(Prideaux, i, 16). But he did not become established on the throne he had thus usurped till after an interreg- num of warfare for eight years, namely, in tlie twelfth year of Ahaz (2 Kings xvii, 1), i. e. B.C. 729-8. " He did evil in the sight of the Lord," but not in the same degree as his predecessors (2 Kmgs xvii, 2). According to the Rabbis, this superiority consisted in his removing from the frontier cities the guards placed there by his predecessors to prevent their subjects from worshipping at Jerusalem {Seder Olam JRabba, cap. 22, quoted liy Prideaux, i, 16), and in liis not hindering the Israelites from accepting the invitation of Hezekiah (2 Chron. XXX, 10), nor checking their zeal against idolatry (id. xxxi, 1). The compidsory cessation of the calf-worship may have removed his greatest temptation, for Tiglath- Pileser had carried off the golden calf from Dan some years before (Sed. 01. Bab. 22), and that at Bethel was taken away by Shalmaneser in his first invasion (2 Kings xvii, 3 ; Hos. x, 14). Shortly after his accession (B.C. 728) he submitted to the supremacy of Shalmane- ser, who appears to have entered his territory with the intention of subduing it by force if resisted (2 Kings xvii, 3), and, indeed, seems to have stormed the strong caves of Beth-arbel (Hos. x, 14), but who retired paci- fied with a present. This peaceable temper, however, appears not to have continued long. The intelligence that Hosea, encoiu-aged perhaps by the revolt of Heze- kiah, had entered into a confetleracy with So, king of Egjqjt, with the view of shaking off the Assj-rian yoke, caused Shalmaneser to return and punish the rebellious king of Israel by imprisonment for withholding the trib- ute for several years exacted from his country (2 Kings xvii, 4), B.C. cir. 725. He appears to have been again released, probably appeasing the conqueror by a large ransom ; but a second relapse into revolt soon afterwards provoked the king of AssjTia to march an army into the land of Israel, B.C. 723 ; and after a three-years' siege Samaria was taken and destroyed, and the ten tribes were sent into the countries beyond the Euplirates, B.C. 720 (2 Kings xvii, 5, 0; xviii, 9-12). The king no doubt perished in the sack of the city by the enraged victor, or was only spared for the torture of an AssjTian triumph. He was aparently treated with the utmost indignity (j\lic. v, 1). That he disappeared very sud- denly, like " foam upon the water," we may infer from Hos. xiii, 11 ; X, 7. His name occurs on the Assjrrian monuments. The length of the siege was owing to the fact that this '• glorious and beautiful" city was strongly situated, like " a cro\\ni of pride" among her hills (Isa. xxviii, 1-5). During the course of the siege Shalma- neser must have died, for it is certain that Samaria was taken by his successor Sargon, who thus laconically de- scribes the event in his annals : " Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men (families?) who dwelt in it I car- ried away. I constructed fifty chariots in their country . . . . I appointed a governor over them, and continued upon them the tribute of the former people" (Botta, p. 145, 11, quoted by Dr. Hincks, Journ. of Sao: Lit. Oct. 1858 ; Layard, Nin. and Bab. i, 148). Eor an account of the subsequent fortunes of the unhappy Ephraimites, the places to which they were transplanted by the policy of their conqueror and his officer, " the great and noble Asnapper" (Ezra iv, 10), and the nations by which they were superseded, see Sajiaria. Hoshea came to the throne too late, and governed a kingdom torn to pieces by foreign mvasion and intestine broils. Sovereign after sovereign had fallen by the dagger of the assassin ; and we see from the dark and terrible delineations of the contemporary prophets [see Hosea ; Micah ; Isa- iah] that murder and idolatry, drunkenness and lust, had eaten like " an incurable wound" (Mic. i, 9) into the inmost heart of the national morality. Ephraim was dogged to its ruin by the apostate policy of the rene- gade who had asserted its independence (2 Kings xvii ; Joseph. Ant. ix, 14; Prideaux, i, 15 sq. ; Keil, On Kings, ii, 50 sq., English ed. ; Jahn, Hebr. Com. § xl ; Ewald, Gesck. iii, 607-613 ; Rosenmuller, Bibl. Geogr. chap, is,
IIOSIUS
3oV
HOSPINIAN
Knglish transl. ; Eawlinson, Herod, i, 149).— Smitli. See Israel, Kingdoji of.
