180 FAMILY OF HEROD THE GREAT-THE SANHEDRIM. much dilapidated by time and violence: it was thrown | small must be the share of domestic enjoyment or social down, and a new fabric, of more regular and stately cultivation. The age, as such, was one of high civilizaarchitecture, arose with its glittering masses of white tion; the condition of literature and the arts was flourmarble and pinnacles of gold, crowning the brow of ishing. It was the age of the Roman Augustus, the Mount Moriah. Yet the people were ill satisfied with great patron of literary men; but in the more secluded all these attempts to ingratiate himself in their affec-district of Judea, its influence was comparatively unfelt. tions, as at the same time he patronized the Grecian institutions, and personally presided at the Olympic games. The Jews suspected him, not without reason, of a fixed determination to heathenize their nation and country. Added to this, during his long reign, they were kept under a most rigid and vigilant police, forbidden all fraternities and assemblies, and exposed to be immured in dungeons, whence few returned to the light of day. The family left by Herod the Great, though thinned by the sword of the executioner, was still numerous and powerful. There were several conspicuous personages among them, as will appear in the course of the history. He married ten wives; but it was chiefly among the children of the sixth, Malthace, a Samaritan, that his dominions were divided. By the will of Herod, to her sons - Herod Antipas and Archelaus- were assigned, to the former, Galilee and Perea; to the latter, Idumea, Samaria, and Judea. The pomp of the funeral rites of the old king was such as became the external splendor of his reign; but he bequeathed to those who came after him an oppressed and unhappy kingdom. The two brothers sought from Augustus a confirmation of their respective titles; or, rather, Antipas, the younger brother, sought a confirmation of his title to the whole kingdom, grounded on a former will of Herod. While they were in Rome, prosecuting their object, the whole country tended fast to confusion and anarchy. Other sons of the deceased king preferred their claims, and the whole Herodian family were involved in dissensions. During the uncertainty of the succession, adventurer after adventurer appeared, and dreadful scenes of violence were enacted. The Romans stationed in the country were oppressive and exacting, and the most unhappy divisions existed among the Jews themselves. At length, the imperial edict appeared: it confirmed, for the most part, the will of Herod. Philip, however, was made to share in the inheritance, Auranitis, Trachonitis, Paneas, and Batanea being assigned to him. Archelaus received only the title of ethnarch. Under this name he assumed the dominion of Judea, (3 B. C.,) and governed with great injustice and cruelty. After a reign of nine years, he was deposed and banished by the Roman emperor. His estates were confiscated, and Judea reduced to a Roman province the last semblance of independence having passed away. Thus the sceptre finally departed from Judah, and the kingdom of David and Solomon sank into a district dependent on the prefecture of Syria, though administered by its own governor- a man usually of the equestrian order. As this was the era of the advent of Jesus Christ among the Jews, a brief account may here be given of the state of the people, and their more important institutions. The condition of the country may be well judged of by the preceding narrative, covered, as the whole land was, by rival factions and warlike adventurers, permitting little attention to be given to the ordinary arts of life and the cultivation of the intellect. Amid scenes of anarchy and contention, Herod's administration contributed to the advancement of the nation in some particulars, more especially in works of art; but the modes of artificial luxury prevalent in this age of the world were destructive to general happiness. No resources, no incomes were adequate to the demands made by the indulgence of such tastes and propensities. The sufferings of the mass of the people must have been excessive, in order to supply the more elevated classes with the means of their enormous luxury. So far as the Roman modes of living were introduced into Judea, and the people were infected by them, the evils above adverted to were felt in their full force. Plenty and want, power and oppression, violence and unresisting submission, side by side, present but a sad picture to the eye of benevolence. Such was the condition of Judea, and, more or less, of the Roman world, when our Savior appeared among men. His doctrines and his religion were needed, at such a period, to save the world from the most frightful miseries. The supreme judicial authority was exercised by the Sanhedrim, or Court of Seventy, the great ecclesiastical and civil council. It was probably confined to its judicial duties; it was a plenary court of justice, and no more, during the reigns of the later Asmonean princes, and during those of Herod the Great and his son Archelaus. The greater body of the people, at least all above the lowest order, seem to have addicted themselves to one or other of the two great prevailing sectsthe Pharisees and the Sadducees. The former held the sway over the multitude, though these were not actually enrolled as adherents. The Sadducees were less numerous and less influential, and were a species of