he thought he had made secure in his interest: but the treacherous wretch betrayed him to Herod; who to make the thing more plain and evident against Hircanus, enjoined Dositheus silence, bid him take the letter, and carry it to Malchus, the king of Arabia, who would not fail to give him an answer, which when he had got, he ordered him to bring it to him. Dositheus hastened away to Malchus, and having delivered Hircanus's letter, he soon received an answer, which he immediately brought back to Herod, who, sending for Hircanus, taxed him with holding correspondence with the king of Arabia, which he denying, Herod produced Malchus's letter. Hircanus being thus convicted had nothing to say for himself: upon which Herod caused him to be put to death, being in the eighty-first year of his age.

Hircanus being thus disposed of, Herod prepared to wait on Cæsar, expecting no kind treatment, because of his former friendship to Antony; however, suspecting his mother-in-law Alexandra might, in his absence, occasion some tumult or intestine disturbance, he committed the government to the care of his brother Pheroras, whom he ordered to convey his mother, sister, and other relations, to the castle of Massada. But considering that by reason of the old grudge between the queen and his relations, he disposed of her and her mother Alexandra in the castle of Alexandrion, the charge of which he committed to Joseph and Sohemus, two of his faithful confidents; but he gave them commission, as he had done before to his uncle Joseph, that if they should hear things went amiss with him at Cæsar's court, they should destroy both his wife and her mother, and preserve the kingdom for his sons and his brother Pheroras.

Herod having thus disposed of his family and other affairs, went to Rhodes to meet Cæsar: where being come into his presence without bis diadem, but otherwise dressed in his usual robes, he owned his friendship for Antony; that he had assisted him often with money and provisions, and was always ready to sacrifice his life and fortune for him, to whom he owed both; but now the face of affairs being changed, he assured him that he

would be as faithful to him as he had been to Antony. This, Herod delivered with such intrepidity, and so becoming an air, that Cæsar, mightily pleased with the magnanimity and spirit of the man, caused him to put on his diadem again, confirmed him in his kingdom of Judea, and received him into his friendship, assuring him that he should have the same esteem for him that Antony had.

Herod coming off thus beyond all hope or expectation, joyfully attended Cæsar into Egypt, by the way making him and his officers many considerable presents: after which he returned to Judea loaded with honour and power, to the great wonder and surprise of the people, who expected from this interview a different turn of affairs in his fortune. As Cæsar returned from Egypt, He rod received him at Ptolemais, where he entertained him with royal magnificence, hospitably treating his army, and furnishing them with all necessaries in great plenty. This generous and munificent temper of Herod gratified the covetous disposition of Augustus, who was as ready to receive his presents, as the other was to offer them. Upon Cæsar's departure, Herod made him a present of eight hundred talents, and was so liberal to all, that he' seemed profuse, beyond the wealth and revenues of his kingdom.

At his return to Judea, he found a great disorder in his family, especially in his wife and her mother, who were so incensed at their confinement, and the charge he had left with their keepers to put them to death, if things went amiss with him upon his meeting Cæsar, that they reproached him to his face, especially Mariamne; and when he with pleasure related to her the success of his interview with Cæsar, and the honour done him, it was evidently a matter of grief to her. This aversion tortured Herod: honour dictated revenge to punish her pride, but then love interceded. His own mother and sister seeing him in this perplexity, thought it the only opportunity to improve his aversion to her, and therefore they loaded her with all the calumny that malice could invent. Herod gladly heard, but unwillingly believed

them. Jealousy and love thus agitating his disturbed mind, his hatred at last prevailed, and he had determined something fatal against Mariamne, if an accident had not interposed and prevented his furious purpose: for hear ing of the death of Antony and Cleopatra, and that Cæsar was possessed of all Egypt, he was obliged once more to attend him. Therefore committing his family again to Sohemus, to engage him the more to his interest, he first thanked him for his former care and service, and then invested him with the government of part of Judea in his absence. Herod was received more honourably by Cæsar than before, who conferred on him many additional favours: for he gave him Cleopatra's guard, which consisted of four hundred Gauls, and the government of that part of the country which she had possessed. He likewise added to his kingdom, on the continent, Gadara, Hippo, and Samaria; and on the coast, Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa, and the tower of Straton. Then, waiting on Cæsar to Antioch, he returned to his own country, where he found fortune as adverse at home, as it had been propitious to him abroad. Herod loved his wife Mariamne even to madness, which she returned with extreme hatred and disdain. This aversion was heighten. ed by many unhappy circumstances; and it looked like a curse on Herod to dote on the woman that hated him. She looked on him as the fatal scourge and persecutor of her family, whose right he had usurped and tyrannically put several of them to death. And when he would expostulate with her on the ingratitude and coldness with which she returned his affection, she would reproach him with the murder of her father and her brother. But that which aggravated this unhappy difference was Mariamne's contemptuous treatment of Herod's relations with the meanness of their birth.

