Alexander Janneus, the son of Aristobulus,
reigned from B.C. 104 to B.C. 77, and left his kingdom to his wife,
Alexandra, who trusted much to the Pharisees, and raised them to great
power. Her eldest son, Hyrcanus, was High Priest, and she left the
kingdom to him at her death, B.C. 69; but his brother, Aristobulus,
rebelling, with the help of the Sadducees, defeated him, and drove him
from his throne.
Hyrcanua was indolent, and was rather glad to be relieved from the
trouble of reigning; but his friend, Antipas, an Edomite by birth, and
of the Jewish religion, persuaded him that his life would not be safe in
Judea, and stirred him up to ask help, first from the Arabs, and when
they were beaten, from the Romans, to whom however, Aristobulus had
already sent a present of a golden vine, in hopes of winning their
support.
The great awfulness of the Roman power was in the sureness of its
conquests. It did not fly onward without touching the earth, like the
great eastern conquerors; but let it set one claw on a nation, and the
doom of that nation was fixed. First the help of the Romans was asked
and readily given; then in return a tribute was demanded and paid; then
the Romans would meddle with the government, till their interference
became intolerable, and there was a rising against it, which they called
rebellion; then they sent an army, and ruined the nation for ever.
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