hath his eye on that place, and defendeth it ; and he beateth and desttoyeth them that come to hurt it. And the things concerning Heliodorus, and the keeping of the trea- sury, fell out on this sort. This Simon now, of whom we spake afore, having been a bewrayer of the money, and of his country, slandered Onias, as if he had terrified Heliodorus, and been the worker of these evils. Thus was he bold to call him a traitor that had deserved well of th'e city, and ten- dered his own nation, and was so zealous of the laws. But when their hatred went so far, that by one of Simon's faction, murders were committed, Onias, seeing the danger of this con- 'tention, and that Apollonius, as being the governor of Celo- Syria and Phenice, did rage, and increase Simon's malice, he went to the king, not to be an accuser of his countrymen, but seeking the good of all, both public and private : for he saw i REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. 2St that it was impossible that the state should continue quiet, and Simon leave his folly, unless the king did look thereunto." This section indicates, that whatever was the general reli- gious and moral character of the Jewish nation, at this time, the number of unbelieving and profane persons was not small. And the next section discloses still more clearly this melan- choly truth ; for from it we learn that the highest ecclesiasti- cal office was bought and sold, and the contentions of thosr who aspired to it were fierce and sanguinary, and occasionr^d civil anarchy. If we, therefore, believe that the Jews re- mained under this peculiar constitution, very properly called a Theocracy, this was a season in which, according to the usual providences of Jehovah with their fathers, the righteous might expect supernatural interposition to sustain their faith, and hope, and love ; and dread the infliction of signal punish- ment on the ungodly, and great calamity in the whole nation. And such were the most prominent features of this age of the Jews. The trials and miracles may be related by what are called the "Apocryphal writers," in hyperbolical, or in other respects, exceptionable language ; but that they actually hap- pened, no candid man can question, unless he is sceptical respecting all facts recorded by profane historians. For those to whom we are indebted for the knowledge of the events which relate to the Jews, describe also not a few in re- lation to other nations ; and their account of them is fully confirmed by other writers, whose testimony is universally believed. That these writers should be silent on many of the subjects which concerned the Jews is not surprising, because they regarded with indifference the interests of that peculiar race. • Seleucus very soon became the victim of that minister's ambition, whom he had employed to execute his most unjust and oppressive designs against the Jews. His brother, Anti- ochus, was a hostage in Rome. Being most desirous to see him, he sent his son Demetrius to occupy his place. During the absence of the heirs to the throne, Heliodorus poisoned the king, and seized the sceptre of Syria. Thus, in the elev- enth year of his reign, called by Daniel " (ew days," as it was comparatively a short reign, Seleucus died, " neither in anger nor in battle," but by the basest treachery of his confi- dential minister. His son, Antiochus Epiphanes, by the aid of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, expelled Heliodorus, and as- cended to the throne of his ancestors. He was not the legiti- mate heir while Demetrius, his brother's son, was alive. But ■^ T »= #^ 232 REIGN OF ANTIOOHUS . EPIPHANES. he succeeded in supplanting him hy his influence* over Eu- menes, most probably by flattery and deceit, as predicted by Daniel, xi. 21. Perhaps he equalled his grandfather, Antio- chus the Great, in talent ; but he was utterly destitute of his excellencies ; and indeed he owed the apparent splendour of his reign much more to the habitual practice of deceit and falsehood than to wisdom or bravery. He assumed the ap- pellation Epiphanes, the Illustrious ; but no prince more justly merited the epithet " vile," by which he is characterised in the Sacred Oracles. And no prince has ever discovered more destitution of moral principle, honourable feeling, and propriety of conduct. Habituated in his youth to the customs of the Romans, he seems to have derived his happiness from imitating the lower arts of a demagogue, and the contemptible manners of a bufl^oon ; the very dregs of societj"^, with whom he sometimes mixed, despised him. Perhaps nothing is more surprising in his life, than that he should have been permitted to disgrace^the Syrian throne eleven years. He commenced his reign about b. c. 175 ; and exhausted all his resources, chiefly with the view of conquering Egypt, and extirpating the Jewish people ; in both of which objects he signally failed. The times were singularly favourable to his schemes in rela- tion to Egypt. The Romans, who had assumed the office of guardians of that kingdom during the minority of its prince, Ptolemy Philometer, were fully engaged at home in oppos- ing the machinations of some of the ablest citizens, who seemed resolved to revolutionise the republic, and to establish the low- est form of democracy ; and all the forces which the nation could command were required to maintain and extend their power over Greace and Macedon. With their approbation, the regency of Egypt had been entrusted to Cleopatra, the mother of the young king. She was the sister of Antiochus Epiphanes, and had sufficient influence over him and her own court to preserve, during her hfe, an apparent harmony be- tween the two kingdoms. At her dpath, b. c. 173, Lanacus, a distinguished noble, was chosen regent, and Eulaeus, a eunuch, was charged with the education of the king. These stimulated the court to send an Embassy to Antiochus, to de- mand the restoration of CoBlo-Syria, Judea, Phenicia, which legitimately belonged to the dynasty of Ptolemy ; and which, though conquered by Antiochus the Great, yet had been re- signed by him as the dowry of Cleopatra, the wife of Ptolemy Epiphanes. These claims he disregarded ; and having learned that the # ^ 1 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANB& 233 court of Egypt was preparing an army to enforce them, he determined to invade that kingdom. That he might secure the peace of his dominions, in his absence, he visited these provinces, whose inhabitants were favouring or suspected to be favourable to the views of Egypt. This feeling chiefly prevailed in Judea ; and it was probably to prevent the revolt of the Jews that he had deposed the faithful high-priest Onias, and accepted from Jason his brother a large sum for liberty to take his place ; for he was an appstate from the true reli- gion, and willing to adopt any measures calculated to advance his temporal interest. The king's confidence in him was con- firmed by the mao^nificent reception which he met with when he entered Jerusalem, for the multitude neglected no means which they could command to express their loyalty, and grateful sense of the honour conferred on them by his conde- scension to visit their city. He was not less diligent to pro- pitiate the favour of the Romans than his own subjects. To them he sent an embassy with the usual tribute, and a present to the people of several golden vases, as a token of the strong feeling of gratitude, which he felt for the many favours con- feiyed on him by the senate and the citizens while he sojourned at Rome. By thus assuming the character of a prince who solicitously desired the welfare of his subjects, and highly valued the friendship of his allies, he persuaded himself that he might, without apprehension of internal commotions, exe- cute his scheme of conquest. And, indeed, for some time, his proceedings were successful. The Egyptian army met him on the frontiers of their country, but were defeated. But he made no other use of his victory at this time than to place his frontiers on the south in such a state of defence as would check the utmost efforts of Egypt to recover the provinces, to which they laid claim. The following year he invaded that kingdom by sea and land, and completely overthrew the forces which opposed him. The dissimulation which uniformly marked his con- duct was on this occasion remarkably displayed. He had it in his power to have killed or taken captive every individual of the army ; but the more effectually to ruin his nephew, the young king, instead of making use of the advantage he had gained, he himself rode up and down on all sides, and obliged his soldiers to discontinue the slaughter. This clem- ency gained him the hearts of the Egyptians ; and when he advanced into the country, all the inhabitants came in crowds to pay their submission to him ; so that he soon took Mem- 20* •■ 234 REIGN OP ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANfeS. phis and all the rest of Egypt, except Alexandria, which alone held out against him. Philometer was either taken, or else surrendered himself to Antiochus, who set him at full liberty. After this, they had but one table ; lived, seemingly, in great friendship ; and, for some time, Antiochus affected to be extremely careful of the interest of the young king his nephew, and to regulate his affairs as his guardian. But, when he had once possessed himself of the country, under that pretext, he seized whatever he thought fit, plundered all places, and enriched himself, as well as his soldiers, with the spoils of the Egyptians. The Alexandrians no sooner learned that Philometer had consented that Antiochus should govern Egypt as he pleased, than they declared the throne vacant, and proclaimed the younger brother king, under the title of Ptolemy Euerge- tes II., whom history usually calls Ptolemy Physcon, or tunbellied, for he became a glutton and exceedingly cor- pulent. This transaction Antiochus deemed sufficient to jus- tify his third invasion of Egypt, " under the specious pre- tence of restoring the dethroned monarch ; but, in reality, to make himself absolute master of the kingdom." His fleet obtained a victory over that of the Alexandrian, near Pelu- sium ; and he led his army unopposed to Alexandria, in order to beseige it. The ministers of the recently elected king, feeling their inability to preserve the city, proposed terms of peace, but these Antiochus rejected, till ambassadors from Rome arrived ; and even their interference would have been fruitless, had he not found the capture of the city a. more difficult task than he had imagined. But though he liberated Philometer, and resigned to him his kingdom, he retained Pelusium, its key on the north, by which means he could instantly enter Egypt, when circumstances were more auspicious. The character of Philometer appeared transformed on his restoration to his throne. Adversity had awakened his dor- mant capacities. Eulaeus, the eunuch entrusted with his education, had, in order that he might retain the supreme power of the nation, studiously kept him in profound igno- rance of every subject of importance, and he had cherished in him his natural indolence and acquired taste of luxury and pleasure, that he might remain totally disqualified for business. In the prospect of the battle, on which the destiny of his kingdom seemed suspended, he carefully shunned ever*' place of danger; and afterwards submitted in the #^ REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. 235 most abject manner, to the will of the victor. When, how- ever, he was restored to liberty, he speedily displayed the wisdom and energy, which are the ornaments of royalty. He clearly perceived the ambitious design of Antiochus, in- dicated by his keeping possession of Pelusiunf, and he re- solved to frustrate them. In order to this, by the mediation of his sister, he prevailed on his brother to agree to rule the kingdom conjointly ; and to apply to the Greeks and Romans for assistance to defend Egypt against the power of Syria. In the meantime, Antiochus, the instant that he heard of the reconciliation of the brothers determined to employ his whole force against them. The consummate hypocrite discovered that his varied and numerous arts of deception had failed to conceal his ambition — the guise of affection for his eldest nephew, and extreme concern for the happiness of Egypt, was visible to all — he therefore cast it aside as a useless robe, and proclaimed himself the implacable enemy of the young princes and their subjects. He ordered his fleet to proceed to Cyprus, to protect that fine island, which he had wrested from Egypt ; and led a mighty army into the centre of that kingdom. He subjugated all the regions on the line of his march to Memphis, and in that city he received the submission of almost all other parts of Egypt ; and he had only to obtain possession of Alexandria to become absolute master of the whole country. He hasted to besiege that great city ; but when his army had reached within a mile of it, his progress was arrested by ambassadors from Rome. Probably he would have been slightly moved by their presence, had he not been just informed of the triumph of the Romans in Macedon. This news utterly prostrated all his hopes; for he was fully convinced that henceforth no power remained to prevent the Romans from the attainment of the summit of iheir wishes — the unlimited sovereignty of the Grecian em- pire. That he might, if possible, avert their vengeance, he quickly followed the impulse of his nature, and assumed the form of the serpent. One of the ambassadors, Popilius, was an old friend. Apparently transported with joy at his pres- ence, he opened his arms to embrace him. The proud Roman drew back, and inquired, ''• whether he approached as an enemy or a friend of Rome. He then gave him the decree of the senate ; bade him read it over, and return him an immediate answer. Antiochus, after perusing it, said that he would examine the contents of it with his friends, and give his answer in a short time. Popilius, enraged at the #— • » "2^6 iteBIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. king for talking- of delays, drew, with the wand he held in his hand, a circle round Antiochus, and then raising his voice, ' Answer,' says he, * the senate before you stir out of that circle.' The king quite confounded at so haughty an order, after a moment's reflection, replied, that he would act according to the desire of the senate. Popilius then received his civilties ; and behaved after in all respects as an old friend. How effectual was this blunt loftiness of sentiment and ex- pression ! The Roman, with a few words strikes terror into the king of Syria, and saves the king of Egypt." The base- ness of mind and dissimulation of manner which character- ised Antiochus Epiphanes were still more conspicuous in the message which he commissioned his ambassadors to Rome to announce to the Senate ; " that the peace which the senate had been pleased to grant their sovereign appeared to him more glorious than the most splendid conquests ; and that he had obeyed the commands of the Roman ambassadors as strictly as if they had been sent from the gods." The senate replied, " That Antiochus acted wisely in paying obe- dience to the ambassadors ; and that the senate and people of Rome were 'pleased with him for it." At the stipulated time Antiochus withdrew with his forces from Egypt ■iSiU CHAPTER IVII. THE REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, CONTINUED. The hungry and enraged lion, which mighty hunters have driven from his prey, pounces on the first feeble animal that meets him in his flight. Thus Anliochus, exasperated to find one of the richest and most splendid crowns of the world sud- denly torn from him, on arriving in Judea, sought to satiate his thirst for blood by devouring the Jewish people. That these were under the special care of Jehovah, as their supreme King, had been often and plainly proclaimed by Moses and the prophets, and had been repeatedly demonstrated by his miraculous interpositions on their behalf The avowed ob- ject, however, of the Divine care of Israel, it must not be for-' gotten, was not only their safety, but also their discipline, to form them suitable instruments through whom the supremacy and infinite perfections of Deity might be manifested to all na- tions. Accordingly, they were seen, in every age, signally blessed with rest, prosperity, and honour, when, as a commu- nity, they were faithful and obedient to their Divine Sove- reign ; and not less wonderfully punished with anarchy, de- gradation, and disgrace, when they contemned his authority, renounced his government, aud neglected his institutes. Je- hovah governed them according to justice. This principle of his administration was strikingly illustrated and established in the history of the Jews during the age of Antiochus Epi- phanes. To the Grecian princes in Syria, and still more to those in Egypt, they were indebted for many and great favours ; and how sensible they were of them they proved by untainted loyalty, humble submission, and meek and patient endurance of many unprovoked evils, inflicted on them by some of the governors of the adjacent provinces. The intel- ligence, fidelity, bravery, and temperance of those Jews who served in the armies of those conquerors, raised their nation # , -— # 238 REIGN OF ANTIOCHTS EPIPHANE8. high in the estimation of the Greeks, especially, it would seem, of the Lacedemonians, who, notwithstandmg of their excessive national pride, were, if we credit Josephus, ex- tremely desirous of claiming kindred with them. For the historian presents us with a copy of an epistle addressed by Areus, king of Macedon, to one of the high-priests, named Onias ; it runs thus : " We have met with a certain writing, whereby we have discovered that both the Jews and the La- cedemonians are of one stock, and are derived from the kin- dred of Abraham. It is but just, therefore, that you, who are our brethren, should send to us about any of your concerns as you please. We will also do the same thing, and esteem your concerns as our own ; and will look upon our concerns as in common with yours. Demoteles, who brings you this letter, will bring your answer back to us. The letter is four- square ; and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon in his claws." Though the friendly intercourse, long cherished between the Jews and the Greeks, was doubtless in many respects ad- vantageous to both, its results were ultimately most disastrous to the former. Perversion of heart, in relation to God and his most holy, just, and good law, prevailed among them, in every successive generation ; and a greater or lesser number were always easily seduced from truth, justice and purity, by the aliens with whom they associated. This apostacy assumed the form of idolatry, which fearful plague was the chief agent employed by Satan to destroy the human race. The vitality of this loathsome body had, as we have seen, lost its vigour, and was gradually, although slowly wasting away, from about the time of the restoration of the Jews from Baby- lon, and the appearance of a common-sense philosophy in Greece. But Satan, fertile in devices to work wickedness, soon called into life an agency scarcely less powerful, by its subtlety, and sophistry, and fascination, to pervert the mind and deprave the heart, although destitute of the dazzling and confounding influence of idolatry. This agency consisted principally in the speculative philosophy of the Greeks, which amused the reflective part of the community, and the vast ap- paratus which rulers had constructed to supply pleasure to the volatile, inconsiderate, and sensual muhitude of the young and old, the rich and poor, the proud citizen and abject slave. These powers captivated not a few of the Jews. Pride of in- tellect induced a few to admire and cultivate the wisdom of the Greeks. These fell victims to infidelity. The shows and games of Greece pleased a more numerous class ; and both # a> REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. 239 treated with scorn the sacred laws, and simple and innocent habits, manners, and customs of their own people. The ar- dent wish of their heart was, " no God." The fear of their fathers was not before their eyes. By the vain reasoning of the wise, and the levity and madness of the foolish, moral dis- ease and death were widely spread among the community. Had not this been the melancholy state of the Jews in the reign of the high-priest Onias HI. it appears unaccountable that this upright and holy priest should have been supplanted by Jason, without producing great commotion in Jerusalem. Jesus, who assumed the Greek name Jason, to express his predilection for the Grecian manners, or to please the party of the Jews who zealously imitated the Greeks, was a brother of Onias, but a complete apostate from the true religion, and prepared to adopt any form of worship prescribed by Antio- chus — a prince who may be ranked first among the many whose lives exhibit brutal sensuality and barbarity, combined with enthusiastic zeal for idolatry and superstition. Jason as- pired to the highest ecclesiastic office, doubtless because of the political power, and opportunity to acquire riches which were attached to it, in his nation. The high-priest was also the civil governor, — a privilege which, we have formerly observed, was generally granted the Jews as a token of special favour by their conquerors. This officer, it seems, was also author- ised to confer on any Jew the right of a citizen of Antioch, the celebrated metropolis of the Syrian kingdom ; and the granting of this right procured him many friends. The ac- tions of Jason, during the brief period which he held the high- priest's office, were strongly marked with the highest degree of profaneness and profligacy. To convey an idea of his in- fidelity, no ^language, we conceive, would be more appropri- ate than that used by the author of the Second Book of the Maccabees, who thus writes: "After the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, called Epiphanes, took the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, laboured under-hand to be high-priest, promising unto the king, by intercession, three hundred and threescore talents of silver, and of another revenue eighty talents: besides this, he promised to assign an hundred and fifty more, if be might have licence to set him up a place for exercise, and for the training up of youth in the fashions of the heathen, and to write them of Jerusalem by the name of Antiochians. Which when the king had granted, and he had gotten into his hand the rule, he forthwith brought his own nation to the Greekish fashion. And the royal privileges 1 f 240 REION OF ANTIOCHU8 EPIPHANES. granted of special favour to the Jews by the means of John 3ie father of Eupolemus, who went ambassador to Rome for amity and aid, he took away ; and putting down the govern- ments which were according to the law, he brought up new customs against the law: for he buih gladly a place of exer- cise under the tower itself, and brought the chief young men under his subjection, and made them wear a hat. Now such was the height of Greek fashions, and increase of hea- thenish manners, through the exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch, and no high-priest, that the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altj^r ; but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise, after the game of discus called them forth ; not setting by the honours of their fathers, but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all. By reason whereof sore calamity came upon them: for they had them to be their enemies and avengers, whose cus- tom they followed so earnestly, and unto whom they desired to be like in all things. For it is not a light thing to do wick- edly against the laws of God: but the time following shall declare these things. Now, when the game that was used every fifth year was kept at Tyrus, the king being present, this ungenerous Jason sent special messengers from Jerusa- lem, who were Antiochians, to carry three hundred drachms of silver to the sacrifice of Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought fit not to bestow upon the sacrifice, because it was not convenient, but to be reserved for other charges. This money then, in regard of the sender, was appointed to Hercules' sacrifice ; but because of the bearers thereof, it was employed to the making of galleys." Jason was rewarded according to his works ; his own transgression was recalled by his fall. Josephus says that Menelaus, who treacherously procured his deposition, and obtained his dignity, was his own orother, whose proper name was Onias, but exchanged by him for a Greek name. But the writer of the Maccabees says that he was the son of Simon the Benjamite, the wicked governor of the temple, whom he had occasion to mention in a former page. And if so, it more thqn accounts for the in- dignation of the Jews at his instalment ; for what presumptu- ous wickedness was his, to assume an office exclusively lim- ited by Jehovah to the family of Aaron ? The man, however, who could violate the temple, and shed the blood of the only legitimate high-priest of Jehovah, as he did, was not likely to be moved from his purpose, or frustrated in his plans, by m t REIGN OF ANTIOCHTJS EnniANES. 241 scruples of conscience on any Divine subject. Sent 1 y Jason to Antioch to deliver the first annual tribute due, he thus pro- ceeded : " Being brought into the presence of the king, when he had magnified him for the glorious appearance of hia power, got ihe priesthood to himself, ofl!e ring more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver. So he came with the king's mnndate, bringing nothing worthy the high priest- hood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast. Then Jason, who had undei mined his own brother, being undermined by another, was compelled to flee into the ccintry of the Ammonites. So Menelaus got the principality: but as for the money that he promised unto the king, he took no good order for it, albeit Sostratus the ruler of the castle required it: for unto him appeitained the gather- ing of the customs. Wherefore they were both called before the king. Now Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus in his stead in the priesthood ; and Sostratus left Crates, who was governor of the (Cyprians. While those things were in doing, they of Tarsus and Mallos made insurrection, because they were given to the king's concubine; called Antiochis. Then came the king in all haste to appease matters, leaving An- dronicus, a man in authority, for the deputy. Now Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a convenient time, stole certain vessels of gold out of the temple, and gave some of them to Andronicus, and some he sold into Tyrus, and the cities round about. Which when Onias knew of a surety, he re- proved him, and withdrew himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lieth by Antiochia. Wherefore Menelaus. taking Andronicus apart, prayed him to get Onias into his hands ; who being persuaded thereunto, and coming to Onias in de- ceit, gave him his right hand with oaths ; and though he was suspected by him, yet persuaded he him to come foith of the sanctuary : whom forthwith he shut up without regard of jus- tice. For the which cause not only the Jews, but many also of other nations, took great indignation, and were much grieved for the unjust murder of the man. And when the king was come again from the places about Cilicia, the Jews that were in the city, and certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact also, complained because Onias was slain without cause. Therefore Antiochus was heartily sorry, and moved to pity, and wept, because of the sober and modest behaviour of him that was dead. And being kindled with anger, forth- with he took away Andronicus' purple, and rent off his clothes, and leading him through the whole city unto that very VOL. I. 21 %■■ 242 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANEa place where he had committed impiety against Onias. there slew he the cursed murderer. Thus the Lord rewarded him his punishment, as he deserved. Now, when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and the bruit thereof was spread abroad, the multitude gathered them- selves together against Lysimachus, many vessels of gold be- ing already carried away. Whereupon the common people rising, and being filled with rage, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and began first to offer violence ; one Auranus being the leader, a man far gone in years, and no less in folly. They then seeing the attempt of Lysimachus, some of them caught stones, some clubs, others taking hand- fuls of dust, that was next in hand, cast them altogether upon Lysimachus, and those that set upon them. Thus many of them they wounded, and some they struck to the ground, and all of them they forced to flee: but as for the church-robber himself, him they killed beside the treasury. Of these matters therefore there was an accusation laid against Mene- laus. Now, when the king came to Tyrus, three men that were sent from the senate pleaded the cause before him : But Menelaus, being now convicted, promised Ptolemee, the son of Dorymenes, to give him much money, if he would pacify the king toward him. Whereupon Ptolemee, taking the king aside into a certain gallery, as it were to take the air, brought him to be of another mind; insomuch that he discharged Mene- laus from the accusations, who, notwithstanding, was the cause of all the mischief: and those poor men, who, it they had told their cause, yea, before the Scythians, should have been judged innocent, them he condemned to death. Thus they that fol- lowed the matter for the city and for the people, and for the holy vessels,did soon suffer unjust punishment. Wherefore even they of Tyrus, moved with hatred of that wicked deed, caused them to be honourably buried. And so, through the covetousness of them that were of power, Menelaus remained still in authori- ty, increasing in malice, and being a great traitor to the citi- zens." This unvarnished narrative attests that many Jews, of all ranks, had fearfully declined from the true religion, and that not a few of the priests were complete apostates. Similar is the testimony of the author of the First Book of Maccabees, whose authority stands higher than that of the writer of the Second Book. Thus, speaking of the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, he remarks, that certain "wicked men of Israel & REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. ^SB4^ persaaded many, saying, let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us ; for since we departed from them we have had much sorrow. So this device pleased them well. Then certain of the people were so forward here- in, that they went to the king, who gave them licence to do after the ordinances of the heathen : whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem, according to the customs of the heathen: and made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to do mischief" As the Israelites were uniformly prosperous in those sea- sons that the community believed God and his prophets, so they were brought into deep adversity every time that they allied themselves to the heathen, and conformed to their con- duct, manners, and customs. Their standard of morals was always higher than that of any other nation ; and we have no reason to believe that, as a nation, they ever equalled their neighbours in the degeneracy of their conduct, and the im purity of their superstitions. Nevertheless, while Jehovah en- dured with much long-suffering the heathen, he never failed to punish his chosen people. He had peculiarly favoured and honoured them; and, consequently, their degeneracy wap, in the same proportion, criminal and inexcusable; and the claims of justice demanded that they should be signally pun- ished. And of this they had been often solemnly warned. The principle of the Divine administration, in relation to Is- rael, Jehovah thus states: "You only have I known of all the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities." It is therefore manifest, that when the Jews conformed either to the infidel or idolatrous Greeks, Jehovah, their Supreme Sove- reign, would speedily and publicly vindicate the holiness of his laws and the rectitude of his government, by inflicting on them such punishment as would fix on them the eyes of all nations. The suflerings of the Jews were designed to correct and restore, and not to consume and utterly destroy them. In this light they are represented in the Sacred Scriptures; and one is pleased to find the dreadful persecutions of the Jews, by Anliochus, contemplated in the same li^hl by the author of the Second Book of the Maccabees: "Now, I beseech those that read this book, that they be not discouraged for these ca- lamities, but that they judge those punishments not to be for destruction, but for a chastening o( our nation. For it is a token of his great goodness, when wicked doers are not suf- lerea any long time, but forthwith punished. For not as with 244 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EFIPHANES. Other nations, whom the Lord patiently forbeareth to pnnish, till they be come to the fulnessof their sins, so deaieth he with us; lest that being come to the height of sin, afterwards he should take vengeance of us. And therefore he never wkh- draweth his mercy from us: and though he punish with ad- versity, yet doth he never forsake his people. But let this we have spoken be for a warning unto us." Though we have little evidence that God continued, after the redemption of Israel from Babylon, to rise early, and in- struct, reprove, and admonish them, by inspired men, yet we have seen traces of supernatural means adapted to the same end, after that period. And if we credit the wiiter whose words we have just quoted, marvellous signs in the heavens exceedingly alarmed the Jews, a shoit period preceding the frightful calamities that fell on them. " About the same time Antiochus prepared his second voyage into Egypt: and then it happened, that through all the city, for the space almost of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances, like a band of soldiers, and troops of horsemen in array, encountering and running one against another, with shaking of shields, and multitude of pikes, and drawing of swords, and casting of darts, and glit- tering of golden ornaments, and harness of all sorts. Where- fore every man prayed that that apparition might turn to good." The history of the Jews of this age affords ample evidence that many of them remained unfeigned and faithful worship- pers of the God of their fathers. These must have been in- tensely grieved by the conduct of Antiochus, especially by his daring impiety in disposing of the sacred office of the liigh- priest. And of their disaffection he could not be ignorant, and it would naturally incline him to suspect the loyalty of the whole nation ; for men truly religious, however much disliked or even hated, are always dreaded by the wicked, on account of the influence which they are always known to have over all who are not completely depraved. Hence he readily believed the false report that the Jews had been trans- ported with joy when the vague rumour reached them of his having been Ikilled in Egypt. He had never loved them ; and from this time he became their undisguised and unrelent- ing enemy. His determination to make them feel his ven- geance was strengthened by the fact that they had declined to maintain in his . office Menelaus, whom he had made highr priest I 9 # REION OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8.' 245 I During the king's second invasion of Egypt, Jason had suddenly assaulted Jerusalem and compelled Menelaus to re- tire into the citadel. The thousand who accompanied him, joinei by his p:irtizins in the city, slaughtered all who op- posed them. His triumph, however, was short, for he fled as soon as he learned that Antiochus was on his way from Egyft Concluding from the exaggerated report of this in- surrection, that the Jews had cast oflfhis yoke, the revengeful king advanced to Jerusalem ; and, after meeting some resist- ance, captured the city, probably by the treachery of the party of Menelaus, who, we know, continued to possess his favour. On entering it, " he commanded his soldiers not to spare such as they met, and to slay such as wpnt up upon the houses. Thus there was killing of young and old, making away of men, women, and children, slaying of virgins and infants. And there were destroyed, within the space of three whole days, fourscore thousand, whereof forty thousand were slain in the conflict ; and no fewer sold than slain. Yet was he not content with this, but presumed to go into the most holy temple of all the world, Menelaus, that traitor to the laws, and to his own country, being his guide: and taking the holy vessels with polluted hands, and with profane hands pulling ji down the things that were dedicated by other kings to the | augmentation, and glory, and honour of the place, he gave ' them away. And so haughty was Antiochus in mind, that t he considered not that the Lord was angry for a while for the !| sins of them that dweU in the city, and therefore his eye was i| not upon the place. For had they not been formerly wrapt jj in many sins, this man, as soon as he had come, had forthwith J been scourged, and put back from his presumption, as Helio- ] dofus was, whom Seleucus the king sent to view the treasury. Nevertheless, God did not choose the people for the place's sake, but the place for the people's sake. And therefore the place itself, that was partaker with them of the adversity that happened to the nation, did afterward communicate in the benefits sent from the Lord : and as it was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty, so again, the great Lord being recon- ciled, it was set up with all glory. So when Antiochus had carried out of the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents, he departed in all haste unto Antiochia, weening in his pride to make the land navigable, and the sea passable by foot ; such was the haughtiness of his mind. And he left gov- ernors to vex the nation : at Jerusalem, Philip, for his coun- try a Phrygian, and for manners more barbarous than he thai 21* i 246 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. set him there; and at Garizim, Andronicus; and besides, Menelaus, who, worse than all the rest, bare an heavy hand over the citizens, having a malicious mind against his country- men, the Jews. He sent also that detestable ringleader, Apol- lonius, with an army of two-and-twenty thousand, command- ing him to slay all those that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort: who coming to Jerusa- lem, and pretending peace, did forbear till the holiday of the Sabbath, when, taking the Jews keeping holiday, he com- manded his men to arm themselves: and so he slew all them that were gone to the celebrating of the sabbath, and running through the city with weapons, slew great multitudes. But Judas Maccabeus, with nine others, or thereabout, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually, lest they should be partakers of the pollution." " Therefore there was great mourning in Israel, in every place where they were ; so that the princes and elders mourned, the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of women was changed. Every bridegroom took up lamenta- tion, and she that sat in the marriage-chamber was in heavi- ness. The land also was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion." Tremendous as were these calamities, they were to the Jewish people only the beginning of sorrows. Their reverence for the sacred institutions of their country was invigorated by sufferings ; and Antiochus doubtless per- ceived that there was no probability of conquering their antipathy to his pagan ceremonies and licentious customs. Hence he resolved to exterminate the Jewish nation. But his unjust and ambitious schemes respecting Egypt fully occupied his care for two years. His final expulsion from that kingdom we have seen. He had obtained almost all his wishes; and scarcely anything remained but to place the Egyptian crown on his hateful head, when all his visions of glory vanished at the terrific voice of the Roman beast. From this hour he seemed to live only to accomplish the entire destruction of the chosen people. On h is journeying from Eg}'pt to Antioch, he commis- sioned Apollonius, a man according to his own demoniacal heart, to proceed to Jerusalem, under pretence of collecting tribute ; but, in reality, to commence the work of destruction, on which his heart was fixed. The first scene of this awful tragedy of the Jewish nation will, perhaps, be best exhibited in the simple language of their historian : " After two yearr -m # REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 247 fully expired, the king sent his chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judea, who came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude, and spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit ; for when they had given him credence, he fell sud- denly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side. But the women and children took they captive, and poss^sed the cattle. Then buiided they the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with mighty towers, and made it a strong hold for them. And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and fortified them- selves therein. They stored it also with armour and victuals: and when they had gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and so they became a sore snare. For it was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel. Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it ; insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them : whereupon the city was made an habitation of strangers, and became strange to those that were born in her ; and her own children left her. Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honour into contempt. As had been her glory, so was her dishonour increased, and her excellency was turned into mourning." Having thus desolated the city, and erected a fortress which completely commanded it, Apollonius turned his attention to his duties as governor of the district of Samaria. And among its inhabitants he witnessed all that he or his wicked sove- reign could desire ; for they, with one voice, disclaimed all connexion with the Jews. This was their usual procedure, in ail seasons, in which the chosen people were persecuted by idolatrous princes. But, on this occasion, they not only declared that their ancestors were idolaters, and that they had conformed to some of the religious ceremonies of the Jews merely from filse apprehensions excited by temporary afflic- tions or superstitions and unfounded terrors; but also earn- estly requested the king to order their temple to be consecrated to the worship of idols, and to be called the "Temple of Jupi- ter Hellenis." This zeal to renounce the True God, doubtless encouraged Antiochus in the other persecuting measures which he pur- sued if i+ did not suggest them to his proud and malignan' 248 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPJPHANE& spirit. His arrival in Antioch was rendered memorable by a decree, that every individual in his dominions, who refused to worship the gods adored by the king, should suffer death. That by this he sought the utter extirpation of the Jews, was manifest to all ; but his ultimate object was unquestionably to endeavour, if possible, to expel for ever from the world, the semhlance of the worship of the One God, the Creator and Judge of the human race. Antiochus diligently adopted ap- propriate means to enforce his e^ict. He sent commissioners into all the provinces to make known to the obedient the reli- gious ritual of the court, and to punish-lhe refractory. "More- over, king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed, according to the commandment of the king. Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath. For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem, and the cities of Judea, that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt-offerings, and sacrifice, and drinkoflferings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days, and pollute the sanctuary and holy people ; set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols; and sacrifice swine's flesh, and unclean beasts: that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation ; to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. And whosoever would not do ac- cording to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die. In the self-same manner wrote he to his whole kingdom, and appointed overseers over all the people, commanding the cities of Juda to sacrifice, city by city. Then many of the people were gathered unto them, to wit, every one that for- sook the law; and so they committed evils in the land ; and drove the Israelites into secret places, even wheresoever they coulJ flee for succour. Now, the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abominvition of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side ; and burnt incense at the doors of their houses, and in the streets. And when they had rent in pieces the books of the law which they found, they burnt them with fire. And wheresoever was found with any the book of the testament, or if any con- sented to the luw, the king's commandment was, that they should put him to death. Thus did they, by their authority. > # REIGN OP ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 249 unto the Israelites every month, to as many as were found in the cities. Now, the five-anJ-twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of GoJ. At which time, according to the commandment, they put to death certain women that had caused th^ir children to be circumcised. And they hanged the infmts about their necks, and rifled their houses, and slew them that had cir- cumcised them. Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved, and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing. Wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then th'ey died. And there was very great wrath upon Israel." The majority of the Jews in Judea appear to have stedfastly resisted the efforts of the first commissioners. And this led to the appointment at a later perioJ, of an aged servant of the king, one perfectly qualified, and zealous, to teach the (Gre- cian form of idolatry. He named the temple of Jerusalem the "temple of Jupiter Olympus," and laid it open to the Gen- tiles, who assembled in it and practised all the polluting and licentious rites common in Greece. " Neither was it lawful for a man to keep sabbath-days, or ancient feasts, or to profess himself at all to be a Jew. And in the day of the king's birth, every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, car- rying ivy. Moreover, there went out a decree to the neigh- bour cities of the heathen, by the suggestion of Ptolemee, against the Jews, that they should observe the same fashions, and be partakers of their sacrifices: and whoso would not conform themselves to the manners of the Gentiles should be put to death. Then might a man have seen the present misery. For there were two women brought, who had cir- cumcised their children ; whom, when they had openly led roimd about the city, the babes hanging at their breasts, they cast them down headlong from the wall. And others, that had run together into caves near by, to keep the sabbath-day secretly, being discovered to Philip, were all burnt together, because they made a conscience to help themselves for the honour of the most sacred day. Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, an aged man, and of a well-favoured countenance, was constrained to open his mouth, and to eat swine's flesh. But he choosing rather to die gloriously, than to live stained with such an abomination, spit it forth, and came of his own ^ 1 # 250 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. accord to the torment, as it behoved them to come that are re- solute \o stand out against such things as are not lawful for love of life to be tasted. But they that had the charge of that vk'icked feast, for the old acquaintance they had w^ith the man, taking him aside, besought him to bring flesh of his own pro- vision, such as was lawful for him to use, and make as if he did eat of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the king ; that in so doing he might be delivered from death, and for the old friendship with them find favour. But he be- gan to consider discreetly, and as became his age, and the ex- cellency of his ancient years, and the honour of his gray head, whereunto he was come, and his most honest education from a child, or rather the holy law made and given by God; therefore he answered accordingly, and willed them straight- ways to send him to the grave. For it becometh not our age, said he, in any wise to dissemble, whereby many young per- sons might think that Eleazar, being fourscore years old and ten, were now gone to a strange religion ; and so they, through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, and a moment longer, should be deceived by me, and 1 get a stain to mine old age, and make it abominable. For though for the present time I should be delivered from the punish- ment of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Al- mighty, neither alive nor dead. Wherefore now, manfully changing this life, I will show myself «uch an one as mine age requireth, and leave a notable example to such as be young, to die willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy laws. And when he had said these words, imme- diately he went to the torment: they that led him, changing the good-will they bare him a little before into hatred, because the foresaid speeches proceeded, as they thought, from a des- perate mind. But when he was ready to die with stripes, he groaned, and said. It is manifest unto the Lord, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have been delivered from death, I now endure sore pains in body, by being beaten; b«t in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I fear him. And thus this man died, leaving his death for an e.xample of a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation. "It came to pass also, that seven brethren with their mother were taken, and compelled by the king against the law to taste swine's flesh and were tormented with scourges and whips. But one of them that spake first said thus. What wouldest tbou ask or leara of us 1 we ai e ready to die, rather than to REIGN OF ANTIOCHU8 EPIPHANES. 251 transgress the laws of our fathers. Then the king, being in a rage, commanded pans and caldrons to be made hot. Which forthwith being heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that spake first, and to cut off the utmost parts of his body, the rest of his brethren and his mother looking on. Now, when he was thus maimed in all his members, he commanded him, being yet alive, to be brought to the fire, and to be hied in the pan : and as the vapour of the pan was for a good space dispersed, they exhorted one another, with the mother, to die manfully, saying thus, the Lord God look- eth upon us, and in truth hath comfort in us, as Moses in his song, which witnessed to their faces, declared saying, and he shall be comforted in his servants. So when the fust was dead after this manner, they brought the second to make him a mock- ing-stock ; and when they had pulled off the skin of his head with the hair, they asked him. Wilt thou eat, before thou be punished throughout every member of thy body? But he an- swered in his own language, and said, No. Wherefore he also received the next torment in order, as the former did. And when he was at the last gasp, he said. Thou, like a fury, takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life. After him was the third made a mocking-stock ; and whtn he was required, he put out his ton^e, and that right soon, holdingforth his hands manfully, and said courageously, These I had from heaven, and for his laws I despise them; and from him I hope to receive them again. Insomuch, that the king, and they that were with him, marvelled at the young man's courage, for that ho nothing regarded the pains. Now, when this man was dead also, they tormented and mangled the fourth in like manner. So, when he was ready to die, he said thus. It is good, being put to death by man. to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him: as for thee, thou shall have no resurrection to life. Afterward they brought the fifth also, and mangled him. Then looked he unto the king, and said. Thou hast power over men, thou art corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt ; yet think not that our nation is forsaken of God ; but abide a while, and behold his great power, how he will torment thee and thy seed. After him also they brought the sixth, who, being ready to die, said, Be not deceived without cause ; for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against our God: therefore marvel- lous things are done unto us. But think not thou, that takest m hand to strive against God, that thou shalt escape unpuo ® 252 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. ished. But the mother was marvellous above all, and \A^orthy of honourable memory : for when she saw her seven sons slain within the space of one day, she bare it with a good courage, because of the hope that she had in the Lord. Yea, she ex- horted every one of them in her own language, filled with courageous spirits: and, stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly stomach, she said unto them, I cannot tell how e came into my womb : for I neither gave you breath nor ife, neither was it I that formed the members of every one of you ; but doubtless the Creator of the world, who formed the generation of man, and found out the beginning of all things, will also, of his own mercy, give you breath and life again, as ye now regard not your own selves for his laws' sake. Now Antiochus thinking himself despised, and suspecting it I to be a reproachful speech, whilst the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured hir oaths, that he would make him both a rich and a happy man, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers ; and that also he would take him for his friend, and trust him with affairs. But when the young man would in no case hearken unto him, the king called his mother, and exhorted her that she would counsel the young man to save his life. And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised him that she would counsel her son. But she, bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country lan- guage on this manner: O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brouglit thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education. 1 beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not ; and so was mankind made likewise. Fear not this tormentor ; but, being worthy of thy brethren, take thy death, that I may re- ceive thee again in mercy with thy brethren. While she was yet speaking these words, the young man said, Whom wait ye for? I will not obey the king's commandment: but I will obey the commandment of the law that was given unto our fathers by Moses. And thou, that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shah not escape the hands of God: for we suffer because of our sins. And though the living Lord be angry with us a little while for our chasten- ing and correction, yet shall he be at one again with his ser- vants. But thou, O godless man, and of all other most wicked, be not lifted un without a cause, nor puffed up with uncertain "=? ^ m REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. 253 hopes, lifting up thy hand against the servants of God : for thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of Almighty God, who seeth all things. For our brethren, who now havesuflered a short pain, arc dead under God's covenant of everlasting life; but thou, through the judgment of God, shalt receive just pun- ishment for thy pride. But I, as my brethren, ofler up my body and life for the laws of our fathers, beseeching God that he would speedily be merciful unto our nation ; and that thou, by torments and plagues, mayest confess that he alone is God ; and thit in me, and my brethren, the wrath of the Almighty, which is justly brought upon all our nation, may cease. Then the king, being in a rage, handled him worse then all the rest, and took it grievously that he was mocked. So this man died undefiled, and put his whole tiust in the Lord. Last of nil, after the sons, the mother died. Let this be enough now to have spoken concermng the idolatrous feasts, and the extreme tortures." It is generally supposed that these scenes of deliberate mur- der, were committed under the immediate eye of the king, who had come to Jerusalem, in the confidence that his pre- sence would strike terror into the hearts of the people, and compel them to submit to his tyrannical edicts, which had only roused their indignation, when proclaimed by his mes- sengers ; but it is more certain that, whoever personally con- ducted the persecution of the faithful Jews, their sufferings had roused the nation to contend, as one man, not only for re- ligious liberty, but al^o for national independence. The cause was worthy of man ; and no people ever engaged in it with more ardour of spirit, displayed more energy and persever- ance to obtain their object, or discovered more intense pleas- ure in success. The heroism of some other nation, put forth in a more ignoble cause, is applauded in the pages of history ; but the more the efforts of the Jews at this time are contem- plated, the higher shall they be raised in the temple of fame, by all who are capable of estimating supreme preference of moral excellence, and unconquerable valour in the defence ofjustice and triith. Israel had been accustomed to expect deliverances. Their God never failed to hear their cries when they humbled themselves before him. And thus it was at this time. A family appa- rently little known beyond their own city, which owed all its celebrity to their future pious and heroic deeds, rescued the nation from thraldom, and exalted it once more among; the mightiest nations. Modin was a town in the tribe of Dan, VOL. I. 22 %- f94 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. and probably chiefly belonged to priests. One of its principal citizens, at least, was one of the priests who constituted the first of the twenty orders or courses appointed by David to conduct the services of the temple. Our readers would not thank us to record the deeds of this holy and brave man in any othei language than that of his historian. Mattdthias was the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib; "he had five sons, Joannan, called Caddis ; Simon, called Thassi ; Judas, who was called Maccabeus ; Eleazar, called Avaran ; and Jona- than, whose surname was Apphus. And when he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Juda and Jerusalem, he said. Woe is me ! wherefore was I born to see this misery of my people, and of the holy city, and to dwell there, when it was delivered into the hand of the enemy, and the sanctuary into the hand of strangers? Her temple is become as a man without glory. Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants are shin in the streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy. What nation hath not had a part in her kingdom, and gotten of her spoils? All her or- naments are taken away ; of a free woman she is become a bond slave. And, behold, our sanctuary, even our beauty and our glory, is laid waste, and the Gentiles have profaned it. To what end therefore shall we live any longer? Then Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, and put on sack- cloth, and mourned very sore. In the mean while the king's officers, such as compelled the people to revolt, came into the city Modin, to make them sacrifice. And when many of Is- rael came unto them, Mattathias also and his sons came toge- ther. Then answered the king's officers, and said to Matta- thias on this wise, thou art a ruler, and an honourable and great man in this city, and strengthened with sons and bre- thren: Now, therefore, come thou first, and fulfil the king's commandment, like asall the heathen have done, yea, and the men of Juda also, and such as remain at Jerusalem ; so shalt thou and thy house be in the number of the kingf's friends, and thou and thy children shall be honoured with silver and gold, and many rewards. Then Mattathias answered, and spake with a loud voice, Though all the nations that are under the king's dominion obey him, and fall away every one from the religion oftheir fathers, and give consentto his commandments; yet will I, and my sons, and my brethren, walk in the covenant of our fathers. Ood forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. We will not hearken to the king's words, to go from our religion, either on the right hand or the left. m— # REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 255 Now, when he had left speaking these words, there came one of the Jews in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king's commandrrient: which thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins trembled, neither could he forbear to show his anger according to judgment: wherefore he ran and slew him upon the altar. Also the king's commissioner, who com- pelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and the altar he pulled down. Thus dealt he zealously lor the law of God, like as Phinees did unto Zarnbri the son of Salom. And Mattathias cried throughout the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineih the cove- nant, let him follow me. So he and his sons fled into th^ mountains, and left all that ever they had in the city. Then many that sought after justice and judgment, went down in- to the wilderness, to dwell there: both they, and their chil- dren, and their wives, and their cattle; because afflictions in- creased sore upon them. Now, when it was told the king's servants, and the host that was at Jerusalem, in the city of David, that certain men, who had broken the king's com- mandment, were gone down into the secret places in the wil- derness, they pursued after them a grciit number, and, hav- ing overtaken them, they encamped against them, and made war against them on the sabbath-day. And they said unto them, Let that which ye have done hitherto suffice; come forth, and do according to the commandment of the king, and ye shall live. But they said. We will not come forth, nei- ther will we do the kings commandment, to profane the sab- bath-day. So then they gave them the battle with all speed. Howbcit they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid ; but said, Let us die all in our innocency : heaven and earth shall tes- tify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully. So they rose up agiinst them in b ittle on the sabbath, anJ they slew them, with their wives and children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people. Now, when Mattathias and his friends imlerstooJ hereof, they mourned for them right sore. And one of them siiJ to another, if we all do as our brethren have done, and fight not for our lives and laws against the heathen, they will now quickly root us out of the earth. At that time therefore they decreed, saying. Whosoever shall come to mike battle with us on the sabbath-day, we will fight against him ; neither will we die all. as our brethren that wore murdered in the secret places. Then came there unto m «■ 2G6 REIGN OF AN'TIOCIUJS KIMPHANES. him a company of Assi Jeans, who were mighty men of Is- rael, even all such as were voluntarily devoted unto the law. Also they that fled for persecution joined themselves unto them, and were a stiy unto them. So they joined their forces, and smote sinful men in their anger, and wicked men in their wrath; but the rest fled to the heathen for succour. Then Mattathias and his friends went round about, and pulled down the altars: and what children soever they found within the coast of Israel uncircumcised, those they circumcised val- iantly. They pursued also after the proud men, and the work prospered in their hand. So they recovered the law out of the hand of the Gentiles, and out of the hand of kings, neither suffered they the sinner to triumph. Now, when the time drew near that Mattathias should die, he said unto his sons, Now hath pride and rebuke gotten strength, and the time of destruction, and the wrath of indignation: now therefore, my sons, be ye zealous for the law, an J give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. Call to remem- brance what acts our fathers did in their time ; so shall ye receive great honour, and an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness? Joseph, in the time of his dis- tress, kept the commandment, and was made lord of Egypt. Phineas our father, in being zealous and fervent, obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Jesus, for fulfill- ing the word was made judge in Israel. Caleb, for bearing witness before the congregation, received the heritage of the land. David, for being merciful, possessed the throne of an everlasting kingdom. Elias, for being zealous and fervent for the law, was taken up into heaven. Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, by believing, were saved out of the flame. Daniel, for his innocency, was delivered from the mouth of lions. And thus consider ye, throughout all ages, that none that put their trust in him shall be overcome. Fear not then the words of a sinful man ; for his glory shall be dung and worms. To-day he shall be lifted up and to-morrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his dust, and his thought is come to nothing. Wherefore, ye my sons, be valiant, anJ show yourselves men in the behalf of the law ; for by it shall ye obtain glory. And, behold, I know that your brother Simon is a man of counsel, give ear unto him alway : he shall be a father unto you. As for Judas M.accabeus, he hath been mighty and strong, even from his youth up : let him be your captain and fight the battle of the « RBION OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 257 people. Take also unto you all those that observe the law, anJ avenge ye the wrong of the people. Recompense fully the heathen, and take heeJ to the commandments of the law. So he blessed them, and was gathered to his fathers. And he died in the hundred forty and sixth year, and his sons buried him in the sepulchres of his fathers at Modin, and all Israel made great lamentation for him." Considering the fi.xed purpose and great power of the enemy, the successful resistance of Mattathias and his feeble band seems wonderful, and almost incredible. Several cir- cumstances, however, appear to have been favourable to his enterprise. He was probably regarded with contempt by Antiorduis and his ministers 'I'hey doubtless believed that they had as couipleteiy crushed the power of the Jews as they hid stripped them of wealth. The brutal monarch looked on the Jews only as so many wretched slaves, des- tined for ever to writhe under the chains by which he had bound them. His imagined victory over them may have been supposed by him sufficient reason to justify him in ex« pressing his joy after the manner of the Roman conquerors. He accordingly appointed a time for a grand display of the Grecian games, invited an innumerable multitude to witness them, and expended immense sums to celebrate them with the highest degree of pomp. It was on this occasion that he truly discovered his utter insignificance. By the most e.xtravagant actions and indecent behaviour, he made himself the laugh- ing-stock of many, and excited the disgust of not a few ; so that after some days, all who respected what was becoming or modest, declined the invitations to his feasts. Intoxicated by these mean pleasures, the affairs of government were neg- lected, and the treasures of his kingdom thoughtlessly scat- tered. What .could have been more advantageous to the heroes of Judea? The sons of Mattathias most assi58 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EP1PHANE8. able antagonist. Apollonius knew the eagerness of the Sama- jj ritans whom he governed to injure the Jews, and was confi- Ij dent that he could easily overcome Judas. He marched I against him, and was defeated with great slaughter. Seron, a Syrian commander, next led an army into Judea, and his sanguine expectation of revenging the dishonour of the re- cent defeat perished with himself and many of his followers. •• When news was brought Antiochus of this double defeat, he was exasperated to fury. Immediately he assembled all his troops, which formed a mighty army, and determined to destroy, the whole Jewish nation, and to settle other people in their country. But when his troops were to be paid, he had not sufficient sums in his coffers, having exhausted them in the foolish expenses he had lately been at. For want of money he was obliged to suspend the vengeance he meditated against the Jewish nation, and all the plans he had formed for the immediate execution of that design." Other events con- tributed perhaps still more to the deliverance of the Jews than even the temporary deficiency of the revenue of the Sy- rian king. Several of his most valued provinces had cast off his tyrannical yoke, particularly Armenia and Persia. To reduce these was indispensable to the permanence of his power ; and he therefore resolved to conduct thither the strength of his army. Entrusting his son and heir, who was only seven years of age, and the government of all the pro- vinces west of the Euphrates, to Lysias, a distinguished noble, he advanced into Armenia, and defeated the army of Artaxias, its king, and took him prisoner. Thence he marched into Persia, and entered Elymais, in order to obtain the immense riches which he understood w^ere deposited in one of the tem- ples. The inhabitants having penetrated his design, indig- nantly flew to arms, and compelled him to reljre to Ecbatana. Lysias was not more prosperous in his government of the western provinces than his master was in his proceedings in the eastern. Strongly disposed to execute the orders which he had received, to put forth all his energies to conquer Judea, put to death or expel every Jew, and colonise the country with inhabitants from other nations, he sent an army of forty thousand foot, and sevon thousand horse, to accomplish this enterprise. This force he placed under the command of Ptolemy Macron, governor of Coelo-syria, and the most re- nowned general of the Syrian army. He appointed, at the same time, Nicator, his intimate friend, and Gorgias, a vete- ran officer of consummate experience, and Philip, governor # REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 259 of Palestine, to assist Ptolemy Macron. Confident of victory, a proclamation was circulated throughout all the surrounding regions, announcing that all the prisoners should be sold ai the rate of ninety for a talent. The price being low, about a thousand merchants assembled near the invading army, anx iously waiting the result of the battle. The unfeeling oppressor had left the Jews scarcely any one object of the ambition and desires common to mankind. Their country was one scene of ruin : their beloved city " Jerusalem lay void as a wilderness ; there was none of her children that went in or out : the sanctuary was also trodden down, and aliens kept the strong hold ; the heathen had their habitation in that place ; and joy was taken from Jacob, and the pipe with the harp ceased." But this desolation, and the presence of a powerful and implacable foe, only invigorated the zeal and courage of Judas Maccabeus to avenge his country's wrongs, and vindicate the just government of the supreme Sovereign of Israel. He summoned his brethren to arms, and assembled the people to confess their sins, and implore the favour of the God of their fathers. And though the num- ber of his soldiers was inferior to the enemy, in conformity to the Divine law, he commanded all to return home who were building new houses, planting new vineyards, or who had be- trothed wives, or were conscious of cowardice, in the prospect of fighting. Thus with a small army, every one of whom was bold as a lion, like Gideon, he fearlessly marched to meet the enemy, encamped on the south side of Emmaus. He thus acted, on learning that Gorgias had sent five thou- sand foot, and a thousand horse to Mizpah, where he knew the troops of Judea had collected, with the design of destroy- ing them by a sudden and unexpected attack. Judas delayed not to combat this division of the invading army before the larger body under Gorgias could rejoin it. He sounded the trumpets, and speedily obtiiined a great victory. Having pre- vailed on his troops not to look after the spoil, he instantly advanced against the troops led on by Gorgias, who was al- ready within sight of the field of battle. 'J'hese no sooner beheld-the camp on fire, than terror seized them, and they fled into the neighbouring countries. " Then Judas returned to spoil the tents, where they got much gold and silver, and blue silk, and purple of the sea, and great riches. After this they went home, and sung a song of thanksgiving, and praised the Lord in heaven ; because it is good, because his mercy en- dureth for ever. Thus Israel had a great deliverance that ^ • ^ -» 2t^0 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. day. Now, all the strangers that had escaped came and told Lysias what had happened : who, when he heard- thereof, was confounded and discouraged, because neither such things as he would were done unto Israel, nor silch things as the king commanded him were come to pass. The next year therefore following, Lysias gathered together threescore thou- sani choice men of foot, and five thousand horsemen, that he might subdue them. So they came into Idumea, and pitched their tents at'Bethsura ; and Judas met them with ten thou- sand men. And when he saw that mighty army, he prayed an J said, Blessed art thou, O Saviour of Israel, who didst quell the violence of the mighty man by the hand of thy ser- vant David, and gavest the host of strangers into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul, and his armour-bearer ; shut up this army in the hand of thy people Israel, and let them be confounded in their power and horsemen : make them to be of no courage, and cause the boldness of their strength to fall away, and let them quake at their destruction : cast them down with the sword of them that love thee, and let all those that know thy name praise thee with thanksgiving. So they joined battle ; and there were slain of the host of Lysias about five thousand men, even before them were they slain. Now, when Lysias saw his army put to flight, and the manliness of Judas' soldiers, and how they were ready either to live or die valiantly, he went into Anliochia, and gathered together a company of strangers; and having made his army greater than it was, he purposed to come again into Judea. Then said Judas and his brethren, Behold, our enemies are discomfited : let us go up to cleanse and dedicate the sanctua- ry. Upon this all the host assembled themselves together, and went up into mount Sion. And when they saw the sanc- tuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest, or in one of the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down, they rent their clothes, and made great lamentation, and cast ashes upon their heads, and fell down flat to the ground upon their faces, and blew an alarm with the trumpets, and cried toward heaven. Then Judas appointed certain men to fight against those that were in the fortress, until he had cleansed the sanctuary. So he chose priests of blameless conversation, such as had pleasure in the law, who cleansed the sanctuary, and bare out the defiled stones into ar> unclean place. And when as they consulted what to do with the ahar of burnt- oflerings, which was profaned, they thought it best to pull it ^M 41 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 261 down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the hea- then had defiled it; wherefore they pulled it down, and laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to show what should be done with them. Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according- to the former: and made up the sanctuary, and the things that were within the temple, and hallowed the courts. They made also new holy vessels ; and into the temple they brought the candlestick, and the altar of burnt-offerings, and of incense, and the table. And upon the altar they burnt incense, and the lamps that were upon the candlestick they lighted, that they might give light in the temple. Furthermore, they set the loaves upon the table, and spread out the veils, and finished all the works which they had begun to make. Now, on the five and twentieth day of the ninth, month which is called the month of Casleu, in the hundred forty and eighth year, they rose up betimes in the morning, and offered sacrifice, accordmg to the law, upon the new altar of burnt-offerings which they had made. Look, at what time, and what day, the heathen had profaned it, even in that was it dedicated with songs, and citherns, and harps, and cymbals. Then all the people fell upon their faces, wor- shipping and praising the God of heaven, who had given them good success. And so they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt-offerings with gladness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decked also the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold, and with shields ; and the gates and the chambers they re- newed, and hanged doors upon them. Thus was there very great gladness among the people, for that the reproach of the heathen was put away. Moreover, Judas and his brethren, with the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year, by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with joy and glad- ness. At that time also they builded up the mount Sion with high walls and strong towers round about, les^ the Gentiles should come and tread it down, as they had done before. And they set there a garrison to keep it, and fortified Beth- sura to preserve it, that the people might have a defence against Idumea." The news of these events inflamed the wrath which burned m the heart of Antiochus. When he heard of the first great defeaVs of his generals, he hastily left Ecbatana, breathing • 262 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE8. complete destruction on the Jews. "Advancing in this dis- position towards Babylonia, which was in his way, fresh ex- presses came to him, with advice of Lysias' defeat ; and also, that the Jews had retaken the temple, thrown down the altars and idols which he had set up, and reestablished their ancient worship. At this news his fury increased. Immediately he commands his charioteer to drive with the utmost speed, in order that he might have an opportunity to satiate fully his vengeance; threatening to make Jerusalem the burying place of the whole Jewish nation, and not to leave one single inhabitant in it. He had scarce uttered that blasphemous ex- pression, but he was struck by the hand of God. He was seized with incredible pains in his bowels, and the most ex- cessive pangs of the cholic. ' Thus the murderer and bias, phemer,' says the author of the Maccabees, ' having suffered most grievously, as he treated other men, so died he a miser- able death, in a strange country in the mountains.' But still his pride was not abated by this first shock ; so far from it, that, suffering himself to be hurried away by the wild trans- ports of his fury, and breathing nothing but vengeance against the Jews, he gave orders for proceeding with all possible speed in the journey. But as his horses were running forwards im- petuously, he fell from his chariot, and thereby bruised, in a grievous manner, every part of his body ; so that his attendants were forced to put him into a litter, where he suffered inex- pressible torments. Worms crawled from every part of him ; his flesh fell away piecemeal, and the stench was so great, that it became intolerable to the whole army. Being himself unable to bear it, ' It is meet,' says he, ' to be subject unto God ; and man who is mortal should not think of himself as if he were a god.' Acknowledging it was the hand of the Lord of Israel which struck him, because of the calamities he had brought upon Jerusalem, he promises to exert his utmost liberality towards his chosen people ; to enrich, with precious gifts, the holy temple of Jerusalem, which he had plundered ; to furnish, from his revenues, the sums necessary for defray- ing the expense of the sacrifices ; to turn Jew himself; and to travel into every part of the world, in order to publish the power of the Almighty. He hoped he should calm his wrath by these mighty promises, which the violence of his present ^ affliction, and the fear of future torments, extorted from his mouth, but not from his heart. ' But,' adds the author quoted, 'this wicked person vowed unto the Lord, who now no more would have mercy upon him.' And indeed this murderer REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. 263 and b asphemer, (these are the names which the writer of the Maccabees substituted in the place of illustrious, which men had bestowed on that prince,) being struck in a dreadful man- ner, and treated as he treated others, finished an impious life by a miserable death. Before he expired, he sent for Philip. who had been brought up with him from his infancy, w;js his favourite, and had bestowed on him the regency of Syria during the minority of his son, then nine years of age. He put into his hands the diadem, the seal of the empire, and ail the other ensigns of royalty ; exhorting him, especially, to employ his utmost endeavours to give him such an education as would best teach him the art of reigning, and how to gov- ern his subjects with justice and moderation. Few princes give such instructions to their children till they are near their end, and that after having set them a quite different example during their whole lives. Philip caused the king's body to be conveyed to Antioch. This prince had sat eleven years on the throne." The actions of Antiochus, thus briefly recorded, demon- strate at once the accuracy and truth of Daniel's prediction of the vile king of the North. Let any enlightened and un- prejudiced man carefully compare the former with the latter, and he will not hesitate to adopt as his own the reflections of Rollin on this subject. No prophecy could be more clearly, fully, and decidedly fulfilled. " Porphyry, the professed enemy of the Christian religion, as well as of the Old and New Testament, being infinitely perplexed in finding so great a conformity between the events foretold by Daniel, and the relation given by the best historians, did not pretend to deny this conformity, for that would have been repugnant to sense, and denying the shining of the sun at noon-day. How- ever, he took another course, in order to undermine the authority of the Scriptures. He himself laboured, by citing all the historians extant at that time, and which are since lost, to show, in a very extensive manner, that whatever is written in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, happened exactly as fore- told by that prophet ; and he concluded from this perfect uni- formity, that so exact a detail of so great a number of events could not possibly have been written by Daniel so many years before they happened ; and that this work must cer- tainly have been wrote by some person who lived after An- tiochus Epiphanes, and borrowed Daniel's name. In this contest between the Christians and the heathens, the formei would indisputably carry their cause, could they be able to #= =^s 264 REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. demonstrate, by good proofs, that Daniel's prophecies were really written by him. Now this they proved unanswerably, by citing the testimony of the whole people, I mean the Jews, whose evidence could not be suspected or disallowed, as they were still greater enemies to the Christian religion than the heathens themselves. The reverence they had lor the sacred writings, of which Providence has appointed them the depos- itaries and guardians, was so prodigious, that they would have thought him a criminal and sacrilegious wretch, who should have attempted only to transpose a single word, or change one letter in it ; what idea, then, would they have en- tertained of that man who should pretend to introduce any supposititious books in them ? Such are the witnesses who atttsted the reality of Daniel's prophecies. And were ever proofs so convincing, or cause so victorious ! ' Thy testimo liiea are very sure, O Lord, for ever.' " 3 9i » CHAPTER XVIII. REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. Wr have seen, in the preceding chapter, the rise and pro* gross to supreme power in Judea, of the truly patriotic family of M ittathias. His sons and their adherents are distinguished in history by the appellation Maccabeex, which is supposed to have been borrowed from the inscription on their ensigns or bucklers. It consisted of four Hebrew letters, each of nhich begins one of the four words in the eleventh verse of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, rendered in our version, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ?" How sincerely they believed and loved the great, infinitely important, and eternal truth which these words express may be learned from the narratives preserved of the lives of this illustrious race of patriots ; and, we may observe, that Josephus and the author of the First Book of the Maccabees, to whom we are chiefly indebted for these narratives, are universally acknowledged, as deserving equal credit with the most enlightened and hon- ourable historians of past ages. If we therefore justly con- clude, from the statements of the latter concerning the reli- gious conduct of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, that these nations worshipped idols, we cannot doubt, from similar evidence, that Mattathias and liis sons, and their followers, adored Jehovah alone, and utterly abhorred idols. In them we have an example scarcely less remarkable of what, in our age, is denominated a '• religious revival," than we have in Samuel, David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and their followers. And indeed it is mani- fest that they looked on these holy and faithful men as the patterns which they were resolutely determined to imitate. Nor did they on almost any occasion show themselves un- worthy to be associated with them in the annals of hallowed fame. Consequently any instances indicating that they were indebted for success in their enterprise to supernatural or miraculous influence must be regarded most probable, we VOL. I 23 96= « 266 REION OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. will not say absolutely certain, because these historians have no claim to inspiration, and were not secure against error or delusion. But to Israel still belonged " the covenants and the promises," they had all the assurance that the word of Him who cannot lie could afford, of his immediate superintendence and interposition to deliver them, when they confidently trusted in him, faithfully served him, and fervently and per- severingly supplicated his compassion and power. They were distinguished from all the Jews who declined to join them, as well as from all the heathen, — 1. By supreme love for the God of their fathers, and re- gard for his favour. They willingly left their possessions and families, and hazarded their lives rather than expose themselves to the invisible, future, and eternal displeasure of their God. Previously to the period of their triumphs, doubt- less all avoided them who were not prepared for death or martyrdom. 2. They cordially loved the covenant made with their forefathers, and faithfully adhered to it. They believed that great promise contained in it, that a faithful prophet, who was to be at once their deliverer and sovereign, should arise in a future age. Hence they declared their willingness to submit to the government of the chiefs of the Maccabees, till the great Teacher appeared; 1 Mac. xiv. 41. "Also that the Jews and priests were well pleased that Simon should be their gov-, ernor and high-priest for ever, until there should arise a faith- ful prophet."' Their immediate exertions, and avowedly fu- ture intentions, had for their object the observance of every institute enjoined in the covenant, and the extirpation of what- ever was opposed to its nature. 3. They were regulated in their religious observances and general conduct exclusively by the law of Divine revelation. Thus in their religious assemblies they laid open the book of the law to learn the will of their God ; 1 Mac. iii. 48. " And laid open the book of the law, wherein the heathen had sought to paint the likeness of their images." And they ventured to perform not the least act or ceremony of a religious character, concerning which the law gave no instruction ; and preferred waiting for the promised prophet to the following of any sug- gestion of human wisdom ; I Mac. iv. 46. " And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to show what should be done with them." 4. On all occasions of much danger, and before engagmg # REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHmfS. 267 in any great work, they united in solemn prayer and fasting, in some place which had been consecrated to the worship of God, in the best ages of their nation ; 1 Mac. iii. 46. *' Wherefore the Israelites assembled themselves together, and came to Maspha, (Mispah,) over against Jerusalem : for in Maspha was the place where they prayed aforetime in Israel." 5. They discovered extensive knowledge of the law, and not less prudent than fervent zeal to observe it in all things. Thus they strictly followed the minutest directions respecting public worship, and the injunctions which indifference or selfishness were most likely to induce them to neglect. Not- withstariding the severity and number of their sufferings, we find that in their time the land had rest every seventh year ; and even when most prosperous in battle, they never made aggressions on neighbouring nations or cities, whose inhabi- tants were disposed to live with them in terms of amity, or who did not avowedly seek their destruction ; 1 Mac, v. And while in all circumstances they confessed that in Jehovah alone was their strength, we uniformly observe that they neg- lected not to employ any means which they discerned and judged proper to accomplish the work which providence called them to perform. Carefully did they study the will of God, and to discriminate between his precepts and traditionary and superstitious observances. This was manifest by their resolution to fight on the Sabbath, when necessary for their preservation and the deliverance of their people. For they knew that the Sabbath was made for man, and that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day. 6. Finally, they were accustomed to unite in public tl;ianks- giving and praise, whenever it pleased God to grant them victory over their enemies, or signal expressions of his favour. The family of Mattathias appear to have been supported at first, in their noble stand for the cause of truth and righteous- ness, only by their private pious friends. But they were soon joined by two other parties of their countrymen, — the Assi- deans, and those who had fled from the persecution. The former were bold and courageous men, who had voluntarily devoted themselves to the defence of the law of their country. They were evidently a party equally distinct from the Phari- sees, who were more zealous for religious traditions than for Divine revelation, and from the Sadducees, who alike con- temned the law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the authority and memory of the elders. The Assideans, however, were more eminent for their religious zeal and forti- » 263 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. tude than for their knowledge and prudence. Accordingly, when the unprincipled Alcimus assumed the cilices of chief capljin and high-priest, they deserted the faithful Maccabees, and placed themselves under him: " For," said they, "one that is a priest of the seed of Aaron is come with this army, anl he will do us no wrong." 'I'heir connexion with him was, however, quickly dissolved ; for he knew that they were not proper instrurnents to perform unholy deeds. Hence, though he pretended to be their friend, yet he treacherously slew sixty of them in one day. They were evidently a sim- ple, disinterested, and holy race. They derived their name from the Hebrew term, rhasdlmj which signifies pious or merciful. Some writers imigine that they were the same sect called by Josephus and Philo, Essenes. If this opinion be correct, the sect must have lost much of their public spirit, and decreased much in later times. Besides, the Assideans attended public worship with the congrejration of Israel, while the Essenes neglected it, and showed no other respect for the temple service than by sending their offerings. They were, nevertheless, a singular race, much admired for their devo- tional and ascetic habits, and strictly moral conduct. Indeed, the description given of them by the Jewish historian corres- ponds generally with the life, conduct, and manners of the first Christians, in so much that a writer in one of our peri- odicals strongly urges the opinion that Josephus designedly delineates the first Christians under the name Essenes. But this opinion is scarcely credible, if Philo is correct in his as- sertion, that there were only about four thousand of this party in Palestine and Syria at the time he wrote, which was pro- bably about the time when the Christians were most numer- ous in these countries. The fact that the Essenes are never mentioned in the New Testament is no decided proof that they did not exist as a Jewish sect in the age of Christ and his Apostles ; for if they were few, and lived secluded from society, it is not surprising that we have no account of them in the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles, which chiefly re- cord the public events which concern the kingdom of Christ. The proper descendants of the Assideans and Essenes are most probably the Karaites, a comparatively small Jewish sect, who still continue to adhere to the laws of Moses, and despise the traditions of the rabbins. We have seen, in the preceding chapter, that the holv and exalted spirit of Mattathias, powerfully animated his son Judah who was sui named Maccabeus, an appellation afterwards ap- I m= REIGS OF THE MACCABKAN CHIEFS. * 269 pioprijtel to his successors unci all their followers. The re- flecting reader will perhaps wonder that, after his gre.it vic- tory over Lysias, he should have been permitted by the Syrians to employ uninterruptedly his army to purify the temple, restore public worship, observe a long festival, build and fo.tify the walls of Jerusalem and Bethsura, supposed to be Bjthzur, a strong city in the south of Judea, noticed in Joshua XV. 5S ; 2 Chron. .\i. 7. His conduct is accounted for by the remarkable fact noticed, as it were accidentally, by the historian, that Ptolemy Macron, chief governor of (.'obIo- Syria and Phenicia, whose power he had most reason to dread, had unexpectedly, if not suddenly, become the fiiend of the Jews. This statesman and general had strenuously opposed them, but having discerned the folly, and pei haps the injustice of the avowed determination of his couit to drstroy them, he not only ceased to interfere with their internal afiiiiis, but also openly exerted himself to procure for them peace. He had formerly deserted the service of Egypt for that of Syria. This circumstance inclined the Syrian court to listen the more readily to those who now ascribed his fiiendly be- haviour to the Jews, to treacherous designs. That he must have felt deeply interested in their welfare is manifest, for. rather than continue to injure them, he preferred to take his own life by poison, after the example of some of the greatest men of ancient Greece and Rome. Probably the state of the court of Syria about this time was also fivourable to the patiiotic labours of Judas. Lysias. having received ceitain information of the death of his sove- reign, instantly proclaimed the young prince kinjr, under the name of Antiochus Eupator, and took on himself the entire government of the kingdom. This office had been intrusted by the late monarch to Philip ; but Lysias prepared to pre- vent him from enforcing his claims; and in this he was so successful, that Philip, on arriving at Antioch, saw it ex- pedient for his personal safety to seek an asylum in Egypt, where ho hoped to procure assistance to expel the usurper, and acquire possession of the right conferred on him by his dying prince. Judas, however, was not long suffered to pursue the art5 of peace, and e.xecute the plans necessary to reestablish the religion of his nation. The astonishing success of his arms, and the rising prosperity of his people, roused the envy and malice of their hereditary enemies, who appear to have pre- vailed on almost every race in the adjacent territories to enter 23* ^- h s --^^-^ -^ 270 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. into an alliance, the avowed object of which was to destroy the Jews sojourning among them, and to invade Judea, anc extirpate the name of Israel. Thus Judas was placed in ? situation similar to that of the ancient heroes of his race, ano he rejoiced to tread in their steps. The Edomites or Idumeans seem to have taken the lead in the great confederacy against Israel : next to them were the Ammonites and the Phenicians. A principal branch of the commerce of the last was the buying and selling of the pris- oners taken in battle ; and the greater number of these were Jews. Those of the two former nations who had not been carried captive into Babylon, or who had returned to their respective countries, had enriched themselves by taking pos- session of the Holy Land, during the period in which the proprietors were in exile, or too feeble to defend themselves. The Idumeans, especially, had seized the rich district of the south of Judea ; its ancient capital Hebron was occupied by them. Though, therefore, Judas cherished not the ambition of a conqueror, yet, as the patriot of his country, he must have earnestly desired to vindicate its rights. Critical was his po- sition, for besides the nations named, the muhitudes of the heathen who filled all the regions of Galilee and Gilead had joined the league formed against him. Indeed, not one of the races surrounding Judea seem to have been his friends, except the Nabatheans, whose capital was Petra. It is probable that these and their brethren, the nomade Arabs, were the only people who maintained their national independence. The Idumeans were, we know, under the able direction of Gorgias, and the Ammonites and the other races in their vicinity were governed by a not less warlike Syrian general, named Timotheus. The minds of Judas and his army were nerved to meet the dreadful tempest which threatened to overwhelm their be- loved land. Confident in the favour and power of their God, they were prepared to surrender their lives in defence of the holy cause. Nor were their hopes disappointed. Proceed- ing to Acrabatine, a frontier district of Idumea, toward the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, they encountered the enemy, who sustained a total defeat, and left twenty thousand dead on the field of battle. They next laid siege to two fortresses, garrisoned by an independent tribe of Idumeans, called, from their ancestor or leader, " the children of Bean." When Judas learned that the garrisons were strong and fully prepared to endure a long siege, he divided his troops. REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 271 He left, under three of his brethren, a force sufficient to re- duce the fortresses, and led the principal part of the army into the land of Ammon. Timotheus had already assembled there a large army, consisting of the Ammonites and many other heathens belonging to Asia. The Ammonites were first subdued with great slaughter, and Jazar, one of their chief cities, captured. It belonged to the tribe of Gad, and was seated near the mountains of Gilead. The main army, under Timotheus, was defeated apparently near Gazara, called also, it is supposed, Gadara, the capital of Peraea, a fine pro- vince east of the Jordan. More than twenty thousand of the enemy fell in battle ; and the general and officers, who es- caped, fled to the city. It, however, soon fell before Judas, and Timotheus and Apolophanes, another Syrian commander, were put to death. These events inflamed the wrath of the heathen ; and, in several of their strong cities, they rose against the Jews who dwelt among them. A thousand were murdered in Tob, a district of the tribe of Manasseh, east of the Jordan. Many fled for safety to Dametha, a strong town in Gilead, and sent letters to Judas, imploring his aid. Their case was distressing, for the place was invested by Timotheus, conjectured to be a son of the general of the same name, put to death in Gazara, at the head of a considerable army, which had been raised by the cities of Phenicia. Judas had scarcely read the letter communicating this melancholy intelligence, before he received others of similar import from the Jews in Galilee. Calling a council of his officers, it was resolved that his brother Simon should instantly proceed to Galilee, with about three thousand men, and that his brethren, Joseph and Azarias, should march with a company to defend Jeru- salem, while Judas and his brother Jonathan advanced with eight thousand to Gilead. Besides Dametha, they found in this district several other cities containing many Jews, closely shut up by the enemy. He captured Besora without much difficulty, and slew all the males who were idolaters ; and, hasting on to Dametha, where the main body of the enemy were encamped, he fell on them unexpectedly, and routed them, with the loss of eight thousand. He then successively captured the other cities, and treated them as he had done Besora. Having obtained rich and great spoil, he returned to Jerusalem. The arms of Simon were equally victorious in Galilee ; but the other division of the army were less for- tunate. Having no enemy to oppose at Jerusalem, Joseph and AzariaF, in violation of the orders of their wiser brother m i m . » 272 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. led their little bnnd against Jamnia, which was then a fine seaport, between Joppa and Azotus. On appro:iching it, they were attacked, an I defeated iDy Georgias, who occupied it with a number of soldiers. The brothers lost about two thousand men, who constituted, perhaps, nearly the whole of their compiny. Juj.js remained only a short period in Jerusalem. He marched towards Idumea, laid Hebron in ruins, advanced as a conqueror through the country of the Philistines, and de- stroyed everywhere every vestige of idolatry. He next over- ran Samiria, striking terror into the hearts of Israel's pnemj*-, and returned with considerable treasure to the holy city. The report of these victories at length alarmed Lysias. He speedily made great exertions to raise an army, which he was confident woulJ prove sufficient to conquer Judea, from which he purposed to banish every Jew, and supply theii place by idolaters. His army amounted to eighty-four thoU' 'sand foot, as many horsemen as he could command, and eighty elephants. Then he marched to Bethsura. "Judas Macca- beus, anJ the whole people, beseeched the Lord, with tears in their eyes, to send his angel for the preservation of Israel. Full of confidence in God, they took the field. When they marched all together, with assured courage, out of Jerusalem, there appeared a horseman marching before them. His habit was white, with arms of gold, and he held a lance in his hand. That sight filled them with new ardour. They threw themselves upon the enemy like lions, killed twelve thousand si.x hundred men, and obliged the rest to fly, most of them wounJed and without arms." This unexpected overthrow produced a complete change in the conduct of Lysias. He most probably felt that his authority and power were too much in danger from the in- trigues and power of Philip to justify him carrying on a con- test with the able leaders of the Jews, and that it was now plain that Judea could neither be easily nor speedily subju- gated. He accordingly proposed to Judas the most favour- able terrfiS of peace. The historian ascribes his pacific meas- ures to the conviction '• that the Hebrews could not be over- come, because the Almighty God helped them." The follow- ing letters, dated n. c. 163, from the king explicitly state the terms, which appear to have been sent to Antioch for his ap- probation : " King Antiochus unto his brother Lj'sias, send- cth greetmg: since our father i3 translated unto the gods, our will IS, that they that are in ou realm live quietly, that every m ♦•H. A m- REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 273 one may attend upon his own affairs. We understand also that the Jews would not consent to our father, for to be brought unto the custom of the Gentiles, but had rather keep their own manner of living ; for the which cause they require of us that we should suffer them to live after their own laws. Wherefore our mind is, that this nation shall be in rest ; and we have determined to restore them tiieir temple, that they may live according to the customs of their forefathers. Thou shalt do well therefore to send unto them, and grant them peace, that when they are certified of our mind, they may be of good comfort, and ever go cheerfully about their own af* fairs." And the letter of the king unto the nation of the Jews was after this manner: "King Antiochus sendeth greeting unto the council, and the rest of the Jews : if ye fare well, we have our desire ; we are also in good health. Menelaus de- clared unto us, that your desire was to return home, and to fol low your own business: wherefore they that will depart shall have safe conduct till the thirtieth day of Xanthicus with se- curity. And the Jews shall use their ov/n kind of meats and Jaws as before ; and none of them in any manner of ways shall be molested for things ignorantly done. I have sent also Menelaus, that he may comfort you. Fare ye well."' This peace caused great joy among the Jews. It is a remark- able fact that the letters of the Syrian king were accompanied by one from the Roman ambassadors at the Syrian court. They addressed the Jews in language strongly expressive of friendship: " Q,uintus Memmius and Titus Manlius, ambas- sadors of the Romans, send greeting unto the people bf the Jews ; whatsoever Lysias the king's cousin hath granted, there- with we also are well pleased. But touching such things as he judged to be referred to the king, after ye have advised thereof, send one forthwith, that we may declare as it is con- venient for you : for we are now going to Antioch. There- fore send some with speed, that we may know what is your mind. Farewell." This letter most probably commenced the intercourse of the Jewish nation with the Romans : and it was quite in ac- cordance with the policy of that celebrated people, previously to their acquisition of universal empire. They had scarcely established the independence of their own small kingdom or republic, when they improved every opportunity to proclaim themselves the vindicators of the wrongs, and the emancipa- tors of the enslaved of all tribes and nations. The liberty of the human race was alone, if they might be believed, the great m- i 274 REIGN Of THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS, and splendid object of their ambition. The desire or pursuit of any thing inferior to this, they everywhere declared, with all the solemnity of an oath, was utterly unworthy of a Ro- man. And their practice was in general long consistent with their lofty pretensions ; and, being the very opposite of that exhibited by former conquerors, largely contributed to the rapid advancement of their power, especially among oppressed nations. This is obvious in the history of their introduction into Egypt, Greece, and Asia, anl in the methods by which they obtained the ascendancy in tne governments of these coun- tries. Thus, apparently clothed m the noble robe of justice and mercy, they insidiously approached the Jews, whose he- roism and patriotism they very possibly admired ; and their suc- cess, doubtless, strengthened their confidence in the capability of their political wisdom to overreach all nations. The Jews were fascinated and caught in the snare, from which few or none of the races under the Grecian empire es- caped ; but their conduct was far more inexcusable than that of any other people ; and they had not only to regret their folly, but also to acknowledge their guilt and bewail their suf- ferings. The constitution of their government, divine in its origin, secured them against the policy and power of every nation, while they faithfully adhered to it ; but this adherence involved inconquerable perseverance in maintaining their po- litical, as well as their religious separation from all idolatrous nations. They were not, as we have remarked in a former page, restrained from commercial alliances with any people ; but a union or a league of a more fiiendly or intimate nature with idolaters was incompatible with their allegiance to Jeho- vah, as their supreme Sovereign, and was a public confession that they had not entire confidence in his wisdom, faithfulness, and power, to aflTord them desirable and necessary protection. That Judas accepted the spontaneous offer of the friendship of Rome, is strongly to be suspected ; for in the following year he formally solicited their alliance. This being an open violation of the fundamentallaws of the chosen people, was a capital crime ; and from this hour his days were numbered. The sentence of degradation from his high office was passed ; and though he continued the object of the people's confidence and admiration, yet he owed the future short possession of his dignity wholly to the compassion and long-suffering of his supreme and invisible King. This appears not to have been the only public '.rime worthy of disgrace and death which he had ignorantly, rashly, or inadvertently committed. He had I #- REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 275 deposed the deceitful and unjust Menelaus from the office of high-priest ; for that person, we find, had retired, perhaps for personal safety, to Antioch. But instead of raising the near- est heir of Aaron to the dignity which exclusively belonged to him, it seems almost certain that Judas had either taken this office on himself, or accepted it, as his successors did, from the people, who had no right to dispose of it. The su- preme sovereign of Israel had fixed this high office in Aaron's family, and it was treason for any one else to aspire to it, un- less immediately "called of God, as was Aaron." The most mighty monarch on earth was a mean personage, compared to the chief ruler in Israel. The former was in- deed exalted according to the sovereign pleasure of Jehovah, by whom alone kings reign and princes decree justice ; but the latter was his vicegerent, his only deputy or representa- tive to his chosen people. By consequence, his public acts were to be viewed in a peculiar light, altogether different from any thing on earth. They appeared as the acts of Jehovah, whose place he filled. Hence the strong expressions of the Divine approbation given to the kings of Israel, in all their public administrations, when in their official acts they showed that they were men according to God's own heart, the ever- living King of Jacob's race. And from the same cause pro- ceeded the signal tokens of Divine displeasure, witnessed and felt by all Israel, when their rulers publicly acted unbecom- ing their e.xahed and holy office. The punishment was in- flicted on the whole community, and that with Divine pro- priety ; because, first, the reward of official fidelity was con- ferred on them all ; and second, they were authorised to de- throne any ruler who presumed to violate the laws of the kingdom. These sentiments are amply established in the history of Israel. Prosperity rested on the nation in the reign of every king whose administration was sacredly conducted according to the book of the law, which prescribed his duty, and prohibited him from ruling according to his own wis- dom or pleasure. On the other hand; the nation suffered the most grievous calamities on account of the public offences of some of their kings. Thus the sins of Manasseh are assigned as one of the principal causes of the captivity which the peo- ple endured a considerable time after his death; and David's political sin in numbering the people occasioned the fearful plague, which threatened the entire desolation of the Holy When Judas, therefore, proved unworthy of his trust, w» 276 aEIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. cease to wonder that his glory was quickly eclipsed, and that famine exhausted the strength of his followers, and forced him to succumb to his enemies. The hereditary foes of Israel showed no respect for the covenant of peace confirmed by An- tiochus Eupator, nor did the Syrian governors of the neigh- bouring provinces regulate their conduct by it. Timotheus was conspicuous by his activity in continuing the war. He assembled in Gilead one hundred and twenty-five thousand foot, and five hundred horse. In advancing to meet him, Judas encountered and overthrew a considerable army of nomade Arabs. He had, however, the higher gratification of defeat- ing the Syrian army led by Timotheus, who, besides leaving thousands dead, narrowly escaped from the field of battle. The most unjust proceedings of the Syrian generals, most pro- bably, were secretly approved by the court, for the triumphant career of Judas determined the king and his protector to march against him. The king placed himself at the head of a hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, three hundred chariots of war, and thirty-two elephants. Judas courageously marched his army to Bethsura, where the enemy had encamped, and which they resolved to conquer, because it was, next to Jerusalem, the most important fortress of Palestine. With the bravest of his troops, he suddenly, in the night, entered the enemy's camp, killed four thousand, and diffused terror into the hearts of all. The king, however, was unmoved in his purpose to try the fortune of a general battle. The Jews displayed their usual fortitude ; but the resuk was favourable to the Syrians, for Judas left them in possession of the field, and retired with his army to Jerusalem. The garrison of Bethsura, from the want of provisions, was soon forced to surrender. The Syri- ans immediately advanced on Jerusalem, took possession of the city, and laid siege to the temple. It was nobly defended, but there was not food suflicient to sustain a large garrison, and many fled to avoid death from famine. This dreadful evil prevailed, for the past year's produce was consumed ; and the passing one was the seventh year, the year of rest, when the land lay fallow. These were the desperate circumstances of the Jews. Nothing seemed to avail them, but abject sub- mission to an invincible foe, when Jehovah interposed to de- liver them. While Antiochus and Lysias were exulting in the confidence that the besieged must yield, they received the most alarming and unexpected news, that Philip had raised an army in the East, and was hastily marching to take pos- #= REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 277 session of Antioch. the metropolis of the kingdom. Conceal- ing this information from their own army and the Jews, they instantly sent to the latter proposals of peace, which were most acceptable to the Jews, for their religious liberty was con- ceded, and Judas was appointed governor of the country, from Ptolemais to the Gerrhenians. Thus, in the language of the author of the Second Book of the Maccabees, " Antio- chus entreated the Jews, submitted himself, and swore to all equal conditions, agreed with them, and offered sacrifices, honoured the temple, and dealt kindly with the place." He, however, according to Josephus, having surveyed the city, violated his oath, and ordered his soldiers to destroy its walls. But the policy of Lysias subjected the Jews to a still greater calamity. He persuaded the king that Menelaus had been the author of all the rebellious acts of the Jews, and therefore ought to be put to death. This man, who had disgraced the office of high-priest, was no sooner killed, then Lysias raised to the office Alcimus, with the view of controlling the power of Judas ; for the former was destitute of religious principles, and fully disposed to sacrifice the welfare of his people for the ad- vancement of his own interest and honour. He had no legit- imate claims to the office, for he belonged not, as he pre- tended, to the family of Aaron. The proper heir to the high- priest's office was Onias, the son of Onias III. On the exal- tation of Alcimus, Onias went into Egypt, procured an intro- duction to the king, rose into favour, and succeeded in rais- ing a temple, on the site of i\ heathen temple of Leontopolis, situated in the district of Heliopolis. Here he became the high-priest, established a form of worship in all respects re- sembling that observed in the temple of Jerusalem. The min- isters selected were all of the tribe of Levi. Onias suc- ceeded in gaining the approbation of his countrymen in Egypt, by persuading them that, by uniting under him to worship their God, they would accomplish a prediction in Isaiah xix. 18 — 25. He is not the last wise man who has mis- interpreted the Scriptures, and particularly the prophetic di- vision, to support a religious system altogether subversive of the explicit instruction which they contain. God had plainly declared that the only place in which he would meet witn his people, to accept their sacrifices, was in the temple at Je- rusalem. And no one who knew this and reverenced his will, would have presumptuously taught or believed that it was lawful to erect a rival temple for the observance of the laws of Moses. That Isaiah spoke nothing of such a temple VOL. L 24 278 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. is manifest ; for his altar was to be constructed, not for the worship of the Jews, but for that of the Egyptians and Assy- rians, who adopted the language of his people, and consecrated themselves to seek his honour in the earth. The prediction obviously refers to the period when among his people national alienations and prejudices would completely disappear. Though Antiochus had rather augmented than diminished the visible dignity of Judas, he had almost deprived him of power to promote the good of Israel. Alcimus was a thorn m his side. To secure the support of the Syrian court, he patronised Grecian customs, and gathered around him all the Jevvs, who were disinclined to obey the laws, or who had ac- tually apostatised. Judas appealed to the people, and the traitor of his country was not permitted to officiate as high- priest. He fled to Antioch. The throne of Syria had passed from Antiochus. On his return from Jerusalem, he found it seized by Philip, but he speedily displaced him, and put him to death. This was scarcely effected, when he had to contend against a more powerful rival. Demetrius, son of Seleucus Philopater, had been detained as a hostage at Rome. He asserted that, on the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, the crown belonged to him rather than to the child of that prince. The Romans, however, judged otherwise ; and it was only by stealth that he escaped from Rome, and was conveyed in a 'I'yrian vessel to Tripoli, in Syria. On landing he employed means to spread the report that the Roman senate had sent him to ascend the throne of his ancestors. All ranks received him as their sovereign Lysias and Antiochus Eupatar were delivered up to him by the troops. He instantly put them to death, and auspiciously entered on his reign. A Grecian by descent, and a Roman by education, he was in taste and habits the votary of pagan- ism ; and deemed human happiness to consist in the gratifica- tion of the appetites and passions. His talents were respect- able, and ambition, for a time, was more powerful in him than the love of pleasure. Such a prince was ill qualified to discover or estimate the character of consistent worshippers of the True God. Ac- cordingly, he believed without inquiry, the false report of Alcimus concerning the state of Judea, and immediately ordered Bacchides, governor of Mesopotamia, to leadtin army into that province, remove Judas from the government, and commit the high priest's office to Alcimus. Bacchides suc- ceeded, partly by pretended friendship, and partly by acts of I -m REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 279 severity, to prevail on many of the Jews to accept Alcimus for their ruler. The usurper, however, found himself powerless as soon as the Syrian army had retired, and applied a second time to Demetrius. The result was, that Nicanor, one of the king's favourites, was sent with a large army, considered suf- ficient to inflict signal punishment, on what was denominated the obstinate and rebellious nation. " So Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great force ; and sent unto Judas and his brethren deceitfully, with friendly words, saying. Let there be no battle between me and you ; I will come with a few men, that I may see you in peace. He came therefore to Judas, and they saluted one another peaceably. Howbeit the ene- mies were prepared to take away Judas by violence. Which thing after it was known to Judas, to wit, that he came unto him with deceit, he was sore afraid of him, and would see his face no more. Nicanor also, when he saw that his counsel was discovered, went out to fight against Judas beside Caphar- salama ; where they were slain of Nicanor's side about five thousand men, and the rest fled into the city of David. After this went Nicanor up to mount Sion, and there came out of the sanctuary certain of the priests, and certain of the elders of the people, to salute him peaceably, and to show him the burnt sacrifice that was offered for the king. But he mocked them, and laughed at them, and abused them shamefully, and spoke proudly; and sware in his wrath, saying, Unless Judas and his host be now delivered into my hands, if ever I come again in safety, I will burn up this house : and with that he went out in a great rage. Then the priests entered in, and stood before the altar and the temple, weeping, and saying, Thou, O Lord, didst choose this house to be called by thy name, and to be a house of prayer and petition for thy people : be avenged of this man and his host, and let them fall by the sword : remember their blasphemie's, and sufl^er them not to continue any longer. So Nicanor went out of Jerusalem, and pitched his tents in Bethhoron, where an host out of Syria met him. But Judas pitched in Adasa with three thousand men, and there he prayed, saying, O Lord, when they that were sent from the king of the Assyrians blasphemed, thine angel went out and smote an hundred fourscore and five thou- sand of them : even so destroy thou this host before us this day, that the rest may know that he hath spoken blasphem- ously ag-ainst thy sanctuary, and judge thou him according to his wickedness. So the thirteenth day of the month Adar the hosts joined battle : but Nicanor's host was discomfited, 9 280 &BIQN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. and he himself was first slain in the battle. Now, when Ni- canor's host saw that he was slain, they cast away their wea- pons, and fled. Then they pursued after them a day's jour- ney, from Adasa unto Gazara, sounding an alarm after them with their trumpets. Whereupon they came forth out of all the towns of Judea round about, and closed them in ; so that they, turning back upon them that pursued them, were all slain with the sword, and not one of them was left. After- wards they took the spoils and the prey, and smote off Nica- nor's head, and his right hand, which he stretched out so proudly, and brought them away, and hanged them up toward Jerusalem. For this cause the people rejoiced greatly, and they kept that day a day of great gladness. Moreover, they ordained to keep yearly this day, being the thirteenth of Adar Thus the land of Juda was in rest a little while." The small army of Judas distinctly shows that his influence had been, from some unrecorded cause, greatly weakened, or what seems more probable, the number and power of apos- tates had increased. This proved a trial more than he was able to bear. He lost confidence in his God, and looked to the arm of flesh. He sent ambassadors to Rome, imploring her protection. The senate cordially received them, and made with them a defensive alliance. A letter from the sen- ate was also sent to Demetrius, enjoining him to refrain from oppressing the Jews. Before, however, the ambassadors re- turned, Judas was no more. A third and more powerful army than the former had been led against him by Bacchides and Alcimus. He had only three thousand men to oppose them. " And, on approaching the enemy, they were struck with such a panic, that they all abandoned him, except eight hundred men. Judas with that small number, through an excess of valour and confidence, had the boldness to hazard a .battle with so numerous an army, in which he perished, overpowered by multitudes. His loss was deplored through- out all Judea and at Jerusalem with all the marks of the most lively aflliction. and the government put into the hands of Jonathan his brother ;" for the tyranny of Syria became in- tolerable to the people. " In those days also was there a very great famine, by reason whereof the country revolted, and went with them. Then Bacchides chose the wicked men, and made them lords of the country. And they made inquiry and search for Judas' friends, and brought them unto Bac- chides, who took vengeance of them, and used them despite- fully. So was there a grfeat affliction in Israel, the like m REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEPS. Wl whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them. For this cause all Judas' friends came together, and said unto Jonathan, since thy brother Judas died, we have no man like him to go forth against our enemies, and Bac- chides, and against them of our nation that are adversaries to us: now therefore we have chosen thee this day to be our prince and captain in his steaJ, that thou mayest fight our battles. Upon this Jonathan took the governance upon him at that time, and rose up instead of his brother Judas. But when Bacchides gat knowledge thereof, he sought for to slay him. Then Jonathan, and Simon his brother, and all that were with him, perceiving that, fled into the wilderness of Thecoe, and pitched their tents by the water of the pool Asphar." The patriots carried on for some time a kind of guerilla warfare, while Bacchides repaired the strong places of the Holy Land. His troops sustained severe reverses; and " his counsel and travail was in vain. Wherefore he was very wroth at the wicked men that gave him counsel to come into the country, insomuch as he slew many of them, and pur- posed to return into his own country. Whereof when Jona- than had knowledge, he sent ambassadors unto him to the end he should make peace with him, and deliver them the prison- ers. Which thing he accepted, and did according to his de- mands, and svvare unto him that he would never do him harm all the days of his life. When therefore he had restored unto him the prisoners that he had taken aforetime out of the land of Judea, he returned and went his way into his own land, neither came he any more into their borders. Thus the sword ceased from Israel : but Jonathan dwelt at Machmas, and began to govern the people ; and he destroyed the un- godly men out of Israel." And he was able to do this the more efl^ectually in consequence of the death of Alcimus, the most active and enterprising enemy of the Jews. While the apostate was employed in removing the wall of the temple which separated the sacred divisions from the outer courts, that the whole might be open to the heathen, he was struck with a fatal disease, and died in great torment. The Jews for some time prospered under the administra- tion of Jonathan. Perhaps nothing was more favourable to this than the circumstances of the Syrian court. Demetrius dared not openly injure the Jews, from the time that the Ro- wtAns recognised them as their allies ; nor could he pursue any scheme of ambition, lest he should provoke them to strip him wholly of power. Thus humbled, he gave himself up 24* M 282 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. to indolence and intemperance, and became an object of indif- ference or contempt to all his subjects. A conspiracy being formed to depose him by some of his servants, they were se- cretly encouraged by several foreign powers. He had pun- ished with death Timarchus, governor of Babylon, to please the citizens, vi-'ho groaned under his tyrannical government. His brother, Heraclides, treasurer of the province, narrowly escaped similar punishment. Thirsting for revenge, he se- lected a talented young man, but of mean descent, to claim the throne as a son of Antiochus Epiphanes. Though gen- erally regarded an imposter, yet it is probable that he was not, from the fact that the Jews denied not his pretensions to roy- alty, and the king of Egypt gave him his daughter in mar- riage. Be this as it may, several kings, and the senate of Rome, acknowledged the justice of his claims. He is known in history under the name of Alexander Balas. He seized on Ptolemais, and prepared to advance to Antioch. The assistance of Jonathan, whose valour was universally known, was eagerly sought by both parties. Demetrius first propi- tiated his favour, by appointing him general of his troops in Judea. But Alexander's proposal to constitute him at once governor and high-priest, with the title of " Friend of the. King," was more acceptable to Jonathan, to whom he also sent a purple robe and crown, marks of the highest dignity, which were exclusively appropriated to princes and nobles of the highest rank. " Demetrius, who had received advice of this, still out-bid him, to secure to himself an ally of such im- portance. But after the injuries he had done to all those who nad the true interest of the Jews at heart, and the whole na- tion in general, they dared not confide in him, and resolved to treat rather with Alexander. Jonathan therefore accepted the high priesthood from him ; and with the consent of the whole people, at the feast of the tabernacles which happened soon after, he put on the pontificial vestments, and officiated as high-priest." The contest for the crown of Syria was not of long dura- tion. Demetrius displayed much bravery in the great battle which terminated his life, and the total defeat of his troops. Alexander Balas ascended the throne of Syria, b. c. 150. He soon after sent ambassadors to demand Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy king of Egypt, in marriage. She was. granted him; and her father conducted her in person to Pto- lemais, where the nuptials were celebrated. Jonathan was ia- ^ REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 283 vited to that feast, and went thither, where he was received by tlie two kings with all possible marks of honour. As a statesman and warrior, Jonathan was probably inferi- or to his brother Judas ; but he had the honour and happiness of raising his people to a higher rank among the nations than they had occupied from the time of their restoration. This, how- ever, was perhaps as much the result of the distracted and en- feebled state of Syria, as of his talents and labours. Alexan- der Balas very early justly forfeited the esteem of his subjects. Abandoning himself to sensual pleasures, he left the care of publi: affairs to his favourite Ammonius, who rendered him- self hateful to all by cruelty and effeminacy. He shed the blood of every one whom he could find belonging to the race of the Seleucidae. These things were made known to the sons of the late king, who had been sent for safety to the city of Cnidos in Caria. The eldest, named after his father De- metrius, hasted to attack the usurper. The former entered Sy- ria when the latter was in Cilicia, and was unexpectedly sup- ported by Ptolemy Philometer, king of Egypt, who had brought a fleet and troops to aid his son-in-law. But while he rested in Ptolemais, he discovered a conspiracy to take his life, conducted under the direction of Ammonius. Balas declining to deliver up the traitor, Ptolemy instantly deserted his cause, and advanced to Antioch. 