mitted the guardianship of the young kings, the half brother, and the infant son of Alexander, was a man of great ambition, and very soon began to meditate important conquests. He first invaded Egypt, and then waged war against Ptolemy; but Ptolemy, having governed in Egypt with great wisdom and moderation, was beloved by the people, and even the Grecian soldiers in the army of Perdiccas were so unwilling to fight against him, that they revolted from their leader and put him to death, after which event all the Macedonians who invaded Egypt came over to the side of Ptolemy. This prince, now observing how convenient it would be for him to regain the possession of Phenicia and India, resolved to make himself master of these provinces, which having been assigned to Laomedon the Mitylenian, one of Alexander's captains, in the original division, and confirmed to him in the second partition made by Antipater, had remained in his undisturbed possession from the death of Alexander until this time. Ptolemy at first attempted to purchase them, and offered large sums for this purpose; but failing in these measures, he had recourse to war, and sent Nicanor with a fleet into Syria, while he invaded Phenicia. But while all the country beside yielded to her power, the Jews alone refused to submit, and, for some time, stood out against him; upon which Ptolemy marched against Judea, and besieged Jerusalem. The reason of their opposi tion was, a conscientious regard to the oath which they had taken to Laomedon. Jerusalem being by nature strong, and being also well fortified, might have resisted long, had not Ptolemy taken advantage of their too strict observance of their Sabbath, and chosen that day for a general assault. The place fell into his hands, because none of the Jews would, on the Sabbath, defend their walls against him. Josephus, indeed, gives a different account of this transaction, but he was probably induced to conceal the truth, for fear of the ridicule of the Greeks. And we know that until the time of Matthias, the Jews did consider it wrong to fight on the Sabbath.

When Ptolemy got possession of Jerusalem and Judea, he carried away one hundred thousand of the Jews to Egypt; but observing how faithful they were to those whom they served, he chose out thirty thousand of them, to govern those towns which it was most important to preserve. And having recently added Lybia and Cyrene to his dominions, he sent many of them to occupy that country. This was the origin of the Jewish colony, who long resided there, and who were numerous in the time of our Saviour, and long afterwards. Although the real power of the empire had been usurped by Alexander's generals, yet there was an agreement among them that Aridæus his half brother, should have the title of king, and Alexander, the son

of the conqueror by his wife Roxana, who was born after his father's death, was also joined with the former in the title of king, and many wars carried on by those in actual power, were professedly in the name of these kings; the first of whom was an idiot, and the other an infant. About this time Aridæus the king, having been carried into Macedonia, was there seized by Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, and put to death. After this, the infant Alexander only had the title of king; but almost all the time that he bore it, he was a prisoner, and it was not long before he also was put to death.

In the year 312 B. C., Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, having seized on Babylon, speedily and unexpectedly arose to great power; for, by his clemency, justice, and wisdom, he so conciliated the affections of those under his authority, that from being the most obscure, he became the greatest of Alexander's immediate successors. His name is introduced here, on account of a famous chronological era, called Seleucidæ, or the era of contracts, which was made use of all over the East, by Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans. The Jews gave it the name of the era of contracts, because while under the Syro-Macedonian kings, they were found to use it in all their contracts; and it grew so much into use, that for a thousand years after Christ, they knew no other method of computing their time. In the eleventh century they were driven from the East, and settled in Spain and in other countries in the West of Europe. The commencement of this era corresponds with 953 of the Julian period. The Arabs call it Tarikh Dhilkarnain, the era of the two-horned, by which they mean Alexander; whose coins were often impressed with a figure of two horns. In the books of the Maccabees, this era is called the era of the kingdom of the Greeks. It corresponds with the year 312 B. C.

During the incessant struggles which agitated the empire, Judea had passed out of the hands of Ptolemy into those of Antigonus, whose power in the East had become enormous. Ptolemy, however, again made himself master of the country, and sent his general to seize upon Upper Syria; but the sons of Antigonus defeated him. Upon which Antigonus joined his sons, and they marched against Ptolemy, who not being able to stand his ground, withdrew to Egypt, and all these countries fell again under the power of Antigonus. But many of the inhabitants of these regions were so much better pleased with his government than that of Antigonus, that they followed him into Egypt; and among the rest a great many Jews; which still increased the number of this people there. In Alexandria, which Ptolemy wished to make the capital of all Egypt, they had a particular quarter of the city assigned to them when it

was first built, the inhabitants of which now increased to many thousand families.

Among those who went with Ptolemy to Egypt, on this occasion, was a man eminent for his wisdom and virtues, by the name of Hezekias, of the sacerdotal race. Hecatæus the historian, who accompanied Ptolemy on this expedition, makes particular mention of him, as a man not only of great prudence, but of great eloquence. He, moreover, says, that from him he learned the religion, policy, and manners of the Jews, which, he observed, Hezekias had with him, written in a book. This, doubtless, was no other than the Law of Moses. And from his acquaintance with this person, no doubt, it was, that he entertained so favourable an opinion of the Jews and their religion.

