suffered greatly, from the time that Cyrus removed the mounds which restrained the waters of the Euphrates in their channel. A third was a survey of the Caspian sea. But when unoccupied with his wars, he gave himself up to luxury, especially to hard drinking, in which he would often spend whole days and nights; until, at length, he brought on a fever by his excesses> which in a few days, put an end to his life, at Babylon.

138. The death of Alexander occurred, in the first year of the 146th olympiad, (323 B. C.) As is very common, in regard to the end of great princes, his death was attributed to poison, and this report was not only current, but fully believed among the Macedonians: and to give plausibility to the story, a great niany particular circumstances, as to the manner in which the poison was concealed and administered, were circulated.

139. After the death of Alexander, great confusion ensued, about the succession. But eventually the supreme authority was divided among his four principal generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. Cassander had for his allotment, Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, Thrace, and those parts of Asia which lay along the Hellespont and Bosphorus; Ptolemy, Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, and Syria; and Seleucus all the rest.

Thus the prophecy of Daniel (c. vii. viii.) respecting the breaking of the horn of "the he-goat," was most exactly and wonderfully verified. The words of the prophet are, "Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and for it came up four notable ones," taken in connexion with the interpretation, given to Daniel, by the angel. "The ram which thou sawest having two horns,

are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn between his eyes, is the first king. Now, that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." The same events are predicted in c. vii. 5. 6., under a different prophetical emblem. “After that I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl: the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.”,

CHAPTER V.

THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS, DURING THE TIME OF THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, TO THE DEATH OF ONIAS THE HIGH PRIEST.

140. INCESSANT wars were carried on between these generals, to give an account of which, is not consistent with our plan, except so far as they are connected with the fortunes of the Jewish people.

141. Perdiccas, who was left in Babylon, and to whom was committed 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.

142. 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 out against Judea, and besieged Jerusalem. The reason of their opposition 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 upon the Sabbath.

143. When Ptolemy got possession of Jerusalem and Judea, he carried away one hundred thousand of the Jews to Eygpt; 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.

144. 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 their 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 scized 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.

145. 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 exact obscure, he became the greatest of Alexander's immediate successors. His name is introduced here, on account of a famous chronological era, called Seleuicdo, 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 SyroMacedonian 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