CHAPTER XI$. 511 desired peace, andoffered to grant them whatsoever they could reasonably desire ; but upon his enquiry what terms would please them, they answered with one voice, " that he should cut his own throat." So dreadful was their enmity against him and upon this answer, the war was still púrsued with fury on both sides. 30. Q. Howwas this war ended at last ? A. Alexander Janna:us the king, having lost one great battle, resumed his courage, and afterward gained another, which concluded the tvar; for having cut off the greatest part of his enemies, he drove the rest into the city Bethorne," and besieged them there : And having taken the place, he carried eight hundred of them to Jerusalem, and there caused them to be all crucified in one day ; and their wives and children to be slain before their faces, while they hung dying on their crosses. In the mean time, he treated his wives and concubines with this bloody specta- cle at a feast. This 'terrified the Jews indeed so effectually, that they made no -more insurrections against him ; though he got a most infamous name by it, in that and the following ages. A dreadful instance of the barbarity of a high-priest with civil power ? 31. Q. Did this cruel tyrant come to a natural death ? A. Theprovidence of God, which does not always punish sinners in this life, permitted him to die in the camp of a uartan ague, which had hung long upon him, while he was besieging a castle of the Gerasenes, beyond Jordan. And though he left two sons behind him, yet he bequeathed the government to Alexandria his wife, during her life; and to be disposed of at her death to which of her sons she pleased. 32. Q. How did this woman reconcile herself to theJews, so as to permit her to reign over them ? A. By tier husband's advice, upon his death-bed, she concealed his death till the cas- tle was taken ; then leading back the army to Jerusalem in triumph, made her court to the pharisees, resigned up his dead corpse to their pleasure, to be abused, or buried, as they should think fit, and promised to follow their advice in all the affairs of government : For lie had assured her, that they werethe best of friends and the worst of enemies ; and that if she would but be ruled by them, they would make her rule over others. 33. Q. What success had this conduct of Alexandria ? A. All the success she desired : The people were influenced by the pharisees to give the corpse of her husband a honourable funeral, she herself was settled in the government of the nation, and she made her eldest son Hyrcanus high-priest. 34. Q. How did she administer the government under the direction of the pharisees ? A. She immediately revoked the decree of John Hyrcanus, whereby he had abolished their tra-
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