Chapter VI

Summary

The Idumæan dynasty was on the ascendant, the Asmonæan on the decline; yet the people still turned to the remaining scions of their native princes, with such constancy and affection, that Herod, though politically triumphant, felt that his claim to Judea would not be recognised by the multitudes, unless he associated with him, one whose pure Asmonæan blood, enhanced by her engaging youth, and extraordinary beauty, would win for him yet more strongly than his own power, the suffrages of the whole people of Judea.

In the person of the hapless Mariamne was represented, not the Asmonæan line alone, but the claims of both brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Alexander, the son of the latter, married Alexandra, the daughter of the former: and their children, in consequence, inherited the claims and right of both. But this was no longer the age for legal succession, or the recognition of native sovereigns. The people, indeed, still clung to the laws and prejudices of their fathers; and still loved the descendants of those valiant men who had once saved them from oppression—but Judea was no longer a kingdom—the Jews no longer a people. The divisions between brother and brother, had opened a path to the all-conquering Romans.