Tryphon in possession of a considerable part of Syria, behind him. At first, he defeated the Parthians in many battles; but at length being drawn into a snare, he was taken prisoner by Mithridates, king of Parthia, and his whole army cut to pieces. By this event, the Parthian power was established in the east, and became a formidable enemy to all, even to the Romans. Mithridates was the fourth in descent form Arsaces, who, by his revolt, laid the foundation of this empire. He extended his conquests far into India, and to the west as far as the Euphrates. Having got Demetrius into his power, he carried him about, through all the provinces which formerly belonged to him, to let the people see the man in whom they had confided for deliverance from his power. But he treated him in a manner suitable to his dignity; and after a while, gave him his own daughter in marriage, though he still retained him as a captive.

Simon having received from the king of Syria the sovereignty of the nation, all that was necessary to make him a lawful king was the free and explicit consent of the people; and this was given in a general congregation of the priests, elders, and people. Here it was agreed that the office of high-priest, and the supreme power of the nation, should be settled on Simon, and his family, for ever. A copy of this act they caused to be engraved on tablets of brass, and hung up in the sanctuary; and the original writing was laid up among the archives belonging to the treasury of the temple. From this time Simon assumed the state, style, and authority of a royal prince; and all public acts were in his name.

Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, when she heard of his captivity, and of his marriage to the daughter of Mithridates, sent to his brother Antiochus Sidetes, and offered him her hand and the crown of Syria, if he would come and assist her against Tryphon: which offer he gladly accepted.

In the year 139 B. C., Antiochus Sidetes wrote a letter to Simon, king of Judea, complaining of the usurpation of Tryphon; and to gain him over to his interests, made him many promises. (Mac. xv. 2-9.) Having landed in Syria with a large body of mercenaries, he marched against Tryphon, whose soldiers having become much disaffected towards him, deserted in great numbers, and joined the standard of Antiochus. The forces of the latter, by the accessions which he received in Syria, soon amounted to more than a hundred thousand men. Tryphon, not being able to withstand such a force, fled from place to place, until he came to Apamia, where he was taken and put to death.

Simon thought it would add much to the stability of his government if he could get the Romans to confirm him in his

authority. He therefore sent an embassy to Rome, which was received very favourably, as all former embassies from the Jews had been. In compliance with their request, letters were written to all the kings whose territories lay near Judea, informing them that the Jews were the allies and friends of the Romans, and forbidding all persons to molest or injure them. But the letters to the king of Syria, being addressed to Demetrius, who was then in captivity, they were of no service to the Jews, for as soon as Antiochus was settled on the throne, he sought an opportunity to quarrel with Simon. In pursuance of this design, he sent an ambassador to Simon, to demand the restoration of Gazara, Joppa, and the fortress of Jerusalem-or five hundred talents in lieu of them-and five hundred more for injuries done in other parts of his dominions. Simon answered that he was willing to pay one hundred talents for Joppa and Gazara, but as for his other demands, the places belonged to the inheritance of his forefathers, which had for a while been unjustly taken from them, but which he was now resolved to keep.

Antiochus, on hearing this answer, immediately sent Condebeus into Judea with an army to enforce his demands. Simon, now too old to take the field himself, sent his two sons, John and Judas, with twenty thousand men, to meet the Syrian army. A battle was fought not far from Modin, in which the Syrians were defeated, and two thousand of them slain. They were pursued as far as Azotus, where John took their towers of defence and burned them, and then returned to Jerusalem in triumph with his brother.

Two greater brutes in human shape, perhaps, never appeared in the world at one time, than Ptolemy Physcon, king of Egypt, and Attalus Philometor, king of Pergamus. Folly and madness were never more completely exemplified, than in the conduct of them both. The former either killed or banished all the friends of his late brother, and so oppressed and terrified the inhabitants of Alexandria, that most of them fled to other countries, leaving the city almost destitute. To supply their places, he invited strangers of all sorts to come and occupy the vacant habitations. By the dispersion of men of letters, and of artizans, the countries of Greece and Asia Minor were filled with learning of various kinds; for after the conquests of Alexander, literature flourished nowhere so much as in Egypt, under the fostering patronage of the Ptolemies.

