Meanwhile his brother
Simon remained behind in Judaea, mastered the fortress of Bethsur,
and resumed with great energy the siege of Acra. All this was
done in the names of Antiochus and Trypho, but really of course in
the interests of the Jews themselves. There were concluded also
treaties with the Romans and Lacedaemonians, certainly not to
the advantage of the Syrians.
Trypho sought now to get rid of the man whom he himself had made
so powerful. He treacherously seized and imprisoned Jonathan in
Ptolemais, and meditated an attack upon the leaderless country.
But on the frontier Simon, the last remaining son of Mattathias,
met him in force. All Trypho's efforts to break through proved
futile; after skirting all Judaea from west to south, without
being able to get clear of Simon, he at last withdrew to Peraea
without having accomplished anything. On the person of Jonathan,
whom he caused to be executed, he vented the spleen he felt on the
discovery that the cause for which that prince had fought was able
to gain the victory even when deprived of his help. Simon, in
point of fact, was Jonathan's equal as a soldier and his superior
as a ruler.
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