gs they had done, whereby
they had demonstrated the firmness of their fidelity to their master,
insomuch that they had received the greatest marks of favor from him;
and they begged of her, that she would not utterly blast their hopes, as
it now happened, that when they had escaped the hazards that arose from
their [open] enemies, they were to be cut off at home by their [private]
enemies, like brute beasts, without any help whatsoever. They said also,
that if their adversaries would be satisfied with those that had been
slain already, they would take what had been done patiently, on account
of their natural love to their governors; but if they must expect the
same for the future also, they implored of her a dismission from her
service; for they could not bear to think of attempting any method for
their deliverance without her, but would rather die willingly before the
palace gate, in case she would not forgive them. And that it was a
great shame, both for themselves and for the queen, that when they
were neglected by her, they should come under the lash of her husband's
enemies; for that Aretas, the Arabian king, and the monarchs, would give
any reward, if they could get such men as foreign auxiliaries, to whom
their very names, before their voices be heard, may perhaps be terrible;
but if they could not obtain this their second request, and if she had
determined to prefer the Pharisees before them, they still insisted
that she would place them every one in her fortresses; for if some fatal
demon hath a constant spite against Alexander's house, they would be
willing to bear their part, and to live in a private station there.

3. As these men said thus, and called upon Alexander's ghost for
commiseration of those already slain, and those in danger of it, all the
bystanders brake out into tears. But Aristobulus chiefly made manifest
what were his sentiments, and used many reproachful expressions to his
mother, [saying,] "Nay, indeed, the case is this, that they have been
themselves the authors of their own calamities, who have permitted a
woman who, against reason, was mad with ambition, to reign over them,
when there were sons in the flower of their age fitter for it." So
Alexandra, not knowing what to do with any decency, committed the
fortresses to them, all but Hyrcania, and Alexandrium, and Macherus,
where her principal treasures were. After a little while also, she sent
her son Aristobulus with an army to Damascus a