From the decayed Syrian kingdom, whose king, Demetrius, was languishing
in imprisonment in Parthia, the Jewish people had no serious danger to
fear. So Simon, as prince and high priest, ruled the land wisely and
justly for several years. He restored the national religion everywhere,
had coins struck with his name, and took suitable measures for the
welfare and the safety of the people. And when Antiochus, the brother
of the imprisoned king, demanded again the tribute to which Demetrius
had relinquished claim, and took the field upon Simon’s refusal,
John, the son of Simon, who had been appointed general by his father,
inflicted a defeat upon the Syrian army at Ashdod. (139 B.C.)
[Illustration: JEWISH TOMB, JUDEA]
Now Simon ruled like a second David over the liberated land. The
Jewish people in solemn assembly named him “Commander-in-chief and
unimpeachable prince of the nation, with the right of conferring all
the dignities and offices in the kingdom and of forever exercising
supervision over sacred affairs,” and a record of this plebiscite was
set up in the sanctuary. Simon strengthened the alliance with Rome,
promoted agriculture and commerce, and honoured justice and the fear of
God.
Simon sought the best interests of his people, “as that evermore
his authority and honour pleased them well,” says the first Book of
Maccabees. (xiv. 4, etc.) “Then did they till their ground in peace,
and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their
fruit. The ancient men sat all in the streets, communicating together
of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel.
He provided victuals for the cities, and set in them all manner of
munition, so that his honourable name was renowned unto the end of
the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great
joy. For every man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was
none to fray them. Neither was there any left in the land to fight
against them; yea, the kings were overthrown in those days. Moreover,
he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low; the
law he searched out, and every contemner of the law he took away. He
beautified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the temple.”
[Sidenote: [135-126 B.C.]]
But Simon’s end was not to be so happy as David’s. His son-in-law,
Ptolemæus, whom he had placed in command of the plain of Jericho, was
ambitious for the supreme authority. So he invited the high priest
with his two sons, Mattathias and Judas, to his house, and slew
them at a banquet. This crime, however, brought its perpetrator no
advantage. Simon’s son John, surnamed Hyrcanus, escaped the snares of
his brother-in-law, and after killing the murderers sent against him,
quickly took possession of Jerusalem and the high-priesthood, and after
a long siege, took Jericho. Ptolemæus, however, after murdering the
imprisoned mother and two brothers of the Maccabæan, saved himself by
flight across the Jordan.
Afterwards John concluded a favourable treaty with Antiochus, by which
for a moderate tribute and the pledge of military service, he was
confirmed in his ancestral dignity and position. With the sums that he
took from David’s rifled tomb, John enlisted an army of mercenaries,
with which he completed the liberation of the land, extended the
bounds of his state on all sides, subjugated Samaria and Galilee, and
forced the Idumæans (Edomites) either to accept the Jewish law and be
circumcised, or to emigrate.
King Antiochus fell in battle against the Parthians. Against his
brother Demetrius, who was released from imprisonment, John protected
himself by renewed alliance with the Romans, who now in their
accustomed manner held out their protecting hand over the little people
on Lebanon until the hour came when they could devour it along with the
great state against which they had protected it. (128-126 B.C.)
A consequence of this alliance with Rome was that the Jewish nation
once more enjoyed a happy period before its fall. The nearly thirty
years’ reign of John Hyrcanus was a period of external peace and
internal well-being, when the Jew lived free and unhindered according
to the laws of their theocracy, and brought the “holy state” to its
full development. Only internal quarrels, caused by the sectarian
hatred of the schools and religious parties, and by the race jealousy
and pride of orthodoxy with which the Jews looked down upon the
Samaritans and Galileans, disturbed the harmony of their relations.
THE WARRING SECTS
[Sidenote: [126-108 B.C.]]
