516 A SPORT VIEW Or 5CR(PTV$E HISTOI1Y. 4. Q. Did not Herod himself attend this siege ? A. Yes, but while the preparations were making for it he went to Sa- maria, and there married Mariamne, a lady of the family ofthe Maccabees or Asmoneans, the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus the second, a woman of great beauty and virtue, and admirable qua- lifications, hoping the Jews would more readily receive him for their king by this alliance; and having done this, he returned to the siege. 5. Q. Did he carry this place at last ? A. He took Jeru- salem by storm after six months hard and bloody service in the siege, at which the Romans, being enraged, ravaged the city with blood and plunder, notwithstanding all that Herod could do to prevent it ; and having taken king Antigonus there, and sent him to Antioch, Herod persuaded Mark Antony by a large bribe to put him to death. Note, Here ended the reign of the Asmoneans or Macca- bees, after that race had held the government one hundred and twenty years. During a great part of this time, as well as before, the various changes of these Jewish governors, or the interruption by heathen conquerors, filled the country of Judea with innumerable calamities and desolations, of which Jerusa- lem itself had a very large share, nor did theycease in the fol- lowing years. 6. Q. How did Herod begin his reign ? A. As he was forced to make his way to the kingdom through much blood, so he established himself by the same means, putting to death several of the partizans of Antigonus, and among them all the counsellors of the great sanhedrim, except Pollio who is called Hillel, and ,Sameas, who is called Shammei ; for both of them had encouraged the city to receive Herod ; though it was not out of love to him, but merely on this view, that it was in vain to resist him. . Note, This Hillel and Shammai were two very great and eminent teachers among the doctors of traditions in the Jewish schools. 7. Q. Who was made high-priest after the death of Anti- goons, who was both priest and king ? A. At first Herod made one Ananelus or Ananus high-priest, who was an obscure man, but of the house of Aaron, educated among the Jews afar off in Babylonia, and therefore not so likely to oppose any of Herod's designs in Judea. 8. Q. Did Ananelus continue in the high-priesthood ? A. Herod's beloved wife Mariamne and her mother, being of the race of the Maccabees, were ever teizing him to makeAristo- bulus, Mariamne's brother, a lad of seventeen years old, high- priest in Ananelus's room, to whom indeed it rather belonged as a heir male of that family : this he it last complied with against
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