son, then reigning with her,' being much terrified with the unnatural and cruel usage with which she persecuted her other son, especially in thus taking from him his wife, and giving her to his enemy, and observing also that she stuck at nothing that stood in the way of her ambition, and the vehement desire which she had of still reigning, thought himself not safe any longer with her, and therefore withdrew, and left the kingdom, choosing rather to live in banishment with safety, than to reign with so wicked and cruel a mother in the continual danger of his life. And it was not without great solicitation, that he was persuaded to return to her again; and she was forced thus to persuade him, because the people would not permit her to reign at all without one of her sons with the name of king reigning with her, and this name was all she allowed to either of them as long as she lived; for, after the death of Physcon, she usurped the whole regal power to herself, and that Lathyrus presumed to make use of some part of it without her, was the only cause that she drove him from her, took away his wife, and expelled him the kingdom. This year Marius,' in the fifth consulship, finished the Cimbrian war, with the total destruction of that people, who threatened Rome and all Italy with no less than utter ruin. Marius commanded the Roman army through the last three years of this war, and having finished it with success, and thereby delivered Rome from that terrible invasion, and the great danger which it lay under from it, he was reckoned as the third founder of that city, Romulus and Camillus being the two former. Marius, while he carried on this war,3 first consecrated the eagle to be the sole Roman standard at the head of every legion; and hence it became the ensign of the Roman empire ever after. The country from whence these Cimbrians came, was the Cimbrica Chersonesus, the same which now contains Jutland, Sleswick, and Holstein. On their deserting this country, the Asæ, coming from between the Euxine and the Caspian Seas, took possession of it; and from them came those Angli, who with the Saxons, after having expelled the Britons, possessed themselves of that part of Great Britain, which is now called England. Alexander Jannæus, having, after a siege of ten months, taken Gadara, marched from thence to Amathus, another fortress beyond Jordan; and it being the strongest in all those parts, Theodorus, the son of Zeno Cotylas, prince of Philadelphia, there laid up his treasure. Alexander took this place in a much less time than he had Gadara, and with it made himself master of all that treasure. But Theodorus, having by that time gotten together a powerful army, fell suddenly upon him as he was returning from this conquest, and having on this surprise overthrown him, with the slaughter of ten thousand of his men, he not only recovered all his treasure again, but also took all Alexander's baggage with it. This sent Alexander back to Jerusalem with loss and disgrace, which was pleasing enough to many there. For the Pharisees, ever since Hyrcanus's quarrel with them, became enemies to all of his family, and to none more than to this Alexander; and these drawing the greatest part of the people after them, they infected the generality of them with disaffection and hatred to him, which was the cause of all those intestine troubles and difficulties which he fell into during his reign. 6 An. 100. Alexander Jannæus 6.]—However this loss and disgrace did not hinder him, but that understanding, that, on Lathyrus's departure from Gaza, all that coast was left naked of defence, he marched thither with his army, and made himself master of Raphia and Anthedon, which being both within the distance of a few miles from Gaza, he in a manner blocked up that city hereby; and to do this was the main end of his seizing these two places. For the 1 Justin. lib. 39. c. 4. 2 Plutarchus in Mario. L. Florus, lib. 3. c. 3. 3 Formerly there were four other ensigns used by the Romans with the eagle, i. e. the minotaur, the horse, the wolf, and the boar. Marius abolished these four, and retained the eagle only to be the standard of every legion. Plinius lib. 10. c. 4. 4 Videns Hickesii Linguarum Septentrionalium Thesaurum in Epistola Dedicatoria, &c. 5 Joseph. lib. 13. c. 21. 6 Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 21. Gazans having called in Lathyrus to their assistance against him, and helped him with auxiliaries in that fatal battle near Jordan, where he received so great an overthrow, he bore in his mind ever since a bitter grudge against them, and resolved, when opportunity should serve, to have his revenge on them for it. And therefore, An. 98. Alexander Jannæus 8.]-As soon as his other affairs allowed him this opportunity,' he marched with a great army against them for this purpose, and laid close siege to their city. They having for their chief commander a very valiant man named Apollodotus, he defended the place against him a whole year; and in one sally which he had made upon him in the night, with twelve thousand of his men, he had like to have ruined him and all his army. For the assault then made upon his camp being pushed on with great briskness and resolution, a bruit ran through the Jewish army, that Ptolemy Lathyrus and all his forces were come to the assistance of the enemy, which damped their courage, and created a panic fear among them. But when the daylight appeared, and made them see the contrary, they again rallied, and beat the Gazæans into their city with the slaughter of one thousand of their men. An. 97. Alexander Jannæus 9.]