"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."
"And Syria, Phœnicia, Cœle-Syria also," rejoined Simon, "until Solomon's empire, 'from the river to the end of the earth,' from the Euphrates to the Great Sea, shall have been restored. Judas must found a family to whom this work shall be committed."
"It will be possible to make alliance by marriage with one of the great powers," suggested Jonathan. "I would not despair of a princess of Egypt even."
"It were a sin to think of such a thing," replied Simon, indignantly. "Did not the Lord rebuke Solomon for his foreign wives? The men who sit upon the Maccabæan throne must be of blood as pure as that of Judas himself, untainted, as we know, in a thousand years. There is but one woman for Queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Elkiah. The glory of the High Priests' house has departed. What house comes next? Is it not that of the last Nasi, Elkiah the martyr? Besides, Judas has already set his heart upon the maiden."
"She will never be the wife of Judas," said Jonathan.
"Deborah not the wife of Judas? What woman in Jewry would refuse such honor?"
"One woman."
"To utter such suspicion is treason," cried Simon, in a towering rage.
"Not to speak as one sees would be treason far worse."