THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 POST-BIBLICAL 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS; 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, ABOUT THE YEAR 420 B. C. E. 
 
 TILL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE, 
 
 IN THE YEAR 70 C. E. 
 
 BY 
 
 MORRIS J. RAPHALL, M.A. PH.DR. 
 
 XABBI-PKEACHSB AT THE SYNAGOGUE, OBEENE 81., NEW TORE. 
 
 IN TWO YOLUMES.-VOL, I, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T R U B N K R & CO. 
 1856.
 
 8 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 185k 
 v./ 
 
 
 PiOI 
 
 INTRODCCTIOK 11 
 
 BOOK I. 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity Policy of Cyrus 
 and of his successors Ezra Nehemiah Condition of Judea 
 Alexander the Great His visit to Jerusalem Authority of Jewish 
 historians vindicated Alexander's conquest of Egypt Babylon 
 His death. (From 636 to 324 B.C.K.) 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Wars between Alexander's generals Pcrdiccas Ptolemy Antigo- 
 nus Siege and Storm of Jerusalem by Ptolemy Jews carried to 
 Epypt Demetrius Battle of Gaza Mosollamus Credibility of 
 Greek historians in reference to Jewish affairs : Jerom of Cardia ; 
 Hccataeus The Nabathroans Seleucus Nicator His success in 
 Upper Asia Era of the Seleucidae : Mint/an Staroth Extinction of 
 the family of Alexander the Great Battle of Ipsos. (From 326 to 
 801 B.C. K.) 58 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Partition of Alexander's empire Judea assigned to Ptolemy Tho 
 Syro-Grecian Empire Jews on the Euphrates The Egypto-Grc- 
 ciim Empire Jews of Alexandria Of Jerusalem Simon the Just 
 Tho Soptuagint Berosus Manctho Rivalry and wars of the 
 Ptolemiea and the Si'lcuc'uln; The Piirthinn Empire Voting Jmlra 
 Antigonus of Sofho Tlio Sa'Mucecx Ptolemy IV. Philopator 
 Antiochus III. Buttle of Knphia Philopator at Jerusalem 11U 
 
 1205921
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGS 
 
 attempt on the Temple His Flight Persecutes the Jews of Egypt 
 His death Antiochus III. invades Coele-Syria Battle of Mount 
 Panias Judea incorporated with the Syro-Grecian Empire. (From 
 301 to 198B.C.E.) 106 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Antiochus III. War with Rome Hannibal Antiochus defeated 
 His death Seleucus Philopator Onias III., the high-priest He- 
 liodorus attempts to plunder the temple His miscarriage Anti- 
 ochus IV. Epiphanes His intervention in Judean affairs Con- 
 servatives and Destructives Jason buys the office of high-priest 
 Attempted fusion of Judaism and Heathenism Judeo-GrecSan lite- 
 rature Menelaus War between Antiochus and the Egyptians 
 Troubles in Judea Antiochus plunders the temple Popilius 
 Loanas Massacre at Jerusalem The Jewish religion proscribed 
 "The Haphtora First religious persecution Insurrection Mata- 
 thias the Asmonean declares self-defence lawful on the Sabbath 
 Holland, the United States, and Judea Judah the Maccabee His 
 victories The Syrians expelled Public worship restored in the 
 temple of Jerusalem. (From 198 to 166 B. c. E.) 188 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE MACCABEES. 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Death of A. Epiphanes Polybius, the historian Antiochus V. Eu- 
 pator Death of P. Macron Judah's campaigns Truce, and re- 
 newed hostilities First siege of Acra Death of Eleazar the Mac- 
 cabean Siege of Jerusalem Lysias and Philip Peace Judah 
 appointed governor for the king Death of Menelaus Alcimus. 
 (From 165 to 161 B.C.E.) 265 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Demetrius I. King of Syria His flight from Rome Death of A. Eu- 
 pator Invasion of Judea Massacre of Hassidim Jose" ben Joe'zer 
 Nicanor His blasphemy, defeat, and punishment First treaty 
 between Judea and Rome Discontent of the Hassidim Bacchidcs 
 Battle of Eleasa Death and burial of Judah the Maccabee His 
 character Gentile testimony to his military talents. (162 to 161 
 B.C.E.) 297
 
 CONTENTS. 9 
 
 CHAPTER VH. PiG1 
 
 Jonathan succeeds his brother Battle of Tekoah, and retreat across 
 the Jordan Alcimus His death Ariarethes VI. Jonathan re- 
 turns to Judea State of parties Bacchides invited by the apos- 
 tates Siege of Bethlagan Syrians evacuate Judea Internal 
 peace and good government restored Troubles in Syria Conspi- 
 racy of the three kings Balas claims the crown of Syria Immu- 
 nities granted to the Jews Jonathan high-priest Defeat and 
 death of Demetrius I. Reign of Alexander Balas Onias builds a 
 temple in Egypt Samaritan temple and controversy. (From 161 
 to 149 B.C.B.) .................................................................... 332 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Demetrius II. recovers the crown of Syria Battle of Azotus ; Wa- 
 terloo Death of A. Balas, and of Ptolemy VI. Philometor Treaty 
 between King Demetrius and Jonathan Troubles in Antioch sup- 
 pressed by the assistance of Jonathan Perfidy of King Demetrius 
 His expulsion from Antioch Tryphon Antiochus VI. His 
 treaty with Jonathan Civil war Battle of Azor Jonathan re- 
 news the alliance with Rome, and treats with Sparta The pirates 
 of Cilicia Jonathan entrapped and murdered by Tryphon Simon 
 elected to succeed him Death of Antiochus VI. Sepulchre of the 
 Maccabees at Modin King Demetrius II. declares Judea inde- 
 pendent (From 148 to 143 B.C.E.) ....................................... 372
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THERE is one people, the sole survivor of the really 
 olden times when mankind was in its infancy a people 
 unmixed in lineage, unchanged in religious belief and 
 observance, and whose history, down to the present day, 
 inseparably connects itself with those primeval and most 
 sacred records from which the civilized portion of man- 
 kind derives its faith, and on which it rests its hopes. 
 This people the Jews has, beyond all others, exercised 
 the most lasting influence on the human mind an influ- 
 ence that has outlived the philosophy of Greece and the 
 statesmanship of Rome, and to which every succeeding 
 century, every advance in knowledge, every discovery in. 
 science, every amelioration in the social system, affords 
 greater strength and a wider scope. And yet, while this 
 is not only true, but generally admitted so to be, while 
 all that is highest, holiest, most venerated, and most ad- 
 mired among men attaches itself to this people, its history, 
 and its influence, what is, what has so long been, the con- 
 dition of this people ? Expatriated and dispersed, de- 
 prived of its political existence long before any of the 
 states that at present constitute the civilized world had 
 sprung into being, the Jewish people has, during many 
 centuries, been " the jest of folly and the scorn of pride," 
 the victim of ignorance, fanaticism, and calumny ; and 
 even yet, in most countries, is not permitted to enjoy that 
 
 1 1
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 absolute and unmulcted freedom of conscience which is 
 man's highest, dearest birthright. 
 
 Ever since men have begun to throw off the trammels 
 of prejudice and the fetters of ignorance, the history, the 
 character, and the condition of the Jews have, in every 
 land, excited the attention of the reflecting part of the 
 community. We may say in every land, for there is no 
 land which does not, or did not at some former period, 
 number Jews among its inhabitants. Wherever Civiliza- 
 tion dispenses its blessings, the Jew is found its harbinger 
 or its immediate follower. Wherever Commerce spreads 
 its sails, the Jew is foremost in cementing that bond which 
 unites the most distant nations. Wherever the dignity of 
 human nature has been respected in him, wherever he has 
 been treated as a man and a brother, he has proved that 
 he likewise is made in the image of God that his bosom, 
 too, can harbour every virtue that dignifies mankind. And 
 even where the iron hand of Bigotry has crushed him to 
 the dust, or the soul-chilling venom of Contempt and the 
 " oppression (that) maketh a wise man mad " had gnawed 
 his mind and cowed his better part of man, even there he 
 strove, and strove not in vain, to preserve those nobler 
 feelings inseparable from the memory of his former great- 
 ness. Even there he remained very different from what 
 his oppressors laboured to render him, and his detractors 
 would fain make him appear. And though full justice is 
 still but too frequently denied to him, the truth, that he 
 has been more sinned against than sinning, that his fail- 
 ings have been forced upon him, while his virtues are his 
 own, is gradually working its way in the conviction of 
 every one who, with unprejudiced mind, reflects on the 
 severe ordeal that, during eighteen centuries, the Jew has 
 passed through, and on the unyielding constancy with 
 which he has maintained his principles. 
 
 The Post-Biblical History of the Jews begins at the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 close of the Old Testament, and continues till the present 
 day. It embraces a period of 2200 years, and extends to 
 every quarter of the globe ; and during this long space 
 of time, what a number of events does this history em- 
 body ! Events interesting, exciting, pleasing, harrowing, 
 but all of them important and highly instructive, unfold 
 themselves to our view. We behold the highest motives, 
 the noblest feelings, the sternest energies of human nature, 
 called into activity patriotism, love of country and of 
 freedom, bravery the most exalted, and religious fervour 
 the most pure, arming the few against the many, the weak 
 against the strong, the freeman against the oppressor, and 
 inspiring the firm resolve " to do or die." Nor is it active 
 courage only we are called to admire ; for we also behold 
 how, during centuries, the inflexible determination to suf- 
 fer wears out the ruthless power to inflict, and tho firm- 
 ness of principle overcomes the obstinacy of prejudice. 
 We behold how, under disadvantages the most overwhelm- 
 ing, mind triumphs over matter, the lofty hope over the 
 crushing reality. 
 
 And what men shall we become acquainted with ! Not 
 only Alexander and Ciesar, Cromwell and Napoleon, are 
 introduced to us, but we are also taught to know and to 
 respect those less meteoric, though equally gifted and far 
 more beneficent heroes of mind, who, during the struggle 
 of centuries, could keep alive the inward spirit which bade 
 defiance to the pressure from without. Let it not he sup- 
 posed that, because eighteen hundred years have elapsed 
 since the body politic of the Jews was destroyed, therefore 
 their history can offer no scenes grand, impressive, or in- 
 teresting. If it be true that the noblest sight in nature is 
 that of a good man struggling against adversity, what must 
 it be to see an entire people martyrs to principle, who, 
 during nearly two thousand years, bear up against all the 
 
 ills that flesh is hoir to ; who, when a fow brief sentences 
 VOL I.
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 might have placed them on a level with their oppressors, 
 when a few short words would have converted their ruth- 
 less persecutors into friends and protectors, disdained to 
 violate their own conscience, or to utter those few words, 
 because they feared God more than man, and valued truth 
 more than life ! 
 
 The reader must not feel surprised that we speak in 
 terms of commendation so warm of the history of a peo- 
 ple that, till within the last few years, has seldom pre- 
 sumed to raise its voice, even in self-defence. But it 
 must be borne in mind that, from Josephus, who wrote in 
 the first century of the Christian era, to Jost, who within 
 the last thirty years published his work in Germany, no Jew 
 has written the history of his people in any other language 
 than Hebrew. And as thus the Jewish historians were 
 not accessible to the general reader, the writers best 
 known on that subject were not Jews. They were mostly 
 churchmen, who copied from each other. The monkish 
 rancour and prejudice that guided the pen of the first 
 libeller bequeathed a portion of its venom to every suc- 
 ceeding calumniator. The oldest of them wrote in the 
 spirit of his times, and thought he performed a meritori- 
 ous act. Were not the Jews the enemies of God? Was 
 it not evident that the Jew had been condemned to end- 
 less suffering by the retributive justice of Providence, 
 which had at one time deigned to work so many and great 
 miracles in his behalf, but which now had cast him forth, 
 to suffer whatever pains the rest of mankind chose to 
 inflict upon him? Did he not stand an outcast in the 
 midst of the nations, marked, like the first fratricide, by 
 the wrath of the Omnipotent? When, therefore, men 
 punished the Jew for his stubborn rejection of the true 
 faith, what more did they do, than execute the decrees of 
 the Deity ? And what office more noble can man assume, 
 than that of champion of the Lord! With what function
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 more sacred can man be invested, than that of working the 
 vengeance of the Lord on his enemies? What greater 
 claim can man have on the divine bounty and grace, than 
 by promoting the designs of the Deity? Accordingly, 
 those very acts "which are criminal when undertaken 
 against other men, become meritorious when against the 
 Jew. For the robber who despoiled, the slanderer who 
 belied him, the perjured informer who denounced him to 
 unmerited punishment, the ruffian who shed his heart's 
 blood with savage exultation what were they but the 
 chosen ministers of divine vengeance against an accursed 
 race? And, therefore, their deeds were heaven-directed, 
 pious, and honourable. 
 
 Such were the doctrines which, during centuries, were 
 preached from the pulpit and proclaimed in the market-place. 
 Such were the insidious means by which the still small 
 voice of conscience was stifled in the breasts of those who 
 were able to feel, while the loud anathema of the dominant 
 faith silenced the murmurs of reason in the minds of the 
 few who dared to think. The influence of these doctrines 
 is but too evident in all that has been written concerning 
 the Jews previous to the works of the German Dohm, and 
 the Frenchman Gregoire, in the last quarter of the 
 eighteenth century. With the writings of these two just 
 and wise men a better spirit began to prevail ; but, though 
 in our days wo have seen an honest churchman (like Mill- 
 man) attempting to approach the truth, how many a Chia- 
 rini and Eisenmenger work hard to pervert that truth, 
 and prostitute talent and research in the service of bigotry 
 and falsehood. 
 
 When all this is borne in mind, it will not appear 
 strange if the history of his fathers, written by a Jew, 
 may not be exactly in accordance with what the public 
 has been accustomed to read, or if his estimate of men 
 and motives may differ somewhat from Basnagc or Yol-
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 taire ; for, by a singular fatality, the character of the Jew 
 has heen assailed by the infide^not less than by the bigot. 
 Between the two, the condition of the luckless Hebrew 
 has been not unlike that of the lion in the fable. A man 
 called the attention of the grim king of the forest to a 
 picture representing a lion vanquished by a man : " We 
 have no painters," was his significant reply. In like 
 manner, whether a Gibbon, in his bitter hatred of revealed 
 religion, distorts the truth of history, and indulges in 
 malignant sneers at the Jew, or a MacCaul, in his bigot- 
 ed or interested zeal for conversion a zeal assuredly not 
 according to knowledge falsifies the opinions of the Jew, 
 and holds his teachers up to unmerited scorn, the only 
 reply the Jew could long give to the general reader was 
 still, We have no historians accessible to you." But that 
 time is fast going by. In Germany and France, Jost, 
 Gratz, and Salvador have in a masterly manner written 
 on the history of their people. 
 
 And what they have done for Frenchmen and Germans, 
 the writer of these pages, though by far their inferior in 
 learning, talent, and industry, presumes to attempt for his 
 fellow-citizens in the United States. For here, more than 
 anywhere else, it is the duty of the Israelite to bring him- 
 self, his past fortunes, and his present condition, fairly 
 before the world. Here, where he owns no superior but 
 God and the law, here, where, de facto as well as de jure, 
 he enjoys perfect equality with his fellow-citizens, and 
 takes that rank in society to which his talents and virtues 
 entitle him, here, where religious freedom, like civil 
 liberty, is his birth-right, here it behoves him to prove that 
 he is not unworthy of the advantages he enjoys. Here it 
 is his duty, as it is his privilege, to appeal not only from 
 the bigotry of the past to the common sense of the pre- 
 sent, but from the sordid selfishness of despots to the jus- 
 tice and generosity of freemen to proclaim, and to prove
 
 V 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 it, that in every estimable quality of the heart and of the 
 mind his fathers have at all times been, he himself is, the 
 peer of the most highly-gifted races that inhabit our 
 globe. Here he may give utterance to those truths, and 
 relate those facts which, while they cover the fanatic with 
 confusion, may call the blush of shame on the haughty 
 brow of the oppressor, and wring the conscience of the 
 few if any such there be in this home of freedom, of jus- 
 tice, and of reason who still, in their heart of hearts, 
 cherish the dark notions of the dark ages. 
 
 But it is not only to the native, but to the adopted citi- 
 zens of this our glorious country, that the Jewish historian 
 must address himself. Thousands arrive here from the 
 old countries, who, with their mothers' milk, have imbibed 
 the old scorn of the Jew. They come here in search of 
 liberty, ready and willing to exercise the rights of free- 
 men, and to claim perfect equality for themselves and all 
 that belong to them ; but carrying into the ordinary rela- 
 tions of society and of active life that supercilious hauteur, 
 or that narrow-minded prejudice, to which, in all matters 
 appertaining to Jews, they have so long been accustomed. 
 To them, the Jewish historian must speak freely. He 
 must show how the long inheritance of hatred was first 
 begotten by an unholy alliance of Tyranny with Super- 
 stition, whose first-born were Rapacity and Ignorance ; 
 how, during many ages, the fathers of these immigrants 
 found some consolation under the heavy oppression they 
 themselves suffered, in retaliating on the unfortunate Jew, 
 a Consolation that might befit despot-ridden tukjects, but 
 is altogether unworthy of those who aspired to the high- 
 est of all human titles, that of freemen and whose guiding 
 axiom must be, "Do as ye would be done by." 
 
 We have now sufficiently explained our motives in 
 undertaking the present publication. It is not our inten- 
 tion that it should be a. learned work, or that the minds
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the readers should be wearied by long dissertations on 
 Talmudic lore, or by uncalled-for polemics on points at 
 issue between church and synagogue. We write for the 
 people ; and, the better to reach them, we will endea- 
 vour to amuse as well as to instruct them. Interesting 
 narrations, a popular style, and respect for the belief 
 and feelings of our readers, is what such a publica- 
 tion requires ; and in these essentials we trust we shall 
 not be found wanting. But while thus, at the very 
 outset, our history disclaims the^ title of "learned," it 
 is determined at all times, and under all circumstances, 
 to deserve and maintain the title of "veracious," and 
 with fairness to distribute praise or blame wherever it 
 may be due ; for ours is a history of the Jews, not an 
 apology for them. Rigid impartiality in opinions as well 
 as in facts, is more than the author can undertake to 
 promise ; for he is not the 'abstraction of a Jew, but one 
 living, acting, feeling Avarmly for them and with them : 
 he is the son, the descendant of the men whose deeds and 
 whose sufferings he is about to relate. The Past, with its 
 manifold recollections ; the Future, with its boundless anti- 
 cipations, exercise their legitimate influence on his mind 
 and on his feelings. But, though he cannot promise that 
 perfect absence of all bias which in his position would be 
 more or less than human, he can, and does pledge him- 
 self, in the words of immortal Shakspeare, that he will 
 "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice;" that 
 he will advance nothing on doubtful authority, and 
 that he will, in no instance, allow his feelings to distort 
 facts, so that, though some of his readers may dissent 
 from his views or inferences, none of them shall have cause 
 to question his truthfulness, or to reject his statements. 
 
 We are great believers in the perfectibility of human 
 nature, and therefore we highly prize the privilege of liv- 
 ing at a time when progress of mind is the order of the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 day. But still higher do we appreciate the permission to 
 co-operate, in some degree, and according to the slender 
 measure of our ability, toward the general progress. 
 Coming generations will, we know, witness its further de- 
 velopment, and behold its highest triumphs; for where we 
 only taste the first fruits, they will reap and enjoy the 
 fulness of the harvest. But the seed of their harvest will 
 have been sown by us, the men of the present times. We 
 prepare for them a rich inheritance, and the greatness of 
 future ages will date its rise from ours; for the errors 
 which we root out will not mislead them ; the prejudices 
 which we overcome, will not narrow their minds. And 
 among those errors and prejudices from which our efforts 
 are to emancipate our descendants, those against which 
 this " POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS" is directed, 
 as they are among the oldest, are assuredly not the least 
 pernicious. We therefore fully expect that good men of 
 every creed and every lineage will bid us " God-speed ;" 
 that wise men will approve of our design ; and that both 
 will strengthen our hands in our honest endeavour to 
 break down that icy barrier which Pride and Ignorance 
 have raised, which Bigotry and Prejudice have so long 
 upheld, between those who are children of one Father, 
 creatures of one God. 
 
 M. J. R. 
 
 NEW YOHK, January 25, 1854.
 
 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY 
 
 THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity Policy of Cyrus and 
 of his successors Ezra Nehemiah Condition of Judea Alexander the 
 Great His visit to Jerusalem Authority of Jewish historians vindi- 
 cated Alexander's conquest of Egypt Babylon His death. (From 
 536 to 324, B. c. E.) 
 
 THE Biblical history of the Jews closes with the second 
 administration of Nehemiah, whose high favour at the court 
 of Persia had obtained the boon of being permitted to re- 
 build the walls of Jerusalem, one hundred and thirty-eight 
 years after they had been destroyed by Nebuchadnc/zar, 
 King of Babylon. The tribes or nations adjoining Judea 
 had long and successfully exerted their influence with the 
 kings of Persia, to prevent the Jews from recovering that 
 centralization and national consistency which must result 
 from the possession of a large and fortified city. Accord- 
 ingly, as often as the Jews attempted to rebuild the walls 
 of Jerusalem, denunciations from their old hereditary foes, 
 the Ammonites, Moabitcs, and Syrians, and especially from 
 their latest but most rancorous enemies, the Samaritans, 
 called forth an order from the king of Persia to suspcn'd 
 the work. It is true that a daughter of their race (Esther) 
 had been raised to the throne of Persia ; that her undo 
 
 -1
 
 22 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Mordecai, the Jew, became grand vizier at the court of 
 Susa; and that, by the address and piety of the queen, the 
 greatest danger to which the Jews had ever been exposed 
 the plot of Haman for their extermination was happily 
 averted. But, beyond this certainly most highly import- 
 ant instance of her patriotism and influence, there is no 
 proof that, for a time at least, Queen Esther or Mordecai 
 gave a different direction to the policy of the court of 
 Persia ; which consisted in gratifying the larger and more 
 powerful of the subject tribes at the expense of the smaller 
 and weaker ones ; and which accordingly sacrificed the 
 security of Jerusalem and its temple to the jealousy and 
 resentment of their adversaries "the men on this side the 
 river," as the various tribes leagued against the Jews de- 
 signated themselves. 
 
 The change in this policy on the part of King Arta- 
 xerxes may, however, as Hales justly remarks, be ac- 
 counted for on sound political principles, and not merely 
 from regard for the solicitations of his cup-bearer, Nehe- 
 miah. Four years before, King Artaxerxes who, after 
 the reduction of the revolted Egyptians, had prosecuted 
 the war against their auxiliaries, the Athenians suffered 
 a signal defeat of his forces by sea, and land from Cimon 
 the Athenian general, which compelled the king to sue 
 for .peace, and to subscribe to the following humiliating 
 terms: 1. That the Greek cities throughout Asia should 
 be free and enjoy their own laws ; 2. That no Persian 
 governor should come within three days' journey of any 
 part of the sea with an army ; and, 3. That no Persian ships 
 of war should sail between the northern extremity of Asia 
 Minor and the boundary of Palestine," (according to Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, lib. xii., whose authority, however, is in this 
 instance controverted by modern criticism ; and the fact 
 that such a treaty was ever made is altogether denied by 
 Dahlman, a German writer.) Thus excluded from the
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 23 
 
 whole line of sea-coast, and precluded from keeping garri- 
 sons in any of the maritime towns, it became not only a 
 matter of prudence, but of necessity, to conciliate the 
 Jews, to attach them to the Persian interest, and detach 
 them from the Grecians by further privileges, that the 
 Persians might have the benefit of a friendly fortified town, 
 like Jerusalem, within three days' journey of the sea, and 
 a most important pass to keep up the communication be- 
 tween Persia and Egypt ; and to confirm this conjecture 
 we may remark that, in all the ensuing Egyptian wars, the 
 Jews remained faithful to the Persians, and even after the 
 Macedonian invasion ; and surely some such powerful mo- 
 tive must have been opposed, in the king's mind, to the 
 jealousy and displeasure this measure must unavoidably 
 excite in the neighbouring provinces hostile to the Jews, 
 whose remonstrances had so much weight with him formerly. 
 It was necessary, therefore, to intrust the important mis- 
 sion to an officer high in former trust and confidence, such 
 as Nehemiah, whose services at court Artaxerxes reluct- 
 antly dispensed with, as appears from his appointing a set 
 time for Nehemiah's return, and afterward, from his re- 
 turn again to Persia in the thirty-second year of his reign." 
 (Howe's Critical Observations on Books, ii. 82.) This 
 change in the policy of the Great King, as the monarchs 
 of Persia were proudly styled, was a return to the sound 
 and statesmanlike views which, in his dealings with the 
 Jews, had acted on the mind of Cyrus, the founder of the 
 Persian Empire. t 
 
 The Persians were the victors and heirs of those Assy- 
 rian and Babylonian conquerors who had spread their sway 
 over the greater part of Central and Western Asia a sway 
 which was still farther extended by Cyrus and his succes- 
 sors, until it reached from the Indus on the south to the 
 Caspian Sea on the north, and from the Jaxartes on the 
 east to the Mediterranean on the west. All the conquered
 
 24 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 nations inhabiting this vast extent of land, were idolaters. 
 The Persians themselves, followers of Zoroaster, believed 
 in two independent and rival principles, the one, Ormuzd, 
 of light and good ; the other, Ahriman, of darkness and 
 evil. Both principles were objects of adoration ; but, while 
 certain rites attested their dread of Ahriman, their worship 
 was addressed to the Sun as the visible emblem of Ormuzd. 
 They bowed to the everlasting fire that burnt on the altar 
 of Mithra, the Sun, but admitted no idols or images into 
 their temples ; and to the animal- worship of the Egyptians 
 they were so intolerant, that a later Persian king sacrificed 
 the ox-god Apis to an ass. Among all the tribes and na- 
 tions that obeyed his sceptre, Cyrus found but one people 
 that, like himself, bowed not its neck before any image the 
 workmanship of human hands; and that people was the 
 Jews, who had been subdued and exiled from their own 
 land by his conquered enemies, the Assyro-Babylonians. 
 
 That land, however, was of great importance, from its 
 geographical position between the Euphrates and the 
 Mediterranean, and as the only avenue to Egypt. The 
 Assyro-Babylonians, in their day of power, had appre- 
 ciated that importance, and had located, in the central re- 
 gions of Palestine, colonists from Syria and the highlands 
 of Asia, who subsequently were known by the name of Sa- 
 maritans, or Cutheans. But in these colonists attached 
 to the Assyro-Babylonians, who had first planted them in 
 the land, and idolaters like them King Cyrus could have 
 no confidence. As he was preparing for the invasion and 
 conquest of Egypt, which his son and successor, Cam- 
 byses, subsequently undertook, Cyrus saw the importance 
 of locating in Judea his sole line of retreat in case of non- 
 success in Egypt a population that should have some feel- 
 ing in common with him and his Persians. And it did not 
 escape his penetrating mind that, if he restored their 
 land from which they had been expelled by idolaters
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 25 
 
 to the Jews, they would prove the most faithful subjects 
 he could place therein. Surrounded by idolatrous tribes, 
 against the rancour of whom they were protected by his 
 Persians like themselves, non-idolaters, necessity, as well 
 as gratitude and fellow-feeling, would create and keep 
 alive, in the mind of the Jews, an attachment to himself 
 and his empire not easily to be shaken. He had, more- 
 over, the merit in their eyes of having delivered them from 
 captivity, and revenged their sufferings on their proud en- 
 slavers in Babylon. And when Cyrus was informed how 
 above a century before he was born the prophet of the 
 Lord had designated him by name as the future deliverer, 
 whose triumph was to set free the captives of Zion and 
 cause them to return to their own land, when Cyrus thus 
 beheld his name and connection with the Jews plainly an- 
 nounced in a prophecy, (Isaiah xliv. 28; xlv. 1-7,) the 
 authenticity of which whatever modern rationalism may 
 do he saw no reason to doubt, he at once prepared to 
 obey the behest of a God whom he and his people did not 
 serve ; and he did this the more readily, as the promptings of 
 his own interest and the dictates of the soundest policy so 
 strongly and manifestly enforced obedience to that behest. 
 
 Cyrus issued a proclamation, in which, after setting 
 forth that the Lord God of heaven, who had given him 
 all the kingdoms of earth, had directed him to build for 
 him a house at Jerusalem, he invites all Jews who might 
 feel so inclined, to return to that city and to rebuild their 
 temple, assuring them of his support and protection. It 
 is a remarkable fact, and strong proof of the exact and 
 literal manner in which this proclamation is preserved in 
 Scripture, that the designation here officially given to the 
 God of the Jews by Cyrus, and repeated by his successors 
 in their decrees, "the God of heaven," is the sclf-samo 
 designation by which to this day throughout China, Mon- 
 golia, Tartary, and in all countries of Central Asia which 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 26 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 are not Mohammedan the God of the Bible, of Jews and 
 of Christians, is known. (Hue, Journey in Tartary, Thibet, 
 &c., passim.] Some ^ws availed themselves of the pro- 
 clamation, but the bulk of the people remained located in 
 the cities of Chaldea, on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. 
 The whole number of the first immigration did not quite 
 reach fifty thousand persons, including men, women, chil- 
 dren, freeborn and slaves. They were mostly poor, for 
 all the horses and mules in their caravan numbered less 
 than one thousand. Yet from this small and mean be- 
 ginning there sprung a nation which, in a comparatively 
 short period of time, filled the land with some millions of 
 wealthy inhabitants. 
 
 The successors of Cyrus lost sight of his policy. Egypt 
 conquered, Judea was no longer of the same importance to 
 them. The kings of Persia gave ear to the hostile reports 
 of the Samaritans and other enemies of the Jews, who 
 were more wealthy and powerful, and, therefore, possessed 
 greater influence at the court of Susa. The building of 
 the city and temple was frequently interrupted, and the 
 condition of the colony so precarious, as to hold out no 
 encouragement for further immigration. At so remote a 
 distance from the eye of the sovereign, the provincial go- 
 vernors were guilty of great extortions. Accordingly Ne- 
 hemiah, on his arrival at Jerusalem, pathetically laments 
 the condition of his people, who were in great distress be- 
 cause, though in their own land, they were servants to 
 governors who had dominion over their persons and pro- 
 perty, and whose exactions had burdened them with 
 debts ruinous and continually increasing. 
 
 From this state of misery they were raised by Nehemiah. 
 He had been commissioned to build walls and gates to the 
 town, to erect a mansion for himself and future governors, 
 and to rebuild the city. All this he accomplished with 
 singular zeal, ability, and disinterestedness, during his ad-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 27 
 
 ministration of twelve years, to which his leave of absence 
 from court extended. Threatened with hostilities by the 
 adversaries of Judah, he piously encouraged the people to 
 rely on the Lord, and "to fight for their brethren, their 
 sons and their daughters, their wives and their homes," 
 (Neh. iv. 8.) Dividing all the people into two bodies, 
 he appointed one to labour and build, and the other to 
 watch and fight. Even the builders "with one hand 
 wrought in the work, and with the other held a weapon." 
 Thus, by the most energetic and noble exertions, the whole 
 wall, which had been distributed in lots among the priests 
 and chiefs of the people, was, with all its gates and towers, 
 finished in the short space of fifty-two days. And the 
 great work which the Athenians, enriched by the spoils 
 of the East, and inspirited by the eloquence and abilities 
 of Themistocles, had a few years before undertaken, and 
 which has so frequently called forth the praise and admira- 
 tion of historians, (Thucydides, Diodorus, Plutarch, Gillies, 
 Mitford, Grote, &c.,) was fully emulated by the poor Jews 
 under Nehemiah, whom no one has ever thought it worth 
 while to praise or admire. 
 
 Having raised the walls on the old foundations, Nehe- 
 miah found that, although within the enclosure "the 
 city was large and great," yet "the people were few 
 therein, and the houses not builded." He had begun his 
 administration by relieving the poorer classes from the 
 load of debts that had crushed them to the ground, and 
 of which, by a successful appeal to the patriotism of the 
 rich, he had obtained the remission ; and to enable all 
 classes to improve their circumstances, lie declined to re- 
 ceive the usual dues of a governor; but, while lie tra- 
 velled with a great retinue, maintained a large number of 
 servants, and kept open table at Jerusalem, the heavy 
 charges were entirely borne from his own private fortune, 
 (Nch. v. 18, et pass.] This disinterestedness, together
 
 28 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 with his piety, courage, and patriotism, had given him a 
 strong hold on the affections of the people; so that when, 
 in order to give inhabitants to the city, he caused the fami- 
 lies to be registered, and required one in ten to be chosen 
 by lot to come to reside in Jerusalem, the numbers ob- 
 tained were increased by many volunteers, who came for- 
 ward to please the governor, and were received with par- 
 ticular favour. Thus the city was filled with inhabitants, 
 and its walls with defenders. 
 
 While Nehemiah was thus active in restoring the fallen 
 city and providing for its security and defence, he was 
 equally intent on giving stability to the principles by 
 which the revived nationality of the Jews was to be guided. 
 Some years before his appointment as governor, the king 
 of Persia had commissioned Ezra, the priest and sopher, 
 or scribe, to proceed to Jerusalem to regulate the worship 
 and the sacrifices in '-the house of the God of heaven." 
 The governors beyond the Euphrates were commanded to 
 supply him with whatever of silver, corn, wine, and oil 
 (within a specified quantity) he might require, and salt in 
 any quantity ; and he himself, together with all the 
 "priests, Levites, singers, gate-keepers, and temple ser- 
 vants," had been exempted from "tax, tribute, or toll," 
 and thus put on an equality with the dominant nations, the 
 Persians and the Medes. Lastly, this important commis- 
 sion authorized Ezra to appoint judges he himself being 
 their chief and magistrates, who were to judge the people 
 according to " the laws of his God," (Ezra vii. 12-27 ;) or, 
 in other words, that the Jews were to be judged according 
 to Jewish, and not according to Persian laws ; a fact which 
 goes far to dispose of the assertion of those skeptics wbo 
 try to persuade us that the law of Moses was not known 
 until its introduction by Ezra, though the Talmud itself 
 admits (tr. Succah, p. 20, A.) that the law had fallen into 
 oblivion, and that Ezra brought it into vogue again.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 29 
 
 This pious man, who, before the arrival of Nehemiah, 
 had laboured to improve the religious condition of the Jews 
 chiefly by annulling matrimonial connections with heathens, 
 a measure harsh to the natural affections, but indispen- 
 sably necessary to secure the people against a relapse into 
 idolatry, now exerted all his influence and authority to 
 co-operate with the new governor in his zealous efforts to 
 improve the social condition, and to consolidate the insti- 
 tutions of their people. There is no period in their post- 
 biblical history so important, and at the same time so ob- 
 scure, as that of the joint activity and administration of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah, from whom several of the most im- 
 portant liturgical enactments still in force among the 
 Jews bear date. Tradition which, however, has been 
 much contested, but which has the great preponderance of 
 evidence in its favour places in the days of Ezra tho 
 great constituent council known as " The men of the great 
 assembly," of which hereafter wo shall have occasion to 
 speak more fully. One of Ezra's labours was the ex- 
 change of the old Hebrew character of writing for the 
 more striking and shapely Assyrian or square character, 
 which ever since has remained in use with the Jews ; 
 while the old character, retained by the Samaritans, has 
 since been known by their name. The language, likewise, 
 spoken by the Jews who returned from Babylon, was very 
 different from that beautiful, concise, and energetic lan- 
 guage that had been used by their fathers, in which tho 
 Lord had spoken, and which still survives in the imperish- 
 able records of the Bible. During the seventy years of 
 their sojourn east of the Euphrates, daily intercourse with 
 the inhabitants of the land had gradually estranged tho 
 Jews from their own noble language; and those who re- 
 turned from Babylon had nearly all been born there, and 
 imbibed tho East-Aramaean, or Chaldec dialect, as a 
 mother tongue. The Hebrew was well known to, and
 
 30 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 spoken by, educated persons ; but Chaldee was used in all 
 the ordinary intercourse of life, since that only was under- 
 stood by all. This last-named language is indeed only a 
 dialect of the Hebrew, which fact accounts for the ease 
 with which the Jews adopted it during the captivit^. It, 
 however, assigned to words essentially the same such ad- 
 ditional or new meanings, and such differing terminations 
 and pronunciation, that the Hebrew could be but imper- 
 fectly intelligible to those who understood only the Chal- 
 dee. Accordingly, when on the first New-year's day after 
 the building of the walls, Ezra stood forth to read the Law 
 to the people, it was found desirable that the Levites 
 should translate and expound to the multitude that which 
 he read from the book in Hebrew ; by which means the 
 masses became more fully conscious of their religious obli- 
 gations than they appear till then to have been. 
 
 Nehemiah, the expiration of whose leave of absence 
 forced him to return to the court of Persia before his work 
 was quite completed, caused the people to enter into a 
 solemn league and covenant by which they pledged them- 
 selves 1. To walk in God's law as given to Moses ; 
 2. Not to intermarry with the (heathen) people of the 
 land ; 3. To observe the Sabbath and holy days, and not 
 to buy or to sell goods thereon ; 4. To keep the sabbatical 
 or seventh year, and to remit all debts therein ; 5. Each 
 man to contribute one-third of a shekel yearly to the sup- 
 port of the temple ; 6. And to render first-fruits and 
 tithes, as required by the law of God. But after his de- 
 parture, his regulations, and even the solemn covenant, 
 were gradually infringed upon and violated ; so that, after 
 an absence of some time, (according to Zunz, eight years 
 after his return,) Nehemiah solicited and obtained from the 
 king of Persia a reappointment to that office of governor 
 which he had filled with so much zeal and success for the 
 general good. This, his second administration, forms the
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 31 
 
 last fact recorded in Scripture ; for Malachi, the last of 
 the prophets, and whom tradition asserts to have been no 
 other than Ezra, is held by general opinion, supported by 
 every probability of internal evidence, to have prophesied 
 during this latter administration of Nehemiah. He con- 
 tinued in office till the third year of Darius Nothus, whom 
 he designates as Darius the Persian, (420 B. c. E.,) when, 
 having completed the restoration and settlement of the 
 Jews in their own land, he left them in that condition in 
 which, for a length of time afterward, they remained. 
 
 After the departure of Nehemiah, the land of Judea 
 was annexed to the satrapy or province of Coele-Syria, 
 and no more governors were sent to Jerusalem from tho 
 court of Persia. For, as the kings of Persia wished to 
 conciliate their Jewish subjects, and had granted them the 
 privilege of living and of being judged by their own law, 
 of which the Persians were ignorant, the right of self- 
 government followed as a necessary consequence. And 
 as the Persians were averse to popular or municipal 
 administrations, the high-priest of Jerusalem, as first in 
 rank among his own people, and recognised as such by 
 the king and government at Susa, naturally became tho 
 chief magistrate and representative of the Jews. The 
 temporal power, wealth, and dignity thereby attached to 
 the high-priesthood, rendered it an object of competition 
 to ambitious men, who, regardless of tho holy character 
 of the office, but too frequently resorted to violence and 
 bribery the fatal effects of which, on the morals of the 
 people and on the welfare of the country, in process of 
 time brought the Jews and their religion to the verge of 
 destruction, as will hereafter be more fully related. 
 
 The history of the period under our immediate notice 
 from Nchcmi^h until Alexander of Maccdon is obscure, 
 and the facts are few. It seems that, while the vast and 
 unwieldy empire of Persia was suffering those intestine
 
 32 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 commotions "which were the certain symptoms of its 
 approaching dissolution ; while Egyptians, Phoenicians, 
 Cyprians, and other tributaries of Persia frequently broke 
 out into ill-suppressed rebellion, in which they were sup- 
 ported by the Greeks, who on more than one occasion 
 insulted the power, defeated the arms, and devastated the 
 dominions of the "Great King," the Jews, self-governed 
 and subject to a moderate tribute, were the only people in 
 Western Asia that remained steadfast in their loyalty and 
 attachment to the kings of Persia. And though, in the 
 reign of Darius Ochus, the provincial Jews seem to have 
 been mixed up with the Sidonians and other Phoenician 
 rebels whom that monarch defeated, and thus incurred his 
 disfavour, yet the city of Jerusalem, which was not impli- 
 cated, throve and prospered. The increase in wealth and 
 population, throughout the whole of Judea, was great and 
 rapid ; and when the last Darius ascended the throne, his 
 native Persians were not more faithful to his dynasty than 
 the Jews. The frequent march of vast Persian armies 
 through Judea, occasioned by the repeated, and often for 
 a time successful, efforts of the Egyptians to recover their 
 independence, must have been very grievous and burden- 
 some to that country ; and the stern manner in which 
 military satraps exercised their authority, at times ren- 
 dered the yoke of Persia most galling to the Jews. Never- 
 theless, and upon the whole, we cannot have a stronger 
 proof of the quiet and prosperous condition of Judea, than 
 that the only fact recorded is of a murder committed by a 
 high-priest in the temple, and on the person of his own 
 brother ; and for which a fine was imposed in the shape 
 of a tax on the sacrificial lambs, so heavy that, according 
 to the estimate of Jahn, it must have produced a quarter 
 of a million of dollars, but which was remitted by Ochus. 
 With this single exception, neither the traditions of the 
 Jews nor the historians of the Gentiles know of any thing
 
 I 
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 33 
 
 of consequence to relate of Judea, from the departure of 
 Nehemiah till the invasion of Asia by Alexander the 
 Great. This scarcity of events forming so complete a 
 contrast with every other period in the history of the 
 Jews has induced Rabbins to assume that there were but 
 four kings of Persia, (those mentioned in Scripture,) whose 
 sway over Judea lasted no longer than fifty-two years, at 
 the end of which the Persian Empire was conquered by Alex- 
 ander. Whereas, from the history of the Greeks, we know 
 that from Cyrus, the first, to Darius Codomanus, the last 
 of the kings of Persia, ten monarchs reigned over that 
 empire exclusive of the usurper Smerdis and the ill-fated 
 Xerxes II., and his murderer Sogdianus during a period 
 of two hundred and ninety-two years. This has intro- 
 duced a difference of two hundred and forty years be- 
 tween Jewish and general chronology which some bigots 
 have imputed to a design on the part of the Rabbins to 
 abridge the period known as "the seventy weeks of 
 Daniel :" a charge of which we, who are better acquainted 
 with the character of the Rabbins, unhesitatingly acquit 
 them. The discrepancy arises simply from the fact that, 
 in their chronology, these Rabbins would admit of no 
 other items than those furnished by Scripture. 
 
 But while the annals of the Jews during this period 
 are thus "short and simple," those of the two empires 
 which succeeded each other in the supremacy over Judea 
 the Persian and the Grecian were all the more agitated. 
 In the latter we behold the unceasing jealousies of Athens 
 and Sparta, and the short-lived power of Thebes, pre- 
 paring the way for the gradual but uninterrupted progress 
 of Philip of Macedon, whoso victory at Cliacronea, while 
 it forever destroyed the liberties of those turbulent com- 
 munities, united under one leader the whole power of 
 Greece, which thenceforth, menacing and ready for action, 
 loudly proclaimed the approaching conquest of the East.
 
 34 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 In Persia, Ochus, after having re-established his domi- 
 nion over all the provinces which had newly or in former 
 times revolted, considered his task as king of Persia com- 
 pleted ; and, while he himself indulged in luxurious repose, 
 abandoned the reins of government to his favourite 
 Bagoas, an Egyptian eunuch, who, during the rebellion of 
 his countrymen, had rendered important services to the 
 king. But Bagoas was too much of an Egyptian ever to 
 forgive the insults which Ochus had heaped on the religion 
 of his country. Not content with having dismantled the 
 towns, and plundered the temples of their treasures and 
 public records, the king of Persia caused the great object 
 of Egyptian adoration, the ox-god Apis, to be sacrificed to 
 an ass a severe practical satire upon the animal-worship 
 of Egypt, and not less significant as an act of revenge 
 upon the Egyptians for their having nicknamed himself 
 The Ass, on account of his apparent sluggishness and 
 inactivity. 
 
 This act of Ochus was an offence which Bagoas could 
 neither forget nor forgive. He poisoned the king, and 
 destroyed all his sons except the youngest. This horrid 
 deed was followed by his sending back to Egypt such of 
 the plundered archives as he could collect. Arses, the son 
 of Ochus, whom the eunuch had spared, he placed upon 
 the throne, with the intention of reigning in his name. 
 But, discovering that the young king contemplated punish- 
 ing the murderer of his father and brothers, Bagoas anti- 
 cipated his intention, and in the third year of his reign 
 destroyed him and all the remaining members of his family. 
 Bagoas next tendered the blood-stained sceptre to Codo- 
 manus, a descendant of the royal family, who, after a life 
 of poverty and vicissitudes, 1 had been appointed governor 
 
 1 His grandfather was the brother of Darius II. Nothus ; and his 
 father was the only one of the family who escaped the massacre with
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 35 
 
 of Armenia, and who now, on his accession to the throne, 
 assumed the name of Darius. (355 B. c. E.) The eunuch 
 soon repented of his choice, and plotted the death of this 
 king also; but Darius, having discovered his design, re- 
 turned to his own lips the poisoned chalice he had pre- 
 pared for the king. 
 
 Few kings of Persia ever enjoyed greater advantages 
 at their accession than Darius. He had no competitors or 
 opponents ; his treasures, increased under Ochus by the 
 plunder of many lands, seemed exhaustless ; his dominion 
 appeared well established all over the nations which abode 
 from the Indus to the Isles of Greece, and from the cata- 
 racts of the Nile to the Caucasian mountains : and with 
 all this, the personal bravery of Darius and his acknow- 
 ledged merits made him universally respected and admired 
 throughout his empire. But, bright as his star appeared, 
 another had risen, before which his own grew pale and 
 became extinct. Though he had assumed the appellation 
 of DariuSj he could not recall the principles or manners 
 which distinguished his countrymen during the reign of 
 the first monarch of that name. In the space of about 
 two hundred and thirty years the Persians had been con- 
 tinually degenerating from the virtues which characterize 
 a poor and warlike nation, without acquiring any of those 
 arts and improvements which usually attend peace and 
 opulence. Their empire, as extended by Darius llystaspes, 
 still embraced the most valuable portion of Asia and 
 
 which Ochus opened his reign. He afterward* married, and had a son, 
 who was this C'xlomanus. The young man lived in obscurity during most 
 of the reign of Ochus, supporting liimsrlf as an a*tnn<l<i, or courier, by 
 carrying the royal despatches. He at last hud an opportunity of distin- 
 guishing hi* valour by claying a Curdusian champion, who, liko another 
 (ioliiih, defied the whole Persian army. For this gallant exploit ho was 
 rewarded by Ochus with the important government of Armenia. (Diodo- 
 rus, lib. xvii.)
 
 36 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Africa. The revenue paid in money was still estimated, 
 as during the reign of that monarch, at fourteen thousand 
 five hundred and sixty talents. Immense treasures had 
 been accumulated in Damascus, Arbela, Susa, Persepolis, 
 Ecbatana, and other great cities of the empire. The 
 revenue paid in kind cannot be appreciated ; but such was 
 the extraordinary opulence of this great monarchy, that the 
 conquests of Alexander are supposed to have given him an 
 income of three hundred millions of dollars a sum which 
 will admit of every allowance for exaggeration, and still 
 appear sufficiently great. 
 
 Although the extravagance and vices of Susa, Babylon, 
 and other imperial cities corresponded to the extent and 
 wealth of the monarchy, yet the Persians were prepared 
 for destruction rather by their ignorance of the arts of 
 peace and war, than by their effeminacy and luxury. The 
 provinces, moreover, had ceased to maintain any regular 
 communication with the capital or with each other. The 
 standing military force proved insufficient to keep in awe 
 the distant satraps or viceroys. The ties of a common 
 religion and language, or the sense of a public interest, 
 had never united into one system this discordant mass of 
 nations, which was ready to crumble to pieces at the touch 
 of an invader. When to these unfavourable circumstances 
 we join the reflection that, under the younger Cyrus, 
 twelve thousand Greeks had baffled the arras, and almost 
 divided the empire, of Persia, our admiration of Alexan- 
 der's magnanimity in undertaking his Eastern expedition 
 will diminish, unless we are at the same time apprized that 
 Darius, a brave and generous prince, beloved by his Per- 
 sian subjects, was assisted by the valour of fifty thousand 
 Greek mercenaries. (Gillies, iv. 255.) 
 
 His rival, Alexander of Macedon, holds so prominent a 
 place in the history of the world, that it is needless for us 
 to speak at length of his character and actions. Nor
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 37 
 
 would it be necessary for us to say more of him or of his 
 brief connection with Judea, than that, at the head of a 
 small but veteran army, he conquered and overthrew the 
 Persian Empire ; and that, having established his own 
 domination over Central and Western Asia, and part of 
 India, he died, after a reign of twelve years, and left the 
 Eastern world a prey to the reckless ambition of the chiefs 
 who commanded his armies. This is all that it would be 
 necessary for us to say of Alexander the Great, were it 
 not that his intercourse with the Jews, short-lived as it 
 was, and often disputed as it has been, showed us with 
 what high-principled constancy, and respect for the sacred 
 obligation of an oath, the Jews maintained their loyalty 
 and attachment to the falling standard of Persia. 
 
 In the spring of the year 334 B. c. E., Alexander, at 
 the head of an army of 30,000 foot and 5000 horse, en-~ 
 tered Asia, the Persians having neglected to oppose his 
 landing. Five days later their armies, numbering 100,000 
 foot and 20,000 horse, encountered him on the river 
 Granicus, and were defeated. The year after, Darius in 
 person took the field at the head of an army variously 
 estimated at from four to six hundred thousand men. 
 But, though the numbers engaged in this second battle 
 were larger, the result was the same. The superior mili- 
 tary skill of Alexander had enabled him, at Issus, to 
 choose such a battle-ground, that the immense numbers of 
 Darius became worse than useless to that unfortunate 
 monarch. He lost the battle ; and the thousands of his 
 troops who had not been able to take part in the fight now 
 incumbcrcd the retreat ; so that, in their eagerness of 
 flight, more were crushed to death than had fallen by the 
 swords of the Greeks. Darius himself escaped with great 
 difficulty ; his camp, his mother, his wife, and his sons 
 full into the hands of the victor, who treated them with 
 great kindness. The treasures of the Persians, their 
 
 Vol.. I. 4
 
 38 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 wives and children, who accompanied their husbands 
 and fathers to the field, but had been left behind at 
 Damascus, also came into the power of the conqueror, 
 who took possession of that city immediately after the 
 battle. 
 
 Darius fled to the interior of his empire, and, after a 
 vain attempt at negotiation, began to raise another army. 
 Alexander was in no hurry to follow him. Prudent as 
 well as valiant, he determined to leave no enemies behind 
 him. His original plan had been to reduce all the mari- 
 time provinces of the Persian Empire before he marched 
 on Susa ; and the great victory he had gained did not 
 tempt him to alter his intention. In the spring of 332 
 B. c. E., he marched into Phoenicia, all the states of which 
 tendered their submission, except Tyre. That great mart 
 of the ancient world was the first city that offered serious 
 resistance to his arms. He was compelled to besiege it in 
 form, and the capture of that seaport town forms one of 
 his most splendid operations, that to this day calls forth 
 the admiration of military historians. Tyre, after the 
 destruction of the ancient city by Nebuchadnezzar, had 
 been rebuilt upon an island about four hundred fathoms 
 from the shore. Its walls were high and strong, and ad- 
 ditional defences had been erected. The city possessed a 
 plentiful store of provisions, and fresh supplies could be 
 brought by sea without any difficulty. The citizens of 
 Tyre encouraged by ambassadors from Carthage, who 
 promised speedy and effectual succour felt invincible 
 within their seagirt isle, that seemed to bid defiance to 
 any attack by an enemy destitute of shipping. Alexan- 
 der, after the battle of Granicus, had discharged and dis- 
 missed his fleet, which was too small to cope with that of 
 the Persians collected from Egypt and Phoenicia and 
 yet too large for his slender treasury to maintain. He 
 declared that he would render himself master of the sea
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 39 
 
 by conquering the land ; that is, by getting the ports and 
 harbours of the Persians into his possession. 
 
 The prestige of his present power and future success 
 was at stake before Tyre, but the resources of his genius 
 were equal to the emergency\; and, after a siege of seven 
 months, in which attack and defence were conducted with 
 equal valour and skill, the proud and wealthy city was 
 taken by storm. Many of the Tyrians fled to Carthage, 
 but eight thousand fell by the sword ; thirty thousand were 
 sold into slavery, while two thousand of the principal 
 citizens were crucified, and the city was plundered and 
 laid in ashes a terror-striking example of the conqueror's 
 wrath to other cities that might contemplate resistance to 
 his arms. 
 
 On his entrance into Syria, Alexander had summoned 
 all the cities of that province to surrender, to pay to him 
 the tribute they had hitherto paid to the king of Persia, 
 and to supply his army with provisions. All obeyed. 
 Samaria even went beyond the conqueror's desire : not 
 only were provisions furnished and the tribute paid, but 
 eight thousand Samaritan warriors swelled the ranks of 
 Alexander's host. Not so Jerusalem. When Alexander's 
 written order issued from his camp before Tyre reached 
 Jaddua, the high-priest, he, as the chief magistrate of the 
 Jews, replied that he and his people had sworn fealty to 
 Darius, and that, so long as that monarch was alive, they 
 could not violate their oath by yielding obedience and aid 
 to his enemy. 
 
 The haughty conqueror felt offended. He vowed ven- 
 geance against tho petty tribe that had dared to disobey 
 his mandate. Tyre was soon subdued ; and Jerusalem was 
 next threatened by his arms. The long-continued tran- 
 quillity and prosperity of the Jews had excited the envy 
 of the neighbouring tribes. Tho opulence of Jerusalem 
 and its temple tempted their cupidity. When it became
 
 40 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 known that the victorious army of Alexander was march- 
 ing against Jerusalem, numerous reinforcements of Sama- 
 ritans and Syrians, Phoenicians and Chaldeans, hastened 
 to join him. Jaddua, the high-priest, and the Jewish 
 people, were in the utmost consternation and dismay. 
 Public sacrifices were offered for the national welfare ; 
 public prayers arose to implore the protection of the Deity. 
 A nocturnal vision revealed to Jaddua how to appease the 
 incensed Macedonians. Accordingly, he caused the city 
 to be ornamented with garlands and flowers, and the gates 
 to be thrown open, while he himself, and the other priests, 
 dressed in their sacred vestments, and the people clothed 
 in robes of white, prepared to meet the dreaded conqueror. 
 The solemn procession marched forth to Sapha, an emi- 
 nence from whence the whole city and temple might be 
 seen. 
 
 No sooner had Alexander beheld the high-priest in his 
 hyacinthine robes embroidered with gold, wearing his mitre 
 with the golden frontal, than he fell prostrate and adored 
 the Holy Name which was there inscribed in golden charac- 
 ters. His attendants were astonished. The enemies of 
 the Jews, who impatiently expected the signal of slaughter 
 and pillage, were struck with amazement. At length 
 Parmenio, one of Alexander's principal leaders, addressed 
 him, and said: "How comes it that thou, before whom 
 every one prostrates himself, shouldst kneel before the 
 priest of the Jews?" Alexander replied, "I worship not 
 this man, but his God." He further related how, pre- 
 vious to his entering on his expedition to Persia, he had, 
 in a nocturnal vision at Dion in Macedonia, seen the Jew- 
 ish high-priest, dressed as he was then before him ; that 
 the man who appeared to him in that vision had encou- 
 raged him, and promised him the conquest of all Asia ; and 
 he concluded by saying, "Now that I see him before me, 
 my vision recurs to my mind ; and, as I am thus convinced
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 41 
 
 of the divine protection, I no longer doubt but I shall 
 fully succeed in my undertakings." He entered Jerusalem 
 as a friend, offered sacrifices, and granted the nation all 
 those favours and immunities which they solicited from 
 him. After a short sojourn, he departed to complete the 
 final subjugation of the Persian monarchy, and thus to 
 verify the prediction of the prophet, that the empire of 
 Cyrus should be subverted by a Greek. 
 
 Such is the account of this singular transaction, handed 
 down to us by two Jewish sources, perfectly independent 
 of each other Josephus and the Talmud ; both of whom 
 agree in the main features of the narration. On the other 
 hand, its truth has been positively denied ; and even the 
 visit of Alexander to Jerusalem has been set down as Tal- 
 mudic fable, and self-glorification on the part of the Jews 
 and their historian, Josephus. On an impartial examina- 
 tion of the proofs adduced for and against the Jewish wri- 
 ters, we are of opinion that the weight of circumstantial 
 evidence strongly preponderates in their favour, and we 
 doubt not but our readers will join with us in that opinion. 
 
 The objections urged against the truth of this Jewish 
 narration are chiefly: 1. The tinge of the marvellous 
 which attaches to the whole affair. 2. Anachronisms, 
 conflicting with the known history of Alexander. 3. The 
 total silence of the Greek historians and biographers of 
 Alexander, who nowhere speak of his visit to Jerusalem. 
 Each of these objections we will examine separately; for, 
 as Alexander's interview with Jaddua is the first event re- 
 lated on the authority of post-biblical Jewish historians, 
 and as their truthfulness is so bitterly attacked that the 
 whole of their narration on this occasion is rejected as 
 fabulous and false, it behoves us to examine whether this 
 sweeping condemnation can bo sustained before the tribu- 
 nal of dispassionate inquiry. And should it appear that, 
 even as to this narration, their trustworthiness has far 
 
 4
 
 42 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 greater claims in its favour than the clamour that has been 
 raised against them, we shall then, and on other occasions, 
 avail ourselves of their evidence, as an authority entitled 
 to respect; but which, if they had been convicted of false- 
 hood in their very first narration, we should not again 
 have presumed to adduce. 
 
 And first, with respect to the tinge of the marvellous 
 that is interwoven with the affair. This objection is chiefly 
 urged by those who also question the supernatural events 
 recorded in the Bible itself. But these objectors forget 
 that, if we reject from the history of Alexander every 
 thing that appears marvellous, but which, nevertheless, is 
 attested by writers generally considered as trustworthy, 
 we shall have to retrench full one-half of the details that 
 have reached us of his progress. "We should also deprive 
 ourselves of our knowledge of the skill with which, in 
 order to facilitate his success, Alexander availed himself 
 of the powerful influence that the marvellous exercises over 
 the human mind. The love of the marvellous was not 
 only the characteristic of his age, but has at all times cha- 
 racterized the Oriental nations. Alexander, undertaking 
 the conquest of a great empire with but small material 
 means, enlisted in his aid every moral auxiliary that he 
 knew; and of these, the marvellous was one of the most 
 potent. Alexander not only used it as an instrument to 
 act on the minds of others, but we find that it also most 
 powerfully reacted on his own mind. Even his philo- 
 sophical historian, Arrian, is forced to acknowledge that 
 "the many concurring instances of singular good fortune 
 in the life of Alexander seemed to be produced by the 
 immediate interposition of divine power, which, in effecting 
 an important revolution in the Eastern world, rendered 
 the operations of nature and the volitions of men subser- 
 vient to the secret purposes of its providence." (Gillies's 
 Hist, of Ancient Greece, iv. 272.)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 43 
 
 Such is the admission of philosophical history, wrung 
 from it by facts so strangely marvellous, that the High- 
 Priest Jaddua's nocturnal vision appears quite simple at 
 the side of them. The recital of some of those facts will 
 fully bear out our assertion. 
 
 On his advance, after the battle on the river Granicus, 
 Alexander in person led a division of his army along the 
 sea-coast from Phasellis to Perga. " On this foaming 
 shore the sea commonly beats against the rocks, and 
 renders the passage impracticable, unless when the waves 
 are repelled by a strong north wind. When Alexander 
 began his march, the wind blew from the south. Yet he 
 advanced fearless, confiding in his fortune. His troops 
 cheerfully followed him, encouraged by many artful pro- 
 digies 2 which announced success to his undertaking. The 
 event which next happened was well fitted to strengthen 
 their credulity and confirm their implicit obedience. 
 Before they had reached the main difficulties of the pass, 
 the south wind gradually ceased, a brisk gale sprung up 
 from the north, the sea retired, and their march thus be- 
 came alike easy and expeditious." (Ibid.) To the lively 
 Oriental imagination of Josephus, (Antiq. xi.) this exploit 
 of Alexander's suggests a comparison with the passage of 
 the Israelites through the Red Sea. The evidence of 
 
 "While Alexander deliberated whether he should march forward to 
 attack Darius, a measure which promised glory and plunder to his troops, 
 or proceed along the sea-coast and reduce the maritime cities, which would 
 prevent the enemy from profiting by his absence in Upper Asia to conquer 
 Greece or Macedon with their fleet, a fountain near the city Xanthus, in 
 Lycia, boiled up and threw out a copper-plate engraved with ancient cha- 
 racters, signifying that the time waa come when the Persian Empire should 
 be overthrown by the Greeks. Plutarch adds, ' Encouraged by this pro- 
 digy, he hastened to subdue the coast.' It would, perhaps, have been 
 more worthy of a historian, to say, 'Encouraged by this prodigy, tho 
 Greeks and Macedonians readily obeyed the commands of their prudent, 
 not less than valiant, general.'" (Gillies, iv. 272.)
 
 44 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Arrian explains the marvellous in this occurrence ; "while 
 tve, at the present day, are inclined to look upon this 
 opportune change of wind, though perfectly natural, as a 
 signal interposition of Providence in favour of the man 
 whose success had been predicted by Daniel. 
 
 As a converse to the above fact, let us take the follow- 
 ing legend : The city of Gordium was famous in remote 
 antiquity as the principal residence of the Phrygian kings, 
 and the chief seat of their opulence and grandeur. 
 "Alexander had not long arrived in that place, when a 
 desire seized him of ascending to the ancient castle or 
 palace of Gordius, and of beholding the famous knot on 
 his chariot, which was believed to involve the fate of Asia. 
 Gordius, as the story went, was a man of slender fortune 
 among the ancient Phrygians, who had but a small piece 
 of land and two yokes of oxen, one of which he employed 
 in the plough, and one in the wagon. It happened to 
 Gordius, while he was one day ploughing, that an eagle 
 alighted on his yoke, and sat on it till evening. Alarmed 
 by the prodigy, Gordius had recourse to the Telmessians, 
 a people inhabiting the loftiest mountains in Pisidia, and 
 celebrated over all the neighbouring countries for their 
 skill in augury. At the first village of the Telmessians 
 he met a virgin drawing water at a fountain, to whom 
 having communicated his errand, she ordered him to ascend 
 the hill and there sacrifice to Jupiter. Gordius entreated 
 her to accompany him, that the sacrifice might be per- 
 formed in due form. She obeyed. Gordius took her to 
 wife. She bore him a son, Midas, who, when arrived at 
 manhood, was distinguished by his beauty and valour. It 
 should seem that the father of Midas had, in consequence 
 of his marriage, settled among the Telmessians, with 
 whose arts his son would naturally become acquainted. 
 The Phrygians at that time were harassed by cruel sedi- 
 tions; they consulted an oracle, who told them that a
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 45 
 
 chariot should soon bring them a king, who would appease 
 their tumults. While the assembly still deliberated on 
 the answer given them by the oracle, Midas arrived in his 
 chariot, accompanied by his parents. The appearance of 
 Midas justified the prediction, and announced him worthy 
 of royalty. The Phrygians elected him king ; their se- 
 ditions ceased ; and Midas, in gratitude to Jupiter, conse- 
 crated his father's chariot, and suspended it by a cord 
 made of the inner rind of the cornel-tree, the knot of 
 which was so nicely tied that no eye could perceive where 
 it began or ended. 
 
 "Whether Alexander untied or cut the knot, is left un- 
 certain by historians ; 3 but all agree that his followers re- 
 tired with the complete conviction that he had fulfilled 
 the oracle. A seasonable storm of thunder confirmed 
 their credulity; and the belief that their master was 
 destined to be lord of Asia, could not fail to facilitate that 
 event." (Gillies, iv. 276.) 
 
 This legend is at once marvellous and silly. The asses' 
 ears, for which in after life King Midas became so famous, 
 cast their shadow over the whole tale. And yet it is un- 
 questionably true, that in popular belief the empire of 
 Asia was bound up in the knot that tied the old chariot 
 suspended in the castle of Gordius ; and the presence of 
 mind with which Alexander got over the difficulty which 
 this belief might have caused him, is still perpetuated in 
 the universally proverbial expression of " cutting the Gor- 
 dian knot." 
 
 After these marvels, it is hardly necessary to speak of 
 the swallow that helped to discover a plot formed to assa- 
 sinate Alexander, (Arrian, p. 25 ;) or of the prediction of 
 
 Curtius (lib. iii. c. l)*ays ho cut it with his nwonl. Plutnrch (vit. 
 Alcxantl., p. 1230) says ho untir-1 it. Arrinn (p. 31) givos both account*; 
 and the latter on the authority of Aritftobulus, which is therefore the moro 
 probable.
 
 46 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Calanus, who, having directly, previous to his self-inflicted 
 death, embraced all present, refused to take leave of Alex- 
 ander, saying, "he should again see him in Babylon," 
 (Ib. 1. vii. c. 3,) the spot where Alexander shortly after- 
 ward expired ; and many other similar incredible circum- 
 stances related by, and believed on the authority of those 
 very historians, whose silence on the subject of Alexan- 
 der's visit to Jerusalem is adduced as the strongest objec- 
 tion against the trustworthiness of the Jewish writers. 
 But if with these outrS narratives we compare the account 
 of Alexander's interview with Jaddua, the high-priest, we 
 shall find that, though tinged with the characteristic of 
 the times the marvellous this account is, nevertheless, 
 perfectly credible. 
 
 That Jaddua's mind should have been strongly agitated 
 by the impending fate of his city, his people, and himself, 
 is quite natural ; that, as resistance was out of the ques- 
 tion, his thoughts must have been altogether absorbed in 
 devising the most effectual mode of appeasing the con- 
 queror's wrath by some striking act of submission, is also 
 quite natural. This being granted, is it so incredible 
 that in the silence of his chamber, and while his body was 
 at rest, his mind should continue active; that the subject 
 of his waking thoughts should be seized upon and worked 
 out by his imagination, until his mind's eye saw the city 
 ornamented with garlands, the gates thrown open, and the 
 long procession of inhabitants clothed in white passing 
 through them, preceded by the priests in their vestments, 
 and the whole headed by himself, arrayed in all the splen- 
 dour of his high dignity ? Is it unlikely that the strong 
 impressions produced by this VISION should have remained 
 stamped on his memory after he awoke, and that his 
 judgment should have approved of that which his imagi- 
 nation had suggested? 
 
 We repeat, that in all this we see nothing incredible.
 
 JTJDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 47 
 
 Even in our days, we all know or have heard of remark- 
 able instances of dreams and of their influence ; nor is the 
 present theory on the subject so clear and certain that it 
 affords any satisfactory explication of such marvels. We 
 use the word VISION advisedly ; because we believe that 
 the thought which arose in Jaddua's mind during his re- 
 pose, though perfectly natural, was nevertheless a signal 
 interposition of Providence for the preservation of Jeru- 
 salem, its people, and temple. 
 
 With respect to the second marvel, the vision which 
 Alexander had, or professed to have had, at Dion, we also 
 see no insuperable difficulty. It is certain that the pupil 
 of Aristotle, preparing for the conquest of Persia, and 
 naturally of an inquiring turn of mind, would seek to 
 acquire the fullest information respecting such portions, 
 at least, of that empire as the success of his arms would 
 first lay open to him. The geographical position of 
 Judea, together with the anomalies of a great and strong 
 city like Jerusalem, governed by a priest, and of a cele- 
 brated temple in which there was no image, would be sure 
 to strike him ; and the impression thus produced, joined 
 to the constant preoccupation of his sleeping and waking 
 thoughts the conquest of Persia may at night have 
 placed before his mind's eye the high-priest, whose pe- 
 culiar vestments had perhaps been described to him during 
 the day. 
 
 Moreover, and to us it appears more probable, that con- 
 summate politician, Alexander, "who BO often employed 
 pupcrstition as an instrument of policy," (Gillies, iv. 380,) 
 may here have treated his troops and allies to a second 
 edition of "cutting the Gordian knot." His first ebulli- 
 tion of anger evaporated, it could not fail to strike him, 
 that the solemn submission of the high-priest of Jeru- 
 salem would much more advance his interests than the 
 destruction of the city could do ; inasmuch as the submit-
 
 48 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS." 
 
 sion of the priest would prove that "the God of heaven," 
 in whose temple he ministered, and for whose worship the 
 kings of Persia had so respectfully provided, had now 
 forsaken those kings, recognising Alexander as their suc- 
 cessor ; and that this recognition, confirmed -by the sea- 
 sonable recollection, on his part, of a nocturnal vision at 
 Dion previous to his entering on his expedition, would 
 be certain to act on the mind of Darius and his native 
 Persians, whose predecessors in former ages had been so 
 careful to avert " the wrath of the God of heaven against 
 their kingdom." (Ezra vii. 23.) 
 
 Whichever of those two views of Alexander's vision be 
 adopted, there is nothing absolutely incredible in either ; 
 and we thus find that the first objection, the tinge of the 
 marvellous, is not of sufficient weight to destroy the evi- 
 dence of the Jewish historians. 
 
 The second objection, anachronisms, will not be found 
 more tenable. They are chiefly three : First, Parmenio 
 could not have asked Alexander "Why he, before whom 
 every one prostrated himself, should kneel to the priest?" 
 as Alexander did not require prostration the mark of re- 
 spect exacted by the kings of Persia till long after the 
 period alluded to by Josephus. Next, that the conqueror 
 cannot have been accompanied by Chaldeans. And, lastly, 
 that the high-priest could not, with propriety, have ad- 
 dressed to Alexander any requests in favour of the Jews 
 settled in Babylon and Media, before that prince had con- 
 quered those countries or even passed the Euphrates. 
 (Moyle's Letters, ii. 415 et seq.; Examen Critique des His- 
 toriens d'Alexander, 65-69.) 
 
 These objections appear to us futile and unworthy of 
 those who offer them. Though Alexander did not at that 
 time exact prostration, that mark of respect was certainly 
 offered to him by the Orientals, even by those of highest 
 rank. (Arrian, lib. ii. p. 39.) Consequently, Parmenio's
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 49 
 
 remark, as reported, was correct ; though the homage on 
 the part of "every one" was voluntary and in conformity 
 with the ancient custom of the East. Chaldeans from 
 Babylon were among the colonists settled in the land of 
 Israel, and are, long before Alexander's time, enumerated 
 among the tribes who assumed the designation of " The 
 men on this side the river," (Ezra iv. 9-11,) and who sub- 
 sequently were known by the general name of Samaritans. 
 And, lastly, that the high-priest should consider Alex- 
 ander as already in possession of countries which he had 
 not yet even approached, was, under the circumstances, by 
 no means improper or unlikely. The high-priest knew 
 and believed the predictions of Daniel, which proclaimed 
 Alexander to be the destined conqueror of the whole Per- 
 sian Empire. These predictions he imparted to Alexander, 
 who had always announced himself as the man of destiny. 
 It was therefore perfectly in keeping with the character 
 of both, and goes far to confirm the truth of the whole 
 narrative, that the high-priest should have asked, and that 
 Alexander should have granted, favours, not only to the 
 extent of that monarch's actual power, but also to the 
 much greater extent of his future possessions. 
 
 The last objection, the silence of the Greek writers, has 
 by some, even of the modern Jewish historians, been held so 
 weighty, that they allow it to prevail over the positive evi- 
 dence of Josephus and the Talmud. We confess we can- 
 not adopt their views. The silence of Greek writers, 
 whenever any circumstance creditable to Jews is to be re- 
 lated, proves nothing except the malice and partiality that 
 dictated the omission. If we were to allow the silence of 
 Greek historians to afford proof positive of the nonoccur- 
 rcnce of any event, we should have to reject from the 
 annuls of history tho wars of the Maccabees, for these, 
 likewise, are nowhere mentioned by any Greek writer. In 
 the instance of Alexander's intercourse with Jaddua, the 
 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 50 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Jewish authorities are supported by circumstantial evi- 
 dence too decisive to leave any room for doubt as to the 
 favour with which Alexander treated the Jews, and the 
 honours which, in return, they decreed to him. He 
 granted them the privilege that during the sabbatical 
 year, in which they did not cultivate the ground, they 
 should be exempt from tribute. This* exemption they 
 actually enjoyed during the whole time they were subject 
 to the Egypto-Grecian and Syro-Grecian kings ; nor can 
 any other origin be shown for this important privilege. 
 Indeed, had it been granted by any other and less author- 
 ity than that of Alexander himself, the successive and 
 hostile possessors of Judea but who all claimed to be the 
 successors of Alexander would not have continued to re- 
 spect an immunity so greatly at variance with their own 
 interest. In return for his kindness to them, the Jews de- 
 creed that every male child born to the Cohanim (or de- 
 scendants of Aaron the priest) in the year of his visit to 
 Jerusalem, should, in honour of him, be named Alexander. 
 Thenceforth this name a truly Greek one is found in 
 frequent use among the Jews, and continues so unto this 
 day; nor can any other reason be assigned for its intro- 
 duction. 
 
 These two facts, which have never been denied, confirm 
 the friendship between Alexander and the Jews, as related 
 by their historians; while the silence of the Greeks is 
 easily accounted for by their inveterate hatred of the Jew- 
 ish people, which, on more than one occasion, prompted 
 them not only to suppress facts, but also to invent false- 
 hoods, of which we shall furnish abundant proof as we 
 go on. 
 
 Little as the question, whether Alexander visited Jeru- 
 salem or not may concern us of the present generation, 
 we deemed it right to subject it to a searching investiga- 
 tion, because in that question the truthfulness of the much-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 51 
 
 abused Talraudic historians is involved ; a truthfulness 
 which, in this instance, we trust we have fully vindi- 
 cated. 
 
 Josephus relates that the Samaritans, who had early sub- 
 mitted to Alexander, and sent him auxiliaries at the siege 
 of Tyre, on seeing the favour with which the Jews were 
 treated by him, came forward, as followers of the same law, 
 to solicit the same privilege. For as the Jewish histo- 
 rian with equal asperity and truth remarks the Samaritans 
 were always ready to profess themselves Jews when the 
 descendants of Abraham were prosperous, and equally 
 ready to disown and disavow the connection when the Jews 
 were in distress or difficulty. They also advanced to meet 
 Alexander in solemn procession ; and, as they were gra- 
 ciously received, they also requested exemption from tri- 
 bute on the sabbatical year, since they, as well as the Jews, 
 then left their land uncultivated. But, on being pressed, 
 they could not give a direct and satisfactory answer to the 
 question, whether they were Jews ? Alexander, therefore, 
 told them he would take time to consider the matter, and 
 let them know his decision when he returned from Egypt. 
 
 It was not his policy to encourage such applications ; as 
 others, under the same or other pretences, might make 
 similar claims to exemption, to the great injury of the pub- 
 lic revenue. When, in addition to this, we remember that 
 Alexander's natural disposition was sufficiently prone to 
 anger, of which he had shortly before given dreadful 
 proofs in his treatment of Thebes and Tyre, we may be 
 sure that nothing short of an overwhelming influence 
 would have induced him not only to pardon the defiance 
 the Jews had offered to him, but even, and to his own 
 loss, to grant them privileges which he refused to their 
 time-serving neighbour?. 
 
 After the submission of Syria, Alexander departed for 
 the conquest of Egypt, which after the storming of Ga/a,
 
 52 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the only place that offered resistance to his arms, and 
 where he himself was wounded the mere terror of his 
 name accomplished for him. But, though he had no oc- 
 cupation for his arms, his talents for civil administration 
 were all the more actively and favourably exerted. Con- 
 tinually occupied with the thoughts not only of extending, 
 but also of improving his conquests, hfs discerning eye 
 soon perceived what all the boasted wisdom of Egypt had 
 never been able to discover. The inspection of the Medi- 
 terranean coast, of the Red Sea, of the Lake Marocotis, and 
 of the various branches of the Nile, suggested the idea of 
 founding a city, the geographical advantages of which 
 would enable it to become the great mart of the world, 
 and thus to take the place of Tyre, which city he had so 
 recently destroyed. 
 
 Fired with this idea, he not only fixed the situation 4 and 
 traced the plan of his intended capital, but decreed of 
 what nations its citizens should consist. And here we 
 have the remarkable fact, that while to the eight thousand 
 Samaritans who had joined Alexander at the siege of 
 Tyre, and had accompanied him to Egypt, he assigned 
 lands in the Thebaid, (Upper Egypt,) he directed that in 
 the city he destined to bear his name, to become the capi- 
 tal of his empire, and his own residence, two colonies 
 should be located with equal privileges, the one of Mace- 
 
 * "Egypt was formed to reunite the commerce of Europe, Africa, and 
 the Indies. It stood in need of a harbour, vast and easy of access. The 
 mouths of the Nile afford neither of these advantages. The only proper 
 situation was distant twelve leagues from the river, and in the heart of a 
 desert. On this spot, which none but a great genius could have pitched 
 on, Alexander built a city, which, being joined to the Nile by a navigabb 
 canal, became the capital of nations, the metropolis of commerce. The 
 trading nations of earth still respect its ruins heaped up by barbarism, 
 and which only require the operation of a beneficent hand to restore the' 
 boldest edifice the human mind ever dared to conceive." (Mem. du Baron 
 de Tott, t. ii. p. 179.)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 53 
 
 donians, the other of Jews. 5 This was the greatest proof 
 he could possibly give of his appreciation of their high 
 principle, and value as loyal citizens. " Such was the sa- 
 gacity of his choice, that, within twenty years, Alexandria 
 rose to distinguished eminence among the cities of Egypt 
 and the East ; and continued through all the subsequent 
 ages of antiquity the principal bond of union, the seat of 
 correspondence and commerce, among the civilized nations 
 of the earth." (Gillies, iv. 306.) 
 
 As the converse of this remarkable instance of his genius 
 and talents for business, history relates that, during his 
 sojourn in Egypt, Alexander was seized with an inclination 
 to visit the revered temple and oracle of Jupiter Ammon. 
 Whether he was impelled by curiosity alone, or guided by 
 his usual policy, historians do not decide. The latter was 
 probably the case ; for, among the African and Asiatic 
 nations, the oracle of Ammon enjoyed an authority similar 
 and equal to that which Delphi so long held in Greece ; 
 and, perhaps, the conquest of the East could not have 
 been so easily accomplished by Alexander had he not pre- 
 viously obtained the sanction of that venerated shrine. 
 After a long, toilsome, and dangerous march through the 
 burning and sandy desert of Lybia, Alexander reached the 
 oasis a fruitful spot in the midst of that desert on which 
 the temple of Ammon was situated, consulted the oracle, 
 and received a very favourable answer. Plutarch (vit. 
 Alex., p. 080) relates that the prigst or prophet meant to 
 address Alexander by the affectionate title of paid ion, 
 child, son ; but not being sufficiently acquainted with the 
 Greek tongue, he said pai dios, son of Jupiter. On this 
 wretched blunder were founded Alexander's pretensions to 
 
 These privilege*, which, in the confusion arising after the death of 
 Alexander, seem to have been withheld, Ptolemy I. Soter subsequently 
 renewed and confirmed to the Jews. (Joseph. Ant. lib. xli. cap. 1 , ct con. 
 Apion, lib. i. cap. 22.) 
 
 6*
 
 54 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 divinity. Ammon was worshipped under the form of a 
 ram ; hence the ram's horns which appear on the head of 
 Alexander in most figures of him, and which are perpetu- 
 ated in the designation by which he is best known among 
 the Orientals DhuUcarnain "of the two horns." 6 We 
 must leave it to our readers, either, with Plutarch, to at- 
 tribute all this to motives of policy, or to adopt the narra- 
 tive of Curtius, (lib. iv. cap. 7,) together with that impres- 
 sion of Alexander's understanding which the whole affair is 
 calculated to convey to us of the present day. 
 
 During his stay in Egypt, some Samaritans, enraged, 
 probably, that they had not at once obtained the same 
 immunities as the Jews, set fire to the house of Androma- 
 chus, whom Alexander had appointed their governor, and 
 who perished in the flames. The other Samaritans de- 
 livered up the offenders to Alexander, who, on his return 
 to the rendezvous of his army at Tyre, again passed 
 through Palestine, (331 B. c. E.) But so highly enraged 
 was he, that, not satisfied with the punishment of the ac- 
 tual culprits, he removed the Samaritans from their city, 
 and transferred thither a Macedonian colony. (Curtius, iv. 
 21.) The Samaritans thus expelled from Samaria, thence- 
 forth made Shechem their metropolis, as that city was at 
 the foot of Mount Gerizim, on which the Samaritan temple 
 stood. Under these circumstances they would hardly 
 dare to remind him of their previous claim respecting ex- 
 emption from tribute on the sabbatical year, though he 
 had promised he would consider it. Accordingly they 
 never obtained that immunity, which is an additional proof 
 that this privilege had been actually conferred on the Jews 
 
 Abul-pharagius, however, (Compend. Dynast, p. 96,) explains this 
 designation as indicating Alexander's sway in the East and the West, 
 " quod assecutus est Orientem et Occidentem." Alexander is indeed the 
 only European monarch who ever, in person, reigned in the great central 
 regions of Asia.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 55 
 
 by Alexander in person, and on the occasion of his first 
 and only visit to Jerusalem. 
 
 The operations and victories of Alexander beyond the 
 Euphrates are not so directly connected with the history 
 of the Jews as to require that we should speak of them at 
 any length. The battle of Arbella, fought on the 1st of 
 October, 331 B. c. E., gave Alexander possession of the 
 Persian throne. Darius, who, after the battle, fled into 
 Media to raise new levies, was prevented from carrying 
 out that design by the rapid pursuit of the Greeks, and 
 was shortly afterward basely and treacherously murdered 
 by his own attendants. This foul deed Alexander subse- 
 quently punished. Bessus, the principal culprit, previous 
 to his execution, was treated with a barbarity better 
 merited by his own crimes than in accordance with the 
 character of Alexander. 
 
 It was not till after his return from his expedition to 
 India (324 B. c. E.) that the great conqueror again came 
 in contact with the Jewish people. After having extended 
 his conquests to the Indies, the Danube, the burning sands 
 of Lybia, and the bleak Scythian desert, Alexander fixed 
 on Babylon as the seat of his empire, of which, locally, that 
 city formed the centre, being at an intermediate and 
 nearly equal distance from its four boundaries. That 
 great, populous, and wealthy city, taken by storm, and in 
 part destroyed by Cyrus, who plundered its treasuries and 
 profaned its temples, had frequently revolted, and was 
 therefore always viewed with suspicion and treated with 
 severity by the kings of Persia. They even went so far 
 as to destroy two ancient sources of Babylonian wealth, 
 by obstructing the navigable courses of the rivers Eu- 
 phrates and Tigris. 7 
 
 1 The kings of Persia treated the merchants of Babylon precisely in tlio 
 manner that a merchant of London, in the reign of Charles II., pre- 
 tended ludicrously to fear leat that great commercial city might be treated
 
 56 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 All ancient historians (Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, 
 Curtius, Pliny) agree in stating that, at the time of its 
 great prosperity under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon contained 
 upwards of two millions of inhabitants, and that the Avails 
 formed a circuit of forty-eight, or, as the Midrash states, 
 sixty miles. A great part of this vast space, probably one- 
 half of it, was occupied by gardens, or rather parks, spacious 
 reservoirs of water, temples and palaces of great extent, 
 vast squares, and market-places. Two of these royal pa- 
 laces occupied the space of two and a half square miles ; 
 the principal one stood on the western bank of the Euphra- 
 tes, directly opposite the temple, sepulchre, and tower of 
 Belus, a portion of which still stands erect amid the sur- 
 rounding mounds that cover the vast plain, and affords us 
 convincing proof of the solidity and vastness of these Baby- 
 lonian structures. Indeed, so solid were they, that the 
 utmost rage of the Persians failed to demolish them : a 
 feat which the powerful hand of time has not, even yet, 
 after the lapse of twenty-five centuries, fully accomplished. 
 
 In the days of Alexander, the city of Babylon, though 
 shorn of its splendours and its most gorgeous edifices 
 ruined, still contained a numerous and industrious popula- 
 tion, and only needed the fostering hand of a friendly go- 
 vernment to recover its ancient prosperity. This friendly 
 hand Alexander prepared to extend to the fallen city. 
 The temple of Belus, so stupendous in its remains, that 
 ancient tower, indestructible, though ruined, attracted his 
 attention. With that energy and decision which formed 
 the leading traits in his character, he gave orders for the 
 immediate restoration of the temple and tower. In order 
 to hasten the work, his Asiatic soldiers were employed, in 
 turn, to remove the rubbish; these workmen were nurne- 
 
 by the king. On being told, " His majesty is very angry with the citizens 
 of London," the merchant's reply was : " Indeed! then I fear he will take 
 the river from us !"
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 57 
 
 rous, for an army of fifty thousand men was stationed at 
 Babylon. To gratify the king's well-known desire, all 
 worked zealously all but the Jews. The prophets of the 
 Lord had, in former days, predicted that the prosperity 
 of Babylon should never be restored ;' that the temple of 
 the idol Belus should never rise from its ruins ; and no- 
 thing could induce the Jews to join in the work Alexander 
 had so zealously at heart. With patience and resigna- 
 tion these sufferers for conscience' sake endured many 
 stripes, and paid heavy fines. Their passive resistance at 
 length overcame Alexander's fiery will ; his commands 
 were powerless before their steadfastness of principle, and, 
 shortly before his death, he exempted them from any par- 
 ticipation in the hateful labour, though with characteristic 
 ardour he persevered in his design. But, in the midst of 
 his power, and while preparing to subjugate the West, the 
 angel of death smote him at Babylon in the thirty-third 
 year of his age, (28th May, 324 B. c. E.) His influence 
 on the Eastern world is best expressed by his philosophi- 
 cal historian, (Arrian, lib. vii. sub. fin.) who declares that 
 Alexander was "sent into the world by the particular dis- 
 position of Providence ; a man singular and matchless, 
 whose enterprises, justifiable in him alone, could not have 
 reasonably been undertaken by any other."
 
 58 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Wars between Alexander's Generals Perdiccas Ptolemy Antigonus 
 Siege and Storm of Jerusalem by Ptolemy Jews carried to Egypt De- 
 metrius Battle of Gaza Mosollarnus Credibility of Greek historians 
 in reference to Jewish affairs : Jerom of Cardia ; Hecataeus The 
 Nabathaeans Seleucus Nicator His success in Upper Asia Era of 
 the Seleucidse : Minyan Staroth Extinction of the family of Alexander 
 the Great Battle of Ipsos. (From 326 to 301, B. c. E.) 
 
 HISTORIANS differ as to the causes of Alexander's death. 
 According to some, he had been poisoned by the emissaries 
 of Antipater, one of his lieutenants, whom he had shortly 
 before displaced from the government of Greece and Mace- 
 don. Others, and with more truth, consider debauchery, 
 and the excessive use of wine, as the only poison that de- 
 stroyed him. With him died the project of restoring the 
 prosperity of Babylon and the temple of Belus, the pre- 
 sent condition of which strikingly attests the truth of plo- 
 phecy. He had permitted the passively-refractory Jews 
 to return to their homes, where, as their historian relates, 
 " they pulled down the temples and altars which had been 
 erected by the colonists in their land, and paid a fine for 
 some to the governors, and received a pardon for others." 
 (Hecataeus in Joseph. : contra Apion, i. 22.) 
 
 Aristobulus, a contemporary biographer, relates (apud 
 Arrian, cap. 26) that Alexander being asked, immediately 
 before his dissolution, "to whom he bequeathed the 
 empire?" replied "to the strongest, for rny obsequies, I 
 know, will be celebrated by strenuous funeral games among 
 my generals." This report was greedily embraced by 
 the Greeks, whom Homer (Iliad, lib. xvi. 850) had taught 
 to believe that the soul, at taking its flight from the body,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 59 
 
 often clearly predicted the secrets of futurity, and all 
 acknowledged the characteristic fitness of a reply which 
 veiled Alexander's melancholy forbodings under his accus- 
 tomed magnanimity. 
 
 Yet he had not been guilty of the omission to which 
 able and busy men are peculiarly liable. Sleep and love, 
 he used, according to Plutarch, to say, kept him in mind 
 of his mortality; and, impressed with this reflection, he 
 had made a full and clear testamentary disposition with 
 regard to his whole dominions. (Diodorus. lib. xx. s. 81.) 
 This important document he had deposited in the city of 
 Rhodes, capital of the island of that name, the inhabitants 
 of which Alexander regarded with much fond partiality, 
 and with whom he entertained a cordial correspondence. 
 But in the matter of his testament, these Ilhodians did 
 not justify his confidence and good opinion. Their de- 
 scendants, with preposterous vanity, always boasted that 
 Rhodes had once been in possession of a document so im- 
 portant to the world. (Ibid.) But the will itself, which 
 many powerful persons had the strongest interest to can- 
 cel, never made its appearance. His succession was left, 
 as a prize, to be contended for by the ambition of his lieu- 
 tenants. 
 
 The struggle between them is the most memorable war- 
 fare ever waged in Asia in point of duration and obsti- 
 nacy, and the only general conflict in that quarter of the 
 globe during which the resources of wealth and numbers 
 were steadily directed by scientific fkill and disciplined 
 valour. During the twenty-two years that this struggle 
 continued, "Evils were multiplied in the earth," (1 Mac. 
 i. 19;) and the Jews, from their intermediate situation, 
 between the two powerful kingdoms, as they speedily 
 became, of Syria, northward, and of Egypt, southward, 
 were alternately harassed by both. According to the 
 imagery of Josephus, ( Antiq. xii. 3,) " they resembled a
 
 60 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ship tossed by a hurricane, and buffeted on both sides by 
 the waves, while they lay in the midst of contending 
 seas." 
 