5. IIosiiEA (Sept. 'Qffj/EjVulg.Osec), one of the chief Israelites wlio joined in the sacred covenant after the Captivity (Neh. x, 23). B.C. cir. 410.
Hosius or Osius ("Offtoc, the saint:), an early Chris- tian bishoji, was born probably about A.I). 2o(J. It is doubtful wliether he was a native of Spain, but he was bishop of the see of Cordova, Spain, for some sixty years. He was a particular favorite of the emperor Con- stantine, who is said to have been converted to Chris- tianity mider the instrumentality of Hosius, by offering him, as an inducement, the remission of his sins, a satis- faction which the heathen priests were unable to grant. He was present at the Council held at Eliberi or Elvira (q. v.), near Granada (305 or 306), and suffered for his faith {c07)fessus sum, as he says in his letter to Constantine) during the persecutions of Diocletian and Jlaximianus. In 324 Constantine sent him to Alexandria, to settle tlie dispute between Alexander and Arius, also the troubles which had arisen concerning the observance of the East- er festival. He failed in this mission, but stiU remained in favor with the emperor. He took part in the Coun- cil of Nice (325), where Baronius claims that Hosius at- tended as legate of the pope ; but this is not; generally conceded even by Roman Catholic historians. Hosius's signatm-e is the first amongst the subscriptions to the acts of this council. He pronomiced (t^iStTo) or drew ?//j. (according to Tillemont) the symbol or confession of faith of Nice. In 347 he presided" at the Coimcil of Sar- dica, called by order of the emperors Constantius and Constans at the request of Athanasius. In 355 Con- stantius desired him to take part in the condemnation of Athanasius, but Hosius replied b_v a letter, recalling all he had suffered on behalf of the faith, and closing with an earnest defense of Athanasius. A second at- temj)! of Constantius, who called him to Milan, met with the same opposition, and likewise a third, Hosius, who was then nearly a hundred years old, still refusing to con- demn Athanasius. This decided stand in favor of Ath- anasius finally caused Hosius's banishment in 355. At length, worn out by imprisonment, he consented to give countenance to Arianism in a formula which was pre- sented to the Synod of Sirmium (357). He was per- mitted to return again to his see, where he died in 359. Athanasius and Augustine praise his virtues and excuse his weakness. See Athanasius, Hist. A rian. ad Monach. c. 42, 44 ; Augustine, Cont. Epistolam Pei-meniani, i, 7 ; Eusebius,Z)e Vit.Constantini,u,&Z; iii,7; Socrates, /AV. Eccl. i, 7, 8 ; ii, 20, 29, 31 ; Sozomen, i, 10, IG, 17 ; iii, 11 ; FiUemont, Memoires pour servir a VHist. EccUs. vii, 300 ; ^ ironius, A mi. Eccles. ; Galland, Biblioth. Patrum, vol. v, oleg. c. viii ;' Hoefer, Now. Biog. Generale, xxv, 209 ; ^'Herzog, Real-EnajMop. vi, 275 sq. ; Mosheim, Ch. Hist. ''i,'245; Yie(e\e,Conciliengesch.\,^Z sq. ; Neander, C/»/rc/i ■Hist, ii, 154, 371, 398, 404; Schaff, Ch. Hist, iii, 027, 635 sq. ; Schrockh, Kirchengesch. v, 343 sq., 349, 354 sq., 364 ; vi, 83, 140 ; Stanley, Eastern Ch. (see Index) ; Milman, Latin Christianity, i, 99, 101 ; Baur, Dogmengesch. i, 146 ; Eiddle, Hist, of the Papacg, i, 127 sq., 135, 140 ; Wetzer und Welte. Kircheii-Lex. v, 336 sq. ; Aschbach. Kirchen- Ze.r.iii,33isq. (J.H.W.)