offending in any respect or departing from the right way, that they would
call him back and correct him. When they testified that he was entirely
virtuous he was well pleased with their approval. But one of his guests,
Eleazar by name, was a man malignant by nature, who delighted in
dissension. This man said: "Since you wish to know the truth, if you
really desire to do what is right, lay down the high priesthood and
content yourself with the civil government of the people." And when
Hyrcanus desired to know for what cause he ought to lay down the high
priesthood, the other replied: "We have heard from old men that your
mother was a captive in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes." This story was
false, and Hyrcanus was provoked against him. All the Pharisees likewise
were very indignant with him.

[Sidenote: Jos. Ant. XIII, 10:6a-c]
Now there was a certain Jonathan, a great friend of Hyrcanus, but of the
sect of the Sadducees, whose ideas are the opposite of those of the
Pharisees. He told Hyrcanus that Eleazar had cast that slur upon him
according to the common opinion of all the Pharisees and that this would
be made clear if he would ask them the question, What punishment they
thought this man deserved? For in this way he might be sure that the slur
was not laid on him with their approval, if they advised punishing him as
the crime deserved. Therefore when Hyrcanus asked this question, the
Pharisees answered that the man deserved stripes and imprisonment, but it
did not seem right to punish a slur with death. And indeed the Pharisees
ordinarily are not apt to be severe in punishment. At this mild sentence
Hyrcanus was very angry and thought that this man reproved him with their
approval. It was this Jonathan who influenced him so far that he made him
join the Sadducees and leave the party of the Pharisees and abolish the
decrees that they had thus imposed on the people and punish those who
obeyed them. This was the source of the hatred with which he and his sons