This Hecatæus composed a history of the Jews, from Abraham down to his own time; the materials for which, he probably derived from Hezekias. This led a heathen writer, in the time of Trajan, as Origen informs us, to doubt whether Hecatæus ever wrote the history; for he supposed, either that it was written by some Jew, under the name of Hecatæus, or that if he was the true author, he must have been converted to the Jewish religion. Hecatæus was a native of Abdera, a Grecian city of Thrace, memorable as the birth-place of several other great men. He was brought up with Alexander, followed him in all his wars, and lived with him in Egypt, where he became acquainted with the history, religion, and customs of the Jews. The book is no longer extant, but Josephus gives several extracts from it, in his first book against Apion. This man must not be confounded with another historian, by the same name, who lived in the time of Darius Hystaspes. Josephus informs us of another Jew, who, about this time, followed Ptolemy, and enlisted in his cavalry. His name was Mosollam. And from Hecatæus he gives us the following anecdote of him. "As I was travelling towards the Red Sea, there was a certain man in company, called Mosollom, who excelled all the Greeks. and barbarians of his time in archery. While several of us were travelling on together, a certain soothsayer undertook to foretell the fortunes of our journey. He bade us all stand still; on which the Jew asked why we stood. Look ye,' answered he, throwing him a bird. If that bird stands, ye are to stand. If he rises and flies, ye must go forward; but if he flies the contrary way, ye must all go back. Upon which the Jew without speaking a word lets fly an arrow and kills the bird: at which the diviner and some others expressed great indignation. Are ye not all mad, said the Jew, to make so much ado about a foolish bird? How could that poor creature show us our fortune, who knows so little of his own?""

The Arabs of the desert were, in those times, of the same

character as now. They had their stations in the recesses of the wilderness, but their occupation was that of robbers. The Nabathean tribe had Petra for their chief residence. The Hebrews called it Selah, the Arabs Hagar, all which names. signify, a rock. Antigonus sent an army against them under Athenæus, who came upon Petra, when the men were all out on a predatory expedition, and carried away the women and children; but the Arabs soon returning, pursued after him, and came upon him in the dead of night, and slew all of them, except about fifty horsemen, and recovered all that had been taken from them.

Antigonus, next, sent Demetrius to take signal vengeance on these robbers; but they had early intelligence of it, and leaving a strong garrison in Petra, the rest of them took their wives, children, and friends, and buried themselves in the recesses of the wilderness. Demetrius finding it in vain to contend with such a people, offered them favourable terms of peace, and returned. In his return, it is mentioned, that after travelling thirty-six miles from Petra, he came to the lake Asphaltites, called also, the Sea of Sodom, because Sodom once stood there; and, the Dead Sea, because of the heavy, stagnant nature of its waters; and in the Scriptures, the Salt Sea, on account of its great saltness. Demetrius, observing the vast quantities of bitumen formed here, suggested to Antigonus the advantage which might result to his revenue, if he would send proper persons to gather it up. With this hint, Antigonus was pleased, and accordingly sent workmen to collect the bitumen; but when they had succeeded in getting it together, the Arabs, to the number of six thousand, fell upon them, and either slew or drove them away.

Antigonus, hearing of the rising power of Seleucus at Babylon, sent his son Demetrius to subdue that place; but although successful at first, he was ultimately baffled in his design, and Seleucus retained his power undiminished.

In this year, (318 B. C.) a treaty of peace took place, between the contending powers; according to which, it was agreed, that Lysimachus should have Thrace; Ptolemy, Egypt, Lybia, and Arabia; Antigonus, all Asia. But this compact was of short duration. The increasing power of Antigonus filled the others with continual alarm, and they set about measures to curtail it, which brought on new wars.

The philosopher, Epicurus, began this year (312 B. C.) to disseminate his pestiferous doctrine. He first taught at Mytilene, in the island of Lesbos, and afterwards, at Lampsacus, and the Hellespont; and finally, at Athens, of which city he was a native. Here he kept his school, in a garden, from the thirty-seventh to the sixty-third year of his age, when he died.

The sum and substance of his doctrine was, that all things exist and take place by chance. He did not deny the being of God, but held that he lived at his ease, having nothing to do either with the creation or government of the world. He taught that this world was man's all; and, therefore he was wisest who sought and attained the greatest share of earthly pleasure; but, at the same time, he taught, that this end was most certainly attained by a life of temperance and virtue.

While the power of Antigonus was rising so high in the west of Asia, that of Seleucus was extending itself still more rapidly beyond the Euphrates; so that it now reached the Indus on the East, and he began to invade the territories of Antigonus, to the West. This brought on war again between these great powers. And while Antigonus was called to the defence of his dominions against Seleucus, Ptolemy thought it a good opportunity for recovering Syria and Palestine. This he soon

accomplished, with the exception of Tyre and Sidon, which being well garrisoned, were able to hold out against him. This return of Judea under the dominion of Ptolemy, occurred in the year 301 B. C. In this same year, the armies of Antigonus and Seleucus came to a battle, in Phrygia in which Antigonus, then above fourscore, was slain, and his army entirely defeated. This was the period at which that fourfold dominion of Alexander's empire, mentioned before, took place. The other competitors were now out of the way, the nominal kings, as well as almost all Alexander's kindred, being dead. Ptolemy now took undisputed possession of Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine. Lysimachus took Thrace, Bithynia, and some other provinces along the Hellespont; Cassander, Macedon and Greece; and Seleucus all the rest of Asia.

This division of the empire, into four great kingdoms, did not take place until about twenty-two years after the death of Alexander. These were the four horns of "the he-goat" which came up in the place of "the great horn;" the four heads of the leopard; and the four kingdoms, into which the kingdom of the mighty should be broken and divided towards the four winds of heaven, who should not be of his posterity.

SECTION VI.

THE ACCESSION OF SIMON THE JUST-MEGASTHENES, HISTORIAN OF INDIA-BUILDING OF SELEUCIA-DESTRUCTION AND DESOLATION OF BABYLON-DEATH OF SIMON.

IN the year 300 B. C. died Onias the high-priest of the Jews. He was succeeded by his son Simon, surnamed the Just, on account of the holiness of his life, and the strict justice which marked all his actions. He was the first of that name who was