'The citizens gladly re- ceived him, and oflfered him the crown. He refused the gift, but strongly urged them to confer it on Demetrius. To him he also gave his daughter Cleopatra, whom he had persuaded to leave Alexander Balas. The cause of Demetrius was, perhaps, still more strength- ened by Apollonius, governor of Ccelo-Syria and Phenicia, declaring for him, and employing the strength of his province against the interest of his late master. Provoked at the fidel- ity of Jonathan, Apollonius invaded Judea, with a consider- able army. After repeated attacks, he was repulsed with great loss. Besides thousands killed in battle, a number who fled to the temple of Dagon, at Azotus, perished in the con- flagration, by which Jonathan destroyed the city, temple and adjacent villages. Alexander rewarded the fidelity and val- our of the Jewish hero with rich presents, and gave the to- parchy of Ekron for his own inheritance. When Alexander returned to Antioch, and found that the citizens had revoked, he laid waste the surrounding country, and boldly encountered the combined armies of Ptolemy'and Demetrius. His forceiS beingf defeated, he fled to an Arab 1 =-=* 284 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. prince, to whom he had entrusted his children. His host was treacherous ; he took his life, and sent his body to Pto- lemy, who was dying of a wound which he had received in the late battle. Demetrius in the meantime ascended the throne of his ancestors, and assumed the unmerited appella- tion of Nicator, " the Conqueror." While the Syrians were thus occupied, Jonathan summoned all his energies in order to capture the tower or fortress which commanded the temple and city, and had been long occupied by aliens, the soldiers of the Syrian monarchs. " Then cer- tain ungodly persons, who hated their own people, went unto the king, and told him that Jonathan besieged the tower. Whereof when he heard, he wasangry,and immediately remov- ing, he came to Ptolemais, and wrote unto Jonathan, that he should not lay siege to the tower, but come and speak with him at Ptolemais in great haste. Nevertheless Jonathan, when he heard this, commanded to besiege it still: and he choose certain of the elders of Israel and the priests, and put himself in peril ; and took silver and gold, and raiment, and divers presents besides, and went to Ptolemais unto the king, where he found favour in his sight And though certain un- godly men of the people had made complaints against him, yet the king entreated him, as his predecessors had done be- fore, and promoted him in the sight of all his friends, and con- firmed him in the high priesthood, and in all the honours that he had before, and gave him pre-eminence among his chief friends. Then Jonathan desired the king that he would make Judea free from tribute, as also the three governments, with the country of Samaria; and he promised him three hundred talents. So the king consented, and wrote letters unto Jonathan of all these things after this manner: "King Demetrius unto his brother Jonathan, and unto the nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting : We send you here a copy of the letter which we did write unto our cousin Lasthenes con- cerning you, that ye might see it. King Demetrius unto his father Lasthenes sendeth greeting: We are determined to do good to the people of the Jews, who are our friends, and keep covenants with us, because of their good will towards us. Wherefore we have ratified unto them the borders of Judea, with the three governments of Apherema, and Lydda, and Ramathem, that are added unto Judea from the country of Samaria, and all things appertaining unto them, for all such as do sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the payments which the king received of them yearly aforetime out of the fruits of OF THE VACCABEAN CHIEFS. 285 Ae earth and of trees. And as for other things that belong unto us, of the tithes and customs pertaining unto us, as also the salt-pits, and the crown taxes, which are due unto us, we discharge them of them all, for their relief And nothing hereof shall be revoked from this time forth for ever. Now therefoie see that thou make a copy of these things, and let it be delivered unto Jonathan, and set upon the holy mount in a conspicuous place." • Demetrius appears to have surrendered himself wholly to the counsel and direction of Lasthenes, to whom the above letter was addressed. He had, during his exile, resided with this Greek, and by his agency, he had procured the Grecian soldiers, who accompanied him to Syria. And it was most probably by his advice, that after obtaining the kingdom, he discharged and scattered the whole Syrian army. This act, and his total indifference to their interests, indicated by a life of ease, luxury, and pleasure, provoked at once the hatred and contempt of the military. And the unjust and oppressive administration of Lasthenes excited universal dissatisfaction. Diodotus, called also Tryphon, who had been recently one of the two chief magistrates of Antioch, was a man of bound- less ambition. Takinff advantage of the unpopularity of hia sovereign, he conspired to dethrone him. He persuaded Zab- diel to deliver into his hands Antiochus, the eldest son of Alexander Balas, a mere child ; having in his name obtained the chief rule he imagined it would be easy, by killing him, at a future convenient season, to place the crown on his owq head. Demetrius, on discovering his critical situation, applied to Jonathan for asistance ; and this he readily procured on con- dition of ordering his troops to withdraw from the tower or fortress of Jerusalem, which Jonathan had not been able hith- erto to capture. The arrival at Antioch of three thousand Jewish soldiers, celebrated for their heroism, imparted confi- dence to the court. The citizens were instantly summoned to deliver up all the weapons of war in their possession. Instead of obeying, about one hundred and twenty thousand surrounded the palace, resolved to kill their king. The Jews hastened to his relief " and, dispersing themselves through the city, slew that day in the city to the number of an hundred thousand. Also they set fire on the city, and got many spoils that day, and delivered the king. So when they of the city saw that the Jews had got the city as they would, their courage was abated ; wherefore tney made supplication to the king, and 286 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. cried, saying, Grant us peace, and let the Jews cease from assaulting us and the city. With that they cast away their weapons, and made peace ; and the Jews were honoured in the sight of the king, and in the sight of all that were in his realm ; and they returned to Jerusalem, having great spoils. So king Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom, and the land was quiet before him. Nevertheless he dissembled in all that ever he spake, and estranged himself from Jonathan, neither rewarded he him according to the benefits which he had received of him, but troubled him very sore." He an- nounced his determination to reduce the Jews to a state of sla- very not less wretched than that which they had endured un- der the most tyrannical of his predecessors. But this turned out for their good. For, while he was soon compelled to con- tend for his life, they were more than justified in submitting to his successor. The tremendous catastrophe which the sur- viving citizens of Antioch had witnessed, was not calculated to awaken loyal feelings. They hailed the return of Try- phon with the infant Antiochus. The troops also joined him, for Demetrius had neglected to pay them. He could now ex- pect no help from Judea, and was happy to flee to Cilicia. " At that time young Antiochus wrote unto Jonathan, saying, I confirm thee in the high-priesthood, and appoint thee ruler over the four governments, and to be one of the king's friends. Upon this he sent him golden vessels to be served in, and gave him leave to drink in gold, and to be clothed in purple, and to wear a golden buckle. His brother Simon also he made captain, from the place called The Ladder of Tyrus unto the borders of Egypt." Though Demetrius had fled, many of the soldiers in the pro- vinces continued to maintain his cause. To oppose these, Jonathan, sanctioned 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 him- self 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 recov- ered courage, and compelled the enemy to flee, leaving about three thousand dead. Their generals escaped, and assembled # REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN CHIEFS. 287 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 wa ters the valley lying between Libanus and Anti-Libanus, 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, onreturningto 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 for- eigners ; 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 treache- rous and murderous deeds of Tryphon, which exceedingly provoked the Romans. They publicly expressed their sym- pathy with the Jews, and sent them a ratification of their alli- ance, engraved on copper. Demetrius, in the meantime, had been invited by the governors of the regions east of the Eu- phrates 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 voung prince, on whom he had conferred the nominal title oi king, and de- clare himself the sovereign of Syria. He had, however, no hope of accomplishing this object while Jonathan retained power, and believing that his fidelity to Demetrius was un- alterable, he first, under the guise of great friendship, per- suaded him to dismiss his troops, whose services were not re- quired ; and next he induced him to meet him in Ptolemais, under the pretence of delivering it into his hands. The up- right and generous are generally the most unsuspicious, — Jon athan entered the city, with about one thousand men ; Try phon instantly seized him, and put all the soldiers to death. END OF VOL. I. 1 # CONNEXION SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY; BBWa A BKTIBW OF THB PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE WORLD, ▲• TBIT BIAK UrOH THE STATE OF RELIGION, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORT, TILL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTLlLNnT. BY D. DAVIDSON. IN THREE VOLUMEa VOL. II. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY 1849. m f CONTENTS. VOL. IL CHAPTER I. Paf» The Maccabean Chiefs, (from 143 to 106 B. C.) • .5 CHAPTER II. Reign of the Maccabean Kings, (from 136 to 40 B. C.) . SO CHAPTER III. The Fourth, or Roman Empire, (from 753 to 223 B. C.)— Car- thage, its rival for Empire in the West, .... 38 CHAPTER IV. The Fourth, or Roman Empire, continued, (from 218 to 202 B. C.) — Contest for Empire in the West — Hannibal and P. (5. Scipio, 59 CHAPTER V. The Fourth, or Roman Empire, continued, (from 202 to 145 B. C.) — Carthage reduced, 73 CHAPTER VI. The Fourth, or Roman Empire, continued, (from 145 to 78 B. C.) —The First Great Internal Conflicts.— Tiberius Graccus, Marius, and Sylla, 81 CHAPTER VII. The Fourth, or Roman Empire, continued, (from 78 to 44 B. C.)— The Revolution. — Pompey the Great and Julius Cesar, . 100 I mssam «= IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Pag« The Establishment of the Roman Empire, (from 44 B. C. to 14 A. D.) — Octavius and Antony, ... . 145 CHAPTER IX. Herod the Great, and his Family, (from 40 B. C. to 37 A. C.) 187 #= CONNEXION SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY CHAPTER I. THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. The heathen, were no sooner apprized of the jieath 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 trem- bling and fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and gathered the people together, and gave them exhortation, saying, Ye your- selves kno^v what gicat 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. DoubtleSf; I will avenge my nation, and the sanctuary, and our wives, and our children ; for all the heathen are gathered to destroy us of every malice. Now, as soon as the people heard these words, their spirit revived. And they answered with a loud voice, saying, Thou shah 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 forti- fied it round about. Also he sent Jonathan the son of Absa- lom, and with him a great power, to Joppa : who, cast- ing out them that were therein, remained there in it S* 6 THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. 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 hinli 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, whien he is at liberty, he may not revolt from us, and we will let him go. Hereupon Simon, albeit he perceived that they spake de- ceitfully unto him, yet sent he the money and the children, lest perad venture 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 vic- tuals. 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 la- mentation for him, and bewailed him many days. Simon also built a monument upon the sepulchre oi 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 deah deceitfully with the young king Antiochus, and slew him. And ho =# THK MACCABEAN PRINCES. 7 Beigrt«d in iiM stead, and crowned himself king of Asia, and brought a great calamity upon the land. Then Simon buih up the stronghtrlds in Judea, and fenced them about with high towers, and groat walls, and gates, and bars, and laid up vic- tuals 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 answe/eid, and wrote after this manner : King De- metrius unto Simon the high-priest, and friend of kings, as also unto the elders and nation of the Jews, sendeth greetings The golden crown, and the scarlet robe, which ye sent unto us, we have received : and we are ready to make a stedfasl 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 f)aid. And look who are meet among you to be in our court, et them be enrolled, and Jet 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 be- gan 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 be- sieged 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 ; where-" upon there was a great upioar 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 tyrant them peace. And they said, Deal not with us according to our wickedness, but according 10 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 unclean- ness 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 grea^** 6 THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. numoer 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 hun- dred 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 pre- vent 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 im- mediately mmrdered 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 bro- ther, 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 Sy- ria. He raised an army of mercenaries in Asia and Greece, but before entering Syria he endeavoured to secure the assist- ance of the Jews. They had already acquired, by their val- our, 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 sover- eign prince and. high-priest of the nation, with power to con- vey 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 his- torian, " 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 1113 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 Jonathajt i ^ m THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. 9 his brethren: which writings were read before the congrega- tion 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 manner : Neume- nius, 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 hon- ourably, and to put the copy of their ambassage in public re- cords, 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 thou- sand 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 pil- lars in mount Sion, in the third year of Simon the high-priest." Simon's grateful acknowledgment of the friendship of the Ro- mans, and his munificent present, were so agreeable to them, that the Senate ordered Lucius Cornelius Piso, one of the con- suls, 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 high-priest, 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 coun- tries, 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 Attains, 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 Panr J --m ]0 TOE MACCABEAN PRINCES. phylia, and Lycia, and Halicarnassus, and Rhodus, and Pha- sells, 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, 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. Fur- thermore, 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, A ntiochus conducted a fleet and many troops to Seleucia ; 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 find- ing himself unable to defend the place, he fled by sea to Or- thosea, a seaport not far distant, and thence departed to Apa- mea, his native town, where he was taken and put to death. When Antiochus perceived the feebleness of his antago- nist, he indignantly refused the aid sent him by Simon, which consisted of twO thousand men, silver and gold, and much armour. He perhaps pretended that the smallness of the gift sufficiently justified the violation of the promises by which he had propitiated the favour of the Jews. While he besieged Dora, he commissioned Athenobius to proceed to Jerusalem, and demand Simon to deliver up the citadel of Jerusalem, Joppa, and Gazara, and every place beyond the boundaries of Judea, or remit for the latter a thousand talents, as the only means of avoiding war with Syria. The messenger's report to his master confirmed him in his unjust designs, for he declared that the splendour and riches of Simon and the city astonished him. This excited the cupidity of Antiochus, and the answer of Simon stirred up his wrath. " We have," said the Jewish prince, " neither taken other men's land, nor =# »-. THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. 11 holden that which appertaineth to others, but the inheritance of our fathers, which our enemies had wrongfully in posses- sion a certain time. Wherefore we, having opportunity, hold the inheritance of our fathers. And whereas thou demandest Joppa and Gazara, albeit they did great harm unto the people in our country, yet will we give an hundred talents for them. Hereunto Athenobius answered him not a word." Antio- chus instantly ordered Cendebeus, one of his most distin- guished generals, to lead a considerable army against the Jews. The Syrian general, placing a large garrison in Ce- dron, which was probably a strong position, on the road to Jerusalem, proceeded to lay waste the districts of Jamnia. •' Then came up John from Gazara, and told Simon his fa- ther what Cendebeus had done. Wherefore Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said unto them, I and my brethren, and my father's house, have ever, from our youth unto this day, fought against the enemies of Is- rael ; and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel oftentimes. But now I am old, and ye, by God's mercy, are of a sufficient age : be ye instead of me and my brother, and go and fight for our nation, and the help from Heaven be with you. So he chose out of the coun- try twenty thousand men of war, with horsemen, who went out against Cendebeus, and rested that night at Mod in. And when as they rose in the morning, and went into the plain, behold, a mighty great host, both of footmen and horsemen, came against them: howbeit there was a water-brook betwixt them. So he and his people pitched over against them, and when he saw- that the people were afraid to go over the wa- ter-brook, he went first over himself, and then the men seeing him, passed through after him. That done, he divided his men, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen : for the enemy's horsemen were very many. Then sounded they with the holy trumpets : whereupon Cendebeus and his host were put to flight, so that many of them were slain, and the remnant gat them to the stronghold. At that time was Judas, John's brother, wounded : but John still followed after them, until he came to Cedron, which Cendebeus had buiit. So they fled even unto the towers in the fields of Azotus, wherefore he burnt it with fire: so that there were slain of them about two thousand men. Afterward he returned into - the land of Judea in peace." The exaltation of Simons sons roused the envy of their brother-in-law, Rolemy Abubus, who,'as gove;-nor of Jerichi^ I Cl I -m 12 THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. had acquired immense wealth. Receiving- with great show of affection his father-in-law, his wife, and their sons Matthias and Judas, in the time of the rich feast prepared for them, he treacherously put them all to death, and sent messengers to kill John and his two sons, in his house at Gazara. John was apprized of their coming, and speedily sought refuge in Jerusalem, before Ptolemy had reached that city, whose gates were shut against him. This event plunged the nation into great perplexity, but they were consoled by reflection on the Divine providence which had preserved John, whom they had been for sometime accustomed to regard as the successor of his father, whose memory was dear to them, and his mel- ancholy end universally lamented. Simon's reign of eight years had been more happy and prosperous than that of his predecessors. The statement of the historian, comparatively speaking, is correct, that "Judea was quiet all his days; for he sought the good of his nation in such wise, as that ever- more his authority and honour pleased them well. And as he was honourable in all his acts, so in this, that he took Joppe for an haven, and made an entrance to the isles of the sea; and enlarged the bounds of his nation, and recovered the country ; and gathered together a great number of cap- tives, and had the dominion of Gazara, and Bethsura, and the tower out of the which he took all uncleanness ; neither was there any that resisted him. Then did they till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their fruit. The ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided vic- tuals for the cities, and set in them all manner of munition, so that his honourable name was renowned unto the end of the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy : for every man sat under his vine and his fig- tree, and there was none to fray them : neither was there any left in the land to fight against them : yea, the kings them- selves were overthrown in those days. Moreover, he strength- ened all those of his people that were brought low : the law he searched out, and every contemner of the law and wicked person, he took away. He beautified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the temple." John, surnamed Hyrcanus, inherited the vigorous talents and the patriotic spirit of his family. He was at once accept- ed as the successor of his father, b. c. 135, and his life aug- mented the glory of his nation. The murderer Ptolemy, =w THE BIACCABEAN PRINCES. 13 like a wild beast, whom the dexterous hunter has deprived of his prey, growling, fled from Jerusalem, and sought re- fuge in Dagon, one of the fortresses above Jericho. Having in vain tried to seduce some of the principal persons to sup- port his illegal pretensions to the supreme power, he became the traitor of his country. He wrote Antiochus Sidetes, and pledged himself to deliver Judea into his hands, on condition of receiving the appointment of governor. He had not, how- ever, courage to wait the arrival of Syrian troops. Terrified by the appearance of Hyrcanus, whose troops laid siege to Dagon, he escaped to Philadelphia in Asia-Minor. The future history of this rich, but vile and contemptible person, is unknown. The calamitous state of the Jews encouraged Antiochus Sidetes to lead a large army into Judea. " Hyrcanus was ob- liged to shut himself up in Jerusalem, where he sustained a long siege with incredible valour. Reduced at length to the last extremity for want of provisions, he caused proposals of peace to be made to the king. His condition was not known in the camp. Those who were about the king's person pressed him to take the advantage of the present occasion for ex- terminating the Jewish nation. They represented to him, re- curring to past ages, that they had been driven out of Egypt as impious wretches, hated by the gods, and abhorred by men ; that they were enemies to all the rest of mankind, as they had no communication with any but those of their own sect, and would neither eat, drink, nor have any familiarity with other people ; that they did not adore the same gods ; that they had laws, customs, and a religion, entirely different from that of all other nations ; that therefore they well deserved to be treated by other nations with equal contempt, and to be rendered ha- tred for hatred ; and that all people ought to unite in extirpa- ting them. Diodorus Siculus, as well as Josephus, says, it was from the pure effect of the generosity and clemency of Antiochus, that the Jewish nation was not entirely destroyed on this occasion." Probably, however, their deliverance ought rather to be traced to the circumstances at that time of the Syrian empire. Antiochus, doubtless, was aware that the Parthians contemplated to add Syria to their dominions, and were prepared to invade it under the pretence of re-establishing king Demetrius, their prisoner, on his throne. To avert this danger, Antiochus resolved to advance into Parthia, and he possibly thought it was more his interest to make Hyrcanus an ally than a revengeful enemy. Be this as it may, he re- VOL. n. 2 1 1 ^ THE MACCABEAN PI^INQ^^S. garded not the opinions of his courtiers, who sought the sub- jugation of Judea, and granted the Jews peace ; not, however, on favourable terms, for he demanded that the besieged should surrender their arms ; that the fortifications of Jerusalem should be demolished ; and that a tribute should be paid to the king for Joppa, and for the other cities which the Jews had out of Judea ; and that the citadel commanding the tem- ple, which had been erased, and the lofty site of it levelled, should be rebuilt, and garrisoned by the king's troops. The latter condition Hyrcanus evaded, by paying five hundred talents. The capitulation was executed, and a brother of the Jewish prince, and some other great personages, were sent hostages to secure the observance of all the articles of the treaty. Hyrcanus accompanied Antiochus in his fatal expedition into the East, and largely shared in the triumphs of the first campaign, when he returned to Jerusalem laden with military glory. Antiochus dispersed his army over the conquered pro- vinces, which included all which had originally belonged to the Seleucidffi, except Parthia. The inhabitants were plun- dered, and in one of the insurrections that followed, Antiochus was slain. His throne was taken possession of by Demetrius, who had been liberated, and sent by the Parthians, at the head of an army, into Syria, in order to compel Antiochus to with- draw his troops from Parthia. From this time the Syrian power was crushed by seditions, anarchy, or revolutions, till at last it was reduced into a Ro- man province. The Egyptians were too much occupied with their affairs to interfere with those of other nations ; and the other nations usually opposed to the Jews were not in a state to do them much injury. Hyrcanus was thus left to pursue, without interruption, the schemes which he deemed calculated to advance the interests of his people. He greatly augmented his army, and, to eflect this, employed mercenary troops, a custom equally opposed to the laws of his country, and to the example of all the pious kings and princes of Israel, in past generations. To supply his finances, Josephus reports, that he opened the sepulchres of David and others of the ancient kings, in hope of finding treasures, and if we may believe the improbable story df the historian, he was not disappointed ; but he took only a portion, amounting to three thousand ta- lents. Having been informed of the death of Antiochus, he made an invasion into Syria, and captured several cities. He next reduced Shechem and Gerizim, and demolished the Sa THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. 15 maritan temple, two hundred years after its erection. The year 130 before the Christian era was memorable for the com- plete subjugation of the Idumeans, who were compelled, by Hyrcanus, to emigrate from their lands, or submit to circum- cision and the laws of Moses. From this date they ceased to be known as a nation, for all who were not incorporated with the Jews were dispersed and mingled with other nations. Hundreds of years earlier they were warned by the prophet, that their continued existence was suspended by Heaven on condition of their humbly uniting with the Jews, whom they had always hated and persecuted; Isa. xxi. 11, 12. About this time Hyrcanus, probably to guard himself against any machinations of Demetrius, who had repossessed himself of the throne of Syria, sent an embassy to Rome, of which Josephus thus writes : '' Fanius, son of Marcus, the prffitor, gathered the senate together on the eighth day before the ides of Febuary, in the senate-house, when Lucius Man- lius, the son of Lucius, of the Mentine tribe, and Caius Sem- pronius, the son of Caius, of the Falernian tribe, were present. The occasion was, that the ambassadors sent by the people of the Jews, Simon, the son of Dositheus, and Apol- lonius, the son of Alexander, and Diodorus, the son of Jason, who were good and virtuous men, had somewhat to propose about that league of friendship and mutual assistance which subsisted between them and the Romans, and about other pub- lic affairs, who desired that Joppa, and the havens, and Gaza- ra, and the springs of Jordan, and the several other cities and countries of theirs, which Antiochus had taken from them in the war, contrary to the decree of the senate, might be restored to them ; and that it might not be lawful for the king's troops to pass through their country, and the countries of those that are subject to them : and that what attempts Antiochus had made during that war, without the decree of the senate, might be made void : and that they would send ambassadors, who should take care that restitution be made them of what Antio- chus had taken from them, and that they should make an es- timate of the country that had been laid waste in the war : and that they would grant them letters of protection to the kings and free people, in order to their quiet return home. It was therefore decreed as to these points, to renew their league of friendship and mutual assistance with these goou men, and who were sent by a good and a friendly people. — But as to the letters desired, their answer was, that the senate would consuk about that matter when their own affairs would #= J I I 16 THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. give them leave, and that they would endeavour, for the time to come, that no like injury should be done them : and that their praetor Fanius should give them money out of the public treasury to bear their expenses home. And thus did Fanius dismiss the Jewish ambassadors, and gave them money out of the public treasury ; and gave the decree of the senate to those that were to conduct them, and to take care that they should return home in safety." Adversity had produced no salutary effect on the mind, dispositions, habits, or manners of Deme- trius. He was universally dreaded or hated on account of his tyranny, haughtiness, and sensuality ; and the Syrians exulted in the opportunity to revolt, while he was with his troops in Egypt assisting Cleopatra to depose her most profligate and savage husband, Ptolemy Physcon. The latter, in revenge, choose Alexander Zebina, the son of a broker in Alexandria, to proceed to Syria, and, under the pretence of being the son of Alexander Balas, claim the crown. The Syrians hailed the impostor, and, following him, defeated Demetrius, who had returned to subdue the insurgents. His army being de- stroyed or dispersed, Demetrius sought an asylum in Tyre ; but the citizens put him to death. Zebina strengthened his power by a friendly alliance with Hyrcanus, who, like Simon, seems to have concerned himself little who reigned in Syria, provided its sovereign permitted the Jews to enjoy their liberty and in- dependence, Alexander Zel)ina had been secretly supported by Cleopatra, widow of the late king Demetrius ; and he di- vided with her the kingdom. In consequence of her eldest son Seleucus having caused himself to be proclaimed king, she sought an interview with him, and pierced him with a dart. This occasioned the revolt of some provinces, and Cleo- patra saw it expedient to call her second son, Antiochus Gry- pus, from Athens, where he had been placed for his educa- tion. Proclaiming him king, she ruled in his name, and was assisted by Ptolemy Physcon, who deserted Zebina, because he declined to acknowledge himself a tributary to Egypt. Young Grypus married Tryphaena, a daughter of Physcon, and by the aid of Egyptian troops overcame Zebina. He soon after put his mother to death. Her son, Antiochus Cy- zicenes, by Antiochus Sidetes, was not long in claiming the crown, and was acknowledged king by multitudes. After various combats, the brothers agreed to divide the kingdom between them. Antiochus Cyzicenes reigned over Ccelo-Syria, and fixed on Damascus for his capital; Antioch was the resi- dence of Antiochus Grypus, who was regarded as sovereign ! m THE MACCABEAN PRINCES. 17 of all the other provinces. Both these princes passed a short interval of peace in the indulgence of the most debasing pleas- ures, and the Syrian kingdom was afterwards almost ruined by their wars, and the contentions of their heirs or rival claimants for the crown. The Syrians at length, to rid them- selves of the turbulent ,and bloody race of the Seleucida^, of- fered, B. c. 83, the crown to Tigranes, king of Armenia, who possessed almost the entire kingdom, in peace, eighteen years. While Egypt and Syria were gradually fading away, or consumed by tyranny, insurrections, or anarchy, Hyrcanus governed Judea with wisdom, and raised her to distinction, so as to command the continued respect of the proud and pros- perous Romans. He completely subdued the Samaritans, who had never omitted an opportunity to injure the Jewish people. They in vain procured troops from Egypt and Sy- ria to oppose him. These, indeed prevented some time the fall of their strong capital. But, after a siege of a whole year, in which the citizens suffered inexpressible calamities, Sama- ria fell, and was completely destroyed. Hyrcanus, by collect- ing all the streams in the vicinity, rendered the site a waste, in which no traces of a city remained, till the time of Herod, who raised in its place a fine city, which he named Sebaste, in honour of Augustus. Hyrcanus also conquered all the country of the Philistines, and Galilee, and shed a lustre on the Jewish people far more splendid than had been seen from the time of their restoration from Babylon. The Jews were also highly honoured by Ptolemy Philometor, and, after his death, by Cleopatra, the repudiated wife of his most unworthy brother Ptolemy Physcon. Of the state of the Jews in Egypt during the government of Hyrcanus, Josephus, observes, that then " not only those who were at Jerusalem and in Judea were in prosperity, but also those of them that were at Alexandria, and in Egypt, and Cyprus; for Cleopatra the queen was at variance w^ith her son Ptole- my, who was called Lathyrus, and appointed for her generals, Cnelcias and Ananias, the sons of that Onias who built the temple in the prefecture of Hcliopolis, like that at Jerusalem, as we have elsewhere related. Cleopatra intrusted these men with her army ; and did nothing without their advice, as Strabo of Cappadocia attests, when he saith thus : — Now the greater part, both those that came to Cyprus with us, and those that were sent afterward thither, revoked to Ptolemy immedi- ately ; only those that were called Onias's party being Jews, (continued faithful, because their countrymen Chelcras and \ ^ THfi MACCABEAN PRINCES. Ananias were in chief favour with the queen. These are the words of Strabo. However, this prosperous state of affairs moved the Jews to envy Hyrcanus ; but they that were the worst disposed to him were the Pharisees, who are one of the sects of the Jews, as we have informed you already. These have so great a power over the multitude, that when they say anything against the king or against the high-priest, they are presently believed. Now Hyrcanus was a disciple of theirs, and greatly beloved by them. And when he once invited them to a feast, and entertained them very kindly, when he saw them in a good humour, he began to say to them, That they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things whereby he might please God, which was the profession ofthe Pharisees also. However, he desired, if they observed him offending in any point, and going out of the right way, they would call him back and correct him. On which occasion they attested to his being entirely virtuous ; with which com- mendation he was well pleased ; but still there was one of his guests there, whose name was Eleazar, a man of an ill temper, and delighting in seditious practices This man said, ' Since thou desirest to know the truth, if thou will be righteous in earn- est, lay down the high-priesthood, and content thyself with the civil government of the people.' And when he desired to know for what cause he ought to lay down the high-priest- hood, the other replied, • We have heard it from old men, that thy mother had been a captive under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.' This story was false, and Hyrcanus was pro- voked against him ; and all the Pharisees had a very great indignation against him. Now there was one Jonathan, a very great friend of Hyrcanus, but of the sect of the Saddu- cees, whose notions are quite contrary to those of the Phari- sees ; he told Hyrcanus that Eleazar had cast such a reproach upon him, according to the common sentiments of all the Pharisees, and that this would be made manifest if he would but ask him the question, What punishment they thought this man deserved ? — for that he might depend upon it, that the reproach was not laid on him with their approbation, if they were for punishing him as his crime deserved. So the Phari- sees made answer. That he deserved stripes and bonds ; but that it did not seem right to punish reproaches with death ; and indeed the Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not apt to be severe in punishments. At this gentle sentence, Hyrcanus was very angry, and thought that this man re- proached him by their approbation. It was this Jonathan who THE BfACCABEAN PRINCES. 19 chiefly irritated him, and influenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on the people^ and punish those that ob- served them. From this source arose that hatred which he and his sons met with from the multitude. But when Hyr- canus had put an end to this sedition, he after that lived hap- pily, and administered the government in the best manner for thirty-one years, and then died, leaving behind him five sons. He was esteemed by God worthy of the three privi- leges — the government of bis nation, the dignity of the high- priesthood, and prophecy ; for God was with him, and enabled him to know futurities ; and, in particular, that, as to his two eidest sons, he foretold that they would not long continue in the government of public affairs; whose unhappy catastrophe will be worth our description, that we may thence learn how very much they were inferior to their father's happiness." # } CHAPTER II. REIGN OF THE MACCiCBEAN KINGS. The popularity of the Maccabean family ceased with prince Hyrcanus. The people never forgave his alliance with the Sadducees. This sect consisted chiefly of men of rank and pleasure. The multitude admired and followed the Pharisees, who, by high pretensions to patriotism, disinterested zeal for religion and sacred reverence for every religious observance, sanctioned by Moses, or by the traditions of the ancients, daz- zled and blinded the eyes of the ignorant and unreflecting, and perverted their judgments, so that they either wholly over- looked or justified the unsatiable ambition, and implacable antipathies and resentments of their leaders, and discredited every report of their secret acts of injustice, oppression, and licentiousness. And the character and conduct of the descend- ants of Hyrcanus, who succeeded him in power, were not adapted to undermine the influence, or expose the evil deeds of religious hypocrites. He was scarcely numbered with the dead when his eldest son Aristobulus, discovered no respect for his memory, or natural affection for his kindred. Selfish- ness and vanity swayed his heart ; and made him a prey to the intrigues of those who knew hrow to awaken in him imaginary fears or delusive hopes. To guard against any sudden insur- rection or tumult in the city, which he had reason to apprehend from the subtlety, power, and malice of his popular enemies, he erected a castle or palace in a strong position, in which he Jmd his successors ever after resided, till the dominion of Judea passed to another race. Simon having erazed the tower which commanded the temple, and which had been long almost unin- terruptedly occupied by a Syrian garrison, Hyrcanus judged it expedient to raise strong fortifications around the temple. Within these he erected, on a lofty rock, his palace of polished marble, and employed every means to render it invulnerable- It was named at first Baris or Castle, which Herod afterward « REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. 21 exchanged for Antonia, in honour of his friend Marcus An tonius. Hyrcanus, before his decease, had committed the govern- ment to his wife, and advised her to appoint any of his sons, in whom she had most confidence, to conduct, under her di- rection, the affairs of the nation. Her eldest son Aristobulus, having no inclination to be guided by her wisdom, instantly proclaimed himself the successor of his fluher, and assumed the lofty title of king. He is said to have loved and admired the Greeks ; and he certainly surpassed them not in moral ex- cellence. His first royal act was to embrue his hands in the blood of his venerable mother, to secure himself in the posses- sion of sovereign power. She was imprisoned and starved to death ; all his brothers were shut up in prison, except An- tigonus, whom he loved, or whose services he was not willing to lose. Being not less ambitious of the fame of a conqueror than of royal titles, he invaded Iturea, the region lying north- east of the inheritance of Manasseh, and stretching to Damas- cus. It derived its name from its^ancient inhabitants, the de- scendants of Itur or Jetur, one of the sons of Ishmael; from whom it had been taken by the Israelites, sometime after their conquest of Canaan ; 1 Chron. v. 18 — 22. And the fact that they once OLXupied it may have induced Aristobulus to regard it as a part of the Holy Land. This opinion is the more pro- bable from the circumstance, that when the inhabitants were at this time subdued, the Jews compelled them either to emigrate or to be circumcised and obey the laws of Moses. In conse- quence of an attack of disease, Aristobulus soon returned to Jerusalem, and left Antigonus to prosecute the war. Jealous of his influence over the king, the queen and court conspired to destroy him. They succeeded in exciting the enfeebled and wicked prince to suspect his fidelity, and, by an act of diabolical deception, stimnlatid him to order his guards to murder him. Antigonus entering Jerusalem in triumph, du- ring the festival of tents, instantly ascended, in full armour, to the temple, to render thanks for the complete success which he had obtained. His enemies appealed to the king if this was not proof sufficient of his treacherous designs, and sug- gested that were he to summon him to his presence, he would not appear unarmed. To put him to the test, the king re- quested him to visit him, but not in his warlike dress ; and, at the same time, commanded the royal guards to kill him, if he approached in his armour. The queen enjoined the messen- ger to deliver the opposite message. And as he passed «= I 22 REIGN OF THE MACOABEAN KIN6& through a subterranean gallery, which Hyrcanus had con- structed between the palace and the temple, he was assassi- nated by the guards. Aristobulus soon discovered the truth, and the guilt of murder kindled a fire in his conscience which hastened his end, and rendered him inexpressibly miserable. Josephus remarks, that " he grew worse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the thoughts of what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intoler- able grief he was under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And, as one of those servants that attended him car- ried out that blood, he, by some supernatural providence, slip- ped and fell down in the very place where Antigonus had been slain ; and so he spilt some of the murderer's blood upon the spots of the blood of him that had been murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon a lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place ; and, as the king heard that cry, he inquired what was the cause of it ; and while nobody durst tell him, he pressed them so much the ftiore to let him know what was the matter ; so, at length, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they told ; whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, ' So I perceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the great crimes I have com- mitted ; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues me hastily. O thou most impudent body ! how long wilt thou retain a soul that ought to die, on account of that punishment it ought to suffer for a mother and a brother slain ! how long shall I myself spend my blood drop by drop ! let them take it all at once ; and let their ghosts no longer be disappointed by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them.' As soon as he had said these words, he presently died, when he had reigned no longer than a year." The queen immediately liberated the brothers, and raised Alexander, surnamed Jannaeus, to the throne. He com- manced his reign by killing one of his brethren, who was sus- pected of treason, b. c. 105. He had to struggle during the greater part of his reign with civil war or foreign enemies, but finally triumphed, and disgraced his last years by unre- strained sensual indulgences. Several important cities depen- dent on Syria or Judea revolted, and had called in the aid of Ptolemy Lathyrus, who had been permitted by his mother Cleopatra to reign over Cyprus, after she had deposed him from the throne of Egypt. His army defeated that of Jan- nsBus, near the banks of the Jordan. Of fifty thousand whom I KfilGN OF THE MACCABEAN KTNGS. *2§ Jannsus led to battle, few were not either killed or taken pris- oners ; and the enemy proceeded, without opposition, to lay- waste the whole country. The utter ruin of the Jews seemed only averted by Cleopatra, who advanced to the support of Jannaeus. It was not, however, from friendship to him that she delivered the Jews, but from the apprehension that if her son should possess Judea and Phenicia, he would speed ly al tempt to recover Egypt. On the appearance of the Egyptian army, Ptolemy judged it expedient to return to Cyprus ; and though some flattered Cleopatra that she might easily take possession of Judea, yet by the advice of her chief servants, who were Jews, she very soon departed to Eg^'pt. From this time Jannieus extended his dominions, although not with- out occasional repulses, and the loss of many of his soldiers. His victories had, however, no charms to procure him the approbation or applause of his subjects. Pursuing the policy of his father in relation to the Pharisees, that sect poisoned the minds of the people, who, by repeated tumults and insur- rections, brought on themselves extreme wretchedness. Jan- naeus perceiving his danger, from the machinations and power of his ambitious and revengeful enemies, procured from Pisi- dia and Cilicia six thousand men, who, as a guard, accom- panied him everywhere. This scheme was more calculated to inflame than allay the wrath of the Pharisees. In one of his expeditions against the Arabians, his army was entirely destroyed. On his return to Jerusalem, the multitude cast on his authority, and hoped to overcome him before he could raise a new army. He, however, quickly found troops to sub- due them. A civil war now prevailed six years, during which about fifty thousand of the rebels were cut ofC. When by many losses they were unable to meet him in the field, they sought an asylum in Belhome, a city or fortress un- known. Having captured it, he carried eight hundred to Je- rusalem, and crucified them all in one day, on a spot where he and his wives and concubines could survey their last ago- nies. When they were fixed on crosses, he ordered his sol- diers to cut the thoats of their wives .and children, in their presence. This savage deed was followed with peace to the despairing citizens, b. c. 86 ; but he continued to carry on war some time longer with success, and then surrendered himself to intemperance, and died after an unenviable reign of twenty- seven years. He left two young sons, Hyrcanus and Aristo- bulus, and appointed Alexandra, his wife, to administer the government, and urged her to put herself under the direction 94 EEION OP THE MACCABEAN KINGS. ol the Pharisees. At his death, according to Josephus, the Jews had acquired many cities, which had been subject to the Syrians, Idumeans, and Phenicians. Thus, on the coast they possessed Strato's Tower, Apollonia, Joppa, Jamnia, Ashdoci, Gaza, Anthedon, Raphia, and Rhinocolura ; in the middle of the country, near to Idumea, Adora, and Marissa; near the country of Samaria, mount Carmel and mount I'abor, Scy- thopolis, and Gadara ; of the country of the Gauionitis, Seleu- cia, and Gabala ; in the country of Moab, Heshbon, and Me- daba, and Oronas, Gelithon, Zara, the valley of the Cilices, and Pella; but the latter had been destroyed because its inha- bitants had resolutely refused to adopt the Jewish religion. The Pharisees no sooner found themselves in the possession of power, than they became enthusiastically loyal. They eu- logised the late king, whom they had hated and reviled, as one of the greatest monarchs who had ever ruled over Israel ; and they celebrated his funeral with greater pomp and mag- nificence than that of any of his predecessors. But their re- venge was insatiable. They recalled all of their party who had been exiled for political offences ; and incessantly laboured to procure the banishment or death of all who had been most distinguished for their fidelity to the late government. Hyr- canus was unambitious, and disposed to peace ; he was satis- fied with the dignity of high-priest, and submitted to the coun- sels of the Pharisees. They hasted to repeal the decree Arhich the noble John Hyrcanus had promulgated, abolishing their traditionary laws and rites. These they universally en- forced ; and nothing provoked their indignation and exposed to their vengeance more than neglect of these traditions, which from this time continued to be deemed more important than the inspired revelations of heaven. Aristobulus placed himself in opposition to the Pharisees, and supported all his father's friends. Their enemies were implacable ; and they perceived their ruin inevitable, if the queen interposed not to save them. In the seventh year of her reign, they boldly united, and obtained an interview, which happily terminated in her authorising them to reside in any of the cities or places favoured with garrisons, except those in which her treasures were deposited. She found two advantages in that conduct ; the first was, that their enemies dared not attack them in those fortresses, where they would have their forces ; the second, that they would always be a body of reserve upon which she could rely upon on any rupture with the Pharisees. The only great event in relation to Judea I # "^ — % REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. VO m the reign of Alexandra was the approach of a great army to its vicinity, under the able king of Armenia, Tigranes, whom the Syrians had chosen for their king. Though the Jews had a large army, yet they had no hope of being able to contend against this powerful prince. The news that he had Idid siege to Ptolema is threw the whole nation into the greatest consternation. The queen immediately sent him large and valuable presents. He gave her ambassadors a gracious reception ; but she owed her safety to the interposi- tion of providence rather than to the friendship of Tigranes. Considermg his ambition and love of conquest, after reducing Ptolemais, he \voul(f no doubt have advanced on Jerusalem, had he not been called away to defend his native territories, threatened by the Romans, who had invaded Pontus and Cap- padocia. He departed from Phenicia, in the ninth and last year of, the reign of Alexandra. On her being attacked by a disease which was deemed incurable, Aristobulus executed his long meditated purpose to seize the crown. He secretly left Jerusalem witli only one servant, and summoned around him his own and his father's friends ; and in two weeks above twenty of the garrisoned towns and castles acknowledged him king. He then was able to command almost all the military forces of the nation. " The people as well as the army were entirely inclined to declare for him, weary of the cruel admin- istration of the Phari§ees, who had governed without control under Alexandra, and were become insupportable to all the world. They came therefore in crowds from all sides to fol- low the standards of Aristobulus, in hopes that he would abo- lish the tyranny of the Pharisees, which could not be expected from Hyrcanus his brother, who had been brought up by his mother in a blind submission to that sect : besides which, he had neither the courage nor capacity necessary to so vigorous a design ; for he was heavy and indolent, void of activity and application, and of a very mean genius. When the Phari- sees saw that Aristobulus's party augmented considerably, they went with Hyrcanus at their head to represent to the dying queen what had passed, and to demand her orders and assistance. She answered, that she was no longer in a condition to inter- meddle in such affairs, and that she left the care of them to the Pharisees. However, she appointed Hyrcanus her heir and general, and expired soon after. As soon as she was dead, he took possession of the throne, and the f*harisees used all their endeavours to support him upon it. When Aristo- bulus quitted Jerusalem, they had caused his wife and chil- VOL. II. 3 *ifl6 RBIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINOS. dren, whom he had left behind him, to be shut up in the castle of Baris, as hostages against himself; but seeing this did not stop him, they raised an army. Aristobulus did the same. A battle near Jericho decided the quarrel. Hyrcanus, aban- doned by most part of his troops, who went over to his bro- ther, was obliged to fly to Jerusalem, and to shut himself up in the castle of Baris." His partisans took refuge in the temple ; and he very soon submitted to his brother, on condi- tion of liberty to retire into private life with his personal pro- perty. Had Hyrcanus been permitted to follow his own in- clinations, it is probable that his name would have had no longer a place in history. This, however, suited not the views of his numerous friends, who regarded him as an indis- pensable instrument to maintain their influence in society, and obtain the objects of their ambition. The most enterpris- ing of these was Antipas or Antipater, to whose agency, from this time till his descendants became the chief rulers of Judea, may be traced the wars, revolutions, and contests, which brought on the Jews great and accumulated sufferings. Some imagined that this man was of Jewish descent ; but Josephus asserts that he was an Idumean of noble birth, and exceed- ingly rich. His father had been highly esteemed by Alex- ander Jannaeus, who had chosen him general of his army in Idumea ; and he had augmented his power by entering into friendship with many persons of influence in Ascalon, Gaza, and Arabia. He and his son Antipater retained favour at court during the reigns of Alexander and Alexandra, and was apparently the chief minister of Hyrcanus. On that prince resigning the crown, he endeavoured, by every possible means, to awaken in him suspicions that his brother intended to take his life, and that he ought to seek an asylum in the court of Aretas, king of Petra. They had not been long in Petra, when he prevailed on Hyrcanus to from an alliance with Aretas, in order to recover his crown. Having agreed to de- liver up to Aretas a number of cities which he had lost in his wars with Jannaeus, he invaded Judea with an army of fifty thousand men, who were joined by many Jews, devoted to the interests of the Pharisees. The appearance of the Arabians alarmed all ranks, and they eagerly sought to avoid danger by deserting Aristobulus, and hailing Hyrcanus as their law- ful king. The former, with the forces which he could com- mand, ventured a battle, and was totally defeated. He fled to Jerusalem, which the invader soon after entered without opposition. He and a few priests withdrew within the forti- ilEIGN C*" tHE MACCABEAN KINGS. 27 fications of the temple, which was immediately besieged. Both parties were alike unprepared to endure a tedious siege, for famine prevailed over the whole country and Hyrcanus and Aristobulus had recourse for aid to the Romans. Scau- rus had been lately sent by Pompey to take possession of Syria. Damascus, the capital, had been conquered by the Roman generals before his arrival, and he proceeded to Judea. Aristobulus procured his favour by a present of four hundred talents. Scaurus commanded Aretas to leave Judea, if he de- sired to live in friendship with the Romans. He obeyed; and Aristobulus hastily gathered together a large army, and pursued the Arabians. A fierce battle ensued, which termi- nated in the overthrow of the army of Aretas, who left seven thousand dead. The most distinguished of the Jewish army who were slain, was Phalion, the brother of Antipater. These unexpected reverses were insufficient to cool the fiery ambition of Antipater ; they rather stimulated his zeal in what he pretended was the just cause of Hyrcanus. Accordingly, he persuaded him to send him as his ambassador to the ce- lebrated Pompey, who had arrived in Damascus, covered with the laurels of his triumph over Tigranes. At the same time, Aristobulus sent an ambassador to the Roman conqueror, im- ploring his patronage. The ambassadors pleaded before him as the arbiter of the greatest affairs of kingdoms. He declined to give a final decision till he returned from Arabia, which he proposed to conquer. Aristobulus, however, perceived that his expressed opposition to the design of Pompey against Arabia had made him his enemy, and he resolved to defend himself against the Roman power. He sedulously laboured during all the time that the Romans were engaged in the conquest of the strong city of Petra, to prepare for a vigorous defence of Judea. This conduct confirmed the purpose of Pompey to humble him ; and he no sooner had successfully terminated the war against Aretas than he marched into Judea. His progress was arrested on the frontiers of Ephraim and Benjamin, on the road to Jericho, by the very strong fortress of Alexandrium, seated on a lofty mountain. It contained the sepulchre of the family of its founder, Alexander Jannreus. Here Aristobiilus was posted. Pompey summoned him to descend. He complied, to please his friends, who dreaded a war with the Romans. "After a conversation, which turned upon his difference with his brother, he returned into his cas- tle. He repeated the same two or three times, in hopes by tkat complacency to gain upon Pompey, and induce Aim t© 1 m- # t ' ^ REIGN OF THE UACCABEAN KING& decide in his favour. But for fear of accident, he did not omit to put good garrisons into his strong places, and to make all other preparations for a vigorous defience, in case Pompey should decree against him. Pompey, who had advice ol his proceedings, the last time he came to him, obliged hinj to put them all into his hands by way of sequestration, and made him sign orders for that purpose to all the commanders of those places. Aristobulus, incensed at the violence which had been done him, as soon as he was released, made all haste to Jerusalem, and prepared every thing for the war. His resolution to keep the crown, made him the sport of the different passions, hope and fear. When he saw the least appearance that Pompey would decide in his favour, he made use of all the arts of complacency to incline him to it ; when, on the contrary, he had the least reason to suspect that he would declare against him, he observed directly opposite con- duct. Such was the contrariety visible in the different steps he took throughout this affair." The Roman army advanced on Jerusalem. On their approach, Aristobulus perceived his folly, and went out to meet the general ; and " endeavoured to bring him to an accommodation, by promising an entire submission, and a great sum of money to prevent the war. Pompey accepted his offers, and sent Gabinius at the head of a detachment to receive the money : but when that lieutenant- general arrived at Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him, and, instead of receiving the money, he was told from the top of the walls, that the city would not stand to the agreement. Pompey, thereupon, not being willing that they should de- ceive him with impunity, ordered Aristobulus, whom he had kept with him, to be put in irons, and advanced with his whole army against Jerusalem. The city was extremely strong by its situation and the works which had been made, and, had it not been divided within doors against itself, was capable of making a long defence. Aristobulus's party was for defending the place, especially when they saw that Pom- pey kept their king prisoner ; but the adherents of Hyrcanus were determined to open the gates to that general. And as the latter were much the greater number, the other party re- tired to the mountain where the temple stood, to defend it, and caused the bridges of the ditch and valley which surrounded it to be broken down. Pompey, to whom the city immediately opened its gates, resolved to besiege the temple. The place held out three entire months ; and would have done so three more, and perhaps oblig^ed the Romans to abandon their en- #= t — — — =HI REIGN OF THE BIACCABEAN KINGS. 29 terprise, but for the superstitious rigour with which the be- sieged observed the Sabbath. They believed, indeed that they might defend themselves when attacked, but not that they might prevent the works of the enemy, or made any for themselves. The Romans knew how to take the advantage of this inaction upon the Sabbath-days. They did not attack the Jews upon them, but filled up the fosses, make their ap- proaches, and fixed their engines without opposition. They threw down at length a great tower, with which so great a part of the wall fell, that the breach was large enough for an assault. The place was carried sword in hand, and a terrible slaughter ensued, in which more than twelve thousand per- sons were killed. During the whole tumult, cries and disor- der of this slaughter, history observes, that the priests, who were at that time employed in divine service, continued it with a surprising unconcern, notwithstanding the rage of their enemies, and their grief to see their friends and relations massacred before their eyes. Many of them saw their own blood mingle with that of the sacrifices they oflfered, and the sword of the enemy make themselves the victims of their duty ; happy and worthy of being envied, if they were as faithful to the spirit, as the letter of the law ! Pompey, with many of his superior officers, entered the temple ; and not only into the sanctuary, but into the sanctum sanctorum, into which, by the law, only the high-priest was permitted to enter Once a-year, upon the solemn day of expiation. This was what afflicted and enraged the Jews most against the Romans. Pompey did not touch the treasures of the temple, that con- sisted principally in sums which had been deposited there by private families for their better security. Those sums amounted to two thousand talents in specie, without reckon- ing the gold and the silver vessels, which were innumerable, and of infinite value. It was not, says Cicero, out of respect for the majesty of the God adored in that temple, that Pompey behaved in this manner ; for, according to him, nothing was more contemptible than the Jewish religion, more unworthy the wisdom and grandeur of the Romans, nor more opposite to the institutions of their ancestors : Pompey, in this noble disinterestedness, had no other motive voan to deprive ma- lice and calumny of all means of attacking his reputa- tion. Such were the thoughts of the most learned of the pagans upon the only religion of the True God. They blas- phemed what they knew nothing of • It hath been observed, that till then Pompey h id been successful in all things; but 3* « iflk m^QN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. that, after this sacrilegious curiosity, his good fortune aban- doned him, and that his taking the temple of Jerusalem was his last victory " Before leaving Jerusalem, he caused his army to demolish its walls, and the fortifications of several other cities of Judea. He declared it a part of Syria, imposed a tribute on Hyrcanug, whom he restored to the throne, intrusted Antipater with the administration, and left Scaurus sub-governor, with a number of Roman soldiers. He sent Aristobulus and his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, prisoners to Rome. The latter es- caped on his journey, and immediately returned to Judea, and raised a considerable army. The whole administration of An- tipater was conducted so as to procure for himself the favour of the Romans. Hence, instead of raising a powerful army to defend the throne, he applied to Gabinius, the Roman gov- ernor of Syria, to subdue Antigonus. His army was soon dispersed, but he found an asylum, for some time, in Alexan- drium. After some time, partly by delivering up all the Strongest places possessed by his friends, and partly by the in tercessions of his mother, he was permitted to depart wherever he pleased. Gabinius demolished the fortresses, and re-estab- lished Hyrcanus in the office of high-priest, but made an im- portant change in the form of the civil government, which,* however, was only temporary. He divided the kingdom into five provinces, and appointed a council to govern each. Cras- sus, who had succeeded Gabinius in the government of Syria, in his rash expedition against the Parthians, b. c. 57, " always intent upon gratifying his insatiable avarice, stopt at Jerusa- lem, where he had been told great treasures were laid up. He plundered the temple of all the riches in it; which amounted to the sum of ten thousand talents, that is to say, about fifteen hundred thousand pounds sterling." Hyrcanus was nominally chief ruler, but, in consequence of mental weakness and indolence, he left Antipater to govern the king- dom according to his pleasure. Probably he felt himself in- secure, when Aristobulus arrived in Syria with two Roman legions, committed to him by Julius Cesar, who, as soon as he had made himself master of Syria, had liberated Aristobu- lus, in hope that he would be useful by opposing the schemes of Pompey in Syria. But the friends of that general quickly found means to kill Aristobulus by poison. And Antipater, by his great political influence, was most successful in procu- ring the fivour of the Roman generals in the East, and partic- ularly of Cesar, who was greatly indebted to him for most # 1 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. 31 efficient assistance in his mighty contest with his rival Pom- pey in Egypt. Antipater had led a considerable army to his assistance, and personally performed the most heroic actions in the service of Cesar. Nor was this all ; he had either in- duced the high-priest Hyrcanus to write letters to the Jews in Egypt, or he had forged them in his name, requesting them to join Cesar, and supply him with whatever his army required Cesar was generous, and had pleasure in rewarding his friends. When, therefore, he had terminated the war in Egypt, and arrived in Judea, disregarding the supplications of Antigonus to be restored to the throne of his deceased fa- ther, whom he had accompanied into Syria, he fully gratified the desires of Hyrcanus and Antipater. He abolished the form of government which had been introduced by Gabinius, and restored the monarchical. Hyrcanus was declared king and high-priest, with liberty to rebuild the walls of his me- tropolis, and Antipater was constituted under him procurator of Judea. The latter immediately appointed Phasael his el- dest son, and Herod his youngest, governors ; the former of Jerusalem, and the latter of Galilee. The measures pursued by both rendered them exceedingly popular with the nation and the Syrian Roman governor. Herod, especially, was ap- plauded for his bold and successful efforts to destroy nume- rous banditti who had long infested Galilee and the adjacent provinces, His conduct, however, in putting the leaders whom he, seized to death, without trying them before the pro- per tribunal, awakened the jealousy and indignation of all who professed to value the liberty and laws of their country. These formed a strong party, and forced Hyrcanus to sum- mon Herod before the S;mhedrim to answer the accusations brought against him. The king was his friend, and therefore suffered him to appear in the great council, in full armour, accompanied with a guard of soldiers. The scene confounded all the councillors ; one alone, Samoas, who was universally known and esteemed for integrity, had the courage to maintain the dignity of his office. He denounced the weakness and folly of Hyrcanus in permitting justice and law to be thu? insulted and concluded an eloquent address by solemnly admonishing the court of the fearful consequences which might be appre- hended if they submitted to the pride and insolence of Herod. " Regard my words : God is great ; and this very man, whom you are going to absolve and dismiss, for the sake of Hyr- canus, will one day punish you and your king." These omi- nous words were awfully verified, as we shall have occasion I I 1 I fBt, REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KING&, soon to notice. The Sanhedrim were for a moment roused to a sense of their duty, and showed signs of a disposition to pronounce Herod worthy of death. On perceiving this, Hyr- canus adjourned the court, and advised Herod to flee from Jerusalem. He withdrew to Syria, under pretence that the king threatened to destroy him ; and by rich presents concil- iated the favour of Sextos Cesar the governor^ by whom he was appointed general of the forces in Coelo-Syria. In these circumstances, it was scarcely expected that he would regard the second summons to stand accused in the Sanhedrim. He would have perferred laying siege to Jerusalem ; but the ar- guments of his father and brother conquered his hostile pur- poses. The Sanhedrim were deterred from proceeding against nim, but were exceedingly incensed against their king, wha had arrested the course of justice and equity. Cesar was assassinated in the senate about this time. A very short time before that event, he had publicly testified his esteem for the Jews, by conferring on them great additional privileges, which were afterwards confirmed by the senate of Rome, and are minutely described by Josephus. The Jews received at the same time, from several of the cities of Greece and Asia, strong expressions of friendship. These advantages, however, did not prevent them from suffering much about this time from the Roman civil wars, which were deeply felt in Syria. Antipater sedulously applied himself to promote the interests of Cassius, to whom he afforded efficient aid, at a critical time, when the chiefs of pther cities declined, or were slow to send him the supply of money which he de- manded. The chief persons whom he employed to impose on each city its proportion, were Antipater's sons and Mali- chus, who had been, next to Antipater, the ablest minister of Hyrcanus. He was the enemy of the growing power of his associates ; and more, perhaps, from aversion to them than from dislike of Cassius, neglected to force the cities to pay what was required of them. In consequence of this, Cassius ordered the inhabitants of a number of these cities to be pub- licly sold, and only spared the life of Malichus at the interces- sion of Hyrcanus, who ransomed him at the price of one hundred talents. From this time Malichus resolved to kill Antipater. His first plots were detected ; but he solemnly denied them, and was forgiven. His hatred and resentment were increased, according as the family of Antipater advanced in power and honour. Cassius not only commissioned He- rod to rule Coelo-Syria, but also promised to make him king # # 'mSIGN OP THE M CCABEAN KINGS. 33 of Judea. as soon he had succeeded to the supreme govern- ment of Rome. What Malichus could not effect by power he did by deceit and treachery. He gained the butler ol Hyr- canus, and persuaded him to mix the wine with poison, which was given at dinner to Antipater. His sons, who were not ignorant who was the real instigator of the atrocious deed, seized the first opportunity of revenge, by murdering him; and were preserved from punishment by the public approba- tion of Cassius. A brother of Malichus. to revenge his death, stirred up an insurrection which spread misery over several districts. It was quelled by Phasael, ahhough supported by Feli.K, who had received the government of Syria, and re- garded with indifference by Hyrcanus. The dastardly be- haviour of the king exceedingly provoked the wrath of Herod, but he was appeased on his consenting to give him in mar- riage Mariamne, his grand daughter, who was everywhere celebrated for her beauty. 'I'he sons of Antipater, nevertheless, had to contend with a far more powerful enemy than Malichus. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, assisted by I^olemy Mennaeus, prince of Chalcis, and other lesser powers, led an army into Judea, to strip his uncle of the crown which he was not worthy to bear. Herod defeated him on the frontiers ; but he soon re-appeared under more favourable auspices. The Parthians engaged to plac** hina on the throne of his ancestors, on condition of receiving one thousand talents and five hundred women. The small number of Roman troops left in Syria, b. c. 41, encouraged Pacorus, son of the Parthian king, to invade Syria. He sent his cup-bearer of the same name, with a detachment to j'Din the troops raised by Antigonus. Hyrcanus and Phasael, had the imprudence to proceed themselves to the united army, with a proposal of terms of accommodation. The enemy, destitute of the principle of honour, put them in irons, and hastily en- tered Jerusalem, in the hope of taking Herod also prisoner. He fled ; the Parthians plundered the city, and then placed Antigonus on the throne, "and delivered Hyrcanus and Pha- sael in chains into his hands. Phasael, who well knew that his death was resolved on, dashed out his brains against the wall, to avoid the hands of the executioner. As for Hyr- canus, his life was granted him ; but to render him incapable of the priesthood, Antigonus caused his ears to be cut off; for, according to the Levitical law, it was requisite that the high-priest should be perfect in all his members. After hav- ing thus mutilated him, he gave him back to the Parthians, i 1 ^$i REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. that they might carry him into the East, from whence it would not be possible for him to embroil affairs in Judea. He con- tinued a prisoner at Seleucia, in Babylonia, till the coming of Phraates to the crown, who caused his chains to be taken off, and gave him entire liberty to see and converse with the Jews o( that country, who were very numerous. They looked upon him as their king and high-priest, and raised him a re- venue sufficient to support his rank with cplendour. The love of his native country made him forget all those advan- tages. He returned the year following to Jerusalem, whither Herod had invited him to come, but put him to death some years afterwards. Herod at first took refuge in Egypt, from whence he went to Rome. Anthony was then in the high degree of power, which the triumvirate had given him. He took Herod under his protection, and even did more in his favour than he ex- pected ; for instead of what he proposed, which was at most to obtain the crown for Aristobulus, whose sister, Mariamne, he had lately married, with the view only of governing under him, as Antipater had done under Hyrcanus, Anthony caused the crown to be conferred u.pon himself, contrary to the usual maxim of the Romans in like cases ; for it was not their cus- tom to violate the rights of the royal houses which acknow- ledged them for protectors, and to give the crowns to strangers. Herod was declared king of Judea by the senate, and con- ducted by the consuls to the capitol, where he received the in- vestiture of the crown, with the ceremonies usual upon such occasions. Herod passed only seven days at Rome in nego- tiating this great affair, and returned speedily into Judea. He employed no more time than three months in his jour- neys by sea and land." Antigonus, however, by great exertions, defended his throne two years, and cherished the vain hope of receiving assistance from the Parthians, aUhough he had failed to fulfil his promises to them, and beheld them expelled from Syria by the Romans. About the time of Herod's return to Pales- tine, Antigonus was engaged in the siege of Massada, a strong fortress, which contained the family and treasures of Herod, who had intrusted its defence to his brother Joseph. After reducing Joppa, Herod marched to the aid of his friends, whom he had the happiness of relieving. He had now a con- siderable army, consisting of Jews and Romans, and conceived himself able to attempt the siege of Jerusalem. But his Ro- man soldiers were more disposed to enrich themselves by REIGN OF THE MACCAHEAN KINOS. »~95 plunder than to subdue his enemies ; and the Roman officers were bribed by Antigonus to supply him with troops ; besides, Gralilee was infested with bands of banditti, who desolated the country. He deemed it prudent to direct his chief efforts to destroy these marauders, probably in order to conciliate the Jewish people. While his army were thus employed, he went into the northern division of Syria, and joined Anthony, who had arrived there, and was besieging the chief city, Sa- marata, the present Semisat, situated on the Euphrates. His gallant services on this occasion were most acceptable to the Triumvir, who testified his regard for him by ordering Sosius, whom he appointed governor of Syria, to assist him in his contest for the throne of Judea. During his residence in Sy- ria, his own army had suffered a great defeat, and lost Joseph their captain. He, however, speedily revenged the death of his brother, for he defeated, with great slaughter, the army of Antigonus. That prince never recovered the loss which he sustained in this battle ; and, as soon as the army of his opponent had received a great reinforcement of thirty thou sand men, and six thousand horse, commanded by Sosius, hi- was shut up in Jerusalem. " While the works necessary lo the siege were carrying on, Herod made a tour to Samaria, and at length consummated his marriage with Mariamne They had been contracted four years to each other: but the unforeseen troubles into which he fell had prevented their consummating the marriage till now. She was the daughter of Alexander, the son of king Aristobulus, and Alexandra the daughter of Hyrcanus the second, and thereby grand-daughter to those two brothers. She was a princess of extraordinary beauty and virtue, and possessed, in an eminent degree, all the other qualities that adorn the sex. The attachment of the Jews lo the Asmonean family, made Herod imagine, that by espousing her he should find no difficulty in gaining their af- fection, which was one of his reasons for consummating his marriage at that time. On his return to Jerusalem, Sosius and he, having joined their forces, pressed the siege in concert with the utmost vigour, and with a very numerous army, which amounted to at least sixty thousand men. The place however held out against them many months with exceeding resolution ; and if the besieged had been as expert in the art of war and the defence of places, as they were brave and re- solute, it would not perhaps have been taken. But the Ro- mans, who were much better skilled in those things than them, carried the place at length, after a siege of something ( « 1 ^0 REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. more than six months. The Jews being driven from their posts, the enemy entered on all sides, and made themselves masters of the city. And to revenge the obstinate resistance they had made, and the pains they had suffered during so long and difRcult a siege, they filled all quarters of Jerusalem with blood and slaughter, plundered and destroyed all before them, though Herod did his utmost both to prevent the one and the other. Antigonus seeing all lost, came and threw himself at the feet of Sosius in the most submissive and most abject manner. He was put in chains, and sent to Anthony as soon as he arrived at Antioch. He designed at first to have reserved him for his triumph ; but Herod, who did not think himself safe as long as that branch of the royal family sur- vived, would not let him rest till he had obtained the death of that unfortunate prince, for which he even gave a large sum of money. He was proceeded against in form, condemned to die, and had the sentence executed upon him in the same manner as common criminals, with the rods and axes of the lictor, and was fastened to a stake, — a treatment with which the Romans had never used any crowned head before." Thus ended the reign of the Asmoneans, after a duration of an hundred and twenty-nine years, from the beginning of the government of Judas Maccabeus. T'hat chief had been honoured to open bright prospects to the Jews ; but neither they nor his descendants for a number of generations had dis- covered much wisdom to improve them. The majority of the nation departed from God ; and few continued to reverence his authority, or confide in his power and favour to protect them. True religion was scarcely visible ; and its form was only regarded as a sacrifice to expiate, or a veil to conceal principles allied to those of paganism, or pagan philosophy, and practices equally detestable as those which characterised the most intemperate and licentious idolaters. Their sun had been long obscured by thick clouds, and was about to leave them in the blackness of darkness, till the Sun of righteous- ness should arise to illuminate all nations. Judah, indeed, might be said to retain the sceptre, but henceforth it was ac- tually held by strangers to the race of Jacob ; an event as- suredly ominous of the approach of the long promised and fervently desired Messiah, who was destined to revolutionise the kingdom of Judah, and ascend the throne of his father David, in order to administer justice, truth, and mercy, with- out respect of persons, to all, whether Jews or Gentiles, who «: ^ * f' REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS. 37 truly worshipped God in spirit and in truth. Such was cer- tainly the import of the ancient prediction announced by- Jacob in his last days, — " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." VOL. n. ,i « a >\ \i A ■•1 'I •I .> ji CHAPTER IIL THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. OlUGDf OF ROME. CARTHAGE, ITS RIVAL FOR EMPIRE IN THE WEST. In our record of the events which more immediately af- fected the Eastern nations, we have seen the Romans assume the supremacy in almost all the important kingdoms and pro- vinces which constituted the Grecian empire. From the time of their entire conquest of Italy, they proceeded rapidly to make their power to be gradually and successively felt and acknow- ledged in Illyricum, GreSce, Egypt, Macedon, Asia Minor, Syria, comprising all the countries lying west of the Eu- phrates, and, finally, Phenicia and Judea. Their first appear- ance in these regions was peculiarly interesting, and may be said to have at once astonished and fascinated the inhabitants ; for they, with consummate wisdom or subtlety, sought and ac- quired the political ascendancy, as much, if not more, by po- licy rather than might. • Their ambassadors, captains, soldiers, and indeed all their political servants, proclaimed themselves the disinterested agents of humanity, voluntarily devoted and prepared to sacrifice all things to deliver the human race from tyranny, oppression, and slavery. And, what was a new thing in the ancient world, their actions did not generally belie their words. Compared with all the former conquerors of the ancient world, they were the liberators of the wretched nations. While they everywhere trampled on tyrants, they conferred on the people all the liberty which they valued, *eft them at least in nominal independence, and stationed among them a number of counsellors and soldiers, whom both parties regarded necessary guardians of the peace and wel- fare of the emancipated communities. That these guardians frequently enslaved the legitimate rulers, invaded the liberties of the people, preyed on the property of all ranks, and shed the blood of many, history amply proves. It is, however I 1 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 39 tfifdally certain, that this atrocious conduct was contrary to the will and instructions of the chief rulers and directors of the Roman government. To the utmost extent of their power and vigilance, they acted on their publicly avowed principle, to humble the proud, admit into favour the submissive, and protect and support the weak. Accordingly, they usually treated rather as allies than dependants, the nations that either voluntarily desired their protection, or readily acknowledged their superiority. To this may be traced the remarkable confidence in the senate of Rome, and esteem for them, which were cherished by not a few of the kings and people, whom they had assisted or conquered. One of the most striking testimonies of this confidence and esteem, and one which was altogether new in the history of man, was the custom of sove- reigns at their death, bequeathing, with the approbation of their subjects, their respective kingdoms to the Romans. Thus they were constituted heirs of the kingdoms of Pergamus, Bithynia, Cyrenaica, and Libya, Egypt, and Cyprus. " Gen- erally speaking," Rollin remarks, "of all foreign yokes, none ever was lighter than that of the Romans. Scarcely could its weight be perceived by those who bore it." The po- litical wisdom of Rome contributed not only to the extension, biU also to the consolidation and unity of its empire. Almost all the nations were impoverished and exhausted by foreign aggressions, or by weak, tyrannical, or brutal rulers, and in*- ternal strife and anarchy. They groaned under various and accumulated sufferins,rs, and more deeply sighed and longed for rest than even for liberty. This, they flattered themselves, would be obtained by throwing themselves into the arms of the Romans; nor, considering their previous circumstances,- did they experience disappointment. < This view of the Roman power may seem very different from the portrait drawn of it by the spirit of prophecy. But that the former perfectly accorded with the latter, every one will be convinced who will accompany us in the very super- ficial survey which our plan permits us to take, of the rise, progress, and establishment of the fourth empire. Daniel thus delineates it, as it had been represented to Nebuchadnezzar, m vision : " The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron : for- asmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided ; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch #^ t HI THE FOURTH^ OR ROMAN £MFm& as thou savvest the iron mixed with miry clav. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the king- dom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And vvhereaa thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men ; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." And again the prophet records the more brief description, of this enpire, as given him by the angel of the Most High : Thus he said, " The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces." In the system of divine predictions, a wild beast is the selected image of a great, idolatrous, and oppressive power. This emblem is applied to the Roman empire, but the beast, unlike those denoting the former prophetic empires, is nameless, notwithstanding that this empire was diverse from, or rather, copied from them. This evidently suggests, that, while the Roman conquerors would in general resemble those of Babylon, Persia, and Macedon, they would, at the same time, be characterised by features peculiar to themselves. And this w£is strictly true of them. In common with the for- mer empires, the Romans patronised idolatry, and uhimately established pure despotism. Its rulers, however, protected not only the conquered nations, in their laws, customs, man- ners, and different forms and kinds of religions, but also adopted their numerous and various gods, their best laws, their literature, science, and arts ; and communicated to them, in exchange, their most valued privileges and most approved laws. And thus they elevated the nations as much as pos- sible, to that state of civilization which they had themselves reached. In reference to this peculiarity of the Roman empire, and which may be deemed its greatest glory. Dr. G. Miller, in his Philosophy of Modern History, observes, that •' The Roman people seem to have been eminently qualified for the work of civilization. It was the well known practice of the Romans, to adopt from every nation, subdued in their long career of conquest, the arms, the tactics, the laws, and the philosophy, in which they perceived themselves excelled. But legisla- tion appears to have been their grand and peculiar object The formation of their legislative system appears to have en- gaged their attention from the very commencement of their government. In the days of their republic the study of the laws became the most effectual instrument of popular «unbi- # m- THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIHE; » tion ; and the imperial despotism, which chastised and con- trolled the factions of their degeneracy, has been rendered iK lustrious by the improvement and compilation of their ordin- ances. That despotism, indeed, which extinguished the civil /liberties of Rome, fuliilled the political destination of this ex- traordinary state. When Augustus was craftily destroying the remaining principles of Roman freedom, and training the people to habits of submission, the provinces looked forward with pleasure to the accomplishment of his designs, the impar- tial superintendence of a common master, being a desirable refuge from the depredations of republican governors. The period, accordingly, in which Roman legislation was most flourishing, was that which intervened between the age of Cicero and the reign of Alexander Severus ; and a series of five reigns occurred within this period, beginning with that if Nerva and ending with that of the latter Antoninus, the nistory of which has been emphatically named the history of humanity. Under this government the experience of the em- pire, which included the whole civilized world, was accumu- lated into one mass for the direction of mankind ; schools too were established for disseminating the knowledge of law throughout the Roman dominions ; particularly the Athenaeum founded at Rome by Adrian, and the great academy erected afterwards at Berytus in Phenicia, probably by Alexander Severus : and, finally, this various knowledge was reduced into a code, first by the direction of the emperor Theodosius, in the year 438, and afterwards more perfectly by the empe- ror Justinian, in various publications, the first of which was issued in the year 528, and the last in the year 566, the con- cluding year of his reign. Thus was fulfilled in a more per- fect sense, the eulogy, which the Roman poet could scarely have pronounced except in relation to the conquering ambi- tion of his countrymen ; — Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento Hac tibi erunt artes ; pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. — JBneidy lib. 6. 1. 852, &c Hence we may perceive the Divine propriety of that su- perintendence of Providence, by which Rome rose to the summit of its greatness before the promulgation of Chris- tianity ; for in no former age had the human mind been much improved, except by a few persons. The mighty rulers of Asia had treated the conquered nations as slaves, and governed them as they did the inferior animals. Their will wa» 4* «= i» THB FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. law, and they gave themselves no concern with the minds of the multitude, except to subject them to their power, and en- slave them by their superstitions. In these circumstances, they would have been ill-qualified to examine the claims of the mes- sengers of Heaven to their confidence, or to estimate the evi- dences adduced by them of the truth and importance of their message. In order to this, their minds would have, humanly speaking, required, as experience proves savages do, years of training, to discern the complete proof of the truth of the new religion. It is true that the principal facts of the gospel may be, and often are, understood and credited by children and the ru- est of mankind, and becom-j eflfectual in them for their peace, purity, and happiness. But the comprehension of the reasons which demonstrate its truth can only distinguish minds consi- derably cultivated by the intelligent exercise of the under- standing and judgment, and directed to the varied subjects of knowledge, which exclusively characterise civilized society. Those who know the gospel best have always been most solic- itous to exhibit it in the presence of the most enlightened of mankind ; for they know that though the ignorant may despise it, and the proud hate it, yet it commends itself to the consciences of all who are capable of exercising the senses to discern good and evil. They are, therefore, not ashamed, or rather, they boast of the gospel, in the presence of the most illustrious for wisdom or learning. The iron strength of Rome is conspicuous in the earliest period of its history. Neither famine, pestilence, storm, nor earthquake, or the power of the hunter, could subdue the in- herent young vigour of this beast of the forest. A few families of refugees or banditti settled on a spot in Italy, and main- tained their position in every variety of circumstance, and amidst every form of danger, till their strength enabled them to enter on aggressive wars, by which they attained the sov- ereignty of the mightiest empire of the remote ages. The Romans, relying on their tradition, derive their orgin from iEneas and other Trojans, who fled from their native country when Troy was destroyed by the Greeks, about fourteen hundred years before the Christian era. But it is more certain that they consisted of a horde of barbarians, who had united to seek a place where they might procure subsis- tence for themselves and their flocks, which, with their wea- pons of war, constituted their wealth. This they found on the south bank of the Tiber, at its junction with the Ania Having expelled the former inhabitants, they were naturally # THK FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 43 hated or dreaded by the adjacent population. Their number, at the founding of Rome, their capital, b. c. 748, was computed at 3000 men on foot, and 300 horsmen. These were divided into the classes of nobles or patricians, and plebeians ; patrons, and clients or dependents. The head of these in civil affairs and war had the title of king. His council, selected from the patricians, became the celebrated senate of Rome ; and the plebeians assembled to deliberate and vote on the affairs of the nation, were named the Comitium. Thus, while the Roman government was originally a monarchy in form, its institu- tions were republican. Latium, the country of the Romans, extended fifty miles along the coast from Ostia, the port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber, to Circeii ; and stretched into the interior about sixteen miles. This comparatively snuill region was divided into forty-seven independent states. Rome being one of these, of course possessed only a small district, perhaps not more than four miles in length. The site of the city occupied first one of the seven hills or mounts, which it afterwards covered. The soil was, compared to Italy in general, unproductive, and consequently urged the Romans to cherish the habits of mo- deration and industry which long prevailed among them. And their relative position stimulated them to bold and daring acts to defend themselves, and subdue their enemies and rivals for dominion. However ignorant and barbarous they niay have been in their first age, they early acquired considerable knowledge of the arts of government and war. Probably they owed this to their neighbours who were of Grecian des- cent. On their west was the state of Etruria, whose commu- nity showed their relation to Greece by their progress in science and the arts of refinement. Campania and Lucania only separated the Romans from Magna Grecia, which we have had occasion to notice as one of the first seats of Grecian philosophy. And Rome is known to have cultivated a close and unalterable alliance with the inhabitants of Marseilles and the neighbouring country near the mouth of the Rhone. These were Greeks who emigrated to Gaul more than five hundred years before Christ, and were celebrated for their commerce, academies, and elegant manners. The monarchy of Rome subsisted, it is said, 244 years, during which, the city was much enlarged and adorned ; the population augmented to 80,000 fit for war, besides many sent to form small colonies ; and the superiority of the state was acknowledged in all La- tium. Tarquin, the son of a rich merchant of Corinth, who 4H THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. had fled from the tyrant of his native city, chose Rome for his residence. He first was elevated to be tutor to the king's sons; and, finally, on the death of the king, he prevailed on the Romans to elect him for his successor. His reign seems to have been justly the most celebrated of all the kings. He was successful in war, and most assiduously advanced the arts of peace, for he strengthened and beautified the cities, pro- moted education, and rewarded and honoured the industrious. He was succeeded by Severus TuUius, who emulated his ex- ample. Tullius, in his old age was murdered by a grandson of Tarquin, who afterwards reigned under the name Tarquin II. His arrogance and cruehy provoked the Romans, and under the direction of Brutus, they deposed and established republicanism, the principal magistrates of which were named consuls. These were generally chosen from the patricians, by the centuries or the various classes of the community, and, with the senate, held the supreme power. But their coun- sels and plans were controlled by tribunes, who were chosen by the comitia, and appointed to officiate as the representatives of the people. The number of the former officers was limited to two; that of the latter varied from three to ten. The tri- bunes could propose no law, nor move any positive resolution ; but each by a negative veto could prevent the passing of any law or motion, and thus arrest all the proceedings of either the senate or comitia. This privilege of the tribune became an ever-flowing fountain of perplexities and calamities to the community, and was the more irresistable from the circum- stance that the person of the tribune was pronounced sacred, Whoever offered him violence or killed him, was, by the law accursed ; their effects were devoted to religion, and their lives might, with impunity, be taken by any one. The consuls and tribunes were elected every year. These, and the subordinate officers, were frequently unable to pre- serve the citizens from insurrection, or to prevail on them to defend their country against their enemies. In these seasons of alijrm, the entire government was intrusted to the most eminent individual, who, under the title of dictator, exercised, for six months, absolute and uncontrolled authority. The most esteemed and admired dictators usually resigned their high office within the period appointed to hold it, and, indeed, as soon as they had accomplished the great and immediate object for which they were chosen. During more than a century, the civil affairs of the Romans were wholly decided by the arbitrary judgment of the majority. They possessed ^ # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRB. 46 no code of laws to which they could appeal. This had occa- sioned many internal commotions, which all ranks were ear- nestly desirous to allay. The means, adopted to obtain this most desirableobject, although apparently dictated by wisdom, brought the state to the verge of destruction. They commis- sioned three of their most eminent senators to proceed to the Greek cities of Italy and Athens, to procure such laws as the experience of the Greeks had proved to be most equitable and productive of happiness to the community. On the return of these commissioners, seven senators were appointed to unite with them to digest the new laws, arrange them into a proper form, and to apply them for the good order of the state. In order to this, they were intrusted for one year with the whole power of government, and from their sentence there was no appeal to either the consuls, tribunes, or to the senate or co- mitia. '-This was almost as remarkable a revolution in the government of Home, as that from kings to consuls. Noth- ing could be more moderate than the beginning of this joint reign of the decemvirs, (as the commissioners were called.) They agreed, that only one at a time should have the fasces and the other consular ornaments, assemble the senate, and confirm decrees. To this honour they were to succeed by turns, each enjoying it one whole day, and then resigning it to another. The rest, who were not actually exercising their authority, affected no distinction but that of guards, their ha- bits differing very little from those of the other senators. They repaired every morning, each in his turn, to their tribunal in the forum ; and there distributed justice with so much impar- tiality, that the people, charmed with their conduct, seemed to have forgot their tribunes. They were assisted in the inter- pretation of the Greek transcripts by one Hermodorus, ban- ished from Ephesus, his native city, and then accidentally at Rome. When the work was completed, the decemvirs as- sembled the people, and harangued them to this effect: 'May the gods grant that what we now present to you, Romans, may be equally agreeable and advantageous to the republic, to you, and your remotest posterity ! Read the laws we have drawn up. We have used all the care and attention possible ; but, after all, a whole nation must see farther than any ten per- sons : examine our laws therefore in private, make them the subject of your conversation ; confer upon them, and consider what ought to be taken from them, and what may be added. Nothing that we have drawn up shall have the force of a law, till it is received with universal consent. Be you, Romans ra- I it THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. ther the authors than barely the approvers, of laws which are to establish order and regularity, and to be the foundation of the happiness both of the senate and people.* An address so modest and candid was heard with great applause. Immedi- ately the laws were cut in ten tables of qak, fixed up in the forum, and all who came to start any difficulties about them, well received, and readily heard. When all necessary cor- rections and amendments had been made, the ten tables were carried before the senate, where they met with no opposition ; so that a decree was passed for convening the centuries for their ratification. This assembly was soon after held, and the auspices being solemnly taken, the laws were first con- firmed by the unanimous voice of the whole Roman people, and then transcribed on pillars of brass, and ranged in order in the forum, as the foundation of all judicial determinations, with regard to public and private affairs. As many eminent men in the republic were of opinion, that several regulations, which would fill two other tables, were necessary to be added to the ten already established, the continuation of the decem- viral government for one year more was proposed in a gene- ral assembly of the people, and approved of by the senate and people with equal readiness, but for different reasons. The senators were glad to be uncontrolled by the tribunes, and the people extremely desirous to postpone the restoration of the consular dignity. Never was any office so much solicited by the gravest and wisest senators, as the decemvirate at this time. Those patricians who were formerly the declared enemies of the people, and who scorned to canvass for public offices, were now wholly taken up in flattering and courting the meanest of the citizens. Appius, though a decemvir, forget- ting his dignity, debased himself more than any of the candi- dates. He was perpetually seen in public places, with thovSe who had been formerly tribunes, and whom he knew to be agreeable to the people. By their means he recommended himself to the multitude, as the author of the happiness they enjoyed under the mild government of the decemvirs. But Appius himself u-hen asked by the patricians, whether he de- sired to be continued in his office for the next year, affected to dislike it, and was continually talking of the uneasiness that attends public employments. His colleagues saw into his designs, and wisely formed their judgment of him by his actions, and not his words. They observed, that he availed himself of his populnity in order to lessen the most venerable senators in the este«'m of the people ; that he excluded all men I 9 # THE FOURTH, OR ROBfAN EMPIRE. 47 of known merit from standing at the approaching election, by artfully defaming them among the multitude ; and that, con- trary to the pride of the Claudian family, he affected great af- fability and moderation. All these particulars in his conduct gave great uneasiness to his competitors, and rendered him auspicious to his colleagues. These latter therefore formed a iesign to disappoint him. When the time of the comitia for the creation of the new decemvirs, drew near, they appointed Appius to preside in them ; for the president in these assemblies proposed to the people the persons who stood for the office in (question ; and it had never yet been known, that any one had nominated himself But Appius, contrary to all the rules of decency, proposed himself for the first decemvir ; and the peo- ple readily gave him their suffrages. The other persons he named were all men at his devotion, and such as he favoured." Appius Claudius and his associates speedily resolved to ren- der their dignity perpetual ; and on the morning that they as- sumed the office, "the Romans were greatly surprised to see each decemvir appear in the forum early in the morning, with twelve lictors bearing axes among their fasces, like those that were anciently carried before the kings, and afterwards before the dictator, so that the forum was filled with a hun- dred and twenty lictors. This was a dreadful sight to Rome, the people prognosticating from thence, that this would be a year of tyranny and injustice. And they were soon made sensible, that their fears were not groundless. The decem- virs began to reign imperiously, and with a despotic power. They were always surrounded, not only by the numerous train of their lictors, but also by a crowd oi desperate men, loaded with debts, and guilty of the blackest crimes. Many young patricians, preferring licentiousness to liberty, made their court to them in the most abject manner, in order to screen themselves from justice, and escape, by their favour, the punishment due to their crimes. No man's life or pro- perty was any longer safe. The young patricians, supporters of the ten tyrants, were not ashamed, upon the most frivolous pretences, to take possession of their neighbour's estates; and when application was made to the decemvirs for redress, the complainants were treated with contempt, and their complaints rejected. An inconsiderate word, or an expression of concern at the remembrance of their ancient liberty, was a capital crime. Some of the chief citizens were scourged for com- plaining of the present administration ; others were banished, and somi even put to death, and their goods confiscated. f= 48 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. The new tyrants vented their fury chiefly upon the people, treating them more like slaves than Roman citizens. As lor the patricians, most of" them, dreading the tyranny of the de- cemvirs, gdve way to the storm, and retired into the country for the remaining part of the year. They hoped that the tem- pest would cease with the annual power of the decemvirs. '' At length the ides of May, the time fi.xed for holding the comitia, in order to elect new magistrates, drew near; but the decemvirs, instead of assembling the people, proposed two new tables of laws, the first relating to religion and the wor- ship of the gods, the second to marriages and the right of hus- bands. These made up the number of the Twelve Tables, which the Romans preserved ever after as a sacred depositum. Notwithstanding the hatred the public bore the decemvirs, they found little to object to in their laws ; the last only, for- bidding patricians and plebeians to intermarry, seemed an artful invention to keep the two parties always divided, that they might reign with more security. In the mean time the ides of May passed without a comitia for the election of new magistrates. The tyrants then showed themselves openly, and, in opposition to the senate and people, retained their power without any other title than possession and violence. All who gave them umbrage were proscribed ; and many worthy citizens, retiring from their country, took refuge among the Latins and Hernici. The people, groaning under so cruel a tyranny, applied to the senate as their only refuge. But the senators, instead of comforting them, took pleasure in seeing them oppressed, and bearing a great share in the mis- fortunes they had occasioned. When any plebeian com- plained to them, they maliciously referred him to Claudius, that idol whom they had set up and preferred to so many il- lustrious defenders of their country." The dreadful reign of the decemvirs was not long, and the restoration of the constitution was effected without much blood. But the times immediately following were so stormy that the elevation to the office of dictator of the first warriors and statesmen, was repeatedly found indispensable to avert the total ruin of the state. Among the most celebrated of the dictators was Camillus. He had been unjustly compelled by his fellow-citizens to seek an asylum among the Ardeates. These he persuaded to join him in rescuing Rome from the barbarous Gauls, who had set the capital on fire. Five times vvas Camillus called to rule as dictator ; and he had the feli- city to overcome all the most formidable enemies of his coun- THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 49 try, and to restore peace among his citizens. From the time that the city was rebuih, the Romans were engaged, for 1 40 years, in an uninterrupted series of wars in Italy, all whose states successively became, at different times, subject to them Some of these states were "admitted to the. freedom of Rome and partook in the prerogative of Roman citizens. A few- were, by their own choice, in preference to the character of Roman citizens, permitted to retain the independency of their towns, and were treated as allies. Others, under pretence of being admitted to the freedom of Rome, though without the right of suffrage, were deprived of their corporation establish- ments, and, with the title of citizens, treated as subjects. A few were governed in form by a military power, and by a praefect or magistrate annually sent from Rome. From this unequal treatment arose the variety of conditions by which the natives of Italy were distinguished, as colonies, municipal towns, allies, praefectures, or provincial governments." At a future period all the inhabitants of Italy were enrolled as citi- zens of Rome. The first people, beyond the bounds of Italy, with whom the Romans formed any close connexion, were the Cartha- ginians. They ratified a commercial alliance with them im- mediately after the deposition of Tarquin II. Of this treaty, the terms of which are still on record, it is unnecessary to say more, than that it strongly indicates the early existence of the jealousy which these states felt towards each other, and which afterwards burned with irrepressible fury. Rome, however, long maintained friendly intercourse with Carthage, and received aid from it in their bold and triumphant contest with Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose invasion of Italy has been adverted to in a former page. A few years later, and their mighty struggle for the seas, if not of the whole world, fixed on them the wondering eyes of almost all the intelligent and observing among the human race ; for such, doubtless, perceived that on the final resuh was suspended, for an un- known period, the destinies of the best known and most im- portant kingdoms and governments on the globe. If we consider the sovereignty of the fourth empire of pro- phecy, in its relation to humanity, civilization, and the true religion, the records of antiquity suggest ample evidence to at- test, that the Carthaginians were less fitted than the Romans to hold this great trust. To illustrate and confirm this opinion would require volumes ; but we can only appropriate to it one or two pages The little that we learn of the Carthaginian VOL. II. 5 m- I r #0 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. people is chiefly through the information given by their ene- mies, the Romans. Their testimony, however, carries with it scarcely any signs of a disposition to exaggerate the power, conceal the excellence, or magnify the vices or defects of their rivals. Carthage was situated, like Rome, on the Mediterranean, but on the opposite coast, in that province of Africa, anciently called Africa Proper, now Tunis. Though this position was favourable for commerce, yet the surrounding region afforded neither protection nor resources for a great population, equal to that of Italy, which was defended by its mountains, and re- markable for fertility, and its vicinity to the most productive island of Sicily, which was visible from the city of Rhegium, in Magna Grecia. The Carthaginians, according to tradition, derived their origin from the Tyrians or Phenicians. Their city is said to have been more than a hundred years older than Rome, and far surpassed that city in extent and wealth. Their original territory, for which they long paid tribute to the natives, was not large ; and they were compelled, from the first, to apply themselves to such arts as might enable them to procure subsistence from abroad. They were soon enriched by commerce, which, after the destruction of Tyre, was more extensive than that of any other people ; for " they then became the principal merchants and carriers to the nu- merous nations on the Mediterranean. Their ships covered the seas! By their naval power they made themselves the sovereigns of the ocean; and by their immense wealth they maintained large armies, which they employed to extend their dominion in Africa, and to subdue several provinces in Spain. Sardinia and the small islands in the Mediterranean were seized by them, and they acquired possessions in Sicily. Their government was republican, similar somewhat to that adopted by the Romans, and consisted of a senate and popular assembly, by whom were annually chosen two officers for the supreme direction of all the affairs of the state. Though this was calculated to cherish the love of liberty and glory, yet the Carthaginian ambition was almost universally limited to the acquisition of riches. The commercial, not the mili- tary spirit, animated all ranks. Rank was estimated by wealth. The army, except the officers, consisted of foreign- ers, hired to defend and exalt a country in which they had little or no interest, and which, mdeed, many of them hated. It must have been, therefore, always difficult to secure the services of such an army ; and, on one occasion, they had • # f 51 almost totally destroyed the state. The schemes and uses of the conquests of the Carthaginians were, of course, regulated by the nature of their ambition. They desired to multiply seats of commerce rather than to acquire vast territories. The dominion of the coasts satisfied them, unless the interior of a country contained mines of the richer metals, or promised an extension of trade. We have no reason to believe that they ever devised or attempted to ameliorate or improve the condi- tion of the conquered, not even when that might, by such po- licy, have contributed to their own power and wealth. To instruct or civilize man formed no part of their counsels, plans, or pursuits. Their views respecting their colonies and those nations whom they subdued, were exclusively confined to de- vising and using the most appropriate means of procuring from them an augmentation to their revenue or army. Learning, properly so called, was not unknown to the Car- thaginians. They were acquainted with the Greeks, and a considerable number valued and acquired Grecian science and literature. But the government, so far as history testifies, employed no means to cultivate the minds of the people ex- cept such as were indispensable to fit them for business. The system of education of the schools established in the state em- braced little more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Po lite learning, history, and philosophy, were contemned , laws were, indeed, enacted prohibiting a Carthaginian from learn- ing the language of Greece, lest he should be qualified to correspond by word or writing with the enemies of his coun- try. The religion of Carthage was that of their ancestors in Phenicia, and with superstitious obstinacy were its most de- basing, cruel, and sanguinary rites observed by the Cartha- ginians to the last hour of their national existence. These hints may suffice to show that they were neither qualified nor worthy to become the conquerors of the world ; and that, however great they were, the advancement of their empire would neither have tended to unite the nations, nor elevate the human mind to investigate truth, or estimate moral excel- lence. Their overthrow was therefore, doubtless, not less ad- vantageous to true religion, and the best interests of the hu- man race, than had been the expulsion of part of the same race from Canaan by Joshua. The fire of the Romans' ambition burned with intensity proportionable to the success of their arms. They despised for ages ease, wealth, and luxury ; renown alone had charms in their eyes. Their jmost eminent statesmen and militarv 9-. «= M 52 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. leaders were content to pass the time not required by the af- fairs of the nation, in cultivating with their own hands the small portions of the land which they received from their fa- thers, or from the state, in recompense for their noble exer- tions to maintain its peace or extend its dominion. The triumph of the republic in Italy demanded the most solicitous care of the senators, and the most arduous efforts of its citizens, to defend not only the real or supposed interests of the risino^ state, but also those of their numerous colonies, allies, and tri- butaries. This object rendered large armies necessary, and to support these the resources of Italy were found to be in- adequate. To procure foreign supplies became now a first object of policy, and nowhere could these be more easily ob- tained in abundance than in Sicily. Consequently, the Ro- mans felt it imperative to possess this island, or at least to es- tablish an alliance with its principal rulers. Similar reasons of state had long directed the views of the Carthaginians to the conquest of this island, from which they drew a great por- tion of the provisions required by their metropolis and army. Hence the political state of Sicily gave rise to the first great war between Carthage and Rome, which terminated only af- ter the lapse of twenty-three years. Sicily was chiefly occupied by colonies from Greece. The capital of these colonies was Syracuse, situated on the south- west coast. It was one of the finest and largest cities of an- cient times. The Carthaginians possessed several important posts in the island, and Lilyboeum, their chief city, stood on the western coast, nearly opposite Carthage. On the south- east extremity stood Messina, divided by a narrow or strait from Rhegium in Italy. A number of Italians from Cam- pania had been admitted into Messina by the prince of Syra- cuse. They had treacherously risen against the citizens, mur- dered every individual, and seized their habitations and pro- perty. About B. c. 264, the celebrated king of Syracuse, Hiero II. resolved to execute vengeance on these miscreants. He soon reduced them to such distress, that they were re- solved to surrender themselves to the first power that could af- ford them protection. " But, being divided in their choice, one party made an offer of their submission to the Carthaginians, and the other to the Romans. The latter scrupled, it is said, to protect a crime which they had recently punished in their own soldiers. A legion stationed in Rhegium had put to death the citizens whom they had been appointed to protect, and taken possession of the city. An army sent against them THE FOTTRTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 08 killed the greater numter, and carried the survivors m chains to Rome, where they were scourged and beheaded. While the Romans hesitated to oppose Hiero, the Carthaginians, less scrupulous, sent a number of soldiers, who entered Messina. This conduct of their rivals speedily led the Romans to act with decision. " The officer who had charge in the contiguous parts of Italy had orders to assemble all the shipping that could be found on the coast from Tarentum to Naples, to pass with his army into Sicily, and endeavour to dispossess the Carthaginians from the city of Messina. As soon as this of- ficer appeared in the road, with a force so much superior to that of his rivals, the party in the city that favoured the admis- sion of the Romans took arms, and forced the Carthaginians to evacuate the place." Thus what is called the first Punic war was commenced. " The first great object of each party was no more than to secure the possession of Messina, and to command the passage of the straits which separate Italy from Sicily ; but their views were gradually extended to objects of more importance, to the sovereignty of that island, and the dominion of the seas." This contest was likely to be extremely unequal, but in its progress was displayed the inconquerable valour of the Ro- mans, which drew on them the eyes of all the surounding na- tions, and has therefore strong claims to a more full descrip- tion than many of their future wars,'which more immediately hastened to elevate them to the sovereignty of the world. " On the one side appeared the resources of a great nation, collected from extensive dominions, a great naval force, stand- ing armies, and the experience of distant operations. On the other, the ferocity or valour of a small state, hitherto exerted only against their neighbours of Italy, who, though subdued, were averse to subjection, and in no condition to furnish the necessary supplies for a distant war ; without commerce or revenue, without any army but what was annually formed by detachments from the people, and without any officers besides the ordinary magistrates of the city ; in short, without any na- val force or experience of naval or distant operations. Not- withstanding these unpromising appearances on the side of the Romans, the commanding aspect of their first descent upon Sicily procured them not only the possession of Messina, but soon after determined Hiero, the king of Syracuse, hitherto in alliance with the Carthaginians, to espouse their cause, to sup- ply their army with provisions, and afterwards to join them with his own. Being thus reinforced by the natives of Sicily 6* 54 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. they were enabled to recall part of the force with which they b* ganthe war: continued, though at a less expense, to act on the offensive, and drove the Carthaginians from many of their im- portant stations in the island. While the arms of the Romans and of Hiero were victorious on shore, the Carthaginians continued to be masters of the sea, kept possession of all the harbours in Sicily, overawed the coasts, obstructed the mili- tary convoys from Italy, and alarmed that country itself with frequent descents. It was evident that, under these disadvan- tages, the Romans could neither make nor preserve any ma- ritime acquisition ; and it was necessary either to drop the con- test in yielding the sea, or to endeavour, on that element like- wise, to cope with their rival. Though not altogether, as historians represent them, unacquainted with shipping, they were certainly inferior to the Carthaginians in the art of nav- igation, and altogether unprovided with ships of force. For- tunately for them, neither the art of sailing, nor that of con- structing ships, was yet arrived at such a degree of perfection as not to be easily imitated by nations who had any experi- ence or practice of the sea. Vessels of the best construction that was then known were fit to be navigated only with oars, or in a fair wind and on a smooth sea. They might be built of green timber ; and, in case of a storm, could run ashore un- der any cover, or upon any beach that was clear of rocks. Such ships as these the Romans, without hesitation, under- took to provide. Having a Carthaginian galJey, accidentally stranded at Messina, for a model, it is said that, in sixty days from the time that the timber was cut down, they fitted out and manned for the sea one hundred galleys of five tier of oars, and, twenty of three tier. Vessels of the first of these rates carried three hundred rowers, and two hundred fight- ing men. The manner of applying their oars from so many tiers, and a much greater number which they sometimes em- ployed, has justly appeared a great difficulty to the mechanics and antiquarians of modern times, and is confessedly not well understood. The Romans, while their galleys were building, trained their rowers to the oar on benches that were erected on the beach, and placed in the form of those of the real gal- ley. Being sensible that the enemy must be still greatly su- perior in the management of their ships and in the quickness of their motions, they endeavoured to deprive them of this ad- vantage, by preparing to grapple, and to bind their vessels together. In this condition, the men might engage on equal terms, fight from their stages or decks as on solid ground, and THE FOURTH, OF ROMAN EMPIRE. ^5 the Roman buckler and sword have the game effect as on shore. With an armament so constructed, still inferior to the enemy, and even unfoiitunate in its first attempts, they learned, by perseverance, to vanquish the masters of the sea on their own element ; and not only protected the coasts of Italy, and supported their operations in Sicily, but, with a powerful fleet of three hundred and thirty sail, overcame at sea a superior number of the enemy, and carried the war to the gates of Carthage. On this occasion took place the famous adventure of Regulus ; who being successful in his first operations, gave the Romans some hopes of conquest in Africa ; but they were checked at once by the defeat of their army, and the captivity of their general. This .event removed the seat of the war again into Sicily ; and the Romans, still endeavouring to main- tain a naval force, suffered so many losses, and incurred so many disasters by storms, that they were, during a certain period of the war, disgusted with the service at sea, and seemed to drop all pretensions to power on this element. The experi- ence of a few years, however, while they endeavoured to con- tinue their operation by land, without any support from the sea, made them sensible of the necessity they were under ot restoring their shipping ; and they did so with a resolution and vigour which enabled them once more to prevail over the su- perior skill and experience of their enemy. In this ruinous contest, both parties made the utmost efliorts, and the most uninterrupted exertion of their forces. Taking the forces ol both sides, in one naval engagement, five hundred galleys of five tier of oars, with two hundred and fifty thousand men, and in another, seven hundred galleys, with three hundred and fifty thousand men, were brought into action ; and in the course of these struggles the Romans lost, either by tempests or by the hands of the enemy, seven hundred galleys ; their antagonists, about five hundred. In the resuh of these de- structive encounters, the Carthaginians, beginning to balance the inconveniences which attended the continuance of war against the concessions that were necessary to obtain peace, came to a resolution to accept of the following terms : That they should evacuate Sicily, and all the islands from thence to Africa : That they should not for the future make war on Hiero, king of Syracuse, nor on any of his allies : That they should release all Roman captives without any ransom : And within twenty years pay to the Romans a sum of three thou- sand Euboic talents. Thus the Romans, in the result of a war which was the first they undertook beyond the limits of I # # 66 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. Italy, entered on the p6ssession of all that the Carthagmians held in the islands for which they contended ; and, by a con- tinuation of the same policy which they had so successfully pursued in Italy, by applying to their new acquisitions, in stead of the alarming denomination of subject, the softer name of ally, they brought Hiero, who was sovereign of the greater part of Sicily, into a state of dependence on themselves." From the time that the Romans had humbled Carthage, they scarcely concealed their determination to give law to the world. They nevertheless sedulously laboured to disguise their boundless ambition of universal empire, by the assump- tion of the office of the disinterested friends of universal liber- ty ; and as such they showed themselves ready to listen to the complaints of the oppressed everywhere, and to depose and expel all who where reputed tyrannical and unjust rulers. With this noble attitude, their treatment of Sicily ill accorded ; for on the withdrawment of the troops of Carthage, the whole island, except the division which constituted the kingdom of Hiero, was declared by the senate and people of Rome to be a Roman province. The Sicilians were of course subjected to Roman laws, and governed by a Roman praetor, who was supreme ruler and judge, and by a quaestor, whose office empowered him to receive the revenues for the republic. " These revenues were either fixed or casual. The fixed were called tributes, and consisted of a certain sum of money which the province was every year to pay into the public treasury. The casual were the tenths of the product of the lands, and the duties upon merchandise exported and imported. Certain officers, called publicans, generally chosen out of the body of the Roman knights, were appointed to levy both these sorts of taxes ; and the latter sort were farmed by the publicans at a certain annual rent, which they constantly paid the republic at all events. However, these fixed revenues did not hinder the Romans from often demanding of the provin- ces extraordinary supplies of men, ships, and corn." Though Sicily was thus deprived of its laws, and by consequence of what the inhabitants would deem the best portion of their li- berty, they received, for a compensation, deliverance from suf- fering, occasioned by the wars which had been long carried on by the three races, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Italians, in their struggle for the supremacy. The two sovereigns, Hie- ro and the Roman republic, being cordially united, the Sici- lians happily enjoyed, for many years, uninterrupted peace and prosperity. The exaltation of the Romans, on account m # m- THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 57 of the success which, as they believed, their gods had given them as a reward of their determined valour, was tempered by severe sufferings, inflicted on them by the superintending Ruler of all. An extraordinary inundation of the Tiber overwhelmed the lower parts of the city, and a frightful fire consumed the upper parts. " Rome," Livy says, " lost more wealth in one day than she had procured by many victories." Adversity, in any form, had usually no other permanent effect on the ancient Romans, than to rouse and stimulate their en- ergies ; they were strangers to sorrow, despondency, or de- spair. They never renounced their lofty pretensions to brave every danger ; but, in seasons of great reverses, they had the prudence to proclaim themselves the most zealous friends of justice, good order, and peace ; and the deeds which they on these occasions performed, to impose on mankind, have been celebrated by their historians, as striking proofs that they ex- celled all other nations as much in generosity and magnani- mity, as in ambition, courage, intrepidity, and fortitude. It was perhaps from the conviction of their own critical situation, that they showed no inclination to profit by the apparently helpless state of Carthage after the peace. On the return of the army, the Carthaginian senate, having exhausted its treas- ure, most inconsiderately requested the soldiers to accept, for the benefit of the state, of somewhat less than was due them. This excited the indignation of the whole army, and they de- clared war against their masters. Happily the Carthaginian officers, whom the army dismissed, succeeded in training the citizens to arms, and were enabled, after a struggle of three years, to put down the insurrection and destroy the rebels. The latter sought in vain the support of the Romans ; they not only declined to oppose the Carthaginians, but afforded them every facility to procure arms and provisions during this singular momentous contest. This conduct was most probably dictated by their own condition. By the census we find that the number of the citizens had been, from war, the inundation and conflagration, or other causes, reduced in the course of five years, from 297,220 to 251,222, and the pecu- niary resources were more than proportionably diminished. To meet the debts of the state, the coin was raised six times above its real value. Relief was procured from fines or tribute im- posed on Carthage, and the spoils of war ; but all the resources which the state could command were required to secure the frontiers against the Gauls, and other restless and violent ene- mies. How slight claims the Romans had to the applause 58 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. of mankind for rrue magnanimity and love of justice in theii behaviour to Cartilage, they soon showed ; for the Carthagini- ans had no sooner conquered their mercenary army, than the Romans most unjustly demanded compensation for the losses suffered from the loss of a number of their ships, which had been captured while carrying supplies to the rebels. And the Carthaginians only escaped a new war with the Romans, at this time, by ceding to them Sardinia, and paying 1200 ta- lents. The Romans, in the year b. c. 223, presented a wonderful phenomenon in their history : Military operations were un- necessary — they enjoyed peace ; and after the lapse of 430 years, the temple of Janus was shut. This object was indeed transitory as a meteor in the skies ; but it forcibly expressed the warlike character of the nation, and their political vigour, which centuries of incessant combat only served to strengthen. How many Romans must have perished by the sword ! How many calamities must the community have endured ! What wretchedness must have been experienced by those with whom they contended ? Truly the habitations of those who know not God are full of horrid cruelty. «= CHAPTER IV. THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE, CONTINUED. CONTEST FOR EMPIRE IN THE WEST. HANNIBAL AND P. C. SCIPIO. The temple of Janus may have remained shut two or three years ; but being always open during war, its shrine was vis- ited B. c. 219, for in that year the war with lllyricum, which has been adverted to in a former page, was commenced, and before its termination the Gauls once more invaded Italy. Their army amounting to 50,000 foot, and 20,000 horsemen, were arrested in Etruria, in their march to attack Rome. The preparations to repel them were exceedingly great ; for the Romans are said to have raised about 700,000 foot, and 70,000 horse. These were divided into several armies, ap pointed to occupy different stations, so as to cover the whole country. The first that met the enemy were defeated with great slaughter ; but the Romans soon united their forces, overcame the Gauls, and pursued them across the Po, and conquered all the country now called Italy, quite to the Alps. While they were thus employed, they looked with suspi- cion on the proceedings of the Carthaginians, who reluctant- ly allowed themselves to be directed by the counsels of Ha- milcar, the avowed enemy of Rome, and one of the most ac complished generals. He had discovered his great talents in the Sicilian war, and still more by delivering his country from the power of its mercenary troops. Having restored peace to Carthage, he had led an army into Spain, and made important conquests ; but he was killed in battle. The com- mand of his troops was committed to Asdrubal, a general scarcely his inferior, and distinguished by integrity, strict ad- herence to treaties, and disposed to cultivate the friendship of the Romans. They immediately sent ambassadors to the se- nate of Carthage, and to Asdrubal, demanding that he should not make war on the Spaniards beyond the Iberus, the modem Ebro, and that Saguntum should be declared a free city. f 60 THE FOURTHj OR ROMAN EMPIRE. This great man was assassinated by a slave, who thus sought revenge for an injury, real or supposed, done to his master. The celebrated Hannibal, a son of Hamilcar, was now placed over the Carthaginian army in Spain. He had, when only a child, at the desire of his noble father, sworn before the al- tar of Jupiter eternal enmity to the Romans ; and his impla- cable resentment increased with his years. This eminent man's skill and enterprise in war have immortalised his name as the first of heroes, notwithstanding that he failed in the great object both of his ambition and life. The voice of the soldiers called him to the highest office in the army, and consequently in the state, in his twenty-fifth year ; the senate confirmed their choice, and the report of it exceedingly galled the Ro- mans : and the opposite views and feelings of all parties were shown to be just, by the wisdom of his future plans, the pru- dence, perseverance, and ardour by which he pursued them, and the vast results of their execution. Spain was a prize of no ordinary value. Its mountains were the richest in Europe, or western Asia, for they abounded in rich mines of gold, silver, and copper. The natives were numerous, and consisted of many races or tribes ; and though rude and ignorant, yet they were brave and enthusiastically attached to their country. They tatooed their bodies, and or- namented their long hair with the precious metals ; and of such materials, it is said, were their most common utensils and vessels formed. The females alone laboured ; the men were all warriors, and valued their arms and horses more than their lives. War generally prevailed among the tribes ; but love of country disposed some of them to unite to resist the encroachments of strangers. Several tribes in almost the centre of Spain assembled armed, to the amount of 100,000 men, to oppose the progress of Hannibal towards the Iberus. He totally overthrew and scattered them, and proceeded to invest the important city Saguntum. The brave citizens sus- tained a siege of eight months ; and when all hope of receiving ' .: "'"* ^rom Rome which they had implored failed, and their case became desperate, they -set their city on fire and perished with it. This infraction of the late treaty fired the indigna- tion of the Romans, and they sent their ambassadors to de- mand the senate of Carthage to deliver Hannibal into their hands, or prepare for war. The Carthaginians chose the latter altei native. In this manner originated the second dread- ful Punic war, which threatened the entire ruin of the Ro- »• THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. . 