When the worship of Jehovah was restored to its rights and external
religious pressure ceased, the place of the former sects, the
heathenising Hellenists and the orthodox Chasidees (Assideans),
was taken by the Sadducees and Pharisees, two schools of religious
brotherhoods which followed the same tendencies, only with less
roughness and without violent means of conversion. The Sadducees, named
after their founder Zadok, made the attempt “in teaching and precept to
amalgamate the Greek wisdom of the time with the Jewish nature, not in
order to destroy the latter, but to uplift and advance it.” Consisting
of the wealthier and more aristocratic part of the people, they aimed
at greater freedom in life and thought, put a less strict construction
upon the Mosaic Law and tried to bring it more into harmony with Greek
customs, teachings, and mode of thought. Under the influence of Greek
philosophy they took the ground that there is no higher fate which
unalterably predestines all human affairs, and especially that God
neither does evil nor controls it; that good and evil, human weal and
woe, depend solely upon man’s own choice, and upon his knowledge or his
ignorance. A further step brought them to the denial of immortality
and eternal reward, as well as of the actual existence of angels and
spirits.
In contrast to the Sadducees were the Pharisees (_i.e._, “the
particular”), who claimed to be distinguished from others by their
greater piety. They originated in the ranks of the Chasidees (“the
pious”), and held strictly to the law and the prophets. But they
regarded with greatest care and solicitude the letter and the wording
of the law, and thus through arbitrary and forced interpretation,
they produced a great mass of directions, commandments, and petty
definitions of external sanctimoniousness, upon the observation of
which they set great value. In this way they fell into hypocrisy and
mock holiness.
Acting on the principle: “Build a fence about the law,” they saw in
the restriction and limitation of action a sign of orthodox piety.
“Driven by ambition, and more or less consciously indulging their own
selfishness, the Pharisees made piety a kind of trade, in order by
it to gain permanent power.” They wore certain signs, _e.g._, little
rolls on arm or neck inscribed with words from the sacred law; and they
sought by the “appearance of piety” to draw the people to them. “Living
poor in the sight of the world, many of them, nevertheless, did not
despise the treasures and pleasures of the world.”
A third sect, called the Essenes or Essees, like the Pharisees
descended from the Chasidees, believed God was best served and
their own salvation promoted by separation from the world and its
indulgences, by the curbing of all passions and lusts, by abstinence
from wine, meat, and oil, and by pious penances and common devotion.
They dwelt in groups on the west side of the Dead Sea, carried on
agriculture, cattle raising, and innocent, peaceful occupations.
As the individuals renounced private property, they brought both
possessions and profits together into a common treasury for common
use. All members of the order wore the same garb; only a few believed
in marriage. As overseers of the poor and physicians, they earned the
gratitude of mankind. “Their external forms, their division into three
successive, strictly separated degrees, their admission and strict
investigation of pupils, with the vow of secrecy, their solemn oath
upon reception into the last degree with the requirement henceforth to
refuse all oaths--many of these things may appear to be copied from
the Pythagoræan societies; but after all that would only be something
chance and unimportant beside the nature of their efforts themselves.
At all events, they are the noblest and most remarkable product that
ancient religion brought forth without attempting to go beyond itself.”
Related to the Essees, only a “refinement and improvement” of them,
were the Egyptian Therapeutæ, of whom the Jewish-Alexandrian author
Philo gives an enthusiastic description. As among the former, we find
among the latter also “community of life and labour in deserts, close
conformity to Holy Scriptures and allegorical interpretation of them.
But the common labour becomes here merely a common spiritual exercise
in the true fear of God and veneration of the great lawgiver Moses in
contemplative rest.” The Therapeutæ lived in small companies about a
house of prayer, but on Sabbaths and feast days they united for greater
services. Their principal seat and place of assembly was in the desert
by Lake Mareotis west of Alexandria. Women were also received in the
order, “at the meetings modestly taking their places beside the ranks
of men. Besides the expounding of the sacred books and edification out
of them, prayers and fasting were their daily business, with bread,
salt, and hyssop as the most suitable nourishment. Moreover the actual
spiritual exercises readily rose to new and characteristic songs and
poetic creations of various kinds.” The “Book of Wisdom” appears to be
one of the finest fruits of this spiritual tendency.
[Sidenote: [108-65 B.C.]]
The Maccabæan family, which had showed itself so great in time of
need and distress, degenerated in good fortune. Before his death John
Hyrcanus bestowed the secular princely dignity upon his wife, while
the high-priesthood went by right of inheritance to his eldest son
Aristobulus. Hardly had the latter taken possession of his office,
however, when he assumed the title of King, imprisoned his mother and
let her starve to death. He also kept three of his brothers in durance;
the fourth, Antigonus, fell a victim of a court cabal before his very
eyes. These deeds, however, awakened the conscience of the royal high
priest, who was not without feeling, and so tormented him that he died
the very next year. (108 B.C.)
