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1. Now Alexander left the kingdom to Alexandra his wife, and
depended upon it that the Jews would now very readily submit to
her, because she had been very averse to such cruelty as he had
treated them with, and had opposed his violation of their laws,
and had thereby got the good-will of the people. Nor was he
mistaken as to his expectations; for this woman kept the
dominion, by the opinion that the people had of her piety; for
she chiefly studied the ancient customs of her country, and cast
those men out of the government that offended against their holy
laws. And as she had two sons by Alexander, she made Hyrcanus the
elder high priest, on account of his age, as also, besides that,
on account of his inactive temper, no way disposing him to
disturb the public. But she retained the younger, Aristobulus,
with her as a private person, by reason of the warmth of his
temper.
2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her
in the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews that
appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws
more accurately. low Alexandra hearkened to them to an
extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety
towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves
into her favor by little and little, and became themselves the
real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and
reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their
pleasure; and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of
the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of
it belonged to Alexandra. She was a sagacious woman in the
management of great affairs, and intent always upon gathering
soldiers together; so that she increased the army the one half,
and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own nation
became not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to
foreign potentates, while she governed other people, and the
Pharisees governed her.
3. Accordingly, they themselves slew Diogenes, a person of
figure, and one that had been a friend to Alexander; and accused
him as having assisted the king with his advice, for crucifying
the eight hundred men [before mentioned.] They also prevailed
with Alexandra to put to death the rest of those who had
irritated him against them. Now she was so superstitious as to
comply with their desires, and accordingly they slew whom they
pleased themselves. But the principal of those that were in
danger fled to Aristobulus, who persuaded his mother to spare the
men on account of their dignity, but to expel them out of the
city, unless she took them to be innocent; so they were suffered
to go unpunished, and were dispersed all over the country. But
when Alexandra sent out her army to Damascus, under pretense that
Ptolemy was always oppressing that city, she got possession of
it; nor did it make any considerable resistance. She also
prevailed with Tigranes, king of Armenia, who lay with his troops
about Ptolemais, and besieged Cleopatra, by agreements and
presents, to go away. Accordingly, Tigranes soon arose from the
siege, by reason of those domestic tumults which happened upon
Lucullus's expedition into Armenia.
4. In the mean time, Alexandra fell sick, and Aristobulus, her
younger son, took hold of this opportunity, with his domestics,
of which he had a great many, who were all of them his friends,
on account of the warmth of their youth, and got possession of
all the fortresses. He also used the sums of money he found in
them to get together a number of mercenary soldiers, and made
himself king; and besides this, upon Hyrcanus's complaint to his
mother, she compassionated his case, and put Aristobulus's wife
and sons under restraint in Antonia, which was a fortress that
joined to the north part of the temple. It was, as I have already
said, of old called the Citadel; but afterwards got the name of
Antonia, when Antony was [lord of the East], just as the other
cities, Sebaste and Agrippias, had their names changed, and these
given them from Sebastus and Agrippa. But Alexandra died before
she could punish Aristobulus for his disinheriting his brother,
after she had reigned nine years.
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