The Age of the Maccabees (Illustrated) by Annesley Streane Page B

difficult task of subduing the bandits who still
infested Galilee; but it was not till he had had an interview with Antony, at
Samosata, and thereby had obtained more active support from this all-powerful
source, that he was able to prosecute with effect his purposes against
Antigonus, in whose favor Galilee had declared. Now, however, after a rapid and
success¬ful progress through the country parts, he laid siege to Jerusalem (37
BC). During the time while engines of attack were in course of erection, he
celebrated his marriage withMariamne. She was his second wife, a grand-daughter
of Aristobulus II, and thus a descendant in the fourth generation of John
Hyrcanus. It is probable that he intended by this union of the rival
families—his own and that of the Maccabees—to render the position which he now
claimed more acceptable to the people at large.
    After a little more
than eight weeks Herod, with the help of the Roman general, Sosius, captured
the city. Pillage and slaughter followed. It was only by lavish gifts that
Herod succeeded in dismissing the Romans from Jerusalem, and persuading them to
leave the country. Antigonus pleaded for mercy at the feet of Sosius, who
spurned him, calling him Antigone. He took him to Antioch, where Antony soon
after caused him to be beheaded. Herod could now contemplate the final ruins of
the Maccabean dynasty. After a three years’ struggle he had entered upon his kingdom
with the full support of the arbiters of the world.