eader of the Jews."

XXVI.

_How the City of Gazara and the Citadel of Jerusalem Fell Into the
Hands of Simon_.

(Gazara is the city called in the Old Testament Gaza. It has recently
been excavated, and many ancient buildings have been dug up. One of
them is thought to be the palace which Simon built.)

In those days he encamped against Gazara, and compassed it round about
with armies; and he made an engine of siege, and brought it up to the
city, and smote a tower, and took it. And they that were in the engine
leaped forth into the city; and there was a great uproar in the {472}
city: and they of the city rent their clothes, and went up on the
walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice,
beseeching Simon to give them peace. And they said, "Deal not with us
according to our wickednesses, but according to thy mercy."

And Simon was reconciled unto them, and did not fight against them:
and he put them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein the
idols were, and so entered into it with singing and giving praise. And
he put all uncleanness out of it, and placed in it such men as would
keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built
therein a dwelling place for himself.

But they of the citadel in Jerusalem were hindered from going forth,
and from going into the country, and from buying and selling; and they
hungered exceedingly, and a great number of them perished through
famine. And they cried out to Simon, that he should give them peace;
and he gave it to them: and he put them out from thence, and he
cleansed the citadel from its pollutions. And he entered into it on
the three and twentieth day of the second month, in the hundred and
seventy and first year, with praise and palm branches, and with harps,
and with cymbals, and with viols, and with hymns, and with songs:
because a great enemy was destroyed out of Israel.

And he ordained that they should keep that day every year with
gladness. And the hill of the temple that was by the citadel he made
stronger than before, and there he dwelt, himself and his men. And
Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man, and he made him leader
of all his forces: and he dwelt in Gazara.

{473}{474}

[Illustration]
ASCALON, ON THE SHORE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.
From a photograph of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and used by
special permission.

Here was once an important city on the low sandy coast without a
ha