His brother Alexander Jannæus now stepped from the cell to the throne.
He was a rough man, who took pleasure only in women, wine, and arms,
and began his reign with the murder of one of his brothers. He was
brave and warlike, and during the twenty-seven years of his reign
extended the boundaries of the kingdom to the south. The Pharisees,
however, who were angered with him for his preference for Hellenistic
manners, aroused the people against him. At the Feast of Tabernacles,
while sacrificing at the altar as high priest, he was pelted with
citrons. Enraged at this disgrace, the violent man had six thousand of
the people apprehended and killed by his mercenaries.
This hasty deed was to bear evil fruits for him. On a campaign against
the Arabians he lost the greater part of his army through an ambush.
When he returned to the capital a fugitive, the Pharisees stirred up
the people to civil war, raised troops, and called on the king of Syria
for aid. Alexander Jannæus was defeated and for a long time wandered
about helpless in forest and mountains. But after a while he again got
together a mixed force of Jews and mercenaries, gained a victory over
his enemies, and returned to Jerusalem. Here, while celebrating the
most voluptuous feasts, he had eight hundred crucified and their wives
and children slaughtered before their eyes. By these bloody deeds he
inspired such terror in his opponents that they thenceforth attempted
no further resistance. He could now follow his lust of conquest
unhindered. And his arms were in fact so victorious beyond Jordan that
at his death the Jewish kingdom had almost the extent it had in the
days of David. (79 B.C.)
Jannæus’ widow, Alexandra, a wise and determined woman, by the advice
of her late husband, attached herself to the Pharisees and thus
obtained a quiet reign, her son Hyrcanus occupying the high priest’s
office. She defended the conquered lands, and in spite of an army of
foreign mercenaries, had a full treasury. But scarcely had she closed
her eyes when her son Aristobulus, at the head of the persecuted
Sadducees, raised the banner of revolt, was victorious in battle, and
compelled his brother to abdicate in his favour the high priestly
dignity together with the royal power. (70 B.C.) But after some time
Hyrcanus, at the suggestion of the sly and enterprising Idumæan,
Antipater, escaped from Jerusalem and with the aid of several Arabian
chiefs began war against his brother.
ANTIPATER
[Sidenote: [65-47 B.C.]]
This gave the Romans, before whose tribunal the quarrelling Asmonæans
brought their case for decision, an occasion for intervention. Pompey,
whom Aristobulus, by the costly gift of a golden vine had tried in
vain to gain for his side, demanded the surrender of all fortresses,
including the capital. And when the royal high priest hesitated and
made preparations for war, he had him imprisoned, and took Jerusalem
by storm after a three months’ siege. (63 B.C.) Then he appointed
Hyrcanus high priest and prince of the nation (ethnarch) without the
royal title, imposed upon him annual tribute to the Romans, demolished
the walls of Jerusalem and the principal fortress of the land, and
narrowed the boundaries of Judea. Samaria became independent, Galilee
was attached to the viceregency of Syria. Pompey’s curiosity led him
to enter the Holy of Holies, but he refrained from all violation or
spoliation. Aristobulus and his two sons followed the general to Rome
to adorn his triumph. After a while the elder son Alexander, and
soon afterward, the father also made their escape. They returned to
Palestine and raised a new war, but both were captured again. Alexander
was beheaded at Antioch; Aristobulus was put out of the way in Rome
itself, probably by poison, but was buried at Jerusalem with royal
honours.
[Sidenote: [47-40 B.C.]]
During these events the brave and shrewd Idumæan Antipater had rendered
the Romans great services, thus winning the favour of all the generals
from Pompey to Cæsar. They transferred to him the entire secular
authority over Judea, together with Galilee and Samaria, while Hyrcanus
the high priest was restricted to the guidance of religious affairs.
Through him the Jews were granted the right to live in accordance with
the laws of their fathers, were freed from all burdens of war and the
tribute was put upon a just and moderate basis. By these services
Antipater won the love of the Jews in such a degree that he could rule
in the land like a king, even though he did not bear that title.[b]
With Weber’s theory that Antipater was popular, George Smith does not
agree. But we shall turn from Antipater to note the rise of that dark
name in Jewish chronicle, King Herod.