Herod having wasted a year after his return from Cæsar in this uneasiness, and finding his wife implacable, resolved to chastise her, though at the loss of his quiet : for suspecting an unjustifiable intimacy between his friend Sohemus and his wife, he caused him to be dispatched out of the world. But not being able to make out any VOL. II.

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clear proof against his wife, his sister Salome furnished him with an accusation to take her off, by bribing Herod's cup-bearer tó prétend to him that the queen had corrupted him to poison him. Upon this, Herod calling a council of friends only, accused her of a design to take him off; and being now grown resolute in his revenge, he gave vent to his passion, and reproached her in the vilest manner, and very unbecoming the reverence due to that assembly. The council not daring to oppose Herod's impetuous humour, joined with him in the condemnation of his innocent wife. However, his dying affection so far revived, that he consented with the council not to put her to death, but confine her to close imprisonment. Salome, who well knew her brother's temper, and fearing that so long as Mariamne lived he might relapse into his former fondness, urged the necessity of the queen's speedy execution; for if it should be known that she was confined, the people would attempt her enlargement. Upon this, Herod, who was jealous of his power, changed his mind, and commanded her to be put to death immediately. Mariamne received her doom with her usual magnanimity, not betraying the least fear in any gesture or look, but with an intrepidity and resolution uncommon to her sex, greatly submitted to the fatal stroke. Thus perished the most beautiful and innocent Mariamne, who fell a sacrifice to her husband's jealousy, and the implacable malice of his relations. A woman of strict virtue, and who, but for her haughty spirit, might have spent her days in great tranquillity.

Herod soon repented of his rashness in executing his resentment so fatally; for though he had irrecoverably shaken her off from his embraces, yet her beautiful image still possessed his soul, and she was always present in his thoughts: he often called on her name, and most immoderately deplored her death: the pursuit of glory was no longer his delight; but supinely neglecting government, he indulged himself in his sorrows, and became inconsolable. In vain his friends attempted to comfort him, he had no sense of pleasure in the variety of entertainments which they prepare to divert him, and all delica

cies are to him insipid. A pestilence happening at this time, it affected the people of all degrees, which they interpreted as a judgment from God for the unjust death of the queen. And now Herod having afflicted himself with the most pungent grief for his murdered wife, retires into the country, where in a few days he contracted a dangerous distemper: for he was seized with a violent inflammation and pain in his neck, which baffled the art of his physicians, who could give him no relief. In this condition he languished for some time at Samaria and Sebaste; during which time Alexandra, Mariamne's mother, attempted to possess herself of all the fortresses of Jerusalem: which when Herod heard, he commanded her to be put to death.

After his recovery, he built the city of Cæsarea in honour of Augustus Cæsar, and rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem, making it a most magnificent structure. The rest of his life he spent in acts of cruelty, putting to death Costobarus, husband to his own sister Salome, who was ac-. cused of treason. Nor was he less sparing of his own issue, for he caused his two sons Alexander and Aristobulus, whom he had by Mariamne, to be strangled. Not long before his own death he murdered his son Antipater. By his will he left Archelaus, whom he had by Maltace, a Samaritan, heir to his dominions,

HEROD, usually stiled the Great, the father of the last race of kings, who filled the throne of Judea, was throughout his whole reign, a consummate politician, a severe master, an inhuman father, and a profligate tyrant. The early part of his life was distinguished by great activity and cunning. By his arts and intrigues with the Romans, still more than by arms, he subverted the Asmonean family, who had possessed the supreme power about one hundred and twenty-nine years. To ingratiate himself with the Jews, to whom he was hateful on many accounts, he repaired, enlarged, and beautified the temple, but having no religion, he, at the same time, in compli ment to the Romans, placed a golden eagle over the principal gate of that sacred edifice. His reign was a reign of blood; and none felt the fury of his temper and the