most barbarous actions. But in 102 b.c. Cleopatra came to Alexander's assistance with a fleet and army; so that Lathyrus was obliged to evacuate the country. At Scythopolis an alliance was concluded between them. After Cleopatra's departure he besieged and took Gadara; Rapia and Anthedon in the south fell into his power, and ultimately Gaza, which he got by treachery, 96 b.c., and then massacred the inhabitants without distinction. At length the hatred of the Pharisees broke out into open violence against him. While officiating as high priest at the feast of tabernacles he was assailed by the people. The insurrection was quelled only by the slaughter of six thousand of the malcontents, 94 b.c. Next year he undertook a campaign into Arabia; and made the Arabs of Gilead and the Moabites tributary. In 91 b.c. his army fell into an ambush in the mountainous district, and was cut to pieces; but he himself escaped. The Pharisees, after this defeat, again rebelled against him and took up arms. After several disasters the insurgents got Demetrius Euceres for their leader, who came with a large army and overthrew Alexander at Shechem with great slaughter; so that he fled to the mountains with the shattered remnant of his army. After Demetrius returned to Damascus and six thousand rebels went over to the king, Alexander came forth, defeated the insurgents in various battles, and finally in a decisive engagement fought in 86 b.c. Having taken the fortress of Bethone, where the remnant of the rebels had fled for shelter, he conveyed the prisoners to Jerusalem, crucified eight hundred, and massacred their wives and children before their eyes; he himself triumphing the while at a feast he gave his wives in sight of the barbarous spectacle. During the three following years he took various places, and extended his conquests beyond the Jordan. Having returned to Jerusalem, a quartan fever brought on by excessive drinking terminated his existence as he was besieging Ragaba. His reign continued twenty-seven years; and large additions were made by him to the Jewish territory. He was vindictive and blood-thirsty, unfitted for a religious office, a military aggressor, a degenerate member of the Maccabean family.
He was succeeded by his wife Alexandra, who appointed her son Hyrcanus to the high priesthood, and ruled according to the counsels of the Pharisees, which sect became dominant again. Her reign of nine years was a peaceful one. She died 69 b.c., and was succeeded by—
Aristobulus II. Hyrcanus, whom the Pharisees had put on the throne, was overcome in a battle fought between the brothers near Jericho, and engaged to retire from public life. In 65 b.c., Hyrcanus was persuaded by Antipater to enter into a private alliance with Aretas, a king of the Arabs. The latter, with an army of fifty thousand men, defeated Aristobulus, and took Jerusalem. Aristobulus took refuge in the temple, where he was closely besieged. But Aretas was obliged to return, because threatened by the Roman general whom Aristobulus had purchased; and thus the latter became undisputed master of Judea. In 63 b.c. both brothers were heard before Pompey in support of their claims. Aristobulus, despairing of success, retired to prepare for war; but Pompey compelled him to send orders to all the fortified places to surrender to the Romans. The Romans besieged Jerusalem, and carried off Aristobulus and his children as prisoners. In 53 b.c. he escaped from confinement at Rome, and returned to Judea, where he soon got followers; but was besieged in Machærus, retaken, and sent back to Rome. In 46 b.c. Julius Cæsar released him, and sent him into Judea to promote his cause there; but Pompey's adherents poisoned him by the way.