unbelievers. Besides these two great sects, there was a considerable party attached to the persons of the Herodian family, and probably comprehended what may be called the Grecian party. There were a few who belonged to the sect of the Essenes. They were properly the puritans, or the monastic orders of the Jews. It was in vain, at this era, to attempt to excite the religious national spirit of the Jews, as it was excited under the banner of the Maccabeans. The God in whose name and under whose protection they had been accustomed to triumph, was now about to withdraw his presence. A kingdom, not of this world, was to rise out of the ruins of the temporal sovereignty which had been held ever since the time of David. An attempt at insurrection, under Judas, the Galilean, signally failed. A rapid succession of provincial governors took place at the close of the reign of Augustus. His successor, Tiberius, pursued a different policy; and, during his reign of twenty-three years, Judea had only two rulers, Valerius Gratus (A. D. 16) and Pontius Pilate, (A. D. 29.) The scheme of Tiberius was less onerous to the Jewish people, as "the rapid succession of rulers," observed the shrewd despot, "only increases the oppressions and exactions of the provinces.' It was before the tribunal of Pontius Pilate that DEATH OF HEROD-AGRIPPA. Jesus Christ was led. Pilate was not naturally disposed to cruelty; but when the peace of his province appeared in danger, he was stern, decided, and reckless of human life. He was, probably, not much affected by any apprehension, in respect to the Roman rule, from a person of such humble and quiet demeanor as that of Jesus. Still, however, he shrunk from the imputation of not being 'Cæsar's friend,' and could not think the life of one man, however innocent, of much importance, in comparison with the peace of the country, and his own favor at Rome. In this dilemma, he naturally endeavored to avoid the responsibility of decision, by transferring the accused to the tribunal of Herod, to whose jurisdiction Christ, as a Galilean, belonged, and who happened to be at Jerusalem for the celebration of the passover. At length, however, finding the uproar increasing, he yielded without much further scruple, and the Roman soldiery were permitted to become the willing instruments of the Jewish priesthood, in the crucifixion (A. D. 33,) of that Person in whom Pilate himself could find no fault. We leave to the Christian historian the description of this event, and all its consequences. We have said enough to show that the state of the public mind in Judea, as well as the character of Pilate, the chief agent in the transaction, harmonize in the most remarkable manner with the narrative of the evangelists. During this period, the other two sons of Herod had reigned in peace over their respective provinces, Herod Antipas, as tetrarch of Galilee; Philip in the district beyond the Jordan. Philip was a prince of great justice and humanity: he died without issue, and his territory was annexed to the province of Syria. The accession of Caligula, as emperor of Rome, was an event of importance to another branch of the Herodian family-Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, one of the two unfortunate princes, sons of Herod the Great. The early life of Agrippa had been passed in a strange course of adventure and vicissitude. After many dangers and escapes, he was received at the court of Caligula, and had the vacant tetrarchate of Philip conferred on him, with the title of king. He took possession of his dignity with royal pomp. During his reign, many calamities befell the Jews—not only those who inhabited Judea, but the Jews of Alexandria and of Babylonia. In Alexandria and on the Euphrates, they were massacred without mercy, on the most frivolous pretexts. The project of the Roman emperor to set up a statue of himself in the temple, was the occasion of the troubles experienced by the Jews of Palestine. Though threatened with evil and death itself, the whole population were determined to perish, rather than be guilty of the idolatry of sacrificing to Caligula. His death, at length, happily released them from their distressing dilemma. On the accession of Claudius to the empire, an enlargement was made of the dominions of Agrippa, on account of the services he had rendered to the emperor—he having been present at Rome at the time of the election. He returned to Palestine in great splendor, and henceforward endeavored to ingratiate himself with the Jews by observing the Mosaic law with particular exactness. In this spirit, also, he commenced a persecution of the unoffending Christians. He put to death James, the brother of John, and threw Peter into prison. 