61 mans, and left Carthage incapable of recovering her place among the nations. Hannibal's great natural capacities were invigorated by learning and science. He spoke the Greek, and wrote some books in that language. He was excelled in learning by few great warriors, and perhaps equalled any of them in the knowledge of human nature and of the world. Though not ignorant of the science of morals, he generally regulated his actions by rules of expedience rather than by benevolence or justice. Taught from his earliest years to regard and treat the Romans as the enemies of his country, and to qualify himself, by every possible means, to revenge the injuries which it had sustained from that people, he seemed to deem no device unlawful, and no deed wrong, which tended to dis- honour or injure them.* To effect this, to him the most desir able of all objects, he had, it is said, for a long time, conceived that the most proper means was to invade Italy, and make it the principal seat of war. In reference to this plan, he had made himself acquainted with the regions separating Spain from Italy, and with the political relations and condition of their inhabitants ; and with the predominant dispositions and particular circumstances of the numerous small states subject or allied to Rome, in Italy. From all the information which he had been able to gather, he felt confident that he could not only penetrate Italy through the country of the Gauls, but that he would receive powerful support from them, and many of the races who were only subject to the Romans from inability to resist them. After the destruction of Saguntum, Hannibal retired to New Carthage, the modern Carthagena, the chjef city of the vast territories which Carthage had acquired in Spain. It was admirably situated, in relation to the conquered countries, and had one of the best harhoirs in Spain, and perhaps in the world. He now put forth nil his strength to prepare for war, which the senate of Carthage left him to conduct in the man- ner which he judged most eligible. Having committed the government of Spain to his brother Asdrubal, with a consi- derable fleet and land array, he led his army to Iberus, and thence to the Pyrenees. The opposition encountered from the natives, and the difficulties which now presented them- ajlves, depressed the spirits of many of the troops, so that, by the number of deserters, and those dismissed from the service, the anny now mustered only fifty thousand foot, nine thou- sand horse, and thirty-seven elephants. Ten thousand com VOL. u. 6 i « b2 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. *. ■ manded by Hanno, one of the brothers of Hannibal, were left on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, to observe the motions of the natives and keep them in awe, while the army pro- ceeded across these mountains. Hannibal's march through j Gaul, at some distance from the coast, appears to have been I comparatively easy, till he reached the Rhone, about four |i days march from where that great river falls into the Medi- I terranean. He seized many boats and canoes to convey the : army across the river. But it was only by the most skilful manceuvres that he succeeded, without sustaining much loss, i, from the rude and barbarous attack of the large army of I Gauls who had assembled to oppose him. He marched ■ along its western branch, which flowed from the north ; and ' then, turning east, he passed it, not far from its junction with ^ the Isere, and advanced to the Alps. Hitherto he had suf- \ fered little from the natives, and, in some instances, he had j? even procured from them important supplies for his troops. But after he ascended the lofty Alps, from dread of him as an enemy, or from the desire of plunder, " they occupied every post at which they could obstruct his march ; assailed him • from the heights, endeavoured to overwhelm his army in the , gorges of the mountains, or force them over precipices, which I frequently sunk perpendicular under the narrow paths by I wjhich they were to pass. Near to the summits of the ridge, I at which he arrived by a continual ascent of many days, he I "had his way to form on the sides of frozen mountains, and ' through masses of perennial ice, which, at the approach of f- winter, were now covered with recent snow. Many of his I men and horses, coming from a warm climate, perished by > the cold ; and* his army having struggled, during so long a time, with extremes to which it was little accustomed, was re- duced, from fifty thousand foot and nine thousand horse, the r numbers which remained to him in descending the Pyrenees, to twenty thousand foot and six thousand cavalry, a force, in all appearance, extremely disproportioned to the service for which they were destined." The rapidity of the movements of Hannibal, through ex- tensive and almost unknown territories, which were occupied by multitudes of inhabitants accustomed to incessant and bloody wars, and over mountains which no army had ever dared to pass, astonished the nations, and alarmed the Romans. From the great preparations which they had made to make the principal countries subject to Carthage, the theatre of war, it is plain that they had not anticipated the possibility of his I 4k i THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRB. 63 invasion of Italy by land. They had raised two large armies, and intrusted them to their consuls, Publius Cornelius Scipio, and Tiberius Sempronius Lon^us. The latter was ordered to Sicily, and, if expedient, to Africa ; the former embarked for Spain, and, touching on the coast of Gaul, received the unexpected information, that a Carthaginian army were on its march through Gaul to Italy. At Marseilles he ascer- tained the position of the enemy, and proceeded to the banks of the Rhone. He arrived at the place where Hannibal had passed it three days before; and, convinced that no advan- tage could be gained by attempting to pursue him, he sent his brother Cneius Scipio, with the larger division of the army, into Spain, and embarked the other division, and sailed for Etruria. On landing, he joined, and took c*ommand of the legions which had been appointed to restore the colonies of Cremona and Placentia. " With these forces he passed the Po, and was arrived on the Ticinus, when Hannibal came down into the plain country, at some distance below Turin, ^rhe Carthaginian general, at his arrival in those parts, had moved to his right ; and, to gratify his new allies the Insu- bres, inhabiting what is now the duchy of Milan, who were then at war with the Taurini or Piedmontese, he laid siege to the capital of that country, and in three days reduced it by force. From thence he continued his march on the left of Po ; and, as the armies advanced, both generals, as if by con- cert, approached with their cavalry, or light troops, mutually to observe each other. They met on the Ticinus with some degree of surprise on both sides, and were necessarily en- gaged in a conflict, which served as a trial of their respective forces, and in which the Italian cavalry were defeated by the Spanish and African horse. The Roman consul was wounded, and with much difficulty rescued from the enemy by his son Publius Cornelius." The consul, disabled by his wound, caused his army to repass the Po, and rest on its banks near Trebia. Here he was deserted by two, thousand horse- men who had been raised by the Gauls in alliance with Rome. These joined Hannibal. This event following the defeat of Scipio, excited fearful apprehensions in Rome. The citizens imagined that they beheld all Italy in a state of revoh, and ready, under Hannibal, to invest the city. They immediately summoned Sempronius to return, with his army, and join Sci- pio, in the defence of the state. Thus auspiciously for Hannibal commenced that fearful conflict which he mamtained in Italy during sixteen years. He m- 64 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. fought a number of great battles, and is said to have plun- dered four hundred towns, slain three hundred thousand, ana brought Rome to the very verge of utter destruction. Sem- [i pronius rashly attacked the forces of Hannibal, in opposition If to the judgment of Scipio. The Carthaginian army lost few : men by the sword, but many by the coldness of the climate to which they were unaccustomed, and only one of the elephants escaped. The greater number of the Romans perished, or ^ were taken captive. On this occasion, the iron mind of the f Romans was remarkably displayed. The senate and comi- f. tia resolved,. not only to provide troops to defend Italy, but i also as many as were judged necessary to secure their foreign f[ conquests in Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia. Scipio was ordered ,, to proceed to Spain, to perform the services for which he had j, been destined at the time of his election. |i The battle of Thrasymenus, so called from the lake of that *• name, in Etruria, was more disastrous than that of Trebia, and produced a more powerful impression on the Romans, I and their allies and subjects. Rome presented a scene of in- K describable distress. The senate met every day ; and saw [. no chance of preserving the peace, or re-animating the cour- 1- age of the people, but by appointing a dictator, their last re- ' fuge in every great emergency. &. Fabius Maxinrus was called to this high office. From an unavoidable informality in his election, it was conceived that he could not govern un- •■ der that title, and they therefore named him pro-dictator. ■ While the Romans deliberated, Hannibal had the pleasure of beholding the northern and western parts of Italy cast off i the yoke of Rome ; and he hasted to deliver the nations in the I, southern division. . ' T. Varro and L. iEmilius Paulus were chosen consuls, on - the pro-dictator resigning his office. The former being ad- I mired by the people, he was favoured with a large army, 5 amply supplied with every thing necessary for their comfort. Vain and haughty, he disregarded the counsels of his col- league, and indeed of his officers generally. The armies met at CannaB, situated on the Aufidus, now named Ofanto, the principal river of Apulia, near where that river falls into the sea. This place gave name to the most celebrated battle that Hannibal fought in Italy or elsewhere. The defeat of the Romans, whose number was almost double that of the Carthaginians, was complete ; and seemed to put the entire conquest and ruin of Rome in the power of the conqueror. " A general ferment arose throughout all Italy. Many can- # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRB; ' 66 tons of Grecian extraction, having been about sixty years sub- ject to Rome, now declared for Carthage. Others, feeling themselves released from the dominion of the Romans, but intending to recover their liberties, not merely to change their masters, now waited for an opportunity to stipulate the con- ditions on which they were to join the victor. Of this num- ber were the cities of Capua, Tarentum, Lochri, Metapontum, Crotona, and other towns in the south-east of the peninsula. In other cantons, the people having divided and opposed each other with great animosity, severally called to their assistance such of the parties at war as they judged were most likely to support them against their antagonists. Some of the Roman col- onies, even within the districts that were open to the enemy's incursions, still adhered to the metropolis ; but the possessions of the republic were greatly reduced, and scarcely equalled what the state had acquirecl before the expulsion of Pyrrhus from Italy, or even before the annexation of Campania, or the conquest of Samnium. The allegiance of her subjects and the faith of her allies in Sicily were greatly shaken, Hiero, the king of Syracuse, who had some time, under the notion of an alliance, cherished his dependance on Rome, being now greatly sunk in the decline of years, could no longer answer for the conduct of his own court, and died soon after this event." Hannibal, on declining to advance immediately on Rome, was told by one of his officers, that he knew how to conquer, but was not qualified to improve his victories, — an opinion en- tertained by many others. But this great man felt that suc- cess had weakened his force, and that he had not the means required for the capture of the city. Though his plans were approved by the senate and people of Carthage, yet they had never sent him any re-enforcements or supplies during the three years that he had been in Italy. The report of his splendid deeds now procured him the promise of assistance from Philip II. of Macedon ; but the Romans soon cofnpelled that prince to employ all his resources to defend his own do- minions, which, we have observed in a former chapter, he la- boured in vain to effect. And the extraordinary exertions of the Romans speedily arrested the triumphs of Hannibal, so ihAt he found himself from this time struggling against a power which he doubless foresaw would finally overcome him, unless the councils of his nation afforded him efficient oid. In the battle of Cannae, he had made many thousand 9f^)!«er8, whom he proposed to liberate on receiving a sum 6* # 66 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. of money. The Romans refused to redeem these unhappy men, under pretence that they had acted unworthy of the Ro- man name, but in reality, with a view to increase the embar- rassment of their g^reat enemy. Disappointed thus of an im- mediate supply of money, he sent his brother Mago to Car- thage with a report of his success, and a request of aid in troops and money. In the meantime, the presence, acts, and circumstances of Hannibal were not calculated to allay in the Romans the spi- rit of revenge, which they deemed both their glory and duty to cherish. He was avowedly the resolved and implacable enemy. of Rome. Every Roman he looked on with emotions similar to those felt by the hungry lion, tiger, or bear, on the appearance of its prey. History exhibits him surveying the field of the slain the morning after the great battle with inex- pressible satisfaction, when he discovered it covered with 45,000 Roman soldiers, among whom not a few were of the highest rank in the state and army. His soldiers spent a whole day in stripping the dead, and not less than three bush- els of the rings worn by Roman knights were sent to Car- thage. But Hannibal's sun had past its meridian, and its shadow every succeeding hour indicated the approach of night. His troops had no interest in the service, except what they might feel from admiration of his deeds, or gratitude for his favours. Those disappointed in the hopes which he en- couraged them to entertain, of an easy conquest of Rome, or disgusted with the service, clandestinely deserted, or went over to the enemy. And those whose demands he was able to satisfy by giving them opportunity and licence to riot in the spoils of the defeated, saw no necessity to prosecute the war, and preferred a life of ease and pleasure to fighting and death. Besides their number was diminished by every vic- tory, and their victorious general found himself unable to preserve his conquests, or to protect those Italians who de- clared rtiemselves his friends. Though, therefore, present sufferings overwhelmed the multitude of the Romans unac- customed to reflect, yet the observant and intelligent never lost the hope of rising above every reverse of fortune, and the proud patriots determined to perish rather than live to witness Rome a prey to her enemies. Several thousand of the sol diers who had escaped the sword of Hannibal, took refuge in Canusium, the modern Canosa, which an earthquake de stroyed in the end of the seventeenth century. A part of these, considering Rome lost, proposed to withdraw from Italy, and 67 join some of the allies of the Romans. They had previously to this proposal by Caesilius, placed themselves under the command of A. Claudius Pulcher, and Scipio, son of the gen- eral in Spain, whom he surpassed in fame. This youth of eighteen years, accompanied by a small band, went to Caesi- lius, and said, " I call Jupiter to witness, that I will never de- part my country, nor suffer any man to do it, and do you take this oath, or die." The party of Caesilius, terrified, swore, and submitted to be watched l)y a strong guard. The spirit of young Scipio was common to the principal citizens of Rome. While the paroxysm of anguish and despair filled the city with the cries of the thousands of women, who had lost their husbands, brothers, or sons, the gates were shut that no one might have opportunity to flee, and all messengers arriving were received in private, that no gloomy tidings might be publicly known. Tranquillity being partially re- stored, the senate and comitia assembled, and it was then man- ifest that Rome retained all her native vigour. The Ro- mans were invigorated by their losses, and re-animated by their sufferings. To obtain, as speedily as possible, large ar- mies,all ranks were called to fight, and the slaves were pur- chased from their masters, that they might serve in the army. Thus the Romans appeared to rise in the midst of their suf- ferings, and to gain strength from their losses. " They pre- pared to attack or to resist at once in all the different quarters to whif h the war was likely to extend, and took their meas- ures for the support of it in Spain, in Sardinia, and Sicily, «ns well as in Italy. They continued their fleets at sea ; not only observed and obstructed the communications of Carthage with the seats of war, but having intercepted part of the cor- respondence of Philip with Hannibal, they sent a powerful squadron to the coast of Epirus ; and, by an alliance with the states of Etolia, whom they persuaded to renew their late war with Philip, found that pimce sufficient employment on the frontiers of his own kingdom as effectually prevented his sending any supply to Hannibal, and, in the sequel reduced him to the humiliating necessity of making a separate peace." Hannibal's application to Carthage broug-ht him no relief. A strong party were opposed to him from envy, or disappro-, bation of his measures, and many of his friends supposed that since he triumphed, he would be able to procure resources and augment his glory, by the destruction of Rome without their assistance. After much bitter discussion in the sen^e. Mago procured a vote for a re-enforcement to his brother oi 68 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE, fou|r thousand horse, forty elephants, and a sum of money But this resolution appears to have languished in the execu- tion ; and the armament, when ready to sail, was suffered to be diverted from its purpose, and ordered to Spain instead of Italy. Thus left to his own exertions, how transcendent must have been the talents of Hannibal, to enable him to maintain an army, and of course, considerable influence in Italy, six- teen years, and to prevent the Romans from recovering by their utmost efforts, for at least thirteen years, the territories and powers of which he robbed them in his first three cam- paigns, by his wisdom, bravery, and' valour ! Nor did he resign to them Italy till his patriotism impelled him to return for the protection of his ungrateful country. It was, indeed, not in Italy, but in Spain and Africa, that the Romans con- quered Hannibal. Neglected or undermined by the senate, the invader of Italy looked for assistance to the Carthaginian possessions in Spain, which he might claim as his own ; for they had been chiefly acquired by his father or hin.self, and had been com- mitted by him to the care and vigilance and prowess of his brothers Asdrubal, Mago, Hanno, and Asdrubal son of Gisgo. Hence the distruction of the power of the Carthaginians in Spain, and their expulsion from that country, became a first object to the Romans. They accordingly called the brothers, Cneius and Publius Scipio to command the army in Spain, where they were welcomed by the natives. In two years, they restored the influence of the Roman party, who had been almost suppressed by Hannibal, after his destruction of Sa- guntum. But these able generals were betrayed by their al- lies, and perisheds Few, or none of the Roman leaders were desirous to succeed them in the dangerous service, which promised little glory or weahh. The young'hero Scipio, son of the elder Scipio, solicited the honour, which others de- spised. That he might be raised to the office of commander at the early age of twenty-four years, the senate and comitia dispensed with the forms of law. He departed for Spain with thirty armed vessels and ten thousand men. Having joined the remains of their vanquished countrymen near the Iberus, he fixed the troops for winter in Tarraco the modern Tarragona, situated on the coast north-east of the river. On learning that the principal stores of the enemy were in New Carthage, distant about three hundred miles from Tar- raco, he detemined to open the campaign by attempting to sur{)rise it. In this enterprise he was the more easily success- m- THE FOURTH, OR ROfSlAN ^^Kpi£ M ful, from ihe Carthaginians having no apprehension of danger. But he failed in his still more important efforts to prevent Asdrubal from leaving Spain with troops raised to support his brother in Italy. On ascertaining the departure of As- drubal, he instantly sent information to Rome of the danger impending from the passage through the Alps of a second Carthaginian army. Asdrubal followed the course of his broth- er, and, by the friendly conduct of the natives, he reached Italy sooner, and in more favourable circumstances than his brother had done. But, before he could from a junction with the army of his country, he was attacked by a powerful army, commanded by the two consuls, and totally defeated, on the banks of the Metaurus, or Metro, a small river which falls into the Adriatic, near Pisaurum, the present Pesaro. Asdru- bal fell in^ilhe battle, and fifty thousand were either killed or made captives. This calamitous event was rendered peculi- arly distressing to Hannibal, when he came to know tnat he. could entertain no sanguine hope of future assistance from * Spain, in which Scipio was everywhere victorious. This ce- leorated general, after five years service in Spain, returned to Rome, with much treasure, many captives, and with the glad news that the Romans had no enemies to dread in that country, for, by his valour, he had subdued the Carthagini- ans, and, by his clemency, he had conciliated the natives Having been exalted to the high office of consul, he now pro- posed to invade Africa, and carry the war into the heart of the enemy's country. After many disputes in the senate on the propriety of this proposal, it was decreed, that while the other consul should remain to oppose Hannibal, Scipio should have for his province Sicily, " dispose of the forces that were still there, receive the voluntary supplies of men and of money, which he himself might be able to procure ; and if he found, upon mature deliberation, a proper opportunity, that he might make a descent upon Africa. Agreeably to this resolution, he set out for the province assigned him, having a consider- able fleet equipped by private contribution, and a body of seven thousand volunteers, who embarked in high expecta- tion of the service in which he proposed to employ them" in his province. While thus employed, he opened up a corres- pondence with Syphax, one of the kings of Numidia, who was disaffected to Carthage. He even visited this prince, and obtained his promise to support the Romans, as soon as they invaded the territories of Carthage, with an adequate force. # 70 THE FOURTH, OR ROBfAN EMPIRE. The Carthaginians had hitherto regarded the war with comparatively little concern, but now became fully awake te their danger. Commercial pursuits were neglected, and the community resolved to defend their country. No means, however, had been employed to strengthen it against the in- vader ; and Laelius, whom Scipio sent to secure a proper sta- tion for the Roman forces, seems to have met no resistance in conducting a fleet, with a considerable number of soldiers, into the harbour of Hippo, a city built under the Fair Pro- montory, about fifty miles south-west of Carthage. Utica, deemed a more eligible position for the troops, was seated about half way between Hippo and Carthage. Lselius reached 'it ; but soon found his army in great danger ; for the surrounding country was deserted and desolate, affording no means of subsistence, and an army of thirty thousand Cartha- ginians, commanded by Asdrubal, son of Gisgo, threatened to approach him, as soon as they were joined by fifty thou- sand under Syphax. Woman is powerful in all nations, and had considerable influence in the fate of Carthage on this occasion. Sophonis- ba, daughter of Asdrubal, the chief man in Carthage, dis- tinguished by her beauty, and still more by a proud aspiring spirit, had pledged her affections to Massinissa, a prince of Numidia, during the time that he had resided for his educa- tion in the city. He was the enemy of Syphax, who had, on Asdrubal promising to give him his daughter, joined Car- thage ; and Massinissa, in revenge, offered his services to Sci- pio ; and, by the forces accompanying him, greatly augmented the power of the Romans. Scipio directed his fleet and nu- merous army, loaded with provision, to sail for Utica, and on approaching the coast took possession of a peninsula in the vicinity. The soldiers of Asdrubal and Syphax were in the vicinity, lodged in huts, covered with brushwood and palm- leaves. The Romans were not strong enough to attack them openly, and waited for reinforcements from Rome. In the meantime, Scipio resolved to imitate the infidelity which char- acterised the Carthaginians, and induce them to believe them- selves secure in their camps, which they were indisposed to leave till the winter had passed. Designing to set their camps on fire in the darkness of night, and to attack them in the confusion which would follow, he sent messengers with {>roposals of peace, but with instructions to examine accurate- y the ground and the state of the army. The apparent dis- tress of his situation justified the confidence which Asdruba' i # # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 71 placed in Lis expressed desire of peace. Having obtained the requisite information, Scipio, however, regarded not the negotiation, and, proceeding with his army, he set Asdrubal's camp on fire, in several places. The soldiers, supposing the fire to be accidental, unarmed, ran every where to extinguish it Thus unprepared, the Romans fell on them, and dis- persed them with great slaughter. Those who escaped, aa well as the army of Syphax, were soon after defeated, and the kingdom of Syphax seized by Massinissa. These misfortunes were ascribed by the citizens of Car- thage to Asdrubal, and to escape their vengeance he retired from the service with about eight thousand men. All hope for Carthage now depended on the presence of Hannibal. Expresses were instantly sent him and his brother Mago, to return with all their forces to defend their country. What- ever were his feelings on leaving Italy, he hasted to obey the summons. Indeed he appears to have expected it, for he had ships prepared to receive his troops. His arrival in Africa revived the hopes of his countrymen ; but he knew their weak ness, that they had no courage and fortitude to surmount great difficulties, or patiently endure severe privations and distress. When, therefore, he observed that existing circum- stances were such as were sufficient to dispose the Romans to peace, he sought an interview with their general. They were at this time stationed far into the country, having retired on the approach of Hannibal, and were surrounded with ene- mies, and could not expect to procure, without great risk, ne- cessary supplies. The Romans, however, were accustomed to suffer, and had recently learned that Carthaginian faith was deception. The senate had entered into a treaty of peace previously to the return of Hannibal, On his appearance the people were elated, and, in utter violation of their engage- ments, seized all the Roman vessels that entered the bay, and insulted the messengers sent to complain of this outrage. It is not therefore surprising, that while Scipio courteously met Hannibal, he insisted on conditions of peace too mortifying to meet the views and expectations of the lofty-minded Cartha- ginian. They separated, not to meet again till the one or the other was the conqueror. The armies were encamped near Zama, about seventy-five miles from Carthage. This place gave name to the tremendous contest, which terminated the second Punic war, b. c. 202, after a duration of seventeen J rears ; for Hannibal became convinced that Carthage was no onger able to contend with her powerful rival. On retreat- m- » 72 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN BMPmE. ing to the cky, in the meetingr of senate ha gave his advice to accept whatever terms were proposed by Scipio, and these were exceedingly humbling; for he demanded that, while Carthage should retain in Africa all her former possessions, and continue to be governed by her own laws, she should re- store all the ships or property of the Romans seized in violation of the late truce — deliver all captives, deserters, or fugitive slaves — surrender her whole fleet, except ten galleys — deliver all the elephants in the stalls, and cease from training any more of these animals — ^make no war on any nation without the consent of the Romans — indemnify Massiaissa for all his losses sustained in the war — pay Rome ten thousand talents, or about two millions sterling, at the rate of two hundred ta- lents every fifty years — give such hostages as Scipio should select — and pay and support the Roman forces in Africa till the treaty should be ratified. On the ratification of the treaty being read in the senate, many of the members were in tears ; but Hannibal was observed to smile. Being questioned on this insult of public distress, he said " That a smile of scorn for those who felt not the loss of their country until it aflfected their private concerns, was an expression of sorrow for Car- thage." m- CHAPTER V. THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE, CONTINUED. CARTHAGE REDUCED. SciPio, honoured for his victories in Africa with the name Africanus, had reduced Carthage to a state of apparent subjec- tion to the dictation of Rome, — an event which permitted the stream of Roman ambition almost suddenly to appear a mighty river, ready to inundate the globe. The fifty succeed- ing years beheld the Romans the chief conquering power in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Boundless dominions opened to their insatiable ambition. Little existed in the state of the known world, at least in their eyes, to repress their desires arid expectations of universal empire, except the internal commo- tions of the state, and especially of Rome, and the unexpected resuscitation of Carthage. The last was imagined incom- patible with the stability of Roman greatness, and the first utterly subversive of the Roman power. While the Romans were seen everywhere engaged in war, the Carthaginians traversed every sea, pursuing with unwea- ried activity the varied objects of a most lucrative commerce. The attainment of immense wealth, and the indulgences of luxurious pleasures, are riot adapted to reconcile the human mind to humiliating or insulting treatment, especially from those inferior in power as well as riches. Could the Romans demand strict adherence to the letter of a treaty, which re- quired the Carthaginians to submit, without retaliation, to the most unjust and dishonourable proceedings of the adjacent poor, rude, and barbarous states ? This was perhaps con- ceived impossible by the chief men of Carthage. If so, they had not carefully studied the manifest policy, or the implacable and revengeful character of the Roman people. But the rulers of Carthage had no alternative when their rights were infringed by their neighbours, but to appeal to Roman justice and humbly implore liberty to defend themselves. Can they VOL. n. 7 74 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EHFIRE. be condemned for acting in violation of a treaty, when their appeal to justice was contemned ? This was the crime which the Romans pretended sufficient to justify them in commencing the third Punic war, and in utterly destroying the metropolis of their rival. Never have a great people displayed more flagrant injustice, or practised more barbarous cruelty. On the restoration of peace to Carthage, Hannibal zeal- ously employed his great and varied talents to advance the interests and restore the glory of his country. His citizens soon acknowledged him to be not less skilful in politics than accomplished in the art of war. He.was exalted to the princi- ' pal place in the state, and distinguished himself as the able corrector of abuses, and the patron of every measure calculated to promote the commerce of the country, and the comfort of the community. But he had to contend against a powerful party, the hereditary enemies of his family, who envied his greatness, and suffered from the reformations which he effected, for they could no longer enrich themselves at the expense of the state. The Romans observed, with not more agreeable feelings, his power, and ascribed to him the correspondence of Carthage with Antiochus the Great, which they had detected about a year after the conclusion of the late war. To ascertain the real designs of Carthage, messengers were sent under the pretence of settling some differences between that state and Massinissa. These messengers were authorised to demand, if they deemed it expedient, that Hannibal should be delivered yp to the Romans, who accused him of having formed a conspiracy against the peace of both republics. This great man was fully aware of the views and intentions of the Romans, and of the inability of his friends to prevent his rivals in the senate from betraying him into their power. He therefore resolved to flee from the storm. On the day that the Roman ambassadors arrived, he discharged, with no appearance of embarrassment, all the functions of his high office; but in the night he embarked, and sailed for Asia-Minor, where he hoped to retaliate on his powerful enemies. Il The deceit, injustice, and malignant designs of the Romans were soon discovered by the total disregard which their ambassadors discovered for the peace and prosperity of Carthage, which they pretended to have been sent to establish and secure. Massinissa had seized the richest province of the Carthaginian state. He had no claim on it, except that it had been violently wrested by his father from Carthage, who seems to have assigned it to Syphax, by whom it had beeu 1 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 75 restored to Carthage. His conduct was allowed by the Ro- mans to be unjust, but they secretly approved of it ; and lis- tened with indifference to the complaints and representations of the Carthaginians. Such treatment was intolerable to the most wealthy people on the face of the earth. Nevertheless, they endured it for one generation; but, at last, unhappily they attempted to acquire by their arms what their frequent appli- cations to Rome could not procure. They led an army against Massinissa, who in his ninetieth year, placed himself at the head of his troops, and obtained a signal victory. This was the ostensible cause of the third Punic war, which com- menced about B. c. 149, and fully exhibited "the great iron teeth of the" nameless beast, destined to devour, "break in pieces, and stamp the residue of" the three former wild beasts, which preyed over all the earth. Had Massinissa been defeated, doubtless, Rome would have hastened to assist him, ahhough it is probable, that they were pleased to see both parties prosecute plans which destroyed their respective energies and diminished their powers of de- fence or resistance. It was the policy of Rome not to permit the rise of any powerful kingdom, in any country which they looked on as their own. And, however loudly they pro- claimed that sacred respect for the rights of nations directed their counsels and regulated their measures, certain it is, that in their deliberations on their differences with other kingdoms, the object which they sought to determine was, almost uni- versally, not the right, but the expediency of declaring war against them. This was especially the case when the senate assembled to decide what was to be done in relation to the Car- thaginians in consequence of what they called the daring vi- olation of the treaty of peace. No senators questioned the right of the Romans instantly to proclaim war against that pre- sumptuous and haughty people ; but all agreed that, previous- ly to coming to a decision, deputies ought to be sent to Africa to procure information by which they might be able to form a sound judgment on the subject. The report of these depu- ties, on their return to Rome, being laid before the senate, an important discussion ensued. One of the most enlightened senators, Scipio Nasica, strongly insisted that it was the in- terest of Rome to maintain peace with Carthage, and not to seek its ruin. That state, he said, had no forces sufficient to alarm the Romans ; and even were they greater than they were known to be, they were " no more than were required to call forth into action or keep alive the virtues of a people #= t6 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN tMPtRE. who, for want of proper exertion, were already begun to de- cline in strength, vigilance, discipline, and valour." Cato, who had, as one of the deputies, visited Carthage, declared that he was astonished at the greatness, wealth, and populous- ness of that republic, and not less at the amazing fertility of its territories; and, presenting a parcel of figs, he exclaimed, " These are the produce of a land that is but three days sail from Rome. Judge what Italy may have to fear from a coun- try whose produce is so much superior to its own ! That country is now in arms ; the sword is drawn against Massinis- sa ; but, when thrust in his side, will penetrate to you. Your boasted victories have not subdued the Carthaginians, but given them experience, taught them caution, and instructed them how to disguise, under the semblance of war, a war which you will find marshalled against you in their docks and in their arsenals." He concluded his ardent address with the memorable and often repeated sentence : Delenda est Car- thago, " Carthage must be destroyed." The opinion, some- what modified, of the stern patriot, the unchanging enemy of eloquent literature, refined society, luxury, and intemperance, prevailed ; for it accorded with the ambitious, proud, and vengeful spirit of the great majority of his hearers. And thus he hastened, as we shall see, and as Scipio Nasica fore- saw and predicted, that very state of society of which he ab- horred the very idea, laboured to withstand, and would have sacrificed his life to avert. The senate, assuming an appear- ance of much moderation, resolved to destroy the city of Car- thage, but not till they had removed its inhabitants to a new city, to be built ten miles from the sea. It was agreed that this resolution should be kept a secret until effectual means were prepared for its execution. That the wretched people, whose destruction they had de- creed, might not, if possible, penetrate their dark counsels, without any declaration of war, they instructed the consuls to convey their forces to Sicily. And, to attain the same fatal object, these leaders proceeded to act with consummate du- plicity. But the arrival of the troops in Sicily, considering its position in relation to Africa, clearly indicated that the Ro- mans had no good intentions respecting Carthage. The Car- thaginians were haughty and cruel in prosperity ; their very religion cherished the malignant passions ; and they were not accustomed to compassionte the weak or to regard the cries of the wretched. And we may therefore conclude, that they were not only destitute of benevolence, but also of respect for 1 I THE FOURTH, OF ROMAN EMPIRE. 77 the approbation or censure of mankind. Can it then be suj- prising that in adversity they were pusillanimous or reckless. Few among them appear to have valued patriotism or nation- al honour. The inhabitants were not united by any one great object of common interest. Hencej, the people of Utica no sooner heard that the Roman army had passed to Sicily than they sent a deputation to invite the consuls to take possession of their harbour and city. The senate and popular assembly of Carthage were now distracted by opposite counsels; npne had courage or fortitude to suggest the propriety of sacrificing every consideration to maintam the honour of their country. To propitiate the Romans they banished Asdrubal because he was the chief advocate of the war with Massinissa. Twen- ty thousand soldiers are said to have withdrawn with him from the city. Ambassadors were sent to Rome, empowered to express regret for offensive measures of their senate and people, and to implore forgiveness. Before listening to any proposition from Carthage, the Romans demanded for a pledge of her fidelity and desire of peace, three hundred chil- dren of the chief families. Compliance with this barbarous request brought no hope to the Carthaginians, for the Roman fleet speedily entered Utica, and the commanders of the army answered the deputies who arrived there from Carthage, that they could only grant that state protection, on condition of the docks being destroyed and the arsenals emptied. Even this demand was not resisted by the mean-minded rulers and das- tardly race of Carthnge. Trusting to the word and honour of the Romans, whose imitation of their own disregard for truth and honour had already repeatedly ensnared and de- graded them, they surrendered all the articles employed in war; among which were two thousand suits of armour, a like number of catapultte, or engines for throwing missiles, an im- mense store of arrows, darts, u nd other warlike missiles. The Romans no longer judged it necessary to dissimulate ; their victims appeared resolutely helpless. They were insultingly e.xhorted to bear with equanimity inevitable evils, and instant- ly leave their city, and retire and build a new one, in any spot which they chose, ten miles from the sea. The depu- ties of Carthage were overwhelmed ; and having in vain pros- trated themselves before the Roman officers, and appealed to their pledged faith and Roman reputation for generosity, hon- our, and humanity, they finished their mission, in the lan- guage of despair. " We go then," they said, " to certain death which we have merited by having persuaded our fellow-citi 7* I -% 78 • THE FOITRTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. zens to resign themselves into the hands of the Romans But if you mean to have your commands obeyed, you must be ready to enforce them ; and by this means you may save an unfortunate people from exposing themselves, by any act of despair, to worse sufferings than they have yet endured." The report of the deputies was followed by universal grief, anguish, and rage. The citizens burst into the senate, and put to death every member, who had, with even their own consfent, submitted to the degrading impositions of the Ro- mans. Anarchy and tumult reigned ; a few only were capa- ble of self-control and reflection. These had the precaution to shut the gates, to stretch the chain which protected the en- trance of the harbour, and to make a collection of stones on the battlements, these being the only weapons they had left to repel the first attacks of the Romans. The remnant of the senate too, without reflecting on the desperate state of their af- fairs, resolved on war. Despair and frenzy succeeded in every breast to dejection and meanness. Assemblies were called to reverse the sentence of banishment lately pronounced against Asdrubal, and against the troops under his command. These exiles were entreated to hasten their return for the de- fence of a city bereft of arms, ships, military and naval stores. The people, in the mean time, with an ardour, which reason and the hopes of success during the prosperity of the republic could not have inspired, endeavoured to replace the arms and the stores which they had so shamefully surrendered. They demolished their houses to supply the docks with timber. They opened the temples and other public buildings, to ac- commodate the workmen ; and, without distinction of sex, condition, or age, became labourers in the public works, col- lected materials, furnished provisions, or bore a part in any labour that was thought necessary to put the city in a state of defence. They supplied the founders and the armourers with the brass and iron of their domestic utensils; or, where these metals were deficient, brought what they could furnish of silver and gold. They joined their hair with the other ma- terials which were used in the roperies, to be spun into cord- age for the shipping, and into braces for their engines of war. The Roman consuls, apprised of what was in agita- tion, willing to await the return of reason, and to let these first ebullitions of frenzy subside, for some days made no attempts on the city. But, hearing of the approach of Asdrubal, they thought it necessary to endeavour, before his arrival, to pos- sess themselves of the gates. Having in vain attempted to THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 7^ scale the walls, they were obliged to undergo the labours of a regular siege; and, though they made a breach, were re- pulsed in attempting to force the city by storm. Asdrubal nobly sustained the cause of his country several years. During two of these, the Romans, by their utmost ef- forts, approached not one step nearer their object ; and the Carthaginians, aUhough apparently robbed of all their re- sources, by having merely displayed a proper " spirit, were reinstated in their rank among the nations, and had negotia- tions with the neighbouring powers of Mauritania and Nu- midia, whose aid they solicited with alarming reflections on the boundless ambition, and invidious policy of the Romans. They even conveyed assurances of support to the Achaeans, to the pretended Philip, an impostor, who, about this time, laid claim to the throne of Macedonia ; and they encouraged with hopes of assistance the subjects of that kmgdom, who were at this time in arms to recover the independence of their monarchy. The Roman people were never much depressed by disap- pointments. Persuaded that they had hitherto failed at Car- thage from the successive commanders appointed over the troops having proved themselves unqualified for the service, thev sent thither Scipio, by birth the son of iEmilius Paullus, and by adoption the grandson of Scipio Africanus. He was ten years under the legal age for a general. But having showed by his deeds that he was eminently endowed with the qualities requisite for the office, the forms of law were dis- pensed with, as they had been in the case of the celebrated man to whom he owed his name ; and in two years he justi- fied the judgment of his fellow citizens. After surmounting every difficulty he obtained an entrance into the city. " The inhabitants, during six days, disputed every house and every passage, and successively set fire to the buildings whenever they were obliged to abandon them. Above fifty thousand persons of difl[erent sexes, who had taken refuge in the citadel, at last accepted of quarter, and were led captive from thence in two separate divisions, one of twenty-five thousand women, and another of thirty thousand men. Nine hundred deser- ters, who had left the Roman army during the siege, having been refused the quarter which was granted to the others, took post in a temple which stood on an eminence, with a re- solution to die with swords in their hands, and with the great- est effiision of blood to their enemies. To these Asdrubal, followed by his wife and his children, joined himself; but not r 89 'mR^ FQUHTH, OR ROMAN EMPIB^ having the courage to persist in the same purpose with these deserters, he left the temple, and accepted of quarter." His magnanimous wife disdained to accompany him, preferring to perish with her country. Richly dressed, as if the day oi her death was a day of triumph, she presented herself to view, and within the hearing of the Roman general and her husband, exclaimed, "Base coward, the mean things which thou hast done to save thy life shall not avail thee ; thou shall die in this instant, at least in thy two children." Then stabbing them with adagger, while they struggled in the agonies of death, she threw them from the summit of the temple, and leaped after them into the flames of the fire kindled by the deserters, who chose also thus to die rather than to fall into the hands of their indignant and sanguinary countrymen. The city continued burning seventeen days, and was wholly given up for a prey to the conquering army, the general reserving nothing for himself or the state, except the precious metal statues or other most valuable ornaments that escaped the conflagration. The sim- ple report of Scipio to the senate was, "Carthage is taken. The army waits your further orders ;" and this was sufficient to diffuse ecstatic joy over Rome. The territories of Carthage were declared a Roman pro- vince ; and from this time the Romans threw oflf their flimsy disguise, and almost everywhere acted the part of ancient con- querors, and made the nations feel that they were the sover- eigns of the earth. In this same year, b. c. 145, the splendid city of Corinth perished, and about the same time the feeble rays of Grecian liberty almost vanished. " The fortifications of Thebes, and of some other towns disaffected to the Ro- mans, were at the same time demolished ; and the arrange- ments to be made in the country of Greece were committed to deputies from the Roman senate. By their order, the Achaean league was dissolved, and all its conventions annul- led. The states which had composed it were deprived of their sovereignty, subjected to pay a tribute, and placed under the government of a person annually sent from Rome with the title of the Prastor of Achaia." CHAPTER VI. THE FOURTH OR ROMAN EMPIRE, CONTINUED. THE FIRST GEEAT INTERNAL CONFLICTS. ^TIBERIUS GRACCHUS, MARIUS, AND STLLA. Man's greatest opponent to his attainment of nioi:;al excel- lence is found in his own heart. An analogous observation seems applicable to the Roman people. Rome herself was the last and mightiest power which she had to overcome in her ascent to the throhe of universal empire. While the na- tions first in commerce and wealth, or in wisdom and milita- ry science, learning, and civilization, were either crushed by her iron sceptre, or prostrated before her majesty, and reluc- tantly submissive to her mandates, she struggled long to sus- tain her life amidst the strifes, contentions, disorders, wars, proscriptions, and murders of her own citizens. On the fall of Carthage, Rome doubtless regarded herself mistress of Europe and Africa; and she had before this time raised her throne in Asia. While the Romans thus triumphed every where, and extended their dominions almost equal to their ambition, and most probably far beyond their most sanguine expectations, the fi^ry process was kindling which consumed the liberty of every subject of the empire, and exhi- bited to mankind the fourth beast, in all the terrific features in which he was portrayed by the prophetic Spirit. The victorious race of the Romans were satisfied with a shadow of the patriotism, moderation, patience, faith, genero- sity, and justice, which were the boast and glory of their an- cestors ; and their descendants were soon characterised and degraded by selfishness, pride, intemperance, treachery, ava- rice, injustice, cruelty, and blood; In past times, the idea of honour was recalled by the title citizen ; and the officers of the state were open to the ambition of all classes of citizens. The patrician assumed no superiority over the plebeian, ex- cept to show himself willing to sacrifice his all for the safety i f =1» lis THE FOURTH, OR ROBIAN EMPIRE. and exaltation of the community. Those raised to the first of- fices cheerfully retired at the time fixed by law to perform the meanest offices, and to associate with the lowest classes, in their toils, enjoyments, and amusements. The consul and chief general of the one year served in the next as tribune, an inferior office, and even as a private soldier. The supreme magistrate withdrew from office to direct the plough, and to place himself at the head of the table with his children, free- men, and slaves. All ranks quietly submitted to eat the food, and wear the clothes, and furnish their houses, according to the rules prescribed by the censor, whom they had called to control them. The comitium, or public assembly, cheerfully left the senate the chief direction and government of the great- est affairs of the state ; and the latter assembly, consisting -of patricians and ennobled plebeians, committed to the former the power to judge all who were accused of any crime, and to prevent the execution of any plan, which they deemed disad- vantageous to the state. This state of republican simplicity, and political virtue, was undermined by the growing majesty and wealth of the citi- zens who held office, and by the augmentation in number and poverty of the other classes. Between these naturally arose, and were cherished alienation of affection, suspicions, and eager pursuit of conflicting interests. From the vast accumu- lation of wealth which poured intoltalyfromevery quarter of the world, the citizens looked an all other countries as their own property, and declined to tax themselves. This left the officers of state scarcely any other alternative than to pursue the course of conquest, and impose oppressive tribute on the conquered. Innumerable opportunities were thus presented for the principal servants of the state to acquire fame and riches; but having permitted themselves to taste the sweets of >vealth, ease, and pleasure, they generally sought office to gra- tify their avarice rather than advance the honour of the state. And as those who attained distinction and wealth became nu- merous, they withdrew from the multitude, or merely em- ployed them to procure for themselves the highest dignities of the state. Hence they became objects of envy to the poor class, who, though they sold their services to the highest bid- der, yet preferred to unite in ^any scheme which promised to support them in idleness or pleasure, and retain the power - and mortify the pride and vanity of the rich. By consequence, while the patricians and nobles could not but dread the power invested by the state in the comitia, and devise measures to ^ # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 83 weaken it, those of them who were checked by their associates in their ambition, sought the support of the people by flatter- ing them that to their assembly, and not to the senate, proper- ly belonged the sovereignty of the state. The first great manifestation of the alienation of the ple- beians from the nobles, was occasioned by an act of flagrant injustice of the senate, which was resented by one of the most virtuous of their number. The Romans, having destroyed Carthage, not only claimed all that part of Spain which had submitted to that state, but determined to possess the whole of that country. In this scheme, they were opposed by Viria- thus, whose valour has been celebrated by his enemies. Though ultimately vanquished, yet he long resisted the Ro- man power, and at one time compelled the commander of their army to submit to resign every part of Spain to him, ex- cept what the Romans had previously conquered. This peace the noble Viriathus granted, when he could have either put to death or reduced to slavery, the Roman general, the consul Servilianus, and his whole army. The treaty was ratified by the Roman government ; but in a short time violated, without the least provocation. The Spaniard once more defeated them, and granted them an honourable peace. But the senate refused to confirm the treaty, and under pretension of sacred respect for honour or justice, ordered the consul Mancinus, who had accepted it, and all his officers, to return naked and in chains to Spain, and deliver themselves up to their victor. He nobly disdained to punish the innocent ; and one of the disgraced officers resolved to be avenged on his own class, who had exposed the Roman name to the execration of man- kind. Tiberius Gracchus had served quaestor, under Man- cinus, and was condemned with him ; but he appealed from the judgment of the senate to the comitia, and was saved from the disgrace and danger to which the sentence exposed him. From this time he embraced with ardour the cause of the peo- ple. Though by descent he was one of them, yet his father had raised his family to the highest dignity, and they were allied by marriage to the principal persons in the state. His mother, who was admired and praised for every Roman vir- tue, belonged to the family of the first Scipio Africanus, and his sister was the wife of the second Scipio Africanus. If the people had cause to complain bitterly of the haughty pride of the rich, and the oppressive condujct of the powerful, they appeared to possess sufficient means, if wisely employed, to ameliorate their condition ; for their number, and the ex- 1 84 THE FOURTH, OR ROBIAN EMPIRE. traordinary, almost incontroUable influence of their tribunes, could compel the senate to comply with whatever they might demand. The number of enrolled citizens in Rome or other parts of Italy, had rapidly risen from three, to more than four hundred thousand. The great majority of these, especially in the metropolis, were idle, extremely poor, ignorant, super- stitious, and profligate. The buildings covered a circuit of fourteen miles ; and laws were rviquired to restrain individuals from encroaching on streets, squares, and other spots reserved for the convenience of the public. The population was dis- proportionately increased, and deteriorated by a variety of causes. The more active the nobles were in procuring pro- perty, as well as power, they felt the necessity of conciliating the good will of the people. This gave rise to the custom, which became common for the government, to collect and dis- tribute large quantities of provision to the poorer class. And all who sought popularity expended immense wealth in reli- gious processions, or attractive shows. The votes of the citi- zens were now of much value, and were purchased by those who desired offices, which their merit could not procure, but which secured them wealth by the rewards attached to these offices, especially the principal ones in the distant provinces. All these things induced the most worthless of the Roman citizens belonging to the country to reside in the capital. Now these, and indeed all the poor citizens considered all the con- quests, and honours, and riches of the state, as theirs by right, in common, at least, with the patricians ; for were they not chiefly procured by the toil, and valour, and blood of the peo- ple ? It is, therefore, not surprising that the comitia enthusi- astically received and approved the motion of their favourite tribune Gracchus, to allot to every family a portion of land, and prohibit any one from possessing more than a certain de- finite quantity. About two centuries and a half before Tiberius Gracchus, the Licinian law, so named from its author Licinius, had been sanctioned by the republic. It restricted every gitizen to five hundred jugara, or about two hundred and fifty acres of land, one hundred large, and five hundred small cattle. The reformer desired at first only the restoration of this law in a modified form, adapted'somewhat to the avaricious dis- positions, luxurious habits, and ostentatious manners of the age. His scheme provoked the indignation of all who pos- sessed, expected, or aspired to the distinction usually accom- panying rank, property, or wealth. The nobles combined to I J ®= THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 85 counteract his influence ; and, by prevailing on his most inti- mate friend, the tribune M. Octavius, to desert him, and ex- ercise the right of his office, thus enabled him to prevent the obnoxious law from being read in the public assembly. Thus unexpectedly defeated, having entire confidence in his own strength, Gracchus determined to revive, in all its vigour, the Licinian law, without the least respect to the views, passions, or interests of his order. In personal appearance, amiable manners, correct deportment, no Roman had stronger claims on the esteem of his fellow citizens ; and no one equalled him in popular eloquence. He was ably supported by Appius Claudius, the chief priest, whose daughter he had married, and by the only consul in Rome, Mutius Scievola. Thus armed, after repeated attempts to recover the assistance of Oc- tavius, he persuaded the comitia to degrade him from his of- fice. This being eftected, the law passed ; and he, his brother Caius, and his father-in-law, Appius, were appointed commis- sioners to execute it. They advanced slowly in their work, for they were obstructed in every step by the senators, who impatiently waited a fit opportunity to cancel the law. Their wrath was inflamed into fury and vengeance by other reforms which Gracchus introduced or proposed, and especially by his resolution being carried, that the treasury of the kingdom of Pergamus, granted by the will of its last sovereign to the Roman people, should be distributed to the poor. To preserve himself from the machinations of his strong and numerous enemies, whom he knew to be resolved on his destruction, he employed every possible means to secure his re-election to the office of tribune for another year. The life of a tribune was held sacred, and, whoever was guilty of ta- king it, provoked the indignation and revenge of the entire community. The house of Tiberius was guarded by his friends night and day; and f)ur thousand protected him to and from the public assembly. The day of the election of tribune passed over without any decision regarding him. On the next morning, the senate met to devise measures to secure the peace and safety of the republic. On receiving a report, doubtless raised at their suggestion, that the reformer was about to assume the sovereignty of the empire, the senate called on the consul to provide means to maintain the constitution. He declined to use force against a tribune, and merely said, "If the people shall come to any violent or illegal determina- tion, I will employ the whole force of my authority to prevent its effect." No sentiment could be less acceptable to those ad* VOL. u. 8 li I 86 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. dressed. All demanded the punishment of the violators of the public law, and the disturbers of the peace. Scipio Nisica exclaimed, " The consul deserts the republic ; let those who wish to preserve it, follow me." The senators all arose, and, being joined by their clients, proceeded with him to the comi- tium. The people awed by their presence, withdrew. Ti- berius in vain attempted to escape by flight ; he and about three hundred were killed, and their bodies thrown into the river. The senate, conscious of havinor, under pretence of zeal for the law, violently outraged its majesty, endeavoured to pacify the wrath of the people, whose admired leader had been mur- dered. No one proposed to abolish the Licinian, or Agrari- an law. Instead of Tiberius and Appius, who had recently died, F. Flaccus, and P. Carbo, the most daring of the popu- lar leaders, were chosen commissioners to divide the land. Scipio Nisica was sent to Pergamus, and died an honourable exile. The reformation or revolution attempted by Tiberius Gracchus may be regarded as the commencement of the most dreadful and sanguinary contest between the patricians and plebeians, or the senate and comitium, which raged, with short intervals, till both assemblies became utterly powerless, and Rome, with all her allies and tributaries, was ruled by the iron rod of despotism, and the peace that succeeded the many storms was more ominous of evil than the fiercest tem- pest that had ever desolated the empire. But it was doubt- less hailed by the unreflecting, and, as we shall have occasion to observe, prepared the Fourth Beast to accomplish his pro- per work, and fulfil his destiny. The senate had still to re- new the combat for the preservation of its dignity and power, notwithstanding their triumph over Tiberius Gracchus. The popular course which he had chosen was steadily pursued by F. Flaccus, and most vigorously by his own brother Caius, who was scarcely inferior to him in talent, and superior in fixedness of purpose and ardour in action. Caius and Flac- cus resolved to subvert the power of the nobles ; and, among the other measures to effect this, proposed to raise all the Ital- ian allies of Rome to the rank of citizens : and other popular measures they most perseveringly advocated. They were ac- cused of having been guilty of murder in a popular tumult ; and refused to appear before the tribunal of justice. Having, with numerous partizans in arms, taken refuge on the Aven- tine hill, they were proclaimed enemies of th^republic. Their weight in gold was promised to one or more who should THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. either kill or secure them. They were attacked ; Caius Grac- chus fell by his own hand, or by that of a faithful servant. Fulvius Flaccus was taken and killed. Those who carried their heads to the consul received the promised reward. Three thousand two hundred and fifty of their followers were slain in the streets ; great numbers were cast into prison and strangled ; their bodies were thrown into the river, and their estates confiscated. The house of Fulvius was razed, and the ground appropriated for public uses. Thus, b. c. 121, the system of proscription began, by which afterwards the prin- cipal citizens of the Republic were cut off, without any ap- peal to justice or equity, or mercy. The thirst of the Roman beast for blood was insatiable ; and he swallowed that of his own kind as greedily as he did that of those whom he reck- oned his proper prey, in foreign lands. The functions of government were allowed to move freely for a few years, for a deep feeling of common danger pervaded all ranks. The sanguinary war with the brave Jugurtha, in Africa, occupied the attention of the Romans; and the move- ments of the large and mighty armies of the Gauls, beyond the Alps, in the region named Transalpine Gaul, and still more, the revolt of the allies in Italy, filled them with fearful apprehensions. But in these wars, which terminated in the triumph of Rome over these fierce foes, were trained two of her leaders, Marius and Sylla, who inflicted on her far more dreadful evils than she had perhaps ever endured. Marius was a fellow-citizen with Cicero, of Arpinum, a town of Cam- pania, seated on the river Liris. He was of mean descent, and, in common with his class, uneducated, but he was evi- dently formed to command the admiration or dread of the multitude, with a huge body, and extraordinary strength, he was remarkable for the usual fierceness of his countenance and the roughness of his voice. He was not less distinguish- ed by strong intellectual powers, great ambition, courage, and fortitude, urging him on to undertake any, the most hazar- dous enterprise, by the accomplishing of which he had hope of popular applause. He seemed capable of breathing only in the tempest ; and strife, contention, and war, constituted the very element of bis life. His natural alliances were made with the bold and fiery spirits of the storms which raged in his time ; and he invisibly or openly directed the waves which dashed to pieces, or removed from their place, the pillars of the state, and dispersed, destroyed, or engulphed almost every precious ornament of the community. But he occasionally ■^ §P IHE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. sought the friendship of those whom he deemed and pro* claimed to be his natural enemies ; and, to win their confi- dence, his mighty mind enabled him to appear to have sup- pressed every passion, and to have castaway every prejudice. And when he judged it expedient to secure the support of the people, by condescension, kindness, and courtesy rather than by haughtiness, austerity, and wrath, he exchanged the ter- rible aspect of the lion for the gentleness of the lamb. Nor did he hesitate, in the pursuit of his chief object of desire, to throw off the robe of deception, without the least respect for truth, consistency, or honour. He publicly despised the su- periority of noble descent, the advantages of literature and science, the pleasures and luxuries procured by wealth, and all the elegances and refinements unattainable by the class of society to which lie originally belonged ; while, at the same time, his whole energies were employed, and his life was ex- posed, as a thing of no value, to obtain the first honours of the state, and the power to manage and control all the affairs of government. No one perhaps found it more difficult to persuade the people to appoint him a tribune ; they were as- tonished and provoked that one of such mean parentage should presume to stand candidate for any office of dignity. But the wisdom, courage, and rectitude with which he dis- charged the duties of that office and afterwards that of prce tor, failed not to recommend him to the esteem of all who sincerely loved their country ; and his great and splendid deeds on the theatre of war rendered his name illustrious, so that the peo- ple at last called him a god. While absent from the city, he was repeatedly chosen consul, and seven times he was raised to this most exalted office. But who is the man that lives and labours merely for personal aggrandisement that secures per- manent glory for himself or happiness for his country ? The transcendant military talents of Marius were first duly appreciated by the second Scipio Africanus, under whom he served ; but he owed more to Gl. C. Metellus, one of the most venerated and most upright patriots of Rome. This patrician was equally distinguished as a wise and tried statesmen, and an accomplished and victorious general. When appointed to the government of the Roman province in Africa, he chose Marius for the lieutenant-general of the army placed under his command. On his departure, the Romans exulted in the confident expectation that he would speedily wipe away and revenge the disgrace which their arms had suffered in the war with the renowned Jugurtha, who had defeated their army » m THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 89 under the command of successive consuls. His first report to the senate announced the complete overthrow and' dispersion of the enemy's forces, and the certain prospect of peace In a brief period, however, it appeared that the consummate pol- icy of Jugurtha rendered the subjection of his kingdom as uncertain as it had hitherto been. The Romans became in- dignant, and not unwillingly listened to the friends of Ma rius, who insinuated, at his suggestion, that the past success of the army was effected by his exertions, and that Jugurtha would have been easily reduced had Metellus been inclined to ter- minate the war. The ignorant and volatile multitude now scarcely spoke of the wise and admired commander with re- spect, while their unmeasured praises of the bravery of Marius filled the city. The traitor and calumniator of his friend knew well the state of the public mind, and resolved to seize the opportunity to apply for the office of consul, with a view to obtain the command of the army in Africa. Metellus had suspicions of his treacherous designs, and it required all his arts to deceive to procure leave to return to Rome. By bri- bery or intrigue he attained his object, although opposed by the senate. The Romans had already lost almost all sense of true honour; money could procure for any one the high- est offices in the state, and the services of those who held them. Many who held these offices sold their power and in- fluence to the enemies of their country. This is intimated by one of the sayings of Jugurtha. He had corresponded with many of the principal men by messengers or letters, and had personal intercourse with them when he was in Rome. His experience and observation convinced him that almost all of them were prepared to betray their country for riches. On leaving the city he exclaimed, " Here is a city to be sold, if any buyer can be found." The people ceased to respect either rank, character, office, law, or indeed any thing that imposed restraint on their appetites or passions. Marius, by reproaching the higher ranks, calumniating the most worthy, especially his friend Metellus, and flattering the prejudices of the people, obtained the office of consul, and the appointment to conduct the war against Jugurtha. In procuring a re-en- forcement for the army, he preferred the lower class to the respectable, who alone had in past ages been admitted into the army. This violation of the laws and customs was over- looked, because those in honourable stations and comfortable circumstances were become averse to a soldier's life. The necessitous, the most depraved, and the outcasts of society, 8* 90 THE FOURTH, OF ROMAN EMPIRE. flocked to the standard of Marius ; and such were the persons who from this time formed the majority in the Roman army. When a general knew how to manage these, almost univer- sally an unprincipled race, he could as easily lead them against their own countrymen as against the enemies of their country. This was soon proved by the civil wars, which threatened the entire dissolution of tne state. While Marius successfully prosecuted the war in Africa, he was joined by Sylla, whose services contributed greatly to the complete triumph of the Romans. This officer was of noble birth, and apparently resolutely determined to maintain the dignity and power of his order ; but hitherto he had not augmented the glory of the patricians, for he had 'degraded himself in the eyes of the few surviving patriots of Rome by pursuing Grecian literature, and in the eyes of all ranks by his profligacy. Having, however, secured the office of quaes- tor, he renounced licentious pleasures for the objects of ambi- tion, and quickly showed that he possessed all the qualities o) a great warrior and commander. He was the chief instru- ment in terminating the African war, by persuading the ally and relation of Jugurtha to betray and deliver him into his hand. Sylla quickly became the idol of the soldiers, and his name was associated with Marius in the exultation of the Ro- mans, when they beheld the latter lead Jugurtha in chains, accompanied by his children. From this time Marius and Sylla were rivals for power, and each was regarded as the chief of a party. Circumstances favoured the continued ascendancy of the rude and daring Marius. Myriads of barbarians had, like meteors, suddenly entered Europe, and, for some years, had spread, wherever they appeared, universal desolation. They covered Gaul, whose natives, from fear or inclination, agreed to unite with them in seizing or laying waste the fair fields and rich cities of Italy. The Roman armies, under two con- suls, attacked them on the Rhone, and were defeated, with the loss of eighty thousand soldiers, besides forty thousand at- tendants, who were massacred without resistance. The re- port of this disaster filled Rome with amazement and terror ; the citizens imagined that they beheld the savage enemy at the gates. Every citizen was summoned to assume the mil- itary garb ; but their only hope of safety was Marius. He was called to place himself at the head of the army. His first great battle with one division of the barbarians and Gauls, terminated in their destruction ; two hundred thousand of THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 91 them were said to be slain, and ninety thousand, with one of their kings, were taken prisoners. The other division of their forces were opposed by a Roman army, under Catullus. Their number and terrible aspect terrified the Romans ; they were seized with a panic, and many fled. Marius hastily raised troops and led them to the army, attacked and over- came the enemy. One hundred and fifty thousand fell on the field of battle ; sixty thousand were made captives ; and the remainder, a great number of whom were women and children, perished by their own hands. Marius returned in triumph to Rome, and was saluted and adored as a god. The Romans escaped ruin from the whirlwinds which rushed on them through Gaul, only to be exposed to successive and tremendous earthquakes in their own country, in which it long seemed probable that ail that was great or valuable in the republic would be altogether engulphed. On Marius' re- turn to Rome he appearently determined to destroy all whom he regarded his rivals. Nothing short of the sovereignty of the empire appeared to be the object of his ambition. He as- sociated with the popular leaders of the people, who sought, by every means, to subvert the power of the senate. He acted chiefly through the agency of the fierce and lawless tribune Apuleius Saturninus, and the not less desperate prietor Glau- cia. The tribune was continually guarded by freemen of ruined fortune, who had served in the army, and were part- ners in the victories of Marius, and hoped, when the popular party prevailed, to obtain wealth and comfortable settlementa Dread of these sanguinary wretches deterred allthe respecta-' ble and influential part oi the people from frequenting the co- mitia, and none had courage in these assemblies to oppose the faction of Marius. They, therefore, carried every motion which they proposed, and among others, every senator was required to swear that he would confirm every act of the co- mitia within five days after it was passed. Marius, as consul, declaimed in the senate against the aged and the venerable Metellus, who declined to take the oath, and many other sen- ators followed his example. But he soon deserted them, and beheld, with pleasure, Metellus forced to go into exile. Marius was equally treacherous to his principal emissaries ; for when Saturninus and Glaucia raised a sedition in the city, he left them to suffer the just punishment of their crime. He, however, deplored their death, for his schemes were, for the time, bafiled, and the senate recovered in some degree its power. #= I 92 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. But the peace of Rome was transitory. The proposition to acknowledge all the Italian allies citizens, repeatedly brought before the public assemblies, was rejected. This produced the revolt of the mortified allies; and many of their cities formed an aUiance, and assumed the lofty title of the Ilalian Republic, of which they proclaimed Confinum the capital. This city lay a considerable distance north-east from Rome, not far from Sulmo, the present Salmona, in Naples. Here the senate, consisting of five hundred members of the new republic, assembled, and "elected two consuls. The Romans took their first suspicion of a design in agitation among their allies, from observing that they were exchanging hostages among themselves. The proconsul Servilius, who commanded in the Picenum, having intelligence to this purpose from Ascu- lum, repaired thither, in order, by his presence, to prevent any commotion ; but his coming, in reality, hastened the revolt. His remonstrances and his threats made the inhabitants sen- sible that their designs were known, and that the execution of them could no longer in safety be delayed. They accordingly took arms, and put to the sword the proconsul Servilius, with his lieutenant and all the Roman citizens who happened to be in the place. The alarm immediately spread throughout all the towns that vwere concerned in the plot; and, as upon a sig- nal agreed, the Marsi, Peligni, Vestini, Marcini, Picentes, FerentanaB, Hirpini, Pompeiani, Venusini, Apuli, Lucani, and Samnites, took arms, and sent a joint deputation to Rome to demand a participation in the privileges of Roman citizens ; of which they had, by their services, contributed so largely to increase the value. In answer to this demand, they were told by the senate, that they must discontinue their assemblies, and renounce their pretensions, otherwise, that they must not presume to send any other message to Rome. War being thus declared, both parties prepared for the contest. The allies mustered a hundred thousand men, in different bodies, and under diflferent leaders. The Romans found themselves in an instant brought back to the condition in which they had been about three hundred years before ; reduced to a few miles of territory round their walls, and beset with ene- mies more united, and more numerous than ever had assailed them at once on the same ground. But their city was like- wise enlarged, their numbers increased, and every individual excellently formed to serve the state, as a warrior and a citi- zen. AH of them assumed, upon this occasion, the sagum, or military dress ; and being joined by such of the latins m # » THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 93 as remained in their allegiance, and by such of their colo- nies, from different parts of Italy, as continued to be faith- ful, together with some mercenaries from Gaul and Numidia, they assembled a force equal to that of the revoked subjects." The unnatural civil war which followed lasted three years. Although Marius, and especially Sylla, were victorious in the cause of Rome, several other generals were defeated. The result of this bloody contest was doubtful, till the Ro- mans made such concessions as induced the allies to submit and dissolve their confederacy. Notwithstanding this unexpected and happy termination of what in history is called the social war^ the sufferings of the degenerate Romans accumulated, and few things are more astonishing in the annals of mankind than that their power was not crushed by their own wickedness. The leaders of the people learned to act on plans skilfully formed to annihilate the senate, and render law powerless. The most active of these ambitious and turbulent men, at this time was the tribune, P. Sulpicius. Besides a multitude armed and ready to obey his mandates, he retained in pay three thousand gla- diators, whose trade was in human blood as well as in the blood of wild beasts. Supported by this lawless force, he usurped the entire power of government, and whatever he willed was law. Marius had the art to engage this instru- ment of confusion to humble his rival Sylla, whose rising glory provoked his envy and hatred. Sylla was now the idol of the soldiers, and the confidence of the senate. By their patronage he had been appointed to command the army destined for Pontus to oppose Mithridates. Before they left Campania, Sulpicius persuaded the comitium to revoke the decree in favour of Sylla, and to transfer his army to Marius. Sylla and his soldiers were indignant on receiving the infor- mation that he was ordered to give place to Marius. Com- missioners sent to require their submission to the decree of the people, were slain in the camp. On the report of this outrage reaching Rome, some of Sylla's relations and friends were murdered. He resolved to be revenged, and imme- diately requested the army to march to the city. Marius summoned all ranks, slaves as well as free men, to oppose him. The senate entreated Sylla to encamp without the walls. To deceive his opponents, he ordered his array to hah, while he sent a detachment to seize the gates. The army soon fol- , lowed and rushed into the city. They raised a conflagration, which confounded the people, and the Marian party were %- 1 f % ^1 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. dispersed. Passing along the streets, which flowed with blood, Sylla entered the senate-palace and assembled the sena- tors, whom he persuaded to declare Marius and his principal adherents enemies of their country, and that they, or any one attempting to conceal them, should be seized and put to death, without form of law. When Sylla conceived that he had re-established the au- thority of the senate, and the peace of the city, he departed with his army for Pontus. He, perhaps to conciliate the people, had unhappily permitted Cinna, a known enemy of the nobles, to be chosen one of the consuls, after he had pledged himself to pursue peaceful measures. Many of the Italians had not yet been admitted to the rights of citizens, and not a few who were, had been only enrolled in those tribes whose influence was scarcely felt in the state. Cinna moved in the senate that every inhabitant of Italy should participate in all the privileges of the most honoured and most respecta- ble citizens ; and that Marius and other exiles should be re- called. His colleague Octavius, with a majority of the sena- tors, withstood him, and were so strongly supported by the people that, after fierce contention, in which some were slain, Cinna left the city, and placed himself at the head of a party, which rapidly became powerful, and re-kindled the flames of civil war. How improbable was it, judging from present appearances, that Italy should actually become the seat of universal empire, may be imagined, when, to preserve tran- quillity;( it was deemed necessary to maintain an immense army, divided into three detachments, stationed in different places under the command of three famed generals, Metellus, Cn. Strabo, and Ap. Claudius! And indeed, the appointed ' protectors were almost dreaded, as if they were destroyers; for the army, "consisting chiefly of indigent citizens, become soldiers of fortune, were very much at the disposal of their leaders, in whose name they had been levied, to whom they had sworn the military oath, and on whom they depended for the settlements and rewards which they were taught to expect at the end of their services. They were inclined to take part in the cause of any faction that was likely to be most successful." The troops under Claudius joined the multitude, who armed to support Cinna ; and the power of his party was greatly augmented by the arrival of Marius. This extraordi- nary man in his seventieth year had wandered over many countries, every where hunted by the adherents of the senate If • THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 95 and nobles. From the greatness of his name, and, as some sa^, by the dreadfulness of his aspect, no one had courage to seize him; he had escaped every snare; and on landing in Italy was welcomed by the great majority of the people. On arriving at Home, he refused to enter until the decree against him was repealed. Having thus put his enemies off their guard, while the votes were collecting to restore him to the rights of a citizen, he suddenly entered the city with an armed band, ordered the gates to be shut, and proceeded to take vengeance on all who had procured his banishment. Many senators found means to escape; but the city, for five days, presented the most horrid scene. Cries of rage, terror, and agony, resounded in every direction. Sylla's house was de molished, and a number of his friends perished. No respect was paid to rank, office, age, or sex. Cinna and Sertorius, and other senators who were associates of Marius, were shocked at the sight of the carnage, but vain were their en- deavours to restrain his wrath and revenge, till they employed military force, who drove all the agents of confusion and death into squares, inclosed places, or narrow streets, and murdered them in great numbers, without inquiry or distinction. Ma- rius and Cinna were appointed consuls : but the former per- sisted in destroying, without form of law, all whom he deemed his enemies. Diabolical as was his nature, and habituated as he was to crime, he could not utterly eradicate or subdue in himself the capacity to judge, or the power of conscience to accuse and condemn, his dreadful deeds. Unable to en-' dure reflection and remorse, "he passed from the agitation of fury, and gave signs of a distracted mind. Some one, he imagined, in the words of a poet, continually sounded in his ears, ' Horrible is the dying lion's den ;' which being applied to himself, seemed to announce his approaching dissolution. He took to the excessive use of wine, contracted a pleurisy, and died on the seventh day of his illness, in the seventeenth day of his last or seventh consulate, and in the seventieth year of his age ; leaving the tools he had employed in sub- verting the government of his country to pay the forfeit of his crimes." Cinna alone held now the hehn of the empire, and he called up all his energies and resources to conduct the vessel through the new storm which was visibly approaching, and which proved more destructive than any that had hitherto fallen on the republic. He was completely and irrevocably committed against the order of iiatricians and nobles as well #= •= 96 I HE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. as Sylla, who had been proclaimed the enemy of his coun- try ; and he knew well the power and resoluteness of this chief enemy, who was not only at the head of a large and triumphant army, but had also a numerous and strong party in Rome and Italy in eager expectation of his return. Nor was it unknown to him that Sylla would appear to revenge the mjury inflicted on his friends as soon as he had forced Mithridates to repair the wrongs whicii he had done the Ro- mans and their allies. Cinna accordingly mustered a mighty force of more than two hundred thousand men to resist him. This force consisted of several armies stationed in different places to protect all Italy. None of them, however, ventured to prevent Sylla from landing, or even from marching through the country. He was accompanied by numbers of the prin- cipal persons who had, in the past season of danger, sought refuge in his army, and many others joined him on his march. On reaching Canusium, the modern Canosa, situa- ted not far from Cannie, famous for the defeat of the Romans by Hannibal, he was withstood by the division of the army com- manded by the consul Norbanus and young Marius. His victory over them was complete ; six thousand of them were slain. After several successful conflicts with other divisions of the army, he advanced on Rome, whose gates were thrown open to him ; for the principal supporters of the popular party had withdrawn from the city. He assembled the citizens, and assured them that he would speedily deliver them from the disturbers of the peace and the enemies of the state. The property, however, which belonged to this class was either given up to his army or declared forfeited. A number of his principal supporters were shut up in Praeneste, the present Palestrina, situated about twenty miles east of Rome. He left the city to join his troops that besieged that city. A large army ordered to support the besiegers inmediately marched to oppose him. He no sooner learned this than he led his army against them, and after a desperate combat defeated them, leaving eighty thousand dead on the field of battle, and ta- king eight thousand prisoners. When this event was known in Praeneste, the party then surrendered, and were all put to death. Sylla, victorious everywhere, was now master of Rome, and proceeded to kill every one who was known or suspected by him to belong to the Marian party. Six thou- sand were enclosed in the circus, and slain. Their cries made the senators start from their seats in the temple of Bel- # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 97 ^ona, where they had met. Many others were subjected. to the most cruel and barbarous kinds of death. This bloody scene filled all ranks with grief and terror ; but C. Metellus, a young man, alone had courage to appeal to the feelings of Sylla, whose gaiety and delight in every species of amusement seemed to increase in proportion to the greatness and universality of the miseries which he inflicted on others. "Make known," he said, "the extent of your designs, and how far these executions are to be carried. We intercede not for the condemned ; we only entreat that you would relieve out of this dreadful state of uncertainty all those whom in reality you mean to spare." Sylla, without being offended at this freedom, published a list of those he had doomed to destruction, offering a reward of two talents for the head of each, and denouncing severe penalties against every person who should harbour or conceal them. Hence arose the practice of publishing lists of the persons to be massacred, which, under the odious name of proscription, was afterwards imitated with such fatal effects in the subse- quent convulsions of the state. The present proscription, although it promised some security to all who were not com- prehended in the fatal list, opened a scene, in some respects, more dreadful than that which had been formerly acted in this massacre. The hands of servants were hired against their masters, and even those of children against their pa- rents. The mercenary of every denomination were encour- aged, by a great premium, to commit what before only the ministers of public justice thought themselves entitled to per- form ; and there followed a scene, in which human nature had full scope to exert all the evil of which it is susceptible, treachery, ingratitude, distrust, malice, and revenge; and would have retained no claim to our esteem or commiseration, if its character had not been redeemed by contrary instances of fidelity, generosity, and courage, displayed by those who, to preserve their friends and benefactors, or even to preserve strangers who took refuge under their protection, hazarded all the dangers with which the proscribed themselves were threatened. In consequence of these measures, about five thousand persons of consideration were put to death, among whom were reckoned forty senators, and sixteen hundred of the equestrian order. All the ordinary offices of state were vacated by the desertion or death of those who had held them. The character of Sylla was certainly singular, if not inex- ■ v6l. It. 9 # m- # f 98 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. plicable. He is said to have been amiable, candid, and hu mane in his private life and general conduct ; but who, pos- sessed of power, ever indicated less compassion, or more plea- sure in the infliction of just punishment, or in the unrestrained indulgence of revenge? Till he actually retired from public .ife, his ambition must have been viewea boundless, and ne- vertheless he voluntarily resigned absolute sovereignly. Was he ambitious of greatness rather than magnificence ; to aston- ish and confound the conceptions of mankind rather than pro- cure their admiration and applause? Or, it may be that he is to be regarded much more in the light of an enthusiastic patriot than that of an aspiring conqueror or enlightened statesman. When every victim of his vengeance had perished, Sylla withdrew from the city, that the senate might assemble with apparent freedom, and proceed to restore the laws of the re- public. In order to attain this great object, they chose Vale- rius Flaccus to the head of the government under the title of Interrex. Sylla quickly intimated to him that it was neces- sary to appoint a dictator for an indefinite period, and that he was ready to assume the awful office, which gave him who held it a discretionary power over the persons, fortunes, and lives of all ranks in the empire. This office, unknown in the state for more than a century, and which had originated in the total inefficiency of the constitution to avert the entire ruin of the republic, was at once conferred on Sylla, whose will was law. He presented himself in the city in all the terrible- ness of the dictator's office, preceded by twenty-four lictors, armed with the axe and the rods, and accompanied with a nu- merous military guard. Satisfied that the people were suffi- ciently humbled and awed, he left the public assemblies to fill up the usual lists of office. Sylla, however, ceased not to ex- ercise the despotic, uncontrolled power of his high office; but his object appears to have been to re-establish the constitution and laws of the republic. He, however, also instituted new laws which were calculated to strengthen and render the con- stitution permanent. But some of his measures had an op- posite tendency. He distributed among the soldiers all the lands forfeited by the Marian party ; and thus encouraged the military to consider the country as their own property ; an opinion which the army generally acted on while the repub- lic existed. Ten thousand slaves belonging to the condemned party received the entire privileges of citizens. The muni- ficence of Sylla to his friends was only equalled by his ven- THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EBIFIRE. 99 geance on his opponents. It is calculated that he proscribed and put to death ninety senators, about two thousand Roman knights, and buried multitudes in the ruins of their cities. Believing his object accomplished, in less than two years he resigned the office of dictator, retired from public life, and two years later died at the age of sixty. He was buried at the public expense, regretted by all ranks. The inscription on his tomb, suggested by himself, was short and expressive: " Here lies Sylla, who never was outdone in good offices by his friends, nor in acts of hostility by his enemies." The government of Rome was, b. c. 78, left by Sylla, not more adapted than in past ages for universal empire. The Romans were manifestly capable of conquering, but not of re- taining in subjection, the world, by their republican institu- tions. It is questionable if from among their numerous citi- zens there could have been collected nobles or representatives qualified to maintain the union and peace of Italy alone. And those invested with the powers to select legislators, rulers, or military officers, had no intellectual or moral fitness to dis- charge with discernment and fidelity their important trust The Roman people were at once remarkable for extreme ig- norance and haughtiness, abject confidence in the grossest superstition, the strongest and vilest passions, the most profli- gate manners, and intense pleasure in the most barbarous and brutal customs. Were these proper electors of representatives distinguished by intelligence, integrity, and humanity? or who should even cordially unite to enforce any one system of rule, which assuredly was indispensable to preserve conquered nations, in subjection to the laws of their conquerors ? Some- thing more was obviously still required to consolidate the iron power of the fourth empire that its destiny might he fut m-. 41 CHAPTER VII. THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE, CONTINUED. THE REVOLUTION. — POMPEY THE GREAT AND JULIUS CESAR. The comparatively small race of the Romans astonished mankind not more by their physical and intellectual vigour, than by their enthusiastic devotion to national fame. That their supremacy over all other races in Italy and the surround- ing countries should have survived the frightful revolutions and convulsions of the state which we have briefly noticed, seems marvellous : and these were only a few of the many which attacked the state, several of which, from their violence or dura- tion, were sufficient to destroy its energy and extinguish its vitali- ty. How then must he who was only superficially acquainted with the Roman people, have been confounded to behold them, even in the most calamitous eras of the commonwealth, almost uninterruptedly extending their dominions, and enlarging their resources in every direction, hundreds and thousands of miles beyond their metropolis ! Indeed, to such an one, the unparalleled circumstance of the power of Rome being felt ir- resistible throughout her numerous and most remote provinces, at the very times that her citizens were without a regular go- vernment, and struggling for continued existence, doubtless, was at once inexpressible, surprising, and inexplicable. His- tory unveils this mystery, for it distmctly shows that all the principal authors of the unexampled series of sufferings en- dured by the Romans in their own country, were agreed in the unchanging purpose to promote and increase the national glory. They successively or contemporaneously strived for superiority in the state, and exulted in the slaughter of rivals or opponents ; but if any other race presumed to dispute by force the unfounded claims of the Romans to the sovereignty of the world, the disturbers of the republic rushed on in one band to repel, overcome, and destroy them. It is, however, certain, that the entire acquisition, and especially the perm»- #■ THE FOUKTH, OB, KOMAN EMPHLE. iW^ nent possession of universal empire, was incompatible with the frequent, and, it may be said, perpetual recurrence of tu- mult, sedition, and civil war in the seat of the empire. The recent bloody scenes in Rome and Italy had left comparative- ly {ew persons qualified to perform the functions of govern- ment, and were similar scenes to be often witnessed, every semblance of rule and law must inevitable disappear. That Rome should continue mistress of the most distinguished races of men, and the Romans the successors of the mighty rulers of Asia, an essential change, a complete revolution in their political institutions was evidently indispensable. And, to ef- fect this, the most appropriate instruments were being prepared, and near at hand. The chief of these were Pompey the Great and Julius Cesar. The ruling passion common to these far-famed men was ambition ; the sovereignty of the globe would not have fully allayed their burning thirst for renown. Nor was the one distmguished from the other in the means employed to attain this object of their life, by the one discovering more than the other the least degree of sincere love, or even respect for truth, justice, or humanity. Nevertheless, a radical difference in their characters was manifest to intelligent observers of pass- ing events. The record of these actions distinctly indicates that the grand stimulus of the ambition of Pompey, was van- ity, and that of Cesar, pride ; and from this opposite quality 01 their ambition resulted the greater appearance of moral ex- cellence in the former than in the latter. Pompey could pro- bably have enjoyed httle pleasure on the throne of the world, unless all ranks appeared to concede that he alone was worthy of the dignity ; Cesar ascended it as his right, for he imagined, or believed, that no man was his equal, and he held in low estimation the opinion of all. The first eagerly desired that the shadow, at least, of virtue might be visible in his proceed- ings, and sedulously concealed any of his schemes which ex- hibited the features of meanness, vice, or infamy: the last pursued any measures which circumstances suggested to be expedient or adapted to advance his object, unmoved by the feelings excited in spectators. The opposition of his actions to mankind's ideas of right, or their tendency to injure others, or even to reflect on himself disgrace, gave him no uneasiness, if he deemed them necessary to accomplish his fixed purpose. Dissimulation was one of the weapons which Pompey occa sionally . used ; Cesar reckoned it common with all others which he could command or construct. He was unquestioP' 9* I 102 THE FOTJRTH, OR ROMAN EBfPIRE. ably far superior to his rival in every capacity and art which delude the human race. Exhaustless virere his powers to de- vise plans, to anticipate favourable or unfavourable contingen- cies, to discern suitable agents and means, and to raise the resources required to command the agency of the one and the application of the other, for the execution of his projects. Forcibly was this illustrated and proved, by the fact, that he prevailed on Pompey to do almost whatever he pleased, long after each clearly showed himself resolved to occupy the first place in the state, or perish. Indeed, Pompey was perhaps as strongly fascinated by Cesar as the greater number of his emissaries ; for he was persuaded by him to regard the acts which he performed for his aggrandizement actually neces- sary to advance and render permanent his own, till he found himself so ensnared that his utmost efforts failed to avert his utter destruction. Pompey was the son of Pompeius Strabo, one of Rome's most eminent patricians, consuls, and military commanders. He was first noticed and admired for the intensity of his filial affection. Having accompanied his honoured father to the field of battle, he had the satisfaction of saving his life by risk- ing his own. He was not more than nineteen years of age when Sylla returned from Asia to revenge himself on his ene- mies. By his rank, noble aspect, and agreeable manners, he already possessed considerable influence, by which he was enabled to collect a considerable body of soldiers, and perform such important services for Sylla as procured him strong proofs of the esteem of that great general, and from this time he rapidly rose to distinction in the state and the army. He was sent with an army to Sicily to rescue that island from the power of some of the Marian party, who had seized it. Hav- ing conquered them, his clemency to the vanquished increased his popularity more than the display of his great military tal- ents. He was soon called to more important services. Jar- bas, an African prince, having defeated the Romans, Pompey was sent against him, and speedily triumphed. Sylla, jealous of his growing glory, commanded him to disband his army. The soldiers were indignant, and urged him to conduct them to Rome, where they would make him master of the empire. He resisted the temptation to adopt a scheme which he knew would have been offensive to all ranks. His moderation was universally applauded. Sylla instantly decreed that he should return with his army to Italy. On his approaching Rome 9- THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 103 Sylla and many senators met him, and hailed him with the pompous title of Pompey the Great. The splendid funeral pile of Sylla had heen scarcely con- sumed, and his ashes deposited in its urn, when the consul Lepidus aspired to the lofty place from which the late dicta- tor had chosen to descend, perhaps because he perceived thai it was not safe to occupy it longer. Lepidus had previously awakened the suspicion of the senators, by proposing the re- peal of all the laws which Sylla had enacted, with the obvi- ous design of restraining the power and turbulence of the people ; and, to remove him from the city, they had appoint- ed him to the command of Transalpine Gaul. On his arri- ving there, he made preparations on such an extensive scale, that the senate called him to resign the command of the army and return to the city. Instead of obeying, he led the troops into Italy, and advanced to the gates oi the capital, where he was repulsed by Catulus and Pompey, and his forces dis- persed. While Rome had thus escaped the sword of her lawless and sanguinary soldiers, her chief men were agitated by apprehensions that the sovereignty of the world was to pass to Spain, and their dignity and honors, to the Lusitanian race. No phenomenon connected u ith Roman history was pro- bably more singular and extraordinary than that seen at this time in Lusitania, — a republic avowedly constituted to super- sede that of Rome, and claiming right to all its authority ajid dominions. This was not the work of an enemy, or a rival, or a fool, but of one of the most illustrious of her citizens, Sertorius, who equalled, if he did not excel in patriotism and every pagan virtue, the most virtuous of pagans. This illustrious man had joined Marius and Cinna, but when he could not restrain them in their sanguinary course, he willingly engaged to secure the Roman dominions in Spain. Sylla sent thither to oppose him a large army under the com- mand of Caius Annius, who compelled him to withdraw' from Spain. After various vain endeavours to find an asy- lum where he might find the comforts of a retired life, he joined the people of Mauritania, who had cast off the yoke of their king, one of the most tyrannical rulers. He succeed- ed in procuring them liberty, and left them to regulate their affairs according to their own pleasure, after receiving from them such honors and rewards as they were disposed to give. His fame had been carried across the sea t6 Spain, and the Lusitanians urged him to lead their armies against Anniua t «= #• 104 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EmItSS^ who had rashly attempted to conquer their country. Hie' gladly obeyed the call, for he delighted to support the cause of the oppressed.. He was one of the most generous and affectionate of men ; and this, it is said, he chiefly owed to his noble and enlightened mother. When he was a child, his father died, and his mother most tenderly watched over him, and employed every means which wealth could com- mand to cultivate and improve his mind. Such was his love for her, that at the very time that he had completely defeated Pompey and Metellus, who were then the most celebrated generals of the Roman republic, he proposed to withdraw into private life, on condition that he was permitted to return to his paternal dwelling. The ardour of his filial love was still more affectingly manifested, sometime afterwards, when he was informed of his mothers death. For, though his affairs were most prosperous,, yet he became inconsolable, wept bitterly, lay on the ground seven days, regardless of the most earnest entreaties and expostulations of his numerous friends, who included almost every officer of his army and persons of distinction, who surrounded his tent, to persuade him to resume the duties of his high office. Having apparently established the independence of Lusi- tania, with the consent of the principal natives, and the con- currence of many senators and other citizens of Rome, who had fled to him for safety, he adopted the form of the Roman government, and proclaimed his state the legitimate Roman republic, and denounced Sylla and his party usurpers. In treating with Mithridates, who proposed an alliance, prom- ising him the greatest advantages, he declined to accept any condition which derogated from the dignity of the Roman race. During the brief period of the triumph of Sertorius, he showed that he merited the honor of the head of the repub- lic. He civilized, to a considerable degree, the barbarous Lusitanians ; formed a regular well disciplined army, pre- vailed on them to lay aside their own rude dress and assume the Roman toga or gown ; established a school for the race of nobles, supplied it with able teachers of Roman and Gre- cian literature, and bestowed the most liberal rewards on the youth most distinguished for their progress in educa- tion. Though he proved himself superior to Rome's ablest gene- rals in war, yet he was destroyed by the treachery of his friends. His chief general Perperna, ambitious to supplant ^ m him, succeeded in persuading a nurhbier of the officers of the state to conspire against the hfe of their general, and finally- assassinated him during a public festival. Perperna placed himself at the head of the army. He was soon conquered by Pompey, who boasted, without just cause, of having triumphantly terminated a war, in which he had suffered great disgrace, whenever he presumed to attack Sertorius. But he procured hmiself more justly the applause of the Romans, by burning a large list, without reading it, of citizens who had corresponded with that eminent warrior and statesman. That list with all the other papers of Serto- rius, the base-minded Perperna had given Pompey, with the vain hope of having his life spared. This was one of the few noble acts of Pompey, for it doubtless saved many from terror, exile, and death. Among the most instructive as well as amusing anecdotes of Sertorius, is that of his tamed deer. Though he hfghly valued intellectual knowledge, yet he had no desire to enlight- en the multitude. Like almost all ancient rulers and legisla- tors, he deemed, that knowledo^e was one of the good things to which the men of rank alone had right to aspire. He accordingly cherished, rather than destroyed the ignorance and superstition of the Lusitanians ; and employed all the common arts of divination to delude and fascinate them. His leer was one of the most effectual instruments of deception. It was a beautiful, milk white animal, and he had assidu- ously trained it, so that it followed him every where, in the city and the field of battle. This scene attracted the notice, and excited the wonder of the ignorant barbarians. Taking advantage of their credulity and superstitous temper, he made it to be circulated, with an air of mystery, that Diana had sent him the deer to discover to him important secrets. To confirm this report, on receiving private intelligence of the enemy's motions, or of victory gained by any of his offi- cers, at a distance, he said that it was communicated to him by his deer, whom he sometimes crowned with flowers, and, presenting it to his soldiers, called them to thank the gods for having favoured him with an all-wise guide. By this, and other equally deiieptive plans, he acquired a complete ascen- dancy over the multitude, who were more inclined to regard him a god than a mortal man. Had Sertorius survived a few years, instead of his exploits being denominated a farce by historians, it would have been less wonderful had he raised, his republic equal, if not supe- ^^ 106 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. rior to that of Rome, than that the latter should attain to the undisputed sovereignty of the world, an event necessary to confirm the sure w^ord of prophecy. Though he failed in his object, yet he spread the fame of the Romans, and per- haps, contributed to strengthen their power, to extend the civilization of man, and prepare the races of Spain for the reception of divine knowledge, in the approaching age. While the number of the foreign enemies of the Roman power had decreased, it had still great difficuhies to contend with and surmount in Italy. In the centre of that country, Spartacus, a Thracian, and famous gladiator, raised an alarm- ing insurrection among the slaves. His army, at one time, amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand men. Tney laid waste the greater part of Italy, and were not conquered by Crassus till many thousands of them were slain in battle. The few who escaped were destroyed or subdued by Pompey, who^ with his usual vanity, boasted that he had restored peace to his country. These two generals divided the army of Italy between them ; and, as each was desirous to be the first person in the state, both declined to disband the troops. Pompey was the most popular ; but Crassus was the richest citizen, and, to procure public favour, expended vast sums in providing amusements for the people. Though covetous, yet he pre- pared a splendid and rich feast, where, at ten thousand tables he entertained all who pleased to share of his bounty ; and, at the same time, distributed corn sufficient to maintain the mnumerable poor three months. Concealing their alienated feelings from one another, these great men proceeded to pro- pitiate the citizens by attacking the power of the nobles. Pompey had till this time supported his order ; but he was now most active to procure the repeal of the most valuable laws of Sylla, passed by him to arrest the people's efforts to subvert the authority of the senate. And in this violent and destructive proceeding they were soon apparently cordially united, and exceedingly encouraged, by the advice of Julius Cesar, who was rapidly rising in public favour, partly by his eloquence and military talents, but still more by his perseve- rance in undermining the influence of the senate and nobles. This great man, distinguished by insatiable ambition, versal- ^^y of genius, and destitution of moral excellence, boasted that his remote ancestors had descended from a god ; and some events in his life were conclusive proof to many vota- ries of superstition that he was specially protected by the 1 THE FOURTH, OR ROBCAN EMTIRE. 107 gods. He had married the daughter of Cinna, and was nearly related to Marius, whose wife was his aunt. Sylla had commanded him to separate from his wife, as the condi- tion of escaping the fatal lot of his friends. He refused, and would have suffered death, had not some friends of both par- ties prevailed on Sylla to spare him. In conceding to their wishes, he at once intimated the greatness of the favour, and showed that he knew well the character of Cesar ; for he said, " Beware of that young man, for in him there are many a Marius." A few years later, Cesar, on his passage from Rome to Rhodes, where he purposed to imp'^ve in elocution, under a celebrated master of eloquence, was^ken by pirates, whom, after threatening and amusing, he persuaded to libe- rate him for about ten thousand pounds. On landing at Miletus, he collected a few armed vessels, pursued and over- came his captors, and put them all to death by crucifixion. His preservation was perhaps still more remarkable at the time when he strongly insisted that those implicated in the Cataline conspiracy should be leniently treated ; for, being suspected to have secretly encouraged Cataline the guards of the senate, on his leaving it, were prepared with naked swords to kill him, and only allowed him to escape in conse- quence of Cicero, who was then consul, showing his disap- probation of their conduct. Though Cesar, Crassus, and Pompey genally acted together for a time, yet each had a distinct party who sedulously laboured to promote the sepa- rate interest of their respective patron. The most illustrious orator of Rome, Cicero, favoured Pompey; and notwith- standing his attachment to the cause of the patricians, his desire to please all classes impelled him to support the lofty pretensions of his friend, and apologise for his dubious con- duct by asserting that Pompey was to be less feared than Cesar. The highest legitimate honours of the state were viewed by Pompey as not at all equal to his merits, or, at least, to the transcendant talents and virtues which he wished all to believe that he was possessed of; and that therefore he ought to be raised above the most exahed dignitaries of the state. But the time was not quite arrived that the Romans should voluntarily cast away their liberty and honour. These ob- jects were now indeed slightly valued by the community. Riches, luxury, and licentious pleasures were the most popu- lar gods ; and except the celebrated Cato, and the small band who admired and imitated his stern virtue and unconquerabla • 108 THE FOURTH, OB. ROMAN EMfSk fortitude, few even of the senators would have sacrificed peV- sonal aggrandisement or sensual gratifications to the shrine of rational liberty. But it was not in the nature of Pompey resolutely to pursue, without disguise, a scheme of illegiti- mate ambition in the presence and in defiance of the opinion of such men as Cato. Accordingly, on entering the consu- late with Crassus, he singularised himself by taking an oath that he would not, at the expiration of his office, accept of any government- in the provinces; and, after his year was finished, he s\^ nearly two years as a private citizen, sel- dom appearin ^^. public ; but when he did, it was always in great state. Probably by thus acting he wished the people to regard his conduct as a decisive evidence that he was a per- son whom they might safely trust with the greatest power and dignity ; and that as they could not, as he supposed, do without his services, it would be their wisdom to intrust him with power unknown to the laws. Two years was he allowed to keep his oath inviolate, and keenly to suflfer for his vain presumption ; for retirement had no real charms for him. To avoid the charge of perjury, and find an opportunity of adding to his glory, he suggested to his friends to procure him the authority to suppress and put an end to piracy. This was an office almost unknown in the state, and consequently the holding of it was apparently consistent with his oath. The crime of piracy had long pre- vailed ; but it had recently become intolerable, producing in- calculable sufferings in many countries. The pirates were so numerous that they seemed masters of the Mediterranean and its coasts. They spared no temple famed for its riches in Italy, Greece, or Asia. " They entered harbours, destroyed shipping, and pillaged the maritime towns. Ostia, the port of Rome, had been plundered by them. All the coasts of the empire were open to their depredations. The Roman niagis- trates were made prisoners in passing to and from their pro- vinces ; and citizens of every denomination, when taken by them, were forced to pay ransom, kept in captivity, or put to death. The supply of provisions to Italy was rendered ex- tremely difficult, and the price in proportion enhanced. Every report on these subjects was exaggerated by the intrigues of Pompey, who perceived, in this occasion of public distress, the object of a new and extraordinary commission to himself" By the efforts of his numerous friends, he was commissioned and invested almost with sovereign and absolute power, under the unimposing title of pro-consul, to make war on the pirates THE FOURTH, OK ROMAN EMPIRE. 