Antipater carefully conformed to the views of Cæsar in arranging the
affairs of Judea. He raised again the walls of Jerusalem, journeyed
through the country, used every means to repress the lawlessness and
disorder which the late troubles had engendered, and, by alternate
persuasion and power, reduced the people to obedience. To carry out
this plan, he made his eldest son, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem,
and his second, Herod, governor of Galilee. The latter was a young
man of extraordinary talent and spirit. He devoted himself with great
ability to the difficult duty which devolved upon him. Galilee was at
this time greatly infested with bands of robbers: Herod sought them
out, and all that fell into his hands he put to death, even including
Hezekiah, their leader. The government of Antipater and his sons was
not popular with the Jewish people; for all saw that, although Hyrcanus
was the nominal head, restored by Pompey, the Idumæan was really
the chief. This was unpalatable: the people preferred Aristobulus.
When, therefore, Herod was found acting in this decisive manner, he
was summoned before the sanhedrim, to answer the charge of having
arbitrarily exercised the power of life and death. The young man, under
the advice of his father, appeared in their court, bearing with him a
letter from the prefect of Syria, charging Hyrcanus, the president of
the sanhedrim, to protect him. He presented himself, however, more like
a prince than a criminal. He was attired in purple, with hair neatly
dressed, and surrounded with his guards. This appearance confounded the
Jewish elders. Even those who had preferred the charge against Herod
did not now dare to repeat it, and he was thus virtually acquitted;
when Sameas arose, and, protesting at length against their cowardice,
affirmed, that if they thus spared Herod, the time would come when he
would not spare them. This roused the assembly; but Hyrcanus adjourned
the business, and then advised Herod to withdraw; and thus the case
terminated.
About three years afterwards, while Judea was progressing in order and
wealth, Julius Cæsar was assassinated in the capitol, and the Roman
world again convulsed, from its centre to its circumference.
Immediately after this event, Hyrcanus sent ambassadors to the Roman
Senate, requesting a confirmation of all the privileges and immunities
which had been given by Cæsar; a request which was immediately granted.
While Rome and the provinces were in the utmost perplexity as to
the result of pending arrangements, Antipater was most ungratefully
poisoned by Malichus, a Jewish general, who soon after was put to death
for the crime, at the instance of Herod, by Cassius Longinus, who then
wielded the Roman power in Syria and Asia Minor. This circumstance,
as Malichus was popular with many, increased the dislike of the Jews
to Herod; and they petitioned Marc Antony, who soon after came into
Syria, against him; but in vain: the address of Herod, in showing the
services which his father had rendered to the Roman cause, warded off
all danger, and secured him the protection of this triumvir.
Urgent necessity, however, called Antony into Italy; and Syria and
the neighbouring kingdoms--having lately been subjected, in rapid
succession, to the rapacity and extortion of Dolabella, Longinus,
and Antony; and knowing that Rome was at war with Parthia, and that
they were, in consequence, likely to be subjected to a repetition of
these evils--agreed to invite the Parthians to come and occupy these
countries. This was done. Syria and Asia Minor were occupied; and
Antigonus, the surviving son of Aristobulus, was seated on the Jewish
throne, with the title of king, under the protection of Parthia. In the
course of these events, Hyrcanus and Phasael were made prisoners. The
former had his ears cropped, and was thereby rendered incapable of ever
being high priest again; the latter killed himself in prison. Herod
contrived to escape; and, having placed his family and treasures in
safety, fled to Rome.
HEROD
[Sidenote: [40-4 B.C.]]
When Herod reached the imperial city, he fortunately found Antony and
Octavius there on friendly terms. He therefore renewed his friendship
with the former, who received him very cordially, introduced him to
Octavius, and stated how very useful Antipater had been to Julius Cæsar
in Egypt. Herod was, therefore, patronised by both these great men, who
held in their hands, at that moment, the political destinies of Rome
and of the world. When the son of Antipater had fled as a fugitive to
the imperial city, his highest hope was to get Aristobulus, a grandson
of Hyrcanus, and brother to Mariamne, to whom he was espoused, placed
upon the throne, with himself as minister, or procurator, under him. In
this way his father had wielded all the power of Judea; and he hoped,
at that time, for no higher dignity. But, being received with such
marks of distinction, and promising Antony further sums of money, he
was, by the favour of these two arbiters of the affairs of nations,
himself raised to the throne. The senate was accordingly convened,
and Herod introduced to the conscript fathers by two noble senators,
who set forth the invaluable services rendered by his father to the
Romans; and, at the same time, declared Antigonus, who then governed
at Jerusalem, to be a turbulent person, and an enemy to their nation;
while Antony pointed out the importance of having a fast friend to
Rome on the throne of Judea during his approaching expedition against
Parthia. The Senate hereupon unanimously elected Herod to the throne,
and voted Antigonus an enemy of Rome.
