Herod knew the land sufficiently not to let matters come to extremities; if it had been possible to Hellenise it, the will to that effect would not have been wanting on his part. In energy the Idumaean was not inferior to the best Hasmonaeans. The construction of the great harbour at Strato’s Tower, or as the town entirely rebuilt by Herod was thenceforth called, Caesarea, first gave to a coast poor in harbours what it needed, and throughout the whole period of the empire the town remained a chief emporium of southern Syria. What the government was able to furnish in other respects--development of natural resources, intervention in case of famine and other calamities, above all things internal and external security--was furnished by Herod. The evil of brigandage was done away, and the defence--so uncommonly difficult in these regions--of the frontier against the roving tribes of the desert was carried out with sternness and consistency. Thereby the Roman government was induced to place under him still further regions, Ituraea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, Batanaea. Thenceforth his dominion extended, as we have already mentioned (p. 146), compactly over the region beyond the Jordan as far as towards Damascus and to the Hermon mountains; so far as we can discern, after those further assignments there was in the whole domain which we have indicated no longer any free city or any rule independent of Herod. The defence of the frontier itself fell more on the Arabian king than on the king of the Jews; but, so far as it devolved on him, the series of well-provided frontier-forts brought about here a general peace, such as had not hitherto been known in those regions. We can understand how Agrippa, after inspecting the maritime and military structures of Herod, should have discerned in him an associate striving in a like spirit towards the great work of organising the empire, and should have treated him in this sense. [Sidenote: The end of Herod and the partition of his kingdom.]