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1. But when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he
presently made an expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping
to find them destitute of fighting men, and of such as were able
to defend them. However, it was not till the sixth month that he
took Medaba, and that not without the greatest distress of his
army. After this he took Samega, and the neighboring places; and
besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the nation of the
Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that temple
which was at Jerusalem, and which Alexander permitted Sanballat,
the general of his army, to build for the sake of Manasseh, who
was son-in-law to Jaddua the high priest, as we have formerly
related; which temple was now deserted two hundred years after it
was built. Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea,
and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that
country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of
the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the
country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of
circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living;
at which time therefore this befell them, that they were
hereafter no other than Jews.
2. But Hyrcanus the high priest was desirous to renew that league
of friendship they had with the Romans. Accordingly, he sent an
embassage to them; and when the senate had received their
epistle, they made a league of friendship with them, after the
manner following: "Fanius, the son of Marcus, the praetor,
gathered the senate together on the eighth day before the Ides of
February, in the senate-house, when Lucius Manlius, the son of
Lucius, of the Mentine tribe, and Caius Sempronius, the son of
Caius, of the Falernian tribe, were present. The occasion was,
that the ambassadors sent by the people of the Jews Simon,
the son of Dositheus, and Apollonius, the son of Alexander, and
Diodorus, the son of Jason, who were good and virtuous men, had
somewhat to propose about that league of friendship and mutual
assistance which subsisted between them and the Romans, and about
other public affairs, who desired that Joppa, and the havens, and
Gazara, and the springs [of Jordan], and the several other cities
and countries of theirs, which Antiochus had taken from them in
the war, contrary to the decree of the senate, might be restored
to them; and that it might not be lawful for the king's troops to
pass through their country, and the countries of those that are
subject to them; and that what attempts Antiochus had made during
that war, without the decree of the senate, might be made void;
and that they would send ambassadors, who should take care that
restitution be made them of what Antiochus had taken from them,
and that they should make an estimate of the country that had
been laid waste in the war; and that they would grant them
letters of protection to the kings and free people, in order to
their quiet return home. It was therefore decreed, as to these
points, to renew their league of friendship and mutual assistance
with these good men, and who were sent by a good and a friendly
people." But as to the letters desired, their answer was, that
the senate would consult about that matter when their own affairs
would give them leave; and that they would endeavor, for the time
to come, that no like injury should be done to them; and that
their praetor Fanius should give them money out of the public
treasury to bear their expenses home. And thus did Fanius dismiss
the Jewish ambassadors, and gave them money out of the public
treasury; and gave the decree of the senate to those that were to
conduct them, and to take care that they should return home in
safety.
3. And thus stood the affairs of Hyrcanus the high priest. But as
for king Demetrius, who had a mind to make war against Hyrcanus,
there was no opportunity nor room for it, while both the Syrians
and the soldiers bare ill-will to him, because he was an ill man.
But when they had sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, who was called
Physcon, that he would send them one of the family at Seleueus,
in order to take the kingdom, and he had sent them Alexander, who
was called Zebina, with an army, and there had been a battle
between them, Demetrius was beaten in the fight, and fled to
Cleopatra his wife, to Ptolemais; but his wife would not receive
him. He went thence to Tyre, and was there caught; and when he
had suffered much from his enemies before his death, he was slain
by them. So Alexander took the kingdom, and made a league with
Hyrcanus, who yet, when he afterward fought with Antiochus the
son of Demetrius, who was called Grypus, was also beaten in the
fight, and slain.
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