 It is not our intention to enter into the details of the 
 wars that devastated the wide extent of Alexander's 
 empire, or, indeed, to notice them, except inasmuch as 
 they influenced the condition of the Jews, which they did 
 to a very considerable degree. At a military council held 
 directly after the death of Alexander, it had been decided 
 that Aridaeus, his illegitimate brother, but a man of no 
 capacity, should be king, assuming the name of Philip; 
 that a posthumous son of Alexander's, called Alexander 
 JEgus, should share the sovereignty with him ; and that 
 Perdiccas, a prince of the Macedonian blood-royal, to 
 whom the dying Alexander had handed his signet-ring, 
 should be regent and guardian of the two kings, who both 
 were incapable of reigning the one being an imbecile, 
 and the other an infant. After this settlement of the 
 supreme power, the provinces of the empire were distri- 
 buted as satrapies among the principal generals and minis- 
 ters of Alexander. Syria and Palestine fell to the share 
 of Laomedon. His most powerful neighbour was Ptolemy 
 Soter in Egypt, of whose character and actions we shall 
 presently have to speak more fully. Among the other 
 great officers of Alexander's, the two most entitled to our 
 notice are Antigonus, who, for a time, seemed in a fair 
 way of re-establishing the unity of Alexander's Asiatic 
 empire; and Seleucus, the youngest, and destined to 
 become the most powerful of them all, but to whom, at 
 the first distribution, no satrapy was assigned. 
 
 It was scarcely possible that the authority of two such 
 kings, vested in a regent who had been lifted over the 
 heads of his equals in rank and abilities, should hold in 
 check the powerful and ambitious soldiers who had been 
 appointed governors over provinces equal in extent and
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 61 
 
 resources to independent monarchies. Within a year after 
 Alexander's death, his veterans were opposed to each other 
 in a furious battle fought near the plain of Troy, in which 
 Craterus, the oldest and most respected of his lieutenants, 
 was slain. The year following, a combination was formed 
 against the regent Perdiccas, on account of the design 
 which he betrayed of appropriating the crown of Mace- 
 donia. In order to discomfit this combination by vanquish- 
 ing its most formidable chief, Perdiccas, who kept the two 
 kings constantly with him, marched at the head of a large 
 army through Syria into Egypt, to attack Ptolemy. This 
 expedition miscarried, and terminated fatally for the 
 regent. His own soldiers slew him and went over to 
 Ptolemy, who determined to make the best use of the ad- 
 vantages which this great accession of force and the death 
 of the regent Perdiccas placed in his hands. Accordingly 
 he invaded and conquered Syria. 
 
 Ptolemy was a natural son of Philip, King of Maccdon, 
 and, as such, the brother of Alexander, but was contented 
 to be thought the son of Lagos, and had been treated by 
 Alexander with the more fraternal regard because ho 
 never boasted the name of brother. Present in Babylon 
 at the time of Alexander's decease, Ptolemy, the son of 
 Philip, highly honoured by Alexander, and singularly be- 
 loved by the troops, might, at the military council which 
 disposed of the kingdom, have aspired, with no mean pros- 
 pect of success, to fill the vacant throne. But the abili- 
 ties which rendered this prudent and lettered prince most 
 worthy of that high honour, also enabled him to calculate 
 its uneasiness nnd danger. His pngaoity was too dis- 
 cerning to allow him for a moment to prcnoke a compari- 
 son with his gifted brother ; he wished rather to spread 
 and confirm the opinion that the sceptre of that extraordi- 
 nary favourite of the gods was too heavy for any one indi- 
 vidual to wield. 
 
 VOL. I. fi
 
 62 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 His circumspection was rewarded with the secret object 
 of his dearest wishes the possession of the wealthy and 
 secure kingdom of Egypt. (Pausanias, Attic, p. 3.) For, 
 defended on three sides by deserts, marshes, and a great 
 river, and the fourth side formed by a difficult seacoast, 
 which might easily be protected by a watchful fleet, that 
 country had been chosen by him as exactly adapted to 
 carry out his plan of founding a separate monarchy ; and 
 in this he eventually succeeded, not, however, without 
 acting his full share in that scene of bloodshed and op. 
 pression which desolated a great part of Asia. For, 
 though popular, and seemingly humane, he concealed, un- 
 der the mild semblance of indulgent affability, a mind of 
 unrelenting severity, not to be deterred by any con- 
 scientious scruples in pursuing the views of his ambition. 
 On his arrival in Egypt, he rid himself, by murder, of Cle- 
 omenes, whom Alexander had appointed to the financial 
 administration of that country, and who, by his vices and 
 the extortions he practised, was become exceedingly odious 
 to the people, but who, nevertheless, was sufficiently capa- 
 ble of thwarting Ptolemy's projects of independence. 
 (Ibid. cap. vi.) The treasury in Alexandria, which contained 
 eight thousand talents, was seized by Ptolemy, who aug- 
 mented his provincial troops, courted the affection of his 
 subjects, and so firmly fortified himself by fleets, armies, 
 and garrisons, that thenceforward his country alone re- 
 mained exempt from the storms that shook the rest of 
 Alexander's empire. 
 
 His first enterprise, beyond the limits of his own satrapy, 
 had been the conquest of Cyrene, a wealthy and populous 
 Greek city, and capital of the Greek colonies on the north- 
 east coast of Africa. (Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 836.) This con- 
 quest, achieved through his general Ophelias, was, how- 
 ever, only the prelude of the great glory which Ptolemy 
 gained in person, not only by his skilful defence of Egypt
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 63 
 
 against Perdiccas, commanding the royal army of Alexan- 
 der till then unfoiled in any combat, but also by the 
 laudable sympathy which he evinced with the distresses 
 of the invaders. Such of the bodies of their dead as could 
 be recovered from the waters of the Nile the scene of 
 their discomfiture he caused to be burnt, according to 
 custom, with due lamentations ; and their ashes were, in 
 solemn pomp, restored to their friends. The captives who 
 had fallen into Ptolemy's hands were treated like brethren. 
 This show of humanity was soon to reap its reward. The 
 Macedonians were struck with the contrast between him 
 whom they had come to combat, and their own stern, un- 
 feeling leader, the regent Perdiccas. A conspiracy 
 against him was the consequence. The regent's tent was 
 surprised in the night ; and he who had for three years 
 been a terror to his opponents in every part of the empire, 
 fell, as we have already related, an easy victim to the 
 hatred of his faithless followers. (Diodorus, lib. xviii. s. 35.) 
 
 Of this emergency Ptolemy availed himself with equal 
 dexterity and boldness. Upon the day following his ad- 
 versary's death, he came unguarded to the hostile camp, 
 addressed the soldiers as countrymen and old companions 
 in arms, and embraced affectionately their commanders as 
 his dearest personal friends. His camels and wagons 
 then made their appearance, loaded with all sorts of ne- 
 cessaries for men who, having undergone incredible hard- 
 ships, were invited to a peaceful entertainment instead of 
 being challenged to a fresh battle. 
 
 By this pleasing and unexpected transition they were 
 filled with joy and gratitude. They could sec no motive 
 in Ptolemy but a concern for their happiness. None of 
 the admired companions of Alexander, absent or present, 
 could thenceforth bear a competition in their affections 
 with the brave and generous satrap of Egypt. Through 
 the acclamations of the admiring .multitude ho was en-
 
 64 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 couraged to assume the envied title of regent and protec- 
 tor of the kings and of the empire. But he prudently 
 declined an insecure and anxious office, which must have 
 withdrawn him from the government of his flourishing 
 province ; recommending, however, to this high dignity a 
 friend and benefactor, who, a few months before Perdiccas' 
 hostile invasion, had marched to Egypt on a very different 
 errand. 
 
 By the same military council held immediately after 
 the death of Alexander which regulated the succession 
 and fixed the regency, the funeral honours of the great 
 deceased were intrusted to Aridseus, who is not to be con- 
 founded with his namesake, the king. This officer, high 
 in credit with the Macedonians, employed nearly two 
 years in preparations for this august solemnity. To con- 
 vey the remains of Alexander from his palace in Babylon 
 to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the desert of Lybia, 
 where he had expressed a desire to be interred, Aridaeus 
 provided a colossal chariot thirty-eight feet high, fourteen 
 in breadth, and twenty-two in length, drawn on four 
 wheels by sixty-four mules of conspicuous beauty. In the 
 design and decorations of this gorgeous vehicle the rich 
 magnificence of the East was united with the taste of 
 Ionia and the skill of Athens. The golden canopy 
 breathing precious perfumes, the golden throne supporting 
 the arms of Alexander, and the burnished gold which 
 composed its resplendent peristyle, formed but vulgar or- 
 naments in a pageant variegated with Oriental gems, pro- 
 fusely studding even the collars of the mules. Painting 
 and sculpture arts highly indebted to the discerning 
 munificence of Alexander in representing with impres- 
 sive energy the unrivalled series of his matchless victories, 
 outshone the rubies of Asia. The perfection of the more 
 useful arts, which he had so zealously encouraged, was 
 displayed in the construction of the chariot itself, sus-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 65 
 
 pended on a flexible spring that humoured every inequality 
 of surface, so as to retain the foliated diadem, crowning 
 the canopy, in the same horizontal position. This- me- 
 chanical achievement will be more readily admired than 
 imitated or, according to the opinion of the celebrated 
 Count Caylus, even explained by the skilful machinists 
 of the present day. 8 
 
 But whatever were the exact means by which the equi- 
 librium was preserved, (and sixty-four mules were made 
 to act in concert on so enormous a weight,) it is certain 
 that this moving mausoleum was safely transported nine 
 hundred miles, from Babylon to Memphis, in Egypt, and 
 thence to Alexandria. (Pausanias, Attic, cap. 6, 7.) 
 
 In disregarding Alexander's command to bury him in 
 the temple of Ammon, all his lieutenants were unanimous ; 
 but this seeming disobedience was, in reality, more respect- 
 ful than would have been the most implicit submission. 
 Shortly after his demise, a prophecy was circulated and 
 believed, that the country which received his remains 
 should surpass all other kingdoms of the earth in splendour 
 and prosperity. (^Elian, V. H. lib. xii. cap. 64.) Each pro- 
 vincial governor wished to become the depository of so valu- 
 able a treasure; while the regent Perdiccas, himself a 
 native of Alexander's birthplace, Pella, and who aspired 
 and hoped soon to reign in that capital, insisted with much 
 vehemence that the bones of Alexander ought to repose 
 near those of his fathers in Macedon. But Aridrcus, who 
 had been intrusted with a considerable body of troops to 
 
 We would recommend this fact to the notice of our readers. Perhaps 
 pome skilful machinist may think it worth hi* while to refute the assertion 
 of Count ( ';i\ hi", and explain to us the principle on which tin* chariot 
 and its spring were constructed. Such an explanation, especially if the 
 implements and tools required were noticed, would greatly add to tho 
 knowledge possessed of the state of the mechanical arts in the Age of 
 
 Alexander. 
 
 6*
 
 66 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY ^OF THE JEWS. 
 
 escort the funeral convoy, persevered inflexibly in his duty, 
 and was proceeding through Syria and Egypt on his way 
 to the temple of Ammon, when he was met and treated 
 with much respect by Ptolemy. This adroit politician 
 succeeded in gaining the confidence of Aridaeus, and ac- 
 quired so great an influence over his mind, that, yielding 
 to flattering entreaties that which he had alike refused to 
 menaces and promises, he was prevailed upon to make 
 Memphis his goal. 
 
 From Memphis the precious relics of Alexander were 
 slowly conveyed to the new capital of Egypt, which bore 
 his name. There, in a lofty temple dedicated to him, he 
 was worshipped with such ceremonies and sacrifices as the 
 superstition of the Greeks had appropriated to departed 
 heroes in the cities which they had founded. (Diodor. lib. 
 xx. s. 102.) The consecrated grove surrounding the temple 
 was distinguished by the magnificence of its games and 
 festivals. Allured by these favourite entertainments, by 
 the commercial advantages of the city and country, and, 
 above all, by the security enjoyed under Ptolemy's ad- 
 ministration/multitudes of new inhabitants from all quar- 
 ters resorted to Egypt. We shall presently have to re- 
 late the manner in which many thousands of Jews became 
 located in that country. Alexandria became the seat of 
 industry and wealth, of ingenuity and learning, in short, 
 of every advantage that adorns and gives importance to an 
 imperial metropolis; and Egypt eventually derived from 
 the policy of the first Ptolemy, and the concurrence of 
 Aridaeus in his views, benefits so substantial, that they 
 almost realized the prophecy if so we may call it con- 
 nected with the mortal remains of Alexander. 
 
 To requite a favour, the value and importance of which 
 Ptolemy's sagacity enabled him duly to appreciate, he re- 
 commended Aridaeus, together with Python, an officer of 
 high rank, who had been chief of the conspiracy against
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 67 
 
 the regent Perdiccas, as joint protectors of the empire. 
 The soldiers provisionally 9 ratified their nomination ; and 
 the two persons thus exalted to the highest situations in 
 the state and army, listened only to the suggestions of 
 ambition, and accepted with eager delight the dangerous 
 dignities conferred on them, but which they found it more 
 easy to acquire than to maintain. Euridic^, the.wife of 
 King AridiBUS, was a woman of a bold and active charac- 
 ter, ambitious and eager for power. So long as Perdiccas 
 held the regency, her mutinous spirit had been overawed. 
 But, now that inferior men, and one of them her personal 
 enemy, 10 exercised the pre-eminent function, she deter- 
 mined to vindicate the rights of her imbecile husband ; and 
 her intrigues proved so successful, that the joint protectors 
 Aridaeus and Python were compelled to abdicate the re- 
 gency, and, wonderful to relate, the soldiers of Alexander 
 were for a time commanded by a woman. This state of 
 things continued until Antipater, the oldest and most 
 powerful of Alexander's lieutenants, arrived at the royal 
 camp; nor was it without danger or difficulty that this 
 veteran commander could succeed in assuming that supreme 
 authority to which his dignity, his years, his experience, 
 and the choice of the armies entitled him. (Gillies, v. 408.) 
 While thus the royal army of Alexander and the govern- 
 
 * It was determined that Antipatcr should bo first protector and regent, 
 and that Ariduus and Python should be his coadjutors ; but as he was ab- 
 sent, it was determined that they should exercise all the power and func- 
 tions of the office while leading the army to Syria to meet him. (Arrian, 
 P- 22.) 
 
 10 Python, who, in the military council and debate concerning Alexan- 
 der's succession, bad warmly opposed ATidwtis ; and when that prince was 
 declared king, had boldly expressed his indignation, " that in seeking an 
 heir to the crown, the family of Alexander should have been preferred to 
 his wishes." (fin-tins, lib. x.cap. 7.) This insulting remark, which made no 
 impression on the imbecile king, rankled deep in the mind of his wife, 
 whose character in every respect was the rTerse of hia owu.
 
 68 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ment of his vast empire passed from the hands of Euridice 
 to those of Antipater from a woman to a man seventy- 
 seven years of age, their authority was found altogether 
 unequal to the task of ruling their ambitious subordinates, 
 or of restraining the powerful satraps whose fierce con- 
 flicts agitated the whole of Western and Central Asia. 
 Amid tJie general confusion, Ptolemy, the most astute 
 politician of his age, and the one whose prudent perseve- 
 rance most carefully but undeviatingly advanced its purpose, 
 prepared to extend his power, and with it his means of 
 personal security and eventual independence. Though he 
 had in the first instance confined his sober views to Egypt, 
 favourable circumstances induced him to undertake the 
 conquest of Gyrene. And after the deatK of the regent 
 Perdiccas, Syria, in its extensive sense, comprehending 
 Palestine and Phoenicia, as well as Syria proper, offered him 
 a tempting prize. 
 
 Its near neighbourhood to Egypt, adjoining the only 
 vulnerable boundary of that country, has at all times ren- 
 dered the possession of Syria an object of extreme import- 
 ance to the rulers of Egypt. The fertility, wealth, and 
 populousness of Syria proper, as well as of Phoenicia and 
 of Palestine, in those days so strongly contrasting with 
 the present desolate condition in which misgovernment so 
 long has kept these countries rendered them desirable 
 acquisitions. But in addition to this, there were motives 
 peculiar to the position of Ptolemy which rendered it 
 highly necessary for him to make himself master of Syria. 
 Phoenicia still abounded with mariners and well-constructed 
 harbours ; the mountains of Palestine were rich in useful 
 metals, particularly in iron; and Syria proper, especially 
 the lofty ridges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, overhanging 
 intricate vales and extensive plains, produced in great 
 plenty the finest timber. 
 
 Ptolemy had early discerned the channels through which
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 69 
 
 wealth was destined to flow into his country, and had 
 earnestly begun to prepare a great naval force. In the 
 pursuit of this object, he could not fail to cast wishful eyes 
 on the harbours of Phoenicia, and to covet with equal avidity 
 the profusion of iron and timber in Palestine and Syria 
 articles peculiarly essential to his plan, but of which Egypt 
 was altogether destitute. And, as if all this had been in- 
 sufficient to tempt him, Laomedon, the governor of Syria, 
 commanded forces so inconsiderable as to be utterly inade- 
 quate to the defence of the country. Accordingly, Ptolemy 
 endeavoured without any struggle to gain him to his views ; 
 but Laomedon rejected rewards and promotions from a man 
 whom he considered as merely his equal. He fought, was 
 defeated, and made prisoner, but found means to escape. 
 All Syria proper and Phoenicia at once submitted to the 
 conqueror. (Diod. lib. xviii. s. 43.) 
 
 But, while the unwarlike tameness and easy conscience 
 of their neighbours felt no hesitation in transferring their 
 allegiance to a new master, the Jews, influenced by the 
 oath recently tendered to Laomedon, manfully resisted the 
 troops Ptolemy sent against them. This is the second 
 time, in the course of our narration, that we have had occa- 
 sion to relate how the Jews withstood the stronger or win- 
 ning side, because they had sworn fealty to the weaker 
 and losing party. 
 
 Their condition, at the time when Ptolemy undertook 
 the conquest of their country, was far superior to what it 
 had been for some centuries before, and, in many respects, 
 to what at any subsequent period they have experienced. 
 Self-governed, and paying but a moderate tribute to the 
 Persians, the burthen of that tribute had been greatly 
 lessened by the exemption Alexander granted them during 
 the sabbatical year; while their self-esteem as a people, 
 and their reverence for their religion and its principal mi- 
 nister, the high-priest, must have become greatly increased,
 
 70 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 not only by the respect and kindness with which the great 
 conqueror treated that official, but also, and even in a 
 higher degree, by the truth of prophecy and the predic- 
 tions of Daniel, which, contrary to all human probability, 
 were realized before their eyes. 
 
 Moreover, the policy of Alexander, systematically the 
 reverse of that pursued by the Persian dynasty, tended to 
 raise the importance and welfare of the tributary nations. 
 Under his immediate predecessors, the kings of Persia, 
 and under the Medes, who preceded the Persians, indi- 
 viduals of these nations, who themselves trembled at the 
 frown of a master, governed despotically other nations 
 whom they looked upon as their natural inferiors. In this 
 manner the extended possessions of Asiatic, monarchies 
 formed a wide political circle, of which the dominant 
 nation was the centre, and of which the parts nearest to 
 this centre rose in respectability above the provinces more 
 remote from it. (Herod, lib. i. cap. 183 and 192; Conf. 
 Xenoph. Cyropaed. lib. vii. p. 193.) Natives of Persis, the 
 Persia proper, thus governed the territories in its imme- 
 diate neighbourhood, and natives of these territories were 
 appointed satraps over countries more distant from the 
 Persians, and on one side contiguous to themselves. 
 Vested with this commission, they held both the sword 
 and the purse, were accountable for their administration 
 to satraps nearer Persia, while the nearest and last of 
 these, always themselves Persians, were amenable to none 
 but the great king and his ministers. 
 
 The same national pre-eminence had been claimed of 
 old by .the Assyro-Babylonians ; and has been exercised 
 with stern cruelty over Asia by all the conquering dynas- 
 ties of Scythian or Saracen descent down to this day. 11 Nor 
 
 11 So extensive in point both of time and place, are Asiatic maxims, that 
 the Tartars, with their emperor at their head, still continue to act toward
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 71 
 
 were the Jews, down to the administration of Nehemiah, 
 in anywise exempted from this subjection. And though 
 subsequently their internal affairs were administered by 
 their own high-priest, yet the satraps of Coele-Syria, of 
 whose government Judea formed a part, sometimes caused 
 the Jews to feel the heavy hand of irresponsible power : 
 as, for instance, when the governor Bagoses, to punish 
 the crime of an individual, punished the whole people by 
 imposing a tax on the lambs used in their public worship ; 
 which, unjust and burdensome as it was, remained in 
 force till repealed by the king in person, as we have already 
 related. (Vide p. 32.) Alexander, the only European con- 
 queror who personally governed in Asia, determined to 
 destroy this most invidious of tyrannies the tyranny of 
 nation over nation ; and he persevered unmovably in his 
 purpose, notwithstanding the perpetual and turbulent re- 
 monstrances of his Greeks and Macedonians. The proud- 
 est of his lieutenants were compelled to respect the cus- 
 toms and local institutions of the vanquished. Their ordi- 
 nary affairs, whether civil or sacred, were left to the 
 management of persons appointed from their own number, 
 and, therefore, the best qualified to take charge of all 
 matters of domestic concern. 
 
 To the Jews, the boon of self-government, which they 
 had enjoyed under the Persians, and which was confirmed 
 
 the Chinese with the same systematic nationality. Two hundred years 
 nnd a succession of several emperors have not made the sovereign a Chi- 
 nese. The place of his nativity in looked upon as an accident of mere in- 
 difference. It is not locality, but nationality; not the place in which he 
 drew breath, but the blood from which he sprung; not the people among 
 whom he lives, but his own family and tribe. "The Tartar conqueror 
 never loses sight, for a moment, of the superiority of his caste; his impar- 
 tiality is a mere pretence ; he conducts himself at bottom with a systematic 
 nationality." (Burrow, China, p. 415.) Accordingly, the struggle at pre- 
 sent going on in China is not simply an insurrection, but a conflict between 
 two nationalities.
 
 72 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and augmented by Alexander, became a benefit higher in 
 value than to any of their neighbours ; because the Law 
 of Moses, which at this period was carried out in its 
 purity, had qualified them, beyond all other people of the 
 East, to profit by the blessings of rational liberty and 
 municipal self-government. It does indeed appear, from 
 the few and meager notices to be gleaned from the record 
 of the times, that the precepts of their law were observed 
 by them with scrupulous conscientiousness. Cured of 
 that hankering after idolatry which they had so often dis- 
 played in the earlier period of their nationality, freed of 
 the pernicious influence which wicked kings and unprinci- 
 pled courtiers had exerted over them during the sway of 
 monarchy, not yet torn to pieces by sectarianism, nor cor- 
 rupted by the impure lessons of Greek sophistry and the 
 fallacious varnish of Greek manners, the Jew, toward the 
 end of Alexander's reign, was a fair specimen of what the 
 training and discipline of the Law of Moses could do. 
 
 Industrious and simple in his habits, the land he inha- 
 bited was cultivated with the utmost care and assiduity. 
 Its natural productiveness, every advantage of soil and 
 climate, was fully brought out, while the barren rocks 
 were rendered fruitful by the well-regulated toil of the 
 husbandman ; and perhaps no agricultural country so 
 limited in extent as Judea ever maintained so numerous a 
 population in comfort and abundance. The situation of 
 the country made it the main route of the traffic carried 
 on between Tyre and the ports of the Red Sea, the staple 
 marts for India and Arabia ; while the overland commerce 
 between Babylon and the Phoenician cities of the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea, in part at least, passed through Judea. So 
 that, in the larger cities, especially in Jerusalem, nume- 
 rous merchants interchanged their commodities, and 
 placed the elegancies as well as the necessaries of life 
 within the reach of the people. But to the corruption of
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 73 
 
 morals and manners, which but too frequently abound in 
 the crowded resorts of traders from different countries, 
 the Jews as yet remained strangers; for the severe re- 
 straints of their law, and their horror of idolatry, limited 
 their intercourse with idolatrous strangers to that brief 
 communion which the purposes of trade exacted and the 
 dictates of hospitality did not permit absolutely to with- 
 hold, while it did not at all suffer the intimacy and in- 
 terchange of ideas that alone could infect the Jew with 
 the vices of the heathen. Accordingly, his physical as 
 well as his moral condition contrasted favourably with all 
 other Oriental nations. 
 
 His body was strong, inured to exertion, and very diffe- 
 rent from that of the effeminate Syrian. His mind was 
 sound, and his morals were pure. The intercourse between 
 the sexes was regulated, and the sanctity of domestic 
 relations maintained, to a degree that called forth alike 
 ttte envy and surprise of the lascivious Babylonian and 
 the dissolute Greek. 
 
 But what raised the Jews highest above all other 
 nations, was their faith in One Eternal, Immaterial, and 
 Omnipotent God, and the delighted devotion with which 
 they adhered to and carried out the precepts of the law 
 of God. The rigid observance, not only of the Sabbath 
 day, but of the sabbatical year, proved that they pos- 
 sessed sufficient self-command to sacri6ce interest on the 
 shrine of duty. The different tithes, first-fruits, and other 
 offerings enjoined in the law, were cheerfully paid; and 
 the descendants of Aaron, the Cohen, or priest, who alone 
 ministered at the altar, and their attendants, the Lcvites, 
 were not only numerous, 12 but respected and affluent. The 
 
 ' According to IlecaUcus (in Joseph, cont. Apion, i. '2'2) the number of 
 
 eohanim (priecta descended from Aaron) reccirinjj tithes, about the timo 
 
 of Ptolemy's invasion of Judea, was l'>00. Ho nni-t. however, have mount 
 
 those resident in Jerusalem only; and which, according to 1 Citron is. l-'J, 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 74 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 numerous Jews who had remained in Mesopotamia and 
 Babylon also contributed largely to the support of the pub- 
 lic worship in the temple of Jerusalem ; and as the kings 
 of Persia, and after them Alexander, had allowed a con- 
 siderable annual sum for the same purpose, the temple 
 gradually accumulated treasures, which in process of time 
 excited the cupidity of later kings of Syria. 
 
 The excellent Jaddua, the high-priest who had so nobly 
 sustained the character of his sacred office in his inter- 
 course with Alexander, had entered the last year of his 
 life ; but his successor, Onias, trained up in his principles, 
 conducted the public affair's -of 'his people in the same 
 spirit. Accordingly^ Ptolemy's 'summons 'to the Jews to 
 transfer their 4-lTegiance' to him met with a decided re- 
 fusal, and Jerusalem was put in a posture of defence. 
 The city at ; that time contained one hundred and twenty 
 thousand inhabitants, and- was' strongly fortified. The 
 large army with which Ptolemy entered Judea enabled him 
 easily to subdue the subordinate towns ; but his siege of 
 Jerusalem for some time proved unsuccessful. It is re- 
 lated that, finding his numerous and well-directed attacks 
 foiled by the strength of the place and the valour of its 
 defenders, he, as a last resource, determined to profit by 
 the rigid strictness with which the Jews adhered to the 
 precepts of their religion ; for, having observed that on 
 the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, no resistance 
 was offered by the besieged to the approaches of the be- 
 siegers, and that the walls on that day were left without 
 defenders, he made his preparations for a grand final 
 assault on that day ; and, as he expected, meeting with no 
 
 numbered 1760, while all the priests that returned with Zerubbabel, and 
 took up their residence throughout Judca, numbered not less than 4289, 
 as enumerated in Ezra ii. 36-39.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSLANS AND GREEKS. 75 
 
 resistance, he thus easily gained possession of a wealthy, 
 populous, and strongly fortified city. 
 
 It must, however, be observed, that this narration rests 
 chiefly on the authority of Agatharchidas, a writer other- 
 wise unknown, but quoted by Josephus. (Cont. Apion, i. 
 22.) This obscure Greek introduces this on dit in order 
 to indulge in a laugh at the superstition of the Jews, who 
 thus lost their city and freedom because they observed the 
 "silly custom," as he calls it, of losing one day in seven 
 in their temple in religious observances. Josephus, in 
 quoting Agatharchidas, contents himself with offering 
 some remarks in defjejicfiof the Sabbath, but does not 
 
 _^^^^^T ^!^^^>^^_ 
 
 otherwise imnH^n^i-^o^rauic^ii^ircumstance related ; 
 which, howowr, sonre mboTn^fiSl^fc^ reject, not con- 
 sidering Agatharchidas a^ sufficiei 
 
 To us iv scorns that, howtfay: r .unwoi>ftry\is motive, his 
 statement niay jaot be^Jitttogether destitute of\ruth ; for at 
 a much latenierlpd we findQ^aill hereafter be related) 
 that it requirc^ja ^declaration on the authority of the 
 universally venera^lP a ^ I ^ t fW'^ ^atMtias, the As- 
 monean, to convince tK^^a^p}^ nf ^^e^fwfiilnosg of self- 
 defence on the Sabbath day. (1 Mace. ii. 40, 41.) And 
 even long after they had ceased to have any scruples 
 about fighting defensively on the Sabbath, they still re- 
 fused to desecrate the day by acting on the offensive, or 
 disturbing any operations short of actual assault. It was 
 by taking advantage of this (as the Talmud, tr. Erubin, 
 fo. 45, declares) erroneous view of the duties of the Sab- 
 bath, that the Roman Pompey succeeded in his attack on 
 Jerusalem. So that, however little weight may be due to 
 the unsupported authority of Agatharchidas, subsequent 
 and well-authenticated facts in Jewish history do not per- 
 mit us to reject his statement in silent disdain, as Kitto 
 and some others have done. 
 
 Some historians assume that Ptolemy obtained posses-
 
 76 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 sion of Jerusalem by treaty, and that, in imitation of Alex- 
 ander, he paid a friendly visit to the temple and offered 
 sacrifice. (Kitto, Palestine, i. 665.) But this is contra- 
 dicted by the best ancient authorities. Whether by means 
 of the stratagem imputed to him by Agatharchidas or not, 
 Ptolemy certainly took Jerusalem by storm, and on a Sab- 
 bath day ; and, according to the horrid customs of war- 
 fare in all ages, including the present, the doomed city 
 was handed over to an infuriate soldiery. The worst pas- 
 sions of human nature rapine, lust, murder had free 
 scope ; and the obstinate resistance of the Jews, while it 
 exasperated the victors, added greatly to the sufferings of 
 the vanquished. 
 
 But Ptolemy was determined to possess the city, not to 
 destroy, or altogether to depopulate it. He therefore put 
 a stop to the outrages committed by his soldiers, and ex- 
 tended pardon and protection to the surviving inhabitants. 
 But, to secure to himself a lasting benefit from a moment- 
 ary success, he adopted a measure frequently resorted to 
 by Asiatic conquerors that of transplanting the inhabit- 
 ants, whose obstinate bravery and love of independence 
 they had experienced, to countries where, dispersed among 
 the victors^ these newly-acquired subjects would have pa- 
 tiently to bear the yoke imposed upon them. 
 
 Such had been the policy of the Assyrians, and, after 
 them, of the Babylonians. The Persians, in the con- 
 sciousness of their strength, had left the subject-nations 
 in possession of their lands ; so had Alexander. But 
 Ptolemy, who feared he might not be able to maintain his 
 new conquest, and doubted whether he could wean the 
 citizens of Jerusalem from their allegiance to the family 
 of Alexander, determined to derive the greatest possible 
 advantage from the temporary possession of their city and 
 country. Accordingly, he carried away into Egypt up- 
 wards of one hundred thousand Jews. His choice chiefly
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 77 
 
 fell on the young and warlike on all, indeed, who might 
 prove dangerous in Judea, but useful in Egypt, by their 
 energy, their industry, or their talents. The old, the 
 timid, the feeble, were left to cultivate their fields and 
 their vineyards, ajid were protected in their useful labours 
 without enduring any oppressive imposts. 
 
 The captives whom he carried away were likewise 
 treated kindly by a prince who never acted from impulse, 
 and with whom humanity or rigour were alike the results 
 of system and calculation. He knew how faithfully the 
 Jews had kept their oath to Darius ; he had just experi- 
 enced how bravely they had upheld their sworn allegiance 
 to Laomedon and the house of Alexander. Fidelity was 
 a rare quality in those times ; and Ptolemy was too wise 
 to neglect any opportunity of attaching such a people to 
 himself. 
 
 His treatment of the Jews became collated for its 
 clemency. A number of those he had carried away he 
 located in Cyrene, that he might have some faithful sub- 
 jects in that newly-acquired territory ; others he employed 
 to garrison his principal fortresses ; and the greater num- 
 ber had their residence assigned to them in his new me- 
 tropolis, Alexandria, in which city Ptolemy renewed to 
 the Jews the privileges originally granted them by Alex- 
 ander, which placed them on a level with the Macedo- 
 nian inhabitants of that city. Under his rule " the Jew- 
 ish nation flourished in domestic peace, and their expatri- 
 ated countrymen, by their virtuous and manly behaviour, 
 especially by their unwearied industry and inviolable 
 fidelity, gained such credit with their new master, that he 
 promoted them to civil offices of the highest trust, and 
 committed to their defence the most important strongholds 
 in his dominions." (Gillies's Hist, of Greece, v. 428.) 
 
 The fears of Ptolemy that ho might not be able to 
 maintain possession of Syria, were, in part at least, soon
 
 78 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 realized. Eumenes, acting for the regent Antipater and 
 the royal house of Alexander, expelled the Egyptians from 
 Phoenicia. He, in his turn, was dispossessed by Antigo- 
 nus, who acted for himself and his own aggrandizement, 
 but was prevented from seizing on Coele-Syria and Pales- 
 tine by the doubtful conflict he had to wage against 
 Eumenes, and which, eight years after the death of Alex- 
 ander, terminated in the ruin and murder of Eumenes and 
 the triumph of Antigonus. 
 
 Within that period, King Aridaeus and his energetic 
 wife Euridice had been murdered by Olympia, the mother 
 of Alexander the Great, who, in her turn, was put to death 
 by Cassander, a son of Antipater, the regent, who died of 
 old age. The young king Alexander JEgus and his 
 mother were kept in prison, and Polysperchon, one of 
 Alexander's lieutenants, appointed regent by Antipater, 
 was also stripped of power by Cassander, who claimed and 
 assumed the government of Greece and Macedon in right 
 of his wife Thessalonica, the youngest sister of Alexander. 
 Thus Ptolemy in Egypt, Cassander in Macedon, and An- 
 tigonus in Asia, seemed about to become the principal 
 inheritors of Alexander's empire. Lysimachus, who had 
 obtained the government of Thrace, was kept so fully oc- 
 cupied by the warlike but unruly inhabitants of that 
 country, that he could for a length of time take no share 
 in the struggle for supremacy that was carried on by the 
 other three. Seleucus whom Antigonus had appointed 
 satrap of Babylonia, where he rendered himself greatly be- 
 loved by the inhabitants was dispossessed of that go- 
 vernment by the same hand that had bestowed it ; and 
 was, moreover, forced to escape by night from the rapid 
 pursuit of Antigonus. 
 
 That crafty and ambitious veteran did not at first en- 
 deavour to impede the flight of Seleucus, but deemed it a 
 piece of good fortune to have so easily rid himself of an
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 79 
 
 enemy whose just and mild government had gained the 
 love of the Babylonians, and whose flight rendered Anti- 
 gonus master of the rich provinces of Central Asia. From 
 the Grecian sea to the Indus, his will was now to be the 
 only law ; and he fully determined to crush every obnoxious 
 vassal, to break every unbending rival. These lofty 
 thoughts were, however, checked by the Chaldean priests, 
 who had predicted that not Antigonus, but Seleucus, should 
 possess the empire of Asia. When Antigonus learned this 
 prediction, though less enslaved by superstition than most 
 of his contemporaries, he instantly sent a nimble detach- 
 ment of cavalry in pursuit of the fugitives. But Seleucus 
 and his attendants they numbered but forty horsemen 
 carried on the wings of fear, escaped its grasp ; and travel- 
 ling by rapid journeys upward of nine hundred miles, they 
 arrived safely in Egypt, where Seleucus was received with 
 open arms by Ptolemy. (Appian. Syriac, cap. 35, and Dio- 
 dorus, lib. xix. s. 55.) 
 
 Ptolemy's conduct may have been influenced by that 
 compassion for Seleucus to which it is wholly ascribed by 
 historians ; but the character of Ptolemy, who never suf- 
 fered his humanity to be at variance with his policy, will 
 reveal to us a less generous but more vigorous motive. If 
 Egypt was ever to become a great maritime power, the 
 possession of Syria was indispensable ; and this could only 
 be maintained by the ruin of Antigonus, or at least by the 
 lessening of his power, which recent success had rendered 
 BO formidable. For this purpose, Ptolemy was active in 
 forming a combination against Antigonus, the last regent, 
 similar to that which had been formed against Perdiccas, 
 the first ; and of puch a combination, the valour, great 
 fame, and military talents of Seleucus even though a 
 powerless fugitive rendered him a most valuable auxili- 
 ary. Both Cassandcr and Lysimachus readily joined 
 Ptolemy. Their safety and greatness, like his own, re-
 
 80 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 quired that the overgrown power of Antigonus should be 
 checked. 
 
 The four princes addressed ambassadors to Antigonus 
 with four separate demands. Seleucus claimed the resti- 
 tution of Babylonia ; Ptolemy required that his right to Sy- 
 ria part of which he had now possessed seven years 
 should be acknowledged ; Lysimachus insisted on the 
 annexation of Lesser Phrygia to Thrace, that he might 
 command both sides of the Hellespont ; Cassander, until 
 recently in alliance with Antigonus, declared himself con- 
 tented with his possessions in Greece and Macedon, but 
 joined his new allies in urging one most important point 
 that the sums of money taken from the royal treasuries 
 should be faithfully accounted for, and equitably divided. 
 
 To these multifarious demands, Antigonus assuming 
 the tone of regent and protector of the empire gave one 
 general and short reply: "He was actually marching 
 against Ptolemy, and after he had settled his differences 
 with that satrap, he would proceed in due time to deal 
 with his perfidious and insolenf confederates." As the 
 ambassadors were departing from Antigonus, they were 
 met by his son Demetrius, then in his nineteenth year, just 
 returned from hunting. Slightly regarding the strangers, 
 and without laying aside his javelins, Demetrius flew to 
 embrace his father. " Tell this, also," said the old man, 
 "at your return to your several masters, that they may 
 know on what terms I live with my son," an observation 
 expressive of the odious character of the times, when, among 
 the Greeks, fathers feared to be embraced by their armed 
 children, and when even the great Alexander was strongly 
 suspected of not having been altogether a stranger to the 
 untimely end of his own father, Philip. When, subse- 
 quently, Plutarch (in Demet.) admiringly looks upon these 
 words of Antigonus as prophetic of the wonderful harmony 
 that afterward prevailed in the family of that prince,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 81 
 
 " which reigned one hundred and twenty years in Macedon 
 with only one example of parricide," 13 the historian uncon- 
 sciously chronicles the strongest proof and condemnation 
 of the foul and horrid depravity that so long corrupted and 
 destroyed all natural feeling among the Greeks. 
 
 After this haughty answer to the ambassadors, Anti- 
 gonus hastened to Syria to make good his threats. The 
 whole of that country lay at his mercy. Jerusalem, stripped 
 of its defenders by Ptolemy himself, was incapable of re- 
 sistance. Of the three fortified cities garrisoned by the 
 Egyptians Tyre, Joppa, and Gaza, the two last, feebly 
 defended, were taken by assault. Tyre alone, though it 
 had been sacked only eighteen years before, had already 
 recovered such a portion of its former opulence and com- 
 merce as enabled it to make the most of its insular posi- 
 tion, and to offer a stout resistance. But after a siege and 
 blockade of fourteen months, the surrender of Tyre made 
 Antigonus master of all Syria. 
 
 Leaving his son Demetrius at the head of a considerable 
 army, and assisted by the councils of confidential friends 
 and able generals to govern his new conquests, Antigonus 
 hastened to confront his other enemies, Cassander and 
 Lysiraachus, over both of whom he gained considerable 
 advantages, but imprudently rejected the proposals for 
 peace which the allies separately made to him. lie pur- 
 posed to reduce them all to unconditional submission, and 
 might have succeeded in this design, had not events in Sy- 
 ria given a new turn to the war that threatened a total 
 ruin to his affairs. 
 
 The Jews, during the seven years that Ptolemy held pos- 
 session of their country, had gradually become reconciled 
 to his sway. The respect he expressed for their peculiar 
 
 a The word parricide is iwed in it largest acceptation ; for the last 
 Philip of Macedon, to whom Plutarch allude*, killed his eon. (Gillies, 
 Greece, r. 618.)
 
 82 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 usages, the security they enjoyed under his protection 
 while the adjoining countries were suffering all the horrors 
 of war, attached them to his person and government; and 
 the short experience they had of the rule of Antigonus, 
 and of his son Demetrius, made them but the more strongly 
 regret the change. The consequence was, that thousands 
 of Jews quitted their country and sought refuge with 
 Ptolemy. Like their fathers in the wilderness, they again 
 exclaimed, "Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt," 
 where already so many thousands of their brethren had 
 found a safe and happy home. 
 
 The vast extent of this immigration afforded a strong 
 proof to Ptolemy of the affection his former subjects enter- 
 tained for him, and convinced him that any effort of his to 
 recover Palestine would be seconded by the natives to the 
 utmost of their ability. He had, till then, been occupied 
 with appeasing the troubles that Antigonus had excited 
 against him in Gyrene. His natural caution, moreover, 
 made him slow to show himself in the foreground of the 
 war; but, in proportion to his prudent delay, he appeared 
 at length' with higher dignity and more decisive effect. 
 By means of his great superiority at sea, he completed the 
 conquest of Cyprus, the harbours of which island were 
 conveniently situate for invading Syria and Cilicia. In 
 the former country he gained the seaport of Posideum ; in 
 the latter, he carried with much bravery the strong fortifi- 
 cations of Mallos. 
 
 Ptolemy determined to mark his indignation at the fri- 
 volity with which the Syrians after having so long ex- 
 perienced the benefits of his own administration had not 
 only hailed the conquest of their country by Antigonus, 
 but had, with great zeal, seconded his designs against 
 Egypt. Accordingly, both the places Ptolemy had taken 
 were plundered, the inhabitants made slaves, and the 
 districts dependent on them desolated by fire and sword.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 83 
 
 After this success in the north of Syria, Ptolemy pre- 
 pared to invade the south of that region, Palestine and 
 Phoenicia. At the head of a large army he marched from 
 Pelusium, the frontier-key of Egypt, penetrated through 
 the wilderness a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, 
 and encamped near a place called Old Gaza, distant a few 
 miles from the strongly-fortified city of that name, now 
 garrisoned by the troops of Antigonus. 
 
 Young Demetrius, exasperated by the loss of Posideum 
 and Mallos, collected all his forces and hastened to meet 
 the invader. His father's friends, however, strongly dis- 
 suaded him from risking a battle against superior forces, 
 commanded by such generals as Ptolemy and Seleucus. 
 But Demetrius was not of a temper to listen to such pru- 
 dent advice. He fought, was entirely defeated, and fled 
 northward to Gaza; but was so closely pursued by the 
 victors, that he could not with safety enter that place, and 
 had to continue his flight until he was sheltered within the 
 friendly walls of Azotus, thirty miles dist&nt from the field 
 of battle. 
 
 In this city Demetrius ascertained the full extent of 
 his loss. Five thousand of his bravest soldiers had fallen ; 
 eight thousand were made prisoners. The whole of his 
 camp-equipage and treasures fell into the hands of Ptolemy, 
 at Gaza ; and in addition to all these losses came the dis- 
 grace, that the bodies of the slain, and among them two of 
 the companions of Alexander the Great, still lay unburied 
 on the field of battle. 
 
 To remedy this last and, according to the ideas of the 
 times, worst disaster, heralds were sent to Ptolemy to 
 crave permission to inter the slain. Together with this 
 permission, which it would have been impious to deny, the 
 heralds brought back to Demetrius his camp-equipage and 
 effects, and the sad remnant of his surviving friends, with 
 a generous message from Ptolemy, "that he contended
 
 p 
 84 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 not at once for all things with the son of his ancient part- 
 ner in arms and formerly faithful ally." Demetrius 
 accepted his bounty, but implored the gods that they 
 would relieve him from a gratitude burdensome because 
 due to the enemy of his father. (Diod. lib. xix. s. 81.) 
 
 His prayer was granted: he was enabled in a short time 
 to repay Ptolemy's favour. Yet the consequences of his 
 defeat were irreparable, since it enabled Seleucus to re- 
 gain possession of Babylonia, which ever after he main- 
 tained. And thus the battle of Gaza was the first step 
 towards fulfilling the prediction of the Chaldeans, which 
 promised the empire of Asia to Seleucus. It is probable 
 that in this, as in most other instances of the kind, the 
 prophecy worked out its own fulfilment, since it inspired 
 Seleucus with the courage and perseverance inseparable 
 from lofty hopes. While at the same time, acting on the 
 mind of the Babylonians, it made them embrace his cause 
 with a degree of ardour and fidelity unrivalled in history 
 till the destruction of Moscow during the French cam- 
 paign in 1812, and which we shall hereafter have occa- 
 sion to relate. We notice the fact of the prediction, how- 
 ever, to point out to our readers the great extent to which 
 the marvellous enters into the real history of those times, 
 a circumstance which it is well to bear in mind when facts 
 are related which it may not always be easy to explain. 
 
 The battle of Gaza seemed to have finally decided the 
 mastery of all Syria. From Azotus, Demetrius found it 
 necessary speedily to retreat to Tripoli, thus at once 
 abandoning two hundred miles of the litorale to Ptolemy, 
 who now reaped the fruits of the impression which both 
 his former kindness and his recent severity had raised in 
 the minds of the Syrians. Ascalon, Joppa, Acca, Sama- 
 ria, and Sidon opened their gates to the conquerors. 
 Andronicus, a favourite of Demetrius, who, escaping from 
 Gaza, had assumed the command at Tyre, was the only
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 85 
 
 one who ventured resistance. He even presumed to 
 answer Ptolemy's summons with insult. But a revolt of 
 the citizens compelled him to surrender; and Ptolemy, 
 who, though a brave and skilful general, attached greater 
 importance to the duties of civil administration than to the 
 personally heading of his armies, and who saw no enemy 
 in the field that called for his presence, returned to Egypt, 
 intrusting the command of his army to Killes, an officer 
 in whom he placed great confidence. 
 
 Among the different nationalities in Syria, none had 
 watched the progress of events with greater sympathy for 
 Ptolemy than the Jews, not only because of that inexpli- 
 cable but active predilection which, on so many occa- 
 sions, had induced their fathers to direct their views to 
 Egypt, but also, and even in a much higher degree, from 
 their own experience of the contrast between the mild 
 government of Ptolemy and the stern rule of Antigonus. 
 Accordingly, when the fortune of arms appeared to have 
 decided between the rival claimants at Gaza, the Jews 
 were in ecstasies. They determined not to rest satisfied, 
 like the other tribes of Syria, with passively passing from 
 the sway of Antigonus to that of Ptolemy, but resolved to 
 form a treaty with Ptolemy which should forever after 
 bind them to his fortune. 
 
 For this purpose the priest Ilezckiah was deputed to 
 attend Ptolemy on his return to Egypt, to conclude with 
 him a treaty of alliance of the closest kind. And in order 
 to acquaint Ptolemy with the means which the Jews could 
 place at his disposal, and with the rights which their law 
 rendered it incumbent to maintain, Hezekiah curried with 
 him the necessary documents, and was accompanied by 
 confidential councillors. 
 
 IlecataMis, to a fragment of whom (in Joseph, con. 
 Apion. i. 22) we nre indebted for our knowledge of this 
 embassy, thus describes Ilezekiah : " The high-priest of the 
 
 Vol.. I. 8
 
 86 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Jews, a man sixty-six years of age, held in the highest 
 esteem by his people, of mind superior, of eloquence 
 powerful, of experience in affairs of state second to none." 
 And in a second fragment, Hecatseus further remarks, 
 " Hezekiah, the high-priest, who was greatly respected, 
 and was held in friendship by us, summoned some of his 
 companions, to whom he submitted all points of difference; 
 for he carried with him, in writing, the territory and con- 
 stitution (of the Jews.)" 
 
 The sharp eye of modern criticism (Frankel's Monat- 
 schrift, Nov. 1851, p. 48) here discovers a trace of the 
 Synedrion, or council, co-ordinate with the high-priest in 
 public affairs. In opposition to Archbishop Usher, who 
 assumed that Hezekiah was only segan or deputy of the 
 high-priest, Dr. Frankel is of opinion that Hezekiah him- 
 self held the office of high-priest, and that, as such, he in 
 person went to negotiate and conclude the alliance with 
 Ptolemy personally. The high-priest, however, was not 
 an absolute and unlimited ruler, but only chief magis- 
 trate ; consequently he could not, by his own authority, 
 concede every demand that the powerful ruler of Egypt 
 was likely to make ; and therefore councillors, members of 
 the Synedrion, were appointed to attend him, to whom he 
 was required to submit the various points at issue as they 
 arose. We shall hereafter have occasion to return to this 
 subject. 
 
 The mission of Hezekiah proved premature, as, before 
 any treaty could be concluded, the fortune -of war had 
 turned. Demetrius, with defeated troops but a mind un- 
 dismayed, used every exertion to retrieve his father's 
 affairs. It was his character to harden under the blows 
 of fortune ; dissolute and careless in prosperity, he became 
 vigilant and enterprising in adversity. By one of those 
 rapid marches in which he equalled Alexander himself, he 
 crossed Mount Taurus, assembled the veteran garrisons
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 87 
 
 of Asia Minor, and suddenly appeared in the heart of 
 Syria. Killes, who commanded the Egyptians, committed 
 the greatest of all military errors, that of despising the 
 enemy. Marching to encounter Demetrius, he advanced 
 rashly, and encamped carelessly near the obscure town of 
 Myons. His vigilant adversary, duly apprized of his secu- 
 rity and negligence, contrived, by well-conducted move- 
 ments, to surprise Killes in his defenceless camp at mid- 
 night, gained a large booty, and made seven thousand 
 prisoners. His success filled Demetrius with inexpressi- 
 ble joy, as the means of disburdening his gratitude to 
 Ptolemy, whose confidential friend, Killes, was instantly re- 
 leased, and with some other officers of distinction sent back 
 to Egypt loaded with presents. (Diodor. lib. xix. s. 93.) 
 
 The defeat of Killes proved fatal to the supremacy of 
 Ptolemy in Syria. Antigonus, who had met with great 
 success, both against Cassander and Lysiinachus, no sooner 
 heard of the disaster of Gaza, than, at the head of a large 
 army, ho hastened to the support of his son. On his 
 arrival, however, he found that Demetrius had already, in 
 a great measure, retrieved his affairs ; and the junction of 
 their two armies placed Antigonus at the head of forces 
 against which Ptolemy not only found it impossible to 
 maintain any part of Syria, but even became alarmed for 
 the security of Egypt ; for the great army of Antigonus 
 had become hardened in many a victorious .campaign, 
 while their admired commander, in a life of continued war- 
 fare, had passed his seventieth year without once losing a 
 battle. 
 
 With that prudence which entered so largely into his 
 character, Ptolemy determined at once to give up what 
 he had no prospect of successfully defending. His gene- 
 rals received orders to evacuate Syria, to avoid all en- 
 counters with the enemy, and to concentrate their forces 
 for the defence of Egypt and the banks of the Nile.
 
 88 POST-BIELICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The departure of their Egyptian friends caused the 
 utmost consternation among the Jews. Their attachment 
 to Ptolemy had been too openly pronounced, their mea- 
 sures in his behalf had been too active, to permit them to 
 expect forbearance from the stern and implacable Antigo- 
 nus. He had been cruel enough to cause one of his own 
 ancient companions-in-arms, Antigenes, a favourite of 
 Alexander the Great, to be nailed up in a cofler, in which 
 he was burnt alive. (Diodor. lib. xix. s. 44.) And those 
 Jews who had most prominently committed themselves by 
 their partisanship for Ptolemy, felt that their only hope of 
 safety lay in flight. But not only they: the experience 
 of Antigonus's rule, contrasted with the friendship which 
 Ptolemy evinced for their nation, induced many Jews of 
 all classes to prefer a residence in the flourishing capital 
 of Egypt, where the discernment of Ptolemy had endowed 
 their brethren with many valuable immunities. The march 
 of the retreating Egyptians thus became followed by Jew- 
 ish families in vast numbers. 
 
 Hecataeus, to the fragment of whose history, quoted by 
 Josephus, (cont. Apion, i. 22,) we have such frequent 
 occasion to refer, relates an anecdote connected with this 
 retreat, interesting from the striking contrast between the 
 common sense of the Jews and the superstition of the 
 Greeks, which it places before us ; and which plainly 
 shows us how the Law of Moses acted on the mind of the 
 Jew, and how the follies of idolatry influenced the 
 heathen. Among the Jews who attended his 'detachment 
 of the retreating army, Hecataeus, who commanded, makes 
 especial mention of Mosollamus, a warrior " of great 
 valour and strength, and, according to general and unani- 
 mous acknowledgment, the most skilful archer among the 
 Greeks or barbarians." On the march to the Red Sea, 
 the soothsayer, consulting the flight of birds, suddenly 
 commanded a halt. Mosollamus inquired the cause of this
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 89 
 
 unseasonable stoppage ; on which the soothsayer pointed 
 out a bird to him, and said, " Should this messenger of the 
 gods remain at rest, it is necessary for our welfare that 
 we should likewise, fo'r the present, repose. If he rises 
 and fliev onward in the line of our march, we may then 
 proceed with confidence ; but should our sure guide take a 
 contrary direction, it becomes incumbent upon us to return 
 to the place from whence we last came." The grave admo- 
 nition was scarcely uttered, when an arrow from the un- 
 erring hand of Mosollamus brought down the poor bird 
 fluttering in its blood. 
 
 The diviner and many among the Grecian detachment 
 were aroused to indignation, and curses, loud and many, 
 against the infidel, found ready utterance. Amid the 
 blind rage of a capricious multitude, glory or disgraceful 
 death depend on the decision of the moment. Mosollamus 
 was saved by his intrepidity and presence of mind. " How 
 unreasonable you are !" he exclaimed, holding up the bird 
 in his hand: "you think that this bird was acquainted 
 with the destiny that awaits us on our march, when, in fact, 
 it was ignorant of its own fate. Had it been able to fore- 
 know or to foretell the future, it would never have come 
 to this fatal spot, or run the risk of being killed by Mo- 
 sollamus the Jew." There was too much common sense 
 in this argument to be controverted even by a soothsayer, 
 with all his superstition to back him. And Mosollamus, 
 who so often challenged the admiration of the Greeks by 
 his skill as an archer, now, and with equal justice, chal- 
 lenged their admiration for the boldness with which he 
 evinced his contempt of their puerile superstition. 
 
 History thus places before us three distinct immigra- 
 tions of large numbers of Jews into Egypt within the short 
 space of ten years. The first, and most numerous, was 
 compulsory ; the second and third were voluntary. These 
 Jews never returned to their own land : they remained in 
 
 8*
 
 90 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Egypt, chiefly in Alexandria, where they throve and pros- 
 pered, so that their numbers soon exceeded a million. 
 Gradually they assumed the language of the country, an 
 idiom of the Greek, in consequence of which they became 
 designated by the name of Hellenists ; and thenceforth 
 the Jewish people were divided into three great masses, 
 each speaking its own idiom, with a literature of its own ; 
 and each exercising a considerable influence on the minds 
 of the whole people, which, notwithstanding this division, 
 remained united in its faith in one God, and its adherence 
 to the Law of Moses. The three distinct bodies we speak 
 of are the Babylonians, or Eastern Jews, in the cities on 
 and between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates ; the Pales- 
 tine, or "Western Jews, in Judea; and the Hellenists, 
 chiefly in Egypt and Cyrenaica, though there is reason 
 to assume that the Jews who gradually spread over Asia 
 Minor were also known by that designation. 
 
 As we have so often had occasion to quote Hecatseus, 
 some account of him, and of another contemporary histo- 
 rian, may not be altogether unacceptable ; especially as it 
 will show us the principle (or rather the want of principle) 
 which governed the Greek writers of the age of Alexan- 
 der, and will prove to us the little weight that ought to be 
 attached to their silence on any subject that other writers, 
 less biassed, speak of. 
 
 "From conversation with the Jews who accompanied 
 the retreat of the Egyptian army, Hecatseus of Abdera, a 
 Grecian colony on the coast of Thrace, was enabled to 
 compose his elaborate and faithful history of a people 
 whose transactions and institutions have been strangely 
 disfigured by the vain prejudices of Greece, ^and more 
 strangely overlooked and calumniated by the proud igno- 
 rance of Rome. Hecatseus of Abdera, as well as Jerorn 
 of Cardia, assiduously cultivated letters amid the cares 
 and labours of warfare, like Ptolemy, Eumenes, Aristo-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 91 
 
 bulus, and other generals of an age equally pre-eminent in 
 arts and arms. After the death of Alexander, Hecatseus 
 attached himself solely to Ptolemy ; while the compliant 
 Jerom followed successively the fortunes of Eumenes, An- 
 tigonus, and Seleucus, the first of whom was destroyed by 
 the second, as was the second by the third. Under the 
 empire of Seleucus, Jerom, who lived to the age of a hun- 
 dred and four years, was employed as governor of Syria, 
 in which Palestine was included. Yet, in his history of 
 Alexander's immediate successors, it was remarked that 
 Jerom had passed over the wonderful peculiarities of the 
 Hebrew race in total and incomprehensible silence a 
 silence, however, that may, in some measure, be accounted 
 for, if we consider that the natives of Judea were either 
 open enemies or reluctant subjects to the princes whom 
 he tamely and anxiously served. Whereas Hecatams 
 being the friend of Ptolemy, the beloved protector of the 
 Jews deduced the memorable series of their exploits and 
 sufferings from the age of Abraham to his own times : u a 
 work, the loss of which is the more unfortunate, because 
 the religion and polity of Palestine must have been placed 
 in a light equally striking and new by the candid impar- 
 tiality of this curious and well-informed stranger." (Gil- 
 lies's Greece, v. 544.) 
 
 After this exposition of the probable motive for Jerom 's 
 silence, any comment of ours on the fidelity of Grecian 
 historians becomes unnecessary. But it fully defends our 
 attaching greater faith to the assertion of certain facts by 
 Jewish writers than to the silence of Greeks. 
 
 The retreat of Ptolemy's forces left Antigonus in undis- 
 puted possession of all Syria, which he retained until his 
 death, at the battle of Ipsos, eleven years later. Judca, 
 
 14 .1. >-(]. h. Antiq. lib. i. cnp. viii. Eu-oli. Pncpar. Erang. lib. Ix. ; and 
 Orig. contra Gels. lib. i. p. 13.
 
 92 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 almost depopulated by the frequent emigrations of its able- 
 bodied inhabitants to Egypt, and Jerusalem, which had 
 not yet recovered from the effects of its capture by Ptole- 
 my, were alike unable and unwilling to offer resistance ; 
 nor does history record any great or public measure of 
 severity by which Antigonus punished the Jews for their 
 attachment to his rival, Ptolemy, whose satrapy of Egypt 
 he intended to attack. 
 
 Preparatory to the invasion of that country, Antigonus 
 determined to obtain the command of the deserts between 
 Syria and Egypt, that had witnessed the long wanderings 
 of the Israelites under the leadership of Moses. The 
 Nabathsean Arabs, who inhabited, or rather roved about, 
 these deserts, derived their name from Nabaioth, the eldest 
 son of Ishmael. (Gen. xxv. 13.) Six centuries before the 
 time of Alexander, their decaying institutions were restored 
 to their primitive vigour, and thenceforward perpetuated 
 with a tenacity that even yet is in no wise relaxed. With 
 a submission to the stern laws of Jonadab, the son of 
 Rechab, (Jer. xxxv. 6, 10 ; Conf. Diodor. lib. xix. s. 94,) 
 powerfully enforced by their country and climate, the 
 Nabathaeans neither built houses, nor planted fruit-trees, 
 nor drank wine, nor sowed corn. They lived wholly in 
 tents ; their food consisted of flesh and milk ; their lux- 
 uries were pepper, and wild honey found on the leaves of 
 trees ; sheep, camels, and horses, the noblest and swiftest 
 in the world, formed their principal wealth. Their first 
 great passion was to live independent and fearless ; their 
 second, to inspire terror into all their neighbours. Genu- 
 ine sons of the wilderness, " their hand was against every 
 man, and every man's hand against them." Still they 
 were no strangers to peaceful pursuits and the avocations 
 of commerce. 
 
 From time immemorial the great nomadic nation of 
 which they were a powerful branch the Arabs served
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 93 
 
 as carriers in the inland trade between Egypt and Phoeni- 
 cia on the one hand, and Ethiopia and Assyria on the 
 other. The southern part of the Arabian peninsula 
 the pastoral kingdom of Yemen abounded in precious 
 aromatics. The myrrh and frankincense furnished by its 
 happy shores were, at stated fairs, supplied by the southern 
 tribes to the Nabathaeans, who deposited their costly me^ 
 chandise in hugh caverns, particularly those of the rock 
 Petra, distant about one hundred miles from the Mediter- 
 ranean, and half that distance from the Dead Sea, called 
 by the Greeks the Lake Asphaltites. From these maga- 
 zines they supplied, with spices and perfumes, the com- 
 merce of Phoenicia, the luxury of Egypt, the magnificence 
 of Babylon, and the costly wants of all those countries 
 whose inhabitants they alternately overreached in peace 
 or plundered in war. (Diod. lib. xix. s. 94, and lib. ii. 
 s. 48.) 
 
 Against these Nabathaeans, Antigonus although they 
 had given him no particular provocation despatched an 
 expedition, often undertaken by the greatest conquerors 
 both before and afterward, but in which it should seem 
 that no laurels were destined ever to be won. Having 
 selected four thousand foot and six hundred horse the 
 best adapted for that species of service, he waited till the 
 main body of the Nabathrcans travelled southward to one 
 of tbcir great periodical fairs. Their wives and children, 
 together with their most precious effects, were left at their 
 stronghold, Petra, under a feeble guard, consisting chiefly 
 of old men. Athcn.-cus, who conducted the invading ex- 
 pedition, in a forced march of thirty- six hours, surprised 
 Petra, put its obstinate defenders to the sword, and 
 returned toward Gaza loaded with much valuable mer- 
 chandise, besides five hundred talents of silver and a large 
 number of young captives. The whole account in Diodo- 
 rus (lib. xix. s. 95) reads precisely like the report of SOLDO
 
 94 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 modern French commander of a razzia against the Kabylea 
 of Algeria. But the final success of the enterprise was 
 equal to its justice. Before this military caravan had pro- 
 ceeded twenty miles on its route, the fatigue of a sandy 
 road, and the almost vertical blaze of the sun, necessitated 
 a hasty encampment, in the full confidence that little dan- 
 ger was to he apprehended from so distant an enemy. 
 
 But the Arabs had already taken the alarm. Their at- 
 tention was attracted by the smoke of the camp-kitchen. 
 Accustomed to clear skies and naked plains, their experi- 
 enced eyes discerned from afar the faintest shadows of 
 warriors to avoid or of travellers to plunder; and whether 
 they wished to fight or fly, the extreme swiftness of their 
 horses and camels was always ready to second their pur- 
 pose. Hastening back to Petra, they learned from their 
 fathers, yet weltering in their blood, the full extent of 
 their disaster; and they flew with fury to avenge it. To 
 the number of eight thousand, they assailed the unguarded 
 tents of the invaders ; and, of the whole expedition, only 
 fifty horsemen, wounded and bleeding, escaped with diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 Antigonus, who, as he boasted of himself, knew better 
 than any other man how to eke out the lion's with the 
 fox's skin," (Arrian, 225,) sought to pacify the incensed 
 Arabs with fair words ; and in reply to their indignant re- 
 monstrance, he loudly condemned Athenseus, who, without 
 any orders from himself, had undertaken a mad and wicked 
 enterprise that had been justly punished. At the same 
 time, he equipped a new expedition far more numerous, 
 and amply provided with food not requiring preparation 
 by fire, and intrusted the command to the zeal and bold- 
 ness of his son Demetrius. 
 
 But the smooth professions of Antigonus had not for 
 one moment deceived the Nabathseans, or lulled that sus- 
 picious caution which is the characteristic of professed
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 95 
 
 robbers. Sentinels, supplied with torches, were posted on 
 the rocks skirting the Nabathsean desert; and as soon as 
 Demetrius came within their sight, a general blaze an- 
 nounced the approaching foe, and gave time to prepare for 
 his reception. Demetrius's first assault met with so vigor- 
 ous a resistance, that he found it necessary to retreat. 
 Next day the attack was on the point of being repeated, 
 when the loud and clear voice of an Arab chief was heard, 
 strongly urging the folly of wasting human lives on the 
 conquest of a territory so desolate and worthless. Deme- 
 trius listened to the reason, accepted a nominal submission, 
 and instantly withdrew his army. (Diod. lib. xix. s. 97, 98.) 
 But Antigonus was not yet satisfied. A third expedi- 
 tion was fitted out under the command of our acquaintance, 
 the anti-Judean historian, Jerom of Cardia. The purpose 
 was not indeed to conquer the desert, but, by a more lucra- 
 tive foray, to collect the asphaltus or bitumen on the Lake 
 Asphaltites, the dreary shores of which had been taken 
 possession of by Demetrius. The Arabs looked on quietly, 
 and offered no interruption till a large quantity had been 
 collected, and preparations were made for carrying it away. 
 Then they came down with six thousand men, attacked and 
 destroyed Jerom's boats, and killed the greater number of 
 his men. Jerom himself escaped, and was artful enough 
 to varnish his disgrace. But his representations prevailed 
 with Antigonus to relinquish all prospects of revenue from 
 the Lake Asphaltites, and all hopes of vengeance from a 
 renewal of the war with the Nabathieans. And this the 
 more readily, as the intelligence which reached Antigonus 
 from other parts of his dominions called equally for his 
 personal exertions and those of his son. In the west, both 
 Cassander and Lysimachus were recovering their strength, 
 while in the east Scleucus had reconquered his satrapy of 
 Babylonia. So that while Antigonus was wasting time and 
 means on impracticable and unprofitable attempts to con-
 
 96 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 quer deserts, his richest provinces were irrecoverably 
 wrested from him. 
 
 Seleucus had, at the battle of Gaza, afforded Ptolemy 
 thq assistance of his valour and great military skill to such 
 a degree, that an important share of the glory of that bril- 
 liant victory was justly ascribed to him. And as his ac- 
 tivity never slumbered, he availed himself of the good for- 
 tune and gratitude of Ptolemy, and, obtaining from him a 
 small body of troops, determined to make an effort for the 
 recovery of his satrapy of Babylonia, of which, three years 
 before, Antigonus had deprived him. During the four 
 years that Seleucus had held this government, his impar- 
 tial justice and vigilance endeared him to the Asiatics. 
 Imitating the liberal policy of Alexander, he paid little re- 
 gard to national distinctions ; the vanquished engaged his 
 protection equally with his victors, and both were promoted 
 in just proportion to their ability and zeal in the public 
 service. At the same time, Seleucus paid every respect 
 to the habits and feelings of his Asiatic subjects, though 
 gradually and gently engrafting on the Oriental stock many 
 simple but solid improvements, the utility of which daily 
 experience clearly evinced. With energy and abilities 
 equal to his ambition, Seleucus, of all Alexander's lieute- 
 nants, was the one who most nearly resembled his master; 
 and in both of them the love of power was called "royalty 
 of soul." His praises accordingly were sounded both by 
 Greeks and Asiatics; and, as he was only twenty-eight 
 years old at the death of Alexander and consequently 
 many years younger, not only than Antigonus, but also 
 than Ptolemy, the Chaldeans hailed him as the rising sun, 
 and predicted his future greatness. 
 
 The prudence, or rather, perhaps, the selfishness of 
 Ptolemy, while willing to reward the eminent services of 
 his ally, did not permit his gratitude to interfere with his 
 interests so as materially to weaken his own force. Eight
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 9T 
 
 hundred foot and three hundred horse was all the aid that 
 Seleucus could obtain from him ; and with such inconsider- 
 able means, the utmost that he could be expected to per- 
 form was to annoy Antigonus for a time, and then be 
 overwhelmed by the superior power arrayed against him. 
 But fortune favours the brave. While Demetrius was yet 
 stunned by his defeat, and before Antigonus, laboriously 
 occupied in the west, could decide on the intelligence of 
 passing events in the east, Seleucus, with his handful of 
 men, crossed the desert and the Euphrates ; and after a 
 short halt in Mesopotamia, where he increased his army, 
 he invaded Babylonia as seasonably as, during the ascend- 
 ing star of Antigonus, he had relinquished that valuable 
 province. On their weary march, his troops had been re- 
 freshed and encouraged by the predictions of the Chal- 
 deans, announcing their beloved leader as the destined lord 
 of Asia, and the founder of a new and endless dynasty. 
 (Diodor. lib. ii., et xix. passim.) 
 
 His entrance into Babylonia was like a triumphal proces- 
 sion; on the progress of his march he everywhere met with 
 the welcome reception of an hereditary prince, who comes 
 to rescue his birthright from a cruel usurpation. Not 
 only the natives flocked to his standard in crowds, but 
 many Macedonians and Greeks joined him, putting him in 
 possession of the strongholds they garrisoned. The lieu- 
 tenants of Antigonus, who commanded fur him in Persia 
 and Media, joined their forces, and marched against Seleu- 
 cus with ten thousand foot and seven thousand horse. Se- 
 leucus, with all the accession of recruits and reinforcements 
 that had joined him, could not muster half the number of 
 men; but his consummate generalship compensated for (he 
 deficiency. He surprised the enemy's camp at night: 
 numbers were slain; some few escaped, but most of the 
 soldiers surrendered, and passed into his service. The 
 camp, with all its treasures, was the reward of his fol-
 
 98 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 lowers ; but the greatest treasure to Seleucus, the best fruit 
 of his success, was the securing a considerable body of well- 
 disciplined Macedonians, which enlarged his own power even 
 in a greater degree than it diminished that of his enemies. 
 It is from this victory, 13 which secured to Seleucus the re- 
 covery of Babylonia, (October, 312 B. c. E.) twelve years after 
 the death of Alexander, that chronologists date the cele- 
 brated "era of the Seleucidae," at one time in general use 
 throughout all Central and Western Asia, and still retained 
 by the Christians of Syria under the name of the "era of 
 Alexander." The Arabians, who called it the " era of the 
 two-horned," (Dhulkarnaim,) meaning Alexander, did not 
 relinquish it till long after the religion of Mohammed had 
 arisen, and the era of the " Hegira" (the flight of Moham- 
 med from Mecca to Medina) had been introduced. The 
 Jews did not adopt this era till after they passed from 
 under the dominion of the Egypto-Greeks to that of the 
 Syro-Greeks, when they became obliged to employ it in 
 their civil contracts, and therefore it was designated by 
 them as the Minyan Staroth, " era of contracts." Thence- 
 forth they retained its use upward of twelve centuries, and 
 employed no other epoch till the final close of the schools 
 on the Euphrates, (1040 c. E. ;) since when, they date their 
 era from the creation, though the Minyan Staroth, in the 
 East, is not altogether dropped. This era it is which, in 
 the Books of the Maccabees is designated as " the year of 
 
 15 The Chaldeans, or priestly caste in Babylon, whose great privileges 
 were peculiarly interested in the issue of the contest between Seleucus and 
 Antigonus, did not begin their computation of this era till the spring of 
 the next year, (311 B. c. E.) because, according to some authors, they did 
 not consider their prediction fulfilled, or Seleucus's sovereignty secured, 
 till after the repulse of Demetrius. It is, however, as Kitto justly re- 
 marks, more natural to resolve the difference into an adjustment of the 
 era to the different times at which the year was commenced by different 
 nations some at the autumnal equinox, as the Jews; others at the vernal 
 equinox, as the Babylonians.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 99 
 
 the kingdom of the Greeks;" while the horn that ancient 
 and general emblem of power throughout the East that 
 had been adopted by Alexander himself, and is so con- 
 spicuous on his own coins, was also appropriated by his 
 Babylonian successors, the Seleucidse, as may still be seen 
 on their coins, which, for beauty and perfection of finish, 
 rival those of Alexander himself. 
 
 Seleucus, whose prodigious activity was second only to 
 that of Alexander the Great, did not repose on his laurels. 
 Not content with having secured Babylonia by his victory, 
 he determined to invade and conquer Media. Accordingly, 
 he pursued Nicanor, the satrap of that province, who had 
 commanded against him at the last battle, reduced him to 
 the necessity of fighting at great disadvantage, slew him 
 with his own hand, and gained a complete victory, that 
 procured for him the submission of all Upper Asia. 
 
 The arrival of these tidings of repeated loss in such 
 rapid succession, compelled Antigonus to give up every 
 idea of expeditions against the Nabathrcans or against 
 Egypt. He at once despatched his son Demetrius, at the 
 head of twenty thousand veteran troops, to reconquer 
 Babylon a city long ago rendered defenceless by the 
 jealousy of its Persian masters, and still altogether unpre- 
 pared for resisting a vigorous assault. Patrocles who, 
 while Seleucus was absent on his distant expedition into 
 Media, commanded for him in Babylon was apprized of 
 the enemy's advance, and without loss of time communi- 
 cated the news to his master. But the rapidity of Deme- 
 trius would have anticipated a less distant foe. lie had 
 already passed the Euphrates, and was marching through 
 Mesopotamia, when Patrocles proposed to tlio inhabitants 
 of Babylon a very extraordinary measure, which was em- 
 braced with yet more extraordinary consent. 
 
 The measure proposed and adopted was nothing less than 
 that the vast multitude of peaceful arid industrious natives
 
 100 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 should abandon their city to an invader whom they had 
 not arms to resist ; and that they should patiently wait for 
 a change of fortune, either through his own success against 
 the enemy, or the return of Seleucus with his victorious 
 army from the East. The whole body of the people not 
 excepting those privileged orders of men long proverbial 
 for pomp and luxury left their habitations and comforts, 
 and fled in various directions with their families and trea- 
 sures. Some took the road through the desert; others 
 crossed the river Tigris, and sought a refuge in Susiana, 
 or Persia Proper. Patrocles himself, with his Macedonians 
 and such natives as had the courage to follow his standard, 
 after throwing garrisons into two strong palaces or cas- 
 tles, lurked amid the canals and marshes of the Euphra- 
 tes, watching for an opportunity of gaining some stolen 
 advantages over an enemy he durst not openly encounter. 
 Demetrius, whose hurried advance had been impeded by 
 no resistance, entered the city, but, to his great surprise, 
 found it ransacked and deserted a proof of affection on 
 the part of the Babylonians for Seleucus that inspired the 
 heir of Antigonus with the bitterest feeling of resentment 
 against them. Of the two castles garrisoned by Patrocles, 
 one was taken by assault ; but the other resisted so obsti- 
 nately and held out so long, that the patience and resources 
 of Demetrius were alike exhausted. He had expected 
 that the wealthy and populous city of Babylon would afford 
 abundant supplies for his army, as the rapidity of his own 
 advance had not permitted him to incumber himself with 
 provisions or baggage. His disappointment and suffering 
 were therefore commensurate with the greatness of his ex- 
 pectations. His expedition to Babylon finds a most 
 striking parallel in the desertion of Moscow in the year 
 1812, when the great leader of the invaders, the emperor 
 Napoleon, expected that the vast and opulent metropolis 
 of Russia would supply the wants of his exhausted troops,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 101 
 
 and met with disappointment such as had awaited Deme- 
 trius in Babylon. Both invaders, after a brief occupation 
 of either deserted city, were compelled to retreat ; but 
 here the parallel ceases for, while the rigours of an 
 unusually severe winter proved ruinous to the retreating 
 French army, the retreat of Demetrius became ruinous, 
 not to his troops, but to the wretched inhabitants of the 
 countries on his line of march. Exasperated by his dis- 
 appointment, and at the preference so strikingly given by 
 the people to his father's foe, Demetrius indulged his sol- 
 diers in the utmost license of plunder. (Diodor. lib. xix. 
 8. 100.) But the cruelty of his invasion, the disgrace of 
 his discomfiture, and the vengeful desolation of his retreat, 
 forever ruined the cause of Antigonus in Upper Asia, and 
 so firmly riveted the Babylonians to Seleucus, that all 
 subsequent efforts against him proved unavailing. 
 
 The countries through which the line of Demetrius's 
 march carried him, both in his advance and on his retreat, 
 were thickly inhabited by Jews. Indeed, the number of 
 Jews located on and between the rivers Euphrates and 
 Tigris was far greater than that of those dwelling either 
 in Judea or in Egypt. History does not tell us of any 
 distinguished part they took in this struggle. But, as we 
 find that Seleucus, when firmly established in that power 
 and supremacy for which he was indebted to the fidelity 
 and love of all his subjects, extended his favour and con- 
 fidence to the Jews in a higher degree than to most of the 
 other nationalities under his sway, we may be sure that their 
 claims on his gratitude must have been among the strongest ; 
 though, for the reason already stated, Greek historians have, 
 as usual, kept silent with regard to the cause that induced 
 Selcucus BO greatly to distinguish and prefer the Jews. 
 
 The return of Demetrius from his fruitless and inglo- 
 rious expedition, imposed on Antigonus himself the task 
 of crushing the new rival who had so unexpectedly dis-
 
 102 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 possessed him of Alexander's richest conquests. In order 
 to do this effectually, he at length consented to listen to 
 the pacific overtures which Cassander and Ptolemy had 
 separately and repeatedly made to him. Victorious in 
 three scenes of the war in Syria, in Asia Minor, anjjl in 
 Greece, the compactness of his dominions, as well as the 
 superiority of his army, which, when commanded hy him- 
 self had never suffered a defeat, threatened Egypt on one 
 side and Macedon on the other. He seemed entitled, 
 therefore, to dictate the terms of the peace which two of 
 the confederates solicited, and to which Lysimachus gladly 
 consented. In the treaty between them and him, each of 
 the three confederates retained possession of the satrapies 
 assigned to him, and the dominion of all Asia was con- 
 ceded to Antigonus an article by which the allies clearly 
 abandoned Seleucus ; while at the same time they tacitly 
 renounced the demand for a fair division of the provinces 
 or treasures which had given birth to the war. It was 
 stipulated that the government of Macedon should be 
 administered by Cassander, until Alexander .ZEgus, the 
 posthumous son of Alexander the Great, then in his 
 thirteenth year, should attain his majority. This con- 
 dition was specified with the view that the heir of Alex- 
 ander should establish his court in his ancient hereditary 
 kingdom, from whence sovereign orders would be issued 
 to the many dependent provinces; and that the empire, 
 founded by the father, would still remain united under the 
 supremacy of the son. 
 
 But whatever their professions of allegiance to the house 
 of Alexander, the ambitious chieftains who signe.d this 
 treaty were fully resolved to maintain their independence. 
 Accordingly, the stipulations in his favour became fatal to 
 the young son of Alexander. He, with his mother, Rox- 
 ana, had, till then, been retained in strict confinement at 
 the strong castle of Amphipolis, in Macedon. In conse-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 103 
 
 quence of the treaty, acknowledging his just title to the 
 throne, the voice of the loyal Macedonians, who still, in 
 every part of the empire, formed the sinews and pride of 
 the various armies, became louder in his favour, and 
 claimed not only his release from captivity, hut demanded 
 for him an establishment suitable to his high dignity. 
 Provoked and alarmed by these clamours, Cassander, the 
 scourge of the family of Alexander, at once secured the 
 permanence of his own power, and gratified the views of 
 his confederates, by procuring the death of the young 
 prince and of his mother. 
 
 The circumstances of their murder were never clearly 
 brought to light, as otherwise it would have been impossible 
 to restrain the enraged multitude. (Diod. lib. xix. s. 105.) 
 Hercules, the only surviving son of Alexander, was ille- 
 gitimate, and deemed incapable of succeeding. Neverthe- 
 less, as he found adherents to enforce his pretensions, he 
 was betrayed to Cassander, and put to death at his insti- 
 gation. One surviving sister of the great Macedonian 
 Cleopatra, who, after the death of his sons, was solicited 
 in marriage by Ptolemy with a view of uniting her claims 
 to the succession with his own, fell a victim to the cruel 
 ambition of Antigonus. And thus, within fifteen years 
 from the death of Alexander, his own family, and that of 
 his father Philip, had been foully doomed to death by 
 men who professed to worship his memory, and who 
 derived all their greatness from his favour. One sister of 
 his only, Thcssalonica, the wife of Cassander, still sur- 
 vived ; and her end, sixteen years later, was violent, like 
 that of her kindred, but far more tragical and heart-rend- 
 ing, since she was murdered by her own son. 
 
 Antigonus, who had only consented to a peace with 
 Ptolemy that he might with the more certainty destroy 
 Selcucus, lost no time in preparing an expedition into 
 Upper Asia. It is on record that he fought a battle of
 
 104 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 doubtful issue ; after which, Seleucus, by making his men 
 sleep in their armour, surprised his adversary the next 
 morning, and gained over him a decided advantage. (Gil- 
 lies, vi. 6.) But neither the year in which this battle was 
 fought, nor the place, nor its immediate consequences, are 
 preserved in history. It is certain, however, that Anti- 
 gonus's expedition proved fruitless. Strong in the love 
 of his people, Seleucus offered a resistance that Antigonus 
 was unable to overcome ; and the latter was foiled and 
 forced to retreat, as his son Demetrius had been before. 
 During the next ten years, this turbulent old man and his 
 son, who also could never be at rest, were engaged in in- 
 cessant hostilities against Egypt or Macedon, while Seleu- 
 cus was extending his dominions in the East. 
 
 After the extinction of the house of Alexander, the 
 satraps who bore sway in his empire no longer deemed it 
 necessary to cloak their ambition, or to disguise their in- 
 dependent sovereignties by a designation expressive of 
 delegated power. Antigonus was the first among them to 
 assume the title of king, and to bestow it on his son De- 
 metrius ; and he was speedily followed by Ptolemy. Sub- 
 sequently both Seleucus and Lysimachus disdained to 
 remain inferior in title to those whom they equalled in 
 renown. Cassander alone, out of respect for the ashes of 
 the Macedonian monarchs entombed in his province, or 
 rather, perhaps, dreading the prejudices of the Macedo- 
 nian people, and their deeply-rooted attachment for the 
 royalty of Alexander's house, neither styled himself king 
 nor employed the royal signet. 
 
 He, however, in imitation of his kingly compeers, in- 
 dulged his vanity by building and bestowing his name on 
 a city, where he took up his residence, and in which, ac- 
 cording to the superstitious practice of the Greeks, his 
 shade might receive heroic worship after his death. Cas- 
 sandria and Lysimachia in Europe, Antigonia and Seleucia
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 105 
 
 in Asia, were all built with the intention of perpetuating 
 the names of their founders. Ptolemy was the only one of 
 the kings who did not affect the honour of distinguishing 
 a new capital by his name. He had a nobler pride in 
 adorning Alexandria, the*glorious monument of his great 
 brother. But such is the vanity of human designs, that 
 while Alexandria, though shorn of all its magnificence, 
 still, after a lapse of twenty centuries, maintains a place 
 among cities of note, and the name of Alexander himself 
 is immortal, the other four capitals have disappeared, and 
 their founders are rescued from oblivion chiefly by their 
 connection with Alexander. 
 
 Antigonus had now passed his eightieth year, but his 
 lust of power, and continual aggressions on his neigh- 
 bours, had suffered no diminution. To curb, if not to 
 crush him, a fresh confederacy was formed. Ptolemy, 
 though he nominally joined the alliance, cautiously re- 
 frained from risking his army. Lysimachus, who, by the 
 toil of twenty years, had consolidated his power over 
 Thracia, was first in the field, and was reinforced by a 
 considerable body of auxiliaries sent by Cassander. But 
 it was Seleucus who brought the largest force to the battle 
 at Ipsos, in Phrygia, which all determined should be de- 
 cisive. (301 B. C. E.) Antigonus fought with his usual 
 valour and conduct, but not with his usual success. De- 
 metrius, victorious in the early part of the day, and car- 
 ried away by his ardour in the pursuit of the fugitives 
 that fled before him, was, by a skilful movement of Se- 
 leucus, prevented from properly supporting his father; 
 and the final result was, that Antigonus was utterly de- 
 feated and slain, while Demetrius, with a small remnant 
 of the army, escaped. He survived seventeen years, ex- 
 perienced many changes of fortune, and took an active 
 share in the affairs of that time, but not so as again to 
 bring him under our notice.
 
 106 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Partition of Alexander's empire Judea assigned to Ptolemy The Syro- 
 Grecian Empire Jews on the Euphrates The Egypto-Grecian Em- 
 pire Jews of Alexandria Of Jerusalem Simon the Just The Sep- 
 tuagint Berosus Manetho Rivalry and wars of the Ptolemies and 
 the Seleucidae The Parthian Empire Young Judea Antigonus of So- 
 cho The Sadducees Ptolemy IV. Philopator Antiochus III. Battle 
 of Raphia Philopator at Jerusalem His attempt on the Temple His 
 Flight Persecutes the Jews of Egypt His death Antiochus III. in- 
 vades Cosle -Syria Battle of Mount Panias^ Judea incorporated with 
 the Syro-Grecian Empire. (From 301 to 198 B. c. E.) 
 
 THE defeat and death of Antigonus terminated, as far 
 as the Jews were concerned, that period of violence and 
 uncertainty which, since the death of Alexander, had 
 afflicted Western and Central Asia, the regions in which 
 they chiefly dwelt. The victory at Ipsos was followed by 
 a treaty between the four chieftains who had weathered 
 the storm, and who now divided between them the im- 
 mense territories that constituted the empire of Alexan- 
 der. The distribution was made on the principle that 
 each of them was to retain what he already possessed, and 
 take his due share of the monarchy that Antigonus had 
 lost with his life ; and, as the family of Alexander was 
 quite extinct, each of the four was formally to assume the 
 royal dignity. In accordance with this treaty, Cassan- 
 der obtained Macedon and Greece, while Lysimachus had 
 Thrace, Bithynia, and some of the adjacent provinces. 
 Ptolemy had meither in person, nor by his troops, taken 
 any part in the battle; still he was not excluded from the 
 partition ; but, in addition to Egypt, Gyrene, and Lybia, 
 which he already held, he recovered Ccele- Syria and Pa-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 107 
 
 lestine appendages so essential to his kingdom ; and he 
 further acquired Arabia Petraea, or rather so much of that 
 district as had submitted to Antigonus. All the rest of 
 Alexander's conquests Syria, part of Asia Minor, all the 
 immense extent between the Euphrates and the Indus 
 remained in the possession of Seleucus, who thus obtained 
 the lion's share, and became lord of Asia, as the Chaldees 
 had predicted. 
 
 This division vras not final. Cassander died within two 
 years of the battle of Ipsos : his sons disputed the succes- 
 sion, and were finally expelled from Macedon by Deme- 
 trius, the son of Antigonus. He, in his turn, was dispos- 
 sessed by Lysimachus, and died as the prisoner of Seleu- 
 cus. But though these two sovereigns had united against 
 Antigonus and his son, their enemies were no sooner fallen 
 than they turned their arms against each other. The last 
 battle between the lieutenants of Alexander was fought 
 forty-three years after his death, at Corupedion, in Phry- 
 gia. Lysimachus was defeated and slain ; and his army 
 was so totally destroyed, that no request was made for 
 leave to bury their dead. This victory made Seleucus 
 master of three out of the four monarchies into which the 
 empire of Alexander had been divided ; and as Ptolemy, 
 who was much his senior, had died the year before this 
 last battle, Seleucus the sole survivor of all the chiefs 
 that had crossed the Hellespont in the train of Alexan- 
 der now, after an absence of fifty-four years spent in the 
 East, prepared to return to Macedon to reign in the 
 country where he had first drawn breath, and spent the 
 innocent years of his humble youth. 
 
 This had been the object of his secret ambition ever 
 since the first dawn of his greatness. The proud title of 
 Nicator, (the victorious,) which ho then 'assumed, had 
 hitherto been fully justified by the event ; and now he, 
 the special favourite of the gods, was about to seat him-
 
 108 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 self on Alexander's throne, the reward for all his toils and 
 all his dangers. But how blind are the hopes of man ! 
 Seleucus was treacherously murdered by his guest, Ptolemy 
 Keraunus, the banished son of the king of Egypt, under 
 circumstances that afford us another proof of how much 
 of the marvellous enters into the history of those times. 
 As Seleucus then in his seventy-seventh year was pro- 
 ceeding to Lysimachia, the capital of his late rival, he was 
 struck with the appearance of an altar of uncommon mag- 
 nitude, erected at a place called Argos, because its princi- 
 pal feature, the altar, was said to have been erected by 
 the Argonauts. While he curiously examined this remains 
 of antiquity and was the more inquisitive about its name 
 and origin because it had been foretold, as a warning, that 
 he was to avoid Argos as the place most fatal to him 
 Keraunus stepped behind his back and stabbed him to the 
 heart. 
 