The whole of these proceedings was evidently conducted upon the
presumption that Judea was either a recognised province of the Roman
Empire, or, at least, entirely dependent upon the imperial state. But
what follows is yet more strange. Considering the entire peculiarity
of Jewish manners and religion, it might have been supposed, even if
the Senate had made the appointment, that the inauguration of the king
would have been in accordance with the rites of the nation to be ruled.
But, no! Immediately, upon the vote of the fathers, Herod was conducted
by Antony and Octavius into the capitol, and there consecrated king,
with idolatrous sacrifices. Having thus far secured the object of his
highest ambition, Herod remembered that the affairs of his family
and kingdom did not justify a protracted stay at Rome: he therefore
departed from the city at the expiration of seven days; and, by a rapid
journey, reached Judea just three months after he had left it.
Here, although beset with difficulties, he found a fair field; the
Parthians had, during his journey, been driven from Syria, which was
again occupied by Roman troops. His first care was to collect an army,
with which, and some aid from the Roman general, he made himself master
of Galilee. Following up this success, he marched to the relief of
his family, who were closely besieged by Antigonus. In this object he
also succeeded; and, after a series of dangers and exploits, he became
master of all the country, and shut up Antigonus in Jerusalem. Yet,
notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Herod, it was not until his rival
had reigned three years that he was able, when supported by a Roman
army, to reduce the capital, which was at length taken by assault, and
subjected to fearful massacre and pillage from the Roman troops, who,
enraged at the obstinacy of the defence, continued the slaughter after
all resistance had ceased; and at length Herod had to pay a large sum
of money to save Jerusalem from being destroyed. Antigonus was taken
and put to death by the Romans as a malefactor.
Herod was now seated on the throne of Judea, the first of a new
dynasty. Hitherto the Asmonæan or Maccabæan family had really or
nominally governed. With Hyrcanus and Antigonus this line had ended;
and Herod, who was not a Jew, but an Idumæan by nation, and professedly
a Jewish proselyte in religion, was, by the favour of Rome, invested
with supreme authority over the Jewish people. From the first elevation
of Antipater, the cause of his family was unpopular; and it was only
the consummate sagacity of that person, in attaching himself to the
oldest branch of the Asmonæan family, which enabled him to carry out
his purpose. Herod felt this throughout his career. It was this which
kept Antigonus so long upon the throne; it was this which caused the
son of Antipater so much difficulty, when possessed of the object of
his ambition.
Fully aware of the state of the public mind, his first care, after
having recovered Jerusalem, was the extermination of the Asmonæan
family. Although he had married Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus,
this seemed in no wise to soften the violence of his political
hate. All those Jews who had supported Antigonus were proscribed,
forty-five of the principal of them were slain; all their property
was confiscated, and seized by the king; all the gold, silver, and
valuables found in Jerusalem were taken for his use; and thus, with the
exception of a small part of the people, the land was treated like a
conquered country. Influenced by this jealousy of the Asmonæans, Herod
found an obscure priest of Babylon, who was descended from the ancient
high priests of Israel. Him he raised to the high-priesthood, although
his wife’s brother was of age, and heir to the office. He also cut off
the whole sanhedrim, except Sameas and Pollio.
