work with him in his enterprise for the redemption of our common country. But first I required a more certain knowledge of what the Tetrarch had truly purposed, and of what he was truly capable to accomplish, and whether to the extent supposed, the people of Israel would lend themselves to his undertaking. It was therefore agreed, that I should see Herod, and from communication with himself derive the satisfaction, which one can only derive by conversing with the principal of any affair that is to be prosecuted.

To Zadok it seemed a thing already established, that the new kingdom was begun, and himself already one among the chief officers of the king's court. He could speak only of the riches which should flow in from conquered nations and tributary provinces; of the places of trust that should be bestowed upon such as, like himself, were early in their zeal, and were known to him who should first fill the throne. His ambition hardly knew any bounds in these imaginary honors. Jerusalem nothing lesswould thenceforward be the place of his abode. Onias, though he seasonably rebuked such excess of expectation, yet in another manner failed not to utter the hopes he could not but entertain of the happy changes that should take place in Judea, when Jerusalem and not Rome

should be the centre, whence should flow honors and trusts; and which should then be bestowed not as now upon the stranger, and the gentile, but upon the true sons of the Patriarchs; and when each tribe, in its ancient dominion and limits, should enjoy its own prince on his own seat of judgment judging over it.

XI.

IT has seemed a strange thing to me, my mother, when I have thought since of my conversation with Onias, and Zadok, and of the disclosures then made concerning Sejanus, and the league which was about to be secretly formed with him, that I, who am still in some sort a Roman, should be privy to such a contract, made or about to be made, whose end and object is a revolution in Rome, not less than Judea. A little while ago, and I should have thought that he designed evil against me, who had held me capable, and reported me so, of any alliance with a spirit so base as that of Sejanus, or of joining myself to an undertaking that aimed at any alteration, or overthrow, of the powers in Rome. But I now know one thing which once I did not, that 't is not we who shape our course in life, but Providence that marks it for us; that 't is not good alone that works out good in the plans of God, but evil also, and that so evil is itself, in part, good. Thus as in the earth foul things, and things

not so much as to be named, contribute toward the production of other things the most beautiful and necessary, and even poisonous things to the production of those that are nutritious or medicinal, so wicked men are not wholly hurtful or useless, but seeing that they must exist because human nature is such as it is, they are made to work out ends of righteousness through the providence of God, where they had no good intention or purpose themselves, but rather the contrary. Wherefore it may happen, and so I think it will, that though Sejanus be in himself unworthy, he may through that which he shall confer upon Herod in return for acts, or promises on his part, greatly help the people of God, and their deliverance from a galling bondage. And, surely, little evil would be inflicted upon any, though the monarch of Capreæ should be thrown from the rocks whence he casts those whom he desires to torment or destroy, and were buried in the depths of the sea. Sejanus for Tiberius might indeed be no gain to Rome; but it would be no loss. As it is not possible to conceive a worse being than he whom we place in the sovereignty of Hell, so cannot the imagination form an image of a human creature, more wicked or vile than Tiberius, and whether it is he or his parasite who shall rule in Rome can matter little to its inhabitants.

Since the evening passed in the dwelling of Zadok, and the conversation held there with the Rabbi and Onias, thy brother has returned to his usual manner and appears, as Judith asserts, even as was his wont, ere he had entered into the schemes which have taken him away from his home, and filled him with anxieties and cares. There is to be seen in him the common effect of relieving one's self of a secret within his own household. To those whom he chiefly esteems, Onias now feels free to speak of the things which engage, or which trouble him, and by dividing thus the burden, it is more easily borne. Judith, to her exceeding joy, now shares his confidence, although she will not approve, as she doubts the wisdom of the plans he is pursuing. Of Herod she holds an opinion, which no persuasion or reason whatever can force her to alter, and which allows her not for one moment to look upon him as he is seen by Onias. Upon what foundation her judgment rests, I as yet know not, nor whether it be such as to warrant the strength with which she holds it; but this is certain, that whatever judgment she forms is worthy to be well weighed, for she is both deliberate in forming her opinions, and honest and true as Astræa herself.