 The murderer fled to Lysimachia, where, announcing 
 himself to the inhabitants and garrison as the avenger of 
 their patron and founder of their city, Lysimachus, he was 
 readily received. And so unsettled were all principles of 
 right and wrong among the mercenaries who followed the 
 Macedonian kings, that Keraunus could reconcile himself 
 with the army of the murdered Seleucus by sharing with 
 the soldiers the treasures of their late general. (Appian, 
 Syriac, cap. 63.) 
 
 We have anticipated the course of events, in order at 
 once to terminate our narration of Alexander's lieutenants 
 and their dissensions, and now return to the point whence 
 we started the treaty of peace which followed the 
 battle of Ipsos. The conditions of this treaty were highly 
 satisfactory to the Jews. Those of Syria and Mesopo- 
 tamia came under the sceptre of Seleucus, who had always 
 shown himself friendly to the Asiatic nationalities ; and 
 those of Palestine were restored to the dominion of Ptole-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 109 
 
 my, with whose generally beneficent government and par- 
 ticular favour to themselves they had every reason to be 
 satisfied. The prospects of durable peace, under the mild 
 sway of two such great and friendly kings, must also have 
 been contemplated with peculiar satisfaction by a people 
 that had suffered so much of the horrors and penalties, 
 without sharing in the contingent honours or advantages, 
 of war. 
 
 Nor were they disappointed : both Ptolemy and Seleucus 
 were actuated by the same policy : while they sought to 
 attach to their rule all the different nations that had 
 become subject to their sceptre, they placed especial con- 
 fidence in those nationalities whose steadiness of princi- 
 ple and moral rectitude held out the greatest assurance of 
 loyalty and fidelity to the person and dynasty of the ruler. 
 In these respects the Jews ranked far above the rest of 
 the Eastern nations. From this policy sprang the favours 
 which both kings showered on the Jews, and the indulgence 
 with which, notwithstanding its peculiarities, they always 
 treated the Jewish nation. 
 
 Seleucus, in whose dominions many fine cities had been 
 entirely destroyed, and others had greatly suffered by the 
 ravages of war, now set about repairing these injuries, and 
 for that purpose built thirty-five new cities ; and, according 
 to the vanity of the times, he sought to perpetuate the 
 name of his father, Antiochus, by giving it to sixteen 
 cities scattered over his vast dominions ; to nine others he 
 gave his own name ; his mother Laodicca had her name 
 illustrated by five cities ; and the name of his two wives 
 were honoured by three Apamcas and one Stratonicea. 10 
 
 i Some Huthnr* ppcak of thirty-nine cities of note built by Sclouciw, 
 nii'l naiiK-d after himself and his dearest relation.*; but this in a mistake. 
 Aji]>inn (de Hob. Syr. cup. r >7) enumerates them in the .'nine order that wo 
 giro them. His text has, however, given rise to the uii-tak--. For ho 
 nays, "Seleucus numcU four cities in honour of his wives: three Apamcas 
 
 VOL I. 10
 
 110 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Of all these cities, the most important were Seleucia, on 
 the Tigris, in Babylonia, and Antioch, on the Orontes, in 
 Syria. The first-named city he intended as the capital 
 of the eastern, and the second, of the western part of 
 his empire. The building of Seleucia greatly contributed 
 to the accomplishment of prophecy by the final ruin of 
 Babylon. For the seat of the court, the consequent great 
 traffic, and the important privileges which Seleucus 
 granted to his new city, gradually induced the inhabitants 
 of the old city (Babylon) to remove and swell the popula- 
 tion of its young and flourishing rival. The precise period 
 when Babylon became entirely deserted cannot now be 
 ascertained. Seleucia flourished as the seat of Syrian, 
 Parthian, and Persian kings, and contained a numerous 
 Jewish population, on whom Seleucus bestowed privileges 
 equal to those granted to his own countrymen, the Mace- 
 donians. The city was sacked by the followers of Moham- 
 med in the year 637, A. c. E., and a century later, it was 
 finally supplanted by the building of Bagdad, under the 
 Caliph Almansor ; and now, Babylon itself is not more 
 desolate is even less desolate than the superseding city 
 of Seleucia, so thoroughly and literally has the prophecy 
 (Isa. xxxiv.) been fulfilled. 
 
 Antiochia, on the Orontes, in Syria, became the seat of 
 all Seleucus' successors, especially after the revolt of the 
 Parthians had severed so large a portion of Central Asia 
 from tho Syro-Greek empire. This city, which afterward 
 became the seat of the Roman governors, still exists, and 
 has retained some relative consequence by virtue of the 
 corresponding decline of all population and prosperity in 
 the country around it. In this city, likewise, Seleucus, 
 by the great privileges and immunities he granted them, 
 
 and one Stratonicea." The latter half of the sentence is only explanatory 
 of the first half; and the mistake has arisen from its being considered a 
 distinct and independent sentence.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. Ill 
 
 induced as many Jews as he possibly could to settle. And 
 they were in consequence attracted in such numbers that, in 
 the time of its greatest prosperity, Antioch contained a Jew- 
 ish population nearly as large as that of Alexandria itself. 
 It is in this last-named city, however, that the Jews of 
 this period most flourished and attained the greatest pros- 
 perity. During the twenty-two years that elapsed from 
 the battle of Ipsos till his own death, (282 B. c. E.) Ptolemy 
 devoted his talents and energies to promote the happiness 
 of the nations whose ruler he was become. And though 
 his kingdom of Egypt did not attain its meridian glory 
 until the reign of his son, Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, there 
 is abundant proof that the best foundations of public pros- 
 perity had been laid under the father. He it was who 
 made Alexandria then what the United States are now 
 the asylum for all whom oppression, and the perturbed 
 state of other countries, forced to seek a home far from 
 their native land. To such fugitives Egypt offered a 
 secure refuge ; and those among them who were distin- 
 guished for learning and ability met with support and 
 encouragement from a monarch who, highly educated and 
 gifted himself, knew how to appreciate the talents of 
 others. And thus, by the merit and discernment of its 
 ruler, did Egypt, renowned as the mother of arts and 
 sciences, receive back from foreign lands her full-grown 
 and highly-improved children, whom the continued oppres- 
 sion of the Persian rule had not permitted her longer to 
 bring up at home. It was by the fostering care of Ptolemy 
 that the first museum and library were founded in Alex- 
 andria ; and we shall presently relate how the establishing 
 of this library, which under the last kings of his dynasty 
 reached 700,000 volumes, deposited in two different 
 temples, is said to have led to the translation from the 
 Hebrew into the Greek language of a portion of the 
 sacred Scriptures.
 
 112 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Ptolemy granted to all his subjects the most perfect 
 religious equality; and while he clearly saw that it was 
 his interest to harmonize the differences of religious prac- 
 tice and opinion which divided his Egyptian from his 
 Greek subjects, he was wise enough to perceive that the 
 superiority of the Jewish character resulted from insti- 
 tutions of higher authority and more deeply rooted. Ac- 
 cordingly, the chief synagogue of the Jews was as much 
 respected as the temple of Jupiter and of Isis. The Tal- 
 mud preserves a brief account of this synagogue, a master- 
 piece of Egypto-Grecian architecture, and of which eye- 
 witnesses, who had seen Herod's temple in Jerusalem in 
 its glory, declare that " He who has not seen the synagogue 
 at Alexandria, has not yet seen that which is most beauti- 
 ful." It is highly praised for its vast dimensions and 
 splendour of decoration, was built like a basilica, and sur- 
 rounded by colonnades. Seventy golden arm-chairs were 
 appropriated to the seventy elders of Alexandria. Each 
 trade, profession, and corporation occupied its own por- 
 tion of the synagogue, so that every stranger could at 
 once find and address himself to his fellowship. In the 
 middle of the synagogue there was a balustrade on which 
 the superintendent was placed ; and so vast was the size 
 of the synagogue, that, during service it was necessary 
 to appoint a special officer, who, by the raising and waving 
 of a banner, should, at the proper time, give a signal to 
 the congregation to make the responses. 
 
 This remarkable synagogue was destroyed by the 
 Roman, Martius Turbo, during the wars of the Jews 
 against Trajan. 17 Since then," remarks the Jewish 
 
 17 The Babylonian Talmud (in loc. cit.) imputes the destruction to Alex- 
 ander of Macedon. This is evidently an error of the transcriber. The 
 Jerusalem Talmud (in loco) gives the destroyer's name correctly, Trajan, 
 under whom M. Turbo served.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 113 
 
 record, "the splendour of Israelis extinguished." (Tal- 
 mud, tr. Succah, fo. 51, b. Jerus. ib.) 
 
 The arrangement here described, and according to which 
 each trade or corporation occupied its peculiar place or di- 
 vision in the great synagogue at Alexandria, was the more 
 necessary, both from the vast number of strangers who 
 flocked to that city, and from the great variety of trades 
 which were carried on by the citizens, the most praise- 
 worthy characteristics belonging to whom were industry 
 and ingenuity. Throughout the whole place none lived in 
 idleness ; and here many occupations were skilfully exer- 
 cised, unknown or disregarded in most other Greek or Ori- 
 ental cities. Many Alexandrians laboured in blowing 
 glass ; many others were employed in softening and smooth- 
 ing the papyrus. Weaving linen and brewing beer were 
 trades very extensively carried on. And these various 
 occupations furnished employment not only to citizens and 
 strangers, but even to persons whose corporal afflictions 
 were in other cities considered as barring them out from 
 useful work. The blind and the lame even those lame 
 in their hands had tasks assigned to them not incom- 
 patible with their several infirmities. The rich were, in a 
 different way, not less diligent: some superintending their 
 large manufactories; others augmenting their fortunes by 
 commercial enterprise, in both which sources of profit the 
 Ptolemies were largely interested. (Gillies, vi. 341.) And 
 though the picture here given us of the active and indus- 
 trious life of Alexandria does not make especial mention 
 of the Jews, yet we may rest fully assured that, as they 
 largely shared in the general prosperity, their exertions 
 must have been fully on a par with those of their fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 The Jews at Alexandria were so numerous, and formed 
 so preponderating a portion of its inhabitants, that it is 
 impossible to read a description of the industry of that 
 
 10*
 
 114 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 city, without putting full one-half of what is related to 
 their account. Out of the five districts, or quarters, into 
 which the city was divided, two were occupied by Jews 
 only, who also, and numerously, dwelt in the other quar- 
 ters of the city ; so that we are justified in assuming that 
 nearly one-half of the entire population of the city con- 
 sisted of Jews. These, by means of the immunities and 
 privileges granted to them by Alexander, and confirmed by 
 Ptolemy, were in every respect placed on an equality with 
 the Macedonians and Greeks, the conquering nations. In- 
 deed, it appears to have been the policy of the Ptolemies, 
 when they so highly favoured the Jews, by their means, 
 and by that of the many foreigners to whom these kings 
 granted an asylum, to strengthen and reinforce their sub- 
 jects of Greek origin, so that the whole body of settlers 
 and their descendants might form a counterpoise to the 
 native Egyptians, who were fickle, turbulent, and ex- 
 tremely hostile to foreigners. And in this respect the 
 Ptolemies were not disappointed. The Jews of Egypt 
 identified themselves with the best interests of the land in 
 which they lived, and remained loyal and faithful to the 
 Ptolemean dynasty, to whom, on many occasions, they 
 rendered important services. 
 
 Their relation to Judea and Jerusalem is truly and 
 beautifully described by Philo, (Advers. Flacc. 7) : The 
 Jews consider the city in which the temple of the Most 
 High God is situated, as the metropolis (of their faith.) 
 But the land in which their fathers and grandfathers dwelt, 
 and in which they themselves have been born and bred, 
 they call their fatherland." 
 
 It is not altogether uninteresting or uninstructive to 
 compare this condition of the Jews some 2100 years ago, 
 in a remote corner of Africa, with what it is at present in 
 civilized Germany and Italy, not to speak of semi-barbar- 
 ous Russia. Alexandria, with its two districts entirely
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 115 
 
 occupied by Jews and numbers of them residing in other 
 parts of the city will certainly appear more truly civilized 
 than Rome with its Ghetto in the year 1854; while the 
 Ptolemies, Soter and Philadelphus, will not only compare 
 favourably with the Hapsburgs and Romanoffs of Austria 
 and Russia, but will be found even more worthy of power 
 than the House of Lords in Great Britain, who in this 
 selfsame year still deprive the Jew of the most important 
 privilege of citizenship, because he will not violate his con- 
 science by prostituting the sanctity of an oath. 
 
 While the Jews of Alexandria were thus flourishing, 
 those of Judea and Jerusalem were also, and greatly, bene- 
 fited by the wise and liberal administration of the Ptole- 
 mies. The privilege of self-government conferred on Ju- 
 dea by the Persians, and not disturbed by Alexander, was 
 fully confirmed by the Egyptian monarchs. The year 
 after the battle of Ipsos witnessed the death of the aged 
 high-priest, Onias I., who, from the storming of Jerusalem 
 by Ptolemy, and during the alternate supremacy of that 
 ruler and of Antigonus, had, upward of twenty non-pros- 
 perous years, conducted the internal administration with 
 prudent firmness. His successor was the able, pious, and 
 in every respect excellent high-priest Simon, whom tho 
 well-merited admiration of his people has dignified with 
 the surname of "the Just" a designation deserved or en- 
 joyed but by very few among the rulers, spiritual and 
 temporal, whose surnames are preserved in history. 
 
 In the traditions of the Jews, Simon is described as the 
 last survivor of tho "Great Assembly," that illustrious 
 council which, since the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, had 
 administered the ecclesiastical and civil polity of Judea, 
 and with the full authority of which Simon entered on his 
 important and sacred office. Thus, by a concurrence of 
 fortunate circumstances, at the very time the great and 
 wise king of Egypt was recognised as the lawful sovereign
 
 116 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of Judea, and thus became able to carry out his good in- 
 tentions toward that country, its internal affairs were 
 placed in the hands of the pious and patriotic high-priest 
 Simon, who was best qualified to give effect to those good 
 intentions. Fully appreciating each other's merits, these 
 two distinguished men united in their efforts to restore the 
 prosperity of Judea, impoverished and almost depopulated 
 as it was by long wars and extensive emigrations. The 
 walls of Jerusalem, which had been breached by Ptolemy, 
 'and the repairs of which Antigonus had not permitted, 
 first attracted the care of Simon. He felt that without 
 security of person, of property, and of worship, no lasting 
 prosperity could be expected; and that, surrounded by 
 tribes hostile and jealous, Jerusalem, in order to thrive, 
 must be protected. Accordingly, with the consent of 
 Ptolemy, Simon repaired and fortified the city and temple 
 of Jerusalem with strong and lofty walls ; and, as in former 
 sieges, the city had suffered much from the want of water 
 the aqueducts beyond the walls being at the mercy of 
 besiegers Simon remedied this defect by constructing a 
 spacious cistern or reservoir of water, "in compass as a 
 sea." 18 
 
 His measures for reviving the prosperity of the people 
 were attended with complete success. As the powerful 
 protection of Ptolemy secured to them the blessings of 
 peace, the Jews, by their industry and frugality, soon 
 recovered from the losses they had sustained, while their 
 population rapidly increased. At the same time the so- 
 lemnity of their religious observances, and the purity of 
 their doctrines, attracted the attention and commanded 
 the respect of Gentiles in an age when learning, arts, and 
 
 18 Ecclus. i. 1-3. The whole chapter, entitled " The praise of Simon, 
 the son of Onias," is devoted to a splendid eulogium of his deeds and 
 character.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 117 
 
 sciences flourished in an uncommon degree. Simon is 
 also supposed to have completed the canon of the Old 
 Testament ; though the lynx-eye of modern criticism, from 
 internal evidence, deduces proof that many Psalms must 
 have been composed upward of a century after the death 
 of this great man. Many, however, are of opinion that 
 the books of Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, 
 and Esther were by him placed among the records of 
 Scripture ; and some aver that the Books of Chronicles 
 were also completed and so placed in their present state ; 
 while other biblical critics place the admission of the 
 Chronicles and of Daniel into the Bible at a much later 
 period. 
 
 Simon the Just held office about ten years ; and as, at 
 the time of his death, his son was too young to assume the 
 functions of high-priest, his brother Eleazar succeeded to 
 that high dignity, which he held fifteen years. During 
 his administration, the first Ptolemy died, at the age of 
 eighty-four, (283 B. c. E.,) having survived his brother 
 Alexander, forty years. 
 
 The Mesecheth Aboth, " Ethics of the Fathers," a collec- 
 tion of maxims and apophthegms of " the Sages of Israel," 
 begins with the sayings of the men of the Great Assembly, 
 and of Simon the Just, who thus may be considered as the 
 heads of the chain of tradition which, from them, is con- 
 tinued uninterruptedly till the compilation of the Mishna, 
 (about 100 C. E.,) and (before them) derived the authority 
 of its transmission from Moses. A modern writer (Frankcl's 
 Monatschrift, n. G) justly remarks that, in order to eke 
 out the scanty materials furnished by Jewish history 
 during the long period between Nehcmiah and the Maci-a- 
 bees, due attention should be paid to these " sayings of 
 the sages," from which much useful information respect- 
 ing the internal and external condition of the Jews is to 
 be derived.
 
 118 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The maxims ascribed to the men of the Great Assembly 
 are three: "Be deliberate in judgment; train up many 
 disciples ; and make a fence for the law ;" in which three 
 sayings the writer in question finds the emblem and indi- 
 cations of the objects at which the men of the Great As- 
 sembly chiefly aimed. In their first saying they place 
 before us an indication of the position Judea then occupied 
 with respect to her foreign policy, and the best means to 
 preserve that position. The privilege of self-government, 
 which the Persians and Macedonians had granted, ren- 
 dered Judea at home, at least a species of republic 
 governed by its own laws. But this great immunity could 
 only be enjoyed so long as the foreign rulers were not 
 appealed to, or called in to decide on matters of litigation 
 between Jews ; and such an appeal could only be pre- 
 vented by an administration of justice so pure and equita- 
 ble as to convince all litigants that their cases were sure 
 to receive thorough and impartial investigation, and would 
 be decided fairly and justly. Thus the saying, " Be de- 
 liberate in judgment," at once points out the best means 
 for preserving self-government, and the necessity for 
 appointing competent judges, who shall have acquired 
 that acquaintance with the law, and that habit of thought, 
 which alone can insure due deliberation. And it is a 
 remarkable fact that the portion of the Mishna which 
 treats of civil jurisprudence (a part of Nezekin "da- 
 mages,") is the oldest in the whole compilation, and that 
 the fundamental principles of this jurisprudence date from 
 time immemorial. 
 
 But then the question would arise, Where are we to find 
 these competent judges? And this question meets with its 
 reply in the second saying, " Train up many disciples." 
 If the last records of the Bible, relating to the early pe- 
 riod of the second temple, be carefully examined, it will 
 be found, in many respects, to resemble the early times
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 119 
 
 after the conquest of the land hy Joshua. At both 
 periods the Cohanim, "priests," descendants of Aaron, 
 were intrusted with the administration of the law. They 
 had originally (Lev. x. 10, 11) been appointed its guardians 
 and teachers ; and similar functions were assigned to them 
 in the second temple. (Ezek. xliv. 23, 24.) But in the 
 early times of Israel's nationality they appeared less 
 attentive to their duties as teachers and upholders of the 
 law than to their own interests and revenues, as is suf- 
 ficiently proved by the the severe rebuke " to fatten your- 
 selves with the first of all offerings" addressed to them. 
 (1 Sam. ii. 29.) Therefore Samuel, the man of God, 
 arose, rescued the Torah from the malversation of its un- 
 faithful custodians, and caused a knowledge of the law 
 to become general among the people. lie founded the 
 schools of the prophets, and trained young men of piety 
 and capacity, who became the teachers of the people and 
 the faithful administrators of the law. 
 
 The same process of events we find repeated in the 
 second temple. The priests, it appears, entertained 
 friendly relations with the Samaritans, whose admission 
 within the pale and privileges of the law the two inspired 
 men, Ezra and Nehemiah, had rejected, in order not to 
 open a door for the re-entry of paganism and its impure 
 practices. The priests even went so far as to assign cham- 
 bers within the temple to a leader of the Samaritans, 
 (Neh. xiii. 4, et *<?.,) a measure, the aim of which was 
 evidently to augment their own influence and revenues by 
 increasing the number of visitors and donors to the temple 
 and altar at Jerusalem. And the partiality with which 
 these Cohanim abused their judicial functions, as well as the 
 cupidity with which they degraded the sacred services, and 
 thereby alienated the people from the temple and its wor- 
 ship, are plainly set forth in the bitter reproaches uttered 
 by Malachi, the last of the prophets, in his second chapter.
 
 120 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 To remedy this evil, the men of the Great Assembly 
 among the members of which tradition especially enume- 
 rates Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah 
 had recourse to a measure similar to that which Samuel 
 had adopted ; they established a check to the corruption 
 of the sacerdotal caste, which forever after set limits to 
 its abuse of power. " Train up many disciples" was the 
 motto of their practical measures for preserving the law 
 in its purity. Once more the knowledge of the law is to 
 become general ; let the most highly gifted be properly 
 instructed, and whosoever is the best qualified shall, in his 
 turn, become a teacher and administrator of the Torah. 
 
 By this means the irresponsible supremacy of the 
 hierarchy was forever broken. The priests were no longer 
 the sole guardians of law and justice ; but they themselves 
 were under the guardianship of authorities learned in the 
 law. The high-priest retained his dignity and just influ- 
 ence ; the priests were not disturbed in their birthright 
 and emoluments. But the possibility of hierarchal tyranny 
 in Israel was forever prevented. And this boon all suc- 
 ceeding generations owe to the men of the Great Assem- 
 bly. The crown of royalty was, and is still, the birth- 
 right of the house of David ; the crown of the priesthood 
 was, and is still, the birthright of the house of Aaron; 
 but the crown of the law became, and is still, the birth- 
 right of every Israelite worthy of acquiring it by learning 
 and piety. The disciples of the men of the Gre,at Assem- 
 bly formed a large and influential class called Sopherim, 
 (scribes,) from which priests were not excluded. But, in 
 order that no diversity of opinion among the adminis- 
 tors might open the door to schism, they enforced their 
 third saying, "Make a fence for the law" protect the 
 spirit of the law while you keep to the letter. 
 
 The good effects of this measure are attested by the re- 
 corded sayings of Simon the Just, himself at once the
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 121 
 
 chief and ornament of the priesthood, and the representa- 
 tive of the Great Assembly: "The world (society at large) 
 is upheld by three things : by the law, by the temple ser- 
 vice, and by acts of philanthropy." 
 
 While one of the crowns, that of royalty, is in abeyance, 
 he places the remaining two in that position which their 
 relative importance and influence on the welfare of society 
 entitle them respectively to hold, assigning the first rank 
 to the law. But with that first crown he immediately and 
 inseparably connects that of the priesthood the temple 
 service, with its offerings. And the spirit by which Simon 
 the Just wished that service to be actuated, he indicates 
 by the third requisite he mentions, "acts of philanthropy." 
 The prophets, during the first temple, had but too often 
 cause to rebuke the error of the people, who considered 
 the performance of outward acts of devotion, such as offer- 
 ings, first-fruits and the like, to be all that religion re- 
 quires. Against this error, Simon directs his third saying; 
 and that he perfectly entered into the spirit of his own 
 apophthegms, is proved by an anecdote in which he is 
 concerned, related in the Talmud, (Tr. Nazir, 4, b:) 
 
 " Simon, surnamed the Just, was wise as he was pious, 
 zealous to maintain in its purity the worship of his God, 
 and the precepts of his holy law, but equally zealous to 
 promote the happiness of Israel by encouraging the people 
 in the practice of virtue and obedience to the law, and by 
 checking, as much as in his power laid, the tendency to 
 hypersanctimoniousness which but too often engenders 
 bigotry and superstition. Therefore, he always strove to 
 prevent men from subjecting themselves to penances not 
 commanded by the law, and to dissuade them from lightly 
 taking upon themselves vows and burthens which the re- 
 vealed will of God did not require. And, in order tho 
 more strongly to mark and express his disapprobation of 
 such uncalled-for practices, he publicly declared that bo 
 
 VOL. I. Jl
 
 122 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 had never partaken of the sin-offering which the law requires 
 of the Nazir ; 10 and that he deemed it his duty always to 
 make use of every argument in his power, to induce the 
 person intending to become a Nazir to forego his purpose. 
 
 '"There is only one instance,' he said, 'in which I de- 
 parted from my usual practice, and not only approved of 
 the Nazir 8 vow, but also partook of his sin-offering.' And 
 he related : < There once came a youth of transcendent 
 beauty whose noble and intellectual countenance seemed 
 the index of a pure mind, and whose beauteous hair flowed 
 in natural ringlets over his shoulders and expressed his de- 
 sire to pronounce his vows as a Nazir. . . I was astounded,' 
 said Simon the Just, 'and I exclaimed, "What, young man ! 
 hast thou lost thy senses ? What ails thee, that thou de- 
 sirest to ruin thy health, and deprive thyself of thy natural 
 and beautiful ornament, thy hair?" "I wish to be good," 
 replied the youth; "my hair is an obstacle in the way of 
 that wish, and therefore I am desirous to take the vows." 
 My attention,' continued Simon, ' was excited, and I list- 
 ened in silence while he continued : " From my earliest in- 
 fancy I have tended the flocks of my father ; I loved God, 
 my parents, and my fellow-creatures, and was contented 
 and happy in my mind. But one morning I led my flock 
 to the brook ; my eye enjoyed the beauties of nature, while 
 the animals under my care refreshed themselves with the 
 cooling beverage. But suddenly my eye, struck with ad- 
 
 19 Nazir, " Abstinent," is the designation which sacred Scripture gives to 
 him who voluntarily takes upon himself vows of abstinence, the precepts 
 relating to which are enacted in Numbers, vi. 3-21. Throughout the du- 
 ration of his vow, the Nazir was to abstain from wine and whatsoever 
 grows on the vine ; he was not permitted to approach a corpse or to cut 
 his hair. But, at the expiration of his vow, his hair was cut off, and he 
 had to bring a sin-offeriug. The Talmud (in loco) remarks, " The Nazir 
 had to bring a sin-offering, because he had sinned, inasmuch as, through 
 his abstinence, he had afflicted his body without lawful cause. For he 
 who needlessly fasts even one day is called a sinner."
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 123 
 
 miration, rested on the liquid mirror. I beheld the image 
 of myself. Silly boy, dost thou not know thyself?' was the 
 insidious whisper of vanity. I stood gazing on myself, 
 and sensations to which till then I had been a stranger 
 arose within me. Lost in admiration of my own beauty, 
 my enraptured eye was fixed on the watery surface, while 
 I stood playing with the locks of my hair. Alternately I 
 let them fall over my shoulders, or saw them floating on 
 the air as the wind played around my temples. While my 
 rapture was at the highest, a skipping lamb approached to 
 drink. It sipped a little water ; the calm surface of the 
 brook became troubled, and my image vanished. With a 
 dreadful imprecation, such as till then had never defiled 
 my lips, I struck the poor lamb with my staff, and drove it 
 away. Patiently it retired, and stood afar off, trembling, 
 and in a posture which seemed to reproach me with my in- 
 justice and cruelty. This sight restored vigour to my 
 better feelings, and my conscience, alarmed, addressed my 
 beauteous figure, and said, Worthless wrapper, forget not 
 thy origin or thy end. Know thy trifling beauty is tran- 
 sient and perishable, but the stigma of the deed thou now 
 hast "been guilty of is lasting, and such as thou will not 
 soon blot out.' Contrition gnawed on my heart. I burst 
 out into tears, and weeping, I vowed physically to humble 
 that which had wellnigh destroyed me morally. I there- 
 fore wish to take upon myself the vows of a Nazir. The 
 hair which excited my vanity shall fall under the scissors; 
 and the roses of my checks shall become blanched through 
 abstinence; for I wish to be not beautiful, but good." With 
 these words, the youth ended his narrative. But I em- 
 braced and blessed him, while I exclaimed : " Oh that many 
 like thee in Israel might, with motives as pure and praise- 
 worthy, take upon themselves the vow which I now shall 
 be pleased and happy to hear thee pronounce.'" (llcbrcw 
 Review, vol. iii. 03.)
 
 124 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 This pleasing anecdote proves not only the rational 
 views and the purity of feeling entertained by Simon him- 
 self, but it also shows how high-souled a people the Jews 
 of that period must have been. 
 
 There can be no doubt but that the transfer effected by 
 the men of the Great Assembly, of the judicial functions 
 from the sacerdotal caste to the general body of the peo- 
 ple, greatly contributed to elevate the character and to 
 purify the ideas and feelings of the masses, inasmuch as it 
 much augmented the number of educated men among 
 them. Accordingly, we have proof that not only the 
 study of the law, but likewise of philosophy and science, 
 was cultivated by the Jews, and this even prior to their 
 acquaintance with the Greeks, which followed the invasion 
 of Alexander. Josephus, (cont. Apion. i. 22,) on the 
 authority of Clearchus, a well-known disciple of Aristotle, 
 quotes that celebrated philosopher, who had been the 
 tutor of Alexander, as speaking of a Jew, a native of Jeru- 
 salem, who came from the upper country to the sea-coast, 
 where he became known to many distinguished persons, 
 and who, by his language and mind, was a Grecian. " I 
 happened," says Aristotle, "at that time to be in Asia; 
 and as he arrived at the place where I was, he was intro- 
 duced to me and to other scientific and learned men, Avith 
 whose wisdom he wished to become acquainted. Thus he 
 held confidential intercourse with many sages, to whom he 
 imparted more than he received from them." This is no 
 small praise, considering who is the speaker. And we may 
 assume it as a fact not to be denied, that ever since the 
 time the Great Assembly propounded the maxim, " Train 
 up many disciples," education has been generally culti- 
 vated among the Jewish people. 
 
 The most important proof of the spread of education 
 consequent on the labours of the Great Assembly, is 
 afforded by the translation into the Greek of the sacred
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 125 
 
 Scriptures, which the vast Jewish population in Egypt 
 and Gyrene soon rendered necessary. For these Jews 
 had, even in a shorter period than their ancestors during 
 Babylonish captivity, become estranged from their verna- 
 cular tongue, the Chaldee spoken in Judea. And as the 
 masses knew not Hebrew, nor indeed any other language 
 except that idiom of the Greek spoken in Egypt, a version 
 of the law accessible to them became as indispensable as 
 a Chaldee version had been to their fathers in the days of 
 Ezra. 
 
 The real history of both translations is equally un- 
 known ; but, while the sober mind of the Judeans did not 
 seek to eke out history by fable, the active imagination 
 of the Hellenists could not rest till it had dressed up and 
 adorned the myth of the great version, known as that of 
 the Septuagint, with a halo of the wonderful, in which 
 historical truth altogether disappears. There yet exists a 
 letter purporting to have been written by Aristeas, an 
 officer at the court of the second Ptolemy Philadelphia, 
 and addressed to his brother Philocrates, in which a full 
 and circumstantial history of this Greek translation is 
 given. 
 
 It begins with stating that Demetrius Phalereus, 1 " who 
 had been placed at the head of the royal library and 
 museum, first called the attention of the king, Philadel- 
 phus, to the importance of the Jewish writings, and to the 
 
 10 Thin eminent scholar and statesman, the son of a slave, but the favour- 
 ite disciple of ThcophroMus, the successor of Aristotle, had been appointed 
 governor of Athens by Cassandcr, King of Mnccdnn, nnd held that office 
 with high reputation, and with groat advantage to the Athenians during 
 ten years, when he was expelled by King Demetrius. He then sought re- 
 fuge in Egypt, where the elder Ptolemy received him kindly, nnd placed 
 him high in his councils. At his suggestion, the library and museum of 
 Alexandria were established, and, though he held offices of greater power 
 in the state, yet the title of librarian teems to have been considered the 
 
 most honourable. 
 
 11*
 
 126 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 necessity of enriching the royal library, which is stated by 
 Aristeas to have then consisted of 500,000 volumes, 21 with 
 a translation of the Law of Moses ; that, when the king 
 had ascertained the difficulty of obtaining such a transla- 
 tion, he sent Aristeas, and another courtier, named 
 Andreas, on a special mission to Eleazar, the high-priest, 
 at Jerusalem, with an autograph letter from the king, to 
 request that he should send to Alexandria six men out of 
 each of the twelve tribes of Israel ; and that these seventy- 
 two men should be competent to undertake the faithful trans- 
 lation into Greek of the Jewish law. And, in order to 
 render the high dignitary at Jerusalem more zealous to 
 fulfil the king's desire, Philadelphus not only sent rich 
 gifts to the temple, but caused all Jews that were slaves 
 in Egypt to be manumitted, compensating the owners at a 
 fixed rate per head out of the royal treasury. Aristeas, 
 after a long description of the royal presents of which he 
 was the carrier, and a short account of the city of Jeru- 
 salem, its temple and priesthood, goes on to relate how 
 kindly he and his colleague were received by the Jews, 
 and that his mission was completely successful. The 
 high-priest, with the consent and assistance of the council, 
 selected seventy-two elders, six of each tribe, who were 
 not only expert in the Jewish Scripture but who were 
 thoroughly conversant with the learning, language, and 
 customs of the Greeks, and therefore every way qualified 
 for the work of translation intrusted to them ; that, more- 
 over, they were men of profound thought, calm in argu- 
 ment, gentle in their manners, and upright in their conduct ; 
 that, when they arrived in Alexandria, they were honour- 
 
 21 When here and on a former occasion, in speaking of the library at 
 Alexandria, we used the word VOLUMES, we must guard our readers against 
 being misled by the modern acceptation of this word ; for, in writings of 
 any extent, among the ancients, each book, and sometimes each chapter 
 or section, was rolled into a separate volume. (Gillies's Greece, vi. 120.)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 127 
 
 ably received by the king, who on seven successive days 
 entertained them, ten each day, at banquets where their 
 table was prepared in accordance with Jewish law. Each 
 day the king put their wisdom to the test by submitting to 
 them questions, which, together with their answers, are 
 recorded by Aristeas. At the expiration of this week of 
 feasting, the seventy-two elders were conducted to the 
 Isle of Pharos, near Alexandria, where, having agreed on 
 the rendering of each section, after a conference in which 
 the separate translation made by each was diligently 
 scrutinized and compared, the version unanimously adopted 
 by them all was written down by Demetrius Phalereus 
 himself, who was constantly with them, and to whom they 
 dictated it ; and thus, in the space of seventy-two days, the 
 translation of the Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses, 
 was completed. Aristeas concludes with an account of 
 the king's joy at the possession of this translation, and 
 with a brief mention of the honours and rich gifts with 
 which the translators were sent home. 
 
 Thus far the letter of Aristeas, which is very old, since 
 it existed in the days of Josephus, who makes use of it in 
 his Antiquities. The authenticity of Aristeas's letter, 
 and the veracity of his narrative, were not questioned 
 until one hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago. An 
 eminent biblical critic, R'Azariah di Rossi, even trans- 
 lated Aristeas's letter into Hebrew (Mcor. Aynayim, part 
 ii.) at Ferara, in the year 1574. But, since then, doubts 
 have been thrown on the authenticity of Aristeas's letter ; 
 and at present, after mature investigation, and by tho 
 almost unanimous decision of the learned, it is held to bo 
 a forgery, though a very old one. It is certain that, until 
 Di Rossi's translation, the letter was not generally known 
 to the rabbins. 
 
 Philo, the celebrated Jew of Alexandria, who wrote 
 about two hundred and fifty years after the death of
 
 128 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Philadelphia, seems not to have been acquainted with 
 most of the circumstances narrated by the soi-disant Aris- 
 teas ; but he relates others which appear not less extra- 
 ordinary. According to him, Philadelphus sent to Pales- 
 tine for some learned Jews, the number of whom he does 
 not specify ; and these, going over to the Isle of Pharos, 
 there executed so many distinct versions, all of which so 
 exactly and uniformly agreed in sense, phrases, and words, 
 as proved them to have been not common interpreters, but 
 men prophetically inspired, who had every word through- 
 out the entire translation dictated to them by the Spirit 
 from on high. He adds that an annual festival was, until 
 his time, celebrated by the, Jews of Alexandria, in the Isle 
 of Pharos, where the version was made, to preserve the 
 memory of it, and to thank God for so great a benefit. 
 (Vita Mosis, lib. ii.) 
 
 The most wonderful portions of each narrative are 
 melted together into one by Justin Martyr, who flourished 
 about one hundred years after Philo, and who adds some- 
 what to both. His seventy interpreters are shut up, each 
 in his own separate cell, (which had been expressly erected 
 for that purpose by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus ;) and 
 that here they composed so many distinct versions, word 
 for word, in the very same expressions, to the great admi- 
 ration of the king, who, not doubting that this version was 
 divinely inspired, loaded the interpreters with honours, 
 and dismissed them to their own country with magnificent 
 presents. The good father adds that the ruins of these 
 cells were still visible in his time. (Cohort, ad. Gentes.) 
 But this narrative of Justin's is directly at variance with 
 several circumstances recorded by Aristeas ; such, for 
 instance, as the previous conference or deliberation of the 
 translators, and, above all, the very important point of 
 the version being dictated to Demetrius Phalereus. Epi- 
 phanius, a writer of the fourth century, attempts to harmo-
 
 JDDEA UNDER THE PEHSIANS AND GREEKS. 129 
 
 nize all these accounts by shutting up these translators, 
 two and two, in thirty-six cells, where they might consider 
 and deliberate, and by stationing a copyist in each cell, 
 to whom the translators dictated their labours, the result 
 of which was the production of thirty-six inspired versions 
 agreeing most uniformly together. (Home, Introduction, 
 &c. ii. 173.) 
 
 That the Hellenists, who in process of time became very 
 jealous of the Judeans, should have invented and encou- 
 raged a myth which declared the version of Scriptures 
 read in their synagogues to be not only authentic as a 
 translation, but divinely inspired, and, as such, of equal 
 value with the Hebrew text itself, is not at all astonishing. 
 That the early Christian fathers, both Greek and Latin, 
 who uniformly quote this version, which was read in all the 
 churches, should have adopted and embellished a myth 
 which they found ready to their hand, is what might have 
 been expected. But that the echo of this myth should 
 have struck the ears of the rabbins, and worked its way 
 into the Talmud, is indeed surprising. 
 
 In the Babylonian Talmud, (first chapter of the treatise 
 MegillahJ) we find the tale of seventy-two elders whom 
 Ptolemy (Philadelphus) assembled and shut up in seventy- 
 two cells, without letting them know his purpose in so 
 doing; that, when all communication between them had 
 ceased, he applied to each one of them, separately, for a 
 translation of the Law of Moses ; and that they were di- 
 vinely inspired to render the law word for word alike ; 
 and, though they departed from the text in thirteen differ- 
 ent passages, yet each of them, directed from on high, still 
 rendered these texts in precisely the same words as his 
 fellows. The Jerusalem Talmud (in loc. citat.) omits the 
 introduction, and at once enters I'M medias ret by the re- 
 mark, "Thirteen texts were departed from in the version 
 undertaken for King Ptolemy." And the same legend is
 
 130 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 also found in several other of the rabbinical writings, who 
 speak of the Septuagint in terms of great respect. 
 
 In one place, however, (tr. Sopherim, ch. i.) the legend 
 varies, and begins with the words, "Five elders translated 
 the Law into Greek for King Ptolemy; but the day on 
 which this was done was unpropitious to Israel, like the 
 day on which the golden calf was made, because the ren- 
 dering was not so perfect as it ought to have been." And 
 it then goes on to relate in the words of the Babylon Tal- 
 mud quoted above: "Seventy-two elders were assembled 
 by King Ptolemy," and so forth. And at the end of the 
 treatise Taanith, we find among the public fasts, the eighth 
 day of Tebethy (the 10th month,) on which day the Law 
 was translated into Greek, and darkness (affliction) pre- 
 vailed in the world (Israel) during three days." Though 
 no reason is assigned for this affliction, the very fact of 
 the anniversary on which the translation was begun being 
 classed among the dies nefasti, or calamitous epochs and 
 which must have been done shortly after the translation 
 began to be generally promulgated is a proof that the 
 Tanaim, or elder rabbins, did not hold the Septuagint in 
 equal veneration with their successors, the Amoraim of the 
 Talmud. 
 
 As far as we of the present day are capable of forming 
 any judgment on the merits of this version from that 
 which now passes by the name of Septuagint, its claims to 
 authority, or even to correctness, are very slender indeed. 
 Of the thirteen texts noticed in the Talmud in which the 
 translation is said to have departed from the original 
 only four can be identified in the version now extant. But 
 numberless other departures from the Hebrew original are 
 to be found. Errors in numbers and names are countless. 
 Indeed, so little correct is this wondrous version, that St. 
 Jerome, one of the early fathers of the church, desirous of 
 maintaining the high authority of a version continually
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 13] 
 
 quoted in the New Testament, has recourse to the hypo- 
 thesis that the Egyptians purposely corrupted the Greek 
 manuscripts, out of spite to the Jews. 
 
 It appears certain that the oldest or original portion of 
 the Septuagint only comprised the Torah, or five books of 
 the Law; and that the Prophets and Hagiographa were 
 subsequently, and at different periods, rendered into Greek 
 by translators of inferior ability. R'Azariah di Rossi is 
 of opinion that the first translation of the Law into Greek 
 was made, not from the original Hebrew, but from a Chal 
 dee paraphrase, at that time popular in Judea. 
 
 This subject of the Septuagint and its authority has ex- 
 posed the Jews to bitter reproaches on the part of some 
 Christian churchmen of the last century, who tax the Jews 
 with having corrupted or falsified the Hebrew text of the 
 sacred Scriptures, in order to invalidate the authority of 
 the Septuagint. It is, however, remarkable that St. Au- 
 gustine, with greater liberality than has fallen to the lot 
 of the philosophic divines of Germany, expressly acquits 
 the Jews of this charge, which, indeed, is one of the most 
 unfounded and unreasonable that could be brought against 
 them. It appears (Gratz's History of the Jews, iv. 125) 
 that both Jews and Christians used great freedom with the 
 version of the Septuagint ; altering, adding, or expunging 
 as suited their purpose ; so that, according to tlie admission 
 of Origen, (Epistola ad Africanum, and Comment, in 
 Mattheum,) as well as of St. Jerome, (Prologus Galeatus,) 
 many texts quoted by early schoolmen are not to be found 
 in the Hebrew original, nor yet in the oldest Greek version. 
 And Euscbius (Hist. Ecclcs. v. 28) expressly mentions the 
 school of a certain Artemion, who completely distorted the 
 old Greek translation. 
 
 We shall have to return to this subject fthen we come to 
 speak of Akylas and his Greek version. For the present, 
 we need only add that whatever liberties were taken with
 
 132 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the Greek translation, none were ever attempted with the 
 Hebrew text. Some errors in transcript may have crept 
 in, especially in the latest or Hagiographical books. But 
 the labours of the Massorites have placed the genuine He- 
 brew text beyond the possibility of attaint, and preserved 
 to Jew and to Gentile the inestimable and universal trea- 
 sure of the word of God in its purity. 
 
 When we attempt to apply the test of critical investiga- 
 tion to the legends which from the soi-disant Aristeas 
 until the Meor Aynayim of Di Rossi we find concerning 
 this Greek translation, the truth appears to be, that the 
 want of acquaintance with any other language than the 
 Greek, rendered it necessary for the Hellenists that a 
 translation or paraphrase of the sacred Scriptures, suit- 
 able to their wants, should be made public ; and that, for 
 this purpose, in the last years of Soter, and when his son 
 Philadelphus was already associated with him in, the 
 government, some Jews of Alexandria undertook the 
 translation. It is probable that they were assisted by 
 some learned Jews from Palestine; it is possible that 
 those magnificent patrons of literature, the Ptolemies, may 
 have borne the whole, or contributed a part, of the expense 
 of the undertaking. But it is certain that the only por- 
 tion of Scripture then translated was the Law, or Five 
 Books of Moses, which, indeed, until the persecution under 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, formed the only portion of Holy 
 Writ that was read in the synagogue, or used in public 
 worship. Other parts of Scripture were translated by 
 different hands, at different periods, and with ability 
 greatly inferior to that evinced by the translators of the 
 Law. 
 
 The importance of this Greek version, and its direct 
 connection with and influence on the history of the Jews, 
 as well as on the Christian church, will, we trust, exonerate 
 us from the reproach of having devoted too much space to
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AtfD GREEKS. 133 
 
 myths and legends. No sooner did the Septuagint 22 begin 
 to become popularly known to the Gentiles, than it pro- 
 duced consequences which the translators and their patrons 
 probably never anticipated. The appearance of a work 
 which reflected such unparalleled honour on a province so 
 diminutive as Palestine, and on a people so little powerful 
 as the Jews, seems to have piqued the national pride, and 
 to have provoked the enmity of the Babylonians and 
 Egyptians. 
 
 " These once illustrious cultivators of the arts and 
 sciences found ready champions in the priests Berosus and 
 Manetho, who, in the reign of the second Ptolemy, also 
 translated into the Greek language the history and an- 
 tiquities of their respective countries. Berosus, a priest 
 of Belus at Babylon, dedicates his work, which, under the 
 name of history, comprehends a strange admixture of 
 mythology and astrology, to Antiochus Soter, the son and 
 successor of Seleucus, 23 and the then master of Seleucia- 
 Babylonia, and all the dependent provinces in Upper 
 Asia ; and he begins his history by tracing back the an- 
 tiquity of Babylon to a period of four hundred and seventy- 
 three thousand years before the Macedonian conquest. 
 With regard to the flood, as well as the transactions of 
 Noah, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, his narrative nearly 
 coincided with the Hebrew annals. (Joseph, cont. Apion. 
 
 * Some critics are of opinion that tlic designation, S>-j>luayintu, is an 
 allusion, not to the number of the translator*, but to that of the SEVENTY 
 elder* of Alexandria, under whose direction the translation may have boon 
 undertaken, and by whose authority it must have been introduced into the 
 synagogue. 
 
 u The aboye id the opinion of Gillies, from whose history wo quote. 
 But other writers assume that the Antiochus in question was not Sotfr, 
 but Theot ; their authority for this is Tatian, who, in a fragment prc- 
 furved by Kusebius, (1'rcrp. Evang. lib 10,) states that Berosus wrote hU 
 history in three books, and dedicated it to Antiochus, the third from Se- 
 Icncus. 
 
 VOL. I. 1'J
 
 134 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 lib. i. s. 19.) But, whenever forsaken by this aid, all was 
 impenetrable obscurity or wild inconsistency. The dark 
 chasm of fathomless ages was partly filled up by barren 
 lists of fabulous kings, while the palpable defect of satis- 
 factory information was excused by a fiction still more 
 palpable namely, that Nabonassar, who is said to have 
 reigned in Babylon only 747 years B. c. E., desirous of 
 passing with posterity as the founder of the Assyrian em- 
 pire, had destroyed all the historical monuments of his 
 numberless predecessors. Should this assertion be ad- 
 mitted, what are we to think of the records long anterior 
 to Nabonassar, which Berosus, with strange impudence, 
 professes to have carefully copied?" (Gillies, vi. 324.) 
 
 Well might the grave, judicious, and truth-loving Strabo 
 (lib. 11) say of Babylonians, Syrians, Medes, "These 
 nations have obtained no great credit in the world, by 
 reason of the absurdity and fabulousness of their histo- 
 rians." Yet Berosus has, by some, been received and 
 quoted as an ancient historian, whose authority might be 
 adduced in opposition to Moses. 
 
 This Babylonish historian was not actuated by the 
 desire to hold up the Jews to scorn and disgrace ; nor, in- 
 deed, does he seem to have entertained any hostile feeling 
 against them. But such was not the case with Manetho, 
 high-priest of Heliopolis, in Egypt. The history of the 
 Israelites, and of their sojourn in, and exode from, Egypt, 
 as related in the Scriptures, was by no means flattering or 
 soothing to the natives of that country, who, like every 
 degenerate race, clung to the shadow of former greatness 
 as a compensation for the want of present worth. The 
 injustice, the cruelty, the treachery of Egypt's ancient 
 kings, the degradation and want of power of Egypt's gods, 
 were too fully and plainly set forth in the history of Mo- 
 ses ; the people, because of whom the pride of Egypt had 
 been so fearfully humbled, enjoyed too much of the respect
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 135 
 
 and good-will of the actual dynasty, to permit Egyptian 
 patriots or zealots to acquiesce in such a state of things. 
 
 Moreover, Berosus's history rendered it necessary to 
 prove to King Philadelphus that the Egyptian nation was 
 not less ancient or illustrious than the people governed by 
 his rival in power and fame, Antiochus. To accomplish 
 this two-fold object, Manetho Sebennyta wrote his Dynas- 
 ties, which embrace a period of 53,535 years. And, while 
 the history of Berosus with the exception of some frag- 
 ments preserved by Josephus, TatiTan, and Eusebius is 
 lost, the " Dynasties" of Manetho are yet preserved. 24 A 
 quaint writer of the early part of the last century (Stil- 
 lingfleet, Grig. Sac. lib. i. cap. 2) remarks that " the 
 Egyptians were a people so unreasonably given to fables, 
 that the wisest action they ever did was to conceal tlfeir 
 religion ; and the best office their gods had, was to hold 
 their fingers in their mouth to command silence to their 
 worshippers." It had been well for their reputation, as a 
 truth-loving people, if the priest Manetho had more strictly 
 obeyed the injunction to keep silence thus tacitly con- 
 veyed by his speechless gods ; since the fables and con- 
 ceits he passes off as authentic history are to the full as 
 absurd as those of Berosus, but infinitely more mis- 
 chievous. 
 
 In order to secure belief for his statements, by ascribing 
 them to an authority that is beyond doubt or reproach, 
 Manetho tells us that he copied his history " from some 
 pillars in the land of Seriad, on which, before the flood, 
 certain records had been inscribed in the sacred dialect, 
 
 * These Dyn&Htiea arts yet preferred, having been first epitomized by Ju- 
 liu- African us, and from him transcribed into Kimebiu*'* Chronica. From 
 Eu*ebias by Gcorgius Syncellus, out of whom they arc produced by Jocepu 
 Scalige.r, and mity be. seen both in his Eunebiusand his Cauones Isogogici. 
 (Stillingflect, uhi ipra.) Josephus, (contra Apion.) who reviews Ma- 
 uctho's allegation.*, has also fragments of his work.
 
 136 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 by the first Egyptian Hermes ; and that, after the flood, 
 the inscription was found, and translated out of the sacred 
 dialect into the Greek tongue, in hieroglyphic characters, 
 by Agathodsemon, the second Hermes, or Mercury, the 
 father of Taut." 
 
 ' Now, though this statement may have been perfectly 
 convincing to Manetho's countrymen, yet, to all others 
 who are not so easy of faith, each assertion seems to carry 
 an attestation of its falsehood on the face of it. Who was 
 this first Hermes ? Though he is also known by the names 
 of Mercury and Thoyth, it is absolutely impossible to 
 ascertain ; indeed, the accounts respecting him are so 
 hopelessly contradictory, that his existence has been alto- 
 gether denied. Assuming that, according to the Egyptian 
 acQount, he was a sacred scribe to Osiris, and the tutor of 
 Isis, how can he have lived before the flood ? 
 
 Then, again, the land of Seriad, where is it ? Scaliger, 
 that most indefatigable scholar, after a laborious research, 
 declares he cannot find it ; no such land is ever named by 
 any writer of antiquity except Manetho, who thus improves 
 on the Talmudic axiom, " That he who intends to tell an 
 untruth should locate his particulars at a distance;" since 
 his locality is so very distant that no one has ever been 
 able to find it. 
 
 Then, again, the pillars ! If, as is evidently intended, 
 they are to command belief because they alone had out- 
 lasted the flood, the question arises, how could isolated 
 pillars resist the pressure of waters so mighty that they 
 overthrew structures the most solid, and destroyed cities 
 the most extensive? Then, the sacred dialect, of which 
 no mention was ever made by any other writer ! This 
 can have been no omission on the part of other historians, 
 since they take care to tell us that the sacred writing or 
 character of the Egyptians, was distinct and different 
 from that commonly used ; and it therefore appears cer-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 137 
 
 tain that if a similar difference had existed in the dialect, 
 some one writer (besides Manctho) would have men- 
 tioned it. 
 
 Then, as to the translation into the Greek tongue ; why 
 just into that, and into no other language? What was the 
 motive of the preference? Was the Greek tongue known 
 to the Egyptians at all, at the early period when this trans- 
 lation is assumed to have been made? We know that the 
 Egyptians were extremely jealous of foreigners; that the 
 Greeks, in particular, were not permitted to hold even com- 
 mercial intercourse with Egypt, till under Psammetichus, 
 of the 26th of Manetho's dynasties. What, then, could 
 induce Hermes, whom no one knows, in the land of Seriad, 
 which no one can find, to translate an inscription on pillars, 
 which no one has ever seen, from a sacred dialect, of which 
 no one has ever heard, into the Greek tongue, which no 
 Egyptian then spoke ? And, to crown the absurdity, Her- 
 mes, who lived before the flood, wrote the history of events 
 that transpired in the days of Moses ! Was this Hermes 
 prescient, that he knew beforehand what would happen? 
 Was he omniscient, that he could by anticipation write the 
 continuous history of so many thousands of years as those 
 recorded in the "Dynasties"? Verily, when Manetho 
 claimed credence for his history, on authority such as that 
 which he adduces, and we have dissected, he cannot have 
 expected ever to have other readers than his own credulous 
 and marvel-loving Greek and Egyptian contemporaries. 
 
 Our readers will probably owe us small thanks for hav- 
 ing occupied their attention so long with an historian whom 
 we ourselves declare unworthy of attention, and whom 
 almost every writer of reputation, whether Jew or Chris- 
 tian, condemns as a slanderer. But, unfortunately, this 
 Manetho the Egyptian was the first of a class of writers 
 who, since then, have been but too numerous, and who de- 
 light in holding up the Jewish people to odium and con- 
 
 12*
 
 138 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tempt. In his own times, and during the reign of the 
 Ptolemean dynasty, the mischief he did was but limited. 
 But, after the lapse of a couple of centuries, the seed of 
 rancour which his history had sown in the minds of Egyp- 
 tians and of Greeks, produced, as its poisoned fruit, con- 
 flicts between Jews and Gentiles, that led to the slaughter 
 of unoffending thousands. The work of Josephus against 
 Apion, which we have so often quoted, was written at a 
 time when the Jews throughout the Roman world were 
 suffering every calamity, and in reply to a libel which, on 
 the authority of Manetho, declares them to be the refuse 
 of mankind, and undeserving of pity or mercy. Since 
 then, every infidel that wishes to attack the authority of 
 Scripture, lays great stress on Manetho. Those who 
 strain at a gnat, and cannot believe Moses, swallow a 
 camel, and take Manetho for their guide. Nay, more ; in 
 our own days we witness the attempt, in works that gravely 
 claim to be history, to supersede, wholly or in part, the 
 truth as it is in Scripture, for falsehood as it is in Man- 
 etho. And as it is but too probable that many of our 
 readers may fall in with works of the kind to which we 
 allude, it is but fair we should be permitted not only to 
 enter our protest against the authority of the Egyptian 
 slanderer, but also to state the reasons by which that pro- 
 test is supported. 
 
 As, on the one hand, it was not practicable altogether 
 to deny the fact that the Israelites in times of old had 
 been sojourners in Egypt, had left that country, and taken 
 possession of Palestine ; and, as on the other hand, zeal 
 for the gods of Egypt, so natural to the high-priest of 
 Heliopolis, did not permit him to receive the scriptural ac- 
 count of the "judgments" inflicted on these gods as well 
 as on their worshippers, Manetho deems it necessary to 
 give, what he wishes us to receive, as Egyptian accounts 
 of the sojourn of Israel in, and the exodus from, Egypt.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 139 
 
 Such accounts he gives two; the one calculated to render 
 the Jews hateful to the Egyptians, the second to render 
 them at once odious and contemptible both accounts 
 being equally at variance with each other and with the 
 truth of Scripture. 
 
 His first account is: "During the reign of our King 
 Timaus, God, from some unknown cause, was wroth with 
 us ; and men of obscure origin, coming from the east, un- 
 expectedly made a bold inroad into the land, which they 
 conquered speedily and without combat. They subdued 
 the chiefs, cruelly set fire to the cities, destroyed the 
 temples, and treated the inhabitants with great ferocity; 
 the men they slaughtered, the women and children they 
 reduced to slavery. Then they elected a king from among 
 themselves, whose name was Salatis. He took up his resi- 
 dence at Memphis, subjugated both the upper and lower 
 country, and placed garrisons in such cities as he deemed 
 proper. The eastern provinces he especially fortified ; 
 having in view the then greatly preponderating power of 
 the Assyrians, who might feel inclined to invade the land. 
 And, as in the district of Sais he found a city well adapted 
 for his purpose, situated east of the river Bubasto, and in 
 several old histories of the gods designated as Avarix, ho 
 rebuilt this city, fortified it with strong walls, and placed 
 in it a garrison of 240,000 warriors. Thither he used to 
 come every summer, partly to furnish the soldiers with 
 corn and pay, and partly to train them to arms ; and ho 
 disciplined them so carefully, that they became a terror to 
 all foreigners. He died after a reign of nineteen years, 
 and was succeeded by a king named Beon, who reigned 
 forty-four years. After him Apachnas, thirty-six years 
 and seven months; then Apophis, sixty-one years; next 
 Janias, fifty years and one month ; and lastly, Assis, forty- 
 nine years and two months. These were their first six 
 kings ; they were continually engaged in war, and sought
 
 140 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 to destroy the root of Egypt. This people were all of 
 them called 'Hyksos,' that is, 'King-shepherds' for in 
 the sacred language HyTc^ denotes 'king,' and in the ordi- 
 nary dialect, sos signifies 'shepherd;' thence the compound 
 word ' Hyk-sos.' Some say they were Arabs. The above- 
 named kings of the so-called shepherds and their succes- 
 sors reigned over Egypt five hundred and eleven years. 
 After that the kings of Thebais and the rest of Egypt rose 
 against the shepherds ; a long and violent war broke out ; 
 until, finally, under King Alisphragmuthosis, the shep- 
 herds were vanquished, expelled from the rest of Egypt, 
 and shut up in one place that had an extent of 10,000 
 acres. The name of this place is Avaris. This place they 
 had fortified with strong and high walls, and there, as in a 
 place of safety, they deposited their booty and all their 
 property. Thumosis, the son of Alisphragmuthosis, en- 
 deavoured to conquer this city by siege, and surrounded 
 the Avails with an army of 480,000 men. But eventually 
 he gave up the siege, and offered a treaty that they all 
 should depart unmolested from Egypt, and go whitherso- 
 ever they pleased. After due deliberation, they departed 
 from Egypt for the wilderness of Syria, to the number of 
 not less than two hundred and forty thousand men, with 
 their families and possessions. And as they dreaded the 
 power of Assyria, which at that time bore sway over Asia, 
 they built, in the country now called Judea, a city suffi- 
 ciently capacious for so many thousands which city they 
 called 'Jerusalem.'" 
 
 This is Manetho's first account ; his second one is alto- 
 gether different. He relates: "King Amenophis greatly 
 
 23 Josephus (contra, Apion. i. 14,) remarks, "According to another 
 Egyptian writer, the word Hyk does not signify 'kings,' but, on the con- 
 trary, 'captives.' For 'ffyk,' aspirated, as the Egyptians do, and pro- 
 nounced t Hak, J does signify 'captives,' 'prisoners.' This appears to mo 
 more correct, and in conformity with ancient history."
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 141 
 
 desired to see one of the gods, as his predecessor Orus had 
 done. He communicated this desire to his namesake, 
 Amenophis the son of Papis, a man who, from his wisdom 
 and knowledge of the future, seemed to partake of the na- 
 ture of the gods. This his namesake told him, he would 
 become able to see the gods when he should have cleansed 
 Egypt of lepers, and of all other impure and defiled per- 
 sons. The king, greatly rejoiced, commanded that all per- 
 sons deformed or mutilated throughout all Egypt should 
 be collected together. The multitude of them numbered 
 eighty thousand ; and the king commanded they should be 
 cast into the quarries east of the Nile, where, like other 
 banished criminals, they were held to hard labour. Among 
 them were likewise some learned priests afflicted with le- 
 prosy. This caused Amenophis, the sage and diviner, to 
 fear that the treating of these priests with violence would 
 draw down the wrath of the gods upon himself and upon 
 the king. He further foresaw that the lepers would find 
 confederates who would come to their assistance and hold 
 dominion over Egypt during thirteen years. But as ho 
 was afraid to tell this to the king, he committed suicide, 
 and left the entire prediction behind him in writing, which 
 greatly alarmed the king. After the impure men had long 
 toiled in the quarries, the king yielded to their entreaties, 
 and granted them, as a residence and asylum, the city of 
 Avaris, which had been quitted by the shepherds. This 
 city, according to ancient mythology, belonged to Typhon. 
 AVhcn the impure had taken possession of their new abode, 
 the strength and situation of their city soon encouraged 
 them to rebel. They elected one of the priests of Ileliopo- 
 lis, named Osarsiph, for their leader, and swore to obey 
 him in all things. The first law he gave them was, not to 
 adore the gods, nor to abstain from any of the animals 
 worshipped as holy in Egypt, but to kill and cat all of 
 them; and lastly, not to hold intercourse with any but
 
 142 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 their own confederates. After he had given these and 
 other laws, most repugnant and opposed to the customs of 
 Egypt, he commanded that the walls of the city should be 
 carefully strengthened, and that diligent preparations 
 should be made for war against King Amenophis. He 
 then, taking counsel with the other priests and several of 
 his impure confederates, dispatched messengers to the so- 
 called city of Jerusalem, to the shepherds that had been 
 expelled by Thetmosis, to communicate to them what he 
 and his confederates had suffered, and to invite them to 
 join him in a war against Egypt. He promised that, be- 
 fore all things, he would lead them to Avaris, their origi- 
 nal native home ; and that he would abundantly supply the 
 warriors with whatever they stood in need of; that more- 
 over, if necessary, he and his men would form their ad- 
 vanced guard, and easily subdue the land for them. The 
 shepherds agreed to his proposals, and with an army of 
 two hundred thousand men marched to Avaris, where they 
 soon arrived. When King Amenophis heard of this mis- 
 sion, he became not a little alarmed, for he remembered 
 the prediction of Amenophis the son of Papis. He began 
 by causing the people of Egypt to assemble ; and after 
 having consulted with the chiefs of the army, he ordered 
 that the animals deemed the most holy should be brought 
 to him from the temples ; and gave the priests a. special 
 charge carefully to conceal the images of the gods. 
 
 " He then consigned to the care of a friend, in a place of 
 safety, his only son, then five years of age, whom he had 
 named Rampses or Ramesses, after his own father ; Avhile 
 he himself, at the head of three hundred thousand Egyp- 
 tian warriors, advanced against the enemy, who marched 
 forth to meet him. But the king declined the battle they 
 offered, and the accepting of which he considered would 
 have been fighting against the will of the gods. He there- 
 fore returned again to Memphis. There he took Apis
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 143 
 
 and all the other sacred animals he had caused to be as- 
 sembled. With these, and also with the entire army and 
 the population of Egypt, he retreated to Ethiopia, the king 
 of which country was connected with him in bonds of 
 friendship and alliance. This king received him kindly ; 
 and during the thirteen years appointed by fate, provided 
 for the wants of the Egyptians. In this interval, the Soly- 
 mitan invaders, combined with the Egyptian lepers, treated 
 the people very cruelly, and their victory appeared most 
 detestable to those who witnessed the horrors they prac- 
 tised. They did not rest content with burning towns and 
 villages, and with defiling the images of the gods, but they 
 used these holy images for fuel, by which to roast the 
 sacred animals. These had been slaughtered by their own 
 priests, whom the enemy compelled to commit these mur- 
 ders, and then drove them away naked. The priest who 
 gave them laws and a constitution, was, by his lineage, a 
 Heliopolitan named Osarsiph, after the god Osiris, wor- 
 shipped at Heliopolis; but, when he became the head of 
 this people, he altered his name for that of Moses. After 
 the end of the thirteen years, King Amenophis, with his 
 son Rampses, returned, at the head of mighty armies, 
 fought and conquered the allied shepherds and lepers, and 
 pursued them to the boundaries of Syria." 
 
 We have now placed before our readers the two con- 
 flicting statements of Manetho, which subsequently were 
 repeated and embellished by other Egyptian writers. One 
 of them, Lysimachus, quoted by Josephus, (contra Ap- 
 ion. i. 26,) relates that " the city of the Jews was 
 formerly called Jerotyla, from two Greek words signifying 
 * defiling of sanctuaries ;' because of the many temples 
 and holy objects which Moses and his people gloried in 
 having defiled. Subsequently, however, they grew ashamed 
 of this name, and so they turned it into Jerusalem." 
 " This silly fellow, in his eagerness to slander, forgets that
 
 144 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 he is speaking of Jews, not of Greeks, and that, in the 
 language of the former the Hebrew the word Jerosyla 
 has no affinity whatever with defiling of sanctuaries." 
 Such is the pertinent remark of Josephus (in loco) on this 
 singular piece of archaeology. 
 
 Manetho's purpose dictated alike by zeal for the 
 humiliation inflicted on his gods in the Scriptures, and by 
 envy at the superior consideration and favour the Jews 
 enjoyed with the Ptolemies appears to have been twofold: 
 first, to render the Jews hateful to the Egyptians, as 
 descendants of those detested Hyksos, or shepherds, whose 
 memory was still execrated in Egypt ; and next, to render 
 the Jews contemptible as well as odious by holding them 
 up as the descendants of sacrilegious lepers. Josephus, 
 urged on by the unfortunate circumstances in which his 
 people were at that time placed, took the trouble to refute 
 these fables of Manetho, absurd as they are. And to his 
 defence (contra Apion.) we must refer our readers, while 
 we content ourselves with two simple remarks : Had the 
 Israelites invaded and subjugated Egypt, as the Hyksos 
 did, sacred Scripture would no more have hesitated to 
 state the fact than it hesitates to relate the invasion and 
 subjugation of Canaan. Had the Israelites been expelled 
 from Egypt by force of arms, as the Hyksos were, sacred 
 Scripture would no more have hesitated to state the fact 
 than it hesitates to relate how" the ten tribes were expelled 
 and carried away captive to Assyria by force of arms. 
 There could be no possible cause for the Bible not noticing 
 the identity of the Israelites with the Hyksos, except one ; 
 and that is, that these two nations were not identical. 
 
 Dr. Kitto (Hist, of Palestine, i. 83.) labours hard, and 
 not without success, to prove that the Hyksos expelled 
 from Egypt were the people known in the Bible by the 
 name of the Philistines, who dwelt on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean, and of whom it is stated that they came
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 145 
 
 from Caphtor, which is now generally allowed to have 
 been Lower Egypt. But, be the success of this hypothesis 
 what it may, it appears certain the Hyksos were not 
 Israelites. Then, again, as to the tale about the lepers : 
 without stopping to dwell on the absurdities and incredible 
 myths of Manetho, we would only remark that, had Moses 
 himself, and the majority, or any considerable portion of 
 his people, been afflicted with the foul and highly con- 
 tagious disease of leprosy, it is not possible he could have 
 laid down such stringent rules for the complete isolation 
 of lepers, as we find in Leviticus, chapters xiii-xv. His 
 legislation on this subject would not only have been 
 utterly impracticable, but would have been directed against 
 himself, and would have condemned him and a large por- 
 tion according to Manetho, the majority of his people 
 to a state of existence that may truly be designated a 
 civil death. 
 
 We have already stated that Manetho and his absurdi- 
 ties have been again and again hashed up by enemies of 
 the Jews and by enemies of the Bible. It is, indeed, dif- 
 ficult to attack the one without having a fling at the 
 other ; and therefore we see, in our days, pseudo-histo- 
 rians avail themselves of Manetho's tales, even though they 
 quote not his authority. But the favourable notice his 
 cafiimnies now obtain was in his own days denied to them. 
 Though he dedicated his Dynasties to King Philadelphia, 
 that monarch was too enlightened, too wise, too truly 
 alive to his own interests, to allow his mind to be influ- 
 enced against a people whom he always found loyal, 
 industrious, and law-abiding. During his long reign he 
 was frequently involved in war against his neighbour, 
 Antiochus I. Soter, the son and successor of Seleucu*, 
 King of Syria ; and after the death of that monarch who 
 fell in battle against the Gauls with his son Antiochus II. 
 Theoa. No very decided advantages were gained by 
 
 Vot.. I. 1:5
 
 146 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 either monarch, though Antiochus lost much in another 
 direction. For, draining his garrisons in the upper pro- 
 vinces that he might the more effectually carry on the 
 war against the king of Egypt, Antiochus neglected to 
 provide for the security of Parthia, Bactria, and other 
 provinces beyond the Tigris ; consequently these countries 
 became exposed to the twofold evils of foreign invasion 
 and domestic insurrection. 
 
 In Parthia the standard of revolt was raised by two 
 brothers, Arsaces and Tiridates, in consequence of an 
 abominable outrage committed on the person of the 
 younger brother by Agathocles, the viceroy, who was 
 slain by the brothers, (250 B. C. E.) And though the Par- 
 thians themselves computed their independence from the 
 ensuing reign, it is from this period that we must date the 
 beginning of the Parthian Empire, which was ultimately 
 destined to set bounds to the Roman power, and to van- 
 quish the vanquishers of the world. The immediate result 
 of this rebellion was, that within a year after it broke out, 
 Antiochus was compelled to make peace with Ptolemy, 
 who, on his part, was also desirous of an accommodation, 
 as he was grown old and could not command his armies in 
 person. Yet he did not fail to take advantage of the ne- 
 cessity to which Antiochus was reduced of obtaining 
 peace on any terms. 
 
 The king of Egypt compelled the king of Syria to repu- 
 diate his beloved wife, who was also his half sister, 
 Laodice', by whom he had two sons, and to marry Berenice', 
 a daughter of Philadelphus ; and it was agreed that the 
 first male issue of this marriage should succeed to the 
 throne of Syria. As a dower to his daughter, Philadel- 
 phus gave Antiochus half the revenues of Palestine, Phoe- 
 nicia, and Coele- Syria. The Judeans thus became con- 
 nected with the king of Syria, who may seem to have 
 acquired some kind of dominion over them. But such
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 147 
 
 was not in reality the case ; for the internal administra- 
 tion was in the hands of the high-priest, who, also, and 
 always, farmed the revenues of Judea ; and the king of 
 Egypt retained in his own hands not only one half of these 
 revenues, but the sovereignty of the country ; so that the 
 condition of the Jews was in no wise affected by the 
 transaction between the two kings, and which, moreover, 
 was not destined to be of long duration. 26 
 
 Philadelphus died after a glorious reign of thirty-eight 
 years, during which his kingdom reached its greatest pros- 
 perity and power, while learning, science, and the arts of 
 peace flourished in the highest degree. In his reign, the 
 rising and powerful commonwealth of Rome first became 
 connected with the successors of Alexander ; for, when the 
 Romans acquired the mastery of the southern coast of 
 Italy, Philadelphus, with due attention to foreign affairs, 
 sent an embassy of congratulation to Rome, and received 
 from that republic an embassy in return. The transaction 
 was, on both sides, conducted with much dignity; and 
 though eventually, Egypt, like the greater part of the 
 countries that formed the empire of Alexander, was de- 
 voured by Rome, yet the league of amity entered into by 
 Philadelphus continued in force till the last of his succes- 
 sors, the worthless Cleopatra. 
 
 No sooner was Philadelphus dead, than his daughter 
 Berenice* became the victim of the treaty of which she had 
 been the bond. She had borne a son to Antiochus ; but 
 when the protection of her father ceased, the Syrian king 
 dissolved a marriage that had been the work of interest or 
 fear, and, recalling Laodice to the throne, reinstated her 
 children in their birthright. In committing this breach 
 
 * I!il>lii-:il commentator* arc of opinion that thin marriage of Uoren'u-6, 
 the daughter of FbihulelpbuH, with Aiiti<<-hu* II. Tin'"-. \* the putijcrt 
 of a prediction in Daniel, (si. fi.) by whom Fgypt ami Syria are respec- 
 tively designated as the "South" and the "North."
 
 148 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of faith, Antioclius too rashly despised the youth and in- 
 experience of the new king of Egypt, Ptolemy III., who 
 prepared to take up arms and revenge the wrong done to his 
 sister. But before he could put his forces in motion, An- 
 tiochus had already with his life expiated his perfidy. 
 Laodice, his queen, fearful of his fickleness, and of the 
 probable influence which the approaching war with Egypt 
 might exercise over his mind, determined to guard against 
 the possibility of her own dignity and the prospects of her 
 children ever again becoming the sport of his state policy. 
 She therefore poisoned her husband ; and she then engaged 
 a Greek named Artemon, who strongly resembled him, to 
 personate Antiochus in a pretended malady, and to name, 
 at the seeming approach of death, her elder son Seleucus 
 as successor to the kingdom. 
 
 Upon the first news of this transaction, of which Seleu- 
 cus was supposed not to be ignorant, Berenice fled in haste 
 from Antioch to the neighbouring asylum of Daphne. In 
 so sacred a retreat she hoped her infant son and her 
 Egyptian attendants might remain for a short time in 
 safety ; but before she could be rescued by her brother, the 
 king of Egypt, they, as well as her infant and herself, 
 were seized and murdered by the emissaries of her tri- 
 umphant rival. But the latter had no great cause to exult 
 in her success. Ptolemy, exasperated by the sufferings 
 and death of his sister and his nephew, at once took the 
 field. The powerful army which he inherited would have 
 insured success against an adversary better prepared than 
 Seleucus. His parricidal usurpation had provoked and 
 alienated the more liberal portion of the Syrians and all 
 the Greeks. So long as the fate of Berenice had been in 
 suspense, the Greek cities of Asia Minor had not been 
 sparing of menaces to insure her safety. When her cruel 
 death became known, the Greeks invaded Syria from the 
 north, while Ptolemy attacked the country from the south.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 149 
 
 Selcucus, unable to resist, fled ; but Ptolemy succeeded in 
 capturing the more guilty Laodice, whom he caused to be 
 ignominiously executed. 
 
 He then continued his inroad, marching on from pro- 
 vince to province, levying heavy contributions, until dis- 
 turbances in Egypt compelled him to abandon his enter- 
 prise and return home. His plunder was estimated at 
 40,000 talents of silver, or nearly forty millions of dollars. 
 But what appeared far more valuable to his Egyptian fol- 
 lowers, was the recovery of their idols, detained disgrace- 
 fully in the cities of Persia ever since Cambyses, the 
 conqueror of Egypt, had torn them from their venerated 
 shrines. These cumbrous images, to the number of 2500, 
 Ptolemy caused to be carried back to Egypt, where their 
 arrival caused an enthusiasm of joy, and obtained for the 
 king the surname of Euergetes, "the Benefactor," with 
 which the gratitude of the Egyptians saluted him. On his 
 return to Egypt he passed through Jerusalem, where he 
 offered many sacrifices, and made large presents to the 
 temple. It is probable, as Kitto remarks, that the high- 
 priest pointed out t6 him those predictions in Daniel that 
 had been fulfilled in the late events and in his own achieve- 
 ments ; and that this circumstance may have greatly in- 
 fluenced his generous bounties to the temple. 
 
 On his return to Egypt, Ptolemy projected an expedi- 
 tion to the south for the conquest of Ethiopia ; and, in 
 order to carry it on with undivided means, he granted Se- 
 leucus a truce for ten years. This last-named monarch 
 had suffered severely for the crimes of his mother, in which 
 he was suspected of having participated, at least as far as 
 a guilty knowledge went. Not only hud the king of Egypt 
 plundered Seleucus's empire and shaken his throne while 
 the rebellion in Parthia spread and acquired a degree of 
 stability which rendered its suppression hopeless but the 
 
 Greek cities in Asia Minor had declared their independ- 
 
 18*
 
 150 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 ence, and the several provinces of the Taurus mountain-chain 
 transferred their allegiance from Seleucus to his younger 
 brother Antiochus, surnamed Hierax, "the Hawk," from 
 his extreme rapacity. 
 
 To re-establish his authority along the coast of Asia 
 Minor, Seleucus, with great diligence and a vast expense 
 of treasure, assembled a considerable fleet ; but his arma- 
 ment was overtaken by a tempest, and great part of it 
 shipwrecked. This disaster, however, which might have 
 been expected to ruin him irretrievably, turned, on the 
 contrary, to his advantage. The Greeks, considering the 
 storm as a judgment inflicted by heaven, began to feel 
 compassion for the grandson of Seleucus Nicator, the wor- 
 thiest and most illustrious of all Alexander's successors. 
 Their returning allegiance was doubtless hastened by the 
 designs of Hierax, who, having entered into a close con- 
 nection with the Gauls, prepared to extend his usurpations 
 in Asia Minor by the mercenary aid of these odious 
 barbarians. 
 
 These Gauls originated from those countries in Europe 
 which form the present empire of France, from whence 
 swarms of warlike youth emigrated to seek spoil and settle- 
 ments in other countries. In Italy, in the north of which 
 they made large conquests, they were long the terror of 
 Rome, which city they even burnt, though they were finally 
 subdued. Another horde of them penetrated through Illy- 
 ria into Macedon, where they defeated and slew in battle 
 Keraunus, the murderer of Seleucus Nicator. After plun- 
 dering Macedon, they invaded Greece, where they com- 
 mitted great devastations, but were eventually compelled 
 to retreat. In Thrace they took possession of a consider- 
 able tract of land, and established a kingdom, called by 
 the Greeks Thule. But finding, after a time, that their 
 limits were too narrow, they invaded Asia, where they 
 seized, desolated, and then abandoned entire provinces,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 151 
 
 laid the richest territories under heavy contribution, and 
 interfered with a high hand in the affairs of Syria. Their 
 whole course was marked by rapacity, cruelty, and want 
 of good faith. Merciless to their enemies, and treacherous 
 to their allies, they often sold their troops to rival powers, 
 easily quitted one service for another, and, in all this in- 
 famous traffic of blood, invariably preferred the highest 
 bidder. 
 
 These ruthless and unprincipled freebooters, ffierax, not 
 less rapacious and unprincipled than they, had taken into 
 his pay. And as their exorbitant expectations could only 
 be gratified by boundless plunder, all the adjaceafrcities 
 and countries hastened to make their peace with Seleucus, 
 in order that, uniting their forces with his, they might be 
 able effectually to repel the fierce assailants by whom they 
 were menaced. And there is little doubt but that the 
 readiness with which Ptolemy consented to a truce of ten 
 years, was, in a great measure, called forth by a desire to 
 maintain a barrier against the possible inroads of the Gauls 
 into the Egyptian possessions, the safety of which had 
 already once been endangered by them in the reign of 
 Philadelphus, who had taken a body of them in his pay, 
 and against whom they rebelled with great loss and dis- 
 comfiture to themselves. 
 
 The war between the two brothers, Seleucus and Antio- 
 chus, was carried on during three years with all the bitter 
 rancour of fraternal discord, and attended by all the horrors 
 that could be enacted by a fierce mercenary soldiery, whose 
 leader's rapacity entitled him to the name of "Hawk." 
 At first, fortune favoured him. Seleucus was defeated in 
 a great battle at Ancyra. And as a report was circulated 
 that he himself had been killed in the action, the Gauls 
 began to deliberate on the advantage to bo derived from 
 destroying the victor Antiochus likewise, so that they 
 might appropriate to themselves exclusively the fruits of
 
 152 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the victory. Antiochus was compelled to ransom his life 
 for a large sum, which he paid to his auxiliaries, whose 
 mutinous conduct and treacherous designs prevented him 
 from profiting by his victory. 
 
 Thenceforth the pride of the Gauls knew no bounds : 
 they looked upon themselves as supreme disposers, not only 
 of the great kingdom of Syria, but likewise of the smaller 
 Grecian states in Western Asia. But as pride must have 
 a fall, they were defeated in two successive campaigns by 
 the Greek kings of Pergamus; and their second defeat 
 was so decisive as to compel them to give up their preda- 
 tory mode of life, and to resign that ambulatory dominion 
 which they had held for the space of forty years in Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 The most ferocious among them, however, to the num- 
 ber of upward of 100,000 warriors, still adhered to the 
 standard of Antiochus Hierax, whom they followed to Se- 
 leucia-Babylonia, in hopes of plundering that wealthy 
 capital. Their march led them through countries thickly 
 inhabited by Jews, where the Gauls fully maintained their 
 character of ruffianly devastators, until the peaceable, ill- 
 used, and exasperated inhabitants took up arms against 
 them. A body of eight thousand Babylonish Jews assem- 
 bled and advanced to oppose the invaders. This body was 
 powerfully reinforced by four thousand of their Macedo- 
 nian fellow-citizens. King Seleucus hastened to join them 
 with what few soldiers he could muster. And in the battle 
 which ensued he gained a great and decisive victory, 
 through the indomitable valour of the Jews, who fought for 
 their wives and children, for home and freedom. (Justin, 
 lib. xxvii. cap. 3; 2 Maccab. viii. 20.) The Gauls were 
 routed, and so completely dispersed that Antiochus could 
 not again rally them, but was obliged to seek refuge in 
 Egypt, in which kingdom he was detained a prisoner thir- 
 teen years by Ptolemy Euergetes. At length he succeeded
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 153 
 
 in escaping from his confinement ; but in his attempt to re- 
 turn to Syria, he was attacked and slain by the Arabs of 
 the desert. 
 
 This great battle, in which the Gauls were defeated, is 
 the first instance on record, after the rebuilding of Je- 
 rusalem, of Jews taking the field as an army, and distin- 
 guishing themselves as warriors. For though we know 
 that Jews served in the armies of Alexander, of the Ptole- 
 mies, and of Seleucus and his successors, yet we have no 
 proof or account of their having formed distinct bodies of 
 troops much less of their having formed the whole or 
 greater part of a victorious army until we meet them en- 
 countering Hierax and his auxiliaries, whose overthrow on 
 that occasion enabled Seleucus to exchange the surname 
 Pogon, "Bushy Beard," by which, till then, he had been 
 known, for the more high-sounding one of Callinicus, 
 "illustrious victor," to which, however, subsequent events 
 proved him but little entitled. 
 
 His truce with Egypt, and the defeat of his brother and 
 of the Gauls, left him at liberty to direct the entire force 
 of his great monarchy against the rebellious Parthians. 
 During his wars against the Egyptians and Antiochus, the 
 rebels, Parthians, and Bactrians had formed a close alli- 
 ance. The former, after greatly strengthening the de- 
 fences of their country, had taken possession of Ilyrcania, 
 and prepared to invade Media, the finest province of the 
 Syrian monarchy. To resist them, Seleucus led forth a 
 large army, which, during four years was strongly rein- 
 forced, and checked the progress of the Parthians. 
 Eventually, however, Seleucus was defeated and made 
 captive in a great battle, decisive of the future independ- 
 ence and dominion of Parthia. Hi.s life was spared, and 
 he was even treated royally by the victor, Tiridatcs, who 
 had assumed the name and place of his elder brother, Ar-
 
 154 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 saces, 27 the first author and leader of the revolt; but the 
 king of Syria never again recovered his liberty, and, after 
 ten years' loose confinement, he was killed by a fall from 
 his horse while hunting, the same year that his brother 
 Antiochus the Hawk met with his death on his flight from 
 Egypt. Death might appear beneficial to imprisoned 
 kings ; but even imprisonment was beneficial to Seleucus 
 and Antiochus, so shamefully had their freedom been dis- 
 graced in acts of fraternal discord. (Gillies, vi. 468.) 
 
 Seleucus left two sons: the elder, his namesake, was 
 surnamed Keraunus, " thunder," for some reason unknown, 
 but most probably in derision of his stolidity and bodily 
 impotency. During the ten years that King Seleucus lived 
 as a prisoner in Parthia, the Syrian monarchy, out of loy- 
 alty to the house of Nicator, submitted to the vicarious 
 rule of his imbecile son. But when Keraunus ascended 
 the throne after his father's death, his unfitness for his 
 exalted station became so evident, that his generals and 
 courtiers removed him by poison. He was succeeded by 
 his younger brother, Antiochus, who obtained the surname 
 of "the Great," of which, at least in early life, he proved 
 himself not altogether unworthy. 
 
 While discord and misfortune weighed thus heavily on 
 the successors of Seleucus Nicator, their rival, the king of 
 Egypt, was busy in expeditions to the south ; so that as the 
 commencement of his reign had been signalized by splendid 
 but useless achievements in Asia, the latter part of it was 
 occupied in vast but untenable and profitless conquests in 
 Africa. These remote undertakings had prevented Ptolemy 
 Euergetes from interfering in the affairs of Syria, while 
 at the same time they explain the strange negligence with 
 
 27 The kings of Parthia thenceforward assumed the name of Arsaces, 
 which, like that oi Caesar by the emperors of Rome, became the designa- 
 tion of all of them; in addition to which they are distinguished by the 
 names which each one bore before mounting the throne.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 155 
 
 which he managed the affairs of the countries dependent 
 on Egypt, and of which Judea offers a striking example. 
 
 After the death of Antiochus Theos, the division of the 
 revenues of Judea between Egypt and Syria ceased, and 
 the whole reverted to Euergetes. The high-priest Eleazar, 
 who died 276 B. c. E., was succeeded, not by his own son 
 Onias, but by Manasseh, the son of Jaddua. At his death, 
 in 250 B. c. E., Onias became high-priest and farmer of 
 the revenue of Judea ; but as he succeeded to that high 
 dignity at an advanced age, and was of a covetous dispo- 
 sition, which grew stronger as he grew older, he contrived 
 to evade an anuual payment of twenty talents (about twenty 
 thousand dollars) from year to year, during twenty-four 
 years, and until the arrears had reached the heavy sum 
 of four hundred and eighty talents, or nearly half a 
 million of dollars. Careless as the Egyptian govern- 
 ment had been during the long time the arrears were 
 accumulating, it now, and all at once, became as urgent 
 in enforcing liquidation. King Ptolemy despatched a con- 
 fidential officer, Athenion, (whom Josephus styles ambas- 
 sador,) as a special messenger to Jerusalem to demand the 
 payment in full of what was already due, and to require 
 greater punctuality in future ; with the threat that, unless 
 his demands were satisfied forthwith, he would confiscate 
 all the lands in Judea, and send a colony of soldiers to 
 occupy them. Old Onias, who during so many years had 
 ruled supreme in Judea without any interference from the 
 king of Egypt, could not bring himself to believe in the 
 reality of the danger. Ilia darling money-bags ranked 
 higher with him than the possible result of the king's 
 anger ; he, consequently, was disposed to neglect the 
 warning, and to brave the threat that filled the people 
 with consternation. 
 
 Fortunately, the high-priest's nephew, Joseph, was a 
 wiser man than his uncle ; and finding that no remonstrance
 
 156 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 could induce the old man to part with his gold, young Jo- 
 seph took upon himself the task of averting the royal anger. 
 His pleasing manners, together with his liberality and pub- 
 lic spirit, had gained for him the favour of Athenion, and 
 he prevailed on this officer to return to Alexandria, and to 
 pacify the king by the promise that Joseph would speedily 
 appear at court and satisfy every demand. And shortly 
 after Athenion's departure, Joseph followed him to Alex- 
 andria, according to his promise. In an audience he had 
 of the king, Joseph apologized for the undutiful behaviour 
 of his uncle, whose old age had reduced him to a state of 
 second childhood. "But," continued he, "of me, who have 
 not yet outlived my understanding, the king shall have no 
 reason to complain." Ptolemy was pleased with his frank- 
 ness, assigned him an apartment in his palace, and daily 
 admitted him to his table. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii.) 
 
 On his way to Alexandria, Joseph had fallen in and be- 
 come acquainted with several travellers from Coele-Syria 
 and Phoenicia, men of distinction in their respective cities, 
 who were proceeding to the capital to take part in the auc- 
 tion for the provincial revenues, which annually were 
 farmed out to the highest bidder. To inspire a higher opi- 
 nion of their wealth, they travelled in splendid style, with 
 numerous attendants ; and were inclined to make merry at 
 Joseph's mean appearance, whose whole equipage had been 
 procured at no greater cost than two thousand drachmas, 
 (about three hundred dollars.) He only laughed at their 
 raillery, but was deeply attentive to their serious conver- 
 sation ; for as they did not apprehend a competitor in one 
 apparently so little wealthy as Joseph, they freely dis- 
 cussed before him the results of their previous bargains in 
 Alexandria ; and thus Joseph, to his great surprise, ascer- 
 tained that the amount for which the revenues had been 
 farmed, and which they again were likely to bring, was 
 considerably less than half of their real value.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 157 
 
 When the day of the auction came which was carried on 
 in the presence of Ptolemy, and of Berenice*, his queen 
 the highest sum offered for the entire revenues of Coelo- 
 Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, was not more than eight 
 thousand talents, (about eight millions of dollars.) Joseph, 
 who was in attendance on the royal party, at once came for- 
 ward and bid double that amount. Ptolemy was delighted 
 to hear these provinces valued at double their former price, 
 but asked, as usual on such occasions, what sureties Joseph 
 could offer for the due fulfilment of his contract. The 
 young Hebrew who had discerned how much, in the king's 
 deliberations, a jest was paramount to every serious rea- 
 son with much gravity declared that he would give sure- 
 ties of unquestionable probity and unrivalled opulence. 
 He then named Ptolemy himself, and Queen Berenice, who, 
 he said, would be mutually bound to each other for the 
 exact performance of his engagements. The king smiled 
 consent ; and Joseph, upon the credit of court favour, easily 
 procured five hundred talents at Alexandria to pay up the 
 arrears due by his uncle, and to equip himself in a manner 
 suitable to his new and important employment. He re- 
 turned to Palestine, attended by a body of two thousand 
 infantry. Excited by the collectors, whom Joseph had 
 outbid, the cities of Ascalon and Scythopolis at first re- 
 fused his demands ; but the ringleaders at each place were 
 punished, some with death, some with confiscation of their 
 property. This exemplary severity prevented further re- 
 sistance ; and it may be assumed that Joseph performed 
 his duty with justice to the king, and without unusual or 
 great oppression to the provinces, since he held his office 
 twenty-two years, during the reign of Euergetes and his 
 successors. 
 
