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Jordan, where he seized immense treasures belonging to Theodorus;* but that prince having overtaken him with a large army, defeated him with a loss of ten thousand men, and drove him back to Jerusalem with disgrace.†

Recruiting his forces, however, he seized upon Raphia and Anthedon, and laid siege to Gaza, which he got possession of by treachery, and in which he exercised great inhumanity, reducing that city to a heap of ruins, and then returned to Jerusalem.+

Alexander had united in his own person the office of priest as well as prince, and in that character, on entering the temple on the feast of tabernacles, the Pharisees, who comprised the largest sect of the Jews,§ took that opportunity to insult him, by calling him slave, and pelting him and his attendants with citrons. His guards immediately slew six thousand of the multitude, and enclosed the court of the priests with a wooden partition, to protect him from similar insults in future.||

And with the same view, being afraid to trust his countrymen, he called in a foreign force of six thousand Pisidians and Cilicians, as a body guard.¶

Afterwards he passed over Jordan, and reduced the Arabians, and the inhabitants of Moab and Gilead into subjection to him ;** and thence proceeding towards Amathus, retook it and razed that city to the ground.++

Afterwards making an excursion into Gaulonitis, he was drawn into an ambush by Obedas, an Arabian king, wherein

He was the son of Zeno Cotylas, prince of Philadelphia. Prid.

+ Prid. ii. 445.

Prid. i. 448.

ii. 445.
Prid. ii. 446.
|| Prid. ii. 448.
** Prid. ii. 449.

§ See p. 405.

tt Prid. ii. 450

he lost the greatest part of his army, and scarcely escaped himself. On his return to Jerusalem a rebellion broke out amongst his subjects, which ended in a civil war.

After it had raged with great fury, the prince tried to negociate with them, offering to grant every thing which they could in reason desire; but they answered this gracious overture by an insolent reply, that the only thing they wanted was that he would cut his own throat. Being unable, however, to cope with their sovereign, they applied to Demetrius Eucherus,† who then reigned at Damascus, for assistance, who invaded Judea with three thousand horse and forty thousand foot. Alexander, having marched against this army of invaders, was defeated with a great loss, and compelled to take shelter in the mountains.+

In this great extremity he was saved from utter ruin by so extraordinary a re-action in the minds of his rebellious subjects, that six thousand of them, apparently pitying his then reduced situation, resorted to him in such numbers, that Demetrius, fearing lest all his Jewish troops, of whom he had a great number, would desert too, quitted Judea.§

Upon this event, Alexander was enabled to resume the offensive, but his troops were in such a state of insubordination, that he was not able to reduce them into subjection to his authority,|| till by a decisive battle he cut off the major part of them in the rout; and then besieging and taking the city of Bethome, where the chief of those who had fled took refuge, he carried eight hundred of them to Jerusalem, and then per

Prid. ii. 451.

He was son of Antiochus Gryphus. He was taken in battle by the Parthians, and died in captivity. Jos. ii, 242. iii. 243. 250. 261. et seq.

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petrated a most diabolical act of cruelty, which obtained him the surname of Thracidas.

Having appointed a festival, at which his wives and concubines were present, he ordered these eight hundred captive rebels to be crucified; and whilst lingering on the crosses, he ordered all their wives and children to be slain before their faces, himself and his guests enjoying the spectacle. This atrocious act had, however, the effect of quelling the rebellion; for the rest of the party, terrified by this proceeding, fled the country, in which their faction had lost not less than fifty thousand men.*

As soon as he was recovered from the effects of this rebellion, Alexander proceeded to repossess himself of several cities which had revolted from him during the late war; and marching over Jordan, he took and destroyed Pella, and drove the inhabitants into banishment. He afterwards took Dia, and laid siege to Gerasa,† Gaulana, and Seleucia, all of which places, with several others, he took.‡

The ensuing year he made himself master of the valley of Antiochus, and the strong fortress of Gamala; carrying with him to Jerusalem, Demetrius, the governor or prince of that city, as a prisoner. At the end of this expedition, which had occupied him three years, he was at length received by his subjects with great acclamations; but now enjoying full ease, he gave himself up to luxury and drunkenness.

A quartan ague, or some other severe disease, was the consequence of this habit of life; but in the hope of dissipating it by activity and exercise, the Jewish prince crossed Jordan with his army, and laid siege to Ragaba, a castle in the country of the Gerasens. This exertion and fatigue producing a contrary effect from that which he expected, the

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monarch's disease grew worse and worse; and as he intended to leave the kingdom to his wife Alexandra, she expressed her fears that the Pharisaic faction would be too powerful for her and her children after his decease. To guard against this consequence, Alexander advised her, in case of his death before the conquest of the besieged city, to continue to prosecute the siege and conceal his death till she had taken it; and then to carry his corpse home with her to Jerusalem, and convene the heads of the Pharisees, and submit to their decision, whether the body of the deceased monarch should be buried with honours, or exposed to indignity; offering at the same time to govern the kingdom by their advice, and place them in all offices of trust and authority.

ALEXANDRA.

ALEXANDER dying soon after, his widow followed his specious but strange advice, and it so far succeeded that the resentment of the Pharisees was allayed, and the monarch was buried with great splendour, and Alexandra settled in the government of the country: one of her first acts being to invest her eldest son by the late monarch with the office of high priest.*

Having fulfilled her promise of placing the administration in the hands of the Pharisaic faction, they immediately revoked the decree of John Hyrcanus for abolishing the traditions, which they forthwith re-established; and from that time to the present, these miserable people like a sect of equally miserable and mistaken Christians,† have been seduced by

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traditionary lore to forsake the law of God, and believe in the inventions of wicked men and the doctrines of devils.*

The new ministry next released all their friends and connections out of confinement; and not contented with that measure, proceeded to prosecute with extreme severity those who were supposed to have advised the late prince in his proceedings against them, and especially the abettors of the abominable crucifixion.†

These proceedings as may be supposed were highly adverse to the inclinations of the queen, although she is suspected of having been always inclined to the doctrine of the Pharisees;+ but she was obliged to submit, and even authorize them, from her dread of a civil war,§ till at length the friends of the late king, with his second son Aristobulus at their head, went in a body to Alexandra, and representing to her their wretched state, besought her either to put a stop to the proceedings of the Pharisees, to allow them to quit the country, or to place them in the different garrisons, so that they might have the means and opportunity of defending themselves. Alexandra adopted the latter alternative, which was perhaps the most politic course she could pursue.||

Ptolemy, prince of Chalcis, at the foot of mount Libanus, having invaded Damascus, Alexandra sent Aristobulus to suppress the inroad, but he only seized upon Damascus, and employed his time chiefly in ingratiating himself with the army, and laying plans for his future elevation to the throne. T

Tigranes, king of Armenia, and afterwards of Syria, laying siege to Ptolemais with an immense army, Alexandra sent ambassadors to him with large presents, in order to secure his friendship, and prevent him from invading her territories;

Prid. ii. 468.

+ Prid. ii. 469.

Prid. ii. 469.

Prid. ii. 479. || Prid. ii. 472.

¶ Prid. ii. 475.

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