Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/573

when the Parthians had joined Antigonus the younger son of the last king, who had also assumed that title, Herod went to Rome with his family, intending to ask the sovereign authority for his wife's brother, who was of the royal blood; but, through the friendship of Antony, it was bestowed upon himself, who was descended from the Idumean proselytes, and not from the original stock of the Jews. As soon as he was settled in his kingdom, he married Mariamne, yet very young and of great beauty. The Parthians had taken Hyrcanus prisoner, and to disqualify him from officiating again as high-priest, cut off his ears; and, though he afterwards returned from captivity, it was needful another should be elected; but Herod, jealous of the claims of the family, appointed an absent person to this high dignity. Alexandra, seeing her son again disappointed of the honours his birth seemed to promise him, laid it much to heart, and wrote a letter to Cleopatra, desiring her intercession with Antony, that this new appointment might be set aside. Cleopatra seemed warmly to espouse her interest; Antony, who had been won by Herod's gifts, was slow in granting her requests; but the fear of what it might lead to, and the entreaties of Mariamne, at length persuaded Herod to a seeming compliance. He knew, if once made high-priest, this young man, whose beauty and dignified appearance won much upon the people, could not leave the country. He therefore displaced the one he had appointed, to invest Aristobulus with that office; and Alexandra made the best excuse she could for the steps she had taken, though she was not without her suspicions that all was not right. Jealous of her attempting new innova-

tions,