vision and led them to adopt many of the ideas of their Greek conquerors.
In their literature it is easy to recognize the influence of the more
logical Greek methods of reasoning and of the scientific attitude toward
the universe. It was during this period that the wise were transformed
into scribes, and the rule of the scribal method of thinking and
interpretation began. The struggles through which the Jews passed
intensified their love for the law and the temple services. Duty was
more and more defined in the terms of ceremonial, and the Pharisees
entered upon that vast and impossible task of providing rules for man's
every act. Out of the struggles of the Maccabean period came that fusion
of Hellenic and Jewish ideas that has become an important factor in all
human thought. At last under the influence of the great crises through
which they had passed, the belief in individual immortality gained wide
acceptance among the Jews. Side by side with this came the belief in a
personal devil and a hierarchy of demons opposed to the divine hierarchy
at whose head was Jehovah. Last of all the taste of freedom under a Jewish
ruler brought again to the front the kingly messianic hopes of the race,
and led them to long and struggle for their realization. Thus in this
brief century Judaism attained in many ways its final form, and only in
the light of this process is it possible fully to understand and
appreciate the background of the New Testament history.

* * * * *

THE RULE OF ROME

Section CXVII. THE RISE OF THE HERODIAN HOUSE

[Sidenote: Jos. Jew. War, I, 8:2]
Now Alexander, that son of Aristobulus who ran away from Pompey, after a