About this time, the Romans sent ambassadors to visit all the countries in alliance with them; a prudent measure, frequently adopted. Of this embassy was Publius Scipio Africanus, Sp. Mummius, and L. Metellus, who made Egypt the first object of their attention. At Alexandria they were received with great honour, and every luxury was provided for

them; but their simple republican manners formed a complete contrast with the luxurious effeminacy of the Egyptians. Scipio, then the greatest man at Rome, had in his train only one friend and five servants. In the midst of the most sumptuous entertainments provided expressly for them, they refused to take more than what was necessary for sustenance and refreshment. Physcon the king was at this time one of the most disgusting sights that could be seen. He was naturally deformed, very short of stature, and very thick, with a belly so prominent, that from this circumstance his name was derived. But to render himself still more odious, he wore a dress entirely transparent, by which means the turpitude of his deformed body was rendered altogether visible.

In the year 135 B. C., Simon, making a progress through Judea, to settle every thing on a proper footing, came to Jericho with his two sons, Mattathias and Judas, where he was invited to an entertainment by Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who had married one of his daughters. But this perfidious wretch, aiming to make himself master of all Judea, and having, it is supposed, concerted the plan with Antiochus Sidetes, had concealed assassins in his house, who at a concerted signal rushed into the room, and slew the venerable old man and his two sons. It was also a part of the design to murder John, who was governor of Gazara; but he had received early intelligence of what was done at Jericho, so that when the persons commissioned to murder him arrived, he fell on them and cut them off. Then, hastening to Jerusalem, he secured the city and the mountain of the temple against those sent by Ptolemy to take possession of them. John was now declared high-priest and prince of the Jews, who took measures immediately to provide for the security of the country. Ptolemy, the traitor, fled, but what became of him afterwards, is not recorded in history.

SECTION XX.

ANTIOCHUS INVADES JUDEA-BESIEGES HYRCANUS IN JERUSALEM-TERMS OF PEACEFAMILY OF JOSEPHUS-BOOK OF ECCLESIASTICUS-ANTIOCHUS SIDETES MARCHES AN ARMY INTO THE EAST, WHERE HE IS ATTACKED AND SLAIN BY PHRAATES-HYRCANUS SEIZES THE OPPORTUNITY OF DELIVERING HIS COUNTRY FROM SUBJECTION TO THE SYRIAN YOKE-DEMETRIUS RESTORED TO HIS THRONE-INVADES EGYPT-18 CALLED BACK BY A REVOLT AT ANTIOCH-PTOLEMY RAISES UP A YOUTHI WHO PRETENDS TO BE THE SON OF ALEXANDER BALAS-HE RAISES AN ARMY AND DEFEATS DEMETRIUS, WHO IS SLAIN AT TYRE-ALEXANDER ZEBINA REIGNS OVER SYRIA-VAST SWARM OF LOCUSTS-ZEBINA DEFEATED AND PUT TO DEATH.

ANTIOCHUS, the king, on hearing of the death of Simon and his sons, immediately marched with a powerful army into Judea, and overran the country. Hyrcanus being driven from the field by a superior force, shut himself up in Jerusalem, where

he was besieged by the whole Syrian army, which Antiochus divided into seven camps, that the city might be entirely surrounded. But the besieged defended themselves valiantly, and often sallied out to burn the engines and works of the assailants. To render it more difficult for those within the walls to hold communication with the country, Antiochus caused two large and deep ditches to be drawn round the city. Hyrcanus, to lesson the pressure of famine, put without the gates, all such persons as were unable to be of any service within the walls; but by means of the ditches they could not make their escape, and he was obliged to take them in again.

