son, Aristobulus, a bold and spirited man, also murmured loudly against her authority, wishing rather to be called to the throne himself. Alexandra appears to have managed these untoward circumstances in the most prudent and conciliatory manner: and to have used every wise precaution to preserve the nation in safety against foreign enemies.
Being a very old woman, she fell into a fit of sickness; during which, Aristobulus, resolving to secure the government, stole away secretly by night, and possessed himself, one by one, of the strongest fortresses, which were held by the enemies of the Pharisees, and former friends of his father. Alexandra, at first missing him, did not suspect his intentions; but they soon became too evident to be mistaken; and, after securing his wife and children in a fortress in the city, Hyrcanus, and the elders of the Jews, waited upon Alexandra, desiring she would give them her opinion on the present posture of affairs, stating that Aristobulus was, in effect, lord of the kingdom, by possessing so many strong holds; and, that it was absurd in them to take counsel among themselves, on the impending danger, however ill she was, while she remained alive. The poor old queen desired them to do what they thought best. They had yet an army, and money in their several treasuries. For her part, she had little concern about public affairs now, when her strength was nearly exhausted. She died soon after she said this, aged seventy-three. She reigned nine years—and had preserved the nation in peace, though Josephus, who allows her great wisdom and sagacity in governing, thinks her management conduced to occasion the troubles which followed her death; but, to this period of the Jewish history, tranquillity appears to have been almost a stranger; and the address of softening
