51g A SHORT VIEW OP SCRIPTURE HISTORY. sister with the meanness of their parentage. So that between his excesses of love, and rage, and jealousy, he was so torment- ed, and so wrought upon by the artifices of his mother and sister Salome, that at las% he put his beloved Mariamne to death, under a pretence of an attempt to poison him, and he executed her mother too a little after the daughter for a real plot against his life. 15. Q. Did the death of Marianne relieve him from this tumult of passions ? A. By no means ; f'or now his love re- turned with violence, and his grief and vexation joined with other passions to render him a most miserable wretch, a torment to himself, and outrageous to all about him. 19. Q. What course of life did he follow afterward ? A. He grew more arbitrary and cruel in his government, he put -what persons he pleased into the high -priesthood, and turned them out again at pleasure : he made several innovations in the Iaws, customs, and religion 'of the Jews, and introduced specta- cles of wrestlers, of combats between wild beasts and criminals, &c. in conformity to the heathens; pretending it was all neces- sary to please Cursar : and this set the hearts of the Jews much more against him, who were very jealous of their religion and customs. Then thinking it needful for his defence, as well as for his grandeur and glory, he built several strongplaces and towers within and without Jerusalem, he raised temples in seve- ral cities, and dedicated them to Cursar who was his great friend ; and though sometimes he remitted part of the taxes, and did several beneficent actions to ingratiate himselfwith the people, it 'was all in vain, he could not obtain their love. 17. Q. What was his greatest .and most considerable at- tempt to please the people, and to perpetuate his own name ? A. He proposed to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem for it having now steed near five hundred years, and being so often injured, broken and repaired, he persuaded the people that a new one should be built with much more magnificence and glory. 18. Q. But could he .persuade the Jews to consent that their temple should be demolished, in order to rebuild it ? A. Not till he had assured them that the old temple should remain untouched till all materials were ready to build the new one, which he actually provided at vast expence and labour in two years time, by employing ten thousand- artificers for work, a thousand waggons for carriage, and a thousand priests for direction. 19. Q. Did he fulfil his promise in building this new tem: ple ? A. Yes, he performed the work with prodigious cost and splendour, as it is described by Josephus : it was built pf large stones, each twenty-five cubits long, twelve cubits broad, and eight in thickness, which the disciples desired our. Saviour to take notice of with wonder ; Mark xiii. 1, 2. The sanctuary, that.is,
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