The
vengeance which he took on the Pharisees was a bloody one; their
only escape was by voluntary exile. Thenceforward he had peace
so far as they were concerned. His last years were occupied with
the reacquisition of the conquests which he had been compelled to
yield to the Arabs during the civil war. He died in the field
at the siege of Ragaba in Peraea (79).
Under Queen Salome, his widow, matters were as if they had been
specially arranged for the satisfaction of the Pharisees. The
high-priesthood passed to Salome's son, Hyrcanus II.; she herself
was only queen. In the management of external affairs her
authority was absolute (Antiquities, xiii. 16, 6); in home policy
she permitted the scribes to wield a paramount influence. The
common assertion, indeed, that the synedrium was at that time
practically composed of scribes, is inconsistent with the known
facts of the case; the synedrium at that time was a political
and not a scholastic authority. /1/
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1. Kuenen, "Over de Samenstelling van het Sanhedrin," in
Proceedings of Royal Netherl. Acad., 1866.
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