109 To prevent this dangerous experiment, the senate indeed made the most strenuous exertions. The people, however, not only compelled the nobles to pass the resolutions of his friend Ga- binius, the tribune, supported, it is said, by Cesar, but also to confer on him more than even his most zealous advocates were disposed to ask. He was intrusted with supreme com- mand, for three years, over all the fleets and armies of the re- public, in every sea, and on every coast, within fifty miles from land; and was authorised to equip five hundred ships, raise one hundred and twenty thousand men, and choose about twenty senators for his lieutenants, and two quaestors. Before he left Rome, he received a large sum of money for the public service. In his journey through Italy to Brundu- sium, he exhibited the magnificence and dignity of a monarch, and was every where received with acclamations by all ranks. In less than six months he cleared all the seas of the empire of pirates. "Seventy-two galleys were sunk, three hundred and six were taken, and a hundred and twenty piratical har- bours or strongholds on shore were destroyed. Ten thou- sand of the pirates were killed in action, and twenty thousand, who had surrendered themselves, remained prisoners at the end of the war. These Pompey, having sufficiently de- prived of the means of returning to their former way of life, transplanted to different parts of the continent, where the late or present troubles, by thinning the inhabitants, had made room for them. Upon this occasion he repeopled the city of Soli in Cilicia, vrliicih had boen lately laid v^raste, and forcibly emptied of its inhabitants by Tigranes, to replenish his newly established capital of Tigranocerta in Armenia. After this re-establishment of Soli, the place, in honour of its restorer, came to be known by the name of Pompeiopolis." Many thousand Roman citizens, several of whom were of the high- est rank, were rescued from l!ie hands of the pirates, and re- stored to their country and families. The report of his victories had no sooner reached Rome, than his friends, including Cesar and Cicero, in compliance with his known wishes, proposed to augment his power, and to commit to him the government of the provinces of the in- terior of Asia Minor, and the management of the war against Mithridates and Tigranes, whom the accomplished general LucuUus had overcome, but was prevented from completely conquering by the unexpected mutiny of his army. Pompey's progress in Asia and Syria was almost an uninterrupted triumph ; and, for the three years that he had the entire direc- VOL. 11. 10 110 T^ FOURTH, OF ROMAN EMPIRE. tion of the affairs of these vast regions, his name was certain- ly the most celebrated in the Roman empire ; and his glory and influence were increased when, instead of leading his army though Italy, after his return from Asia, he disbanded them at Brundusium, with instructions to attend him at his triumph, and advanced to Rome with the ordinary equipage pf his proconsular rank. His request of a triumph was will- ingly granted; and his procession, \vhich lasted two days, " was by far the most magnificent that had been seen in Rome. Before his chariot marched three hundred and twenty-four captives of great distinction, among whom were Aristobulus king of Judea, and his son Antigonus ; Olthaces, king of Colchis ; Tigranes, the son of Tigranes, king of Armenia, with his wife and daughter ; five sons and two daughters of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and a queen of Scythia. The spoils carried before him were valued at above three millions sterling ; and the gold and silver coin, which he delivered to the quaestors, amounted to thrice that sum, not reckoning the large donatives which he bestowed on his soldiers ; for he ordered one thousand five hundred drachmas to each soldier of his army, that is, near fifty pounds sterling, and rewarded all the officers in proportion. He did not put any of the cap- tives to death, according to the practice of other generals, nei- ther did he keep them in prison ; but sent them all, except Aristo- bulus and Tigranes, to their' respective countries at the public expense." The ceremony being over, he resumed the manners of a private citizen ; in hopes, it is supposed, that the sovereign- ty of the empire would be forced upon him by the community, from the consideration that he alone was capable to preserve the state from the calamities of new seditions and conspiracies. The Romans had recently been rescued from one of the most alarming and dangerous confederacies which had been formed in Rome. Cataline, a man of noble birth, but one of the most profligate in a most degenerate age, had seduced a number of senators, all the youths of Rome who had by dissipation consumed their property, and many soldiers, to set fire to several parts of the city, on a certain day, and, in the confusion which would inevitably follow, to murder the chief men and subvert the government. Cicero, the timid but hon- est patriot, displayed much wisdom in the detection of this diabolical plot, and fortitude in the punishment of the conspi- rators. In revenge for his adherence to the cause of the senate, Clodius, instigated by Cesar, some time after procured his exile, which he had not courage to endure ; and his ^rati- L % THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. til tude to those through whose influence he was restored to Rome led him to approve or sanction some of those measures which were subversive of the liberty of his country. While Pompey was in Asia, Cesar laboured most assidu- ously to recommend himself to the lower classes of citizens, and to alienate them from the higher orders, who generally viewed him with suspicion, and endeavoured to defeat his various schemes to destroy the constitution of the republic. He had, by popular influence, risen to some of the most im- portant oflices, and had been intrusted with the government of Spain, where he enlarged the territories of Rome, by sub- duing several nations that had either not been attacked by former Roman commanders, or had succssfully resisted thent He found, on returning to Rome, that the power was chiefly divided between Crassus and Pompey ; and by his subtle pol- icy, persuaded them to pass over past causes of alienation and jealousy, and unite with him ; by which union they would be able to govern the whole empire, and dispose at pleasure of all its dignities, employments, riches, and honours. This alliance, formed b. c. 60, was denominated the First Triumvir ate J the government of three men, the prelude of the overthrow of the republic, and of the establishment of that complete system of universal despotism, the government most appropriate for the mighty power of the terrible and name- less beast, whose pleasure consisted in rioting alone on his prey. The authors of this great political coalition, in order to conceal it from their respective opponents, continued to act before the public, each as the head of his party. But when those known to be rivals were observed mutually to promote one another's interests their connexion was more than sus- pected, and agitated the minds of the few who were sincere- ly attached to the republic ; for what hope could they cherish of being able to resist the combined power of the triumvirate, each of whom seemed an invincible army? It is, however, questionable if any one of the three contemplated or desired the permanent division of power ; and indeed none who knew Cesar believed that he would ever rest satisfied with any thing less than the exclusive possession of sovereign dominion. Each most probably regarded the coalition as a happy experi- ment by which he would be able more speedily to reach the ultimate object of his ambition ; and Cesar found it most effec- tive to carry him forward in his aspiring and finally victorious career. Had he not had at command the popularity of Pom- pey and the immens*^ riches of Crassus, it is scarcely probable 112 TBE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. ^hat he would have successfully defied all the efforts of the '^Senate to limit his means, and arrest his progress, to ascend "tar above the loftiest seat of the republic. He soon was ap- pointed consul, and by carrying laws which were apparently most equitable in their nature, and beneficial in their tendency, to advance the happiness of all classes without benefitting him- self, he became the idol of the people, and disposed them to ■^view the nobles who opposed him as their common and de- termined enemies. And thus he was enabled more easily to attain what he considered a much more important object, and one which no Roman had in former times ever presumed to seek, or at least hope to obtain. This was no less than to place himself at the head of what may be called a standing army, stationed so as to overawe or control the proceedings of his powerful opponents. Gaul was at this time in danger of being overrun by a race of barbarians named Helvetii. This afforded a favourable opportunity for Cesar to proceed with his plans. His friend Vatinius, a tribune, moved the comitium to commit to him the government of Cisalpine Gaul, or that region of modern Italy extending from the Rubico, the present Fiumesino, to the Alps, with the title of pro-consul, and the command of three legions for five years. This proposition of violating one of the most wise of the military laws, which limited the com- mand of armies to one year, was most offensive to the senate. In vain they tried to set it aside. Probably to diminish the power of Cesar, by augmenting his labour and care, they in- considerately produced the very opposite results, by commit- ting to him also Transalpine Gaul, with the addition of only one legion. This decision of the senate is said to have made Cato exclaim, " Now you have taken to yourself a king, and have placed him with his guards in your citadel." On the restoration of Cicero to Rome, he complied with the strongly expressed wishes of the people to move in the senate that Pompey should be commissioned with unlimited power, for five years, over all the ports of the Mediterranean, I to supply Rome with provisions. To this motion the senate reluctantly agreed. This, however, could not prevent the di- minution of Pompey's influence ; for the recollection of his splendid deeds was almost effaced by the more recent extra- ordinary success of Cesar, in his two campaigns beyond the Alps. By the prodigious riches which he had collected, chiefly by robbing the temples of the nations whom he had conquered in Gaul, and which he lavishly dispersed in Italy, i h THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 113 he purchased the friendship or support of many persons of distinction, kept up constant intercourse with Rome, knew the state of every family ; and when he could not reach the mas- ter, he paid his court to the mistress, or to the favourite slave. When not engaged in prosecuting the war in Transalpine Gaul or Germany, he usually spent his time in Cisalpine Gaul, and formed a close connexion with the principal citi- zens of Rome. Accordingly, we are informed that he was surrounded with the splendour of a court in Lucca, one of the northern cities of Italy Proper, where he passed the win- ter. Not fewer than two hundred senators were present with him at one time ; and so many of them were members of government, that the lictors, who with the badges of office paraded the entrance into his quarters, amounted to one hun- dred and twenty. Under the pretence of proceeding to Sicily and Sardinia for the purchase of corn, Pompey, accompanied with Crassus, visited Cesar at Lucca, where they renewed their confederacy, and resolved that Crassus and Pompey should secure for themselves the office of consuls ; and that, after the expiry of the terms, the former should assume the government of Syria, and the latter that of Spain and Africa, while Cesar should be continued in his present command, with an army sufficient to maintain and extend his power. He opened his next campaign with brilliant success, by subduing the Gauls, occupying the coasts opposite Britain ; and his partners in power took possession of the consulate by force, and filled all the subordinate offices with their own servile followers. Pom- pey sought by various ways to recommend himself to the people. One of the most acceptable to the debased Romans was " the opening of the magnificent theatre which he him- self, or his freedman Demetrius, had erected for the accom- modation of the people at their public shows. At this solem- nity were exhibited many dramatic performances and enter- tainments of every sort. Among these, in the course of five days, no less than five hundred lions were let loose and killed by African huntsmen ; and the whole concluded with the baiting of eighteen elephants, animals that seemed to have sagacity enough to be conscious of the indignity and the wrong which they suffered. By their piteous cries they moved compassion in the breasts even of that barbarous rab- ble for whose entertainment they were slain." Crassus and Pompey, notwithstanding the resistance of the friends of liberty, even to the loss of some lives, obtained the 10* 114 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. appointments which they wished, for five years, and they im- mediately prevailed on the people to continue Cesar in his government an additional five years. On this occasion Cato said to Pompey, " You are preparing the burden for your own shoulders. It will one day fail on the republic, but not till after it has crushed you to the ground." Crassus seems to have attained pre-eminence in Rome by his profuse expen- diture, much more than by his intellectual capacity. This may have made him suppose that wealth constitutes power. He is said to have been almost as remarkable for covetous- ness as for wealth, and love of power and fame. From the hope of acquiring great increase of riches in the East, he was not only gratified by his official appointment, but hasted to reach Syria. All the regions of the preceding three em- pires, except those held by the king of Parthia, were now subjected to Rome, and enjoyed comparative peace. Crassus nevertheless, made great preparations for war; exulted in the prospect of conquest, and vainly talked of his future disposal or sales of kingdoms and cities. Hence it was evident that he designed to attack the Parthians. How he failed in his schemes, exposed his army to disgrace, and perished in the conflict, we have slightly noticed in a former page. Pompey was not less elated by his new honours, and flat- tered himself that the sovereignty of the empire lay at his feet ; he had, in his imagination, only to express his will, and the whole army would hail him head of the empire. Pre- sumptuously confident, he said, " In Italy I can raise forces with the stamp of my foot." In the meantime the measures which he pursued were, in relation to the soldiers, certainly, although not visibly, consuming the bonds by which they are usually held by their leaders. He raised a considerable army for the protection of Spain ; but he placed them under the command of his officers. And, instead of proceeding to the seats of his government in Spain or Africa, he remained at Rome, and conducted himself as if he had the exclusive right to direct all her afiairs, most careful at the same time to show the greatest deference for the authority of the senate and comitium. Cesar exceedingly surpassed, as a politician, his partners in power. While Crassus indulged romantic expectations of enlarging his power by the accumnlation of weaUh, and Pompey assumed almost the dignity, and far more than the common magnificence, of a king, Cesar was diligently aug- menting his army, strengthening their passion for war and -* THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 115 Mood, and stimulating their vanity and pride, by leading them to combat and triumph in countries unknown to the Romans ; adding extensive territories and various nations to the empire ; and effectually laying under restraint the barbarous races who rushed from the north or east, and in their course deso- lated every land. But while Germany was drenched with the blood of her people, and part of Britain was conquered by the arms of Cesar, he was assiduous in his efforts, and expended incalculable riches to render his name either be- loved, admired, or dreaded by every Roman citizen. Besides the sums sent his numerous emissaries, he caused some of the finest buildings at Rome to be erected at his expense, while he was engaged in war on the Rhine and on the Thames. And, in the lapse of a brief period, the internal state of the republic opened to him, — the near approach of what, it is believed, he had long desired and prepared for, — the great and final struggle for the sovereignty of the most mighty and most illustrious empire which had ever appeared on the globe. Pompey, for a time, concentrated in himself the entire influence of the Triumvirate ; for the retainers of his col- leagues were as ready as his own to support him. Hence, by the unreflecting, he was acknowledged the greatest man in the empire. And he actually assumed the majesty and mag- nificence becoming his apparent greatness. But his vanity could not be satiated while he was not publicly acknowledged by all ranks to be the sole head of the empire. That the time was come for him to lay hold on this grand prize was probably suggested to his buoyant mind by some recent events, which induced him, if we may credit the assertions of his opponents, to originate, or, at least, secretly sanction certain schemes tending to plunge the republic into seemingly inextricable difliculties^ disorder, anarchy, tumuk, and blood. The death of Crassus left him no powerful rival, except Ce- sar ; and the chief object by which his apparent union to him had been maintained had disappeared for ever. His wife, the sister of Cesar, and her only child, had lately died. And though he still publicly called Cesar his friend, yet he was no longer zealous to support his interests. Cesar, on the other hand, not only increased the number of his troops, but employed every art to attach them to his person. The senate justly viewed this as a strong confirmation of the suspicion, which they had long entertained, that he contemplated to ef- fect by force what he had sometimes, inadvertently or w^ith ■ m f 116 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. design to intimidate, confessed to be his purpose, — ^the entire subversion of the republic. Pompey not only sympathised with the fears of the nobles, and avowed intentions to weaken the power of Cesar, but he. resolved to raise an army suffi- cient to oppose him ; and in order that he might be able to command all the resources of the state, he stimulated his friends to demand that he should be appointed dictator. Ac- cordingly, when the season arrived to elect consuls for the succeeding year, the community divided into parties, and fierce and bloody contentions prevailed, so that the time passed without any one being appointed to the office. Thus the republic was deprived of the principal ministers of gov- ernment. The senate in vain proposed the only legitimate scheme, the appointment of an interrex, which was the title given him who was invested with authority to preside in the assembly which met to restore the supreme magistracy. The city became a scene of utter confusion ; the senate house and other public buildings were burnt ; and the lives of the chief men were exposed to the most imminent danger. For some days, armed multitudes of citizens and slaves traversed the streets and pillaged every place into which they could find entrance. The retainers of Pompey daily renewed their cries to name him dictator. The title recalled the most san- guinary days of Sylla, and, to avoid it, Bibulus moved the sen- ate to elect Pompey sole consul, and empower him to choose, after the lapse of two months, a colleague. " Cato, to the surprise of every body, seconded this motion. He observed, that any magistracy was preferable to none, and that if the republic must be governed by a single person, none was so fit for the charge as the person now proposed. Pompey be- ing present, thanked Cato for this declaration of his esteem, and said he would accept of the charge, in hopes of being aided by his counsel." Cato is said to have answered that he deserved no thanks from Pompey, for he had only done what the times aUowed for the good of the republic. Pompey was not accustomed to ingraft tyranny on power committed to him ; and in accordance with his general con- duct, he executed his high trust with fidelity, and was ap- proved by his constituents, especially by those of the higher classes. They probably, from this time, looked to him as their chief strength against Cesar. But the former violated in some instances, the first principles of the constitution, which he always pretended to respect, and supplied the latter with most plausible arguments to justify his claims to autho- i :• THE FOURTH, OR ROIIAN EMPIRE. 117 rity and power, incompatible with the national liberty. In- deed, Pompey procured for himself privileges which he instituted laws to prevent any one else from legitimately enjoying. Thus, at his suggestion, it was decreed that no consul, praetor, or quaestor could receive a lucrative appoint- ment in the provinces, till five years after he had served the term of his office. Before, however, this law was proposed, he had secured his continuance in the government of Spain for five years longer. It is not, therefore, surprising that Cesar demanded that he should, contrary to law, be admitted to the consulate, while he remained at the head of his army. This was no more than had been granted Pompey; and he insisted that his services for the republic merited equal honour. His bold- ness in claiming, as his right, that which the senate alone had authority to bestow according as they, in their collective wisdom, judged expedient or proper, provoked their indig- nation, and roused their fears; and led on by Cato, they resolved to call on him to resign his command of the army, before standing candidate for consul. Having declined this, they ordered him to disband his troops, because they were not now needed, and his time to hold the provinces of Gaul was near its termination. His friends replied that he would obey, when Pompey disbanded his army ; for, unless this condition was complied with, he could not consider himself safe. Their opinion was corroborated by his letter to the senate, in which he stated, " That Cesar should be allowed to retain the honours which the Roman people had bestowed upon him ; that he should be left upon a footing of equality with other officers, who were allowed to join civil office at Rome with military establishments in the provinces ; and that he should not be singled out as the sole object of their distrust and severity." This language was regarded as pre- sumptuous, for he plainly prescribed to the senators, and' many of them considered it a declaration of war. After seven days disputing, it was decreed to order Cesar to dis- miss his army, and by a certain day to retire from his pro- vinces, or in case of disobedience, declaring him an enemy to his country. Tiie tribunes, Mark Antony and Gluintus Cassius, interposed with their negative. The hands of the senate being thus tied up by the prohibition or interdict of the tribunes, it was moved that the members should put on mourning, in order to impress the people with a deeper sense of the calamity which was likely to ensue from the contu- 118 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. macy of these factious officers. This likewise the tribunes forbade ; but the senate being- adjourned, all the members, as of their own accord, returned to their next meeting in habits of mourning, and proceeded to consider in what manner they might remove the difficulty which arose from this fac- tious interposition of the tribunes. In the conclusion of this deliberation, it was determined to give to the consuls and other magistrates, together with Pompey, in the character of proconsul, the charge usual in the most dangerous conjunc- tures; to preserve the commonwealth by such means as to their discretion should appear to be necessary." The tribunes, who had advocated the cause of Cesar, and the profligate young patricians whom he had bribed by an immense sum to betray the senate, pretending that their lives were in danger, disguised themselves in the habit of slaves, and fled in the night to Cesar, who, with a small number of troops, was fixed at Ravenna, at that time a seaport of Cis- alpine Gaul, on the Adriatic. He presented his friends to 'his soldiers, informed them of the wrong done him by the senate, and asked them if they would desert him, who had for nine years led them to conquest for the honour of their country. They loudly proclaimed that they were ready to revenge the injuries inflicted on him and his friends. Two days after, he occupied Ariminum, a strong fortress near the Rubicon, the celebrated stream that divided Italy Proper from Cisalpine Gaul. History represents Cesar hesitating how to act, when he reached the Rubicon. This is not pro- bable, considering his fearless spirit ; but the most selfish and inhuman sometimes feel for human woe. And he may have said, " If I do not cross the river, I am undone: and if I do cross it, how many calamities shall I bring on Rome" The consuls C. C. Marcellus, and L. C. Lentulus went to Pompey, who was in the vicinity of the city, delivered to him the de- cision of the senate, and committed to him the supreme com- mand over the treasury and all the forces of the republic, in every quarter of the empire. Thus civil war became obvi- ously inevitable ; and the resuk was the abolition of the Ro- man republic, and the establishment of the Roman dominion in the whole empire. Cesar assumed henceforth extreme moderation, lamented the probable calamities of a civil war, and made repeated proposals of peace, while he urged his military operations with even more than his usual rapidity. He summoned his army to join him in Italy ; but immediately proceeded with # THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 119 his small band to take possession of various places necessary to procure supplies for his forces, and open his way fo Rome. His movements terrified the inhabitants of the country lying- between him and the nnetropolis ; and multitudes fled thither to escape his vengeance, for they apprehended a repetition of the dreadful deeds of Marius, Cinna, and Sylla. They knew not the character of *he man to whom they were now called to submit. Courtesy, clemency, and generosity accompanied his steps. Human life he indeed valued not ; but he knew how to gain the confidence of man. The authority of the senate, and the influence of Pompey failed to collect an army adequate, in the opinion of the latter, to defend Rome. In- deed, many of the troops whom he levied joined the standard of his popular rival. And as Pompey seldom risked a battle when he had not strong reason to expect victory, he resolved to desert the city. He therefore summoned the senate, and called on all who chose not to be implicated in the bloody acts which he said Cesar might commit, to depart from Rome, and fix the seat of government at Capua, where he proposed to assemble the forces of the republic. Cesar continued to advance on Rome, and he found the gates of all the cities and towns open to admit him. Peace was still on his lips ; and war the aelight of his heart. He spared those of his opponents who became his prisoners, dis- missed them with all the honours belonging to their rank, and touched neither personal property nor the public money. The fame of his mild and disiuterested conduct spread over Italy, and he would have been gladly received at Rome. But Pompey had left Capua, and rapidly marched to Brun- dusium, having sent before him confidential persons, to pro- vide vessels in which he purposed to embark with his army. On his progress, he was forsaken by not a few of his offi- cers, who hastened to enter the service of Cesar. That en- terprising- general pursued him, prepared to besiege the city, and published an address, expressive of his solicitude for peace. His efforts to take the city were unsuccessful, until Pompey, the greater part of the senate, officers of st-ate, and army, had sailed for Epirus. Thus Cesar auspiciously reached in sixty days the first post on the course, at the ter- mination of which was conspicuous in his view the most splendid of all prizes to his aspiring spirit, — the sovereignty of the world. Few of his own troops had arrived to aid him in his enterprise ; but many of those raised to oppose him daily joined him, and transformed his daring race ai« «= # 120 * THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. most into a triumphant procession. And every Roman, whose bosom was animated with any benevolence or com- passion, must have looked on the insurrection which Cesar conducted with some degree of pleasing- astonishment, when he compared it with the least sanguinary and destructive of the many insurrections recorded in the annals of Rome. All former actors resembled so many lions rioting among a large flock of feeble animals. Such was the consummate policy of Cesar that, utterly destitute as he was of humanity, his vvoiJs and deeds were those of one who could not look on human blood without horror, and who detested every form and -pecies of cruelty. He evidently wished to induce all to exclaim. Who would not willingly have this man for his ruler? He continued to assume the character of the man of peace, and showed more respect for the form of the republic than he had been accustomed to do, especially in relation to the senate. Believing that he had less reason to apprehend danger from those who had fled, and left him as entire mas- ter of all Italy as he had been for some time of all Gaul, than from their friends in Spain, before pursuing the former, he determined to acquire possession of that country. In the meantime, he adopted measures, by which he obtained pos- session of Sardinia and Sicily, and secured the tranquillity of Italy. Leaving his victorious troops to rest a short time, and having ordered ships to be collected to convey them to Spain, he proceeded to Rome, and summoned all the senators, who had not deserted their country to meet him, to consult on the aflfairs of the republic. They obeyed, but none of high rank had courage to welcome his approach. His father-in-law, Calpurnius Piso, did not even countenance him. The only important officers of state who remained at Rome, besides those tribunes who were his own agents, were M. Marcus Lepidus, praetor, the tribune C. Metellus, who wished to pre- serve the public peace. Under pretence of veneration for ancient customs, Cesar declined to enter the city, and selected the suburbs for his own residence, and that of the band who had accompanied him. Thither the citizens crowded to be- hold the conqueror, after an absence of almost ten years. Marc Antony, his most able and active emissary, proposed that the senators should assemble without the city, that they might afford him an opportunity to plead his own cause in their presence. He opened the meeting by enumerating the wrongs which had been done him, and by loading his oppo- nents with the guih of the civil war. He pourtrayed, with ^ ®= THE FOURTH, OR ROHAN EMPIRE. 121 his usual eloquence, his moderation in having offered to re- sign his command, while his rival officers resolutely retained theirs, or at least insisted that he should submit to conditions, which would have made him dependent on their pleasure ; they had thus chosen to throw the state into confusion rather than acknowledge him their equal, notwithstanding of his zealous and numerous services to advance the interests and honours of the republic. Instead of expressing resentment, he strenuously endeavoured to reconcile all classes to his cause, and affected kindness for those who were in arms against him. He earnestly exhorted the senators not to de- sert the commonwealth, nor to oppose such as, in concert with him, might endeavour to restore the government; but if they should shrink in this arduous task, he should not press it upon them. He knew how to act for himself If his opinion were followed, deputies should be now sent from the senate to Pompey, with entreaties that he would spare the republic. He knew that Pompey had formerly objected to his having any such deputation sent to himself, considering such advances as a concession of right in him to whom they were made, or of fear in those who made them. " These," he said, " were the reflections of a narrow mind ; for his own part, as he wished to overcome his enemies in the field, so he wished to excel them in acts of generosity and candour." This profound dissimulation increased his fame, and many contrasted, much to his advantage, what they regarded his generous and noble conduct, with that exemplified by Pompey, who, considering himself intrusted with the gov- ernment and laws, had announced his purpose to vindicate the honours of his office, and enforce reverence for the laws, by inflicting the severest punishment on all who refused to follow him from Rome. "Proscription and massacre of every one who adhered not to the senate and his party, were familiar terms at his head quarters." Cesar was manifestly solicitous to accomplish all his de- signs without so violating the laws of the state as to rouse the passions of the multitude. He assembled what he called the senate, to procure their sanction to any plans which, whe- ther they approved or not, he was resolved to adopt. Ac- cordingly, when they dissented, he acted independent of them, and by force he speedily obtained what the most per- suasive or artful arguments could not prevail on them to grant. "Pompey had been authorised to draw from the treasures of the commonwealth whatever money he wanted VOL. u. 11 ^ 122 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. for the service. At his departure, he ordered the whole to be removed ; and the consul Lentulus was about to execute this order, when a sudden alarm of Cesar's approach obliged him to desist, and left him time only to carry away the keys of the public repositories. Cesar now moved the senate, that the treasury doors should be opened, and that the public money should be issued from thence to defray the expense of the war. To this motion the tribune Metellus Celer opposed his negative; and Cesar, disdaining any longer to wear a mask which subjected him to the observance of insignificant forms, proceeded to the treasury, and ordered the doors to be forced. The tribune had the boldness to place himself in the way, and was about to reduce Cesar to the disagreeable alternative of being disappointed of his purpose, or of ren- dering himself the object of popular detestation, by violating the sacred person of a tribune, from a veneration to which he himself professed to have undertaken the war. On this oc- casion, contrary to his usual character, he appeared to have lost his temper, and threatened Metellus with immediate death. " This," he said, " is easier for me to execute than to utter." It was thought, that if the tribune had persisted, not only this officer, but numbers of the senators, and many of the more respectable citizens, whom he considered as enemies and promoters of the tribune's contumacy, v^^ould have been involved in a general massacre. " Think not," said Curio, in relating these particulars to Cicero, "that his clemency proceeds from temper, or is secured to you by any real dis- position of his mind. It is a mere effect of his policy : he is naturally indifferent to blood, and, if he is provoked, will make it to run in the kennels." The tribune Metellus, how- ever, when matters were coming to this extremity, suffered himself to be removed. The doors were forced open, all the money was taken from thence, even the sacred deposit sup- posed to have remained from the time of the rebuilding of Rome after its destruction by the Gauls, and still kept as a resource for the utmost exigency of public affairs, was now carried off I have subdued the Gauls, said Cesar, and there is no longer any need of such provision against them. He is said, on this occasion, to have carried off in bars, 25,000lb. of gold, 35,0001b. of silver, and in coin, 40,000,000 Roman money ; or about one million sterling. Provoked by the obstancy of the principal men in the city, he dreaded to make an appeal to the multitude, and after a few days, left Rome apparently exceedingly offended. From THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 123 this time intelligent observers of passing events regarded the republic abolished, and Cesar the head of the empire. And as no one of her great genersds had ever extended its domin- ion over so many regions unknown to the Romans, so no one had hitherto showed himself capable of thoroughly establish- ing the Roman power over the numerous conquered king- doms, nations, and provinces. The ages of military prowess and enthusiastic admiration of liberty which characterised the Romans were indeed past ; and their enervated, sensual, and licentious decendants were prepared to carry the yoke of des- potism : it became them well ; and Cesar was fitted to make them submit to it with all the visible signs of joy which their ancestors discovered when emancipated from the tyranny of their ancient kings. The governors of all the provinces owed their appointments to Pompey, and might be expected to support him. But Spain was his favourite province ; and he had sent there three officers, with a large army, to act as his deputy govern- ors. Till they were subdued, Cesar justly concluded thdt his power was uncertain in Gaul or Italy ; for they might carry their armies, with Pompey, perhaps, at their head, into these countries, and overcome his forces. Having intrusted the government of Rome to the prsBtor Lepidus, and the army necessary to preserve peace in Italy, to M. Antony, he march- ed into Cisalpine Gaul, passed the Alps, and reached the im- portant city of Marseilles. The citizens had voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of Rome, and retained their own laws, and exemption from all the burdens imposed on conquered countries. To Cesar's request to be admitted into their city, they replied that they esteemed alike both par- ties into which the Romans were divided, and could not therefore show more respect for him than for his opponents. But their conduct soon proved their partiality for Pompey and the republican party, for they received some of Pompey's adherents: Cesar therefore resolved to reduce the city. This enterprise he, however, soon left to subordinate officers, pro- ceeded to Spain, and joined the army under Fabius, whom he had sent before him. He found his army stationed not far from that of the enemy, near Ilerda, the modern Lerida, a considerable town seated on the river Segra, in Catalonia. During some months, his affairs presented the most gloomy aspect ; for the contests of his troops secured him no advan- tage, and scarcity of provisions threatened to destroy them. The report of these things was rapidly circulated every • 124 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. where, and induced many, who were undecided in mind, to declare for Pompey. But he speedily surmounted all his dif- ficulties, and his skilful manoeuvres, and the success of his plans, confounded the opposing army, and excited the admi- ration and wonder of the Spaniards. Not a few of the for- mer Joined him ; and the latter readily supplied him with provisions. He, at length, succeeded in placing the army commanded by Afranius and Petreius, the lieutenants of Pom- pey, in a position the most dangerous and distressing, from which it seemed impossible that they should extricate them- selves. After passing four days without water and food, they were compelled to implore his clemency. He received them rather as his friends than enemies, and declared " that he de- manded nothing else but peace ; that they should suffer no injury, provided they left the province, and became bound not to serve his enemies for the future against him : that no one should be forced to take any active part on his side ; that all who committed no injury against him should be consid- ered as his friends ; and ^hat every man now in his power should be at liberty." He supplied them with provisions, and ordered their effects, if any were found in his camp, to be re- stored to them. He paid his own soldiers a high price for what they were in this manner desired to restore. By this measure he gained several advantages ; he lightened his bag- gage ; he made a gratification to his own men, without the imputation of bribery ; and he gained his late enemies by an act of generosity. The vanquished army accordingly came to Cesar with all their complaints, and appealed to him even from their own officers. It was impossible for mankind to resist so much ability, insinuation, and courage." The only troops of Pompey not subdued, were stationed at Gades, now Cadiz, under Varro. Cesar proceeded thi- ther, and received, on his progress the submission of the natives. One of the legions at Gades met him at Hispalis, the present Seville, and offered him their services. At Corduba, or Gor- dova, Varro resigned to him all the forces on land or sea, which were under his command. And in this city Cesar held a general convention for the settlement of Spain. He thanked the people for the favours which he had received from them, remitted the contributions, and withdrew the bur- dens which had been imposed on them by the lieutenants of Pompey, and appointed Gluintus Cassius governor, with five legions raised by Varro. Immediately after he went on board the fleet, which had been prepared also by Varro, sailed to ®= 125 Tarraco, or Terragona, and thence proceeded by land to Nar- bonne and Marseilles. The latter city, which resembled one of the small Grecian republics, had nobly resisted the most arduous efforts of the officers of Cesar to reduce it ; and though they had lost a number of their fleet, and had other- wise suffered much, yet they boldly repelled the besiegers, till Cesar arrived, covered with the glory of a conqueror, who seemed to delight in generous deeds. He augmented his fame by receiving the submission of Marseilles, without show- ing the least inclination to resentment or revenge. While he was in this city the news arrived that the citizens of Rome had proclaimed him dictator of the republic, and he hasted thither to be invested with the ensigns of this high office. On his journey he found the troops stationed at Placentia, alarm- ing the inhabitants by their violent and outrageous conduct. He soon quelled their mutinous spirit, and acquired much praise for his avowed determination to protect the rights of the community. And he gained the confidence and applause of all ranks by the prudent use he made of the authority con- ferred on him in Rome, and especially by his resigning the office of dictator as soon as he had passed some laws suited to advance the public good, and seen the government intrust- ed to legitimate officers. He and S. Isauricus were chosen consuls for the succeeding year. To increase the number of his friends, he obtained an act of indemnity for all oflTen^es committed against him from the commencement of the civil war, nnd a vote that all the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul should enjoy the immunities of Roman citizens. In less than two weeks he left Rome for Brundusium, where he had or- dered his troops to meet him, in order to embark in pursuit of Pompey. That general had now under his command a pow- erful army of more than seventy thousand men, and a large fleet of eight hundred ships. He had likewise "found mag- azines of provisions collected from Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, and Cyrene. The principal resort of his land forces was at Berrhoea, on the fertile plains between the Axius and Haliacmon, that run into the bay of Thermae. The Roman senate was represented at Thessalonica by two hundred of that body, who, together with the two consuls, held their as- semblies, and assumed all the functions of the Roman state. The Roman people were likewise represented by the con- course of respectable citizens, who repaired to the army or to this place " Pompey proposed, as early as convenient to in- vade Italy, and hoped, by his mighty army, to establish the 11* 1^ THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. higfh reputation which his mihtary talents and success had procured him, and completely subdue his opponents. Bui while he supposed Cesar to be occupied with the affairs oi Rome and Italy, that enterprising general had sailed with only seven legions, succeeded in escaping the notice of Pompey's fleet, and reached a very dangerous part of the coast of Epi- rus, where he was least expected, under the lofty promontory named Acroceranus. Though the army under his personal command were generally victorious, yet the officers whom he had sent to lUyricum and Africa to take possession of these countries, had been defeated. In these circumstances, he pre- tended to be desirous of peace. Accordingly, before he land- ed his troops, he sent V. Rufus, an officer of Pompey, whom he had taken captive, to his general, with proposals to " refer all their differences to the senate, in Rome ; and that each of them should, in the meantime, swear, at the head of their re- spective armies, that, in three days, they should disband all their forces, in order that, being disarmed, they might sever- ally be under a necessity to submit to the legal government of their country ; that he himself, to remove all difficulties on the part of Pompey, should begin with dismissing all the troops that were under his command whether in garrison or in the field." By thus acting he expected to throw the whole blame of the continuance of the war on his opponents. He well knew that they would not listen to his proposals ; and he, therefore, immediately landed his troops, and advanced^ to Oricum, which was occupied by a garrison commanded by L. Tor- quatus. He presented hitnself as one of the consuls of Rome, preceded by the ensigns of this office. The garrison instantly surrendered. Thence he proceeded to ApoUonia, whose inhabitants, disregarding the authority of their Roman governor, at once received him. These examples were fol- lowed by all the towns of Epirus; so that he was at liberty to march rapidly on to Dyrrachium, the present Dyrazzo, a good seaport on the coast, almost opposite Brundusium, in Italy. This place contained the principal military stores and magazines of Pompey. Cesar was exceedingly disappointed on approaching the port, to find that, notwithstanding the rapidity of his movements, Pompey was encamped under its walls ; and had sent some vessels to retake or block up the harbour of Oricum, and ordered the rest of his fleet to be so arranged as to prevent the passage of any more troops from Italy. If we credit the most eminent historians, Cesar felt THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 127 his situation now most critical, from the apparent inability or indisposition of his friends to send him re-enforcements. When he could no longer endure his anxiety and suspense, he adopted the extraordinary resolution of proceeding alone, and without the knowledge of any one, to Brundusium. He procured a fishing boat, and put to sea in the night. The rise of a sudden storm rendered unavailable all the labours of the boatmen. He had in silence witnessed their conduct, and, to encourage them, he surprised them by discovering himself to the master, and, seizing his hand, said, " Go on boldly, my friend, and fear nothing ; thou carrieet Cesar and his fortune with thee." The mariners, encouraged by Cesar's presence, used extraordinary efforts, and got out to sea ; but the storm was so violent that Cesar, despairing of being able to reach Italy, suffered the pilot to return to the coast, where his soldiers met him, and expressed, with tenderness and respect, their concern to see him so uneasy for want of more troops, as if he could not gain a victory with those who were present." He, however, soon obtained assistance from Italy ; for the scarcity of provisions having forced the fleet of Pom- pey to withdraw from the shores of Brundusium, M. Antony and Calenus immediately seized the opportunity of the first favourable wind to sail with four legions and eight hundred horse. M. Antony successfully avoided the opposing fleet, safely landed the greater number of the fsrces, and formed a junction with Cesar, who now eagerly desired to hasten on a general battle. This, however, accorded not with the policy of Pompey, who had resolved to prolong the contest, in the full confidence that the strength of Cesar would speedily be wasted, from the want of means of subsistence for his army. After various partial actions, Pompey's camp, situated on the sea shore, was almost cut off by Cesar, from the surrounding country ; and he felt compelled to attack his opponents, whom he completely defeated. Many considered the cause of Cesar now lost, but his courage and fortitude never failed. Nevertheless, he found It expedient to retire from the coast ; and such was his activity, that as soon as it was dark, the sick, wounded, and baggage, and one legion, were sent to Apollonia, a distance of thirty miles ; and at three in the morning the whole army, in pro- found silence, left the camp, and followed them. They were pursued some time by Pompey, but after the fourth day they were allowed to proceed. Cesar's reputation was much lessened by his late losses, and he found it difficuh to procure « 128 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. provisions on his march. On arriving at Gomphi, the first town of Thessaly, although the citizens had been formerly favourable to his cause, he was not admitted. In a few hours he compelled the garrison to surrender, and in a short time all the towns submitted to him, except Larissa the capital, which was possessed by Scipio Metellus, the father-in-law of Pompey. In the centre of Thessaly was seated the city of Pharsalia, in a rich plain watered by the Enipeus. Here Cesar encamped his troops, and waited to learn the move- ments of his opponents. They flattered themselves that vic- tory was theirs, and assembled to decide whether they should, being masters of the sea and triumphant on land, instantly return to Rome, or pursue and totally destroy him. They determined the latter, and Pompey followed him into Thes- saly. He was every where on his march hailed as victor ; and, on approaching Larissa, was met by his father-in-law, who, with his army, accompanied him to Pharsalia. Their united armies, amounting to forty-five thousand men and seven thousand horse, encamped on an eminence about three miles distant from Cesar's army, which consisted of not more than twenty-two thousand men, and one thousand horse. But many of the soldiers of the former were Asiatics, and few were accustomed to war, whereas the latter were veterans, who had fought and conquered in many battles. Pompey therefore wisely judged that he would more easily and effect- ually accomplish his object by harassing and wearing out his enemy than by encountering them in battle. And this policy pressed so hard on Cesar, that to save his troops from famine he determined to change his position, and move where he could procure subsistence, and, if possible, compel Pompey to fight. His plan would certainly have failed, had his rival been permitted to act according to his own enlightened judg- ment and enlarged experience in war. Being unhappily surrounded with many Roman senators and others of rank, who were incapable of comprehending the wisdom of his policy, and suspicious that love of power actuated him more than zeal for the public good, he was not always at liberty to regulate his conduct by his knowledge. They were con- stantly urging him to attack the enemy and finish the contest, which they maintained was completely in his power. His officers and troops were not less urgent to engage in battle, being confident of success. How reluctantly he yielded to their wishes, is manifest from his brief address to his army before the general engagement, which may be said to have # = i THE FOURTH, OR ROHAN EMPIRE. 129 finally dissolved the republic, and established the despotic government and the iron power of Rome over all nations. <' As I have been induced by your ardour to venture a battle, contrary to my own judgment, let me see you behave in il with bravery. As you surpass the enemy in numbers, strive to do so in courage and resolution. Look back with pleasure on the glorious battle of Dyrrachium ; maintain the glory yoii there acquired, and suffer not the best cause to sink under the desperate attempts of one whose intention is to deprive you of your liberty, and change the republic into a monarchy. Remember that Pompey leads you, that the authority of the senate supports you, and the gods protect you." The very day fixed by Pompey for battle was that on which Cesar had purposed to remove from his camp. His tents were taken down, and the signal for marching given, when he observed signs in his rival's army indicating an inclination to fight. He instantly gave orders to halt, exclaiming, " The time that we have so earnestly wished for is come, now let it be seen how we aje to acquit ourselves." Both parties presented similar standards, dress, and armour. When the trumpets gave the signal to advance, the sounds were the same, and many are said to have wept. Fierce was the onset, and san- guinary the combat ; but the army of the republic were speedily vanquished, and fled in the utmost disorder and con- fusion. Those who could not escape offered to capitulate, and many of all ranks voluntarily surrendered to the con- queror. Of those who had been formerly his prisoners, some were put to death, and others spared at the intercession of their friends in his army, to each of whom was granted one prisoner. The soldiers swore fidelity to Cesar, and were admitted into his service. The principal nobles in Rome had fallen in the conflict, and with them perished, in almost every one who survived, the hope of restoring the republic. Pom- pey is reported to have withdrawn to his camp in utter despair, as soon as he saw his cavalry flee ; his mental energy departed from him, and from this time he appears to have been con- cerned for the safety of his friends and family, rather than of his own honour or life. In a disguised dress, he rode to the coast of the beautiful valley of Tempe, whence he sailed with a few attendants to Amphipolis, a city seated at the mouth of the river Strymon, which separated Macedon from Thrace. His proclamation here requiring new levies to be made, and all the youth in Macedon to rise in defence of the republic, was probably issued to induce his enemy to pause ere he pur- » S 130 THE FOURTH, OF ROMAN EMPIRE. sued him ; for he evidently had no design, or perhaps hope^ of raising a new army in this region. He remained here only one night ; in the morning he proceeded to Mitylene, in the island of Lesbos, to protect his wife Cornelia and his youngest son. After visiting the coast of Cilicia, he sailed to Cyprus, where he seized all the public money, and vessels sufficient to carry two thousand soldiers, whom he had col- lected. With these he departed for Egypt, where he was treacherously murdered by the ministers of king Ptolemy Auletes, who had obtained the kingdom chiefly by his influ- ence. His head was preserved for Cesar, and his naked body thrown ignominiously on the beach. While he lived, Cesar considered his ultimate triumph doubtful, and accordingly, three days after the battle of Phar- salia, he set out for Asia in pursuit of him. Learning there that Pompey had gone to Egypt with a band of only about four thousand men, he followed him, and was apparently or really grieved on receiving information of his miserable end. He immediately procured liberty for his followers, who had been taken captive, and these in gratitude entered his service. This gave him an opportunity of boasting, as was his custom in his letters to Rome, that the greatest pleasure he enjoyed was every day to save the lives of some Romans who had taken up arms against him. He ordered Pompey's head, which had been brought to him, to be buried with great cer- emony, and erected a temple to Nemesis, the goddess of re- venge. The ashes of Pompey's burnt body were afterwards sent to Italy, and delivered to his wife, who deposited them at his house in the vicinity of the city of Alba. Cesar was early chained to Egypt, and risked his rising glory, reputation, and life, by involving himself in tumults and war to gratify the vanity and ambition of the infamous and undeservedly celebrated Cleopatra. This princess had claimed the right, derived from the will of her father, to share the kingdom with her brother. Instigated by his nfiin- isters, he not only refused her request, but expelled her from Egypt. She retired into Syria, raised an army, and led them against her brother. As the kingdom was under the pro- tection of Rome, Cesar summoned them before him, and, as the chief of the empire, he heard their respective complaints, and decided that they should reign jointly ; and granted Cyprus to their younger brother, called also Ptolemy, and their sister Arsinoe. This decision pleased the Egyptians ; but they were easily persuaded by Pathinus, an eunuch, the J #= THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. iSl Rimister who chiefly governed their king, to believe that Cesar designed to deliver them wholly over to Cleopatra. He persuaded his colleague Achillas to lead an army oi twenty thousand men to Alexandria. Thus originated a sanguinary war with Cesar, who, notwithstanding the small-* ness of his army, maintained his position till he obtained the assistance of a fleet and army, more than sufficient to destroy his opponents, and enable him to reduce the Egyptians into subjection. He conferred the kingdom on Cleopatra; and to please the people, who were averse to female rule, com- pelled her to marry her surviving brother, who was only eleven years old. The Jews having efficiently aided Cesar in Egypt, were highly honoured by him ; for he restored them to the full enjoyment of the peculiar privileges which had been granted them by the first kings of the Grecian dynasty. And to their brethren in Judea he was not less generous and courteous, when he passed through Syria to Asia to put an end to the commotions which were excited in the provinces by Phar- naces, son of Mithridates the Great. He so speedily and completely put an end to the attempt of this prince to recover Pontus and other regions over which his father had reigned, that in a letter to a friend he thus briefly describes his suc- cess: " Veni, vidi, vici," 1 came, I saw, I conquered " When the news of Cesar's triumph and Pompey's death reached Rome, the senate and people strove who should be- stow most honours on the conqueror, now absolute master of their liberties, lives, and fortunes. He was, by the unani- mous consent of all the orders of the republic, proclaimed consul for five years ; named dictator, contrary to the ancient custom, not for six months only, but for a whole year ; de- clared tribune of the people, and head of that college for his life ; empowered to make peace and war with whom he pleased, and to levy what forces he thought necessary ; so that all the dignities and power of the republic now centred in Cesar, who, without any violence or proscriptions, was raised to a higher pitch of power and authority than Sylla had acquired by the death and banishment of so many citi- zens. As the new dictator could not then go in person to Rome, to take possession of the many dignities conferred upon him, he appointed Marc Antony his general of the horse, and sent him with a detachment of troops to the capital, committing to him the government of Italy during his ab- sence." # 132 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. Having, in two years, settled the affairs of Egypt. Syria, Asia, and Greece, he suddenly returned to Rome, laden with wealth and the trophies of many victories. The news of his arrival at Tarentum brought him many Roman citizens to ' congratulate him on his triumphs, and not a few to implore his clemency. Among the latter was Cicero, whom he re- ceived with strong expressions of pleasure. His presence was longed for in Rome, whose citizens were kept in a state of continual agitation, alarm, and terror, by the arbitrary and despotic rule of M. Antony, and the violent and dissolute conduct of him and his soldiers ; and not less by the ambi- tious and turbulent spirit of the tribune Dolabella, who, in opposition to Antony, assiduously laboured to persuade the comitium to pass a decree remitting all debts. Cesar entered the city without any parade, accompanied by a small number of his soldiers. Peace was instantly restored ; his will was law, " though he affected to govern according to the ancient laws of the republic, and pretended to leave the senate and people in possession of their former privileges. Thus no change, in appearance, was visible in Rome ; yet all orders of men were subjected to the sovereign will of the dictator." Neither the assembly of the senators nor that of the people presumed to dispose of any appointments for the government of the city and provinces, except as he dictated. While, however, he was thus, in reality, the absolute sovereign of the empire, a powerful party remained, and was daily ac- quiring strength, to render uncertain the permanence of his power. He chose not to leave the subduing of these to his officers ; for his army rarely triumphed when he was not at their head. Having therefore restored tranquillity to Italy, he ordered his troops to assemble, and ships to be prepared for their embarkation, at Lillyboeum, the modern Marsala, a city seated on the western extremity of Sicily, nearly oppo- site Carthage in Africa, where almost all the surviving friends of Pompey and of the liberty of the republic had taken refuge. " Three hundred citizens, many of them sen- ators, and exiles from Italy, as well as settlers in that pro- vince, had assembled at Utica, and considering every other part of the empire as under the influence of a violent usurpa- tion, stated themselves as the only free remains of the Roman republic ; held their meetings in the capacity of senate and people; authorised, under these titles, the levies that were made in the province, and contributed largely to supply the expense of the war. Many oflicers of name and of rank, « T # THE FOURTH, OIL ROMAN EMFIRB. 138 Labienus, Afranius^ Petreius, as well as Scipio and Cato, with all the remains they had saved from the wreck at Phar- salia, were now ready to renew the war on this ground. The name of Scipio was reckoned ominous of success in Africa, and that of Cato, even if the origin or occasion of the pres- ent contest were unknown, was held a sufficient mark to distinguish the side of justice, and the cause of the republic. These leaders of the republican party having a considerable force at sea, and having access to all the ports, not only ot Africa, but likewise of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, had fur- nished themselves plentifully with all the necessaries for war. They had mustered ten legions, which, according to the es- tablishment of that time, may have amounted to fifty thou- sand Roman foot. They had twenty thousand African horse, a great body of archers and slingers, with a hundred and twenty elephants." They expected to be joined by Juba, king of Numidia, whose military talents had been displayed by his signal victory over the army commanded by Curio, whom Cesar had sent to take possession of Africa. The re- publican army were extremely desirous to be commanded by Cato ; but this enthusiastic votary of the republic, and most generous and just philosopher, declined to violate the law of his country by accepting an honour which was expressly limited to the highest officers of the state. He therefore pro- posed that Scipio, father-in-law of Pompey, and of consular rank, should be appointed general. Cesar owed much of the success of his greatest enterprises to his studied care to take his enemies by surprise. To effect this, he had sailed in the stormy season against Pompey, and came on him unexpectedly. In like manner, it was after the republican fleet, under the command of Varus, had been laid up at Utica for the stormy season, that Cesar braved the dan- gers of the ocean to encounter his opponents in Africa. He reached Sicily before many ships or troops were collected. Leaving orders for them to follow, he put to sea with the first fair wind, and landed at Adrumetum with not more than three thousand men, ahhough he knew that a force greatly superior, under Considius, an able officer, was ready to op- pose him. His boldness imposed on Considius, who had no idea that he would have ventured on shore with a small band ; and his sudden appearance alarmed and perplexed the garrison. The gates were shut, and the troops placed to defend themselves, when they ought to have attacked the in- truder. Cesar having in vain attempted, by threatening and VOL. u. 12 •= # m- 134 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. fiattery, to induce the faithful officer to submit, marched southwards to the cities of Ruspina and Leptis, where he was at once adnutted. Becoming impatient for his fleet, he had gone on board of a ship in the evening, with intention to set sail early on the next morning. On the return of light, some of the vessels were seen, and he had soon the gratification of receiving the greater number of his troops, whom he led in a kind of triumph to Ruspina, and stationed between the town and the shore. He repelled one attack of his oppo- nents, but their number in a short period placed him in a critical position ; for he was shut up in his entrenchments, and prevented from obtaining supplies from the country. He, however, was relieved by procuring provisions from the island of Cercina, to which he had sent Sallust the historian, with a few soldiers; and at the same time a considerable number of troops arrived, with a large supply of food. Thus strengthened, he advanced on the adjacent fortified town of Utica. After besieging it a short time, he resolved to search for a situation more favourable for meeting the enemy in a general battle. At length he posted his army at Thapsus, the principal seaport and garrison in the southern boundaries of the Roman province. The republican general Scipio, and Juba, with their respective armies, continued to follow and harass him, in hope of wearing him out ; but unhappily they adhered not to this wise policy, to which they had been strongly urged by Cato, who was left in charge of Utica. The importance of Thapsus determined them to give Cesar battle rather than permit him to reduce it. The conflict was short, but dreadfully murderous ; for though the routed army of Scipio cast away their arms, and saluted their victorious countrymen, yet these, like so many beasts of prey thirsting for blood, were deaf to the cry of the vanquished, and even contrary to the orders of their own general, put the whole defenceless multitude to the sword. So furious and incon- trollable was their rage and revenge, that they fell on those of their own officers who had at any former time offended them ; insomuch that not a few of the highest rank fled and concealed themselves till the fierce passions of the maniac troops subsided. On the following day, C. Rebellius was appointed with three legions to continue the siege of Thap sus ; and M. Messala, with a party of cavalry, was ordered to march on Utica, to which Cesar was quickly to condud all the other divisions of his army. The report of his victory preceded him, and carried terror THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 135 and despair into the hearts of the Romans, and consternation seized all the citizens ; but the distress of the former was ex- ceedingly augmented from the knowledge that the latter favoured the cause of the conqueror. Cato called his friends together, and sought to tranquillize their spirits and re- animate their hopes, by entreating them to reflect that the melancholy news might be exaggerated ; that the republir was not to be considered utterly ruined by the loss of one battle ; that Spain was even then possessed by Pompey's son, and that the place was strong, their number considerable, and that they had abundance of arms and provisions. Hope was momentarily excited, but it was speedily expelled by re- flection, and complete despondency filled every heart. While deliberating how to act, a band of Scipio's cavalry, who had escaped the sword, presented themselves at the gates, and threatened to kill every Roman who proposed submission to Cesar. Cato, with diflicuhy, turned them from their bar- barous purpose, and consented that his friends should make their peace with Cesar; but many senators, who either de- termined to persevere in their resistance, or who had no hopes of his favour, escaped by sea, and sailed to seek refuge with the sons of Pompey. Many of those who remained were put to death by Messala, who entered the city before his great general, who was, however, now little disposed to restrain his followers from revenge ; for he no longer deemed it expedient to seek popularity by showing generosity and compassion, which were aliens from his bosom. Cato, cher- ishing his patriotic and stoical sentiments, disdained to owe his life to the enemy of his country, and refused to survive its liberty. He deliberately killed himself, for his spurious philosophy taught him to believe that man has the right to dispose of his life in the manner which he judges proper. Juba, king of Numidia, with Petreius, fled to Zama, a strong fortress, containing h'ls family and wealth, with the avowed purpose of consuming himself and the whole by fire. Not being admitted, he retired to one of his palaces, and after a splendid entertainment, the desperate fugitives fell on their swords and perished. Numidia and Mauritania were quickly conquered and constituted a Roman province, and placed under the dissipated bold soldier, and able historian, Sallust. Thus Providence was preparing Northern Africa for the in- troduction of Christianity, which at no very distant period ex- hibited there, on an extensive scale, some of its greatest conflicts and noblest trophies ; and these were particularly seen in #= 196 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. Carthage, which was rebuilt about this time by the order of Cesar, who had also, early the same year, when passing through Greece, caused Corinth to be restored, a city celebrated in future times for its numerous converts to Christ. The most unprincipled politician, the most sanguinary warrior, the most cruel tyrant, in common with the robber, assassinator, and prostitute, on certain occasions, assume extreme reverence for the ceremonies of religion, and appear the devoutest worshippers. Accordingly, Cesar, on returning to Rome, accompanied by the entire multitude of citizens, who had met him at a little distance from the city, immediately proceeded to the capitol to give thanks to Jupiter for the suc- cess of his arms. Now the senate and comitium emulated who should most zealously load him with honours. " Sup plications were appointed, and sacrifices ordered to be offered daily in the temples, for forty days, in thanksgiving to the gods for the victories he had gained in Africa. His dictator- ship was prolonged for ten years, and the dignity of censor, which had been hitherto divided between two magistrates, conferred on him alone, under the title of praefect, or reformer of manners. His person was declared sacred and inviolable ; and, to raise him above the level of his fellow-citizens, it was decreed, that he should sit, during his life, next to the consuls ; that he should give his opinion first in all public deliberations ; that he should sit at public shows in a curule chair ; and that, even after his death, the chair should be placed as usual at the shows, to render his memory immortal ; lastly, they placed his statue in the capitol next to that of Jupiter, with this inscription on the pedestal, " To Cesar, a demigod." Cesar had too much penetration not to know that this profusion of honours was the effect of fear, and not of any sincere affection for him ; and therefore, in accepting such marks of distinction, he declared, that he would make no other use of his authority than to prevent any farther disturbances in the republic, and to render all the members of it happy. His speech, and the pardon he granted a few days after to M. Claudius Marcellus, one of his most inveterate enemies, calmed the fears both of the senate and the people. The dictator having, by his clem- ency, delivered the senators from their fears, summoned the people, and appearing in the assembly more like a common citizen than a victorious general, returned them thanks, in a most obliging manner, for their attachment to his person: he then entertained them with a particular account of his victo- ries, observing, that he had, by his last victory, subdued a THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 137 country so rich, and of such extent, that it would yearly sup- ply the city with two hundred thousand bushels of corn, and three millions of measures of oil. In consideration of the many conquests he had made, four triumphs were decreed him by the senate and people. He triumphed four times in one month, for his victories over the Gauls, Egypt, Pharnaces, and Juba. In the first triumph, were carried before his chariot-, the names of three hundred nations, and eight hun- dred cities, which he had reduced by the death of a million of enemies. Among the prisoners appeared Vercingetorix, who had excited all Gaul against Cesar, and attempted to relieve Alecia, at the head of three hundred thousand men. His soldiers followed, crowned with laurel, and the whole city attended him with loud acclamations. He mounted the steps of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, on his knees, and having sacrificed to that god, cancelled the fulsome inscription which had been engraved on the pedestal of his statue. The second triumph was over Egypt, when the pictures of Ptolemy, Photinus, and Achillas, were carried before the triumphal chariot, with representations of the cities of Pelusium and Alexandria, of the palace of the Egyptian kings, and of the tower of Pharos. Before the chariot walked many prisoners of distinction ; among the rest, Arsinoe,the sister of Cleopatra, loaded with chains : but, after the show, she was set at liberty, and only banished from Eg3'^pt, that she might not create new disturbances in that kingdom, to the prejudice of Cleopatra. The third triumph exhibited the defeat of Pharnaces, king of Pontus. In the midst of the spoils, which the conqueror had brought from Pontus, Bithynia, and Galatia, the famous words, " Veni, vidi, vici," were carried on a table in large characters, to show rather the dispatch than the difficulty or importance of that victory. The subject of the fourth triumph was, the conquest of Africa and Numidia, with the defeat of Juba and his allies. In this triumph, Juba, the son of king Juba, who was then very young, walked among the other captives before the triumphal chariot ; but, when the show was over, Cesar set him at liberty, and gave him an education suitable to his rank, appointing masters to teach him the Greek and Latin tongues, and such sciences as the youpg noblemen » of Rome studied in those days. The vessels of gold and silver, which in these triumphs were carried before the con- queror, amounted to the value of sixty-five thousand talents, above twelve millions of our money, besides eighteen hun dred and twenty-two crowns of gold, weighing fifteen thou 12* « 138 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. sand and thirty-three pounds, which were presents made to him by princes and cities after his victories. With these sums he paid his soldiers their arrears, and, besides a hundred and fifty pounds of our money to every private man, gave as much more to each centurion, and thrice the sum to each tribune and commander of the ravairy. As to the Roman people, whose favour he courted, he gave to each person ten bushels of corn, ten measures of oil, and added a hundred denarii, by way of interest, to the three hundred he had promised them before he set out for Africa. He afterwards entertained the people at twenty-two thousand tables with six thousand mure- nas, and an incredible profusion of other dainties and rich wines ; and, that nothing might be wanting to the pomp and magnificence of these feasts, he entertained the city Avith a combat of two thousand gladiators, with representations of sea and land fights, in which were three or four thousand combatants on a side, and with all sorts of plays, farces, and mimic performances. The entertainments lasted several days, and drew such numbers of people to Rome, that many of them were forced to lie in the open air, and some were stifled in the crowd. Cesar having, by his largesses, entertainments, and shows, secured the affections of the soldiery and people, made it his study to reform the government, and establish order in the city. As many of the inhabitants had lost their lives in the civil war, and many had abandoned their native country, he appointed great privileges and exemptions for such as had numerous families ; recalled all those who had settled in for- eign countries, and invited to Rome, from all parts of the world, such persons as were in repute for their learning and knowledge ; granting them, for their encouragement, all the rights and privileges of Roman citizens. At the same time he published a law, forbidding all citizens, above twenty years of age, and under forty, to absent themselves from the capital more than three years, on any pretence whatever. By other laws, he restrained the profuse way of living which at that time prevailed in Rome and all over Italy ; he confined the use of litters and embroidered robes and jewels to persons of the first rank, or of large estates ; he limited the expense of feasts by many sumptuary laws, which he caused to be put in execution with the utmost rigour, his officers often breaking into the houses of the rich citizens, and snatching from their tables such dishes as had been served up contrary to his pro- hibition. All the markets swarmed with informers, so that i ^^P • f THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. ''tW nothing" could be carried thither, or sold, without his know- ledge ; and he never failed to punish with heavy fines such as he found guilty of the least breach of the laws he had en- acted. As for the management of the public money, he re- served that entirely to himself; but committed the administra- tion of justice to the senators and knights, choosing from them such persons as were remarkable for their integrity and pro- bity. As his long command in Gaul had given him an op- portunity of usurping an absolute power, to prevent others from treading in his footsteps, he ordained, by a law, that no praetor should be continued in his government above a year, and no consular above two. All the magistrates in Rome, as well as in the provinces, were appointed by him, the peo- ple whom he suffered to assemble in the comitium, to main- tain at least some appearance of a republican state, not daring to choose any but such as he proposed or recommended ; by which means all the places and governments were filled with his creatures. The tribunes, the praetors, the quaestors, and even the consuls, were all persons who had served under him, inviolably attached to his interest. The government of the countries subject to the republic was committed to such only as the dictator thought he could confide in. Thus Sicily was allotted to A. Allienus, Cisalpine Gaul to M. Junius Brutus, Transalpine Gaul to another Junius Brutus, surnamed Albi- nus, Achaia to Servius Sulpitius, Numidia to Crispus Salus- tius, lUyricum to P. Vatinius, Syria to Q,. Cornificius, and Spain to Q,. Cassius Longinus," so that the authority of Cesar seemed equally established in the metropolis and in the most distant provinces of the vast empire. Such was the reception given Cesar on his return from Af- rica ; and from this time may be dated the commencement of the triumphant reign of pure despotism throughout all the do- minions of Rome. No future event of the citizens was effec- tual to restore even the shadow of liberty ; it was for ever buried, according to the computation of those who had most ac- curate knowledge of the contest of Cesar for sovereignty, in the blood of 400,000 Romans. He virtually obtained the wish of his heart, but could neither, by his own policy nor by the assistance of his friends, prevail on the people publicly to confer on him the title of a king. He feh compelled, in consequence of the marked disapprobation of the people, to decline accepting of it, when, on his triumphant return from Spain, Antony, with the authority of consul, in a festival as- sembly presented him a crown, saying, " This crown the Ro- -m 140 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. man people confer on Cesar by my hands." To flatter his vanity, his refusal was inserted in the public records, in lan- guage conveying equal honour, " That the consul, having, by order of the people, presented a crown, and offered to confer the majesty of king on Caius Julius Cesar, perpetual dicta- tor, he had declined to receive it." Among the acts of Cesar which justly claimed for him the applause of posterity, we may notice the reform of the Ro- man calendar. This he effected before he departed for Spain. It was a most necessary work ; for by the errors of the former calendar, consisting of 355 days only, the festivals of the Ro- mans were removed by degrees, and put out of their due time, till at last they came to fall in with seasons quite opposite to those of their primitive institution. Cesar, guided by the prin- ciples established by the astronomers of Egypt, undertook, and happily completed that reformation which the world, in all succeeding ages, have found most important. Either confident that he was exalted far above all opponents, or feiscinated by Cleopatra, queen of Egypt who, on his invi- tation, had visited Rome, and taken up her residence in his palace, Cesar remained so long in Italy that the two sons of Pompey had raised a most powerful force to oppose him. These brothers, regarded as soldiers, were worthy of their fa- ther's name, and preferred his honour to their own life. After his fall they took refuge in Spain, encouraged by the fact that the Roman legions stationed there had declared against Cesar. They soon found themselves at the head of many troops, were favoured by many Romans settled in Spain ; and joined by not a few officers of rank, who had escaped from the sword of Cesar, in Thessaly and Africa. Numerous nations also supported them, from respect to the memory of their father. Their army consisted of thirteen legions, and they had taken possession of the principal towns. It was with difficulty that the officers sent by Cesar could act even on the defensive. Hence he saw the necessity of placing himself at the head of his soldiers in Spain j and, contrary to his calculations and hopes, he found that, notwithstanding the celebrity and dread of his name, he had not in all his former enterprises run an equal risk of being cast down from his high place, or of per- ishing on the field of battle. Several skirmishes of the oppo- sing armies in the province of Baetica, the modern Andalusia, terminated in a great battle near Munda, a town a little east of Malacca, the present Malaga. Thousands were slain in this fierce and obstinate combat, and though Cesar obtained THE POtJRTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. 141 the victory, yet he confessed that hitherto he had only fought for victory, but at this time for his life. Thirty thousand of his opponents were slain before their army were overcome ; and multitudes who fled were overtaken and put to death by the victors. Cesar, after settling Spain, returned to Rome, and demanded a triumph, not only for himself but also for two of his principal officers. This was a new scene to the Ro- mans, for it was the first triumph on acount of victory obtained over fellow citizens, and it provoked the wrath of all ranks. But they saw it expedient to conceal their displeasure and sor- row j and meanly devised how they might most expressively honour the man, who had enslaved them. " A thanksgiving was appointed to be continued for fifty days : and the anniver- sary of the twentieth of April, b. c. 49, the day on which the news of the victory at Munda reached Rome, was ordered to be for ever celebrated with the most splendid games of the circus." Cesar now assumed all the dignity and magnificence of a great monarch. He received the senate, when they pre- sented their decrees, seated on a royal seat, and stretched out his hand to each senator as he approached. He showed lit- tle respect for the dignities or customs of the senate ; increased its numbers at pleasure, by inserting in the rolls persons of every description, to the amount of nine hundred. He aug- mented the number of praetors to fourteen, and that of quaes- tors to forty ; and even, without requiring that his friends should pass through these offices, rewarded them at pleasure with the titular honour*? of consul ir, praetorian, patrician, <&lc. ; and extended his munificence likewise to the provinces, by admit- ting aliens separately, or in collective bodies, to the privilege or appellation of Roman citizens. He named himself and M. Antony consuls for the following year ; and persevered in ap- pearing with all the ensigns, and in exercising all the powers of dictator. While this extraordinary man was devising plans, to accomplish which would huve required more than the long- est life, his days were numbered, and his last hour was on the wing. Success imparted to his boundless ambition inexpres- sible intensity ; he projected whatever appeared calculated to perpetuate his fame. He purposed to render Rome the most magnificent city, and Italy the finest country on the globe ; next to these objects he sought to restore all the splendid works which had been injured or destroyed by the dreadful and destructive wars of many former generations. Thus he intimate- 1> among other things, his design to drain the great marshes which rendered the air so unheahhy, and so much i 142 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. land unserviceable in the neighbourhood of Rome ; to cut across the isthmus of Corinth, to erect moles, and form harbours on the coast of Italy ; to make highways across the Apen- nines ; to build a new theatre that should exceed that of Pom- pey ; to erect public libraries, and make a navigable canal from the Anio and the Tiber to the sea at Teracina ; to build a magnificent temple to Mars. He sent Roman colonies to Corinth and Carthage. He resolved to revenge the death of Crassus by conquering Parthia ; and to advance to Hyrcania, and the coasts of the Caspian sea into Scythia ; from thence, by the shores of the Euxine Sea, into Sarmatia, Decia, and Germany ; and from thence, by his own late conquests in Gaul, to return into Italy ; for this purposd he had already sent for- ward into Macedonia seventeen legions and ten thousand horse. In the prospect of proceeding to the East, he assiduously laboured to conciliate the people, and to secure the tranquilli ty of Rome, Italy, and the provinces. He proclamed a gen- eral amnesty, and confered the most honourable and lucrative appointments on the most eminent Romans, including not a few of those who had been among the principal defenders of the republic. He placed Caius Cassius and Marcus, for this year, on the list of praetors, and intrusted them with the high- er jurisdiction of the city. To the widows of many who died in opposition to himself, he restored their portions, and gave their children part of their patrimony. He replaced the stat- ues of Sylla and of Pompey, which the populace, in flattery to himself, had thrown down ; " and by this means," says Ci- cero, " he firmly established his own." But his boldness, generosity, and munificence, failed to con- quer the envy and revenge of many of the highest rank, who contemplated with suspicion and fear his greatness and power. And some who had most largely shared of his favours basely veiled their malignant purpose to destroy him, by joining in the unbounded homage and adulation which he received from the multitude. Thus the senate decreed that one of the months should be called by his name ; and that his statue should be set up in all the cities of the empire, and ordered money to be stamped with his image, sacrifices to be offered on his birth- day, and debated on the propriety of enrolling him instantly in the number of the gods; while, at the same time, not fewer thar sixty senators entered into a conspiracy to cut him off. At the head of these were C. Cassius, who had long consulted to kill him, and M. Brutus, who boasted of his descent from # \ THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. .43 Junius Brutus, the great deliverer of the Romans from the tyr- anny of her ancient kings. Cesar having fixed on March, b. c. 44, for his departure, the senate were summoned to assemble on the fifteenth of the month to decide whether it was expedient or necessary to as- sist in the fulfilment, in the person of Cesar, of a response or prediction, which had been announced by the college of au- gurs, denoting that the Parthians could only be conquered by a king. The conspirators determined to delay no longer their treacherous deed. Cesar was warned, but he braved the danger, acting on the principle which he had openly avowed, that he would sooner perish by treason than live in perpetual apprehension of death. The senate met in Pompey's theatre, and the chair of state was placed near the statue of that great man. Around it Cesar's enemies were seated. While one enoraffed him in conversation, another raised his sword ; their associates enclosed him ; resistance was vain, and while their swords clashed as they rushed on him, he is reported to have wrapped himself up m his splendid robe, fall- ing without a struggle ; and thus, as he had studied to appear through life the model of elegance and politeness, so he grace- fully resigned his life. Thus vanity, which some considered his ruling passion, retained its sovereignty over him till the last moment. His friends and dependants were struck with a panic ; they ran into the street, so terrified that they could give no account of the horrid scene. Their confusion and cries alarmed the citizens ; and imagining that a general mas- sacre had commenced, all retired to their houses, and pre- pared to defend themselves and their families. No magis- trate or military oificer was visible. The conspirators took refuge in the capitol, and waited for an opportunity to glory in their crime, and call on the Romans to accept of their liber- ty and re-establish the institutions of the republic. But the patriotic z^al for liberty was quenched ; and Antony, who was now the only consul, and Lepidus,the chief of the guards of the city and of the forces in Italy, were in a short time able to tranquillize the minds of the people, without restoring to them their former power or privileges. The conspirators were pardoned, and the funeral of Cesar was celebrated with great solemnity. The public oration to his memory by An- tony was evidently designed by the speaker to provoke the indignation of the multitude against the conspirators, and ac- tually produced a tumult which threatened the ruin of the city. The houses of Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators, 144 THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN EMPIRE. were set oh &e, and many suffered death. Antony speedily assumed more than legitimate authority, and greatly strength- ened himself by procuring from Calpurnia, the widow of Cesar, all his writings ; by seizing an immense sum of public money, deposited in the temple of Ops ; and by gaining the confidence and assistance of Lepidus. Considering himself the only one worthy to succeed Cesar, and determined to maintain the system of government which he had adopted, he expressed the highest veneration for the senate, and the hum- blest respect for the assemblies of the people, till he had pre- vailed on them to confirm the will of Cesar, and all his public and private acts, and to cancel the appointments which Brutus and Cassius had received, for others which were far less im- portant. By the first, he undesignedly provided for the Ro- mans an accomplished statesman and absolute sovereign ; and by the second brought on the last struggle and agonies of the republic, and plunged all ranks into the fearful calamities of civil war, throughout the principal parts of the empire. Un- der the pretence of executing the purposes of Cesar, which he said were recorded in memorials, which he however declined to produce to the senate, Antony, disregarding all forms of law, now governed with all the power of a military despot, and exceedingly oppressed all ranks. In Lepidus and Octa- vius he found able coadjutors in the work of devastation ; and the latter, with consummate policy, employed the former to raise him far above them, by engaging them in measure* which each of them thought calculated to render himself the entire sovereign of the empire. I # CHAPTER VIII. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. OCTAVIUS AND ANTONY. Lepidus was neither distinguished for talents nor virtue. He was one of the praetors of Rome when Cesar assumed .he sovereignty of the empire, and was intrusted by him with command of the army of Italy, because every other magis- trate of rank declined to sanction his usurpation. Marcus or Marc Antony was the grandson of a celebrated Roman orator of the same name. He was eloquent, bold, and active, but notorious for his profligacy, insomuch that his father expelled him from the family. Curio supplied him with money, and introduced him to Cesar, who found him the most efficient instrument in promoting his designs. He served him with equal success at the head of his troops, in the meetings of the senate and comitium, and in the social assemblies of Rome. Antony was colleague with Cesar in the consulate, and hence perhaps had no doubt that, with the command of an army, he should find little difficulty to succeed to his power. In order to this, and to secure the services of Lepi- dus, he promised to put him in possession of the highest honours which he desired. Among others, he procured for him the office of pontifex maximus. Supported by the Italian army, he ceased to consult in public affairs the will of the senate, and persuaded the assembly of the people to give him the government of Cisalpine Gaul, which Decimus Brutus, one of the conspirators, held by the appointment of Cesar, notwithstanding that he had strenuously and successfully la- boured to procure the public confirmation of all the official, and even private acts of that ruler. This exceedingly strengthened the suspicions entertained of the illegitimacy of his views and designs ; and the friends of the republic there- fore rejoiced on learning that he had offended Octavius, who had demanded him to deliver up Cesar's papers and money. VOL. n. 13 1 » 146 E8TABL1SHMEN1 OF THE ROMAN EBfPIRE. He, doubtless, presumed that he had not much to apprehena from a youth of eighteen, who now for the first time pre- sented himself to the public. But Caius Octavius, known better by his lofty title, Augustus, possessed the talents of his family ; and though he never discovered the qualities most necessary for a soldier, yet he was one of the most accom- plished politicians, and rarely or never failed to devise the most appropriate means, and select the most able associates or agents, to attain his ends. He was the grand-nephew and adopted son of Cesar; his mother, Attia, was daughter of Julia, the beloved sister of Cesar. He early lost his father, Octavius, who died on .his return from the government ot Macedon ; but he experienced all a father's aflfection and care in Philippus, whom his mother married. He received the most perfect education which Italy could afford, or wealth command, and early appeared endowed with mental superi- ority, and personal beauty and dignity. Report makes him, at nine years of age, harangue the people with astonishing boldness, and in his twelfth year pronounce the funeral ora- tion of his grandmother Julia. Cesar admired and loved him as a son, and carried him to Spain that he might acquire the military art ; and as he wished Octavius to accompany him in his expedition against Parthia, he had sent him to Greece that he might improve under the best instructors in eloquence and the art of war, and be ready to join him at Apollonia, on his progress to the East. The letters of his relations, which informed him of the melancholy death of Cesar, admonished him to return in the most private manner to Rome, lest he should be killed by the republicans, who had gained the temporary ascendancy. He was indisposed to follow their advice, for he instantly determined to revenge the death of his grand-uncle, and, if possible, to succeed him in power. On landing at Lupia, a harbour not far from Brundusium, he sent an officer to ascertain the disposition of the troops. Having learned that they were prepared to pun- ish the conspirators, he proceeded to the city, and was re- ceived with all the honours which could gratify him as the adopted son and representative of Cesar. Antony had caused the will of Cesar to be publicly read, by which it became universally known that he had declared Octavius his prin- cipal heir, and required him to take his name, and to be adopted into the Julian family. In consequence of this, Octavius soon gathered around him multitudes of all ranks, who were attached to his uncle, and found himself at the =• «=— T ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 147 head of an anny of ten thousand men. Thus encouraged, he advanced to Rome, and called on Antony to join with him in revenging the death of the conspirators. That aspir- ing officer treated him with insolence and contempt, and pre- pared to resist his claims. Antony had already alienated the senate by his haughty and despotic conduct, and particularly by procuring from the people the government of Cisalpine Gaul. Octavius at once perceived that it was his interest to seek the countenance and support of the senate ; and they readily accepted his services, being persuaded by Cicero to consider him a sincere friend of the republic. When An- tony marched to subdue D. Brutus, and take possession of Gaul, the senate denounced him the enemy of the republic, and appointed the two consuls and Octavius, whom they raised to the rank of propraetor, to lead their armies against him, and support D. Brutus, who was shut up in Mutina, the modern Modena, by the troops of Antony. He was rescued by the combined armies of the republic, who, after repeated Tattles, completely defeated Antony. The two consuls lost iheir lives ; one was mortally wounded, and the other fell on the field. Octavius, left sole commander of the troops, discovered his hatred of D. Brutus, and was extremely offended with the senate when they appointed him to the entire command of all their armies in Gaul and Italy, and ordered him to pursue Antony as an enemy of the republic. To this circumstance is traced the alliance which was almost immediately formed between Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, who were named the Second Triumvirate. Before this event, Octavius had effectually humbled the senate, and exposed the weakness of Cicero, who had pledged himself for the fidelity of his young friend. He withdrew from the contest against Antony, and intimated his design to stand candidate for the consulate. This being, on account of his age, contrary to law, the sen- ate put off the election for consuls, and appointed ten com- missioners to investigate the abuses committed during the ad- ministration of Antony, and called on Octavius to join D. Brutus in the defence of Italy. Instead of obeying, he sent some of his officers to call on the senate to elect consuls, and permit him to appear a candidate. And when no answer was returned, he led his army to Rome, and threw the cili zens into consternation. But imitating his uncle, he care- fully kept his troops from doing any injury, and retired aftei he had compelled the senate and comitium to grant whatever 148 ESTABLISHMENT OP THE ROKAW EMWRR he conceived it expedient to demand. A far more dreadful scene was very soon Avitnessed by the citizens. Octavius and Gl Pedius, one of his most servile friends, were chosen or rather, self-elected consuls. The former left the government of the city to the latter, and departed at the head of the army, avoviredly to aid D. Brutus in his enterprise against the en- emies of the republic, but in reality to join them in effecting his destruction. Accordingly, when the army of Octavius met that of Antony and Lepidus, on the banks of Scultem- nis, not far from Mutina, the leaders had an interview on a small island in the river, when they adopted the following arrangement : " That Octavius, in order to divest himself of every legal advantage over his associates, should resign the consulate; that the three military leaders, then upon an equal footing, should hold or share among them, during five years, the supreme administration of affairs in the empire ; that they should name all the officers of state, magistrates, and gover- nors of provinces ; that Octavius should have the exclusive command in Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily, Lepidus in Spain, and Antony in Gaul ; that Lepidus should be substituted for Decimus Brutus in the succession to the consulate for the following year, and should have the administration at Rome, while Octavius and Antony pursued the war against Brutus and Cassius in the East ; that the army, at the end of the war, should have settlements assigned to them in the richest districts and best situations of Italy. Among the last were specified Capua, Rhegium, Venusia, Beneventum, Nuceria, Ariminum, and Vibona. To ratify this agreement, the daughter of Fulvia, the wife of Antony, by Clodius her former husband, was betrothed to Octavius. He was said to have already made a different choice, and consequently to have had no intention to fulfil this part of the treaty ; but the passions, as well as the professions, of this young man, were already sufficiently subservient to his interest. While the army was amused by the publication of these several articles, the circumstances which chiefly distinguished this famous coalition, was the secret resolution, then taken, to. extinguish at once all future opposition to the Cesarian party, by massa- cring all their private and public enemies. They drew up a list, of which the numbers are variously reported, compre- hending all those who had given them private or public oflTence, and in which they mutually sacrificed their res- pective friends to each other's resentment. Antony sacri- ficed his uncle Lucius Cesar to the resentment of Octavius ; 1 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. i49 who, in his turn, sacrificed to that of Antony, Cicero, with Thoranius, his own guardian, and his father's colleague in the office of prajtor. Lepidus gave up his own brother L. Paulus ; and all of them agreed to join with these private enemies every person supposed to be attached to the republic government, amounting in all to three hundred senators and two thousand of the equestrian order, besides many persons of inferior note, whose names they deferred entering in the list until their arrival at Rome. They meant, as soon as they should be in possession of the capital, to publish the whole list for the direction of those who were to be employed in the execution of the massacre. But as there were a few whose escape they were particularly anxious to prevent, they agreed that the murders should begin, without any warning, by the death of twelve or seventeen of their most consider- able enemies, and among these by the death of Marcus Tul- lius Cicero. They ratified the whole by mutual oaths ; and having published all the articles, except that which related to the massacre, the plan of reconciliation between the leaders was received by the armies with shouts of applause, and was supposed to be the beginning of a period in which military men were to rest from their labours, and to enjoy undisturbed the most ample reward of their services. This celebrated cabal having thus planned the division or joint administra- tion of an empire which each of them hoped in time to en- gross for himself, they proceeded to Rome with an aspect which, to th<^«5o who compos-sd the civil establishment of the commonwealth, was more terrible than that of any faction which had been hitherto formed for its destruction." Far different were the feelings excited in the city, when it was known that they approached it, and the orders of the tri- umvirs had been received to execute immediately seventeen of the chief senators. Several of these were surprised and murdered, and others in vain sought safety by flight ; among whom were Cicero and his brother Q,uintus. At the head of their armies the hateful usurpers marched in divisions, and entered Rome separately on three several days. As they ar- rived in succession, they occupied every quarter with guards and attendants, and filled every public place with armed men, and with military standards and ensigns. In order to ratify the powers they had devised for themselves, they put the arti- cles of their agreement into the hands of the tribune Publius Titius, with instructions, that they should be proposed and enacted in the public assembly of the Roman people ; and 13* 150 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. put in the form of a legal commission, or warrant, for the gov- ernment they had usurped. By the act which passed on this occasion, the supreme power or sovereignty of the republic, during five years, without any reserve or limitation, was con- ferred on Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus ; and a solemn thanksgiving being ordered for the events already passed, which led to this termination, the citizens in general, under the deepest impressions of terror and sorrow,- were obliged to assume appearances of satisfaction and joy. As the first act of this government, two lists or proscriptions were delivered to the proper officers of the army, and posted in different parts of the city ; one a list of senators, the other a list of the persons of inferior rank, on whom the troops were directed to perform immediate execution. In consequence of these or- ders, all the streets, temples, and private houses, instantly be- came scenes of blood. At the same time, there appeared on the part of the triumvirs a manifesto, in which, having stated the ingratitude of many whom Cesar had spared, of many whom he had promoted to high office, and whom he had even destined to inherit his fortunes, and who, nevertheless, « conspired against his life, they alleged the necessity they were under of preventing the designs of their enemies, and of ex- tirpatinga dangerous faction, whom no benefits could bind, and whom no considerations, sacred or profane, could restrain. " Under the influence of this faction," they said " the perpetra- tors of a horrid murder, instead of being called to an account, are intrusted with the command of provinces, and furnished with resources of men and money to support them against the efforts of public justice, and against the indignation of the Ro- man people. Some of these murderers," they continued, "we have already chastised ; others, being at the head of powerful armies, threaten to frustrate the effects of our just resentment. Having such a conflict to maintain in the provinces, it would be absurd to leave an enemy in possession of the city, and ready to take advantage of any unfavourable accident that may befall us in defence of the commonwealth. For this rea- son, we have determined to cut off every person who is like- ly to abet their designs at Rome, and to make this desperate faction feel th5 effects of that war which they were so ready to declare against us and our friends. We mean no harm to the innocent, and shall molest no citizen, in order to seize his property. We shall not insist on destroying even all those whom we know to be our enemies : but the most guilty, it is the interest of the Roman people, as well as ours, to have re- I 1 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAK EMPIRE. 151 moved, that the republic may no longer be torn and agitated by the quarrels of parties who cannot be reconciled. Some atonement is likewise due to the army insulted by the late de- crees, in which they were declared enemies to the common- wealth. We might," they continued, " have surprised and taken all our enemies without any warning or explanation of our conduct ; but we chose to make an open declaration of our purpose, that the innocent may not, by mistake, be in- volved with the guilty, nor even be unnecessarily alarmed." They concluded this fatal proclamation, with a prohibition to conceal, rescue, or protect any person whose name was pro- scribed ; and they declared, that whoever acted in opposition to this order, should be considered as one of the number, and involved in the same ruin. They declared, that whoever pro- duced the head of a person proscribed, if a freeman, should receive twenty five thousand Attic drachms or denarii, and if a slave, should have his liberty, with ten thousand of the same money ; and that every slave killing his master in execution of this proscription, should have his freedom, and be put on the rolls of the people, in the place of the person he had slain. At the time that this proclamation and the preceding lists were published, armed parties had alredy seized on the gates of the city, and were prepared to intercept all who attempted to escape. Others began to ransack the houses, and took their way to the villas and gardens in the suburbs, where it was likely that any of the proscribed had retired. By the dispo- sition they made, the execution began in many places at once, and those who knew or suspected their own destination, like the inhabitants of a city taken by storm, were on every side surrounded by enemies, from whom they were to receive no quarter. To many, it is observed by historians, their own nearest relations were objects of terror, no less than the mer- cenary hands that were armed ajifainst them. The husband and the father did not think himself secure in his concealment, when he supposed it to be known to his wife or to his chil- dren. The slaves and freedmen of a family were become its most terrible enemies. The debtor had an interest in circum- venting his creditor, and neighbours in the country mutually dreaded each other as informers and spies. The money which the master of a family was supposed to have in his house, was considered as an additional reward to the treach- ery of his domestics. The first citizens of Rome were pros- trate at the feet of their own slaves, imploring protection and mercy, or perished in the wells or common sewers, where 152 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. they attempted to conceal themselves. Persons having any private grudge or secret malice, took this opportunity to ac- complish their ends. Even they who were inclined to pro- tect or conceal the unhappy, were terrified with the prospect of being involved in their ruin. Many, who themselves, contrary to expectation, were not in the Jist of the proscribed, enjoyed their own safety, in perfect indifference to the distress of their neighbours ; or, that they might distinguish them- selves by their zeal for the prevailing cause, joined the exe- cutioners, assisted in the slaughter, or plundered the houses of the slain." While treachery and cruelty were fearfully exemplified by nearest relations, confidants, and servants, remarkable in- stances occurred of fidelity, generosity, and courage. Many women gave illustrious proofs of conjugal and relative love, voluntarily sacrificing their own lives to save their dearest kindred ; and several slaves made similar sacrifices for the safety of their masters, Many attached to the republic, or conscious that they had private enemies, or that, from their talents, influence, or wealth, they were particular objects of envy, Hed to the countries occupied by the surviving com- manders who adhered to the cause of the republic. The chief of these were Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great, in Sicily, Cornificius in Africa, Marcus Brutus in Macedon, and Cassius in Syria. To prosecute the war against them, the triumvirs confiscated the estates of all whom they chose to denominate their enemies, and imposed the most oppressive taxes on all ranks, men or women, the latter of whom had hitherto been exempted from taxation. The towns were, at the same time, obliged to find subsistence for the soldiers, who were dispersed everywhere, under pretence of searching for the persons and property of the proscribed, and permitted to pillage the country, to prevent them from becoming muti- nous, in consequence of not being regularly paid by their leaders. The army, in Italy, amounted to forty legions, one half of which Octavius proposed to conduct to the East, and the other half were left to defend the country against any attempt of Pompey or Cornificius to invade it. Previously to their separation, the triumvirs fixed the succession of all the principal officers of state for some years. In the meantime, Octavius sent Sextus to Africa and Salvi- dienus to Sicily, to take possession of these countries, as part of his division of the empire. Africa speedily submitted, and, ia a battle near Utica, the republican general was killed and k ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 153 ills army dispersed. AH who could possibly escape by sea sailed to Sicily, and strengthened the forces of Pompey. His fleet repelled the attack of Salvidienus, and Octavius had no time to assist him, for Ai^ony urged him to proceed with him to Macedon, where Hrutus Avas said to be preparing an army for the invasion of Italy. Brutus no sooner received information of the proceedings of the triumvirate than he sent a rar ssage to Cassius entreating him to delay the execution of his purpose to subdue Egypt, and instantly join him with his army to revenge the innocent blood which had drenched their native land. Cassius was not slow in his march west- ward. On his progress, he collected by force vast sums, espe- cially from those who had received the officers of Cesar. Brutus had treated all in the same manner ; and hence, when they met in Smyrna, they were possessed of considerable wealth, and commanded large armies. Brutus proposed to transport their troops to Europe to prevent Octavius and An- tony from taking possession of Greece and Macedon. He was, however, over-ruled by Cassius, and agreed to advance against Lycia, whose chief men refused to acknowledge his authority, while Cassius determined to conquer Rhodes. These enterprises were certainly of little importance compared to that of employing all their energies against the great ene- mies of the republic. It appears that their sea forces were scarcely more wisely engaged. On the report that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, had sent a numerous fleet to join Octavius and Antony, Marcus, commander of the republican ships, received orders to watch her progress, and intercept her. While he was thus employed, almost the whole army of the triumvirate had passed from Italy to Macedon. Cassius and Brutus having accomplished their respective enterprise, led their armies into Ionia, and met on the banks of the Meander. They were now masters of the whole eastern division of the empire, possessed an immense revenue, and commanded scarcely less than one hundred thousand men. Several of their legions had indeed been trained under Cesar, but they had ample means to secure their services ; and they were careful to gratify the wish of every individual in their service. With a combined army, animated by the fiery and all-devour- ing spirit of war, they marched to the Hellespont ; and cross- ing it, advanced, by an exhausting route, through the moun- tainous region of Thrace, and rested near Philippi, the ancient Crenides, properly a city of Macedon, on the borders of Thrace, and inhabited by a Roman colony. Their fleet. « m t ^ 154 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROBIAN EMPIRE. under Cinber, was stationed in the adjacent port of Neapohs, and secured for them abundance of provisions from Asia and the coast of the Mgean Sea. Antony soon removed his equally numerous army from Amphipolis, where they had been stationed, and took post within a mile of his opponents. He was afterwards joined by Octavius, whom sickness had detained at Dyrrachium. Their position was most unfavour- able ; for they had no communication with the sea, and their supplies from the interior of the country were uncertain. In these circumstances, the able and experienced general Cassius was not less solicitous to avoid a general engagement than Antony was to bring it on ; for it was manifest that time alone would, through the instrumentality of want, and consequent disease, completely destroy the army of the triumvirate. But Brutus, it is said, influenced by regard to justice or humanity, and especially by the interests of the empire, was extremely desirous that the contest should be terminated ; the general officers soon adopted his opinion, on observing, that aversion in their troops to prolong the war occasioned many of them to desert to the enemy. It was, therefore, determined, in the second council which they held, to give battle on the follow- ing day. The division under Brutus defeated that led against him by Antony ; but the army of Cassius was overcome, and he was found dead in his tent, to which he. had retired, having been put to death, in compliance with his own request, as it was conjectured, by his confidential servant, who was never afterwards seen. Brutus, on beholding the dead body of his noble friend, was overwhelmed in sorrow, and exclaimed, " This is the last of the Romans." The success of Octavius and Antony was partial, and their danger was imminent, for Brutus was not only able to maintain his position, but also to shut them up in their camp from all resources necessary to support their army. This he represented to his army in glowing language, and urged them to exercise a little patience and their triumph Avas certain. To cheer them under their present disappointment, information reached them that the fleet of their general had obtained a great victory over a number of vessels which were conveying a large re-enforce- ment to the enemy. But no arguments were sufficient to reconcile the army of Brutus to his apparently dilatory, but most judicious plans. The second battle was most fierce and sanguinary, and in its field, at Philippi, was buried for ever the liberty of the Romans : a number of its votaries, who escaped the sword of their enemies, proudly took their own ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 155 life, for they scorned to submit to tyranny. Thus it was with Brutus, Cato, son of the celebrated Cato, and Livius Drusus, the father of Livia, the future famed wife of Octavius. Others escaped by sea, and joined Pompey in Sicily, the last and almost only asylum of the republicans. The rest of the vanquished not slam in battle, consisting of many thousands, unconditionally surrendered themselves to the conquerors, who now congratulated themselves as the uncontrolled sove- reigns of the empire^ for they scarcely viewed Lepidus a rival or partner, and in their future arrangement showed no respect to his inclinations. They proceeded immediately to make a new division of the empire ; and, by mutual agree- ment, Antony received, in addition to his former dominions, Transalpine Gaul and the province of Carthage; and Octa- vius, Spain and Numidia. The former proposed to remain in the East to raise money to pay his own and his colleague's armies ; while the latter returned to Italy to settle the affairs in the West, which equally concerned both. If Octavius was not the first, he was certainly the most extraordinary example of a captain and sovereign attaining the highest celebrity from the illustrious schemes and actions of the officers whom he selected for his chief counsellors, rather than from his own. The very selection, however, is decisive evidence that he was no common man ; it indicated great power to discriminate character, and much wisdom, prudence, and resolution to adopt the counsels and measures suggested as the most calculated to put him in possession of the splendid objects of his almost insatiable ambition. While their able and faithful services most fully justified his choice, his continued unsuspicious confidence in them, and the high honours and generous rewards which he conferred on them, showed him to surpass the majority of princes as much in an uncommon strength of mind, which repressed envy and j§al- ousy, as he was raised above them in power and magnificence. Nevertheless, impartial history sufficiently attests that he was, comparatively speaking, not among the first order of intel lectual capacity or virtuous disposition. As a warrior, he preferred his life to his honour, and as a man, he esteemed the meanest or most detestable device or act, as if it were the result of wisdom, when he deemed it expedient or indispen- sable to promote his designs or accomplish his ends. The principal officers in whom he trusted were Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and Caius Cilnius Maecenas. They both probably had joined him on his first appearance in public life, and they r«= ! 156 ESTABLISHBdENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. never deserted him, and to them he was chiefly, if not wholly, indebted for his triumph over all rivals, the high popularity of his administration, and the establishment and splendour of his reign. Maecenas was of noble descent, and had been the companion of Octavius in youth. He was distinguished as a soldier, but much more as a statesman ; and though, perhaps, not eminent for scientific or literary acquirements, yet he was the most enthusiastic admirer and zealous patron of all per- sons endowed with genius, or eminent for the successful cul- tivation of philosophy, literature, poetry, and the kindred arts. He was, in a remarkable degree, qualified to please all men, to subdue their prejudices, allay their passions, and win their confidence and esteem ; and, by consequence, no one could be more fitted to perform the duties of the chief civil minister of the empire, who must study to dispose all classes to acqui- esce in his schemes, and assist in the prosecution of them. On all occasions of general discontent, or public agitation, in Rome, he was uniformly employed to represent Octavius, in order to conciliate the disaffected, and secure the active ser- vices of doubtful or real friends. Agrippa had a much more vigorous frame of body and mind, and was far more mascu- line in his habits and manners than Maecenas. The presence of Antony for a time veiled the military defects of Octavius ; but this was still more effectually and unceasingly done by Agrippa, after his chief and friend engaged in the final con- test for the exclusive possession of the supreme power. When the report of the total overthrow of the republicans reached Rome, grief and fear overwhelmed their friends ; but being the minority, they felt compelled to unite with their fellow- citizens in expressions of great joy, by appearing to participate with them in the festival of thanksgiving to the gods which the public authorities decreed to be observed for an entire year. But before the lapse of a much shorter period, the soil of all Italy was watered by the tears of its most wretched mhabitants, who were destined to witness the first exercise of the despotic rule of Octavius. At the time of his return to Rome, the senate and comitium were equally stripped of power. The strong minded, bold, and imperious Fulvia, the wife of Antony, directed all the affairs of govern- ment, without showing almost any deference to the will of the legitimate rulers, the chief of whom were L. Antony, the brother of M. Antony, and P. Ser villus Vatia Isauricus, the consuls for the passing year. This state of things suited not the views of Octavius. He hesitated not a moment to assume t ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROICAN EMPIEE. 