 Tim Joseph, with his polished address, his pliant 
 adaptation to circumstances, his facile disposition, and 
 boundless assurance, was the type and representative of 
 
 Vol. I. 14
 
 158 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 a class already numerous, but which derived greater 
 strength from his success. This class, in the parlance of 
 the present day, would have to be designated as Young 
 Judea, or the party of progress. The Jews, since the in- 
 vasion of Alexander, and still more since the battle of 
 Ipsos, had lived in close and amicable connection with the 
 Greeks both of Egypt and Syria ; and the influence which 
 the latter exercised over the former gradually became con- 
 siderable. Grecian arts, Grecian philosophy, and Grecian 
 polish acted on the susceptible minds of the warm-hearted 
 and imaginative Jews with an effect all the more powerful 
 because it was friendly. !The Greeks carefully abstained 
 from coercing the Jews into any deviation from their own 
 long-cherished customs. But the restraints of the Law of 
 Moses were encountered by the pleasures and elegancies 
 of Grecian life; and the authority of religion was opposed 
 by that of philosophy. 
 
 The writer (in FrankeVs Monatschrift, No. 6,) whose 
 analysis of the apopthegms of the men of the Great As- 
 sembly, and of Simon the Just, we have already submitted 
 to our readers, likewise calls our attention to the maxims 
 of Antigonus of Socho, the disciple of Simon the Just, and 
 his successor in the presidency of the Synagogue. He 
 used to say, "Be ye not like servants who wait on the 
 master on condition of receiving a reward ; but be ye like 
 servants who wait on the master without the stipulation of 
 any reward ; and let the fear of heaven (God) be upon 
 you." (Mes. Aboth. i. 3.) This maxim, of which the con- 
 cluding portion appears loosely connected with the other 
 parts, gives us an idea of the manner in which Grecian 
 philosophy attacked Jewish habits of thought, by showing 
 us how the Jewish teachers laboured to ward off these 
 attacks. 
 
 Among the various systems of Grecian philosophy, the 
 one that fouud most favour with the short-sighted was
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 159 
 
 that of Epicurus. He taught that the greatest good was 
 happiness, and that the chief ingredient of happiness, nay, 
 the greatest good itself, was pleasure, and the enjoyment 
 thereof. The component parts of the greatest good con- 
 sequently consisted in various kinds of pleasure, which, 
 however, were to be subjected to examination and com- 
 parison, as many a kind of pleasure might cause displea- 
 sure or pain. As the result of such comparison, Epicurus 
 proclaimed Virtue to be the chiefest of all pleasures ; but 
 at the same time he declared that he could form no idea 
 of "the good," if he subtract from it the pleasures which 
 arise from taste or enjoyment, or those which are caused by 
 hearing, or by the sight of the beautiful. In accordance 
 with this view of the greatest good, is his doctrine con- 
 cerning the gods. The highest beatitude is tranquillity, or 
 the remaining undisturbed in a "most excellent condition;" 
 and as the gods are in perfect beatitude, they can have 
 nothing to do with the management of human affairs. 
 Accordingly, they do not allow themselves to be disturbed 
 by these, or to be in any way concerned with them. 
 
 Such a doctrine, which holds up pleasure and its enjoy- 
 ments as the sole aim of all human exertions, and which 
 meets and removes any scruples that might arise from 
 thinking of the Deity, by the assertion that the beatitude 
 of the gods themselves consisted in the enjoyment or plea- 
 sure of tranquillity, and that tbey did not concern them- 
 selves about human actions, be they good or bad, would be 
 likely to find ready acceptance with many men of the 
 world, especially among Orientals, who, from the influence 
 of their climate, are of their own accord strongly addicted 
 to sensual pleasures. 13 And co-operating with the agrce- 
 
 *" IFow completely the Syrian Crocks gnvo themselves up to the teach- 
 ing* of Epicurus, may be M-I-H in the description of their manners and 
 conduct in the Emperor Julian's Miaopogon.
 
 160 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 able and polished manners and elegant mode of life of the 
 Greeks, this doctrine seduced many a child of Israel from 
 his allegiance to the Law. 
 
 In opposition to these pernicious principles of Epicurus 
 Antigonus propounded his maxims, which, as he was chief 
 of the synagogue, may be considered as the orthodox doc- 
 trine and confession of faith of the conservative party that 
 remained true to the Law. Epicurus had, to all appear- 
 ance, yielded great homage to virtue, designating it as the 
 chiefest pleasure; therefore, he says, virtue is to be che- 
 rished, not because of any extrinsic reward, but because 
 virtue carries with her, intrinsically, her own highest re- 
 compense; and as this doctrine proclaimed the autonomy, 
 supremacy, and independence of virtue, many a disciple 
 might be caught, even from among those who cared but 
 little for sensual enjoyments. But, as has already been 
 stated, the sole object of Epicurus's theory was the grati- 
 fication of man's desire for pleasure. Therefore the lowest 
 of our propensities has the unquestionable right to insist 
 on being gratified, as well as our purest joys. Conse- 
 quently the Epicurean autonomy, or supreme independence 
 of virtue, was a mere illusion and specious pretext. 
 
 In opposition to this mock supremacy, Antigonus esta- 
 blishes the real autonomy, the most purely supreme inde- 
 pendence of religion : " Serve the master, (God,) not with 
 a view to reward, but independent of any reward." Re- 
 ligion carries her own best reward intrinsically within her- 
 self. This reward, however, does not well forth from the 
 impure fountain of pleasure, but has its high and holy 
 source in the portion from the God on high that indwelleth 
 man. And as the climax of the Epicurean creed was " that 
 the gods do not take heed of the actions of men" since 
 their so doing would disturb the perfect tranquillity which 
 constitutes their beatitude Antigonus, in direct opposition 
 to this doctrine of Epicurus, and as the concentrated re-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 161 
 
 suit of his own teachings, adds the concluding portion of 
 his maxim, "Let the fear of heaven (God) be upon you." 
 God does take cognizance of human deeds, and punishes 
 the guilty; consequently the doctrine of Epicurus of the 
 divine indifference is false; and, as a further consequence, 
 it is not true that earthly pleasure is the chiefest good ; as 
 that can only be found in the consciousness of eternal 
 happiness, which springs from the divine favour. 
 
 In the apocryphal Talmudic treatise, (Aboth of R'Nathan, 
 ch. 5,) the origin of the first schism 29 among the Jews is 
 traced to the maxim of Antigonus, that we have quoted. 
 The narrative, as there given, states " Antigonus used 
 to say, 'Be ye not like servants who wait on the master on 
 condition of receiving a reward ; but be ye like servants 
 who wait on their master without the stipulation of any re- 
 ward.' He had two disciples, named Zadock and Baithos. 
 These heard the words of their master, but understood 
 them not ; therefore they said, < Shall a labourer work all 
 day, and not receive his wages in the evening? Surely if 
 there were any reward or future state after death, or if the 
 dead were ever to rise again, our teacher would not have 
 directed us to expect no reward.' Accordingly, they col- 
 lected disciples and founded the sect of the Sadducees or 
 Baithosees, whose doctrine was that the soul perisheth 
 with the body, and that there is no resurrection of the 
 dead, nor angels, nor spirits." 
 
 The writer in the Monatschrift, whom we have already 
 quoted, remarks that this account of the origin of the sect 
 of Sadducees does not appear very satisfactory, inasmuch 
 as the inference sought to be deduced from Antigonus's 
 maxim does not necessarily result therefrom. At the 
 same time, he thinks this account has an historical basis, 
 
 28 The .Samaritans or Cutheans were indeed the first schismatics, but 
 they were not Jews, and were never recognised as such, cither in lineage 
 or faith. 
 
 14*
 
 162 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 inasmuch as the system of Epicurus was first opposed by 
 Antigonus. For Epicurus denied the immortality of the 
 soul, and taught that, " when death is, we are not ; when 
 we are, death is not," which is tantamount to the Saddu- 
 cee doctrine, that the soul dies with the body. It was, 
 consequently, not the maxim of Antigonus which gave rise 
 to the doctrine of Epicurus ; but, on the contrary, the 
 prevalence of Epicurean doctrines called forth the maxims 
 of Antigonus. 
 
 Now, though the views of this writer are doubtless cor- 
 rect, and the maxim of Antigonus was the effect, not the 
 cause, of the circumstance that the belief in the immortality 
 of the soul was denied by some Judeans, yet, as all Jewish 
 authorities agree in tracing the origin of the sect of the 
 Sadducees to the disciples and to the maxim of Antigonus 
 of Socho, we think that the connection between the two 
 and the sectarians is stronger than the writer in question 
 seems disposed to admit. We deem it probable that Zadock 
 and Baithos were originally disciples of Antigonus, but 
 that they, in process of time, embraced the doctrines of 
 Epicurus; that subsequently they sought, with perverse 
 ingenuity, to strengthen their new creed by enlisting in 
 its service the very maxims with which their old master 
 had opposed it ; and that they did this in the manner re- 
 lated in the Aboth of R'Nathan. Certain it is, that the 
 doctrines of the Sadducees whose influence as a powerful 
 and long-dominant sect we shall have frequent occasion to 
 mention embodied as much of the views of Epicurus as 
 could by any possibility be reconciled with the letter of 
 the Law of Moses ; and that they did not attempt to re- 
 concile the two, until the desperate efforts of the " Go- 
 a-head party" to get rid of the Law had irretrievably failed, 
 as will hereafter be related. 
 
 One hundred years had now elapsed since the death of 
 Alexander ; and during eighty years of that time the
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 163 
 
 Jews had prospered and thriven in peace, not only in 
 Judea and Egypt, under the beneficent rule of the three 
 first Ptolemies, but also, where they were most numerous, 
 throughout the extensive dominions of the Syro-Greeks. 
 The Judeans, in particular, had greatly flourished. Self- 
 governed, lightly taxed, and free from the terrors and dis- 
 turbances of warfare, peace and plenty prevailed through- 
 out their land, and their numbers and wealth had equally 
 increased. But a great change for the worse was impend- 
 ing ; and little as hitherto we have had to relate of their 
 actions, we are now approaching a period when their suffer- 
 ings, their fortitude, and their prowess will alike demand 
 our attention. 
 
 The reign of the third Ptolemy, Euergetes, was suddenly 
 and tragically brought to a close. He was assassinated 
 by his own son, Ptolemy IV., who from this foul deed 
 derived his satirical surname of Philopator " the father- 
 loving." With Euergetes the prosperity of the Egypto- 
 Grecian monarchy perished. He is popularly and justly 
 considered as the last good king of the Ptolemean dyna- 
 sty ; and if in many respects he was inferior to his great 
 predecessors, Soter and Philadelphus, he was more than 
 in the same degree superior to his successors. His assassin 
 ascended the throne the year after Antiochus had become 
 king of Syria 221 B. c. E. Each of the rival monarchs 
 owed his crown to the assassination of his immediate pre- 
 decessor. But Antiochus of Syria mounted the blood- 
 stained throne of* his murdered brother with clean hands; 
 and though, from his youth and inexperience, he was 
 obliged to submit to the guidance of ministers who abused 
 his confidence, and committed great crimes under his au- 
 thority, yet, as he grew older and became a man, he eman- 
 cipated himself from the thraldom of his unworthy favour- 
 ites. Subsequently, his actions, in restoring the power 
 and prosperity of his kingdom, gained for him the surname
 
 164 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of "the great," as we have already stated. Whereas 
 Ptolemy, who had seized the crown with hands dyed in 
 the heart's blood of his own father, proved himself, through- 
 out the whole of his reign, not only capable of the most 
 horrid crimes, but also abandoned to the most shameless 
 vices. His first act on ascending the throne was the mur- 
 der of his mother Berenice, and his brother Magas ; and 
 having thus secured, as he fancied, his government at 
 home, he despised the nonage of Antiochus, his natural 
 rival, abroad; committed the cares of state to servants 
 worthy of such a master ; and claimed the perpetration of 
 every enormity as the best of royal prerogatives. (Strabo, 
 lib. xvii. p. 796.) 
 
 According to the incestuous custom and policy of his 
 dynasty, he had espoused his own sister Arsinoe, a virtu- 
 ous and high-spirited woman. Her, however, he soon 
 neglected ; and surrounding himself with harlots and buf- 
 foons, he spent his days and nights in the most profligate 
 debaucheries ; while his minister and favourite, Sosibius, 
 was only intent on enriching himself and extending his 
 own power. 
 
 Among the many grandees and officers high in trust 
 with the late king, whom Philopator and his minister de- 
 termined to destroy, was Theodotus, the governor of 
 Coele- Syria. He, however, obtained some notice of their 
 purpose ; and, thus reduced to the sad choice between 
 destruction or treason, this brave but ill-rewarded officer 
 anticipated the designs of a master whom he despised, and 
 at once addressed himself to Antiochus, offering to put 
 him in possession of the valuable Egyptian possessions in 
 Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Antiochus readily 
 closed with the offer ; and Damascus, with great part of 
 Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, with the seaports of Tyre and Pto- 
 lemais, and forty sail of Egyptian ships of war, were the 
 fruits of one short campaign; which, however, was ter-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 1C5 
 
 minated by a truce obtained through the mediation of the 
 great trading communities of the Rhodians and Byzantines. 
 They had long been connected with Egypt in bands of 
 commerce and of amity, and now exerted themselves to 
 negotiate a peace between the rival monarchies. 
 
 The conduct of the Egyptian ministers on this trying 
 occasion proved that, however destitute they were of vir- 
 tue, they were by no means deficient in the wiles and craft 
 of diplomacy. The attack of Antiochus had taken them 
 by surprise. They had never contemplated the possibility 
 of Theodotus' treason, and were, therefore, altogether 
 unprepared for war. Their first step, on hearing of the 
 disasters in Coele-Syria, had been to order the wells be- 
 tween Egypt and Syria to be destroyed, and to open the 
 flood-gates of the Nile near Pelusium, that the inundation 
 might stop the advance of an invading army. They next 
 eagerly availed themselves of the mediation of the Rho- 
 dians, and at a congress held at Memphis they professed 
 their willingness to accept peace on any terms. 
 
 But while every conference they held with the ambassa- 
 dors of Antiochus confirmed the latter who were treated 
 with unbounded respect in their opinion that the lazy, 
 voluptuous Philopator would purchase peace by the meanest 
 compliance, the time thus gained by Sosibius and his col- 
 leagues was employed with the utmost diligence. The as 
 yet unbroken strength of Egypt was exerted to the ut- 
 most ; numbers of Greek mercenaries, eager for profitable 
 service, were enlisted; and gradually, during the four 
 months the negotiations and truce continued, an army of 
 seventy thousand foot, five thousand horse, and seventy- 
 three elephants, with adequate magazines of arms and 
 provision, were assembled near Alexandria, and ready to 
 take the field. 
 
 As soon as their preparations were completed, the king 
 of Egypt and his minister disdained all further tempo-
 
 166 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 rizing. Coele-Syria and its dependencies had, they aver- 
 red, been assigned to Ptolemy Soter at the general peace 
 that followed the battle of Ipsos. He and his descendants 
 had been in possession nearly a century ; and it was only 
 through treason that these valuable appendages to the 
 Egyptian monarchy had been severed from it. They con- 
 sequently summoned Antiochus to surrender territories to 
 which he had no right. Other conditions were dictated 
 equally unpalatable to Antiochus, who at once rejected 
 them. His army was scarcely less powerful than that of 
 Philopator, as it numbered sixty-two thousand foot, six 
 thousand horse, and upward of a hundred elephants. 
 The king of Egypt roused all the energies he was capable 
 of exerting, and, placing himself at the head of his army, 
 advanced to Raphia, a place near Gaza, and not far from 
 the borders of Judea. Antiochus pitched his camp at less 
 than a mile from the Egyptians. Frequent skirmishes hap- 
 pened daily between parties sent out in search of provisions 
 and water ; and the ground between the hostile camps be- 
 came the scene of fierce encounters, both of horse and foot. 
 But the exploit of Theodotus surpassed all others in 
 boldness. To gratify his personal resentment, and to 
 finish the war by an illustrious vengeance, he entered the 
 Egyptian camp attended only by two daring companions ; 
 and favoured by darkness and disguise the more easy to 
 assume as the Egyptian troops were variously dressed and 
 armed he penetrated to the royal pavilion which Ptolemy 
 used for giving audience, and in which he was in the habit 
 of supping with his friends. But the king commonly slept 
 in a more private tent ; and as this circumstance was not 
 known to Theodotus, he missed his purpose, and instead 
 of killing Ptolemy he stabbed Andreas, the royal physician. 
 After wounding two other courtiers, Theodotus gained the 
 outer entrenchments, and finally escaped uninjured. (Tolyb. 
 lib. v. cap. 18.)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 167 
 
 The danger to which he had been exposed, and which 
 proved that, even in the midst of his camp, and surrounded 
 by many thousands of brave and devoted warriors, his life 
 was not safe, rendered Philopator impatient to terminate 
 the war by a decisive battle ; and Antiochus, whose sup- 
 plies of provisions began to fail him, was equally eager for 
 a decision. The battle which ensued is very graphically 
 described by Polybius, (lib. v. cap. 84.) The troops in 
 both armies were of the same description. Intermixed 
 with Greeks and Macedonians, chosen men from the re- 
 motest dependencies of Syria and Egypt augmented the 
 phalanx 30 of heavy infantry, which, in either line, amounted 
 to nearly thirty thousand. On both sides there were Thes- 
 salian cavalry and Theban spearmen, crafty Cretans, fierce 
 Thracians, and ferocious Gauls. The wealth of the two 
 most powerful kingdoms of the East purchased martial 
 auxiliaries wherever they could be obtained; and it is of 
 interest and importance to the historian of the Jews, to 
 become well acquainted with the composition of armies 
 
 30 The Macedonian phalanx was a body of foot soldiers, carrying short 
 swords fit either for cutting or thrusting, strong bucklers four feet in 
 length, and two and a-half in breadth, and pikes eighteen feet long. Ori- 
 ginally this heavy brigade, which formed the main battle, cou.si.stcd of - i v 
 thousand men drawn up sixteen deep; gradually these numbers jrcrc in- 
 creased to sixteen thousand, and finally to thirty-two thousand men. 1'v 
 its depth, compactness, and the nature of its weapons, this heavy body of 
 infantry long vanquished every enemy. But in the wars between the re- 
 mote followers of Alexander and the Romans, the phalanx was proved to bo, 
 in itself, a very incomplete instrument of victory. It depended on the co- 
 operation of light troops for removing obstacles, for covering its flank*, 
 and for giving it a fair opportunity to exercise in fr^pt its matcliless might. 
 As iU numbers were increased it became more unwieldy, and could only 
 act on level ground. The defeats of the Macedonian phahinx by tho 
 Roman legion aroo partly from the greater mobility of the latter, and 
 partly from the Macedonian kings considering the phalanx complete aad 
 all-sufficient in ittelf. (Polybius, lib. xviii. caps. 12, 15.)
 
 168 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 which presently he will find arrayed in all the terror of 
 numbers, discipline, and warlike skill, against the few, un- 
 warlike, barely half-accoutred, and altogether inexperi- 
 enced champions of freedom in Judea. 
 
 Though the two armies were thus equal in point of arms 
 and discipline, and nearly so in point of numbers, yet at 
 the battle of Raphia the European auxiliaries of Ptolemy 
 had one great advantage over those of his rival. They 
 came more recently from their native lands, and carried 
 with them that unbroken vigour and inborn bravery which 
 always suffered decay through contact long continued with 
 Egyptian and Asiatic softness. 
 
 Before the signal for action, the two kings, as if by mu- 
 tual prearrangement, rode round their respective armies, 
 and animated them to a battle which was to decide the 
 pre-eminence between Syria and Egypt. In his progress 
 along the line, Philopator was accompanied by his noble- 
 minded wife, Arsinoe, eager to share the dangers of her 
 unworthy husband, whose debased profligacy was utterly 
 incompatible with every conjugal virtue. Having finished 
 his review, Philopator took his post on the left ; Antiochus 
 placed himself on his right, directly opposite to the king 
 of Egypt. Each of them, after the example introduced 
 by Alexander the Great, was surrounded by troops of 
 equestrian companions, though neither of the two rivals 
 knew how to make that use of these select bands which in- 
 variably had made them the great instruments of Alex- 
 ander's victories. 
 
 Ptolemy, as well as Antiochus, had placed a line of 
 elephants in front of the cavalry. The battle began as 
 these fierce and powerful animals advanced to the charge; 
 a singular spectacle being exhibited by the spearmen fight- 
 ing from towers on their backs; and one still more extra- 
 ordinary, by the elephants themselves, who rushed against 
 each other with the utmost fury, and strove with their im-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 169 
 
 plicated trunks to force the adversary from his ground ; 
 until the stronger having pushed aside the proboscis of the 
 weaker, and forced him to turn his flank, then pierced him 
 in many parts with his tusks, as a bull gores with his 
 horns. At length the Egyptian warriors were repelled by 
 the superior size and strength and fury of their rivals 
 from India ; 31 and the confusion which their rout occasioned 
 was followed by the defeat of Ptolemy's left wing, the king 
 himself being obliged to retire for safety behind the pha- 
 lanx of his heavy infantry. While Antiochus, hurried 
 away by the ardour and inexperience of youth, was incau- 
 tiously urging the pursuit, and eager to push to the utmost 
 his partial advantage, Echecrates the Thessalean, a general 
 of great skill and experience, and who commanded on 
 Ptolemy's right, instructed by what had happened at the 
 other extremity of the field, determined not to advance his 
 elephants to an unequal combat. Instead, he ordered the 
 Greek mercenaries to attack the same description of troops 
 in Antiochus's line that were opposed to them; and by 
 their furious onset he diverted the attention of the gene- 
 rals who commanded for Antiochus until he had caused his 
 Thessalian and other cavalry to outflank the Syrian left 
 wing, when the whole of this large body of horse poured, 
 in one resistless attack on the flank and rear of the Sy- 
 rians. This movement proved decisive, and Antiochus was 
 defeated as completely on his left wing as he had proved 
 victorious on his right. 
 
 " Sclcucus Nicator, on the occasion of his treaty with Xandracottu*. 
 King of India, received from him, as a gift, five hundred elephant* a fact 
 which explains the frequent appearance of that noble animal on the battle- 
 fields of Syria and Palestine. Subsequent supplies were afterwards ob- 
 tained from the same source, to keep up this favourite force in the armies 
 of the Syrian kings. The ancient Egyptians do not appear to have known 
 the elephant. We do not remember to have met with a singli* instance in 
 vhlfli this animal is described as being figured on the old monument* of 
 that country. 
 
 VOL. I. lu
 
 170 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The phalanxes, thus stripped of both their wings, re- 
 mained entire on the middle of the plain. Ptolemy Philo- 
 pator, for the first and last time in his life, proved himself 
 equal to the occasion, and with Arsinoe and his escort 
 passed quickly from the rear to the front. Their sudden 
 appearance infused ardour and courage into the Egyptian 
 line, and dismayed the enemy. The battle on the side of 
 the Syrians was sustained with vigour only by Theodotus, 
 the personal enemy of Ptolemy, who commanded the select 
 bands of Syria. But the heavier phalanx quickly yielded 
 to the pressure of the Egyptians, and their flight compelled 
 Theodotus to quit the field. 
 
 Antiochus, meanwhile, had been carried forward with 
 juvenile ardour, as if the engagement had everywhere 
 been successful, because his own wing was victorious. 
 One of his more experienced attendants at length showed 
 him clouds of dust flying in the direction of his camp. He 
 hastened back from the pursuit toward the scene of action, 
 but found the battle irretrievably lost, and retreated to 
 Gaza. He had lost upward of ten thousand slain and 
 four thousand prisoners; while the entire loss of Ptolemy 
 did not exceed two thousand two hundred men. In ac- 
 knowledgment of his defeat, Antiochus sent heralds from 
 Gaza to Ptolemy to crave leave to bury his slain ; and 
 then, without attempting to defend any of his conquests, 
 retired northward to his well-fortified capital on the banks 
 of the Orontes, from whence a truce for a year, and after- 
 ward a lasting peace, was negotiated between himself and 
 Ptolemy. 
 
 Such was the battle of Raphia the first that for almost 
 a century had been fought near Judea, and a prelude, as it 
 were, to the many sanguinary conflicts that for nearly 
 three centuries were to convert all Palestine into one vast 
 battle-field. The countries the king of Egypt had lost by 
 treason at once returned to their allegiance ; and the Jews,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 171 
 
 who had remained steadfast in their adherence to Ptolemy, 
 were in so far singled out as special objects of his regard, 
 that he came to Jerusalem in person to offer sacrifices 
 according to Jewish law, and presented gifts at the 
 temple. Unhappily, the beauty of the building, and the 
 peculiar order and solemnity of the worship, excited the 
 curiosity of the king to see the interior; and when he was 
 informed that no mortal except the high-priest, and he 
 only once a year, (Lev. chap, xvi.,) entered the inmost 
 sanctuary, the king's curiosity became ungovernable. 
 Philopator's natural disposition was both haughty and 
 tyrannous: his recent unexpected and signal victory had 
 raised his arrogance to the highest extreme; so that when 
 the high-priest, Simon II., who had but lately succeeded 
 to that dignity, remonstrated, and the priests in solemn 
 array and sacerdotal vestments entreated him to desist 
 from a purpose not permissible even in the minister of 
 the temple, he roughly answered, "that though they were 
 deprived of that honourable privilege, it could not be 
 withheld from Aim, as hia authority was not to be con- 
 trolled by their laws." He then pressed forward from 
 the court of the Gentiles, to force his way into the inner 
 sanctuary. 
 
 The whole city was in commotion; and while Simon 
 prayed to the Lord to defend the chosen spot which, in the 
 days of yore, he had dignified with a visible sign of his 
 presence, and which still was consecrated to the most 
 solemn rites of his worship, a promiscuous multitude of 
 every age and of either sex filled the air with such loud 
 and lamentable wailing, that it seemed as if not only human 
 voices, but the walls and streets from their foundations, had 
 deprecated the impious purpose of the king. That pur- 
 pose appeared unalterable. But as he left the inner court, 
 and was about to enter the building itself, he was "shaken 
 like a reed by the wind, and fell speechless to the ground."
 
 172 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The writer who relates this circumstance, (3d book of Mac- 
 cabees,) considers it as a supernatural dread and horror 
 cast upon the king from above. It has, however, been 
 wisely observed by one of the greatest judges of human 
 nature, that "'Tis conscience that makes cowards of us 
 all ;" and what moment, what place more likely to act 
 upon and to alarm the conscience of the parricide, than 
 that sanctuary, untrodden by human foot, into which he 
 was about to force his way, and where unbidden he in- 
 truded on the presence of that incomprehensible and aw- 
 ful Being, who dwelt invisible within that mysterious 
 and time-honoured temple. Besides, by a combination, 
 alas ! but too frequent ! the most beastly profligacy and 
 the most heartless cruelty were in Philopator united 
 with a great degree of superstition; and his own super- 
 stitious fears would suffice to prostrate him, body and 
 mind. 
 
 Whichever of these reasons we adopt, it is certain that 
 Philopator did not step over the threshold of the temple, 
 which thus vindicated its awful and supreme sanctity. The 
 king was raised from the ground by his body-guards, who 
 carried him, half dead, out of the second court of the 
 temple; and when he recovered he speedily left Jerusalem, 
 full of displeasure against the Jewish people, and deter- 
 mined to let them feel the weight of his anger. 
 
 But if he was displeased with them, they were still more 
 displeased with him. For upwards of eighty years no 
 foreign master had issued his mandates in Jerusalem. The 
 Egyptian supremacy under the three first Ptolemies had 
 been so slightly perceptible in Judea, the Jewish people 
 had been so little disturbed in their self-government, both 
 political and religious, that they had gradually lost sight 
 of the fact that they were a tributary people, dependent 
 upon a foreign autocrat. Even the moderate taxation to 
 which they were subjected, and which was farmed by the
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 173 
 
 high-priest, was collected by Jewish tax-gatherers ; so that 
 their financial, as well as their judicial administration was 
 apparently free from all foreign control ; and as the Egyp- 
 tians do not appear to have garrisoned Jerusalem, or any 
 other city in Judea, while the authority of the high-priest 
 and of the temple were alone in active operation, the peo- 
 ple, or at least the generation then living, who had not on 
 any occasion felt the weight of foreign domination, fancied 
 themselves free. 
 
 From this dream of independence they were suddenly 
 and most painfully aroused. The rude hand of a foreign 
 master had pressed the yoke of slavery on the most sensi- 
 tive spot in their national feeling. The veneration in 
 which their religious system had always been held had 
 now been violated by a proud heathen ; the most holy 
 temple had been insulted by an idolater; they had seen, 
 yet been unable to avert, the calamity. Grief and indigna- 
 tion struggled for mastery in the minds of the multitude : 
 even those who, with the greatest ardour had embraced 
 the lax principles of Epicurus, joined in the outcry raised 
 against Philopator, because they felt and deeply resented 
 the outrage committed on the national feeling of Israel by 
 the Egyptian. 
 
 That day the bond of attachment that so long had united 
 the Judeans to the Ptolemean dynasty was forcibly rent 
 asunder. They began to contrast the insult to which 
 their most pure and highly cherished feelings had wantonly 
 been subjected by Philopator, with the high estimation in 
 which the Jews were held in the neighbouring kingdom of 
 Syria, where especially since the important service they 
 had rendered against the Gauls the Jews stood foremost 
 in the favour of the king and in the respect of the people. 
 Thenceforth the determination gradually ripened in the 
 minds of the Judeans, to transfer their allegiance from 
 the house of Ptolemy to that of Seleucua Nicator a de- 
 
 16*
 
 174 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OS 1 THE JEWS. 
 
 termination which, on the first favourable occasion, they 
 carried into effect. 32 
 
 32 Philopator's transactions at Jerusalem are related in Rufinus's Latin 
 edition of Josephus, (contra Api on, lib. ii.,) and also in the 3d book of Mac- 
 cabees, which latter further contains the only narrative extant of his per- 
 secution of the Jews in Egypt. There are in all five books of Maccabees, 
 of which, however, only two possess that species of authority which is de- 
 rived from their being received into the biblical Apocrypha. The first book 
 of Maccabees is entitled to that full credence which is due to contempo- 
 rary history confirmed by independent testimony, such as that of the Tal- 
 mud. This first book of Maccabees is the only one of the Apocryphal 
 writings known by that name that circulated among the people in Judea. 
 It was originally composed in Chaldaic or Aramaic, which was the vernacu- 
 lar tongue of the Judeans, in which it bore the name of Tsharbit Sar JBne 
 El, "The sceptre of the prince of the children of God," and is supposed 
 to have been written toward the end of the reign of John Hyrcanus, and 
 after the wars were concluded. From the Chaldaic it was translated into 
 Greek, and subsequently into Latin. Into Hebrew it has been translated 
 within the last few years by Plessner. This book is veracious history, 
 narrated with great care and faithfulness ; though some few errors in mi- 
 nor particulars, such as the writer could not well be acquainted with, (as, 
 for instance, that Rome was governed by one consul annually chosen,) have 
 been discovered by the lynx-eye of criticism. And it is the authority to 
 which Josephus adheres in his history of that period. The second book 
 of Maccabees is abridged from a larger work in five books, written in 
 Greek by a Hellenist, Jason of Gyrene. It is less purely historical than 
 the first, which it sometimes contradicts ; the narrative is highly coloured, 
 and embodies many legends and marvels. Still the book is entitled to re- 
 spect, as it contains accounts of individual suffering and magnanimity con- 
 firmed by the Medrashim and others, which but for this second book of 
 Maccabees would have been lost. The third book of Maccabees is in point 
 of time the first, and relates the sufferings of the Jews under Philo"pator. 
 It exists in Greek, and is found in some ancient manuscripts of the so- 
 called Septuagint, particularly in the Alexandrian and Vatican manu- 
 scripts. There is also a Syriac version from the Greek, but it has never 
 been inserted in the Vulgate, or in the English Bible, though English trans- 
 lations of it exist. It is apparently written by a Jew of Alexandria, 
 abounds in marvels and absurdities, and is of itself but of little authority ; 
 still, in the outlines of the facts it relates, searching criticism has disco- 
 vered sufficient internal evidence to receive them as substantially true.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 175 
 
 Philopator returned to Alexandria, and as he was still 
 under the influence of that terror which had driven him 
 from Jerusalem, he forebore molesting the Judeans. But 
 as he conceived that the Jews of Egypt were more com- 
 pletely in his power, he determined to wreak his vengeance 
 on them. He began by causing a decree to be inscribed 
 on brazen pillars at the palace-gate, that none should enter 
 there who did not sacrifice to the gods he worshipped ; 
 which not only effectually excluded all Jews from access 
 to his person, but, as the judges commonly sat in the 
 palace, it also amounted to a sentence of outlawry against 
 them. He next deprived the Jews of Alexandria of the 
 high civil privileges they enjoyed, and which had been 
 bestowed on them by Alexander the Great and by the first 
 Ptolemy ; and whereas till then they had ranked among 
 the first or highest class of the inhabitants, Philopator 
 degraded them into the third or lowest rank. Lastly, he 
 ordered them to be formally enrolled, and that at the time 
 of their enrolment the mark of an ivy-leaf (one of the 
 insignia of his god Bacchus) should be impressed on them 
 with a hot iron ; if any refused this mark, they were to be 
 made slaves ; and whoever opposed the decree was to be 
 put to death. 
 
 Having thus, as he imagined, disgusted them with the 
 adherence to their ancient faith, he tempted them to apos- 
 tasy by offering to restore to their former rank of first- 
 class citizens such Jews as would worship his gods. But, 
 notwithstanding these disgraceful and cruel penalties, 
 scarcely three hundred, out of the many thousands of Jewish 
 citizens in Alexandria, accepted his offer ; and those who 
 
 The fourth book relates the history of the Asmoncans and of Herod ; and 
 though of doubtful authority, frequently nerves to correct or complete tho 
 narrative of Josephun. Of the fifth book of Maccabees not much is known ; 
 it exist* in Greek, in some few manuscripts of the Septuagint, and is a 
 metaphysical treatise on reason, faith, and immortality.
 
 176 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 were so mean as to embrace the royal clemency and barter 
 their religion for worldly advantage, met with such ineffable 
 disdain, and were so pointedly shunned and excluded from 
 the society of their old associates, that the king, when 
 acquainted with this contempt for his authority, was pro- 
 voked almost to madness. He declared the conduct of the 
 Jews to be rebellion and opposition to his royal dignity, 
 and vowed he would extirpate the whole nation. 
 
 From all parts of Egypt, the Jews, as the worst of 
 criminals, were dragged to Alexandria in chains. When 
 they had been brought together to the number of many 
 thousands, they were shut up in the Hippodrome, which 
 was a very large enclosure outside of the city, built for 
 the purpose of horse-racing and other public amusements. 
 Here he intended to expose them as a spectacle to be de- 
 stroyed by elephants. At the appointed time the people 
 assembled in crowds. The writings of Manetho began to 
 bear fruit. The Egyptians were delighted that the de- 
 scendants of the cruel Hyksos should come to a cruel end ; 
 that the offsprings of the impious and impure lepers who 
 had murdered, roasted, and actually made a meal of their 
 divine animals, should at length meet with just retribution 
 from the fury of animals inflamed with wine and frankin- 
 cense. The elephants were on the spot, bellowing and 
 roaring with rage ; but the effects of a drunken bout the 
 preceding night prevented the attendance of the king, 
 and caused the postponement of the sports. 
 
 The next day a similar disappointment proceeded from 
 the same right royal cause. The third day the king ma- 
 naged to be present, and the elephants were brought out. 
 But though Philopator had contrived to overcome the 
 effects of his repeated drunkenness, the nobler animals, 
 the elephants, to whose nature intoxication was foreign, 
 were affected by the stimulants that had been administered 
 to them, in a manner the king had not foreseen. Instead
 
 JTTDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 177 
 
 of spending their fury on the unhappy Jews, the elephants 
 first turned on their own keepers, whom they destroyed, 
 and then attacked the Egyptian spectators, of whom they 
 killed great numbers. 
 
 King Ptolemy, the parricide, was not less coward than 
 ruffian, and his immediate attendants were like him. He 
 and they, terrified by the unexpected catastrophe, fancied 
 they saw angels descending of frightful form, goading on 
 the elephants in their havoc among the spectators. The 
 king, alarmed for his own safety, acknowledged the inter- 
 position of the divine power in behalf of the Jews, and 
 hastened to set them at liberty : at the same time, rescind- 
 ing all his odious decrees, he at once restored to them the 
 rights of which he had so unjustly deprived them. In 
 the true spirit of capricious despotism, Ptolemy sought to 
 make atonement for his cruelty to the Jews, by the more 
 cruel permission of retaliating it on their apostate bre- 
 thren. And as the tardy reflection arose in his mind, that 
 those who had so signally evinced their fidelity to their 
 God, were not likely to prove unfaithful to their king, ho 
 tried to regain their good-will by many marks of his muni- 
 ficence and confidence. (3d Mace., iii. 4., 5.) 
 
 Such is the account of this perscution, as given in the 
 3d book of Maccabees. It is necessary to state that Jo- 
 sephus does not relate any portion of these transactions 
 in Egypt ; and his silence is a circumstance to which due 
 weight should be given. But this objection has been met 
 by the remark, that the history of this period (the reign of 
 Philopator) is exceedingly brief in Josephus : while on 
 the other hand it has been said, that though the third of 
 Maccabees is so little authentic as to be excluded even 
 from the Apocrypha, yet there is so much appearance of 
 probability in the leading features, and so many small 
 agreements with the accounts which history has preserved 
 of the manners, and ideas, and circumstances of the times,
 
 178 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 as well as with the character of the king, as to outweigh 
 the silence of Josephus. 
 
 Certain it is, that shortly after the catastrophe in the 
 Hippodrome, as above related, a fierce rebellion against 
 Philopator broke out among the Egyptians, which swelled 
 into a civil war of some duration, not distinguished by any 
 recorded exploits either of skill or valour, but abominably 
 disgraced by the enormities perpetrated alike by the con- 
 tending parties. Forty thousand of the Jewish inhabitants 
 perished in this contest, which deluged Egypt with blood, 
 and in which Ptolemy eventually prevailed through the 
 relative superiority of his generals, and the real abilities 
 of his unprincipled minister, Sosibius. 
 
 After a reign of seventeen years, Philopator died a vic- 
 tim to extreme debauchery at the early age of thirty-seven 
 years. His son and successor, Ptolemy Epiphanes, was 
 only five years old when he ascended the throne the same 
 year that Antiochus returned to Syria, after a sojourn of 
 ten years in Upper Asia, where he had compelled Ar- 
 saces III. of Parthia, as well as Eutydemus, the third Greek 
 king of Bactria, to sue for peace and to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of the Seleucidae. On the banks of the Indus 
 he renewed the ancient alliance of his house with the 
 kings of India, and returned to the West with a supply 
 of one hundred and fifty elephants. Shortly afterward 
 he rescued the commercial city of Gerra, on the Persian 
 Gulf, from the grasp of Arab robbers ; and, having re- 
 established the independence and freedom of that city, he 
 was, in return for these favours, rewarded by the Gerrseans 
 with a profusion of spices and perfumes, as well as with a 
 large amount in gold and silver. With these vast trea- 
 sures and mighty forces, Antiochus THE GREAT, as he was 
 now universally called the fugitive of Raphia, returned 
 to find his victorious rival dead, and the sceptre of Egypt 
 in the feeble grasp of an infant. (204 B. c. E.)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 179 
 
 During his absence in the far East, the Western world had 
 been agitated by a fierce conflict between the two mighty 
 commonwealths of Rome and Carthage. The second Pu- 
 nic war, which lasted seventeen years, and brought Rome 
 to the very verge of ruin, showed the world how firmly 
 based was the power, how inexhaustible the resources, of 
 that all-conquering and rapacious republic. In vain Han- 
 nibal, the Carthaginian general, evinced military talents 
 second only to those of Alexander the Great ; in vain 
 he defeated and destroyed the Roman armies again and 
 again. After every defeat Rome rose with increased 
 vigour, like a giant refreshed. At the battle of Cannae, a 
 Roman army of eighty thousand foot, with a proportionate 
 number of horse, was so utterly and hopelessly routed 
 that only seventy horsemen escaped with the consul Varro 
 from the field. Battles less destructive had overturned 
 many a powerful kingdom ; but this fatal conflict shook 
 not the stability of the Roman Commonwealth. When 
 Hannibal marched suddenly to surprise Rome, he found 
 three armies in order of battle prepared to receive him. 
 Having encamped on the banks of the river Anio, scarcely 
 four miles from the capitol of Rome, he learned that the 
 ground occupied by his army had brought its full value at 
 a public auction, and that a body of troops had left Rome 
 through an opposite gate to reinforce the legions in 
 Spain. 
 
 Such indomitable perseverance was certain of eventual 
 success. And though Hannibal's admirable abilities 
 gave the Romans no opportunities of combatting him 
 with advantage, he could not wear out the spirit or ex- 
 haust the resources that enabled Rome to maintain armies 
 in Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, and the country beyond the 
 Adriatic Sea, in addition to the forces that defended the 
 Italian peninsula. He maintained his ground in Italy 
 fourteen years; but in the very year that Philopator died,
 
 180 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and Antiochus returned from the East, a formidable Ro- 
 man army, under Publius Scipio, who had just achieved 
 the ruin of the Carthaginian power in Spain, landed on 
 the north coast of Africa ; and the rapid progress he made 
 compelled the senate of Carthage to recall Hannibal from 
 the scene of his triumphs in Italy, to the defence of his 
 native city. His defeat at Zama laid Carthage prostrate 
 at the feet of Rome ; and the terms of peace granted by 
 Scipio reduced Carthage to a state of dependence, that for- 
 ever destroyed the possibility of her recovering her former 
 weight in the balance of power, and left Rome supreme 
 arbitress of the West, as far as at that time it was known. 
 Had the successors of Alexander the Great been gifted 
 with common prudence, they must have foreseen that the 
 insatiable lust for conquest, which had already extended 
 the sway of Rome over so great a part of the West, would 
 next turn itself to the East, especially as Philip, King of 
 Macedon, the ally of Carthage, had already incurred the 
 ill-will of Rome ; and that the only means of safety against 
 the encroachments of the all-subduing republic, was the 
 intimate union of all the kings that had succeeded to 
 portions of Alexander's empire. But these kings were 
 incapable of appreciating the magnitude of the danger 
 which threatened them. Ptolemy the Fifth of Egypt was 
 an infant. Antiochus of Syria, intoxicated by the unin- 
 terrupted success that had gained for him the surname of 
 " The Great," was burning with the desire, by some de- 
 cisive advantage over Egypt, to blot out the disgrace of 
 his defeat at Raphia, the only miscarriage in his splendid 
 career. Philip of Macedon, who had, with credit to him- 
 self, resisted the Romans, and then withdrawn from his 
 alliance with Carthage before the catastrophe of Zama, 
 harboured projects of aggrandizement in the East. Both 
 these kings were in the vigour of life ; their natural am- 
 bition was heightened by prosperity. Antiochus was at
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 181 
 
 the head of an army supposed the greatest in the world ; 
 and Philip possessed a most powerful fleet. It consisted 
 of about two hundred sail, and contained vessels of such 
 magnitude, that the trireme galleys, considered the most 
 efficient in ancient naval battles, were scarcely thought 
 worthy to fight in his line. With that frivolous vanity and 
 unreasoning pride peculiar to Greeks, both kings despised 
 the Romans as barbarians incapable of making head 
 against Grecian skill, bravery, and discipline. 33 
 
 Between monarchs thus prepared for action, and devoid 
 of all scruples to restrain their rapacity, an alliance was 
 formed for invading, by sea and land, the dominions of 
 young Ptolemy, (203 B. c. E.,) and for guaranteeing to 
 each other their respective conquests. (Polybius, lib. xv. 
 cap. 20.) Accordingly, without the slightest pretence, 
 and unsupported by any reason, Philip attacked and seized 
 on the valuable possessions long held by the Ptolemies on 
 the coasts of Thrace, Caria, and Asia Minor ; while An- 
 tiochus entered, and made himself master of, Coelo-Syria 
 and Palestine. 
 
 The insult which Philopator had offered to the feelings 
 of the Judeans was now to be resented ; the outrage he 
 had committed against the sanctity of the temple was now 
 to be expiated. Antiochus was everywhere throughout 
 Judea received as a friend, and the wants of his army 
 were abundantly supplied. He then marched to Asia 
 Minor to restore the supremacy of his house over the 
 
 * At this time Philip had personally twice encountered the Hontun* la 
 battle. On the first occasion, he attacked thorn between Corinth and K\- 
 cyon, defeated them, and drove them disgracefully to their fhipx. (Tit. Liv. 
 lib. xxvii. cap. 31.) On the second occasion, he was Mtrprised by them 
 during his attack on Eli." ; but though ho was outnumbered and obliged 
 to retreat, no Advantage of monvnt was gained over him, and ho en- 
 cnmped only five miles from the former battle-field, without being dis- 
 turbed by the Roman*. Ibid. 
 
 Vol.. I. 16
 
 182 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Grecian cities, which had profited by-the civil war between 
 his father Callinicus and his uncle Hierax, to proclaim 
 themselves independent. 
 
 But the regents who governed Egypt during the non- 
 age of Ptolemy, prepared to take advantage of Antio- 
 chus's absence. They had beheld with regret the dis- 
 memberment of so important a portion of their master's 
 dominions. Hopeless of recovering the lost provinces by 
 cowardly Egyptians and degenerate Alexandrian Greeks, 
 they had recourse to Scopas, formerly praetor or elective 
 chief of the Etolians, who, restless and discontented at 
 home, had come to Egypt in quest of riches and prefer- 
 ment. He was now despatched to Greece loaded with 
 money, and with assurances of tempting pay to as many 
 of his countrymen as he could engage to follow his stand- 
 ard. He succeeded in enlisting six thousand Etolians, 
 the most warlike and ferocious of Greek mercenaries. At 
 their head, and reinforced by numbers of other military 
 adventurers, he returned to Egypt ; and, without awaiting 
 the usual season for taking the field, he immediately, and 
 in the midst of winter, led his army into Coele-Syria and 
 Judea. The feeble garrisons left in those countries by 
 Antiochus, were unable to resist the invaders. A great part 
 of the coast, as well as the inland cities, submitted to 
 Scopas, who did not fail to let the Jews feel that he was 
 fully conscious of the leaning they had manifested toward 
 the King of Syria. In those days of relentless cruelty 
 and rapacity, the Etolians ranked high among the fiercest 
 and most rapacious ; the wealth of Judea, a country so 
 long at peace, tempted their cupidity; and wherever they 
 came, their devastations caused the Jews to experience all 
 the severity with which war could be carried on. 
 
 Apprized of their proceedings, and alarmed by their 
 unresisted progress, Antiochus hastened from Asia Minor 
 into Palestine to encounter the Etolians, now reinforced
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 183 
 
 by numerous bands of Egyptians. He attacked and de- 
 feated them at the foot of Mount Panias, and, after 
 wresting from them most of their strongholds, he at 
 length shut up Scopas, with ten thousand of his men, in 
 Sidon. The defence of this city was obstinate, and Scopas 
 did not surrender until compelled by famine. The Etolians 
 and Egyptians only bargained for their lives, and were 
 permitted to return, unarmed and half naked, to Egypt. 
 (Polyb. lib. xv. cap. 39.) 
 
 The Judeans had been sufficiently averse to their con- 
 nection with Egypt, ever since Philopator's attempt on 
 the temple ; the rapacity of Scopas and his Etolians, 
 destroyed what little lingering hesitation might still have 
 existed in the minds of the Jewish people and their chiefs. 
 During the war they had greatly served the cause of Antio- 
 chus ; and when the battle of Mount Panias had restored 
 to him the mastery of Palestine, the Jews received him at 
 Jerusalem with the most lively demonstrations of joy, 
 (198 B. c. E.,) and expressed their desire of becoming united 
 to the great mass of their people in Mesopotamia and 
 Babylonia, who had so long been governed by the house of 
 Seleucus Nicator. The king of Syria readily granted 
 them important favours, that not only rewarded their ser- 
 vices, but confirmed their attachment to his person and 
 government. Aware that there were no points on which 
 they were more anxious than in what concerned their city 
 and temple, he declared his intention to restore the city to 
 its ancient splendour and dignity, and thoroughly to repair 
 the temple at his own cost. And to heighten the contrast 
 between the persecuting Philopator and himself, Antio- 
 chus issued an edict guaranteeing the inviolability of the 
 sacred place, by prohibiting all strangers from entering 
 th'e temple at Jerusalem ; at the same time, by liberal 
 grants, he made ample provision for the due and orderly 
 performance of the sacred services.
 
 184 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The effect of all these friendly measures, was to render 
 the warm-hearted and single-minded Jews quite enthusi- 
 astic in their attachment to Antiochus, who, like a wise 
 statesman, failed not to avail himself of their devotion to 
 his government. Finding that Judea had a redundant and 
 enterprising population, he induced the people, on very 
 advantageous terms, to form colonies in such parts of his 
 dominions as he considered of most doubtful allegiance 
 as Lydia, Phrygia, and other provinces unsafe, because 
 surrounded by the territories of his enemies. In all such 
 places Antiochus relied on the firmness and fidelity of the 
 Jews, and continually reinforced their colonies with new 
 settlers, both from Judea and Mesopotamia; a circum- 
 stance that accounts for the great numbers of Jews that 
 subsequently were found throughout Asia Minor. (Joseph. 
 Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 3.) 
 
 Thenceforth the Judeans looked upon their political 
 connection with Egypt as entirely dissolved ; and such, in 
 fact, proved to be the case. But at the very time that 
 Antiochus professed to cherish them as the most firmly 
 attached of his tributaries, he was negotiating with Egypt 
 a treaty of peace, and also of marriage between his beauti- 
 ful daughter Cleopatra and the young king of Egypt, Pto- 
 lemy V. Epiphanes, then in his eleventh year. The prin- 
 cipal stipulation of this treaty was that, when Ptolemy 
 should be of an age to consummate the nuptials, Cleopatra 
 should bring him, for her dower, the restored allegiance of 
 Ccele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. 
 
 It is probable that the Judeans, who so readily forwarded 
 his plans of colonization, and quitted their country by 
 thousands, were totally unacquainted with this double- 
 dealing of Antiochus. And it appears equally probable, 
 that as the motive which induced Antiochus to conciliate 
 the Egyptians whose power he had greatly underrated 
 was tardy alarm at the progress of Rome, so his secret
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 185 
 
 purpose was to keep possession of his recent acqusitions, 
 and to amuse the king of Egypt with promises and stipu- 
 lations which he never intended to carry out. The 
 princess Cleopatra was accordingly betrothed to Ptolemy ; 
 and six years after Antiochus had obtained possession 
 of Jerusalem, when the young king had attained his 
 eighteenth year, the marriage actually took place. (192 
 B. C. E.) 
 
 And here we meet with a singular discrepancy in his- 
 tory. Apptan and Jerome say that Antiochus did surren- 
 der the three Syrian provinces, as stipulated ; and Josephus 
 seems to concur with them, intimating that the revenues 
 were paid to the king of Egypt, (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 4.) 
 The Talmud has no account whatever of this transaction, 
 which, perhaps, as we said before, never came to the 
 knowledge of the Jews. But Polybius denies the surren- 
 der, (lib. xxviii. cap. 1 and 17 ;) and at a subsequent pe- 
 riod Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother of Queen Cleopa- 
 tra, altogether repudiated the existence of any treaty that 
 restored to Egypt the three provinces conquered by his 
 father ; and these denials are confirmed by the fact, that 
 these countries still remained in the possession of the sons 
 and successors of Antiochus. 
 
 It is possible that, as on a former intermarriage between 
 the houses of Ptolemy and Seleucus, the king of Egypt 
 assigned half the revenues of these very provinces as a 
 dower to his son-in-law, Antiochus Theos, while he himself 
 retained the sovereignty, so in this second instance of in- 
 termarriage, the king of Syria retained the sovereignty, 
 whllo he may have assigned the revenues as a dower to his 
 son-in-law. This would explain Josephus's statement. But 
 ev,n this appears questionable, especially when we consi- 
 dc. the extreme and desperate measures to which want of 
 ir-ney reduced Antiochus the Great and his successors, and 
 9' Thich we shall presently have to speak.
 
 186 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Some weight has been attached to a circumstance related 
 by Josephus, (Antiq. cap. 4,) that on the birth of a son 
 and heir to Ptolemy and Cleopatra, (187 B. c. E.,) many 
 principal men in Palestine and the neighbouring districts 
 hastened to Alexandria with presents and congratulations. 
 Among these visitants young Hyrcanus the Jew particu- 
 larly distinguished himself, and gained as high favour 
 with the then king and queen of Egypt, as his father Jo- 
 seph had gained with Euergetes and Queen Berenice 
 thirty-four years before. But this circumstance is not by 
 any means conclusive, as to any dominion exercised by the 
 king of Egypt in the Syrian provinces ; indeed, it does not 
 even furnish presumptive evidence of such domination. It 
 is natural that a dynasty which had so long and so mildly 
 governed a country, as the Ptolemies had done in Palestine 
 and the adjacent countries, should possess many friends 
 and adherents, especially among families long and high in 
 office in those countries ; and that those friends and adhe- 
 rents even after their country had passed under the sway 
 of another dynasty would be glad to avail themselves of 
 the first opportunity that offered, when, without giving of- 
 fence to the powers that be, they could present their tribute 
 of respect and affection to the powers that had been. 
 Such an event was the birth of a grandson to their present, 
 of a son to their former, sovereign ; and they profited by 
 it, like well-bred and skilful courtiers. 
 
 Upon a full consideration of all these circumstances, we 
 
 do not hesitate to declare, that with the battle of Mount 
 
 * 
 
 Panias the political supremacy of the Egyptians in Judea 
 terminated ; and that after an uninterrupted connection 
 of upwards of a century from the battle of Ipsos, the Ju- 
 deans transferred their allegiance from the descendants of 
 Ptolemy Soter to those of Seleucus Nicator. To this they 
 were chiefly urged by the offence which Philopator at- 
 tempted to cojnmit against the temple. But for this,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 187 
 
 Antiochus could never have gained the support of the 
 Judeans, or retained possession of their land. But for 
 this, the history of the Jews would have been quite differ- 
 ent from what it is. The ungovernable curiosity and 
 rudeness of Philopator thus produced consequences that in 
 a great degree influenced the character, and, with it, the 
 fortunes of the Jews ; and, as such, the brief sojourn of 
 the Egyptian parricide in Jerusalem is an event in the 
 history of the Jews.
 
 188 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Antiochus III. War with Rome Hannibal Antiochus defeated His 
 death Seleucus Philopator Onias III., the high-priest Heliodorus 
 attempts to plunder the temple His miscarriage Antiochus IV. Epi- 
 phanes His intervention in Judean affairs Conservatives and Destruc- 
 tives Jason buys the office of high-priest Attempted fusion of Judaism 
 and Heathenism Judeo-Grecian literature Menelaus War between 
 Antiochus and the Egyptians Troubles in Judea Antiochus plunders 
 the temple Popilius Lcenas Massacre at Jerusalem The Jewish re- 
 ligion proscribed The Haphtora First religious persecution Insurrec- 
 tion Matathias the Asmonean declares self-defence lawful on the Sab- 
 bath Holland, the United States, and Judea Judah the Maccabee 
 His victories The Syrians expelled Public worship restored in the 
 temple of Jerusalem. (From 198 to 166, B. c. E.) 
 
 THE resentment that caused the Judeans to withdraw 
 their allegiance from the kings of Egypt, and to transfer 
 it to the kings of Syria however natural and just at the 
 time it was most wantonly provoked was one that should 
 have died with its author, the tyrant and parricide, Philo- 
 pator, especially as even he did not presume to repeat the 
 outrage. To visit the misdeed of the father on the feeble 
 head of his infant son, would be unjust in any case: in the 
 instance of which we are speaking it was also unwise : and 
 dearly had the Judeans to pay for having attached them- 
 selves to the falling fortunes of Antiochus the Great. 
 
 The partner in his unprincipled aggressions on the in- 
 fant king of Egypt, Philip of Macedon, had not been as 
 fortunate as Antiochus himself. The political foresight 
 of Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, had early discerned and 
 justly appreciated the rising power of Rome: he alone, of 
 all the successors of Alexander, had entered into early re- 
 lations of amity with that all- conquering republic; and
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 189 
 
 now that their victory over the Carthaginians had made 
 the Romans masters of the West, they were but too glad to 
 avail themselves of any opportunity to interfere in the af- 
 fairs of the East. They therefore affected to treat the in- 
 fant king of Egypt with the regard due to a dear heredi- 
 tary friend. In consideration of his youth, and of the 
 merit of his great ancestor Philadelphus, they did not 
 designate him merely by the cold name of ally, but ex- 
 tended to him the more affectionate and as the senate 
 declared more honourable appellation of their pupil. 
 (Justin, lib. xxx. cap. 3.) But notwithstanding this dis- 
 tinguished title, and the strong remonstrances of his tutors 
 or protectors, Ptolemy V. Epiphanes had been stripped by 
 Philip of Macedon of his possessions in Thrace and Caria; 
 while Antiochus had dismembered Egypt of the valuable 
 provinces of Ccele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. 
 
 The Romans had other causes of complaint against one, 
 at least, of the two confederate kings. At the battle ot 
 Zama, four thousand of Philip's troops had been made 
 prisoners fighting in the ranks of the defeated Cartha- 
 ginians ; although Philip, in his treaty of peace with the 
 Romans three years before, had renounced his alliance 
 with Carthage, and engaged to afford that commonwealth 
 no aid or succour of any kind. He had also carried on hos- 
 tilities against the Rhodians and the king of Pcrgamos, 
 allies of Rome; and lastly, he had besieged and taken the 
 thriving commercial city of Abydus on the Asiatic shore 
 of the narrow strait now called the Dardanelles and had 
 driven the inhabitants to destruction, notwithstanding the 
 active intercession in their favour of a Roman ambassador. 
 (Polyb. lib. xvi. cap. 32.) No sooner, therefore, had their 
 victory at Zama enabled the Romans to conclude a treaty 
 of peace with Carthage, on such terms as they themselves 
 chose to dictate, than they prepared to turn their arms 
 against Philip; and a few months after tho ending of the
 
 190 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 war with Carthage, that against Macedon began, (200 
 B. C. E.) After the vicissitudes of three campaigns, which 
 on the whole were rather in his favour than otherwise, 
 Philip was finally defeated by the Romans in the fourth 
 year of the war, at the decisive battle of Kynoscephalce. 
 And deeming it wisest and safest to submit while he had 
 yet the means of resistance, Philip sued for, and obtained, 
 peace on terms which reduced Macedon from a first to a 
 second-rate power, and left the Romans supreme in Greece. 
 
 During this war, Philip had in vain solicited and ex- 
 pected assistance from his ally Antiochus ; and every con- 
 sideration of wise policy ought to have induced the king 
 of Syria to strain every nerve in supporting an ally, like 
 himself a Greek and successor of Alexander the Great, 
 and who, moreover, was the best shield against the ad- 
 vancing sword of the Romans. But blinded by that grasp- 
 ing and narrow-minded selfishness which had induced him 
 to court the alliance of Philip at the expense of Ptolemy, 
 Antiochus now left Philip to his fate, fully determined to 
 profit by that fate, whichever way it turned. 
 
 Should the Romans be unsuccessful, their allies of 
 Rhodes and Pergamos would no longer have courage to 
 oppose his usurpations in Asia Minor : should Philip's power, 
 on the contrary, be greatly reduced by the war, the repre- 
 sentative of Seleucus Nicator might revive, with good suc- 
 cess, his claims on Macedon. And in order to be free of 
 apprehension from Egypt while he pursued his designs in 
 the West, King Antiochus made peace with Ptolemy, as we 
 have already stated, giving his beautiful daughter Cleo- 
 patra as the bond of amity between them, and making fair 
 promises of restitution, which probably he never meant to 
 perform. But his selfish and treacherous policy met with 
 the punishment it deserved;, and when Philip had suc- 
 cumbed, Antiochus was compelled to confront the onward 
 progress of Rome.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 191 
 
 The great Hannibal, expelled from Carthage by the 
 rancour of domestic enemies and the influence of Rome, 
 had sought refuge with the king of Syria, who entertained 
 him honourably ; and as the war against Rome was become 
 inevitable, this great warrior proposed a plan lofty and 
 extensive like his own genius, and which, while it attacked 
 or threatened the possessions of Rome in Spain, in Africa, 
 in Illyria, and Sardinia, would also have struck at the root 
 of her power by invading Italy with a small but chosen 
 army, of which Hannibal offered to take the command. 
 
 But the mind of Antiochus was incapable of grasping 
 or of carrying out designs so vast and daring. Prosperity, 
 luxury, and the unrestrained indulgence of indolent and 
 voluptuous habits, had destroyed the mental powers of An- 
 tiochus. The mistrust so natural to a despotic ruler, and 
 which leads him to suspect his best and most faithful 
 friends, had been skillfully aroused by Roman intrigues. 
 Suborned calumniators, taking advantage of frequent in- 
 terviews between Hannibal and Villius, one of the Roman 
 ambassadors on a special mission at the court of Antiochus, 
 and who is supposed to have solicited these conferences 
 with the intent of their exciting the king's suspicion, ac- 
 cused the great Carthaginian of conspiring with Rome. 
 It was long before the illustrious exile became acquainted 
 with the cause that had estranged the king from him. 
 But when, at length, he heard that he was accused of par- 
 tiality to Rome, he at once and forever repelled the accu- 
 sation by the following recital to Antiochus, equally simple 
 and impressive: 
 
 "My father Ilamilcar, at his departure from Carthago 
 to Spain, performed a sacrifice to Jupiter. I was present 
 at the ceremony, though only a child, in iny ninth year. 
 Ilamilcar asked me whether I would accompany him to the 
 Spanish war. I assented with alacrity. He promised to 
 take me, provided, on the present occasion, I showed my
 
 192 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ready compliance with his will. Then, desiring all present 
 to withdraw, he led me to the altar on which he had just 
 sacrificed, and bidding me approach and touch it with my 
 hand, commanded me to swear eternal enmity to the Ro- 
 mans. I swore the solemn oath, and my subsequent life 
 for thirty-six years has been one unvaried act of perform- 
 ance. In the war with Rome, you may therefore safely 
 trust Hannibal. But should you ever think of peace with 
 that republic, it will be time to have recourse to other ad- 
 visers." (Polyb. lib. iii. cap. 11, Cornelius Nepos, in Han- 
 nibal, and Tit. Liv. Ixxv. cap. 19.) 
 
 But though Hannibal regained the king's confidence, 
 his advice was not adopted ; and Antiochus, defeated at 
 Thermopylae, was disgracefully driven out of Europe. On 
 his return to Ephesus, Hannibal, the only one of his coun- 
 sellors who had either sagacity to foresee coming events, 
 or boldness to announce them, assured the trembling 
 monarch that soon he would be called to fight the Romans 
 in Asia and for Asia. The firm remonstrances of the 
 Carthaginian at length roused the king to a full sense of 
 his danger, and Antiochus prepared to defend himself by 
 all the means yet at his command. But the prestige of 
 his success and power was gone. His own daughter Cle- 
 opatra now the wife of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, and en- 
 tering fully into the views of her husband joined in an 
 embassy to Rome, in which the rulers of Egypt promised 
 the most zealous co-operation, provided the Romans would 
 carry their arms into Syria. 
 
 The ablest of the Roman generals, Scipio, surnamed 
 Africanus, from his victory at Zama, accompanied his 
 brother, the ostensible chief of the Roman army, and who, 
 from his success against Antiochus, gained the surname of 
 Asiaticus. Before their star, that of Hannibal again 
 grew pale. Defeated by sea, Antiochus saw that he was 
 no longer able to dispute the passage of the Romans into
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 193 
 
 Asia ; and his fears almost deprived him of understand- 
 ing. Every measure he took in his trepidation facilitated 
 the advance of his irresistible enemies, and hastened the 
 impending crisis. He had, in the early period of the war, 
 captured the son of Africanus, who was still a prisoner, 
 hut treated by the king with every indulgence that could 
 soothe his confinement. Of this circumstance Antiochus 
 determined to avail himself, in order to obtain peace. He 
 therefore sent ambassadors to the consul, offering not only 
 to relinquish all that he yet possessed in Thrace and 
 Lydia, but also to refund one-half of the expense which 
 the Romans had incurred in prosecuting the war. He 
 was answered, that the freedom of the Greek cities in 
 Asia, which the Romans' had proclaimed, required that he 
 should relinquish all the territory he possessed north and 
 west of Mount Taurus ; and that, as the king's ambition 
 only was to blame, not one-half, but the whole expense of 
 the war, must be defrayed by him. 
 
 To obtain some abatement of these exorbitant demands, 
 the king's ambassador had recourse privately to Africanus, 
 endeavouring to tempt him with bribes, and giving him 
 assurance of the speedy liberation of his son, a youth of 
 great promise, but whose fame disappears between the 
 splendour of his father, Africanus, and of his adopted son, 
 Emilianus, the conqueror of Carthage. To the many pro- 
 raises and offers made to him by the king, the Roman 
 father replied, "I am less surprised that you should not 
 know the Romans, than that you should be ignorant of the 
 condition of your own master. After relinquishing the 
 defence of the Hellespont, and allowing the Romans to 
 pass quietly into Asia, Antiochus may be compared to a 
 horse that lias not only admitted the rein, but has pa- 
 tiently received a rider. I shall accept my son at his 
 hands as the highest personal favour, and shall be ready 
 to repay him by every personal service in my power. But 
 
 VOL. I. 17
 
 194 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 as to public affairs, I can do nothing for his interest, ex- 
 cept by giving him this one advice : That he accept any 
 terms of peace, however unreasonable they may appear to 
 him." (Polyb. lib. xxi. cap. 11, 12.) 
 
 It was the singular fortune of Antiochus, that he had 
 the advice of the two greatest men of his age Hannibal 
 and Scipio Africanus ; the one counselled him how to 
 make war, the other how to make peace. In each case 
 their advice was the best that under the circumstances 
 could be given. But the king could not and did not profit 
 by either. The decisive battle of Magnesia, however, in 
 which he was routed with the loss of fifty thousand men, 
 while the victors boasted a loss of less than four hundred 
 compelled him to beg, rather than to negotiate, a peace. 
 The friendship of Africanus obtained for him terms which, 
 with respect to territorial cessions, did not materially dif- 
 fer from those offered to him before the battle ; but which, 
 in every other respect, were so greatly aggravated by the 
 senate, as to give the coup de grace to the independence 
 of Syria as a first-rate poVer. Antiochus was compelled 
 to pay fifteen thousand Euboeic talents 34 for the expenses 
 of war ; three thousand almost immediately, and the 
 remainder in twelve equal annual payments, together with 
 five hundred and forty thousand measures of wheat every 
 year. He was required to surrender his elephants and all 
 his ships of war, except ten only, which were not to sail 
 beyond a certain limit. He was further to pay large sums 
 to the king of Pergamos and to the Rhodians, the allies 
 of Rome ; and lastly, the Romans required that Hannibal 
 the Carthaginian, and some other political refugees, 
 should be surrendered to them. 
 
 M Ninety millions of dollars. In computing the tribute, the Euboean 
 talent was named as that of the greatest weight ; but the senate further 
 added, that the silver should be of the Attic standard, because this was the 
 finest.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 195 
 
 The whole of these conditions were accepted, and faith- 
 fully executed, in as far as they depended on the king of 
 Syria; but the surrender of Hannibal was not in his 
 power. Even before the final decision at Magnesia, the 
 great Carthaginian foresaw the sad result ; while his 
 knowledge of the selfish character of Antiochus, placed it 
 beyond a doubt that the king would not be restrained by 
 any considerations of honour and magnanimity, from 
 sacrificing his friend and guest as a scapegoat to his 
 enemies. Hannibal therefore quitted the court of Antio- 
 chus, and successively sought refuge in Crete, in Armenia, 
 and in Bithynia. Wherever he went, the relentless hatred 
 of Rome pursued him ; and finding that Prusias, King of 
 Bithynia, was about to betray him to the Romans, and 
 that any attempt at further escape was hopeless, Hannibal 
 was driven to commit suicide by poison a victim to the 
 rancour, not unmixed with fear, of the mighty common- 
 wealth which, in the midst of its triumphs, did not think 
 itself safe while Hannibal lived. 
 
 Had the Romans been sincere in their professions of 
 attachment to Ptolemy Epiphanes, they would have com- 
 pelled Antiochus to restore to Egypt the three Syrian 
 provinces of which, by force, and without a semblance of 
 right, he had deprived that kingdom. But this it no 
 longer suited the far-sighted policy of Rome to do. The 
 power of Syria was broken ; that of Egypt was, as yet, 
 comparatively intact. Two out of the throe provinces in 
 question, Ccelo-Syria and Phoenicia, were especially valu- 
 able, from the naval supplies, the many harbours, and the 
 experienced mariners with which they abounded. All 
 these elements of a maritime force Rome preferred seeing 
 in the possession of Syria, bound by treaty not to fit out 
 a larger fleet than ten ships rather than to have them 
 transferred to Egypt, which, by means of these very pro- 
 vinces, had raised itself to the rank of a first-rate naval
 
 196 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 power. The Senate, also, and most astutely, judged, that 
 so long as Syria possessed these ancient appendages of the 
 Egyptian monarchy, no cordial union of the two kingdoms, 
 and consequently no serious attempt against Roman su- 
 premacy, was to be apprehended. The Romans, there- 
 fore, left Antiochus in undisturbed possession of all that he 
 held east of Mount Taurus ; and contented themselves with 
 taking twelve hostages for the due observance of the treaty, 
 among whom the king's younger son, Antiochus, was one. 
 
 Ruined, disgraced, stripped of every claim to his sur- 
 name of "the Great," the King of Syria returned from 
 his war against the Romans. Not only his fortunes, but 
 his very character, were altered : in the beginning of life, 
 active, temperate, and dignified ; in his declining years, 
 indolent, dissolute, and contemptible. Even at the height 
 of his prosperity, he had not been able to obtain from the 
 Parthians and Bactrians more than a nominal recognition 
 of his supremacy. He had now lost all Asia Minor ; and 
 the western possessions of Seleucus Nicator had either 
 been declared independent under the protection of Rome, 
 or had been parcelled out among the inveterate enemies of 
 the Syrian monarch, the Rhodians, and the king of Per- 
 gamos. But it was not only the present and immediate 
 loss ; there was, moreover, the heavy tribute, that for 
 years to come would cripple the resources of the state. 
 To provide for this last and pressing want, King Antio- 
 chus devised a scheme that cost him his life, and proved 
 fatal to two of his successors : and this was to plunder the 
 rich temples throughout his dominions. 
 
 These temples possessed not only vast treasures of their 
 own, but were also places of deposit for money and mer- 
 chandise belonging to private individuals, to whom the 
 sacred character of these depositories afforded greater 
 protection and assurance of safety, than their own dwell- 
 ings or care.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 197 
 
 The beginning was to be made with one of the richest 
 that at Elymais, at the meeting of the caravan roads con- 
 necting Media with Persia and Susianah, and which had 
 been adorned by Alexander the Great. Antiochus made 
 his assault in the night : the guards of the temple de- 
 fended their treasures and idols, and were assisted by the 
 hardy mountaineers, ever ready and armed, in their neigh- 
 bourhood. A tumultuary combat ensued, in which An- 
 tiochus fell, fighting at once against the religion, the com- 
 merce, and the arts, of his country. (187 B. C. E.) On the 
 news of his death, his elder son, Seleucus, immediately as- 
 cended the throne; and though he did not at once continue 
 the plundering forays of his father, necessity and the com- 
 paratively defenceless condition of some of these temples, 
 eventually tempted him to follow in his father's footsteps. 
 
 Assuming the surname of Philopator, Seleucus, during 
 the first ten years of his reign, abstained from any attempts 
 on temple property, while at the same time he continued 
 punctual in discharging the annual contribution due to 
 Home ; and he cautiously avoided giving any offence to 
 that state, by confining his arms and exactions to his own 
 side of Mount Taurus. 
 
 But intestine dissensions at Jerusalem, became the- cause 
 of directing the attention of Seleucus to the riches depo- 
 sited in the temple of that city. Simon II., who was 
 high-priest at the time Ptolemy IV. Philopator attempted 
 to force his way into the temple, died IDo B.C. E., after an 
 administration of twenty-two years. He was succeeded 
 by his son, Onias III., a man of great piety, of a mild 
 and amiable disposition, and well worthy of better times 
 than those in which he lived, of a better end than it was 
 his lot to experience. 
 
 During the first years of his administration, and when 
 his excellent intentions received full effect from Antiochus, 
 then newly master of Palestine, and after his death from 
 
 17*
 
 198 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 his son and successor, " the holy city was inhabited in all 
 peace, and the laws were kept very well." The Judeans 
 were held in high estimation by the sovereigns of the 
 neighbouring countries, who courted their friendship and 
 made magnificent offerings to the temple. Seleucus Philo- 
 pator was likewise favourably disposed toward the Jews ; 
 and notwithstanding his embarrassments, he had give'n 
 orders that the public worship should be defrayed out of 
 his own treasury. But toward the end of the tenth year 
 of his reign, a violent quarrel broke out between Onias 
 the high-priest and one Simon, who had been appointed 
 governor of the temple at Jerusalem. The latter, in order 
 to injure his antagonist, and to excite against him popular 
 indignation, informed the king that the temple of which 
 he was the governor was very rich more than abundant- 
 ly so, indeed, to bear the entire charge of the public wor- 
 ship, including all sacrifices and oblations. 
 
 This information reached the king at a time when he 
 was greatly straitened for money to pay the tribute to the 
 Romans ; and, as if the surname of Philopator was doomed 
 to come in hostile contact with the temple of Zion, the 
 Syrian resolved to go a step farther than his Egyptian 
 namesake had intended, and not only to penetrate into the 
 temple, but also to plunder it of its great wealth. For 
 this purpose he despatched his treasurer, Heliodorus, to 
 Jerusalem, with orders to seize the reported treasure and 
 to bring it to Antioch. Heliodorus concealed the object 
 of his journey till he reached Jerusalem, when he com- 
 municated the king's orders to the high-priest Onias, and 
 demanded the quiet surrender of the money, In reply, 
 Onias informed him, that though there was a considerable 
 treasure in the temple, it by no means reached the 
 large amount reported ; that great part of it consisted of 
 holy gifts and offerings consecrated to God, the appro- 
 priation of which could not be disturbed without sacrilege ;
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 199 
 
 the rest had been placed there, by way of security, for 
 widows and orphans, who claimed it as their property 
 and that a considerable sum had been deposited there by 
 Hyrcanus, (the son of that Joseph who obtained the farm- 
 ing of the revenues from Ptolemy Euergetes,) a man high 
 in credit and favour with the king. He added, that being, 
 by virtue of his office, the guardian of this wealth, he 
 could not consent to its being taken from the right owners, 
 and thereby disgrace his high office and profane that holy 
 place, which was held in reverence by all the world. 
 
 Heliodorus, however, who was attended by a numerous 
 armed escort, was not to be deterred from his purpose by 
 any remonstrance of the high-priest. Indeed, the king's 
 peremptory orders, and the pressing want of money which 
 had extorted those orders, and with which no one could be 
 better acquainted than the king's treasurer, left that officer 
 no choice. Attended by his guards, Heliodorus marched 
 to the temple ; and, as the priests attempted to oppose 
 his progress, he ordered the outer gates to be demolished. 
 The whole city was in the utmost agonies of apprehension, 
 and shrieks of woe were heard in all directions. But 
 when the treasurer, at the head of his escort, was about 
 to enter the ball of the temple, he was struck with a panic 
 terror, and fell to the ground speechless, as Ptolemy Philo- 
 pator had done ; and, like him, had to be carried away 
 insensible by his attendants. By the prayers of Onias, 
 and the kind offices of the priests, he gradually reco- 
 vered, and immediately quitted Jerusalem. The legend, pre- 
 served in the Second Book of Maccabees, (ch. iii.) relates 
 that, as Heliodorus attempted to enter the temple, he was 
 encountered by a warrior on horseback, accoutred in gol- 
 den-armour, grand and terrible to behold. He rode against 
 the audacious Syrian, and threw him down ; when two 
 youths, of superhuman beauty, magnificently arrayed, 
 appeared and struck him with rods, so that he fainted ;
 
 200 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 that Heliodorus, lifeless, had to be carried away on a litter 
 to his apartments ; but that Onias, the high-priest, fear- 
 ful that the king might suspect or accuse the Jews of 
 having committed a criminal outrage on the person of his 
 officer, offered an expiatory sacrifice, by which means, 
 and by his prayers, he restored Heliodorus to life. 
 
 Certain it is, that the Syrian intruder left the temple 
 and its treasures intact, and returned empty-handed to 
 Antioch, where he assured the king that he would do well 
 to send on that terrible errand any one who had offended 
 him beyond the hope of pardon, and whom, therefore, he 
 wished most signally to punish, as the chastisement in- 
 flicted rendered that employment only fit for the worst of 
 villains. In the course of the same year, however, Helio- 
 dorus entitled himself to that infamous designation. It 
 had, on the death of Antiochus the Great, been agreed 
 between the Roman senate and Seleucus, that, after a 
 certain time, he was to send his own son Demetrius as a 
 hostage to Rome, in lieu of his brother Antiochus, who 
 was then to return back to Syria. Shortly after the 
 attempt on the temple, the time for this exchange arrived, 
 and Demetrius left for Rome. Thus the two persons 
 nearest in succession to the throne of Syria were both 
 absent and out of the country. And of this interval be- 
 tween the departure of the king's son and the arrival of 
 the king's brother, Heliodorus took advantage, and poi- 
 soned his unsuspecting master, in hopes of usurping the 
 sovereignty. (175 B. c. E.) 
 
 Antiochus was visiting Athens on his way home when 
 he heard of this. He immediately applied to the old 
 enemy of his father, Eumenes, King of Pergamos to whom 
 the Romans had assigned the greater part of the terri- 
 tories in Asia Minor, which they had compelled Antiochus 
 the Great to cede who, with his brother Attalus, was 
 easily persuaded to assist the legitimate prince against
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 201 
 
 the usurper. Heliodorus, deserted by his adherents, was 
 soon crushed ; and Antiochus who, to distinguish him from 
 his vile competitor for the crown, had been surnamed 
 Epiphanes "the illustrious" ascended the throne of 
 Syria, while his nephew Demetrius remained a hostage 
 at Rome. 
 
 The Judeans had looked upon the sudden death of Se- 
 leucus and the destruction of Heliodorus as a judgment 
 upon the two desecrators of the temple, and flattered 
 themselves that thenceforth they would again be permitted 
 to enjoy that undisturbed prosperity which so long had 
 been their portion under the Ptolemies. But they were 
 mistaken. Each year proved more strongly how perni- 
 cious the transfer of their allegiance was becoming, and 
 how ill-advised they had been when they rejected the 
 Egyptian king Log, because he had offended them, and 
 preferred the Syrian king Stork, who not only offended, 
 but eventually devoured them. The king and court of 
 Syria were so much more needy than the Egyptians, the 
 distance between Jerusalem and Antioch so much shorter, 
 and the communication so much easier, and therefore so 
 much more frequent than it had been with Alexandria, 
 that the direct interposition of the Syrian monarch in the 
 internal affairs of Judea, left the Jews but small scope for 
 self-government. Add to this that the continuous inter- 
 course with Antioch was at once the cause and effect of the 
 prevalence of Grecian manners .and innovation, which now 
 reached their greatest extension, and caused intense hatred 
 between two parties that struggled for mastery, and who, 
 as far as regards Judaism and their religious tendencies, 
 may justly be designated as the Conservatives and the 
 Destructives. 
 
 The first intervention of the Syrian king in the inter- 
 nal affairs of Judea, was the immediate consequence of 
 llcliodorus's foray on the temple. When Simon, the infor-
 
 202 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 mer, saw his guilty plan frustrated, he had the audacity to 
 charge the high-priest Onias himself with having, from 
 motives of interest, invited this outrage on the temple. 
 Some believed the calumny ; and the consequence was. 
 that parties were formed : the high-priest became an ob- 
 ject of hatred to a portion of the people ; and it was not 
 long before hostile conflicts arose between the party of 
 Onias and the faction of Simon, in which many lives were 
 lost. At last Onias resolved to proceed himself to Antioch, 
 and lay the whole matter before King Seleucus, than 
 whom, in this dispute, no one could be better acquainted 
 with the truth. It is an old axiom, that however much 
 men may love the treason, they invariably hate the traitor. 
 Onias was favourably received by the king; his complaints 
 were heard, and Simon, whose treason had failed to enrich 
 the king, was banished from his native country. Onias 
 returned to Jerusalem and resumed his authority; but the 
 confidence and affection of a great part of the people re- 
 mained lost to him. The apopthegm of the sages of Israel 
 " Calumny is the ruin of three of him who utters, of 
 him who listens, and of him who is its object" was in this 
 instance fully verified. Simon, the guilty calumniator, 
 perished miserably in exile ; Onias, the innocent victim, 
 lost his office and his life ; while the Judeans, who listened 
 to the slander, saw their temple desecrated, their city in 
 ruins, and their people slaughtered by idolaters. 
 
 Antiochus IV. Epiphanes had scarcely punished Helio- 
 dorus, and been firmly seated on the throne, when, from 
 all parts of his empire, the leading men thronged to An- 
 tioch to assure the king of their allegiance. Among them 
 came Joshua, better known by his Greek name Jason, a 
 younger brother of Onias, the high-priest of Jerusalem. 
 This young man was unprincipled, ambitious, and strongly 
 imbued with the philosophy of Epicurus ; at the same 
 time, supple, insinuating in his manners, and highly po-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 203 
 
 lished in his address. He met with a friendly reception 
 at court ; and, availing himself of the penury of the royal 
 treasury, drained as it was by the annual tribute to 
 Rome, he tempted the new king by an offer of four hun- 
 dred and forty talents of silver (about half a million of 
 dollars) to depose the excellent Onias from the high- 
 priesthood, and to appoint Jason to that most sacred 
 and illustrious office. 
 
 Not content with thus making the highest dignity of 
 the temple an object of traffic, and degrading the high- 
 priest of the Lord into the nominee of an idolater, Jason, 
 dreading the presence of his injured brother at Jerusalem, 
 and the high estimation in which he still was held by the 
 most estimable portion of the people, obtained an order 
 that Onias should be summoned to Antioch, and com- 
 manded to dwell there. 
 
 Having thus secured, as he thought, the main object of 
 his ambition the high-priesthood and removed from Je- 
 rusalem a man whose devotion to Judaism and great in- 
 fluence might stand in the way of his ulterior designs, 
 Jason next took steps to secure the preponderance of his 
 own opinions, which aimed at nothing less than a fusion 
 of Judaism with Greek philosophy and civilization. Find- 
 ing how acceptable money was to the king, Jason, at the 
 price of one hundred and fifty talents, (about one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars,) obtained, first, license to erect 
 at Jerusalem a gymnasium, or place for such public sports 
 and exercises as were usual among the Greeks ; next, the 
 permission to establish an academy in which Jewish youth 
 might be brought up after the manner of the Greeks ; and 
 lastly, the important privilege of making what Jews he 
 pleased free of the city of Antioch. The obviou-* purpose 
 of all this was as opposite as possible to that of the insti- 
 tutions of Moses ; for while these sought to preserve the 
 purity of morals and the orthodoxy of faith among tho
 
 204 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Jews, by upholding strict nationality to the exclusion of 
 every commixture with idolaters, the purpose of Jason 
 was to facilitate that commixture, so as eventually to amal- 
 gamate Jew and Greek. 
 
 fn this, however, he was guided by motives of policy 
 and of self-interest, even more than by the spirit of inno- 
 vation, of which he was so recklessly possessed. Admitted 
 to the entertainments and social reunions at the court of 
 Antioch, he had become familiar with the king and had 
 read the secrets of the royal breast, which were no other 
 than a restless and ever-burning desire to raise Syria from 
 that state of prostration and tutelage to which it had 
 been reduced by Rome. And as so large and important 
 a portion of his possessions as the greater part of Asia 
 Minor had been dismembered from his empire, nothing 
 but the most intimate union of the various territories and 
 nationalities which still obeyed the sceptre of the Seleu- 
 cidae, could render it possible that his uncontrollable long- 
 ing for independence and power should ever be realized. 
 
 The Syro-Grecian monarchy was still sufficiently exten- 
 sive, its population numerous, its resources vast enough, 
 to rank as a first-rate power, provided the Oriental nations 
 who formed the immense majority of its inhabitants could 
 become, politically as well as socially and religiously, ce- 
 mented into one nationality, animated by the same spirit 
 and aspirations as himself. This, from the moment Antio- 
 chus ascended the throne, was the one all-absorbing object 
 that filled his mind and engrossed his thoughts. Whoever 
 could greatly assist him in the attaining of his important 
 purpose, would have lasting claims on his gratitude and 
 favour. 
 
 Among the various Oriental nations under his sway, 
 none ranked higher, or offered greater obstacles to his 
 plans, than the Jews. Numerous in Judea, still more so 
 in Mesopotamia and Babylonia, wealthy, industrious, and
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 205 
 
 generally respected, the gaining of their unqualified ad- 
 hesion was an object of great importance ; while from their 
 ancient customs, and still more by their rigid morality 
 and pure monotheism, they might be considered as the 
 most stubborn 'opponents of the king's wish to supersede 
 their nationality and to substitute his own. To employ 
 force against them was what, at this early period of his 
 reign, Antiochus had neither the intention nor the means 
 of doing. To seduce them was a work of so much time 
 and difficulty, as to appear almost hopeless, but for the 
 aid which Jason was in a condition and willing to afford 
 to his plans. Gradually but gently to turn the Jews 
 into Greeks, was a service for which no reward could be 
 too high ; and this service the high-priest essayed to 
 render. 
 
 The effects which resulted from the exertions of Jason, 
 after he had established himself in the high-priesthood, 
 were such as the king hailed with delight. The example 
 of a person in his commanding position drew forth and 
 gave full scope to the more lax dispositions which existed 
 among the people, and especially among the younger class. 
 They were at once enchanted with the ease and freedom 
 of the Greecian mode of life, and weary of the restraints 
 and limitations of their own. Accordingly, they aban- 
 doned themselves with all the frenzy of a new excitrnent, 
 from which all restraint had been withdrawn, to the license 
 which was offered to them. The exercises of the gymna- 
 sium seem to have taken hold of their minds with the force 
 of a fascination. The priests neglected their service at 
 the temple to be present at these spectacles. Some of 
 these exercises were performed naked; and it is related 
 that many of the Jewish competitors found means to ob- 
 literate the peculiar stamp of their nationality, in order 
 that they might not be distinguished from Greeks and 
 other champions in the sports of the gymnasium. The 
 
 Vol. I. 18
 
 206 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 year after his promotion, Jason sent some young men on 
 whom he had conferred the citizenship of Antioch, to assist 
 at the games which were celebrated at Tyre, in honour of 
 Hercules, and at which King Antiochus himself was pre- 
 sent. To prove to the king how zealously the high-priest 
 of Jerusalem laboured in promoting the religious amalga- 
 mation of the various nationalities in the Syro-Greek em- 
 pire, Jason had intrusted his emissaries with a large sum 
 of money to be expended in sacrifices to Hercules. But 
 even the least scrupulous of the high-priest's followers 
 were not prepared to go to this extent with him ; and, in- 
 stead of obeying his instructions, they presented the money 
 to the Tyrians, as a contribution toward repairing their 
 fleet. 
 
 The ferment of innovation in the minds of the Judeans 
 at that time, was not unlike that which, some two thousand 
 years later, agitated the continent of Europe after the 
 spread of the French Revolution and its doctrines. A new 
 and foreign standard of perfection was set up : whatever 
 was Greek, was elegant, and beautiful, and desirable; 
 whatever was not Greek, or opposed to its predominance, 
 was superannuated, bigoted, contemptible. Even minds 
 sincerely attached to Jewish faith and Jewish nationality 
 did not altogether escape the contagion. And it is during 
 this period that we must place the production of works 
 which adhere to the Law and doctrines of Moses, but seek 
 to adorn and popularize them by the help of Grecian muses 
 and philosophy. Indeed, the desire to approximate ex- 
 ternally as much as possible to the usages of the Greek 
 world, without renouncing, internally, the essentials of 
 Judaism, produced a Judeo-Grecian literature, which, in 
 point of time, extended over nearly three centuries, and 
 continued till the destruction of Jerusalem, (70 C. E.,) 
 after which every trace of it disappeared from among 
 the Jews ; so that, at present, this literature is only known
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 207 
 
 to us from fragments that have been preserved by Gentile 
 writers. 
 
