These things would have sufficiently engaged the time of the Maccabæan leaders had not very different matters also claimed their attention. The far-flashing fame of Judas startled the nations. Envoys from various kingdoms came to Jerusalem to study the meaning of the new power, which seemed to rise as mysteriously as the armed men who sprang from the ground sown with the fabled dragon's teeth. The Governor of Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria proposed terms of alliance with Judas. Demetrius, a nephew of King Antiochus, an aspirant for the succession to the Syrian throne, now a hostage in Rome, sent secret emissaries pledging the independence of Palestine as the price of Judas' assistance in accomplishing his ambition. From Athens, on the other hand, came those who would bribe this new sword for the help of Greece against the Romans. These, again, were met on their way by the agents of Rome, who were also coming to offer rank and power to the new kingdom of Israel as a province of the great republic of the West. Judas and his counsellors had thus to consider many wider problems than that of manœuvring an army. It was clear that Jerusalem was to become again a capital, and the scattered people a nation. "Judas must be our King," said Jonathan. To this all agreed, with a solitary exception. Judas indignantly replied: "I am but as the hand of a Gideon; would you have me play the part of Abimelech? A bramble king, indeed, would you find me. I am fit only to be a scourge to the enemies of the Lord. Let me be but as a soul within a sword until the Lord sheathes me, as I know He soon will. Are we not near the time of the coming of Him who is promised as the Prince of Peace? Search the records, Simon; the books of the prophets, and the genealogies of families of Judah, for Messiah is to be a branch of David--that surely is not of the house of Mattathias." Jonathan replied: "The words of the Prophets are hard to interpret, my brother, while the events of Providence lie open, like these hills in the sunshine. Only the blind fail to see the signs of the times. Woe to the man among us who cannot recognize the trumpet call of the Lord, when every blast of it has already destroyed an army of the enemy, as the rams' horns made the walls of Jericho fall down. Least of all should Judas shut his eyes to the light because it happens to fall in front of his own feet." When Judas was not present his brethren spoke together freely, assuming the kingship to be inevitable. They concerned themselves only with schemes for founding and strengthening the new monarchy. "Judas must marry," said Simon. "The nation can be built upon no one man." "Surely not upon a single man like Judas," replied Jonathan, "whose life must be in perpetual hazard of battle; for well I see that war will be our condition for many years to come. The little land of Judea is not wide enough for a kingdom. We must conquer all the ancient lands of our fathers."