and Matthias, those teachers of the laws." The loudness and openness of their grief is therefore no proof of the freshness of the event for which it was displayed. It was enough that the cause of it was popular, and whether it had happened one or two years before, the policy which dictated the appearance of grief at all would dictate also the appearance of sincerity-the loudness and openness with which it was testified. No certain inference then can be drawn as to the recent occurrence of the execution of the Rabbis even from that very passage which Lardner has produced as a direct proof of the truth of his assertion.

Thus have I endeavoured to shew that the objections by which Lardner and others have laboured to prove the impossibility of Herod's living for any length of time beyond the 13th of March, J. P. 4710, are at least not perfectly conclusive.

But at any rate, whether these objections be valid or no, Lardner seems to think it unnecessary, and therefore improper, to extend the duration of Herod's life beyond the passover J. P. 4710, because there is a sufficient space of time between

* Οι νεωτερισταὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ Ματθίαν ἐξηγητὰς τῶν νόμων ὀδυρόμενοι κ. τ. έ. Antiq. Jud. lib. xvii. cap. 11. p. 602. C.

the execution of the Rabbis and that passover for all the circumstances which Josephus has mentioned concerning Herod's illness, death and burial, the execution of Antipater, and the coming of Archelaus to Jerusalem to take possession.

Now we seem already and undeniably to have shewn from the testimony of Josephus himself, that Herod must have lived till the month of June at least in J.P. 4710. The only legitimate method of vitiating that conclusion would therefore be, by proving also from Josephus himself that the events he has mentioned between the execution of the Rabbis and the succession of Archelaus could not possibly have occupied a larger space of time than is contained between March 13th and April 11th, J. P. 4710. So far however is this from being the case, that upon a careful examination I do really conceive so short a space of time not to be sufficient for the occurrence of all the particulars detailed by Josephus.

In supporting my ideas upon this point I have no arguments of Lardner previously to refute, for he has advanced nothing but his own bare assertion, and entered into no calculation of the time requisite for the performance of each circumstance; which is the more remarkable as the truth of his opinion depends altogether upon his correctness

in this particular. It will only therefore be requisite for me to state what these circumstances were,—the order in which they occurred,—and the time requisite for the performance of each, in order to give every one a fair opportunity of judging which opinion is entitled to most credit.

Between the execution of the Rabbis on the 13th of March and the passover on the 11th of April, J. P. 4710 there are 28 days complete, and on the 29th the passover took place. These four weeks will, I think, be much more than swallowed up by the following events.

After the execution of the Rabbis, Josephus states that Herod's disease assumed a more serious

с

Antiq. Jud. lib. xvii. cap. 8, 9, 10, 11. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 21. lib. ii. cap. 1,

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d I have marked the word "after" in italics, in order to meet by an express contradiction the bold manœuvre of Allix, contending like Lardner, that Herod died u. c. 750, (which it will afterwards appear I do not deny,) but decidedly differing from him in supposing that the various circumstances which I have enumerated in the text could have taken place in so short a space of time as that which intervened between the 13th of March and the 11th of April; Allix takes upon him to assert that some of the most important of these circumstances took place before the execution of the Rabbis on the 13th of March. "Ante illud supplicium Herodes pene moriens ad aquas calidas a Medicis deducitur Callirhoen ultra Jordanum. Cum aquas non posset ferre ipsius infirmum corpus, illum oleo immergunt; quo facto pene animum exhalat. Desperata

C

aspect, that he called in physicians, and followed their various prescriptions, that at length they recommended him to try the warm baths at Callirhoe,-that in consequence Herod went thither, but reaped little or no benefit,—that as a last experiment he was bathed in warm oil, which had nearly proved fatal, and that he then returned to Jericho, with no hopes of recovery, and in a melancholy state both of body and mind. After his return to Jericho, Josephus proceeds to inform us, that Herod, knowing the hatred which was borne to him by the Jews, sent for the principal men from all parts of Judea, and left orders with his sister Salome that they should be put to death as soon as he himself should breathe his last, and thus make a compulsory mourning amongst his subjects at his decease. After these men had arrived in obedience to his orders, Herod

Desperata salute Hierichuntem reducitur, p. 81, 82. Again p. 94, he treats the objection deduced from the impossibility of so many events occurring in so short a space of time, as if it were founded upon a fallacy, "Peccat in eo objectio quod supponat hæc omnia gesta a die 13 Martii, anni 42 Juliani, (J. P. 4710) quod non necessariò supponendum est; verum consequentia rerum, quæ exceperunt mortem Herodis, ne quidem patiuntur ut dubitemus quin hæc gesta sunt ab initio Januarii ad tempus Paschatis anni Jul. 42." To this arbitrary and unsupported assumption I can only reply that it is altogether contradicted by the words and the tenor of the narrative of Josephus. To be convinced of this it is only necessary to read the 8th chap. of the 17th book of his "Antiquities," or the 21st chap. of the 1st book of his "Jewish War."

received letters from his ambassadors giving him the power of putting his son Antipater to death. This intelligence at first revived his spirits, but he soon again fell into a state of despondency and endeavoured to put an end to his own life. Anti

pater understanding he had succeeded in his attempt, offered a bribe to his keeper for his release, which being repeated to Herod, he ordered him to be immediately executed. Five days after the death of Antipater, Herod himself died at Jericho, and was carried 200 furlongs to Herodium and there buried with great magnificence. His son and successor Archelaus mourned for him 7 days, and then, having first given the customary entertainment to the people, went up to the temple of Jerusalem. Here a violent sedition arose, which as the passover was at hand might perhaps have become dangerous from the vast multitudes then assembled. Archelaus therefore, thought it right at once to quell it by force, and compelled every one to leave the feast. He then set off for Rome.

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From this summary of events the following calculations may be made.

I. Archelaus having buried his Father at Herodium mourned for him 7 days, and then having given a very expensive funeral feast to the multitude he went up to the temple of Jerusalem