Indeed Herod lived in constant fear and hatred of every
Asmonean, and at last even turned against his own wife, Mariamne. He
caused her to be put to death, and then nearly broke his heart with
grief for her; and afterwards the same dread of the old royal stock led
him to kill the two sons she had left to him.
The seventy weeks of Daniel were drawing to a close, and everyone
expected that the long-promised Deliverer and King would appear. Some
flatterers said it was Herod himself, the blood-stained Edomite, and he
did all in his power to maintain the notion, by repairing the Temple
with great care and cost, making restorations there that were forty-six
years in progress, and spreading a golden vine over the front of the
Sanctuary.
There were others who said the one great King, whom even the heathen
expected, was coming to Rome. Augustus Caesar had gained all the power;
he had beaten Antony and Cleopatra in a sea-fight, and following them
to Egypt, found that they had both killed themselves, Antony with his
sword, Cleopatra by the bite of an asp, in order to save themselves
from being made prisoners. Augustus was welcomed at Rome with a great
triumph, and was called Emperor, the name always given to a victorious
general; the Romans gave him all their offices of state, and he ruled
over all their great dominions without anyone to dispute his power, any
enemy to conquer at home or abroad.
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