—But, notwithstanding this loss, they still held out, and Apollodotus was in great credit and reputation among them for his wise and steady conduct in the defence of the place; which being envied by Lyrimachus his own brother, the wretch treacherously slew him, and then, getting a company together, delivered up the city to Alexander, who, on his first entering into it, behaved himself as if he intended to have used his victory with moderation and clemency. But, when he was gotten into full possession of the place, he let loose his soldiers upon it, with a thorough license to kill, plunder, and destroy, which produced a scene of horrid barbarity. This Alexander did to have his revenge of these people for the reason mentioned: and he suffered not a little himself in the executing of it. For the Gazæans hereon standing to their defence, he lost almost as many of his own men in this carnage and sackage of the place as he slew of the enemy. However, he had his mind so far, as to leave this ancient and famous city in utter ruin and desolation, and then returned again to Jerusalem, after having spent a full year in this war. In this same year happened the death of Antiochus Grypus,3 being slain by the treachery of Heracleon, one of his own dependants, in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, and the forty-fifth of his life. He left behind him five sons: 1. Seleucus, who was the eldest, succeeded him: the others were, 2. Antiochus, and 3. Philip, two twins; 4. Demetrius Eucarus; and, 5. Antiochus Dionysius. All these reigned, or attempted to reign, in their turns. An. 96. Alexander Jannæus 10.]-Ptolemy Apion, the son of Physcon king of Egypt, to whom his father left the kingdom of Cyrene, dying without issue," gave that kingdom, by his last will and testament, to the Romans, who, instead of accepting it to themselves, gave all the cities their liberties, which immediately filled the countries with tyrants; those who were the potentest in every district endeavouring hereon to make themselves sovereigns of it, which brought upon that country great troubles and confusions. These were in some measure composed by Lucullus, on his coming thither in the first Mithridatic war, but could not finally be removed till that country was at length reduced into the form of a Roman province. Antiochus Cyzicenus, on the death of Grypus, seized Antioch, and endeavoured to make himself master of the whole kingdom, to the exclusion of the sons of Grypus; but Seleucus, having gotten possession of many other cities, drew great forces after him, to make good his right to his father's dominions. An. 95. Alexander Jannæus 11.]-Anna, the prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, of whom mention is made in the Gospel of St. Luke 1 Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 21. 3 Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 21. Porphyrius in Græcis Euseb. Scaligeri. 6 Porphyrius in Græcis Eusebianis Scaligeri. 2 Ibid. 5 Plutarch. in Lucullo. (ch. ii. ver. 36,) was married to her husband, and from this time lived with him seven years, till on his death she became a widow. 1 Tigranes, the son of Tigranes king of Armenia, being a hostage with the Parthians at the time of his father's death, was by them restored to his liberty, and settled in the succession of that kingdom, on his resigning to them some of the territories of it. This was done twenty-five years before his making war with the Romans in the cause of Mithridates; for so long, Plutarch tells us,' he had reigned in Armenia when that war begun. King Alexander, entering into the temple at Jerusalem, there to officiate as high-priest in the feast of tabernacles, had a great affront and indignity there offered him by the people. For they, joining in a sort of mutiny against him, pelted him with citrons while he was offering the festival sacrifices on the great altar, calling him slave, and adding other opprobious language, which implied him unworthy of being either high-priest or king; which enraged him to that degree, that he fell upon them with his soldiers, and slew of them six thousand men. And, to secure him from suffering any more from them the like affront, he surrounded the court of the priests, within which were the altar and the temple, with a wooden partition, thereby to hinder the people from doing this any more to him. In calling him slave, they harped upon the old story of Eleazar, as if Hyrcanus's mother had been a slave taken in war. The truth of the matter was, Hyrcanus having quarrelled with the Pharisees on that occasion, and abolished all their traditional constitutions, this whole sect hated him and all his family a long while after, and none of them more than Alexander. For he followed his father's steps in this matter, and would never re-admit those constitutions, or give that party any favour as long as he reigned; but, on the contrary, sat hard upon them on all occasions: which embittered them so