yrcanus, quarrelling about
the succession to the Jewish throne. The republic of Rome, having
trampled under foot the pride and strength of the great Asiatic
monarchies, assumed a right of interfering in the affairs of every
independent kingdom. The ambassadors of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus
appeared before Pompey, who was then in Syria and was at the zenith of
his power. After subjugating Arabia, Pompey, in 63 B.C., marched
directly into Judaea. Espousing the candidature of Hyrcanus, Pompey
marched against Jerusalem, within the walls of which he was admitted by
the party of Hyrcanus. Aristobulus and his supporters, with the
priesthood, withdrew to the Temple and prepared for an obstinate
defence. At the end of three months, and after great loss of life, the
Romans made themselves masters of the Temple. "The conduct of the Roman
General excited at once the horror and the admiration of the Jews. He
entered the Temple, and even penetrated and profaned with his heathen
presence the Holy of Holies. All the riches he left untouched, and the
Temple he commanded to be purified from the carnage of his soldiers."[4]
He stipulated the tribute which the country was to pay, demolished the
walls of the city, and nominated Hyrcanus to the priesthood, though
without the royal diadem. The magnanimity of Pompey, in respecting the
Treasures of the Temple, could not obliterate the deeper impression of
Jewish hatred excited by his profanation of the sacred precincts.

From this time forward Judaea becomes more and more under the shadow of
Rome. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Antipater, and later, the
Temple, which had become much dilapidated, was demolished, and rebuilt
in great magnificence by Herod the Great. He was the last King of Judaea
with any semblance of autonomy, and, in the year A.D. 6, Palestine was
annexed to the Roman Empire.

We pass over the incidents in the Life and death of our Lord, which, at
the time, could have but little affected current events, but which were
destined to influence so deeply the subsequent history, not merely of
Palestine but of the whole world. And we come to the cataclysm of which
Our Lord had been the sorrowful yet unerring Prophet.

Blinded by religious fanaticism, and convinced that God must fight upon
their side and give victory to His chosen people, be their conduct never
so cruel and their bearing never so arrogant, the Jewish race, though a
mere handful of men, offered war to the mistre