157 the supreme direction and control of every department of the state. He probably sincerely desired to characterise his ad- ministration by equity and clemency, as he respectfully announced to the senate; but this was rendered impossible by the first decree which he hastened to perform to satisfy the wishes and expectations of the soldiers, to whom he was in- debted for the possession of power. The triumvirate had promised certain of the richest cities and finest lands in Italy to their troops at the end of the war ; and Octavius published an order for the legal possessors to give them up to the veter- ans, who had been relieved from service immediately after the battles of Philippi, and had returned to receive the posses- sions pledged to them. The soldiers were not slow to execute this most unrighteous and oppressive injunction. Multitudes were at once reduced from wealth or competence to poverty and destitution. They repaired to Rome in whole fkmilies ; " persons of every sex, age, and condition, crowded the streets, took shelter in the temples, and other public places, and filled the city with their complaints and lamentations." Who could relieve them ? The instruments of their misery had either no inclination to aid them, or dared not attempt to arrest the strong arm raised to destroy them. Octavius was himself the slave of the army ; their will was law. Confusion, anarchy, and crime prevailed ; the most violent outrages were suflfered to pass with impunity, when the soldiers were supposed to be the actors. " Robbery and murders be- came frequent, and the city of Rome, as well as the provin- cial towns, was infested by persons who, either from necessi- ty, or from the license of the times, subsisted by rapine. No property was safe, and the condition of persons of all parties equally insecure. At Rome the rent of houses fell to a fourth, and whole streets appeared to be deserted." The government of Octavius could not, in these circumstances, be popular, and his enemies hoped to humble him. He had unquestionably triumphed over the republic more by the valour of Antony than his own ; and it was justly deemed presumptuous in him to exclude the friends of that general from the administration. These, therefore, with Fulvia at their head, resolved to op- pose him, and appealed to the soldiers, who favoured the in- terests of Antony, for support. They withdrew to Prgeneste, collected around them several legions, and called on Lepidus to join them, in defence of what they pretended to be the rights of the republic. Their conduct provoked Octavius, and while he prepared to resist by force their pretensions, he VOL. IL 14 •= I • ' 158 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. summoned a council of military officers to investigate and decide on the quarrel which he had with Fulvia. To obtain the apparent sanction of law to his proceedings, he, at the same time, invited many senators and knights to assemble, and consult on what measures were necessary to be adopted for the prevention of civil war. They sent commissioners to the opposite party to prevail on them to be reconciled to Octavius. This plan, and that afterwards resorted to, — the proposal that a congress of the chief officers should meet to settle all pub- lic affairs, failed to restore tranquillity ; and both parties ac- tively gathered forces to contend for victory. Lepidus de- clared for Octavius ; and the troops of the latter in Spain^ commanded by Salvidienus, hasted to enter Italy. Two ar- mies of the Antonian party marched to arrest their progress through Cisalpine Gaul, but were successfully opposed by Agrippa, who formed a junction with Salvidienus, and their combined forces compelled L. Antony, who had placed him- self at the head of one division, to seek an asylum in the strong fortress of Perusia, the present Perugia, seated at the south-eastern extremity of the lake of the same name, an- ciently named Lacus Thrasimenus. The place was, after a tedious seige, reduced by famine, and Octavius discovered, on this occasion, the extreme malignity and cruelty of his nature, which he satiated under the pretence of revenging the death of his father Julius Cesar. He would not have spared one prisoner, had not his army rescued the soldiers, who had fol- lowed Cesar. Every private Roman citizen was put to death, not excepting the tribune who first introduced the subtle sav- age Octavius to the public assembly in Rome. The greater part were executed in the presence of the murderer, " and, in the manner of sacrifices, offered in form to the manes, or to the divinity, of Julius Cesar. In this form, however detesta- ble, they were supposed, in that age, to carry an aspect of piety, which sanctified the cruelty with which they were or- dered, and with which Octavius himself witnessed the scene. Four hundred of the senatorian and equestrian order are said, by Dion Cassius and Suetonius, to have perished in this manner. The magistrates and council of Perusia, being sepa rately ordered to execution, implored for mercy, but had one general answer, ' You must die.' The place itself, whether by the desperation of its inhabitants, or by the outrage of those who were now become masters of it, was set on fire, and burnt to the ground. The country around being deserted, or laid waste with fire and sword, and cleared of its former pos- B8TABLI8HMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 159 sessors, became a prey to such followers of the army as chose to occupy it. At the date of this odious transaction, Octavius was not more than twenty-three years of age ; and though, in former examples of cruelty, his youth may have been over- ruled or misled by the party-rage of his colleagues, yet. in this instance, he himself betrayed a merciless nature, in the ef- fects of which he had no man to share, or to divide the blame." On the fall of Perusia, the chief opponents of Cesar, who had not fallen into his hands, fled, among whom were Ful- via, the wife, and Julia, the aged mother of Antony, and Ti- berius Claudius, with his wife Livia Drusilla, and their infant son, who were destined to share in the honours of him who was the author of their present ruin and exile. While Octavius rapidly advanced in the path to the sum- mit of his ambition, M. Antony was deeply immersed in sen- sual pleasure. The East afforded him all that suited his luxurious appetites and dissipated habits. From the scene of the victory at Phillippi, he proceeded first to Greece, and thence passed through Asia Minor, raising every where heavy contributions to defray the expenses of the late war, and dis- posing of palaces and lands to his favourite followers. Hav- ing summoned Cleopatra to answer before him in Cilicia for her conduct in ordering, according to public rumour, her fleet to assist the republicans, she entered the Cydnus in a splen- did galley with a numerous retinue, and at Tarsus dazzled his vain and giddy mind with the charms of her person, the profusion of her ornaments, and the elegance of her equip- age. '• She was now about nine-and twenty years of age, and being acquainted with the languages and manners of dif- ferent nations, particularly instructed in the literature of the Greeks, and being in the maturity of wit and beauty, she joined the arts of a coquette with all the accomplishments which became the birth and the high condition of a queen. Being invited to sup with Antony, she pleaded that he should begin with accepting her invitation. At their first entertain- ment, observing that his raillery savoured of the camp, she humoured him in this manner, and even surpassed him in the freedom of her conversation." Fascinated by this unprinci- pled female, he accompanied her into Egypt, and passed months, wholly governed by her caprice, indulging in every species of voluptuous pleasure, to the utter neglect of pub- lic business. It was with extreme reluctance that he re-» nounced this contemptible mode of life to repel the Parthians, who had overrun Syria, and advanced upon Cilicia. When I • # 160 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAi* EMPIRE. he had reached Phenicia, he learned the true state of Italy, and resolved to sail thither with his entire fleet of two hun- dred vessels, and leave the defence of Asia to Ventidius, who completely defeated the Parlhians, and set final limits to their power; for from this time they were never able to make any impression on the Roman empire. On arriving at Ath- ens, he met his wife Fulvia. He left her sick at Sicyon, and hastened on to Italy. He was joined at sea by the fleet com- manded by ^nobarbus, who still adhered to the cause of the republic, and believed that Antony now entertained the same views. Being opposed by the troops of Octavius when he reached Brundusium, he immadiately formed an alliance with Pompey, whose fleet continued to lay waste the coast of Italy ; but Antony had not been long possessed of Brundu- sium, when it decame manifest, both to him and his rival, that their respective armies were not disposed to enter on a new, and to them unprofitable contest. What then remained for the leaders but to procure peace ? Negociations were greatly facilitated by the death of Fulvia, an account of which had been received by Antony ; for Octavius proposed to confirm their reconciliation, which was effected by the agency of Maecenas, Cocceius, and PoUis, by giving him in marriage his sister Octavia, widow of Marcellus. " Upon this basis a treaty was framed, including a new partition of the empire, by which all the East, from the Euphrates to Codropolis on the coast of Illyricum, was assigned to Antony. The West, from thence to the ocean and the British channel, was assigned to Octavius. Italj^ as the seat of government, and the prin- cipal nursery of soldiers for the supply of their armies, was to be equally open to both. Lepidus was suffered to remain in the possession of Africa. ^nobarbus was included in this treaty, and declared at peace with the heads of the em- pire ;, but Sextus Pompeius, notwithstanding his late confede- racy with Antony, and his newly contracted relation with Octavius, was still to be treated as an enemy. He was to be opposed by Octavius, while the war with the Parthians was supposed sufficient to occupy the forces of Antony." The two chiefs continued almost two years at Rome, and lived and acted cordially as friends, and by their united counsels governed the empire. During this period Italy sruflfered much from scarcity, without any prospect of relief, in consequence of Pompey retaining the sovereignty of the seas, and successfully preventing the inhabitants of Rome from procuring sufficient foreign supplies of provision. Fam- # ^ 9 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 161 ine at length drove the citizens to despair, and notwithstand- ing of the suppression of one frightful and bloody tumult, the rulers had ample reason to dread a general insurrection throughout Italy. This induced them to use means to pre- vail on Pompey to enter into a treaty of peace, which was with some difficulty agreed to on the following conditions: — That he should receive, in addition to Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, the Peloponnesus, and a large sum of money, in compensation for the losses of his family; that all the exiles under his protection, except those actually concerned in the death of Cesar, should be restored to their homes, and to the possession of one-fourth of their estates; and that the seas of Italy and the neighbouring countries should be free, and commerce carried on without any restrictions. The pubKc announcement of this peace diffused universal gladness, and, according to historians, great joy beyond the power of lan- guage to describe. It was ratified by the parties at Puteoli, and the ratification was transmitted to Rome, and committed to the keeping of the vestal virgins. Splendid entertainments followed ; the guests of which comprised the principal citi- zens of Rome. Sextus Pompey gave the first on board his ship. The first officer, during the feast, whispered to him that now was the time to revenge himself on the enemies of his house. " Let me," he said, " cut the cable, and put to sea ; I promise you that none of them shall escape." " This might have been done by Menas, without consulting me," said Sextus, " but my faith is sacred, and must not be bro- ken." The guests separated without reflecting on the danger which they had escaped, and several feasts followed. To strengthen the coalition, the daughter of Pompey was be- trothed to Marcellus, the son of Octavia by her former hus- band. All exulted in the peace, and few dreamed that its permanence was incompatible with the views and schemes of Octavius. No one, perhaps, ever surpassed him. in dissimu- lation, or in the use of the most appropriate arts of seduction, and in discernment of the season, opportunity, instruments, and means most proper to execute his deepest and most stu- diously concealed designs and plans. This his conduct illus- trated and proved from his youth, but especially after his in- tellectual capacities were full}'- developed and cultivated. The highest in rank, the most eminent for political or military talents and acquirements, had fallen in the race of ambition, strife, and revenge, and the few survivors had become re- signed to the loss of liberty and national honour ; while the 14* « 162 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, mixed or undistinguished multitude groaned in silence under the irresistible yoke of absolute despotism, which controlled and oppressed the whole empire. Octavius discerned that the time was arrived for him to secure for himself the exclusive possession of the grand and noble prize of sovereignty ; and, accordingly, he seemed to have called up all his energies and resources to remove from the course the only individuals with whom, by dividing with them the power, he had hitherto ap- peared companion in the race. Antony having departed for the East, Octavius sent Agrippa to Transalpine Gaul to reduce a revolt, while he most actively employed his own time in providing a fleet to contend with Pompey, whom he accused of having violated the late treaty, a crime of which he was himself equally guilty. In the war which soon followed, Pompey had at first the advantage by sea, notwithstanding that Menas, his principal sea-officer had treacherously gone over to Octavius, with sixty of his ships. This state of the war occasioned inexpressible suffer- ings in Italy, from the scarcity of provisions, for which it was chiefly dependent on Sicily. In this emergency, Octa- vius sent messengers to Antony to request his assistance. He returned with about three hundred vessels, almost one half of which he exchanged for twenty thousand soldiers, whom he conducted to the East, where he went with a view of placing himself at the head of his army, then fighting against the Parthians. Octavius was still more strengthened by the re- turn of Agrippa from a triumphant campaign, during which he extended the Roman power in Germany farther than even Cesar had done. Sicily was now invaded, and Lepidus led thither from Africa an army to co-operate with that of Octa- vius. Pompey, defeated on sea and land, fled with a few ships, and was, after attempting to persuade Antony to join him in opposing Octavius, seized and put to death by order of the former, in Nicomedia, a harbour on the east of Bithy- nia. Lepidus acting independent of his colleague, and in- dicating a disposition to take possession of Sicily on his own account, was forced to maintain his pretensions by arms. His soldiers disapproved of his views, and declared themselves ready to serve his colleague. Thus deserted, he laid aside his robes of dignity, and, in the ordinary dress of a citizen, proceeded to the camp and tent of Octavius. " Multitudes followed him, to gratify their curiosity in seeing what was to pass in so new a scene. A person who, the moment before, had been at the head of a great array, and repute(\ a third in #= ESTABUSHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPmE. 163 the sovereignty of the empire, was now, by the sudden deser tion of his own troops, reduced to the condition of a private man, and was to appear as a suppliant before an antagonist whom he had recently set at defiance. To complete the scene of his humiliation, in entering the presence of Octa- vius, he would have thrown himself on the ground, but was prevented by the courtesy of his rival, who, content to strip him of his command, and of his personal consequence, would not accept this mark of abasement, and gave him leave to return into Italy, where he lived afterwards equally unob- served by those against whom he had been made the instru- ment of injustice, and by those who had made him their tool." Two of the three rivals of Octavius being thus overcome he found extreme difficulty to prevent a mutiny in the im- mense number of troops with whom he was surrounded. His fleet, it is said, consisted of six hundred galleys, exclusive of numerous transports and store ships: and his land army amounted to more than two hundred thousand men, and fif- teen thousand cavalry. They became clamorous for the re wards of money and lands, and treated with contempt tht small sums which he distributed among them, and the pro- mises which he gave them. By the exercise of great liberal- ity to those who were chiefly to be dreaded, he prevailed on them to separate from the rest ; and these he succeeded, by various prudent measures, to appease. The citizens at Rome celebrated his triumphs with the most conspicuous and stri- king tokens of joy, and, on his approach to the city, multitudes, adorned with chaplets, went forth to meet him, and formed a magnificent procession which conducted him to the temple where he proposed to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. He now used every effort to establish tranquillit}'-, and conciliate all ranks to the administration of justice and the peaceful exercise of the functions of all the offices of state. He remitted oppressive taxes, repressed many disorders, the dregs of the civil wars which still afflicted the city and the contiguous provinces. He had brought his armies under tol- erable discipline, and the people to bear no*t impatiently the loss of their political consequence, and of their liberties. He took care to destroy, with much ostentation, all papers and re- cords from which those who had acted against himself, might fear being drawn into trouble. He retained the usual names and the forms of office ; and wherever he himself was to ex- ercise any uncommon power, he talked of it as a mere teci- :# « %tA ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. porary pxpedient to obviate the disorders of the limes, and spoke of his intention, in concert with Antony, to discontinue every irregular mode of administration, as soon as the war with the Parthians should be brought to a period. He even sent Bibulus into the East, with open and public instructions to concert with his colleague the manner and time of their resignation." The irregular habits and ungovernable passions of Antony had been for a time subjected to a salutary restraint by the presence of his incomparable wife Octavia, who accompanied him from the time he had left Rome till he returned in com- pliance with the entreaty of her brother. But her personal state prevented her attending him on his last journey to the East ; and the fatal consequence of this was that he allowed all his former passion for Cleopatra to resume entire power over him : so that he at once diminished his reputation, and afforded a plausible reason for Octavius to put forth all his strength to destroy him. In Asia he assumed all the autho- rity, majesty, and grandeur of a mighty Oriental sovereign- and exhibited the most extravagant scenes of vanity, dissipa- tion, and folly. While he made preparations in Syria to in- vade Parthia, he was visited, at his earnest request, by Cleopa- tra. Charmed by her presence, instead of jewels or fine dresses, he bestowed on her several kingdoms, and dismissed her with the assurance that after he had chastised, in their own dominions, the Parthians, whom his general Ventidius had recently expelled from Syria, and forced to retire east of the Euphrates, he would pass the winter in Egypt. His cam- paign at the head of a great army was disastrous, for the only result of contending with the enemy was the destruction of his own troops, to whom their retreat was still more fatal. Nevertheless, while he wasted his time in Egypt, in every imaginable scene of intemperance and licentious pleasure, he ordered his officers to prepare for an invasion of Armenia, whose king he accused of having treacherously failed to ful- fil his engagements to assist him in his war with the Par- thians. The reports o'f his behaviour provoked the Romans, and rendered Octavia impatient to reclaim him, and enjoy his so- ciety. She proceeded to Greece, carrying valuable presents to him from her brother. There she received letters from Antony, positively prohibiting her from advancing into Egypt, and declining to accept the gifts of Octavius. The Romans, vho loved and admired her, were indignant at the base treat- 1 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPOLE. 165 ment which she had suffered ; and their indignation was ex- ceedingly augmented, on learning that Antony had subdued Armenia, carried its king captive into Egypt, and made a triumphal entry into Alexandria, as if it were the capital of the Roman empire. In the accompanying festival he acted more like a maniac than a ruler of nations. He not only put on the Oriental dress and badges of royalty, but likewise the attire and designation of a god ; wore the buskins, the golden crown, and the chaplet of ivy belonging to Bacchus, held the thyrsus in his hand, and was drawn through the streets of Alexandria on a car like those which were employed in the processions of the gods. It was said, that Cleopatra at the same time assumed the dress of Isis : that being seated together on thrones of gold, elevated on a lofty platform, Antony presented Cleopatra to the people, as queen not only of Egypt and Cy- pius, but likewise of Africa and Celosyria, and that he asso- ciated with her in these titles Cesarion, her supposed son by Julius Cesar. To his own sons, by this prostitute queen, he also allotted kingdoms, some of which he had not even con- quered. This foolish and vain distribution of the eastern provinces of the empire was formally executed, and copies of his deeds were ordered to be deposited with the most public re- cords of the Romans in the Temple of Vesta, in Rome. In the meantime, Octavius, aided or directed by his able friends Maecenas and Agrippa, pursued a course most fitted to gain the approbation of the intelligent, and dazzle the eyes, excite the wonder, and flatter the passions and prejudices of the ignorant and giddy multitude. In order to this, he re- stored the office of aBdile, and conferred it on Agrippa, who discharged its duties with consummate skill and diligence. He constructed roads, cleansed the ancient and much admired common sewers which had been constructed at immense la- bour and expense in past ages, repaired the circus, exhibited magnificent shows, and gratified the populace by the erection of public baths, bestowment of money and presents, and the providing of a variety of amusements. It soon became evident that war between Antony and Oc- tavius was inevitable. They continued to correspond by messengers and letters, but it was only to accuse each other of violations of the terms of their alliance, and both prepared for the final contest for the supreme power. The two consuls for the years, C. D. Ahenobarbus and C. Sosius, friends of Antony, having accused Octavius of many acts of injustice done him, believed that they could not safely remain in Rome ^m 166 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. They fled to Asia, and left Octjivius master of the city. An- tony, who was then in Armenia, no sooner learned the state of affairs in Italy than he summoned a council of the sena- tors, who were with him, enumerated to them the injuries inflicted on him by his rival, divorced in form Octavia, de- clared war against her brother, and solemnly swore that six months after he had relieved Rome from his tyranny, he would restore entire the ancient constitution of the republic. He then ordered Canidius to advance with the army to Ephesus, where he proposed to proceed, after he had conducted Cleo- patra, who .was with him, into Egypt. She, however, re- solved to accompany him to Greece and Asia, and on their departure for Ephesus gave him twenty thousand talents and two hundred ships, which increased his fleet to eight hun- dred. But her imperious conduct, and his own levity and dissoluteness alienated from him many of his ablest friends, whose reports, on their arrival in Italy, highly exasperated the Romans against him, and led them to believe that he in- tended to transfer the seat of empire to Alexandria. These reports the party of Octavius most widely and industriously circulated, to expose Antony to general ridicule and scorn : and, at the same time, highly honoured their principal au- thors, Placus and Titius, who had ranked among Antony's chief officers. They were introduced into the senate, that their testimony might justify the resolution proposed, that An- tony should be divested of the office and dignity which had been apparently legitimately conferred on him, and declared incapable of being consul, to which office he had been des- tined by the same authority. War, at the same time, was proclaimed against the queen of Egypt, and all Roman citi- zens were required " to withdraw from Antony, as being abandoned to the caprices of a stranger, and a woman who, by a kind of fascination, led him in her train, and prevailed upon him to countenance, against his own country, a war which was to be conducted by the eunuchs Mardio and Po- thinus, keepers of the palace of Alexandria ; and by Ira and Charmion, the waiting women of Cleopatra, who hoped soon to reign in the capital of the Roman empire, as absolutely as they had for some time governed in the provinces of the East." Antony consumed his time on his voyage at several places, particularly in the island of Samos and Athens, in scenes of extreme dissipation ; and instead of invading Italy, and sur- prising his rival unprepared, permitted him both time and 9 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN IMPIRE. 167 opportunity to collect and convey to Epirus a sufficient force to oppose him. Antony had under his command all the provinces from the Euphrates and Armenia to the Ionian Sea and lUyricum, and from Cyrene to Ethiopia. Octavius' government extended from Illyricum to the ocean, and com- prehended all the coast of Africa that was opposite to Italy, Gaul, and Spain. Many kings followed Antony's fortune, and attended him in this war ; namely, Bocchus king of Mauritania, Tarcondemus or Tarcondimotus of Upper Cilicia, Archelaus of Cappadocia, Philadelphus, of Paphlagonia, Mithridates of. Comagene, and Adallas of Thrace. These attended him in person ; but Polemon king of Pontus, Malchus king of Ara- bia, Herod king of Judea, Amyntas king of Lycaonia and Galatia, only sent their quotas of forces. All these together composed an army of a lijindred thousand foot and twelve thousand horse. His navy consisted of five hundred ships of war, some whereof had eight, and some ten, banks of oars. Octavius had no foreign princes in his army, which amounted only to eighty thousand foot, but was as 'strong in cavalry as the enemy. He had no more than two hundred and fifty ships, but those light, and well manned with sailors, rowers, and soldiers ; whereas Antony's feeemed built for os- tentation, and, besides, were very indifferently manned, his officers having been obliged, for want of mariners, to press in Greece, which had been exhausted long before, carriers, labourers, and even boys : and, notwithstanding this expedi- ent, his vessels had not their full complement. Antony took possession of the gulf of Amhracia, at the head of which stooJ the ancient capital of the celebrated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. This gulf, now named Arta, is narrow at its entrance, but within is more capacious, stretch- ing into the interior, eastward from twenty to thirty miles. — Actium, on the southern coast, commanded the navigation of the gulf This was the station of Antony's army ; that of Octavius was posted on the opposite shore, a Toryne, the present Prevesa, which occupies the site of Ni( opolis, one of the cities erected by Octavius, and so named to 2ommemorate his victories. Successive months were spent by both parties in harassing each other. Agrippi, equally distinguished as the commander of a fleet, a general of an army, and a cour\- sellor of state, by numerous vessels with which the land troops co-operated, ravaged the towns and coasts whence An- tony procured provisions. The result was, that his army at length were so distressed, from want and disease, that deser- 1 < p # 168 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. tions were numerous, and distrust and dissatisfaction general ; and he became convinced of the necessity of attempting a retreat or risking a general battle. The former opinion was that of Cleopatra, who longed to escape from danger, and, therefore, urged him to withdraw to Egypt, assemble all the forces of Asia, in that kingdom, and there combat for the empire of the world. Deceived by her policy, as he had been enervated by her enchantments, he glistened to her counsels, and ordered his fleet to prepare to encounter the enemy. They sailed, and began, to form in the straits, but his ships being heavier, loftier, and less active than those of his antagonist, " he hesi- tated for some time whether he should not remain in close order, and endeavour to bring on the action in the narrow entrance of the gulf, where his antagonists, for want of room, could not derive any great advantage from the superior agility of their vessels, or quickness of their motions. While An- tony deliberated on this matter, Octavius got under sail, turned the headland of Toryne, and formed in a line before the entry of the straits, about a mile from the enemy. The right division was commanded by M. Larius, the left by Aruntius, the whole by Agrippa. Both armies, at the same time, were drawn out on the shore to behold the event ; but the fleets, for some time did not make any movement, and it continued uncertain whether Antony, being still in the road, might not return to his anchors; but about noon his ships began to clear the straits, and came forward where the sea-room was sufficient for their line. As in this movement the fleets came closer together, Agrippa began to extend his front, in order to turn the enemy's flank ; but Poplicola, on the other side, stretching to the same place to keep pace with him, the centre of both fleets was equally opened, and they engaged soon after, without any apparent advantage on either side. The contest, for some tinie, remained undecided. In the begin- ning of the action, the queen of Egypt's yacht had been near to the line, and she herself continued to look on the battle, till, overcome with anxiety, aff'right, and horror, she gave orders to remove her galley to a greater distance, and being once in motion, fled with all the sail she could make. Her vessel being distinguished by a gilded poop and purple sails, made her flight be conspicuous to the whole fleet, and drew away from the line about sixty ships of the Egyptian squadron, who, under pretence of attending their mistress, withdrew from the action. Antony, apprehending the consequence of » «B= ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 169 this defection, whether in despair of his fortunes, or in some hopes to raJly those who fled, went on board of a quick sail- ing vessel, and endeavoured to overtake them. Being observed from Cleopatra's galley, he was taken on board j but, no longer capable of any vigorous or rational purpose, he became the companion of her flight, without any attempt to rally her fleet. Although he quitted the chance of a vic- tory to follow the object of his passions, he could not endure to behold her, turned his eyes aside, threw himself upon the deck, and continued in the deepest anguish of shame and despair. The flight of Antony, joined to that of Cleopatra, an event so little expected, wa»not for some time observed, and the fleet, notwithstanding the desertion of their leader, continued the action till four in the afternoon, when they were overpowered ; and many of them being greatly damaged in their oars and rigging, were not in condition either to resist or to escape, and fell an easy prey to the enemy. Three hun- dred ships were taken or sunk, and about five thousand men were killed. The strand was covered with wrecks and dead bodies. Ociavius detached a squadron in pursuit of such of the enemy's ships as had got to sea from the engagement, and himself continued in the channel during the remainder of the day and the following night, to gather the fruits of his victory. The land army of Antony, having, from the heights on shore, beheld the ruin of their fleet, retired to their camp, as with an intention to maintain it to the last extremity. They flattered themselves that their general, though forced to yield to his enemy at sea, would make for the nearest port, and again show himself at the head of his legions. These, they said, he never should have left, to commit his fortunes to an uncertain element and a treacherous ally. In these hopes they remained for seven days unshaken in their duty, and rejected all the oflTers which Octavius made to induce them to change their party. Being satisfied, however, at last, that their hopes were vain, they consulted their safety in different ways. Some laid down their arms ; Canidius himself, who commanded them, withdrew in the night ; others, remaining together in small parties, took the route to Macedonia ; but, being pursued by the enemy, were separately overtaken, and forced or persuaded to surrender. All the Roman citizens, who had taken refuge in the eastern provinces, all the foreign allies and princes, who made a part of the vanquished army, successively made their peace; and the empire itself now Seemed to be reduced under a single head." VOL. II. 15 «= "'tsr 170 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Octavius proposed to pass the approaching winter in the island of Samos, and afterwards to pursue Antony. • The government of Rome he committed to Maecenas and Agrippa. But when these able men reported to him that disaffection prevailed among the troops whom they had conducted into Italy, he hastened to join them, and by the practice of the arts of conciliation, for which he was justly celebrated, he calmed the passions of the soldiers, and by large promises flattered their hopes. He remained only a short time in Rome, for he was solicitous to invade Egypt before the queen and Antony could retrieve their affairs. The latter, however, never properly recovered his* native energy, and was gener- ally either overwhelmed in melancholy or deranged by de- bauchery; and the former was either engaged on the one hand in the invention of means to prevent him from suspect- ing her fidelity, and on the other in meditating how she might save herself from death or degradation, without any sincere concern for his honour or life. Truly her ways led down to ,the chambers of the invisible world of darkness and despair. Antony showed on one occasion the determination to make one great effort to resist his opponent, but finding that the army and fleet of Cleopatra were alike treacherous, he seems to have for a moment become convinced that she had given them secret instructions, and purposed, if possible, by taking his life, to purchase the favour of Octavius. Inexpressibly mortified by the conscious imbecility and meanness of spirit by which he had given himself up for a prey to a cunning - female, and overpowered by anguish and utter hopelessness, he iniflicted on himself a fatal wound, and died in the arms of her who had, to gratify her vanity and passion, completed his disgrace and ruin. She also poisoned herself, after she perceived that the many and various devices and efforts to which she had resorted, in hopes of making a favourable impression on the mind of Octavius, could not avert from her the indignity of being carried captive by him, to add to the lustre of his triumphal processions in the capital of the world. With her perished the Ptolemean or Grecian dynasty in Egypt, which immediately was made a Roman province, the government of which was committed to the Roman officer and poet, Cornelius Gallus. Thus, B. c. 30, Octavius found himself the sovereign of the Roman empire, and speedily manifested that he was not less qualified for the duties of his exalted dignity than he had proved himself able to triumph over every rival. Un- M^ # ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 171 like every one who had aspired to this loftiest object of hu- man ambition, the nearer he approached it the more fully he displayed the consummate policy of restraining his malig- nant passions, so that his vengeance fell on fewer after his complete and final victory than at any former period of his life, which afforded him opportunity to punish his enemies. On his return to Rome, every mode which ingenuity could devise to express the joy and gratitude of all ranks, was adopted ; and he was most careful to employ all his prudence and wisdom, and cunning, to impose on the senses, and to win the applause of all. He provided whatever could amuse the people, laid aside the title of triumvir, and pretended to re-establish the institutions of the republic, while he accepted all the titles and offices which comprised the supreme gov- ernment of the state. Thus he was invested with the dig- nity and power of imperator, consul, censor, and tribune. Notwithstanding the existence of revoU in some of the pro- vinces, he was proclaimed the restorer of peace to the world, and in token of this the gates of the temple of Janus were shut. He was honoured by three triumphal processions, the anniversaries of his birth and victory were decreed to be celebrated for ever as days of thank&giving, and his name was inserted in the daily public prayers for the safety and prosperity of the commonweahh. He terminated the pro- cessions by depositing in the temple of Jupiter "sixteen thou- sand pondo, or a hundred and sixty thousand ounces of gold, with fifty millions in Roman money, or above four hundred thousand pounds sterling ; and at the close of the ceremony distributed a thousand sestertii, or above eight pounds of our money, to each man of the troops ; which, to an army con- sisting of one hundred and twenty thousand men, amounted to a sum of near a million sterling. To the officers, besides his pecuniary bounty, he gave honorary rewards. To Agrip- pa, in particular, he gave a blue ensign in token of his naval victories ; to the people he made a donation of four hundred sestertii, or about three pounds five shillings a man, and doubled the usual allowance of corn from the public granaries ; discharged all that he owed, remitted all the debts that were due to himself, and refused all the presents which were offered to him from the different towns and districts of Italy. The accumulations and distributions of foreign spoils at Rome, or ine general expectations of prosperous times, produced grea» or very sensible effects in raising the price of houses, lands, and other articles of sale, whether in Italy or ^ ^ t 172 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. m the contiguous provinces ; a circumstance which, joined to the new and strange appearance of the gates of the temple of Janus being shut, as a signal of universal peace, made these triumphs of Octavius appear an era of felicity and hope to the empire. They vi^ere followed by other magnificent ceremonies; the dedicating of a temple which had been erected to Minerva, and the opening of a great hall which had been inscribed with the name of Julius Cesar. In that hall was placed a noted statue of Victory which had been brought from Tarentum, and there too were hung up the trophies which had been collected in Egypt. The statue ot Cleopatra in gold was placed in the temple of Venus, and at the same time the shrine of Julius Cesar, as well as those of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, were decorated with many en- signs or badges of victory. On occasion of these solemnities, a variety of games were exhibited ; that of Troy, in particu- lar, was now instituted, being a procession formed by youth of high rank, mounted on horseback, and led by Marcellus and Tiberius, the nephew and the stepson of Octavius. Races were run in chariots and on horseback, by persons of high rank ; and fights of gladiators were exhibited, in which, to the supposed disgrace of the times, it is remarked that a Ro- man senator, of the name of Gluintus Ventelius, was one of the combatants. Numerous parties of captives from the Daci and Suevi, in a form that might pass for real battles, were made to fight for their liberty, that was proposed as the prize for the victors. Many exhibitions were made of hunting and baiting of wild beasts, in which were presented a rhi- noceros and hippopotamus or sea-horse, animals till the un- known at Rome. In the time of these entertainments, which continued many days, Octavius either really was, or pretend- ed to be taken ill, and left the honour of presiding at the shows to some private senators, who, together with many other members of their body, to increase the solemnity, feast- ed the people in their turns." While he unquestionably meditated the assumption of al' the power and majesty of the absolute sovereignty of the empire, without any greater disguise than circumstances in dicated to be expedient, he is reported to have, about this time, consulted Maecenas and Agrippa whether he ought no*' publicly to resign all authority, and restore the ancient forms of the republic. The latter is said first to have recommend- ed this scheme, but was persuaded by the former to urge Octavius to retain and exercise power uncontrolled, except by m= B8TABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 173 the opinions of those whom he conceived to be qualified to serve him. That this advice corresponded with his inclina- tion, his future life demonstrated ; for, from this period, he established a military despotism, which rendered all who seemed to share with him in the administration, the mere slaves of his will. Nevertheless, he was solicitous to procure the sanction of the senate to all his measures: and that he might not be disappointed in this, his first care was that no one should sit in that assembly who was not prepared to obey his dictates. Accordingly, on assuming the office of consul for the sixth time, he chose Agrippa for his colleague. They commenced their labours, as usual, by taking a census or review of all the different orders of the state. From the past public disorders and confusions, it was understood that many members in the senate had no legitimate title to the dignity. To avoid unnecessary offence, the consuls recom- mended that all conscious of any disqualification should vol- untarily withdraw. Fifty regarded the advice, and, on the rolls being examined, one hundred and forty men were struck off All these, although excluded from the senate, were permitted to retain the dress of senators in all public places. By raising the money qualification of a senator, Octavius excluded some objectionable persons, whose other qualifications were complete ; and to obtain the assistance of others he supplied them with the requisite wealth. This mode of depriving those of power whom he suspected of disaffection to his person, or disapprobation of his plans, he resorted lo at a future period of his reign. While he thus annihilated the small portion of political power remaining in the senate, and showed little respect to the comitium, he employed every art to please, amuse, or flatter the populace. He ordered the construction of magnificent temples and other public works, and celebrated the dedication or com- pletion of them with pompous shows and processions. " He furnished, at his own expense the circus and theatres with continual entertainments, with the fights of gladiators, and the baiting or hunting of wild beasts. While he thus en- couraged the people in their usual vices of idleness and dis- sipation, he avoided laying any new^ burdens, cancelled all arrears due to the treasury within the city, and increased fourfold the gratuitous distributions of corn. To these po- pular arts he joined a species of amnesty of all past offences and differences ; repealed all the acts which, during the late violent times, the spirit of party had dictated ; and, to quiet 15* 174 ESTABLISHMENT OP THE ROMAN EMPIRE. the apprehensions of many, who were conscious of having taken part with his enemies, he gave out that all papers or records seized in Egypt, upon the final reduction of An- tony's party, were destroyed ; though in this Dion Cassius contradicts him, and alleges that such papers were preserved, and afterwards employed in evidence against persons whom he thought proper to oppress." On the return of the season for the appointment of new consuls, Octavius resumed the ensigns of office, and exhibited the farce which he had premeditated, either for the gratifica- tion of his vanity, or to impose on the unreflecting multitude : he publicly resigned, in an eloquent address, all the extraor- dinary powers which he had exercised, well knowing that neither senate nor comitium would presume to accept his re- stgnation. The senate, doubtless, were not ignorant of his design, and they completed the farce by entreating him to desist from his purpose, and allay the fearful apprehensions which had seized all ranks by condescending to remain at the head of the government. He complied with their re- quest, but only on the condition that the senators should divide with him the burden of the administration. He was, how- ever, careful to retain the entire authority over the army, by which means the senate was put in possession of nothing more than a nominal power. He undertook the charge of all the provinces on the frontier and those most disposed to revolt, while the Senate should regulate the affairs of the pro- vinces which were reconciled to the dominion of Rome. — Thus he was to choose officers of military rank, with the title of propraetor, to govern the provinces assigned to him ; and the senate were to nominate to their provinces civil offi- cers, with the title of pro-consul, without either military rank or the power of the sword. The former governors were to hold their appointments during his pleasure ; the latter were to hold their governments no longer than a year. Hitherto governors of provinces received no salary ; but they were authorised to demand whatever supplies they deemed neces- sary from those whom they were appointed to rule. The consequence was, that many of them amassed immense wealth at the expense of the provinces, and, on their return, acquired great and dangerous influence in the state. To remedy these intolerable grievances, the provincial govern- ments were reduced to their "proper state of subordination and dependence. The duties they were to levy, and their own emoluments, were clearly ascertained. The greater pro- m- ESTABLISHMENT OP THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 175 vinces were divided, and separate officers appointed to each division. Neither men nor money were to be levied without authority from the emperor and the senate, nor was any offi- cer, to whom a successor was appointed, to remain in his command, or to absent himself from Rome above three months. ' To secure the observance of these regulations, and to accel- erate communication from every part of the empire,*an insti- tution resembling that of the modern posts was for the first time introduced in the ancient world. Couriers were placed at convenient stages, with orders to forward from one to the other the public despatches. It was afterwards thought more effectual, for the purpose of intelligence, to transport the origi- nal messenger to Rome." To express the gratitude of the Roman people to Octavius for his services, the senate conferred on him the new title of August, or the Awful, expressive of the highest dignity, and decreed that the '-court of his palaces should be forever hung with laurel, the badge of victories that were ever fresh in the minds of the people, and with wreaths of oak, the usual distinction of those who had saved a fellow-citizen : in token that the Roman people were continually preserved by his acceptance of the sovereignty, and by the wisdom of his administration. Octavius from henceforward came to be known by the name of Augustus. He had been some time the object of fear, and consequently of adulation to the peo- ple, and was now probably become the object of that fond admiration with which the bulk of mankind regard those who are greatly elevated by fortune. Under the effect of this sentiment, or supported by the prevalence of it, citizens of high rank devoted themselves to Augustus, as they were told that the vassal devoted himself to his lord in some of the bar- barous cantons of Spain and Gaul. They took an oath to interpose their persons in all his dangers, and if he must die, to perish with him. The dying, under pretence of bequeath- ing some legacy to Augustus, introduced his name in their wills, with a lavish encomium or flattering character. Many appointed him sole heir, or. together with their children, the joint heir of all their fortunes. Some, on their deathbed, bequeathed particular sums to defray the expense of sacrifices to the gods for this signal blessing, that Augustus was still livinsi when they expired.^^ Octavius had actually swayed the sceptre of Rome with absolute power from the time of the final victory over An- tony ; but the universal acknowledgment of his imperial — « 176 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. dominion may be dated r. c. 27, when he received the impe- rial title of Augustus. The republic was now extinguished, and the Roman monarchy fully established, which far sur- passed in extent, power, and riches, all preceding monarchies, It extended in length about four thousand miles, and two thousand in breadth, and comprised the territories- of many famous republics and extensive empires, and many regions which had never been favoured with the arts of civilization. This vast empire comprehended those parts of the globe oc- cupied by the races of men who have been most distinguished by vigour of mind, enterprise, and perseverance in the acqui- sition and practical improvement of knowledge of every kind that contributes to the welfare of man. It embraced a variety of climates and territories, " diversified in respect to situa- tion and soil, distributing the productions of nature and art, so as to render its different divisions mutually useful and sub- servient to each other. The communication between these parts, though remote, was easy, and by a sea which, with the species of shipping then in use, and with the measure of skill which the mariner then possessed, could be easily navigated. The Mediterranean being received into the bosom of this empire, gave to the whole a greater extent of coast, and to the inland parts an easier access to navigation, than could be obtained by any different distribution of its land and water. In consequence of this circumstance, the coasts of the Roman empire, without measuring minutely round the indentures of creeks and promontories, and even without including the out- line of some considerable as well as many smaller islands, may be computed at thirteen thousand miles ; an extent which, if stretched into a single line, would exceed half the circumference of the earth. Over this extensive coast, the empire was furnished with numerous seaports, and the fre- quent openings of gulfs and navigable rivers ; so that, not- withstanding the great extent of its territory, the distance of any inland place, the most remote from the sea. does not ap- pear to exceed two hundred miles." Augustus obtained the Roman sceptre in his thirty-third year ; two years later, it was conceded to him by the Roman people, and he reigned prosperously till his death, in his sev- enty-sixth year, and a. d. 14. The possession of supreme power during such a long period was a rare phenomenon in ancient times in any country, and especially in Europe, whose most illustrious rulers resembled the meteors of the sky, rather than the fixed stars in the heavens. And happily for the world, the principal objects of the policy of his prolonged reign were scarcely less novel than its duration ; for he de- sired not, like former conquerors, the extension of his domin- ions, nor the glory of conquest, but the maintenance of peace, and the fame of having consolidated and aggrandised the em- pire, and civilised its numerous nations. He was a warrior from expediency, but a statesman from taste. He was fitted to direct the movements of an army, rather than to lead them on to victory. But in the arts of peace he was at once the example, the patron, and the rewarder of all who promoted them. The revenue of Augustus, derived from the provinces, must have been for a considerable time extremely little, com- pared with the accumulated revenues which had been raised by their rulers previously to their subjection to Rome. Many causes had operated to waste, if not wholly exhaust, all the resources of the richest of the conquered countries ; and none perhaps, except the most barbarous, was immediately enriched in consequence of their connexion with the Romans. All the money and movable articles of value in every coun- try, had been generally seized by the conquerors, and carried to Italy ; and whatever was immovable was damaged by the rude hands of the foreign soldiers and baser classes of the respective communities. The number of persons in Italy and the provinces had increased to four millions one hundred and sixty-four thousand men fit to carry arms. These, by a law adopted soon after by the Romans, who ceased to boast that they were the emancipators of mankind from slavery and tyrrany. would have claimed exemption from taxation ; but that law was not long observed, and by a new decree all the subjects of the empire, Roman citizens in common with oth- ers, were called to support the state by money or goods. Still, however, the yoke of Rome pressed most severely on those whom she had reduced, and not admitted to the privilege of citizens. After her power was dreaded and felt to be irresis- tible, her officers took possession of conquered countries " without any capitulation, and considered not only the sover- eignty, but the property likewise of the land and of its inhabi- tants, as devolving upon themselves. They, in some instan- ces, seized on the persons as well as the effects of the van- quished, and set both to sale. They leased the lands at considerable quit-rents, or, leaving them in the hands of the original proprietors, exacted, under the appellation of tithes, or fifths of corn, fruit, and cattle, a proportion of the produce. %-=-- # 178 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By diversifying the tax, the burden was made to fall upon different subjects, or was exacted from different persons, and by these means the whole amount was less easily computed, i or less sensibly feh. The Romans, in continuing the taxes which they found already established in the countries they had conquered, or by imposing such new ones as suited their own character as conquerors, set examples of almost every kind that is known in the history of mankind. They levied customs at seaports, excises on many articles of consumption, and a considerable capitation or poll tax, in which they made no distinction of rank or fortune. Those modes of taxation already known under the republic, and various in different provinces, now began to be regulated upon the maxims of a general policy, extending over the whole empire. Some of the burdens laid by Octavius, as that which was imposed on the value of goods exposed to sale, were charged directly for the benefit of the army, as a fund for the discharge of their pay, or an immediate supply for their subsistence or clothing, and by this sort of impropriation were unalterably fixed. The country where any troops were quartered, was charged for their use with supplies of straw, forage, carriages, corn, bread, provisions, and even clothing." The immense wealth of the great commercial cities, Alex- andria, Tyre, and Carthage, had disappeared with their inde- pendence, liberty, and naval power. Commerce was more equally distributed, but it scarcely could be said to have a chief seat in the Roman empire. The spirit of enterprise was more universally diffused than in former times, and coun- tries acquired distinction which had during all past ages never escaped from the lowest state of barbarism. The language, the literature, and arts of Greece, had been for iwo or three generations encouraged by many Romans ; but Augustus stimulated all ranks not only to imitate, but, if possible, to excel the Grecian race in all intellectual accomplishments, and in every art tending to the attainment of national greatness. The professors of every science, and practitioners of every art, flocked to Rome in the hope of distinction or wealth ; and the most eminent found ample honours and rewards. The emperor recommended the introduction into all the provinces of all the inventions and improvements of his age, and with how much success it is unnecessary to say ; for where is the country formerly subject to Rome, which contains not traces of the skill, wisdom, and nobleness of the Roman mind? During a number of centuries, the science, the literature, the # ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 179 laws, the arts, the customs and manners of Rome, were every where admired and approved by all who occupied the princi- pal stations and offices of influence, in all the provinces of the empire. The salutary change on the face of society, during the reign of Augustus, in the most remote regions of the state, was probably not less than that of Rome, which he is said emphatically to have described by a single sentence uttered when he was dying ; " I found a city of brick, and changed it into marble." Though Augustus was not ambitious to enlarge the domin- ions of the empire which he ruled, yet he resolutely main- tained its integrity. He permitted not any of the provinces to cast off' the yoke with impunity. And though he preferred the sceptre of government to the sword of the warrior, yet he •repeatedly placed himself at the head of his armies, even after he had ascended the throne. On his return to Rome from the conquest of Egypt, he sent an army to Germany, another to the bordere of Macedon, and a third into Spain, to quell some commotions, which disturbed these countries. Having settled the affairs of Italy, he proceeded to Gaul, and arranged the government. Then he advanced into Spain, the interior of which was not wholly subdued. During his residence there he was gratified by receiving an embassy from the Purthians, requesting him to judge and decide on the claims of two competitors, Phrates and Tiridates, to the throne ; in return for which favour all the Roman captives and trophies taken in the war with Crassus and Antony, were to be re- stored without any compensation. He left the decision to the senate, but regarded the circumstance with pleasure equal al- most to what he would have felt had he actually conquered Parthia. All the empire being reduced to obedience, Augus- tus returned in triumph to Rome; and to express the joy oc- casioned by the attainment of peace every where, the gates of Janus were once more shut, and a column erected on the summit of the Alps, on which were inscribed the names of forty nations or cantons who had submitted to the Great Au- gustus. The principal, if not the only remarkable attempt to con- quer a powerful people, in this reign, was the commission given to JEVms Gallus, propraetor of Egypt, to invade Arabia Felix, a region celebrated for its treasures of gold, silver, and precious productions, partly indigenous and partly imported from India. This expedition procured not even authentic information concerning the state of the country and people 180 E8TABLISHMEWT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. against whom it was sent. Gallus lost many ships and men in the gulf of Arabia ; and the greater part of the army per- ished in the deserts from want of water and by disease. The Roman forces being thus exceedingly weakened in Egypt, Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, conceived that she could easily conquer that country, and accordingly invaded it with a large army. Augustus, on receiving information of this event, left Rome for the East. But the Ethiopians be- ing repulsed by Petronius, the successor of Gallus, the em- peror passed a considerable time in Sicily, Greece, Samos, and Syria, where he restored order, punished the refractory, and rewarded the most zealous advocates and adherents of his government. While in Syria, he sent ambassadors to the Parthian king to demand the fulfilment of the terms of the late treaty, and the compliance of that monarch gave Au^ gustus the opportunity of wiping away, as he pretended, the repeated failures of the Romans to conquer Parthia. His pride was still more flattered when, resting some time at Sa- mos, on his return to Italy, he was honoured by ambassadors from many remote nations, who were commissioned to con- gratulate him on his signal prosperity, and express the solici- tude of their respective monarchs to enjoy his friendship. The most distinguished of these seems to have been Porus, king of India, who, in a letter written in the Greek language, pledged to support him in his rights and dignities. Of his three ambassadors, one of them, an aged Brahmin, accom- panied the emperor to Athens, where he procured the ap- plause of the learned and the admiration of the multitude, by displaying the perfection of his Brahminical philosophy, by voluntarily destroying his life by fire in the presence of the Roman court. He prepared a funeral pile, set it on fire and threw himself into the flames. The following inscription was engraved on his tomb: "Here lies Tamarus or Tar- manochegas, an Indian of Burgosa, who, in the manner of his country, ended his days by a voluntary death." Than this act, the proud philosopher and priest could have scarcely resorted to any method by which he might more certainly acquire fame in that age ; for suicide was universally prac- tised by those who boasted of philosophy, patriotism or hero- ism, when they despaired of liberty or preservation from sla- very. They had no principle capable of sustaining their minds in adversity, nor any correct apprehension of their relation to God and an invisible world. Nor did the multi- tude entertain more honourable ideas of the Creator, or more ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 181 just views of their own nature. No generation of the hu- man race had ever appeared more destitute of enlightened religious moral principles, or more demoralized in conduct, than that of Augustus. History largely illustrates and con- firms the awful statements in the sacred writings of the New Testament respecting the moral degeneracy and degradation of Jews, Greeks, and Romans. To preserve such a race from entire destruction, the most perfect system of despotic goverment was indispensable ; and happily it was provided by Divine providence. The coercive power established by Augustus was probably the greatest that mankind had ever witnessed. Three fleets were appointed to protect the coast, that piracy might be pre- vented, the supply of provisions for Italy secured, and free- dom of commerce maintained. " One fleet was stationed at Ravenna, near the bottom of the Adriatic Gulf; one at Forum Julii, on the opposite side of the peninsula ; and a third at Misenum, the principal promontory or headland of Campania. Besides these, there were numbers of armed vessels destined to ply in all the gulfs and navigable rivers throughout the empire. The ordinary military establishment consisted of about five-and-forty legions, besides cavalry and city and pro- vincial troops. The whole, reckoning each legion, with its attendants and officers, at six thousand men, and making a reasonable allowance for cavalry, may have amounted to three hundred thousand. . Of the manner in which this army was distributed, the following particulars only are men- tioned : on the Rhine, there were stationed eight legions ; on the Danube, two ; on the frontiers of Syria, four ; in Spain, three ; in Africa, in Egypt, in Mysia, and Dalmatia, each t\;^o legions ; in the city were nine, or, according to others, ten cohorts, in the capacity of guards, or praetorian bands to attend the person of the emperor ; and, together with these, three cohorts of a thousand men each, intended as a city watch, to be employed in preserving the peace, in extinguish- ing fires, and in suppressing any other occasional disorder. . For the further security of the empire, considerable terri- tories on the frontier, which might have been easily occupied by the Roman arms were suffered to remain in the posses- sion of allies, dependant princes, or free cities and republican state? who, owing their safety to the support of the Roman power, formed a kind of barrier against its enemies, were vigilant to observe, and ready to oppose every attempt of in- vasion, and were prepared to co-operate with the Roman ar VOL n. 16 • 182 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE K.OAUN EMPIRE. mies, and to support them with stores and provisions as oft as they had occasion to act in their neighbourhood. The repub- lic had ever cultivated such alliances with powers that were contiguous to the place of their operations ; and frequently, af- ter having made the defence of their ally the pretence of" a war, and after having availed themselves of his assistance, they, upon occasion of some breach or quarrel, added the ally himself to the conquest which he had assisted them to make. The same policy which had been useful in acquiring the do- minion of so great an empire, was still employed for its safety. In pursuance of this policy, the kings of Mauritania, of the Bosphorus, of the Lesser and Greater Armenia, of Cappado- cia, Commagne, Galatia, and Pamphilia, with Paphlagonia^ Colchis, and Judea, together with the republican states of Rhodes, Cyrene, Pisidia, and Lycia, acted, under the denom- ination of allies, as advanced parties on the frontiers of the empire, and, encouraged by the prospect of a powerful sup- port, were ready to withstand every enemy by whom their own peace, or that of the Romans, was likely to be disturbed." Augustus assumed every title of office to which power, civil or ecclesiastical, was attached. He declined the title of pontifex maximus, or chief priest, till the death of the deposed triumvir Lepidus, on whom it had been conferred. But hav- ing received it, he, as in all similar cases, immediately exer- cised the functions of the office. One of these was attention to the calendar. He corrected a gross mistake which had been permitted for more than thirty years, or from the date of the reformation of the calendar by Julius Cesar. Every third year, instead of every fourth, had been reckoned a leap year, and twelve days had been inserted instead of nine, so that the Roman year had advanced three days more than it ought. To correct this error, the emperor "ordered first, that for the twelve ensuing years there should be no leap-year ; and secondly, that, after the expiration of the said twelve years, the leap-years should thenceforth be made every fourth year ; by which means, the three superadded days being thrown out, and the leap-years fixed in their true terms, according to Julius Cesar's institution, • the form of this year has ever since been regularly observed, and was long, under the name of the old styU^ in use among -as." The month of August received its name at this time in honour of Augustus, perhaps in imitation of Julius Cesar, who gave his name to the month of July. Augustus survived not only his able confidential friends, Agrippa and Majcenas. but also almost every individual 1 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 183. whom he sincerely or tenderly loved, except his wife Livia, who was the secret instrument of his most intense sufferings, and more undisguisedly the principal author of inexpressible misery to the whole empire. She captivated- his affections at the time that he had attained the supremacy in Rome ; and though she was then wife of Claudius Tiberius Nero, one of the most deserving nobles of Italy, and had borne him a son. and was in a state of pregnancy with a second, yet, from choice or compulsion, she left her husband, and was married to Augustus, whose will no one dared resist. That he might enjoy her, he divorced his second wife, a relation of Pompey, whom he had taken merely to promote his ambitious schemes. Livia had no children to the emperor. He treated her two sons, named Tiberius and Drusus, as if they were his own. The eldest was the mother's favourite, and she seems to have spent her life in a series of intrigues to secure him the throne • and to her skilful devices or diabolical arts, history traces the death of every individual who had any plausible pretensions to succeed Augustus, by either exposure of them to the danger of war, or by assassination or poison. And, indeed, the dread that the emperor during his last illness should designate another to succeed him, is said to have impelled her to hasten his death by poison. If ever he loved Tiberius, it is certain that he alternately hated or feared him from the time that he reached manhood, and that justly, for scarcely could any one discover himself more destitute of moral excellence, or more regardless of the welfare of the human race, than he did through life, and especially after he ascended the throne of Rome, on the exit of Augustus, a. d. 14. We deem it inexpedient to relate many events in the reign of the first emperor of Rome, dignified by the senate, Pater Patrice^ the father of his country ; because they apparently neither affected the relative position or extent of the empire, nor produced any material or conspicuous change on the moral or religious aspect of society. Peace prevailed gen- erally in all the provinces ; and the few insurrections which disturbed the public repose brought tenfold vengeance on the authors. Thus the characteristics of the " fourth kingdom" ap- peared equally distinct and prominent under its imperial, asunder its republican form of administration ; the nameless beast was still '.^ dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it." This is illustrated by '.he deeds of war by Drusus and Tiberius, still to be adverted 184 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. to, although the most interesting of them were performed in the time of Augustus. The Roman beast still trode in the paths and adopted the habits, manners and customs of all the beasts which were before it. Accordingly, though the policy of Augustus led him, till he had crushed all opposers under his feet, to retain all the simplicity of dress and manners of the ancient republican great officers of state, insomuch that he lived in the common edifice of a senator, was addressed by the simple name of Cesar, mixed freely with the senators and citizens, and encouraged the females of his family to affect the virtue of admired matrons, and to fabricate with their own hands his dress, yet he latterly assumed almost all the magni- ficence, grandeur, and dignity of Oriental despots. He, at the same time, established the entire apparatus of Asiatic and Grecian idolatry, and gloried in being the priest of Jupiter. Nor was he slow to patronise the language, literature, arts, and customs, for which Greece was celebrated above all na- tions. All the large and numerous provinces, not excepting the most remote, were so effectually united under one head, that the empire appeared as if it were but a small kingdom, whose extremities felt the presence of its monarch almost as sensibly as it was felt at the seat of royalty. Compared with all past ages, the intercourse between all the countries of the ancient world maybe said to have been now fully opened. The seas could be traversed without dread of the fierceness and savage barbarity of lawless mariners; and the finest and noblest roads conducted the traveller into the interior regions not only of the civilized, but also of the rudest kingdoms. Ruined towns were restored to more than their former beauty and comfort; and many new towns rose to excel them in gran- deur. Everywhere fortresses appeared to protect the inhab- itants and their property. The agriculturist cultivated his lands in hope ; the shepherd cheered his spirits by the melody of his pipe : and the poor peasant gladly shared of the abun- dance of earth's varied fruits. Every man sat in peace under his vine or fig tree; or if oppressed by unreasonable and wicked men, he could appeal to laws, which were, on the whole, just and equitable ; and if he was one of the millions of Roman citizens, when he had no confidence in the ordi- nary judges, he was privileged to carry his cause to the tribu- nal of the great Cesar, whose highest boast was to execute justice without partiality. Interchange of thought, senti- ments, and customs, were not subjected to more restrictioni 9 ' # m ■ - < » ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 185 than the productions of the soil, or those of human ingenuity and labour. Augustus was not the enemy of freedom of speech ; he conceived that it was too much to deny it to those who were deprived of liberty of action, beyond the bounds prescribed by law. He was a friend to the diffusion of knowledge. Education was countenanced ; seats of science and learning muhi plied; the pen of the historian and poet aspired to the fame of wisdom ; and the wise and learned were considered ornaments of the court, and received the honours of the state. The rich and melodious language of subjugated Greece, and its wisdom and arts, were preferred by the conquerors to their own noblest achievements. Thus all things contributed to elevate the intellectual nature and dignity of mankind, and to prepare them for the widest dissemination of the heavenly truth which was about to de- scend to guide every man's steps, who chose not to be the dupe or slave of error, to the sanctuary of peace, purity, and pure felicity ; that the prophetic song might resound through every land, and its echo return to fill Jerusalem with joy. " The race that long in darkness pined have seen a glorious light ; The people dwell in day who dwelt in death's surrounding night. To hail (hy rise, thou better Sun ! the gath'ring nations come Joyous, as when the reapers bear the harvest treasures home. His name shall be the Prince of Peace, for evermore adored, The Wonderful, the Counsellor, the great and mighty Lord. His pow'r increasing still shall spread, his reign no end shall know ; Justice shall guard liis throne above, and peace abound below." No reader, accustomed to reflection, can, we presume, calmly survey the prominent events in the history of the Ro- mans, and hesitate to conclude that this ancient race were granted the opportunity, which the Orientals and the Grecians had long enjoyed, to know the divine revelations communi- cated to the Jews, and to ascertain the nature and require- ments of the true religion. Did not the Romans transfer the gods, the philosophy, the arts, and even the amusements, as as well as riches and vices of Syria, Egypt, and Greece, to the western division of the empire ? Did they not, then, im- port the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Scriptures ? Were none of these seen by them in all their journeys through Judea and other regions filled with Jews ? Were not many Jews resident in Rome? Are we not informed that they were among the most conspicuous mourners over the melan- choly death of Julius Cesar ? Both he and Augustus con- ferred on the Jewish nation special privileges, and accepted 16* m= l^ ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. from them many expressions of their gratitude. Might they not tlien have procured the Sacred Book, examined, and judged its claims to be the production of infallible wisdom, and the exclusive guide to immortality ? The Jews every where confessed their belief in the divine origin of these writings, and avowed themselves the worshippers of the One God. Every seventh day they publicly adored him in their synagogues, read his oracles in the Hebrew language, which was easily learned, or in the Greek, very generally under- stood. They were, indeed, not in general admirers of pagan learning, nor tolerant of pagan gods : they were not, perhaps, remarkable for any superiority of mind or manners in that age ; their religion was exclusive, it admitted no rival to the Deity in his worship, it sanctioned no impurity in his service ; they veiled its benevolent character by their bigotry: but whatever they were, they still are acknowledged to have kept the holy books uncorrupted, and to them every one sincerely desirous of truth ought to have had recourse, to learn what was the religion which distinguished the Jews from all na- tions. Many Romans thus wisely acted, and not a few re- ceived as divine the writings of Moses and the prophets. That these comprised not the Romans most celebrated for talents, learning, genius, or taste, will excite no one's wonder, who knows that this exalted class of the human race have, in all ages, generally deemed themselves too wise to submit to a religion that demands them to resign their judgments to the authority of the Creator, and to renounce every object which He pronounces unworthy of the honourable and pure ambi- tion of an intelligent being, who only enters in this world on a life which remains to be matured through eternity, and to advance unceasingly in the invisible world, to the consumma- tion of excellence and hapiness, or of demoralization and wretchedness. The most memorable and eternally important event in the annals of this world transpired in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, in the 748th year of Rome, and 2348 years after the Deluge ; for this is calculated to be the date of the BIRTH OF Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, and the Saviour of the world. But this illustrious event will come more pro- perly to be noticed in our section on the Rise of the Fifth Empire. "H^ t CHAPTER IX. HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. The truth of Divine Revelation and of Christianity re- quired the preservation of the Jews in a national organiza- tion, possessed of uncontrolled liberty to observe the laws, religious institutions, and customs established by Moses. All the prophets had announced that the Messiah, the Saviour of all nations was to descend from the race of Abraham by Isaac, distinguish himself from every other human being, by perfect conformity to the laws of Moses, and demonstrate, by his burning zeal for these laws, and consummate wisdom and goodness in explaining and enforcing them, that he was worthy to succeed his ancestor David, " the man according to God's own heart," on the throne of the chosen people. In order to his being thus manifested, it was indispensable that the Jews should reside in their own land, sacredly keep their national register, maintain the external observance of the va- rious rites of worship enjoined by the God of their fathers, and, to sum up all in one word, that they should retain an independent national legislation, till the Messiah appeared, to " finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy." Re- flect, then, on the exigencies of the Jewish people at the time when Herod assumed the entire government of their nation, and you will perceive that he was a most appropriate instru- ment to effect their preservation from the national dependence on a foreign legislator, and from utter ruin, which they had sufficient reason to apprehend, either of which results would have frustrated the prophetic word. They had completely thrown themselves into the hands of the Paithians, the only people who dared set bounds to Roman ambition. The powder of this people, however to repel the arms of the Romans, evidently extended not west of the Euphrates for they had always fallen before them when they ventured to leave their 188 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. own fiery deserts, and contend with the Romans in salubrious and cultivated regions. It was not, therefore, to be supposed or expected that the Jews could long find safety under the shade of Parthia, nor that the Romans should suflTer them to remain in alliance with their most formidable enemy. Nev- ertheless, Antigonus, king of Judea, confided in Parthian promises, regarded by their authors as the mere breath of their mouth, and braved the mighty power of Rome ; and his subjects generally approved oi his purpose, for they cher- ished implacable hatred of Herod, whom the Romans pat- ronised. But, had the Parthians been faithful to Antigonus, inevitable destruction seemed the certain and speedy destiny of the Jews and their king. They had provoked, to the highest possible degree, the pride and revenge of the Ro- mans, and the time was past when they boasted in treating with leniency those who had thus exasperated their wrath. If Herod had not interposed between them, Antony would assuredly not only have conquered the Jews, but also reduced their country to a Roman province, and subjected them to Roman laws, or utterly destroyed the nation, by selling all ranks for slaves. Herod was characterised by qualities peculiarly fitting him to acquire and exercise influence over his political superiors and dependants. Though selfishness regulated every move- ment of his soul, and every scheme and action of his life, yet he was capable of exhibiting the most striking and the most decisive appearances of disinterested and unalterable friendship, and the most ardent patriotism. He risked all, not excepting his life, for the interests of his friends, while there was the least probability that they could promote his ambitious views ; and he hesitated not to give all, and prom- ise all, to those whom he had reason to consider able to pro- mote the welfare, or increase the number of his subjects. These indications of an uncommon boldness, generosity, and liberality of spirit, maybe traced in his early history, slightly reviewed in Chap. II., but they were much more conspic- uous during his reign. While, however, he displayed an apparent nobleness of soul that commanded the esteem and admiration of the great, in so much that Augustus remarked of him, that his soul was too great for his kingdom ; to pro- cure means to make this display, he could, without painful emotion, violate every principle of justice, equity, humanity, or compassion. Thus the historian remarks, that when Herod obtained the throne of Jerusalem, he ordered all the 189 gold and precious jewels to be sent to his palace ; put to death forty-five of the chief supporters of the late king, and seized their estates ; and, lest any thing valuable should es- cape him, he placed guards at each gate, to examine all who Went out -of the city, and to search even the dead bodies car- ried to their graves. The consequence was, that the inhab- itants were reduced to poverty, and were exceedingly de- pressed from the dread of famine, owing to its being the sab- batic year, when they neither sowed nor reaped. Their feel- ings or sufferings were nothing to him ; he was satisfied on procuring sufficient wealth to gratify the avariciousness of the Roman officers, and to reward the soldiers, especially the Roman army, who had made him master of the Jews. During fully the first six years of his reign, he scarcely could view his throne or dominion secure, chiefly on account of the machinations and political manceuvres of Alexandra, his mother-in-law, and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, females who regarded him as the principal barrier to the varied and numerous schemes for aggrandisement suggested by their restless ambition. The former aspired to share in the gov- ernment of the nation, through the agency of her young son Aristobulus ; and she employed every means at her com- mand to prevail on Herod to raise him to the office of high- priest. This high office had been conferred on Ananclus, an obscure priest. This individual seems to have had no other claims to the dignity than that he was an old friend of Herod ; and it spem^d an ^"♦r.igc on rll that was sacred that he should occupy the most sacred office, to which none had so many claims as Aristobulus, the son of the late king and high- priest. But Herod well knew that his mother-in-law might, and possibly would, with almost equal plausibility of argu- ment, demand the throne for her son. To justify his refusal of her request, he reminded h. r that Aristobulus was not of age. for he was not eighteen years old. But on learning that she had procured the intercession of Cleopatra with Antony, lest he should provoke him to anger, he complied with her persevering solicitations. He, however, no sooner observed that all ranks of the Jews were transported with joy on beholding Aristobulus clothed in the splendid dress of the high-priest, and performing with propriety the func- tions of his holy office, than he resolved on his death. This he effected at a private feast ; for while the guests were, in the interval of feasting, at his suggestion, refreshing themselves by bathing in a pond, his emissaries succeeded in drowning # m-' 190 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. the youth. His death Herod represented as an unhappy ac cident, assumed the aspect of a deep mourner, buried the youth with extraordinary magnificence, and ordered a splen- did monument to be raised to his memory. Vain were his arts to conceal his murderous device and deed. Alexandra eagerly sought revenge ; and Cleopatra the more readily lis- tened to her complaints from her ardent desire to obtain pos- session of Judea, She prevailed on Antony to summon Herod before him, to answer the accusation of murder brought against him. By a large present or bribe, Herod purchased the favour of the judge, and was acquitted of the crime of which all were conscious that he was guilty, and none more than himself This seems clear from an act which is as- cribed to him at this time, from which arose his future most exquisite sorrows and most guilty crimes. He had only faint hopes of escaping the punishment of death on this occasion ; and this induced him before proceeding to Antony, to intrust his beloved queen Mariamne, to the care of his uncle Jo- seph, with strict injunctions to put her to death, should he be sentenced to die, that she might not fall into the hands of the Romans. This secret order Joseph is said to have divulged to the queen ; and from this time, if not before, she never showed affection for Herod. As soon as he learned that Jo- seph had betrayed his trust, he ascribed it to his illicit love of the queen, and he not only punished him with death, but ad- mitted the demon of jealousy to fix his residence in his soul, so that he had no peace while she lived, and, by causing her to be murdered, he rendered his future life inexpressibly wretched. Elated doubtless as he was to escape at once death and degradation, he had silently to submit to the loss of one of the richest districts of his country, — that belonging to Jeri- cho, which Antony had bestowed on Cleopatra. This dis- trict was remarkable for the number and excellence of its palm-trees, and for its balm, which was celebrated all over the ancient world. On her passing through Judea, from Syria, Herod entertained her magnificently, gave her rich presents, engaged to give her the annual tribute of two hun- dred talents for Jericho, and accompanied her to Pelusium. But so insecure seemed his throne at this time, that he strongly fortified Massada, and placed in it ten thousand troops, with a complete supply of provisions, that it might aflTord him an asylum, should Cleopatra succeed in per- suading Antony to dispossess him of Judea. Whatever 1 191 might be Herod's thoughts of Antony, he proved faithful to him almost to the last moments of that able, profligate, and inconsiderate soldier. That Herod perceived his ruin cer- tain if he continued to be guided by the counsels of Cleo- patra, no one can doubt who believes that he proposed to give him all the protection and aid of money and forces which his kingdom could afford, on condition that he put her to death. Antony rejected his advice, but entreated him to employ the large army which he had raised to assist him against Octavius, in subduing Arabia whose king had de- clined to pay the tribute imposed on him. Accordingly, while Antony proceeded to fight against Octavius, Herod ad- vanced into Arabia, and after several sanguinary battles, completely conquered that country, and appointed a deputy to govern it in his own name. During these wars, the signs of the Divine displeasure with the chosen people were fear- fully manifested. Besides the many thousands • slain in battle, Judea was visited by a dreadful earthquake, in which about thirty thousand of the inhabitants and an immense number of flocks perished. Herod spake of this as a ca- lamity common to man, and succeeded in preventing his soldiers from reflecting on the peculiar relation in which their nation stood towards God. While, however, Herod triumphed in Arabia, his situation became most critical, in consequence of the total defeat of Antony at Actium. This event was no sooner known to him, than he directed all his thoughts to devise means of appeasing the wrath of Octavius. Accordingly, we find that though he remained the avowed friend of Antony, yet he secretly sent troops to strengthen the forces of Q,. Dedius, whom Augustus had appointed governor of Syria, and prepared to sail to Rhodes, to pro- cure if possible an interview with Augustus, while he so- journed in that island. Previous to his leaving Jerusalem, Herod was guilty of the atrocious crime of murdering the aged Hyrcanus, his father's principal friend, his own father-in-law and constant friend, to whom he owed his honour and his life. Few persons have experienced greater vicissitudes of life than this venerable prince. He had long held the high-priest's office, had been raised to the throne, of which he was deprived by his unnatural brother, and was afterwards restored by Pom- pey. After occupying it forty years, hevwas taken prisoner by the Parthians ; and in his captivity was exalted by his conquerors, and enthusiastically loved by a great number of f= 192 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. Jews who dwelt in Parthia. Herod, apprehensive that the Parthians might attempt to recover for him his kingdom, employed every device to get him wholly in his power. By many professions, and tokens of grateful recollection of the favours which he had received from him, and of ardent desire to repay them, he prevailed on this aged prince to return to his own land. Herod loaded him with honours ; but, viewing him as almost the only one alive who had claims on the throne of Judea, that he might remove him out of the way, he pretended to have detected him of treason, and punished him with death in his eightieth year. On being admitted into the presence of Octavius, he as- sumed all the dignity and manner of a king, except the use of the diadem, frankly and fully enumerated the many proofs which he had given Antony of his fidelity, and hum- bly offered to transfer from him to Octavius his fidelity and services. The truth of his statement was doubtless known to the conqueror, and his candour conciliated his favour. Octavius confirmed him in his kingdom, and promised to honour him as a friend. He instantly returned in triumph to Judea, and diligently prepared to receive Octavius, who proposed to march through Judea into Egypt. When he arrived at Ptolemais, Herod met him, feasted him with great magnificence, presented him with eight hundred talents, and other most valuable gifts, amply supplied his troops with pro- visions, and accompanied him to Pelusium. He displayed equal greatness of soul for the honour of Augustus, on the return of that great prince from Egypt, and received from him the strongest testimonies of his regard, for he presented him with four thousand Gauls who had been the guards of Cleopatra, and restored to him all the towns and districts of Judea which Antony had granted to the queen of Egypt. Jehovah claimed Judea as his peculiar land ; and, as its su preme King, he called every one who occupied the throne to act as his deputy. How unworthy Herod was of this dignity, his whole life testified. It is not therefore surprising, that the higher he rose as a monarch, the more wretched he be- came as a man. The wrath of Heaven was upon him. His sister Salome appears to have held a high place in his esteem and confidence, and to have been distinguished by the great talents and ambition which characterised her family. She aspired to direct or control all her brother's counsels ; and perhaps he openly selected no one for a friend whom she did not envy or hate, and desire to destroy. She was most fer m- HEROD THE GREAT, AND HJ8 FAMILY. 193 tile in every kind of stratagem of mischief Of his nine wives, the beautiful princess Mariamne was the chief object of his adoration and love, and honoured as his queen, and on this account Salome sedulously devised her ruin. The excess of his love for Mariamne gendered strong jealousy ; and Sohe- mus, whom he had appomted to protect her during his ab- sence at Rhodes, with an injunction similar to that which he had given his uncle Joseph on a like occasion, — to put his fa- mily to death shculd he not return, speedily fell a victim to his suspicion. His injustice and cruelty provoked the indig- nation of his virtuous queen. She treated him with contempt ; which conduct he interpreted as a clear proof of her conjugal infidelity. Salome employed every artifice to persuade him that his opinion was incontrovertibly true. The consequence was, that his rage became furious, and he sought to allay it by bringing his queen to a public trial ; when, by choosing for her judges those who, regardless of justice, desired only to please him, she was sentenced to death. Reluctant to exe* cute this sentence, he would have gladly exchanged it for imprisonment for life, had not his sister suggested that this most probably would occasion a general insurrection, and might result in the loss of his crown and life. Her death left him in intolerable misery and universal abhorrence. It was soon followed by a frightful pestilence, which killed multi- tudes of all ranks. This his enemies represented as a judg- ment from Heaven on account of the innocent blood which he had shed. In vain he sought relief alternately in scenes of dissipation and complete seclusion from society. His mind seemed lost, and he was seized by a violent, and what was be- lieved by many, an incurable disease. This event tempted Alexandra to form a conspiracy, in order to secure the su- preme power at his death. He recovered, detected her crime, and put her to death, with a number of his oldest friends, whom Salome accused as accomplices with her. When he believed that all the principal opponents of his family and the friends of the Maccabean race were destroyed, he braved the displeasure of the Jews, suppressed several of their religious ceremonies, and introduced a number of the customs of the Greeks and Romans, with the obvious design of gratifying the vanity of Augustus. " He built," says Jo- sephus, "a theatre at Jerusalem, and a great amphitheatre in the plain. He imitated every thing, though ever so costly or magnificent, in other nations, out of an ambition that he might give mo3l public demonsii ation of his grandeur. Inscriptions VOL. II. 17 • 194 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. also of the great actions of Cesar, and trophies of those aa- tions which he had conquered in his wars, and all made of the purest gold and silver, encompassed the theatre itself He also made a great preparation of wild beasts, and of lions themselves in great abundance, and of such other beasts as were either of uncommon strength, or of such a sort as were rarely seen. These were prepared either to fight with one another, or that men who were condemned to death were to fight with them. It appeared no better thap an instance of barefaced impiety to throw men to wild beasts for the afl^brd- ing delight to the spectators ; and it appeared an instance of no less impiety, to change their own laws for such foreign ex- ercises ; but, above all the rest, the trophies gave most dis- taste to the Jews ; for as they imagined them to be images, included withip the armour that hang round about them, they were sorely displeased at them, because it was not the cus- tom of their country to oay honours to such images." A con- spiracy, accordingly, was formed to assassinate him in the theatre. One of his spies, who had discovered the authors, wa*s attacked by the multitude, put to death, and his mangled body was cast to the dogs. When Herod could not learn who had committed this outrageous act, he ordered some women to be tortured, till they accused certain persons, whom he instantly murdered with their families. This infuriated the nation against him, and he every moment dreaded an uni- versal revolt. To guard against this, he strongly fortified Jerusalem, and several other places in Judea. He raised, about this time also, a noble city, on the site of the ancient Sa- maria, and named it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus, — the former name in Greek corresponding to the latter in Latin. The buildings were uncommonly magnificent, and were sur- rounded with strong walls and towers. Six thousand for- eigners were put in possession of this city ; and, from the beauty and fertility of the district, the population soon greatly increased. Convinced, however, that walls and towers were a feeble protection against the fury of popular rage, he felt it absolutely necessary for his personal safety to adopt a new policy. Hence ho appears, from about this period of his reign, to have summoned all his energies, and called up all his re- sources, to appease the national anger and indignation, to con- ciliate the favour of the most influential persons, and to flatter the prejudices, and encourage the superstitions of the multi- tude. And if, by his exertions, he failed to win the love, he at least succeeded to command the just admiration of all the -=« # HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. |95 Jewish people ; for he raised them to perhaps as conspicuous a rank among the nations as they had ever attained from the reign of Uzziah king of Judah. Herod performed his first most popular act in the thirteenth year of his reign, b. c. 23. A grievous drought prevailed this year in Judea, which was followed by famine and pesti- lence, — an awful indication of the Divine indignation against the Jews. Multitudes daily died from absolute want and in- curable disease. The flocks perished, so that the surviving inhabitants had not wool sufficient to make clothes. H^od exerted all his power to mitigate the calamity. Having ex- hausted his treasury in the erection of new cities and fortresses, he had no alternative but to melt down his plate to procure food from Egypt, and clothing from the neighbouring coun- tries. His apparent generosity, although it reconciled not the nation to him, excited their admiration, and procured for him, at the time, their applause. Personal gratification, family aggrandisement, and the ac- quirement of a great name among the mighty, were objects much more steadily pursued by Herod than the welfare of his subjects. He had no sincere sympathy with them in their religious feelings, their sufferings, or griefs ; and hence they no sooner recovered somewhat from their extreme poverty, than he oppressed them by excessive taxation, that he might obtain means necessary to execute his plans, designed to strengthen and adorn his kingdom. He raised in Jerusalem two great palaces, richly ornamented with gold, marble, cedar, and other precious materials ; and in other places he erected cities and beautiful temples, which he named after his principal friends ; but the greater number were dedicated to Augustus, whom he treated, as if he had chosen him for his god. According to Josephus, not one spot fit for the purpose was left without some species of mormment to that mighty prince. The one most noble and, at the same time useful, was the fine city Cesaria, which was erected on the site of the ancient town named Strato's Tower. It stood on the coast of Phenicia, between Joppa and Dora, and had a har- bour, which, however, was not safe during the stormy south- west winds Herod, after the labour of twelve years, made it one of the best harbours and most beautiful city in Pales- line. It altogether resembled the first cities of the Ro- mans or Grecians, not only in its buildings, theatres, and tem- ples, but also in the customs and manners of if' citizens, for it was the residence of a Roman colony. ^e proofs of 196 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. Herod's munificence by the great works constructed undei his direction, and at his expense, were not limited to his owr kingdom ; they were beheld in many countries, particular!) in many cities which he visited in Italy, Asia Minor, Greece and its islands, and procured him the surname of Great. Jo sephus remarks that " he built places for exercise at Tripoli and Damascus, and Ptolemais ; he built a wall about Byblus as also large rooms, and cloisters, and temples, and market- places at Berytus and Tyre, with theatres at Sidon and Da- mascus. He also built aqueducts for those Laodiceans who lived by the sea-side ; and for those of Ascalon he built baths and costly fountains, as also cloisters round a court, that were admirable both for their workmanship and largeness. Moreover, he dedicated groves and meadows to some people ; nay, not a few cities there were who had lands of his dona- tion, as if they were parts of his own kingdom. He also bestowed annual revenues, and those forever also, on the set- tlements, for exercises, and appointed for them, as well as for the people of Cos, that such rewards should never be want- ing. He also gave corn to all such as wanted it, and con- ferred upon Rhodes large sums of money for building ships ; and this he did in many places, and frequently also. And when Apollo's temple had been burnt down, he rebuilt it at his own charges, after a better manner than it was before. What need I speak of the presents he made to the Lycians and Samnians ! or of his great liberality through all Ionia ; and that according to every body's want of them. And are not the Athenians, and Lacedemonians, and Nicopolitans, and that Pergamus which is in Mysia, full of donations that Herod presented them withal ! And as for that large open place belonging to Antioch in Syria, did not he pave it with pol- ished marble, though it were twent}' furlongs long ! and this when it was shunned by all men before, because it was full of dirt and filthiness ; when he besides adorned the same place with a cloister of the same length. It is true, a man may say, these were favours peculiar to those particular places on which he bestowed his benefits; but then what favours he bestowed on the Eleans, were a donation not only in common to all Greece, but to all the habitable earth, as far as the glory of the Olympic games reached ; for when he perceived that they were come to nothing for want of money, and that the only remains of ancient Greece were in a manner gone, he not only became one of the combatants in that return of the fifth year games, which, in his sailing to Rome, he happened to t =m t HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. 197 be present at, but he settled upon them revenues of money for perpetuity, insomuch that his memorial as a combatant there can never fail. It would be an infinite task if I should go over his payments of people's debts, or tributes, for them, as he eased the people of Phasaelis, of Batanae, and of the small cities about Cilicia, of those annual pensions they be- fore paid. However, the fear he was in much disturbed the greatness of his soul, lest he should be exposed to envy, or seem to hunt after greater things than he ought, while he be- stowed more liberal gifts upon these cities than did their owners themselves." Herod daily continued to rise in favour with Augustus, who was not only gratified by the compliments which he paid him, but by more substantial tokens of his esteem ; for the politic king of Judea was ever watchful for opportunities to prove the strength of his desire to advance the interests of the sovereign of the world. Accordingly, when Gallus, gov- ernor of Egypt was commissioned to lead an army into Ara- bia Felix, Herod sent him a strong reinforcement, including five hundred of his personal guard. And about the same time he had the pleasure of testifying his respect for the em- peror by conferring the highest expressions of regard on his friend Agrippa, who had arrived in Syria, in the character of chief governor. He made himself so acceptable to this great man as to secure his warmest and unaUerable friend- ship. Augustus gave Herod ample evidence of his high es- teem for him, by assigning apartments in his own palace for two of his favourite sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, by his adored Mariamne, whom he sent to Rome to be edu- cated, B. c. 22. About the same time he was authorized by the emperor to name the successor to his throne, received for himself the addition of Several valuable provinces or districts east of the Jordan, and a tetrarchy, or fourth of a kingdom, for his brother Pheroras. A few years later, when Augustus visited his Eastern do- minions, Herod gave him such a grand reception as induced him not only to disregard the accusations of some of his sub- jects, who appealed to the imperial tribunal, but also to ap- point him one of the Roman procurators of Syria, and over- seer of the valuable mines of Cyprus, with half of the pro- duce to himself Thus favoured, he was enabled to remit one third of the taxes imposed on the nation ; an act of gen erosity which he felt compelled to perform from the universal disaffection to him, and murmuring against his government^ 17* ®^ r 198 HEROD FHE GREAT; AND HIS FAMILY. which he knew prevailed. The conduct of the Jews pro- voked him the more, when he reflected that no prince of the empire was more honoured than he, by the emperor and his confidential friend Agrippa. Hence he resolved to put down all his enemies. His emissaries dragged some suspected of treason, openly, and others secretly, to prison, and without form of law, put them to death. He issued, at the same time, an edict, expressly forbidding all public and private as- semblies, whether on account of feastg, or any other pretence, under the severest penahies. But, as he not only had his spies every where, but sometimes mixed himself among them in disguise, he quickly found all these precautions were like to prove very inefficient to keep the people in obedience. This made him bethink himself of exacting an oath of fidelity from them ; but this new imposition was so strenuously re- fused by the whole sect of Essenians, and by all the chiefs of the Pharisees, that he was forced to set it aside, without venturing to show any resentment against those that had op- posed him in it, for fear of exasperating the whole nation against him. He fell, soon after, upon a much better expedi- ent to quiet them, and, at the same time to satisfy his- desire of immortalizing his memory, by the number and magnifi- cence of his buildings. He g-ave orders for repairing and adorning the temple of God, and to make it larger in com- pass, and raise it to a most magnificent altitude. " He got ready a thousand waggons, to bring stones for the building, and chose out ten thousand of the most skilful workmen, and bought a thousand sacerdotal garments for as many of the priests, and had some of them taught the arts of stone cut- ters, and others of carpenters, and then began to build ; but this was not till every thing was well prepared for the work. So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the temple on them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height twenty additional cubits. " Now the temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight, and their breadth about twelve ; the temple had doors and lintels over them of the same height with itself: these were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven : and over these, but under the crown- work, was spread out a golden vine with its branches hanging down from a great height, thf largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were 4 1 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. 199 and with what great skill the workmanship was done. He also encompassed the entire temple with very large cloisters, contriving them to be in a due proportion thereto ; and he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before him, till it seemed that no one else bad so greatly adorned the temple as he had done. There was a large wall to both the cloisters ; which wall was itself the most prodigious work that was ever heard of by mnn. The hill was a rocky ascent, that declined by degrees towards the east parts of the city, till it came to an elevated level. This hill it was which Solomon, who was the first of our kings, by divine revelation, encompassed with a wall ; it was of ex- cellent workmanship upwards, and round the top of it. He also built a wall below, beginning at the bottom, which was encompassed by a deep valley ; and at the south side he laid rocks together, and bound them one to another with lead, and included some of the inner parts, till it proceeded to a great height, and till both the largeness of the square edifice and its altitude were immense, and till the vastness of the stones in the front were plainly visible on the outside, yet so that the inward parts were fastened together with iron, and preserved the joints immovable for all future times. When this work for the foundation was done in this manner, and joined together as part of the hill itself to the very top of it, he wrought it all into one outward surface, and filled up the hollow places which were about the wall, and made it a level on the external upper surface, and a smooth level also. This hill was walled all round, and, in the midst was the temple, about which were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous na- tions ; all these had been dedicated to the temple by Herod, with the addition of those he had taken from the Arabians." The entire plan of the temple was not, however, completed for many years, and perhaps it never was. Josephus says some parts of it were not constructed till more than half a century after. That the rebuilding of the temple reconciled the Jews, in a considerable degree, to the government of Herod, may be inferred from the fact, that, while the work proceeded, he sailed to Rome, and spent some time in the society of his noble friend Augustus, who gave him many proofs of his regard, and delivered him his sons, recommending them as worthy of his love and confidence. They accompanied him on his return to his kingdom ; and he soon after married Aristobulus to his niece Bernice, the daughter of his sistef I # 200 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. Salome, and Alexander to Glaphra, daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia. The favours showed by Augustus and his chief officers, especially Agrippa, to the Jews in the provinces, were, doubtless, viewed by their brethren in Judea as the result of Herod's influence in the Roman court, and must have greatly tended to the popularity of his govern- ment. Several striking instances of this are recorded by the Jewish historian. The Jews of 'Cyrenaica, or Cyrene, and of Asia Minor, persecuted and oppressed chiefly on account of their religion, had appealed to the emperor or Agrippa. The following decrees, sent to the respective provinces, con- firmed the privileges which had been granted the Jews by their former Grecian rulers. " Cesar Augustus, high-priest and tribune of the people, ordains thus : — Since the nation of the Jews hath been found grateful to the Roman people, not only at this time, but in time past also, and chiefly Hyrcanus the high-priest, under my father Cesar the emperor, it seemed good to me and my counsellors, according to the sentence and oath of the people of Rome, that the Jews have liberty to make use of their own customs, according to the law of their forefathers, as they made use of them under Hyrcanus the high-priest of Almighty God ; and that their sacred money be not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem, and that it be committed to the care of the receivers at Jerusalem ; and that they be not obliged to go before any judge on the sab- bath-day, nor on the day of the preparation to it, after the ninth hour : but if any one be caught stealing their holy books, or their sacred money, whether it be out of the syna- gogue or public school, he shall be deemed a sacrilegious person, and his goods shall be brought into the public trea- sury of the Romans. And I give order, that the testimonial which they have given me, on account of my regard to that piety which I exercise toward all mankind, and out of regard to Caius Marcus Censorinus, together with the present decree, be proposed in that most eminent place which hath been consecrated to me by the community of Asia at Ancyra. And if any one transgress any part of what is above decreed, he shall be severely punished." — This was inscribed upon a pillar in the temple of Cesar. " Cesar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth greeting. Let those Jews, how many soever they be, who have been used, ac- cording to their ancient custom, to send their sacred money to Jerusalem, do the same freely." These were the decrees of Cesar. =# m HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. 201 Agrippa also did himself* write after the manner following*, on behalf of the Jews: — "Agrippa, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. I will that the care and custody of the sacred money that is carried to the temple at Jerusalem be left to the Jews of Asia, to do with it according to their ancient custom ; and that such as steal that sacred money of the Jews, and fly to a sanctuary, shall be taken thence and delivered to the Jews, by the same law that sacrilegious persons are taken thence. I have also written to Sylvanus the praetor, that no one compel the Jews to come before a judge on the sabbath-day." " Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates, senate, and people of Cyrene, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Cyrene have inter- ceded with me for the performance of what Augustus sent orders about to Flavius, the then praetor of Lybia, and to the other procurators of that province, that the sacred money may be sent to Jerusalem freely, as hath been their custom from their forefathers, they complaining that they are abused by certain informers, and, under pretence of taxes which were not due, are hindered from sending them ; which I com- mand to be restored without any diminution or disturbance given to them : and if any of that sacred money in the cities be taken from their proper receivers, I farther enjoin, that the same be exactly returned to the Jews in that place." "Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, to the magistrates of the Sardians, sendeth greeting. Cesar hath written to me, and commanded me not to forbid the Jews, how many soever they be, from assembling together according to the custom of their forefathers ; nor from sending their money to Jerusa- lem : I have therefore written to you, that you may know that both Cesar and I would have you act accordingly." Nor did Julius Antonius, the proconsul, write otherwise. " To the magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. As I was dispensing justice at Ephesus, on the Ides of February, the Jews that dwell in Asia demon- strated to me that Augustus and Agrippa had permitted them to use their own laws and customs, and to offer those their first-fruits which every one of them freely offers to the Deity on account of their piety, and to carry them in a company together to Jerusalem without disturbance. They also pe- titioned me, that I also would confirm what had been granted by Augustus and Agrippa by my own sanction. I would therefore have you take notice, that, according to the will of ! #= 202 HEROD THE GREAT^ AND IHS FAMH^T. Augustus and Agrippa, I permit them to use and do accor- ding to the customs of their forefathers without disturbanca" Probably the last epistle alludes to the advantages pro- cured for the Jews by the direct interposition of Herod with Agrippa on their behalf, about thirteen years before the Christian era. Agrippa at this period was accomplishing his last mission to the East. Herod prevailed on him to visit Judea, and survey the great works which he had finish- ed 'or was constructing, and designed to perpetuate the fame of Augustus and Agrippa, for the name of the latter was given to some of these works. On this occasion Herod em- ployed eyery possible device to honour and please his friend. And when he departed for Pontus to quell some alarming commotions, Herod, without any previous intimation, followed him, accompanied with a strong reinforcement, and con- tributed to the successful termination of Agrippa 's labours to restore peace and order in the kingdom of Pontus. They afterwards travelled together through various provinces of Asia. While they rested in Ionia, great multitudes of Jews applied to them for redress of grievances, which they had long endured. The rulers of the cities had prevented them from observing their own religious laws and customs, and even seized the money which they had collected on their holy days, and held sacred for the temple at Jerusalem ; and the governors forced them to serve in the army contrary to the privilege of exemption, which, it appears, they had formerly enjoyed. Herod requested Agrippa to investigate their complaints, and ordered his friend Nicolaus, an orator, to advocate their cause. The noble Roman listened to a long oration, and as the Greeks apologised for their treatment of the Jews, only by declaring that while they inhabited their country they acted unjustly not to conform to its reli- gion, he instantly pronounced in their favour, " That, on account of Herod's good-will and friendship, he was ready to grant the Jews whatsoever they should ask him, and that their requests seemed to him in themselves just ; and that if they requested any thing farther he should not scruple to grant it them, provided they were no way to the detriment of the Roman government ; but that, while their request was no more than this, that what privileges they had already given them might not be abrogated, he confirmed this to them, that they might continue in the observation of their own customs, without any one offering them the least injury ; and when he had said thus, he dissolved the assembly : upon HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAinLT. 263 which Herod stood up and saluted him, and gave him thanks for the kind disposition he showed to them. Agrippa also took this in a very obliging manner, and saluted him again, and embraced him in his arms ; after which he went away from Lesbos ; but the king determined to sail from Samos to his own country ; and when he had taken his leave of Agrippa, he pursued his voyage, and landed at Cesarea in a few days' time, as having favourable winds ; from whence he went to Jerusalem, and there gathered all the people toge- ther to an assembly, not a few being there out of the country^ also. So he came to them, and gave them a particular ac- count of all his journey, and of the affairs of all the Jews in Asia, how by his means they would live without injurious treatment for the time to come. He also told them of the entire good fortune he had met with, and how he had ad- ministered the government, and had not neglected any which was for their advantage : and as he was very joyful, he now remitted to them the fourth part of their taxes for the last year. Accordingly, they were so pleased with his favour and speech to them, that they went their ways with great gladness, and wished the king all manner of happiness." But Herod's loftiest pretensions of zeal for the religion of the Jews, nor even his jnost generous and beneficent deeds, could ever win him their confidence and love. His general conduct demonstrated him utterly unworthy of the throne of David ; indeed, he appeared destitute of the fear of God and the love of man. This was equally obvious in his private, domestic, and public life. The history of no individual of any rank ever displayed more fearfully than his, the malig- nancy of the human passions uncontrolled by a sound judg- ment: and in his family were witnessed the most melancholy results of polygamy. He had ten wives — Josephus makes the number nine — but he plainly omits the second Mariamne, not less celebrated for beauty than the first. She was daugh- ter of Simon, a Jewish priest of Alexandria, on whom Herod conferred the high-priesthood. He had children by seven of his wives. The first was probably Doris, regarded as queen, but repudiated, to give place to the princess Mariamne. Doris was restored when her son Antipater supplanted in the aflTections of his father his brothers Alexander and Aristobu- lus, sons of Mariamne, who left also two daughters, Silampsis and Cypros. The other children of Herod, were Herod and Philip, Herod Antipas, and Archelaus and their sister Olympias; Phasaslus, Roxana, and Salome. This family, 204 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. high in rank, and rich in all the productions and pleasures of this world, experienced the consummation of human woe, chiefly from the selfishness, jealousy, and suspicion of the king, acted on by the ambition, envy, deceit, and malice of his sister Salome. This venomous serpent almost incessantly diffused disease and death to all who came within the limits of her vision. Salome's implacable hatred of the justly ad- mired and generally lamented Mariamne, rekindled in all its fury against her noble sons. In personal aspect, dignified manner, and intelligent conversation, they surpassed all in Herod's court ; and their descent from the Asmonean race exceedingly endeared them to the Jews. They were proud, but generous and condescending in society, except to those whom they had been led to regard as the enemies of their mother. Their popularity soon roused 'the jealousy of their haughty and fierce father ; and he too attentively listened to the insinuations and calumnies thrown out against them by Salome and her emissaries. Their elder brother Antipater strongly supported her in all her malicious schemes, plots, and intrigues ; and she repaid him by taking every opportunity to recommend him to his father's esteem and confidence. Herod, tormented by suspicions and apprehensions of treacherous designs in his favourite sons, summoned them to answer before Augustus the accusations brought against them, and proceeded with them to Rome. The emperor effected a re- conciliation between the wretched king and his unhappy sons. It was, however, only temporary ; and no more permanent was that which followed the kind offices of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, the father-in-law of prince Alexander, who, soon after Herod's return from Judea, was compelled, for the sake of his daughter, to attempt allaying the contentions ol Herod's family. The plot thickened ; and the royal court and nation were divided into parties, which rendered the life of the proud monarch almost intolerable. The storm first fell on Alexander. There were three eunuchs who were in the highest esteem with the king, as was plain by their offices ; for one of them was appointed to be his butler, another of them got his supper ready for him, and the third put him into bed, and lay down by him. Now Alexander had prevailed with these men, by large gifts, to let him use them after an obscene manner ; which, when it was told to the king, they were tortured, and found guilty, and presently confessed the criminal conversation he had with them. They also discov- ered the promises by which they were induced so to do, and J •= HEROD THE GEEAT, AND HIS FABinLY. 205 how they were deluded by Alexander, who had told them that they ought not to fix their hopes upon Herod, an old man, and one so shameless as to colour his hair, unless they thought that would make him young again ; but that they ought to fix their attention to him who was to be his successor in the king- dom, whether he would or not ; and who in no long time would avenge himself on his enemies, and make his friends happy and blessed, and themselves in the first place ; that the men of power did already pay respects to Alexander private- ly, and that the captains of the soldiery and the officers did secretly come to him. These confessions did so terrify Herod, fhat he durst not immediately publish them ; but he sent spies abroad privately by night and by day. who should make a close inquiry after all that was done and said ; and when any were but suspected of treason, he put them to death, inso- much that the palace was full of horribly unjust proceedings; for every body forged calumnies, as they were themselves in a state of enmity or hatred against others ; and many there were who abused the king's bloody passion to the disadvan- tage of those with whom they had quarrels, and lies were easily believed, and punishments were inflicted sooner than the calumnies were forged. He who had just then been ac- cusing another, was acused himself, and was led away to exe- cution together with him whom he had convicted ; for the danger the king was in of his life made examinations be very short. He also proceeded to such a degree of bitterness, that he could not look on f.nv of those that were not accused with a pleasant countenance,* but was in the most barbarous dispo- sition towards his own friends. Accordingly, he forbade a great many of them to come to court, and to those whom he had not power to punish actually, he spake harshly ; but for Antipater, he insuhed Alexander, now he was under his mis- fortunes, and got a stout.compr'ny of his kindred together, and raised all sorts of calumny ngciinst him ; and for the king, he was brought to such a degree of terror by those prodigious slanders and contrivances, that he fancied he saw Alexander coming to him with a drawn sword in his hand. So he caused him to be seized upon immediately and bound, and. fell to examining his friends by torture, many of whom died un- der the rack, but would discover nothing, nor say any thing against their consciences ; but some of them, being forced to speak falsely by the pains they endured, said that Alexander, and his brother Aristobulus, plotted against him, and waited for an opportunity to kill him as he was hunting, and then fly vor,. II. 18 206 HEROD THE GIIEAT, AND HIS FAMILY. away to Rome. These accusations, though they were of an incredible nature, and only framed upon the great distress they were in, were readily believed by the king, who thought it some comfort to him, after he had bound his son, that it might appear he had not done it unjustly." The report of these transactions reached the court of Cap- padocia, and Archelaus speedily arrived in Jerusalem, and succeeded in appeasing the anger of Herod ; and thus was he for the time prevented from murdering his sons. But the deluded and cruel father was incapable of jSrmness of purpose when exposed to the seductive power of flattery. Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, had gained his ear ; he was a complete sy- cophant, and prepared for every evil work by which he ex- pected to profit. Antipater eagerly accepted his services ; and, under the pretence of ardent friendship for Alexander and Aristobulus, he drew from them enough to form a basis on which his inventive subtlety and spurious eloquence raised a mass of plausible evidence that they had resolved to kill their father. He instantly cast them into prison, and sent ambassadors to Augustus requesting to know how he ought to proceed with his rebellious sons. The emperor proposed that they should be tried by a tribunal, consisting of the prin- cipal persons of the royal family, and of the governors of Sy- ria and Judea. These were summoned in Cesar's name to meet in Berytus, the modern Beyrout, a seaport of Syria, situ- ated between Seyde or Sidon and Tripoli. None of the chief men of Syria, nor any of Herod's kinsmen, were excluded from this illustrious court, except Archelaus, king of Cappa- docia, and the princes who weie accused. Their father, con- trary to all sense of propriety, enumerated all the crimes which they had committed, or rather which their enemies im- puted to them. The Roman officers of highest rank declined to condemn them, but the majority sentenced them to death. No one in Judea, .the historian says, supposed that Herod would enforce the sentence ; if so, they knew not the savage barbarity of the man. He conveyed them to Tyre, thence by aea to Cesarea, and afterwards removed them to Sebaste, where they were put to death, and their bodies sent to Alex- andrium to be interred close by the side of their maternal grandfather, Alexander king of Judea. The murdered prin- ces left families to bewail their dishonourable death. Glaphra had two sons, Tygranes and Alexander ; Bernice daughter of Salome, was the wife of Aristobulus, to whom she brought Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus, Herodias and Mariamne HEROD THE GREAT, AND BOS FAIBI/T. 207 These children Herod took under his special protection, which exceedingly displeased his son Antipater, and their aunt ihe depraved. Salome, and they used every artifice to prevent Herod from promoting their interests to the extent which he purposed. The deatn of the princes was chiefly ascribed by the Jews to Antipaier, and from this time, they utterly abhorred him ; but, conceiving the throne secure to him, he treated them with contempt, and, by the most outrageous acts of injustice and cruelty, sought to repress their indignation by the dread of his vengeance. His mother Doris had been restored to her place as queen. This was offensive to Salome ; hence the domestic stri/e, contentions, and confusion of Herod's family continued. Antipater, perceiving that his intrigues against his royal father, whose death he eagerly desired, could not escape the vigiiant eyes of Salome, contrived to induce his father to send him to Rome. While there, he prosecuted his schemes to remove all who stood in his way to the throne. He had, it is said, reduced his uncle Pheroras to kill his brother, the king, by poison. This was discovered in the course of investigations to ascertain whether Pheroras, who died rather suddenly, nuU not been poisoned. This discovery was followed by the immediate disgrace of the mother and friends of Antipater ; ana the second Mariamne being accused of having known and concealed the conspiracy, the name of her son Herod was erased from the testament or will of the king, who had appointed him heir to the throne after the death of Antipnter. Letters of the latter were also produced, which proved that he was plotting to destroy his brothers, Archelaus and Philip, who resided at Rome to complete their education. In consequence of these discoveries, his father, in most afTectionate terms, requested him to return home, without informing him of the crimes laid to his charge, lest he should escape the punishment which he merited. He im- mediately left Rome, but reports of the degraded state of his mother made him suspect that his treacherous deeds were known. He hesitated proceeding through Cilicia, till he re- ceived a friendly epistle from his father. Though confounded by the universal silence and want of respect which he met with on landing at Ccsaria, yet he advanced to Jerusalem. He was admitted into the palace, but his friends were ex- cluded, and the king repulsed him as a murderer. The next day Antipater was tried before a court cf which his father, and Varus, governor of Syria, who was at that time in Jeru- 1 208 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. salem, were presidents. Herod, in a long and impressive speech, accused his son, and Nicoiaus laid the evidence of his crime of conspiring against the lives of his father, his two brothers, and his aunt Salome, before the court : and, by a powerful oration, demanded sentence of death against him. His guilt appeared unquestionable, but Herod declined putting him to death till he had implored the counsel of Augustus. In the meantime, Antipater was committed to prison, bound in chains. The calumnies which he had raised against his brothers, Herod and Philip, had, however, excited suspicions in the mind of their father against them, so that he instantly made a will, which passed them over, and declared Antipas his successor. The preceding review of Herod's public and private life, which was near its end, may suffice to show that a proud, suspicious, jealous, and revengeful spirit,' strongly character- ised him, and impelled him to unwearied vigilance to detect and avert whatever appeared in his eyes having the least ten- dency to undermine his power, or threaten the permanency of the possession of the throne of Judea to him and his nat- ural successors. By consequence, any event indicating even the possibility of the rise of a successful rival, we may be certain, could not fail to stimulate him to adopt any plan, however unrighteous or diabolical, which he imagined expe- dient or necessary to prevent what he must have deemed the most dreadful catastrophe, the ruin of his race. Two events, bearing at first sight this aspect, transpired during the period that Herod's prominent passions were raised to their highest degree of vigour by the intrigues, mancBuvres, conspiracies, and strifes of his court and family. The result was. that his soul was, on one occasion, so har- assed and tormented, that hrs mind lost its balance, and his conduct and manner resembled a maniac more than a man re- markable for a strong, sound^and determined mind: and though he recovered, his health was irreparably injured, in so much, that his powerful feelings, rather than his mind, regu lated his actions. He acted by the impulse of passion, like a wild beast, rather than by the dictates of wise reflection and deliberate consideration. The events to \vhich we allude were the announcements by angels of the immediate appear- ance of the forerunner of Messiah, and of Messiah himself The peculiar claims, and the history of these exalted persona- ges, especially of the latter, who stands alone in the annals of the world, would require volumes ; and what we consider HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILT. 209 indispensable for our object to say respecting them will form the succeeding chapter. We would advert here to the inti- mations given from Heaven of their birth, which look place in accordance with the divine predictions of the heavenly- messengers, within the last two years of Herod's reign. That infidel monarch most probably regarded the report of the vision of Zacharias, as nothing more than an inci- dent common to fanatics. He had certainly no reverenct;, and perhaps no knowledge of the peculiarity of the con- stitution of the Jewish nation, as ordained by Moses ; for he either did not conceive or truly believe that supernatural in- terposition to punish the Jews when they neglected the laws instituted by their inspired legislator, or signally to favour them when they paid obedience, was to be expected by the Jews while the covenant of Sinai remained in force. This i.s manifest from his reasoning respecting the extreme suffer- ings which they endured from famine, pestilence, anarchy, insurrection, and particularly from the earthquakes. These evils he contemplated with the eye and mind of a pagan philosopher. Thus in the earlier part of his reign, he en- couraged and animated his troops, by representing all the sufferings of their nation as mere accidents, and their losses in war as nothing more than common occurrences, insepa- rable from the mutable nature of providence, which ought to excite their hopes of success in the ensuing contest, because the late victory of their enemies would have so elated their spirits, that they Would most probably neglect to prepare to make a vigorous resistance. " Fortune," he says, " passes from one side to the other. You were overcome in the last battle, but the victors assuring themselves of continued vic- tory will most probably be defeated in the next combat. This we calculate on from what we have ourselves experienced. A victory has frequently been succeeded by a defeat of our armies. And do not disturb yourselves at the quaking of inan- imated creation, nor imagirye that this earthquake is a sign of some new calamity ; for such affections of the elements are according to the course of nature, and portend nothing fu- ture, and concern mankind only to the extent of injury and mischief which they immediately occasion. And if you will be ruled by me, I will myself go before you into danger ; for you know this well, that your courage is irresistible, un- less by acting rashly you give the enemy an advantage over you." Whoever adopted such sentiments were not likely to attach more importance to the oracles of the Jewish prophets 18* # M 210 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. than to those of the priest of Rome or Athens. And, by consequence, Herod, notwithstanding the usual strength of his suspicions, and violence of his jealousy respecting the actions that had any tendency to obscure the lustre, or threaten the stability of his throne, was not likely to feel much inter- est in the report that a priest, eminent for piety and integrity, was supposed to have seen a prophetic vision, because he had remained a very unusual time in the holy temple, and come out of it utterly deprived of the power of speech. The re- covery of this power was as sudden and unexpected as had been the loss of it, and enough to awaken universal interest to the astonishing predictive discourse which was immedi- ately delivered by Zacharias. This prophecy was peculiarly calculated to alarm the jealous and infidel king ; for it de- scribed in the most beautiful and expressive language the advent of the great Heir of David, to fulfil the promises made to ancient Israel, and the moral revolution which the prophet's infant son just circumcised, was to effect preparatory to the royal Prince entering on his triumphant reign. These sayings were noised abroad in all the hill-country of Judea, and those who, from their vicinity to Zacharias' dwelling, knew best the things respecting his childy were filled with fear, perhaps, lest Herod should be roused to pour out his fury on their families and friends. It is altogether uncertain whether the king ever heard of the transactions which had occurred in the retired family of the priest whom God had honoured ; or, if he was informed of them, he may have been at the time too deeply involved in domestic broils to ex- amine into their truth, especially when he reflected that the inhabitants of the higher and thinly peopled lands, south of Jerusalem, were known to be, almost at all times, the most peaceful of his subjects. He may, indeed, on the news reaching him, have regarded the whole as the idle and mar- vellous tales by which a rural, simple, and ignorant people amuse themselves in their comparative solitude. But he nat- urally listened with more intense sensations to the informa- tion of the birth of Jesus, when it was communicated to him by persons equally remarkable for their intelligence, candour, and impartiality. That the wise men of the East were thus viewed by Herod, will not be questioned. The marvellous story of the shepherds of Bethlehem, which they made known abroad, the king might possibly regard as meriting no more attention than the account of Zacharias' vision. But he perceived at once that the relation of the, wise men car- =-ab S^n^aJ!