much against him, that, having a great influence over the people, they made use of it to set them against him, and render them disaffected to him to the utmost they were able; which created great troubles to Alexander during all his reign, and much greater mischief to the whole nation of the Jews, as will be seen in the future series of this history. The first instance hereof was, that Alexander, seeing the Jews in this temper, durst no more trust them with the safety of his person, but, instead of them, called in foreign mercenaries to be of his guard, choosing them. out of the Pisidians and Cilicians, and not of the Syrians, whom he did not like; and of these he had six thousand always about him. This instance shows how dangerous a thing it is for any prince to have a powerful faction either in church or state disgusted against him; and the ill success which Alexander had in his endeavours to quiet this faction, shows the mistake which he made in his means of effecting it: for he made use only of rigour and severity, which operate in the body politic no otherwise than as opiates do in the body natural, which put a short stop to the disease, but never remove the cause; the truest method of cure in this case is, so to join severity and clemency together, that both may have their effect. 5 An. 94. Alexander Jannæus 12.]-When Alexander had, by the terror of his executions, in some measure laid the storm which was raised against him at home, he marched out against his enemies abroad; and, having passed over Jordan, made war upon the Arabians, and having gotten the better of them in several conflicts, made the inhabitants of the land of Moab and of the land of Gilead to become tributaries to him. 7 Seleucus, growing powerful in Syria, Cyzicenus marched out of Antioch against him, but, being vanquished in battle, he was taken prisoner and put to death; whereon Seleucus made himself master of Antioch, and of the whole Syrian empire, but could not keep it long: for Antiochus Eusebes, the son of 1 Justin. lib. 38. c. 3. Appian. in Syriacis. Strabo, lib. 11. p. 532. 5 Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 22. et de Bello Judaico, lib. 1. c. 3. 2 In Lucullo. 4 Joseph, ibid. 6 Joseph. ibid. Euseb. Scaligeri. Cyzicenus, having, on Seleucus's taking Antioch, made his escape out of that place by the assistance of a courtesan that was in love with him, came to Aradus, and was there crowned king. 2 An. 93. Alexander Jannæus 13.]—And, having there gotten his father's soldiers about him, and joined others to them that were attached to his interest, he made up a considerable army, and marched forth with it against Seleucus; and, having gotten a great victory over him, forced him to flee to Mopsuestia, a city in Cilicia, there to take refuge; where, having oppressed the inhabitants with great exactions, he provoked them so far hereby, that they rose in a general mutiny against him, and, besetting the house where he was, put fire to it, and there burnt to death him and all there with him. Antiochus and Philip, the two twin sons of Grypus, for the revenging of this, forthwith marched with all the forces they could get together toward Mopsuestia; and, having taken the place, razed it to the ground, and sacrificed all that they found in it to the ghost of their slain brother. But, in their return from this exploit, being fallen upon by Eusebes near the Orontes, they were put to the route; whereon Antiochus,3 endeavouring to swim the river with his horse, for the making of his escape, was drowned in it. But Philip, making a safe retreat, kept many of his forces together, and soon recruited them again with others; so that, being enabled thereby still to keep the field, the whole contest was now between him and Eusebes for the whole Syrian empire; and each of them, having great armies on foot, miserably harassed and wasted that country in their wars about it. In the interim, Alexander, pursuing the good success which he had in the last year's expedition beyond Jordan, carried on the war farther on that side, and invaded the territories of Theodorus, the son of Zeno Cotylas, prince of Philadelphia. His chief design in this war was to take from him the strong fortress of Amathus, and his treasure there deposited; both which Alexander had taken eight years before, and Theodorus recovered again, as hath been above related. But at this time Alexander's name was grown so terrible, by reason of many late successes in those parts, that Theodorus durst not stand his coming, but, carrying off his treasure, withdrew his garrison, and deserted the place; whereon Alexander took it without opposition, and razed it to the ground. his An. 92. Alexander Janneus 14.]