When the time for celebrating the feast of tabernacles approached, Hyrcanus sent to Antiochus requesting that there might be a truce, during the festival; which he not only granted, but himself sent into the city beasts for sacrifice; which act of generosity gave Hyrcanus such an opinion of the character of the king, that he sent again to sue for terms of peace. A treaty was accordingly concluded. The conditions were, that Jerusalem should be dismantled; and that for Joppa and other towns held out of Judea, five hundred talents should be paid. Antiochus wished to have the fortress in Jerusalem rebuilt and garrisoned again; but with this Hyrcanus would not comply.

When this treaty was made, the Jews were reduced to the last extremity, and could not have held out much longer. Their enemies were urgent with Antiochus, not to make peace with them; but utterly to destroy the hated nation. And it is admitted, not only by Josephus, but Diodorus Siculus, that it was entirely owing to the generosity and clemency of this prince that the whole nation of the Jews was not extirpated.

Three hundred talents of the sum laid upon Hyrcanus was paid upon the spot; for the remainder time was given. Josephus tells a very improbable story, respecting the manner in which the money was obtained by Hyrcanus. He says he robbed the sepulchre of David, and took from thence three thousand talents. If there is any truth in this account, it must have been, that many rich men, in the times of trouble which the nation had experienced, hid their treasures in this sepulchre, to preserve them from the rapacity of their enemies; for certainly these treasures could not have remained there untouched, from the time of David, and especially during the captivity. About this time, Mattathias, a priest of the course of Joarib, married a daughter of Jonathan, the late high-priest and prince of the Jews; of whom was born Mattathias Curtis; and from him another Mattathias, whose son, Josephus, was the father of a third Mattathias; of whom was born Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, in the first year of the emperor

Caligula, which answers to the thirty-seventh of the Christian

era.

In the year 133 B. C. died Attalos Philometor, the mad king of Pergamus, who left all his dominions, by his will, to the Romans, which they did not hesitate to take possession of without delay.

In the year 132 B. C., Jesus the son of Sirach, a Jew of Jerusalem, came into Egypt, and translated out of Hebrew into Greek, for the use of the Jews, who spoke that language, the book of Jesus his grandfather; the same which we now have in the Apocrypha, by the name of Ecclesiasticus.

In the year 131 B. C., Antiochus Sidetes marched a vast army over the Euphrates, under pretence of delivering his brother from captivity, but in reality to recover the eastern provinces of the Syrian empire, which had been wrested from its princes. The Parthian king, Phraates, was overthrown by him in many battles. On this expedition he was accompanied by John Hyrcanus, prince of the Jews, who returned home at the end of the year with much glory.

In the year 130 B. C., Antiochus having remained in the east with his army, was obliged to disperse them in places remote from each other, for the sake of subsistence. Phraates, having ascertained how the Syrians were scattered, formed a plan of a simultaneous attack upon their several encampments. Antiochus hastened to the help of those who lay nearest to him, but was overpowered and slain; and of that vast multitude, said to have been three hundred thousand, who crossed the Euphrates with him, not one returned to Syria to tell the doleful tidings. Of this army, however, more than one-half were butlers, bakers, cooks, confectioners, and others who only ministered to the luxury of the soldiers. As soon as Antiochus had crossed the Euphrates, the king of Parthia released Demetrius, his brother, and sent him back to claim the kingdom in Syria, hoping thus to withdraw him from the east: but upon obtaining this complete victory over the Syrian army, he sent messengers after him, to arrest him and bring him back. Demetrius, however, had made so much haste, that he had passed the Euphrates before they arrived. Phraates took up the body of Antiochus from among the slain, and enclosing it in a silver coffin, sent it into Syria, to be honourably buried among his friends: and finding among the captives a daughter of the king, he was so smitten with her beauty, that he took her for his wife.

After the death of Antiochus, Hyrcanus seized the favourable opportunity of rendering his country entirely independent of Syria. He also took possession of several strong places