Hyrcanus II. came rightfully, as we have seen, to the supreme power after the death of his mother; and would probably have kept his promise to his brother Aristobulus, had not Antipater succeeded in gaining an influence over him by artifice. After Pompey became master of Jerusalem, he reinstated Hyrcanus in the office of high priest, on condition that he should submit to the Romans and pay tribute; and that he should not assume the crown. But in the year 54 b.c., Alexander son of Aristobulus, having escaped from Pompey, came to Judea, where he collected an army and ravaged the country, taking possession of various places. In these circumstances Hyrcanus applied for aid to Gabinius, who marched with a large army against Alexander, and defeated him. The proconsul of Syria confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood; but changed the form of government to an aristocracy. During Gabinius' campaign against Egypt, Alexander again collected an army and made himself master of Judea. Gabinius again encountered him at Mount Tabor, and routed his forces. Crassus, who succeeded Gabinius, came to Jerusalem, and plundered the temple unopposed by Hyrcanus. On his return from Egypt, Cæsar reinstated Hyrcanus and his family in the government, permitted him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and appointed Antipater procurator of Judea. From this time Antipater became the real ruler, and Hyrcanus ceased to exercise much influence. This is evident from the fact that Herod, second son of Antipater, who had been made governor of Galilee, being summoned before the sanhedrim at Jerusalem to answer for arbitrary acts he had done, set the tribunal at defiance, and even marched towards Jerusalem with an army to punish the sanhedrim and depose Hyrcanus. He was induced, however, by his father to withdraw. Antigonus having received aid from the Parthians, Hyrcanus and Phasael, Antipater's eldest son, took refuge in the fortress of Baris in Jerusalem, whence they were decoyed, made prisoners, and consigned to Antigonus, who cut off Hyrcanus' ears and sent him back mutilated to the Parthians, who carried him to Seleucia. The oriental Jews there treated the Maccabee with great respect. He was afterwards persuaded by Herod, now king of Judea, to go to Jerusalem, 33 b.c. When his daughter Alexandra instigated the old man to make his escape to Arabia, Herod had him put to death, 30 b.c.
Aristobulus, brother of Mariamne, was made high-priest by Herod, though very reluctantly, when he was but a youth of seventeen years. But the suspicious king caused him to be drowned at Jericho, 35 b.c.
Mariamne, wife of Herod, may be called the last of the Maccabean family. She was put to death by her husband. According to Josephus, the Asmonæan dynasty lasted one hundred and twenty-six years; terminating 37 b.c., the year in which Antigonus was put to death by Mark Antony. This Mariamne, daughter of Alexander, son of Aristobulus II. and of Alexandra, daughter of Hyrcanus II., was married to Herod at Samaria, 35 b.c. She was of the Asmonæan family. After the murder of Aristobulus her brother, Herod was called to account by Antony through Cleopatra's representations at Laodicea. Before he set out, however, he gave secret orders to his uncle Joseph to put Mariamne to death, should he not return. The latter told her of his charge respecting her. On his return his sister Salome artfully excited his jealousy by informing him of Joseph's repeated visits to his wife in his absence. As soon as he heard from herself that his secret had been revealed to her, he concluded that the two had been improperly intimate, and in a fit of passion ran upon her with his drawn sword; but love checked his fury. When Herod finally deserted Antony and set out to make peace with Octavianus, he put Mariamne and her mother in the castle of Alexandrium, giving similar orders to the two commandants as Joseph had received, 27 b.c. It was not surprising, that on his return he should find her affections alienated from him; for she had discovered the cruel commission. Again did the tyrant's mother and sister. Cypros and Salome, excite his hatred against her. Yet he wished to be reconciled, and tried in vain to win back her favour. She reproached him with the murder of her relatives; and even upbraided his mother and sister with the meanness of their birth. But the latter soon compassed her death, by persuading Herod's butler to bring a false accusation against her. From some expressions the butler used under torture, Herod inferred that his secret had been again betrayed by one of the commandants who had intercourse with her. She was therefore tried before judges who found her guilty, out of base subservience to their master. The beautiful and high-spirited queen met death with unshaken fortitude, 26 b.c.; and the ferocious tyrant lived to regret her murder bitterly.—S. D.
M'CHEYNE, Robert Murray, a young divine, whose brief but brilliant career was one of eminent usefulness, was born in 1813. He was educated at the high school and university of his native city, Edinburgh, was licensed to preach the gospel by the Established Church presbytery of Annan in 1835, and was elected minister of St. Peter's church, Dundee, in 1836. His incessant labours among the crowded population of that busy town soon impaired a constitution naturally delicate, and in 1838 he was compelled to seek rest and change of scene. Shortly after he became a member of the deputation sent by the Church of Scotland to the East, for the purpose of making inquiry into the state of the Jews, the results of which have been embodied in an interesting narrative. On his return home, in