181 Having completed a reign of three years over his enlarged dominions, the whole of Palestine, - Agrippa ordered a splendid festival at Cæsarea, in honor of the emperor. It was on this occasion that his decease occurred. Receiving gross adulation as a god from the assembled multitude, he was immediately struck, in the language of the sacred volume, " by an angel." Being seized with violent internal pains, he lingered a few days, and died in extreme agony, "eaten of worms. He died A. D. 44, after a reign of ten years, the first seven having been over only a part of his dominions. He left one son, Agrippa, and three daughters. THE Son of Herod, Agrippa, was too young to bear the burden of royalty, and Judea relapsed into a Roman province. Cassius Longinus was appointed to the presidency of Syria. Fadus was sent as governor of Judea. Finding that a civil war disturbed the district beyond Jordan, he soon made its agitators feel the vigor of the Roman arm, and effectually quelled the turbulence. Before the recall of Fadus, a singular fanaticism was excited among the rabble, who were made to entertain the belief that, like their ancestors of old, under Joshua, they could pass through the waters of the Jordan in safety. An impostor by the name of Theudas, who represented himself as a prophet, had inspired them with this belief; and multitudes, thronging forth, with all their possessions, to the banks of the river, indulged the confident expectation that he would divide the stream in the midst, and carry them through in triumph. The vigilant Fadus seized the impostor, and, cutting off his head, sent it to Jerusalem. Tiberius Alexander succeeded Fadus; but his government was short and uneventful. Next succeeded Ventidius Cumanus, (A. D. 48.) During his administration, the first murmuring of the wrathful storm which finally swept over Palestine, and laid it waste for ages, was heard. Mutual animosity began to be manifested between the people and the Roman soldiery. Indeed, several scenes of violence took place, in which thousands of lives were sacrificed. Cumanus, found guilty before the emperor for the part he had acted, was banished, and Claudius Felix, who was born a slave. received the appointment of governor. Felix administered his office with the authority of a king, and the disposition of a slave. He shrunk from no crime which he felt it to be for his interest to commit. 182 PORCIUS FESTUS-ALBINUS-GESSIUS FLORUS. The land, at this time, was full of armed robbers, who wasted the country. Felix at first endeavored to suppress them, but afterwards, for his private ends, entered into a confederacy with some of the most daring. Among other enormities which were enacted in connection with these banditti, was the murder of Jonathan, the high priest, who had offended Felix by his remonstrances and rebukes. Jonathan was killed, in the temple itself, by a party of these wretches, at the instance of Felix. Murders and robberies perpetrated under the authority, or at least by the connivance, of the government, indicated a strange and shocking state of things. No man was secure from the dagger of the assassin. Nor was this all. In every quarter arose impostors and pretenders to magic, who inveigled the people into desert places, and there, by harangues, endeavored to excite them against the Roman government. The consequences, as may well be imagined, were disastrous to the subjects of the imposition, exposing them to the vengeance of their masters. Even the sacred order of the priesthood became involved, at length, in deadly feuds among themselves the chief priests with the inferior priesthood. The result, in many instances, was, that the tithes, which belonged to the latter, being levied by force in behalf of the high priests, the common priests were deprived of the means of sustaining life, and actually died of hunger. In some instances, serious resistance was offered to the Roman authorities, which ended in blood and in augmented alienation. Porcius Festus, who came in the place of Felix, by his rigid and upright administration, caused a short interval of comparative order and tranquillity. He repressed the insurgents and bands of robbers. Unhappily for this devoted country, the faithful Festus died in Judea, and Albinus arrived as his successor, (A. D. 62.) His avaricious disposition soon manifested itself, and venality reigned under his administration. At first, he severely chastised the robbers and assassins, but, at length, set a premium, in effect, on their vocation, by extorting enormous ransoms for their freedom. Gessius Florus succeeded Albinus, (A. D. 45.) Above even the measure of Albinus, he was rapacious and cruel. He pillaged not only individuals, but communities, and seemed to grant a general indemnity for spoliation, provided only that to him a fair portion of the plunder was allowed. In some instances villages and towns were entirely deserted, as the inhabitants fled their country to be beyond the reach of his exactions. In the mean time, according to the Jewish annals, fearful prodigies had appeared, foreshadowing the approaching desolation. A comet, in the shape of a sword, hung above the city for the space of a year. A sudden and most brilliant light shone for the space of half an hour about the altar and the temple. The appearance of chariots and armed squadrons was at one time noticed in the heavens. Unnatural, unearthly voices, denouncing woe, were heard. These and similar portents are spoken of as filling the minds of men with apprehension. It is probable that the prophecies of the coming ruin of Jerusalem, disseminated by the Christians, added to the general fear. They must have declared the assertions of our Savior respecting this great event, and produced a deep impression on the minds of the people, by their abandoning Jerusalem in a body, and retreating to Pella, a town beyond the Jordan. The fatal flame finally broke out at Cæsarea, from an old feud which had arisen between the Greek magistrates of the city and the Jews who dwelt there. A conflict ensued, in which the Jews were worsted. At this era, (A. D. 65,) another disturbance took place pertaining to religious matters, in regard to which the Jews exhibited their wonted