Nor when the temple was taken and they were slain about the
altar daily, did they cease from those things that are appointed by their
law to be observed. For it was in the third month of the siege before the
Romans could even with a great struggle overthrow one of the towers and
get into the temple. The greater part of the Jews were slain by their
own countrymen of the opposite faction and an innumerable multitude threw
themselves down from the walls. Of the Jews twelve thousand were slain,
but of the Romans very few, although a greater number were wounded.

[Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 7:6a, b]
But there was nothing that affected the nation so much in the calamities
which they then suffered as that their holy place, hitherto unseen, should
be laid open to strangers. For Pompey and those who were about him went
into the temple itself, where it was lawful for the high priest alone to
enter, and saw what was deposited therein; but he commanded the ministers
about the temple to purify it and to perform their accustomed sacrifices.

[Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 7:7]
Moreover he reappointed Hyrcanus high priest, by which he acted the part
of a good general and reconciled the people to him rather by kindness than
by terrorizing them. He took away from the nation all those cities that
they had formerly taken and reduced Judea to its own bounds. Then he made
all the haste he could to go through Cilicia on his way to Rome, taking
Aristobulus and his two children along with him as captives. One of
Aristobulus's sons, Alexander, ran away on the journey, but the younger,
Antigonus, with his sisters, was carried to Rome.

I. The Character and Policy of Alexander Janneus. For the picture of the
character of Alexander Janneus we are chiefly dependent upon Josephus, and
it is not clear how far this late Jewish historian was influenced by the
prevailing prejudices against that ruler who figured as the arch enemy of
the Pharisees. The incidents recorded reveal, however, a most sinister
character. He was ambitious, but his ambitions were selfish and low.
He was energetic and tireless, but his energy was wasted in futile
undertakings. Furthermore, he was unscrupulous, vindictive, and merciless.
There is not the slightest indication that he was actuated by any worthy
ideal of service. To the Jewish state and race it was a great calamity
that a man of this type should gain control of the nation at the moment
when it had attained its greatest material