8. But then these successes of John and of his sons made them be
envied, and occasioned a sedition in the country; and many there
were who got together, and would not be at rest till they brake
out into open war, in which war they were beaten. So John lived
the rest of his life very happily, and administered the
government after a most extraordinary manner, and this for
thirty-three entire years together. He died, leaving five sons
behind him. He was certainly a very happy man, and afforded no
occasion to have any complaint made of fortune on his account. He
it was who alone had three of the most desirable things in the
world, - the government of his nation, and the high priesthood,
and the gift of prophecy. For the Deity conversed with him, and
he was not ignorant of any thing that was to come afterward;
insomuch that he foresaw and foretold that his two eldest sons
would not continue masters of the government; and it will highly
deserve our narration to describe their catastrophe, and how far
inferior these men were to their father in felicity.

CHAPTER 3.

How Aristobulus Was The First That Put A Diadem About His Head;
And After He Had Put His Mother And Brother To Death, Died
Himself, When He Had Reigned No More Than A Year.

1. For after the death of their father, the elder of them,
Aristobulus, changed the government into a kingdom, and was the
first that put a diadem upon his head, four hundred seventy and
one years and three months after our people came down into this
country, when they were set free from the Babylonian slavery.