The father, loving peace rather than war, compromised the question with him, and relinquished to him a part of his kingdom.

Two years after this he died, leaving Ethelbald the entire possession of the throne.

Ethelbald, as if to complete and consummate his unnatural conduct toward his father, persuaded the beautiful Judith, his father's widow, to become his wife, in violation not only of all laws human and divine, but also of those universal instincts of propriety which no lapse of time and no changes of condition can eradicate from the human soul.

This second union throws some light on the question of Judith's action.

Since she was willing to marry her husband's son to _preserve_ the position of a queen, we may well suppose that she did not object to uniting herself to the father in order to attain it.