 Dr. Philipson, the learned and enterprising Rabbi of 
 Magdeburg, in Germany, has lately collected and pub- 
 lished these Greek fragments. 35 Among them we find 
 tragedies on biblical subjects, by a writer named Ezekiel ; 
 an epic poem by the elder Philo, the subject of which is 
 Jerusalem and the fortunes of its people ; the history of 
 the patriarch Jacob, versified by Theodotus. The writings 
 of Aristobulus, of the sacerdotal family of Aaron, who is 
 said to have lived at the court of the first Ptolemy, (325- 
 284 B. c. E.,) and fragments of which are preserved by 
 Eusebius, (Prsep. Evang. vii.,) are by Philipson considered 
 as of doubtful authenticity. But the letter of Aristeas 
 of which we spoke in our account of the Septuagint is, 
 by the acute critic of Magdeburg, declared to belong to 
 the period of the Maccabean wars, and, most probably, to 
 be the work of an Alexandrian Jew. The two first books 
 of Maccabees, preserved in the Apocrypha of the Bible, 
 are among the more important productions of this Judeo- 
 Grecian literature, the last and greatest of which are 
 formed by the writings of Philo and Josephusr 
 
 Dr. Philipson dwells at some length on the error of as- 
 suming that the Septuagint, the writings of Philo the 
 Younger, and of Josephus, were isolated efforts which had 
 neither predecessors, connecting links, nor successors. It 
 is true that, except to a few ripe scholars, these works 
 were all that was known of the writings of Hellenists; but 
 the fragments preserved fully prove that there was a con- 
 tinuous series of works written in Greek by Jews, at the 
 head of which stands the Septuagint, and the last of which 
 is the history of Josephus. And it is a remarkable circuui- 
 
 "Ezckicl and Philo," Berlin, 1830. "Judco-Grecion Literature," a 
 sketch: Magdeburg, 1864.
 
 208 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 stance, that the whole of this literature, tragic, epic, his- 
 torical, or philosophical, treats of biblical and Jewish 
 subjects only. It may, therefore, be considered as a con- 
 cession made to the innovating spirit of the times, which 
 required that even Judaism itself should, to some extent, 
 assume a foreign garb, and deck itself out with foreign 
 graces. 
 
 Jason only enjoyed his ill-gotten dignity for three years. 
 The means he had used to supplant his worthier predeces- 
 sors were, with similar effect, employed against himself. 
 Having sent his younger brother Onias, who assumed the 
 Greek name Menelaus, 36 to Antioch with tribute, this am- 
 bitious profligate took advantage of the opportunity to in- 
 gratiate himself with the king; and, by offering to pay 
 annually three hundred talents (about $300,000) more 
 than Jason did, he succeeded in removing Jason from the 
 high-priesthood, and getting himself appointed in his stead. 
 But in his attempt to assume that high office he was re- 
 pulsed and compelled to return to Antioch. There he 
 professed for himself and his associates an entire con- 
 formity to the religion of the Greeks, and by that means 
 succeeded in persuading Antiochus to establish him by 
 force. He returned to Jerusalem at the head of a de- 
 tachment of the Syrian army, then marching against 
 Egypt. Jason, disgracefully expelled, was forced to seek 
 refuge in the land of the Ammonites. And Menelaus, 
 who was not only less scrupulous even than Jason, but 
 who, moreover, proved himself capable of the most atro- 
 cious crimes, triumphantly assumed the honours and 
 powers of high-priest. Thus there were at one and the 
 same time what had never been before, three high-priests, 
 
 36 It became the fashion among persons of consequence, to adopt, in 
 their intercourse with the Greeks, a Grecian name, in sound or meaning 
 as like as possible to the Hebrew one by which they were known among 
 the Jews.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 209 
 
 of whom, however, only one, Onias, then living at Antioch, 
 was legitimate ; the other two were usurpers. 
 
 The Syrian monarchy had at length acquitted itself of 
 the heavy annual tribute it had to pay to Rome, and to 
 raise which every means of extortion, and even of plunder, 
 had been adopted. But King Antiochus had become accus- 
 tomed to these nefarious means of raising money ; and as 
 one of the instruments by which he hoped to restore the 
 power of his empire consisted in a large army of merce- 
 naries, the maintaining of which was very costly, the king 
 continued to grind down his subjects by excessive taxation, 
 and exacted from the farmers of the royal revenues the 
 high-priest of Jerusalem being one of the number the 
 most punctual payment of the largest possible amount that 
 could be wrung from the people. 
 
 This king, Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, "the illustrious," 
 but who subsequently gained for himself the surname of 
 Epimanes, "the mad," was one of those wayward, fickle, 
 but still obstinate and ruthless characters, that but too 
 often are found among the inheritors and holders of irre- 
 sponsible despotic power. Possessed of considerable abili- 
 ties, and destitute neither of courage nor of conduct ac- 
 cording to the testimony of his contemporary, Polybius 
 the historian, who by no means flatters him the king of 
 Syria on several occasions acted in a manner correspond- 
 ing to the "illustrious" surname which he bore. (Polyb. 
 lib. xxvi. frag. 8; lib. xxix. frag. 9.) But, to counterba- 
 lance his talents, he was immoderately fond of Avine, and 
 when under its influence, he became a madman. In his 
 temper and disposition he combined the quick, versatile, 
 and capricious character of the Greek, with the splendid 
 voluptuousness and fierce despotism of the Oriental. His 
 residence of twelve years at Rome had also produced a 
 considerable impression on his mind. He brought home 
 with him that ruthlessness of purpose, and that indifiVr- 
 
 18*
 
 210 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ence to human suffering, for which the Romans were distin- 
 guished; and his natural stubbornness and haughty temper 
 were carried to excess in the vain attempt to emulate 
 Roman firmness. 
 
 Dishonest in his purposes, and utterly unscrupulous, like 
 his father, in the means of accomplishing them, not the 
 least among the many discrepancies of this worthless 
 character was a degree of bigotry and consequent reli- 
 gious intolerance, all the more detestable because it was 
 the offspring, not merely of feeling or conviction, but 
 chiefly of policy and calculation. We have already spoken 
 of his great design to effect the social, political, and re- 
 ligious amalgamation of all the different nationalities in 
 his empire. As a principal means, he revived the splen- 
 dour of public worship, especially of those gods who were 
 considered as the most nationally Grecian. Among these 
 he singled out the Olympian Jupiter as the object of his 
 own special adoration, with such zeal and generosity, that 
 his gifts to the temple of that god at Athens, his profuse 
 liberality to the temple at Delos, and his general largess 
 to the various temples, began to produce the effect at 
 which he aimed ; at least in Greece, whence the armies of 
 his mercenaries were chiefly recruited. In the public as- 
 semblies of the Greek cities, the magnanimity and gene- 
 rous patriotism of Antiochus toward Greece were loudly 
 proclaimed, and met with ready recognition, even by the 
 political adversaries of the king of Syria. 
 
 The large sums of money which Antiochus extorted from 
 his subjects, enabled him to avail himself of the popularity 
 his zeal for religion had gained him in Greece, to enlist in 
 his service numbers of military adventurers; and though 
 he did not attempt to increase his fleet beyond the number 
 of ships to which the treaty with Rome restricted him, his 
 land forces daily became more formidable, both from num- 
 bers and military prowess. And he soon found the oppor-
 
 p 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 211 
 
 tunity of employing them. It will be remembered that 
 the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, who was 
 stripped of his Syrian possessions by Antiochus the Great, 
 had subsequently married Cleopatra, the daughter of that 
 monarch, under a promise that the three provinces of 
 Palestine, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria, which had been 
 wrested from him, should be restored to him ; a promise 
 that never was fulfilled. After a profligate and troubled 
 reign of twenty-four years, this Ptolemy V. was taken off 
 by poison, (181 B. c. E.,) and left three children, Ptolemy 
 Philometor, Ptolemy Physcon, and Cleopatra, who was 
 successively married to her two brothers. 
 
 The eldest of them, Ptolemy VI., surnamed Philometor, 
 "mother-loving," was but a child at the death of his father, 
 and the government was conducted by his mother, Cleo- 
 patra, during eight years, with great ability. But when 
 she died (173 B. c. E.,) the regency devolved on the tutors 
 of the young king, who at once advanced a claim on his 
 behalf to the possession of the three provinces, on the two- 
 fold ground that they had been secured to Ptolemy I. So- 
 ter by the partition treaty of the battle of Ipsos, (301 
 B. C. E. ;) and that they had again been given by Antiochus 
 III. the Great, in dowry with his daughter Cleopatra, on 
 her becoming queen of Egypt. Antiochus IV. Epiphanes 
 refused to listen to these demands, and both parties sent 
 deputies to Rome to argue their respective claims before 
 the senate. 
 
 When Philometor completed his fourteenth year, he was 
 solemnly invested with the sovereignty, on which occasion 
 embassies of congratulation were sent from all the neigh- 
 bouring governments. Apollonius, the ambassador of An- 
 tiochus, was instructed to sound the dispositions of Pto- 
 lemy's court; and when he informed Antiochus that ho was 
 viewed as an enemy by the Egyptians, the king of Syria 
 immediately proceeded to Joppa to survey his frontiers
 
 212 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 toward Egypt, and to put them in a state of defence. 
 On this occasion he paid a visit to Jerusalem. The king 
 was received by Jason, who was still high-priest, with every 
 demonstration of respect ; and the city was illuminated in 
 honour of his presence. He afterward returned through 
 Phoenicia to Antioch, where he began actively to prepare 
 for the invasion of Egypt. 
 
 The time was well chosen. Rome had just begun war 
 with the last king of Macedon ; and with its usual diplo- 
 matic skill and duplicity, the senate had evaded pronoun- 
 cing sentence on the conflicting claims of Syria and Egypt, 
 lest, by deciding in favour of the one, it might drive the 
 other to take part with Macedon. And as thus the pos- 
 session by Antiochus of the three provinces in dispute, had 
 at least the tacit sanction of Rome, he determined to avail 
 himself of his military superiority, in order to compel the 
 king of Egypt forever to relinquish claims on which Rome 
 had declined to decide. It was while busy with these 
 preparations, that Menelaus arrived at Antioch as the 
 emissary of his brother Jason, whom, by the bribe of a 
 larger tribute, he supplanted in the high-priesthood. And 
 when, as we have already related, Menelaus had to be 
 established in that office by force of arms, it was a detach- 
 ment of the king's forces marching against Egypt, that in- 
 stalled the new dignitary in Jerusalem. 
 
 Menelaus soon found that he had overtaxed his resources 
 in the sum he had engaged to pay for his promotion ; and 
 in consequence of the non-payment, he was summoned to 
 Antioch by the king, who exacted strict punctuality from 
 his debtors. On arriving at the capital, Menelaus found 
 that Antiochus was absent, preparing for the campaign 
 against Egypt; and that he himself could not hope to re- 
 tain the king's favour, unless the promised payment was 
 completed. Having exhausted his own coffers as well as 
 credit, he privately sent directions to his youngest brother,
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 213 
 
 Lysimachus, whom he had left as his representative at 
 Jerusalem, to withdraw some of the consecrated vessels 
 of gold from the temple, to sell them at Tyre, or in some 
 other city, and to send the money to him at Antioch. 
 
 This disgraceful affair could not be managed with so 
 much secrecy as to remain altogether concealed; and 
 eventually it came to the knowledge of the eldest of the 
 brothers, Onias III., the legitimate high-priest, who had 
 been supplanted by Jason, and who, compelled to reside at 
 Antioch, was highly respected by the numerous Jews in- 
 habiting that city. Indignant at the sacrilegious robbery 
 of which his younger brother had been guilty, Onias de- 
 nounced the crime in strong language, which threw the 
 Antiochian Jews into a state of excitement and displeasure, 
 that threatened to prove highly dangerous to Menelaus. 
 He, therefore, by means of a large bribe, prevailed on An. 
 dronicus, the king's deputy at Antioch, to put Onias to 
 death. Onias, informed of these intrigues, had taken re- 
 fuge in the sanctuary of Daphne; but was induced to quit 
 that disreputable place 37 by the assurances of safety and 
 promises of protection he received from Andronicus, who, 
 however, caused him to be barbarously murdered as soon 
 as he had passed the privileged bounds. 
 
 This atrocious act raised a terrible outcry among the 
 Jews of Antioch, who hastened to lay their complaints 
 before the king as soon as he returned to that city. An- 
 tiochus. to give him his due, was much affected, and shed 
 tears when he heard them. He promised justice, and per- 
 formed it, at least as far as the evidence before him per- 
 mitted. Andronicu.s, whose guilt a proper investigation 
 had made manifest, was stripped of his purple, and put to 
 
 " Thin wan a prove about three miles from Antioch, dedicated to tlio 
 god of light, Apollo ; am! which ha<l been made a sanctuary for criminals 
 and a place of pleasure. In the end, the place became so infamous, that 
 no man of character could vi-it it.
 
 214 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 death on the very spot where Onias had heen murdered,. 
 Menelaus, the more guilty of the two, found means to 
 escape the storm which destroyed the agent of his crime. 
 But the large sums of money that were necessary to 
 enable him to maintain his credit, obliged his brother 
 Lysimachus to resort to such unheard-of exactions, vio- 
 lence, and sacrilege, that the people of Jerusalem rose 
 against him. They scattered like chaff the three thousand 
 men he had got to defend him, and, when he himself fled 
 to the treasury of the temple, pursued and slew him there. 
 
 While this was doing at Jerusalem, Antiochus, having 
 completed his preparations for war, led his army along 
 the coast of Palestine, and crossing the frontiers, gave the 
 Egyptians a signal overthrow at Pelusium. (171 B. c. E.) 
 He then left garrisons along the whole of the border, and 
 withdrew into winter quarters at Tyre. On hearing of 
 his arrival there, the Jewish elders sent thither three 
 venerable deputies, to explain the cause of the late riots 
 in Jerusalem, which had led to the death of Lysimachus, 
 and to accuse Menelaus as the author of all the troubles 
 that had happened in Antioch as well as in Judea. 
 
 The case they made out was so strong, and was heard 
 with so much attention by the king, that Menelaus felt 
 greatly alarmed for the result. He therefore applied hiin- 
 self to the king's favourite, Ptolemy Macron, and promised 
 him so large a bribe, that he was induced to watch the 
 inconstant temper of the king, whose mind was becoming 
 inflamed by nightly carousals and unrestrained indulgence 
 in wine. Macron availed himself of a fitting opportunity, 
 and got the king not only to absolve Menelaus, but to 
 condemn the three Jewish deputies to death. 
 
 This most unjust and horrid sentence was no sooner 
 pronounced than it was executed ; for both Menelaus and 
 his confederate Macron dreaded that a return to reason 
 might cause the king to recall the fatal decree. The
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 215 
 
 whole nation of Jews was greatly shocked by the foul deed, 
 which was not less abhorrent to foreigners ; so that the 
 Tyrians even ventured to express their sense of the wrong, 
 by giving an honourable burial to the murdered men. The 
 ultimate effect was, that the pride of King Antiochus felt 
 offended at the turn against him which public opinion had 
 taken ; and, as is usually the case, having injured the 
 Jews, he began to hate them ; while their dislike of him 
 was second only to the strong aversion which they enter- 
 tained for Menelaus. But, at the same time, the para- 
 mount influence of that guilty person with the king seemed 
 so fully established, and was so clearly evinced, that all 
 further thoughts of resisting his authority were abandoned. 
 Accordingly he resumed his station at Jerusalem ; while 
 the presence, in the vicinity, of the king at the head of 
 his powerful and victorious army, rendered any general 
 manifestation of the public feeling impracticable. 
 
 In the spring of the next year, Antiochus undertook a 
 second expedition against the Egyptians. And as the 
 attention of the Romans was, for the time, absorbed by 
 the war against Perseus, the last king of Macedon, which 
 hitherto had turned to their disadvantage, Antiochus, in 
 order to attack Egypt by sea and land, presumed to vio- 
 late that article of the treaty of peace with Rome, which 
 restricted his fleet to ten ships of war. Philometor took 
 the field against him in person, but was defeated and taken 
 prisoner. Antiochus treated his nephew with much kind- 
 ness ; and though after the victory he had the Egyptian 
 nrmy in his power, and might have cut them to pieces, ho 
 behaved toward them with such humanity, as gained him 
 great favour with that people. Eventually the whole 
 of Egypt submitted to him, with the exception of ono 
 city only. 
 
 But this city was Alexandria, the strong and wealthy, 
 containing more of pure Hebrew and Grecian blood, and
 
 216 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 more military resources, than were now to be found in all 
 the rest of the kingdom collectively. Attachment to the 
 dynasty of the Ptolemeans, which so long had ruled in 
 Egypt, induced the Alexandrians to acknowledge as their 
 king the younger brother of Philometor, named like him, 
 Ptolemy, and whom they honoured with the surname Euer- 
 getes "the benefactor;" though he is usually distin- 
 guished in history by his nickname, Physcon, "big belly," 
 acquired, when he grew older, from his excessive corpu- 
 lency. Antiochus, in the mean time, had taken possession 
 of Pelusium, a strong frontier fortress, and was placing 
 garrisons in other Egyptian strongholds, when a rumour 
 of his death, before Alexandria, reached Jerusalem and 
 caused general joy. 
 
 The deposed high-priest Jason quitted the land of the 
 Ammonites, and with a party, assisted by friends within, 
 surprised Jerusalem, massacred many citizens, drove his 
 brother Menelaus into the castle, and possessed himself of 
 the principality. But he was speedily compelled to quit 
 the city and country, at the news that Antiochus was alive 
 and marching against him with a powerful army. After 
 wandering from place to place, and from one country to 
 another, a fugitive and a vagabond, Jason at last perished 
 miserably, a refugee in the distant and strange land of 
 Lacedaeraonia ; nor did his wretched end compensate for 
 the innumerable ills which his profligacy and ambition 
 had brought upon his country. 
 
 His last inroad into Judea had been reported to Antio- 
 chus with such exaggeration, as led him to conclude that 
 the whole nation had revolted; and being further provoked 
 by hearing that the Jews had made public rejoicings at 
 the news of his death, he marched in great wrath from 
 Egypt, took Jerusalem by assault, destroyed forty thou- 
 sand persons, and dragged an equal number into captivity. 
 He then plundered the temple of its treasures, which are
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 217 
 
 said in value to have amounted to fifteen millions of dollars 
 in the public and private treasury : for, beside the pro- 
 perty of the temple, there was money belonging to widows 
 and orphans, and other valuable deposits, the whole of 
 which were carried away to Antioch. The capital being 
 thus drained of treasure and drenched in blood, .the coun- 
 try was once more abandoned to Menelaus, supported by 
 an armed force under Philip and Andronicus, two Syrian 
 generals of relentless cruelty. 
 
 After having secured his valuable plunder in his own 
 metropolis, Antiochus the next year (169 B. c. E.) returned 
 to Egypt and laid siege to Alexandria. All his efforts, 
 however, were baffled by the determined resistance of the 
 inhabitants. The Jews, in particular, who formed full 
 half of the population of that city, were greatly exaspe- 
 rated at the cruelty and rapacity with which Jerusalem had 
 been treated, and assisted with fierce zeal in repelling the 
 attacks of Antiochus. During the siege, Physcon, in con- 
 junction with his sister Cleopatra, sent an embassy to 
 Rome, to complain of the deplorable condition to which 
 their country was reduced by the ambition of an encroach- 
 ing neighbour, their own unnatural uncle, whose vassal 
 their unworthy elder brother had submitted to become. 
 This embassy alarmed Antiochus; and as he found that 
 the reduction of Alexandria was a work of greater diffi- 
 culty than he was at the time prepared to surmount, he 
 made a virtue of necessity, raised the siege, and with his 
 army withdrew to Memphis, where he had caused his cap- 
 tive nephew to take up his residence. 
 
 Here he affected solemnly to deliver up the kingdom of 
 Egypt to Philometor, while he himself returned to Antioch. 
 But as Antiochus retained in his own hands Pelusium, the 
 key of Egypt on the side of Syrin, his ulterior designs 
 were but too transparent to Philomctcr, not less than to 
 Physcon. The two brothers soon entered into an amicable 
 
 Vol. I. 10
 
 218 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 correspondence, chiefly through the intervention of the 
 Rhodian ambassadors, who viewed with no friendly eye 
 the revival of the naval power of Syria. Both brothers 
 were earnestly desirous of peace : Physcon, because Alex- 
 andria in a great measure depended for subsistence on 
 provisions conveyed by the Nile; and Philometor, because 
 the city held by his brother was the only place strong 
 enough to resist Antiochus, should he, a fourth time, in- 
 vade Egypt. The brothers, therefore, agreed that they 
 would share the government between them, and resist An- 
 tiochus with their united power; and, further, that a joint 
 embassy should be sent to Rome to implore the protection 
 of the republic against their uncle. 
 
 This brought on a fourth invasion of Egypt by Antio- 
 chus, (168 B. c. E.,) who now threw off the mask he had 
 hitherto chosen to wear ; and as their embassy to Rome 
 had produced no result, he declared himself the enemy of 
 both the brother-kings. As had been foreseen, he took pos- 
 session of all the country except Alexandria, the siege of 
 which city he prepared to resume with forces much more 
 considerable than those under his command the preceding 
 year. But, though the plunder of Jerusalem had enabled 
 him greatly to augment the number of his mercenaries, the 
 circumstances under which he now, for the second time, 
 marched against Alexandria, were widely different from 
 what they had been the year before. The Romans had at 
 length brought the war against Macedon to a close. De- 
 feated at the decisive battle of Pydna, the last king of 
 Macedon died a prisoner ; and the hereditary kingdom of 
 Alexander the Great was erased from the list of independ- 
 ent states, and became a Roman province. 
 
 After this vast augmentation of their power and re- 
 sources, the Romans at length found leisure to attend to the 
 urgent cries for help of their ancient allies, the Ptolemies. 
 While, however, to satisfy the clamorous Egyptian am-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 219 
 
 bassadors, a commission was at once despatched from Rome, 
 secret orders detained it at Delos, in Greece, until the 
 campaign against Perseus should be decided. But when 
 the battle of Pydna had secured the supremacy of Rome, 
 the commissioners hastened to carry out their mission. 
 At their head was placed Popilius Lcenas, a man pre- 
 eminently qualified to carry out the haughtiest instructions 
 in the haughtiest manner. After a visit of five days to 
 Rhodes a commonwealth in alliance with Rome, but 
 which, during the war, had given offence to the senate, 
 and was now to be severely mulcted the commissioners 
 reached Egypt, and encountered Antiochus at a place 
 called Eleusis, on the sea-shore, four miles from Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 During his long residence at Rome, King Antiochus had 
 been on terms of intimacy with Popilius ; and, seeing him 
 now at the head of the commissioners, the king, rejoiced, 
 stretched forth his arms to embrace him. But the Roman 
 sternly repelled the salute, demanding first to receive an 
 answer to the written orders of the senate of which he 
 was the bearer. The official tablet which he handed to 
 Antiochus contained but one single sentence: "Antiochus, 
 thou wilt abstain from making war on the Ptolemies." 
 
 On reading this haughty missive, the king felt equally 
 indignant and grieved. Still, dissembling his feelings, he 
 said calmly to Popilius, " I will confer on the matter with 
 my friends, and let thce know the result." But the 
 haughty Roman refused to grant the king even the sem- 
 blance of free will: instant, abject submission to the man- 
 date of the senate was what ho required and exacted. With 
 his staff, Popiliu.s drew a circle round the king on the sand, 
 and said, " I require thy answer before thou steppest out 
 of this circle." The struggle in the king's mind between 
 pride and fear, though fierce, was brief. " I will obey the 
 senate," was the faltering answer reluctantly wrung from
 
 220 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 the conscious feeling of his impotency, as his eye imperi- 
 ous quailed beneath the steadfast gaze of the stern repub 
 lican, and his royal head bowed humbly in token of sub- 
 mission. Then, as if in pity for the mental anguish he 
 had inflicted on the king, Popilius extended his hand to 
 his old friend. A year before, the conduct of either party 
 would have been very different. But the conquest of Ma- 
 cedon once achieved, the supremacy of Rome was no longer 
 to be disputed by any of the terror-stricken successors of 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
 In obedience to the commands of the senate, Antiochus 
 at once withdrew his army from Egypt. As that army 
 defiled before him, and he saw the thousands upon thou- 
 sands of brave, highly-disciplined, and well-accoutred war- 
 riors who were ready to " do or die" at his bidding ; when 
 he reflected that, notwithstanding all this mighty array, 
 he himself, its chief, was nothing more than the abject de- 
 pendant and slave of a remote commonwealth, his mortifi- 
 cation and rage knew no bounds. And as the agitation of 
 his mind was still further heightened by the large quanti- 
 ties of wine which he continually swallowed, his phrensy 
 increased to such a degree, that his favourite, Macron, 
 deemed it absolutely necessary that the king should vent 
 his pent-up indignation on some hated object which, to his 
 distempered imagination, might serve as a substitute for 
 detested Rome. 
 
 Judea Jerusalem unfortunately lay in his way. Ever 
 since the foul murder of the Jewish delegates, committed 
 by his orders at Tyre, the reproaches of his own conscience 
 and the sullen discontent of the Judeans combined to ren- 
 der them hateful to him. In the fulness of his power, 
 their proud metropolis had manifested its joy at the tidings 
 of his death, and had been punished with plunder and 
 slaughter. Doubtless his present humiliation was, to that 
 city, a source of revengeful satisfaction. But he ought to
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 221 
 
 mar its joy. Though he could not defy Rome, he was still 
 able to destroy Jerusalem ; and the work of desolation 
 which he had commenced in his ^prosperity he could and 
 would complete even now in his deepest adversity. 
 
 The proposal was no sooner presented to his mind, than 
 he determined to carry it out. During the four successive 
 years that King Antiochus had invaded Egypt, the march 
 of his troops through portions of Judea had subjected that 
 country to much suffering. And when the inroad of Ja- 
 son, and the storming of Jerusalem, had once aroused the 
 fury of Antiochus, he handed over that city and the whole 
 country to the tender mercies of officers known and noto- 
 rious for their relentless cruelty and ever-exacting rapacity. 
 Andronicus, Philip the Phrygian, "more barbarous than 
 his master," and Menelaus, the recreant high-priest, 
 "worse than all the rest," vied with each other in pander- 
 ing to the king's hatred of the Jews. The two years, 1G9 
 and 168 B. c. E., beheld the Syrian mercenaries living at 
 free quarters in Judea; and those portions of the country 
 that laid on the line of march of the Syrian army were 
 impoverished by the continual billetings of soldiers, and 
 oppressed by their brutality. At the same time, and while 
 the ordinary traffic of the country was interrupted by the 
 war, and its resources were daily growing less, the ex- 
 actions of Menelaus, whose tax-gatherers wrung from the 
 people the scanty pittance which the rapacity of the sol- 
 diery had not carried off, were unceasing. It was, there- 
 fore, no wonder that, when the king entered Judea, he 
 found the inhabitants gloomy, dissatisfied, and little dis- 
 posed to welcome him with any outward demonstrations of 
 joy or affection. And as the spirit of discontent, which 
 he hirast'lf had called forth, reacted on his furious frame 
 of mind, he intrusted the execution of his immediate ven- 
 geance to fitting ministers; while he himself hastened on to 
 Antioch, there to prepare the final blow that was forever 
 
 19*
 
 222 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 to extinguish Judaism as a religion, and the Jews as a pe- 
 culiar people. 
 
 It is doubtful whether Menelaus was sufficiently in the 
 king's confidence to he instructed officially of the blow 
 meditated against Jerusalem and the temple ; but the 
 private relations between him and Macron were of such a 
 nature that it is extremely probable the high-priest had a 
 hint of what was intended, that he might provide for the 
 safety of his personal friends and adherents. Menelaus, 
 in his inmost heart, hated the people of Jerusalem. They 
 had slaughtered his brother and representative, Lysima- 
 chus ; they thirsted for the blood of Menelaus himself, and 
 he knew it. Fratricide, assassin, traitor to his people and 
 to his God, Menelaus knew that throughout the whole of 
 his administration, from the instant he supplanted his 
 brother Jason until now that the ruffian mercenaries of 
 his despot master were to be let loose, on an innocent and 
 unsuspecting people, not one redeeming trait could plead 
 for him ; and that his own personal safety required that 
 he should crown his career of guilt by exterminating his 
 enemies a designation in which he justly included the 
 entire orthodox population of Jerusalem. 
 
 He had already at Antioch declared his readiness to 
 adopt the polytheism of Greece, and thus to second the 
 favourite scheme of Antiochus religious unity throughout 
 his empire. His adherents those who wished to set aside 
 the usages of Judaism, and to break down the partition 
 wall that separated the Jews from the heathen world 
 were quite ready to go with him to any length in the re- 
 nunciation of Jewish customs and observances. They 
 contended that, while it was absolutely necessary to dis- 
 tinguish between the principles and practices of Judaism, 
 it was also highly desirable there should be a fusion be- 
 tween the Jews and Gentiles ; that, therefore, no import- 
 ance whatever ought to be atached to the external rites
 
 JUDEA UNDEK THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 223 
 
 and observances of religion ; and that sacrifices, festivals 
 and days of rest, forbidden meats, and all other institutions 
 peculiar to Judaism, should at once and forever be re- 
 nounced, to make room for that freedom from restraint, 
 and those graceful and pleasing observances which distin- 
 guished the Grecian world ; that by this means the Jews, 
 instead of being a feeble minority, obnoxious to the king 
 because they thwarted his great purpose of national amal- 
 gamation, would become incorporated in that universal 
 (pagan) church, the altars of which rose everywhere 
 throughout the civilized world ; and would, moreover, obtain 
 honours, dignities, and offices from the favour of the king. 
 
 Thus Menelaus and his adherents publicly professed 
 their readiness to renounce the Law of Moses, while in their 
 private life they made no scruple in violating its precepts ; 
 and nothing but the dread of the vast majority of the 
 people prevented Menelaus and his party from publicly 
 abolishing the sabbaths and festivals. The two parties, 
 the orthodox and the apostates, viewed each other with 
 extreme aversion ; and as the misfortunes of the times 
 soured men's minds, a conflict between the two was with 
 difficulty prevented by the presence of the foreign soldiery, 
 who, it was well known, were sure to take part with Mene- 
 laus, provided only he and his partisans did not begin the 
 affray, and thus might, with some show of reason, claim pro- 
 tection against the people. 
 
 Such was the state of public feeling in Jerusalem, when 
 Apollonius, a Syrian general, at the head of twenty-two 
 thousand men, was detached by King Antiochus against 
 that city. As this general was known as the receiver of 
 the king's taxes throughout Judea, and had usually been at- 
 tended by a considerable body of troops, his arrival and the 
 great force that attended him caused no alarm ; and, as 
 his men gave no offence to the citizens, the Jews had not 
 the slightest suspicion of his hostile intentions.
 
 224 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 All things remained quiet until the sabbath, on which 
 day it was known the Jews of that age would not fight, 
 even in self-defence. In the midst of the festive rest that 
 prevailed, the soldiers were let loose, and scoured the 
 streets, slaughtering all they met, that suffered themselves 
 meekly to be slain, none being found who attempted to 
 stand on their defence. This is the first instance of that 
 passive courage resulting from adherence to principle 
 of which, since then, the Jews have so often had occasion 
 to give proof, and which is the more praiseworthy as it is 
 not the result of cowardice or want of spirit. This same 
 people, the Jews which suffered itself, unresisting, to be 
 butchered in the streets of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, 
 because they believed that the law prohibited self-defence 
 on that day shortly afterward surprised the world by 
 deeds of valour and military achievement that placed their 
 active courage above the possibility of question or doubt ; 
 but which, not less than their former passive endurance, 
 resulted from adherence to one great and most holy prin- 
 ciple to prefer duty to life. 
 
 While the men were thus cruelly slaughtered, the women 
 and children were spared, to be sold for slaves. All the 
 streets of Jerusalem and the courts of the temple flowed 
 with blood ; and the ferocious Menelaus could glut his 
 eyes with the sight of his lifeless enemies. The houses 
 were forced and pillaged, and the city wall was thrown 
 down. All the buildings near Mount Zion were demolished, 
 and with the materials Apollonius strengthened the fortifi- 
 cations of the citadel, which he furnished with a numerous 
 garrison, and held under his own command. This castle 
 was so situated as to give the garrison complete command 
 over the temple, so that the people could no longer visit 
 the sanctuary. And as Menelaus, now all-powerful, re- 
 fused to perform the public services of the Jewish religion, 
 the daily sacrifices ceased in the month of Siva'n, (June,)
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 225 
 
 167 B. c. E. The priests and Levites who survived dis- 
 persed ; and Jerusalem, a city numbering from one hundred 
 and twenty to one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, 
 was soon completely deserted, as the citizens who escaped 
 the massacre fled for refuge to the towns of the neighbouring 
 Gentiles. 
 
 The first act of King Antiochus's revenge had been 
 thus far successful : the proud city that had caused public 
 rejoicings to be performed at the report of his death, was 
 deserted ; the citizens, who would have triumphed in his 
 humiliation, were forced, homeless and vagabond, to hide 
 their own heads in humble dependence on those heathen 
 protectors who gave them shelter. But it was not enough 
 that Jerusalem should be brought thus low, that the 
 Jewish people should be thus afflicted ; their faith was to 
 be eradicated, their religious nationality was to be forever 
 destroyed, and the only altar consecrated to the worship 
 of " the Lord of heaven," but wrested from him and 
 transferred to the gods of Greece, was at once to attest 
 the crowning measure of the king's revenge, and the full 
 success of his policy of amalgamation. At Antioch a 
 decree was now issued and proclaimed in all the provinces 
 of Syria, commanding the inhabitants of the whole empire 
 to worship the gods of the king, and to acknowledge no 
 religion but his, with the declared object " that all should 
 become one people." 
 
 Some historians are of opinion that this measure was 
 adopted by Antiochus in order to give him a pretext for 
 plundering the many rich temples throughout his domi- 
 nions dedicated to the aboriginal gods of Asia. Thus, 
 among the ancients, Folybius tells us that " Antiochus 
 was the first king of Syria who formed a regular plan for 
 profaning the sanctity of temples," or, in other words, 
 robbing the banks of deposit, and rifling the great maga- 
 zines of commerce. And among later writers, Hales
 
 226 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 fancies that this general persecution seems to have been 
 raised by Antiochus not from any regard to his own reli- 
 gion, but from a regular plan and deep-laid scheme of 
 plundering the temples throughout his dominions after he 
 had suppressed their worship." But these writers take 
 too narrow a view of Antiochus's design, which, as we 
 have already stated, was nothing less than once more to 
 raise the Syro-Grecian empire to that independence and 
 power which it had possessed before its unfortunate wars 
 against Rome. This is evident from the fact that there 
 was no general persecution, although the edict was general 
 in its terms. The cities containing the wealthiest temples 
 already worshipped the gods of Greece ; and subsequent 
 facts proved that none of the other pagan nations would 
 make much difficulty in complying with the royal edict, at 
 least as far as the reception went of a few foreign divinities 
 into their already crowded Pantheon. 
 
 Nor can we, with Kitto, admit the supposition that King 
 Antiochus, the madman, was solely actuated " by his insane 
 hatred of the Jews, and which he could not safely manifest 
 without bringing them into a condition of apparent con- 
 tumacy, which might in some degree excuse, in the eyes 
 of the heathen, his contemplated severities against them." 
 For we must bear in mind that Antiochus did not act from 
 his own impulse, but under the deliberate advice of Ptolemy 
 Macron, a veteran statesman, (Polyb. lib.xxxviii. cap. 18,) 
 and that the fusion of the various nations inhabiting the 
 Syrian empire into one great nationality was a measure 
 that had much to recommend it. And though, during the 
 four successive years that he invaded Egypt, Antiochus's 
 plan of amalgamation had been suspended, it had never 
 been abandoned ; while now, that he had been made so 
 painfully to feel his own weakness and the supremacy of 
 Rome, he returned to his schemes with renewed ardour. 
 
 But, as will sometimes happen, special and particular
 
 JTJDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 227 
 
 interests, however reasohable they may be in themselves, 
 must yield to the insurmountable obstacles opposed to 
 them by general interests of a higher nature and import- 
 ance. And when the king of Syria in order to arrive 
 at the reasonable and, to him, very desirable result of 
 uniting the different portions of his empire into one 
 nationality sought to enforce a state of things, religious 
 and social, which would have reduced Judaism to the 
 necessity of trampling under foot the principle of its 
 existence, its traditions of the past, and its hopes of the 
 future, there arose a conflict of interests most unequal in 
 their importance to the whole human race. The power 
 and independence of Syria were but as a grain of sand 
 in the destinies of mankind, when weighed against the 
 existence and truth of the Jewish religion. Accordingly, 
 it was this difference in the innate importance of the two 
 interests, and not the relative quantity of physical force 
 by which either was supported, that decided the conflict. 
 
 According to the royal decree, the public practice of 
 the Jewish religion and of its observances was prohibited. 
 Circumcision, the keeping of the sabbath, and the reading 
 of the Law, were declared to be capital offences, to be 
 punished with death; and all the copies of the Law that 
 could be found were seized and defaced, torn in pieces, or 
 burnt. It was at this time that, in order to have some 
 substitute in their public worship for the interdicted Pen- 
 tateuch, the Jews introduced the public reading in the 
 synagogues of such portions from other books of Scrip- 
 ture as had some analogy, or bore some reference, to that 
 special section of the Law which, till then, had been 
 appointed to be read. The portion thus selected is called 
 Ilaphtorah ; M for, in perpetual commemoration of that 
 
 - 
 
 I/aphtorah, " discharge" or "dismission." So called, because it ia 
 the closing portion of Scripture read during the synagogue sorvico.
 
 228 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 season of affliction, the custom of publicly reading the 
 Haphtorah on sabbaths, festivals and fast-days, has ever 
 since been retained in the synagogue. 
 
 In order to instruct the people in the practices of their 
 new religion, and to enforce the observance of its rites, 
 the king sent to Jerusalem an old man named Athenseus, 
 who became director-general of public worship. He dedi- 
 cated the temple to Jupiter Olympus, the favourite divinity 
 of Antiochus ; and on the altar of the Lord he placed a 
 smaller one, to be used in sacrificing to the heathen god, 
 whose image was erected in the sanctuary. In these 
 events biblical critics find the fulfilment of Daniel's 
 prophecy, (ix. 27,) which speaks of the " abomination of 
 desolation." This altar was set up on the 15th, and the 
 first sacrifices on it were brought on the 25th day of 
 Kislev, (November-December, 167 B. c. E.) Groves were 
 consecrated, and idolatrous altars erected in every city ; 
 and the citizens were required to keep a feast on each 
 monthly date of the king's birthday, when they were 
 forced to offer sacrifices to the idols and to eat swine's 
 flesh. The licentious orgies of the Bacchanalia were 
 substituted for the national festival of the Tabernacles; 
 while the people were compelled to join in these disgrace- 
 ful riots, and to walk in the procession crowned with ivy 
 and almost naked. 
 
 While this was doing in Judea, the king, by the advice 
 of Macron, sent forth overseers, who were to enforce the 
 decree of uniformity throughout his empire. These emis- 
 saries pervaded the provinces, escorted by soldiers not 
 only for their own security, but that, wherever necessary, 
 they might propagate their religion by the sword. Their 
 proceedings, equally tyrannical and rapacious, caused in- 
 surrections in those parts of Upper Asia still subject to 
 the house of Seleucus. But the nations on this side of 
 the Euphrates, being more within the reach of the control-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 229 
 
 ling Syrian army, complied with the overseers' injunctions 
 before they assumed the tone of commands. (Diodorus, 
 Excerpt, p. 580.) 
 
 Even the Samaritans, who often asserted themselves to 
 be of Hebrew descent, and who, under Alexander, had 
 eagerly set forth their claim to a Jewish origin, now wrote 
 to Antiochus to declare that they were of the race of the 
 Medes and the Sidonians. They acknowledged that their 
 ancestors, with a view to prevent certain plagues too fre- 
 quent in their country, had built a temple to the God of 
 the Jews on Mount Gerizim, and had observed the Jewish 
 sabbaths ; but that they themselves, more enlightened 
 than their fathers, had determined in all things to obey 
 the will of their sovereign. They, therefore, begged the 
 king's permission to dedicate their temple at Gerizim ta 
 the Grecian Jupiter, under one of his favourite titles, 
 Jfemu*, "the defender of strangers." Thus Antiochus 
 soon found that the only nation from whom his decree 
 was likely to experience serious resistance was that of 
 the Jews; for the mass of that people could not imitate 
 the pliancy of the heathen, but still, with the fervour of 
 conviction and the constancy of true love, clung to the 
 faith of their fathers. 
 
 Though all the public services had ceased in Jerusalem, 
 and no voice of adoration was heard in the holy city, 
 unless that of the profane heathen calling on their idols, 
 the people of the country still would steal in to visit, with 
 fond affection, the place of the sanctuary, and there to 
 offer a hasty and interrupted worship. But even this 
 could not be done without danger, as the citadel was so 
 situated that nothing which occurred on the temple-mount 
 could escape the notice of the garrison. And so zeal- 
 ously was Athenacus served by his spies, that two women 
 were discovered and brought before him, who, in the 
 utmost secrecy, had circumcised their infant sons with 
 
 Vol.. I. -''
 
 230 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 their own hands. As their guilt, in obeying God and 
 disobeying the king, was manifest, they, with their infants, 
 were thrown from the lofty battlements on the south side 
 of the temple, into the deep valley below. 
 
 This dreadful punishment, with others of the same 
 nature, had the effect of intimidating many Jews into sub- 
 mission to the king's edict; while a still greater number, 
 ardently attached to the customs of the Greeks, required 
 no compulsion to do that which, with Menelaus at their 
 head, they had long desired to do to renounce Judaism 
 and its restraints. But by far the greater part of the 
 people fled or kept themselves concealed. And King An- 
 tiochus therefore resolved to come to Palestine, that his per- 
 sonal presence might obtain general and ready obedience 
 -for his decree. Jerusalem, though almost deserted, was still 
 conspicuous above all other places, and therefore exposed 
 to the utmost fury of the royal inquisitor ; and it must be 
 confessed that few of even the most fanatical persecutors 
 in after ages have equalled the ruthless attempts of Antio- 
 chus to exterminate the religion of the Jews. 
 
 Yet the savage and insane violence of this tyrant was, 
 in fact and surely we may say providentially the safe- 
 guard of the Jews against the greatest moral danger to 
 which they had ever been exposed : the slow and insidious, 
 but certain and destructive advance of indifference to re- 
 ligious truth, evidenced by the encroachments and gradual 
 prevalence of Grecian manners, Grecian corruption, Gre- 
 cian idolatry, and Grecian atheism. King Antiochus and 
 his fanaticism aroused the dormant energies of the whole 
 Jewish people, so that the zealous attachment to the Law 
 and truth of the Lord, united with the generous desire for 
 national independence, gave a tone of exaltation to the 
 character of the people, and evoked an enthusiasm, a cou- 
 rage, both passive and active, which set at defiance the 
 utmost power of Antiochus ; and which then, and ever since
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 231 
 
 has, in the stern hour of trial, animated and sustained the 
 Jews to such an extent, that it has, in fact, rendered them 
 imperishable. 
 
 Had they basely yielded to Antiochus, they might have 
 escaped the ills he inflicted on them ; they might, like the 
 other inhabitants of geographical Syria, have merged into 
 a nationality so contemptible, that in the Greek and Ro- 
 man plays, the words "slave" and "Syrian" were synonym- 
 ous; and that even before the war which crushed Syria, 
 the Roman consul Titus Quintius Flamininus, in reply to 
 a pompous harangue of the ambassadors of Antiochus the 
 Great before the Greek National Assembly at JEgium, (102 
 B. C. E.,) could take upon himself to declare that " the vile 
 name of Syrian comprehended every form of baseness, 
 vice, and servility." (Plutarch, in Flamin. and Tit. Liv. 
 Ixxxv. cap. 49.) 
 
 With this corrupt, effeminate, and base, but elegant, 
 highly-polished, and pleasure-loving nationality, the Jews 
 might have been amalgamated. But what would have been 
 the consequence to them? Like those base Syrians, they 
 would have been swept away from the face of the earth ; 
 their identity would have been at an end; their national 
 existence obliterated; their influence on the destinies of 
 mankind gone forever. The sacred mission, however, 
 that had been intrusted to them, did not permit so mise- 
 rable a consummation to their wondrous history ; the high 
 and holy truth of which they were the guardians and wit- 
 nesses, forbade so ridiculous a downfall of their lofty 
 aspirations. 
 
 The Midrash, commenting on the plea of Moses "For 
 they are a stiff-necked people, and thou shall pardon our ini- 
 quities, &c.," (Ex. xxxiv. 0,) raises the question, "As a 
 stiff-necked, stubborn disposition is sinful, how cumr Moses, 
 instead of attempting to exculpate his people, to hold up 
 this very sinfulncss in the Israelites as the principal rea-
 
 232 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 son why their iniquities should be pardoned ?" "Because," 
 replies the Midrash, "Moses spoke in the spirit of pro- 
 phesy. A time will come, when every means will be em- 
 ployed by the mighty ones of the earth to lure or drive 
 Israel to renounce the Law. But Israel is a stiff-necked 
 people; and, therefore, force or fraud, torture or tempta- 
 tion, will equally fail of success against them." And this 
 stiff-neckedness, or rather this firmness of purpose, this 
 high-souled constancy, long dormant, but now called forth 
 by the persecution of cruel Antiochus, has never since 
 ceased to maintain itself in Israel. 
 
 And thus, by the wise and merciful dispensation of Pro- 
 vidence, even Antiochus became a benefactor to the Jews. 
 His ruthless fanaticism was the painful but effectual remedy 
 that the corruption of the times rendered necessary, and 
 that cauterized the gangrene in the priesthood and people, 
 which threatened certain destruction alike to the body 
 politic and to the religion of Israel. For the influence 
 of Menelaus and his brothers had corrupted the ministers 
 of God to that degree, that, on the return of better times, 
 an entire division of priests Bilgah, "the fifteenth order," 
 (1 Chron. xxiv. 14,) were severely punished for their want 
 of faithfulness to the God and law of Israel. And though 
 the individual descendants of that order could not be ex- 
 cluded from the performance of sacerdotal functions which 
 were their birthright, yet the entire division Bilgah was 
 branded with a public and lasting stigma. 39 
 
 39 In order that animals intended for sacrifice might be slaughtered with 
 greater facility, each order of priests had assigned to it, in the outer court 
 of the temple, an iron ring, to -which the head of the animal was to be fast- 
 ened. Each order also had a chamber or store-room of its own. Of this, 
 as well as of their iron ring, the order Bilgah was deprived. As an in- 
 stance of the bad spirit which prevailed in this particular division or order 
 of priests, the Talmud (end of tr. Succah) relates, that during the perse- 
 cution under Antiochus, a daughter of Bilgah, named Miriam, renounced
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 233 
 
 Nor did these priests stand alone in their defection. 
 Many of the wealthy and educated classes were, as we 
 have already stated, so infected with Grecian skepticism, 
 and so short-sighted, that they did not perceive the dignity 
 of their national existence, nor that the preservation of 
 Israel was inseparable from the law of God and its ob- 
 servance. On the contrary, these Greeklings, unworthy 
 of the name of Israelites, were so effeminate and cowardly, 
 so sensual and worldly, that while they looked with an eye 
 of contempt on those Jews who remained steadfast in the 
 Law, they themselves even went beyond what the king re- 
 quired in seconding his views and enforcing his decree, 
 because, like him* they were eager to destroy the distinct 
 nationality of the Jews. Antiochus' persecution, there- 
 fore, came to have the wholesome effect of most strongly 
 identifying the true patriot with the devout worshipper, 
 and taught the Jew that he owes his allegiance first to his 
 God, and next to the land in which he lives. 
 
 On his arrival at Jerusalem, King Antiochus applied 
 himself to enforce his decree of conformity and uniformity 
 by every means in his power. Those whose ready obedi- 
 ence disarmed his wrath were viewed with favour, and in 
 some instances rewarded. But those who proved refrac- 
 tory were exposed to his utmost rage, since he considered 
 their disobedience at once as rebellion against his royal 
 authority and sacrilege against his gods. Accordingly 
 he commanded and in person superintended the most hor- 
 
 her religion, and married a Syro-Qrecian officer of high rank. When the 
 king's troops took possession of the temple, Miriam, who accompanied her 
 husband, struck the altar of burnt-oflVring with her shoe, exclaiming 
 "Thou insatiable wolf, how much longer art thou to consume tho wealth 
 of Israel, though thou art not able to help them in thoir hour of need?" 
 Her conduct is imputed to the bad example to which she had been accus- 
 tomed in her father's house and among her nearest connections, who sub- 
 sequently were subjected to the degrading stigma above related. 
 
 20*
 
 234 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 rible tortures of the recusants, and seemed to derive a de- 
 gree of pleasure from these inhuman spectacles, which kept 
 pace with the increasing agonies of his victims. Josephus, 
 in his history of this period, exhausts his Greek eloquence 
 in highly-wrought descriptions of those heroic scenes of 
 martyrdom ; and in so doing, he contrasts strongly, but 
 not at all to his advantage, with the sublime brevity of the 
 1st Book of Maccabees: "Howbeit many in Israel were 
 firmly resolved not to profane the holy covenant so THEN 
 THEY DIED." (Chap. i. 62, 63.) We will not imitate him; 
 but will content ourselves with briefly noticing two in- 
 stances, out of the many recorded by the national histori- 
 ans, as the noblest examples of that fortiDtde which is to be 
 derived from trust in the Almighty, confirmed by the tes- 
 timony of a good conscience. 
 
 Eleazar, a man in his ninetieth year, venerated for his 
 piety, and respected for his social position, was denounced 
 as a rebel against the king, inasmuch as, notwithstanding 
 the royal decree, he still adhered to the Law of Moses. 
 As this had been proclaimed a capital offence, his life was 
 forfeited; but the royal clemency was offered to him on 
 condition of his publicly eating forbidden meats. On his 
 refusal to do so, the king's officers, with whom he had 
 previously been acquainted, struck with admiration for his 
 firmness, and with pity at the idea of the torture the feeble 
 old man would have to endure, offered to provide him with 
 meat which it was lawful for him to eat, but which they 
 would proclaim to be swine's flesh; and this simulated but 
 public submission to the king would be received as suffi- 
 cient to save his life. His reply deserves to be recorded: 
 " I am now ninety years of age, and have all my lifetime 
 served my God uprightly, and with a good name among 
 my people. Shall I now, on the brink of the grave, and 
 in order to save the few days that in the ordinary course 
 of nature I yet may live, give the lie to my whole life, and
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 235 
 
 become a cause of offence and scandal to my people, some 
 of whom may even be seduced by my example, and may 
 look upon my apostasy as an excuse for their own weak- 
 ness? Besides, I am too old to learn to lie. As an 
 honest man I have lived; as an honest man let me die." 
 So then he died. Truly saith the poet, " An honest man's 
 the noblest work of God." 
 
 A widow and her seven sons were brought before the 
 king in person. He interrogated them separately, begin- 
 ning with the eldest ; and as each of them in succession 
 refused to worship the king's idol, or to renounce the Law 
 of God, Antiochus caused them, one after the other, to be 
 put to death in the most horridly painful manner. The 
 mother stood by; and as each victim was in turn called 
 forth, she encouraged and strongly urged them to remain 
 true to the God and Law of Israel. At length the mother 
 and her youngest son, a mere child, were the sole survivors 
 of that noble band of martyrs. 
 
 Even King Antiochus the madman began to relent. 
 Spite of himself, he could not help admiring that firmness 
 of principle and unyielding constancy which his victims 
 had sealed with their hearts' best blood. He owned, with 
 a sigh of regret, that such men, could they have been 
 gained to his cause, would have proved the most trust- 
 worthy support of his throne. The beauty and innocence 
 of the brave boy, who with undaunted eye had witnessed 
 the cruel murder of his brothers, and who now with firm 
 bearing confronted him, interested the king. He entered 
 into a conversation with the boy, painting the charms of 
 a life spent in the fulness of royal favour and its fruits, 
 wealth, and honours, and contrasting them with the hor- 
 rors of a death instant, untimely, and most painful. An- 
 tiochus used every argument, and held out every promise 
 in vain : the youthful martyr was not to be seduced. 
 
 The king was vanquished: the desire to save this infant
 
 236 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 hero became almost irresistible in the royal mind. But 
 thousands were crowding round the king's tribunal, and 
 watching this species of duel between the monarch of all 
 Syria and a child. The royal dignity must not be com- 
 promised : some outward act of submission must vindicate 
 the supreme authority. The king therefore proposed to 
 the boy that he would grant him life and liberty on one 
 condition that he should not be required to worship the 
 idol the king had erected, but that the king would drop 
 his signet-ring from his hand on the ground, and that the 
 boy should kneel and pick it up. This was an act of re- 
 spect and courtesy due to his sovereign which the Law of 
 Moses did not forbid, and which, therefore, could be per- 
 formed without any scruple of conscience. But the boy 
 perceived the drift of the subterfuge. The surrounding 
 crowds, who could not hear what passed between the king 
 and himself, but who could see whatever was done on the 
 lofty platform on which he stood and the king was seated, 
 would naturally look upon his kneeling or stooping as an 
 act of prostration and of worship to the idol. He would 
 then be execrated by his own people as a traitor to his 
 brothers and an apostate from his God ; and probably this 
 act required of him, and apparently so simple, would 
 eventually leave him no alternative but suicide or apos- 
 tasy. He therefore refused compliance. 
 
 As a last means, the king had recourse to the interces- 
 sion of the mother, and strongly urged her to preserve the 
 life of one, at least, of her seven sons, by persuading him to 
 comply with the king's wish, and to perform an act, innocent, 
 and of no moment in itself, but which became of import- 
 ance to the king's dignity. The mother, however, was not 
 less firm in her faith than her children. In terms the most 
 pathetic, she urged her only surviving son, her youngest 
 and best beloved, to remain steadfast and faithful, that he 
 might soon rejoin his brothers in heaven. They had again
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 237 
 
 and again declared that the Supreme King of the world 
 "would raise to everlasting life those who died for his 
 Law." Joining in this declaration, and adding the pro- 
 phetic menace that his and their tormentor "should have 
 no resurrection to life, but would receive the just punish- 
 ment of his pride through the judgment of God," the 
 boy declared his determination to share the fate of his 
 brothers. The king's patience was exhausted. His pity, 
 baffled, turned into rage. At a given signal, the execu- 
 tioners rushed on their victim, and while his body became 
 a prey to tortures the most revolting, his pure spirit re- 
 turned to its Father in heaven. The mother followed him. 
 But in her last moments she exultingly exclaimed, "Father 
 Abraham, I have surpassed thee, for thou hast only raised 
 one altar for the sacrifice of one son ; whereas, I have 
 raised seven altars for the sacrifice of seven sons." So 
 
 THEN SHE DIED. 
 
 We must refer our readers to the 1st and 2d Book of 
 Maccabees, and to Josephus, for further accounts of Antio- 
 chus's destructive presence in Jerusalem ; and how, after 
 his departure, his emissaries spread over the country, and 
 ruthlessly enforced the king's decrees. Never before had 
 the Jews been exposed to such extreme misery, for never 
 before had they been persecuted on account of their re- 
 ligion. Every public act of worship was at an end; every 
 private observance was certain destruction as soon as dis- 
 covered. Apostates became numerous, but martyrs were 
 still more numerous. For nearly six months the persecu- 
 tion throughout Judea was unrelenting. In every other por- 
 tion of the Syro-Grccian empire the Jews were subjected to 
 similar ill usage, while the Ptolemcan princes in Egypt be- 
 gan to second the fanatical spirit of their uncle, and to pro- 
 hibit the practice of Judaism throughout tlicir kingdom. 
 Every Jew who refused to adopt the worship and customs 
 of the Gentiles was to be put to death. (2 Mace. vi. 8, D.)
 
 238 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 Thus, on the verge of apostasy or extermination, the 
 utter ruin of Jews ajid of Judaism seemed inevitable, 
 when it pleased Divine Providence to save the remnant of 
 the people ; not indeed by a direct or miraculous inter- 
 position, as in the days of old, but by pouring forth the 
 spirit of zeal and of patriotism, arousing in the minds of 
 virtuous men that noble daring which urges them on to 
 conquer or to die, and that true and generous valour which 
 considers life of no value, unless devoted to the cause of 
 God and of their fatherland. Such were the sentiments 
 which induced the aged Mattathias to raise his sword 
 against the oppressors of his people, and which prompted 
 his five sons nobly to stake their lives in defence of their 
 faith and country. As the Jews were the only people to 
 whom, nationally, a positive religion had been revealed, 
 the dogmas of which excluded all worship but that of God 
 alone, while all around them pantheism and idolatry, 
 with their ever- shifting mythology, prevailed, the Jews, 
 among all nations or religious systems, were the first to 
 make a stand in defence of their faith. Theirs was the 
 glory of being first called upon to uphold the truth of 
 their belief at the price of life, and to seal their conviction 
 with their hearts' best blood. 
 
 But as they were the first martyrs persecuted for con- 
 science* sake, so they were likewise the first champions in 
 the cause of religious liberty. The Greeks who conquered 
 at Marathon fought for national independence; the Ro- 
 mans who expelled proud Tarquin gained a triumph for 
 civil liberty. But the handful of Jews who under Judah 
 the Maccabee and his brothers drew the sword against 
 the overwhelming power of Antiochus and his successors, 
 made their stand for religious freedom and the rights of 
 conscience. One by one these pious brothers fell, willing 
 victims to their sacred and most important cause. But 
 their noble blood was not poured out in vain. Civil and
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 239 
 
 religious liberty, peace, and the undisturbed worship of 
 God were the glorious rewards of their toils, their dan- 
 gers, and their death. If Scotland glories in her Wallace ; 
 if William Tell in Switzerland, and Gustavus Vasa in 
 Sweden, have merited the gratitude of their people and 
 the admiration of posterity; if, greater than all these, 
 the glorious name of George Washington, his heroic 
 struggles and genuine patriotism, enlist the sympathy and 
 command the veneration of every true friend of human- 
 ity, that sympathy and veneration are, even on higher 
 grounds, due to Judah the Maccabee and his worthy bro- 
 thers ; for they were the great prototypes to him, and to 
 all who, in after ages, have merited the blessings of their 
 oppressed and injured fellow-men. 
 
 In Modin, a small town of Judea, on an eminence com- 
 manding a view of the sea, about one mile from Joppa, 
 (Jaffa,) lived an old man named Mattathias, the son of 
 Jochanon, the son of Simon, the son of Asamoneus, 
 from whom the family took its name. He was a priest 
 of the order or division Joarib, the first of the twenty- 
 four orders appointed by David, (1 Chron. xxiv. 7,) de- 
 scended from Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the elder 
 branch of the family of Aaron. This aged man was the 
 father of five stalwart sons, named Jochanon, Simon, 
 Judah, Eleazar, and Jonathan, all in the prime of life. He 
 often, before his sons, lamented the wretched state of 
 their people ; and was accustomed to say that it was every 
 way preferable they should sacrifice their lives in defence 
 of their religion, their laws, and their country, than to 
 live disgraced as apostates and slaves. 
 
 The opportunity to vindicate his principles, and to 
 prove that they were those of his soul, not merely of his 
 lips, was soon afforded to him. Apellcs, a royal officer, 
 arrived at Modin, with full power to enforce the edict of 
 conformity, and to abolish the religion and law of the
 
 240 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Jews. He first applied to Mattathias, the man whose 
 priestly birth and high moral character gave him the first 
 rank in the place, and the influence of whose example 
 would most likely insure ready obedience to the decree 
 of Antiochus. Promises and threats were in succession 
 resorted to by Apelles in vain; for this true priest of 
 the Lord repelled the proposal to worship the king's gods 
 with indignation and abhorrence. Nobly replying, that 
 though every other person submitted, he would rather die 
 than forsake the Law of the great God of Israel, Matta- 
 thias, with a loud voice, and in the hearing of the assem- 
 bled townsmen of Modin, proclaimed his refusal to sacrifice 
 to idols, and exhorted his five sons to stand by him and 
 to follow his example. 
 
 The altercation which ensued became aggravated by an 
 apostate, who, to curry favour with the royal emissary, and 
 to show his zeal in the royal cause, approached the altar 
 which Apelles had erected, and, in the presence of his 
 indignant countrymen, prepared to offer sacrifice to the 
 idols whose worship the king's decree commanded. Mat- 
 tathias, hurried on by an irresistible feeling. that "it was 
 time to be doing for the Lord," leaped forward, and, with 
 his own hand, struck down the apostate rebel against the 
 God of Jacob. This was the earnest-blood of the great 
 war which followed. Kindled by his own act, and fired 
 by his example, he, his sons, and the men of Modin 
 rushed on the royal commissioner. In the melee that 
 ensued, Apelles and his retinue were slain, and the idola- 
 trous altar was torn down. 40 
 
 *> This is the historical account of the rising as given in the first book 
 of Maccabees, (ii. 15,) and in Josephus. (Ant. lib. xii.cap. 8.) Tradition, as 
 preserved in the morning service of the Sabbath, Hhanuka, speaks of a 
 jus primcK nocti that the Syrians enforced against Jewish brides as the 
 occasion of the rising ; and thongh it strangely mixes up the history of 
 Judith with that of the Maccabees, there is reason to believe that its
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 241 
 
 Alive to the consequences of his deed, Mattathias 
 proclaimed through the town, " Whosoever is zealous for 
 the Law and maintenance of the covenant, let him follow 
 me;" and then, with his sons and four adherents, with- 
 drew into the mountains of Judea. But though this band 
 of pious and patriotic outlaws did not number more than 
 ten, their bold purpose of resistance quickly spread 
 throughout the land; and as soon as the banner of their 
 faith was raised, numbers of God-fearing Israelites has- 
 tened to rally around it. Success attended their under- 
 takings, which were conducted with equal enterprise and 
 discretion. For a time, Mattathias and his followers 
 carried on a kind of guerilla warfare, which the nature 
 of the country and the good-will of the people greatly 
 
 narrative may not be altogether destitute of foundation, as it is in a 
 degree confirmed by a work of some authority which forms part of the 
 first volume of the Beth-ha-Midrash, a collection of miscellaneous pieces 
 of ancient Hebrew literature, lately published by A. Jellineck, of Leisig, 
 some of which have never before been printed. The most interesting of 
 the pieces thus for the first time, brought to press is the Mid. Hhunuka, 
 copied from an ancient and very scarce Codex, in the possession of the 
 City Senatorial Library, at Leipsig. It contains many curious and im- 
 portant particulars relating to the wars of the Maccabees, and explains 
 many circumstances not sufficiently clear in the Apocrypha and Josephus. 
 From the narrative of these two authorities it departs, in so fur as it 
 ascribes the first rising of Mattnthias and his sons, not merely to the 
 indignation the old man felt at the eight of an apostate offering to idols. 
 but to an outrage offered to a young virgin, betrothed to one of the sons 
 of Mattathias ; that Hannah, the daugther of Jochnnnn. a most beautiful 
 maiden, was about being married to Klcaznr, a son of Mattathias ; when 
 on their wedding-day (the 17th of the Pith month, Elul) a Syro-Grecian 
 officer attempted to violate her person, hut was prevented by Eleazar, the 
 bride-groom, who cut him down on the spot : and that this was the first 
 act of resistance that inaugurated the long war a circumstance which 
 shows to what extent of outrage and oppression the Syro-Oreoian do- 
 minion in Jude was carried, and the more to IK' notired as neither the 
 Apocrypha nor Josephus speak of any turh indignities as offered to 
 the Jews. 
 
 Vol. I. '-M
 
 242 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 favoured. As opportunity offered, the champions of the 
 Law sallied forth from the mountain fastnesses in which 
 they had lain hidden, attacked the Syrian garrisons, en- 
 tered the towns, destroyed the heathen altars, performed 
 circumcision, re-established public worship, and drove off 
 such of the king's officers as were appointed to enforce 
 idolatry. 
 
 These conscientious warriors and their adherents in 
 order the more strikingly to evince their opposition to the 
 loose principles of those who, by adopting Grecian views 
 and neglecting the Law of God, had brought all this 
 misery on their people carried out all the obligations of 
 the Law in the most rigid and literal manner. Hence, 
 they held it to be imperative to abstain from the use of 
 arms on the Sabbath-day. The Syrians, and the apostates 
 who had joined them, were not slow in discovering and 
 taking advantage of this scrupulous observance of the 
 Sabbath. A thousand persons, who had taken refuge in 
 a cave near Jerusalem, were attacked on that day, and 
 allowed themselves to be slaughtered without the least 
 resistance. 
 
 This fatal event, while it spread the utmost grief and 
 consternation among the pious and devoted followers of 
 Mattathias, led him seriously to reflect on what was his 
 duty in this important respect. While reading the Scrip- 
 tures, his attention rested on the words of the Law, 
 (Leviticus xviii. 5:) "Ye shall keep my statutes and my 
 ordinances, which man shall do, that he may live by them. 
 I am the Lord." This, it struck him, plainly meant that 
 life, not death, was the result to be attained by the observ- 
 ance of the statutes and ordinances of the Law; and 
 that, therefore, to perish unresistingly by the murderous 
 hand of exulting idolaters, who, even while they slaugh- 
 tered the wretched Jew, blasphemed his God, and ridiculed 
 his Law which exposed him to so horrid a fate, could
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 243 
 
 not be in conformity with the spirit, and even with the 
 letter, of the Law of life. Accordingly, after mature 
 deliberation, Mattathias and his council decided that it 
 was not only lawful for the Jews, but that it was their 
 absolute duty, to stand on their defence on the Sabbath- 
 day, though they still held themselves bound to abstain 
 from voluntarily becoming the assailants on that sacred 
 day of rest. He and his followers used every means to 
 make this decision known thrtmghout the land ; and, as his 
 authority was universally respected, with such success, 
 that henceforth no further scruples were entertained on 
 the subject of self-defence on the Sabbath-day. 
 
 This wise decision, and the continued success which 
 attended all his enterprises, caused the party of Matta- 
 thias steadily to increase, until he saw himself at the head 
 of a considerable body of men who were prepared to 
 hazard every thing in defence of their religion. But his 
 advanced age could not endure the fatigue of his new and 
 hazardous mode of life ; for, like the Chouans (chat huans, 
 night owls) of Brittany, during the French Revolution, 
 night was the main season of his warfare, when he sud- 
 denly made his inroads into the habitable country, nnd as 
 suddenly disappeared, after causing great loss and injury 
 to the Syrians and their adherents, the apostates. And 
 though his band was yet too feeble to maintain possession 
 of the places he surprised, the terror of his name and 
 arms, and the rigid retribution he inflicted on those who 
 tortured and slaughtered faithful Jews, became a protection 
 to the latter, not only in the districts directly adjoining 
 his mountain strongholds, but throughout a great part of 
 Judea, which laid open to his inroads. 
 
 During the greater part of one year, his zeal and wis- 
 dom made up for the infirmities of old age and the decay 
 of bodily strength. But at length his worn-out frame 
 sunk under his labours ; and feeling the approach of death,
 
 244 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Mattathias, like the patriarch of old, summoned his sons 
 around him, and gave them his last blessing and directions. 
 Strongly exhorting them to continue the work he had so 
 well begun, he appointed his third son, Judah, the bravest 
 among the brave, to be their military leader, associating 
 with him his second and most prudent son, Simon, as 
 chief counsellor. With the fervent hope of pious patriot- 
 ism, be prayed for and predicted the success of his and 
 their cause, which indeed wits the cause of God, of con- 
 science, and of freedom. His parting injunction " And 
 ye, my dear sons, be ye valiant zealots for the Law, and 
 give your lives for it" was strictly obeyed by every one 
 of the five ; while these same words in after ages found a 
 powerful response in the breasts of thousands of Jews. 
 Thus this heroic father of heroes, this true descendant 
 of Phineas, who in his generation had been "zealous for 
 his God," (Numbers xxv. 13,) after having devoted his last 
 breath to God and fatherland, died amid the tears and 
 blessings of his people. And so highly and justly is his 
 memory still revered by that people, that in the thanks- 
 giving and prayer which each year perpetuates the deli- 
 verance of Israel from the cruel fanaticism of Antiochus, 
 the name specially mentioned is not that of Judah, the 
 youthful chief who victoriously carried on what his father 
 had begun, but that of the aged Mattathias ; 41 for his 
 noble and pious zeal gave the first impulse to that long, 
 glorious, and holy war, the extraordinary result of which 
 was, that a small province, the scanty population of 
 which was even divided against itself, without any foreign 
 assistance, and by its own firm and unyielding determi- 
 
 41 In this thanksgiving Mattathias is styled Cohen-Gadol, " high- 
 priest," and as such he probably was regarded by his adherents, who 
 must have refused to recognise the usurper and apostate, Menelaus. But 
 there is no proof that Mattathias ever held the dignity of high-priest in 
 the temple at Jerusalem.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 245 
 
 nation, triumphed over a great and powerful monarchy. 
 From the first blow struck by Mattathias at Modin, this 
 sacred struggle for the rights of conscience and the free- 
 dom of opinion continued twenty-six years (from 168-142 
 B. C. E.) under five Syrian kings ; and after destroying 
 above two hundred thousand of the best troops belonging 
 to those princes, it terminated in the independent govern- 
 ment of the grandson of Mattathias, the heir of his valour 
 and zeal, and whose descendants, the Asmoneans, as 
 high-priests and sovereigns, reigned in Judea above a 
 century. 
 
 Hales (Analysis, ii. 551) remarks, that " such a triumph 
 of a petty province over a great empire is hardly to bo 
 paralleled in the annals of history." But to us it appears 
 that the qualifying term hardly is altogether uncalled for. 
 The two most remarkable triumphs, after years of pro- 
 tracted warfare, of " petty provinces over mighty em- 
 pires," recorded in history, are that of the United Dutch 
 Provinces over Spain, and of the North American colonies 
 over Great Britain; and these two instances of success 
 are, in some respects, not unlike the struggle of the Jews 
 against Antiochus and his successors. In each case, the 
 conflict was one of right against might. Religious liberty 
 in Holland, civil rights in America, were the great prin- 
 ciples at stake. In either case there was no comparison 
 between the power and resources of the contending par- 
 ties ; so that, when the sword was first drawn, the cause of 
 right and freedom appeared utterly hopeless, and its 
 defenders were scouted as desperate and lawless rebels. 
 But beyond this, and the final success with which Provi- 
 dence in its mercy crowned the better cause, the resem- 
 blance between Judea's triumph and the other two ceases. 
 
 The United Dutch Provinces, during their long struggle 
 against Spain, had powerful allies. Queen Elizabeth of 
 
 England, and the English people, Henry the Fourth of 
 
 21*
 
 246 POST- BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 France, and the French Huguenots, the Protestant 
 princes and people of Germany, afforded aid and assistance. 
 Even Cardinal Richelieu, and the house of Braganza in 
 Portugal, indirectly promoted the success of the Dutch; 
 while their great wealth, the fruits of a commerce at 
 that time the most widely extended and lucrative in the 
 world, enabled them to enlist in their cause and service 
 veteran mercenaries from every part of Europe, so that 
 eventually their armies were fully as numerous as those 
 of Spain. 
 
 The American colonies, likewise, were not left to en- 
 counter the might of Great Britain without foreign aid. 
 France, Spain, and Holland armed in their behalf. Rus- 
 sia, and the northern powers, were also favourable to their 
 cause. In their hatred and jealousy of the rising power 
 of England, the despots of Europe, the sovereigns of the 
 Bastile and of the Inquisition, strained every nerve to 
 fight the battles of freedom in America ; while some of 
 the most generous and heroic spirits of the old countries, 
 hastened to draw their swords and to shed their blood in 
 the righteous cause of the New World. 
 
 But the Jews had no such auxiliaries. Alone and 
 reluctantly they entered on the conflict. "Without human 
 aid they carried it on. No ally embraced their quarrel ; 
 no foreign sword was drawn in their defence. A mere 
 handful of men, they began the war : in several of their 
 glorious fields they were outnumbered in the proportion 
 of ten to "one; and the disproportion between them and 
 their enemies was seldom less than three or two to one. 
 When, therefore, they triumphed, they freely and thank- 
 fully raised their eyes to heaven, for God alone had been 
 their help. And when in their annual thanksgiving they 
 declare that it was God alone who, " in his abundant 
 mercy, had stood by them in their distress, had judged 
 their cause, had vindicated their right, and avenged their
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 247 
 
 injuries," and that he, blessed be his holy name! had 
 "given up the strong to the weak, the many to the few, 
 the tyrant and oppressor to the God-fearing defenders of 
 his Law," when, annually, they make this declaration, 
 they state that which is strictly and literally true. And 
 therefore this triumph of a "petty province over a great 
 empire," is NOT PARALLELED ANYWHERE in the annals 
 of history. 
 
 While the virtuous Mattathias breathed his last, and 
 his sons prepared to continue his efforts, King Antio- 
 chus, finding no one specially worthy of his notice either 
 to torture or to convert in Jerusalem, had returned to his 
 luxurious palace at Antioch. And as the nascent insur- 
 rection in Judea did not reach the capital of the province, 
 while the statue of Jupiter still continued to desecrate the 
 temple and altar on Zion's holy mount, the king reserved 
 the mutinous proceedings of Mattathias and his adherents 
 for matter of future vengeance. For the present, and in 
 order to celebrate the success of his decree and the triumph 
 of his gods, the king, with his court, his generals, and al- 
 most every distinguished individual in the state or army, 
 were preparing for a solemnity at Daphne, near Antioch, 
 that was to eclipse the games recently celebrated by the 
 Roman proconsul Paulus Emilius at Amphipolis, and 
 even to surpass the still greater splendour exhibited at 
 Alexandria during the coronation festival of Ptolemy II. 
 Philadelphus. It must, however, be remembered, that the 
 magnificence displayed by the Roman was a triumph over 
 conquered Macedon ; and the solemnities with which the 
 first Ptolemy delighted his people on associating his son to 
 the government, (283 B. c. E.,) showed the still nobler tri- 
 umph of skilful industry and bold commercial enterprise; 
 whereas the gold, the gems, the spices and perfumes, the 
 embroidered textures of curious fabric, the innumerable 
 paintings and statues so ostentatiously exhibited by Antio-
 
 248 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 chus, were the merciless extortions of rapine aggravated 
 by sacrilege. But such was the fondness of the Greeks 
 for public solemnities and gymnastic exercises, that " sacred 
 embassies," as they were called, came-from nearly three 
 hundred cities to join in the religious games, and to bring 
 the accustomed offerings. (Polyb. lib. xxxi. cap. 3, et seq.) 
 
 The festivities lasted thirty days, during which time the 
 strange follies of King Antiochus were not the least singu- 
 lar and, to some, amusing part of the spectale. Himself 
 vilely mounted, he would with mock humility, conduct the 
 splendid cavalcades of Nisaean horses, and the pompous 
 procession of Indian elephants, sometimes hurrying on 
 their progress, and again as capriciously retarding it. 
 "At the banquet, which daily succeeded the religious pro- 
 cession and military reviews, he would run jesting from 
 lodge to lodge, show the guests to their seats, snatch a 
 mouthful from one table, drink hastily at another, and at 
 length conclude with playing the fool among the hired buf- 
 foons and mimics, to the scandal and disgust of all who 
 saw him." (Gillies, viii. 13.) 
 
 Such were the extravagancies exhibited by Antiochus at 
 Daphne, such the riotous debaucheries in which he squan- 
 dered a great portion of the treasures he had stolen at 
 Jerusalem. Judah, the son of Mattathias, was differently 
 employed. Succeeding to the designs of his aged father, 
 he carried them on with youthful ardour. And as every 
 fresh success increased the number of his followers, his 
 troop gradually became a little army, numbering six thou- 
 sand men. These he tried in many gallant adventures, 
 till he could place full reliance in their steadiness. He 
 then went a step further than his father. The cities he 
 surprised he kept possession of, fortifying them, and pro- 
 viding them with trustworthy garrisons, that they might 
 serve as places of refuge to his persecuted brethren. 
 Apollonius, governor of Judea-Samaria, the recent plun-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 249 
 
 derer of Jerusalem and murderer of its inhabitants, 
 thought it high time to take the field to crush the rebels 
 at one blow. He raised a large army, chiefly consisting 
 of Samaritans and Jewish renegades, with which he marched 
 against Judah, who, nowise terrified by the numerical su- 
 periority of his enemies, did not decline the battle. Com- 
 ing forth with his handful of men, Judah attacked and 
 totally defeated Apollonius, who himself was slain, (ac- 
 cording to the Midrash, in a hand-to-hand combat with 
 Judah himself,) and his sword became a trophy which 
 ever after the gallant victor used in battle. The camp 
 of the Syrian army, with all the rich spoil it contained, 
 fell into the hands of Judah, many of whose men, who were 
 but indifferently armed before the battle, thus obtained the 
 means of getting properly accoutred. 
 
 The first battle in the open field had been fought and 
 won ; the first glorious victory in the good cause had, with 
 the help of God, been achieved by Judah the Maccabee. 
 The etymology of this surname is very uncertain. Among 
 the various opinions adduced on the subject, the one most 
 generally received is, that this word is formed by the four 
 initial letters of the text, "Who is like unto thee among 
 the gods, 0, Lord," (Ex. xv. ii.,) in Hebrew, Mi camoca 
 ba-elim Adonai, which were inscribed on Judah 's banner. 
 According to some, however who from 1 Mace. ii. 4, 
 maintain that Judah wore this name long before he had 
 raised any standard against the enemies of his people 
 the word is derived from makab, hammer ; and Judah, from 
 his great personal strength and the weight of his blows, 
 was called Maccabee, as the Carlovingian chief, Charles, 
 from the same reason, was called Martcl, "the hammerer." 
 Certain it is, that Judah bore this designation by way of 
 eminence: and among his own people, the Jews, lie is the 
 only one who had that honour. 
 
 Among Gentile writers, the name passed from him first
 
 250 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 &r 
 to his brothers and successors, then to his adherents, and 
 
 to all who took up arms or who died as martyrs 42 during 
 the persecution by Antiochus ; and lastly, that name has 
 been extended to the books which contain the history and 
 legends of those wars and persecutions as far back as Pto- 
 lemy Philopator. But whether the surname be intended to 
 give to God on high the glory, which is the opinion that 
 has in its favour the authority of tradition, or whether it 
 was only intended to describe the personal qualities of him 
 who had been appointed to vindicate the glory of God and 
 the freedom of Israel against the blasphemy of impious 
 renegades and the tyranny of cruel heathens, he who 
 bore the surname of the Maccabee had to make good his 
 right to that designation in many a stricken field. 
 
 Seron, the lieutenant, in the government of Coele-Syria, 
 of Antiochus's favourite, Ptolemy Macron, aroused by the 
 tidings of Apollonius's defeat, raised a force still larger 
 than that which had been routed, and marched in search 
 of Judah, who shrunk not from the proffered battle. The 
 hostile armies unexpectedly met on the rocks of Bethoron, 
 between Jerusalem and Shechem. According to their usual 
 custom before engaging, Judah and his men had kept a 
 fast ; and, faint with fasting and marching, the handful of 
 Jews felt reluctant to engage, and despaired of success 
 when they contrasted their own weakness with the strength 
 of Seron's large host. But the magnanimous Judah soon 
 dispelled their fears, by reminding them of the generous 
 declaration of Jonathan, the son of Saul, on a similar peril- 
 ous occasion : " There is nothing can prevent the Lord from 
 giving help, whether there be many or few," (1 Sam. xiv. 6 ;) 
 and concluding with the soul-stirring appeal, " We fight 
 for our lives and our laws," he encouraged his small troop 
 
 42 The widow who, with her seven sons, so piously died for the Law of 
 God, is generally called "the mother of the Maccabees," though there is 
 no reason for supposing that she belonged to the family of Mattathias.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 251 
 
 boldly to confront the oppressors of their people. On the 
 descent from Bethoron, Judah suddenly "leaped" (1 Mace, 
 iii. 23) on the enemy, whose long array was painfully 
 toiling up the steep ascent. Seron fell at the first onset ; 
 and his army, confused and without a competent leader, 
 was routed with dreadful slaughter. 
 
 The second great victory was thus gained ; yet Judah, 
 not less prudent than bold, did not overrate the real value 
 of his achievements. It is true that two armies, each 
 many times more numerous than the small force which he 
 led, had been routed ; but it was also true that these ar- 
 mies were composed of effeminate and unwarlike provincials, 
 without discipline, without experience, and, as compared to 
 his own men, without zeal or courage. Their numbers, in- 
 stead of adding to their efficiency in the field, had only 
 swelled the multitudes of slain during their flight. Judah 
 felt that to his own troops, and still more to his brethren, 
 the Judeans, these extraordinary and little-expected victo- 
 ries must appear as achieved by the direct and wondrous 
 interposition of the Most High, and that the moral effect 
 must be to raise their confidence and valour to the highest 
 degree. 
 
 But would their valour be equal to a conflict with the 
 regular armies of Syria ? Would their confidence be 
 proof against the terror which could not fail to attend the 
 disciplined skill and trained valour of veteran mercenaries, 
 led on by the most experienced generals of a warlike mon- 
 arch ? These were questions that forced themselves upon 
 his mind, and which were urged upon him by his cool and 
 prudent brother Simon. They admitted of but one reply. 
 If, as Judah felt and believed, it was the help of (Jod, and 
 not their own strength, which had achieved these victories, 
 that help wua as fully able to grant a triumph over the ve- 
 teran phalanx of disciplined Greeks, ns over the tumultuous 
 band of ciTcminato Syrians. All that he (J udahj could do
 
 252 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 was to trust to God, to pray to him, to obey, strictly and 
 literally, the precepts of the Law, and to devote himself, 
 body and soul, to his sacred cause, without allowing worldly 
 ambition or selfish motives of any kind to mislead his mind. 
 His followers were to a great extent inspired by his lofty 
 faith, and shared his pious hopes. Like him, they felt that 
 obedience to God's law was their best shield. The more 
 ardent among them assumed the designation Hassidim, 
 "the pious," while the apostate Grecianizing Jews were 
 called Abaryanim, " transgressors" party-names founded 
 in fact, and which, for a length of time, made their in- 
 fluence felt in Judea. 
 
 Antiochus, informed that the Jews, a people hitherto 
 oppressed with impunity, had at length been goaded into 
 successful resistance, determined to take signal vengeance 
 on these rebels. But along with the tidings of Judah's ex- 
 ploits, came alarming intelligence from the northern and 
 eastern parts of the empire, where the rapacity of the 
 king's overseers and missionaries had excited such general 
 discontent, that many provinces had determined to with- 
 hold their contributions. This, to Antiochus, was a mat- 
 ter of far greater importance than disturbances raised by 
 a handful of Jews in the small province of Palestine; for 
 his nephew Demetrius, the rightful heir to the crown of 
 Syria, was still detained as a hostage in Rome. By servile 
 flattery to the Roman commonwealth, and still more by im- 
 mense bribes to the commissioners whom Rome from time 
 to time sent into the East, Antiochus had been permitted 
 to reign. But he could hope to retain the crown, and to 
 transmit it to his son, only by the same means that hitherto 
 had kept him in possession. Money, therefore, was to him 
 the most important consideration. Accordingly, upon the 
 emergency that now presented itself, the king determined 
 to move in person into Upper Asia with part of the forces 
 he had recently passed in review at Daphne. And as
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 253 
 
 the expedition would cause him to be absent for some years, 
 he named Lysias, "a nobleman, and one of the blood- 
 royal," regent of all the western provinces, from the 
 Euphrates to Egypt ; Antiochus at the same time appoint- 
 ing him guardian to his son, a boy seven years old. His 
 parting commands were that Lysias should march an army 
 into Judea, exterminate the Jews, and plant a foreign 
 colony in their stead. (166 B. c. E.) 
 
 Quite resolved to carry out the king's orders to their 
 full and fell intent, Lysias, after concerting with Ptolemy 
 Macron, governor of Coele-Syria, diligently collected his 
 forces, so that, early next year, he was able to march forty 
 thousand foot into Judea, under Nicanor and Gorgias, 
 generals of approved merit. They encamped at Emmaus, 
 in the heart of the devoted province, where seven thou- 
 sand horse joined them. And so confident were they of 
 victory, that Nicanor proclaimed beforehand a sale of cap- 
 tive Jews, ninety for a talent about eleven dollars a head 
 for the benefit of his Syrian majesty's exchequer. This 
 drew crowds of slave-merchants to the camp, each loaded 
 with ample means to profit by the good bargain thus offered, 
 and attended by a great number of servants, with chains 
 and other necessaries to carry off the human cattle. 
 
 Kitto (History of Palestine, 688) remarks that this 
 was not a peculiar circumstance, and refers to Polybius 
 as his authority that it was then usual for the march of 
 armies to be attended by slave-merchants. This, however, 
 we opine, does not contradict, but on the contrary con- 
 firms, the fact that the great public auction announced by 
 Nicanor, and the consequent gathering of purchasers, 
 were indeed peculiar and unutual circumitancet, as other- 
 wise Nicanor would not have deemed it neeceasary to 
 " cause proclamation to be made in all the cities and 
 seaports round about." ( 1 Mace. iii. 41.) Nor does Polybius, 
 
 or any other historian of that period, give any instance 
 Vol. i. irj
 
 254 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of a similar auction announced before battle, as was now 
 done by Nicanor, in order that he might lose no time, but 
 at once carry out the king's order, to root out the Jews 
 and to locate another race in their land. 
 
 The Maccabee heard of this unusual gathering in the 
 enemy's camp, and knew what it portended, but did not 
 lose heart or faith. The small troop under his command 
 took post at Mizpeh, a mountain of extensive prospect 
 that overlooked the tents of the Syrians, and which had 
 been a place of great religious and public importance to 
 the house of Israel in former days. Long before David 
 had conquered Jerusalem, or Solomon consecrated the 
 temple-mount, the people had assembled at Mizpeh. There 
 the war against the tribe of Benjamin was resolved and 
 declared, (Judg. xxv. 1 ;) there the prophet Samuel had 
 erected the JEben-hd-ezer, "the rock of help," when the 
 Lord gave victory over the Philistines ; there the same 
 prophet had proclaimed Saul the first king in Israel ; and 
 many other historical events had taken place at Mizpeh. 
 (1 Sam. passim.) Here, then, Judah and his people 
 shut out from Jerusalem and the temple, once holy, but 
 now defiled assembled. Like their fathers in the days 
 of Samuel, they fasted and prayed, (1 Sam. vii. 6;) 
 while Judah, in strict conformity to the commands of the 
 Law, (Deut. xx. 5-8,) caused proclamation to be made that 
 every man who, in the course of the passing year, had 
 built a house, planted a vineyard, or betrothed a wife, 
 and all those that were afraid, should enjoy full liberty to 
 withdraw from his standard. 
 
 Many availed themselves of the permission ; so that, by 
 this strong act of faith, his little army was reduced from 
 six thousand to three thousand men less than one-tenth 
 of the host opposed to them. But those three thousand 
 Hassidim, strong in their trust to God, felt no fear. At 
 worst, they could but die, and how glorious to die in such
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 255 
 
 a cause ! But death was not the only and inevitable pro- 
 spect before them, as Judah took care to remind them. 
 Their God was all-mighty, as well as all-merciful. The 
 host of Sennacherib had been countless, yet it was over- 
 whelmed in one single night. Nay, in times immediately 
 preceding their own, eight thousand Jews had defeated 
 one hundred and twenty thousand Gauls in the great battle 
 of Babylon. (2 Mace. xiii. 20.) If, therefore, it pleased 
 God to help them, as hitherto he had done, Nicanor 
 and Gorgias would fall before them, even as Apollouius 
 and Seron had already fallen! 
 
 The Syrian generals had sent out scouts, who soon dis- 
 covered and reported that half of Judah's encampment was 
 empty, and his army reduced to a mere handful. Hearing 
 this, the two generals deemed it superfluous to employ the 
 whole of their large force against so small a body. Gor- 
 gias, therefore, with a chosen band of five thousand foot 
 and one thousand horse, marched out to surprise and at- 
 tack Judah by night, and to intercept his retreat to his 
 mountain strongholds. But diligently as Nicanor and 
 Gorgias were served by the well-paid zeal of hired spies, 
 Judah was still better served by the faithful attachment 
 of his devoted people. No sooner had Gorgias began his 
 march, than Judah was made acquainted with the move- 
 ment. That vigilant leader at once penetrated into the 
 design of the enemy, and prepared to counteract it, by 
 taking advantage of the separation of the two commanders. 
 With the utmost celerity and silence he marched forth 
 early in the evening, and fell upon the camp of Nicanor 
 by night. 
 
 That general, in full reliance on the forward movement 
 of his colleague, apprehended no danger, and had taken no 
 measures to guard against a surprise. In the midst of his 
 fancied security he was aroused from his sleep by the war- 
 cry of the Jews. lie beheld his whole camp in confusion,
 
 256 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and his soldiers panic-stricken and routed beyond the pos- 
 sibility of being rallied, so that he himself was hurried 
 along by their flight. The victory of the Jews was com- 
 plete; some thousands of the enemy were slain; many sol- 
 diers and slave-merchants were made prisoners. The 
 c*amp, with all the wealth that it contained, fell into the 
 power of the victors. During the first confusion of the 
 attack, some tents had been set on fire ; but Judah forbade 
 either to extinguish the flames or to plunder the camp, be- 
 cause the detachment of Gorgias had still to he encoun- 
 tered and defeated. 
 