pertinacity, even as to the smallest concerns. They had, however, in this instance, been annoyed, in a most unreasonable manner, by the approach to their synagogue being made as difficult as possible; also by an insulting heathen augury connected with their sacred things. The Jews flew to arms. This result was anticipated on the part of the encroaching strangers, who were fully prepared for it. The flame spread to Jerusalem. Florus had driven the people to insurrection, with a view to his own wicked and avaricious purposes, and then he wreaked his vengeance upon them in a most summary and cruel manner. Three thousand six hundred men, women, and children, were butchered in the streets of Jerusalem. The Jews who had attained even the equestrian rank were scourged and executed, as well as their meaner countrymen. A temporary pacification took place, by the submission of the Jews to a certain condition imposed upon them. This, however, suited not the object of Florus, who fomented the collisions between the people and the Roman authorities, for the sake of plunder; and advantage was soon taken still further to involve the Jews in difficulty. Jerusalem became a scene of the utmost confusion and suffering. The evil, both in the city and in the country, was, in some cases, heightened by the acts of a bigoted, rash, and violent Jewish party, who refused obedience even to lawful authority. It was consummated, at length, by furious and bloody collisions among the Jews themselves; that is to say, between the party who desired to submit peacefully to the Romans, and that which would admit of no compromise. Of the latter party, Manahem was a vigorous leader for a period; but he fell by his own rashness. If he had united discretion with his courage, he might have given the insurgents what they felt the want of during the whole war- an acknowledged leader, who should concentrate the resources and consolidate the strength of the revolt. By an instance of outrageous treachery on the part of the insurgents, in the massacre of a garrison of Roman soldiers who had submitted on condition that their lives were spared, the last faint hope of accommodation was quenched, as it were, in blood. The more moderate saw the inevitable ruin, and did not conceal their deep sorrow. To counterbalance this ferocious act, was the destruction of twenty thousand Jews in Cæsarea, probably under secret instructions from Florus. By this latter act, committed through the enormities of their brethren in Jerusalem, the whole nation was driven to madness. They felt that, as mankind had made war upon them, they would make war upon mankind. Thousands sallied forth into the regions adjacent, and laid waste city after city. Syria and other countries felt the power of the angry and desperate irruption. A dreadful retaliation consequently ensued, and the Jews residing in those regions were put to death by thousands. In Palestine, the whole nation had revolted against the Roman power, encouraged by the success of some of the people against Cestius Gallus, prefect of Syria. This man, after having conquered several places in his route, had at length besieged Jerusalem, and was near taking it; but he most unaccountably withdrew his forces from the city. This circumstance, giving courage to the Jews, issued in the destruction of his army. They pursued the advantage of his retreat, which soon became a flight, to the utmost extent. The Roman arms had not received so disgraceful an affront, nor suffered so serious a loss, since the defeat of Varus in the forests of Germany. What other portion of the human race would have entertained the design of throwing off the Roman yoke, in the condition of the Jews?-a small people, without allies, without a leader, with no organized or disciplined force, no warlike engines, except those captured from the enemy, no provisions of any kind for a long war, and with divisions among themselves. Yet they conceived the idea, and carried it eventually into effect. In their stubborn patience, stern enthusiasm, and desperate valor, they ventured to resist the Roman authority-supreme, then, on earth- unto death, and perished in the attempt. They perished, unassisted, unpitied, almost unadmired, in their mortal struggle for freedom, as if they were an exception to the generous sympathy which such efforts call forth in regard to other nations. When the revolt of this inconsiderable province, with the defeat of Cestius and a Roman legion, was announced, great was the astonishment of the Roman people. The emperor Nero, who was then in Achaia, expressed great contempt of the affair; but the real importance attached to it may be judged of by his selection of the most able and distinguished military commander in the empire, to conduct the war. This was Vespasian, who had been bred to arms from his youth, and whose exploits were the theme of the age. With his characteristic despatch, Vespasian immediately sent his son Titus to Alexandria, to conduct the fifth and tenth legions, while he himself travelled with all speed, by land, to Syria, gathering armed forces in his train. In the mean time, the insurgents were not inactive. Some of the more prudent retired from their native land; others were brought over to the cause of their time-hallowed country. The. Jews who remained | and they were still numerous, amounting, probably, to nearly three millions. -made, in a general assembly, what preparations they were able; chiefly by assigning the