lived nine years, died before she could punish Aristobulus. Hyrcanus was
heir to the kingdom and to him his mother intrusted it while she was
living. But Aristobulus was superior to him in ability and spirits, and
when there was a battle between them near Jericho to decide the dispute
about the kingdom, the majority deserted Hyrcanus and went over to
Aristobulus. But they came to an agreement that Aristobulus should be the
king, and that Hyrcanus should resign, but retain all the rest of his
dignities.

[Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 6:2, 3]
Now the others who opposed Aristobulus were afraid, when he thus
unexpectedly came to power. This was especially true of Antipater, whom
Aristobulus hated of old. He was by birth an Idumean and one of the chief
men of that nation on account of his ancestry and riches and other
authority that belonged to him. He urged Hyrcanus to flee to Aretas, king
of Arabia, and to retrieve the kingdom. When he had prepared them both
beforehand he took Hyrcanus by night away from the city and escaped to
Petra, which is the royal capital of Arabia. Here he put Hyrcanus into
Aretas's care. He prevailed with him to give him an army to restore him to
his kingdom. This army consisted of fifty thousand footmen and horsemen
which Aristobulus was not able to withstand, but was defeated in the first
encounter and was driven out of Jerusalem. He would have been taken by
force, if Scaurus, the Roman general, had not come and opportunely raised
the siege. This was the Scaurus who was sent into Syria from Armenia by
Pompey the Great when he was fighting against Tigranes. As soon,
therefore, as Scaurus arrived in the country, ambassadors came from both
the brothers, each of them desiring his assistance. But Aristobulus's
three hundred talents blocked the way of justice. When Scaurus had
received this sum, he sent a herald to Hyrcanus and the Arabians, and
threatened them with the resentment of the Romans and Pompey unless they