 That general had, in the night, reached the post re- 
 cently occupied by the Jews, and on finding it deserted, 
 he exclaimed, with scorn, " The banditti have fled to the 
 mountains." But Nicanor's flaming tents soon undeceived 
 him ; and, before he could decide on his line of retreat, the 
 glad trumpets of the priestly Maccabee announced the im- 
 pending attack. At the first sight of Judah's victorious 
 standard, Gorgias's detachment, the choicest troops in the 
 hostile army, fled precipitately. The Jews pursued: in the 
 two routs (for they cannot be called battles) nine thou- 
 sand Syrians fell. Gorgias took refuge within the fortress 
 of Jerusalem; Nicanor reached Antioch disguised as a 
 slave, and justified his want of success by declaring to the 
 regent Lysias that "the God who fought for the Jews was 
 indeed mighty, and that it was worse than useless to attack 
 them." (1 Mace, iv.) 
 
 Upon returning from the pursuit, Judah and his men 
 took possession of the Syrian camp, in which they found 
 not only great quantities of provisions and valuable mer- 
 chandise, but also the large sums of money brought by 
 the slave-merchants who had come to buy, and whose fate 
 it was to be sold ; for as many of them as fell into the 
 hands of the victors were, with just retribution, sold for 
 slaves.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 257 
 
 This signal victory was gained on a Friday. On com- 
 mencing his perilous march to the enemy's camp, the 
 watchword given by the Maccabean chief was, THE HELP 
 OF GOD ! By means of that help, the Jews had achieved 
 a great triumph almost without loss ; and as the day of rest 
 commenced, it found them reposing after their glorious toil, 
 enjoying the wealth of their tyrants, and ready, without 
 let or molestation, to "keep holy the .sabbath-day;" to 
 "remember" and to "observe" which, those self-same 
 tyrants had forbidden under penalty of death. But now, 
 in their camp, in their very tents, the Jews kept the Sab- 
 bath ; and the persecutors, the tormentors, whose duty and 
 pleasure it was to prevent that observance, where were 
 they? Thus was the help of God most signally mani- 
 fested ; and with devout thanksgiving to their great Pro- 
 tector, the Jews celebrated the Sabbath. And they had 
 cause, for their victory proved doubly advantageous to 
 their future progress. It furnished the Maccabee with 
 quantities of arms and ammunition for his men ; and the 
 fame of his success drew to his standard numbers of his 
 people, who, from all the places of their dispersion, has- 
 tened to join him. As there was no hostile force capable 
 of keeping the field against him, he became actual master 
 of the greatest part of Judea. And though he was not 
 yet in a condition to batter down the walls of the heathen 
 fortress at Jerusalem, his activity in the smaller towns and 
 in the open country was incessant. Everywhere the idols 
 were thrown down, and their worshippers expelled. 
 
 The clamours of these wicked fugitives induced Timo- 
 theus, governor of the country beyond Jordan, and Bac- 
 chides, a Syrian general of great military skill and experi- 
 ence, to march against Juduh with a numerous army. But 
 the help that had hitherto been extended to the Maccabee 
 was not withheld from him. In a pitched battle, Timo- 
 theus and his associates were defeated with immense loss.
 
 258 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Twenty thousand stand of arms, vast stores of provisions, 
 and great wealth fell into the hands of Judah, whose 
 beneficence rejoiced over the means which victory placed 
 at his disposal, and whose generosity in the distribution 
 of the spoil even outstripped the rule laid down by David. 
 (1 Sam. xxx. 24.) For, while by that rule those only 
 were entitled to share who had actually fought, or been 
 left in charge of the baggage, Judah caused a considerable 
 portion to be distributed among his indigent brethren ; so 
 that the old and lame, the sick and decrepit, the widow 
 and orphan, were made partakers of the fruits of his vic- 
 tory, and had ample cause to give thanks to God, and to 
 bless his champion. 
 
 In the midst of the fierce passions which ruled the as- 
 cendant in this struggle between the Jews and their foes, 
 it is pleasing to meet with such traits of charity and hu- 
 mane feeling, especially as humanity was by no means the 
 order of the day. On the contrary, the usage the Jews 
 had received and were still receiving had exasperated them 
 to the utmost ; the merciless conduct of their oppressors 
 met with retribution as merciless. The legend of. the 
 times, which loves to trace the finger of Providence in the 
 triumph of the Jews, relates with visible satisfaction, the 
 avenging justice which overtook the cruel tools of Antio- 
 chus. In the battle which Timotheus lost, Philarchus, one 
 of his chief officers, and a bitter tormentor of the Jews, 
 was slain. Callisthenes, another officer, who had first set 
 fire to the gates of the temple in Jerusalem, escaped, and 
 concealed himself in a hut not far from the battle-field. 
 Here he was discovered, and a detachment of Hassidim 
 set fire to the hut and burnt him in it; "a just punishment 
 for his sacrilege," says the legend. (2 Mace. viii. 30, et 
 seq.) 
 
 These tidings of repeated disasters, the route of the 
 army he had sent into Judea, and the confession of Nica-
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 259 
 
 nor that the Jews were invincible, aroused Lysias, but did 
 not dishearten him. He made haste to assemble the forces 
 he could best rely on, and at the head of sixty thousand 
 foot and five thousand horse, he marched forth in person, 
 fully determined to avenge the disgrace and disasters the 
 Syrian army had suffered, and to extinguish the rebellion 
 of the Jews in the blood of the rebels. Advancing through 
 Idumea, 43 he encamped before Bethzura, a strong frontier 
 fortress, originally built by Rehoboam, King of Judah, (2 
 Chron. xi. 7,) and now held by a garrison of the Mac- 
 cabee's troops. 
 
 Here Lysias was encountered by Judah, at the head 
 of ten thousand Jews, a larger number than any that 
 hitherto had followed his standard. The two armies soon 
 engaged; and when night put an end to the battle, Judah 
 had gained decisive advantages. For though the Syrians 
 had lost no more than five thousand men, yet observing 
 that the Jews fought like men who were determined "to 
 conquer or die," while his own troops appeared heartless 
 and discouraged, Lysias did not deem it prudent to renew 
 the engagement, but retreated from Judea and returned to 
 Antioch. There he made preparations for a campaign on 
 a grander scale for the next year, drawing together the 
 veteran bodies garrisoned in the strongholds of Syria, and 
 
 This name must bo understood as distinguishing the more modern 
 territory of the Edomites from their original and more southern home of 
 Edom, in Mount Scir the wide and stony deserts between the Red Sea 
 and the Lnke Asphalt! ten which, in the days of Judah the Maccabt-e, 
 were held by the Ntilmthenns. Thin new country of the Idumcans laid 
 wet and south-west of the lake, and had originally formed the inheritance 
 of the tribe of Simon and of part of the tribe of Judah. During the 
 Babylonish captivity, the lands of these tribe* long lay desolate, but were 
 finally occupied by the moat industrious portion of the Kdomitcs, who 
 made Hebron their capital, and rebuilt Bi'thiura. Subsequently, tho 
 country waa conquered by John Hyrcanus, and reunited with tho kingdom 
 of Judea.
 
 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 causing vast levies to be raised even in the remotest pro- 
 vinces under his government. 
 
 The writers in the "Universal History" consider this 
 victory as the one most difficult to account for among the 
 many gained by the Maccabee, as it seems to them incom- 
 prehensible that Lysias, at the head of seventy thousand 
 men, and attacked by ten thousand only, should, after a 
 loss so small in comparison to his numbers as five thousand 
 men, become so disheartened as to retreat and abandon the 
 entire province of Judea to the rebels he came to exter- 
 minate. These writers (vol. x. p. 282) are of opinion, that 
 "if the Jewish authors have not exaggerated the number 
 of their enemies, we may very well suppose they have their 
 character ; and by their defeat, and their generals so sud- 
 denly retreating from Judea, it may be reasonably con- 
 cluded that his army, instead of consisting of such choice 
 horse and foot, was only an undisciplined multitude ga- 
 thered up in haste, and easily scared at the sight of so brave 
 and resolute an enemy." 
 
 To us this opinion appears hasty, and not warranted by 
 the facts. It is not likely that Lysias, warned by previous 
 defeats, and taking the field in person, would trust his life 
 and reputation to an "undisciplined multitude," when he, 
 as regent and supreme commander, could take his choice 
 of the best troops of Syria. But while we believe that 
 the army of Lysias was what the Jewish writers describe 
 it to have been, "all of the choicest troops he could get," 
 we admit that a wide line must be drawn between the mo- 
 rale of Judah's men and those of Lysias. The former, un- 
 interruptedly victorious in successive battles against im- 
 mense odds, replete with religious enthusiasm and the 
 conviction that God himself fought for them, and animated 
 by the strongest motives that could urge them on to defy 
 death and to fight for victory. On the other hand, the 
 Syrians, called to the field without any of the powerful
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 261 
 
 and exciting sentiments that stimulated the Jews, discou- 
 raged, probably, by the report of previous defeats, and 
 still more by the declaration of Nicanor, an experienced 
 and renowned warrior, that "the Jews were invincible," 
 and, therefore, notwithstanding their superior numbers, 
 reluctant to attack, and standing on the defensive. 
 
 It is no wonder that Lysias and the generals that were 
 with him, on contrasting the ardour of the Jews with the 
 backwardness of their own men, and seeing the difficulty 
 and loss with which the first attack of the Jews had been 
 repelled, deemed it advisable to break off the battle, and 
 to retreat from the field while it was yet in their power to 
 do so with their forces unbroken ; and it was only the 
 superior generalship of Judah, and the extreme bravery of 
 his men, that, pressing on their retreat, compelled them 
 to abandon their camp with all its operose magnificence ; 
 which, however cumbersome to the late owners, was of 
 high importance to the Jews, since it enabled them to exe- 
 cute a design which they formed immediately after this de- 
 cisive victory. And this difference in the morale and 
 spirit of the two armies must not be taken as a proof that 
 the army of Lysias was cowardly and undisciplined, since 
 the experience of all ages proves that even veteran troops 
 of high discipline and bravery, are not able to resist that 
 conscious feeling of inferiority which repeated discomfitures 
 are sure to cause, while repeated success begets a corre- 
 sponding feeling of superiority, such as appears to have 
 animated the Jews. 
 
 The retreat of Lysias left Judah undisputed master of 
 the whole province of Judea, with the sole exception of 
 Acra, the heathen fortress at Jerusalem; and he now de- 
 termined to carry out one of the objects which he and his 
 adherents had most dearly at heart namely, to cleanse 
 the temple of Jerusalem from the defilement of idolatry, 
 and to restore the worship of the God of Israel, the Lord
 
 262 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of the universe. Amid the privations in their mountain 
 retreats, and the dangers of their precarious guerilla war- 
 fare, the hope of seeing the temple restored to its purity 
 and glory had still animated Judah and his Hassidim. 
 Their efforts had been crowned with success ; victors in 
 every well-contested field, they now entered Jerusalem. 
 They found the gates of the temple burnt and the sanctu- 
 ary dilapidated. In the deserted and neglected courts of 
 the Lord's house shrubs were growing, "as in the forest 
 or on the mountain." 
 
 When Judah and his host beheld the desolation of that 
 holy place, they all rent their garments, cast ashes on 
 their heads, and cried toward heaven. But their active 
 zeal did not permit them long to waste their time in idle 
 lamentations. With tearful eyes, but heartfelt gratitude, 
 the Maccabeans set about their task of repairing, cleans- 
 ing, and consecrating the sacred buildings. To guard the 
 city from surprise, and the work from interruption, Judah 
 stationed his bravest troops in the various avenues; and 
 then appointed those Cohanim (priests) who were most re- 
 spected for their zeal and sanctity, to enter the temple, and 
 to clear it of all its profane and defiling lumber; while the 
 rest of the people were at work in the outer courts and 
 throughout the city. The old desecrated utensils, espe- 
 cially the altar of burnt offerings, were broken up and 
 buried ; a new altar, made of unhewn stones, was erected ; 
 the table of shew-bread, the candlestick, and the altar of 
 incense, were made anew of pure gold, out of the spoils of 
 their enemies, and replaced in the sanctuary. The work 
 of restoration was carried on with such ardour, that the in- 
 auguration of the temple could take place, and the public 
 worship could again be performed, on the 25th of Kisleu, 
 the self-same day on which, three years before, Antiochus 
 had caused the worship to cease, and had defiled the temple 
 by dedicating it to Jupiter Olympus.
 
 JUDEA UNDER THE PERSIANS AND GREEKS. 263 
 
 This anniversary of a profanation predicted centuries 
 before as the "abomination of desolation,-" (Dan. xi. 31,) 
 but from which the Lord had now vouchsafed, with "a 
 strong hand and outstretched arm," to cleanse his altar 
 and his sanctuary, so that the day had indeed been changed 
 "from sorrow to joy, from mourning into feasting," this 
 anniversary, now so glorious, was ushered in with all 
 imaginable solemnity. At the earliest dawn, the priests' 
 trumpets were sounded; a new fire was kindled by the 
 striking of two firestones, and as soon as the flames as- 
 cended to heaven, the lamb of the daily sacrifice was of- 
 fered ; the lamps were lighted, the usual portion of incense 
 was burned, and every other part of the divine service per- 
 formed according to the Law of Moses ; and from that day 
 it was not again discontinued until the last siege of Jeru- 
 salem by Titus. 
 
 The Talmud (tr. Sabbath, chap, ii.) relates, that when 
 every preparation for the inauguration was completed, no 
 consecrated oil could be found for the sacred lights ; and 
 the scrupulous Maccabee feared to contaminate the purity 
 of the restored utensils by using oil desecrated by idola- 
 ters. In this strait, a small jar of oil, with the seal of a 
 former high-priest still intact on the cover, happened to be 
 found ; and though the quantity of oil which it contained 
 was barely sufficient once to light the sacred lamps, yet, 
 by a special blessing, it proved sufficient for the consump- 
 tion of a whole week, during which period new oil was ob- 
 tained and consecrated. The festival of inauguration 
 which the Maccabees celebrated in Jerusalem lasted eight 
 days. 
 
 Josephus (Ant. lib. xii. cap. 11) informs us, that during 
 all this time the front of the temple was adorned with 
 crowns, garlands, escutcheons, and other ornaments of tho 
 best gold. Every house was illuminated ; and to perpetu- 
 ate the signal deliverance and blessing which the Lord had
 
 264 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 vouchsafed to extend unto his people, an annual festival 
 of the like duration was instituted, which to this day is 
 kept up by the house of Israel in every part of the world. 
 During the eight days of this commemoration, called Hha- 
 nuka, "dedication," lights are kindled, and special prayers 
 are offered, giving thanks unto the Lord, for that he nerved 
 the arms of his servants, and saved his people from exter- 
 mination and apostasy.
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE MACCABEES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Death of A. Epiphanes Polybius, the historian Antiochus V. Eupator 
 Death of P. Macron Judah's campaigns Truce, and renewed hostili- 
 ties First siege of Acra Death of Eleazar the Maccabean Siege of 
 Jerusalem Lysias and Philip Peace Judah appointed governor for 
 the king Death of Menelaus Alcimus. (From 1G5 to 161 u. c. K.) 
 
 WITH the reopening of the temple at Jerusalem, and 
 the public observance of the Jewish religion throughout 
 the land, the actual rule of the Syro-Grecian kings over 
 Judea may be said to have terminated. For though the 
 war between the province of Judea and the empire of 
 Syria continued many years longer, though the successors 
 of Antiochus always claimed, and often exercised, supreme 
 power and sovereignty over Palestine, and the Jews them- 
 selves did not proclaim their independence till nearly a 
 quarter of a century later, yet, from the moment Jutlah 
 the Maccabee took possession of Jerusalem, he, and after 
 him his brothers, became de facto rulers of the land. He 
 and they were at the head of the armed force; he and 
 they conducted the internal administration and the foreign 
 policy of Judea; he and they treated with the kings of 
 Syria as an independent power against another independ- 
 ent power, and entered into treaties of alliance with foreign 
 governments, without the sanction, and contrary to the 
 will, of these kings, whose authority in Judea extended no 
 further than the Spot momentarily held by their army, 
 
 VOL. I. i!3 2G6
 
 266 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and ceased altogether as soon as that army was forced to 
 retreat. 
 
 Some historians place the end of the Syrian domina- 
 tion about a year later, and date the administration of the 
 Asmoneans from the time Judah the Maccabee was recog- 
 nised as governor of Palestine by the regent Lysias. But 
 this recognition added nothing to the real power of the 
 Maccabee, and did not in any degree influence the political 
 fortunes of the Jews. We, therefore, prefer to date the 
 end of the Syrian domination from that glorious day 
 when, in spite of King Antiochus, his veteran armies, his 
 elephants and horsemen, the "sweet savour" of Judah's 
 offering once more arose from Zion's mount; while thou- 
 sands of grateful voices, who, without fear or molestation, 
 proclaimed their confession of faith "Hear, Israel, the 
 Lord, our God, the Lord is ONE" (Deut. vi. 4,) gave glory 
 to God in the high heavens, and honour to the Maccabee, 
 his servant on earth. 
 
 After having restored the public worship, and recalled 
 many of the inhabitants to Jerusalem, Judah's next care 
 was to secure the temple, as well as the people, against in- 
 sult and molestation from the hostile garrison stationed in 
 the fortress on Mount Acra, a hill higher than the temple- 
 mount, and which nature and art combined to render im- 
 pregnable, especially to an assailant situated as was the 
 Maccabee. For Acra was defended by a numerous force, 
 composed partly of Syrian veterans and partly of apostate 
 Jews, both equally detested by the Maccabeans, and ob- 
 noxious to retribution for their enormous cruelties. The 
 fortress had, moreover, been abundantly victualled and 
 furnished with many and various engines of destruction, 
 such as were used in the wars of those days. Judah, on 
 the contrary, could not undertake the siege, as he was 
 altogether destitute of instruments to batter down the 
 strong walls; and the forces under his command were not
 
 THE MACCABEES. 267 
 
 numerous enough to permit him even to blockade this last 
 stronghold of the oppressor. 
 
 But, though he could not attack Acra, he could defend 
 the temple and its worshippers against annoyance from the 
 enemy. For that purpose he caused the mountain of the 
 temple to be protected with new walls, and towers of great 
 loftiness continually manned by a powerful and vigilant 
 garrison. And as the experience of Lysias's last invasion 
 had taught Judah the great importance of Bethzura as a 
 protection on the most exposed frontier, he caused that 
 fortress to be strengthened with additional works. 
 
 Judah's care and diligence were thus exerted to the 
 utmost; but not more than what the dangers that threat- 
 ened him and his people imperiously called for. The un- 
 interrupted success which hitherto had attended him, 
 roused the fear and envy of the neighbouring nationalities. 
 Those old and ever-active enemies of the Jews were alike 
 alarmed at the rising power of the Maccabee, and enraged 
 at the triumph of the God of Israel. As the return of 
 King Antiochus from his Eastern expedition had been an- 
 nounced, and was soon expected, they all determined to 
 join their forces to his, and entirely to exterminate the 
 Jewish people. And that they might not lose their time 
 while waiting for him, they gave an earnest of their in- 
 tentions by murdering such Jews as happened to be living 
 among them or within their reach. (1 Mace. v. passim.) 
 Fortunately for the Jews, King Antiochus did not return ; 
 and the valorous enterprise of the Maccabee, stepping be- 
 tween his persecuted brethren and assassination, once more 
 rescued them from destruction. 
 
 During the war in Palestine, so disastrous to the Sy- 
 rians, Antiochus had prosecuted an expedition not less dis- 
 astrous in Upper Asia. (106 u. C. K.) His proceedings in 
 his march thither are very imperfectly explained. (Appian. 
 dc R"b. Syriac, cap. GG.) But on his return, having do-
 
 268 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOHY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tached part of his array to collect tribute, Antiochus, with 
 a powerful escort, advanced to plunder a temple and rich 
 staple of trade at Elymais, the southern appendage to 
 Mount Zagros, and the main caravan communication be- 
 tween Susiana and Media. 
 
 It seems that this place contained more than one wealthy 
 temple, as it was in an attempt on the temple of Jupiter, 
 at Elymais, that Antiochus the Great had lost his life. 
 His son Antiochus Epiphanes, who professed especial 
 veneration for Jupiter, directed his attention to the trea- 
 sures under the protection of Venus or Diana, 1 whose altars 
 had been honoured and enriched by the great Alexander. 
 But though he escaped with life, Epiphanes's attempt was 
 not more successful than that of his father. He was dis- 
 gracefully defeated by the inhabitants of the district, and 
 forced to save himself by flight to Ecbatana, the capital 
 of Media. 
 
 There he first learned the repeated discomfitures and 
 routs of his armies in Judea tidings which exasperated to 
 fury the wounds which his pride had received in his late 
 repulse from Elymais. Transported with ungovernable 
 passion, he swore, in the excess of his rage, that utter de- 
 struction should be the lot of the Jews, and that Palestine 
 should become their grave. While he urged the march of 
 his troops westward with the utmost precipitation, the im- 
 moderate quantities of wine which he unceasingly swal- 
 lowed caused him to be attacked with a painful and in- 
 curable disease of the intestines. Yet on he went, his 
 mouth, amid deep curses, uttering the fell purposes of his 
 heart, till, in his reckless haste, his chariot was upset. He 
 himself was thrown out and much hurt ; and the foul and 
 
 1 Appian (cap. 66) says the temple Epiphanes attacked was dedicated to 
 Venus; but Polybius (lib. xxx. cap. 11,) maintains that it Avas Diana's 
 temple. The treasury attempted by Antiochus the Great was, according 
 to Justin, (lib. xxxiii. cap. 2,) in the "templum Elymai Jovis."
 
 THE MACCABEES. 269 
 
 diseased state of his body, acting on his wounds, caused 
 them to breed vermin, and to emit so pestiferous a smell 
 that his attendants dared not approach him. In this loath- 
 some and horrid condition, he died at the obscure village 
 of Tabce, situated near the extremity of Mount Zagros, on 
 the road to Babylon. (164 B. c. E.) 
 
 Both Jewish and Greek writers attest that his death 
 was attended with extraordinary circumstances. Polybius 
 (lib. xxxi. cap. 11) reports, that Antiochus was seized with a 
 phrensy in consequence of conspicuous manifestations of 
 divine displeasure wonders which the respectable his- 
 torian ascribes to the tutelary divinity of Elymais, whose 
 temple and treasure the king had recently destined to 
 depredation. The Jewish legend (2 Mace, viii.) re- 
 lates how the force of conscience, acting on the restless 
 mind and debilitated body of Antiochus, led the proud 
 monarch to perceive the hand of God in a disease so 
 horrid and peculiar as that under which he suffered ; how 
 he acknowledged that his barbarities and sacrilege were 
 justly punished by the torments he endured ; how " he 
 wearied heaven with fruitless vows" of penitence, and 
 wrote a letter to Jerusalem, restoring to the Jews and 
 their religion all the rights of which he had sought to 
 deprive them, and requesting the people he had so cruelly 
 ill-used to pray for him to their God, that in his mercy he 
 might spare the wretched life of the king. 
 
 Josephus (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 13) deems it necessary as 
 in his times it unquestionably was to reply to Polybius, 
 and to remark, that "it was more likely Antiochus should 
 have been punished for actually plundering the temple of 
 Jerusalem, rather than for a simple attempt on that at 
 Elymais, which failed in the execution." We arc not 
 disposed to join Josephus in what we consider a very 
 weak argument in a strong and good cause. Besides, 
 Time, that great teacher and umpire, has long ago decided 
 
 28*
 
 270 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 on the rival claims in this instance advanced for Jerusalem 
 and Elymais ; the first, indestructible in fact and in idea ; 
 the other, a "baseless fabric," forgotten, or only remem- 
 bered to be laughed at. 
 
 But though we do not find fault with Polybius for 
 believing (or rather for stating, like a good pagan as he 
 was) that the tutelary divinities of Elymais wrought 
 vengeance on the would-be plunderer of their shrines, we 
 blame the great historian very much, for that he, the con- 
 temporary, who so fully relates every remarkable event 
 of his times, and whose authority is so justly respected, 
 should have made no special mention of the struggles of 
 the Maccabees. The same remark applies equally to the 
 other contemporary Greek historians that we still possess ; 
 so that if it were not for the evidence furnished from 
 other sources, the silence of the Greek writers might be 
 urged in denial of the deeds of the Maccabees, just as 
 that selfsame silence is urged in denial of Alexander's 
 visit to Jerusalem. 
 
 Salvador (Histoire de la Domination Romaine en Judee, 
 i. 70) explains this silence in various ways. He says : 
 " Even if time had not destroyed most of the historical 
 works of that period, as well as several books of Polybius, 
 this omission would find its explication in more causes 
 than one. In the midst of the agitation prevailing 
 throughout Egypt and Western Asia, owing to the en- 
 croachments of the Romans, and the fall of the kingdoms 
 which constituted the Greek world, Judea a narrow strip 
 of land on the shores of the Mediterranean, painfully 
 struggling to recover its independence, and the principal 
 efforts of which were confined within a narrow moun- 
 tainous territory did not offer any thing sufficiently strik- 
 ing or interesting to the eye of historians of Greek 
 lineage, and was most frequently included in the general 
 designation of Arabia. Moreover, it so happened that at
 
 THE MACCABEES. 271 
 
 Alexandria, and in all the most important cities of those 
 regions, the Jews and Greeks were engaged in an unceas- 
 ing conflict of mind and of interests. They were continu- 
 ally disputing about the pre-eminence of their respective 
 races, of their antiquities, usages, and laws. And if the 
 Jews contrived to relate many a circumstance calculated 
 to do them honour, the Greeks, on the other hand, who 
 were by no means scrupulous, contrived to destroy, to 
 falsify, or to neglect many a useful evidence." 
 
 "Finally, Tacitus mentions one cause, a last and convinc- 
 ing one, in his Annals, on an occasion where that historian 
 does justice to one of the most brilliant heroes of that 
 universal national resistance against the Romans, which 
 was not less active on the banks of the Rhine than on 
 those of the Jordan. 'Arminius,' says Tacitus, 'was, 
 without doubt or question, the liberator of Germany. He 
 attacked the Roman people, not during its nonage, as so 
 many kings and chiefs had done, but during all the 
 splendour of the empire. Though Arminius lost battles, 
 he was never subjugated. He died at the age of thirty- 
 seven, after twelve years of sovereign power; and his 
 fame is still cherished by the barbarians. But his name 
 has not even been mentioned in the annals of the Greeks, 
 
 WHO NEVER ADMIRE ANY EXPLOITS BUT THEIR OWN.' " 
 
 (Annal. lib. ii. 88.) 
 
 Thus far Salvador ; but while we are quite ready to 
 adopt the reasoning he adduces, we are, nevertheless, free 
 to condemn the intentional silence and omissions of 
 Greek historians. Nor can we exempt Polybius from 
 blame, when he enters so fully into the history of King 
 Antiochus's reign, and yet can find no room for actions, 
 the most glorious and dignifying to human nature, con- 
 nected with that reign. 
 
 To the Jews the death of Antiochus proved, as we have 
 already stated, a most fortunate and providential deliver-
 
 272 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ance. On his deathbed, the king expressed his dissatis- 
 faction with Lysias, and appointed Philip, one of his 
 generals, guardian of his infant son and regent of the 
 kingdom; and in token of his appointment, the king 
 placed the royal crown and signet-ring in his hands. But 
 Lysias, who probably had received timely intimation of 
 the king's intention, availed himself of the advantage of 
 having the heir in his hands. Upon the first intelligence 
 of the king's death, he placed his young charge on the 
 throne under the name of Antiochus Eupator, ("well-fa- 
 thered,") and assumed for himself the exercise of govern- 
 ment as lord protector. 
 
 When Philip, who had hurried on in advance of the 
 army, arrived from Upper Asia, he found himself fore- 
 stalled, and unable to vindicate the authority intrusted to 
 him by his deceased master. To avoid the danger to 
 which his high pretensions might expose his life, Philip 
 fled to Egypt, purposing, however, to vindicate his claim 
 to the regency by the aid of that kingdom and of the 
 mercenaries then on their return from the East. 
 
 But there was another and more dangerous competitor 
 for the supreme power in the person of Demetrius, the 
 lawful heir to the crown, and who, during the whole reign 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes, had been detained as a hostage 
 at Rome. He was now twenty-three years of age, and 
 failed not to urge his claims upon the attention of the 
 senate. But that astute body decided that it was more 
 to the interest of Rome that a child should, under a 
 questionable title, occupy the throne of Syria, than that 
 the ardent and able Demetrius should make good his un- 
 doubted right to the crown. Accordingly Antiochus V. 
 Eupator was, by the Romans, recognised as king, and 
 Lysias as his guardian. 
 
 As these various negotiations, and the necessity for 
 establishing his own authority, fully occupied the attention
 
 THE MACCABEES. 273 
 
 of Lysias, the Maccabee obtained a short respite from the 
 vast forces which the regent had assembled for the 
 invasion of Judea. The heroism of Judah had gained 
 admirers for him even at the council board of Antiochus. 
 Among these the most conspicuous was Ptolemy Ma- 
 cron, the favourite of the late king, and long the bitter 
 persecutor of the Jews. He had despised them : the 
 tameness with which they had allowed themselves to be 
 slaughtered in Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day, and the 
 misrepresentations of the recreant Menelaus, had led 
 Macron to believe that the Jews were a people of tur- 
 bulent cowards, fit only to be slaves. But the valour of 
 Judah and the bravery of his men now undeceived 
 Macron, who was too experienced not to perceive the 
 immense injury a prolongation of this war of principles 
 must inflict on the power of Syria. So long as Epiphanes 
 was alive, Macron who, better than any other person, was 
 acquainted with the king's temper and disposition did 
 not venture to express his altered opinions. But after 
 the "madman" had breathed his last at Taboe, Macron 
 did not hesitate to urge the regent to grant the Jews 
 peace. 
 
 But his high favour with the late king had rendered 
 Macron, a foreigner, obnoxious to the Syro-Grecian 
 courtiers. Lysias himself was not sorry for the oppor- 
 tunity which presented itself to seize upon the important 
 government of Cocle-Syria, which Macron held : he there- 
 fore joined in a conspiracy formed against the hated 
 favourite, the result of which was that Macron was accused 
 before the king of treason ; and though he was not con- 
 victed, he was deprived of his government, which was 
 In-stowed on Lysia.s, banished from the king's presence, 
 and deserted by all his friends and sycophants. The 
 solitude to which he now saw himself reduced became 
 insupportable to him. Blighted ambition, joined to the
 
 274 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF TUB JEWS. 
 
 pangs of conscience, overwhelmed his mind, and he put 
 an end to his mortifying reflections by a draught of 
 poison. (2 Mace, x.) 
 
 Thus the king and his favourite, the head that planned 
 and the hand that executed the horrors of Jerusalem, 
 perished alike miserably at brief intervals ; and the sole 
 survivor of this guilty triumvirate, the apostate high-priest 
 Menelaus, did not long escape his fate. However much 
 we detest the crimes and cruelties of which these men 
 were guilty, we are divided from them by too great a 
 space of time to share the personal feeling which animated 
 against them the writer of the second book of Maccabees, 
 or to join with him in triumph over their wretched end. 
 Moreover, the history of the last eighteen centuries has 
 made us acquainted with too many persecutors, not less 
 guilty than Antiochus and his coadjutors, that after a life 
 of crime died quietly in their beds in the midst of all 
 worldly prosperity; we know too many of these criminals 
 and their history to join in the view the legend labours to 
 inculcate " that the persecutors of Israel meet with con- 
 dign punishment here on earth." But though we know that 
 this rule by no means holds good in every case, yet we 
 sometimes meet with instances of retribution so singular 
 and providential, that, with all our philosophy, we are 
 bound to confess "there is a God who judgeth on 
 earth!" 
 
 Though Judah and his people thanks to the death of An- 
 tiochus Epiphanes enjoyed a short respite from the formi- 
 dable invasion the regent Lysias had prepared, they were 
 not permitted to taste the sweets of peace. Gorgias first, 
 and then Titnotheus, (the former at the head of an array of 
 Idumeans, the second commanding the tribes east of the 
 Jordan,) attacked and were defeated by Judah, who, in the 
 interval between their attacks, had to turn his arms against 
 the children of Bean. Whether this was the name of a
 
 THE MACCABEES. 275 
 
 man, a city, or a tribe, is uncertain. Probably the Beni- 
 Bean were a tribe of Idumeans or Ishmaelites, of whom it 
 is recorded that " they were a snare and decoy to the 
 Israelites, and lay in wait against them on the highways, 
 as they passed to and from' Jerusalem." (1 Mace. v. 4.) 
 Judah compelled these assassins to seek refuge in some of 
 their strongest towers ; and as he understood they were 
 abundantly supplied with everything necessary to hold out 
 a siege, he determined to leave his brother Simon with a 
 portion of his forces before these towers, while he himself, 
 with the rest of his army, marched across the Jordan 
 against the Ammonites, whom he defeated ; after which 
 he took and garrisoned the strong fortress of Jazar, and 
 then marched back into Judea. 
 
 During his absence, his brother Simon had pushed the 
 siege of the two strongholds in which the Beni-Bean had 
 taken refuge, and reduced them to extremity. The Mac- 
 cabean brothers had determined to root out this tribe, which 
 had been so "sharp a thorn in the side of the Jews." 
 But Judah had the mortification to find that even in his 
 army, devoted as it was to the cause of God and fatherland, 
 there were men who preferred their private interests to the 
 general welfare ; and who prostituted bravery, talent, and 
 honesty to the acquisition 'of gold. The besieged succeeded 
 in bribing some of Simon's principal officers with the sum 
 of seventy thousand drachmas, and by the connivance of 
 these traitors a considerable portion of the garrison found 
 means to escape. The vigilance of the Maccabees, however, 
 detected the treason, and frustrated its further success. The 
 culprits were denounced, tried by the heads of the army, 
 convicted, and put to death. Judah then took the two towers 
 in which the defenders were cut down to the last man, by 
 assault, and burnt them to the ground, after which he 
 hastened to meet Timotheus, who had gathered a large 
 force and penetrated into Judea. In the battle which
 
 276 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ensued, the Jews were again victorious ; and the general 
 of the defeated army took shelter in the fortified city of 
 Gazarah, where his brother Chereas commanded. The 
 Maccabee invested the place, and, after a siege of five 
 days, took it by assault, in which both Timotheus and his 
 brother, and another renowned Greek general, Apollo- 
 phanes, lost their lives. 
 
 These repeated defeats exasperated the confederate 
 Gentile tribes to the utmost. Their numbers were such 
 as to leave no reasonable doubt of the destruction of the 
 Jews, and yet, whenever they met on the battle-field, the 
 valour and skill of Judah and the bravery of his men 
 triumphed. As his enemies could not prevail in fair fight, 
 they had recourse to assassination. Upwards of a thousand 
 Jews residing in the land of Tob fell victims to the popu- 
 lar fury ; their wives and children were carried into capti- 
 vity. The Jews of Gilead must have shared the same fate ; 
 but, fortunately for them, they received timely notice of 
 the intended massacre, and fled to the fortress of Dathema, 
 where they provided for their defence. They were soon 
 besieged by an army of Syrians and Sidonians, commanded 
 by the younger Timotheus, the son, probably, of him who 
 had fallen at Gazarah. The besieged, however, found means 
 to acquaint Judah with their desperate condition, and to 
 implore help. At the same time, similar applications came 
 from Galilee, where the Jews had barely found time to 
 place themselves on the defensive against their raging 
 foes. 
 
 Judah summoned a council of war, and dividing his army 
 into three divsions, he himself and his brother Jonathan 
 hastened to Gilead, where the danger was the most pressing. 
 His brother Simon, with the second division, marched to 
 Galilee ; while the defence of Jerusalem and the command 
 of the third division were intrusted to the two brothers 
 Joseph and Azariah, with the strict charge not to under-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 277 
 
 take any offensive operations, but to stand altogether on 
 the defensive until either Judah or Simon should return. 
 
 The two expeditions were eminently successful. Both 
 in Gilead and Galilee the enemies were routed, and the Jews 
 rescued. But as the Maccabeans found it impossible, with 
 their small forces, to protect or secure the further abode 
 of the Jews in either of these countries, both Judah and 
 Simon resolved to remove the Jews, with their families and 
 property, into Judea. And as many cities laid waste, and 
 a great part of the land was depopulated, the Maccabee 
 assigned to these refugees locations where they might 
 dwell in safety and prove of great use in augmenting the 
 resources of the patriot army. 
 
 On their return to Jerusalem, the Maccabean brothers 
 found that their own success had been more than counter- 
 balanced by the loss incurred through the disobedience of 
 their lieutenants. Joseph and Azariah had for the first 
 time found themselves at the head of an army; and as 
 they did not know how soon the return of Judah or of 
 Simon might supersede them in their command, while at 
 the same time they were most anxious to distinguish them- 
 selves, they determined, though contrary to the express 
 orders of Judah, to perform some exploit that should en- 
 title them to fame and honour. 
 
 The opulent seaport town of Jamnia 2 attracted their 
 attention : to achieve the conquest thereof before the re- 
 turn of their superiors seemed an object worthy of theii 
 ambition. Accordingly, thither they marched with their 
 little army. But Gorgias, who commanded in Jnmnia, 
 was both vigilant and enterprising. Twice defeated by 
 Judah, he was burning with eager thirst for vengeance; 
 
 2 Thin city, which in nacred Scripture U called Julmch, ('2 Cliron. xxvi.) 
 H <ituat on the Mediterranean, lu-twcrn Jnppa nncl Azotu*. After tho 
 do-ttruction of Jerusalem, it acquired concideralilo importance n* tho scat 
 of the patriarch, and, ns such, we fhnll have occasion to cpeak of it again. 
 
 VOL. I. -J
 
 278 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 while the experience he had acquired of the extreme ac- 
 tivity with which the Maccabees conducted their operations, 
 called forth his utmost watchfulness. 
 
 No sooner had Joseph and Azariah hegun their march, 
 than Gorgias obtained intelligence of their movements; 
 and when he ascertained that the dreaded Judah was not 
 with them, and that their numbers were greatly inferior to 
 his own, he at once determined to forestall their attack. 
 Accordingly, he sallied forth and fell upon them when he 
 was least expected. Neither Joseph nor Azariah were 
 equal to the emergency in which they were thus suddenly 
 placed. Expecting to surprise the enemy, they had taken 
 no measures to prevent being surprised, and could form no 
 disposition to repel their assailants. Their men, who were 
 not animated by the presence of Judah, nor directed by 
 his matchless valour and skill, lost heart and fled. Two 
 thousand were slain during the fight and pursuit; and the 
 small remnant that escaped sought refuge in Jerusalem, 
 disgraced and utterly dispirited, while Gorgias returned to 
 Jamnia to enjoy the triumph of having destroyed the pres- 
 tige of Jewish invincibility. 
 
 Nor was it long before Judah and his people experienced 
 the consequences of this triumph. The regent Lysias, 
 who, notwithstanding the immense preparations he had 
 made for the invasion of Judea, had not yet put his forces 
 in motion prevented partly by the internal affairs of 
 Syria, and the negotiations pending at Rome, but princi- 
 pally by his fear of defeat, and doubt of any favourable 
 result now, encouraged by the success of Gorgias, and 
 envious of the laurels gained by his lieutenant, put his im- 
 mense army in motion. (164 B. C. E.) 
 
 His forces numbered eighty thousand foot, eighty ele- 
 phants, and a considerable body of horse. With these he 
 again laid siege to Bethzura. His declared intention was 
 to extirpate the whole Jewish nation, to repeople their
 
 THE MACCABEES. 279 
 
 country with heathens, and to enrich his master and him- 
 self by the plunder of Judea and by the sale of the lands 
 to new settlers. As irresolute and timid as he had been 
 since his first discomfiture, so extravagantly arrogant the 
 victory of Gorgias and the vast forces under his command 
 now rendered him. 
 
 Judah, who was then at Jerusalem, prepared to meet the 
 invader. As was his custom before battle, he and his 
 army fasted, special prayers were offered, special sacrifices 
 were brought, and then they again marched forth "for 
 their wives and their children, their lives and their laws." 
 The legend relates that on their march there appeared to 
 the Jews a man on horseback in rich shining armour, and 
 brandishing his spear against the enemies. This sight, 
 whatever it was, inspired Judah's men with such cou- 
 rage and confidence, that they fell upon the Syrians 
 like lions, killed eleven thousand foot, and put the rest to 
 flight. 
 
 This fresh defeat revived all the regent's fears, and con- 
 vinced him that the Jews could not be overcome, because 
 of the omnipotence of the God by whom they were helped. 
 Lysias, therefore, offered Judah terms of peace. After 
 some negotiation, a treaty was concluded, by which the 
 king of Syria granted a general amnesty to all the Jews 
 that had appeared in arms against his father or himself; 
 he further revoked the edicts issued against the religion 
 of the Jews, and restored to them the right to live ac- 
 cording to their own laws and to administer their own 
 internal affairs. In return for these concessions, the 
 Jews promised to be loyal to the state and to pay tribute 
 as heretofore. 
 
 The 2d Book of Maccabees (chap. xi. 1-13,) preserves 
 three letters, which on this occasion were addressed by the 
 young king and by the regent to the elders of the Jews 
 and to the governor of Judea. There is also one letter
 
 280 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 from the Roman commissioners in Syria, Q. Memmius and 
 T. Manlius, who had employed their efficient aid in behalf 
 of the Jews. Another dignitary, whose good offices had 
 been exerted to promote this peace, was the high-priest 
 Menelaus, who hitherto had been with the Syrians, but 
 now, as we learn from the king's letter, was to be included 
 in the peace, and who actually returned to Jerusalem to 
 resume his high functions in the temple, or, in the words 
 of the king's letter, "to comfort and confirm the Jews." 
 (163 B. c. E.) 
 
 The peace thus concluded was of no long continuance. 
 The hatred against the Jews which rankled in the breast 
 of the heathen nations contiguous to Judea, prevented their 
 approving or joining in a measure which, as they well knew, 
 fear alone had extorted from the court of Antioch. And 
 the Syrian generals who commanded in Idumaea on the 
 south, Samaria and Galilee on the north, the sea-coast of 
 Phoenicia on the west, and beyond the Jordan to the east, 
 from Damascus to the southern extremity of the lake As- 
 phaltites, all these Syrian governors and generals, envious 
 of Lysias, and little mindful of his commands, were ready 
 to join in every undertaking that could bring loss and suf- 
 fering on the Jews. The consequence was, that although 
 the war with the kingdom of Syria was formally at an 
 end, yet in reality the Jews, neither in Judea nor anj 
 of the adjacent countries, were permitted to enjoy any 
 peace. 
 
 Among the Syrian generals who carried on this un- 
 authorized warfare the first rank is due to Timotheus, the 
 next to Gorgias. Timotheus, who had the death of his 
 father and uncle to avenge, held the chief command 
 beyond Jordan. Gorgias, twice defeated by Judah, but 
 proud of his own victory over Joseph and Azariah, fancied 
 that he and his Idumeans were alone able to conquer the 
 Maccabees.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 281 
 
 Nor did the enemies that everywhere sought the de- 
 struction of the Jews limit their efforts to open war. The 
 foulest modes of assassination were unscrupulously resorted 
 to. Thus the inhabitants of the seaport of Joppa, under 
 some pretence of^estivity or amusement, treacherously in- 
 vited a number of Jews who lived in the city, with their 
 wives and children, on board some barges by the sea-shore, 
 rowed them farther- into the deep, and then flung them 
 overboard. This premeditated atrocity, which cost the 
 lives of about two hundred Jews, was soon heard of at Je- 
 rusalem, and Judah justly provoked, hurried against these 
 murderers, came upon them in the dead of the night, set 
 fire to their port and shipping, and killed all those that 
 had saved themselves from the flames. 
 
 A similar act of nefarious treachery, planned by the in- 
 habitants of Jamnia against their Jewish townsmen, was 
 prevented from succeeding by the extreme activity of 
 the Maccabee, who, on proof of the murderous purpose of 
 the Jamnians, hastened from Joppa, and punished Jamnia 
 BO terribly, that the flames of ships, ports, and magazines 
 were seen at Jerusalem, though at a distance of two hun- 
 dred and forty furlongs. 
 
 It would be equally monotonous to writer and readers, 
 were we to follow the Maccabees into every field they had 
 to fight, or to every fortress they had to assail. As speci- 
 mens of their prowess, let it be recorded that at Ruphon, 
 Tiraotheus, who had assembled an army of one hundred 
 and twenty thousand foot and twenty-five hundred horse, 
 was most disgracefully defeated ; for as soon as Juduh, at 
 the head of his vanguard, came in sight, the immense host 
 arrayed against him were seized with a panic, and mado 
 such haste to fly from him, that, in their hurry to got 
 away, they wounded one another with their own weapons. 
 In this running fight Timotheus lost thirty thousand of 
 
 24*
 
 282 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 his men ; 3 and as he found it impossible to rally them, or 
 to get any number to make a stand, he himself was also 
 forced to betake himself to flight. 
 
 A portion of the fugitives, finding themselves closely 
 pursued, fled into the city of Carnion, and took possession 
 of the fortified temple of the Syrian goddess Atargatis, 
 where they attempted to defend themselves ; but were de- 
 stroyed by the victors, who burnt the city and temple to 
 the ground. Timotheus himself was taken prisoner by 
 Dositheus and Sosipater, two of the Maccabees' most gal- 
 lant captains. But he ransomed his life and liberty by 
 releasing a great number of the Jewish inhabitants of 
 Galilee whom he had made captive, and some of whom 
 were nearly related to his captors. (2 Mace, xii.) 
 
 After this signal victory, Judah returned to Jerusalem. 
 On his march, he requested permission of the governor 
 and magistrates of Ephron to traverse their city, which 
 was so advantageously situated that "he could neither 
 turn to the right nor to the left of it." But as the city 
 was strongly fortified, abundantly victualled, and manned 
 by a strong garrison, Judah's request was not only refused, 
 but the governor caused the gates to be walled up. The 
 consequence was, that Judah attacked Ephron, and, after 
 a fierce conflict, which lasted the whole day, the city and 
 citadel were taken by assault, many thousands of the enemy 
 were put to the sword, and a large number were carried 
 into captivity. After carrying off the richest plunder, the 
 victors burnt the city, and completely razed the fortifica- 
 tions. Thence Judah continued his march homeward, ex- 
 tending protection to his menaced and persecuted brethren, 
 
 3 The judicious reader may perhaps, here and on other occasions, sus- 
 pect the numbers. But in the books of Maccabees they are given in words, 
 at length, not in letters, the usual numeral signs of the Greeks; and " famoe 
 verom standum est," as Livy says in a similar instance.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 283 
 
 whom, wherever he found it practicable, he carried with 
 him into Judea. 
 
 The city of Bethshean then called Scythopolis, from 
 a colony of Scythians long settled there contained a 
 considerable Jewish population, the safety of which gave 
 Judah great uneasiness, as, amid the general ill-usage the 
 Jews everywhere experienced, he had reason to fear the 
 worst from a tribe so fierce as the Scythians were reported 
 to be. On his return from Kaphon, he spread his vic- 
 torious army along the plains of Bethshean, while he 
 caused inquiries to be made as to the treatment the Jews 
 had experienced in that city. When he found that these 
 much dreaded barbarians had protected and befriended 
 their fellow-townsmen, Judah sent a message of thanks to 
 Scythopolis ; and exhorting the citizens to continue their 
 friendship to his people, he assured them of his own. 
 
 He then continued his march to Jerusalem, which 
 proved very fatiguing, as the country, almost depopulated, 
 could afford but scanty supplies ; and his army was en- 
 cumbered with the aged and infirm, with women and 
 children, whom his victories had released from captivity 
 or rescued from destruction. Judah remained with the 
 rear-guard, that he might encourage those who lagged 
 behind, and succour those who most stood in need of 
 assistance. Thus he brought them all safely to Jerusalem 
 about the time of Pentecost, when Judah and his people 
 went to the temple to return thanks to God for their quick 
 and wonderful success. 4 (1 Mace. v. 46, et. seq. ; 2 Mace, 
 xii. 30, et seq.) 
 
 4 " Quick and wonderful indeed, if we consider that the peace could 
 not be broken a noon aa made, and that it was concluded on the fifteenth 
 of Xanthicus, answering to the beginning of our April, and that the feast 
 of 1'cntccuflt, foil either in the latter end of May or beginning of June; BO 
 that in less than two months' time they burnt the two havens and fleets of 
 Joppa and Jamnia ; beat the Arabian nomades; took the city of CaspU :
 
 284 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 We know nothing of the private life of Judah the 
 Maccabee, and even in the record of his public services 
 the brilliancy of his patriotism and military virtues 
 scarcely permits us to get a glimpse of any other traits in 
 his character. It is only incidentally, as on the occasion 
 of this march to Jerusalem, that we discover the kindness 
 and beneficence that found room in the breast of this 
 unyielding patriot and formidable warrior. When we 
 read how his sword gleamed foremost in the thickest 
 'throng of battle, how his arm dealt the death-blow on the 
 bravest, and his voice levelled to the dust walls and towers, 
 cities and temples, we are apt to imagine the dreaded 
 Maccabee as a gloomy, relentless avenger, whose sole 
 mission it was to execute judgment on the enemies of the 
 Lord, and whose heart was a stranger to all the milder 
 feelings of humanity. It is a remarkable fact, that 
 during the civil wars of England, when Oliver Cromwell 
 and his Ironsides took for their prototype the Maccabee, 
 it was only the sterner traits of his character that pre- 
 sented themselves to their mind. And as they generally 
 were fond of adopting the strong and figurative language 
 of the Old Testament, it has been asserted by many a 
 historian, that the rigid and stern character by which the 
 Puritans generally were distinguished, was owing to 
 their having received their training chiefly from the 
 old Law. 
 
 But when we read how Judah the Maccabee, during 
 the gloomy period of his first and doubtful successes, 
 conld venture to affront the cupidity of his few followers, 
 and to deprive them of a portion of those spoils which 
 
 defeated Timotheus and his numerous army ; burnt and destroyed Camion 
 and Ephron, besides several other strong fortresses ; released a vast num 
 ber of their brethren, and were retiirned to Jerusalem loaded with spoils 
 and a vast multitude of female captives ; and all this without any loss to 
 themselves." (Universal History, vol. x. p. 295, note T.)
 
 THE MACCABEES. 285 
 
 law and usage declared to be theirs, that he might obey 
 the dictates of his own benevolence, and relieve the indi- 
 gence of the widow and the orphan, of the aged and the 
 infirm ; when we next read how, in the full noontide blaze 
 of his highest fortunes, the victor in battles numberless 
 did not disdain in person to comfort the weary and to 
 support the fainting; and when we then remember that 
 this beneficent warrio/, this tender-hearted champion of 
 God's holy Word, had received all his training, mental and 
 moral, from that Law which in him found one of its most 
 pious defenders, we are bound to admit that the Old Tes- 
 tament is equally capable of inculcating the kindliest feel- 
 ings that adorn the heart of man, and the loftiest emotions 
 that dignify his mind. 
 
 The great victory which Judah gained over Timotheua 
 was easily achieved, and was altogether due to the panic 
 caused by his name and presence, or rather to that feeling 
 which Scripture designates as the "terror of God." 
 (Gen. xxxv. 4.) But the battle which, directly after the 
 festival, Judah had to fight against Gorgias and his Idu- 
 means called for greater exertions, and was so fiercely 
 and obstinately contested, that all the generalship, as well 
 as all the piety of Judah, and the bravery of his men, 
 were brought into requisition, to compensate for the in- 
 feriority of numbers, before the enemy could become 
 routed. Gorgias himself, who bravely did his duty as 
 general and as warrior, was seized alive by Dosithcus, 
 one of the captors of Timothcus, but was saved by a 
 Thracian horseman, who cut off the Jewish captain's arm 
 close to the shoulder. This forced him to quit hold of 
 his prisoner, who, seeing the day irretrievably lost, fled 
 from the field, and found shelter in the strong fortress of 
 Marcsa. 
 
 Judah did not pursue him ; but permitting his own 
 troops to recover from their exertions and fatigues, by
 
 286 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 resting over the Sabbath at Adullatn, the Maccabee di- 
 rected his arms against the strongholds of the Idumeans, 
 took their chief city, Hebron, as well as Azotus, a prin- 
 cipal city of the Philistines, together with many other 
 fortresses. Wherever he passed he pulled down the idols 
 and destroyed their altars, and returned to Jerusalem 
 loaded with fresh laurels and spoils. 
 
 These various exploits, while they added to the military 
 fame and power of the Maccabee, contributed also to 
 the greater security and welfare of his people. And Judah 
 felt that there was but one great effort more required to 
 cleanse the land of its oppressors, and to place the temple 
 and its worshippers beyond danger or insult ; and this was 
 to reduce Acra, the strong fortress held by the Syrians 
 and apostate Jews at Jerusalem. During Judah's absence, 
 the garrison had been active in its hostilities, and not only 
 hindered many Jews from visiting the temple, but greatly 
 annoyed those who did. On his return from the expe- 
 dition against Gorgias, the Maccabee learnt the breach of 
 the peace of which the commander at Acra had been 
 guilty, and determined, if possible, to take this fortress, 
 and thus at once, and forever, to pull out this thorn in the 
 side of the Jews, which, grievous as it had been, their want 
 of skill and experience as engineers had hitherto compelled 
 them to endure. Accordingly, Judah collected his whole 
 force, prepared engines for throwing stones, and other 
 battering implements of surpassing efficacy, and laid siege 
 to Acra. 
 
 The place was very strong, the garrison numerous, and 
 well furnished with arms and provisions. Numbers of 
 apostate Jews, who formed a portion of the garrison, and 
 who knew how odious they were to their orthodox brethren, 
 were bent on the most desperate resistance. Judah was 
 acquainted with all these difficulties, but he also knew the 
 extent of his own resources ; and he therefore felt convinced
 
 THE MACCABEES. 287 
 
 that though the fortress could and would hold out a long 
 time, yet, if he could prevent its being succoured by the 
 king of Syria, it must eventually fall into his hands. He 
 therefore invested Acra so closely, that no messenger could 
 leave that fortress without being taken by the besiegers. 
 And as there was no intercourse between Judea and the 
 adjoining provinces, so that no tidings of what was doing 
 in Jerusalem were likely for some considerable time to 
 reach Antioch, Judah fully expected that before the king 
 and regent would become acquainted with the danger im- 
 pending over their last stronghold in Judea, or could as- 
 semble forces for its relief, the banner of Israel would be 
 planted on the walls of Acra. 
 
 But the apostate Jews in the fortress penetrated his de- 
 sign. They felt, with him, that however desperate and 
 well-conducted their defence, they must eventually suc- 
 cumb, unless relieved by Lysias. And as they saw, from 
 the vigilant manner in which Mount Acra was invested, 
 that no emissary would be able to leave that fortress, they 
 advised the commanders to make a vigorous sally, in order 
 to give an opportunity to some of them to escape from the 
 fortress, and to repair to Antioch. Their advice was 
 adopted ; and the sally was so well managed, that a number 
 of these renegades, accompanied by some officers of the gar- 
 rison, contrived to force their way through the besiegers, 
 and to reach Antioch. 
 
 The regent had already heard of the unauthorized hos- 
 tilities which the neighbours of the Jews had carried on 
 against them, together with the retaliation the Maccabees 
 had inflicted on their adversaries; and though reluctant to 
 recommence the war, Lysias began to assemble his forces, 
 for he felt the necessity of putting an end to these intes- 
 tine commotions, which threatened to become fatal to the 
 power and resources of the Syrian empire. While he was 
 yet undecided in his own mind as to what measures had
 
 288 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 best be adopted, the fugitives from Acra presented them- 
 selves before the king, to inform him "that the lawless 
 Maccabee had broken the peace; that he persecuted with 
 merciless rancour all that dared to show any fidelity 
 to Syria; that he plundered, sacked, and put to fire 
 and sword all that came in his way; and, lastly, that as a 
 preparatory step to his altogether renouncing his allegiance, 
 Judah had laid siege to Acra; while such were the 
 means at his command, that unless the besieged fortress 
 were speedily relieved, it would, like Bethzura and so 
 many others of the king's strongholds, fall into the hands 
 of the rebellious Jews ; and that the king would not then 
 possess, throughout the whole province of Judea, a single 
 city or fortress held by his own troops." 
 
 This representation at once decided both the king and 
 the regent. The forces already assembled were immedi- 
 ately put in motion; reinforcements and auxiliaries were 
 hurried off to join them with the utmost speed; and at 
 the head of one hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand 
 horse, fifty-two elephants, and three hundred war chariots, 
 Antiochus and his guardian Lysias again invaded Judea, 
 and for the third time laid siege to Bethzura with an army 
 which, not only in point of numbers, but also and still 
 more in point of warlike qualities, was greatly superior to 
 any that had as yet been led against Judea. 
 
 On the tidings of this formidable invasion, Judah at 
 once raised the siege of Acra, and with his little army 
 hastened to confront the enemy. On the first night of his 
 arrival in the vicinity of the king's forces, Judah, with a 
 few resolute men, fell on them, killed a large number, 
 threw the whole camp into the utmost confusion, and at 
 break of day retreated, without the loss of one single man. 
 
 This bold attack confirmed the Syrian generals in their 
 high opinion of Judah's enterprise and the bravery of his 
 men, against which no vigilance could sufficiently guard
 
 THE MACCABEES. 289 
 
 their camp. But then the king, as well as the regent, felt 
 certain that in the open field their superior numbers, their 
 elephants, and war chariots could not fail to overpower the 
 Jews. Leaving, therefore, a force to blockade Bethzura, 
 Lysias marched in search of Judah, determined to bring 
 on a general engagement, which the Maccabee at first did 
 not decline; nay, at the head of his small army he even 
 began the onset, and inflicted some loss on the Syrians. 
 But the heroic valour of the Jews was exhausted and at 
 length overpowered by the desperate odds against them ; 
 and Judah now gave proof of his prudence and superior 
 generalship by manoeuvering so as successfully, and in 
 time, to extricate his forces, that were in danger of being 
 surrounded, and making good his retreat to Jerusalem 
 without any material loss. 
 
 It was in this battle that Eleazar, the brother of Judah, 
 lost his life in a gallant attempt to retrieve the fortune of 
 the day. Perceiving an elephant larger and more roy- 
 ally accoutred than any of the others, he erroneously con- 
 cluded that the king himself was mounted on this lofty 
 animal ; and under the impression that the fall of the 
 king would lead to the retreat of the invaders, Eleazar, by 
 resistless fury and great havoc of the enemy, cleared his 
 way till he reached the elephant, when he stabbed it in a 
 mortal part with such fatal effect that the huge animal in- 
 stantly dropped down, overwhelming and crushing the 
 heroic assailant with its weight. (1 Mace, vi.) 
 
 When the relieving army of the Jews had thus been 
 driven out of the field, the king's forces again returned to 
 the siege of Bethzura. The garrison made a long and 
 vigorous defence ; but, unfortunately for them, it happened 
 to be the sabbatic year of rest to the land, during which 
 all agricultural operations were suspended. And as during 
 the preceding years of persecution and devastation, the 
 greater part of Judca had remained desolate, the store of 
 
 VOL. I. 25
 
 290 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 provisions throughout the land was but small. The sup- 
 plies at Bethzura had, therefore, of necessity, been scanty 
 from the very first ; and when they were totally exhausted, 
 and no hope of relief remained, the garrison was compelled 
 by famine to capitulate. They, however, did not yield till 
 they had obtained very honourable conditions from the be- 
 sieger ; but the treacherous regent kept his word with them 
 no further than the bare saving of their lives, turned them 
 all naked out of the town, and placed in it a garrison of 
 Syrians. 
 
 After the reduction of Bethzura, Lysias led the young 
 king and his army to Jerusalem, and laid close siege to 
 the temple, which was bravely and successfully defended 
 by Judah and his most gallant and devoted followers. All 
 attacks were repulsed ; all the effects produced by batter- 
 ing machines were repaired by counter-works. The real 
 danger, that which the garrison could by no means avert, 
 was want of provisions. The same cause that had com- 
 pelled Bethzura to surrender threatened Jerusalem like- 
 wise. Great numbers of the Jews had already found them- 
 selves obliged to slip out of that city for want of food, so 
 that there were hardly hands enough left to defend the 
 place. And Judah, with an aching heart, saw the near 
 approach of the fatal day when, completely worn out with 
 famine and disease, the few survivors of the garrison would 
 have to surrender, and Judea would once more lie prostrate 
 at the mercy of the heathen and of the apostate. 
 
 But man's extremity is God's opportunity. When the 
 Maccabee was reduced to the utmost, and all the advan- 
 tages that had been gained were on the point of being 
 again and forever lost, Providence was pleased to relieve 
 the besieged, and to frustrate the hopes of the besiegers, 
 through the instrumentality of a man who, though more 
 fully determined to destroy the Jews than even Lysias or 
 the young king himself, yet, on the present occasion, in-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 291 
 
 voluntarily proved the most efficient auxiliary of a people 
 that he had pledged himself to exterminate. 
 
 Philip, whom the late king, Antiochus Epiphanes, on his 
 deathbed, had appointed regent, to the exclusion of Lysias, 
 had hastened on to Antioch to assume his office. But on his 
 return from the East, without an army, he found the power 
 of his rival too firmly established, and had, as we have 
 already related, been obliged to consult his personal safety 
 by seeking refuge in Egypt. The troops, however, who had 
 accompanied Epiphanes, at length returned from their 
 Eastern expedition, fully determined to carry out their 
 king's last intentions, and to remove Lysias from his high 
 office, of which his repeated miscarriages against the Jews 
 proved him unworthy. Philip contrived to join this East- 
 ern army, that recognised his authority, and at the head of 
 which he unexpectedly marched against and took pos- 
 session of Antioch, at the very time that Lysias was vi- 
 gorously pushing the siege of the temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 The unexpected tidings of this calamity reached Lysias, 
 with the addition that Philip was marching full speed 
 against him at the head of an army not less numerous than 
 his own. This intelligence induced Lysias to raise the siege, 
 as the total subjection of the Jews appeared to him a matter 
 of much less consequence than the preservation of his own 
 authority and the recovery of Antioch, the metropolis of the 
 whole empire. On this trying occasion Lysias evinced 
 considerable ability and diplomatic skill. The resolution 
 to raise the siege was kept secret both from the Syrians and 
 the Jews ; while in order to disarm them, overtures reached 
 the Maccabees to the effect that the breach of the late peace 
 had been unauthorized by the king, who had invaded Judea 
 solely in order to succour his fortress of Aera, and to vin- 
 dicate his authority; that these objects having now been at- 
 tained, he did not wish to reduce the Jews to extremity ; 
 that, therefore, if they would at once submit, he would
 
 292 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 again grant them peace on the same terms as before that 
 they should be allowed to live according to their own laws. 
 
 Judah and his adherents were but too happy to accede 
 to terms so advantageous and honourable. And as soon 
 as they were agreed upon and sworn to on both sides, 
 King Antiochus, with his guardian, the regent Lysias, 
 were admitted within the fortifications of the temple. 
 But the same want of honesty that had disgraced the 
 regent at Bethzura, also, to a certain extent, characterized 
 his conduct at Jerusalem. Under the pretence that the 
 fortifications of the temple were too strong to be intrusted 
 to the Jews, he ordered them to be immediately pulled 
 down and demolished, in manifest violation of the peace to 
 which he had so lately sworn. 
 
 After this act of treachery, which again exposed the 
 temple to insult and annoyance from Mount Acra, Lysias 
 marched his army from Jerusalem; and having now no 
 enemies behind him, the king and regent, by a return 
 nearly as sudden as the irruption of Philip, regained An- 
 tioch, defeated and killed the pretender to the regency, 
 and dispersed or destroyed his followers. 
 
 The whole of this episode in the history of the Macca- 
 bees is so singular and complicated, that if it were not 
 sufficiently attested by the evidence of history, it would 
 almost appear incredible. Epiphanes removes Lysias from 
 the regency, and appoints Philip in his stead, solely on 
 account of the ill-success in Judea; and the consequence 
 of that appointment is, that at the very moment when Ly- 
 sias is on the point of most fully retrieving his past mis- 
 carriages by the total subjugation of the Jews, he is com- 
 pelled to abandon all the advantages he had gained, being 
 forced to it by Philip, the man especially sent to secure 
 those advantages. This claimant to the regency, Philip, 
 derives his authority solely from the ardent desire of his 
 late sovereign that the rebellious Jews should be extermi-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 293 
 
 nated; and yet the moment he is able to make use of his 
 authority, he causes the deliverance of these self-same 
 Jews from utter and unavoidable ruin. It is true that the 
 result is, on his part, involuntary; but for that very reason 
 the Jews were all the more justified, when in this singular 
 complication of accidents, counteracting each other, they 
 saw the finger of a Providence watching over their pre- 
 servation. 
 
 The treachery of which the regent had rendered himself 
 guilty, both at Bethzura and at Jerusalem, renders it 
 doubtful whether his victory over Philip would not have 
 been followed by a renewal of the war against the Jews. 
 But difficulties with Rome, and other events which we 
 shall presently relate, rendered the preservation of peace 
 throughout the whole empire a matter of the highest im- 
 portance both to Lysias and to his pupil, the young king. 
 The court of Antioch, therefore, not only itself abstained 
 from any breach of the peace, but also in relation to Judea, 
 adopted two measures, the best calculated to prevent the 
 unauthorized warfare of the neighbouring tribes, and also 
 to check the outbreak of internal strife between the ortho- 
 dox and Grecianizing Jews. 
 
 The first measure was the appointing of Judah the Mac- 
 cabee as governor over the land, " from Ptolemais to the 
 Gerrhenians." And as he thus became the king's officer, 
 invested with lawful authority by virtue of the king's com- 
 mission, the pretence for attacking him and his people as 
 "rebels and outlaws" was altogether removed. 
 
 The second measure was the bringing of Menelaus to 
 justice for his many crimes. This turbulent and ambi- 
 tious personage had, on the conclusion of the first peace, 
 repaired to Jerusalem to resume his functions of high- 
 priest. But as the Maccabcans held the apostate in the 
 utmost detestation, and refused to admit him into the 
 temple, he was compelled for his personal security to take
 
 294 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 refuge in the fortress of Acra. Here, it appears, he was 
 the main instigator of the hostilities which the heathen 
 garrison carried on against the temple, and which became 
 the cause of Judah's laying siege to Acra. On the raising 
 of that siege by the royal army, Menelaus presented him- 
 self before the king and regent as the accuser of the Mac- 
 cabee, and as a competitor for the office of governor. 
 
 But his time was at length come. The regent soon be- 
 came convinced that Menelaus was utterly and irrecon- 
 cilably hateful to the Jews, and that any attempt to place 
 this odious personage in authority over them, whether 
 spiritual or secular, must lead to fresh commotions. Ly- 
 sias also discovered that the cause of this deeply-rooted 
 abhorrence on the part 'of the Jews was well founded, as 
 the crimes of Menelaus were so atrocious and so manifold, 
 that the permitting him to outrage justice with impunity, 
 as he had hitherto done, was one of the worst misdeeds 
 of the preceding reign. And as Menelaus with his usual 
 restlessness kept urging his claims, Lysias determined to 
 get rid of this troublesome criminal, and accused him be- 
 fore the king as the sole author and cause of all those 
 intestine wars that during the last few years had afflicted 
 Syria. 
 
 Menelaus was found guilty, and sentenced to such a 
 death as his treason, if not to Antiochus, yet to God and 
 his own people, fully deserved. He was conducted, under 
 a strong guard, to Berea, where he was consigned to the 
 Ash Tower. This was a mode of punishment invented by 
 the Persians, who considered it as a kind of privileged 
 death, to be inflicted only on offenders of the highest 
 birth and rank, whose blood was not to be spilled, 
 and whose bodies were not to be degraded by the 
 rope. The punishment of ashes is variously described. 
 According to Valerius Maximus, (lib. ix. cap. 2,) a place 
 was enclosed with high walls, and filled with ashes. A
 
 THE MACCABEES. 295 
 
 piece of timber was made to project over the ashes, on 
 which the criminal was placed. He was liberally supplied 
 with meat and drink until, overcome with sleep, he fell 
 into the deceitful heap and died an easy death. The 
 Syro-Greeks, who borrowed this punishment from the 
 Persians, sometimes inflicted it on the most odious offen- 
 ders, making it an engine of slow and suffocating torture. 
 
 Such was the end of Menelaus, the last and most guilty 
 of that triumvirate who conspired against the Law of God 
 and against Israel. 
 
 In removing Menelaus from the high-priesthood, and in 
 appointing Judah royal governor of Judea, the regent had 
 yielded to the necessities of the times, and to the wish 
 that the Jews and the adjacent nationalities should be 
 pacified. But fully determined to uphold the royal 
 authority, the regent's next measure was of a very differ- 
 ent character. The lawful heir to the office of high-priest 
 was Onias, a nephew of Menelaus, and a son of that high- 
 priest Onias who had been murdered at Antioch. But the 
 regent Lysias judged it most for the king's interest that 
 the high-priest to be appointed should be altogether 
 dependent on the court of Syria. He therefore advised 
 Antiochus td set aside the legitimate line of succession, 
 of which young Onias was the sole survivor, and who, 
 from that very fact, became independent of the king as 
 soon as his right to succeed was acknowledged. 
 
 In his stead, Lysias appointed Jakin, or Eliiikim bet- 
 ter known by his Greek name, Alcimus who, though of 
 priestly descent, had no other claim to succeed to the 
 highest office in the priesthood than the king's will. Of 
 tlio previous life of this Alcimus we know next to nothing. 
 The Medrnsh Kabbah (in Genesis, ch. 0">) relates that he 
 was a native of Zcrudoth, and a sister's son (nephew) of 
 Jose ben Joezcr, of Zcreda, at that time chief of the 
 Sanhedrin, and who subsequently suffered martyrdom at
 
 296 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the instigation of his kinsman, Alcimus. But though we 
 know so little of that which the French style his ante- 
 cedents, his career, subsequent to his appointment of high- 
 priest, is sufficiently known to prove that for treachery, 
 cruelty, and impiety this Alcimus was fully equal to his 
 predecessor, Menelaus. 
 
 When he presented himself at Jerusalem to enter on 
 his office, the Jews refused to recognise him as high-priest, 
 because he had obtained and sullied that dignity by open 
 apostasy, and by conforming to the religion and customs of 
 the Greeks. And as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were 
 supported by the royal governor, Judah, in their oppo- 
 sition to Alcimus, the would-be high-priest had no choice 
 but to return and lay his complaint before the throne. 
 But, by the time he reached Antioch, he found that both 
 his protectors had been destroyed by a revolution as 
 sudden as it proved irresistible, and that a new sovereign 
 wielded the sceptre of Seleucus Nicator, which he claimed 
 as his rightful heritage.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 297 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Demetrius I. King of Syria His flight from Rome Death of A. Eupator 
 Invasion of Jndea Massacre of Hassidim Jose" ben Joezer Nicanor 
 His blasphemy, defeat, and punishment First treaty between Judea 
 and Rome Discontent of the Hassidim Bacchides Battle of Eleasa 
 Death and burial of Judah the Maccabee His character Gentile testi- 
 mony to his military talents. (162 to 161 B. c. E.) 
 
 DEMETRIUS, the son of Selcucus IV. Philopator, had in 
 his infancy been sent as a hostage to Rome, where he re- 
 mained thirteen years after the death of his father. His 
 uncle Antiochus had been assisted to ascend the throne 
 from which he had hurled the assassin and usurper, Helio- 
 dorus; and subsequently, by extreme servility to the se- 
 nate, and large bribes to the Roman commissioners, he 
 had been permitted to reign, notwithstanding the remon- 
 strances of his nephew Demetrius. For the senate at Rome, 
 which always professed to do justice, but which in reality 
 was guided solely by its own interest, preferred a prince 
 of doubtful title to one of unquestionable right; and from 
 the same motive the son of the usurper, Antiochus, was 
 acknowledged as king of Syria by Rome, because the se- 
 nate preferred seeing that monarchy governed by a child, 
 rather than by a young man of ability and ambition. The 
 senate, therefore, turned a deaf ear to all the reclamations 
 and arguments of Demetrius, though he declared that, 
 from his residence among the Romans since his childhood, 
 he looked on the senators as his fathers, and on their sons 
 as his brothers, and that the wrong done to him was as if 
 done to their own kindred. (Polyb. lib. xxxi. cap. 12.) 
 
 To prevent any rash measures on the^part of their hos- 
 tage, the senate even sent ambassadors to Antioch to con-
 
 298 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 firm the coronation of Antiochus Eupator. At the head 
 of this embassy was Cneius Octavius, who had commanded 
 the Roman fleet in the last Macedonian war, and whose 
 name, after four generations, was raised to the highest 
 lustre by his descendant Octavius Caesar Augustus, suc- 
 cessively the tyrant and the father of the Roman world. 
 This ambassador, Octavius, acted harshly and tyranically 
 in Antioch. His attention was attracted by the vast as- 
 semblage of forces which the regent had marched, first 
 against Judea, and then against Philip. Among these 
 forces there was a considerable number of elephants, al- 
 though the kings of Syria, by their treaty with Rome, were 
 bound not to keep any of these warlike animals. 
 
 Octavius further found that, in violation of the treaty, 
 the kings of Syria had fitted out a greater number of ships 
 of war than they were allowed to possess. He therefore 
 proceeded to enforce the treaty by causing the elephants 
 to be killed and the ships to be destroyed, as he had the 
 unquestionable right to do; but the manner in which he 
 executed this odious business was so arrogant and offensive, 
 that a Syrian Greek, named Leptines, stung with indigna- 
 tion at the brutality with which his country was insulted 
 by the Roman, seized an opportunity to assassinate Octa- 
 vius in a bath at Laodicea. The news of this event, so 
 disgraceful to the government of his rival, encouraged De- 
 metrius to renew his importunities with the senate. But 
 they proved again unsuccessful; and the heir to the Syrian 
 crown began to fear he should have to end his days in 
 Italy, when fortune threw in his way two Greeks, then 
 resident in Rome, who inspired him with better hopes, and 
 enabled him to realize them. 
 
 The first of these was the historian Polybius, with whom 
 Demetrius had contracted an intimacy, as both were 
 greatly addicted to field-sports ; the second was Menyllus, 
 the ambassador of Ptolemy Philometor, King of Egypt.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 299 
 
 These men, united in mutual friendship, exhorted the 
 young prince never again to apply to the senate, but to 
 trust to their management and his own good fortune for 
 effecting his escape. 
 
 Their advice gained additional weight from the reports 
 brought by Diodorus, who had been intrusted with the 
 care of Demetrius in his childhood, and who just then ar- 
 rived at Rome from Syria. He assured Demetrius that 
 such was the general discontent excited by the unpunished 
 murder of Octavius, and such the suspicion with which the 
 regent and the army viewed each other, that should the 
 rightful heir appear in Syria, he could not fail to recover 
 his kingdom. It was therefore determined by his two ad- 
 visers that Demetrius should at once, and before any sus- 
 picion arose, attempt his escape. 
 
 Though a hostage, and in some respects a prisoner in 
 Rome, Demetrius lived there in princely magnificence. 
 He was accompanied by many Syrians of distinction; 
 spent his time with them in mutual visits and entertain- 
 ments, and enjoyed the privilege of hunting the wild boar 
 at a great distance from the capital. 
 
 It was decided that he was to avail himself of this 
 privilege in order to escape, by means of a Carthaginian 
 vessel which laid at the mouth of the Tiber. This vessel 
 was bound for Phoenicia, to carry the annual acknowledg- 
 ments or presents from Carthage, the colony, to Tyre, the 
 mother country. And as Mcnyllus, the Egyptian ambas- 
 sador, was about to return home, he hired a passage for 
 himself and his retinue, examined the accommodations, 
 and laid in stores without creating the smallest suspicion. 
 Ik-fore the day fixed for sailing, Menyllu.s again went on 
 board, and told the captain that unforeseen events had 
 arisen which would prevent him personally from embark- 
 ing, but that, nevertheless, their agreement fihould stand 
 good, as he wished to send part of his family back to
 
 300 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Egypt, and that the passengers would join the ship about 
 midnight, at which hour the captain said he would be 
 ready to receive them. 
 
 On the same day, Demetrius and his confederates par- 
 took of an entertainment at the house of one of his 
 Syrian companions, with the declared purpose of proceed- 
 ing that evening on a hunting party to Anagnia, forty 
 miles distant from Rome. He chose not to give the enter- 
 tainment himself, for his own parties were usually nume- 
 rous, and suspicion might have arisen in persons not in- 
 vited. Polybius was prevented by indisposition from being 
 present, but knew from Menyllus every step taken in 
 the business. 
 
 As the evening advanced, the historian began to fear 
 that Demetrius, who was a hard drinker as well as keen 
 sportsman, might frustrate his own success through intem- 
 perance in wine. Polybius therefore sent to him a box 
 with a tablet containing some verses from the Gnomic 
 poets, recommending sobriety, vigilance, distrust, and, above 
 all, expedition, and extolling these qualities as the sinews 
 of successful enterprise. Demetrius read, recognised the 
 writer, and prepared at once to 'follow his admonition. 
 On pretence of a nausea from drinking, he left the com- 
 pany. The other guests followed him. Those not in his 
 secret were sent forward to Anagnia, with orders to pro- 
 ceed with the dogs and nets some twenty miles farther, to 
 Mount Circaeum, a place almost surrounded by the Pomp- 
 tine marshes, and abounding with wild boars. 
 
 As soon as Demetrius, and the intended companions of 
 his flight, eight in number, were left by themselves, they 
 equipped themselves as travellers, and each, attended by a 
 single servant, rode off at a rapid pace, to take shipping 
 at Ostia, fifteen miles from Rome. As the wind was 
 favourable, and the Carthaginian only waited for his pas- 
 sengers, he sailed as soon as they were on board ; and the
 
 THE MACCABEES. 301 
 
 fugitive had nearly reached the straits of Messina before 
 his flight, though rumoured, was authenticated. It was 
 then too late to pursue him. .The senate, however, sent 
 Tiberius Gracchus, at the head of a commission, to inspect 
 the affairs of Syria and the neighbouring kingdoms. 
 (Polybius, lib. xxxi. cap. 19-22.) 
 
 But before this commission arrived in Asia, Demetrius 
 had seated himself on the throne of his father. Land- 
 ing at Tripolis, in Phoenicia, he thence proceeded to 
 Apamea, where his ancient tutor, Diodorus, who had left 
 Italy several days before him, had prepared every thing 
 for his welcome reception. With increasing bands of 
 adherents, he marched toward Antioch, every city that 
 he came to declaring in his favour ; for his return taking 
 place so soon after the murder of Octavius, no one 
 doubted that his enterprise had the full approbation of 
 the Romans. 
 
 As he approached Antioch, a mutiny broke out in the 
 army commanding that capital. Lysias, the regent, with 
 his pupil Eupator, were made prisoners by their own 
 troops, who proclaimed their allegiance to Demetrius, at 
 the same time desiring to know his pleasure with regard 
 to their prisoners. "Let me not see their faces," was his 
 reply and their death-warrant. Unresisting and unla- 
 mented, Antiochus V. was put to death as a usurper, in 
 the twelfth year of his age, and the third of his nominal 
 reign ; and his guardian Lysias shared his fate. 
 
 We have seen that Menyllus, the ambassador in Rome 
 of Ptolemy Philometor, took the most active part in 
 enabling Demetrius to escape. This he was induced to 
 do from resentment at the manifest injustice the senate 
 had committed against his master. Philometor had, as 
 we have already related, been compelled to associate his 
 younger brother Physcon in the government, which, as 
 both were but boys, was conducted by Eulocus, a eunuch, 
 
 Vol. I. 2i
 
 302 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 who lent his aid to the assault Epiphanes made on the 
 Jewish religion, by prohibiting its observance in Egypt. 
 But as Philometor reached man's estate, he freed himself 
 from the tutelage of the eunuch, and not only recalled the 
 decree against the Jews, but generally evinced a character 
 far superior to any of his predecessors since the third 
 Ptolemy, Euergetes. 
 
 But while his mild virtues gained him the love of his 
 subjects, the turpitude and ferocity of his younger bro- 
 ther Physcon excited the people against him. so that they 
 drove him in disgrace from Alexandria. But he was still 
 the favourite of the Romans, who considered him a useful 
 instrument for dividing the power of Egypt a kingdom 
 that remained intact after the expulsion of Epiphanes, 
 and which now began gradually to recover its vigour. 
 Philometor was therefore commanded to resign to Physcon 
 the kingdom of Gyrene, with all the Egyptian dependencies 
 in Lybia ; and when this order had been complied with, 
 the isle of Cyprus recently recovered by Egypt from 
 the crown of Syria was also adjudged to Physcon, that 
 his dominions might stand on a nearer footing of equality 
 with those of his brother. 
 
 In the course of these transactions both the brothers 
 visited Rome; but while the senators respected Philo- 
 metor, they favoured his brother. After the departure 
 of the two kings, their ambassadors appeared before the 
 senate. But though justice and reason were on the side 
 of the elder brother, Roman selfishness decided in favour 
 of the younger. 
 
 His miscarriage in this affair induced Menyllus to assist 
 the views of Demetrius, who on the throne of Syria might 
 prove a valuable friend and auxiliary to Philometor. But 
 upon first recovering his inheritance, Demetrius was in- 
 volved in so many anxieties at home, that he could pay no 
 attention to foreign politics. The death of his rivals had
 
 THE MACCABEES. 303 
 
 put him in possession of Antioch and the western pro- 
 vinces of his kingdom. But the most important portion 
 of his heritage, the wealthy satrapy of Babylonia, was still 
 held by two powerful instruments of the late government 
 Timarchus, the governor, and Heraclides, the treasurer, 
 both appointed by Epiphanes, deeply embarked in his 
 schemes of amalgamation, and detested by the people for 
 their severities. Against these two officers Demetrius 
 had first to turn his arms ; and from their overthrow he 
 acquired the name of Soter, "the Saviour," by which he 
 is known in history. 
 
 His next care was to disarm the probable resentment of 
 the Romans, and to court their favour by embassies, and 
 presents, and professions of the most perfect respect and de- 
 votion. To show his zeal in their cause, he made diligent iu- 
 quiry into the murder of their ambassador, Octavius ; but all 
 his researches did not enable him to implicate in that crime 
 the government which he had overthrown. The murderer 
 Leptines openly gloried in his deed ; while at the same 
 time this firm patriot, with equal sagacity and confidence, 
 predicted that no* harm would befall him for his glorious 
 misdeed. Demetrius sent him to Rome along with a 
 Greek named Isocratea, who had publicly lectured against 
 the rapacity and insolence of the Romans, and had ex- 
 tolled the assassination of Octavius as an example worthy 
 of imitation. Along with these two prisoners, the king sent 
 the senate a present of a large golden crown. On their 
 arrival at Rome, Isocrates provoked general disgust and 
 contempt for his cowardice and grovelling meanness; 
 whereas Leptines gained respect, as he appeared before 
 the senate bold, firm, and with aspect erect and im- 
 movable. As he had uniformly predicted, no harm befell 
 him. The Romans accepted the present Demetrius 
 had sent them, but dismissed the prisoners, declaring 
 that the guilt of the Syrian nation and government
 
 304 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 could not be washed out in the blood of individual 
 delinquents. 
 
 When Demetrius had thus recovered his dominions and 
 made his peace with Rome, his next care was Judea. Al- 
 cimus, on his arrival at Antioch, found his former protec- 
 tors utterly ruined ; and fearful of being involved in their 
 fall as their protege, he laid by for a little time, and as- 
 sembled around him the numerous apostates whom the 
 Maccabee had banished from Judea, and with whom Alci- 
 mus now made common cause. At the head of these ex- 
 iles he presented himself before the king, and, in their 
 behalf and his own, accused Judah and the Maccabeans 
 of treason against the king, and of tyranny and cruelty 
 against the acusers themselves. 
 
 They stated that they had been banished from their 
 native home for no other crime than for their attachment 
 to the religion and customs of Greece, which were doubly 
 endeared to them because they were the religion and cus- 
 toms of the king himself. They forgot not to represent 
 Judah as the minion of the late regent Lysias, who, re- 
 gardless of the true interests of the crown, and intent 
 solely on strengthening his own authority by placing in 
 power men who were altogether his own creatures, had re- 
 warded the rebellion of the Maccabees with the government 
 of Judea. And though Alcimus himself in reality was a 
 minion and creature of Lysias, with no other claim to the 
 high-priesthood than the will and favour of the late regent, 
 he possessed skill sufficient to divert the king's attention 
 from the origin of his appointment, by representing him- 
 self as a victim unjustly deprived of his high office by 
 that malignant traitor to the king and kingdom, the rebel 
 Maccabee. 
 
 Demetrius had been too long absent, and had been re- 
 turned to Syria too short a time, to be well acquainted 
 with persons and affairs in that kingdom. It is also pro-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 305 
 
 table that the men whom he consulted were more inclined 
 to favour Alcimus, with his Greek name and Greek plia- 
 bility, than Judah, the stern champion of his faith and 
 people. The fact of the Maccabee holding his appoint- 
 ment as governor of Judea from the late government, 
 would also contribute to exasperate the king against him. 
 The result of Alcimus's application was, from all these 
 causes, perfectly successful. Bacchides, Governor of Meso- 
 potamia, was ordered to march against Judea, to reinstate 
 Alcimus in his dignity, and to bring Judah and his adhe- 
 rents to condign punishment. The governor of Mesopota- 
 mia and the high-priest of Jerusalem were joined in the 
 same commission ; and Alcimus, eager for power, hurried 
 the Syrian general, who was altogether devoted to him, so 
 that he marched forthwith against Judea. 
 
 It was not merely on the force of arms that Alcimus re- 
 lied for success against the Maccabee ; treachery was one 
 potent auxiliary he called to his aid, while the altered 
 character of the war, and the consequent change in men's 
 minds, was another and even more powerful ally. It was 
 no longer a war of extermination or apostasy that was 
 carried on against the Jews by the king of Syria. The 
 regent Lysias had, in the name of Antiochus Eupator, se- 
 cured to them the right to live according to their peculiar 
 laws and usages; and Bacchides, in the name of King 
 Demetrius, declared that he did not come to abrogate that 
 right. 
 
 The mass of the Jewish people, who had just begun to 
 taste the sweets of peace, were by no means inclined 
 rashly to renew the horrors of war, which had exposed 
 their country and families to losses and sufferings for 
 which no amount of booty and no degree of military glory 
 could compensate. With this state of public fot-ling Al- 
 cimus was doubtless well acquainted; and he therefore 
 concluded that provided the most prominent leaders, civi- 
 
 26*
 
 306 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 lians as well as military men, could be removed, no great 
 resistance to his installation as high-priest was to be ap- 
 prehended from the bulk of the Jewish people. These 
 views he urged strongly on Bacchides ; and as that general 
 entertained a wholesome dread of Maccabean prowess, he 
 readily joined into Alcimus's schemes for entrapping Ju- 
 dah and his principal adherents. 
 
 Both high-priest and general sent deputies to invite the 
 Maccabee to a conference, at which all disputes might be 
 settled in an amicable way; and they spared neither pro- 
 mises nor vows that he and his friends should come and go 
 in perfect safety. But the prudent Maccabee suspected 
 their design ; he rightly judged that an army so powerful 
 as the Syrian, under a commander so distinguished as 
 Bacchides, would not have been marched against Judea for 
 the sole purpose of deciding the title of an intruding priest ; 
 but that some project more dangerous to his people and 
 to himself must be hidden under the friendly professions 
 and apparently harmless purpose of the invader. While, 
 therefore, he recognised the supremacy of King Deme- 
 trius, and declared his willingness to pay the customary 
 tribute, Judah declined the proposed conference; and 
 though he did not take the field against Bacchides or op- 
 pose his march, the Maccabee began to prepare for a 
 vigorous defence. 
 
 But, as Alcimus had foreseen, the mass of the people 
 did not wish for a renewal of the Avar. Even the Hassidim 
 thought Judah's suspicion groundless, ill-timed, and unjust. 
 They contended that an amicable settlement was the fair- 
 est and best, and therefore to be greatly preferred by 
 pious men; that moreover, Alcimus a descendant of 
 Aaron the priest, "the friend of peace and promoter of 
 peace," should not be lightly suspected of treachery and 
 perjury while engaged in his hereditary duty of peace- 
 making. When, therefore, they found that their remon-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 307 
 
 strances with Judah were unavailing, and that he persisted 
 in his distrust of Alcimus, the Hassidim determined to try 
 how far their mediation would work toward the desired 
 peace ; and having obtained an oath of safety from the 
 treacherous high-priest, they waited on him to the number 
 of sixty, and at first met with a most friendly reception. 
 
 But though Alcimus could plan and concoct schemes of 
 treachery with the utmost coolness, his violent temper did 
 not permit him to carry out his own devices with that self- 
 command which was necessary for their complete success. 
 Had he permitted his visitors to depart in peace, had he 
 repeated his friendly interviews with them again and again, 
 there is no telling whether the practical refutation thus 
 given to his suspicions, and the growing pressure from 
 without, might not at length have induced even the wary 
 Maccabee to fall into the snare. But Alcimus could not 
 wait. When he saw so many of his enemies in his power, 
 when he saw before him the men who had shut him out 
 from the temple and driven him from Jerusalem, his thirst 
 for vengeance became irresistible. And though Judah was 
 not among his victims, he caused his sixty visitors to be 
 seized and cruelly put to death. 
 