The superseding of Aristobulus in the high-priesthood created an
element of discord and misery in the family of Herod, which ultimately
destroyed his peace. Herod’s intimacy with Antony introduced his family
to the infamous Cleopatra. Alexandra, the mother of Mariamne and
Aristobulus, by her influence with this queen, and her intercession
with Antony, induced Herod to cancel his appointment. Ananelus was set
aside, and Aristobulus inducted into the high-priesthood. But this
young man was received with such marks of favour and affection by the
people, whilst officiating at the ensuing feast of tabernacles, that
all the jealous enmity of Herod was again blown into a flame, and
the heartless king soon after caused the young priest to be drowned
whilst bathing. Cleopatra, informed of this crime, used her utmost
influence with Antony to have Herod slain. Besides the gratification
of vanity and revenge (for she had attempted in vain to seduce Herod),
she greatly desired the possession of Judea; but as Antony was equally
in want of money to sustain him in his contest with Octavius, Herod
supplied him, and continued to reign.
After the fall of Antony, Herod waited upon Octavius, and by his frank
and candid deportment secured the friendship of the sole governor of
the great Roman Empire. Prior to this time, Herod had lured the aged
Hyrcanus from his captivity in Parthia, and, after placing him in close
_surveillance_ for several years, had him beheaded. The future course
of Herod was violent, miserable, and vile. He laboured, on the one
hand, to make his kingdom great, and his country magnificent; but his
means of effecting this were most atrocious: while, on the other hand,
his conduct to his family was suspicious and cruel.
In his public life he consolidated his power, and raised Judea to
a state of wealth and prosperity which it had not before attained
for centuries. Having by the most sanguinary means cut off the last
of the Asmonæans, he built a theatre in Jerusalem, and a spacious
amphitheatre in the suburbs. All kinds of heathenish games were
introduced. Musicians, players, courses, gladiators, and wild beasts,
were exhibited in the holy city. And it is a circumstance worthy of
observation, that there yet existed sufficient zeal for the Divine
Law to render all these exceedingly disgusting to a great body of the
Jewish people. About this time Herod also rebuilt several important
fortresses, and restored Samaria, which had long lain in ruins. He also
adorned Jerusalem with a stately palace for himself, which was built of
the most costly materials, and of exquisite workmanship.
Yet all these things were performed in a manner and style so foreign
to the peculiar genius of the Jewish mind, that, proud as they were
of their country, they were by these means more and more alienated
from the king. He saw this, and laboured to stem the torrent of public
feeling. At one time he wished to introduce an oath of allegiance;
but it was so strenuously opposed by the most eminent Jewish doctors,
that he was compelled to lay it aside. He then remitted a part of the
taxes, professedly on account of several national calamities which
had recently fallen upon the country, but really to bid for popular
favour: this also was vain. One other course was open to him; and he
pursued it. The temple, as then existing, was unworthy of the nation
and of the improved state of Jerusalem: he proposed to rebuild it; but
so distrustful were the people of his promise and of his religion, that
they would not have the old one removed until they saw the materials
collected for the new building. After two years of preparation, the
old edifice was taken down in parts, as the new one was raised. The
holy place was finished in eighteen months, the body of the structure
in eight years. This building was erected in the Greek style of
architecture, and of the most costly and beautiful marble and other
material; and the great work appears to some extent to have produced a
better state of feeling between the Jews and their king.
Yet, during all these works, Herod’s domestic course was one of
continued misery and crime. As if the blood through which he had
waded to the throne, and the numerous victims which in these times
of turbulence and war were sacrificed to his ambition, were not
sufficient to satiate his sanguinary nature, his lovely wife Mariamne,
after having borne him two sons, was doomed by his order to perish on
the scaffold, the victim of the most groundless jealousy and cruel
conspiracy. He endeavoured to bury this crime in oblivion by other
marriages, but in vain. Intense suspicion haunted all his thoughts; a
morbid apprehension of evil destroyed every acquisition, and turned all
the members of his family into foes. Under this influence, after years
of disquiet, he condemned his two sons by Mariamne to death. It were
useless to attempt the history of this family at greater length. Herod
married ten wives, eight of whom bore him children. This was not the
least amongst the causes of his domestic misery.[d]
[Sidenote: [4 B.C.]]
Herod willed his dominion to his two sons, Herod Antipas and Archelaus,
and after some delay they entered into their inheritance. Archelaus
was ethnarch over Samaria, Judea, and Idumæa, which he misgoverned so
grossly that the exasperated Jews complained to Rome (6 A.D.). Augustus
deposed and banished his faithless servant, putting a procurator over
the dominions.[a]
[Illustration: SEBASTE, IN SAMARIA]