I have stated above will be found sufficiently accurate for all the purposes of the present inquiry, I should be unwilling to detain, and perhaps confound the reader by a more particular discussion.

The commencement of Herod's reign then is to be dated from the summer or the autumn of J. P. 4674; and he reigned according to Josephus 37 years after he was declared King by the Senate of Rome, that is, he did not reign less than 36 nor more than 38 years.

July J. P. 4674, the earliest commencement of Herod's reign,+36 years its shortest duration = July J. P. 4710. Dec. J. P. 4674, the latest commencement of his reign, +38 years, its longest duration=Dec. J. P. 4712. The month of Dec. J. P. 4712 is therefore the latest period to which we can assign the death of Herod, and July J. P. 4710 the earliest by the same method of computation. The former of these conclusions, which fixes the death of Herod before the end of Dec. J. P. 4712, has been universally allowed. To the latter, which upon precisely the same grounds attributes the same event to a period subsequent to July 4710, it is strange to say that considerable opposition has been raised; and simple and unex

P Antiq. Jud. lib. xvii. cap. 10. de Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 21. p. 773. G.

ceptionable as the method of calculation undoubtedly is, it is only on account of the authority of the names by which the contrary opinion has been supported that I think it necessary to give to their arguments any minuteness of examination.

It is certain that Herod was alive on the 13th of March J. P. 4710. This may be undeniably proved from the testimony of Josephus, combined with one of the most unequivocal of all chronological marks, the astronomical calculation of an eclipse of the moon.

Herod had erected over the gate of the temple at Jerusalem a golden eagle. This illegal image gave great offence to the Jews in general, and to the Rabbis in particular, two of whom Judas the son of Sariphæus and Matthias (the most celebrated teachers of their day) exerted all their eloquence to excite the zeal of their scholars to destroy this abomination. Aided at length by a false report that Herod was either dying or dead, their persuasions prevailed, and a number of young men ventured upon the perilous enterprise of pulling down the eagle at mid-day. In the midst of their undertaking they were disturbed by the guards of Herod, who secured about forty of them, and carried them before him. Having made himself acquainted with the circumstances of the case, Herod burnt

both them and the Rabbis. "That very night, adds Josephus, there was an eclipse of the moon." q

This eclipse has been almost universally decided by the best writers upon the subject to be that which occurred on the night of the 13th of March J. P. 4710, and hence it necessarily follows that on the 13th of March J. P. 4710 Herod was alive.

The passover of that year is computed to have fallen on the 11th of April, and it is certain from the tenor of Josephus's narrative that Herod died no long time before some passover. It is also plain, from the report which prevailed that Herod was either dying or dead, on the 13th of March J. P. 4710, that his disease had made some progress at that time. The question therefore to be determined is, whether Herod's death took place before the passover next after the 13th of March J. P. 4710; that is, between the 13th of March and the 11th of April, J. P. 4710; or whether he did not continue under his disease until a short time before the passover J. P. 4711 or J. P. 4712. Lardner, without pretending absolutely to determine the

¶ Antiq. Jud. lib. xvii. cap. 8. p. 597. E.

Lamy. App. Chron. Part I. cap. viii. p. 58. §. 5.

point, seems evidently to favour the former opinion, which, contrary to our calculations correctly formed upon the express testimony of Josephus, fixes the death of Herod previous to the passover, J. P. 4710; and as his arguments, condensing the whole of what can be advanced in favour of that opinion, have been pretty generally relied upon, I shall give them a full and mature consideration.

Lardner's first objection to fixing the death of Herod later than the passover, J. P. 4710, is founded upon the supposition that "his disease had made so great a progress" before the execution of the Rabbis on the 13th of March, that it is perfectly incredible he should live a year after that time; and this idea he rests, 1st, upon the report which was spread by the Rabbis that Herod was dying or dead; 2dly, upon the description which Josephus gives of his disease.

In answer to this we may observe, 1. That the execution of the Rabbis followed very closely upon the sending off the ambassadors concerning Antipater to Rome, that it was not till after those ambassadors were sent off that Herod's distemper seized him at all, and that Josephus himself expressly states that the complaints of Herod did

not assume a serious aspect, or seize upon his whole body until after the execution of the Rabbis, and consequently his disease could not "have made so great a progress" before that time.t 2. That the report of Herod's being dying or dead was false and known to be so by those who propagated it. 3. That popular reports so frequently arise from the most trivial causes, that in very few instances indeed do they afford a solid foundation upon which to build any material conclusion, and that least of all can they afford it in such cases as that which is now before us, because the rumour may here be undeniably traced to the wish of the Rabbis to promote the idea of Herod's danger or death, in order the more easily to induce their scholars to pull down the golden eagle.

Not much more dependence can be placed upon the description which Josephus has left us of Herod's distemper. Herod indeed almost despaired of recovery from the very first, but that was on account of his extreme age. I say he almost despaired of recovery, because it will afterwards appear" that he did not become entirely hopeless until his return from Callirhoe.

Antiq. Jud. lib. xvii. cap. 8. p. 595. F. p. 597. E. de Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 21. p. 772. G.

" See page 34.