defence of important places and districts to particular individuals, in whose wisdom or valor confidence might be reposed. The charge of the most important part of the country, viz., Galilee, was committed to Joseph, the son of Matthias, better known as the celebrated Josephus, the historian, and a man of illustrious descent. On this province the storm, in all probability, would first break. Josephus himself had been an advocate of peace; but it is probable that he had acquired some confidence with the war party, else he would scarcely have been intrusted with the command in Galilee. His whole course was marked with caution and conciliation, yet with vigor. His object was to promote union, and organize the whole country on one regular system; and this object, in a great measure, he effected; he made admirable provision for the defence of important places in Galilee, and finally raised an army of one hundred thousand, armed them with weapons obtained from all quarters, appointed centurions and decurions, and regularly exercised the whole in military manœuvres. He had difficulties, however, to meet of a peculiar nature, arising from the opposition of a subtle enemy, John of Gischala, and his judicious arrangements were often disconcerted. But the petty plots which were contrived to frustrate his measures, or to take his life, and the adroit schemes he laid to meet them, as the historian himself has related, cannot here be detailed. In Jerusalem, the preparations for war were also pressed. Ananus, the chief priest, took the lead; arms were fabricated with the greatest expedition, the walls strengthened, military engines made, and stores of every kind laid in, with the utmost diligence and He likewise experienced opposition, not only from the timid and moderate, but from daring bandits, at the head of whom was the fierce Simon, who had rendered good service at the retreat of Cestius. Against him Ananus was forced to send troops. The magistrates of Idumea, also, were constrained to set a guard in every village. It was probably soon after the defeat of Cestius that an unsuccessful expedition was attempted against CHAPTER C. A. D. 67 to 76. Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. The Invading Army - Famous Siege of Jotapata - Curious Stratagem-Daring Exploit - Fate of Jafa, &c. - Perfidy of Vespasian and its Effects-Strange Disasters at the taking of Gamala - Jerusalem and its Factions The murderous Zealots Insane Conduct - Perea, &c. - Idumea reduced Vespasian called to Rome - Infatuation Reconnoitring Adventure of Titus — Storming the Walls Famine and Pestilence Titus walls in the City - Horrors Oath of Titus - The Temple fired - A million and a half of Victims - Massada Land Sale and Tribute - Fate of Josephus, Agrippa, and Berenice. EARLY in the spring (A. D. 67) Vespasian, with his werful army, arrived at Antioch, and was met there Agrippa with his soldiery. As he advanced to olemais, he received thence a deputation from Seporis, the metropolis of Galilee, who made overtures join the invader. This proceeding was contrary to authority and threats of Josephus, who made an empt to secure the place; but it having been strengthed by a detachment of Vespasian's troops, he was pulsed; a circumstance which only the more exasrated the Romans. The son of Vespasian joined father at Ptolemais, having sailed from Alexandria. spasian, with his own forces and those of his allies, s now at the head of sixty thousand regular horse 1 foot, in addition to a force which was less dislined. The campaign was now formally opened: a small vantage was at first obtained by the Jews under the nmand of Josephus, in an attack by Placidus on Jotapata, the strongest of the fortified towns; was an inspiriting commencement of the conflic the vast army of Vespasian was moving on, al not to be arrested. The sight or rumor of t mendous invasion scattered the weak forces Josephus, and he fled himself, with the wreck army, to Tiberias. Vespasian came upon Gada cut off almost all its inhabitants, as well as those villages around. He next came to Jotapata, power of resistance lay in its almost impregnabi tion. Josephus had previously contrived to himself into it. Difficult as it was of access, Romans, with their vast means, made their wa cutting through mountains, and constructing where it would seem that nature had eternall dicted it. Their serried legions, on the 14th o presented themselves in full sight of the Jewish in the city. The consternation produced by the view wa qualled, and the Jews, knowing that they cou perish, were prepared to sell their lives at the rate. All hope of escape was cut off, for the E had drawn a triple line of circumvallation rou city. The attack began the next day. It is sible, in this succinct narrative, to enter into the of this memorable conflict, as Josephus, the wri the hero, has described it. The perseveran stubborn resolution, the fierce valor, the strateg the innumerable expedients of the besieged, su and confounded the Romans. On the one sic fought from desperation; on the other, from the ty shame of being defeated by such an enemy after day the resources of Vespasian's steel-clad aries, with their catapults, and balistas, and ba rams, were called out to match the desperate b and subtle contrivances of this people, cooped wild beasts in their lair. As an instance of the cunning of the besieg following is recorded: In the scanty supply of lay one of the greatest dangers of the Jews. T |