For Jews were beginning to differentiate; they were not any more all of one mind either politically or religiously. Led by the unfortunate example of Joseph and his successors, some Jews began cultivating Hellenistic (from Hellas, Greece) habits to win favor with their surroundings. A Jewish leader of the Greek faction was one Joshua, who Grecized his name to Jason. This worldly man encouraged his people to neglect their Jewish ideals in favor of pagan standards of life. The safeguards built around the Jewish Law by the teachers of old were ruthlessly overthrown. But these traitorous extremes brought their own reaction. A pious party sprang up to counteract them and it zealously determined to fulfil the Jewish Law in its strictest interpretation. These were the _Chassidim_ (Greek, Assidean), meaning the pious. Here then were two extreme parties in Israel--one, the Hellenists, whose mania for everything Greek made them almost traitors to the Jewish cause; and on the other hand the Chassidim, who observed the law with a rigidity greater than its own demands; and in the midst the great bulk of the people, who tried to avoid the extremes of both. NOTES AND REFERENCES. _Greek and Jew_: Read "Hebraism and Hellenism" in Matthew Arnold's _Culture and Anarchy_. Someone remarks, "The Greek praised the holiness of beauty: the Jew the beauty of holiness." Heine writes: "The Greeks were only beautiful youths, the Jews strong and steadfast men." _Theme for discussion_: What was the significance of the defeat of Persia by Greece for civilization in general and for the Jew in particular? CHAPTER III. JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. B.C.E. | B.C.E. Seleucidan Era begins 312 | Judea under Greco-Syrian rule 203 | Uprising under Mattathias 168 Antiochus III, the Great 223 | Judas Maccabee 167 Antiochus IV Epiphanes 175 | Book of Daniel written, about 166 | Temple re-dedicated--Hanukkah 165 Antiochus V, Eupater 164 | High Priest's Office Sold. Antiochus was succeeded by his son of the same name, an eccentric despot who claimed the title of Epiphanes, the "illustrious," though styled by his enemies Epimanes "the madman," and in rabbinic literature _Harasha_, the "wicked." The rule of this ill-balanced tyrant was to bring woe to Judea, for which their own internal troubles were in a measure responsible. Indeed, it was these discords that drew his attention to this particular province. The Hellenists, who had grown to quite a party, sought his interference in their behalf. Jason offered the king a bribe to make him High Priest and depose Onias, his own brother. What a blasphemy on the holy office to fight for its material powers! The pity was that material power should be vested in a spiritual office, so the system was wrong as well as the man.