 Among them, and probably at their head, was Jose, the 
 son of Joezcr of Zereda, senior president of the Sanhcd- 
 rin, and nearly related to the high-priest, whose mother 
 was his sister. After the death of Antigonus of Socho 
 of whose antagonism to the philosophy of Epicurus wo 
 have already spoken the presidency of the Sanhcdrin 
 wus intrusted to two officers, of whom the senior had the 
 title of Nasi, (president,) and the second that of Ab-Beth- 
 Din, (vice-president.) Jose ben Joe'zcr was of the linc- 
 nge of Aaron, distinguished in the priesthood as a Hassid, 
 and as such holding a prominent rank among the cham- 
 pions of Judaism. 
 
 The writer in Frankel'a Monatschrift, whom we have
 
 308 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 already quoted, is of opinion (No. 11, p. 406) that when 
 we read (1 Mace. ii. 42) that " an assembly of Hassidim 
 joined Mattathias," and when the traitor Alcimus, in his 
 complaint before King Demetrius, (2 Mace. xiv. 6,) de- 
 clares that " the war is kept up by the men called Hassi- 
 dim ;" in each of these two instances it is Jose the son 
 of Joezer who is chiefly alluded to as the first civilian 
 among the defenders of the Law, and at the head of the 
 principal authority which they recognised. 
 
 It is possible that his near and twofold connection with 
 Alcimus his own sister's son, and like himself, a Cohen 
 may have somewhat biassed the pious Jose*, and rendered 
 him loth to treat his nephew as a perjured traitor ; and it 
 is probable that his opinion and example greatly influenced 
 the Hassidim. But they and he paid for their overtrust- 
 fulness no less a penalty than life. 
 
 His brief dialogue with his murderer is related in the 
 Midrash (Bereshith Rabba, 65) in a manner equally simple 
 and impressive. He was led out to death on a sabbath- 
 day, the scaffold or platform for his execution being car- 
 ried before him. Alcimus, mounted on a splendid char- 
 ger, met him, and causing the procession to stop, he jeer- 
 ingly addressed his aged kinsman, saying " My lord, 
 look at the horse my master has given me, and that on 
 which thy master is about to make thee ride." "Ay," 
 was the brief reply, "if thus to those who offend him, 
 how much more to those who obey him!" meaning, "If 
 those who offend God can enjoy such prosperity in this 
 life, how much greater by far must be the felicity that in 
 the life to come is in store for those who obey God!" 
 
 Nothing daunted, Alcimus rejoined "My lord, who has 
 ever obeyed him with more sincerity than thou?" Josd 
 answered with the same brevity as before, "If thus to 
 those who obey him, how much more to those who offend 
 him !" meaning, "If those who obey him can suffer such
 
 THE MACCABEES. 309 
 
 misery in this life, how much greater by far must be the 
 suffering that in the life to come awaits those who offend 
 him !" a remark that in proper time did not fail to pro- 
 duce its due impression on the mind of Alcimus. For 
 though the statement by the Midrash, that directly he 
 left his victim he committed suicide, is contradicted by 
 the First Book of Maccabees, (vii. 20 et. seq.,) and also 
 by Josephus, (Antiq. xii. 10,) and it appears he continued 
 his career more than a year after the martyrdom of Jose' 
 the son of Joezer, yet both these authorities agree so far 
 with the Midrash, as to state that the death of Alcimus 
 was untimely and violent. 
 
 His treachery, however, defeated its own purpose, and 
 was of singular service to the Maccabee and to the friends 
 of resistance, since it fully justified his suspicions, and 
 proved to the people that nothing but the blackest perfidy 
 and cruelty was to be expected from the perjured pontiff 
 and his equally treacherous colleague ; a conviction which 
 induced the Hassidim once more to stand up for their 
 religion, their liberty, and their heroic but prudent chief. 
 Nor was this all; but Bacchides whether stung with the 
 reproaches to which this useless perfidy exposed him, or 
 disgusted with a colleague incapable of deliberately carry- 
 ing out his own plans quitted Judca, and returned to 
 Antioch, leaving with the high-priest a body of troops 
 sufficient, as he thought, to maintain that functionary in 
 his new dignity ; and proving his own fierce hatred of the 
 Jews, not only by causing a considerable number of them 
 to be seized and slaughtered at Bethsetha, on the road 
 to Antioch, but also by denying the rite of sepulture to 
 his victims, whoso corpses he caused to be flung into pits 
 and wells. 
 
 Alcimus, thus left to himself, spared neither pains nor 
 cost, flatteries nor cruelties, to strengthen his position 
 and party. The many Grccianized Jews and rcncgadea
 
 310 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 whom Judah had banished, were especial objects of the 
 high-priest's attention. His emissaries sought them out 
 in their various places of refuge, and under the most 
 liberal promises invited them to rally under the standard 
 of Alcimus. His generosity and caresses, not less than 
 their eager desire to return to their native land, induced 
 numbers of these unfortunate exiles to join him. Not a 
 day passed but that some reinforcement added to the 
 strength of these outcasts ; and as they were impelled by 
 the fiercest passions of revenge and hatred against their 
 orthodox brethren, Alcimus, at their head, and supported 
 by the Syrian troops, made continual incursions into 
 various parts of the country, plundering, burning, and 
 destroying all that refused to recognise his high priestly 
 authority. 
 
 Judah who during the presence of Bacchides, and so 
 long as the Syrians had committed no actual hostilities, 
 had abstained from opposing the royal arms now took 
 the field against Alcimus, defeated him in several engage- 
 ments, and inflicted such severe punishment on the cruel 
 renegades that fell into his hands, that the remainder of 
 them dared no longer act against him, but either fled from 
 Judea, or sought refuge in Acra, the heathen fortress at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Their desertion proved to Alcimus that they considered 
 his case as hopeless, and convinced him that unless he 
 procured a much larger army with which to force the Jews 
 into submission, he would never be able to master his 
 enemy, nor yet be permitted to approach the sacred altar. 
 He therefore returned to the court of Syria, and once 
 more urged his complaints and accusations, which, as 
 before, were backed by all the enemies of the Jews then 
 at Antioch. His forays against his own people had placed 
 much booty in his hands, which he had carried off with 
 him, and part of which he now employed in bribing the
 
 THE MACCABEES. 311 
 
 king with the present of a magnificent crown of gold and 
 other rich gifts ; and as Demetrius was already sufficiently 
 incensed against the Maccabee, the creature, as he 
 thought, of the late regent Lysias, all that Alcimus 
 required was readily granted. A large army was placed 
 under the command of Nicanor, one of the bitterest 
 enemies of the Jews, with the express orders to cut 
 off Judah and his partisans, to disarm and to disperse 
 his army, and to settle Alcimus in his power and 
 dignity beyond the possibility of any future opposition. 
 (1 Mace. vii. 21, et. seq.) 
 
 Though the royal commands were thus explicit and pe- 
 remptory, and though Nicanor, who entered Judea at the 
 head of a numerous army, would have been but too happy 
 to carry them out to the letter and to their fullest extent, 
 yet in his own mind that general was more than doubtful 
 of his ability so to do. Nicanor's hatred of the Jews was 
 neutralized by his dread of the Maccabee, by whom he 
 had already once been so signally defeated, that he felt 
 another such discomfiture would be utter ruin to his fame 
 and future hopes as a military commander. He therefore 
 resolved to leave no means untried to bring Judah to ac- 
 cept of a peace, deeming it less dangerous to modify the 
 king's orders than to hazard another battle against the 
 never-vanquished Maccabee. 
 
 On his arrival in Judea, the apostates who so lately had 
 deserted Alcimus again joined the Syrian banner, and in 
 such crowds, that before he reached the neighbourhood of 
 Jerusalem, Nicanor found his forces increased exceedingly. 
 ^On the other hand, the Maccabcans who had early tidings 
 of his approach, went to the temple to implore the Divine 
 assistance by fasting and prayers, and then prepared them- 
 selves for a vigorous defence. But when Nicanor reached 
 Dessau, a fortress not far from Jerusalem, where Simon, 
 the brother of the Maccabee, was stationed, and that leader
 
 312 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 went forth to meet him, the sight of the immense army 
 arrayed against him so terrified the Jewish commander, 
 that without attempting to fight, he at once fell back on 
 Jerusalem ; and, as he was known to be valiant as well as 
 prudent, his hasty retreat produced an unfavourable im- 
 pression on the minds of the people. 
 
 No increase of force or apparent success could, however, 
 tempt the Syrian general to depart from the plan he had 
 traced out for himself, or to commence hostilities against 
 Judah. On the contrary, he caused that valiant chief to 
 be waited on by three of the principal officers in the Sy- 
 rian army, who were authorized to offer peace to the Jews. 
 Judah, who with pain had observed the disheartening effect 
 which Simon's retreat had produced on the minds of his 
 men, and who knew that the majority of them were become 
 averse to war, deemed it his duty to communicate these 
 proposals to the people ; and as they were received with 
 great gladness even by the most zealous of his adherents, 
 he agreed with the emissaries of Nicanor on time and 
 place for an interview with that general, so that the two 
 chiefs in person might settle the terms of peace. 
 
 As Judah from past experience had cause to dread 
 treachery, if not from Nicanor himself, at least from Al- 
 cimus, he caused a number of his best men to be so ad- 
 vantageously posted, that in case any violence was offered 
 to him, they might instantly hasten to his relief. But his 
 precaution for once proved needless, as Nicanor was so 
 earnestly bent upon concluding peace, that their confe- 
 rence was carried on to the satisfaction of both parties. 
 Articles of peace confirming the treaty of Lysias were 
 agreed on and sworn to; after which Nicanor paid a visit 
 to Jerusalem, and stayed there some time, without giving 
 the Jews any cause of complaint or at all interfering with 
 their internal affairs. To avoid giving them any umbrage, 
 he even went so far as to disband the greater part of his
 
 THE MACCABEES. 313 
 
 army, and for a time lived in perfect friendship with Judah 
 and the Jewish nation. 
 
 This harmony, however, was disturbed by Alcimus, who, 
 though his title as high-priest was nominally recognised, 
 yet continued excluded from his sacerdotal functions, and 
 who, consequently, thought the peace not sufficiently ad- 
 vantageous to himself. He therefore returned^ to Antioch, 
 and once more appeared before the king to complain, not 
 only against the Jews, but also against Nicanor as a be- 
 trayer of his master's interests, and a friend to his mortal 
 enemies ; in testimony of which, he urged the peace lately 
 concluded between them contrary to the king's expressed 
 will. 
 
 Demetrius was alike incensed and surprised that his 
 general should venture to take so important a step, not 
 only without the king's permission, but even without his 
 knowledge; and the first outburst of the royal anger 
 threatened to prove fatal to Nicanor. But that general 
 had powerful friends at court, and at their intercession 
 the king was induced not altogether to withdraw his favour 
 from Nicanor, or to recall him from his command, though 
 the peace he had concluded was declared null and void, 
 Demetrius refusing to ratify the treaty. The general was, 
 moreover, commanded under pain of the king's severest 
 displeasure, instantly to renew the war against the Jewish 
 chief, and not to sheathe the sword until the Maccabeo 
 should be killed, his party wholly suppressed, and Alciinus 
 enthroned as high-priest in the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 The royal orders were accompanied by letters to Nica- 
 nor from the friends at court who had protected him, up- 
 braiding him for his presuming to disobey the kinjr, and 
 assuring him that though their intercession and influence 
 had been BO far successful, yet they felt convinced his con- 
 tinued disobedience, or indeed any departure from the 
 strict letter of the royal commands, would lead to his cer- 
 
 VOL. I. -27
 
 S14 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tain destruction, which no efforts of theirs could avert ; 
 .that, therefore, if he wished to escape being treated as a 
 rebel, he must put Judah to death, and install Alcimus in 
 the temple; and that, if he deemed the forces already 
 under his command insufficient for the purpose, reinforce- 
 ments to any extent he might require would be despatched 
 without delay. 
 
 The receipt of orders and communications so little ex- 
 pected, caused Nicanor the greatest perplexity and uneasi- 
 ness of mind. For while, on the one hand, the peremptory 
 command of the king left him no choice but obedience, on 
 the other hand the terrible defeat which he, with a large 
 army, had once experienced from Judah and a handful of 
 men, had stamped on his mind the conviction that God 
 himself fought for the Maccabee a conviction which no 
 event in the subsequent career of that never-conquered 
 leader had weakened. The Jews, moreover, had strictly 
 kept the peace, and given no fresh cause for hostilities ; so 
 that in violating an agreement which he himself had pro- 
 posed, and to which he had sworn, Nicanor would become 
 guilty of perjury in the eyes of God and man; a reflection 
 not at all likely to tranquillize his mind. 
 
 The conflict which these contending emotions raised 
 within him showed itself in his outward demeanour, espe- 
 cially toward Judah. Instead of treating him with that 
 cordial intimacy and friendly equality which till then had 
 characterized their intercourse, Nicanor's manner became 
 changeful and abrupt, sometimes haughty and imperious, 
 at other times fawningly friendly, and in either instance 
 without any apparent cause. 
 
 These inconsistencies in the conduct of Nicanor did not 
 escape the keen eye of the Maccabee ; he easily perceived 
 that Nicanor was at strife with himself, while at the same 
 time he was hatching some design against Judah, which 
 might be carried out when least expected. The Jewish
 
 THE MACCABEES. 315 
 
 chief, therefore, deemed it prudent to provide for his per- 
 sonal safety ; and this he did with such speed and secrecy, 
 that it took Nicanor completely by surprise. The Syrian 
 had at length made up his mind that the king must be 
 obeyed, and that Judah must be destroyed; but as an ap- 
 peal to arms still "cowed his better part of man," treachery 
 was to effect that which he had not the courage to attempt 
 by open force. 
 
 The sudden disappearance of his intended victim, how- 
 ever, deranged his plan, the success of which depended 
 altogether on Judah's confidence and the facility thereby 
 afforded to seize his person. Nicanor was now, much 
 against his inclination, obliged to resort to public measures 
 of hostility; and alleging Judah's flight as the cause, he 
 hastened to raise a new army by reassembling the troops 
 he had disbanded, and reinforcing them with veterans, 
 chiefly apostate Jews, drawn from the numerous garrison 
 at Acra. At the head of thirty-five thousand men Nica- 
 nor marched against Jerusalem ; but the numbers at his 
 command were not sufficient to restore his courage. He 
 still dreaded war; and, clinging to his first scheme, endea- 
 voured to surprise his opponent by some foul stratagem. 
 
 For this purpose he sent emissaries to Judah to assure 
 him that the Syrians had no wish or intention to renew 
 the war ; that the assembling of royal troops was the con- 
 sequence of Judah's ill-advised, uncalled-for, and suspicious 
 disappearance. Nicanor therefore proposed an interview 
 at which they might once more meet, and restore that 
 state of peace which had been disturbed without any real 
 cause for complaint on either side. Ju<l;ih consented to 
 meet the Syrian general at the place appointed, where 
 their first greeting appeared friendly and peaceable. ]Jut 
 Judah soon discovered the purpose of his antagonist, which 
 was to keep him in talk, and to lull him into security until 
 the ambush previously prepared should be ready to
 
 316 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 pounce upon and seize him. He therefore suddenly broke 
 up the conference and withdrew, and from that time re- 
 fused to see Nicanor any more. 
 
 As all his treacherous schemes miscarried, Nicanor at 
 length, reluctant and fearful, had recourse to arms, and 
 advanced to Capharsalama, in the vicinity of Jerusalem. 
 Judah marched forth to meet him, and forced him to re- 
 treat with the loss of five thousand men. But this half 
 success disheartened the Jews ; they feared that, as they 
 had not been able to overthrow Nicanor's army, even be- 
 fore it received the numerous reinforcements that were 
 hastening to his aid, they themselves would be overthrown 
 and defeated by him if they were again to meet him in the 
 field. Many of them, therefore, forsook Judah and sought 
 shelter, some in the temple and some in the city, while 
 Judah himself, with the few true hearts that adhered to 
 him, retreated to the north, toward Samaria. 
 
 This result was far more favourable than Nicanor had 
 dared to expect. And as he had escaped the utter and 
 disgraceful rout which he had dreaded, he began to look 
 upon his own loss of five thousand men, and consequent re- 
 treat, not as a defeat, but as a success, and merely as the 
 price at which the dispersion of the Jews and the discom- 
 fiture of Judah had been cheaply bought. Thenceforth 
 his arrogance became as great as his fears had been ; and 
 leading his army, reinforced by several thousand men, to 
 Jerusalem, he ascended to the fortress on Mount Acra. 
 There he was met by a deputation consisting of the heads 
 of the people and some of the priests, who, in a submissive 
 manner, assured him of their faithful allegiance to the 
 crown of Syria, and pointed out to him the sacrifices which 
 at that very time were offered up in the temple for the 
 prosperity of King Demetrius. But Nicanor scouted their 
 assurances of loyalty ; and after casting many an insolent 
 and blasphemous reflection on what he chose to call their
 
 THE MACCABEES. 317 
 
 base superstition, he vowed the utter destruction of them 
 and their temple, and swore unless Judah was immedi- 
 ately delivered up to him, he would pull down the altar 
 and burn the temple, and in their place erect an altar and 
 temple to Bacchus. 
 
 The surrendering of Judah, however, was a demand 
 which the priests and heads of the people had it not in 
 their power to grant, as the Maccabee, unconquered, was 
 still in the field, though his followers were but few. But 
 Nicanor refused to listen to any thing they could urge, 
 and determined, until Judah should be in his power, to de- 
 stroy such other leading men among the Jews as the people 
 most confided in. The legend (2 Mace. xiv. 37-46) re- 
 lates the heartrending and sickening circumstances attend- 
 ing the immolation of an aged and eminent member of the 
 Sanhedrin, whose piety and patriotism had gained for him 
 the title of "father of his people," but whose identity the 
 mutilation of his name (Razis he is called in the legend) 
 does not enable us to establish. 
 
 Modern commentators of the Bible assign the 74th, 79th, 
 and 80th Psalm to this period of Nicanor's brief sway, and 
 also to the foul murders committed by Alcimus immediately 
 before and after this period ; and as far as the intrinsic 
 evidence of the Psalms themselves can throw any light on 
 the subject, there is no portion of time in Jewish history 
 to which the expressions used in these Psalms so fully and 
 truly apply, as to the gloomy days of Nicanor, of Alcimus, 
 and of Bacchides. 
 
 In the midst of his cruelties and his blasphemies, Nica- 
 nor felt any thing but easy in his mind. It was not by 
 the murder of a wretched old man like Razis, nor yet by 
 the use of insulting and vain-glorious threats against a few 
 feeble priests and their worship, that the war could bo 
 brought to an end, or the king's peremptory orders en- 
 forced. The decision was to be sought on whatever field
 
 318 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the Maccabee chose to make a stand; and when Nicanor 
 heard that many Jews, exasperated by his blasphemies and 
 cruelties, again flocked round the standard of the Macca- 
 bees, he mustered nearly forty thousand Syrians and Jew- 
 ish apostates, and marched forth in search of Judah ; nor 
 had he far to seek him. Judah, whose force again num- 
 bered three thousand men, no sooner ascertained that Ni- 
 canor was encamped at Bethoron, than he took a position 
 at Adasa, a place about thirty furlongs distant from the 
 enemy ; and there Nicanor resolved to attack him. 
 
 The legend (2 Mace. xv. 1, et seq.) has taken care to 
 clothe this, the last of Judah's great victories, with many 
 details alike interesting and marvellous. The da.y on 
 which Nicanor, who still trusted more to his cunning than 
 to his prowess, resolved to attack the Jews, was the Sab- 
 bath ; in the full expectation that, rather than desecrate 
 the day by fighting, they would allow themselves to be 
 butchered without resistance, as he had once seen them 
 do in the streets of Jerusalem. 
 
 He was, however, assured of the contrary by Jewish 
 apostates who were in his army ; and some of them, re- 
 called to better feelings, perhaps, by the sufferings of their 
 people and the imminence of Nicanor's advance, even ven- 
 tured to beg of him that he would pay a regard to that 
 holy day which the God of heaven had consecrated to his 
 service. With scornful taunt Nicanor asked them whether 
 there was indeed a mighty God in heaven who had ordered 
 the sanctification of the Sabbath; and being answered in 
 the affirmative, he replied, "And I, who am powerful on 
 earth, do command you to fight for the king, your master, 
 and to obey his orders." When we remember how long 
 and how greatly this same Nicanor had been trembling at 
 the idea of an encounter with Judah, because of his mighty 
 protector in heaven, it appears to us that all his blasphe- 
 mies were so many rhodomontades, in which he indulged in
 
 THE MACCABEES. 319 
 
 order to conceal from others, and perhaps also from him- 
 self, the fear which still was busy at his heart and brain. 
 
 Judah also prepared for battle, not by any blustering 
 or rant, but by directing the hearts and hopes of his 
 people toward their Father in heaven. The date of the 
 battle happened to be the 13th of Adar, (161 B. c. E.,) the 
 anniversary of Queen Esther's fast, and of the deliverance 
 of Israel from the murderous plot of Hainan. Judah re- 
 called that circumstance to his fasting but not fainting 
 warriors', and still more to encourage them, he related to 
 them a dream or vision by which he himself had been 
 greatly comforted, and in which he saw, first, the late pious 
 high-priest, the murdered Onias, and then the prophet 
 Jeremiah, interceding for the people of Israel ; and that, 
 at the close of this vision, the prophet had addressed him, 
 presenting him with a splendid sword, and had given him 
 the assurance of a complete victory. 
 
 This address of Judah's produced an effect on his men 
 fully equal to any he could have anticipated. Confident 
 of help from above, they attacked the enemy with a degree 
 of valour and enthusiasm which nothing could resist, and 
 at their very first onset broke and routed the Syrian army. 
 As Nicanor himself was one of the first that fell, his troops 
 were seized with a panic, threw down their arms, and 
 vainly sought safety in flight. For not only were Judah 
 and his little army unwearied in the pursuit, but from all 
 the country round, the people, as they heard of the vic- 
 tory and saw the fugitives, rose against them with a de- 
 gree of exasperation that enables the legend to relate that 
 not one of the Syrians escaped to carry the disastrous 
 news to Antioch. 
 
 The day after the battle was Purim, the feast of Esther; 
 ii ml that day of general rejoicing has probably never been 
 celebrated with more pious and heartfelt joy than by Ju- 
 dah and his men after their most signal deliverance and
 
 320 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 triumph. The body of Nicanor being found among the 
 heaps of slain, Judnh ordered that his head and his right 
 hand, which he had so lately lifted up with threatening 
 oaths against the temple, should be cut off and carried in 
 triumph to Jerusalem. There they were exposed to the 
 view of Jews and of Gentiles, with the impressive procla- 
 mation that these were the head and hand of the profane 
 and cruel Nicanor, who had sworn the total destruction of 
 God's holy temple. The fierce act of posthumous retalia- 
 tion received its completion by the tongue of the wretched 
 blasphemer being cut out of his head, minced up, and 
 thrown to the birds, after which his head and hand were 
 hung up on two of the highest towers in the city, but 
 where these horrid trophies of vengeance were destined 
 not long to remain. 
 
 This complete and brilliant victory gave the Jews a 
 short breathing-time of peace; for their enemies, astounded 
 at the continued success of the Maccabee, left him unmo- 
 lested in possession of Jerusalem and Judea. But that 
 chief, powerful and victorious as he then was, could not 
 contemplate either the past or the future, his own people 
 or the king of Syria, without serious misgivings. For on 
 the one hand he saw that his people were tired of war ; 
 they had once abandoned him, their oft-tried leader and 
 champion. They had forsaken him in the time of his 
 utmost need, and when the ferocious Nicanor proclaimed 
 aloud that nothing short of Judah's life would disarm his 
 rancour. 
 
 On the other hand, Judah knew that King Demetrius 
 viewed him (Judah) personally with intense hatred, be- 
 cause he considered him not only as a rebel against the 
 majesty of Syria, but also as the creature, the only sur- 
 viving and successful representative, of the faction of Ly- 
 sias. It was therefore to be apprehended that the king 
 would send army after army to destroy Judah, while it
 
 THE MACCABEES. 321 
 
 was very uncertain whether his people would stand by him 
 to defend him. And what was worse, it was to be feared 
 that since the people proved thus unsteady and lukewarm 
 in the cause of God, the protection of God might be with- 
 drawn from them. For himself, Judah felt no fear; he 
 had devoted his life to God and his country, and was alike 
 ready to live or die for his most holy cause. His fears 
 were for his country and nation; and therefore he deemed 
 it wise and prudent to secure to them an auxiliary whose 
 alliance might act as a curb on the bitter hatred of King 
 Demetrius, and the assurance of whose help would deter 
 the neighbouring nationalities from hostilities against 
 Judea. 
 
 Rome had already once exerted her influence at the 
 court of Antioch in behalf of the Jews. The power of 
 Rome thus began to be known to them, and they were as- 
 sured that the Romans faithfully and effectually protected 
 their allies. According to Salvador, (Hist, de la Domina- 
 tion Romaine en Judee, vol. i. p. 76,) the Romans them- 
 selves, who watched the resistance and victories of the 
 Jews with interest, because these contributed to weaken 
 and embarrass the Syrian monarchy, had, by means of 
 their occult agents in Judea, who held out the most brilliant 
 promises, indoctrinated the Jewish people with the desire 
 for an alliance with Rome; so that Judah was forced to 
 yield to these advances made by the Romans, which, in- 
 deed, he could not decline without drawing down upon 
 himself the resentment of that proud and implacable people. 
 
 Two Jewish ambassadors, Eupolemus the son of John, 
 and Jason the son of Eleazar, who had already in former 
 years given proofs of their diplomatic skill in successful 
 negotiations with King Seleucus Philopator, were there- 
 fore sent to Rome, where they concluded a treaty of alli- 
 ance, offensive and defensive, on terms of equality and 
 perfect reciprocity between the Romans and Jews. Nor
 
 322 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 did the Roman senate scruple thus to recognise as inde- 
 pendent the revolted subjects of its older ally, the king 
 of Syria; for it was part of the systematic plan of subju- 
 gation practised by that most astute and politic body, to 
 grant liberty to thoSe nationalities who were under foreign 
 dominion; which served the twofold purpose of directly 
 weakening the ruling power whose subjects were thus de- 
 tached from it, and of subsequently enslaving both when 
 fit opportunity should offer. 
 
 Accordingly, the senate at Rome passed a decree which 
 was engraven on copper, in order to be sent to Jerusalem, 
 importing that the Jews were thenceforth acknowledged as 
 the friends and allies of the Romans; that both nations 
 should be ready to succour each other and the allies of 
 either with all their power, and in no case should assist 
 their enemies; and whereas Demetrius, King of Syria, 
 had been complained against to the senate as an oppressor 
 of the Jewish nation, a letter should be sent to him, strictly 
 charging him for the future to forbear all hostilities against 
 them, and threatening him with an invasion of his country 
 by sea and land in case he did not comply with this de- 
 cree. (1 Mace. viii. 25, et seq.) 
 
 The concluding of this treaty with Rome has exposed 
 Judah to blame from two very different sets of reasoners. 
 One party blames him for that, being manifestly protected 
 by God, he should still have sought human aid. But then 
 the word of God nowhere commands that pious men are 
 never to listen to the wholesome counsels of earthly wis- 
 dom, nor does it condemn the adopting of measures of 
 human prudence as incompatible ith a perfect trust in 
 the Lord. 
 
 The second party condemns Judah's shortsighted policy, 
 inasmuch as he did not penetrate the designs of Rome, 
 which was first to supersede, and then to succeed to, the 
 supremacy of the Syrians in Judea. But then it is cer-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 323 
 
 tain that Judah did not fight for national and political in- 
 dependence, but for religious liberty and freedom of con- 
 science. If that had been conceded by the Syrian king, 
 the Jews would readily have returned to their political 
 dependence, and indeed were anxious so to do. And if, 
 on the contrary, the right freely to worship God could 
 only be secured by political subjection to the Romans, Ju- 
 dah and his people would not have hesitated to purchase 
 religious liberty at that price. Since their return from 
 Babylon, they had been dependent successively on Per- 
 sians, Macedonians, Egypto-Grecians, and Syro-Grecians, 
 and if that dependence was now to be again transferred, 
 all that the Jews then cared for was the right to live ac- 
 cording to their own laws. Judah is then not to be blamed 
 for concluding a treaty which subsequent events proved to 
 have been well timed. 
 
 The tidings of Nicanor's wretched end, and of the 
 utter destruction of his arnjy, no sooner reached Antioch, 
 than King Demetrius took such measures to avenge the 
 defeat and to repair the disaster as the greatness of the 
 emergency seemed to him to require. Till then he had 
 looked upon the war in Judea as a mere provincial 
 outbreak, such as was frequent in the unwieldy mo- 
 narchies of the East. The full extent of previous losses 
 and defeats so little creditable to the glory of the Syrian 
 arms had probably been concealed from him ; those 
 discomfitures which it had been necessary to confess, were 
 ascribed to the mismanagement of the late regent Lysias, 
 or to the incapacity of the generals he intrusted with 
 command ; and Alcimus had probably described the 
 ferocity of the Jews and of their leader as greatly 
 exceeding their valour and his generalship. But the anni- 
 hilation of the army commanded by Nicanor, a veteran 
 general of acknowledged reputation, at onco dispelled 
 all these illusions, revealed to the king the extent of
 
 324 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the danger in Judea, and showed him that the hest 
 troops and the best general in his service must he 
 marched against the Maccabees. 
 
 It was the custom of the times as we have stated 
 in our account of the battle of Raphia that when the 
 king in person took the field, he was stationed at the head 
 of the right wing of his army; and therefore the best 
 soldiers were drafted into the corps that formed this royal 
 wing, which thus embodied within itself the flower of the 
 whole military force of the monarchy. This right wing, 
 consisting of twenty thousand foot and two thousand 
 horse, Demetrius now despatched into Judea ; and the 
 command he intrusted to Bacchides, who had already 
 on a former occasion led an army against the Maccabee, 
 and whom that prudent leader had not deemed it ex- 
 pedient to attack. 
 
 Alcimus the high-priest again accompanied the Syrian 
 army, which directed its march to Galilee, and com- 
 menced its operations with the storming of Maseloth, 
 or Massadoth, a considerable city, and in which a great 
 number of Jews were slaughtered. From thence Bac- 
 chides advanced toward Jerusalem ; but on receiving 
 intelligence that Judah and his forces had retreated 
 from the capital to Eleasa also called Adassa the Syrian 
 general determined at once to attack him, fully convinced 
 that if the Maccabee was defeated, Jerusalem would offer 
 no resistance to the royal arms. 
 
 While Judea was thus threatened by the most for- 
 midable army that during the whole war had invaded that 
 hapless country, the Jews at no time since the defeat 
 of Apollonius had been so little prepared to meet the 
 invaders. The mass of the people, as we have already 
 stated, had become tired of a war which seemed inter- 
 minable, since even the most complete victory procured 
 but a short respite, and the destruction of one hostile
 
 THE MACCABEES. 325 
 
 army was followed by a fresh invasion of forces more 
 threatening ; moreover, with the death of Epiphanes, 
 the war had changed its character of resistance to re- 
 ligious persecution. There was more of politics mixed 
 up with it, and with that change the ardour of the 
 people had greatly abated. 
 
 Those among the Jews who had been foremost to 
 support the Maccabees and to fight the battles of the 
 Lord, the Hassidim, were no longer attached to that 
 chief as they had been. He entertained friendly re- 
 lations with the Parthians, who were also at war with 
 the Syrians ; and he had, moreover, by way of response 
 to the advances made by the Romans, sent an embassy 
 to Rome to conclude an alliance with that mighty com- 
 monwealth. Both these measures were loudly condemned 
 by the Hassidim as impious, and implying a doubt of 
 the power of God to help his people. The Midrash 
 Hhanuka 5 preserves the very words in which the leader 
 of the Hassidim expressed his dissatisfaction to the Mac- 
 cabees: "Then Jochanan became wroth, and said to the 
 Asmonean, Is it not written, ' Cursed be the man who 
 placeth his dependence on flesh, while from the Lord 
 his heart departeth ; but blessed is the man that trusteth 
 in the Lord, for the Lord will be his trust.' (Jer. xvii. 
 5, 6.) Thou and thine, I and mine, we represent the 
 twelve tribes of Jah, (the Lord ;) and through us, I am 
 assured, the Lord would have wrought wondrously." 
 
 After this severe reproof, it seems that Jochanan and 
 his adherents left Judah, who thus, at the time of Bac- 
 chides's invasion, found himself deserted alike by the 
 mass of the population, who were averse to war, and by a 
 great body of his bravest supporters, whose excess of 
 zeal condemned his foreign policy. The whole number 
 
 1 See page 240 note. 40. 
 Vol I. 28
 
 326 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of his followers at Eleasa did not exceed three thousand. 
 With these, however, Judah determined to attack the enemy 
 who was approaching. But as Judah caused the usual pro- 
 clamation (Deut. xx. 5-8) to be made, the terrific sight of the 
 serried ranks of veteran warriors that confronted the hand- 
 ful of Jews so acted on the fears of the latter, that, avail- 
 ing themselves of the permission to withdraw, the greater 
 part hurried away from the battle field, on which their in- 
 trepid leader was left with only eight hundred men. 
 
 Thus deserted in his utmost need by his own people, Ju- 
 dah felt more grieved at this sinful public ingratitude and 
 defection than concern for his own impending fate. The 
 few brave men who remained true to their leader and cause, 
 urged him to preserve his valour and their own for another 
 more hopeful occasion. But his answer was, "Far be it from 
 me to run away from the enemy. If our time is come, we 
 will die like men for our brethren, and with fame unsullied." 
 Repeated experience had convinced him that as he 
 himself on a former occasion had quoted after Jonathan 
 " There is nothing that can prevent the Lord from 
 helping by means of a few as well as by multitudes." 
 (1 Sam. xiv. 6.) And at the very time the people aban- 
 doned him, and the Hassidim forsook him, because, as 
 they insanely insisted, "he had turned away from the 
 Lord, and placed his reliance on mortal men," the pious 
 Maccabee was preparing to give the strongest proof 
 of his "trust in the Lord," when, with eight hundred 
 faithful but dispirited followers, he marched to encounter 
 upward of twenty thousand gallant veterans, led by one 
 of the bravest and most skilful commanders of the time. 
 
 The battle began in the morning ; and so well-planned 
 had been Judah's attack, so furious and well-sustained the 
 onset of his men, that after some hours hard fighting, the 
 right wing of this " right wing" of the Syrian army, 
 and Bacchides in person, were in full flight for Azotus,
 
 THE MACCABEES. 327 
 
 eagerly pursued by the victorious Jews. But the Syrian 
 warriors in the field that day were well fitted to meet every 
 vicissitude of battle. The discomfiture of a wing of their 
 army did not disarray the remainder. The second in com- 
 mand, seeing his chief routed, and the Jews in full pursuit, 
 with admirable presence of mind caused his unbroken lines 
 to be lengthened, so as entirely to encompass the small 
 body of Jews, and then fall upon their rear. 
 
 Bacchides no sooner perceived, from the relaxing pur- 
 suit of the Maccabee, that the main body of his own army 
 had begun to take part in the action, than rallying his fu- 
 gitive troops, he once more formed them, and led them on 
 to attack the Maccabee in front. Thus encompassed on 
 all sides, outnumbered in the proportion of nearly thirty 
 to one, and that not by effeminate and unwarlike provin- 
 cials, but by veterans whose trade was war, whose valour 
 had been tested, and whose skill had been acquired in 
 many a well-fought field, it appears next to incredible 
 that the handful of Jews were not at once overwhelmed 
 and trodden down by the multitudes that surrounded and 
 fiercely assailed them. 
 
 But such was not the case ; and the resistance of the 
 Jews on that day is fully entitled to rank with, if not above, 
 the valour of the Greeks who fought and fell at Thermopylae. 
 We say it advisedly : if the three hundred Spartans who 
 followed Leonidas, have acquired greater fame and popu- 
 larity than the eight hundred Hebrews who were led by 
 the Maccabee in this the last and most glorious of his bat- 
 tles, it is not because of their superior merit, but because 
 the exploits of Greeks have met with greater favour from 
 a partial world than the equally and perhaps more valor- 
 ous deeds of the Jews; the former having been proclaimed 
 by Herodotus, and the latter hidden in the Apocrypha. 8 
 
 According to the inscription quoted by Hcrodotu.*, (lib. vii. cup. ccxix.) 
 the number of Greeks who fought at Thermopylae, was four thousand;
 
 328 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The unequal conflict was maintained till night, when 
 darkness separated the combatants ; the Jews having not 
 only cut their way through the hosts that surrounded them, 
 but even maintained that portion of the field on which their 
 leader made his last stand. 
 
 - There was little exultation in the camp of the Syrians ; 
 the carnage in their ranks, the resistance they had met 
 with, their experience told them, was unparalleled, con- 
 sidering the disparity of numbers ; and it was not without 
 doubt or apprehension for the result that they looked for 
 a renewal of the combat on the morrow. But there was 
 no cause for their fears. The few Jewish warriors that 
 had survived the battle were in the utmost consternation 
 and grief. He, the hero, who had led them forth in the 
 morning, had not returned with them at night. The va- 
 liant Judah had fought his last fight. Long before the 
 Roman, (Horace,) who saved his life by flight from the bat- 
 tle field, had uttered the beautiful sentiment that "it is 
 sweet and becoming to die for the fatherland," the Hebrew 
 had realized the glorious thought. 
 
 On a heap of slain that had fallen beneath his sword, 
 reposed the noble Maccabee, who died, as he had lived, 
 "without fear and without reproach." Around him lay 
 the greater number of the gallant and faithful hearts who 
 had entered upon and waged the unequal conflict, and 
 who like him, had fallen unconquered, overwhelmed by 
 
 the Thespians, who voluntarily remained with Leonidas, numbered seven 
 hundred ; and the Thebans, whom he compelled to stay with him, four 
 hundred. Isocrates (p. 164) makes the Lacedemonians amount to one 
 thousand, and speaks of a number of other Peloponnesians who also re- 
 mained to fight. Yet, thanks to Herodotus, and to the celebrated inscrip- 
 tion on the tomb of the Spartans "Go, stranger, and declare to the La- 
 cedemonians that we died here in obedience to their divine laws" Leo- 
 nidas and his three hundred have carried away all the glory of the day, 
 and are generally spoken and written of as if they alone had defended the 
 straits of Thermopylae against the hosts of Xerxes.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 329 
 
 numbers, but not defeated. One consolation alone re- 
 mained to his surviving followers they had saved his body 
 from insult. The boast of the heathen, that on Judah 
 they would avenge the disgrace of Nicanor, proved idle 
 and vain. Simon and Jonathan, the brothers of the fallen 
 hero, carried his mortal remains to Modin, the native home 
 of his family, and interred it in the grave of his ancestors, 
 by the side of Mattathias, his patriotic father. (1 Mace. ix. 
 1-22.) The details of this, the last battle of the Mac- 
 cabee, and the circumstances attending his burial, are in- 
 volved in much obscurity. Some historians have, without 
 sufficient reason, averred that the battle was followed by a 
 truce, under favour of which his brothers recovered and 
 buried his body. (Kitto, 694.) But neither the Apocrypha 
 nor Josephus, (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. ult.,) know any thing of 
 this truce, which moreover is altogether contrary to the 
 character of the war waged by Bacchides, who looked upon 
 and treated the adherents of Judah, not as honourable foes 
 entitled to the benefits of truce or treaty, but as rebels 
 and outlaws, to be hunted down and slain without pity or 
 remorse." 
 
 We are therefore convinced that, notwithstanding the 
 obscurity of the original records, our account of these 
 events is substantially correct. That the Jews must have 
 cut their way through the Syrian army is evident, since 
 few as the survivors were, they effected an orderly retreat. 
 Thilt when night put an end to the combat, they must have 
 maintained possession of that part of the field on which 
 Judah fell, is evident from the fact that they could seek 
 out and secure his body, which they carried safely to Mo- 
 din, where they buried him; and that they did this against 
 the will of the enemy, appears certain, when we remember 
 that Bacchides had denied the rites of sepulture to the 
 Jews he had slain at Bethsetha, or Beseth ; and that he had 
 done this long before his mind had been exasperated by 
 
 28*
 
 330 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the indignities practised on the body of his friend and 
 companion-in-arms, Nicanor. 
 
 When the tidings of Judah's death reached Jerusalem, the 
 whole city was plunged in the most poignant grief. Those 
 who deserted him when alive, bitterly wept for him now 
 that he was dead. Throughout the land the mourning 
 was universal, and continued for some time. In imitation 
 of the elegy which David wrote on the fate of Saul and 
 Jonathan, the poets of Judea lamented the death of their 
 hero in lofty strains, repeating " How is the mighty fallen ! 
 how is the preserver of Israel slain !" 
 
 And well they might lament ; for Judah the Maccabee 
 was decidedly the greatest and best of Jewish "public 
 characters" since David. During the six years that the 
 Maccabee administered the affairs of Judea, his merits, 
 military, civil, and religious, and the services he rendered 
 his country, were such that, notwithstanding the very li- 
 mited sphere he had for his activity, they are entitled to our 
 highest admiration. He found the country depopulated, 
 Jerusalem and other cities of note deserted, the fields lying 
 waste, commerce utterly destroyed, and the general ruin 
 aggravated by the cruel and brutal outrages in which a ruf- 
 fian soldiery, apostates as well as foreigners, were permit- 
 ted to indulge. At his death, the country was again teem- 
 ing with population, Jerusalem flourishing, agriculture pros- 
 pering, and commerce reviving under the security which 
 his vigorous administration afforded to life and property. 
 
 If such, notwithstanding incessant warfare, had been the 
 success of his civil services, his merits in the cause of re- 
 ligion and public worship were to the full as important. 
 Not only had he, under Providence, rescued Judaism from 
 utter ruin, and restored the temple of Jerusalem to a con- 
 dition somewhat approaching its pristine splendour, but the 
 zeal with which he watched over the purity of the public 
 worship and its ministers, the vigour with which he resisted
 
 THE MACCABEES. 331 
 
 the intrusion of Mcnelaus and of Alcimus, though backed 
 by all the power of a mighty empire, and, above all, the 
 piety and honesty with which, during three eventful years, 
 he officiated as high-priest, assign to him a lofty rank 
 among these functionaries. 
 
 But as both his civil and sacerdotal services were the 
 offspring of his military prowess, it is as a warrior, as the 
 proto-champion of religious freedom, that he is best known 
 and most admired. An eminent French writer on mili- 
 tary tactics, the illustrious Chevalier Folard, in his " Com- 
 mentaries on Polybius," (lib. ii. cap. 1,) has the follow- 
 ing remark on the generalship of the Maccabee : " After 
 the reign of David, the Hebrews were frequently involved 
 in great wars. We find much bravery in the soldiers, but 
 no general who can be compared to Judah. The records 
 are sufficiently particular in relating his actions, his tac- 
 tics, his strategy, and his mode of combat. Marches, bat- 
 tles, retreats, crossings of rivers, attacks of camps, intrench- 
 ments, surprises, mountain-warfare, stratagems in the art of 
 attack and defence, sieges, escalades indeed, every thing 
 that the science of war offers most grand and most sublime, 
 are there found together. In vain the Maccabees are con- 
 fronted by warlike and formidable troops, or have to deal 
 with skilful and experienced generals ; vain is the inferior- 
 ity of numbers to which they are constantly condemned : no- 
 thing can daunt4hem or put them out of countenance. The 
 actions of Judah and his brothers are numerous, and re- 
 plete with profound and admirable instruction. Military 
 men ought to make them their study, as there is much to 
 be learned from them." 
 
 Such is the testimony which an eminent Gentile tacti- 
 cian offers to the great deeds of the Hebrew leader, to 
 whose glorious career we arc now forced reluctantly to bid 
 fun-well. Take him for all in all, he was a man the like 
 of whom Israel has not yet seen again.
 
 332 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Jonathan succeeds his brother Battle of Tekoah, and retreat across the 
 Jordan Alcimus His death Ariarethes VI. Jonathan returns to 
 Judea State of parties Bacchides invited by the apostates Siege of 
 Bethlagan Syrians evacuate Judea Internal peace and good govern- 
 ment restored Troubles in Syria Conspiracy of the three kings Ba- 
 las claims the crown of Syria Immunities granted to the Jews Jona- 
 than high-priest Defeat and death of Demetrius I. Reign of Alexander 
 Balas Onias builds a temple in Egypt Samaritan temple and contro- 
 versy. (From 161 till 149 u. c. E.) 
 
 IF the Jewish people fancied that, because the king of 
 Syria had promised they should enjoy undisturbed the 
 privilege of living and worshipping according to their own 
 laws, they no longer needed the aid of the Maccabee, they 
 were soon undeceived. The paeans that at the tidings of 
 his death so joyfully resounded among all their enemies, 
 were of themselves sufficient to open their eyes to the ex- 
 tent of their loss; and the course of events soon convinced 
 them how injurious to themselves had been the apathy and 
 timidity with which they had deserted their noble leader. 
 Bacchides advanced to Jerusalem, and took possession of 
 the city and temple, installing Alcimus as high-priest with 
 great pomp. Under the protection, and at the invitation 
 of these two chiefs, the numerous apostates whom the 
 vigour of Judah had forced to quit the country now from 
 all parts returned, eager to avenge on the orthodox popu- 
 lation the ills they themselves had suffered during their 
 banishment. 
 
 It is a just remark of the Greek historians, that no ene- 
 mies are so rancorous or implacable as exiles who return 
 to power. Those banished apostates, who, on their return
 
 THE MACCABEES. 333 
 
 home, found their party in the ascendant, neglected no 
 opportunity to harrass, vex, and oppress the orthodox, not 
 only by the public and unrestrained practice of idolatry, 
 with all its hateful rites and abominations, but also, and 
 still more, by denouncing to the Syrian authorities, or to 
 Alcimus the high-priest, all such Jews as were known or 
 supposed to be friendly to the cause and memory of the 
 Maccabee ; that is, in other words, the most pious and re- 
 spectable personages in the nation. 
 
 The weight of these denunciations fell chiefly on the 
 Hassidim, who now had ample cause to lament and to re- 
 pent of that sinful bigotry which had induced them, the 
 pledged and sworn defenders of the faith, so cruelly and un- 
 gratefully to forsake the purest and most highly-gifted of 
 its champions. Not only did Alcimus, that Grecianizing 
 assassin whose hands were red with the blood of slaugh- 
 tered saints, bear supreme rule in the temple of the Lord 
 to which, so long as Judah lived, the traitor had never 
 been able to approach ; not only was there evident proof 
 that the worst corruptions of Jason and Menelaus would 
 be re-enacted and outdone by their unprincipled succes- 
 sor, but, in addition to the danger thus impending over 
 the religion and the whole people of Israel, the Hassidim 
 as a political body were especially singled out for destruc- 
 tion by the king and his lieutenant Bacchides. 
 
 For Demetrius had not forgotten the denunciation of 
 Alcimus, "that the war was kept up by the men called 
 Hassidim," (2 Mace. xiv. ;) and his general was ambitious 
 of the glory of being the pacificator of Judea, which, as ho 
 thought, could only be acquired by destroying the Hassi- 
 dim, root and branch. Several of the principal officers 
 that served under him were especially commissioned to 
 nmkc diligent search after the friends and supporters of 
 the Maccabee. Their efforts were seconded by the re- 
 turned apostates with all the rancour of exiles and the
 
 334 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 bitter zeal of renegades, denouncing to the Syrian com- 
 missioners, as Hassidim and adherents of Judah, those 
 very men who had been the foremost to desert him, but 
 who now were hunted out and put to death with a refine- 
 ment of cruelty and torture surpassing every thing that the 
 Jews had suffered since their return from Babylon. Mo- 
 dern biblical commentators are of opinion that during this 
 time of persecution by Bacchides the 79th Psalm was 
 composed, and with especial reference to the sufferings of 
 the Hassidim, who are indeed introduced by name in the 
 second verse : " They (the heathens) have given the dead 
 bodies of thy servants as food unto the birds of heaven ; 
 the flesh of thy Hassidim (pious ones) unto the beasts of 
 the earth." 
 
 Their misery was still further enhanced by a grievous 
 famine that raged in Judea, crowded as that country was 
 by the return of all the exiles and the numerous Syrian 
 army and garrisons, which completely paralyzed the ener- 
 gies of the people, and forced every man to be so fully 
 occupied with care for the subsistence of his own family, 
 as to render him indifferent to every thing else; and to 
 complete this hopeless condition of the Hassidim and of 
 the orthodox Jews, they could find no leader. The mon- 
 strous ingratitude with which the people, the blind* bigotry 
 with which the Hassidim, had treated the Maccabee, were 
 enough to deter any one from picking up and wielding the 
 staff of command that had fallen from the grasp of the 
 dying hero; since they proved how little reliance could be 
 placed on public firmness or party constancy, and that 
 even the most eminent public services do not carry with 
 them a guarantee for public support in the hour of need. 
 
 The cause of Judaism seemed once more on the verge 
 of destruction. All that during six glorious years of in- 
 cessant and successful exertion had been gained by Judah 
 was lost ; and though no royal decree commanded the cessa-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 335 
 
 tion of Jewish observances, or enacted the abrogation of 
 the Law of Moses, that task was tacitly taken up by Alci- 
 mus, the high-priest, whose intention of effecting a fusion 
 between Jews and heathens every day became more 
 manifest. 
 
 But it was not to be. The parting charge of the vene- 
 rable Mattathias, " to be zealous for the Law and to die for 
 it," had not yet been forgotten by his sons ; and when the 
 few who still retained a love for their faith and their coun- 
 try repaired to Jonathan, a younger brother of Judah, and 
 requested him to become their chief, that brave man readily 
 accepted the dangerous distinction, and prepared to gather 
 some force with which to stop the cruel progress of Bac- 
 chides. 
 
 The king's lieutenant, however, was too well served 
 by his spies, the apostates, to remain long ignorant of the 
 effort of Jonathan ; and before the Jewish chief had half 
 completed his preparations, the Syrian, at the head of 
 a considerable body of troops, was marching to surprise 
 and slay him. But the friends of the good cause were 
 likewise on the alert : Jonathan had timely warning 
 of the approaching danger, and with his few adherents 
 retreated to the wilderness of Tckoah. There he fixed 
 upon a spot almost inexpugnable, leaning on the river 
 Jordan, the flanks covered on one side by a dense wood, 
 and on the other by a large impassable morass; and 
 thus inaccessible on three sides, his position could only 
 be approached by a narrow defile or pass, which he 
 thought might easily be defended by his brave followers, 
 notwithstanding their great inferiority of numbers. 
 
 Jonathan was a man of dauntless courage, and of 
 energy not inferior to his brother Judah ; but he was 
 not gifted in an equal degree with that intuitive quality 
 which military men call the coup d'aeil, and which enables 
 a general with one rapid but unerring glance instinc-
 
 336 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tively to take in all the advantages and disadvantages 
 of the position he is about to occupy. Accustomed to 
 be guided by the superior ability of his elder brother, the 
 new chief, on first assuming supreme command, was far 
 better qualified for the station of second-in-command 
 than that of generalissimo ; a discovery which he was not 
 long in making, but which experience and military tact 
 gradually enabled him to rectify. 
 
 Having placed his followers in a position of security, 
 Jonathan's next care, on hearing that Bacchides was 
 marching against him, was to place their equipage and 
 goods, which were considerable in value and quantity, 
 beyond the reach .of the enemy. For this purpose he 
 despatched his brother John, at the head of a convoy, 
 to the Nabathean Arabs, who were at peace with the 
 Maccabees, and to whose care these movables were to be 
 intrusted. On his march, however, John was surprised 
 by the lambrians, who, suddenly issuing from their city 
 of Medaba, fell upon him, slew him and his men, and 
 seized upon the property they were conveying. These 
 Beni-Iambri were a tribe of plundering Arabs, and their 
 city was one which the Moabites had taken from the 
 Israelitish tribe of Reuben, beyond the Jordan, (see 
 Josh. xiii. 16, and Isa. xv. 2,) and of which subsequently 
 these Arabs had obtained possession. 
 
 This act of unprovoked treachery which they com- 
 mitted against John and his small troop, soon became 
 known to Jonathan, and was not long left unpunished. 
 Having been informed that a great wedding was to be 
 celebrated at Medaba, between a chief of the lambrians 
 and an Arabian princess, Jonathan further ascertained 
 the day on which the bride was to be conducted home. 
 He then placed himself with his men in ambush behind 
 a hill ; and as soon as the wedding-party, which was 
 very numerous, came near enough, he fell upon and cut
 
 THE MACCABEES. . 337 
 
 down four hundred of the escort, and carried away the 
 plunder of their camp. 
 
 This daring act of highhanded retribution caused 
 great excitement throughout Judea, as well as in the 
 adjoining countries, and proved both to Jews and Gentiles 
 that the old Maccabean spirit was not yet extinct, and 
 that the cause of Judaism was still upheld by brave 
 hearts and sharp swords. Bacchides was at once roused 
 to action. His experience in the wars of the Jews was 
 limited to the battle in which Judah had fallen ; but this 
 one specimen of their prowess had inspired him with 
 a wholesome respect for Jewish valour; and he had 
 arrived at the conclusion that it was far more safe to 
 deal with them when they did not resist, than to assail 
 them under harness. 
 
 Like most of Epiphanes's principal officers, he had 
 been present at the sack of Jerusalem, and had seen 
 how passive the Jews were on the sabbath-day; and 
 though he must have heard that their views on this 
 subject had undergone great change, and that Nicanor 
 and his host had been destroyed on the sabbath-day, 
 still the scene of unresisted slaughter he had witnessed 
 at Jerusalem had left so strong an impression on his 
 mind, that he determined to try whether the sabbath 
 might not once more paralyze the defence of the Jews. 
 
 Accordingly, on a sabbath-day he attacked the narrow 
 pass that led to Jonathan's camp, and by which alono 
 it could be reached. His expectation of turning the holy 
 day to his advantage was almost realized ; for Matta- 
 thias and Judah both dead, the Hassidim began to 
 question the lawfulness of self-defence on the sabbath- 
 day. Moreover, the superior numbers of the enemy and 
 their martial bearing produced a bad effect on the Jews, 
 whose inferiority in numbers, armament, and discipline 
 was not compensated for by confidence in the superior 
 
 Vol. I. 'J9
 
 338 POST-BIBLICAL HISTOKY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 generalship of Jonathan. Indeed his deficiency in this 
 respect now at once struck all his followers. For, while 
 on the one hand it was true that the position he had 
 chosen was one into which the enemy would find it 
 very difficult to force their way, on the other hand it 
 was equally true that, in case a retreat should become 
 necessary, the Jews would find it next to impossible 
 to force their way out, hemmed in as they were on every 
 Bide by the same obstacles that kept the enemy out. 
 
 All this the dread of violating the sabbath, the fear 
 of the enemy's superior hosts, and the perilous position 
 they held, acted so strongly on the minds of the Jews, 
 that they were reluctant to engage the enemy, who had 
 already entered the defile. But Jonathan had inherited 
 from his brother Judah that species of military eloquence 
 which goes right to the heart of the soldiers, and never 
 fails to arouse their courage and to inflame their ardour. 
 He now addressed his men, saying, "Come on, and 
 let us fight for our lives, for it is not now with us as 
 it was in time past. You see plainly that the battle 
 is before and behind us : the Jordan on this, the morass 
 and wood on that side. Nor is there any place left 
 for us to turn aside to. Therefore cry ye now unto 
 Heaven, that ye may be delivered." 
 
 As soon as he ceased speaking, his men, encouraged 
 by his short but telling address, and urged on b^ the 
 utter desperation of their condition, fell upon the t ^emy 
 and killed a great number at the first onset. Bu- the 
 dense masses of Syrians had already advanced to- far 
 up the narrow pass to be borne back by the h dful 
 of Jews opposed to them. Gradually, and step by itep, 
 the Jews were compelled to recede as the Syrians pr .'ssed 
 upon them, until the pass was forced, and the le ding 
 files of the enemy began to appear in the open , pace 
 before Jonathan's camp. But the energy of Jonathan
 
 THE MACCABEES. 339 
 
 saved his little army, although their condition was hope- 
 less. At his bidding, the Jews, all armed and accoutred 
 as they were, rushed into the Jordan, and with sinewy 
 arms swam to the opposite shore, where they took post. 
 
 This was a line of retreat on which Bacchides did 
 not deem it advisable to pursue them. The Syrian 
 general had now ascertained that the Jews would fight 
 on the sabbath-day, if attacked. The forcing of the 
 pass, though but half defended, had been attended by 
 a heavy loss of men. According to Josepbus, it cost 
 the Syrians not less than two thousand killed. Content, 
 therefore, with having expelled Jonathan and his "fac- 
 tion" from Judea, and with driving them across the 
 Jordan into the midst of tribes hostile to their cause, 
 Bacchides led his army back to Jerusalem, from whence 
 he issued his orders for the fortifying and garrisoning 
 such cities as where best adapted to keep the Jews 
 in subjection, and to compel the Maccabean party either 
 to submit, or at least to render any future attempts 
 of theirs difficult of success. 
 
 Among these fortifications, Bethhoron, Emmaus, Bethel, 
 Thimnatha, Gazara, and Bethzura completely bridled the 
 entire province of Judea, while Acra commanded Jeru- 
 salem and the temple. In this last fortress, which 
 received fresh and large supplies of men, arms, and 
 provisions, the Syrian governor also placed the children 
 of several of the most prominent families in Judea and 
 Jerusalem, who were kept as hostages to prevent their 
 parents and kindred from going over to Jonathan and 
 his party. 
 
 While Bacchides was thus occupied in fortifying and 
 building, Alcimus exercised his authority to di'iiioli.-h 
 and pull down. As a first step toward his projected 
 fusion of Jew and Gentile, the high-priest directed one 
 of the inner walls of the temple to be demolished. This
 
 340 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 wall the First Book of Maccabees (ix. 54) calls "the 
 wall of the inner court of the sanctuary," while Josephus 
 (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 17) designates it as " the wall of the 
 old sanctuary," and adds that it had "formerly been 
 built by the direction of the prophets Haggai and 
 Zachariah," 
 
 Modern writers on Jewish history, are of opinion that 
 the wall meant was that low stone partition or screen 
 which divided the court of the uncircumcised from that 
 of the Jews ; and that Alcimus intended to give the 
 former access to the privileged parts of the temple. 
 But he lived not to see his orders carried out. He 
 was suddenly seized with a palsy or paralytic cramp, 
 which deprived him of speech, so that he died in great 
 misery, and without being able to utter a word. As 
 the king appointed no successor to his high office, matters 
 in the temple remained as they had been before Alcimus 
 assumed power. 
 
 The battle which Jonathan had fought against the 
 Syrians, and which ended in his expulsion from Judea, had, 
 nevertheless, been of signal advantage to that chief. His 
 men had noticed that during the action the efforts of 
 Bacchides had been principally directed against Jonathan's 
 person ; a circumstance which showed them what import- 
 ance was assigned to the life of their leader by the enemy. 
 Then the happy union of valour and skill with which 
 Jonathan had defended his own person, and at the same 
 time performed every duty of a commander, had excited 
 their admiration ; while the singular manner in which 
 they had effected their retreat from their inextricable 
 position by swimming across the Jordan, without loss a 
 feat never before performed by any army led them and 
 the Jewish people generally to believe that the especial 
 protection of Providence was vouchsafed to Jonathan, as it 
 had long been extended to his brother, the Maccabee.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 841 
 
 In this belief they were further confirmed by the wretched 
 end of Alciraus, and the sudden departure from Judea of 
 Bacchides and his forces events which followed close upon 
 each other, and the last-named of which appeared to them 
 altogether inexplicable. We, who are better acquainted 
 with the annals of foreign nations in those times, know that 
 the recall of Bacchides had been ordered by King Deme- 
 trius, in obedience to the mandate addressed to him by the 
 Roman senate, in consequence of the treaty with Judah 
 the Maccabee. 
 
 King Demetrius had never been recognised as lawful 
 sovereign of Syria by the Romans ; and was equally afraid 
 of their enmity, and desirous of their friendship. (Polyb. 
 legat. cap. xx.) When he received the letter of the senate, 
 which ordered him to cease all hostilities against the Jews, 
 he at once obeyed, and recalled his general and his army ; 
 but he did this so privately, to prevent the Jews from be- 
 coming too arrogant on the strength of their Roman alli- 
 ance, that the cause of Bacchides' departure from Judea 
 did not at the time transpire, and is not mentioned either 
 in the Book of Maccabees or by Josephus. As it was, it 
 gained for the Jews a respite of which they stood greatly 
 in need ; and thus we see that the very measure, for which 
 wild fanatics had condemned and deserted Judah, became 
 a means under Providence of greatly assisting the Jews, 
 whom the wisdom and patriotism of the Maccabee con- 
 tinued to protect even after his death. 
 
 After Bacchides and his army had withdrawn from 
 Judea, that country during two years enjoyed profound 
 repose. For though Jonathan and his party had early 
 tidings of Bacchidc.t's departure, and at once returned to 
 Judea, the Maccabean chief was careful not to commit any 
 breach of the peace, and avoided every collision with the 
 Syrian garrisons ; who, on the other hand, were restrained 
 by the king's command from exercising any hostilities
 
 342 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 against any portion of the Jewish people, so long as they 
 themselves were not attacked. 
 
 The numerous apostates, with the loss of their great 
 chief Alcimus, and the withdrawal of their great protection, 
 the Syrian army, had lost much of their influence and all 
 their active power. Conscious of their own weakness, and 
 of the strong feelings entertained against them by the 
 great mass of the people, the most obnoxious of these apos- 
 tates took up their abode at Bethzura, or under the shelter 
 of the heathen fortress Acra at Jerusalem, and thus avoided 
 coming in contact with their enemies, the Hassidim. And 
 those of the apostates who did not reside in these two 
 strongholds lived quietly among their neighbours, giving 
 as little offence as they could, and abstaining from every 
 public display of their apostasy, except when under the 
 safeguard of the Syrian garrisons, in whose heathen rites 
 they joined. But this state of internal tranquillity did not 
 suit the leaders of the apostate or Grecianizing Jews ; for 
 as their party was not sustained by any inward principle, the 
 cohesion of its members could only be secured by the sti- 
 mulus of a pressure from without, either crushing, as had 
 been the vigour of Judah, or propelling, as had been the 
 activity of Menelaus and of Alcimus. 
 
 To a party thus constituted, peace and quiet were the 
 most dangerous destroyers ; and accordingly the leaders 
 saw with regret that each day of peace chilled the zeal 
 and lessened the number of their adherents. Many of 
 these, especially such as were not deeply stained with 
 public apostasy, or who had adopted Grecian customs from 
 caprice or fashion, were anxious to return to their own 
 people, and to the faith and habits of their fathers. 
 
 The temple at Jerusalem, where the Cohanim, (priests,) 
 freed from the pestiferous influence of Alcimus, had re- 
 stored and carried on the public worship in its purity, unmo- 
 lested by the garrison of Acra, greatly contributed to this
 
 THE MACCABEES. 343 
 
 revival of Jewish feeling ; and thus the patriot or Mac- 
 cabean party daily acquired strength and consistency, 
 while the anti-national or apostate party was as visibly 
 declining. Jonathan, assisted by his brother Simon, took 
 advantage of this change, and adopted every measure 
 to consolidate the power and security of the Jewish people ; 
 so that when the hour of trial came, he was once more, and 
 this time successfully, able to resist the invader. 
 
 During these two years (159-158 B. c. E.) of respite, King 
 Demetrius had succeeded, by rich gifts and gross flattery, 
 in obtaining from the Roman senate his pardon and a recog- 
 nition of his right to the throne of Syria. The death of 
 Judah, the expulsion of Jonathan from Judea, and the 
 subsequent cessation of armed resistance in that country 
 may probably, along with other events, have exercised 
 some influence on the senate, which renewed its alliance 
 with the king of Syria ; so that from this quarter he had 
 apparently nothing to fear. 
 
 But Demetrius had resided too long at Rome, and knew 
 the Romans too well, to suppose that they would ever sin- 
 cerely forgive his having deceived them, and gained the 
 crown of Syria, which the senate had awarded to his cousin, 
 the young Antiochus. King Demetrius had, therefore, 
 soon after his accession, applied himself to conciliate tho 
 Greek kings in Asia Minor, and to court their alliance. 
 Among these kings, the one whose friendship, from his 
 personal character and the warlike qualities of his subjects, 
 Demetrius was most desirous to secure, was his near kins- 
 man, Ariarethes VI. of Cappadocia ; a prince who had just 
 mounted the throne young, brave, and beloved by his 
 people. The first advances of the king of Syria \vero 
 cordially received ; but when, still further to cement their 
 friendship, Demetrius sent an embassy to the young king, 
 offering him in marriage his own sister, Laodicu, the widow 
 of Perseus, the last king of Maccdon, Ariarethes became
 
 344 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 alarmed at this direct attempt to embroil him with the 
 Romans, to whom at that time both Laodice and her 
 brother seemed equally obnoxious. 
 
 The king of Cappadocia, therefore, without hesitation re- 
 jected the proposal ; -and by so doing provoked the hatred 
 of Demetrius, whose pride construed this refusal into an 
 affront to him personally, as well as to the widowed queen. 
 Thenceforth he was at no pains to conceal his resentment, 
 which very peculiar circumstances in the royal family of 
 Cappadocia soon enabled him to gratify. 
 
 The father of Ariarethes had espoused Antiochis, a 
 daughter of Antiochus the Great, and aunt to King Deme- 
 trius. During the earlier years of her marriage this prin- 
 cess proved barren ; but fearful lest her husband should 
 repudiate a childless wife, she deceived him with several 
 supposititious children. At length, however, she actually 
 gave birth to a son ; when her feelings as a mother getting 
 the better of every other consideration, she confessed the 
 frauds of which she had been guilty, obtained pardon, and 
 procured her genuine offspring, Ariarethes, to be declared 
 successor to the throne, and which, at the demise of his 
 father, he actually ascended. 
 
 All this, however, did not pass without the highest dis- 
 satisfaction of Orophernes, the eldest of the sons the queen 
 had palmed off on her husband ; and who now complained 
 that, through the unnatural artifices of a woman unworthy 
 of all credit, he had been deprived of his right of primo- 
 geniture. The sincere or well-affected indignation of Oro- 
 phernes might have evaporated in useless reclamations in 
 the soft climate of Ionia, where, after the story of his 
 pseudo-birth became known, the old king had sent him to 
 reside. But the resentment so loudly expressed by Deme- 
 trius against the actual possessor of the throne of Cappa- 
 docia seemed to hold out to the pretender the assurance 
 of a welcome reception at the court of Syria, and induced
 
 THE MACCABEES. 345 
 
 Orophernes to hasten to Antioch, and to explain his wrongs 
 to his kinsman, Demetrius. 
 
 His appeal for justice and aid was favourably heard and 
 readily granted. The army which Bacchides just then had 
 marched back from Judea, and which was ready for imme- 
 diate action, was placed at his disposal ; and the experi- 
 enced generalship of Bacchides was opposed to the hasty 
 levies of Ariarethes. The two armies met at Mazaca; the 
 Cappadocians, partly deceived and partly defeated, threw 
 down their arms. And notwithstanding speedy assistance 
 from Eumenes, King of Pergamus, the hereditary foe of 
 the kings of Syria, Ariarethes was driven from his king- 
 dom, and sent to sue for aid to the Roman senate, the 
 ordinary refuge of dispossessed kings. (159 B. c. E.) 
 
 The fruitless aid given on this occasion by Eumenes 
 closed his eventful life and long reign of thirty-eight years. 
 To the last, his exertions were always on the side of jus- 
 tice a characteristic by which, in that profligate age, he 
 stands most honourably distinguished. (Polyb. lib. xxxii. 
 cap. 20.) Unfortunately for his proteg6 Ariarethes, the 
 aged king of Pergamus did not stand well with the senate, 
 as he had of late years given many plain indications that 
 he was no longer to be duped by the artifices under which 
 Rome disguised its lust of power. A splendid embassy 
 from Orophernes, his presents, his promises, and flattery, 
 outweighed the petitions of an abdicated king, low in circum- 
 stances and broken in spirit. All that Ariarethes could 
 obtain was a decree appointing him to reign conjointly 
 with his rival. (Appian, do Rebus, Syriac, cap. 47.) A 
 decree barren and nugatory, since, toward currying it into 
 eflVct, no forces were raised, nor any orders issued. Oro- 
 phornes remained in possession of the whole kingdom; and 
 liacchidos having thus successfully carried out the mission of 
 vengeance intrusted to him by his sovereign, led the Syrian 
 army back to his government of Cccle-Syria. (158 B. c. E.)
 
 346 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 His return had been anxiously expected by the leaders 
 of the apostates in Judea, who witnessed the daily decay 
 of their party, yet were so situated that, without the assist- 
 ance of this Syrian general, they could do nothing to re- 
 trieve their affairs. Since the death of Alcimus, there was 
 not among them any one man of sufficient rank or stand- 
 ing, to gain ready access to a monarch so difficult of ap- 
 proach as Demetrius. Moreover, Jonathan managed his 
 affairs with such consummate prudence, that no overt act 
 of recent disaffection or resistance to the royal authority 
 could be laid to his charge. And as the king did not har- 
 bour against Jonathan that deep personal rancour with 
 which he had pursued Judah whom he had been persuaded 
 by Alcimus to consider as a creature of the late regent 
 Lysias, and the only remaining chief and representative of 
 his faction the apostates saw plainly that with the king 
 their case was hopeless. But not so with Bacchides. 
 Many of them were personally known to and trusted by 
 that general, whose hatred of Jonathan and the whole 
 Maccabean party was not less deeply rooted than their 
 own. 
 
 Accordingly they entered into a correspondence with 
 him soon after his return from Cappadocia, and invited 
 him to surprise and destroy Jonathan and his whole " fac- 
 tion," which, they said, could be done in one night. Bac- 
 chides applied for permission to act to the king, who read- 
 ily consented to a measure which at once might remove 
 all the men who were likely to give him trouble, either in 
 Judea or at Rome ; and his general lost no time in march- 
 ing to Judea, and in directing his partisans there to seize 
 upon Jonathan as had been agreed upon. 
 
 But notwithstanding the secresy with which this plot 
 had been carried on, it had not escaped the vigilance of 
 the Jewish chief, whose measures, rapid and decisive, not 
 only defeated the scheme against him, but also enabled
 
 THE MACCABEES. 347 
 
 him to punish the traitors who were trying to reopen the 
 wounds of their long-bleeding country. For as the apos- 
 tates were gathering to fall upon him, he suddenly came 
 upon them, took fifty of the chief conspirators and put 
 them to death, after which the rest dispersed and the 
 whole design was discomfited. (1 Mace. ix. 57-61.) 
 
 Josephus (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 1) will have it that these 
 fifty apostates were put to death by Bacchides in a rage 
 of disappointment ; but we prefer the authority of the 
 First Book of Maccabees, the account given by which car- 
 ries truth on the face of it. For it is far more probable 
 that the Jewish chief should punish with death traitors 
 that were plotting his ruin when they fell in his power, 
 than that the Syrian general should slaughter his own un- 
 offending partisans after they had escaped from captivity. 
 
 Nothing daunted by the miscarriage of his plot, Bac- 
 chides marched against Jonathan with all the confidence 
 which superior power and previous triumphs could not fail 
 to inspire. Jonathan and his brother Simon were, how- 
 ever, prepared for the attack. As they doubted whether 
 they could at once, and with any chance of success, meet 
 him in the open field, they had caused the dilapidated 
 fortress of Bethlagan, also called Bethbasi, in the desert 
 of Jericho, to be repaired and strongly fortified. And 
 having laid in a large store of provisions and arms, they 
 now, as the Syrian general advanced, retreated before him 
 and threw themselves, with such forces as they had with 
 them, into this stronghold, in which they were invested by 
 Bacchides, who summoned all his adherents in Judea to 
 join his numerous army. 
 
 The Maccabean brothers justly expected that their 
 castle's strength would laugh the siege to scorn; and that 
 the difficulties and losses to which their vigorous defence 
 exposed the Syrian general would eventually compel him 
 to retreat. But finding, after a time, that the obstinacy
 
 348 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of Bacchides was equal to their own perseverance, Jona- 
 than left his brother Simon in command of the fortress, 
 while he himself, at the head of a small brigade, sallied 
 forth to gather reinforcements. The organization which, 
 during the two years of peace, the Jewish chief had been 
 engaged in preparing and perfecting, now came into ope- 
 ration. While the Syrian army was detained before Beth- 
 lagan, Jonathan marched through the open country. Every 
 town, every village, sent forth its contingent of armed men, 
 and he soon saw himself at the head of an army sufficiently 
 strong to resume the offensive, and to operate against the 
 besiegers. 
 
 Odonarches, a Syrian general, and the Beni-Phasiron, 
 an Arab tribe in league with Bacchides, who had been 
 posted so as to cover the besieging army, were successively 
 attacked and defeated by Jonathan. As the rear of Bac- 
 chides's army thus became exposed, Jonathan followed up 
 his successes by attacking the camp, and forced the Syrian 
 general in person, with the elite of his troops, to under- 
 take its defence. Simon, however, who commanded in the 
 fortress, did not remain inactive. Making a vigorous sally, 
 he destroyed the works, and burnt the battering train and 
 engines of the Syrians ; and then falling on the besieging 
 army, he discomfited that portion of it which was opposed 
 to him, while his brother Jonathan inflicted great loss on 
 the troops commanded by Bacchides himself. 
 
 That general now found his position no longer tenable. 
 Vexed at heart at meeting with defeat where he had ex- 
 pected an easy victory, and discovering, too late, that he 
 had been made the tool of an unprincipled faction, he 
 vented his rage on the apostates who had invited him into 
 Judea, and caused several of them to be put to death. It 
 is doubtless this act of rage in Bacchides which Josephus 
 confounds with Jonathan's act of justice. 
 
 After having thus sacrificed to his disappointment the
 
 THE MACCABEES. 349 
 
 unhappy men who had caused so much ill to their country, 
 and who, in their last moments might bewail their infatua- 
 tion, Bacchides resolved to raise the siege; but he soon 
 found himself so closely beset by the victorious Jews, that 
 to retreat with honour seemed impossible ; and his whole 
 care evidently became how to extricate himself from his 
 perilous position with as little disgrace as might be. Jona- 
 than now enjoyed the satisfaction of having^ placed his 
 enemy in the same hopeless condition as that from which 
 he himself had escaped by swimming with his men across 
 the Jordan. 
 
 But too honest a patriot to seek the gratification of his 
 personal feelings where the good of his country required 
 their sacrifice, Jonathan was no sooner informed of the 
 altered frame of mind of the Syrian commander, than he 
 hastened to prefer the lasting blessings of peace to the 
 momentary advantage of military triumph, and despatched 
 messengers to Bacchides with proposals of a pacific nature. 
 These Bacchides was but too glad to accept; a treaty was 
 negotiated and soon after ratified by both parties. And 
 Bacchides, having solemnly sworn that he would never 
 again act offensively against Jonathan or the Jews, marched 
 with his army into Syria, and faithfully kept his oath as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 By the articles of the treaty, all prisoners on both sides 
 were to bo released, and the authority of Jonathan as go- 
 vernor or sub-governor of Judea was recognised. As soon 
 as Bacchides left the country, Jonathan took up his abode 
 at Michmash, where he "judged" the people, or governed 
 according to the Law of Moses, and much in the manner 
 the ancient judges of Israel had done, lie began with 
 making a severe example of the apostates who had so fre- 
 quently involved their people in bloodshed; and having 
 cleared the country of their baneful presence, he next, to 
 the extent of his power, reformed the public abuses which 
 
 VOL. I. 30
 
 350 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 had sprung up during the late troubles ; so that from this 
 time (156 B. c. E.) Judea began once more to enjoy the 
 advantages of internal peace and a regular government. 
 (1 Mace, ubi supra, v. 62, ad fin. ; Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 2.) 
 
 The discomfiture of his great general Bacchides in Judea, 
 was not the only nor yet the worst disappointment that 
 King Demetrius at this time experienced. The jecovery 
 of the thmne of Cappadocia by his mortal enemy Ariare- 
 thes was a blow by far more painful to his pride ; while 
 the discovery of his intrigues against Egypt, in its conse- 
 quences became ruinous to himself. Ariarethes had re- 
 turned from Rome with a barren decree of the senate in 
 his favour, but without any means to enforce it. His 
 friend and protector, Eumenes, King of Pergamus, had died 
 during his absence in Italy ; and that monarch's successor 
 and brother, Attalus, however much inclined to support 
 the cause of Ariarethes, was not sufficiently powerful to 
 undertake his restoration, upheld, as his successful ad- 
 versary was, by all the power of Syria and the partial 
 recognition of his right by the Roman senate. 
 
 Thus left to his own most scanty resources, the first 
 gleam of hope dawned on Ariarethes from Cappadocia 
 itself, where the vices of his opponent became his most 
 useful auxiliaries. Instead of atoning by superior merit 
 for the defect in his title, Orophernes no sooner fancied 
 himself firmly seated on his throne by the favour of Rome, 
 and released from the control which the presence and coun- 
 sels of Bacchides and his army imposed upon him, than he 
 began to display the wanton arrogance of confirmed heredi- 
 tary despotism. He trampled on the laws of the Cappado- 
 cians, and introduced among that simple and rustic people 
 all the corruptions and effeminate vices he himself had 
 acquired in Ionia, aggravated by brutal inebriety. 
 
 His last and insufferable outrage was the plunder of the 
 revered Cappadocian temple at the foot of Mount Ariadne".
 
 THE MACCABEES. 351 
 
 His enraged subjects revolted. Ariarethes, assisted by the 
 king of Pergamus, was at hand to avail himself of their 
 general rising ; and Orophernes, afraid to encounter his 
 rival in battle, fled precipitately to Antioch. Before his 
 flight, however, he found means to secure a large sum of 
 money, which he deposited at Priene, a city of Ionia, and 
 long the place of his residence. (Polyb. lib. Ixxii. cap. 
 12 et 20.) 
 
 The expulsion and restoration of Ariarethes are inti- 
 mately connected with the affairs of Judea, as that country 
 enjoyed two years of peace while the Syrian veterans were 
 employed in Cappadocia ; and afterward repaid the obliga- 
 tion by keeping those veterans so fully employed, and in- 
 flicting on them so severe a loss, that they were unable to 
 march back against Ariarethes. 
 
 When Orophernes appeared in the presence of his Syrian 
 ally, he found that there was but little prospect of retriev- 
 ing his affairs by the means of Demetrius. During the 
 period of that king's short-lived prosperity, his success in 
 Cappadocia had tempted him to cast a longing eye on the 
 island of Cyprus, an old possession of the crown of Egypt, 
 which had been betrayed to, and during several years held 
 by, Syria; but had been recovered by the Ptolemies not 
 long before Deraetrius's flight from Rome. 
 
 He was at peace with Egypt ; he was indebted for his 
 successful escape from Rome and Italy to the king of 
 Egypt. Nevertheless, Demetrius was sufficiently unprinci- 
 pled to enter into a secret correspondence with Archias, 
 governor of Cyprus for Ptolemy Philometor, and by a 
 bribe of five hundred talents (half a million of dollars) had 
 engaged him to betray his trust and to surrender the island 
 to Syria, as had been done once before by Ptolemy Ma- 
 cron, who, as a reward for his treason, became the friend 
 and confidant of Antiochus Epiphanes. But Archias pos- 
 sessed less ability than Macron, or was more unfortunate.
 
 352 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The conspiracy was brought to light ; the traitor hanged 
 himself; and Demetrius incurred the twofold mortifica- 
 tion of losing a large sum of money, and likewise all credit 
 for good faith among his neighbours. 
 
 King Demetrius was by nature of an indolent and 
 thoughtless disposition. The energy displayed in his es- 
 cape from Rome, the prudence and decision which dictated 
 and carried out his plans on that occasion, and during the 
 first measures of his reign, were not his own ; and as soon 
 as the influence and counsel of men like Polybius, Me- 
 nyllus, and the king's foster-father, Diodorus, were no 
 longer afforded to him, and he was left to his own guidance, 
 his reign became a series of faults and follies. After hav- 
 ing wantonly provoked the enmity of Cappadocia by his 
 pride, and of Egypt by his rapacity, he felt his own in- 
 ability to control or soothe the hostility he had aroused. 
 His only care was to shut out all knowledge of the conse- 
 quences of his own acts. He has already been described 
 as a hard drinker and a keen sportsman. But with in- 
 crease of years his slothfulness increased; and renouncing 
 the pleasures of the chase as too fatiguing, he sought and 
 found his sole delight in the wine-cup. 
 
 To enjoy his degrading carousals unmolested by the in- 
 trusion of business, he built in the neighbourhood of An- 
 tioch a strong castle fortified with four lofty towers ; there 
 he shut himself up with the companions of his revels, in 
 careless and drunken oblivion of his crown and of his 
 subjects. 
 
 In an age when kings, though seldom qualified to be 
 their own ministers, were still obliged, according to the 
 usage of the times, to answer petitions, to judge causes, 
 and to assist personally at the public ceremonies of reli- 
 gion, Demetrius's total seclusion from affairs could not be 
 tolerated. His subjects complained that they wanted the 
 protection of government, and a conspiracy was formed
 
 THE MACCABEES. 353 
 
 against him, in which Orophernes had the ingratitude to 
 join. But the treasonable design was discovered in time ; 
 and of all those concerned in it, Orophernes alone escaped 
 death, because his person was still deemed important to 
 embroil the affairs of Cappadocia whenever the oppor- 
 tunity should offer. However, during the many years of 
 Ariarethes's prosperous and peaceful reign, Orophernes 
 never could find any such opportunity ; and as his pro- 
 tector relapsed into his former drunken habits and seclu- 
 sion, the pretender to the throne of Cappadocia retired to 
 Priene, where he lived and died in obscurity. 
 
 King Demetrius in his strong castle was no inapt image 
 of the ostrich, who, when pursued, is said to hide his head 
 in a bush, and fancies that, because lie cannot see his pur- 
 suers, they cannot see him. But though the king of Syria 
 no longer troubled himself about his neighbours, they were 
 all the more intent on taking advantage of his total disre- 
 gard of his kingly duties, and of the wide field he thereby 
 opened for the plots and machinations of his many enemies 
 at home and abroad. 
 
 The kings of Egypt and of Cappadocia had been per- 
 sonally wronged by him ; the king of Pergamus was his 
 hereditary enemy. These three kings entered into a con- 
 spiracy against Demetrius, the object of which was to ruin 
 him by raising a pretender to his throne. To insure tho 
 success of this scheme, the confederates admitted into 
 their confidence Hcraclidos, who had been treasurer of 
 Babylonia under Antiochus Epiphanes and the regent Ly- 
 sias, but had been disgraced and expelled by Demetrius in 
 the early part of his reign, and who since then had re- 
 sided at Rhodes. With him the three kings entered into a 
 correspondence, and encouraged him to raise up a rival 
 against Demetrius who, through their assistance and tho 
 disgust of the Syrians, might deprive that monarch of his 
 crown. 
 
 60
 
 354 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Heraclides readily consented, and soon discovered a 
 Rhodian youth of obscure birth, named Balas, who seemed 
 well qualified to personate Alexander, a deceased son of 
 Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, and as such to lay claim to the 
 throne of Syria. As soon as he had been sufficiently 
 tutored in the part he was to act, he publicly advanced his 
 pretensions, which were at once acknowledged by the three 
 confederate kings. (153 B. c. E.) He was then sent to 
 Rome, together with Laodice, a true daughter of Antio- 
 chus, who readily entered into his views, out of revenge for 
 the murder of her brother Antiochus V. 
 
 The senate soon detected the imposture. But mindful 
 of their traditional policy, to weaken by intestine commo- 
 tions those kingdoms which yet preserved the power of re- 
 sistance, and actuated by their old grudge against Deme- 
 trius for having contrived to seize on the crown of Syria 
 without their consent, the senators solemnly recognised 
 Balas as the son of their old ally, King Antiochus. Aa 
 such, they empowered him to raise forces for the recovery 
 of a kingdom in which he could have had no just preten- 
 sions to supersede Demetrius, the son of the elder brother, 
 even had his alleged birth been true. Fortified by this 
 recognition, Balas now assumed the name of ALEXANDER, 
 and the title of king of Syria; and attended by an armed 
 force, he sailed to Ptolemais (previously Accho, now Acre) 
 in Palestine, where he was joined by numbers who had be- 
 come disaffected to Demetrius. That infatuated prince 
 was now fairly roused from his lethargy, and came forth 
 from his disgraceful retreat ; but it was too late. 
 
 Among the various nationalities interested in the trans- 
 fer of the crown of Syria, and who might be expected to 
 side with the one or the other of the competitors, the Jews 
 held a prominent rank. Three years had now elapsed 
 since Bacchides had been compelled to retreat from Judea. 
 During the whole of that time the country had enjoyed
 
 THE MACCABEES. 355 
 
 peace under the government of Jonathan, whose authority 
 was recognised by the whole people. And though the Sy- 
 rians still held and strongly garrisoned Fort Acra at Jeru- 
 salem, and the other strongholds erected by Bacchides, in 
 the first-named of which the hostages taken by that general 
 were still confined, yet as the apostates, comparatively few 
 in number, alike dispirited and powerless, hid themselves 
 under the protection of the Syrian garrisons, and the lat- 
 ter received no orders from the king to molest or interfere 
 with the Jews, the public peace was not disturbed ; while 
 Jonathan grew so powerful, that his alliance became of the 
 utmost importance to each of the contending parties. 
 
 Demetrius, in particular, who had been so feelingly con- 
 vinced of the strength and bravery of the Jews, had most 
 cause to use all possible means in order to prevent their 
 declaring for Alexander Balas. To effect this, Demetrius 
 wrote a letter to Jonathan full of expressions of friend- 
 ship, appointing him his general in Judea, with power to 
 levy what forces and to fabricate what arms he pleased, as 
 the king's friend and ally. To this letter was added an 
 order for the instant release of the Jewish hostages still 
 detained at Acra, and who, in violation of the treaty with 
 Bacchides, had now been confined nearly eight years. As 
 soon as Jonathan received this royal rescript, he repaired 
 to Jerusalem, caused the king's orders to be communicated 
 to the garrison, and demanded that, according to the tenour 
 thereof, the hostages should be delivered up to him. The 
 commanders of Fort Acra, on seeing the great power in- 
 trusted to Jonathan by the king, dared not hesitate about 
 the matter, but at once complied with his demand; and 
 Jonathan had the satisfaction of reuniting parents and 
 children who had so long been separated, that they 
 scarcely hoped ever to meet again in this life. 
 
 Jonathan further availed himself of the authority with 
 which he was now invested to raise an army, which, as
 
 856 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 there was neither check nor danger to prevent men from 
 joining him, soon became very numerous. At his sum- 
 mons, the commanders of the different fortresses garrisoned 
 by the Syrians throughout the country, and who found 
 themselves too weak to resist, surrendered these strong- 
 holds to him, and with their men retreated out of the 
 country. The only fortified places in Judea still held by the 
 Syrians were Acra and Bethzura, in which the apostate 
 Jews had found shelter ; and as these were afraid that on 
 their retreat they might be attacked and destroyed, they 
 determined to die sword in hand, unless they could obtain 
 such terms as should secure to them and theirs life, liber- 
 ty, and property. 
 
 But Jonathan was too wise a politician to allow personal 
 or party resentments to lead him astray into the diverting 
 of his means and attention'from the great struggle at hand, 
 or to embark in an enterprise so hazardous as the attack 
 of the strong fortress of Acra, garrisoned, moreover, by 
 the troops of King Demetrius, under whose authority Jona- 
 than professed to act. He therefore contented himself for 
 the present with removing from Michmash to Jerusalem, 
 where he took up his residence, and caused the repairs of 
 the fortifications, both of the city and temple, to be forth- 
 with commenced under his own personal direction. 
 
 The efforts made by Demetrius to secure the support of 
 Jonathan could not long remain concealed from Balas. 
 When he understood how powerful a friend Jonathan was 
 able to prove to the party for which he should declare him- 
 self, and ascertained the favours with which Demetrius had 
 lately attempted to bribe the Maccabean chief, he deter- 
 mined to outbid his rival, and to draw Jonathan to his own 
 side. For this purpose he wrote him the following letter, 
 which Josephus has preserved, (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 5,) and 
 which we transcribe as a proof of the importance attached 
 to the friendship of Jonathan and the support of the Jews:
 
 THE MACCABEES. 357 
 
 "King Alexander to his brother Jonathan sendeth 
 greeting : Being informed of your power and valour, and 
 that you are worthy of our friendship, we constitute you 
 high-priest of your nation ; and it is our pleasure that you 
 be enrolled in the number of the king's friends. To this 
 end we have sent you a purple robe and a golden crown, 
 not doubting a suitable return from you for our affection 
 and friendship." 
 