–Èusebes, the more to strengthen himself in the kingdom, had married Selene," the relict of Grypus. She, being an active woman, had taken possession of some part of the Syrian empire, on her husband's death, and had gotten forces about her to maintain her in it. Eusebes, to join this interest of her's to his own, married her; which offending Lathyrus (whose wife she had first been, till his mother took her from him, and gave her in marriage to Grypus,) he sent to Cnidus, where Demetrius Eucarus, the fourth son of Grypus, had been placed for.his education, and, having fetched. him from thence, made him king of Damascus. Eusebes and Philip being engaged against each other, neither of them could be at liberty to hinder this; for although Eusebes received great accession to his strength by marrying Selene, yet Philip made good his part against him, and, at length having drawn him to a decisive battle, gave him a total overthrow, which forced him to flee into Parthia for his safety; whereon Philip and Demetrius became possessed of the whole Syrian empire between them. In the interim, Alexander, king of Judea, making an expedition into Gaulonitis, a country lying on the east side of the lake of Gennesareth, and there engaging in a war against Obedas, an Arabian king, was drawn by him into an ambush; wherein he lost most of his army, and hardly himself escaped. On his return to Jerusalem in this case, the Jews, who were before too much embittered against him, being now farther exasperated by this loss, rose in a rebel lion against him, hoping, in this his weak condition, soon to compass his destruction, which they had long earnestly desired; but Alexander, being a man of application and courage, and more than a common understanding, soon got together forces sufficient to oppose them. This produced a civil war between Alexander and his people, which lasted six years, and brought great calamities upon both. An. 91. Alexander Jannæus 15.]-Mithridates Eupator, king, of Pontus,' on the death of Ariarathes king of Cappadocia, having murdered his sons which that prince left behind him (though born of Laodice his own sister,) and usurped Cappadocia to himself, placed a minor son of his own (whom he called Ariarathes) over that kingdom, with one Gordius for a tutor, to manage the government for him. Nicomedes king of Bithynia, fearing lest Mithridates, with this accession to his dominions, should grow too powerful for him, and swallow him next, suborned a youth to take upon him to be the third son of Ariarathes; and, having gained Laodice to own him, sent them both to Rome, there to lay claim to the kingdom of his pretended father for him. This having brought the cause before the senate, they condemned the claims of both, that of Mithridates as well as that of the pretender, and decreed, that the Cappadocians should become a free people; but they refusing this grant, and declaring that they could not subsist without a king, the senate ordered them to choose whom they liked best; whereon they having elected Ariobarzanes, a noble Cappadocian, Sylla was sent with a commission to put him in possession, which he accordingly executed this year. Mithridates did not oppose him herein; but this excited in him that disgust against the Romans, which being afterward heightened by other provocations, mutually given and retorted, at length produced the Mithridatic war, which, next that against the Carthaginians, was the longest and the most dangerous war that ever the Roman state was engaged in. An. 90. Alexander Jannæus 16.]—For although Mithridates, on his procedure, suppressed his resentments for the present, yet from this time he resolved to make war upon the Romans, for the revenging of it. In order hereto, having contracted an alliance with Tigranes king of Armenia, by giving him Cleopatra his daughter to wife, he drew him into a confederacy with him for the making of this war, whereby it was agreed between them, that Mithridates should have all the cities and countries, and Tigranes all the persons, treasure, and moveable goods, that should be taken in it. The first effect of this confederacy was, Tigranes expelling Ariobarzanes out of Cappadocia, whom the Romans had put in possession of that kingdom, brought back Ariarathes, the son of Mithridates, there again to reign. And at the same time Nicomedes king of Bithynia dying, Mithridates seized that kingdom, to the exclusion of Nicomedes, the son of the deceased. This sent both the deprived kings to the Romans for their relief, who having decreed their restoration, sent Manius Aquilius and Marcus Altinus to see it executed. An. 89. Alexander Jannæus 17.]—But Mithridates, permitting neither of them to enjoy quiet possession when restored, all the Roman forces then dispersed through the several parts of Lesser Asia, gathering together, formed themselves into three armies; the first under the command of L. Cassius, who had the government of the Pergamenian province of Asia; the second under Manius Aquilius; and the third under Quintus Oppius, proconsul of Pamphylia, having in each body forty thousand men, horse and foot; and with these they began the war, without tarrying for any orders from Rome for it. But managing it with bad conduct and much neglect, they had the ill success to be all vanquished and broken; and Aquilius and Oppius, being made prisoners, were first treated 1 Justin. lib. 38. c. 1, 2. 2 Justin. lib. 38. c. 1, 2. Strabo, lib. 12. p. 540. 3 Plutarch. in Sylla. Appian. in Mithridaticis. 5 Ibid. Appian. in Mithridaticis. 6 Justin. et Appian. ibid. Memnon. in Excerptis Photii, c. 32. 7 Appian. in Mithridaticis. 8 Appian. ibid. Epitome Livii, lib. 77, 78. Athenæus, lib. 5. Strabo, lib. 12. p. 562. Memnon. c. 33. L. Florus, lib. 3. c. 5. Plinius, lib. 33. c. 3. Velleius Paterculus. lib. 2. c. 18. Diodor. Sic. in Excerptis Valesii, p. 400. |