} AND HIS FAMILY. 211 ried on it the most distinct seal or impression of truth, which its miraculous character could not even render questionable. " Wise men" or magi, was an appellation appropriated to per- sons eminent for learning and investigation in the objects of nature, particularly the heavenly bodies. Those who came to do homage to the new-born King, on arriving in Judea. appear to have publicly and everywhere made known the object of their journey, and the country whence they came, and importunately requested to be directed where the infant was that they had come to honour. No one, therefore, could imagine, nor does it seem that any one, not even the suspi- cious Herod, suspected that any collusion existed between them and the infant's friends. Nor, indeed, as far as history in- structs us, had their country any connexion, political, com- mercial, or religious, with Judea. We may not be able to decide what was the particular region called " the East ;" various opinions have been entertained by the learned on the subject, — the most probable is that which fixes on Arabia Deserta, which extended east from Judea to the banks of the Euphrates ; for this country was commonly named " the East" by the inhabitants of Judea ; see Judges vi. 3. ; Jol i. 3. Natives of its districts were celebrated for their wisdom in ancient times, and, being descendants of the sons of Abiu- ham by Hagar and Keturah, might well be supposed tohuv*- preserved traditions respecting the promised son of their great ancestor, who was to bless and be blessed by all nations. Nor is it incredible that they still remembered the prediction of Balaam, one of themselves, of the rise of the star, Jacob, which, in Oriental imagery, denoted a prince or king. That the great men of Arabia possessed much gold and myrrh, and frankincense, and other aromatics, ancient records suffi- ciently attest. Now, from this extensive region Herod had nothing to fear in his time ; and consequently he had ample reason to credit the simple and undisguised narration of the distinguished personages who announced to him that they had seen a star, whose course they were divinely instructed by a dream to re- gard as appointed to indicate the residence of a child destined by Heaven to be " the King of the Jews" and the Deliverer, (jonqueror, and Sovereign of all nations. These words Herod and all Jerusalem with him considered to mean the Christy or the Messiah, whom all the prophets had predicted under the character of universal Conqueror and Sovereign, chosen by God to elevate the Jews to unfading prosperity, and to de 212 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. Jiver all nations from the ungodliness of idolatry and the op- pressions of tyrants. However desirable this news was to the Jews, it was enough to produce in them the most distressing anxiety, and alarming apprehensions, for they could not but perceive that it would most probably rouse all the tormenting, cruel, and sanguinary passions of their king, and that he would, in all probability, inundate the metropolis and country in blood, did he deem this necessary to free himself frnm dread of the new-born prince. Though their fears may have been more than the case was fitted to excite, yet Herod soon showed that they were natural. For to alleviate his distress, he first ascertained where "the Christ" was to be born. And this being determined by the infallible prediction of Mi- cah, which the interpreters of the law showed him, he next endeavoured to seduce the wise men to return to him as soon as they found the royal child, that he might join them in do- ing him homage. Being admonished in a supernatural dream, they escaped the snare of the demon-king ; and he, to secure his object, instantly ordered all the children of Bethle- hem, under two years old, or, as some interpret the words of the sacred writers, all children who had entered their second year, to be slain. From this massacre, the infant Jesus was rescued by the Divine interposition ; for his supposed father, Joseph, was enjoined by a Divine dream to depart for Egypt ; and he was encouraged to obey by the rich gifts of the wise men, which formed an ample treasure for the support of the family during their exile. This unparalleled barbarity was no greater than might be expected from the king, considering his general conduct, and the occasion of this bloody deed. It had, compared to some of his proceedings, a semblance of compassionate policy ; for how often did h€ punish with death numbers whose lives had no apparent tendency to thwart his purposes or frustrate his schemes of ambition ? Insatiable re- venge along impelled him to many bloody deeds, while his daring attempt to obstruct the designs of the Almighty was the fruit of ambition, and regulated by worldly wisdom. On the supposition that Josephus thus contemplated the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem, one is not much surprised that he has not specified it among the unjust and cruel acts of Herod the Great ; for the political motive may have appeared to him a most plausible apology for the dreadful edict. But the passing over this event entirely harmonises with the pur- pose and plan of the Jewish historian in writing the history of his nation, which obviously was to mention nothing that HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAltflLT. 213 he had reason to think might exceedingly displease either the Romans or the Jews who were enemies to Christianity. He has made no satisfactory statements in relation to Christianity ; indeed, some insist that the trivial allusions to it in his works are interpolations; and that he carefully avoided mentioning the facts concerning the Christ and his followers, the certain- ty of which the future state of the world demonstrates, because they would have rendered his works unpopular. Supremely ambitious, as he evidently was, of the praise of man more than the approbation of God, he had sufficient to satisfy him that it was not expedient to refer to Herod's savage decree against the infants of Bethlehem, for how could he notice it without announcing the confident hope entertained by the Jews, that their Messiah was to claim and acquire the sover- eignty of the world 1 What sentiment could more provoke the indignation of the Romans against the Jews ? Nor was any thing less agreeable to the Jews than to be reminded that wise men, directly instructed and admonished by God, had declared to Herod and the Jews of his age that Jesus, whom their fathers had crucified, was " The King of the Jews," and that as such the divinely taught men had worshipped him, and presented to him the most precious gifts. Their com- mission may be regarded as a remarkable proof of the Divine goodness and long-suffering of God towards the Jews, and es- pecially towards Herod. The unexceptionableness and plain- ness of their testimony rendered his unbelief in the Christ in- excusable, and exceedingly augmented the guilt of his con- duct in persecuting him, and killing the innocent infants of Bethlehem. If Herod's character be considered, what wit- nesses were more likely to command his attention and confi.- dence. The testimony of the pious Zacharias and the devout shepherds might be despised as the mere delusion of supersti- tious men ; but that of the wise men was peculiarly adapted to reach conviction to his mind, although perverted by infidel- ity and the scepticism of pagan philosophy. While Herod's last days were embittered by the most dread- ful and agonizing domestic evils, and by the assured testimony that the legitimate King of the Jews was already born, his wretchedness was greatly increased by decided indications of the unconquerable antipathy of the Jews to his person and government, from which it was manifest that the chief object for which he had lived, — the permanency of his throne, — was as remote and uncertain as it was when he ascended it What then had he to alleviate the remorse which must have #=- 2A'^ HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. harrowed up his soul on the least recollection of the many awful and guilty crimes which he had committed to preserve his crown? In his seventieth year he was attacked by a dis- ease, in its nature incurable, and most hideous and terrific in its aspect. No sooner was this noised abroad than the patriots of the nation conceived that the time was arrived to avenge themselves on their enemies, and to restore their constitution and lands. Long had they groaned under his tyranny, and viewed with indignation his deliberate and continued viola- tions of all that they deemed sacred, and contempt for almost all that they considered the glory of their race. They had long deplored his servility to Augustus and predilection for the paganism of Rome and Greece ; and, probably, the extra- ordinary proof of both which he gave at the dedication of Cesarea, about six years before his death, had fixed the deter- mination of some 01 the most zealous Jews, to take his life, at whatever risk. Cesarea was a more complete and splendid imitation of the first cities of the Romans and Grecians than any other of the numerous structures raised by Herod to the honour of Augustus, the empress, and Agrippa. Amon^ its many fine buildings of white stone, one of the largest and most beautiful was a temple to the emperor, in which was fixed a statue of him, resembling in size and figure that of Jupiter Olympus, in Rome. The dedication to his honour was performed with the greatest degree of pagan solemnity and splendour. It had been proclaimed in all the adjacent kingdoms, and was, of course, witnessed by an innumerable multitude of all ranks. The varied games of Greece and Rome were exhibited on a grand scale, at an immense ex- pense. Romans of the highest rank were present, and many dignified persons of other nations. The king entertained these with great magnificence and profusion. That the scene might contribute to the celebrity of the emperor, the empress presented Herod with five hundred talents. He, on this oc- casion, decreed the observance of the pagan games, in Ce- sarea, every fifth year. Herod was accused by the Jews of having desecrated the sepulchre of David, their most illustrious and beloved king, to procure supplies to meet his vast expenditure, — an act not less offensive in their eyes than the introduction of pagan customs. Whether ne was guilty of this deed or not, has been disputed. Hyrcanus, who had set him an example, procured, it is said, three thousand talents of silver, and left much behind. But Herod was less successful; for, after ^^ 215 strict search, in the night season, when he had reached the bodies of David and Solomon, he was compelled to retire, from flames which broke out, and consumed two of his guards. This terrible phenomenon, Josephus says, was publicly acknowledged by the king, for he raised a very rich propitiatory monument at the entrance to the sepulchre. Whatever truth may be in this anecdote, it derives proba- Sility from the fact, that the sepulchre of David being most iacred in the eyes of the Jews, was a most fit place in which to deposit articles of value. The most popular deed of Herod, the building of the temple, was vile in the eyes of the Jewish patriots, from his presumption in placing an immense and admirably formed golden eagle above the gate of the holy edifice. They had always looked on this object with extreme disgust; and so impatient were they to destroy it, that on hearing a vague report one day that the king had expired, a considerable number hurried to the gate, and commenced the work of destruction. The spoliation was quickly arrested by the sol- diers, led on by the chief captain of the army, who con- ceived that the chief actors were at the head of a general insurrection; but it was soon ascertained they consisted of only about forty religious students, under the direction of their teachers, Matthias the chief priest, and Judas son of Sepphoris, the two most renowned teachers in the nation. This band alone resolutely persevered in removing from the temple every thing allied to Paganism, and boldly avowed that they were doing nothing more than they had for a long period purposed ; and that they feared neither the anger nor the power of the king, for they knew that their acts were well-pleasing to God. They were instantly all seized, and conducted to the king. Feeble as he was, the insult seemed to re-invigorate his frame. He ordered them to be sent in chains to Jericho, and followed them in a carriage. Having assembled the principal Jews, he addressed them in an ora- tion designed to expose their ingratitude for the unparalleled generosity he had showed them during the whole of his reign, and the uncommon baseness and profaneness of their conduct in having, in open day, not only attempted to degrade him during his life, but also dishonoured God, to whom he had consecrated the golden eagle. Though he could not convince them that it was a crime to remove any idolatrous symbol from the temple, yet he was able to punish those accused of the deed. They were all burnt alive, and Joazar. H #^ I 216 HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. the brother of Matthias, was appointed his successor in the high-priest's office. The last acts recorded of Herod forcibly- attested that his predominant passions were strong in death. His disease increased in loathsomeness and pain, so as to become intolerable, but inefficient to repress his resentment, or even his love of fame. He summoned all the Jewish chiefs to assemble at Jericho, and commanded his sister Salome, and Alexas her husband, to confine them in the circus, and massacre them as soon as he was dead ; an event which he would have hastened, for he employed a knife, which he procured to cut an apple, to take his own life. This was happily prevented by a relative present, whose loud cries alarmed the whole court. The report that he was dead reaching Antipater in prison, he openly expressed the joy which he felt. This was made known to the king, who im- mediately ordered him to be put to death. He followed his son in five days, but not before he had made another and final correction of his will, by which he left the throne to his son Archelaus ; the tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea to An- tipas, whom he had lately declared his heir ; the tetrarchy of Trachonitis, Gaulon, Batanea, and Panias, to Philip ; and the cities of Jamnia, Azotus, and Phasaelis, to Salome, with fifty thousand pieces of money. He testified his lasting esteem for his chief friends, especially the emperor and em- press, by large legacies. Alexas and Salome, who had carefully concealed the san- guinary order given them respecting the principal Jews, immediately on the death of Herod liberated them, and re- quested them and the officers of the army to meet them in the amphitheatre of Jericho. They read to the assembly a letter, said to have been left by their sovereign, in which he thanked them for their fidelity and services, and entreated them to discover similar attachment to his successor, Arche- laus. Ptolemy, keeper of the royal seal, read, at the same time, the late king's testament, which was found to contain a clause, declaring it of no use till ratified by Cesar. The audience, however, having no doubt that Augustus would confirm the will, at once exclaimed, " Long live king Arche- laus." After having honoured his father by a most splendid funeral, Archelaus appeared before an assembly of the people near the temple, and announced his purpose not to adopt the title of king, nor to use the diadem until authorised by the eniperor ; when, should he be placed on the throne, the chief object of his reign would be to promote the peace and pro? ^ m AND HIS FAMILT. 217 perity of all ranks^ more than his father had done. He was hailed with the loudest praise, and gratified the Jews by gra- ciously complying with several of their requests, such as the diminution of taxation, and the release of prisoners. But this day of rejoicing was scarcely ended, when it became evident that many had no confidence in his royal promises. Multitudes assembled and demanded that Joazar, lately ap- pointed high-priest, should be deposed, and those who put to death Matthias, Judas, and their associates, punished. The master of the horse was sent to appease them, by pleading that Archelaus could not exercise the functions of govern- ment before he obtained the sanction of the emperor. They refused to listen to his arguments, and he was glad to escape ^ from their fury. The city assumed a still more alarming aspect on the arrival of great numbers to observe the pass- over. Archelaus gave orders to the troops to keep the peace of the city. Almost all these fell a sacrifice to the rage of what Josephus calls "the innumerable multitude," whom their presence provoked, because they unnecessarily inter- fered with them while engaged only in preparations for the sacred solemnities of the season. In consequence of this bloody tumult, the whole army entered the city, and not less than three thousand were slain, and the remainder compelled to seek safety in the adjacent mountains ; after which, all strangers were commanded to return to their homes, so that the observance of the passover was interrupted. As soon as the city enjoyed a degree of tranquillity, Archelaus com- mitted the government of the kingdom to his brother Philip, and proceeded to Rome, a.p. 3, accompanied by a few friends, and his aunt Salome, with her sons, and his brother Antipas. He, however, appears to have been not more esteemed by his own kindred than by the Jewish people, and accordingly those of them who left Judea with him under pretence of zeal for his cause, were his first accusers before Augustus and his court. His cousin Antipater, one of the sons of Salome, was possessed of considerable oratorical powers. These he employed to show that Archelaus had at once im- posed on his father, and, by violating his last will, had dis- honoured Cesar. Antipas. he said, had obviously the best claims to the crown, for he was named by his father in the testament which he made while his mind was capable of forming a correct judgment. It was not till the last days of his life, when he was in extreme torture, that the name of Archelaus was inserted. His father, most certainly, would VOL. II. JQ g g m 2HBt<^ HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. never have thought of him, had he not deceived him by pretending great sympathy with him in his suflferings, al- though he plainly rejoiced in the prospect of his speedy departure ; for he passed his nights in scenes of licentious pleasures and riotous mirth. Nor was Herod sooner dead than he assumed all the authority of an independent sove- reign, and cruelly murdered thousands who questioned his claims, which were of no force before the will of the em- peror was known. Damascena*, the advocate for Archelaus, ably repelled the objections of his opponents, except that founded on the levity, inhumanity, and cruelty of his con- duct. These (qualities prevented not Augustus from con- soling him, when he implored his mercy by casting himself at his feet ; but they certainly sufficiently account for the uni- versal dislike of him entertained by the Jews. Besides the extreme depravity of his character, most probably his descent rendered him peculiarly hateful in their sight. Not a drop of Jewish blood flowed in his veins ; his mother was a Sa- maritan, than whom no race were more detested bj'^ the Jews How natural was it then for Joseph, on returning from Egypt with his wife and the child Jesus, to dread a residence in any dominions governed by Archelaus ; as the evangelist informs us, when Joseph heard that " Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither ; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee : and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth ; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Archelaus would have been most probably confirmed the successor of his father by Augustus, had not the Jews ap- pealed against him. A number of melancholy events, which came to pass in Judea during the period in which Archelaus prosecuted his claims at Rome, fully convinced the most intelligent and most peaceful of the Jews that the nation would never enjoy rest under his government, nor in all probability under the sceptre of any one who belonged not to the family of David. Sabinus, who was appointed to manage the affairs of Syria, in which the emperor was personally interested, proceeded •to Jerusalem, after Archelaus had sailed for Rome, contrary to the agreement which he had entered into v^^ith Varus, the Roman president of Syria, and demanded possession of all the legacies assigned by Herod to the enriperor. Previously' to his arrival, a general insurrection had been suppressed by i HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. 219 Varus ; and he, on returning to Antioch, had left a Roman legion to preserve the peace of the capital. These Sabinus rashly employed in the time of pentecost to attempt the cap- ture of the strong places, and the treasures of the family of Herod. He even forced his way into the treasury of the temple, and robbed it of four hundred talents, while the sol- diers seized many things most valuable. The vast multitude assembled in the city, exceedingly indignant, divided them- selves into three companies, and surrounded the Romans, who took refuge in the hippodrome, and on the north and east sides of the temple, and impatiently waited for a rein- forcement from Varus, from whom Sabinus had urgently implored aid. In the fierce contest which ensued, many of both parties perished, and the buildings belonging to the temple were much injured by a conflagration raised by the Romans. The army of Archelaus took diflferent sides on this occasion ; several thousands of them joined the Jews. The Romans, however, appear to have been able to main- tain their position till relieved by Varus, who was induced, from the general disturbed state of Judea, to invade it with a large army. '^ At this time," Josephus remarks, " there were ten thou- sand other disorders in Judea, which resembled tumults, for many armed either from hope of spoil, or enmity to the Jews, appeared in diflferent places, and seized or destroyed what- ever came in their course. Two thousand of the veterans, whom Herod had dismissed, also assembled and attacked the army of his son, commanded by his cousin Achiabus, and forced them to flee to the mountains. Ezekias, a leader of banditti, whom Herod had, with difliculty, taken and slain, left a son, Judas, who trode in his steps. He collected a number of men, utterly depraved, and captured the palace of Sapphoris, in Galilee. Having procured here money and weapons of war, he assumed the dignity of sovereign, but he pursued the destructive course of a leader of plunderers and murderers, who, like so many beasts of prey, spread deso- lation everywhere, without respect to persons or places. A slave of the late king, distinguished above his class by the beauty of his person, vigour of frame, and mental capacity, acquired more power than Judas. He had been intrusted by his master with important services, and now aspired to the sovereignty of the kingdom. Having gathered around him a muUitude, he put on the diadem, and was proclaimed king of Judea. He attacked, spoiled, and burnt the palace -41^ 220 HEUOD THE GREAT, AND HIS FAMILY. of Jericho, and several other royal seats. After committing great devastation, he was overcome and put to death by Gratus at the head of a Roman band. Athrongas, a shep- herd, known only by bodily strength, assisted by four brothers, presumed in like manner to take the title of king. He and his brothers procured numerous followers, and preyed on the country for a considerable time. They re- peatedly defeated the Romans and the royal army, and were the terror of the whole land, till some time after the return of Archelaus, who succeeded in slaying the shepherd, when his only surviving brother submitted, on being assured upon oath that his life would be spared. Such was the wretched state of Judea when Varus pro- ceeded to subdue the revolters. He led two legions, with a number of soldiers supplied by the neighbouring provinces, especially by Aretus, king of Patraea, who hated the family of Herod. Varus sent a division of his troops under his son, to reduce Galilee. This army overcame all opposition, cap- tured the fine city of Sephoris, and set it on fire, by which it was completely ruined ; all the inhabitants were sold into slavery. The division commanded by Varus passed peace- fully through Samaria, because the inhabitants were not im- plicated in the revolt. On their way to Jerusalem, the Roman army destroyed several towns and villages. His appearance at the capital alarmed the Jews who besieged Sabinus. They suffered him to escape, and admitted Varus into the city. He readily received the apology of the Jews for their treatment of Sabinus ; but he ordered his soldiers to search the city, and every part of the kingdom, for all who were known to have been the chief agents of the recent commotions. More than two thousand were seized, and put to death by crucifix- ion. From Jerusalem, he advanced into Idumea, where an army of ten thousand were still in arms for the recovery of the liberty of the kingdom. They soon submitted, and were pardoned, except their captains, who were sent prisoners to Rome. None of them, however, were punished with death, except a few who were related to the family of Herod. Varus having restored peace to Judea, left a legion in Je- rusalem, disbanded his army, and returned to Antioch. The Jews, however, were not by these events prepared to receive Archelaus for their king, nor was the exaltation of that prince desired by Varus. Hence, with his approbation, an em- bassy, consisting of not fewer than fifty of the chief men, was commissioned to request Augustus to take Judea under 4 *= HEROD THE GREAT AND UIS FAMILY. 221 his immediate protection, and constitute it a Roman provmce. On their arrival in Rome, eight thousand Jews residing in that city joined them in their petition and appeal to the em- peror. In their oration in his presence, they enumerated the many sufferings which resulted from the tyrannical and op- pressive government of Herod, and the reasons which satis- fied them that they could expect no relief from Arohelaus. They therefore humbly supplicated his majesty Augustus to place their nation under the government of the Roman pres- ident of Syria, and assured him that, by granting their re- quest, he would at once gratify the Jews every where, and find them loyal and peaceful subjects. The result of their appeal was known about four days after it was made, and strongly indicated the regard which Augustus entertained for the memory of Herod ; for though it was manifest that he had no great confidence in Archelaus, yet he resolved to put it in his power to obtain the object of his ambition. He ac- cordingly constituted him ruler of the Jews, with the title of ethnarch, which denotes governor of a nation, and pledged his word to make him king, should he prove himself worthy of that dignity. The country committed to him comprised Judea Proper, Samaria, Idumea, Cesarea, and Joppa, which afforded the annual revenue of about six hundred talents. Herod Antipas was made tetrarch of the greater part of Gal- ilee and some districts east of the Jordan, from which, Jose- phus says, he derived two hundred talents yearly. About half that inromo v)ci r{cciv.) Destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans, . . 171 CHAPTER V. The Roman Empire Triumphant, contmued, (from 54toll6A.D) 198 ? aTKa )/ -'i :r'i' = 1 -m CONNEXION BETWEEN SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY CHAPTER I. RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE, OR KINGDOM OF GOD. The whole history of man demonstrates the truth uniformly attested in the sacred Scriptures, that he can only enjoy ra- tional happiness in the same proportion as he cultivates and attains to moral excellence. In every age and country, he experiences present misery, and the fearful apprehension of Its perpetual increase and eternal duration, to be inseparable from subjection to the malignant and impure passions, and perseverance in such practices as manifestly tend to produce disquietude, destruction, or despair in his own bosom, and dis- tress and wretchedness to his species, and to every living thing. " The wages of sin," he truly finds " to be death." " God is love," and in his good pleasure he purposed in him- self to restore his disobedient race to conformity to his own likeness and participation of his favour, which is life or hap- piness, and of his loving-kindness, which is better than life. This purpose he graciously revealed, when he announced his design to pbce the human race under the government of the Almighty Deliverer, whom he had chosen to be head or ruler of all wbo should, in any age, voluntarily confide in him, and humbly obey him. Till he should appear on earth as the sovereign Lord of all, they who looked for him were placed under the government of certain individuals, to whom he committed the authority of deputies, responsible to him for the manner in which they acted for him in the promotion of the interests of all who waited for him, and publicly worship- ped the True and Living God. The first order of these deputies were the patriarchs, who were generally prophets, 1* «= "^QV 6 RISE OF THF FIFTH EMPIRE. and intercessors with God for his visible worshippers, in things pertaining to this life. They were succeeded by Moses, the great legislator, prophet, deliverer, and intercessor of Israel. His successors were the judges, and the divinely chosen kings of Judah, and the many prophets who were raised up in their age. Their ministry was recommended by God to the confi- dence of the people by many signal and supernatural inter- positions ; and those of them who were unfaithful to their trust were publicly punished, often by the most striking ex- pressions of the displeasure and indignation of the Supreme Sovereign, Saviour, and Judge of the whole community, who professed to do him homage. How, and to what an extent this Divine administration failed to accomplish the moral and spiritual deliverance of the great majority of those who enjoyed it, we are fully instruct- ed in the sacred history preserved in the Old Testament. Few comparatively of any generation of Israel were visibly subjects of moral renovation, and by consequence active in- struments in the promotion of human happiness. The mul- titude despised the spiritual blessings of the eternal covenant made with the patriarchs, and thought and acted without rev- erence for God, or love for man. TKis failure was foreseen by the Most High, to whom are known all his works from the beginning; and it was more early and frequently predicted, in respect of the Abrahamic race, than almost any event in their history. Moses and all the prophets distinctly announced infidelity, mere formality in religion, hypocrisy, idolatry, or obstinate and ruinous wickedness, to be the characteristics of this race, diying all their existence as a nation or a . people separated from the nations. They had been separated from all other people, and specially favoured by God, in order that they should celebrate his praise, by publicly proclaiming his immeasurable excellencies and wonderful works ; and it was on account of their utter worthlessness in relation to this great work, that Jehovah declared his unchanging purpose to re- nounce them as his worshippers, and to adopt a new mode of administration to accomplish his benevolent designs towards the human race. Numb. xiv. 21. ; Jer, xxxi. 31 — 34. The Divine administration appointed for the worshippers of God, during the ages preceding Messiah, was confessedly not perfectly adapted to display the Divine benevolence in ail its fulness, on the supposition that all nations should become his worshippers. This is plain, if we only advert to the com- mand, that all who would enjoy the most important means of RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. religious instruction and comfort should ascend to Jerusalem, the chief seat of public worship, to keep the three great an nual festivals. That their moral deliverance did not, how- ever, depend on this, is unquestionable ; for whoever, believ- ing the revelation of mercy that God would send an Almighty Saviour, feared God and wrought righteousness, were always accepted by him. That the means of religious instruction which God con- ferred on the Jewish nation were amply sufficient to effect their moral renovation, will be acknowledged by all who can- didly and deliberately investigate their history. They were constituted his visible family, and were granted visible signs of his presence to receive their confessions of sin, and answer their supplications for mercy. To them also were granted the covenants, promises of mercy, a succession of inspired guides, and, finally, the complete Oracles of truth contained in the Old Testament. But these favours, as well as his miraculous doings on their behalf, were misinterpreted and misimproved by many of them in every age, and by almost all of them in the reigns of Herod the Great and of Augustus. They had been, from the time of Nehemiah, continually degenerating ; and were now as the facts which have been already noticed show, scarcely exceeded in wickedness by any people on the face of the earth : nor ought it to be forgotten that their wick- edness was that species which is most odious and hateful in the sight of God and man. They had, in all generations, appeared a strong-minded race, remarkable for powerful pas- sions, and resolute determination in gratifying them ; but in no former period were they equally distinguished by intellec- tual acquirements. Far were they from being the weak, ig- norant, rude, semi-barbarous people that many of the learned would have us to regard them. Their perfect hatred of idolatry disposed the most devotional among them to despise the literature of Rome and Greece from its idolatrous aspect and tendency ; but Roman and Grecian literature, arts, and customs were generally known and admired by many Jews. This knowledge, of course, had no salutary influence on the minds of its possessors. This class most probably belonged to the sect of the Sadducees ; and these, we know, were as destitute of moral excellence as the Pharisees, who, as a sect, embraced almost all who discovered any ardent zeal for reli- gion. The religious leaders excused many species of wicked- ness in any one who avowed reverence for their authority devoutly observed the laws ef Moses and the traditions of thf m= ^8 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. elders, and lilerally devoted his property to religious purpo- ses. The teachers restrained not themselves from what their covetous, ambitious, and sensual hearts desired, for they per- suaded themselves that their religious services were a suffi- cient expiation for every possible sin. Thus Jesus charged them with devouring widows' houses, and, for a pretence of godly intentions in all their actions, they made long prayers. All classes were completily debased by indulgence of every selfish, revengeful, and impure desireand pission. The best of them was a briar, and the most upright, a thorn hedge. The Sacred Scriptures were entirely perverted. The demands of the laws of Moses were limited to the external conduct ; and pardon for violations of moral precepts pronounced cer- tain to all who most zealously observed the ceremonies of re- ligion. Thus the Jews, as a nation, lived only to cause the name of God to be blasphemed, and his Revelation to be contemp- tuously treated or neglected. A few, like the gleanings of grapes after vintage, remained to point the way to the tree of life. With this exception, the whole race had renounced in heart and life the authority of God, and were wholly ignorant of the true nature and import of the writings of Moses and the prophets. Nothing almost remained to prevent the entire moral death of the human race, but the reading of the Scrip- tures in the synagogues ; and this was rertdered almost useless by the false interpretations of them, and the traditions exalted above them, by the public instructors. How urgently and loudly then did the mojral condition of the Jews call for the Divine interposition of a new and more mighty apparatus of means and influence to avert the entire extermination of the true religion, and to make it felt and acknowledged among the nations ! Nor was such an interposition of Deity less imperatively required from the moral condition of the whole of the inhabitants of the Fourth Empire. They had, doubt- less, advanced to a considerable degree in what is called civi- lization ; the conveniences and comforts, and even rational plea- sures of life, were multiplied and more widely and generally dif- fused ; and, probably, the ferocities of human nature were some- what softened, and its most oppressive evils diminished orameli- orated. But,viewed in their relation to their Creator and his law, and in their relation to one another, as rational, intelligent, and immortal beings, they had made, in general, no essential im- (>rovement. Moral evil everywhere reigned with uncontrol- ed and destructive power. Vice, in its most diabolical and .=4 ®= ki?;e op the fifth impire. pollatei forms, universilly triumphevl ; the whole worlJ coa'^- tinned in willing and abject sb very to Satan, the pjinre ofj dirkness. The solitary individuals emancipated IVom his, tyranny were almost unnoticed and unknown. All human, governments have been estiblished with the avowed purpose of ministering to the reformation, safety, and welfare of man- kind ; arj] almost every chief ruler considered it his highest- glory to be called the father of his people. Appell.itions of,, this import were, and, still are, in many countries, e.xclusively appropiiated to designate their successive kings. Such issaid to be the signification of PJi>i./anh, the royal title of the men-,, archs of ancient Egypt; and of Praw, the princely nime of., the sovereigns of Burmah. Good, less or more, undoubtedly, results to mm from the least enlightened and benevolent,, government, devised by human wisdom, and maint.iined by,| human power. How much more desirable is any govern- ment than entire anarchy, or liberty for every man to do what is right in his own eyes! This latter state, were it universal, would undoubtedly speedily terminate in the utter ruin of the human race, and in the complete dissolution of the globe. Less order and happiness would be known among mankind than among the animals that rove at pleasure over the deserts and forests, e.xulting in the exercise of their unceasingly ac- tive and devouring capacities. But what moral deliverance di 1 the mighty governments of the four empires of prophecy accomplish in the earth ? '^'hey . certainly brought the scattered nations into a closer union and,^ interci)U;3e than had previously e.xisted. Law acquired more influence over mankind. Knowledge, and the useful and or- nament il arts of life, were more widely disseminated, and the principles of true religion were more generally made known, and invisibly operated to subvert the dominion of human au-; thority, and the subtle and wicked devices of the wise in re*., ligion. The tyranny of Salaii was, nevertheless, still para- mount; the evil one remained apparently immovably seated on his iniquitous throne. How little could any one of the absolute despots of Assyria or Babylon do to mitigate human woe were he even inclined to rule according to justice or mercy'? Their thrones were sustained by men resolutely de- termined to uphold, propagate, and establish idol-worship, by the aits of divination and every means of imposition which the perversion of human knowledge could suggest. And the kings were equally destitute of humanity and truth as their counsellois, the magicians, astrologers, and priests^ insomuch l8 aiSE of THE PIFIH EMPIIIE. that they required their subjects to regard them as gods, who had right to act, without being questioned, according to their own pleasure. Idolatry, the most powerful and tremendous engine which hell itself ever devised to deceive, debase, and destroy the children of Adam, was, in fact, the chief instru- ment employed in the administration of the first empire. And the principal gods, whom the people were called to adore, were represented as actuated and impelled by the most san- guinary dispositions, and as accustomed to riot in the most licentious pleasures, and to exult in the most revengeful and cruel practices. To resemble them in heart and conduct was, of course, believed to be indispensable to secure their fa- vour. The festivals most acceptable to them were character- ised by splendid follies and the impurest and, sometimes, most bloody scenes. Conceive what depravity of soul, habits, and customs, must have characterised the worshippers of such demon gods. The dominion of the second Persian empire was probably more beneficial than that of the first empire, especially by its treatment of idols and generous patronage of the Jews. But, in other respects, the inhabitants of the empire were not much improved in religion or morals. Fire-worship was not much more fitted than idol-worship to rescue man from superstitions, vanities, and wickedness. The worshippers acquired no more accurate knowledge of the True God, nor were required to cultivate moral excellence more than those who were the most zealous votaries of idols. And almost all the nations of the empire remained degraded by the most vile and detestable idolatrous rites and customs, and by unrestrained indulgence of immorality, in its most injurious and impure forms. Nor was the religion or the conduct of the nations much improved by the Third, or Grecian Empire. Many of the rulers and chief men perceived the delusion and folly of their mythology, and, personally, entertained little or no ven eration for the gods; but they all, without one exception, employed idolatry to please and amuse the people, that the^ might be more easily retained in subjection to the will of their superiors. The progress of philosophy, literature, and the arts, greatly contributed to the advancement of civilization and religion ; and, we apprehend, that the numerous syna- gogues of the Jews had an extensive, although, perhaps, un- observed, influence in enlarging and diffusing the most im- portant knowledge of the Supreme God, and of the numerous duties belonging to the varied relations of human society RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. tl Though the human mind is divinely constituted to admit the truth, yet its power was repelled by the dreadful delusions, errors, prejudices, and fascinating pleasures of idolatry, which ruled the hearts of its votaries, and were strongly supported and recommended by its army of priests and poll* tical patrons. By consequence, all classes, in all countries, continued the voluntary slaves of impure superstitions, and vicious practices. The light of Grecian philosophy was darkness ; its teachers and their disciples and admirers cher- ished little respect for moral excellence. And, in general, while they knew that their unhallowed passions and ungodly and unjust practices were worthy of death, they not only persevered individually in the inaulgence of them, but had Sleasure in one another, on account of their unworthy con- uct . The rulers of the Fourth, or Roman Empire assumed no higher standard of religion land morals, any more than in learning and the arts, than what Greece afforded them ; and the Romans so sedulously imitated the enlightened saffes of the Greeks that, before the death of Augustus, they almost, if not ahogether equalled, if they did not surpass, the noble examples which they admired. In one thing, assuredly, they ' excelled the Grecians, as well as all their predecessors in the ' sovereignty of the world, — they generously encouraged and assisted all the nations subject to Rome to aspire to all the knowledge, the grandeur, and conveniences of the first cities of Italy. Hence the rapid advancement of civilization throughout the empire. The Grauls, the Spaniards, and even Britons, were rescued from savage barbarism, and many of the natives acquired a taste, and laboured to attain the con veniences and comforts of social life, and some valued its elegancies and embellishments. The empire, however, owed no improvement in morals or religion to the Roman admin- istration. The Augustan age is celebrated as the glory of the Romans ; but that glory included no moral excellence, which is the true glory of human nature. The generation that grew up in the last years of Augustus is universally acknowledged to have reached the highest degree of effem- inacy and vice ; it was drenched in every abomination which reduces man below the lower and meaner animals. The admirers of the purest philosophy of Cicero, who in moral instruction was, perhaps, never excelled by a pagan, sanc- tioned by authority, and example, and influence, the worship of Venus, of which prostitution was a part ; the adoration oi 1*5 RISfi OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. Bacchus, whose festivals were shocking scenos of intoxica- tion and riot; and supreme reverence for Jupiter, as the father and prince of all the goJs, but not less famous for debiuc:hery an I cruelty. Whit more desirable than the objects of this life could be expected or sought f;om such goJs by their worshippeis? and how coulJ the litter be sup- pose I to desire or endeavour to obtain any thing superior to those things which gratify "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the priJe of life?" Surely it is not then surprising that the most enlightened, most talented, and most refined of the Romms, as well as the ignorant, rude, super- stitious, and lawless multitude, should neither fear God nor love man, and neither cherish pure affections and pissions in life, nor enjoy psice or hape in the prospect of deith. How- ever ardently they might cry, " Who will show us any good?*' when the sorrows of life harrowed up their souls, no. solution to their question was to be expected from the oracles of their gods. No fountain of happiness was discovered by them, except what uncertain, distracting, and perishing ob- jects of sense presenteJ ; and, consequently, many of the wisest of them deemed almost the maxim, '• Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," the consummation of wisJom. Such were the popalar class of philosophers, who gloried in being named, from their leaders, Epicureans. The few who co.mprisod the class called Stoics, while they treated con- temptuously the pleasures of the senses, recommended the pri.le, ambition, and revenge which produce many of the severest calamities which overwhelm the human race, and tend to their complete destruction. Rome, in which were now beheld the throne of philosophy, the seat of the muses, and the theatre of the finer arts, was inundated by wicked- ness in all its most contemptible, loathsome, hateful, terrific, ruinous, and frightful aspects. The wealth and luxuries and vices of all the provinces were imported into the metropolis. The intemperance of the rich was almost incredible; and was only equalled by the licentiousness of all ranks The name of Apicius is preserved on account of his skill to re- duce gluttony into a system. Some emulous of his fame were not ashamed to give one hundred pounds sterling for one fish; and individuals expended fifty. thousand pounds on one entertainment. Debaucheries of every kind abounded ; and the mental powers were wasted in devising means to gratify the senses. A number of persons, called '-the Spin- trias," who were much favoured and honoured, by the great, m % ^^ KiSE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 18 employed their whole time in the invention of new modes of pleasure ; in other words, in attempting to find new foims of iniquity. 'I'he senatois had lost all sense of honour and all respeit for the inteirsts of the community. They sought Ky every art to flatter the reigning- empeior, and to inflict pun- isliment in the manner most degrading and toimenting on those whom he hated. How great was their mental dehase- nwnt when they pioprsed to place Tiberias among the gods, and snppoTted his successor in V€quiring the inhabitants of the empiie to pay him religious homage! The people were, if possible, still more cotrupted. Accustomed to be suppoited by the largesses of the emperor, they at once resigned their liberty, and spent their time in idleness, folly, tumult, or in seditious schemes. Nor were moral excellencies more valued in any province or city of the empire than in Rome. "All flesh had corrupted their way;" and it was manifest to all' that the Fouith Empire was equally ineflicient, as the former empires had been, to work any moral deliverance for man- kin I. Thus the mental state of the Jews and Gentiles demon- strated the absolute necessity that a power altogether different in nature and operation from any thing hitherto seen should be put forth, if ever the human race were to be reclaimed from moral evil, and rescued from the wretchedness insepa- rable from living according to their perverted conceptions and impure inclinations. And such a power was, according to many divine predictions, to characterise the Fifth Empire, denominated in the Scriptures, " The kingdom of God," and " The kingdom of heaven :'' all its subjects were to be dis- tinguished by obedience to the Most High, and all its immu* nities to be conferred on the saints or holy ones, whom He saved from sin, and consecrates to his service. " And th& kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an evei lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." The rise of this kingdom is dated from the year in'vvhich its sov- ereign, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, was born. This is said to have been about the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Augustus ; but the common computation fixes the biith of the Saviour four years later. Jdhn the Baptist, his forerunner was born six months earlier. He w^as one of the most emi- nently holy men that ever lived, and was the subject of sev- eral predictions. A general view of his character we have VOL. ill. 2 m.= 4 14 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. given under his name, in the Pocket Biblical Dictionary ; but his ministry in relation to the heavenly empire on earth de- mands some additional observations. In some predictions of individuals, names of those well known are appropriated to them, on account of their relation or resemblance to them in spirit, office, or work. Thus, Messiah is, in prophecy, repeatedly called David, because he was to be the descendant and heir of the great king of that name. In like manner, John is named Elijah by Malachi, and the work which he was predicted to perform showed he was, like Elijah, to be known as a great religious reformer in Israel : " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet be- fore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite ij the earth with a curse." This prediction obviously intimates both the time of John's appearance, and the nature of his ministry. He was to come before the impenitent Jews were to be punished and rooted out of the land, and the land cursed or ruined. That this judgment was inflicted in less than a century from the days of John, will not be questioned by the Jews themselves. By consequence, as the words of Malachi were inspired bv God, and therefore infallible, it is certain that Elijah has long since appeared. But from the comple- tion of the Old Testament to the present time, no one has risen among the Jews to whom the name could with any propriety be appropriated, except John the Baptist. What ministry could more accurately correspond with that of Elijah than that of the Baptist, whether we advert to its nature or effects. Both were remarkable for disinterestedness, self-denial, bold- ness and fidelity ; and the success of each in reforming the nation appears to have been considerable. John was eminently useful in preparing the people to dis- cern and appreciate the ministry of Jesus, the Christ ; for he exposed the fallacy and folly of their errors and prejudices, and awakened them to a sense of the peculiarly awful danger which threatened them, and of the importance of them duly estimating the transcendant blessings about to be poured out on their nation. The great subject of his ministry was the immediate approach of the new and holy empire predicted and pourtrayed by all the prophets ; and the necessity of all being prepared for it, who would escape the vengeance of the True God : " Repent," he unceasingly cried, " for the king- dom of heaven is at hand." 1 « RISE OF THE ^-IFTH EMPIRE. 15 Though John was a relative of Jesus, the Christ, according to the flesh, and doubtless, from the confidential frienship sub- sisting between their mothers, knew some of, if not all the miraculous accompaniments of his birth, yet he appears not to have recognised him as the Sovereign of the new king- dom, till he was supernaturally instructed : " And I knew him not ; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am 1 come baptising with water. And John bare rec- ord, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not : but he that sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.'* Nor does it appear that John had formed any friendship with his interesting relative. Indeed, we have no evidence from the sacred narratives that they had ever met till Jesus re- quested his precursor to baptise him. The Son of Mary passed thirty years in retirement, and perhaps, menial labour in Nazareth, and the son of Zachanas and Elizabeth lived the same period apparently still more retired in the wilder- ness of Judea, remote from Nazareth ; and no close alliance was formed between them after they knew one another. John entertained such just and elevated views of Jesus as prevented him from doing any more than simply direct all men to fix on him their attention and regards. Each pursued his proper and separate path ; the one as the principal servant, the other as the only Sovereign in the new kingdom. John rose su- perior to his personal interest and honour, and enjoyed the purest and most desirable pleasure in witnessing his Lord's rising popularity : " He must increase, I must decrease." But he was most assiduous in showing all men that the in- crease of the Messiah was not designed or calculated to dete- riorate from the authority, dignity, or honour of the kingdoms or rulers of this world. He prepared the way before Him, not by collecting a vast muUitude to form an army, or a select number to form a ministry for the heavenly Prince ; but by subjecting all hearts to the service of the Living and True God, that they might voluntarily place themselves under the government of his Son Jesus, the Christ. Observe how con- summately adapted was John's ministry to accomplish this inconceivably important end. He, as far as the Divine Record testifies, neither recom- mended by precept nor example the sacrificature of Moses \ J 1(1 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. nor did he allude to its excellences or defects. The only sac« rificial victim for the sins of mankind, Jews or (ienliles, which he called all to value, was, " 'l"he Lanh of God." Je- sus, on whom had descended the Spirit of God, consecnitinj^ him for the work of saving all who trusted in him. 'I'his great truth, once cordially admitted into the minJs of the Jews was sufficient to expose the fallacy of their unhappy errors respecting the litual of MostiS, the observance of which they taught and believed was an expiation of the guilt of whatever sins they might commit. Without unnecessa- rily provoking their wrath by intimating premattnely the ab- olition of the rites of Moses, by »he rising Prince, John plainly announced that these rites would not be required when the Prince had offered himself to God to take away sin and pro- cure salvation for all that should obey him. Again, John spoke nothing of the great national and re- ligious distinction between Jews and Gentiles, which was the boast of the former, and was exceedingly offensive to the lat- ter. This separation of the Jewish nation, next to sacrifice, occupied in the constitution of the kingdom of Israel, the highest place. But in the new kingdom at hand, no national or ceremonial separation of mankind was to be held expedi- ent, necessary, or useful. Those alone weie, according to John, to be accounted its subjects, who showed by their works that they had repented and turned to God ; that they were not only natural descendants of Abraham, and zealous ob- servers of the laws of Moses and traditions of the elders ; but who were also like the patriarch Abraham, renovated in their minds, and truly loved and served God, by uniform and un- ceasing obedience to all his commandments. To be destitute of these qualities, whatever national or even personal e.xcel- lences might distinguish men, they would find no place in " the kingdom of God ;" the royal Ruler and Judge would sentence them to unending woe. " But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers ! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance : and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father : for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abra- ham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire,'' Matt. iii. 7—10. The Jevs, particularly th^ numerous and popular sect of the Phar Mh ^ isees, supposed that they had peculiar claims to'tKe'tio tice of tlie Sovereign of this kingdom, and possessed fitness to serve him because of the special favours which heaven had conferred on them, and especially on account of their own zeal for the law ; and that, consequently, the empire c6ul 1 not rise without their services. To convince them of their folly and presumption in entertoining such sentiments, John testified that the Sovereign was independent of them, for such was his power, that he could create a people out of the very stones of the desert to minister to him and obey him ; and that he would qualify and consecrate every one of his subjects for the holy work of his kingdom by the Holy Spirit of God, exclude from its*immunities all who re- ceived not the Spirit, and treat them as his enemies. This strongly intimated that the kingdom of God was neither to be raised nor maintained by the wisdom, riches, or power, which were the glory of all the empires and kingdoms that had pre- ceded it. The sentiment harmonised with the ancient pre- diction concerning it, '• Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts," Matt. iii. 11, 12. Further, John interfered not with the arrangements or laws of the kingdom whose approach he announced ; but directed all to expect these things to be attended to by Him whose minister he declared himself to be, even Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, and the Son of God, and the King of Is- rael. Accordingly, instead of appointing his disciples to any office in the kingdom, or requiring any of them to prepare themselves for any particular service, he called on them all to cultivate personal religion, and to perform with fidelity the various duties of their station in society ; that they might truly appear suitable persons to be admitted into the service of Him who had come to save his people from their sins. " And the people asked him, saying. What shall we do, then ? He answereth, and saith unto them. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to be bap- tised, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do ? And he said unto them. Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do ? And he said unto them. Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were thie Christ or not ; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed 2* « 4 ■f IS RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. baptise you with jvater ; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose : he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire : whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner ; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things, in his exhortation, preached he unto the people," Luke iii. 10 — 18. This plainly announced that the rulers and great men among the Jews, or of other nations, were not to expect any honourable distinction in the kingdom of God, on account of their birth, rank, intellectual talents, mental acquirements, or religious forms ; but that those only would be exalted whom the Supreme Sovereign perceived to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, and unfeignedly devoted in heart and life to holiness and righteousness before God. However much the mighty in this world might dislike or despise the humble aspect, the austere manners, and holy in- structions and life of John the Baptist, his ministry nowise tended to excite their jealousy or alarm their fears ; for he neither explicitly praised nor blamed any of the constitutions, administrations, or mere political institutions, or even national forms of religion, in the kingdoms of this world ; nor did he drop a single idea to induce any intelligent person to view the kingdom which he proclaimed at hand, as a rival to any ex- isting or wordly kingdom. It is therefore not surprising that he was permitted to proceed unmolested in his work by those who were ambitious of worldly power. He was only hated and persecuted by those whose particular sins he condemned, and he retained astonishing popularity to his last hour. He was admired by all ranks of the Jews, and the Romans re- garded him only as a leader of a religious and harmless sect. Thus he had the happiness and honour to prepare the way for Messiah ; and, on being arrested in his work, he doubt- less exulted that Jesus was gladly received by the people ; and, cherishing the spirit of aged Simeon, in prison he doubt- less would pray, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." The whole life of John attested the sincerity of his belief in the message which he proclaimed concerning the Christ and his kingdom. His spirit, conduct, and manners accorded with the spiritual character of that empire whose immediate approach he announced. He sought not great things for himself That he was possessed of talents equal to the great- est enterprises which stimulate the envy or ambition of the m RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. W wwest and mightiest men of the world, and command the wonder and admiration of the multitude, will be conceded by every candid reader of the narrative of his life by the evange- lists ; and it is as plain that the state of his nation, in his age, was peculiarly favourable to men of daring courage and am- bitious views. The Jews panted for national liberty and in- dependence, and enthusiastically hailed any one who pro- mised to lead them to victory, freedom, and triumph. Nor is it doubtful that they would have gladly placed themselves under John as their supreme chief and leader, and rushed to the field of battle against their civil rulers. He attained the highest degree of popularity, and many earnestly desired tha: he should assume the authority and dignity of the king of the Jews. But instead of this, he showed himself to Israel as the humble and self-denied prophet of the Lord, clothed in the coarsest garments, and sustained by the meanest fare. His manner of life was entirely conformed to that of a Nazarite, who abstained from all the ornaments and luxuries of life ; and his constant avowal was, that he regarded it as his most exalted privilege and honour to be the servant of the Messiah, whom he had baptised and solemnly recommended to the con- fidence of the people. The assumption of authority to baptise all his disciples, was a remarkable indication that he was appointed to intro duce a new constitution for the government of the worship pers of God. No priest or prophet, from the days of Moses, required their disciples to submit to baptism. The observ ance of this rite was a solemn consecration by washing to the service of the Most High. The duties of the office of all for- mer prophets and priests were limited to the enforcement of obedience to the institutes of Moses ; but John called all to be- lieve that the promised Sovereign was come, and he demanded all who received his testimony publicly to confess their re- pentance and belief by baptism, the well-known symbol of consecration to holy services, that they might be prepared to enter his kingdom, which was really, and not merely, cere- monially holy. When Jesus, the son of Mary, was thirty years old, about the seventh or eighth month of John's ministry, he made him- self knoNvn in Nazareth, the place of his residence, as the great Prophet of Israel predicted by Isaiah, and by conse- quence the promised and expected Saviour of the world. " And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up ; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sab- I #= 5i0 RISE OF THF FIFTH EMPIRE. bath-day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias ; ana. when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, U'he Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," Luke iv. 16 — 19. Though the Nazarenes discovered that he was endowed with unparalleled and marvellous qualifications to in- struct, yet the exalted character which he assumed seemed to them incompatible with his reputed descent ; and, instead of calmly and carefully investigating the validily of his claims, the multitude who had witnessed his progress from infancy to manhood, envious of the sudden rise of his reputation, and indignant at what they conceived his presumption and blas- phemy, were enraged, and, with all the impetuosity of beasts of prey, attempted to take his life. They looked on him merely as the son of Joseph the carpenter. Had they fully inquired into the past history of Jesus, and, with minds sin- cerely in search of the truth, vigilantly observed the future developments of his character, they would certainly have adopted the sentiments entertained of him by his most en- lightened disciples, and concluded that he was the Jewish virgin's son, the heir of David, the Son of the Living God, the Saviour of Jews and Gentiles, and the Lord of all, pre- dicted by all the prophets. The first promise of the Conqueror and Victor of Satan, and the destroyer of his dominions, represented him as " the seed of the woman," not the seed of the man ; and the second most distinct promise respecting him, intimated that he was to descend from Abraham. These promises were incontro- vertibly accomplished in Jesus of Nazareth. The evangelists satisfactorily show that he was born of a virgin, a daughter of Abraham; and that his human body was immediately created by the energy of the Holy Spirit. This statement alone accounts for the purity and dignity of his character, by which he was manifestly separated from the whole human race, although evidently a partaker of the human constitution. In him were all the capacities and sensations which charac* terise man, without the least trace of moral defect, which are inseparable from the seed of Adam, all of whom prove them- selves to be alienated from God and from one another. Every temper which he discovered, every word which he uttered, # a ? #= — — =^=i^ tiiSE b? THE FIFTH Erf^H^. "^1 iiicl every action which he performed, demonstrated that his neart was the seat of perfect moral excellence. None of his kindre.'l who were disaffected to his claims, none of. his friends who deserted or betrayed him, nor any one of his nu- merous, powerful, active, and implacable enemies, attempted to convict him of sin. All who knew him were the reluctant or zealous witnesses that divine love supremely ruled over all his affections and pnssions, and that he only lived for the present and eternal welfare of all ; that "he went about doing good." He was thus manifestly the only man on whom the Holy One of Israel coulJ look with entire complaisance ; and he was therefore not of this world, although a sojourner in it: for every one of Adam's race has proved himself a sinner, justly deserving the divine displeasure ; they are all by nature the children of wrath. It is impossible for any one to adduce a satisfactory reason for the perfect moral purity of the Son of Mary, the Jewish virgin-mother, unless the truth of the sacred record be admitted, that he was formed by the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb, and was therefore justly called the Son of God. The Jews were possessed of ample evidence that Jesus was the proper, legitimate heir of David. He was so, whether he was regarded as the son of Mary or of Joseph, his reputed father ; for the national records attested that they occupied the chief place in the register of David's family. It is indeed uncertain if thev were not the only survivors of that distin- guished race ; for though they had relations, yet these, as far as the record informs us, Avere intermixed with other families and tribes in Israel ; and if so, Jesus was the only remaining sprout of the root of Jesse^ Genealogical registers of the chief families are common in every country ; but in the East they appear in all ages to have been kept with great care by all families. The family register was indispensable among the Jews while they possessed the Holy Land ; for if they neglected it, they might find it difficult, if not impossible, to show their rights to their lot or inheritance The royal and the priestly families had more powerful motives than any others to preserve their respective genealogy. How diligent- ly and faithfully the national register of tribes and families was kept, may be learned from the second chapter of the book of Ezra, and the seventh chapter of the book of Nehemiah. That the genealogical tables were carefully constructed by ihe Jews down to the times of Christ and his apostles, is ob- vious from several allusions to them in the New Testament. #= 4 I 22 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. Thus we read that Anna the prophetess was of the tribe ot Asher, and Paul of the tribe of Benjamin. Josephus says that he transcribed his own pedigree from the public register of the priesthood. That the evangelists transferred their genealogies of Jesus from those admitted to be correct by the Jews, we have no reason to doubt ; for we never find his descent from David questioned by any of his enemies. Dif- ficulties or obscurities in the lists given by the evangelists are therefore not to be ascribed to them, but to the compilers of the tables from which they copied ; and it deserves to be remarked, that the general accuracy of these lists is not rendered in the least doubtful, on the supposition that the names of certain persons may have been designedly omitted, or even erazed, from causes which cannot now be ascer- tained. Some individuals may have proved themselves during life unworthy of the place in the family register in which their names were inserted at the time of their birth. This circumstance, however, would not occasion any doubt re- specting the descent of their heirs or successors in the register. That no other tables of the genealogy of David than those made and approved by the Jews, would have, however per- fect, been regarded by them, we may be assured ; and hence it was at once necessary and divinely proper that the evan- gelists should appeal, in proof of the descent of Jesus, to those genealogies of the descendants of David which were preserved in the national archives. This mode of proceeding was in harmony with the rule which the first ministers of Christ uniformly followed, of testifying none other things than Moses and the prophets said should come ; and every Jew had, in consequence of the plan acted on by the evan- gelists, an opportunity of judging the truth of their state- ment, the claims of Jesus to be heir of David, by comparing it with their own acknowledged registers. Nor would friends or enemies fail to do this. While no instance is recorded of the latter accusing Christ's followers of falsehood, when they every where proclaimed him the son of Abraham and of the race of Judah, and the heir of David, the former in all coun- tries were familiar with this regular descent of their Master according to the flesh. Thus Paul, writing to the Romans, evidently views it as a well known and received fact, that Jesus " was made of the seed of David according to the flesh ;" and he reminds the Hebrews to whom he wrote, that " it is eviiient that our Lord sprangf out of the tribe of Judah." ^. RISE OF THE FIFTH EBfPIRE. 23 We conceive it inexpedient to attempt here to reconcile the discrepancies or differences supposed to exist between the genealogies of Jesus recorded by Matthew and Luke. The learned have speculated much on this subject ; but the candid reader will be sufficiently satisfied that the difficuhies are not momentous, after perusing the following extract from Mr. Watson's Exposition of the Gospels : — " For a full investi- gation of the questions which have been raised on the gene- alogies of Christ given by St. Matthew and St. Luke, recourse may be had to Grotius, Hammond, Le Clerc, Lightfoot, Bishop Kidder, Whitby, Dr. Barrett, and others who have written at large upon them. The genealogies coincide from Abraham to David ; and then so entirely differ, except in two descents, that they must be regarded as two distinct tables ; and the opinion now generally admitted is that of Lightfoot, that St. Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, whose adop- ted son Jesus was ; and St. Luke that of his virgin mother. This derives strong confirmation from the circumstance that the Jewish Rabbins in their writings call Mary the daughter of Eli. This distinction in the genealogies also serves to ex- plain the reason why St Luke begins his genealogy with stating that Jesus was the supposed son of Joseph, ' who was the son of Eli' The natural father of Joseph was, as Mat- thew states, Jacob; but Mary being the daughter of Eli, Joseph became his son-in-law ; or simply, according to the vague '.vay in which the Hebrews used such relative terms, his son ; which is further confirmed by another instance of a son-in-law being called a son in the same table, namely Salathiel, who is called 'the son of Neri,' that is, his son-in- law; his natural father being Jechonias, 1 Chron. iii. 17. The only point of real importance, however, in this question is, whether Mary as well as Joseph was of the house of David, because the Christ was indubitably to be of the seed of David 'according to the flesh,' which our Lord was not by mere virtue of his being the adopted son of Joseph, and entered as such in the Jewish genealogies. Now, though there seems sufficient reason to conclude that Mary married Joseph as next of kin, and though the very silence of the Jews, who, upon the promulgation of the doctrine of Christ's miraculous conception, at whatever period that was first made known, whether during our Lord's life, or immediately after his ascension, must have raised this fatal objection, if Mary had not been a descendant of David as well as Joseph, proves that this fact was a subject of pubhc notoriety ; yet 24 B.18E OF THE PIPTH EMFTRE. the matter is settled by a passage in the Gospel of St. Luke, whicl: ihose who have investigated this ''uestion of the two genealogies nave generally overlooked ^n Luke i. 32, when the angel makes the annunciation to Mary that she should become the mother of the Messiah, he says, ' He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the liord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David,' — terms which could not have been used, unless Mary herself had been David's descendant. It may be added to this, that unless it had been a matter sufficiently well known and acknowledged, that Mary and Joseph were of the same house and lineage, it could have answered no end for Mat- thew to have copied from the public genealogical tables of the Jews the descent of Joseph from David, since he himself closes the list of descents with an account of the conception and birth of Jesus, which declares that he was not the son of Joseph, but of Mary only. But the family relationship of Mary and Joseph being well known, the one genealogy was as well suited to his purpose as the other. Besides that, it has also this advantage, that it established our Lord's legal right to the throne of David, through Joseph, of whom he was the son by adoption. And this was of importance in arguing with the Jews ; for, ahhough Mary was descended from David, yet, had she married into the tribe of Levi, under the same circumstances as she married Joseph, our Lord would have been reckoned in the Jewish genealogies as of the tribe of Levi, and his legal claim to the throne of David could not have been maintained on the ground of descent; but, having married into her own tribe, our Lord was the descendant of David, both in law and by nature. With respect to other difficulties in these tables of descent, they are to be referred to the Jewish records, and not to the evangelists who copied them. As, however, the Jews exerted particular care in preserving the pedigree of their priests, and also the line of David, in which they expected the Mes- siah, the discrepancies are probably apparent only, and the obscurity arises from the circumstance that their mode of keeping them, as being affected by their changes of name, or the practice of bearing double names, and by their laws of succession, is now but partially known. The tables are, however, sufficiently clear to prove the only point for which they were introduced, that Jesus was the son of David, and the son of Abraham;" and by consequence the legitimat:' # RISE OF THE FIFTH EHFIRE. 25 heir of David to the throne of Israel, and heir to the domin- 'on of the world promised unto Abraham. — Rom. iv. 13. But Jesus of Nazarath had far higher claims to the domin- ions and power of David, and to the sovereignty of the world ; for he is the Only-begotten Son of the Living and True God. Such he was declared to be by the prophetic Spirit, Ps. ii. 7. "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee." And this language distinctly teaches us that he alone is the proper rep- resentative of the invisible Deity, and the legitimate heir of God as the supreme King of Israel, and the Lord of all Crea- tion ; and as such peculiarly beloved by his Father, and truly possessed of his peculiar perfections or infinite excellencies. That these transcendently glorious features were to be beheld in the Messiah, is manifest throughout the Divine Revelation by Moses and the prophets ; and that they were recognised ir Jesus of Nazareth by his disciples, is not less evident in almo:* every page of the New Testament. His miraculous formar.or: in the virgin's womb demonstrated him to be the most beloved Son of God. By this he was distinguished in excellence from Adam and all his race, and was truly seen to be '4hat holy being" who was worthy to be called the Son of God. That he was in the highest sense the beloved of God was also declared at his baptism, when the Spirit of God de- scended like a dove and rested upon him, and a voice from the excellent glory thus addressed him : •' Thou art my be- loved Son ; in thee I am well pleased." God a second time announced, in a similar manner, his complacency in him, in the hearing of his most honoured disciples, after they had seen him clothed with the symbolical cloud of glory ; for a voice from the cloud said, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him." A testimony resembling this, God pronounced a third time from heaven, in the hear- ing of a multitude, when, in answer to this public prayer, •' Father, glorify thy name," a voice loud as thunder said, " I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." More mar- vellous and decisive still did his resurrection from the dead, without his body being subjected to corruption, prove God's peculiar delight in him. This unparalleled event Jesus pre- dicted, and appealed to it as the complete confirmation of his high claims. His enemies felt the force of the appeal, and employed all that human wisdom and power deemed necessa- ry to retain his body in the tomb. But it was impossible that he should be chained by death or hell ; for God had pledged VOL. m. 3 m 26 RISE OP THE FIFTH EMPIRE. himself to raise him from the dead, and thus to declare him his only-begotten, and well-beloved Son. However astonishing and incomprehensible to the human mind may be the fact that Jesus, as God's own Son, is the equal of his Father, and therefore the proper heir of all things, its truth he incontrovertibly confirmed by his works ; for who that reflects on the nature of what he performed in his own name, will presume to say that the whole was within the power of a mere creature, how exalted soever might be the dignity and capacities conferred on it by the universal Crea- tor? He showed himself possessed of the most perfect knowledge of all the secret operations and unrevealed thoughts of man, and the sovereign and Almighty Lord of all nature. It was visible to all that all the perfections of Deity resided in him ; and to his various works of Almighty power to heal all kinds of incurable diseases, to multiply at pleasure the means of human subsistence, and to raise the dead to life, he referred in proof not only that God was with him, but also that he was the^Son of God, and that he who had seen him had seen the Father. The great truth of the Divine dignity of his nature is also clearly showed by the authority and honour to which he is exalted. The prophets predicted Messiah's exaltation to the throne of the Divine JMajest)', in the heavens, and investiture in the oflices of Saviour, Sovereign, and Judge of the human race. Jesus announced that these offices were to be conferred on him, and, that he would ascend unto heaven in order to ex- ercise them. Hundreds of his disciples saw him ascend ; and waited for the fulfilment o^ the promise of the Holy Spirit, which would demonstrate that he was admitted into ^lory, and had taken possession of the high honours to which he was destined. How complete was the evidence given that he was seated on the throne of God, in the gifts received ^y his fol- lowers, by which they were enabled, in his name, to perform miracles equally great and more numerous than he had him- self wrought. Being thus raised to an equality with his Father in dignity and power, so as to appear worthy of all adoration, worship, and praise ; or in the language of the Holy Spirit, having thus received a name above every name, that in his name every knee should bow, and tongue confess that he is Lord, it remains no longer doubtful that he is the Son of God, and Heir of all things in heaven and earth. These things proclaim to all that he had finished the work for which he confessed that he came into the workU for had 4^- # =!=#' RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 27 he not done this, is it credible that he should have been pub- licly approved by God before angels and men ? That work chiefly consisted in delivering himself up as a sacrificial vic- tim to death for the sins of mankind, that he might obtain eternal redemption for every one who shall obey him ; and this is the great truth which forms the basis of his kingdom ■ There is no name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved, but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the King of the new empire ; and for this end he confessed that he was born, and that he should rule all na- tions, and reign till all his enemies were made his footstool. But he distinctly limited the visible administration of his kingdom in this world to religious and moral affairs. The entire governmont of Israel was his native right, as the heir of his father David ; and every one also who assumed the supreme rule over them without being called of God, whether a native or foreigner, was unquestionably an usurper. He, however, explicitly announced that he came not into the world to aspire to a worldly throne, or secular dominion. He voluntarily renounced all temporal rights, and appeared on earth not " to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" His royal predecessors were each successively appointed as deputy of Jehovah, Israel's Supreme Sovereign, the visible head or superintendant of the whole community, in all things relating to religion as well as to worldly interests. Jesus took the charge of the former, and cfrefuUy avoided interference with the latter. He cleansed the temple instructed the worshippers how to serve God acceptably, and made known to them His mind. But he de- sired not to preside in the councils of the nation, nor to con- duct their armies, or to receive any of the national revenues. When the multitude desired to make him a temporal prince, he withdrew from their society, and proceeded to discharge his duties as the prophet of the Lord. And at a later period, when one of his hearers requested him to examine and decide on some worldly matter, he replied, " Man, who made me a ruler or divider among you ?" Scarcely any of the people, including his most eminent disciples, seem to have 'interpre- ted correctly his conduct, or comprehended his plainest in- structions, in respect to the objects of his mission. They had no just conceptions of limited royal power. Their minds were full of the ideas of Messiah's absolute and uncontrolled dominion ; and imagined that he would exercise it in this world altogether after the manner of the despots of the East 9' 9 - -^ 2f| RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. Hence, when Jesus chose his twelve apostles, they and his other Followers expected that he would next restore the tem- poral kingdom to Israel, and constitute the Holy Land the seat of universal empire. This false conception excited the ambition of his chief ministers, and strife threatened to de- stroy their peace. They disputed who should be greatest. To check their pride, arid prepare them for the humble, ar- duous and holy work to which they were destined, he set a child in the midst of them, and declared that none was fit to serve in his kingdom who were not teachable, unassuming, and humble as a child, who implicitly bows to the authority of its parents, and depends wholly on them for its safety and comfort. And, that all worldly ambition and li.opes should be repressed in them, he distinctly stated that in his kingdom he who was the humblest and most active in serving and ad- vancing the interests of his fellow-subjects, would be ac- counted deserving the highest honour. The only authority they were to acknowledge was that of the Supreme King, and the only applause and honour tabe sought was his ap- probation : " Ye know," said Jesus, " that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you : but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister ; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant," Matt. xx. 25 — 27. One of the last and unexpected scenes of his most wonder- ful life, was the singular procession which he deigned to per- mit his disciples to conduct to testify their belief in his roy- alty. The only part he took in it strongly expressed the un- worldliness of his kingdom, and fulfilled in him certain re- markable predictions respecting Messiah. None of the mighty or noble surrounded him ; his poor disciples and the multi- tude whom the rulers contemned, were his attendants. No crown or diadem adorned his head ; no chariots, horses, or armed band, displayed splendour to attract or dazzle the eyes, or strike terror in the hearts of the spectators ; nor was there any kind of grandeur to produce admiration, nor magnifi- cence tot awaken any. He rode on an ass ; and children were loudest in his praise. He was manifestly no rival of the princes and great men of the earth. He acknowledged him- self chiefly delighted with the plaudits of the children, who hailed him the promised Prince, come in the name of Jeho- vah. The only sceptre or arms which he used were, small cords ; and these were found sufficient to expel from thetem *= RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. ^ pie, his own and his Father's house, all wiio dared to dishon- our and defile the sacred precincts, consecrated as the place of prayer for all peoples. And with this manifestation of his royal dignity, his final confession of his claims of sovereignty perfectly accorded. In his answer to the false accusation that he had declared himself king of Jiidea, in opposition to the sovereignty exercised by the Romans, he boldly avowed that he was born a king, not of the Jews only, but of every one who received and obeyed the truth, that he was the prom- ised Saviour. His dominion being thus wholly sustained and extended by the truth, no prince, s'upported by physical resources of human wisdom or power, had reason to dread his triumphs, except in so far as they owed the continued pos- session of their throne to falsehood and wickedness. His kingdom was from heaven ; its principles, laws, customs and resources, were derived from heaven ; and it could not be ad- vanced by mere human devices or assistance. Had it been otherwise, his servants would have engaged in battle against their enemies ; and who could hope to overcome them ? for the whole armies of the angels of God were ready to join with all who heareth the truth to resist and conquer all his opposers. Consequently his patient resigning of himself into the hands of his false accusers, and to the power possessed by Pilate to condemn him to death, as well as the fact that he only requested of his judges to spare the lives of his follow- ers, clearly showed that he sought no earthly throne, or secu- lar docfjinion. If Jesus indicated the exclusively spiritual and moral char acter of his kingdom on earth, by publicly disclaiming all intention to exercise the temporal government of the Jews, belonging to him as David's heir, is not the same truth to be learned from his voluntarily neglecting to seize the Holy Land, as well as every other spot on earth, for the whole was his own property as the Son of God ? This act of self-de- nial he alone could practice ; for no sovereign had any legit- imate right to consider himself sole lord of his dominions. The earth belongs only to God, and though he appoints whom he will to the office of rulers, yet he has not authorised them to look on it as their special property. David and his suc- cessors were his deputies, and not his heirs to Canaan, which, in a particular sense, he called them* to regard as his own, selected in preference to all lands, as the site of his greatest and most marvellous manifestations of himself to man. The king of the Jews had no right to any other position in th* 3* ®= -^^ 80 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. Holy Land than that which fell to him by lot, the inheritance of his fathers. He could scarcely be guilty of a greater crime than forcibly to take possession of the least spot in the inher- itance of any of his subjects. Nor could he lawfully retain forever, as his own, any more than any other of his subjects, land which an individual might sell him. But God gave the land to Messiah ; and hence it was denominated by the pro- phets, " Immanuel's land," and one of the sins charged against the Jews, in relation to Jesus, the Son of God, is, that " he came into his own land, and his own people received him not." Indeed, Jesus declared, that " all things were delivered unto him of his Father." Nevertheless, he passed through life one of the most destitute of his people. " The foxes," he said, " have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath nowhere to lay his head." By personal labour he appears for many j^ears to have procured the means of sub- sistence requisite for himself and his mother ; and during his public ministry, while he repeatedly miraculously supphed food for thousands, he owed his own support chiefly to a few women who generously administered to him. In contradistinction to all the princes of this world, and even to all the chief Rulers of Israel who had preceded him, he encouraged no one to follow him by any worldly induce- ment : he pledged himself to the most faithful no more than that he would be with them always, and make them partakers of all that their Heavenly Father knew to be necessary for their present and eternal happiness. This he pronounced sufficient to reconcile to his service ; for who does not per- ceive that " it is enough for the servant to be as his master?" What prince has not promised his chief ministers and army the good and glory of this life? Did not Jehovah himself con- descend to assure Israel, when he announced himself to have become their King, that he would reward their subjection and obedience to him, with health, long life, weahh, and honour? that if they proved their fidelity to him by entire renunciation of idols, and entire destruction of every symbol of idolatry, and stedfast observance of his institutions, he would make them th«i most prosperous in all earthly good of any other nation of the world? How many promises of this kind were given Israel by Moses and the prophets? And how many threatenings of temporal calamities of every 'kind were de- nounced against them, should they prove disloyal and disobe- dient? What a concrast, in this respect, is evident to all, boiween the writinsrs of the Old Testament and those of the ^ EISE OP THE FIFTH EMPHIE. 31 New? How ignorant must he be who perceives not the peculiar spiritual and moral character of Christ's king-dom? Truly it consists not •' in meats and drinks, but in righteous- ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Benevolence is one of the strongest and most predominant features of the kingdom erected by Jesus of Nazareth. Laws are made for the lawless and disobedient, and compared to a state of anarchy, the most imperfect form of government is benevolence itself. But the infliction of the sentence of law is the manifestation of justice rather than mercy, and aug- ments the present misery and not the comfort of mankind. The ruler of every worldly kingdom is a terror to evil doers; and this was as true of the predecessors of Jesus in the king- ' dom of Israel as in any other kingdom on earth. Justice triumphantly reigned rather than peace and good-will to man. The national constitution, or the covenant of Sinai, was em- phatically "the ministration of death." The laws of no na- tion, before the Christian era, equalled those prescribed by Moses, considered as a whole, in their benevolent and benen cent character and tendency. ^ But the covenant of Sinai con- stituted the Israelites the Divine instruments to exhibit, for the instruction "and warning of mankind, the holiness and jus- tice of God, not less, if not more, than his mercy and power to save. The human race, in all ages and countries, have taken occasion, from the riches of the goodness and long suf- fering of God, to despise his authority, and follow their vain imaginations, appetites, and passions, as if they were not re sponsible to Him, nor much in danger of punishment. How admirably adapted was the administration of the national law of Israel to correct the false conceptions of God which pre- vailed everywhere ; for it loudly proclamed, " All souls are mine, saith Jehovah ; the soul that sinneth shall die." Israel were chosen to execute on all bold, presumptuous, and impenitent sinners, residing in Canaan, the vengeance of God, recorded in his word. As the Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth, He deigned to select that land for the theatre on which he purposed to unveil his perfections; and, in order to this, he would not permit the public acknowledg- ment in it of any rival god : he would not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images. When therefore, the seven nations of Canaan had entirely renounced the True God, and filled up their iniquity by voluntary slavery to the most cruel and polluted system of idolatry and immorality, he commanded Israel to extirpate them, take possesion of their 1 «• r 32 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. land, and consecrate themselves and it to his pure service. The destruction of the seven devoted nations was a fearful manifestation of the justice of God, but it perfectly accorded with the revealed design of God respecting his purpose in declaring Canaan his own land, in a peculiar religious sense j for he ordered no severer judgment to be inflicted on the Canaan ites than he ordained for all the Israelites who should imitate them in their apostacies from God, and licentious and barbarous habits and conduct. For all such, when known, were, by the laws of Moses, to be cut off from among his people ; that is, he was either to be exiled or put to death. And as for those who secretly departed from God, practised the rites of idolators, and thus polluted the land, or made it like other lands, God announced that He, as the Supreme King, Proprietor, and Judge, would miraculously cut them off, and vindicate the righteousness of his government. It was also for the attainment of this object that the ritual of sacrifice was instituted. " Almost all things were cleansed by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.'' This great principle was solemnly and awfully taught every night and morning, by the consuming of inno- cent animals on the ever-burning altar of burnt offering, in the sight of all the people. The whole creation proclaims that the Creator has formed all creatures for happiness, and has amply supplied the means of obtaining it. No common reason, doubtless, moved the good God to appoint the sacrifi- cature which he minutely described by Moses. If the per- mission of animal food attested his special goodness to man, animal sacrifice still more strongly indicated this, for the avowed object was, that the sins of the offerer might be expi- ated, by being, as it were, transferred from him to the victim, which was incapable of sin, or, properly speaking, of feeling its punishment. The rite of sacrifice thus proclaimed daily the great truth, that "the wages of sin is death ;" and every one who neglected this rite had suspended over his head the sword of Divine justice, which, if not plunged into him by the magistrates of his nation, might, in a moment fall on him from the invisible hand of the Divine Legislator and just Judge. Another most impressive mode of preserving, in vigour, in Israel the impression of the justice of God, was lex talio- nis, the law of retaliation or retribution. Transgressions of the laws, for which no expiatory victim was provided, were, when distinctly known, instantly adequately punished, by # RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 33 fire or death. The king or magistrates had no authority tb' confine the accused in prison, he was to be placed before the tribunal without delay. Moses gave no directions respecting prisons, except we call by this name the cities of refuge. No ruler had authority to change, or mitigate, or remit the sen- tence of the h\v, or defer its e.xecution. All legislators have agieeJ that immediate punishment is one of the most efiectual means of maintaininij the dignity and honour of the law and government. This was strictly enjoined by Moses. Ar- bitrary power, caprice, or even compassion, was incompatible with liie faithful discharge of the office of judge in Israel. He was not to pity or spare any more than to judge rashly, partially, or unjustly. Retribution was to regulate all his decisions: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe, death for death." These remarks may suffice to show that the administration of the kingdom of Israel was peculiarly framed to place be- fore man the immutable connexion between sin and punish- ment; it was verily, "the ministration of death." And the Divine propriety of this will be manifest to those who observe that, during the period for which it was designed, the justice of God was not demonstrated. No punishment was inflicted 6n man that had any fitness to prove that "though hand join in hand, the sinner shall not go unpunished." For no one appeared to suffer equal to what he deserved as a trans- gressor of the l".v. s of his Creator, or as an enemy of the benevolent government of the sovereign of the world. And everywhere, and in every age, many most notorious for wick- edness were most prosperous in this world. While, however, justice thus strictly executed in Israel, discovered the wisdom of Jehovah, it, to a considerable degree, veiled his compas- sionate love and benevolence towards the human race. He was revealed by it to be "the great and dreadful God, who keepeth the covenant ; the jealous God, and a consuming fire." It pleased him to reserve for the future age. and for the period of the Fifth Empire, the perfect demonstration of his justice and the perfect manifestation of his own nature, as the God who delighteth in mercy, so that every man might know that " God is love." And for this end he sent his Son into the world, " not to condemn the w-orld, but that the world through him might be saved." The substitution of the only begotten Son of God instead of sinners is at once the highest possible moral evidence that Go^l is, at once, in 1 34 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMTIRE. flexibly just and inexpressibly merciful. To illustrate and confirm this sentiment we will not attempt here ; but refer our readers to the works of those who have ably treated this most important of all subjects. Whoever will contemplate the character, doctrines, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory of Jesus of Nazareth, will not fail to perceive that God has given irrefragable proof that he has no pleasure in the death of sinners, and not less that he will not spare the guilty, who refuse submission to the righteous government of his beloved Son. Since he spared not him, when he occupied the sinner's place, he shall assuredly not spare those who love him not as the Father loves him. Who does not, must feel the force of the figure applied by our Lord to his suffer- ings, when he proceeded to bear the Divine curse on the cross ! " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children, — for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?'' Now to all his disciples it is surely obvious, that since Divine justice was demonstrated, it was not requisite that the terrible administra- tion ordained by Moses for Israel, should characterise the administration of the kingdom of God, of which Jesus, our Jjord, is the King. Accordingly, Jesus explicitly excluded from his empire temporal punishments and death. He con- fessed himself the heir of David, the Christ, the Saviour of the world, and Lord of all ; but, early in his ministry, he plainly intimated that during his reign no country or place, or indeed any thing, except the principles and laws and sub- jects of his kingdom on earth, would be deemed by Heaven holy or sacred, as Canaan, the tenth of its products, and the temple, and its ministers and vessels, had been. " The hour Cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall wor- ship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." And with equal clearness did he teach his followers that he was not come to form a commu- nity, whose purity and prosperity were to be protected by the immediate punisnment of their secret, or public and bold enemies. Thus, on the Samaritans behavinor unkindly to Jesus, his favourite disciples said, "Lord, wih thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did ? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Could any language more decidedly declare that the m « 11 RISE OP THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 35 administration of death by Moses would find no place in the new empire? This marvellous revolution in the community of the wor- shippers of God was also fully implied in all the announce- ments by Jesus, that he came to redeem them from all their enemies, by giving himself a ransom for them, by laying down his life for them, and by his assurance that for this very act the Father had loved him, and had committed to him all power and authority, that he might give them eternal life. The legitimate inference from this instruction was, that the ritual of sacrifice would cease ; for having procured all blessedness for his people, they needed no longer to offer in- nocent victims to expiate their sins. The Father's approba- tion of him, publicly testified by raising him from the dead, and receiving him to glory, that he might be Lord of all, was sulFicient evidence that he had honoured his law, and vindicated his government. The law of retribution was by consequence no more required to instruct mankind that God was just, if they intelligently, unfeignedly, and cordially credited the Divine testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his obedience unto death, had fully illustrated and vindicated the Divine justice in the condemnation and death of sinners. ' Thus it was manifest that he came not to destroy, but to fulfil the law of retribution, as well as the law of sacrifice ; and having finished his work, superseded both. In accordance with this, we observe that among his first public instructions, he declared the law of retaliation obsolete: "Ye have heard that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee ; and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your ^ §6 illSE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. brethren only, what do ye more than others ? do not even th* publicans so? Be ye therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." — Matt. v. 38-48. 'I'he circumstances in which Jesus was placed were pecu- liarly fcivourable to the bringing to the test of truth his. high claims to be the Messiah, the promised Kino of Israel, and the Saviour and Sovereign of the world. No people were equally qualified with the Jews to detect the imposture of any one who avowed himself to he their expected king ; for they alone possessed and valued the Divine predictions con- cerning him. They had been intrusted with the sacred or- acles ; and, however ignorant they generally were of their real import, they were enthusiastically attached to them, as the charter of their nation Every Jew had access to the scriptures, which were deposited in the temple, and in every synagogue of the empire ; and were, in the after ages, read every Sabbath in the hearing of the whole congregation. These writings delineated the character of the Messiah suffi- ciently clear to enable any intelligent, serious, and candid reader to try and decide the pretensions of any one who con- fessed himself to be that exalted personage ; and never were the people in general more deeply interested in his coming, nor more earnestly looking for him, than in the age of the Lord Jesus Christ. They valued liberty more than life ; and it is plain from Josephus, as well as from the New Testament, that they had no hope of deliverance from the tyranny of foreigners, except in the speedy fulfilment of the promise re- specting the son and heir of David. As for the chief men among the Jews, we have ample ev- idence that the study of the Scriptures was the business of their life. To know them was one of the chief and ultimate objects of the whole of their education. The Old Testament was the principal book in all their schools ; and a complete knowledge of it was the hicrhest boast of their most learned men ; the muhitude, being deemed ignorant of it, were, on that very account, despised. Hence, the common maxim of the Pharisees u^as, that '• the people w^ho know not the law are cursed." Nor did the sect of the Pharisees boast of learn- ing of which they were destitute. They entertained the highest hopes of worldly power, honour, wealth, and pleas- ure in the kingdom of Messiah ; and, by consequence, care- fully investigated all things recorded concerning him by M.> ses and the prophets. The minuteness of their knowledge of him is strongly inlicated by their ready reply to the in- #^ 1 m- RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 37 quiry of Herod respecting- the place where he was born : " and they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea ; for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda ; for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people Israel." Matt. ii. 5, 6. Few people surpassed the Jews in personal appearance or in intellectual capacity. Their mental powers were much less perverted, and their lives less debased by superstition than any other nation, especially in the age of our Lord and his apostles. Their religion, and the original constitution of their nation, certainly prevented them from pursuing with ardour the philosophy and sciences of Greece and Rome. Tliese objects were, however, known and valued by a few of the Jews, especially by the sect of the Sadducees, and those who either adhered to the family of Herod or the Romans. Be- sides, not a few Romans, enlightened in all the knowledge and literature of Greece, either sojourned or resided in Judea, during our LorcTs ministry- It is therefore incontrovertible, that neither he nor any one could have attempted to carry on a scheme of deception in Judea, without being quickly detected and exposed to punishment, shame, and contempt, seeing he was surrounded by many, mature in intellect, eminent for worldly wisdom, and mental acquirements, and the first in the world for knowledge of Moses and the prophets. Nor was he possessed of any means to allay suspicion, re- press inquiry, or procure able assistants to impose on the com- munity ; he presented nothing most desirable and sought by those most renowned for talent, piety, or patriotism. He be- longed to the class who were accounted by those acknowl- edged the proper judges, ignorant of the law, and cursed. He belonged indeed to the basest of this class, for he had resided, all his days, in Nazareth, whose inhabitants were the most depraved and degraded of all the Galileans ; and these were the most polluted of the whole race of the Jews. Though he therefore spoke as never man spoke, and discovered him- self inexpressibly superior in Divine knowledge, dignity, gravity, authority, and persuasive powers to all the legitimate teachers of his nation, yet the influential class regarded his instructions unworthy of attention, because he had not been educated in the national schools, nor had any connexion with persons of public reputation. The meanness of his birth, and his usual manner of life, they considered sufficient to justify them in neglecting his ministry. His talents and at- VOL. III. 4 # 38 RISE OP THE FIFTH EMPIRE. tainments perplexed them, provoked their envy and hatred, and awakened distressing fear and apprehensions. But the queries, " Whence hath this man this wisdom ? Is not this the carpenter's son, and his mother Mary ?" calmed their spirits, flattered their pride, and confirmed them in their pur- pose to give him no countenance as a public instructor of the people. Indeed, they could have no sympathy with his instructions, for they were wholly opposed to him on the most important subjects of religion and morals. For example, they had scarce- ly more just or honourable views of the True God, than those entertained by idolaters. The latter imagined that their God was the protector of their friends, and the destroyer of their enemies ; and the former believed that their race were alone the objects of the special care of the supreme God, and that he purposed to exalt them to the sovereignty of every other race of Adam. How opposed to this low and repelling idea of the One God is the revelation of his nature and doings, by the Lord Jesus. To impress all minds with a just convic- tion of the impartiality and universal benevolence of the Di- vine government, he appeals to the constant operations of na- ture to promote the happiness of mankind ; " Your Father in heaveri, maketh the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the j^st and unjust." The Jews persua- ded themselves that the Saviour promised to their fathers was to come to save them and reduce all nations under them. Jesus declared that this Saviour was sent for the salvation of all men, without respect of persons ; " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved." — John iii. 16, 17. The Jews entertained views of the character of acceptable worshippers of God completely different from those given by the Lord Jesus. They conceived that God was pleased with all who observed the signs of homage which his law pre- scribed, even while they violated the most interesting of his laws. Though they were destitute of love to him, and of compassion for man, yet they presumed that he approved of them, because they were zealous observers of the rites of sac- rifice and cleansing. Fasting, long prayers, and gifts to the temple, in their opinion, conciliated the Divine favour, and procured them liberty to employ all their efforts to obtain wealth, power, honour, and pleasure. Jesus declared that #^- ^ :.=r— .;^.^ . . .-^ RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 39 such a conduct was abomination in the sight of God ; that all worship was hateful and vain, which was offered liim with- out supreme reverence for his majesty and authority, and su- preme love of his holiness and laws ; and that the true wor- shippers were those only who worshipped him in spirit and in truth. Thus he accused the Jews, especially their most renowned teachers, of entire ignorance of the True God, and pro- nounced their religion utterly worthless in his eyes. That they were therefore neither disposed to examine candidly his claims, nor to place themselves under his direction as the heavenly Teacher, can surprise no one. Accustomed to re- gard themselves as the only enlightened teachers of true re- ligion, and to look on the wisest of all other nations as vain pretenders to wisdom, how indignant must they have felt when pronounced blind leaders of the blind, the enemies of God, and the destroyers of the souls of mankind. The predominant spirit and general conduct of Jesus had no more charms for the Jewish teachers and their disciples than his public instructions. Profound humility before God, disinterested love for his institutions, and increasing fidefity in his service for the good of all classes of the people, were conspicuous features in the character of Jesus of Nazareth; and these strongly condemifed the pride, haughtiness, ambi- tion, selfishness, and indifference for the best interests of the community ; which obviously characterised the most popular and influential rulers and teachers in Judea. They lived and laboured to support pretensions to piety and righteousness, which were alien from their nature, and desires, and secret deeds, as light is from darkness. In Jesus was no trace of guile or hypocrisy. Not a vestige of artificial sacred ness was visible in his countenance, dress, gait, or language. He had not one face, garb, or manner for the family circle and ano- ther for the public assemblies. Deep and solemn thought produced permanent gravity; arduous enterprise, earnestness of address and activity of movements; and internal perfect peace was indicated by habitual cheerfulness and courtesy. Far was from him the grimace, the broad phylactery, the slow and pompous pace, or the solemn prayer in the public places, by which the Pharisee sought to excite the wonder, and respect, and admiration of the unreflecting, the devout, or the superstitious. He did not even put on the rough garb of the prophet, nor withdraw from the society of those ac- counted impure and profane. He was the man of the people, %-. ^ f L Jo RISE OF THE FIFTH EMFIUE. the friend of publicans and sinners ; he was the faithful coun- sellor, the generous friend, and benevolent companion of all who discovered wisdom to forsake the foolish and live, and to go in the way of understanding. " The Son of man came eating and drinking" like one of the common people ; and only excelled them in " going about doing good." Thus Jesus, by doctrine and example, detected and exposed the ignorance, dissimulation, ungodliness, and wickedness of the Jewish teachers and rulers. They felt condemned ; but their sense of shame was much less than their anger and revenge. And hence, instead of repentance, confession of sins, and reforma- tion, they hated their faithful monitor, and resolved to destroy him. This state of mind urged them on to investigate the validity of his claims ; they sedulously watched his words and movements, in private and public, employed spies to observe and report whatever he said or did, and denounced disgrace and vengeance on all who couritenanced his ministry, or dis- covered regard for his person, respect for his authority, or confidence in his instructions. He was not moved from his path, nor turned from his course, from dread of their power or wrath, or from apprehension of their snares. He knew their secret thoughts, their plans, subtle devices, and diaboli- cal arts ; and he boldly revealed them to the people, and an- nounced openly the certain just and fearful punishment which would speedily fall on his enemies. That they might be fully warned, so that their impenitence might be inexcusable, he announced their doom sometimes in plain language, but more frequently in parables, by which he more effectually procured their attention. They boasted in the privilege and honour of being God's peculiar people, intrusted with the keeping of the law and the promises, and the ordained instructors of mankind. He declared that they would be cast out of the kingdom of God ; that their religious distinctions would be transferred to other races, who would more faithfully execute the trust committed to them ; and that God would expel them from his land, and scatter them over the whole world, monu- ments of his justice and power. This compassionate warn- ing they contemned, and zealously counselled, and more uni- tedly determined, to cut him off from the land of the living. How intensely they sought accusations against him, and how perseveringly they prosecuted them, no one requires to be in- formed who reads the simple, unadorned, and truth-bearing narrative of his life by the Evangelists. Nothing exasperated the rulers and priests more than tha RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 41 universal benevolence, simplicity, and integrity of the con- duct of our Lord. He showed becoming deference for the useful institutions of society, as well as reverence for the sacred laws of his country. He everywhere taught his dis- ciples and the multitude to " render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and unto God the things that are God's ;" but he uniformly spoke of all men, in their relation to God, as occupying a common place. He declared that all were sinners, justly exposed to the Divine displeasure, and equally requiring Divine mercy. This sentiment was most accepta- ble to every one who felt himself sinful and under the con- demnation of the law ; but it was most offensive to the nu- merous class who conceived that the qualities which they valued, and which were generally admired and praised by men, were not less esteemed by God. Thus, honourable birth, sacred or high offices, great talents, superior education, reUgious knowledge, devotion, and zeal, considerable wealth, power, and influence, were believed to recommend those who possessed, or pretended to possess them, not less to the favour of God than to the respect of man. In opposition to this, Jesus proclaimed that these superficial excellences were of no account before God, who looketh not merely on the out- ward appearance but also on the heart ; and that those who gloried in them were as vile in his sight as the most immoral and degraded of the race of men. Few principles did Jesus more strongly and frequently enforce them that " That which is most highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God," and, that " He who exalteth himself shall be a^sed, and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted." In accordance with these unworldly principles, he announced that publicans and sinners enter the kingdom, and all who trusted that they were righteous, and despised others, were excluded. It was the common practice of the public teachers and rulers to despise, and neglect, and oppress the lower classes of the people, while the ministry of Jesus accom: plished the prediction concerning him, that " to the poor the gospel is preached." He, however, employed no artifice to win followers among any class ; he sought not the honour that cometh from man. He threw no disguise over his con- duct ; in his public ministry all was hght as day. The high- priest, seated as judge, betrayed great presumption, as well as an earnest wish to ensnare and destroy him, when he asked Jesus, who had been dragged before his tribunal, to give account of himself and his doctrine. But his conduct • 42 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. gave occasion to the most noble and triumphant appeal of our Lord to the unquestionable simplicity and integrity of his life : " Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews also resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me ? ask them which heard me what I have said unto them : behold they know what I have said." His mira- cles were performed in the light of day, and were a direct appeal to the common sense and understanding of all ages and ranks, in confirmation of his high claims. He employed no arts or devices of human wisdom or deception to impose on the credulous ; nor were his doings enshrouded by any veil of mystery or secrecy to conceal them from the closest inspection of the intelligent or prejudiced. He manifested his supernatural wisdom, benevolence, and mercy when, and how, and to whom it seemed good in his own sight. He had no counsellor ; the wishes, hopes, fears, or devices of friends or enemies influenced none of his move- ments. He spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. He admitted no concert or consultation to raise high expectations respecting him. Nothing moved him in his heavenly course, except the wants, the sorrows, and pray- ers of the miserable ; resolute unbelief and scornful con- tempt alone temporarily shut up the inexhaustible fountain of his compassionate power. We observe no preliminary pre- parations connected with his miracles, at least none having any tendency to effect them. He made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind, and their vision was restored ; he told the paralytic to stretch forth his hand, and its energy was re- covered ; he breathed on his disciples, and they received the Holy Spirit, by whom they were endowed with supernatural knowledge, wisdom, and power. He had received no education fitting him for the perform- ance of any thing which had any real semblance or approxi- mation to the miracles which distinguished him. His life was passed in poverty and labour among the lowest class of the people. The fact that he belonged to the illiterate class increased the astonishment of the learned, when he discover- ed to them, in his twelfth year, more religious knowledge than them all. But it does not appear that he ever sought or pretended to possess pagan, or mere human learning ; he was neither a literary instructor, politician, lawyer, nor phy- sician. Nevertheless', "he healed all manner of diseases" and corporal defects of the people, and demonstrated com. # ^- # RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 43 plcte power over the elements of nature, invisible beings, and even human life. Many diseases, acknowledged in every age and country incurable by human art, were per- fectly cured at his word ; and this he did, in general, in circumstances which compelled all to confess the reality and completeness of the miracle. What additional incident could be imagined necessary or possible to show his glorious power by miracle more clearly or incontrovertibly than the accom- paniments of many of his miracles? for example, the feeding of the thousands by a few loaves and fishes ; the restoration of him who had been born blind ; and the restoring to liie the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus of Bethany. All men had ample opportunity to ascertain- the reality of the supernatural power which he conferred on his chosen disciples, and which confessedly was one of his greatest mira- cles. He appointed them to travel through all the cities and villages of Judea to heal the sick and cast out demons. But it does not appear that they wrought any miracles under his personal direction. Thus they were exposed to the scrutin- izing eyes of the whole community. That they succeeded in all cases brought before them, except one, the Evangelists inform us ; and the same authority assures us that they per- formed all in the name or by tne authority and invisible power, of their great Teacher, in order to persuade every man to re- ceive him as their Saviour and King. That they had neither ability nor inclination to deceive, their acquirements and general conduct fully show. They were illiterate, simple, and upright men ; and the single individual among them destitute of moral integrity is one of the most remarkable witnesses of the uprightness of his associates, and of the perfect excel- lence of their Lord, for, afte*r he had betrayed him, he pub- licly, and in the most awfully solemn circumstances, declared that he was an innocent man. That the most eminent in Judea for talent, learning, power, and wealth, most diligently improved the opportunity afforded them to test the claim of the Lord Jesus is unquestionable. Either in person or by able emissaries they watched all his movements, and had recourse to every plan to discover a fault or defect in him. They had many private interviews with him, under the guise of friends or religious inquirers, and seemed to have joined his social meetings, and to have attended his public ministrations, in the cities, the villages, fields, and on the shores of the lake of Galilee. They neglected no means to procure cause, or something like cause, of accusa- %— , -^fb # 14 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. tion against him, which the wisdom of their united counsels and deliberations could suggest, or which their power, wealth, or influence could supply. They received and propagated every calumny fitted to dishonour him, and accused him of every motive which they supposed could possibly actuate him. And when they found him without blame, they clandestinely forced him to appear in the courts of law to be judged of crimes which he knew not, and of which they were assuredly convinced that he was wholly innocent. On the testimony of those whom no one believed, the Jewish leaders con- demned him ; and, after publicly proclaiming him innocent, and worthy of life, Pilate, the Roman magistrate, handed him over to be crucified, to avoid the necessity of encountering a tumult of the multitude, whose fury had been kindled by the fiery wrath of their unjust, ambitious, and blood-thirsty rulers. While Jesus urgently and often declared that all his works {)roved that he was the Messiah, he especially referred to his ast great work of rising from the dead. This he announced to be his own act, and no one will imagine for a moment that God would have ever given him authority or power to ac- complish his prediction had he been an impostor. This was evident to his murderers ; and as they all knew this prophecy, they most zealously exerted themselves to secure his body in the tomb, for they distinctly perceived that its fulfilment would place their authority, interest, and honour, in greater hazard than ever. Every facility was given them by Pilate to avert the dreaded event ; and they sealed the stone, and set a watch, " lest," said they, " his disciples come and steal his body, and the last error be worse than the first." The Jewish rulers were, or pretended to be, as ignofant of the real character of his disciples as they were of his own ; for, instead of any attempt to retrieve his honour, fearful apprehension^ of per- sonal danger had seized the minds of every one of his fol- lowers. With the exception of a few females, all had sought safety in concealment ; and the women were wholly engaged in eflTorts to honour him in death, without any idea of his rising from the dead ; sorrow filled their hearts, and left no room for his former instructions ; they had forgot his predic- tions; and his resurrection came on them probably with more surprise than it did on his most virulent foes. The evidences of this great event are numerous and irrefragable, as has been shown by many Christian authors ; but it is scarcely neces- sary to refer to any other than " West on the Resurrection " #= RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. 