 This most obliging letter, together with the high digni- 
 ties it conferred, and the robe and crown that accompanied 
 it, 7 Jonathan did not hesitate to accept; and at the ensuing 
 feast of tabernacles (153 B. c. E.) he assumed the high- 
 priestly office, and put on the vestments peculiar to that 
 dignity amid the acclamations of the people. For not 
 wishing to hold the first rank in the Jewish hierarchy 
 solely by the appointment of one whose royal birth and 
 claim to the Syrian crown were so strongly suspected, nor 
 yet to enter the Holy of Holies with no better right than 
 what the selfishness or caprice of a heathen could confer, 
 Jonathan submitted his advancement to the high-priest- 
 hood to the choice of the people, who readily elected him. 
 Nor does it appear that at the time there was any claim- 
 ant whose title was superior to that of the Asmonean 
 family, which recognised Jonathan as its chief. 
 
 The last legitimate hich-pricst of the line of Jehozadak 
 was Onias III., who was expelled by his brother Jason, 
 and assassinated at the instigation of his younger brother, 
 Meneluus. These two usurpers, who succeeded each other, 
 
 7 Thin circumstance explains why Human demanded a royal robe and 
 golden crown for the "man whom the king delighteth to honour," J'.-i!i. 
 vi. 8,) and why such particular importance is attached to Mordocai's com- 
 ing forth from the king'H presence "in royal apparel, ami with a great 
 crown of gold." (Ibid. viii. l- r >.) These, it appear*, were the highest in- 
 signia of the. king's faroar, and conferred only on hi- Hpecial and personal 
 friends.
 
 358 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 purchased the office from Epiphanes to the exclusion of 
 their nephew Onias, the son and legitimate heir of their 
 murdered elder hrother. On the execution of Menelaus, 
 that exclusion was, by the advice of Lysias the regent, 
 made perpetual, and Alcimus was appointed by royal au- 
 thority, s 
 
 After his death the office remained vacant for seven 
 years. In this interval, the young Onias, finding that his 
 just claims had been disregarded, and that there was but 
 little likelihood of their ever being recognised and acted 
 upon by King Demetrius, in his impatience fled from An- 
 tioch to Alexandria, where he entered into the service 'of 
 King Ptolemy Philometor ; and being a man of great abili- 
 ties and valour, he rose to the chief command of that 
 king's armies and to a high place in his councils. He 
 also introduced another Jew, named Dositheus like him- 
 self, a man of superior abilities to the king's confidence ; 
 and these two men so entirely engrossed the king's favour 
 during his whole reign, that the jealousy and hatred they 
 provoked subsequently caused great suffering to the Egyp- 
 tian Jews. 
 
 This Onias, though not an apostate, was suspected of 
 not being strictly orthodox. He was known to have 
 adopted foreign habits ; and from his long absence from 
 Judea and constant residence among heathens, was not 
 only become a stranger to the feelings of the Jews, but 
 was viewed by them with an eye of suspicion, which his 
 subsequent conduct fully realized. To appoint him to the 
 highest dignity in the priesthood, was out of the question, 
 at a time when not only the utmost purity of religious 
 principle, but also the most active zeal for strict orthodoxy, 
 were deemed indispensable to the first functionary in the 
 temple. 
 
 And when thus the hereditary rights of Onias had been 
 set aside, no one could compete with the claims of the As-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 359 
 
 moneans. They were descended from the order of Joarib, 
 the first among the priestly families. To their public ser- 
 vices it was, under Providence, owing that the temple of 
 Jerusalem, instead of being desecrated by a heathen altar, 
 was again restored to the worship of the One True God. 
 In that temple Judah had, during three years, performed 
 the duties of scegan, i. e. representative of the high-priest ; 
 and when Simon, the elder of the two surviving sons of 
 Mattathias three had already fallen in battle for their 
 country voluntarily stood back, no other competitor could 
 balance the title of Jonathan. 
 
 He thus became the first of his family who, by the voice 
 of the priests and of the people, as well as by the appoint- 
 ment of the sovereign, enjoyed the pontificial dignity. 
 After him his brother Simon was elected by the priests 
 and the people," as was subsequently Simon's son Jocha- 
 non. The succession then became hereditary, and con- 
 tinued in the family of the Asmoneans till the days of 
 Herod, who caused the last legitimate inheritor to be as- 
 sassinated. After that, the appointment became venal 
 and arbitrary, as will hereafter be related. 
 
 Jonathan's political abilities were too fully equal to the 
 exigencies of his singular position to permit his commit- 
 ting himself prematurely, by declaring for either one or 
 the other of the two competitors, each of whom had, of 
 their own accord and without his solicitation, granted him 
 valuable advantages, of which he did not hesitate to avail 
 himself. For while he accepted from Balas the offices of 
 high-priest and ethnarch, or prince of Judea, it was as 
 general commanding for Demetrius in that province that 
 he raised forces, manufactured arms, and took possession 
 of the strongholds held by the Syrians. 
 
 Nor must Jonathan be accused of duplicity, because ho 
 accepted from each of the rivals whatever each of them 
 was disposed to give him ; for he was certain that neither
 
 360 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of them was actuated by friendship for him, or kindly feel- 
 ings toward the Jews. Demetrius, like Balas, looked only 
 to himself; and placed between the two, Jonathan acted 
 on the same principle ; for well he knew that the crisis 
 then impending might secure to the Jews peace and pros- 
 perity, or involve them in utter ruin ; and that the alterna- 
 tive depended on the circumspection of his own conduct. 
 A*nd it must be confessed that he steered his frail bark 
 with such consummate prudence, that he not only weathered 
 the storm, but also secured to his people many and great 
 advantages. 
 
 When Demetrius found how greatly his first advances to 
 Jonathan had been outbid by Balas, but that, notwith- 
 standing this, the Maccabean chief had not openly declared 
 in favour of the pretender, the legitimate king of Syria 
 conceived the hope that he might in his turn be able so 
 greatly to outbid Balas as to leave nothing for him to 
 offer. And as he supposed that Jonathan, as well as the 
 Jews generally, were actuated by one sordid motive only 
 gain for themselves he took a last step to secure their 
 support. 
 
 The letter he despatched on that occasion, and which 
 has been preserved to us, is a masterpiece of state craft. 
 Balas had addressed himself to Jonathan only, and had 
 bestowed on that leader, personally, every boon his utmost 
 ambition could crave. The first rank as spiritual and tem- 
 poral chief of Judea, the distinction of being declared the 
 king's friend, and the endearing epithet of "brother," had 
 all been granted to him. But to the Jewish people Balas 
 had granted nothing. Demetrius now addressed himself 
 "unto the people of the Jews." Content with confirming 
 to Jonathan by implication the power and dignities of 
 which he had already assumed possession, and designating 
 him as the "high-priest," but not by name, Demetrius 
 speaks to the "people," and promises them exemption
 
 THE MACCABEES. 361 
 
 from actual burdens, and also future privileges of the 
 most important kind. His letter 8 is extremely curious, 
 
 s "King Demetrius unto the people of the Jews sendeth greeting: 
 Whereas ye have kept covenant with us, and continued in our friendship, 
 not joining yourselves with our enemies, we have heard thereof, and are 
 glad. Wherefore now continue ye still to be faithful unto us, and we will 
 well recompense you for the things ye do in our behalf, and will grant you 
 many immunities, and give you rewards. And now do I free you, and for 
 your sake I release all the Jews, from tributes ; and from the customs of 
 salt, and from crown taxes, and from that which appertaineth unto me to 
 receive for the third part of the seed, and the half of the fruit-trees, I re- 
 lease from this day forth, so that they shall not be taken of the land of 
 Judea, nor of the three governments which are added thereunto, out of the 
 country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth forevermore. Let 
 Jerusalem also be holy and free, with the borders thereof, both from tenths 
 and tributes; and as for the tower which is at Jerusalem, I yield up my 
 authority over it, and give it to the high-priest, that he may set in it suck 
 men as he shall choose, to keep it. Moreover, I freely set at liberty every 
 one of the Jews that were carried captives out of the land of Judea into 
 any part of my kingdom ; and I will that all my officers remit the tributes, 
 even of their cattle. Furthermore, I will that all the feasts, and sabbaths, 
 and new moons, and solemn days, and that the three days before the feast, 
 and the three days after the feast, shall be all days of immunity and free- 
 dom for all the Jews of my realm. Also, no man shall have authority to 
 meddle with them or to molest any of them in any manner. I will, fur- 
 ther, that there be enrolled among the king's forces about thirty thousand 
 men of the Jews, unto whom pay shall be given as bclongcth to all the 
 lung's forces. And of them shall be placed in the king's strongholds, of 
 whom, also, tome shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom, which are 
 of trust ; and I will that their overseers and governors b of themselves, 
 and that they live after their own lawn, even as the king hath commanded 
 in the land of Judea. And concerning the three government* that are 
 added to Judea from the country of Samaria, lot them be joined with Ju- 
 dca, that they may be reckoned to bo under one, nor bound to obey other 
 authority than the high-priest's. As for I'tolemais, and the land pertain- 
 ing thereto, I give it as a free gift to the sanctuary. Moreover, I give 
 every year fifteen thousand f>hekelt< of silver, out of the king's account, to 
 the place* appertaining. And all the overplus which the. officer* paid not 
 in, aa in former time, from henceforth fhall bo given toward the use of the 
 VOL. I. SI
 
 362 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 showing the extent and ramifications of the manifold and 
 vexatious "exactions" which the kings of Syria imposed 
 upon their subjects. As such it bears a remarkable re- 
 semblance to the decree passed on the memorable night of 
 the 4th of August, 1789, by the Constituent Assembly, which 
 consecrated the opening of the French Revolution, and for- 
 ever abolished the "exactions" imposed by the "feudal 
 system" on France and the greater part of Europe. 
 
 In addition to this singular enumeration of taxes and 
 dues, and the curious information respecting the fiscal 
 regulations of the ancients, this letter affords valuable 
 proof of the extreme populousness of Judea ; for since the 
 king offers as a boon to the nation to enlist thirty thou- 
 sand able-bodied men in his service, it shows that such a 
 number could be easily spared from the labours of agri- 
 culture and the trades of cities and towns. According to 
 the rule of computation adopted by modern statistics, it 
 would give us for Judea, as it then was, exclusive of Sa- 
 maria, Idumea, and the land beyond Jordan, a population 
 of nearly three millions. The three days before and after 
 the feast, of which the king speaks, also convey to us in- 
 formation of which we shall have to say more hereafter. 
 
 But all the diplomatic skill with which King Demetrius 
 and his advisers had drawn up this curious document, 
 failed to produce the effect desired. The very magnitude 
 
 temple. And beside this, the five thousand shekels of silver which they 
 took from the uses of the temple out of the accounts, year by year, even 
 those things shall be released, because they appertain to the priests that 
 minister. And whosoever they be that flee unto the temple at Jerusalem, 
 or be within the liberties thereof, being indebted unto the king, or for any 
 other matter, let them be at liberty, and all that they have in my realm. For 
 the building, also, and the repairing of the works of the sanctuary, ex- 
 penses shall be given out of the king's account. Yea, and for the build- 
 ing of the walls of Jerusalem, and the fortifying thereof round about, ex- 
 penses shall be given out of the king's account, as also for the building of 
 the walls of Judea."
 
 THE MACCABEES. 363 
 
 of the promised concessions and privileges served to defeat 
 the aim intended, since it was evident they were extorted 
 by the distress or fears of the moment, and carried with them 
 no guarantee that they, or any of them, would be faithfully 
 observed the moment King Demetrius again became freed 
 of the " pressure from without." 
 
 Then, again, the omission of Jonathan's name from the 
 whole letter was not calculated to inspire that chief with 
 any great confidence in the king's good feelings toward 
 him, as the title " high-priest" might designate any person 
 whom Demetrius at any time might please to appoint ; and, 
 lastly, the public feeling was strongly against King Deme- 
 trius. The people could not but remember that when Nica- 
 nor wished to remain at peace with the Jews, the king's 
 positive and peremptory commands had compelled that 
 ill-fated warrior to renew those hostilities which he carried 
 on with such ferocity against the Jews, and with so fatal a 
 result to himself and his army. Nor could Jonathan and 
 the Maccabeans forget that it was the king's groundless 
 but personal rancour against Judah which had persecuted 
 and pursued the hero even unto death. All these considera- 
 tions combined to induce Jonathan, with the full consent of 
 his people, to throw the whole weight of his power and in- 
 fluence into the scale of Balas ; and to do this at a time 
 when the pretender had met with a check, so that the 
 joining him became, in his estimation, all the more meri- 
 torious. 
 
 King Demetrius, who, when sober, was destitute neither 
 of courage nor conduct, attacked Balas, and defeated his 
 army with great loss. But the party of the pretender, 
 strengthened as it was by the addition of Jonathan, was 
 too widely spread to be crushed by one defeat, as long as 
 its chief survived. The three confederate kings hastened 
 to support their ally, and reinforced his army so strongly, 
 that in the next campaign Balas felt justified in staking
 
 364 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the decision of the contest on a great hattle ; and for- 
 tune favoured him to the utmost of his wishes. Demetrius 
 was defeated and put to flight. His horse plunging into 
 a bog, he was thrown off, intercepted, and slain by his 
 pursuers. He fell in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and 
 the twelth of his reign, (151 B. c. E.,) leaving two sons, Deme- 
 trius and Antiochus, destined successively to fill 'his throne. 
 These young princes owed their immediate safety to the 
 precaution their father had taken of sending them, before 
 the battle, to the free city of Cnidus, on the coast of Caria. 
 Their enemies either knew not the place of their retreat, 
 or attempted not to wrest them from it, in violation of the 
 neutrality maintained by that small but respectable com- 
 monwealth. (Justin, lib. xxxv. cap. 2.) 
 
 Balas, or King Alexander, as he now was universally 
 designated, thus became master of the Syrian throne, and 
 hastened to evince the gratitude he entertained for Jona- 
 than's seasonable support. In order to fortify himself in 
 his newly-acquired kingdom, Alexander Balas solicited in 
 marriage Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy Philometor. 
 The king of Egypt, though fully cognizant of Balas's 
 humble birth and bold imposture, granted his request ; and 
 sailing with his daughter to Ptolemais, he there met the 
 low-born but fortunate usurper whom he had helped to 
 place on the throne of his kinsman of Syria, and whose 
 nuptials he now honoured with his presence. Jonathan, 
 with a numerous retinue, likewise repaired to that city, 
 presented himself before the two kings, and was received 
 with great marks of friendship and esteem. 
 
 During the marriage festivities, which were celebrated 
 for several weeks and with great pomp, some apostate 
 Jews appeared before King Balas with accusations against 
 Jonathan. But the king, resolved not to hear any thing 
 against his friend, caused a proclamation to be made 
 through the city, expressly forbidding any such complaint
 
 THE MACCABEES. 365 
 
 to be brought before him. Still further to mortify the ene- 
 mies of the Maccabean chief, the king seated him, clothed in 
 purple, next to himself, confirmed all his former grants, made 
 him commander-in-chief of all the royal forces in Judea, and 
 also gave him titles and governments in other parts of his 
 kingdom. All this so greatly terrified Jonathan's accusers, 
 that fearful of what mischief might befall them for pre- 
 suming to appear against the king's favourite, they secret- 
 ly departed from Ptolemais, and were not heard of again 
 during the remainder of that reign. Jonathan, on the other 
 hand, having made considerable presents to the king and 
 queen and to their court, returned into Judea highly sa- 
 tisfied with his reception, and congratulating himself and 
 people on their wise and fortunate choice of such a sove- 
 reign. 
 
 From this time the Jewish nation became more and more 
 considerable, not only in Judea and throughout the Syrian 
 monarchy, where they enjoyed the fullest equality, civil 
 and religious, but also in other countries, especially in 
 Egypt, where, as we have already stated, Onias and Do- 
 sitheus held the highest rank in the king's confidence, had 
 the chief command of the army, and the direction of the 
 affairs of state. The king of Egypt and his sister-wife 
 Cleopatra were both favourable to the Jews, intrusted 
 them with the guard of their principal fortresses, and 
 gave many of them high offices at court, which brought 
 them into continual intercourse with their sovereigns. In 
 return for these favours, the Jews firmly and bravely sup- 
 ported the cause of King Philometor in his long wars 
 against his brother Physcon ; so that the four years of 
 Balas'g reign form an especially prosperous episode in the 
 annals of the Jewish people. 
 
 Indeed, the favour, influence, and wealth which the Jews of 
 Egypt enjoyed, induced their sacerdotal chief, Onias, to at- 
 tempt and carry through a singular undertaking namely, 
 
 31*
 
 366 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the raising in Egypt of a temple in which the sacrifices 
 should be brought, and all other ritual observances, pecu- 
 liar to the temple of Jerusalem, should be fully adhered 
 to, although the Law of Moses expressly restricted these 
 rites to the ONE place, which " the Lord should choose in 
 one of the tribes," where "the Lord would cause his name 
 to dwell." (Deut. xii. 11, 14.) 
 
 Onias had attended his sovereigns on their visit to 
 Ptolemais, and had there convinced himself that Jonathan 
 was too firmly seated in his high office to leave any room 
 for hope to any competitor. At the same time, Onias, 
 with envy and indignation, compared his own position as^a 
 servant (high in dignity, trust, and power, but still "a ser- 
 vant") to the king of Egypt, with that of the prosperous 
 usurper for as such he considered Jonathan who was in- 
 stalled in that pontifical chair which was his (Onias's) 
 birthright ; and who, as high-priest and chief of the Jews, 
 was little inferior to the kings into whose companionship 
 he was received almost as an equal. The temple of Jeru- 
 salem, with its Holy of Holies and the vestments of Aaron, 
 were Onias felt it forever beyond his reach. But it 
 might be possible to raise a rival temple that should also 
 boast of its Holy of Holies, and in which he himself, ar- 
 rayed in the vestments of high-priest, might on the day 
 of atonement perform those solemn rites which formed the 
 peculiar privilege of " the priest, who shall be anointed 
 and who shall be inducted to minister as priest in his fa- 
 ther's stead." (Lev. xvi. 32.) 
 
 It is true that this new temple Avould be destitute of that 
 halo of glory which its holiness and high fame spread 
 around that of Jerusalem. But then whispered his pride 
 whatever defects the temple might be taxed with, wouM be 
 fully compensated by the superior sanctity of his own 
 claims as the legitimate successor of Eleazar the son of 
 Aaron, and sole representative and inheritor, by inde-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 367 
 
 feasible hereditary right, of Jehozadak, the last high-priest 
 on whose breast the Urim and the Thummim, those oracles 
 of the living God, had been permitted to rest. 
 
 Nor was he altogether unable to adduce something like 
 scriptural warranty to authorize his raising a second tem- 
 ple out of Jerusalem and beyond the limits of Judea. The 
 prophet Isaiah has the remarkable prophecy "On that 
 day shall five cities in the land of Egypt be speaking the 
 language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts. 
 The city of HACHAIRES shall one be called. On that day 
 shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land 
 of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the Lord; and it 
 shall be for a sign and for a testimony unto the Lord of 
 hosts in the land of Egypt, for they shall cry unto the 
 Lord because of the oppressors, and he will send them a 
 helper and a chief, and he shall deliver them. And the 
 Lord will be made known to the Egyptians, and the Egyp- 
 tians shall know the Lord on that day, and will do service 
 with sacrifice and oblation ; they will also make vows unto 
 the Lord and perform them." (Isa. xix. 1821.) 
 
 This prophecy, though ambiguous enough in itself, was 
 yet sufficiently clear to suit the purpose of Onias, who no 
 sooner returned to Alexandria than he submitted to the king 
 and queen his plan, in which the political interests of Egypt 
 were brought as prominently forward as his own rights and 
 hopes of pontifical dignity. King Fliilometor readily gave 
 his consent to an undertaking which, if approved of by the 
 Egyptian Jews, would effectually dissolve their connection 
 with, and dopendance on, the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 But the difficulty was to obtain the consent and support 
 of these Jews in the face of a positive prohibition of the 
 Law"! The prophecy which Onias adduced in his support 
 was differently construed by the learned Jews of Alexan- 
 dria from what it hud been by him. The Ketib, or text 
 of the prophecy, had Ir hachaire*, "city of the sun;" the
 
 368 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Keri (amended and usual reading,) however, had Ir haires, 
 "city of destruction." This usual reading Onias rejected, 
 preferring the text as it stood. And as Heliopolis in 
 Greek corresponds to Ir hachaires in Hebrew, Onias, in 
 order literally to fulfil the prophecy, fixed upon the ruins 
 of an ancient Egyptian temple in the nome of Heliopolis 
 whereon to build his temple. 
 
 This circumstance gave great scandal to the Jews of 
 Alexandria, who looked upon the place as defiled, and 
 offered every opposition in their power to Onias, his read- 
 ing, and his temple. It is, however, singular that, subse- 
 quently, the great Targumist, Jonathan ben Uzziel, (in 
 loco,) as well as the Talmud, (tr. Menachoth, f. 119, A,) 
 read with Onias, "city of the sun," while most of the lat- 
 ter Jewish commentators render it "city of destruction." 
 
 Notwithstanding the strong opposition he encountered, 
 Onias was too fully determined to carry out h,is plan, and 
 too firmly supported by the king's favour, to renounce his 
 undertaking, or even to choose another site for his temple. 
 One learned writer (Scaliger, in chronol. Euseb. sub. an. 
 149) asserts that in persisting in his choice Onias was 
 influenced by another motive besides that of carrying out 
 the prophecy to the letter, that he was governor of the 
 nome or district of Heliopolis, in which he had built a 
 city named after him, Onion, and which he had peopled 
 with Jews, chiefly refugees from Judea and Syria. 
 
 His temple was built after the model of that at Jerusa- 
 lem, but was neither so large nor so sumptuous. The 
 whole temple area he caused to be surrounded by a strong 
 stone wall ; and within the temple itself he placed the altars 
 of incense and of burnt-offering, the table of shew-bread 
 and the veil, in all respects like Jerusalem, the only differ- 
 ence being, that instead of the seven-branched candlestick, 
 Onias contented himself with a stately golden lamp, which 
 hung from the roof by a chain of the same metal. In this
 
 THE MACCABEES. 369 
 
 temple Onias inducted himself as high-priest, (149 B. c. E.,) 
 but could not succeed in placing it in the general estima- 
 tion, or even in that of the Egyptian Jews, on a level with 
 the temple at Jerusalem, where those priests who had once 
 officiated at Heliopolis were never suffered to minister or 
 to eat of holy things. Both edifices, however, experienced 
 the same fate by the same hand. That of Jerusalem was 
 destroyed, and five years later that of Heliopolis was shut 
 up, by the Roman emperor, Vespasian. 
 
 The warm debates which Onias and his building at Helio- 
 polis had caused among the Jews of Alexandria, served to 
 drag from their obscurity the claims of a third temple, that 
 of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim. This temple had 
 been built upward of two hundred and fifty years before 
 by Sanballat the Horonite, the greatest of the adversaries 
 of Nehemiah and of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. His 
 daughter, a heathen woman, had been married to Maaas- 
 seh, a grandson of Eliashib the high-priest, and, like Onias, 
 a descendant of Jehozadak. When Nehemiah annulled these 
 mixed marriages, and compelled the priests and the people 
 to repudiate their non-Israelitish wives, Manasseh refused 
 to submit or to part from his wife, and was, in consequence, 
 expelled from Jerusalem. (Neh. xiii. 28.) 
 
 Joscphus tells us (Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 5,) that this Ma- 
 nasseh, having been banished from Judea, fled with his wife 
 to her father Sanballat, governor of Samaria, who, in or- 
 der to reward him for his faithful attachment to his wife, 
 and to compensate him for his losses in Judea, caused a 
 temple to be built on Mount Gerizim, where the Lord was 
 to be worshipped with offerings and services similar to 
 those of Jerusalem. Of this establishment, Sanballat ap- 
 pointed his son-in-law a genuine descendant of Aaron 
 high-priest; and in his family the dignity remained here- 
 ditary, though the orthodox priests at Jerusalem denied 
 the legitimacy and purity of Manasseth's successors, be-
 
 370 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 cause of their descent from a heathen mother, contrary to 
 the express prohibition of the Law. (Lev. xxi. 14.) 
 
 This establishment of Sanballat's attracted to Samaria 
 great numbers of Jews, who, like Manasseh, had married 
 strange wives from whom they could not bring themselves 
 to part, or who had rendered themselves amenable to pu- 
 nishment by other transgressions of the law, and who thence- 
 forth found an asylum and ready welcome in Samaria. By 
 these means the population of Samaria received a strong in- 
 fusion of Jewish blood; a circumstance that doubtless caused 
 and kept alive the bitter feeling of rancour that these two 
 races entertained toward each other; for the exiles and 
 their descendants would naturally hate the Jews as tyrants 
 and oppressors, while the Jews would as naturally detest 
 the exiles and their descendants as renegades and traitors. 
 
 The temple of Samaria, like the Samaritans themselves, 
 had undergone many changes and vicissitudes, though 
 always greatly influenced by the aspect and condition of 
 Jewish affairs. When, through the favour of Alexander 
 the Great, the star of Judah was in the ascendant, none 
 were so eager as the Samaritans to proclaim their affinity 
 with Jews and Judaism, in order to obtain a share in the 
 privileges and immunities which the generous conqueror 
 granted to the chosen people. When, on the other hand, 
 Antiochus Epiphanes proscribed Judaism, and almost ex- 
 terminated the Jews, the Samaritans indignantly repudi- 
 ated all affinity or connection with the rebels of Judea, and 
 requested permission to dedicate their temple to Jupiter 
 Xenius, "the defender of strangers." Now, that an am- 
 biguous prophecy was brought forward in favour of an 
 Egyptian city and temple, the Samaritans thought the 
 time had come to vindicate the superior sanctity of their 
 own temple both over Jerusalem and over Heliopolis. 
 
 Their pretensions were no sooner announced than they 
 were most strenuously rejected, not only by the adherents
 
 THE MACCABEES. 371 
 
 of Onias, but also by those Jews who were opposed to his 
 undertaking. The disputes waxed fierce, and were foment- 
 ed by the Greeks and Egyptians, who, in their impartial 
 hatred of Jews and Samaritans, derived a malignant 
 satisfaction and pleasure from setting them by the ears. 
 At length the controversy rose to such a height as to en- 
 danger the public peace, when the spokesmen of the two 
 parties were summoned before the judgment seat of King 
 Philometor. There the rival claims were fairly investi- 
 gated. The Samaritans alleged the superior sanctity of 
 Mount Gerizim a spot twice appointed by Moses for a 
 blessing. (Deut. xi. 30 ; xxvii. 12.) The Jews replied, that 
 though this was true, Moses himself had not assigned any 
 superior sanctity to Mount Gerizim over Mount Ebal, on 
 which the curse was to be pronounced, but that he classed 
 them together, saying, " Behold, they are on the other side 
 of Jordan." (Ib. xi. 30.) That, subsequently, he speaks of 
 " the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes," 
 (Deut. xii. 14,) without the most remote allusion to Mount 
 Gerizim, which had already been chosen for a different pur- 
 pose. The Jews further proved that the temple of Jerusa- 
 lem had been chosen by the Lord, who had permitted a visible 
 sign of his divine presence to rest thereon, (1 Kings, viii. 10,) a 
 distinction never conferred on Mount Gerizira and its temple. 
 This great suit, ix WHICH THE LITIGANTS AS WELL AS THE 
 
 JUDGE FULLY RECOGNISED THE AUTHENTICITY AND TRUTH- 
 FULNESS OF THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES, was eventually and 
 solemnly decided in favour of Jerusalem and its ancient and 
 most holy temple. Moreover, as in the course of the pro- 
 ceedings it was discovered that the designs harboured by the 
 representatives and advocates of the Samaritans were highly 
 dangerous and injurious to the public peace, these advocates, 
 two in number, were sentenced to death, and executed by 
 the king of Egypt ; a rigour which did not at all tend to 
 reconcile the Samaritans with the justice of the decision.
 
 372 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Demetrius II. recovers the crown of Syria Battle of Azotus ; Waterloo- 
 Death of A. Balas, and of Ptolemy VI. Philometor Treaty between King 
 Demetrius and Jonathan Troubles in Antioch suppressed by the as- 
 sistance of Jonathan Perfidy of King Demetrius His expulsion from 
 Antioch Tryphon Antiochus VI. His treaty with Jonathan Civil 
 war Battle of Azor Jonathan renews the alliance with Rome, and 
 treats with Sparta The pirates of Cilicia Jonathan entrapped and 
 murdered by Tryphon Simon elected to succeed him Death of Antio- 
 chus VI. Sepulchre of the Maccabees at Modin King Demetrius II. 
 declares Judea independent. (From 148, to 143 B.C.E.) 
 
 WHILE thus, without any fault of Jonathan's, rival high- 
 priests and rival temples in vain sought to deprive Jerusa- 
 lem and himself of their pre-eminence, King Balas, by his 
 bad government, invited rivals far more formidable and 
 successful. During his contest with King Demetrius, the 
 impostor had evinced both talent and courage ; and the 
 ability with which he had brought that struggle to a suc- 
 cessful issue, was the principal motive which induced Phi- 
 lometor to bestow the hand of his daughter on a low-born 
 usurper. But when King Balas believed himself firmly 
 seated on his thone, he began to indulge without restraint 
 the mean vices of his nature. Intoxicated with a pros- 
 perity completely undeserved, he committed the govern- 
 ment to ministers who flattered his passions while they 
 abused his power and confidence. His own time was alto- 
 gether given up to a life of unbounded voluptuousness. 
 His wife Cleopatra was neglected, while his courfr was 
 crowded with the most ostentatious courtesans of Greece, 
 whose accomplishments, by emblazoning his profligacy, 
 rendered his disgrace the more conspicuous. 
 
 His subjects, though by no means over-fastidious, were
 
 THE MACCABEES. 373 
 
 nevertheless shocked and offended by the public display 
 King Balas chose to make of his libertinage. King De- 
 inetrius, though a drunkard, had carried on his revels in 
 privacy ; his harem of humble concubines never intruded 
 on public notice. But Balas, whose open and ostentatious 
 debaucheries violated every rule of Oriental life, seemed 
 to despise and set at defiance the better feelings of the 
 Antiochians ; while at the same time the cruelty and ex- 
 tortion of his ministers completed the general dissatis- 
 faction. 
 
 Thus Balas became an object not only of hatred, but 
 of contempt a feeling the most dangerous to sovereigns. 
 Several of his generals and governors began to turn their 
 eyes toward the son of their late king Demetrius, named 
 like his father, who, as we have related, had escaped to 
 Cnidus, and in the first stage of manhood gave indications 
 of an active and energetic character. Being provided 
 with a large treasure, which had been sent with him to 
 the place of his retreat, and encouraged by the certainty 
 of finding adherents even among the most powerful of 
 Balas's officers, the young prince Demetrius hired a con- 
 siderable body of troops, especially in Crete, and invaded 
 the province of Cilicia, proclaiming his own right to the 
 crown of Syria, and denouncing Balas as an impostor and 
 usurper. At the same time, Apollonius, governor of 
 Cojle-Syria and Phoenicia, one of the most important offi- 
 cers in the Syrain monarchy, openly revolted from Balas, 
 to whose government he had never been well affected, and 
 with the forces under his command declared for Prince 
 Demetrius. 
 
 In his younger years, this Apollonius, following the for- 
 tunes of Demetrius Soter, had remained with him during 
 his long residence as a hostage at Koine, and was one of 
 the eight Syrians of distinction who accompanied him in 
 his flight when he returned to recover possession of his 
 
 VOL. I. 32
 
 374 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 kingdom. (Polyb. Ixxxi. cap. 19 et 21.) Upon the re- 
 storation of his fellow-fugitive and patron, Apollonius was 
 appointed governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, which 
 offices he was permitted to retain by Balas, notwithstand- 
 ing his well-known devotion to the person, cause, and 
 house of Demetrius. But though nominally in the service 
 of Balas, he was in reality only on the watch for an op- 
 portunity to serve the son of his former master ; and pro- 
 bably had a principal share in planning the enterprise 
 which young Demetrius was about carrying into execution. 
 For as soon as that prince unfurled his standard in Cilicia, 
 Apollonius declared for him, and was fortunate enough to 
 secure the adhesion and concurrence of all the inferior 
 commanders in those parts ; so that the rebellion at once 
 assumed an aspect most threatening to Balas. 
 
 Amid this general defection, Balas had at least one 
 friend in that portion of his kingdom, whose fidelity equal- 
 led his power ; and that was Jonathan, the high-priest and 
 governor of Judea. When he became acquainted with the 
 open rebellion of his neighbour Apollonius, he at once pre- 
 pared to check his progress and to defend the cause of 
 King Alexander, for such Jonathan really believed the 
 impostor to be. 
 
 Apollonius, having got a considerable army together, 
 and ascertaining that Jonathan was hostile to his party 
 and views, marched against him and advanced as far as 
 Jamnia. But as the portion of his forces on which he 
 principally relied was his cavalry, and he feared to lose 
 the benefit of their services were he to advance farther into 
 the mountainous region of Judea, he encamped and sent a 
 bold and insulting message to Jonathan, daring the Jewish 
 chief to quit the shelter of his rocks, and manfully to come 
 forward and give him battle in the open plains. Jonathan 
 accepted the challenge, and with ten thousand chosen Jew- 
 ish warriors advanced from Jerusalem to Joppa. On his
 
 THE MACCABEES. 375 
 
 march thither he was joined by his brother Simon, who 
 brought him reinforcements. Joppa was garrisoned by the 
 troops of Apollonius, who shut their gates against the Jew- 
 ish chiefs and barred their further progress. Jonathan was 
 obliged to attack Joppa, and speedily took it, almost in 
 sight of the rebel army which marched against him. 
 
 Apollonius had eight thousand foot and three thousand 
 horse. Besides these, he left a detachment of a thousand 
 chosen horse in ambush, with orders to fall upon Jonathan's 
 rear as soon as he should be seriously engaged in front with 
 Apollonius himself. He then feigned a retreat, as if he was 
 marching southward toward Azotus. His stratagem in so 
 far succeeded, that Jonathan, as he expected, came out from 
 Joppa to pursue him; and Apollonius, suddenly facing 
 about, fell upon him, in the full expectation that the unex- 
 pected charge of his ambush would throw the Jews into 
 confusion and cause their defeat. 
 
 But Jonathan was too experienced a commander to 
 permit the success of any such evolutions. The feigned 
 retreat and sudden attack of Apollonius roused Jonathan's 
 suspicion ; and, penetrating the design of his enemy, he 
 anticipated a probable attack by a force in ambush, and 
 drew up his men in the form of an oblong square, not 
 unlike the Macedonian phalanx ; and as Apollonius's am- 
 bushed horse came thundering along, the rear ranks of 
 Jonathan's compact square had only to wheel about to pre- 
 sent a double front. 
 
 This manoeuvre the Jews executed with great precision, 
 and with unusual firmness bore the brunt of the battle on 
 both sides. In vain Apollonius exhausted his cavalry in 
 repeated charges; ho could make no impression on the 
 phalanx of the Jews, who repelled every attack with grout 
 slaughter. At length, toward evening, Jonathan, observing 
 that the enemy's cavalry, men as well as horses, were 
 completely spent and incapable of further efforts, suddenly
 
 376 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and unexpectedly passed from defence to attack. Opening 
 his square, he rushed upon the enemy's foot, and, unsup- 
 ported as they now were by the cavalry, totally routed 
 them. 
 
 The greater part fled to Azotus, and took post in the 
 temple of Dagon, where they prepared for a vigorous re- 
 sistance. The Jews pursued, made themselves master of 
 the city, and attacked the temple. But finding that the 
 defenders obstinately refused to surrender, and that the 
 post could only be forced at a great expense of lives, the 
 victors set the temple on fire. The flames spread and de- 
 stroyed the whole city, as well as all that had found refuge 
 in the temple. The number of Syrian slain during the 
 battle and in Azotus exceeded eight thousand. 
 
 From Azotus, Jonathan marched to attack and plunder 
 some other towns that had declared against King Alex- 
 ander, but spared the city of Askalon, which met him with 
 oifers of submission. After a short but important cam- 
 paign, in which he completely suppressed the rebellion 
 against King Alexander in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, 
 Jonathan returned to Jerusalem loaded with rich booty. 
 When Balas heard of Jonathan's faithfulness and victory, 
 he sent him in token of gratitude a rich gold buckle or 
 epaulet, such as only the members of the royal family were 
 permitted to wear, and which fastened their purple mantle 
 to the shoulder. As a more substantial recompense for 
 the important service rendered Balas, he likewise bestowed 
 upon Jonathan the city and territory of Ekron as a free 
 gift. (1 Mace. x. 74, ad fin.) 
 
 In this battle of Azotus, Jonathan fully established his 
 reputation as a skilful and experienced commander, en- 
 titled and worthy to be the successor to the great Mac- 
 cabee. The battle itself bears a striking resemblance in 
 some of its leading features to the greatest of modern 
 European battles Waterloo; due allowance, of course,
 
 THE MACCABEES. 37T 
 
 being made for the effect of firearms, and the conse- 
 quent difference of tactics. 
 
 Like Apollonius, Napoleon chiefly relied on his cavalry 
 for the victory ; like Jonathan, Wellington drew up his 
 army in solid squares, as best able to resist the attack of 
 horse. Like Apollonius, Napoleon in vain sacrificed his 
 splendid cavalry in repeated but unavailing attacks ; he 
 could make no decisive impression on the squares. Like 
 Jonathan, Wellington suddenly and unexpectedly passed 
 from defence to attack, and thereby completed the rout of 
 the French army. 
 
 We know that, but for the arrival and advance of Blu- 
 cher and his Prussians, the result of the battle of Waterloo 
 might have proved very different from what it did. But 
 we also know that the Duke of Wellington was intimately 
 acquainted with the battles and tactics of the ancients, 
 and an assiduous reader of Folard. And when we see 
 the great resemblance in the leading features of the 
 two battles, we cannot help smiling as we ask ourselves, 
 "What share of the glory of Wellington, and the subse- 
 quent fortunes of Europe, may be due to the generalship 
 of Jonathan the Maccabee ?" 
 
 Unfortunately for Alexander Balas, the disaffection 
 against him was so widely spread and so deeply rooted, 
 that Jonathan's victory, however glorious to that chief, 
 could only delay the fall of the impostor, who eventually 
 was ruined^by his own obstinacy and tbe crimes of his 
 minister. Tbe progress of tbe rebellion, though checked 
 in Code-Syria and Phoenicia, was so rapid and formidable, 
 that Balas at length was driven to apply for aid to the 
 father of his neglected and ill-treated wife, the king of 
 Egypt; while Balas, awaiting the arrival of his powerful 
 auxiliary, shut himself up in Antioch, and intrusted the 
 government of that city and the imperial district around 
 it to two generals, Diodotus and llierax, under the su-
 
 378 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 preme command of Ammonias, his favourite and prime 
 minister. 
 
 Ptolemy Philometor, upon hearing of the danger to 
 which his son-in-law was exposed, hastened, with a zeal 
 worthy of a better cause, to his assistance, at the head of 
 a powerful army, accompanied by a fleet not less formida- 
 ble. He landed at Ptolemais, from whence he prepared 
 to advance to Antioch. On his landing, some apostate 
 Jews, enemies of Jonathan, presented themselves before 
 the king, and tried to excite his anger against the Jewish 
 chief by pointing to the devastations caused by the last 
 campaign, and especially to the ruins of Azotus and the 
 temple of Dagon, as well as to the carcasses of the slain, 
 which yet remained unburied. But the king refused to 
 entertain the accusation, and laid all the blame on Apol- 
 lonius and his treason. When Jonathan heard that justice 
 had thus been done to his loyalty, he, attended by a splen- 
 did retinue, paid the king a visit at Joppa, where he met 
 with a friendly reception, and, after accompanying him to 
 the river Eleutherus, returned to Jerusalem. 
 
 The first book of Maccabees (xi. 1, et seq.) taxes Phi- 
 lometor with the design of invading Syria for the purpose 
 of undoing his own work and of ruining the worthless im- 
 postor Balas, in order to unite the crown of Syria with 
 that of Egypt. This charge, founded doubtless on after 
 events, seems to express the general public opinion of the 
 times ; an opinion which was shared by Ammonius, the 
 favourite and confidant of Balas. This odious minister, 
 judging of Ptolemy's character by his own, believed that 
 the king of Egypt would not have come to Syria, at the 
 head of forces so formidable, except for purposes of his 
 own ; and he determined, by an act of real treachery, to 
 anticipate the breach of faith which perhaps his own 
 guilty suspicions had invented. He formed a plot to 
 assassinate the king of Egypt at Ptolemais, which, how-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 379 
 
 ever, miscarried ; and Philometor denounced Ammonius 
 as the author, indignantly demanding that the culprit 
 should either be handed over to him, or meet with condign 
 punishment from his own sovereign. 
 
 Balas, however, was so infatuated as to determine, at 
 all hazards, to protect his favourite ; and thereby afforded 
 just reason for concluding that he himself had partici- 
 pated in the guilty scheme. Philometor thenceforth re- 
 nounced his alliance with Balas, advanced toward An- 
 tioch, and, having drawn to him from that place his 
 daughter Cleopatra, offered her hand, together with the 
 crown of Syria, to young Demetrius, who not only and 
 gladly accepted the offer, but hastened with all his forces 
 to join his intended wife and his powerful ally, her father. 
 On their arrival near Antioch, the Greek citizens rose in 
 open rebellion against Balas. Ammonius was slain in 
 woman's apparel, as he attempted to escape ; Balas fled, 
 and put himself at the head of some troops that still 
 remained faithful to him. 
 
 Upon the flight of the impostor, the citizens of Antioch, 
 with whom the son of the drunkard Demetrius was in no 
 great favour, invited Ptolemy to mount the vacant throne ; 
 he was even compelled, by their importunity, to wear for 
 a brief period the double diadem of Egypt and Syria. 
 But Philometor was too experienced a politician to act 
 without reflecting on the consequences of his action. It 
 was evident that the Romans would not view with com- 
 placency this union of two powerful kingdoms : it was 
 possible, and even probable, that their sword would dis- 
 solve the union. He therefore did what, in his circum- 
 stances, wisdom and justice required ; and not without 
 some difficulty succeeded in getting his new son-in-law 
 acknowledged as king. (Polyb. lib. xi. cap. 12.) 
 
 Early next spring Balas made a desperate effort to re- 
 cover the kingdom, and advanced toward Antioch. The
 
 380 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 two kings went forth to meet him, and a sharp but un- 
 equal conflict ensued, in which Balas was defeated, and 
 fled from the field to a petty Arabian prince, Zabdiel, his 
 ally. This robber-chief caused the fugitive to be mur- 
 dered; and five days after the battle the head of the 
 wretched Balas was presented to young Demetrius, who 
 was saluted as Nicator, " the victorious," which designa- 
 tion thenceforth remained to him. Philometor, who had 
 been mortally wounded, died eight days after the battle, 
 in the forty-second year of his age and thirty-fifth of his 
 eventful reign. (146 B. c. E.) 
 
 The fall of King Balas and the success of Demetrius 
 were likely to interrupt, if not entirely to change, the cha- 
 racter of the friendly relations which for the last few 
 years had subsisted between the king of Syria and the 
 high-priest of Jerusalem. It was to be apprehended that 
 Demetrius, succeeding to the sentiments as well as the 
 crown of his father, might, and with greater justice, enter- 
 tain against Jonathan a hatred as implacable as that with 
 which his father had persecuted Judah the Maccabee. 
 
 The wise and powerful king of Egypt, whose alliance 
 had seated Demetrius on the throne, and whose friendly 
 mediation would have recalled him to sentiments of 
 moderation against the Jews, had died in the arms of vic- 
 tory ; and a fierce civil war which, directly after his 
 death, broke out in Egypt, compelled the return home of 
 the army he had led into Syria, and for a time paralyzed 
 the influence of the Egyptian government. Rome itself, 
 involved, contrary to its usual policy, in two great wars at 
 one and the same time, in Greece and in Africa wars 
 which terminated in the destruction, at the interval of a 
 few months, of two of the most celebrated and commer- 
 cial cities of the ancient world, Carthage and Corinth, 
 (146 B. c. E.) Rome itself was not in a condition to afford 
 Judea any effectual protection ; and Jonathan, taken I y
 
 THE MACCABEES. 381 
 
 surprise at the complete and sudden change of affairs in 
 Antioch, was compelled once more to prepare for con- 
 fronting the entire power of the Syrian monarchy with the 
 forces of a single province only. 
 
 But these forces were now become considerable. Judea 
 was no longer in that state of utter prostration from which 
 the Maccabee had first raised his country. Her internal 
 resources and population had increased to an extent of 
 which we can only form an idea from the fact that Jona- 
 than, within a few years after the fall of Balas, was able 
 to raise an army of 40,000 men ; and that his wealth 
 enabled him to gain the good will of King Demetrius, 
 even when that monarch was most enraged, as we shall 
 presently relate. 
 
 As Jonathan thus was left to his own resources, he de- 
 termined not to await the attack, but at once to secure 
 himself at home by depriving the Syrians of the only 
 strongholds they yet possessed in Judea. For this pur- 
 pose he laid siege to Acra, the heathen fortress at Jerusa- 
 lem, which was still held by a strong garrison of Syrians, 
 and in which the most culpable and obnoxious of the apos- 
 tate Jews had taken up their abode, molesting, as much as 
 they could, the orthodox Jews who repaired to the temple. 
 
 For this siege Jonathan had made considerable provision 
 both of men and of engines, convinced as he was that tho 
 resistance would be most obstinate. But in the midst of 
 his siege operations he received a summons to appear be- 
 fore King Demetrius, who had arrived at Ptolemais, and 
 had there received complaints of Jonathan's proceedings. 
 As this Hummons evinced, on the part of the king, the de- 
 termination not at once to proceed to extremities, Jona- 
 than determined to obey, and, if possible, to avert from 
 his country the horrors of war ; and though the risk which 
 he personally ran in trusting himself into the power of the 
 king of Syria was of the greatest, yet this true patriot,
 
 382 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 who so often had ventured life and limb on the battle-field, 
 did not for an instant hesitate or balance his own safety 
 against the welfare of his country. And this his conduct, 
 under the trying circumstances in which he was placed, 
 fully proved. For while he himself, attended by some of 
 the principal men of Judea, elders of the Sanhedrin and 
 priests departed for Ptolemais, he left orders with his 
 brother Simon to push the siege of Acra with the utmost 
 vigour, so that his own absence might cause no interrup- 
 tion to the progress of his undertaking. 
 
 On his arrival at Ptolemais, Jonathan found that King 
 Demetrius, though strongly irritated against him, was also 
 impressed with a salutary dread of the strength and na- 
 tional spirit of the Jews ; and that, influenced alike by 
 both these feelings, the king and his council were as yet 
 undecided as to the course to be pursued against Jonathan, 
 who was a diplomatist too skilful not to turn their inde- 
 cision to his own advantage. When the affairs of Judea 
 came to be investigated, Jonathan pleaded his cause so 
 ably before the king, and backed it with such rich presents 
 to the king himself and to his principal courtiers, that the 
 complaint against the Maccabean chief was dismissed, his 
 accusers being compelled to withdraw in disgrace, while 
 he himself was received into the royal favour and 
 friendship. 
 
 King Demetrius not only confirmed him in the dignities 
 of high-priest and ethnarch, or prince of Judea, that had 
 been bestowed upon him by Balas, but also renewed and 
 confirmed to the Jewish people all those privileges and 
 immunities which his father had offered to them, but which 
 they and their chief had at that time declined, out of 
 friendship for Balas. The three toparchies, or districts, 
 of Lydda, Apharema, and Ramatha, which some years be- 
 fore had been separated from Samaria and joined to Judea, 
 and which the late king had offered to leave in the posses-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 383 
 
 sion of the high-priest, were now finally incorporated with 
 Judea. And in order to remove all pretexts for exaction, 
 or claims for arrears of tribute due from the province of 
 Judea or its people to the kings of Syria, King Demetrius 
 consented to cancel all old demands, and thenceforth to 
 receive the annual payment of three hundred talents 
 (about 300,000 dollars) in full of all taxes and contribu- 
 tions from all the territories under the authority of the 
 high-priest. (1 Mace. xi. 20, et seq.) 
 
 Successful beyond his utmost expectations, Jonathan re- 
 turned to Jerusalem, and continued the siege of Acra with 
 renewed vigour. But, persevering as he was in his attack, he 
 found that the energy of despair with which the apostates, 
 who formed the principal part of the garrison, defended 
 themselves, joined to the great strength of the fortress 
 itself, were more than a match for any force he could 
 bring against it ; and that to compel a surrender would 
 not only require a length of time, but also a great expen- 
 diture of human lives as well as money. The position in 
 which King Demetrius had, in the interim, contrived to 
 place himself, suggested to Jonathan the idea of obtaining 
 from the king himself an order for the evacuation both of 
 Acra and Bethzura, the only places in Judea still occu- 
 pied by Syrian troops. 
 
 Short as had been his reign, Demetrius, by his gross 
 misconduct and cruelty, had already alienated the affec- 
 tions of his subjects. During his exile he had learned to 
 despise and distrust the Syrians a people, as soldiers, 
 effeminate ; as subjects, turbulent ; as adherents, fickle 
 and disloyal. As he had recovered his throne chiefly by 
 the assistance of foreigners, Cretans and Egyptians, he de- 
 termined to intrust the defence of his person and king- 
 dom to none but foreign mercenaries ; and one of the first 
 acts of his reign, after the death of Philometor, was to 
 disband the whole of the national troops, who had till then,
 
 384 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 even in time of peace, been retained at their full comple- 
 menfT&nd pay. 
 
 In a letter preserved by Josephus, (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 
 8, ad. fin.,) King Demetrius styles Las then es, the general 
 of the Cretans, his " father," because it was by his assist- 
 ance that he had recovered and trusted to maintain his 
 crown. The mercenaries, as under such circumstances 
 was naturally to be expected, ill used and oppressed the 
 natives, whose complaints to the king, so far from ob- 
 taining redress, -were stifled by the cruelties practised on 
 the complainants. Lasthenes, in particular, who com- 
 manded at Antioch, trampled on the citizens with a de- 
 gree of insolence and ferocity to which that turbulent 
 though industrious populace was ill calculated to submit. 
 A fearful emeute broke out in the capital, which all the 
 force at King Demetrius's disposal was unable to quell, and 
 the crown he had so lately recovered was already totter- 
 ing on his head. (Diodor. Excerp. p. 592.) 
 
 At this juncture it was that Jonathan addressed himself 
 to the king with complaints against the garrisons of 
 Acra and Bethzura, who molested the Jews ; and re- 
 quested that the king would be pleased to command the 
 evacuation of both strongholds. In his extreme distress, 
 Demetrius was but too glad to obtain assistance on any 
 terms ; he therefore proposed to Jonathan that, as a 
 preliminary condition to the evacuation of the two for- 
 tresses, the high-priest should assist him with a portion 
 of his forces to suppress the rebellion at Antioch; and 
 in return for this service the king promised to withdraw 
 his garrisons from Acra and Bethzura. 
 
 This condition Jonathan at once complied with, and a 
 considerable body of Jewish auxiliaries according to First 
 Maccabees (xi. 41, et seq.) three thousand veterans hur- 
 ried to Antioch and joined the king's forces, with the full 
 determination to do him good service ; for a bitter feeling
 
 THE MACCABEES. 385 
 
 of hatred existed between the Jews and the citizens of An- 
 tioch. During the reign of Epiphanes, and while Judea 
 was trodden down by the Syrians, among its many op- 
 pressors none had been so ruthless, so utterly inhuman, as 
 the Antiochians : and in that city itself the Jewish citizens 
 had not only been treated with equal cruelty, but in every 
 tumult that broke out and they were frequent the parts 
 of the city inhabited by Jews suffered rapine and bloodshed 
 at the hands of a lawless mob. 
 
 This had more particularly been the case during the 
 riots then actually raging ; for as the high-priest of Jeru- 
 salem was known to be in favour with the king, the people 
 of the high-priest, the Jews, had been cruelly treated by 
 the rebels. The Jewish auxiliaries at Antioch knew all 
 this, and were determined to have full revenge. In a 
 series of murderous street battles the Antiochians were 
 defeated with great slaughter ; and the rebellion was ex- 
 tinguished in the blood, as Josephus relates (Ant. lib. xiii. 
 cap. 8,) of upward of one hundred thousand of the 
 rioters. 
 
 In this fearful act of vengeance the Jewish auxiliaries 
 had acted a principal part ; and the Maccabean chief could 
 claim the merit of having secured the throne to the son of 
 that Demetrius who had persecuted his own noble brother, 
 Judah, even unto death. But Jonathan soon discovered 
 that, both morally and politically, he had committed a 
 fault in lending aid to the tyrant of Syria ; for Demetrius 
 no sooner found himself, as he believed, firmly seated on 
 his throne the terror of his name, and the dreadful pu- 
 nishment inflicted on Antioch, extorting implicit obedience 
 throughout the wide extent of his monarchy than he de- 
 termined to break his engagements with Jonathan, and 
 prepared to renew and aggravate against the Jews the 
 worst outrages inflicted by his predecessors. 
 
 For this purpose he not only refused to grant orders for 
 
 Vot. I. 33
 
 386 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the evacuation of the two fortresses, which he had pro- 
 mised ; hut contrary to his express stipulations with Jona- 
 than, the king began to insist on the payment of all the 
 arrears of tribute, together with all the exactions, taxes, 
 and customs which at their interview at Ptolemais he had 
 remitted. Whether the king was influenced by envy or ap- 
 prehension of the power of Jonathan, or tempted by the 
 wealth of Judea and his own necessities, or whether he 
 was urged on by that painful impatience which possesses 
 the mind of the proud man, when he feels himself under 
 an obligation so great that he cannot repay it, and there- 
 fore seeks to get rid of its weight by any means, even by 
 the blackest ingratitude, certain it is that he not only ex- 
 asperated the Jews by his demands, but threatened loudly 
 and most violently to punish their exasperation, when a 
 sudden and irresistible revolution drove him out of his 
 kingdom, and left him at his leisure to repent of his ty- 
 ranny to the Syrians as well as of his perfidy to the Jews. 
 The usurpation of the Syrian crown by Antiochus IV. 
 Epiphanes, who, after crushing the assassin Heliodorus, 
 ascended the throne to the exclusion of the rightful heir, 
 his nephew Demetrius, then detained as a hostage at 
 Rome, gave a death-blow to the prosperity of that mo- 
 narchy, by confounding, inextricably, the right and order 
 of succession, and thus paving the way for unceasing re- 
 volutions and civil wars ; for the fickle Syrians were ever 
 ready through a mistaken loyalty to recognise the title 
 and right of inheritance of any pretender whose father, 
 however unjustly and for however short a time, had worn 
 the crown. In this manner, Alexander Balas, pretending 
 to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, had proved success- 
 ful against the elder Demetrius, surnamed Soter : a new 
 pretender, deriving descent from Balas, had every chance 
 of success against the younger Demetrius, notwithstand- 
 ing his pompous title of Nicator.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 387 
 
 We have already spoken of two Syrian Greeks named 
 Hierax and Diodotus, confidants of Balas, and who during 
 his reign commanded at Antioch. At the fall of their 
 master, Hierax fled to Egypt and entered into the service 
 of Physcon, whose prime minister he became, and whose 
 throne and government, amid all the capricious cruelties 
 of the prince, were upheld by the vigilance and energy of 
 the minister. 
 
 His associate, Diodotus, who gloried in and is better 
 known by his surname of Tryphon, "the luxurious," re- 
 mained in Syria, fully determined to re-establish his for- 
 tunes by the restoration of the line of Balas. A boy, the 
 son of Balas, yet remained in the household of Zabdiel, 
 the same Arab prince with whom Balas after his defeat 
 had sought refuge and found death. This boy, so mighty 
 an instrument for working on the minds of the fickle Sy- 
 rians, and for seducing the turbulent Antiochians, Try- 
 phon contrived to get into his power, and thenceforth re- 
 joiced at the accumulating follies and treacheries by which 
 Demetrius alienated the affections of his subjects and dis- 
 gusted his friends. The emeute at Antiochia, of which 
 we have already spoken, broke out at the instigation 
 of Tryphon ; and, but for the effectual aid afforded to De- 
 metrius by Jonathan, must have proved successful, as 
 Tryphon was supported by numbers of disbanded Syrian 
 veterans. 
 
 This first miscarriage did not intimidate the conspira- 
 tor ; on the contrary, it encouraged his further attempts, 
 since it proved to him not only how ready the people were 
 to rise against the king, but also how little able the king 
 was to suppress those risings. When, therefore, it became 
 known that the king had broken his promise to the hijzh- 
 priest of the Jews, and that he was about to commence 
 hostilities against that people, so formidable because 
 inured to perpetual warfare, Tryphon once more appeared
 
 888 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 in the field, proclaiming the son of Alexander Balas, the 
 grandson of Antiochus Epiphanes, as the rightful king of 
 Syria. He was immediately joined by many who were 
 privy to his conspiracy, and gradually reinforced by in- 
 numerable malcontents, and especially by the disbanded 
 Syrian soldiers, who from all parts of the country flocked 
 to his standard, and did homage to their young king An- 
 tiochus VI., under the title of Epiphanes, " the illustrious," 
 inherited from his supposed grandfather, and of Bacchus, 
 bestowed on him by his adherents to express his fine 
 countenance and elegant figure. 9 
 
 Demetrius had to fight for his kingdom. At the 
 head of his foreign mercenaries, he encountered his in- 
 surgent subjects near Antioch, and was defeated with 
 great loss ; for the Syrian veterans whom he had so igno- 
 miniously dismissed from his service now fought against 
 him with a rage and resentment which the hired valour of 
 his mercenaries was unable to resist. The loss of the bat- 
 tle compelled him to abandon his capital; but as the 
 neighbouring cities on the sea-coast, garrisoned by his 
 troops, still maintained their allegiance to him, he took up 
 his residence in the largest and strongest of them, Seleucia 
 Pieria. There he shut himself up with his guards, leav- 
 ing the inland country to provide for its own defence, or 
 to submit to Tryphon, acting as guardian to the young 
 king and regent of the kingdom. 
 
 One of the first steps taken by the new government, was 
 to secure the friendship of Jonathan and the Jews. For 
 this purpose, King Antiochus not only confirmed all for- 
 mer grants made to the Jews, especially the remission of 
 arrears, the consolidation of tribute into one annual pay- 
 ment, and the possession of the three toparchies, but also 
 
 9 These titles appear on his medals. Josephus (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 7) 
 designates this ill-fated youth by the surname of Theos, meaning, probably, 
 the god Bacchus.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 389 
 
 Bent many valuable and honourable presents to Jonathan. 
 At the same time he appointed Simon, the high-priest's 
 brother, commander of all his forces from the frontiers of 
 Egypt to the Ladder of Tyre, a mountain so called, nearly 
 midway between Tyre and Ptolemais ; stipulating, in re- 
 turn for these advantages, that the two brothers should 
 declare for him and support his cause. 
 
 This both Jonathan and Simon were most willing to do, 
 as they had to the very last adhered to Balas, and in re- 
 turn for important services to Demetrius had experienced 
 nothing but perfidy and ingratitude. The two brothers, 
 therefore, at once put themselves at the head of their 
 forces ; and having sent an embassy of thanks to Antioch, 
 Jonathan crossed the Jordan, and marched into Galilee 
 against a body of troops despatched by Demetrius to make 
 a diversion. 
 
 In this expedition Jonathan was in imminent danger 
 of being cut to pieces by the enemy. He had encamped 
 over night near the Lake Gennesareth, and was marching 
 early in the morning toward the town of Azor, when he un- 
 expectedly fell into an ambush that had been placed among 
 the defiles of the mountains to surprise him. As soon as 
 he perceived his danger, he prepared for a brave defence, 
 disposing of his men in the best position the nature of the 
 ground would permit. But the greatest part of his men 
 (new levies, who for the first time faced an enemy) were 
 struck with a sudden panic, forsook their commander, and 
 fled ; so that Jonathan was left with only fifty veterans and 
 two officers, whose names history has preserved Judah 
 and Mattathias. 
 
 With this handful of brave men Jonathan stood at bay, 
 and fought so desperately that the enemy began to give 
 way. The runaways, who hud fled up the hills, from whence 
 at a distance they could see what was doing on the battle- 
 field, and who bfcheld with what courage and success their 
 
 83
 
 390 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 chief defended himself, now rallied; and stung with shame 
 and remorse at their own cowardice, they rushed hack into 
 the thickest of the fight, and attacked the already waver- 
 ing enemy with such vigour that they were routed. Jo- 
 nathan gained a complete victory, and pursued the De- 
 metrians to their fortified camp at Cadish, inflicting on 
 them a loss of three thousand killed. 
 
 After this great and unexpected success, Jonathan 
 marched against the city of Ascalon, which opened its 
 gates to him, and against Gaza, which he forced to sur- 
 render. At the same time his brother Simon laid siege to 
 and took the important frontier fortress of Bethzura, which 
 the Syrians so long had held ; so that throughout all Judea 
 the enemy only retained one stronghold, Acra, which still 
 held out for King Demetrius. The two brothers then, 
 after having subdued Joppa and all the cities from Gaza 
 to Damascus, returned in triumph to Jerusalem, where 
 they found all things in peace and prosperity a condition 
 that Jonathan naturally was anxious to perpetuate by 
 every means in his power. 
 
 His past experience had taught him how little reliance 
 was to be placed on the promises of kings, who in their 
 adversity or weakness were ready to enter into engage- 
 ments which they never intended to keep, and which with 
 the first ray of returning prosperity and power they 
 hastened to disown. He therefore addressed his diplo- 
 macy to the mighty commonwealth which, at that time, 
 gave law to the civilized world. Rome had triumphantly 
 ended her wars against" Greece and Carthage, and her 
 senate, true to its policy of conquest, again directed its 
 views and despatched its emissaries to the East. Jona- 
 than was too powerful and too prominent a character to 
 escape their attention ; and thus he was induced to send 
 an embassy to the senate to solicit a renewal of the alii-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 391 
 
 ance contracted by his brother a request favourably re- 
 ceived and readily granted. 
 
 The ambassadors were instructed also to visit and to 
 establish amicable relations with the various cities of 
 Greece, especially with Sparta and the Lacedemonians. 
 It is difficult to conceive whence the idea could have arisen 
 in the minds either of the Jews or of the Spartans that 
 the two people were connected by the ties of kindred ; yet 
 such was the case. From a letter addressed by Jona- 
 than, high-priest, and the elders, and priests of the Jews, 
 unto the ephori, senate, and people of Lacedemon, THEIR 
 BRETHREN," we learn that so long ago as the days of the 
 high-priest Onias II., nearly a century and a half back, 
 the Spartan king Arius had written and had claimed affi- 
 nity for his people with the Jews, "which affinity," says 
 Jonathan, " we acknowledge with greater honour, as we 
 find it confirmed by our sacred books." (1 Mace. xi. ; Jos. 
 Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 9.) Biblical critics, both Jew and 
 Gentile, have laboured hard, but hitherto unsuccessfully, 
 to discover to what portion of Scripture Jonathan al- 
 ludes ; 10 but it is certain that at the time the claim 
 
 10 A curious solution of this difficulty is proposed by Dr. Frankel in 
 his Monaltichrift for December, 1863, (page 456,) who suggests that the 
 Spartan*, to whom Jonathan sent an embassy, were not thoe who inhabited 
 the Peloponnesus, but those who, since the days of the Persian empire, 
 had been settled at Niibi., the capital of Armenia, and whom Plutarch 
 designates as genuine descendants of the Spartans. And though Dr. F. 
 admits that the "affinity" betwen them and tho Jews still remains "some- 
 what obscure," still, as he rcry justly remarks, an alliance with tho 
 Spartans of Nisibis in the very heart of tho Syrian monarchy must hare 
 been of far more importance to the Jews, who, like themselves, had to rc- 
 m*t the tyranny of the Selcucidro, than any league with the European 
 Spartans, who could exercise no influence on the affairs of AM:, as their 
 ancient power and renown were at this period altogether decayed. And 
 as to the title " king," which Arius, the writer of the letter, assumes, 
 that offers no difficulty, u in Sparta itself tho "king" was but a cub-
 
 392 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 was allowed with equal readiness by both people, and that 
 Jonathan's ambassadors, who produced a transcript of 
 Arius's letter, met with a most friendly reception from the 
 Spartans. 
 
 While these negotiations were being carried on, Jona- 
 than received information that the adherents of Demetrius, 
 whom he had so lately defeated, had assembled a larger 
 army, and were about to invade Judea. Jonathan was 
 most anxious to preserve his own country from becoming 
 the seat of war ; he therefore no sooner received tidings 
 of the projected invasion, than he collected his forces and 
 hastened to forestall the attack. His march was so rapid, 
 that at Amathitj a place on the frontiers of Syria, he met 
 the enemy, and encamped over against them. They directly 
 formed the design to surprise his camp on the following 
 night ; but Jonathan, well served by his scouts, obtained 
 some intimation of their purpose, and kept his troops under 
 arms ready to receive them. The Demetrians marched out 
 of their camp, as projected, but finding the Jews on the 
 alert, they as quickly marched back, without daring to 
 begin an attack. 
 
 Indeed, so disheartened were the leaders of the Deme- 
 trians by the numbers and good countenance of Jona- 
 than's men, that they renounced the idea of keeping the 
 field against him, and determined on a retreat. For this 
 purpose they caused a number of fires to be lighted in 
 their camp to conceal their flight, while they with all their 
 forces marched off unperceived, and made such speed 
 that Jonathan, when he discovered the ruse that had 
 been played off against him, found any attempt at pur- 
 suit entirely hopeless; they were already far beyond 
 the Eleutherus before he could reach that river. To make 
 
 ordinate ruler ; and the colonists at Nisibis would most likely bestow a 
 title to which they were accustomed on their municipal chief, even though 
 he and they remained subject to the monarch of Syria.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 393 
 
 himself some amends for his disappointment, he fell upon 
 a band of Arab rovers in the pay of King Demetrius. 
 These he defeated, and took from them considerable booty, 
 with which he returned to Jerusalem. (1 Mace. xi. 62.) 
 
 Their ill success on this occasion completely disheart- 
 ened the adherents of King Demetrius from any further 
 attempts in the field. lie himself remained shut up in 
 Seleucia, a city strongly fortified, amply garrisoned, and 
 provisioned. Tryphon, it would seem, now had it in his 
 power to terminate the war by besieging and taking Demc- 
 trius's stronghold an enterprise the success of which there 
 was no army in the field to prevent. But before the inven- 
 tion of gunpowder the imperfection of battering-engines left 
 the art of attack far behind that of defence. Tryphon 
 had good reason to assume that the force under his com- 
 mand was not sufficient to reduce a maritime city so well 
 defended as Seleucia, and the port of which, for want of 
 a navy, he could not close or blockade. He therefore con- 
 tented himself with cutting off his adversary's indispensable 
 resources in the maritime parts of Syria. 
 
 Notwithstanding the perturbed state of that kingdom, 
 the maritime cities of Seleucia, Laodicea, Aradus, Tripolis, 
 and Tyre all garrisoned by Demetrians carried on a 
 rich commerce by sea, nourished by a great caravan trade 
 carried on through the central regions of Asia. To de- 
 stroy this commerce, Tryphon armed pirates, chiefly Cili- 
 cians, and formed the harbour of Coracesium, on the west- 
 ern frontier of Cilicia, into their common arsenal and 
 stronghold. 
 
 To this period, accordingly, history assigns the com- 
 mencement of the great piratical confederacy of Asia 
 Minor, which grew up in the course of five years under the 
 fostering care of Tryphon, and continued to flourish 
 seventy-two years, until it took all the power of Home, 
 and all the skill of her then greatest commander, Pompcy,
 
 394 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 to destroy a lawless horde, more formidable and capable of 
 resistance than the mighty monarchs of Syria or of Pon- 
 tus. (Strabo, Ixiv. p. 668 ; Appian. de Bell. Mithridat. cap. 
 94-96.) 
 
 These pirates greatly harrassed the adherents of Deme- 
 trius, nor were they anywise careful to spare the friends of 
 Antiochus. They not only swept the seas and plundered 
 the coasts, but carried their baneful rapacity into the in- 
 land country. Slaves constituted the principal object of 
 their pursuit, and these they were alike ready to acquire 
 by purchase or by robbery. The warfare in Syria was thus 
 exasperated by the desire of making prisoners, who were 
 carried to a certain and ready market in the central isle 
 of Delos, where the Romans, enriched by the recent spoils 
 of Carthage and Corinth, were the buyers, the Cilicians 
 the sellers, and the persons of the unhappy Syrians the 
 merchandise. In Delos, 10,000 slaves might find pur- 
 chasers in a single day. (Strabo, lib. xiv. pp. 668, 699.) 
 
 As many Jews resided in the maritime and inland parts 
 of Syria, they likewise but too frequently fell into the 
 power of these Cilician manstealers. And when, in the 
 course of time, we suddenly find numbers of Jews, espe- 
 cially freedmen, in Rome and Italy, while history does not 
 tell us how they came there, we may be sure that these 
 unfortunates were victims of that kidnapping and piracy 
 which so long devastated the eastern coasts of the Mediter- 
 ranean and the countries adjacent. 
 
 While Jonathan took the field to protect Judea against 
 invasion, his brother Simon was equally active in main- 
 taining the authority of King Antiochus in that portion of 
 his kingdom the command over which had been confided 
 to the Maccabean. The citizens of Joppa, a seaport town 
 which had lately been reduced by Simon and Jonathan, 
 formed the design of transferring their allegiance again 
 to King Demetrius, and to receive a governor and garrison
 
 THE MACCABEES. 395 
 
 that sovereign was about to send them. Simon, who was 
 then at Ascalon on a journey of inspection, and ever 
 watchful, frustrated the design by placing in the rebel- 
 lious city a strong garrison of his own. After having re- 
 viewed his troops in Galilee, Simon returned to Jerusalem 
 to meet his brother Jonathan, who had convened a council 
 to advise on the best means for reducing Acra, against 
 which stronghold all his efforts had hitherto proved inef- 
 fectual. At this council it was resolved to make good use 
 of the peaceful time the country then enjoyed, and to 
 strengthen the defences of Judea, and especially of Jeru- 
 salem. Accordingly it was determined that all the for- 
 tresses in Judea should be repaired ; that new strongholds 
 should be erected wherever they were wanted; that the 
 wall of Jerusalem should be rebuilt; and, lastly, that a 
 new wall should be raised between Mount Sion and the 
 rest of the city, of such height, extent, and strength, as 
 effectually to cut off all communication between the for- 
 tress of Acra and the city and country, to the end that 
 the hostile garrison, being thereby deprived of all supplies, 
 might the sooner be starved into a surrender. 
 
 These wise and salutary resolutions were at once put 
 into execution, the two brothers dividing the work between 
 them. Jonathan, who remained in Jerusalem, conducted 
 the repairs of the old dilapidated fortifications, and built 
 his new walls so judiciously, that in a comparatively short 
 time the garrison of Acra was starved into a surrender. 
 Simon, who had taken for his share the works outside of 
 Jerusalem, repaired all the then existing forts, and in- 
 creased their number by the fortifying of Adiba or 
 Adiaba, westward of Eleutheropolis, on the Syrian frontier. 
 And thus Judea was placed in a condition for defence 
 better than it had ever been in since the return from the 
 Babylonish captivity. (1 Mace, xii.) 
 
 The success which Tryphon had hitherto obtained at
 
 396 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 sea by means of his Cilician pirates, and on land chiefly 
 by the exertions of the Maccabean brothers, encouraged 
 him to the execution of a most nefarious project, namely 
 to destroy the youth whom he had crowned under the 
 name of Antiochus VI., and to assume in his own person 
 that royal power which during nearly two years he had 
 exercised in the name of another. He had the less scruple 
 to do this as he well knew that Balas, the father of young 
 Antiochus, had been an impostor, low-born, and not even 
 a native Syro-Grecian, but a Rhodian by birth ; and that 
 consequently the claim of Antiochus VI. in the right of 
 his father was a sham and usurpation. Tryphon thought, 
 and the event proved that he was not altogether mistaken, 
 that, provided he could quietly remove the puppet son of 
 Balas, whom he himself had set up, the people, accustomed 
 to his sway, and the soldiery, who so bitterly hated De- 
 metrius, might not be averse to permit him, a high-born 
 Syro-Grecian, to become the founder of a new dynasty. 
 
 One obstacle only lay in his way ; and that was Jona- 
 than, who as well as his brother and his people, the Jews, 
 had espoused the cause of the young king with equal zeal 
 and sincerity. Tryphon felt that so long as an arm, 
 powerful like that of the high-priest of Jerusalem, upheld 
 the house of the pseudo Epiphanes, his own chance of as- 
 cending the throne was but very slight. He therefore 
 determined that the . destruction of Antiochus should be 
 preceded by that of Jonathan ; and as he was alike ready 
 to employ force or fraud, he marched into Judea at the 
 head of fifty thousand men, and advanced as far as Beth- 
 shan, where he was met by Jonathan at the head of forty 
 thousand Jews. 
 
 This was an army by far too numerous and formidable 
 for Tryphon to deal with as an enemy. He therefore 
 dissembled ; pretended that the purpose of his march, as 
 far as Jonathan and the Jews were concerned, was friendly ;
 
 THE MACCABEES. 397 
 
 and that he only meant to march through the country the 
 sooner to reach the maritime cities he meant to besiege 
 with the large army which he led on. And as a proof of 
 his friendsip for Jonathan, and of his gratitude for the 
 services rendered to his master Antiochus, he would at 
 once put Jonathan in possession of Ptolemais, the promise 
 of which gift had some time before been made to the high- 
 priest. 
 
 Tryphon played his part so naturally, that Jonathan 
 was deceived. Upright and honest in his own conduct, 
 conscious, moreover, of having rendered services as faithful 
 as important to the cause of which Tryphon was the life 
 and soul, Jonathan saw no reason to distrust his friend 
 and ally, bound like himself by gratitude to the memory 
 of the murdered king, Alexander Balas, and to the sup- 
 port of his house and heir. When, therefore, Tryphon 
 advised him to disband his large army, which was both 
 useless and burdensome, Jonathan unfortunately did as he 
 was advised. Dismissing his troops, he only kept 3000 
 men under arms ; and leaving 2000 of these in Galilee, 
 he himself, at the head of 1000 men, marched to take pos- 
 session of Ptolemais. But he no sooner had entered that 
 city, than the traitor Tryphon ordered the gates to be 
 closed, and Jonathan's escort to be cut down to a man. 
 The high-priest himself was loaded with chains and thrown 
 into a dungeon. (144 B.C.E.) 
 
 When the news reached Jerusalem that Jonathan the 
 high-priest of the Lord, the hope of his country, had fallen 
 into the snare that so treacherously had been spread for 
 him, the public grief and consternation were unbounded; 
 and not without cause. During seventeen years that he 
 had conducted the affairs of Judca, his administration had 
 been so prudent, vigorous, and successful, that though the 
 rest of the Syrian monarchy was torn to pieces by wars and 
 rebellions, Judea had ever since the expulsion of Bacchides, 
 
 Vol. I. 34
 
 398 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 or for nearly twelve years, enjoyed comparative peace and 
 positive prosperity. The wealth and population, as well 
 as the extent of the country, had been enlarged, and the 
 friendship of King Antiochus had held out the assurance 
 of further and continued advantages. 
 
 But all these fair hopes were at once destroyed, since it 
 was the representative of their friend Antiochus who had 
 been guilty of so foul an action against his own ally and 
 supporter ; so that the Jews were threatened at once with 
 the hostility of both the claimants to the crown of Syria, 
 and had every reason to dread that the perfidious Tryphon 
 would soon appear before the gates of Jerusalem, backed 
 by all the apostates and heathen enemies whom Jonathan 
 had so long kept at bay. Nor were their fears unfounded ; 
 for Tryphon was making great preparations to march into 
 Judea, and declared his determination to avenge the slaugh- 
 ters at Antioch by extirpating, if possible, the whole Jew- 
 ish nation ; and all the enemies of Judea, who seemed to 
 receive a kind of new life at the news of Jonathan being a 
 prisoner, had began to express an impatient desire to see 
 theland at once invaded, and to threaten the Jews with se- 
 vere retaliation. 
 
 In this extremity all men turned their eyes to Simon, 
 the elder and only surviving brother of Jonathan, as a 
 man not less valiant than the great Maccabee, and at 
 the same time so wise and prudent that his father Mat- 
 tathias, on his death-bed, and while appointing Judah to be 
 the military leader, had named Simon as his principal 
 adviser. In this capacity he had rendered important 
 services to Judah, while he had likewise, and on many oc- 
 ccasions, proved himself a brave and skilful leader in the 
 field. 
 
 After the death of Judah, when the public voice called 
 Jonathan to the command, Simon, though the elder bro- 
 ther, advanced no pretensions ; and when, subsequently,
 
 THE MACCABEES. 399 
 
 Jonathan was elected high-priest, Simon again renounced 
 the right which his elder birth might have conferred on 
 him ; and during the whole seventeen years of Jonathan's 
 administration, the elder brother had proved the most 
 faithful adherent and the most competent lieutenant of 
 the younger. 
 
 At the crisis of their affairs, when Bacchides for the 
 last time invaded Judea, the services rendered by Simon 
 had been most important. His obstinate and skilful de- 
 fence of Bethbasi (or, as Josephus calls it, Bethlagari) 
 had kept the entire force of Bacchides engaged before 
 that fortress, and given time to Jonathan to raise an army 
 for its relief; and at the decisive moment, Simon's well- 
 planned and vigorous sally, which destroyed Bacchides's 
 engines of siege and routed a portion of his army, 
 mainly contributed to the success of the day and of the 
 whole campaign. 
 
 Since then, the two brothers had continued to act to- 
 gether in perfect harmony. Whenever Jonathan had oc- 
 casion to be absent from Judea, Simon took his place at 
 the head of affairs, which he conducted with equal vigour 
 and prudence ; and there can be no doubt that had Simon 
 been with Jonathan at the time of his meeting with Try- 
 phon, that traitor would not have succeeded in his vile 
 scheme. To Simon, therefore, the people now appealed ; 
 an assembly was convened in the outer court of the temple, 
 and by a unanimous vote he was requested to take upon 
 himself the chief command. This he readily consented to 
 do, not only as the next in succession, but chiefly that 
 he might find the means to release, or at worst to revenge, 
 his unhappy brother. 
 
 The speech which Simon addressed to the people on this 
 occasion has been preserved, (1 Mace. xii. 39, ct scq. ; Jos. 
 Antiq. xiii. 10,) and deserves to be recorded; "You are 
 not ignorant," said he, "how bravely my father, my bro-
 
 400 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 thers, and I, have fought in defence of our law and our faith, 
 our temple and our people. They have already sacrificed 
 their lives for that most holy and glorious cause; and of 
 them all, I alone survive to maintain it. God forbid that I 
 should value my life more than they did theirs, as long as 
 I see you groaning under any oppression ! Behold me, 
 then, as ready and willing as they have been to stand up 
 in defence of our nation and temple, of our wives and our 
 children." This speech was received with universal ap- 
 plause ; and the pious and patriotic sentiments of Simon 
 acting on the minds of the people, they recovered their 
 spirits, and proclaimed him their commander and high- 
 priest, and pledged themselves faithfully to follow him 
 through every danger and difficulty in defence of their 
 religion and country. 
 
 The first book of Maccabees, which records this elec- 
 tion, seems to hint that some scruple remained in the minds 
 of the people respecting the legality of the whole pro- 
 ceeding. For in the very next chapter, (xiv. 26. et seq.,) 
 which relates how Judea became independent, and Simon 
 its first prince, we find after a recapitulation of Simon's 
 great deeds, and his descent from the priestly family 
 of Joarib the following expression : " The priests and the 
 people were well pleased that Simon should be their gover- 
 nor and priest, he and his sons forever, until there should 
 arise a faithful prophet to show them what they should 
 do;" an expression which indicates that they look upon 
 the whole arrangement as only temporary. We shall 
 subsequently see what trouble this accumulation of all 
 spiritual and temporal power in one hand caused, when 
 the Jews recovered and enjoyed their national independence. 
 
 As soon as Simon was installed in his new dignity, his 
 first care was to finish the fortifications of Jerusalem with 
 all speed, and to get together a force sufficient to make 
 head against Tryphon, who was in full march against Ju-
 
 THE MACCABEES. 401 
 
 dea. But when this traitor found a Jewish army in the 
 field, and ready to confront him, he once more had 
 recourse to dissimulation. He sent emissaries to Simon 
 and the Jews to inform them " that he had no hostile de- 
 signs against them ; that his quarrel was with Jonathan 
 alone, who was his debtor for the sum of one hundred 
 talents, (about one hundred thousand dollars ;) that he 
 would keep Jonathan in prison until the debt was paid, 
 but that his person was perfectly safe ; and that if Simon 
 would send him the sum due to him, and also Jonathan's 
 two sons as hostages for their father's keeping the peace, 
 the prisoner should at once be sent back, and Tryphon and 
 his army would withdraw in peace." 
 
 This message placed Simon in a very painful position. 
 For, on the one hand, he knew that Tryphon would never 
 set at liberty the man he had so treacherously injured, 
 and whose valour and eminent abilities would be sure, 
 some time or other, to inflict fearful retribution. But, on 
 the other hand, he also knew that if he refused to comply 
 with Tryphon's demands, he would expose himself to the 
 reproach of having sacrificed his brother to his own ag- 
 grandizement, or, at least, to the imputation of indifference 
 to his brother's fate. He therefore, with an aching heart, 
 sent the money and the hostages, but no Jonathan came 
 back in return. Tryphon, on the contrary, while he kept 
 the Jewish hero in chains, advanced with his army against 
 Jerusalem ; for the heathen fortress Acra, which was 
 closely invested and vigorously pressed by Simon, had in 
 vain applied for assistance to King Demetrius, who had 
 quitted the stronghold of Seleucia for the more voluptuous 
 city of Laodicca, and was there consoling himself, amid 
 feasting and revelry, for the loss of half his kingdom. 
 When, therefore, the Syrians and apostate Jews who 
 formed the garrison of Acra heard of the breach between 
 Tryphon and the Maccabeans, they contrived to apply to 
 
 84'
 
 402 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 him ; and, transferring their allegiance from Demetrius to 
 Antiochus, called for immediate aid. 
 
 Tryphon, eager to secure so strong a fortress in the 
 very heart of Jerusalem and Judea, hastened to its relief 
 at the head of his cavalry. But his progress was inter- 
 rupted by a heavy fall of snow among the mountains north 
 of Jerusalem, which compelled him to retreat toward his 
 winter quarters through the land of Gilead. At Bascama, 
 in that district, his angry disappointment vented itself in 
 the murder of Jonathan and of his two sons, and shortly 
 afterward in that of King Antiochus VI. To save ap- 
 pearances, the unhappy youth was subjected, unnecessa- 
 rily, to the operation of cutting for the stone. He died 
 under the hands of a suborned surgeon ; and Diodotus, 
 with the surname of " Tryphon," assumed the diadem, 
 joining to the title of Basileus, "king," that of Auto- 
 crator, " emperor." 11 
 
 As soon as the season permitted, Simon marched into 
 Gilead, and having disinterred the remains of the ill-fated 
 Jonathan and his sons, he caused them to be deposited, 
 with due solemnity, in the sepulchre of his fathers at Mo- 
 din, where he raised a monument to their memory, which 
 he prized so highly that he had it represented on his 
 coins. 
 
 This noble piece of architecture stood on an eminence 
 which commanded the whole surrounding country ; and 
 being itself raised to a vast height, was seen at a great 
 distance at sea, and served for a landmark. It was con- 
 structed of white marble, curiously carved and polished ; 
 
 Autocrator, "habens per se imperium," peculiar to the coins of Try- 
 phon, and the more necessary to him as sovereign, because the initials 
 of his name, as guardian to Antiochus VI., had already appeared on the 
 coins of that unfortunate youth. Among modern rulers, the emperor of 
 Russia is the only one who assumes that title, and ostentatiously pro- 
 claims his unlimited and irresponsible power.
 
 THE MACCABEES. 403 
 
 , and around it seven pyramids were erected, in memory of 
 Mattathias, of his wife, and of his five sons. The whole 
 was surrounded with a stately portico, the arches of which 
 were supported by pillars, each cut from a single block of 
 marble, polished and adorned with beautiful sculpture. 
 This splendid specimen of Jewish art survived by some 
 centuries the final fate of Jerusalem and the dispersion of 
 the Jews, and was seen, described, and admired both by 
 Eusebius and Jerome, as well as by Josephus. 
 
 But while Simon was thus careful of the dead and of the 
 respect due to their memory, he was not less mindful of 
 his duties to the living and of the safety of the nation that 
 had placed him at its head. 
 
 As the Romans at that time were all-powerful, he sent 
 an embassy to Home to notify to the senate the treache- 
 rous murder of his brother, with his own succession to 
 office, and to renew the alliance with them. The samo 
 ambassadors were also to visit the Lacedemonians, which 
 they did ; and everywhere met with the most honourable 
 and friendly reception. The Romans, and also the Spar- 
 tans, expressed the utmost resentment at Tryphon's 
 treachery, and readily renewed their alliance with Simon, 
 to whom they sent back letters of congratulation on his 
 accession to the high-priesthood, together Avith the treaty 
 of alliance and of its ratification by the senate, engraved 
 on a tablet of copper. These important records Simon 
 caused to be read before the great assembly of the people, 
 and then occupied himself with completing the fortifica- 
 tions of Jerusalem, pressing the siege of Acra, and raising 
 new forces against the invasion with which Tryphon still 
 threatened Judca, but which, owing to a singular pheno- 
 menon, he was soon after disabled from undertaking. 
 (143 B.C.B.) 
 
 The usurper found little difficulty in maintaining him- 
 self against Demetrius, as that young and thoughtless
 
 404 POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 prince remained in Laodicea in the delirium of wine and 
 pleasure, while his adherents could only make sudden 
 and occasional inroads into the territories of his rival, in 
 which, however, they could not maintain themselves. But 
 on one occasion, when the Demetrians, commanded by 
 Sarpedon, had made an inroad into the country between 
 Tyre and Ptolemais, they were attacked and put to flight 
 by Tryphon in person, at the head of the numerous garri- 
 son of the latter city. 
 
 As the victors were urging the pursuit, they were over- 
 whelmed on the coast of Ptolemais by a sudden inunda- 
 tion, caused, probably, by the explosion of a submarine 
 volcano. 12 On the retreat of the flood, Sarpedon, who had 
 taken advantage of Tryphon's remarkable disaster to rally 
 his own men and again to advance, found that though 
 Tryphon himself had escaped, the greater number of his 
 men had perished, drowned in the hollows of the shore, 
 and mingled with vast quantities of fish which the sea had 
 thrown up. The Demetrian general received these fishes 
 as a present from Neptune, to whom he gratefully offered 
 sacrifices for having seasonably intercepted the enemy, 
 and thereby averted the total destruction with which his 
 army was threatened. (Athenaeus, lib. viii. p. 333.) 
 
 While this was passing between the rivals for the throne 
 of Syria, Simon who, though he had strengthened him- 
 self by alliances, fortifications, men, and arms, was exposed 
 to hostilities from both contending parties determined to 
 become reconciled to the one of the two whose wrongs 
 toward the Jews had been the less recent and also the less 
 grievous. Accordingly he sent an embassy to Demetrius, 
 and offered to recognise him as king of Syria, and to 
 assist him in the recovery of his kingdom, upon condition 
 that he would confirm him (Simon) in all his dignities, and 
 
 12 Strabo simply mentions the circumstance among other inexplicable 
 phenomena, (lib. xvi. p. 758.)
 
 THE MACCABEES. 405 
 
 guarantee to the Jews the free enjoyment of all their pri- 
 vileges and immunities. At the same time, and in recog- 
 nition of Demetrius's right, Simon sent him a rich crown 
 of gold and some other valuable presents. 
 
 The king, glad to secure the assistance of so important 
 and useful an auxiliary, readily granted what he had not 
 the power to withhold, and entered into an alliance with 
 Simon on terms of perfect equality. By letters patent 
 under the royal hand and seal, Demetrius agreed to all the 
 demands of Simon, confirmed to the utmost extent all the 
 grants made by his late father, Demetrius Soter, pro- 
 claimed a general amnesty and oblivion for all past hos- 
 tilities, and finally constituted Simon sovereign prince of 
 Judea, with full and entire freedom, and exemption from 
 any foreign yoke or supremacy. (1 Mace, xiv.) 
 
 Thus the independence which the Jews, to a certain 
 extent, had hitherto enjoyed de facto, was now confirmed 
 to them de jure by the only authority that had a right to 
 grant it Demetrius, the lawful king of Syria. Thence- 
 forth the Jews considered themselves free, and independ- 
 ent of any foreign power. Simon assumed the title of 
 prince and high-priest of the Jews, which was bestowed 
 upon and confirmed unto him and his posterity after him, 
 by the priests, elders, and the people of Judea. A tran- 
 script of King Demetrius's letters patent, which were ad- 
 dressed " King Demetrius unto Simon the high-priest and 
 friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews," 
 was ordered to be engraved on tablets of brass, and to bo 
 hung up in the sanctuary, while the original document 
 was deposited in the national archives in the temple. 
 " The first year of Simon, the prince of the Jews," was 
 signalized by making it an epoch by which to compute 
 time. The coins of Simon, and the first book of Macca- 
 bees, as well as Joscphus, make use of this era. 
 
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