them, he was at last himself slain also. Nor was it many days
afterward that his brother John had a plot laid against him by
Antiochus's party, and was slain by them.

CHAPTER 2.

Concerning The Successors Of Judas, Who Were Jonathan And Simon,
And John Hyrcanus.

1. When Jonathan, who was Judas's brother, succeeded him, he
behaved himself with great circumspection in other respects, with
relation to his own people; and he corroborated his authority by
preserving his friendship with the Romans. He also made a league
with Antiochus the son. Yet was not all this sufficient for his
security; for the tyrant Trypho, who was guardian to Antiochus's
son, laid a plot against him; and besides that, endeavored to
take off his friends, and caught Jonathan by a wile, as he was
going to Ptolemais to Antiochus, with a few persons in his
company, and put him in bonds, and then made an expedition
against the Jews; but when he was afterward driven away by Simon,
who was Jonathan's brother, and was enraged at his defeat, he put
Jonathan to death.

2. However, Simon managed the public affairs after a courageous
manner, and took Gazara, and Joppa, and Jamnia, which were cities
in his neighborhood. He also got the garrison under, and
demolished the citadel. He was afterward an auxiliary to
Antiochus, against Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, before he
went on his expedition against the Medes; yet could not he make
the king ashamed of his ambition, though he had assisted him in