father himself, escaping from Roman captivity, renewed civil war, with nothing but distress to the Jews. Presently, the Roman consul Crassus plundered all the treasures which Pompey had spared, and perished with the chief part of his army in an expedition against the Parthians. Tranquillity was chiefly restored through the energy and sagacity of an Edomite prince, Antipater, son-in-law to a powerful Arabian chieftain. Apparently he belonged to the part of Idumea which had accepted with circumcision the whole Mosaic ceremonial; so that he and his family passed as Jews. He had been a vehement and serviceable partizan of Hyrcanus and Pompey; but after civil war had divided the Romans and Pompey was murdered in Egypt, he quickly espoused the side of Cæsar, and rendered him signal service in a dangerous crisis. For this he was made prefect of Judæa, and conducted affairs cautiously through the terrible struggle which still convulsed the empire. His son is known to us as Herod the Great.

The ascent of Herod to power was singularly rapid. His father made him governor of Galilee when he was twenty-five years old. Sextus Cæsar, being temporarily in command, added to him the rule over Hollow Syria, B.C. 43. Driven out by the Parthians, who invaded Syria after their success against Crassus, he escaped to Rome. By large bribes he had previously won favor with Mark Antony, whose influence now gained for him the title, King of Judæa. But to turn the name into a fact, a new war was needed, and a new capture of unhappy Jerusalem. His actual reign is dated B.c. 37. Twenty years later he began to rebuild the temple magnificently. His reign was energetic but violent; to his wife and kinsfolk murderous. He rebuilt the town called the Tower of Straton and named the new city Cæsarea, in honor of Augustus Cæsar. It had a temple in Greek

fashion; but in his later years he cast off all pretence of Judaism, and brought in Roman customs. His death is computed to hav fallen in March, B.C. 4. It will be observed that, according to historians, the current reckoning of the Christian era is wrong by three years."

CHAPTER V.

JEWISH SECTS AND JUDAS GAULANITIS.

THE prophet Isaiah looked forward with joy to the time, when, under the righteous rule of a king from the root of Jesse, Ephraim would not envy Judah and Judah would not vex Ephraim. The head of Ephraim was Samaria, and the head of Judah was Jerusalem. But alas in five hundred years the enmity of these rivals did not come to an end. After the captivity of the ten tribes, miscellaneous Eastern colonists were planted in all the towns of Samaria, who never wholly accepted the religious law of Jerusalem. They ar mentioned in a contemptuous tone (2 Kings xvii. 32-41) as "fearing "Jehovah and serving graven images unto this day," probably full as late as Ezra. Even now no Samaritan can obtain a Jewess as his wife! They hav the Pentateuch in a character older than the square Chaldee type, and, it is believed, they do not accept any other writing as sacred. Circumcision did not suffice to unite them cordially with Jerusalem. Which was earlier to blame,

* As we admit no year of zero, the common chronology supposes Jesus to hav been born in B.C. 1, and to hav been one year old in A.D. 1. From B.C. x to A.D. y is not (x+y) years, but (x+y−1).

is unknown; but Samaria ill-endured subjection to Maccabean rule: we may conjecture that sufficient local freedom was denied to her. This system of centralization made other towns disaffected. She is said to hav preferred a Syrian master. Josephus narrates that (perhaps about B.C. 120) while two brothers, the VIIIth and IXth called Antiochus, were in long contest for the throne of Syria, a Jewish High Priest called Hyrcanus took the opportunity of revenge against Samaria for being the ally of Syria against Jerusalem. After a year's siege he not only captured the city (Antiq. xiii. 10, 3), but by diverting mountain torrents against the walls swept away all appearance that it had been fortified. Hereby the Samaritans were made more and more hostile, though the weaker party. Their town being in the high road from Upper Galilee to Jerusalem, they had opportunity to insult, vex and sometimes to murder; a crime which was imputed. Later, on the sacred day of Jerusalem, when the Holy Place was accessible to the multitude, Samaritans tumultuously rushed in and defiled it by throwing in dead men's bones. For this offence all Samaritans were excluded from the temple, and the Jews sought to avoid all needless dealings with them. When, through insurgency against Rome, banditti abounded in the land whom it was hard to distinguish from patriots, new opportunities arose to Samaritans for outbursts of vengeance and spite. Thus against the Romans the real force of Pan-Judæa was never united.

Among the Jews at large three religious sects were at this time reckoned: Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes. The Sadducees adhered to the old law and refused to accept the imported doctrins of future life and retribution, heaven and hell, genii or demons enthroned in the air and reigning over special nations, angels personally united to individuals (the Roman or Etruscan idea of

each man's special genius? Compare Matthew xviii. 10), demons possessing men's bodies, and other tenets which the Jews of that day had imbibed. Against the doctrin of life renewed to an individual after death they were able to argu, that it had been in very early days the established dogma in Egypt; that Moses, being well educated in Egyptian lore, cannot hav been unacquainted with it; therefore his total omission of it in the Law is a virtual protest against it as false. If he had believed it, such suppression would hav been guilt and cannot be imputed to him. They refused all attempts to soften the asperities of his law; hereby were accounted very severe as judges. Moreover, they ar spoken of as existing chiefly among the richer, perhaps the haughtier, part of the community,-a sacerdotal caste, virtually royalist.

The Pharisees were far more numerous and far more popular. To them, apparently, belonged the majority of the Doctors of the Law or Rabbis. To the multitude the Sadducees did not appear devout; but the Pharisees much more commanded their veneration. These diligently cultivated moral science (no doubt with frequent over-subtlety) and honored the maxims of deceased worthies, under the name of tradition. They largely adopted and systematized forein religious notions. Partly by tradition and partly by ingenious reasoning, they labored to adapt all the laws of the Pentateuch to the needs of the modern nation, and to soften down some of its very harsh punishments. We may conjecture from the apocryphal story in John viii., that they judged the punishments commanded by the law against female unchastity to be extreme and barbarous. Of course they could not avow this,-perhaps not even to themselves. A crooked ingenuity was their only practical resource, and such lawyer-like habit must somewhat pervert the

intellect. Nevertheless to this sect mainly were due such prosperity and goodness as prevailed in domestic life, and such just and mild administration as largely conduced to the public welfare.

The third sect, the Essenes, is far more peculiar. That any establishment of it existed at Jerusalem we ar not informed. There were many of them in Syria and in Egypt, as attested by Philo. Their number is estimated (in Judæa) at four hundred thousand. They were Jews, yet they had peculiarities as to ceremonial practices which forbad their admission to the altar in Jerusalem. They were like an Order in Christendom, with separate government and stringent laws; a Church within a Church. The basis of their Union was common property. For any one who wished to join them the first step was, to throw his private property into their general fund. From it each had his equal share of food and clothes, as brethren. There was no one centre for the Order, but special Establishments in many towns. Each member was at home in any of them, and partook of all things on a par with residents. Hence in travelling they needed no baggage, or wallet of provisions, no purse, no second coat, only arms for defence against robbers. Thus they were not absolute Quakers. Their costume was probably simple and uniform; it was of pure white like that of priests in Egypt, and many in Syria and Crete. Their food was equally simple. Virtue they placed in superiority to appetite and pleasure. On Marriage a majority of them looked down as a weakness; yet they zealously adopted the children of others. They eagerly studied ancient books concerning the Soul and the Body, Philosophy and Health. From Greek poets they imported a belief concerning the Isles of the Blessed, and other notions; from Plato or from the East, ideas concerning Spirit and Matter. Though scrupulously cleanly,