4v for this able work is sufficient to satisfy any candid person who feels the least doubt on the subject. It is not possible to imagine any thing that could, equal to this event, demonstrate that Jesus Christ was the most beloved of God, and that all he had done was approved by him. It is therefore manifest that this is the perfect and immoveable basis of Christianity. One of the most important and most just inferences from it is, that Jesus must have suffered death, as he uniformly taught, for the sins of the world ; and in him was, by consequence, accomplished the many predictions, that Messiah was, by his personal sufferings, to procure the re- demption of all who should believe in him, or become his upright and willing followers. The very time of his death precisely corresponded to that, perhaps the most remarkable prediction concerning it, by Daniel, whom the angel in vision thus instructed : " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince,, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks ; the street shall be bulk again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself : and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the sanctu- ary ; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall conform the covenant with many for one week : and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the obla- tion to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate." A brief ex- position of the various sentences of this interesting passage is given in the note on it in the Pocket Commentary. We deem it, however, expedient here to remark that, dating the commencement of the period predicted from the decree by Cyrus to build the temple of Jerusalem, and the termination at the utter desolation of the holy city and land by the Ro- mans, it is incontrovertible that Messiah was to be cut off sometime before the latter great event ; that he truly was put to death in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, for the sins of the people, and brought in an everlasting righteousness and •«= r ^ 45 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. reconciliation, by which the most unrighteous may draw near to God and obtain justification from all their iniquity, are the subjects reported to us by all the holy apostles and prophets. It is plain from Daniel, that soon after the death of Messiah, sacrifices were to cease to be offered in Jerusalem, and that the city should be desolated. These events unquestionably transpired, and he must therefore be come, if the prophet spoke by inspiration. The chosen witnesses of the resurrec- tion of Christ were exclusively his faithful disciples. This was divinely proper, for how could he have appeared to oth- ers without being exposed to renewed sufferings and dishon- our ? The rulers of the Jews exalted over his fall, and the multitude were animated by the same spirit. No favourable change passed on the nation before the day of Pentecost. " They had not repented of the murder of the righteous One, that they might believe." His appearance among them could have had no salutary effect. They had seen Lazarus rise from the dead; and the only effect was increased enmity against the Author of the miracle. And, doubtless, consider- ing the state of their minds, had Jesus, after his resurrection deigned to mix in their society, they would have risen like beasts of prey, and rushed on to devour him. His power might have crushed all opposers ; but the time for thus exer- cising it was not come : for he was not yet exalted to judge and punish. Nor had the period of long-suffering and mercy towards the infiidel Jews terminated. On the other hand, the day of his humiliation was ended. He had done all the will of his Father, which was necessary to expiate sin, and buy up his people from under the curse. Hence it was not com- patible with his relation to heaven, that he should endure any longer the contradiction of sinners against himself He was justified from all the charges laid against him : and he had magnified the law, and made it appear holy, just, and good. The period of his triumph was arrived, and he was about to enter into his glory. His disciples, especially those of them who had attended him, and seen him in all places and circum- stances, were alone best qualified to identify his person. And as none could more certainly ascertain that he was in- deed risen, so none possessed, to a higher degree, the integrity and love of truth requisite to the delivering a plain and true testimony. Though properly no more a man of this world, yet he condescended, during six weeks, to associate occasion- ally with his disciples, not indeed as the humble sufferer, but as the supreme Lord and Leader of his followers. He, in- =^ EISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIItE. 47 deed, gave them ample proof that he was the same being who had lived the man of sorrow. But his whole behaviour strongly marked the complete exemption from human infirm- ities and degradations. He no longer lived or lodged with his most beloved followers ; he seemed no longer a sojourner on earth. During the intervals between his interviews with his beloved disciples, no one knew where he was, nor whence he came. It is most probable that he passed these seasons in the society of angels, whom Heaven appointed to wait on him. In all his meetings with his disciples, he appeared in all the dignity of their supreme Teacher, Saviour, and Lord, " speak ing of the things concerning his kingdom." And the final meeting closed with the marvellous revelation of his glory, similar in kind and appearance to that in which he will de- scend to judge the world : " And, while they looked stedfaStly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." — Acts. i. 10, 11. The administration which the Lord Jesus appointed for hia kingdom completely vindicated him from all the false asper- sions which had been cast on him. He recognised none as his subjects, nor attached value to the services of any one who declined to renounce himself, take up his cross and fol- low him. Worldly rank, human wisdom, mere confession of belief in him, or the most scrupulous external conformity to his law, were accounted by him as nothing. Those selected to represent him on earth as his chief ministers, had appar- ently no higher reputation in society than that conceded to the fishermen of Galilee, and publicans, or the collectors of the taxes imposed on the nations by the Romans. And these ministers he faithfully warned, not to assume their office till he endowed them from heaven, after his ascension to the right hand of God, nor to expect success in their labours, except by his invisible power working with them. What could more distinctly and decisively indicate that his "kingdom was not of this world ?" They received no injunctions, which could, by any ingenuity, be interpreted to authorise them to form a community, for the attainment of any secular object ; to prepare an army for defensive or offensive war in support, of his interest or honour ; or to accumulate a revenue for the support of the dignity, and honour, and ease, of his faithful servants. The entire object of the administration of the apo» 16 RISE OF THE FIFTH EMPIRE. ties was manifestly to originate and establish a spiritual, moral, and holy dominion over the hearts and lives of as many as chose to become followers of their Saviour, and Sovereign, and Judge. To accomplish this divine and heavenly object, the com- mission which he gave his ministers proposed no other means than the proclamation of the gospel, which secured all spirit- ual blessings to every one who received it in love : and a course of religious instruction, embracing all the principles and laws, which he would reveal by the Holy Spirit, for the regulation of all his avowed subjects. Thus his last words to his ministers were, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bapti- zing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatso- ever I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you alvvay, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt, xxviii. 18—20. The most satisfactory evidence was given all men that the apostles were perfectly qualified for the office of chief minis- ters in the kingdom of God, the Fifth great Empire of Prophecy. They maintained their fidelity to their heavenly Lord ; and he faithfully fulfilled his promises to them. From the hour that the Holy Spirit descended on them, on the day of Pentecost, we have ample and conclusive proof, that they sacrificed every earthly consideration, and were daily pre- pared to present their lives as a thank-offering, to advance the dignity and honour of his name, and the glory of his king- dom. From this honourable position, no power in earth or hell could move them. Nor did they take up this position in ignorance of the consequences, for of these their Lord had fully warned them ; and all their circumstances clearly ad- monished them. Had any secular motives lurked in their heart, they certainly pursued the only course which visibly and inevitably led to disappointment and misery. They had no reason to expect ease, abundance, wealth, honour, or plea- sure, in announcing that He who was crucified as a reviler of God, and a pretender to the roval power of Cesar, was the only Saviour, Sovereign, and Judge of mankind. Indeed, they knew well that, in obeying him, nothing awaited them but shame, poverty, stripes, chains, imprisonment, and death. Ail this they were reconciled joyfully to endure, while they were enabled to testify the truth concerning their Lord, and to persuade men to believe their testimony, and share with 4 =# RISE OF THE FIFTH EUTPIRE. 49 them in the ob*»'' CHAPTER II, THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. Of all who had apparent claims to succeed Augustus, Ti- berius, who actually ascended the throne, was perhaps the most appropriate instrument to sway the sceptre of that em- pire, whose proper emblem was the nameless wild beast that had great iron teeth, capable of devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping the residue with his feet He owed his honours and power to a series of calamitous events in the royal family, far beyond the prescience of man to have an- ticipated. He was the oldest, and the least esteemed by the emperor, the senate, army, and people, of almost all who were deemed at any time heirs of Augustus. These were chiefly Marcellus, Tiberius, and his brother Drusus and his children, Agrippa and his family. Drusus was younger than Tiberius, but, from his earliest years, far more amiable, and his equal, if not superior, in in- tellectual talents, and military acquirements. Beloved by Au- gustus, they were appointed to important offices several years before the age fixed by law. They were distinguished as leaders of the armies which defended the northern frontiers of the empire. Drusus was not more admired as a soldier than loved as i man and a patriot. Truth regulated all his words and deeds ; his general character was unblemished, and his political principles and views were those common to the Romans in their best age. While he maintained firm fidelity to his father-in-law, he was a sincere republican. His highest ambition was to advance the glory of the Roman name, and the w^elfare of all ranks. About b. c. 14, Italy suf- ered much from a horde of barbarians who laid waste its rich lands, and spared no one who fell mto their hands. As a proof of their inhumanity, it is said that, when they found among their prisoners a pregnant female, she was instantly killed, if their augurs, whom they consulted, declared that she carried a male child. Against these fierce and cruel warriors, Dru- 1 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 53 8US was sent at the head of an army. He Speedily overthrew them, with great slaughter. Those who escaped joined an- other race of their native country, Germany, and proposed to invade Gaul. That Drusus might be able to oppose them, Tiberius was ordered to join him ; and under them the Ro- mans successively repelled and subdued three of the most barbarous of the German races. Roman colonies were sta- tioned to overawe them ; and several cities were buih ; partic- ularly Drusomagus and Augusta, the modern Meningen and Augsburg. A few years later, Drusus had the happiness of preventing a general revolt in Gaul ; for he no sooner learned that the inhabitants were resolved to cast off the Roman yoke, in consequence of taxes imposed on them, than " he summoned all the chiefs to assist at the solemn ceremony of consecrating a temple which the Lugdunenses had built in honour of Julius Cesiir. When they were all assembled, Drusus, by his address and engaging behaviour, won their affections to such a degree, that they not only dropped the design they had formed of shaking off the Roman yoke, but agreed to erect an altar to Augustus, and to pay him, even in his lifetime, (Jivine honours. Sixty different nations concurred in this design, each of them contributing their quota, and sending a statue to adorn the new altar, which was consecrated with great solemnity on the first day of August, and became soon very famous .all over Gaul, as is plain from the writings of almost all the ancients. G^mes were instituted in honour of the new deity, much of the same nature with the Nemaean and Isthmian games." Having quitted Gaul, he led a powerful army into Ger- many, and reduced the nations on the Rhine, and triumph' antly proceeded to the Northern Ocean. On his return, a vast multitude of the natives attempted, by an ambuscade, to destroy his army. Having discovered their treachery, he sud- denly attacked and overcame them. In honour of his triumphs in Germany, he was named Germanicus, an honourable ap- pellation retained by his family. His last campaign brought under the Roman yoke all the nations from the Rhine to the Elbe, on whose banks he erected several trophies. On re- turning to the Rhine, he was seized by a violent fever, which quickly cut him off, in his thirtieth year. He left three chil- dren, Drusus Germanicus, Livilla, and Claudius, by his wife Antonia, a daughter of M. Antony and Octavia, the admired sister of Augustus. His body was carried by the magistrates and officei*s from one Roman colony or city to another, till 5* #^ 54 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. the procession reached Rome, and his funeral was conducted with great pomp. Augustus delivered an oration, in which he entreated the gods " to grant him a death as glorious as that of Drusus, and make the grandchildren whom they had given him, to tread in their father's steps." Had he lived, probably the army and people would have raised him to the first place in the empire. But in consequence of his republi- can principles, or more probably the influence of his mo- ther, he was less honoured by Augustus than his brother, whom the emperor, as well as all who knew him, rather feared than loved. Before the death of Drusus, Tiberius had been, at the death of Agrippa, appointed governor of Ronie, and next in dignity to the emperor. The probability is strong that the empress Livia, had long taught her favourite son TilDcrius to aspire to the sovereignty of the empire ; and urged him to engage in such noble enter- prises as should show that he was worthy of this most splen- did object of human ambition. His military skill and bravery were frequently displayed ; and he acquired renown in de- fending the empire from the inroads of barbarians, particu- larly in Thrace. But his personal aspect and character pro- cured him few friends. For many years his conduct was not very exceptionable ; but he was suspected to indulge the darkest and most malignant passions, and to be as capable of dissimulation and cruelty as his mother, in whom these de- structive qualities predominated through a long life. Her partiality for him, and her power to do evil, were universally known, and the most atrocious crime, or most melancholy event, which tended to place him nearer the throne, was very generally conjectured or believed to have originated with her. Marcellus, the interesting, son of Octavia, was married to Julia, hig aunt, who was the only daughter of Augustus. In a season of much sickness, he fell a victim to fever, in his nineteenth year. This fatal evfnt was supposed by many to be produced by Antonius Musa, the physician, celebrated for having cured Augustus of a similar complaint. Antonius was believed to have, to please the empress, added poison to the remedies, which were considered, from their effect on the emperor, infallible. The young widow was given to Agrippa, by whom she had three sons, Caius, Lucius, and Agrippa Posthumus. The two former were exceedingly beloved by their royal grand- father, and respected by the people, but they were too young at their father's death to enter on public life. The conse- . T: , T- , y -=i^ =^zA !i m THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. A5 qiience was, that his rank and influence at court were trans- ferred to Tiberius ; and to secure his fidelity, Augustus com- pelled him to dismiss his wife Vespania, a daughter of Agrippa, by his first wife, and marry Julia, who, notwith- standing of her previous marriages, was one of the most infamous females of Rome. He was, at the same time, re- quired, although he had a son of his own, to adopt Drusus Germanicus, the eldest son of his deceased brother Drusus. The sons of Agrippa were adopted into the imperial family, and intrusted with offices in the state before the legal age. They were soon discovered to be proud of their rank, and roused the jealousy of Tiberius and the hatred of Livia, his mother. Though he, therefore, had risen high in fame as a warrior, and was rewarded by great honour, yet he avowed his determination to retire from public life. His mother op- posed this with tears, and Augustus would not consent till he found it impossible to change the mind of Tiberius, who, in sullen grief, had shut himself up, and abstained from food four successive days. He withdrew to Rhodes, under pre- tence of spending his time in study: and so provoked the emperor, that all his own or his friends' efforts failed foi seven years to procure him liberty to return to Rome. To deprive the emperor of the society of his grandsons, Caius and Lucius, and, perhaps, secretly to destroy them, Livin prevailed on him to give them foreign appointments Caius was made governor of Syria, and Lucius of Spain. The latter died suddenly at Marseilles, from poison administered by the emissaries of Livia ; this, at least, is the report of some Roman writers. His body was carried in state to Rome, and magnificently interred in Augustus' own mau- soleum. His brother was wounded in battle, in Armenia ; and though the wound was not fatal, yet he never recovered heahh. He died in Lj^cia, it was imagined from the dia- bolical arts of Livia. The loss of these youths within eighteen months overwhelmed the spirit of the emperor; but Livia and Tiberius were unwearied in their services to ad- minister to him consolation. ;' From this time Tiberius rapidly rose to dignity and au- thority in the state, and at the head of great armies made the power of Rome to be felt in Germany, from the Rhine to the Elbe, and in the regions of Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Illyri- cum. In the Avars in these countries, his adopted son, Dru- sus Germanicus, acquired still more celebrity. The tri- umphant return of both generals diffused gladness and ex «- » M THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIIIMPIL&NT. ultation among- all ranks. Soon after the suppression of the most alarming revolt of the Germans, conducted by the fa- mous Arminius, who almost cut off all the Roman legions, Augustus requested the senate to pass and proclaim the de- cree, which constituted Tiberius his equal. It run thus: " At the request of the people of Rome, we grant Caius Julius Cesar Tiberius the same authority over the provinces, and all the armies of the Roman state, which Augustus has held, which he still retains, and which we pray the gods he may long enjoy." The emperor scarcely survived this de- cree two years ; and, as we have formerly noticed, his life was believed to be shortened by Livia, lest he should change his mind, and leave the crown to Agrippa Posthumus, in preference to Tiberius, whose ascent to the throne, in his fifty -sixth year, gave pleasure to no class of the community. While Tiberius, with his usual dissimulation, publicly la- mented that he was left alone to bear the burden of govern- ment, and consoled himself that many illustrious Romans remained to assist him, he instantly assumed the entire power of government, and ordered the murder of the only rival whom he dreaded, Agrippa Posthumus, who had been, from some imprudent acts, placed in a state of confinement. Ger- manicus would have been a more powerful rival, but his loyalty, integrity, and disinterestedness, were too well known to the emperor, his uncle and father by adoption, to occasion him, at this time, much uneasiness. He, however, very soon viewed him with suspicion ; for he apprehended that he would have yielded to the temptation presented him on dis- covering the army were solicitous to exalt him to the throne. Besides, no one was more beloved than Germanicus by the Roman people, partly from their grateful recollection of his noble father, and partly on account of his own personal worth, and of the superior rank and excellence of his mother, Agrippina, the admired daughter of Agrippa and Julia, the wretched daughter of Augustus. The large army stationed on the Rhine were commanded by Germanicus, at the period of Augustus's death. They no sooner heard of (his event than they invited their leader to assume the ' sovereignty of the empire. He declined the honour ; and when some of the soldiers would have forced him to accept the honour, he hastily withdrew from them, exclaiming, " My duty to the emperor is more precious than my life." Nor was he satis- fied in merely retaining his loyal fidelity; he allayed the passions of the soldiers for revolt, and employed them in Trifi rfu* judgments of God on the apostate Jews, predicted by the Lord Jesus Christ. When Caspius Fadus arrived in Judea, the inhabitant* %■■ '» 103 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUxMPHANT. were subjected to various calamities. Travelling was dan gerous, and property everywhere insecure, from the numer ous and powerful bands of robbers who traversed the land ; and a species of civil war prevailed between the Jews of Pe- rea and the citizens of Philadelphia, in Gilead. Fadus was successful in restoring peace to Judea ; but it was transitory. The proud race of Abraham had rejected Jesus Christ, not- withstanding the irrefragable evidence which was given them that he was their promised Messiah, whose presence they and their fathers had for ages evidently desired. Having de- "spised the truth, and persecuted to death its advocates, they seem to have lost the power of discerning between right and wrong. Hence, any man ^ who appeared zealous for their traditions and prejudices found it easy to persuade them ta admit his claims to be the Messiah, without the least plausible proof of their validity. A remarkable illustration and con- firmation of this view of the Jews we have in the second or third impostor of the name of Theudas or Judas. The first and second were of an earlier date than the time of Fadus^ as is evident from Acts v. 36, 37. The third Josephus calls a magician, who pretended to be a prophet. A great multi tude believed him when he promised to divide the river Jor- dan. The historian, indeed, says that a great part of the in- habitants of Judea, in obedience to his word, followed him, carrying their movable property with them. Their number alarmed the procurator, who immediately sent against them a company of cavalry,, who suddenly attacked them, killed many, and took not a few of them prisoners, among whom was the leader, who was carried to Jerusalem, and beheaded. About the same time, the "suflferings of the Jews were aggravated for two or three years by a dreadful famine, which had been predicted a short time before by a Christian prophet named Agabus. The feelings awakened in the Christians at Antioch by the announcement of Agabus beau- tifully and forcibly illustrate the spirit of Christianity. They knew that their brethren in Judea were ill-prepared for a sea- son of want ; for besides the miseries which they endured in common with their countrymen, from national commotions, they had suffered the loss of their property for Christ's sake. Their persecutors had either seized or destroyed the greater part ; anu many of the Christians had sold their possessions and cast the price into the treasury or fund destined to supply the wants of their brethren who were poor, or had wiliingly m- THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 109 renounced the means'of getting rich, and devoted themselves to go as missionaries, preaching to all the gospel freely. This mode of raising a fund for the comfort of the church and the advancement of the new and heavenly empire, was the suggestion of Christian wisdom and benevolence ; but it was not imposed on individuals as a burden which Christians were indispensably called to bear. Considering the predic- tion of Christ of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the deliv- erance of Judea over to the Gentiles, wisdom dictated to the Jewish Christians that it was prudent to turn their property into money as early as possible, and benevolence moved them to appropriate it to the kingdom of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But this appropriation was a voluntary act, as we learn from Peter's address to Ananias, who dissimulated in the disposal of his property : " While it remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power ?" Neither the Lord nor his apostles ever proposed, as a general test of unfeigned belief of the gospel, that Chris- tians should dispose of all their property for the advancement of Christianity. The test given was, that every Christian should chiefly seek the glory and extension and triumph of Christ's kingdom, and do his utmost by word and deed to at- tain this end ; and nothing distinguished the disciples of Christ and his first ministeis from all other communities more than their love to one another, and compassion and kindness towards all men, expressed by liberal distribution of whatever they possessed for the supplying of the wants of one another and of all men. In this they had no example to imitate among the nations. The laws of no country, except those delivered by Moses, made provision for the destitute and af- flicted ; and the Jews were the only ancient people who, wherever they went, remembered the poor of their own land, and collected money to send to Jerusalem. The money, how- ever, was generally considered an offering to the temple, and was consequently, we have reason to suspect, treated as the property of the priests, rather than a gift to the destitute. The contributions of the first Christians were not received by the ministers who were wholly consecrated to spiritual services, but intrusted to a class of what we may call laymen, denom- inated deacons or servants, who had no personal interest in the money which they pledged themselves to distribute im partially as every man had need. These servants were se- lected for their special service on account of their known VOL. IIL 10 ^ HO THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. fidelity to Christ, fervent zeal for his honour and kingdom, and disinterested love for all his followers. The prophet Agabus had no sooner announced to the great muUitude of Syrian Christians that Judea was to be vis- ited by famine, than they raised a fund to be forwarded to their poor brethren in that country. From the fourth to the seventh year of the reign of Claudius, the Jews, in their own land, endured extreme want. Josephus distinctly rcters to it, for it was during the administration of Fadus, who retained not the office of procurator long, or of his iuccessor Tibe- rius Alexander, son of the chief of the Jews ni Egypt, but an apostate from the religion of his lacnev, that Helena, queen of Adiabene, a Jewish proselyte, vi>»ited Jerusalem, after she had resigned the kingdom to hei >on Izates, a more zealous Jewish proselyte than even she wr.». She was deeply affected on witnessing the sufferings of the people, thousands of whom died from want. To relieve them, she imported a large quantity of corn from Egypt, and a cargo of figs from Cyprus. " And when her son was informed of this famine, he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jerusa- lem." That fraternal love and liberality for the sake of Christ were prominent features in the character of the first generations of christians is manifest from the New Testament, and is attested by the common historians of their age. Nor indeed could we otherwise account for the rapid spread of Christianity; for how could the gospel have been propagated widely without innumerable preachers, and how could they have travelled into all countries and freely preached to all, had not the rich abundantly contributed to their suppoit, and all the brethren, according to their ability, ministered to their aid? Other pecuniary aid their Master did not call them to expect, nor, indeed, was it natural or desirable that Chris- tian ministers should have been supported by any persons who refused subjection to the government of their supreme Lord and Master. He desires not the services of any who despise his authority, and have no solicitude to obtain his fa- vour, or respect his laws Could the gifts of such persons bring honour to the kingdom of God ? The. most intelligent enemies of Christianity ascribed its triumphs over idolatry chiefly to the universal benevolence which characterised its enlightened and sincere advocates and followers. Hence Julian, the philosophic emperor and de- vout worshipper of idols, called on all who, like him, desired the re-establishment of idolatry in the Roman empire, in the # THE ROMAN EMPIRE TillUMFHANT, 1 1 1 fourth century, to neutralize the influence of Christians in so ciety, by showing sympathy for the afflicted, and exercising liberality to the poor. Unless the priests of idols followed this counsel of his, he seems to have had no hope in the mighty enterprise which he entered on, — the destruction of the kingdom of God, and the re-animating with his origina vigour the fourth beast, which had crushed to death his pre- decessors. And the Lord Jesus himself testifies that the manifestation by Christians of mutual love will convince ak other men that he alone is the Saviour, whom God ordainea and promised by all the holy prophets to restore the human race from moral degradation and misery. This is obviously implied in his prayer recorded in John xvii. 21. Though the Christians in Judea were assisted by their brethren in Syria during the famine, yet it is probable that many of them would, every passing year, emigrate to foreign lands ; for their countrymen, who persevered in the rejection of the gospel, continued to become more and more depraved, till they neither feared God nor regarded man. About the eighth year of Claudius, he appointed Agrippa, only son of his friend Herod Agrippa, to the throne of Chal. cis, vacant by the death of his uncle Herod ; and Ventidius Cumanus to the office of procurator of the kingdom of Ju- dea. The former event was favourable to the Jewish nation, for Agrippa stood high in the esteem of Claudius. Of this, indeed, the gift of Chalcis was a strong proof, for it properly belonged to the son of the late king Herod. Agrippa had shown himself the ardent friend of the Jews on all occa- sions. One instance is particularly noticed by Josephus. Cassius Longinus, governor of Syria, demanded the Jews to deposit the sacred vests of the high-priest in the fortress named Antonia, where they had been kept some time, to the great grief of the Jewish people. Vitellius had gratified them much by intrusting the vestments to the care of the priests. They declined to obey Longinus, and pacified him by giving him for hostages the sons of their chief men, till they should receive an answer to the petition which they proposed to send to Cesar. That petition was strongly enforced by Agrippa, to whom the emperor granted the request, so that the Jewish nation escaped the attack of the Roman army, with which they had been threatened by the governor of Syria. Agrip- pa succeeded his uncle not only to the kingdom of Chalcis, but also to the superintendency of the temple of Jerusalem, and of the treasury, with authority to choose the high-priest. 112 THE ROMitfJ EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. Probably, among the last acts of Claudius Cesar, was his ex- altation of Agrippa to a much larger kingdom than Chalcis, and one which enabled him to promote more effectually the interests of the Jews ; for it comprised Batanea, Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, and Abilene. This accounts for the conspicuous part he took in the affairs of the kingdom of Judea, of which we have a remarkable example in his being chosen to judge Paul when he was accused by the Jews before the tribunal of the Roman procurator, Festus. The unbelieving Jews in Judea, however, had not the wis- dom to improve the advantages which they might have de- rived from the exaltation of their friend Agrippa. The event seems to have so elated them, that they became impatient un- der the insults of the Romans, to which they were exposed, and rashly plunged themselves into great distress. Had they wisely reflected on their dependent condition, they would not doubtless, on very slight provocation, have braved the power and revenge of their Roman rulers. This, however, they frequently did, especially when they had reason to flatter themselves that they were sure of the imperial protection. The perversion of their judgment, and the haughtiness of their spirit were productive of incalculable evil during the short administration of Cumanus, the successor of Longinus. The vastness of the multitude, amounting sometimes to more than a million, who assembled in Jerusalem to keep the great festivals, suggested to the Roman procurator the expediency of placing a guard of his soldiers before the gates of the tem- ple, to maintain the peace of the city. One of these profane soldiers shocked the devout worshippers by exposing his na- kedness. This they regarded as an indignity, not to them only, but to the God whom they adored. They became in- furiated, and some of them went to the procurator and inso- lently reproached him with having ordered his soldiers to pour contempt on them and their worship. In vain did he attempt, by reasoning, to appease their anger or subdue their fury. To prevent, if possible, a popular tumult, he sum- moned his army to assemble in Antonia, the fortress which overlooked and commanded the temple. The appearance of the army terrified the multitude ; a panic seized them, and imagining that the soldiers would immediately fall on them, thev fled. The passages were narrow, the crowd pressed on, and crushed to death not less than twenty thousand, accord- ing to the extant copies of Josephus ; but in those used by Eusebius and Jerome, the number killed was thirty thousand «=■ THE ROMAN ExMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 113 This calamity was followed by another equally illustrative of the impetuous passions of the Jews. The Galileans who kept the national festivals usually travelled through Samaria to Jerusalem. A company of them were attacked, insulted, and many of them killed by the inhabitants of the village of Ginea. The chief men of Galilee appealed to Cumanus for redress. He refused to hear them, being bribed by the Sa- maritans. A number of Galileans resolved to be revenged on their enemies. Conducted by Eleazar, a famous chief of a banditti, they plundered many villages of Samaria. Cuma- nus sent an army against these lawless men, killed a number of them, and made many prisoners. These prisoners were af- terwards most unjustly put to death by Quadratus, governor of Syria, even after he had, on an appeal to him by the Jews and Samaritans, left the affair to be judged by the emperor. He ordered Cumanus and one of his chief officers, Celer, to proceed to Rome, and he sent thither in chains a few of the principal persons who accused them. Agrippa was present at the trial in Rome, and to him the Jews believed they were indebted for the decision passed in their favour. The con- duct of the Samaritans and the Roman officers were con- demned ; three of the chief men of Samaria weie sentenced to die ; Cumanus was banished, and Celer was sent to Jeru- salem to be dragged through the city, and put to death. This remarkable decision strongly indicates the disposition of the imperial court to protect the Jews; and it must have had a salutary tendency on the ministry of the Christian church, which in the first age consisted chiefly of believing Jews. They could everywhere claim the right conferred on their na- tion, by which tKey had liberty to confess their religious senti- ments and observe their religiotjs rites. Nor would the Roman governors be indisposed to protect them against the hatred and malice of their unbelievin r countrymen, as well as from the persecution of the votaries- of the idolaters. The Ro- mans tolerated all religions, and the educated among them in general regarded all with equal indifference or contempt. Christians were not recognised by law as followers of a new religion till after the death of Claudius, nor was there any edict proclaimed against them. During the preceding fifty years, the Jewish religion had made great progress in the empire. Many Greeks and Romans, including some of rank, had become proselytes. Rome was filled with them ; and that they were numerous in other great cities is plain from the Acts of the Apostles. Converts to Christ would not be 10* , 4 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. exposed to more odium than Jewish proselytes, while Chris- tians were universally regarded merely as a sect of the Jews. Thus the whole empire was opened to the ministers of Christ, and most diligently did they labour to advance his kingdom. They suffered in travelling, and much more from thei sudden impulse of the jealousy, indignation, and revenge of those deeply interested in the support of the synagogues of the Jews and the temples of the Gentiles ; but while protected to a considerable degree by law, they triumphantly preached the gospel throughout the whole empire. The most able and zealous minister of Christ was a Roman citizen as well as Jew ; and consequently could in every place, when expedi- ent, as we find he did, claim the protection of law : and by him, aided by a number of persons less gifted, the gospel of Christ was, during the reign of Claudius, successfully pub- lished throughout all the most civilized and richest provinces of the empire. It was at least not four years later when Paul informs the Romans of the fact, the truth of which they had ample opportunity to judge, that he had ministered in all those countries of the empire lying eastward of Rome, from Illyricum, the first region beyond Italy which Rome subdued, to Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, which of all kingdoms of the Greek empire, was the last to acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman people ; and we know that the hand of the Lord was with Paul in all places, so that multi- tudes turned from idols to serve the living and true God ; Rom. XV. 17—27. Though he and his associates were regarded with aversion, or scorn and contempt, by those accounted the most devout and the wise and powerful in every nation, yet they proceeded on their mission, accompanied with the most illustrious tokens of moral conquerors, — the most marvellous phenomenon the human race ever beheld. Not less beautiful than brief and emphatical is this sentiment expressed by Paul: "Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place," 2 Cor. ii. 14. To the same purpose, ad- dressing the Colossians, he says: " We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for vou, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints; for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel ; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world ; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also •^ THE aOMAN EMPIRE TRIXJMFHANl 115 in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth," Col. i. 3 — 6. The world spoken of in this passage, according to the most limited interpretation, critics agree, must denote all the countries constituting the Fourth or Roman empire ; and the probability is strong that the apostle Paul had, in the course of less than twenty years, ministered in all of them which were not situated westward of Rome. He perhaps spent nearly the first three years after his conversion in Arabia ; and Syria enjoyed next for a long time his ministry. He afterwards successively proclaimed the gospel in the vast regions of Asia-Minor, Greece, Mace- donia, and lUyricum. Ephesus was the centre of his labours for about three years, and Corinth, two. His generous prin- ciples were not acceptable to many Christians of Jewish des- cent, and by consequence the greater number of those belong- ing to other nations may be considered to have been converted by him, or ministers who travelled with him, preaching the gospel to all who were disposed to hear them. When he had the felicity to witness the triumph of Christ in all the above mentioned nations, he resolved to commence a mission to Rome and the regions of the western division of the empire. Previously to this, he proceeded to Jerusalem, to deliver up the fund which he had raised among the churches, which he had established for the benefit of the Christians in Judea, Acts xxiv. 17. Happily for the world, his arrival in Jerusa- lem terminated for more than four years his missionary la- bours ; and afforded him time to commit to writing many Epistles, which have instructed, and will continue, till the consummation of all things, infallibly to instruct the human race, and guide all who receive them as the truth of God to peace, purity, and eternal blessedness. The Jews had, as we have noticed', not long before Paul's ascent to Jerusalem, received strong testimony of the favour of rhe emperor Claudius, by the severe punishment inflicted on their inconsiderate and oppressive procurator Cumanus. This was calculated to excite hopes that his successor Felix would the more readily listen to their accusation against Paul. On the apostle's appearing in the temple, they raised a tumult, and would have at once murdered him, had the cap- tain of thft Roman band who guarded the city, not rescued him out of their hands. This noble soldier discovered sacred regard for justice, and would doubtless have gladly liberated Paul; but the violence of the Jews, and the singularity of their loud accusations against him, compelled him, apparently 116 THE ROMAN EMPOtE TRIUMPHANT. as niu !h from regard to Paul's safety as from dread of being himself charged with neglect of the honour of the emperor, to send him to Cesarea, that Felix might investigate the case. This Roman procurator was more destitute of moral prin- ciples, selfish, and reckless than any one that had hitherto governed the Jews. Passion or expedience, rather than law or justice, regulated his conduct. He governed without much dread of being called to account by the Roman court; for, being the brother of Pallas, one of the emperor's freed- men. and one of his chief favourites, he trusted to his brother for protection against any charges which might be brought against him, on account of the injustice, cruelty, and oppres- sion of his government. Nor in this w^as he disappointed, for when he was, after four years, accused by the Jews before Nero, he escaped punishment in consequence of the influence which Pallas retained at court in the first period of that mon- arch's reign. The Jewish nation was almost entirely disor- ganized at the time when* Felix entered on his office of procurator. Numerous banditti traversed the country, and robbery, plunder, and murders were everywhere common. An association of assassins existed, named Sicarii, who, un- der pretence of patriotism and zeal for religion, justified the assassination of all whom they chose to reckon enemies of their nation or religion. "Such were the persons who pledged themselves by a solemn oath, to kill Paul. No man of au- thority or respectability was safe from their murderous pur- poses, secret conspiracies, and desperate deeds. The igno- rant, superstitious, and inconsiderate, were deluded by many pretended prophets, several of whom avowed themselves to be the promised Messiah. Of these the most powerful was an Egyptian Jew, who gathered around him about thirty thousand men. He seems to have announced that he was appointed to accomplish the remarkable prophecy recorded in Zech. xiv. He summoned the blinded multitude to meet him on mount Olivet, when, at his command, they should be- hold the walls of Jerusalem fall down, that they might take possession of it, and give laws to the world. Felix ruled with an iron rod ; and succeeded in the suppression of turbu- lence, and the partial restoration of order ; but not before many thousands of the Jews were killed. Cesarea seems, however to have been the principal scene of blood, in the time of Felix. The citizens included many wealthy Jews ; but the majority were Greeks, Syrians, and Romans. The former claimed the right to rule, because their king, Herod I THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 1 17 the Great, had built the city ; but the Syrians insisted that they had stronger claims to the government of the city, for their ancestors had possessed it long before the Jews, under the name of Strato's Tower. This absurd dispute produced anarchy, strife, and fighting. Felix interposed to restore peace ; and his soldiers put many of the citizens to death, made many more prisoners, and plundered the houses of a number of the richest citizens. This Roman ruler had opportunity of knowing well the laws of the Jews; for he had by marriage connected himself with the best educated fimily. Herod Agrippa's daughters possessed the talents of their family, but excelled not their an- cestors in moral excellence. Bernice, repeatedly married, was considered restless, except when living with her brother Agrippa in incest. Drusilla was celebrated for her beauty. Her family always professed veneration for the law ; and she was not given in marriage to Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, to whom she was betrothed, in consequence of his declining to be circumcised. Her brother gave her to Azizus, king of Amesa ; but she deserted him and married Felix. That Ro- man, perhaps, spoke respectfully of Moses' law. It is, how- ever, certain, that he preferred the gratification of his evil de sires. Accordingly, the reigning high-priest was murdered at the instigation of Felix, because of his daring to reprove him for his many lawless actions. No judge was ever more partial in judgment than this ruler ; and his treatment of Paul corresponded with his general conduct, when, although convinced of his innocence, he kept him in prison two years, in expectation that the apostle or his friends would purchase his freedom. And when he was disappointed in this, he left him in chains to please the Jews, for he knew the enmity and malice which they cherished against the apostle of the Gentiles, and hoped, doubtless, by persecuting him, to ap- pease their wrath against himself It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the uniform kind- ness of Claudius to the Jews, he, on one occasion, banished them all from Rome. The cause assigned is, that they were accused of frequently raising tumults. The time that they were thus disgraced was probably soon after the death of their able and unalterable friend Herod Agrippa, and before his son was honoured with the friendship and confidence of the emperor. An anecdote recorded in Acts xviii. 2. seems to imply that the adoption of Christianity was not regarded by the Romans a renunciation of Judaism, for the Jewish be- ni8 TEE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. lievers in Christ shared in the suffering of the Jews. Hence we may certainly conclude that they participated also in their {)rosperity, so far as that depended on the protection of the avvs of the empire, during the reign of Claudius. That emperor was personally, perhaps, one of the feeblest that occupied the throne of Cesar. Nevertheless, Rome not only maintained its sovereignty, but also extended its domin- ions, while he held the sceptre. This, we conceive, is a re- markable proof of the wise, and almighty superintendence of Him who rules supreme oyer all the earth ; for it afforded ample opportunity to the ministry of Christ to disseminate widely the knowledge of his name, and establish and enlarge his empire. The very weakness of this emperor permitted Christians to proceed, without much opposition, compared to that which their successors had to encounter, in their labours to convert the nations. His court was a scene of most atro- cious wickedness and moral confusion ; and the chief admin- istrators of the government inflicted incalculable misery on the Romans. They were, however, so completely occupied with their own affairs, and even so destitute of reverence for religion in any form, that they regarded with indifference the advancement of an empire that had no threatening aspect, in relation to the objects which they esteemed worthy of their pursuit. Claudius vras inclined to promote the welfare of all his sub jects; and he enacted many laws, and performed many deeds calculated to promote their happiness, and the dominion was enlarged somewhat in his reign. The inhabitants of the Afri- can kingdom of Mauritania attempted to expel the Romans in revenge for the death of their king, whom Caligula had employed some one to assassinate. The Roman troops, after repeated victories, reduced the kingdom, and it was divided into two provinces of the empire. Aulus Plaulius landed in Britain an army of fifty thousand men ; the second officer of this army was the celebrated Ves- pasian. The natives were thrice defeated ; but still were so formidable that the emperor conducted a strong reinforce- ment to his army, which subdued the southern division of the island, over which the Roman general Plautius was appointed governor, with Vespasian for his lieutenant. Ostorius Sca- pula succeeded Plautius in the government, extended a chain of forts along the Wear and Severn, and made the Roman power to be acknowledged as far north as the Tyne ; but the fatigues he endured in his battles with the able Briton Carac- I THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 119 tacus, whom he made prisoner, exhausted his strength, and he died in the midst of his triumphs. The Germans about the same time were divided ; some of bhem sought the alliance of Rome, and others raised armies o oppose her. The Roman arms were triumphant, and had he emperor not dreaded the power of his generals more than Jbat of the enemy, his dominion would have been greatly ex- ended in Germany. He made important regulations to se- vure for the provinces a wise and just government ; and se- verely punished those governors who had been guilty of op- pressing the people intrusted to their care. He was not less solicitous to advance the grandeur of Rome and Italy, and the comfort of the community. " He formed a noble harbour at the mouth of the Tiber, chiefly that Rome might be well supplied with provisions ; he ordered a canal to be cut, with a view of reclaiming the land usually inundated by the lake Fucinus ; and finished the stupendous aqueduct begun by Caius, which abundantly supplied the city with the best wa- ter from the neighbouring hills." He seems, indeed, to have done whatever was suggested by his friends calculated to exah or reoder the Romans happy. But, unhappily, he was equally pliant in committing the most unjust and even barbarous actions, which his most hateful wives and favourite ministei> deemed necessary for their honour, safety, aggrandisement, or sensual indulgences. Messalina held him in abject bon- dage, and her power over his ministers was absolute. " Many ladies of the first distinction, among whom was Julia, the niece of the emperor, were put to death at their instigation ; and upwards of three hundred knights and senators fell victims to their suspicion and vengeance." The ^ensual passjons of Messalina were ungovernable ; and the simple Claudius was the last to discern the inexpressible vileness of her conduct. She had at last the audacity publicly to marry a young Ro- man of noble birth, whom she flattered with the hope of ob- taining the imperial crown. This outrageous act forced the emperor to consent to her being put to death. But he soon was ensnared by the wiles of his niece Agrippina, who ruled over him with a tyrant's power. This infamous female had been the wife of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, by whom she had a son, named L. D. Ahenobarbus, better known as the emperor Nero. After her husband's death, her impure con- duct occasioned her banishment by Caius. On being recalled by Claudius, she married a rich noble, murdered him, and rioted on his inheritance. She lived with Claudius some time m- 120 TSrc ROMAN EMPIRE TRTtTMFHANT. ;vithout marriag-e, for the law did not sanction the union of uncle and niece; the senate, however, abolished the law, to f)lease the guilty pair, and Claudius became the slave and, at ast, the victim of one of the most imperious and base of the female sex. To procure the crown for her son was the great and ex chisive object to w^hich Agrippina sacrificed every other. Tho first step which visibly showed this, was her successful ma- noeuvring to induce the senate to implore Claudius to betroth his daughter Octavia to her son, by which he was raised nearly to an equality in rank with the emperor's own son and legitimate heir, Britannicus. She next proceeded to re- move out of the way every female whom she apprehended might rival her in the affections of the emperor ; and, in ef- fecting this, she hesitated not the murder of the objects of her suspicions or fear. After this, by the agency of Pallas, Claudius was prevailed on to adopt, as his son and heir, her son, instead of Britannicus, on the plausible pretence that the former was three years older than the latter. This adoption was highly approved by the senate, and the young prince re- ceived the name Nero Claudius Cesar Drusus Germanicus. Britannicus was from this time, although nine years of age, confined to the nursery, and excluded from all society, except those who complied with all the wishes of Agrippina, while this subtile woman employed every artifice to fix the eyes of the public on her own son. Accordingly, she persuaded the emperor to present Nero, in his fourteenth year, with the robe of manhood, which intimated that he was qualified for the honours, offices, and employments of state. The senate, at the same time, decijeed that he should be chosen consul in his twentieth year,and, in the mean time, invested him with procon- sular authority, and styled him prince of the Roman youth. To honour him in the presence of the people, he was also in- troduced to the Circensian games, in a triumphal robe, the mark and ornament of the imperial state ; and to attach the soldiers to him, they received a largess from the emperor. Britannicus was now not only neglected, but all the officers at court who were believed to pity or love him, were, under va- rious pretences, removed or killed. The praetorian cohorts were commanded by two officers whom the empress believed devoted to the interests of her predecessor Messalina, the mother of Britannicus ; to reconcile the emperor to their re- moval from office. Agrippina asserted that the fidelity of the troops would be more secured by being placed under THE ROMA2I EMPIRE T&IUMPBANT. t|)l 1 one commander. She knew that Burrhus Afranius would execute her counsels, and she easily procured for him the command of the troops, because he was universally esteemed by them. Nero, in his sixteenth year, was married to Octavia, and appeared before the royal tribunal as an orator and advocate of the oppressed. At his intercession, the Ilians, as ancestors of the Romans, obtained an immunity from all tribute and taxes ; the Rhodians were restored to their ancient liberty ; and the Roman colony of Bononia, who had lately suffered much from a great fire, received a large grant of money. It now became common for the deputies of the provinces to ap- ply to Nero to plead their cause before the emperor and sen- ate, and they readily procured his efficient services. The li- j centious habits and violent measures pursued by Agrippina ^ were at lengtli so conspicuous that the simple Claudius per- ceived them, and was heard to lament, " that it was his fate to J bear the iniquities of his wives, and at last to punish them." [, This saying soon reached the empress, and excited no pleas- | ant thoughts ; and she was still more alarmed when she ,' lea rned that the emperor had showed to his despised son strong jl marks of love, and expressed his purpose to give him soon / I] the manly robe, in orcler, he said, " that the Roman people !| |i may have, at last, a true Cesar." These incidents probably ■ \\ I determined her to destroy her husband speedily, to prevent jj j her own ruin and that of her son. Claudius in his sixty- ft ! fourth year, feeling indisposed, proposed to visit Simnessa, to jj enjoy its fine air and famed waters. While there, his infa- . ' mous wife succeeded in poisoning him by the agency of his |i physician, Xenophon. The court assumed the appearance jl of astonishment at the suddenness of his death, and many means were used to recall life, on the supposition that he had I merely fainted. This conduct was adopted by the murder- Ij ess that she might have time to employ proper means to se- ll cure the empire for Nero ; and, " with this view, affecting ]l inconsolable grief, and pretending to seek, on all hands, some jl allay to her sorrow, clasped Britannicus fast in her arms, II styled him the true image of his father, and, by various devi- II ces, kept him in the chamber, and likewise his two sisters Octa- ;| via and Antonia. At the same time, she posted guards in all :i the avenues, shut up all the passages, and from time to time J gave out that the prince was recovering. At last, when she i had taken all possible precautions to prevent any disturbance, It noon the gates of tlio palace were unexpectedly thrown VOL. III. 11 ^- r 122 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. open ; and Nero, accompanied by Burrhus, captain of the praetorian guards, walked forth to the cohort which was then upon duty. There, by the command of Burrhus, he was re- ceived with shouts of joy, and instantly put into a htter. Some, indeed, hesitated, frequently looking and asking where was Britannicus? but, as he was detained in the chamber of the deceased emperor, and no one appeared to propose him, they presently joined the others, and embraced the choice which was offered them. Thus Nero was caried to the camp, where, after a speech suitable to the exigency, and the prom- ise of a largess equal to tliat of the late prince, he was saluted emperor. The declaration of the soldiers, was followed and confirmed by the decrees of the senate, which were, without reluctancy, accepted by the people, both at Rome and in the provinces. To Claudius was decreed a solemn and pom- pous funeral, the same as had been ordained to Augustus, Agrippina emulating the magnificence of her great grand- mother Livia Augusta." Thus Nero attained the empire of the world, A. D. 54, in his seventeenth year. CHAPTER III THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT— CONTINUED. The mighty influence in early life of example and circum stances in the formation of the human character was, perhaps, never more clearly seen than in Nero, the Roman emperor. He must have conceived, for the first seventeen years of his life, that his mother lived and acted almost wholly for him ; and he could not therefore fail to fix his eyes on her conduct, and regard her as the pattern most deserving his imitation. From her he was fully taught to consider happiness to con- sist in the uncontrolled gratification of every passion and appetite, and the possession of power and popular admiration. To procure these objects, Agrippina exerted all the energies of her vigorous mind, and applied the varied arts of deceit and malignity, the knowledge of which she had acquired by a long period of observation of the ways of men, and of inti- macy with those of every rank who were most familiar with the practice of these destructive arts. She purchased, at any price, the agency of the most depraved to execute the schemes which she judged most suitable to destroy the power or life of all whom she envied, feared, or hated ; and that she might the more readily command the services of such, the most un- principled and profligate were her favourite associates. With what perseverance and fearful success her son trode in her paths, the records of his wretched reign afford large evidence. This, however, was far from her wishes ; for, in proportion to the intensity of her ambition that Nero should ascend the throne, so was she solicitous that he should be acceptable to the Roman people ; and this she well knew he could not be, unless he discovered virtues becoming the sovereign of the world. In order to this, she placed him under the tuition and direction of the able military commander, F. Burrhus, and the eminent philosopher Lucius Annceus Seneca. As these men owed their exaltation to Agrippina, and were known for their integrity, she doubtless expected that they — i's 124 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. would instruct the young prince to respect her counsels. On Seneca's gratitude she had especially strong claims. His family were more honoured for their talents than their rank. His father was a Roman knight, but apparently was one of a colony sent to Corduva, in Spain, where the philosopher was born. Marcus A. Seneca, the father, was a famous rhetori- cian, some of whose writings remain. His youngest son A. Shela Seneca, was the father of the celebrated poet Lucan, and the eldest was the wise and candid Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, who protected Paul from the vengeance of the Jews. The family removed to Rome, where the children received the best education. L, A. Seneca was instructed in the phi- losophy of Zeno by several admired stoics ; and he was long one of the most enlightened and virtuous of the sect. His father urged him to apply himself to the bar, and aspire to public distinction ; and he is said to have obtained successively the offices of quaestor, praetor, and consul. That he was ad- mitted to court in the reign of Claudius is certain, for he was one of those accused of adultery with the princess Julia, and suffered exile with her. He lived in exile eight years, during which he wrote several of the works which have procured him the applause of posterity. Agrippina persuaded the emperor to recall him, that her son might be improved by his wisdom. Burrhus and Seneca acted together harmoniously; the for- mer taught Nero the duties of the supreme chief of the army; the latter instructed him how to conduct himself as the prin- cipal ruler, legislator, and judge of the empire. The tutors were highly esteemed by their royal pupil, and rose to the dignity of the first ministers of the state, which they governed for several years, with such consummate wisdom, that " the first five years of Nero's reign have been considered a perfect pattern of good government." Nero most liberally rewarded and honoured both his ministers. Burrhus amassed immense weakh ; and Seneca was accounted still richer. " His houses and walks were the most magnificent in Rome. His villas were innumerable ; and he had immense sums of money laid out at interest in almost every part of the world. Dion Cassius, the historian, reports him to have had £250,000 sterling at interest in Britain alone, and reckons his calling it in at once as one of the causes of a war with that nation." While Burrhus secured the obedience of the army to Nero, Seneca recommended him to the esteem of the Romans, and both did much to promote the welfare of the provinces. Nero -^ % - — = . 9 THB ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANtT 125 profited little by the instruction of his philosophical tutor; for he had no taste for intellectual improvement. This was con- cealed from the public on his first appearances before them , for his addresses were composed by his teacher and guide. After the magnificent funeral of the late emperor, he pro- ceeded to the senate and delivered an oration calculated to please his audience, and to raise the most consoling expecta- tions of a prosperous reign. " Having acknowledged him- self indebted to the authority of the senate, and the concur- rence of the soldiery, he declared in what manner he designed to govern ; that he claimed not the judgment and decision of affairs ; that the whole power and authority should not be confined to a few persons, but every magistrate should have his peculiar jurisdiction ; that nothing should be saleable within his walls, nor any access there to informers ; that, be- tween his family and the icpublic a just distinction should ever be maintained ; that the senate should preserve their ancient jurisdiction; that Italy, and the provinces belong- ing to the people, should apply only to the consuls, and by them procure access to the fathers ; that to himself he re- served what was especially committed to his care, the direc- tion of the armies. He concluded with assuring them, that he designed to govern his people according to the model of the deified Augfistus. The senate ordered this speech to be engraved on a plate of silver, and to be annually read in the senate by the new consuls. At the same time, they heaped all kinds of honours upon him ; which he accepted, without refusing any, except that of Father of his Country, in con- sideration of his youth : even this, however, he assumed before the second year of his reign expired, as appears from some ancient medals. He seemed, at first, inclined to per- form the mighty promises he had made to the senate ; for this year he gave numerous instances of clemency, modera- tion, and affability ; to the people he distributed four hundred sesterces a man ; to such of the senators as were descended from illustrious famihes, but reduced to poverty, he allowed annual sdaries ; to some five hundred thousand sesterces, be- sides a certain quantity of corn, which he likewise distributed monthly to his guards. Many impositions he utterly sup- pressed, and retrenched others to a fourth ; he redressed sev- eral disorders; restrained the profuse luxury of feasts and banquets which had obtained during the late reign, Claudius being greatly addicted to feasting : with the approbation of the senate he published an edict, prohibiting the selling of i *- 1 -^ 126 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. any thing boiled in public houses, except pulse and greens • he suppressed a kind of sport, in which certain persons, run- ning about the city, pretended to have, by custom, acquired a right of robbing, as it were, in jest, all they met, and carry- ing off whatever they could seize. The senate likewise depending upon the prince's declaration, began to exercise their ancient jurisdiction ; and made various regulations ; among the rest the two following ; that no orator or pleader should receive any fee, payment, or present, for defending a cause ; and that those who were appointed quaestors, should be no longer obliged to exhibit public shows of gladiators. All this was opposed by Agrippina, as annulling the acts of Claudius; but Nero • preferred the counsels of Burrhus and Seneca to those of his mother ; and the fathers prevailed. Towards the end of this year, Nero bestowed the Lesser Ar- menia on Aristobulus, the son of Herod king of Chalcis ; to Sohemus he gave, with the ensigns of royalty and title of king, the country of Sophene, lying between Armenia, Meso- potamia, and Comagene ; and added some towns of Galilee to the territories which Claudius had given to Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, king of Judea." The mother of the young emperor much obstructed the beneficent administration of his ministers. She soon showed that she had procured the sovereignty for her son, chiefly that she might exercise it herself! She at first daringly assumed absolute, irresponsible authority, and gratified her revenge by imprisoning or putting to death, without any regard to law or justice, those who had opposed her ambitious schemes. Thus she ordered Narcissus, one of the favourite ministers of Claudius, to be cast into prison, because he had discovered af- fection for his master's son Britannicus, and spoken con- temptuously of her conduct. His many crimes may have merited death, but he had always maintained his fidelity to his sovereign. He was either murdered in prison, or took his own life to escape an ignominious death. The Romans had spoken of the proconsul of Asia, Junius Silanus, as worthy of the empire ; Agrippina, on learning this, employed emis- saries to remove him by poison. Though the Romans deemed it the greatest degradation to be supposed capable of submit- ting to be ruled by a female, yet this proud and impetuous princess attempted to sit on the throne with her son, '- to an- swer foreign ambassadors jointly with him, to write letters to princes and kings, to dispatch orders to the governors of pro- vinces and commanders of armies, to preside among the Ro- — =# THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 127 man eagles, and, in short, to be called and acknowledged a partner in the empire which her ancestors had acquired, and she had conferred on her son. She always accompanied him in the same litter, was attended by the same guards, and at first prevailed upon the young prince to assemble the senate in the palace, that posted by a door behind a curtain, she might overhear the debates without being seen." The minis- ters of Nero would probably have vainly endeavoured to hum- ble his mother, and compel her to retire into private life, had he not soon feh that she was resolved to prevent him from following his own inchnations. He resembled her in the violence of his passions ; and she no sooner sought to restrain them, than she forfeited his affection and confidence, and awakened in him aversion and inconquerable hatred. He had not reigned two years when it because manifest that early example had prevented him from deriving profit from the in- structions of philosophy. He allowed himself to be carried whithersoever his perverted heart, impure imagination, and undisciplined passions impelled him ; and those only who hur- ried him on in his course to disgrace and ruin were his chosen companions. His young wife Octavia, illustrious by birth, and admired for propriety of conduct, lost all influence over him ; he regarded her with utter dislike. He passionately loved Acte, a liberated slave, and selected for his confidential friends profligate youths, who clandestinely procured for him illicit pleasures. His ministers scarcely used any effort to re- strain his passions, because he had gratified them by casting oflf the authority of his mother, and surrendering himself to be guided wholly by them in all the aflfairs of government ; but the haughty princess was indignant, and used every art to regain her power over him. When he appeared insensible to the meanness and shame of his conduct, she proposed to assist him in obtaining whatever he desired ; in order to which she ex- pressed her willingness to expend all her wealth, which nearly equalled the imperial treasures. She found her spurious sub- mission and ostentatious generosity produced no favourable im- pression on him. The disgrace of her chief advocate at court roused her wrath, and almost deprived her of reason. Pallas ' had the management of the finances under Claudius, and acted more like the sovereign director than a minister of the empire, and had accumulated great riches. He continued in office while Nero respected the opinion of his mother, whom Pallas always supported. Although dismissed from the palace, he was neither stripped of his wealth, calculated at seven mi'- IM THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. lions of our money, nor even called to render an account of his administration. " The disgrace of Pallas provoked Agrippina to such a de- gree, that, not able to restrain her rage, she abandoned her- self to it vjrithout control, uttering dreadful threats and curses, even in the emperor's hearing. Britannicus, said she, is now grown up, the true and worthy son of Claudius ; he is now fit to assume the empire of his father ; an empire which one who is a son only by adoption holds, to the prejudice of the lawful heir, and exerts his ill-acquired power chiefly by abu- sing and insuhing his mother. She threatened to lay open to the world all her infamous practices, all the steps she had ta- ken to secure the empire to the ungrateful monster her son, the surreptitious adoption, her own guilt in poisoning her hus- band, the crying calamities she had brought upon her own family, the unhappy house of Germanicus, &.c. She added, that only one comfort, by the providence of the gods, remained to her, that her step-son was still alive ; with him she would repair to the camp, and there leave it to the decision of the soldiery whether the prating pedagogue Seneca and the maimed Burrhus, or the son of the deified Claudius and the daughter of the renowned Germanicus, should have the sover- eign rule of mankind. At the same time, she shook her fist at the emperor himself, tossed her hands, uttered all manner of reproaches, curses, imprecations ; devoted the monster, so she called her son, and his governors, to the infernal furies ; in- voked the manes of her husband Claudius, of the Silani, and many others whom she had murdered, to no purpose. " This alarmed Nero ; and as Britannicus the next day ended the fourteenth year of his age, when he was to take the manly robe, the emperor began seriously to reflect now on the vio- lent temper of his mother, then upon the promising genius of the youth, of which he had given in the late feasts of Saturn, a glaring proof, and gained by it the favor and esteem of all." Among the amusements of the festival of Saturn, it was the custom for the Roman youths to choose one of their number to act as a king, all whose commands they were to obey. The noble youths chose the young emperor. After giving a variety of orders to his companions, he requested Britannicus" to stand up and sing, in the hope that his bashfulness, oc- casioned by seclusion from society, should expose him to ridi- cule or contempt ; " but Britannicus, to the great surprise of all, with a becoming modesty, and an undisturbed address, though the eyes of the whole court were upon him, raised his f THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 129 voice, and sung a few verses, importing that he was bereft of hjs natural inheritance, and unjustly deprived of the authority to which he was born. The modest and comely aspect of the youth, the deep concern he betrayed in every note, and the reflections which all who were present made within them- selves, drew sighs and tears from the whole company. Nero, struck with the address of the youth, but more with the verses he sung, immediately withdrew, as did all the rest, in silence, to give free vent to their grief in private, and let their tears flow unrestrained." This incident, and the ihreatenings of the princess, cost the royal youth his life. He who had sup- planted him, and who called him his brother, and who, when called to sign a warrant to execute two robbers, declined again and again, and at last reluctantly complied, exclaiming, "O! had I never learned to write," secretly commanded the keeper of the prince to poison him. His progress in every species of folly, wickedness, and cruelty, from this time was rapid, till his name justly became proverbial for a bloody tyrant, meriting the execration of mankind. His ministers were convinced of his guilt in the murder of Britannicus ; but ^he most virtuous of them, instead of resent- ing it, appear to have actually shared in his crimes, by con- senting to be enriched by the property of the murdered prince. The historian observes that " he distributed the possessions of Britannicus, his palaces in Rome, his manors and villas throughout Italy, like spoils taken in war, among the chief persons of hip rrr.f, < > j '.ircL^ise, by such donations, their ap- probation, or at least their silence. In this distribution Nero did not forget his mother, but could by no liberalities calm her tempestuous spirit. She caressed Octavia, the deceased prince's sister and the emperor's wife ; held frequently secret cabals with her confidants, and was on all hands amassing treasure, as if she had some oreat design to support with it ; she paid q-reat court to the tubunes and centurions, and re- ceived, in the most obliging manner such of the nobility as came to wait upon her. These measures were known tc Nero, who thereupon withdrew the prretorian guards which attended her as consort to the late emperor and mother to this, and also the band of Germans which, as a farther honour, had been added to the former ; at the same time, he comman- ded her to quit the palace, and retire to the house which had belonged to her grandmother Antonia. He repaired thither flow and then to visit her, but always surrounded with a crowd of oflficers, and withdrew after a short comnliment 1 r 130 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. Agrippina was immediately deserted in her new habitation ; the throng of courtiers, who daily frequented her levee while she lived in the palace, instantly vanished ; no one ap- peared to comfort her in her disgrace, no one to visit her, except a small number of ladies, and these not from any friendship or affection, but to watch all the words and actions of the disgraced princess, and carry them, with the usual ag- gravations of talebearers to the emperor." One of her most attached friends, a lady remarkable alike for her rank, beauty, and licentiousness, determined to be re- venged on her for her freedom and boldness, in preventing a noble youth from marrying her. She, accordingly, per- suaded two of her dependants to accuse Aggrippina of pro- posing to marry Rubellius Plautus, great grandson of Au- gustus, with a view to raise him to the throne. This alarmed Nero, and he resolved to put the parties to death, and remove Burrhus from the command of the praetorians, because he had been raised to the office by the princess. The charge brought against her was fully investigated, and she was not only de- clared innocent, but she was received into partial favor by her son, her friends were exalted and honoured, and her enemies banished or put to death. While the Roman court was thus agitated by intrigues, and degraded by vice, even in the best period of Nero's reign, his able ministers maintained, on the whole, the peace and in- tegrity of the empire. In Germany the troops were employed in works of public utility ; they were, however, occasionally called to reduce to obedience a few tribes, who discovered the love of independence. Thus while Dubius Avitus governed Lower Germany, a. d. 57, the Frisians seized "certain lands, which, being void of inhabitants, had been applied to the use 01 the Roman soldiers, who were wont to send their horses and cattle to graze there. They had already founded their dwellings, and sown the fields, when Avitus threatened to drive them from thence, unless they first obtained from the emperor a grant of those territories. Hereupon the two chiefs proceeded to Rome, where, while they waited for access to Nero, among the several sights which were usually exhibited to strangers, they were conducted to Pompey's theatre, to as- sist at a public show. There, while they were gazing round them, surveying with astonishment the multitudes of people, and informing themselves which were the Roman knights, where sat the senators, &,c., they spied certain persons in a foreign dress sitting among the latter, and asked who they THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 131 were. ' This is a distinction,' answered the interpreter, ' con- ferred by the Roman people on the ambassadors of such nations as have signalized their bravery in war, and fidelity towards us.' If so,' replied the two chiefs, ' we claim a right to sit there too ; for, amongst men, there is not a nation which, in fidelity and feats of arms, surpasses the Germans ;' and thus, leaving their seats, they placed themselves among the senators ; a proceeding highly applauded by the numerous assembly, as the effect of an honest emulation. Nero honored them both with the rights of Roman citizens, but commanded them to abandon their new possessions ; which their country- men refusing to do, Avitus, by a sudden irruption, put many of them to the sword, and forced the rest to comply with the emperor's orders. Some time after, the Ansibarri, being driven from their own country by the Chauci, took possession of the same lands, supported by the neighbouring nations, who pitied their forlorn condition, and led by Boiocalus, a man of great renown, and of known fidelity towards the Romans. He represented to Avitus, in behalf of himself and his people, that on the revolt of the Cherusci, when Varus and his legions were slaughtered, he had been thrown into bonds by Arminius ; that he had afterwards served under Tiberius, then under Germanicus, and to the merit of fifty years service was ready to add that of submitting his people to the empire of Rome. He remonstrated, that the teritory in dispute was large, and lay waste ; that he might allow to an unhappy people, driven from their own habitations, settlements in it, and at the same time retain wide tracks for the horses and cattle of the Roman soldiers to graze and range in ; that it was inconsis- tent with humanity to famish men, in order to feed beasts ; and incompatible with religion to devote to dismal deserts and solitude any part of the earth which was by the gods ap- propriated to the children of men; that such parts of it as none possessed were free and common to all. Then raising his eyes to the sun, and the other celestial luminaries, he asked them how they could bear to behold a desolate soil ? and asked, if they would not more justly let loose the sea to swal- low up usurpers who thus engrossed the earth? Avitus, pro- voked at this language, made no other reply than, that the weaker man must submit to the more powerful ; and that since the gods, to whom they appealed, had left the sovereign judgment to the Romans, they would suffer no other judges than themselves This answer he gave in public; but to r 132 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. Boiocalus hi privately offered lands as an acknowledgment of his long attachment to the Romans. This offer the brave German considered as a price proposed for betraying his peo- ple, and rejected it with indignation, adding, 'A place to live in we may want, but a place to die in we cannot.' Thus they parted with mutual animosity. The Ansibarii invited into a confederacy the bordering nations ; but Curtilias Mancias, who commanded in Upper Germany, passing the Rhine at the head of his legions, threatened them with desolation and slaughter if they afforded any assistance to the enemies of Rome. On the other hand, they were awed by Avitus, who likewise appeared with his legions on the bank of the Rhine ; 80 that the unhappy Ansibarii, deserted by all, had recourse to the Usipites, the Tubantes, the Catti, and the Cherusci, beg- ging leave to settle in their territories ; but being every where driven out as enemies and intruders, in the course of these long and various peregrinations, the people perished. This year the Juhones, a people in alliance with Rome, who are supposed to have inhabited the countries of Nassau and Is- emburgh, were afflicted with a sudden irruption of subterra- neous fire; which consumed their farms, towns, and dwel- lings, and was advancing with great fury to the walls of Col- ogne, when certain boors, after having in vain attempted to extinguish it with water, and other usual expedients, trans- ported with rage, attacked it at a distance with volleys of stones. This assauh, to their great surprize, allayed its fury ; which no sooner began to abate, than they proceeded to a closer attack with clubs and blows, as in an. encounter with an enemy ; and at length, which is still more surprising, they quite vanquished the conflagration, by throwing their gar- ments upon it." Domitius Corbulo, the greatest general of the age, acquired great fame by the complete conquest of Armenia, the acqui- sition of its capital Artaxata, and the expulsion of its king Tridates, who had declined to be tributary to Rome. His defeat was the more gratifying to the Romans from the cir- cumstance that he was brother of Vologeses, king of Par- thia. The beneficial influence of the administration of Burrhus and Seneca was not felt by the Jews ; they had evidently lost the respect of the Romans ; and the governors, in general, appointed them were little disposed to sympathise with their national prejudices. The government of Felix had exceed- ingly provoked them ; and some of the principal men fol- i fi =# THE ROBIAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 133 lowed him to Rome to accuse him of injustice and cruelty. Happily for him, his brother Pallas still retained great politi- cal power ; Josephus says, that he was at that time highly honoured by Nero. He must, therefore, have reached Rome before the end of A. D. 59, for Pallas seems about this time to have been deprived of office and of the favour of the em- peror. At his intercession, Felix escaped punishment. Nor were the Jews more successful in their appeal respecting their privileges as citizens of Cesaria ; for the Syrian inhabitants were declared to have superior claims to the government of the city. Porcius Festus, the new procurator of Judea, ap- pears to have been an enlightened, candid, and just ruler, compared, at least, to his predecessors. This may be infer- red from his treatment of the apostle Paul. That he might understand his case, he had recourse to Agrippa, who had the entire management of the temple, and, consequently, might be supposed best qualified to judge one who was ac- cused of defiling it, and subverting its worship. These judges announced the apostle innocent, and were disposed to liberate him had he not appealed to Cesar. He was proba- bly immediately sent to Rome, where he remained two years a prisoner before he was publicly tried and acquitted. We know not the reason of- this most unrighteous delay ; it probably was chiefly occasioned by the absence of accu- sers. That his enemies in Judea did not send messengers to Rome to demand his condemnation, is obvious from what the Jews said to him when they assembled to hear him. Acts xxviii. 21, 22. This singular conduct of those who violently and incessantly sought his death most probably originated in their consciousness that they could only provoke the Roman emperor and his ministers by accusing a man whom they knew that they could not prove guilty of any word or deed which the Romans regarded deserving punishment. Why then did the noble minded Burrhus or Seneca order him to be watched in his own hired house, and kept in safety by a soldier chained to him ? Was it because he was known to be at the head of " the sect everywhere spoken against ?" That his opponents afterwards summoned courage to appear against him before Nero, the lion, may be accounted for from the change produced in their favour at court by the infa- mous Popprea. That she early interceded for the Jews is plain from an anecdote of Agrippa, during the time of Fes- tus. The king " came often to Jerusalem, and had a lodging near the temple, (of which he had the superintendency given VOL. in. 12 #= 134 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. him) after his uncle Herod took it into his head to build him- self a palace there, of such an height, that he could oversee all that was done in the innermost court of it. The Jews were the more displeased at it, because Festus and the Ro- mans would likewise come and take a view of it from thence; for which reason they built a partition-wall high enough to cover that sacred place, which the king and gov- ernor taking as an affront, ordered it to be pulled down. The Jews, after much opposition, obtained leave at length to send deputies to Rome ; and these, by the intercession of Pop- p£Ba, got a grant from the emperor for keeping up the wall. Ishmael, the then high-priest, being at the head of this em- bassy, was, for his laudable zeal, deposed by Agrippa, who bestowed that dignity on Joseph, surnamed Cabbis, the son of the late pontiff Cantharas. Josephus adds, that Poppsea detained Ishmael and Chelcias as hostages at Rome." That Paul owed not his discharge from the Roman tribu- nal to Nero, seems suggested by the apostle s remark, that he was "delivered out of the mouth of the lion." The royal court was still under the direction of Seneca, for he retired not from office till a later period. It is well known that he was a candid and just judge ; consequently, as nothing could be proved against Paul, except that he was " ringleader of the Nazarenes," Nero may have reluctantly submitted to the judgment of his minister, who must have perceived that the apostle had done nothing worthy of death, even judging by the law of the Romans as hitherto interpreted by their legis- lators and judges. The ancient laws of Rome, like those of all ancient idolatrous nations, were, in relation to religion, most intolerant. No religious worship was allowed different from that sanctioned by the state. Of this Waddington has, in few words, adduced conclusive evidence, and exposed the fallacy of the opinion that paganism was tolerant. It can scarcely be doubted that these laws applied only to Roman citizens ; for the Romans imposed not their form of idolatry on other nations ; on the contrary, they sometimes adopted foreign gods. And it is equally clear that the intol- erant laws were neglected by the Romans, in imitation of the Greeks, in proportioti to their progress in philosophy, litera- ture, and the arts. Facts attest that the Jews not only pub- licly assembled to worship God in Rome, but also made a number of proselytes. They consisted of different sects ; and, as one of these, the Christians were numerous in Rome, in the rrign of Claudius. This is manifest from the epistle ad ^-- ' ^..:.:.^^ •\ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 135 dressed to them by Paul, a few years before his imprison- ment. The Christians, however, considered themselves not properly a sect of the Jewish religion, but the exclusive fol- lowers of it, as it was received by the ancient Jews, by Moses, and the prophets, and, by consequence, pronounced all the Jews who received not the gospel apostates from the religion of Divine Revelation, which they ignorantly boasted in as the glory of their nation. But this view of the Christians was confined to themselves ; their principles and practice were not comprehended by either the apostates or the worshippers of idols. The former hated them as the enemies of religion ; and the latter regarded them as almost destitute of all re- ligion, — a community of atheists. Nor* is this surprising, for the unbelieving Jews and idolatrous Gentiles agreed in calling the observance of a system of rites and ceremonies religion, al- though that system was neither founded in religious principles nor accompanied with any moral precepts or practice. It is not, therefore, to be supposed that the Christian religion would generally be looked on as a rival of the popular reli- gion of the empire, as long as Christians adhered to the sim- plicity of the doctrines and institutions taught them by the Lord and his apostles. On the supposition, however, that Christians were regarded in the first period of Nero's reign, as we know they were sometime later, inventors and propagators of a new religion, or, in the language of their enemies, a new superstition, that emperor was not then disposed to punish them as transgres- sors of the Roman law. Accordingly, Tacitus informs us, that about the fifth year of Nero, among other generous deeds, when a lady of great distinction, Pomponia Graccina, was publicly accused of having embraced a foreign superstition, instead of judging her, he committed the inquisition to her noble husband, Aulus Plautius, who had acquired fame by his military victories and conquests in Britain. This officer assembled his relations, examined in their presence the accu- sation brought against his wife, and pronounced her innocent. The probability of the opinion that Nero was not yet disposed to persecute on account of religion, is much strengthened by an incident recorded of Albinus, who was appointed to suc- ceed Festus, in the government of Juuda. During the inter- val between the unexpected death of Festus, and the arrival of Albinus, the high-priest Ananias, a haughty Sadducee, summoned before the sanhedrim, James the apostle, called the Greater, because he superintended the churches of Judea, Sa- » ■ .,^^ B I 136 THE ROIVTAN EMPIRE TRrUMPHAHT. maria, and Galilee. He was tried for blasphemy, condemned atxd stoned to death. The Jews might call offenders of their law before their national councils and lesser courts, and inflict the punishment of whipping ; but to take life was a direct vio- lation of the law of the Romans, which they were bound to obey. The Christians in Alexandria complained to Albinus on his arriving there, of the presumption and wickedness of Ananias. He immediately wrote a threatening epistle to the guilty priest. This alarmed Agrippa, who had the appoint- ment to this high office. To appease the wrath of Albinus, he deposed Ananias, and conferred the priesthood on Jesus, son of Damneus, who was not less wicked than his predeces- sor. We have no instance on record of a Roman prince or governor hitherto viewing Christianity in any other light thar Gallio, the elder brother of Seneca, did, who held it merely i question or disputable subject of the Jews' religion ; and hence did not oppose it in his official capacity. It seems, therefore, evident that the government of the Romans rather protected than persecuted Christians, for nearly the first thirty years after the Lord Jesus delivered to them his commission to preach the gospel to every creature, and to teach those who received it all that he revealed to his inspired ministers. With great fidelity did his followers generally obey him ; and most abundantly did he prosper them in their labours, so that Christian communities were established in the great cities, towns, and villages of the empire, and even beyond its. boun- daries. Thus the Fifth Empire gradually advanced "without ob- servation." Its grand characteristics, " righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit," mild and salutary as the dew of heaven, were neither loved nor feared by the princes of this world. Nevertheless, Christians were, in every place, ex- posed to great opposition. The great and wise of this world contemptuously treated them as fanatics or enemies of all reli- gion, and the masses of the lower classes were forward in tu- multuously insulting them. None sympathised with them, except such as truly felt the unspeakable worth of their im- mortal spirits, deplored their depravity and guih, and were persuaded that Judaism, paganism, or philosophy, possessed no power to give them peace of conscience or purity of heart or life. All such gladly received the word spoken by the ministers of Christ, and joined their society, sacredly obeyed their instructions, and joyfully suffered with them reproach, threatenings, imprisonments, public shame, and lass of pro THE ROMAN EMPUIE TRIUMPHANT. 137 perty, and sometimes of life, for the sake of the Lord Jesus The Jews, boasting- in their religious superiority in the sight of God, indulged implacable hatred and revenge against the followers of Christ, because they taught that righteousness ac- ceptable to God, is obtained only by faith in Christ, and is equally attainable by Jew and Gentile. The learned de- spised a scheme of mercy which set at nought their treasures of wisdom and speculations on the chief good ; and they laughed to scorn the advocates of a scheme which proclaimed that the first step to true wisdom is profound humility before God, because he has no respect to the wisdom of this world, and admits equally and readily to his favour the illiterate and the wise, the peasant's child and the illustrious philos- opher. The hosts of priests and artists who subsisted by the ' magnificence and pageantry of idol-worship, would have trodden to the earth the community who pronounced idolatry hated by Heaven, and doomed to utter destruction. Nero quickly became a proper instrument to gratify the malice of the numerous enemies of Christianity ; but, like all its enemies, he perished, while " the word of the Lord grew and multiplied." His impetuous passions were somewhat re- strained till the sixth year of his reign, the twenty-third of his age, by the respect which he entertained for Burrhus and Seneca. He had, indeed, frequently acted contrary to their advice ; and flattered and stimulated by the profligate youth whom he chose for his companions, he had debased himself in the eyes of all ranks, by frivolous pursuits, sensual indul- gences, and acts of extreme folly and wickedness. His com- panions now succeeded, by plausible argument or ridicule, to induce him to disregard the authority of his able ministers ; and their power was completely destroyed by the subtile arts of one of the most depraved of females, the infamous Pop- pcea Sabina, who governed him with uncontrolled sway. She was the daughter of a senator named Titus Ollius, and her mother had Fallen a victim to the envy and revenge of Mes- salina, one of the wives of Claudius. Poppaea was admired for all the superficial ornaments of her sex ; but no one was ever more destitute of moral worth. Josephus calls her a re- ligious lady, of which, however, the only evidence referred to by him is, that she was a zealous friend of his nation. From this we may conclude that she was a proselyte of the sect of the Pharisees, who were remarkable for claiming religious reputation even while they violated every moral precept, and practiced every species of immorality. Their religion t& 12* THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. quired only belief in the Scriptures, in common with their tra ditions and observances of their ritual, which comprised many traditional ceremonies. Poppaea was first married to R. Crispin us, a Roman knight, to whom she had a son. She deserted him for Otho, a young man, and the chief favourite of Nero. He imprudently daily spoke of her with rapture in the hearing of his sovereign, who became impatient to see her. In his first conversation with her, he was fascinated, and conducted her to his palace, from which Otho was immediately excluded and appointed to the government of Lusitania, where he acquired great fame by his able administration, and was scarcely less admired for propriety of conduct than he had been infamous in youth for a life of pleasure, dissipation, and profligacy. His abandoned wife, on becoming the mistress of Nero, aspired to be his wife, and employed all her seductive arts to obtain this object of her ambition. In order to this, she resolved completely to alienate the emperor from his mother, who had to a considerable degree regained her influence over him, and to persuade him to divorce Octavia, his lawful wife. She succeeded in her diabolical schemes ; for* Agrippina's opposition to Poppaea, enraged her son, and induced him to believe all the reports and calumnies propagated against her by the adultress. Violent hatred of her expelled from his de- based mind all natural affection, and he determined to take her life. Several attempts to effect this by poison failed, from her skill, it is said, in remedies to counteract its power. In these circumstances Nero was perplexed, for he was not more desirous to put his mother to death, than he was to conceal the dreadful crime. He soon found one ready to effect his malignant purpose. Anicetus, a franchised slave, who had been his tutor when a child, was now commander of the fleet stationed at Misenum. " As he was an implacable enemy to Agrippina, and Agrippina to him, he undertook so to contrive a vessel, that, by a sudden and artificial bursting in the open sea, it should overwhelm and drown her, without the least warning or apprehension. If she were thus dis- patched by shipwreck, no one, he said, could ascribe her death to the malice and contrivance of men. Nero was pleased with this device the more, because he had a favorable opportunity to put it in execution, as he was then celebrating at Baiae the solemn festival of Minerva, called Gluinquatrus, which began on the nineteenth of March, and lasted five days. In order to entice his mother thither, he pretended a desire to be reconciled to her, declaring that children ought to bear # THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 139 «nth the humours of their parents, and that for himself, it be- hoved him to forget all past provocations, and be sincerely reconciled to a tender mother, whose gift was the power and empire which he swayed. A general rumour of this preten- ded disposition, which was immediately spread abroad, reached Agrippina and found credit with her, women being naturally prone to believe what feeds their wishes, and promises mattei of joy. At the same time he wrote a letter to her, filled with the most tender expressions of filial aflfection and duty, inviting her to pass the festival with him at Eaiae. Agrippina, not suspecting any treachery, though well practised in the dark devices of the court, deferred no longer her departure ; but, embarking at Antium, where she then was sailed to Bauli, an imperial villa between the cape of Misenum and the gulf of Baiae. Thither Nero hastened to receive her, met her upon the shore, presented her his hand, embraced her, and conducted her to the castle. Not far from the shore, amongst several other vessels belonging to the emperor and the noble- men of his court, rode that which had been contrived by Ani- cetus, more pompous and gaudy than the rest, as if Nero, by that distinction intended fresh honour to his mother ; but she, having had some intimation of the plot, though doubtful whether she should believe it or not, when invited on board, declared she chose to go to Baiae by land, and accordingly was carried thither in a sedan. Upon her arrival, the behaviour of Nero, obliging beyond expression, and free from all manner of affectation, allayed her fears ; for Nero, during her stay there, treated her with the utmost magnificence,. yielded to her at table the most hon- ourable place, entertained her with great variety of diver- sions, granted her all the favours she asked in behalf of her- self or her friends, and, in conversing with her, broke some- times out into sallies of youthful gaiety, discoursing at other times, with a composed and grave air, of weighty aflfairs', as if he reposed in her an entire confidence, and sought her counsel. Having, with these ensnaring caresses and hollow fondness, removed all her suspicions, he drew out the last ban- quet till the night was far spent, and, in the meantime, gave private orders to the commander of one of his galleys to run foul of that which had conveyed Agrippina to Bauli and dis- able it, that she might be obliged to embark on the fatal ves- sel. When the banquet was over, Nero acquainted her with the misfortune which had happened to her own vessel, beg- ged her to accept of the other, and ordered the admiral him q^- # ^ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. self, Anicetus, to attend her to Antium. The emperor accom- panied her in person to the shore, and at parting- hung upon her neck, kissing her eyes, kissing her bosom with such ten- derness, that he left it uncertain, as our historian observes, whether he meant, by that passionate behaviour, to cloak his horrid design, or whether his spirit, however fierce and sa- vage, could not withstand the more powerful efforts of nature at the last sight of a mother just going to perish. The sea proved smooth and calm, the night clear, and the stars shone in full lustre, as if all this, says our historian, had been con- certed by the providence of the gods, that so black a murder might not remain undiscovered, by being ascribed to the ma- lignity of winds and waves. Agrippina, when she embarked, was attended only by two persons, Creperius Gallus, who stood in the steerage, and a lady named Aceronia PoUa, who lay at her feet, and was entertaining her with the pleasing discourse of the remorse of her son, and his sincere reconcil- iation • when all on sudden, upon a signal given, the deck over tnat quarter was loosened, and, being purposely loaded with a great quantity of lead, sunk violently down, and crushed Creperius to death. Agrippina and Aceronia were defended by the posts of the bed where they lay, which hap- pened to be too strong to yield to the weight ; neither did the vessel open as had been concerted, such of the mariners as had not been intrusted with the plot obstructing the measures of those who were. The latter, finding this expedient de- feated, strove to bear the vessel down on one side, and so sink her ; but the other mariners, not privy to the design, at the same time struggling to preserve her, by balancing the con- trary way, she was not at once swallowed up, but sunk by degrees ; so that Agrippina and Aceronia fell softly into the sea. The latter, screaming out for the more speedy relief that she was Agrippina, and passionately calling upon the mariners to succour the prince's mother, was by them pursued with their poles and oars, and so slain. Agrippina never opened her mouth, and, being therefore less known, escaped, with one wound only on her shoulder ; and what with swim- ming, what with the timely assistance of some fisher boats which rowed out to succour her, reached the lake Lucrinus, and was thence conveyed to her own villa. There, reflect- ing upon the danger which she had escaped, the fate of Ace- ronia, mistaken for herself, and designedly slain, the manner in which the vessel, under the shelter of the shore, not tossed by the winds nor striking upon the rocks, had yielded in its # m =B THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 141 upper part, and been purposely overset, she concluded that for this very end she had been enticed by the fraudulent let- ters of her son, and for this reason treated by him with such extraordinary marks of honour. However, she thought it ad- visable to dissemble the whole, and, although well apprised of these black devices, to act as if she saw them not. With this view, she dispatched Agerinus her freedman, to acquaint the emperor with the danger she had escaped, by the providence of the gods and his imperial fortune, and to entreat him that, however alarmed at the misfortune which had threatened his mother, he would postpone the trouble of visiting her, for what she only stood in need of at present was rest. In the meantime, disguising her fear, and counterfeiting perfect se- curity, she caused her wound to be dressed ; and, calling for the last will of Aceronia, ordered all her effects to be regis- tered and sealed up. As to Nero, he had passed the night in great uneasiness and anxiety attending the success of his design ; and, while he was hourly expecting expresses to ap- prise him that the parricide was executed, tidings arrived that his mother had escaped with only a slight wound. At this he was struck with terror and dismay, not doubting but her fierce spirit, bent upon hasty revenge, would either arm the slaves, stir up the rage of the soldiery against him, or recur, with a tragical representation of the whole plot, to the senate and people. Thus terrified and dismayed, he immediately sent for Burrhus and Seneca, who perhaps had not before, says Tacitus, been acquainted with the conspiracy. To them he notified his disappointment, and told them that, in the pres- ent emergency, he had no resource, no protection, no one to advise with, but them. They both kept long silence, either because they thought it in vain to dissuade him from a design on which they saw him bent, or because they believed matters already pushed so far that, unless Agrippina soon per- ished, Nero certainly must. At length Seneca, who used al- ways to speak the first, looked at Burrhus, as if he asked him whether orders for the dispatching of Agrippina might not be trusted to the soldiery under his command. Burrhus understood him, and answered, that the praetorian guards were so zealously attached to the name of the Cesars, so fond of the family and memory of Germanicus, that they would never engage in any cruel or bloody attempt against their descendants. He added, that Anicetus ought to accomplish what he had begun. Anicetus undertook, without hesitation, to acquit himself of his engagement ; and Nero, crying ou* # f t42 HE ROHAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. that Anicetus presented him that day with the empire, urged him to use dispatch, taking with him whom he pleased to as- sist him. In the meantime, Agerinus, arriving from Agrippi- na with the news of her disaster and escape, was immediately admitted to the emperor ; by whose orders, as he was deliver- ing his message, a dagger was dropped between his legs ; and then, as if he had been sent to murder the prince, he was immediately loaded with irons and dragged to prison. This fable was forged to support another ; for Nero intended to give out that his destruction had been concerted by his mother, and that she, upon the discovery of her treason, had put an end tb her own life, to avoid the punishment she deserved. " In the meantime, the danger which threatened Agrippina at sea, and was looked upon as the effect of chance, flying abroad, the people from all quarters flocked to the shore to as- sist her ; some crowded into barks and skiffs, others entered the sea, and waded as deep as their height would permit, nay. some stretched out their arms as it were to catch and receive her; so that the whole coast resounded with lamentations for her misfortune, vows for her deliverance, and the indistinct clamour of a multitude solicitous about her safety. When they understood that she was out of danger, they all hastened to congratulate her upon her escape. But Anicetus present- ly arriving with an armed band of marines, they all dispersed ; and the franchised slave, having beset the villa with a guard, burst open the gates, secured such of her slaves as offered to stop him, and advanced to the very door of her chamber, which he found guarded by a small number of her friends, who, at the sight of so many armed men, betook themselves to flight, and left her with one maid only, who lay in the room with her. She was already very anxious and uneasy that no person had yet arrived from her son, nor had even Agerinus returned, when she heard a sudden noise and tumult at the door of her chamber, which so terrified her maid, that, starting up, she too was about to depart ; which Agrippina' perceiving, ' Thou likewise,' said she, ' art going to abandon me ;' and that moment Anicetus, having forced open the door, entered her chamber, accompanied by Herculeus, captain of a galley, and Olearitus, a centurion of the navy. The prin- cess, though well apprised of their design, yet addressing them with great intrepidity, ' If you are come,' said she, ' from the emperor, to be informed of my health, I can acquaint him that I am well refreshed and recovered ; if upon any bloody design, I will never believe you commissioned by my son • « THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 143 my son cannot command a parricide.' But the assassins, without returning her any answer, placed themselves round ner bed (for in her chamber was a small light) ; and Her- culeus first discharged a blow upon her head with a great club. Olearitus the certurion instantly drew his sword to dispatch her ; but she, notwithstanding the blow she had re- ceived, starting up, presented her belly, crying with a loud voice, ' Strike me here ; this carried and brought forth such a monster as Nero.' In uttering these words, she was pierced with a multitude of wounds, and expired. Thus died the cel- ebrated Agrippina, daughter to Germanicus, grand-daughter to Agrippa, and great grand-daughter to Augustus, sister to one emperor, wife to another, and mother to a third. This doom she had deserved by a train of iniquities, long before it overtook her ; nay, we are told that she was warned of it many years before by the Chaldeans, whg being consulted by her concerning the fortune of Nero, and answering that he would certainly reigr^and kill his mother ; ' Let him kill me,' said she, ' so he do but reign.' " The conscience of the royal matricide still lifted its voice, and on reflection he was filled with inexpressible horrors. Unhappily, he had no faithful monitor : his most enlightened guides or ministers were more solicitous to please him than to correct his defects, or suppress his evil propensities. To withdraw him from one series of follies or crimes they seldom did more than substitute others less offensive to the public mind. On this occasion, they acted as if they believed that he was grieved for the loss of his mother, whom he had been com- pelled to kill to avoid being himself murdered. Accordingly, Burrhus persuaded his officers to congratulate the emperor on his deliverance from his mother's conspiracy to destroy him. Their example was imitated by the principal persons in the cities of Campania, who expressed their joy by present- ing addresses to Nero, and sacrifices to the gods. Seneca composed letters, which were addressed by the emperor to the senate ; in them it was falsely asserted, that Agrippina had sent Agerinus, one of her freedmen, to assassinate him ; the principal crimes of Claudius were • recalled and ascribed to her; and that, therefore, the Romans ought to regard her death rather as a public blessing than a calamity. Apparently guided by the policy of his ministers, Nero honoured the ene- mies of his mother, and used every means o render her mem- ory detestable. His courtiers persuaded him that the public were convinced of his innocence ; and prepared the various f 144 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. classes m Rome to confirm him in this unfounded opinion Accordingly, on returning, from Naples, where he had retired to dissipate his melancholy, "several tribes, in distinct bodies and the senate in their robes, with an immense multitude of women and children, met him, on his approach to the metro- polis ; and wherever he passed, plays and shows were exhi- bited with all the pomp and parade of a solemn triumph. Elated with pride at such a reception, he repaired, like a triumphant victor, to the capitol, and there paid his vows and oblations. All these tokens of joy and approbation could not alleviate the reproaches of his own conscience : the horrors of his guilt never forsook him ; he owned, that the furies pur- sued him with stripes, and rage, and burning torches; his dread was sometimes so great that all his joints trembled ; he applied to the magicians, and endeavoured, by one of their sacrifices, to call up the ghost of his mother, and entreat her to forgive him : some time after, when he travelled into Greece though he was extremely desirous «f assisting at the Eleusi- nian ceremonies, yet his heart failed him,, and he withdrew as soon as he heart the crier commandingf with a loud voice^ all impious and profane persons to depart. As no one would take upon him to give the emperor wholesome advice, but, on the contrary, all conspired to deceive him with servile flattery, and to commend even his most enormous excesses^ he abandoned himself, without restraint, to all his extrava- gant passions. He was chiefly fond of two diversions, both highly unbecoming his rank and station, namely, of driving a chariot, and singing to the harp in a theatrical habit. Sen- eca and Burrhus indulged him from the beginning in the former, in order to divert him from the latter, which they thought a more shameful and unmanly employment. Thus, a piece of ground in the Vatican was inclosed with a wall, that he might exert his dexterity in driving, without being ex- posed to the view of a promiscuous crowd of spectators ; but now he was desirous of being publicly seen by the populace, who failed not to gratify him with encomiums and loud ac- clamations. As the emperor imagined that by bringing many others under the same infamy he should lessen his own, he 'introduced, as actors into the theatre, several noble Romans, descended from illustrious families, but, through indigence, be- come venal. He likewise engaged, with great rewards, many Roman knights to undertake the acting of parts in public rep- resentations. However, that he might not yet debase him- self in the common theatre, he instituted a sort of plays called #= T THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 145 Juvenales, which were exhibited in private houses or gardens, persons of the first quality, and many who had borne the chief offices, in the state, acting in them, and degrading them- selves to imitate the port and buffoonery of the Greek and Ro- man mimics, even in their most obscene gesticulations." Nero, finding that neither his most atrocious crimes noi most vain and contemptible pursuits diminished the flattery of his court or the applauses of his senate, cast off all moral restraint, and preferred for his counsellors, as well as friends, the most unprincipled and immoral among the chief men of Rome. He ceased to reverence Seneca for his wisdom ana virtue, and despised the political sagacity of the accomplished statesman Burrhus. The latter died about the ninth year of Nero ; and from certain circumstances his ungrateful master was suspected to have caused him to be poisoned. The prae- torian guards were placed under the command of F. Rufus and S, Tigellinus. The former was respected for his integ- rity, but so noted for indolence that his authority was viewed merely nominal. His colleague possessed the entire confi- dence of the emperor, for he was admitted to all his secret revels and debaucheries. When Tigellinus was known to be Nero's chief counsellor, all who envied or hated Seneca openly revile<.i him, and a number of the courtiers were as- siduous in stimulating the emperor to dismiss him. The philosopher anticipated the wishes of his enemies; he retired from court, laid aside alibis usual splendour, and assumed the manners of n phi!cr;ophei raiheo' than a statesman. Tigelli- nus now directed the emperor in all things, executed his will, whether it was regulated by justice or not. He hesitated not to disgrace or murder any one obnoxious to his master's dis- pleasure; nor to promote any measure on which he set his heart. Nero longed to gratify Poppaea's ambition by pub- licly marrying her. In order to this, it was necessary that Octavia should be divorced or put to death. He divorced her on the frivolous pretence that she was barren. Imme- diately after Popprea was declared his wife ; but this detesta- ble female rested not till, by false accusation of adultery, she procured first Octavia's banishment, and then her death, of which proof was given her, by the murderers presenting to her the head of her victim. Soon after this event Poppaea's power over the emperor was strengthened by bringing hin a daughter. His joy was great on this occasion ; the infant he named Augusta, and the mother was honoured by the same lofty appellation. The senate had made vows for her happy VOL. III. 13 1 I 146 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. delivery; "and now many more were added, and the whole amply fulfilled : days for solemn processions were appointed, a temple was decreed to Fecundity, golden images of the For- tunes at Antium, where the child was born, were ordered to be made, and placed on the throne of Jupiter Capitolinus : but short-lived was the prince's joy ; for within four months the infant died, a disaster which gave occasion to new strains of flattery. She was placed among the gods, and divine worship, with a priest, altars, and sacrifices, were voted to her. As the emperor had rejoiced, so he grieved, beyond all measure." Grief or reflection suited not the vain mind and sensual heart of the emperor, and he had removed far from him all who were disposed or qualified to preserve him from acts of either imprudence or mischief and folly, in which alone he delighted. He now became remarkable for almost noth- ing but acts of despotic cruelty and barbarity, or the chief actor in scenes of dissipation. After the loss of his infant, he departed for Naples, to exhibit his skill in singing and act- ing on the stage, purposing to proceed thence to Greece, to contend for the prize for music at the Olympian games. He was accompanied, as usual, on his journey, " with a thou- sand chariots, his horses and mules all shod with silver, his grooms and muleteers clad in the richest cloth of Canusium, and attended by a band of praetorian guards, and a body of African horse, most pompously attired. Soon after his arri- val at Naples, hei mounted the stage, and sung, for several days together, to an immense multitude, all the rabble of Naples, and incredible numbers, from the neighbouring cities and colonies, flocking to such an extraordinary spectacle. In this exercise he passed his whole time at Naples, repairing to the theatre in the morning, and continuing there till night, allowing him self now and then a small respite to take breath, and refresh himself, which he did publicly, in the presence of the multi- tude." Some unknown reasons induced him to defer his voyage to Greece and return to Rome, where, to display his magnificence, or gratify the citizens, he held a succession of banquets in the public places and squares. These assemblies included the most infamous persons in the city, and the scenes exhibited not only almost everjr species of grandeur and lux- ury, but almost every kind of the most sensual and abomina ble pleasure, such as none pretending to virtue would deign to witness Oi- even describe. It had, however, been well for society had this wild beast m THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 147 oeen satisfied with rioting in the lowest and most beastly in- dulgences, which the virtuous might avoid. Unhappily, he delighted to spread as widely as possible misery, by every device, suggested by his polluted imagination and brutalized passions. In proof of this, history appeals to the dreadful fire which threatened the entire destruction of Rome, about A. D. 64, in the eleventh year of his reign. Its origin was indeed never fully ascertained ; but no one seems to have hes- itated to ascribe it to the diabolical or maniac emperor. He may have caused it to be raised on reflecting on the dreadful scene of the burning of ancient Rome by the Gauls, for the fire, it is said, commenced on the day of the year correspon- ding with that in which that tremendous catastrophe hap- pened. It was first kindled in certain shops which contained the most combustible articles, and, of course, spread with the utmost rapidity. An ancient inscription, near St. Peter's church, attests .that it continued nine days. At the end of six it seemed arrested ; but it was rekindled with augmented fury, and raged three days more. Besides the destruction of innumerable common dwellings, " all the noble monuments of antiquity, all the palaces, temples, porticoes, with the goods, riches, furniture, and merchandize, were consumed. The shrieks of the women, the various efforts of some endeavouring to save the young and tender, of others attempting to assist the aged and infirm, and the hurry of such as strove only to provide for themselves, occasioned a mutual interruption, and universal confusion. Many, while they chiefly regarded the danger that pursued them behind, found themselves suddenly involved in the flame before and on every side. If they escaped into the quarters adjoining, or into the parts quite remote, there too they met with the de- vouring flames. At last, not knowing whither to fly, nor where to seek sanctuary, they abandoned the city, and re- paired to the open fields. Some, out of despair for the loss of their whole substance, others, through tenderness for their children and relations, whom they had not been able to snatch from the flames, suffered themselves to perish in them, though they had easy means to escape. No man dared to stop the progress of the fire, there being many who had no other business but to prevent with repeated menaces all attempts of that nature ; nay, some were in the face of the public, seen to throw lighted fire-brands into the houses, loudly declaring, that they were authorized so to do ; but whether this was only a device to plunder more freely, or in reality they had such 148 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. orders, was never certainly known. Nero, who was then at Anti'jm. did not offer to return to the city, till he heard that the flame was advancing to nis palace, which, after his arrival, was, in spite of all opposition burnt down to the ground, with all the houses adjoining to it. However, Nero, affecting compassion for the multitude, thus vagabond and bereft of their dwellings, laid open the field of Mars, and all the great edifices erected there by Agrippa, and even his own gardens. He hkewise caused tabernacles to be reared in haste for the reception of the forlorn populace; from' Ostia too, and the neighboring cities, were brought, by his orders, all sorts of furniture and necessaries, and the price of corn considerably lessened. But these bounties, however generous and popu- lar, were bestowed in vain, because a report was spread abroad, that, during the time of this general conflagration, he mounted his domestic stage, and sung the destruction of Troy, comparing the present desolation to the celebrated calamities of iniquity. Of the fourteen districts into which Rome was divided, four remained entire, three were laid in ashes, and, in. the seven others, there remained only here and there a few houses, miserably shattered, and half consumed. Among the many ancient and stately edifices, which the rage of the flames utterly consumed, Tacitus reckons the temple dedi- cated by Servius Tullius to the Moon ; the temple and great altar consecrated by Evander to Hercules ; the chapel vowed by Romulus to Jupiter Stator ; the court of Numa, with the tem- ple of Vesta, and in it the tutelar gods peculiar to the Romans. In the same fate were involved the inestimable treasures acquired by so many victories, the wonderful works of the best painters and sculptors of Greece, and, what is still more to be lamented, the ancient writings of celebrated authors, till then preserved perfectly entire." The burning of Rome brought Christians, as a distinct so- ciety, at least for the first time recorded in history, before the civil tribunals of the city, where they were accused of being the authors of this great calamity, and their accuser was no less important a personage than the lawless emperor. Not the least evidence of their guilt is alluded to in history. Nor did the accusation against them weaken the universal suspi- cion or belief that Nero alone had caused the city to be set on fire. He knew the state of the public mind, and, doubtless, ireaded that its consequence might be fatal to him. But it naay seem strange what could suggest to him to charge the Christians, without a shadow of proof, with a crime which 9 m '!# THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 149 tney had equal reason with their fellow citizens to detest and lament. He could not be ignorant that no class of society were more disposed to promote the temporal peace and comfOii of all ranks ; for Paul, their ablest advocate, had more than on :e appeared before the imperial court, vindicated his own character, and we may be certain, the Christian, with such success as to have obtained his libeity in the preceding year. But Nero, it is said, knew that they were generally hated, and thnt to subject them to suffering would recommend him to the public, should he even fail to fix on them the guih of burning the city. That he, however, might have accused others with more hope of being credited, no one can doubt, who reflects on the vast number of the most depraved of man- kind, resident in Rome. We conceive, therefore, that we may ascribe his selection of the Christians to suffer innocently, to the counsels of his infamous wife Poppaea, rather than to his own sagacity or malice. Such depraved persons as Nero are not those who are usually the persecutors of holy men Their most violent and implacable enemies are those proud of real or imaginary intellectual, moral, or religious supe riority, and not the lovers of pleasure and frivolous pursuits That Nero was, at this time, completely enslaved by Poppoea is well known, and that Christians were more obnoxious to her displeasure than any other class of societj^ will scarcely be questioned by those who advert to her religion. We have already remarked that it is probable, from Josephus denomi- nating her " religious/' that she was a Jewish proselyte of the sect of the Pharisees. He notices more incidents t^-an one which appear to confirm this opinion, and clearly show her attachment to the Jewish people, and esteem of their religious teachers. Thus he informs us, that in his twenty-sixth year, certain of his friends distinguished by piety, having offended Felix the governor of Judea, were put in chains and sent prisoners to Rome, to be tried before the emperor. In the hope of aiding in their deliverance, he accompanied them to Rome. The ship in which they sailed, with about six hundred persons, was lost in the Adriatic, and all perished, except about eighty, who, after swimming all night, were saved by a ship of Cyrene. On reaching Rome, he procured the friendship of Aliturius, a Jew, who was an actor on the stage, and much beloved by Nero. He adds, that " through the interest of this man, he was introduced to PoppeoBa, Cesar's wife, was favourably received, and suc- ceeded in obtaining the liberty of the priests his friends 13* ^ ^) 150 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. Besides this favour he received many presents from the em- press." Josephus owns that this religious empress was as wicked as Festus, who owed to her his appointment to the government of Judea. Now she wcs precisely such a person as was most likely to hate and seek the destruction of Chris- tians. This was strikingly seen in the first age of Christian- ity ; some of the female proselytes in the empire, were most active opponents of the first ministers of the word. Thus, when the gospel had been published throughout all the region of Pisidia, " the Jews" in Antioch, the capital, " stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecuftion against Paul and Barnabas, and ex- pelled them out of their coasts." / While it may be disputed whether the accusation against the Christians in Rome originated in the unrighteous policy of Nero, or the pharisaical zeal of his wife, it is most proba- ble that the majority of all ranks were not displeased to see them persecuted to death. Their real character was not un- derstood by the most intelligent unbelievers. This is plain from the brief description given of them by the most eminent Roman writers in the first and second centuries. These learned men appear to have treated Christianity as a subject unworthy of investigation. Such conduct indicates their ut- ter indifference to whatever involved the interests of man in relation to God and the future and invisible state. And what conduct could more decidedly prove that their wisdom was foolishness? It is not uncommon to apologise for their most unrca-onable conduct, by saying that they had not an op- portunity of knowing the truth respecting Christians. How unfounded is such an opinion! Could any one, sincerely and earnestly desirous to know eternal truth, remain igno- rant of the gospel in any of the great cities of the empire, after the first thirty years of Paul's ministry? Christians were numerous, and zealously announced what they be- lieved. Rome was full of them. They might be, and doubt- less were, known to all who loved the light and hated dark- ness. But the fact is, that their principles and practices in religion were opposed to all that the learned unbelievers, and the superstitious and licentious multitude, believed or valued. The former deemed all forms of religion as equally useless, or of equal value ; and the latter imagined that every one who renounced the worship of the gods of the empire were the enemies of all good, and to be regarded as atheists " All were provoked," as Mosheim remarks, " by the simplicity of # m.=^ ■ ^.=^^-=^ • THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 151 their worship, which resembled in nothing the sacred ritei of any other people. The Christians had neither sacrifices, nor temples, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal orders ; and this was sufficient to bring upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined that there could be no religion without these. Thus they were looked upon as a sort of atheists; and, by the Roman laws, those who were chargeable with atheism were declared the pests of human so- ciety. But this was not all : the sordid interests of a muhitude of lazy and selfish priests were immediately connected with the ruin and oppression of the Christian cause. The public worship of such an immense number of deities was a source of subsistence, and even of riches, to the whole rabble of priests and augurs, and also to a multitude of merchants and artists ; and as the progress of the gospel threatened the ruin of this religious traffic, and the profits it produced, this raised up new enemies to the Christians, and armed the rage of mercenary superstition against their lives and their cause." No pagan author, perhaps, before the time of Pliny, looked on the Christians as a society completely distinct from the Jews, and the national prejudices and vices of the latter were generally ascribed to the former ; and the extraordinary sue cess of both parties, in converting to their respective religions, which seemed one, because in common they denounced all idols, roused the jealousy or wrath of all the Romans and Greeks who admired their own religion, either on account ol its antiquity, utility, or popularity. These uneasy and indig- nant feelings were evidently strong in Seneca and Tacitus, who were greatly distinguished in the first century. The former, apparently referring to the Jews, including the fol- lowers of Christ, laments — "So universally do the customs of that most flagitious people prevail, that now they are re- ceived all over the world. The conquered have given laws to the conquerors.'' The latter remarks that "the Jews in- stituted the rite of circumcision, in order to distinguish them- selves from the rest of mankind. They who have revolted to the customs of the Jews do the same, and the first that they are taught is, to despise the gods, and to divest themselves of patriotism. The worst of men every where, despising the re- ligious rites of their own country, were wont to pile up their contributions and alms at Jerusalem." Taking advantage of the universal hatred of Christianity, and of the popular calumnies and clamour against its advo- Gates and confessors, Nero succeeded in turning the eyes of r 152 THE ROWAN EWPrRE TRTOMPHANT. the public from him for a time, by publishing an edict denoun- cing death on Christians, under the pretence that they had icindled the fire which had consumed the city ; and he pre- scribed that they should suffer death under forms which should represent to all their crime in their punishment. The only narrative deserving credit of this first great persecution of Christians by the Roman state, is the imperfect one left by Tacitus. "JNero," he observes, "to suppress the prevailing rumour that he was the author of the conflagration, transfer- red the guilt upon supposed criminals, subjecting to most exquisite torments those people who, for their enormous crimes, were universally abhorred, and known to the vulgar by the name of Christians. The author of this name was Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius was executed under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea. The pestilent supersti- tion was for a while suppressed, but it revived again, and spread not only over Judea, where the evil was broached, but reached Rome ; whither from every quarter of the earth is constantly flowing whatever is hideous and abominable amongst men, and is there readily embraced and practised. First, therefore, were apprehended such as owned themselves to be of that sect ; then by them was diicovered an immense multitude, and all were convicted, not of the crime of burn- ing of Rome, but of their hatred and enmity to mankind. Their death and tortures were aggravated with cruel derision and sport ; for they were either covered with the skins of wild beasts, and torn in pieces by devouring dogs, or fastened to crosses, or wrapt up in combustible garments, that, when the day-light failed, they might, like torches, serve to dispel the darkness of the night. For this tragical spectacle Nero lent his own gardens, and exhibited at the same time the pub- lic diversion of the circus, sometimes driving a chariot in per- son, and sometimes standing as a spectator among the popu- lace in the habit of a charioteer. Hence towards the miser- able sufferers, however guilty and deserving the most exem- plary punishment, compassion arose, seeing they were doomed to perish, not with a view to the public good, but to gratify the cruelty of one man." This sanguinary and barbarous attack on the church of God began in the latter end of a. d. 64, and it is uncertain if it terminated before the death of Nero, a. d. 68. Nor have we more certain information as to the extent of this calamity ; for many imagine that the imperial edict was designed for the whole empire, while others would limit it to Italy or even to #= m THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 153 Rome. If tradition may be relied on, both the apostles Paul and Peter had visited the capital during the violence of this persecution, and fell victims to the rage of their enemies. It is probable that the sufferings of the Christians were of tem- porary duration ; for Nero soon found himself in circum- stances which, doubtless, withdrew his attention from them ; and their enemies were subjected by him to such great and complicated distress, that they would feel little disposition to interfere in the affairs of a class of persons who not only did them no injury, but were ever zealous to do them good by every means which they could employ. In the opinion of some, Nero destroyed Rome that he might acquire celebrity by raising the city in greater beauty and magnificence. This is not improbable, for it is said of him that he was always ready to undertake enterprises in proportion to their difficulty or even seeming impossibility to accomplish them. Nor was this conjecture inconsistent with his conduct after the fire ; for he employed all his authority and resources to confer on the renovated city all that was calculated to render it worthy of its dignity as the metropolis of the world. He " founded a palace, which he called his Golden House ; though it was not so much admired on ac- count of an immense profusion of gold, precious stones, and other inestimable ornaments, as for its vast extent, containing spacious fields, large wildernesses, artificial lakes, thick woods, gardens, orchards, vineyards, hills, and groves. The entrance of this stately edifice was wide enough to receive a colossus, representing Nero, a hundred and twenty feet high : the gal- leries consisted of three rows of tall pillars, each of them a full mile in length : the lakes were encompassed with mag- nificent buildings, in the manner of cities, and the woods stocked with all manner of wild beasts. The house itself was tiled with gold, the walls were covered with the same metal, and richly adorned with precious stones and mother- of-pearl, which in those days was valued above gold : the timber-work and ceilings of the rooms were inlaid with gold and ivory : the roof of one of the banqueting-rooms resembled the firmament, both in its figure and motion, turning inces- santly about night and day, and showering all sorts of sweet waters. When this magnificent structure was finished, Nero slightingly said, that at length he began to lodge like a man. Pliny tells us, that this palace extended quite round the city. Nero, it seems, did not finish it; for the first order Otho signed was, as we read in Suetonius, for fifty millions of ses- # 154 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. terces. to be employed in perfecting the Golden Palace which Nero had begun. The projectors of this plan were Severus and Celer, two bold and enterprising men, who soon after put the emperor upon a still more expensive and arduous undertaking, namely, that of cutting a canal through hard rocks and steep mountains, from the lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber, a hundred and sixty miles in length, and of such breadth that two gallies of five ranks of oars might easily pass abreast. His view in this was to open a commu- nication between Rome and Campania, free from the troubles and dangers of the sea ; for, in the course of this year, a great number of vessels, laden with corn, were shipwrecked at Cape Misenum, the pilots choosing rather to venture out in a violent storm, than not to arrive at the time they were ex- pected by Nero. For the execution of this prodigious under- taking, the emperor ordered the prisoners from all parts to be transported into Italy ; and such as were convicted, whatever their crimes, were to be condemned only to his works. Nero, who undertook nothing with more ardour ai»d readiness than what was deemed impossible, expended incredible sums in this rash undertaking, and exerted all his power to cut through the mountains adjoining to the lake Avernus ; but not being able to remove by art the obstacles of nature, he was obliged to drop the enterprise. The ground not occupied by the foundations of Nero's own palace, he assigned for houses, which Avere not placed, as after the burning of the city by the Gauls, at random and without order, but the streets were laid out regularly, spacious and straight, the edifices restrained to a certain height, perhaps of seventy feet, according to the plan of Augustus; the courts were widened, and to all the great houses which stood by themselves, and were called isles, large porticoes were added, which Nero engaged to raise at his own expense, and to deliver to each proprietor the squares about them clear from all rubbish. He likewise promised rewards according to every man's rank and substance, ap- pointing a day for the discharge of his promise, on condition that against that day their several houses and palaces were finished. He, moreover, made the following wise regula- tions, to obviate such a dreadful calamity for the future: that the new buildings should be raised to a certain height without timber ; that they should be arched with stone from the quarries of Gabii and Alba, which were proof against fire.; that over the common springs which were diverted by private n\en for their own uses, overseers should be placed 0-- THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 155 to prevent that abuse ; that every citizen should have ready in his house a machine proper to extinguish fire ; and that no wall shall be common to two houses, but every house be inclosed within its own peculiar walls. Thus the city in a short time rose out of its ashes with new lustic, and more beautiful than ever." The popularity which, perhaps, Nero acquired by his fierce zeal against Christianity, and by the apparent wisdom, greatness of mind, generosity, and liberality which he dis- played in the erection of his golden palace and the embellish- ment of the city, was transient. In the gratification of his vanity or ambition and desire of public favour, he exhausted all the treasures of the state ; and to procure wealth to satisfy his boundless desires, and to enable him to execute his vast, and, in many instances, his foolish and impracticable schemes, he resorted to measures at once most unjust and oppressive, so that to all ranks, except the dregs of society, his name and gov- ernment became hateful and detestable. He commissioned persons capable of committing every species of wickedness to proceed through Italy, Greece, and Asia, and seize the riches of every province, including the wealth of the temples, the ornaments, and the statues and images of the gods, which were made of the precious metals. The whole were con- veyed to Rome ; and the metallic gods were melted down and turned into money. His tyranny produced universal discon- tent, and astrologers and diviners alone were enriched by pretending to observe many prodigies which they declared forerunners of some dreadful calamity; multitudes in conse- quence resorted to them to have those superstitious fears al- layed which their lies had awakened. Nero was alarmed by these reported omens, and consulted Babylus, a celebrated astrologer. Informed by him that great monarchs could avert these omens by some extraordinary massacre, and, crediting the impostor, it is said that he determined to exterminate th« whole Senatorial order, and commit all the offices of the empire to the knights and his freedmen. Though the execution of this resolution was beyond his power, yet he seemed to fol- low it in his future conduct. To the utmost extent of his power he put to death, or by threatenings compelled to com- mit suicide, every one venerable by the highest rank, or re- spected for wisdom, learning, genius, or exemplary conduct He probably considered his murderous deeds justifiable, on discovering a conspiracy formed to dethrone him by the first men in Rome, and into which history testifies that the #= ^•<» 166 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRroMPHANT. whole nobility, senators, knights, soldiers, and even women, eagerly entered The leader was Caius Pios, a noble of dig- nified aspect, and generous conduct, and still more illustrious by his high rank and powerful eloquence, which he employed for the defence of his fellow-citizens. He was, nevertheless, a man of pleasure, and exceedingly licentious ; but the Ro- mans had not, on this account, any objection to raise him to the empire, for correct morals were not deemed by them ne- cessary in their rulers. Lucan, the celebrated poet, was among the first who joined this conspiracy, instigated, it is said, by revenge for the insults which he had suffered from Nero, who, being himself a poet, and apprehensive lest his poetical fame should be eclipsed by Lucan, permitted not the publication of his poems. Epicharis, an infamous female, was among the most active, determined, and persevering of the conspirators. Her conduct seemed inexplicable, for it could be traced to no motive. She exerted herself to the ut- most to hasten the execution of the purpose, which all ap- proved, to assassinate the emperor, while he was singing on the stage, or traversing the streets in his nightly revels. " When she found that all her reproaches and exhortations had no effect on her accomplices, impatient of their slowness, she left Rome, and hastened to Campania, where she employ- ed all her industry and skill to estrange from Nero the hearts of the chief officers of the fleet lying at Misenum, and to en- gage them in the design, which they had frequent opportuni- ties of executing, as the emperor took great delight in sailing often along the coast of Misenum and Puteoli. In that fleet, Volusius Proculus, who had been employed by Nero to despatch his mother, had the command of a thousand marines. But as he did not think himself thereby sufficiently rewarded for so meritorious a murder, either from an old acquaintance with Epicharis, or a friendship newly contracted, he related to her his signal services to Nero, adding bitter complaints that he had not been distinguished with promotion equal to his de- serts. In answer to him, Epicharis urged all the crying cruelties, all the barbarous outrages committed by the tyrant, and at the same time acquainted him with the conspiracy; but had the precaution to conceal from him the names of the conspirators. The traitor was no sooner let into the secret, than he flew to Rome, and betrayed the whole to Nero. But his discovery availed nothing; for when Epicharis was sum- moned, and confronted with the informer, as his charge against her was supported by no witnesses, she denied it, pretending THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 157 to be greatly amazed at the impudent boldness of the accuser. However, she was detained in prison, Nero suspecting that the charge was not false, though not proved to be true." This circumstance determined the conspirators to delaj'^ no longer the acomplishment of their treacherous design. After much discussion, they agreed that it would be most hon- ourable and e.xpedient publicly to kill Nero during the festi- val of Ceres, at the time of the Circensian games, from which he was never absent. Scevinus, having procured a dagger from a temple, claimed the right to strike the first blow, being con^dent that the sacredness of the instrument insured him success. On the evening preceding that on which the daring and atrocius act was to be performed, Scevinus sealed his will ; then unsheathing the above-mentioned dagger, he com- plained it was blunt and rusty, charging Milichus, one of his freedmen, to have it ground and sharpened at the point : next he ordered a repast more sumptuous and profuse than ordi- nary to be got ready ; after which he presented his favourite slaves with their liberty, and others with sums of money. His countenance, in the midst of an affected cheerfulness, ap- peared clouded : in his discourse he was continually running from one subject to another, without attending to any ; whence all, who were present, concluded that his mind was fraught with some great design : at last he ordered the same Mili- chus to prepare bandages for wounds, and applications for stopping blood. The freedman, reflecting on these orders, and concluding with himself, that a conspiracy was undoubt- edly carrying on, and his patron concerned in it, hastened next morning by break of day to the gardens of Servilius, where Nero then was ; and, being refused admittance, declared that he came to discover matters of the utmost importance." Epaphroditus, one of the emperor's freedmen, at last reluc- tantly admitted him into his presence. On relating all the circumstances, and showing the dagger, his testimony was believed, and Scevinus was instantly brought by a band of soldiers to answer for the crime of which he was accused. Through the agency of his wife and the treacherous slave, the conspiracy was now fully discovered ; and a number of the conspirators who were seized, by the promise of pardon, betrayed many of their dearest friends. Thus Lucan accused his own mother. Epicharis appears to have been remarkably distinguished for fidelity and honour, in this unlawful enter- prise ; for the application of every species of to'ture drew not VOL. in. 14 ' '' T 158 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. a word from her which could be construed to implicate any one of her numerous accomplices. Nero was so dreadfully alarmed on perceiving his danger, that he not only doubled his guards, but posted bands of sol- diers upon the walls, and all round the city, lined the sea coast and the banks of the Tiber with numerous detachments, or- dered parties of foot and horse to scour the fields night and day, to range in the public squares in the neighbouring muni- cipal towns, to enter the private houses. With the picetorian guards Germans were intermixed ; for in them, as they were foreigner^, Nero cheifly confided." Muhitudes were now dragged to the imperial tribunal, which was erected in the royal gardens, and every one was sentenced to perish who had been ever seen to associate, or even smile with the chief conspirators. Many great men suf- fered, and it is reported that of these, the death of no one gave Nero more joy than that of his most eminent tutor and minis- ter, Seneca, whose ruin he had long desired. The philoso- pher was condemned to kill himself He died as a hero and a fool, for while he composedly consoled his wife and friends, with the water of the hot bath in which he bled to death, he sprinkled the slaves who v^^aited on him, and said, " With this water I make a libation to Jupiter the Deliverer." The conspiracy being u-tterly suppressed, Nero assembled the army, " distributed among them a largess of two thousand nummi a man, and ordered them to be thenceforth supplied with corn at the public expense. Upon Petronius Turpili- anus, Cocceius Nerva, and Tigelinus, he bestowed triumphal ornaments, as a reward for their zeal in prosecuting the con- spirators ; nay, he caused triumphal statues to be erected in the forum to the two latter, and their images to be placed in the palace, a distinction seldom granted, and only to persons of the greatest merit, Nymphidius was distinguished with the consular ornaments. The emperor, having thus reward- ed the instruments of his tyranny, assembled the fathers, and acquainted them with the late transactions. To the people he addressed an edict upon the same subject, and published the several evidences against the conspirators, with their own confessions, in order to confute a rumour current among the populace, that the plot was forged, and that Nero, merely to satiate his cruelty, and out of base fear, had sacrificed so many illustrious citizens. In the senate, where the most abject flat- tery prevailed, every senator, the more sensibly he was af- fected with inward grief for the loss of his friends or relations I ^ i THE ROHAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 159 the more outward joy and congratulations he expressed. Ii was by the whole body decreed, that public thanksgivings and oblations should be paid to all the deities, and particular honours to the Sun, who having a chapel in ihe circus, where the parricide was to be perpetrated, had brought to light the dark contrivances of the conspirators ; that the Circensian games should be solemnized with extraordinary pomp ; that the month of April, in which the conspiracy was detected, should thenceforth bear the name of Nero ;' that a temple should be erected to the goddess Salus or Safety, in the place whence Scevinus had taken the dagger. The dagger itself was by Nero dedicated in the capitol, with this inscription, To Jupiter the Avenger. Such was the issue of this conspi- racy, which to the same moment owed, as Tacitus observes, its beginning, progress, and perfection, and was with faithful silence and secrecy concealed in a combination so numerous, so variously framed, amongst those of every condition, sex, and age, till it was accidentally discovered in the manner we have related. " Nero, now delivered from ail fear, betook himself again to his harp. As the time approached for disputing the prizes in the quinquennial games, the senate, to> prevent Nero from appearing there as a competitor, offered him the prize of mu- sic, and also the crown of eloquence. But the emperor an- swered. That he needed not their partiality ; since he himself" was a match for all his competitors, and would only, by the just determination of the judges, purchase the praise and re- compense of his skill. He appeared publicly upon the stage, and there rehearsed a poem of his own composing; but the populace applauding him, and begging he would display all his studies, for these were their words, he entered the great tlieatre, and there appearing amongst the common harpers and minstrels, contended with them for the prize with such eagerness and anxiety, that he never ventured to sit down, however fatigued, that being contrary to the established laws of the harp, nor to spit, nor to wipe the sweat from his face, save only with his arm. In the end, adoring the multitude with his knee bent, and his hands lifted up, according to the custpm of the common players, he waited with awe and trem- bling the determination of the judges. The common people of Rome applauded him with loud shouts and clapping of hands, from an utter insensibility, says our historian, of the crying reproach which disgraced the Roman empire. But the inhab itants of the municipal cities of Italy, who still retained the •^ i 160 THE ROMAN EMPIRE IRItmPHANT. severe manners of the ancients, and such as came from remote provinces, and attended then at Rome upon embassies or their own private affairs, could not behold, without indignation, the sovereign of Rome thus debasing himself upon the stage, and much less join those who applauded this his shameful debase- ment. They were therefore frequently beaten by the soldiers, who stood in several clusters among the crowd to observe the faces of the spectators." This was a 'period of fearful sufferings to the Romans of all ranks. The tyranny of their ruler perhaps was most se- verely felt by the higher orders ; but the judgments of the sov- ereign of all fell indiscriminately on all ranks. Campania was laid waste by dreadful tempests and violent whirlvvindsj the fruits of the land were scattered, plantations were torn up, and whole villages were destroyed. A terrible pestilence pre- vailed in Rome, and quickly carried off about thirty^thousand of her citizens. Lyons, in Gaul, suffered much from an ac- cidental fire, which seemed to excite the compassion of Nero, for he sent a large sum to restore the city. Compassion, how- ever, rarely moved him. His fascinating Poppsea, having provoked him by reproaching him for his nightly dissipations, or by ridiculing him for his mean actions, received a kick from him on the belly, when pregnant, which occasioned her death. In this event the Romans secretly rejoiced, ahhough they were compelled to assume the appearance of mourners. They had, however, no great reason for joy ; Nero now needed no tempter to commit either folly or wickedness; he was irrecoverably lost to all sense of propriety, justice, or mercy. He soon married Statilia Messalina, the widow of a Roman noble, and honoured her with the title of Augusta ; but whatever was her character, as it was scarcely possible, if bad, to augment his depravity, so, if good, it had no influ- ence to improve his mind or reform his conduct. He con- tinued to shed the blood of every Roman Avhose virtue he en- vied or whose power he feared. To amuse the Romans, and turn their thoughts from their many calamities, he exhibited Fridates, brother of Valogeses king of Parthia, in all the pomp of majesty and grandeur, and, in one of the public squares, crowned him king of* Ar- menia. " This was the most magnificent and pompous cere- mony ever witnessed in Rome." Fridates received from the emperor eighty thousand nummi a day, while he rc^mained m Italy,. and at his departure presents of immense value. Nero therefore had no doubt that the Parthian king, on lean> THE ROMAN EMPniE TRIUMPHANT. 16i ing his generosity to his brother, would gratify him bj' ac- cepting his invitation to come to Rome; and his refusal so provoked him, that he resolved, and made great preparations to reduce Parlhia ; but on ascertaining that Valogeses was prepared to defend his dominions, he resumed employments more suited to his vain mind than war. The Greeks, who surpassed all other nations in the art of flattery, knowing Nero's love of applause for his skill in the use of the harp, sent him an embassy with all the crowns given by the Grecian cities to those most celebrated for such skill. This honour was so acceptable to him, that he invited the ambassadors to a grand entertainment. Many of his friends were present. One of the Greeks humbly entreated the em- peror to favour his guests with a song. He complied, and was loudly applauded by the Greeks. This flattery elated him so, that he exclaimed, "the Greeks alone have a good ear ; none but they understand music." That he might pro- cure their admiration, he proposed to proceed immediately to Greece, that he might have an opportunity to contend at the Olympic games which were soon to be held. He was ac- companied, Dion Cassius says, with such a multitude as might have easily reduced all the nations of the East, " had they not, like their general, been destitute of all courage, and armed only with harps, fiddles, masks, buskins, and other theatrical implements. With this army he embarked, and, landing at Cassiope, immediately began to sing before the al- tar of .Tupitcr C^Sc".ac=. Theiice he advanced into the heart of Greece, playing, singing, and acting in all the cities through which he passed. But in the following year, Capito and Rusus being consuls, he chiefly exerted his skill at the Olympic games, where to the eternal ignominy of the Roman name, the head of the empire was not ashamed to appear as a competitor among the common harpers, players, and chari- oteers. He won the prize of music, by corrupting, as was commonly believed, either the judges or his competitors. The prize of chariot-driving he evidently forfeited ; for having at- tempted to drive with ten horses, he was thrown ofl^, and so hurt, that though he remounted, yet he was constrained to de- sist before he had finished the career. However, as he insisted upon the judges excluding all casual events and misfortunes, they decreed him the prize, to his inexpressible satisfaction." From the field of the Olympic games, he visited all the cities of Greece, and everywhere challenged the best perfor- mers in music, and, of course, never failed to be '' declared 14* # % — ' -# 162 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. vittor ; insomuch that he is said to have gained, in this pro- gress, above eighteen hundred prizes. He transmitted a par- ticular account of each victory to the senate, enjoining them to acknowledge the favours of the gods towards him with victims, oblations, and public processions, and to take care that the same devotions were practised throughout the whole em- pire. That there might remain no monuments of other vic- tors, he commanded all their statues to be pulled down, to be dragged through the streets, and to be either dashed to pieces, or thrown into the common sewers." Having attained the pinnacle of the glory of which his base mind was ambitious, he consulted the oracle of Delphi, and was warned by the politic priestess, "to beware of seventy -three, which, not reflecting on Galba's age, he imagined to be the term of his life, and conceived so great assurance of his living, and en- joying an uninterrupted happiness till that age, that, having soon after lost many things of great value by shipwreck, he confidently told his friends, that the very fish would bring them again ; nay, he was so possessed with this notion, that two years after, when the first tidings were brought him of the insurrections in several provinces, he was so far from be- ing alarmed, that he seemed rather to rejoice at those distur- bances, since they furnished him with a plausible pretence of seizing the estates of the inhabitants. The pythoness he pre- sented with a large sum." This money, as well as that which the judges of the games received from Nero, was re- covered by Galba, at the time that he revoked all the privileges which the AchaBans had received. Before he left Greece, he commenced a canal through the isthmus of Corinth, by which he proposed to open a communication between the Ionian and iEgean seas, for the safety of the numerous ves sels on these coasts, where many were usually lost. The work was, however, not finished ; but that and other enor- mous expenses left Nero in penury. To procure means to support his profligacy, he, under various pretences, put to death the richest Greeks, and sold their estates. The Ro- mans suflfered not less on this occasion. He had forcibly car- ried with him to Greece such of the senatorial and equestrian order as were any way considerable for their birth, virtue, or fortunes, with a design to despatch them at a distance from Rome, and consequently with more safety and less noise ; so that tidings were daily brought to the city of the death of some of her most illustrious citizens, and orders to Helius, a freedman '# n -- =-^=^9 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 163 of the emperor Claudius, whom he had left governor of Rome, to seize their estates." Nero, on leaving Rome had invested Helius with absolute power over the persons, lives, and fortunes of all ranks. Assisted by Polycletus, another freedman,this unjust and sav- age ruler made no less -dreadful havock of the nobility of Rome than his master committed in Greece. " Virtue, rank, or weakh, were unpardonable crimes, and punished with death." Whole families were cut off; no pity was shown for children. The citizens were in a state of the greatest excite- ment; and a general insurrection was every hour appre- hended. The tyrannical governor sent successive messengers to Nero, urging him to return. He could not deprive him- self of the glory which he said all must envy ; and he only returned to Italy in consequence of the alarming tidings which he received from Helius on his arrival in Greece, whither he had proceeded on finding all his reports ineffectual to excite the fears of his master. Nero unexpectedly escaped being droAATied during a vio- lent storm, which dispersed and destroyed his fleet, and the weakh of Greece which he had forcibly carried off On reaching Naples, " he entered it through a breach in the wall, according to the custom of the victors in the Olympic games, and in the same manner Antium, Albanum, and Rome. He made his entry into the latter city in the triumphal chariot of Augustus, pompously attired, having with him in the same chariot, another player upon the harp, by name Diodorus, wearing an Olympic crown on his head, and car- rying a Pythic crown in his hand. Before him marched in great pomp, and richly dressed, eighteen hundred persons, each of them with a crown in his hand, and under it an in- scription, signifying where it had been won, the name ot the person whom the emperor had overcome, the subject and title of the song, and such like important circumstances. His chariot was followed by the whole rabble of the city, crying out, by way of derision, that they were the soldiers of Au- gustus, and claimed a share in the glory of the triumphant victor. From the sacred-way the procession turned to the circus, which Nero entered through a breach, having caused one of the arches to be thrown down. Thence they pro- ceeded through the Velabrum and the forum to the palace, and from the palace to the temple of Apollo, where he dis- played all his crowns, and ordered them to be carried from then' e to his golden house, and there hung up round his bed, - which quickly proved fatal, and threw the community into a state of consternation and grief He left only one child, a daughter named Julia Sabina. His worthless brother Domitian, ascended the throne without op- position, in the thirtieth yfear of his age, and reigned about fifteen years. Judging by authentic records, it seems obvious that power, inclination, and pleasure to work wickedness and augment the misery of mankind were never witnessed combined in a greater degree than in this prince. He was an entire mass of human depravity, in which were rarely visible, from his birth to his death, one ray of moral excellence. If he was, at any time, under moral restraint, it might be traced to a de- ficiency of courage or an excess of vanity, and not to respect for his own judgment or conscience, nor reverence for any- thing divine or human. We cannot reconcile some state- ments concerning him which seem contradictory. He neg- lected, in youth, all education, except archery, say some au- thors, while others appeal to facts which show him to have been superior to many of his rank, in talents, literature, and poetic genius. He is said to have lived m great poverty, and sold himself for the vilest purpose to procure the means of subsistence, and yet no hint is given of his father having ever declined to supply his necessities. No one useful action seems to have been performed by him previously to his as- cent to the throne. He was sufi^ciently ambitious, but desti* 4 214 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. lute of wisdom, activity, and fortitude to conduct any ardu- ous enterprise, whether lawful or unlawful. In the absence of his father and brother, when the former was proclaimed by the senate emperor, he was honoured with the title of Cesar. He instantly assumed the chief power, but he left others to conduct the government, and, finding himself libe- rated from authority and law, he gave himself wholly to vo- luptuous pursuits, with all the eagerness of a wild beast riot- ing on his prey. On his father's arrival in Rome, he felt his own insignificance, and would willingly have opposed him, had any one possessed of influence supported him in an attempt to depose his father. Envious of the justly merited celeb- rity of his brother, he aspired to military fame, and was only prevented from leading the troops to disgrace and destruction m Germany, by the persuasion of Mutianus, who knew that he was at once destitute of the capacity, experience, and knowledge requisite in a general of the army. Being neg- lected or despised by all whose society and friendship were desirable, he sought solitude and avowed that he purposed to occupy his time in literary studies. These afforded little pleasure to his vanity, and were alien from his sensual habits and licentious manners. He soon requested his father to per- mit him to lead an army to assist 'the Parthians, who had ap- plied to Rome for assistance in the war which they prose- cuted against barbarians. Vespasian had more wisdom than to gratify the foolish desire of his son, whose life never gave him pleasure. Disappointed, without power and influence from this time, his timidity became his safety, and till the un- expected and deplored death of his brother, he was known only as the prince of the Roman youth, and Cesar, the heir of the empire, whose exaltation none desired except his vile associates. He was first saluted emperor by the praetorian guards, whose choice was confirmed by the senate. He began his reign, like his predecessors, by emulating the conduct of the best princes: and he excelled the greater number, by express- ing sacred respect for the most righteous and usefullaws, and issuing several edicts calculated to advance the comfort and prosperity of all ranks. To procure popular applause, he dis guised his vicious practices and concealed his frivolous or hateful pursuits, and assumed the character of a prince who desired to surpass other men as much in humanity as in power. To testify his abhorrence of every approach to cruelty, he decreed that neither cattle nor any living creature, Hi #. }\\ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. SI'S should be, in future, offered in sacrifice. Having a strong taste for architecturai works, or a wish to excite admiration by a display of magnificence, he expended immense sums in re pairing the ancient buildings, and in finishing or erecting many new ones in the capital. Plutarch says, that he was desirous to change all its stones into gold. Though he ceased to relish literature, yet he patronised it, and greatly enriched! the public libraries. Indeed, in discharging the duties of censor, Domitian denounced whatever was unjust, effeminate, impure, or was conceived to have an immoral or degrading tendency. His virtue was, however, no more than a luminous meteor, which illuminated the city a few days, to leave it in the blackness of darkness, for the fifteen years of his execra- ble reign. Conscious that he merited not the sceptre of the world, he suspected every man of rank, talent, or character, to be his enemy; and his incontrollable and boundless vanity excited him to employ all the means which absolute power placed at his command to induce or compel all to acknowledge him a great man, a mighty commander, and even a god. The dig- nities and honourable appellations conceded by former empe- rors were as nothing in his eyes. He ordered his secretary to begin his edicts thus: "Our lord and our god orders and commands," &,c. and he enjoined that no one should address him by any other titles than these. One of his laws called all his subjects to pay him divine worship; and philosophers and poets describe the streets crowded with droves of victims driven to the capitol to be sacrificed before his statues. He suffered no statue of himself to be erected but what consisted of pure gold and silver. He filled the city with triumphal gates, arches, and monuments, to celebrate his victories, which had scarcely any existence, unless in his wild imagination. He, indeed, early led his army to war, that the world might ring with his conquests; but, unhappily for him, and, indeed, for the empire, he provoked the indignation and revenge of the Cattans, whom Tacitus praises as the most civilized and brave of all the tribes or nations of the Germans. Having no apprehension of an attack, they were unprepared to resist him, and suffered their lands to be laid waste. With a few peasants made prisoners, the unjust and barbarous prince has- tily returned to Rome, and obtained the honour of a triumph, in which were led before his chariots numerous slaves, whom he had purchased and dressed in the attire of the Germans The Cattans quickly retaliated on the Romans, for they ®=^=. _ .^^ #- ^ ^ ^^ *216 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. conquered the country of the German nation named Cheru- sans, and expelled their king, a tributary of Rome, who claimed the assistance of Domitim That dastardly and timid prince sent him money, but declined meeting the C;-ittans in open war. This conduct, doubtless, soon taught all who knew it to despise his power, and severai brave nations attempted to cast off the Roman yoke. The fiery spirit of revolt spread over the empire, and the armies sent to suppress it were generally consumed, chiefly from the in- capacity of their leaders; for Domitian, from envy or fear, carefully avoided appointing any one of known talent to any important office. " Many were the armies lost," Tacitus ob- serves, " in Maesia, Dacia, Germany, and Pannonia, all by the misconduct of our generals. The question and contest now were, not about maintaining the limits of the empire, and guarding the rivers which served for its boundaries, but about defending the standing encampments of our legions, and pre- serving our own territories." Domitian occasionally placed himself at the head of the army, but his campaigns uniformly terminated in disgrace ; yet he as uniformly returned to Rome in all the exultation of a conqueror, and received trium- phal honours. He thirsted not more for unmerited fame than he intensely desired the ruin of everyone whom he knew de- served the esteem or confidence of society, for he was fully aware that every wise and virtuous and generous mind in- wardly despised him. He had, accordingly, reigned only three or four years when the fountain of wickedness, which his vain ambition had perhaps impelled him foy a brief pe- riod to conceal or confine within his utterly depraved heart, burst forth, and threatened the entire extinction of all that was great or good in the empire. Never has absolute power more fearfully exhibited injustice, oppression, and cruelty, in their terrific forms, than in the reign of this demon-emperor After one of the first of his mock-triumphs, he caused, it is said, the astrologers to cast the nativity of every illustrious person, and whoever was declared destined for the empire, was instantly put to death. Informers, whom he had hitherto denounced, were now more encouraged than in any previous reign, and many senators and knights were accused of trea- son, and suffered the penalty of the crime. The life of no honourable person was safe. Agricola, perhaps the first sol- dier and statesman of the age, was disgraced, and, it is sup- posed, a few years later, poisoned, although his loyalty was unquestionable. S. Coccianus perished merely for celebrating THE &OMAN EUPIEE TaiUMPHANT. 217 the birth-day of his uncle, the late emperor, Oiho. S. Lu- culhis, governor in Britain, had permitted a new kind of lance to be called by his name ; on this account he was put to death. Similar punishment was inflicted on an author for having written in co»nmendation of two learned men ; and on Maternus, a renowned philosopher, because he had pub- licly declaimed against tyranny and tyrants. All philoso- phers and teachers of science were banished ; and books of the most eminent men, who had either praised patriotism or virtue, were publicly burnt. In reference to the cruelty of Domitian, Tacitus remarks : '• Mighty was the testimony which we gave of our patience ; for as our forefathers had beheld the ultimate perfection of liberty, so did we of bon- dage ; since, through dread of informers, we were bereft of the common intercourse of speech. . Nay, with our utter- ance, we had likewise lost our memory, had it been equally in our power to forget as to be silent. Against the defence of innocence accused, against the most evident truth and jus- tice, the ears of the emperor were ever shut; but calumny, whispered by any informer, had equal weight with real crimes proved by authentic witnesses." " Falsehood and flattery," says Dion Cassius, " envy and rapaciousness, passed for evidence ; justice was converted into cruelty, and judg- ment into rage ; the tribunals erected for justice, and preser- vation of life and property, were turned into shambles ; and what had the names of pains and penalties, were, in truth, robbery and assassination." " In the midst of his cruelties, he abandoned himself to all manner of lewdness andr de- bauchery, and was on that score no less infamous than the most vicious of his predecessors. His avarice was equal to his lewdness and cruelty : not that he had any natural bias to that vice, says Suetonius, but, having exhausted his treas- ury by the many buildings he raised, by the magnificent sports and shows which he exhibited, by increasing the pay of the soldiers, and by other wild and e.xtravagant expences, he betook himself to all sorts of rapine and extortion, seizing, upon the least information, the estates of the most wealthy citizens : the least action or word against the majesty of the prince was made use of as a pretence for stripping them of whatever they possessed. He confiscated inheritances, ap- propriating to himself all the eflfects of persons whom he never knew, if he could find but one witness to depose that he had ever heard the deceased say that Cesar was his heir. With these, and such like artificial contrivances, h6 VOL, III. 19 #^ # if$ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. reduced to beggary the most opulent persons, not only in Rome and Italy, but in all the provinces of the Roman em- pire. His officers and procurators exacted the tributes and taxes with the greatest rigour and severity imaginable ; but, above all, he oppressed the Jews in a most cruel manner, not excepting even such of them as had renounced their reli- gion ; and with the like severity treated those, says Sueto- nius, (meaning, no doubt, the Christians,) who lived in Rome after the manner of the Jews, and seemed to profess the same superstition." Domitian, every successive year, exceedingly increased the miseries of the empire. His name was abhorred, not only in Rome, but also throughout the provinces, insomuch that A. D. 89. a bold individual appeared in Asia, pretending to be Nero, and gave a plausible account of the manner in which he had escaped the search of those sent to kill him. Multi- tudes believed this impostor, and the king of Parthia received him with marks of distinction, and supplied him with troops. But Domitian prevailed on him to seize the impostor and de- liver him up to the governor of Syria. The tyrant was, how- ever, this year more terrified by the revolt of L. Antonms, governor of Upper Germany, who was supported by the ma- jority of the Germans. The emperor led a large army against him, and forced almost all the nobles of Rome to ac- company him. Before they reached the Rhine, Antonius had been slain, and his army scattered by Maximus, an able general, who obtained his papers, and burnt them. By this means many who had encouraged the revolt remained un- known. But Domitian, on returning to Rome, sedulously endeavoured to discover all who had engaged in this revolt ; and every one supposed to have been the friend of Antonius, or suspected of being favourable to his schemes, suffered death or exile. From this time the emperor kept the le- gions separate ; two were never united in one camp. He lived in terror, dreading every one distinguished for the least influence in civil society or the army, or even for physical strength. Thus, when entertaining the citizens with va- rious and numerous shows, he compelled Glabrio, remarka- ble for great strength, to contend with a lion. Having over- come the dreadful animal, Domitian's jealousy was roused, and under pretence that he was guilty of somewhat, sen- tenced him to banishment. To amuse the people he caused a vast lake to be constructed near the Tiber, in which was represented a sea-fight, a scene said by historians to have been \ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 219. the most expensive and magnificent ever witnessed in Rome. The year a. d. 94, was remarkable for the sufferings inflicted on the Romans by this monster of wickedness, more than all they had previously endured during his reign. He began to execute the malignant design which he had for some time contemplated, of extirpating the senate and every man of rank or virtue. Tacitus thus speaks of this calamitous period. " The islands were peopled with exiles ; the rocks contami- nated with murder and blood ; but more hideous still were the ravages of cruelty at Rome. It was treasonable to be noble ; capital to be rich ; criminal to have borne honours, criminal to have declined them ; and the reward of worth and virtue was quick and inevitable destruction. Nor were the iniquities of the informers more shocking than their great and distinguished rewards ; for upon some were bestowed, as the spoils of the state, the pontifical dignities, and those of the consulship; others were sent with the character of procura- tors into the provinces ; some were made prime ministers and confidants at home ; and in every station, exerting all their terrors, and pursuing their hatred, they controlled and con- foimded all things. Slaves were suborned against their masters, freed men against their patrons ; and such as had no enemies, were betrayed and undone by their friends. The age, however," continues our historian, " was not so utterly destitute of all virtue as not to afford commendable examples of friendship and magnanimity. There were mothers who accompanied their banished sons; wives, who followed their husbands into exile ; in relations were found resolution and succour; in son.s-in-law, constancy and duty; in slaves, such fidelity as baffled all the menaces and horrors of the tor- ture; illustrious men struggling under the greatest distress, supporting it with constancy, and displaying a fortitude in death equal to that of the most celebrated ancients. The court was bnsieged ; the senate inclosed with armed men, its most exalted members slain, and many ladies of the first ranks preserved their life only by voluntary exile. Even Nero withheld his eyes from scenes of cruelty: he indeed ordered murders to be perpetrated, but saw them not. The principal part of our miseries under Domitian was to be obliged to see him, and be seen by him, at a time when all our sigfhs and sorrows were watched and marked do ^n for condemnation ; when that cruel countenance of his, aiways covered with a settled red, whence he hardened himself against shame and blushing, served him to observe all the pale # 9 , 2^ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. horrors at once possessing so many illustrious men." Abou; this time, all philosophers and public instructors of science were expelled from Rome and Italy. But the demoniacal malice and power of Domitian were not universally felt till a. d. 95, the fourteenth year of his reio"n, when he made all of every rank and moral excellence who confessed the faith of Christ, throughout the empire, vic- tims of his hatred. May he not have found that he could not deprive of life some of his own f^imily, whom he hated, by any other means than accusing them of violation of the laws of the state, in relation to religion ? And this he could not do with any show of justice, but by publishing an edict against Christiani- ty, which they had embraced. In the first year of his reign, Domitian had put to death hiscousjn, F. Sabinus, eldest son of his uncle, the brother of Vespasian. Sabinus was married to Julia, daughter of Titus. The public crier unhappily in- advertently when proclaiming him consul, used for the title emperor. This was thje pretended crime for which he suf- fered. His brother was made to marry Domitian's niece Do- raitilla. The year in which he was colleague in the consu- late with the emperor being finished, he was accused of atheism and impiety, the usual charges brought against Chris- tians, and, as a Christian, he was put to death. His wife de- clined to obey the emperor, when he commanded her to mar- ry again, and was, on this account, banished to the island of Pandataria, the modern Santa Maria. As to their two sons, to whom Domitian proposed to leave the empire, nothing of their future life is recorded. None of his own children sur- vived ; an infant daughter is mentioned, whom, at her death, he placed among the gods. How long this second Roman persecution prevailed seems uncertain ; it is, however, known to have caged over the empire; and among those exiled for .)e truth, John the apostle is specially mentioned. If Tertul- lian be correct in his traditionary report, John would not have probably been spared, had he not miraculously escaped un- hurt from the burning^ oil into which he was thrown. The general voice of tradition asserts that he returned about a. d. 96, to Asia Minor, and settled at Ephesus, whence he circu- lated among the churches the Revelation of the visions which predicted the destinies of the Fifth Empire from his day to the end of the world. He died in the hundreth year of his age Some say that Domitian himself arrested the persecution of Christianity. This, however, is not probable, for one of the ^ THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 221 first edicts of his successor was the proclamation of pardon to all who had been accused or banished for atheism, impiety, or Judaism, crimes of which Christians were accused. Hap- pily for the Christian church, the life of their violent and powerful enemy was suddenly and unexpectedly terminated, notwithstanding that he used every possible means to guard against assassination, of -which he lived in continual dread. Stephanus, a strong man, and one of the principal freedmen of Domitilla, the widow of F. Clemens, offered his services to a band of conspirators. Under the pretence that Clemens was still alive, and at the head of a company who had pledged themselves to take the life of the emperor, he was intioduced to him, when he presented him with a memorial containing the names of the persons and residences of Clemens' associates. While he attentively read the memorial, Stephanus struck a dagger into his belly. He struggled for life, but that was soon extinguished by other conspirators who were in the pa- lace. The chief murderer was killed by some of the empe- ror's servants, but all the others escaped. All ranks rejoiced in the death of Domitian, except the soldiers, whose pay he had increased and whom he permitted to share in his plun- ders. His body was left to be burnt by Phyllis, who had nursed him when an infant. She secretly conveyed the body to a house m the country, burnt it, and mixed the ashes with those of J alia, the daughter of Titus, whom she had also nursed. As soon as the death of Domitian was ascertained, the se- nate assembled, and, without delay, with one voice declared M. Cocceius Nerva emperor. His family, said to have been originally from Crete, had for several generations occupied a high place among the Roman nobility. He was highly edu- cated, and ranked among the first poets ; on which account Nero erected a statue for him in the palace. He had been calleague in the consulate with Vespasian, a. d. 71, and with Domitian a. d. 90 ; but the latter would have put him to death among those whom the astrologers had declared destined for emperor, had not one of these assured Domitian that he w^as not to be feared, for he would not live many days. Nerva was the first emperor of Rome who truly deserved a throne. He was distinguished above all his predecessors for moral excellence, and valued the sceptre merely for the power by which it enabled him to advance the happiness of all classes of the community. He was remarkable for genero- sityj gentleness, and justice. He was, wh.?t every magistrate 19* ^a^ 222 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. ought to be, a terror only to evil doers ; but even these he was slow to punish, when they were merely guilty of doing, or seeking to do him personal injury. Of this he gave many proofs-' but the most striking was his changing the sentence of death by the senate into banishment on some of the chief men of Rome who were convicted of conspiring to take his life. He acted thus in conformity to the oath which he had taken, that no senator should ever be put to death by his or- der. This extreme leniency encouraged the praetorian guards to disturb the peace of the city, and compel him to deliver over to execution all who had been in any way concerned in the murder of the late emperor. Conscious that the empire required a more vigorous ruler, Nerva resolved to choose for a successor one qualified and disposed to reign for the general good. This noble motive led him to overlook his own rela- tions and friends, and adopt Ulpius Trajan, believed to be the greatest and most worthy person of the age. On presenting him to the senate, he said, " With my hearty wishes for the pros- perity of the'senate and people of Rome, and that what I do may prove fortunate to them and myself, I declare Marcus Ul- pius Trajan my son. He afterwards gave him the title of Ce^ar, with that of German icus, which he himself seems to have assumed about this time, invested him with the tribuni- tial power, and even honoured him with the title of emperor ; so that he created him not only his successor, but his partner in the empire ; at the same time he named him consul for the ensuing year." Nerva survived this event not many months ; he was about seventy years old, and feeble ; a paroxysm of passion, it is said, produced a fatal fever, after he had reigned nearly seventeen months. Trajan ascended the throne a. d. 98. Spain was his na- tive country ; but no Roman prince ever discovered more of the spirit of a Roman, or more determination to extend or confirm the power of Rome. To this, we conceive, may be traced not only his most celebrated deeds as a warrior, but also his most unjust and impolitic treatment of the most mer- itorious class of his subjects. His father was one of the ablest officers in the Roman army ; he commanded one of the le- gions of Vespasian whom Titus commanded in Judea, and by whom he completely conquered the Jews and disorganised their nation. Trajan served under his fluher when he hum- bled the Parthians, in commemoration of which his son after- wards had conferred on him the title of Parthecus. Young Trajan was ten years a military tribune, and rose successively THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 223 to the offices of prtetor, consul, and governor of a province. The last office he occupied in Upper Germany, at the time that Nero chose him for his successor. He possessed great physical strength, and was remarkable for a noble and digni- fied aspect. He was justly acknowledged the first military commander of his age, and equal to the most celebrated gen- erals of antiquity. '^ In every duty of war he was indefati- gable ; he marched always on foot at the head of the army, even after he was emperor, and crossed immense countries without ever once mounting on horseback, or suffering him- self to be carried, as other emperors had done, in a chariot or litter. His diet was such as chance presented. In his garb and general dress, he little varied from a common sol- dier. Upon consultations and dispatches he bestowed nights and days. He never retired to his tent till he had visited the camp, and was always the first in the field when the usual exercises were to be performed. He was acquainted with all the old soldiers, called them by their names, remembered their exploits, and familiarly conversed with them ; but at the same time knew how to keep them to their duty. He was great in war and equally great in peace. When he first as- sumed the sovereign power, he publicly professed that he did not think himself, in that high station, more exempt from the observance of the laws than the meanest of the populace, and accordingly took an oath to obey them, which he religiously observed." He was not learned, but he esteemed and patronised those eminent for science and literature. He was less generous and condescending than Nerva, but signalized his adminis- tration by justice to all ranks, and liberality'' to the poor. He would rather that a thousand criminals should escape than that one innocent person should suffer punishment. On ap- pointing any one to command his guards, he presented him with a drawn sword, saying: " Employ this sword for me ; but turn it, if I deserve it, against me." He expended im- mense sums to relieve the poor, not fewer than two millions, in the provinces as well as in Rome. He was consequently everywhere regarded as the father of his country, by all of v'hom he was revered and loved. Governors accused and proved guilty of injustice and oppression, were severely pun- ished ; of this history records several strong proofs. In per- sonal morals he, however, appears to have been scarcely su- perior to his predecessors. He was addicted to wine and all the pleasures of the senses, and was gratified by lofty titles, 1 T 224 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMFHANT. such as lord, which Augustus himself refused. The chief ob- ject of his ambition seems to have been to establish and extend the entire constitution of imperial Rome, political, civil, and religious, to the highest possible degree. Trajan entered on his reign in his forty-fifth year, full of vigor of mind and body. The first war in which he engaged after his exaltation was against the Dacians, who demanded from him the an- nual sum which Domitian had pledged himself to remit to them. This he refused, as derogatory to the Roman peo- ple. He led, a. d. 102, a p )werful army into their country, and speedily overcame thei*" army ; and was about to attack their capital, when their king Decebalus desired peace on any conditions which he chose to propose. These conditions, which it is unnecessary to enumerate, were supposed com- pletely to have reduced the Dacians under the power of Rome, and Trajan, having garrisoned their chief towns, re- turned to Rome, and enjoyed the first triumph of the Ro- mans over the brave people of Dacia. He also took, from this time, the surname Dacius. The haughty spirit of Decebalus impelled him soon to vio- late the treaty to which he had reluctantly submitted. He strengthened his fortified places, and made war on the neigh- bouring people, who declined to join him in resisting the Romans. The Scythians became his allies ; and the senate of Rome proclaimed him a public enemy. Trajan made great preparations to oppose him, and when he conducted his army to the Danube, he gave orders to construct the stone bridge over that river which historians represented as the most noble structure of the kind that the world ever beheld. The Romans crossed this bridge, and, after an arduous cam- paign, n^ade themselves master of the metropolis of Dacia, and the immense treasures of its mighty monarch, who pre- ferred taking his own life to falling into the hands of his en- emies. Trajan reduced Dacia into a Roman province of great extent. Its lands were distributed to poor Roman citi- zens who chose to emigrate thither. Strong castles were erected, in which were stationed garrisons sufiicent to com-_ mand the obedience of the natives. A number of the neigh- bouring nations sought alliance with Rome, ambassadors from various remote regions, including India, visited Trajan to congratulate him on his victories, in memory of which he caused many medals to be cast. About this time, the gov- ernor of Syria conquered the region of Arabia Patraea, ma- king himself master of the strong city of Petra, which be 4 #= t THE ROMAN EMP[RE TRIDMPHANT. 225 came, for the first time, the chief city of a Roman province in Arabia. Tnijan's ambition of conquest was inflamed by success. He remained not lon<^ in Rome to enjoy the triumphs by which he wns honoured after his return from Germany. The king of Parthia had presumed to give a king to Armenia, which the Romans regarded as their property. Trajan pro- ceeded to his eastern dominions, fully resolved to conquer the Parthians, who had repeatedly overthrown the Romans, and continued a kind of rivals for the empire of the world. The emperor passed from Italy to Athens, and thence advanced through Aii'd and Syria, till he reached its capital, Antioch, which he entered crowned with a branch of an olive-tree. From Antioch he lei a powerful army into Armenia, which he reduced into a Roman province. He next invaded the dominions of the Parthian empire, where he obtained signal success. After conquering the parts of Syria subject to Par- thia, and Chaldea. he encamped in ancient Babylon. The Parthians made a stand when he had reached the Euphrates. To elude them, he caused boats to be constructed in the adja- cent mountains, and brought them during night to the river, which his troops crossed in the presence, and in defiance of the most vigorous opposition of the enemy. " Trajan made himself master of the kingdom of Adiabepe, which he had reduced in the former war, but, perhaps, restored upon the conclusion of the peace. He likewise subdued the country which at that tirnp. still retained the name of Assyria, and in which stood the city of Ninos or Nineveh, and Arbela and Gaugamela. He ordered his vessels to be brought upon land-carriages from the Euphrates to the Tigris, these two rivers being, in some places, at a small distance from each other ; and, having formed a bridge with them, passed his army over the Tigris, and ma'e himself master of Seleucia, and likewise of the great city >jf Ctesiphon, the metropolis of the Paithi9I40 YBt ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. xix. 11 — 17. The Sovereig-n of the Fifth Empire retired not from the contest with the votaries of the vain and polluted gods of the nations, when his first ministers were summoned to sit with him on his invisible throne. 'I'he work which he had taug-ht them to perform, he committed to others, whom he counted fjithful, and he went forth at their head, "conquer- ing- and to conquer," till the whole empire became nominally subject to his jrovernment, who is " King of kings, and Lord of iords." Thus were many predictions by the ancient prophets accomplished : all nations worshipped the Lord Je- sus ; and the tribes of the people did him homage. Posterity would have, perhaps, never known the Christian state of Bithynia any more than its state in other provinces, had Pliny not had more knowledge of morals than was usu- ally attained by the Roman governors. Christianity had al- ready, evidently invisibly, and most probably imperceptibly, powerfully affected the minds of intelligent and learned un- believers. Its moral principles strongly recommend them- selves to the consciences of all considerate men. And many learned from Christianity much to embitter their life, and make them administer much good to mankind, while they proudly rejected its peculiar truths, which would have, at once, imparted to them pure felicity, and made them more extensively useful in society. The moral opinions of Seneca, the elder and younger Pliny, and some of their learned con- temporaries undoubtedly rose far above the standard of pa- ganism. And Nerva and Trajan discovered more universal benevolence and tender compassion for mankind in general, than was common with their predecessors. They walked in light whose sun or fountain they knew not, or disdained to acknowledge, and in this vain and inconsiderate conduct have they been followed by thousands of the learned and mighty in all successive ages. Happy had it been for them had they not, in pride of intellect, and perversion of afl!ec- tions, not attempted to extinguish that light to which they were indebted for that imperfect moral excellence which con- stituted their truest and highest glory. Notwithstandingthe moral splendour of Pliny and Trajan, they were destitute of the very first element of moral science, benevolence, or enlightened love to God and men, and by consequence, they neither reverenced him as the Supreme, nor practised impartial justice to the human race. The standard of duty with Pliny, was obedience to the supreme authority in human society, without any regard to the au- =t: THE ROJIAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 241' .liority of God as the sovereign Lord and Judge of every man. He perceived that the Christians were guilty of nc crime which even the laws of the empire had defined, and denounced as deserving of punishment; for the law prohib- iting the introduction of a new god or a new religion differ- ent fi om that recognised by the Romans, had been by custom a dead letter in ail ages: it had rarely been enforced. " The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false ; and by the magistrate as equjliy useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord." Pliny, re- gardless alike of the homage due to God and to the law of the empire, expelled from his heart all feelings of jus- tice and humanity, by the imagination or persuasion that resolute refusal to worship idols at his command as the chief magistrate, indispensably demanded the infliction of the most severe of punishments which human policy, revenge, or malice had invented. Though conscious of his ignorance of Christianity, yet he deigned not to investigate it, that he might judge with knowledge and impartiality of the accusa- tion of violating the law by confessing it, notwithstanding that the welfare of the majority of the people depended on his decision. Truly, the pride of talent and learning be- trays consummate meanness of spirit and callousness of heart. It absolutely prevented the attainment of knowledge and wisdom, whicli the possessor conceives to be his highest glory. He only values the knowledge which leaves him self-sufficient and insensible to his obligations to worship and serve his Creator. Whether the Christian serve God or not, held truth or was deluded, it was nothing to the worldly phi- losopher. Trajan, inferior as he was in learning, and perhaps intel- lect, to Pliny, acted soraewiiat more honourable ; and we doubt not, would not have persecuted, had he not determined to maintain the integ/ity and ancient glory and religion of the Roman empire, civil as well as political. His officer and friend had listened to informers ; the emperor enjoins him to give no encouragement to such persons ; they were a worth- less race whom his government denounced; and as for anonymous libels, they were not at all to be regarded, for he aspired to the fiime of a generous and just sovereign. Nevertheless, this apparently noble-minded man had revived the law which rendered capital the worship of a god not ad- VOL. LU. 21 =% # 243 THIS EOMAN EMPIRE TRrUMPHANT. mined into the list of the gods of the Romans. He was un- questionably more ambitious of supporting the glory than the true happiness of the Romans. He was as zealous to spread the fame of the gods of Rome as its political power. Accord- ingly, we find him, in his progress through the Eastern pro- vinces, acting as the supreme judge in religious as well a? in civil affairs, believing that his personal celebrity required the prosperity of both. It is possible that posterity would have known nothing more of Trajan's personal implacable hatred of Christianity, and his persecution of its advocates, than of many other events deeply affecting them, had they, especially their teachers, remembered all the instructions of their Lord and Saviour, and the example of his most faithful ministers. They were, doubtless, persecuted in all the provinces, in obe- dience to Trajan's edicts ; but neither he nor his friends deemed Christianity worthy of their thoughts, except in so far as it obtruded itself on their attention, and seemed to inters fere with their schemes of political ambition. The wisdom of this world, and the renown of statesmen and successful war^ and the pleasures of this life, constituted, in their eyes, human felicity. Christianity, in its primitive simplicity, had no charms for them. They had neither inclination nor time to observe or record the excellence or defects, the laboui s or suf- ferings of its followers, whom they looked on as a race re- markable for ignorance or imbecility of mind, or contemptible for poverty or fanaticism. The Roman governors believed it their duty to extirpate Christianity, in obedience to their emperor ; it was no part of their labour or care to repoit its history. Trajan, on arriving at Antioch, raised his tribunal there, as in other places, and heard the accusations brought against Christians. We have, however, no evidence that he sum- moned them as a body before him, nor even encouraged their enemies to accuse them. That he, however^ was their deter- mined enemy, is rtianifest from his treatment of Ignatius, bishop of the Christian church at Antioch. This holy minister had, we think, rashly made up his mind to expose himself to martyrdom, perhaps in the expectation that when the shepherd was slain, the flock would be spared. Instead. of continuing to discharge his duty quietly, or retiring from the fcice of the persecutor, he sought an interview with the emperor, and con- fessed his faith, partly in phraseology which no unbeliever could be supposed to unde; stand or interpret as conveying anything but the delusions of an enthusiast. '' Ambition and ®^ # THE ROHAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. MS lust of power," the intelligent and pious Milner remarks, " were not stronger features in the character of Cesar, than the desire of martyrdom was in that of Ignatius." He had long governed the chuch in Antioch, and was a very aged Christian, a. d. 107, when he held the interview with Trajan, which is thus detailed. " What an impious spirit art thou." said the emperor, " both to transgress our commands, and to inveigle others into the same folly to their ruin? Ignatius. Theophorus ought not to be called so, forasmuch as all wick- ed spirits are depiirted far from the servants of God. But if you call me impious because I am hostile to evil spirits, 1 own the charge in that respect ; for I dissolve all their snares, through the inward support of Christ, the heavenly King. Traj'in. Pray, who is Theophorus ? Ignatius. He who has Christ in his breast. Trajan. And thinkest thou not that gods reside in us also, who fight for us against our enemies? Ignatius. You mistake in calling the demons of the nation by the name of gods ; for there is only Qme God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them ; and One Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, whose kingdom be my portion ! Trajai,. His kingdom do you say, who was cru- cified under Pilate? Ignatius. His, who crucified my sin with its author ; and has put all the fraud and malice of Sa- tan under the feet of those who carry him in their heart. Trajan. Dost thou then carry him who was crucified with- in thee? Ignatius. I do ; for it is written, ' I dwell in them, and walk in them.' Then Trajan pronounced this sentence against him : — ' Since Ignatius confesses that he carries with- in himself him that was crucified, we command that he be carried bound by soldiers to Great Rome, there to be thrown to the wilJ beasts, for the entertainment of the people.' " This conversation and the account of his future sufferings, are said to have been written by the Christians who accompaniei him to Rome. But the original document, as well as his epistles to several churches, have been, like other writings of the Chris- tians, injured by posterity, and phrasesor sentiments inserted as- cribed to Ignatius which he probably would have disapproved. However valuable his epistles, and the writing of his contem- poraries or successors may be, it would be well to recollect that they constittite no part of the infallible rule of the faith and practice of Christianity, of which no just judgment can be formed, except from the Scriptures. Guards were sent with Ignatius to Seleucia, and thence they sailed to Smyrna, where he was allowed to enjoy, fo.r »-=--— ■ # t J 244 THE ROMAN EMPmE TRIUMPHANT. sometime, the society of his friend and fellow-disciple of the I apostle John, Polycarp, the venerable and holy bishop of the church in this city ; and here also he had the pleasure of in- ,1 tercourse with a number of Christians sent by their respective " churches in Asia Minor, to refresh his spirits, and testily their love for him. From Smyrna he sailed to Troas, accompanied , by Polycarp and other Christian friends. He was conducted ■\ by his guards from Troas to Nicopolis, passed by Philippi, *• throuo-h Macedonia, and part of Epirus, from one of the ports } of which they sailed to Italy, and landed at Ostia, the seaport i of Rome. The Christians here intimated their strong desire f to intercede for his life ; but he declined the fivour. Hav- (I ing reached Rome, he was delivered to the prefect, and or- r dered to be put to death. A number of the Christians were i permitted to unite with him in prayer. He particularly prayed II for the churches, and that the persecution might cease, as |l it had done to his great joy, in Antioch. He was then led 5] into the amphitheatre and thrown to the wild beasts. They j devoured him, except a few of his bones, which his friends !; carefully collected and conveyed to Antioch, where they were j burned. The letters of Ignatius contain more instruction to the churches than information respecting their state. His allu- sions, however, on this subject teach us that the Christians in Syria and Asia were still animated by the true spirit of Chris- tianity, and boldly contended for the faith, in opposition to the seductions of false teachers, and the power of unbelieving rulers, philosophers, and idolaters. The most satisfiictory view of the spirit and conduct of the Christians, al^out the end of the first century, given by any uninspired writer is to be found in the epistle of Clemens Romanus to the church at Corinth, which he is supposed to have written about a. d. 95. This is the only work of the first Christians that have survived that breathes throughout the pure apostolic spirit. Though the Corinthians had relapsed into similar evils to those which induced Paul to write to them his two epistles, yet the restoration effected by his first, and attested to in the second, appears to have been truly real ; for Clemens thus describes their prosperous state previously to the relapse which he deplores. " What strangers," he says, "that came among you, did not take honourable notice formerly of the firmness and fulness of your faith? Who of them'did not admire the sobriety and gentleness of your godly spirit in Chris*? Who did not extol the liberal practice of your 1 THE ROMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. 245 Christian hospitality ? How admirable was your sound and mature knowledge of divine things ? Ye were wont to do all things without respect to persons ; and ye walked in the ways of God in due subjection to your pastors, and submit- ting yourselves the younger to the elder. Ye charged young men to attend to the gravity and moderation becoming the Christian character ; young women to discharge their duties with a blameless, holy, and chaste conscientiousness ; to love their husbands with all suitable tenderness and fidelity ; and to guide the house in all soberness and gravity. Then ye all showed a humble spirit, void of boasting and arrogance, more ready to obey than to command, more ready to give than to re- ceive. Content with the Divine allotments, and attending diligently to his word, ye were enlarged in your bowels of love ; and his sufferings on the cross were before your eyes. Hence a profound and happy peace w^as imparted to you all ; an unwearied desire of doing good, and a plentiful eff'usion of the Holy Ghost was with you. Full of holy counsel, in all readiness of mind, with godly assurance of faith, ye stretched forth your hands to the Lord Almighty, intreating him to be gracious to you, if in anything ye unwillingly of- fended. Your care was, day and night, for all the brethren ; that the number of his elect might be saved in mercy and a good conscience. Ye were indeed sincere and harmless, and forgiving one another. All dissension and schism in the Church was abominable to you: ye mourned over the faults of your neighbours ; ye sympathised with their infirmities as your own ; ye were unwearied in all goodness, and ready to every good work. Adorned with a venerable and upright conversation, ye performed all things in his fear; and the law of God was written deep indeed on the tables of your hearts." The character which becomes Christians, in the judgment of Clemens, truly harmonises with that delineated in the Sa- cred Writings. One specimen may suffice to show this: " Christ is theirs who are poor in spirit, and lift not up them- selves above the flock ; but are content to be low in the Church." " Let us obey our spiritual pastors, and honour our elders, and let the younger be disciplined in the fear of God. Let our wives be directed to what is good ; to follow chastity, modesty, meekness, sincerity. Let them evidence their power of self-eovernment by their silence ; and let them show love, not in the spirit of a sect or party, but to all who fear God." Again, " Let not the strong despise the weak * 2r 4 jt 246 THE EOMAN EAfPIRE TRIUMPHANT. and let the weak reverence the strong. Let the rich commu- nicate to the poor ; and let the poor be thankful to God, iur those through whom their wants are supplied. Let the wise exert his wisdom, not merely in words, but in good works. Let the humble prove his humility, not by testifying of him- self how humble he is ; but by a conduct, that may occasion others to give testimony to him ; Let not the chaste be proud of his chastity, knowing that from God he has received the gift of continency." " Have we not all one God, one Christ, one spirit of grace poured upon us, and one calling in Christ? Why do we separate and distract the members of Christ, and fight against our own body, and arrive at such an height of madness, as to forget that we are members one of another. Is any among you strong in faith, mighty in knowledge, gift- ed in utterance, judicious in doctrines, and pure in conduct. The more he appears exalted above others, the more need has he to be poor in spirit ; and to take care, that he look not to his own things, but that he study to promote the common good of the Church. Every one, whose heart has any good de- gree of the fear and love which is the result of our common hope, would rather that he himself be exposed to censure than his neighbours ; and would rather condemn himself, than break that beautiful bond of brotherly love which is de- livered to us." After pressing the beautiful example of the charity of Moses recorded in the book of Exodus, he says, " who of you has any generosity of sentiment, or bowels of compassion, or fulness of love ? Let him say, if the strife and schism be on my account ; I will depart, wherever you please, and perform whatever the church shall require. Only let Christ's flock live in peace with their settled pastors." We have reason to conclude that the imperial persecution of the entire Christian community, like that of individual ministers or private members, would " tend to the furtherance of the gospel." It presented Christianity in all its glory be-^ fore every class of the empire. The emperor and his great * officers, the philosophers and the priests of paganism, the sol- dier and the husbandman, the nobles and the peasants, had the salvation of God brought near to them ; and had not the mighty, and wise, and noble, in malice and envy, tried their power to crush the rising kingdom of God, most probably, not a few who were saved by His sovereign mercy and fa- vour would never have deigned to visit the Christian assem- blies, or listen to the voice of a Christian on any subject which directed man to regard Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified THE ROMAN EMPIRE TEIUMPHANT. 247 one, as the only Saviour and Lord of all. The testimony of the confessors before the pulic tribunal, and their inconquer- able fidelity to their Saviour, awakened the attention of many an unbehever to the importance of the life and incorruption brought to light by the gospel, and thoroughly convinced them of the truth of the report, that ^' Jesus Christ came to save sinners." The Lord Jesus commanded his followers, when perse- cuted in one city, to flee unto another ; and many of them obeyed, and carried the message of mercy much more rap- idly over the world than the most sanguine of its friends had probably ever calculated. It is most probable that Christian- ity would not have spread beyond the Roman empire, had the confession of it not been pronounced a capital crime. The empire was a sufficiently large field for the missionary enterprise ; and beyond it there was little to stimulate and encourage any Christian to renounce all the comforts and advantages of home, and comparatively civil society. Be yond the Roman dominions, and those possessed by kings who would gladly purchase the emperor's favour by the sa- crifice of any who sought in their kingdoms an asylum from his power, all countries, not consisting of entire deserts or waste solitudes, were inhabited by hostile tribes of barbarians, of unknown languages, and fierce manners. Who would feel disposed to withdraw into these regions, unless convinced that they had, otherwise, no chance of life? And this was no doubt the experience of many during the great persecu- tions by pagan as well as papal Rome. " The wilderness," or the lands of barbarism, afllbrded the only refuge for the af- flicted followers of Christ, who sought safety in flight fVom the iron teeth of the nameless beast of prey. " Wherever you are," said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, " remember you are equally within the power of the conqueror." Chris- tians who were fortunate enough to evade the search, and escape the power of Rome, had no alternative but to place themselves at the mercy of the rudest and most ignorant of the human race. These, perhaps, generally welcomed them, and received in return the knowledge of " the unsearchable riches of Christ." " The wilderness and the solitary place were made glad for them, and the desert rejoiced and blos- somed like the rose." It was most probably during the persecutions by the Pagan Roman emperors that the gospel was spread beyond the em- pire, and that it was received by those whose descendants, in "^^^ I ^m 1^48 THE EOMAN EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT. future ages, declined obedience to the mandates of the Pope of Rome and his clergy. These certainly met with more op- position from Christians in remote regions of the empire, or among a people who had never quietly submitted to the Ro- man yoke, than from any other people in Europe. Thus the Waldenses in the valleys of the Alps, and the Culdees in the northern parts of Scotland, were the most determined enemies of the spiritual despotism and tyranny of the Roman clergy in the dark ages. And it is scarcely to be questioned that in these countries, as well as in Germany, Scythia, and Persia, Christianity was known and confessed by at least a few of the inhabitants in. the first and second centuries. Clemens Ro- manus, who was perhaps a contemporary of John the apostle, and acquainted with some of Paul's disciples at Rome, testi- fies that Paul preached the gospel to " the utmost bounds of the West,'' a phrase denoting the utmost western boundaries of the Roman empire. The dissemination of the pure gos- pel beyond the empire is still more clearly announced by Ire- naeus. This venerable minister, who was chosen bishop of the church at Lyons, a. d. 169, had enjoyed the society of Polycarp, one of the disciples of John the Baptist. In his booiv on heresy, written a. d. 187, he thus speaks : " Though in the world there are difl^erent languages, yet the virtue of instruction is one and the same. And neither do the churches disseminated through the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, believe differently, or teach differently from one another. No disagreement in faith or practice existed among those founded in Germany, nor those which are among the Spaniards, nor those which are among the Cehs, nor those whidh are in the East, nor those which are in Egypt, nor those which are in Lybia, nor those which are in the middle of the world : but as to the creatures of God in the whole world the sun is one and the same, so also is the light of the preaching the truth wherever it shines and illuminates all men who arrive at the knowledge of the truth." It was, however, only after the lapse of centuries that nominal Chris- tianity became the religion of the nations to whom he refers; and it is a lamentable fa INDEX. 261 Apostles appointed by Christ to rule his kingdom, iiL 48. Appius Claudius renders the office of decemvir perpetual, ii. 46. Arabia Felix, unsuccessfully invaded by Gallus, ii. 179. Arabia Petrffia reduced to a Roman province by Trajan, iii. 224. Archelaus, son of Herod, appointed king of Judea, ii. 216; repairs to Rome, 217; character of, ib. ; made ethnarch, 221; banished to Vienne, 220. Aristobulus, grandson of Agrippa, made king of Armenia, iii. 126. Aristotle, tutor of Alexander, anecdote of, i. 133. Armenia, subdued by Marc Antony, ii. 165; conquest of, by the Ro- mans, iii. 132 ; made a Roman province, iii. 225. Arsinoe, sister of Cleopatra, ii. 130 ; exhibited in Cesar's triumph at Rome, 137. Artaxerxes Longimanus, character of, i. 52 — 78. Artaxerxes Mnemon, reign of, i. 104 ; attempt to murder, by Cyrus, 106 ; revolt against, 108 ; death of, 119. Artaxerxes Ochus, reign of, i. 121 ; overcomes Egypt, 125 ; kills their God Apis, and carries their spoils to Babylon, 126 ; poisoned by Bagoas, and his body given to be eaten by cats, 127. Assideans, i. 267. Assineus and Anileus governors of Babylonia, iiL 93. Asmonean family, the last of, ii. 36. Assyria conquered by Trajan, iii. 225. Astrologers and magicians banished out of Italy, iii. 64. Athaliah, wicked government of, i. 41. Athrongas and his brother take the title of king of Judea, ii. 220. Augustus, children and grandchildren of, iii. 52, 53 ; death of, 54. August, how so named, ii. 182. B Bacchus adored by the Romans, iii. 12. Baasha gains possession of the throne of Israel, i. 36. Babylon, seige and capture of, i. 73 ; deserted, 187 ; conquered by Tra- jan, iii. 225. Babylusthe Astrologer, iii. 155. Bagoas or Bagoses, the Persian governor, lays a mulct upon the sacri- fices of the Jews, i. 105 ; poisons Artaxerxes, and gives his body to be eaten by cats, 127 ; death of, 130. Bemice, sister of Agrippa, dismissed from Rome, iiL 212. Boadicea, queen of Britain, iii. 169. Boiscalus, noble speech of, iii. 131. Brahmin, anecdote of, ii. 180. Britannicus, son of Claudius, cruel treatment of, iii. 120 ; death of, 129 ; memory of, honored by Titus, 211. Britons fight against the Romans, iiL 118, 166; subdued by Agricola, 210 ; converted by Augustin, iii. 250. Brutus murders Cesar, ii. 143 ; death of, 155. Burnt offerings, use of, iii. 32 ; unnecessary after Christ, 34. Burrhus, chief of the Roman army imder Nero, iii. 124 ; death of, 145. Caiaphas, the high-priest deposed by Vitellius, iiL 79. Cainites, character of, i. 10. Calendar, Roman, corrected by Julius Cesar, ii. 140 ; afterwards by Oc- tavius, 182. Cali^la, Caius, origin of the name, iii. 81 ; character of, 74 ; reign ^, favourable to the gospel, 80, 89 ; madness of, 84, 94, 97 ; death of, 99. Cambyses, character of, i. 76 ; CMitempt of idols, 84. Camillus dictator, ii. 48. Canaan, land of, given to Abraham and his seed for a possession, i. 14 ; unappropriated when first taken possession of by Abraham, 14, 22 ; comparative small extent of, 14, 22. Canaan, seven nations of, expelled for their iniquity, iii. 31. Canaanites, character of, i. 14 ; position of, suited for the publicity 4i the true religion, 1 5. Candace, queen of Ethiopia, invades Egypt, ii. 180. Captives in Babylon, state of the, i. 50 ; liberated by Cyrus, ib. Captivity of the Jews, secret effects of, on the surrounding nations, i, 83. Caractacus fights against the Romans, iii. 118. Carthage and Carthaginians, ii. 50 ; first panic war, 52 ; soldiers revolt, 57 ; second punic war, 60 ; New Carthage, 61 — 68 ; third punic war, 74 ; Romans resolved to destroy Carthage, 76 ; vigorous de- fence of the Carthaginians, 78 ; overcome by Scipio Paullus, and Carthage declared a Roman {xrovince, 80 ; Carthage rebuilt by order of Cesar, 136. Cassius, ii. 153, 154. Cassander takes the title of king «f Greece, and Macedon, 1. 173. Cataline, conspiracy of, ii. 110. Cato advises war with Carthage, ii. 76 ; sayings of, 112, 114, II64 death of, 135. Centuries, Roman, ii. 46. Cerinthus, the false teacher, iii. 23^5. Cesar, Julius, settles the afFairs of Judea, ii. 31 ; character of, 101 — 108 ; governor of Spain, 111 ; of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, 112 ; jealous of Pompey, 115; engages in civil war, 118: robs the treasury, 122 ; subdues Marseilles, 125 ; appointed dictator, ib. : nearly drowned in an open boat, 127 ; battle of Pharsalia, 128 ; great rejoicings at Rome, in honour of, 136 ; receives four triumphal processions, 137 ; offered the Crown^ 139, and refuses it, 140 ; re- ceives a fifth triumph, 141 : .honours paid to him, 142 ; death of, 143. Cesar, Augustus, see Octavius. Cesario, or Cesarea, built by Herod, ii. 195, 214; scene of blood in time of Felix, iii, 116 ; murder of the Jews at, 174. Cestius, governor of Syria, invades Judea, iii. 181 ; retires suddenly from Jerusalem, 184. Charlemagne, iii. 256. Chederlaomer, first conqueror after Nimrod, i. 23. Chief ruler in Israel, vicegerent of God, i. 275. Christ, birth of, ii.210, iii. 13 ; maketh himself known as the Messiah at Nazareth, 19 ; divine nature of, 20 ; legitimate son of David, 21 ; the Son of God, 23 ; impossibility of carrying on a scheme of de- ception, 37 ; supernatural education of, 42 ; unjustly condemned by Pilate 44 ; evidenoe of Tosurrection, ib. * INDEX. 263 Christian societies increase under the apostles, iii. 51 ; first persecution of, by the Jews, 79 ; flee from Jerusalem, and spread the gospel everywhere, 80 ; early Christians not required to Submit to circum- cision, 89 ; viewed as a sect of the Jews, and admitted into the synagogues, iii. 104 ; voluntary contributions of the first Christians, 104; increase at Rome under Claudius and Nero, 134; free from persecution until the time of Nero, 136 ; blamed for setting fire t» Rome, and persecuted, 149, 150 ; flee from Jerusalem before its destruction, 185; spread of Christianity by the influence of the Roman dominion, 231; early corrupted by false teachers, 232; persecution of, ib. ; first heresy in the Church, 235 ; converts nu- merous in the first century, 237 ; persecution at Antioch, iii. 242; state of, according to Clemens Romanus, iii. 244, 251, 254 ; how spread, 247, 248. Christianity mtroduced into Britain, iii. 250 ; recommends itself in the first ages to the poor, to the middle classes, and to nobility and kings, 245 ; becomes the state religion under Constantine, 253. Cinna, ii. 94, 95, 96. Claudius Appius, general, ii. 94. Claudius, son of Germanicus, marries a daughter of Sejanus, iii. 68 ; called to the throne by the soldiery, 99 ; character and habits of, 101, 102 ; works of, 118 ; death of, 121. Clemens, Romanus, extract from the writings of, iii. 345. Clemens, imposture of, and death, iii. 65. Cleopatra, wife of Demetrius, puts her son Seleucos to death, and is afterwards slain by her son Grypus, ii. 16. Cleopatra receives the throne of Egypt from Cesar, ii. 131 ; entertained by Herod, 190 ; extravagance of with Antony, 159 — 164 ; death of, 170. Columba, the irish Monk, iii. 249. Comitio, Roman, ii. 43, 47. Constantine pretends to be a Christian, iii. 249. Consuls, Roman, ii. 44. Corinth, restored by order of Cesar, ii. 136. Crassus robs Jerusalem, ii. 30 ; wealth of, 106 ; made governor of Syria, 113, 114 ; defeated and killed by the Parthiems. Cushites or Ethiopians invade Judah, i. 39. Cyrenius, governor of Syria, ii..220. Cyrus liberates the Jews, i. 50 ; subject of prophecy, 71 ; his contempt of idols, ib. ; conquests of, 72. Cyrus II. son of Darius Nothus, i. 101, 106 ; death of, 110. DanieFs vision of the He-Goat, i. 138 ; vision of the Fourth Beast, 181. Daniel, Book of, explanation of vii. 6, viii. 5—8, 20—22, i. 172, ,173 ; vii. 7, 225 ; ix. fulfilled, iii. 45 ; xi. 5, 6, 183 ; ver. 7—9, 195 ; verses 10—12, 212 ; ver. 13, 17, 220 ; ver. 17—19, 220; ver. 20, 21, 227 objections against the book, confuted, 266. Danube, bridge built across by Trajan, iii. 224. Darius Hystaspes, i. 76. Darius Nothus, i. 92 ; unsettled reign of, 99 ; death of, 101. Darius Codomauus, character of, i. 129 ; proceeds with ^reat pomp to f # '^ 9$4 INDEX. meet Alexander, 141 ; defeated at Issus, in Cilicia, 142 ; agtiin at Arbela, 152 ; slain, 154. Dark Ages dispelled by the Reformation, iii. 257. Decree of the Roman Senate against rhetoricians, i. 210 ; favour of the Jews, ii. 200 ; iii. 79, 104. Decemvirs, Roman, ii. 45. Demetrius, son of Seleucus Philopator, ascends the throne of Syria, i. 278 ; character of, lb. ; Alexander Bala set up against him, 282 ; death of, ib. Demetrius, his son, sets up to gain the throne, L 283 ; grants privileges to the Jews, 284 ; imprisoned in Parthia, ii. 8 ; regains his throne after the death of Antiochus Sidetus, 14 ; character of, 16 ; death of, ib. Demosthenes, death of, i. 163. Dictators, il 44. Disjunction of Israel, under Jeroboam, a sign of the future decline of the kingdom, i. 35. Divine honours paid to Augustus and Tiberius, iii. 85 ; to Agrippa, 106. Docetae, or Gnostics, iii. 235. Doctrines taught to the Jews by Christ, ii. 39. Domitian elected a Cesar, in absence of his father, iii. 209 — 214 ; suc- ceeds to the throne, 214 ; character of, 214, 215 ; vanity and extrav- agance of, 215 ; cruelty of, 216 ; persecutes the Christians, 219, 220 ; assassination of, 221. Drosus, character and history of, iii. 52 ; intrusted with the management of the capital, 66 death of, 70. E Earthquake at Rhodes, i. 205 ; in Asia, destroys twelve cities, iii. 65. Ebion, the false teacher, iii. 235. Edicts in favour of the Jews, ii. 200 ; iii. 79. 104. Edomites cast off the yoke of Judah, i. 40 ; return from the Babylonish captivity, 95. Effects of the Jews associating with the Greeks in the Persian Wars, i. 102. Egypt and Egyptians ; the first great civilized nation, i. 16 ; state of, previous to the days of Joseph, 23 ; wonderful monuments of, belong to a later age than that of Moses, 24 ; owe much of their civiliza- tion and religious rites to the Jews, ib. ; customs of, forbidden to be practised by the Jews, ib. ; invade Judea, 99 ; ruled by strangers, in fulfilment of prophecy, 126, 148 ; make war against Julius Cesar, ii. 131 ; becomes a Roman province, 170. Eleazar, Jewish chief of banditti, iii. 113. Eleazar, governor of the temple, iii. 179 ; appointed governor of Idumea* 185. Elijah, the prophet, spoken of by Malachi, iii. 14. Epicharis, a courtesan, conspires against Nero, iii. 156. Epicureans, iii, 12. Era of the Seleucides, i. 170 ; of Ptolemy, 172. Essenes, erroneously supposed to be the first Christians, i. 268. Esther, supposed to be the wife of Artaxerxes Longimanus, i. 52, 79 Esther, book of, when finished, i. 176. I INDEX. 265 Evagoras, king of Salamis, i. 114, 115. Ezra, puts away strange wives from the Jews, L 53 ; collates the Sacred Writings, 65. F Fabulous nature of ancient profane history, i. 80. Fadus, governor over Judea, iii. 107. False religion, a corruption of the true revealed religion, i. 12. Famine foretold by Agabus, iii. 108, 110, Felix, governor of Judea, iii. 116, 117, 132. Festus, procurator of Judea, iii. 133. Fidelity of the Jewish soldiers, i. 93, 123. Flaccus Caius, ii. 86. Flaccus Valerius, ii. 98. Florus, governor of Judea, cruelty of, iiL 176. Gabinus attacks Jerusalem, ii. 28 — 30. Galba declared emperor, iii. 164; unpopular measures of, 197, 198; death of, 201. Galatians, origin of, i. 190. Galilee and the Galileans, fitted for the propagation of the Gospel, ii. 239 ; attacked by the Samaritans in going to Jerusalem, iiL 113. Gaul, eruption of, by barbarians, ii. 90; by the Helvetii, 112. Gaza, prophecy regarding, fulfilled, i. 147. Gedaliah made governor of J udah, i. 48 ; slain by Ishmael, ib. Gemara, i. 70. Genealogy of the Jewa, only, can be traced to Adam, i. 9. Genealogical table of the Jews carefully kept, iii. 21 ; difl^rence of, by Matthew and Luke, accounted for, 23. Germanicus, magnanimous conduct of, iii. 56 ; death of, 58. Germans, revolt under Domitian, iii. 218. Glabrio fights with a lion in the circus, iiL 218. Gnost'cs, or Docetse, iii. 235. Gorgiab, general of the Idumeans, i. 270. Gospel, taught first to the Jews, iii. 88 ; afterwards to all nations, 89. Greect, pliilosophers of, i. 86 ; state of, on the accession of Alexander, 130 ; language universally adopted, 161 ; states attempt to recover their independence on the decease of Alexander, 163 ; declared free, 170 ; division of, after the death of Alexander, 172 ; state of, after the decease of Alexander, 20*4 ; the splendour of, renovated under Aretas, 207 ; declared free by the Romans, 221 ; language and literature encouraged by Augustus, ii. 178, 185. Gtypus, king of Syria, puts his mother to death, ii. 16. H Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, father of Hannibal, ii. 59. Hannibal, character of, ii. 60 ; attacks Spain, ib. ; siege of Saguntum, ib. ; crosses the Alps, 61 ; encounters and defeats Scipio at Trebia, 62 ; battles of Thrasimenus and Cannte, 64 ; applies in vain for assistance and troops from Carthage, 65 ; leaves Italy to protect VOL. III. 23 «= # 266 INDEX. Carthage, 71 ; makes peace with Rome, 72; obliged to jQee from Carthage, 74. Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian, ii. 59. Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, is defeated and slain by the Romans, ii. 69. Hasdrubal, father of Sophonisba, overcome by the Romans, is obliged to flee from Carthage, ii. 71 ; recalled by the Carthaginians, 78 ; overcome by the Romans, 80 ; heroic character of his wife, ib. Hazael, king of Syria, invades Judah, i. 42. Heathen priests, presumption and tyranny of, i. 81. Hebrew points, i. 66. Helena, queen of Adiabena, a Jewish convert, iii. 110. Heliodorus, treasurer of Syria, punished for attempting to rob the temple, i, 229 ; usurps the throne of Syria, 231. Helius, governor of Rome under Nero, iii. 162. Herculaneum destroyed by Vesuvius, iii. 212. Herod, son of Antipater, appointed governor of Galilee, ii. 3 1 ; destroys the numerous banditti which infested Galilee, ib. ; is summoned before the Sanhedrim to answer for his conduct, ib. ; appointed governor of Celo-Syria, 32; gains the favour of Antony, and proclaimed Mig of Judea, 34 ; marries Mariamne, the granddaughter of Hyr- canus, ib. ; character and policy of, 188 ; offers aid to Antony, on condition of putting Cleopatra to death, 191 ; overcomes the king of Arabia, ib. ; makes court to Octavius, 192; domestic misery of, 192, 193 ; introduces heathen customs among the Jews, 193 ; con- spiracy to murder him, 194 ; supplies the Jews with corn from Egypt, 196 ; buildings erected by Herod, ib. ; honoured by Augustus, and made Roman procurator of Syria, and overseer of the mines of Cyprus, 197 ; tyranny of, 198 ; repairs the temple, ib. ; relezises the Jews of part of their taxes, 203 ; character of, 208 ; robs the sepulchre of David, 214 ; places a golden eagle over the temple, 215 ; confines a number of the Jews, in order to put them to death, 216 ; orders his son to be put to death, ib. ; death and final will of, ib. Herod, family of, ii. 199—204. Herod Philip, ethnarch of Batanea, ii. 221 ; character and death of, 226 Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, ii. 221 ; character of, 228. Herod, son of Aristobulus and brother of Agrippa, king of Chalcis, iii. 103 Herodias, infamous conduct of, ii. 227 ; banishment and death of, 229. Herodotus, the first authentic historian, commences writuig on the cl09* of the Old Testament History, i, 80. Hezekiah, reign of, i. 44. High-priests, Jewish, i. 197, 200. History, pagan, fabulous beyond the era of Nebuchadnezzar, i. 9, 21 Holy Laud, lies desolate seventy years, i. 49. Hyrcanus, see Maccabees. I Idolatry universal in the days of Moses, i. 19 ; degrading tendency of, 80 Idumeans, or Edomites, confederate against Israel, i. 270 ; cease to be a nation, ii. 15. Ignatius, martyrdom of, by order of Trajan, iii. 244. Infants, massacre of the, by Herod, omitted by Josephus, il 212 Inundation of the Tiber, ii. 57. WD3SX, 267 Irenseus, bishop of Lyons, extract from, iii. 248. Isaiah xix. 18 — 25, false interpretation and accomplishment of).L977. Isaiah, poem of Virgil borrowed from, ii. 230. Ishmael slays Gedaliah, i. 48. Israel, race of, special object for which chosen by God, L 15 ; exodus out of Egypt without arms, 24 ; supplied with the armour of the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, 25 ; disjunction of, a conspicu- ous sign of their future decUne, 35. (See Jews.) Italian Republic, ii. 92. Izates, king of Adiabene, a Jewish convert, assists the Jews, iiL 110. Jacob, family of, their wickedness, and expediency of theur removal into Egypt, i. 23. James the less beheaded by order of Agrippa, iii. 105. James the greater, death of, iii. 136. Janus, temple of at Rome shut, ii. 171, 179 ; iii. 211. Jason buys the office oi high-priest from Antiochus, i. 233, 239 ; intro- duces heathenish castoms, and sends offerings to Hercules, 240 ; is supplanted by his brother Menelaus, 241 ; attempts to regain his office, 245. Jehoiada saves king Joash, i, 41. Jehoram founds the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, and estabhshes idolatry, i. 34. Jehu, wicked reign of, i. 37. 41. Jericho, celebrated for its balm and palm-trees, given to Cleopatra by Antony, ii. 190. Jerusalem, destruction of, iii. 188 ; claimed by Vespasian as its superior, 193. Jews, the chosen worshippers of the True God, i. 10; not on account of their own personal excellence, 15; dispersion of, among the heathen, fitted for the spread of true religion, 16, 17 ; national con- stitution of, a theocracy, 18, 21 ; fidelity of to the Persians, 123 ; nu- merous in the time of Artaxerxes Ochus, 124 ; teach the Greeks, 134; mix freely with the Greeks, and learn their language, 146, 159 ; repair to Alexandria, 149 ; refuse to build the temple of Belus, 158 ; signal deliverance from the fury of Ptolemy Philopator, 214 ; " scattered abroad," 220 ; corrupted by the speculative philosophy of Greece, 238, 243 ; compelled by Antiochus Epiphanes to forsake the law, 248, 250 ; supernatural interference in favour of, 253 ; first intercourse with the Romans contrary to the law of God, 274; prosperity or decline, according to their regard or disregard for th| law of God, 275 ; live in prosperity under Hyrcanus I., ii. 19 ; super- stitious regard for the Sabbath, 29 ; honoured by Julius Cesar, 131 ; necessity of being retained as a nation till Christ's coming, 187 ; as a nation, rise under Herod, 194; privileges granted to them by Agri|)pa, the Roman governor, 202 ; hatred of Herod, 213 ; make a disturbance at the passover, 217 ; riot at pentecost, 219 ; petition Augustus to make Judea a Roman province, 221 ; moral degenera- tion of. previous to their final dispersion, 224; moral and religious character of, iii. 7 — 10 ; opinions of, in the time of Christ, 36, 37 ; ignorance of their teachers, 39 ; resist the setting up of the statue of i -9 268 INDEX. Caligula, 86 ; one million of, in Egfypt in the time of Tiberius ; cruelly persecuted by the governor Flaccus, 90 ; twenty thousand crushed to death in Jerusalem, 112; state of, under Felix, 116; banished from Rome by Claudius, 117 ; state of, under Nero, 133 ; final destruction by the Romans, 171 — 193 ; devoured by wild beasts in the theatre, 192 ; still expect a Messiah, 193. Joazar appointed high -priest by Herod, ii. 216. John the Baptist, birth of, ii. 226 ; ministry of, iii. 14. Jonathan the high-priest, killed in the temple by his brother Jesus, i. 105. Joseph, nephew of Onias II., anecdote of, i. 202. Joseph, husband of Mary, repairs to Egypt, ii. 212 ; returns to Judea, 218 Josephus, the Jewish historian, appointed governor of Galilee, iii. 185. Josiah, good reign of, i. 14, 71. Juba, prince of Numidia, ii.^133, 13.'>, Judas the robber infests Judea, ii. 219, 232. Judas Maccabeus, see Maccabeus. Judas Iscariot, an evidence of Christ's innocence, iii. 43. Judea, grievous drought in, ii. 195 ; reduced to a Roman province, 221 ; given to Agrippa, iii. 103 ; reduced to a Roman province again, 107. Jugurtha, ii. 87, 89. Julia, infamous character of, iii. 55 ; death of, 61 Julian the apostate's testimony in favour of the Christians, iii. 110. Julius, see Cesar. July, month of, how so named, ii. 182. Jupiter adored by the Romans, iii. 12. Justice of God manifested in the death of his Son, iii. 34. K Kingdom of God, spiritual nature of, iii. 13, 27, 34 — 36. Kings of Israel, account of, i. 36 ; God's deputies, iii. 29 Kings of Judah, i. 38. Kings in ancient times, accounted heads of the Pagan religion. 81. Lacedemonians claim kindred with the Jews, i. 238 ; iL 9. Laws of Moses, benevolent nature of, iii. 31. Law of retribution or retaliation, iii. 32, 35. Lepidus, ii. 103, 145 ; humiliation of, 163. Liberal constitution first given by Moses, i. 57. Libo, S. account of, iii. 61 — 63. library, of Alexandria, destruction of, i. 177. Livia, wife of Octavius, character of, ii. 183. iii. 55, 60. Lysimachus takes the title of king of Thrace, i. 171 ; robs the temple of Jerusalem by consent of Menelaus, 242. M Maccabees, family of, i. 254 ; origin of the name, 265 : pecularities of the reign of, ib. Maccabeus, Judas, withdraws with a small company into the wilder- ness. i. 246 ; successful against his enemies, 259 — 276 ; purifier INDEX. 269 the altar, S61 ; obtains a fayourable peace, and made governor of the country, 277 ; applies to the Romans for help, 280 ; death of, ib. Maccabeus, Jonathan, succeeds his brother Judas, i. 281 ; courted by Demetrius and Alexander Bala ; assumes the purple, 282 ; treach- erously murdered by Tryphon, 287 ; monument erected to his memory at Modin, ii. 6. — — Simon, brother of Jonathan, elected high-priest and leader of the Jews, ii. 5 ; renews alliances with the Romans and Lacedemo- nians, 8, 9 ; allowed by Antiochus Sidetus to coin money, 10 ; overcomes Cendebeus, who is sent to rob Jerusalem, 11 ; he and his two sons treacherously murdered by his son-in-law Ptolemy Abulus, 12 ; character of, ib. John Hyrcanus, his son, succeeds, ii. 12 ; is besieged in Jerusa- lem, but obtains peace of Antiochus Sidetus, 13 ; subjugates the Idumeans, 15 ; sends an embassy to the Romans, ib ; lays waste Samaria, 17; conquers Philistine and Galilee, ib. ; forsakes the Pharasaical party, 19: death of, ib ; character of, ib. Aristobulus, his son, succeeds, ii. 21 ; murders his mother, ib. ; death of, 22. ■■ JannsBus, his brother, succeeds, ii. 22 ; cruelty and death of, 23 ; Alexandra his wife administers the government 9 years ; death of, 25. Hyrcanus II. high-priest and son of Jannteus, ascends the throne supported by the Pharisees, ii. 25 ; returns to private life, 26 ; appeals to Pompey, 27 ; restored to the throne and high -priesthood by Pompey, 30 ; mutilated by Antigonus, and carried into Parthia, 33 ; returns to Jerusalem, 34 ; death of, 191 ; events in the life of, ib. Aristobulus, son of Jannseus, gains the crown ii. 25 ; sends an ambassador to Pompey, 27 ; who sends him and his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, prisoners to flome, 30; Antigonus escapes and fights with Gabinus, ib. ; liberated by Julius Caesar, ib. ; poisoned, ib. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, placed on the throne of Judea by thff Partliioiiic, ii. ^o ; ueuih of, 36 ; and the last of the Asmonean family. Aristobulus, son of Alexander, made high-priest, ii. 189 ; mur- dered by order of Herod, ib. Msecenus, ii. 155. Magi, slaughter of by the Persians, 1 85. Magi, the, ii. 210. Malachi, time of, i. 52. Malichus, ii. 32. Manahem, mocic king of Judea, uu 180. Mancinus, ii, 83. ^ Marcellus, son of Octavia, poisoned, iii. 53. Mariamne, wife of Herod, ii. 34, 35 ; murder of, 190, 193. Marius, account of, ii. 87, 89 — 96. Massinissa, a prince of Numidia, ii. 70. Mzusorites, i. 67. Memnon, the Rhodian, character, of, i. 137. Meoelaus, wicked high-priest of the Jews, consents to the rolling of the temple, i. 241 ; deposed, 275 ; put to death, 277. Messalina, cruelty of, ii. 230, 231. Messiah, universal expectation of, i. 17. •' "vV- ^i^ii^ 23* m= xMetdluB, ii. 77. IT Miracles of Christ, done openly, lit 42. 1% Miraculous gifts bestowed on the apostles, iii. 43 ; and l^y them on othei» I 49 ; die with the apostles, 50. r Mishna, the, or oral law, i. 67, 70. r^ Moabites return from the Babylonish captivity, i. 95. Mosallem, the Jew, anecdote of, i. 169. Moses, laws of, an enlargement of the patriarchal, I 24 ; first liberal constitutiou, 57 ; benevolent nature of, iiL 31 ; onty laws which provided for the poor, 109. Mother eats her child at Jerusalem, iii. 190. Mysteries, nature of the ancient heathen, I 81, 82. N Nebuchadnezzar destroys the temple, and carries the Jews into captivity, i. 46. Nectanibus, king of Egypt, defeated by Artaxerxes Ochus, L 121. Nehemiah, state of the Jews under, i. 52, 94, 95. Nero, mju-ries Octavia, daughter of Claudius, iii. 121 ; chosen emperor, 122 ; good conduct of, for five years, 123 — 127 ; proceeds to every species of folly and cruelty, 129 ; attempts his mother's life, 139 — 143 ; remorse of, 143, 144 ; divorces Octavia, and marries PoppsBa, 145 ; fondness of racing and harping, 148 ; sets fire to the city of Rome, 147 ; builds his golden palace, 153 ; conspiracy against, 155 ; performs as a player, 159 ; proceeds to Greece to contend at the games, 161 ; returns in triumphal procession, 163 ; his death, 166—168. Nero, a false, iii. 218. Nerva, account of, iii. 222 ; death of, ib. Nicanor, governor of Media, defeated by Seleucus, i. 169. Nicanor, sent by Demetrius to punish the Jews, i. 279 ; death of, 280. Nineveh, conquered by Trajan, iii. 225. Noah and his family, characters of, i. 12 ; alive in the days of Abra- ham, 13. Novatian, iii. 255. O Octavia, wife of Antony, and sister of Cesar, ii. 160. Octavia, wife of Nero, iii. 121 ; divorced, 145 ; death of, ib. Octavius Cesar, account of, i. 146; appointed propraetor, 147; joins Antony and Lepidus, 147 — 159; sacrifices 40(^ senators to the manes of Julius Cesar, at Perusa, 158 ; overcomes Lepidus, 162; overcomes Antony at Actium, 168, 169 ; deep policy of, on becom- ing sole master of the Roman empire, 171 ; receives the name of Augustus, 175 ; assumes the office of pontifex maximus, 182. Old Testament completed in the reign of Artaxerxes, i. 79. Onias, the high-priest, corrects the Sacred Canon, i. 197. Onias II. refuses to remit the tribute to the king of Egypt, i. 201. Qnias III. deposed, and his ofiice sold to Jason, i. 233. Onias, his son, flees to Egypt, and builds a temple there, L 277 ; erro- neous interpretation of prophecy by, ib. Otho, appointed emperor, iii. 201 ; sensuality of, 203 ; death of, 204. 4t^ INDEX. 271 P Pallas, brother of Felix, riches of, iii. 127. Parthians, account of, i. 192; ii. 33; defeated by Venditas, 160; send an embassy to Cesar Augustus, 179 ; conquered by Trajan, iii. 225. Paul, travels of, iii. 115—117 ; goes to Rome, 133 ; death of, 153. Peluseum, siege of, i. 125. Pentateuch, Samaritan, i. 97. Perdiccas, death of, i. 164. Persepolis, i. 153. Persians, their contempt of idols, i. 84. Persecution the means of spreading Christianity, iii. 247. Peter cast into prison by order of Agrippa, iii. 105 ; death of, 153. Pharaoh, army of, drowned in the Red Sea, i. 25. Pharisees, account of, i. 68 ; opposed by John Hyrcanus, ii. 18 ; tradi tions of, enforced by his grandson Hyrcanus II., 24. • Phasael, governor of Jerusalem, ii. 31 ; beats out his own brains, 33. Pheroras, brother of Herod^ ii. 197. Philip of Macedon, character of, i. 131, 133. Philip II., i. 210, 217, 218. Philippi, battle of, ii. 154. Philosophers and Philosophy, heathen, i. 81—91, 199 ; iii. 10, 236. Pilate, character of, ii. 232 ; attempts to rob the treasury, 233 ; deposed by Vitellius, 234 ; banishment and death, ib. ; letter of, to Tiberius, 235. . Dji Plato, philosophy of, i. 89, spread of, 90. Q | Pliny the elder perishes in Vesuvius, iii. 212. Pliny the younger's account of the early Christians, iii. 238. Pompeii destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius, iii. 212. Pompeiopolis, how named, ii. 109. Pompey marches to Jerusalem, ii. 28 ; takes it, and enters the holy of holies, 29 ; contrasted with Cesar, 101 ; character of, 101, 107 ; magnanimous conduct of, 104; subdues the pirates, 109 ; triumphal procession, 110; governor of Spain, 112; sole consul, 116; wars with Cesar, 1 18—126 ; battle of Pharsalia, 128. Pompey's son defeated by Cesar, ii. 140; makes peace with Antony and Octavius, 160 ; death of, 162. Poor denied the benefits of religious rites in ancient times, i 82. Poppsea, a Jewish proselyte, iii. 134; married to Nero, 145; death, 160. Pope, or bishop of Rome, assumed power of, iii. 256. Posts, first introduced by Cesar Augustus, ii. 175. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, takes Jerusalem by treachery, and carries the inhabitants captive, i. 166 ; and, for their fidelity afterwards grants them equal privileges with the Greeks, ib. ; takes the title of king of Egypt, 172 ; era of, ib. Ptolemy Philadelphus, reign of, i. 174—193. Ptolemy Evergetes, reign of, i. 194 — 210. Ptolemy Philopator, character of, i. 212 ; persecutes the Jews, and en- deavours to enter the temple, 2i3. Ptolemy Epipbanes, i. 217. Ptolemy Philometor defeated by AnUochus, i. 234 ; assisted by tb» Romans, 235. Ptolemy Evergetes II. or Physcon, set on the throne, i. 234. 272 INDEX. Ptolemy Macron, goveraor of Syria, favours the Jews, i. 269. Ptolemy Abubus, base murder and treachery by, ii. 12. Ptolemy, brother of Cleopatra, ii. 130. Pul, king of Assyria, iavades Israel, i. 38. Punic War, first, ii. 52 ; second, 60 ; third, 75. Purification and dedication of the altar at the end of 1260 days, i. 260. R Rabbins, arrogance of, i. 69, 70. Reformation dispels the reign of darkness and ignorance, iii. 257. Religion, pagan, a corruption of the true, i. 12 ; principles of, 81, 82. Religion, true, spread of by the Jews in Greece, i. 102, 187. Religion and morals, previous to the coming of Christ, iii. 5 — 10. " Remnant of Israel," described, i. 49. Retreat of the 10,000 Greeks, i. 110, 111 ; efiects on the Persian em- pire, 112. Retribution, doctrine of, taught by the patriarchs, i. 13, 18. Romans, character of, before and after their intercourse with Greece, i. 208, 209 ; constitute themselves governors of the young king of Egypt, Ptolemy Epiphanes, 219 ; effects of their conquest of Asia, 225 ; letters to' Judas Maccabeus, 272, 273 ; to Simon, ii. 8, 9 ; political character of, 38 ; empire, the fourth beast of Daniel, 39, 183 ; legislative system, 40 ; traditional origin, 42 ; laws borrowed from Greece, 45 ; twelve tables of laws, 48 ; provide themselves with a naval force, 54 ; make peace with Carthage, 55 ; conflict between the patricians and plebeians, 82 ; claim the Carthaginian possessions in Spain, 83 ; agrarian law attempted to be introduced, 84 ; corruption of the magistrates, 89 ; senate obliged to sit in Thessalonica, 125 ; at Utica, 132 ; extent of the Roman republic under the second triumvirate, 167, 176 ; republic extinguished under Cesar Augustus, 176 ; revenue and taxes, 177, 178 ; moral degra- dation of, 180; influence of civilization on the subdued provinces, _^ 184; become acquainted with divine revelation, 186; licentiousness I of, iii. 12 ; debasement of, under Caligula, 85 ; numbers of, become converts to the Jewish and Christian religions, 113 ; greatness under Trajan, 227 ; roads, 228 ; commerce, 230 ; mines, ib. ; in- fluence in spreading Christianity, 231. Rome, conflagrations in the city, ii. 57 ; iii. 147, 213 ; number of citi- zens under Tiberius Gracchus, ii. 84 ; extent of buildings, ib. ; men of learning invited thither by Cesar, 138 ; great famine at, 160 ; great sea-fight in, iii. 218. Sabinus, sent from Rome to manage the affairs of Syria, ii. 218. Sacred Writings, love of Jews for, i. 61, 69 ; genuine antiquity of, 62 ; collated by Ezra and Nehemiah, 61, 65; divisions of, by the Jews, 62 ; character anciently written m, 65 ; transcribers of, 66 ; cor- rected by Onias I., 197. Sacrifice, of divine origin, i. 11. Sadoc, originator of the Sadducee * L 200. Saddae, insurrection of, ii. 232. m ' m INDEX 273 Sallust, the historian, employed by Cesar, ii. 134, 135. Salome, sister of Herod, ii. 1 92 ; malicious disposition of, ii. 204. Samaria, city of, built by Omri, i. 36. Samaritans, ancient character of, i. 95 ; character of modem, 96 ; peti> tion Alexander, 151 ; deny being Jews, 247. Sanhedrim, origin and account of, i. 56. Saul, conversion of, iii. 87 ; first who preached to the Gentiles, 88. " Scattered abroad," origin of term, i. 220. Scriptures, Greek version used in synagogues, i. 61 ; iiL.36. Sicarii, account of, iii. 179. Scipio, Publius and Cneius, defeated by Hannibal, ii. 63 ; death of, 68. Scipio, the younger, is sent to Spain, ii. 68 ; returns to Rome with much treasure, 69 ; sails for Utica, 70 ; reduces Carthage, 71. Scipio Paulus III. subdues and destroys Carthage, ii. 60. Scipio Nisica, advises peace with Carthage, ii. 75, 86. Scipio, father-in-law of Pompey, opposes Cesar, ii. 133. Sejanus, ambition and cruelty of, iii. 67 — 70 ; death of, 74. Seleucus, one of Alexander's successors, recovers Babylon, i. 170; em of, ib. ; takes the title of king of Syria, 171. Seleucus, son of Antiochus, i. 186 ; death of, 189. Seleucus Callinicus, i. 195, 203. Seleucus Ceranus, i. 211. Seleucus Philopator, character of, L 227 ; robs the temple, 229 ; poisoned, 231. Seneca, history of, iii. 123, 124 ; death of, 158. Septuagint version of the Scriptures made by order of Ptolemy Phila- delphus, ii. 103. Sertorius, character of, ii. 103 ; anecdote of his tame deer, 105. Seventy years captivity, commencement of, disputed, i. 52. Shem, race of, alone retained the true religion, i. 13. Shepherd kings, supposition regarding, i. 25, 26. Shishak, king of Egypt, invades Judah, i. 39. Sicily, occasion of the first Punic war, ii 52 ; declared a Roman prov- ince, 56. Sidon, destruction of, i. 122. Signs seen in the heavens, i. 231, 244, 272. Simon of Sidon, pretends to be a son of Herod, iL 222 Simon, the magician, iii. 235. Slave of Herod usurps the diadem, ii. 219. Smerdis, the impostor, i. 76, 85. Socrates, philosophy of, i. 86 ; life and death of, 103 Spartacus, insurrection of, ii. 106. Spintrise, iii. 12. Stephanus murders Domitian, iii. 221 Stoics, iii. 12. Subterraneous fire m Nassau, iii. 132. Sulpicius, P., ii. 93. Sylla, account of, ii. 87 — 89. Synagogues, origin and description of, i. 59. Syphax, prince of Numidia, iL 69. Syria receives a Roman governor, iL 191. m= 274 WDS3L Talmuds, absurdity of, i. 67. Tarquin, first king of Rome, ii. 44. Temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, i. 46 ; rebuilt by Nehemiah, 94 adorned by Herod, ii. 195 ; destroyed by the Romans, iii. 192. Temple of Diana in Ephesus burned by Erostratus, i. 131. Ten Thousand, retreat of the, i. 110 ; effects on the Persian empire, 112 Ten Tribesi decline and captivity of, by Shalmanezer, i. 38. Theocracy of the Jews, iii. 6. Theodosius the Great, iii. 255. Theudas or Judas, the impostor, iii. 108. Tiberius Gracchus, ii. 83 ; death of, 86. Tiberius, character of, ii. 183 ; iii. 53 — 55, 58 ; appointed equal with Augustus, 56 ; satirical lines on, 61 ; encourages spies, 62 ; liberality of, 65 ; retires from public life, 71 ; government of, 75 ; habits and character of, 77 ; death of, 78. Tiberius, son of Tiberius, death of, iii. 84. Tissapherues, Persian governor of Asia Minor, i. 107, 113. TitiM^left by his father to besiege Jerusalem, iii. 188 ; anxiety to save the people and temple, 190, 19^ ; made colleague with his father ; 209 ; character of, 211 ; death of, 213. Tower of Pharos destroyed, i. 176. Traditions of the heathen, evidently derived from Noah, i. 12. Traditions of the Jews, i. 67, 197. Twyan, adopted by Nerva, iii. 222 ; account of, 223 ; conquers the Da- cians, 224 ; conquests of, 224 — 227 ; letter to Pliny regarding the Christians, iii. 238. Tribunes, Roman, ii. 44, 45. Triumvirate, first, ii. Ill ; second, proscriptions, confiscations, and murders of, 148 — 152 ; new division of the empire by, 155, 160. Tryphon, the chief magistrate of Anlioch, usurps the power of Syria, i. 285 ; murders Jonathan the high-priest and Antiochus, infant .son of Alexander Bala, 287 ; ii. 8 ; death of, 10. Tyre, magnificence of i. 144. V Varus, governor of Syria, ii. 218 — ^220. Ventidius'Cumanus, procurator of Judea, iii. Ill, 113. Vespeisian lands in Britain, iii. 118 ; appointed governor of Judea, 187 ; appointed emperor, 188 ; history of, 207 ; elected by the senate, 209 ; works miracles in Egypt, ib. ; character, 210 ; death, 211. Virginius, governor of Germany, iii. 164. Vitellius, emperor, iii. 204 ; sensuality of, 205 Viriathus, Carthaginian general, ii. 83. W World Dolitical and commercial state during the age of Moses, L 19. X Xerxes, defeat at Thermopyls, and death, i. 78. Z Zedekiah defeated and depnved of sight by Nebuchadnezzar, L 48. Zoroaster, i. 85. 1 >^w^*« 4* " AK INITIAL F^^ OF 2^JENTS W,LL BE ASSESSED ';°''„"Ji^.''?HE '-^N*^^ :^:,S BOOK ^^/"^"^cIn^S ON THE FOURTH rv^ro''TO%T°ol ON THE SEVENTH O.^ OVERDUE. I LD21-100m-12.'43(8796s) YC 29449 U. C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES cDMmmfl27 wt UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY /.