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1. About this time it was that king Antiochus, as he was going
over the upper countries, heard that there was a very rich city
in Persia, called Elymais; and therein a very rich temple of
Diana, and that it was full of all sorts of donations dedicated
to it; as also weapons and breastplates, which, upon inquiry, he
found had been left there by Alexander, the son of Philip, king
of Macedonia. And being incited by these motives, he went in
haste to Elymais, and assaulted it, and besieged it. But as those
that were in it were not terrified at his assault, nor at his
siege, but opposed him very courageously, he was beaten off his
hopes; for they drove him away from the city, and went out and
pursued after him, insomuch that he fled away as far as Babylon,
and lost a great many of his army. And when he was grieving for
this disappointment, some persons told him of the defeat of his
commanders whom he had left behind him to fight against Judea,
and what strength the Jews had already gotten. When this concern
about these affairs was added to the former, he was confounded,
and by the anxiety he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it
lasted a great while, and as his pains increased upon him, so he
at length perceived he should die in a little time; so he called
his friends to him, and told them that his distemper was severe
upon him; and confessed withal, that this calamity was sent upon
him for the miseries he had brought upon the Jewish nation, while
he plundered their temple, and contemned their God; and when he
had said this, he gave up the ghost. Whence one may wonder at
Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though otherwise a good man, yet
saith that "Antiochus died because he had a purpose to plunder
the temple of Diana in Persia;" for the purposing to do a thing,
but not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. But
if Polybius could think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that
account, it is much more probable that this king died on account
of his sacrilegious plundering of the temple at Jerusalem. But we
will not contend about this matter with those who may think that
the cause assigned by this Polybius of Megalopolis is nearer the
truth than that assigned by us.
2. However, Antiochus, before he died, called for Philip, who was
one of his companions, and made him the guardian of his kingdom;
and gave him his diadem, and his garment, and his ring, and
charged him to carry them, and deliver them to his son Antiochus;
and desired him to take care of his education, and to preserve
the kingdom for him. This Antiochus died in the hundred
forty and ninth year; but it was Lysias that declared his death
to the multitude, and appointed his son Antiochus to be king, (of
whom at present he had the care,) and called him Eupator.
3. At this time it was that the garrison in the citadel of
Jerusalem, with the Jewish runagates, did a great deal of harm to
the Jews; for the soldiers that were in that garrison rushed out
upon the sudden, and destroyed such as were going up to the
temple in order to offer their sacrifices, for this citadel
adjoined to and overlooked the temple. When these misfortunes had
often happened to them, Judas resolved to destroy that garrison;
whereupon he got all the people together, and vigorously besieged
those that were in the citadel. This was in the hundred and
fiftieth year of the dominion of the Seleucidse. So he made
engines of war, and erected bulwarks, and very zealously pressed
on to take the citadel. But there were not a few of the runagates
who were in the place that went out by night into the country,
and got together some other wicked men like themselves, and went
to Antiochus the king, and desired of him that he would not
suffer them to be neglected, under the great hardships that lay
upon them from those of their own nation; and this because their
sufferings were occasioned on his father's account, while they
left the religious worship of their fathers, and preferred that
which he had commanded them to follow: that there was danger lest
the citadel, and those appointed to garrison it by the king,
should be taken by Judas, and those that were with him, unless he
would send them succors. When Antiochus, who was but a child,
heard this, he was angry, and sent for his captains and his
friends, and gave order that they should get an army of
mercenaries together, with such men also of his own kingdom as
were of an age fit for war. Accordingly, an army was collected of
about a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen,
and thirty-two elephants.
4. So the king took this army, and marched hastily out of
Antioch, with Lysias, who had the command of the whole, and came
to Idumea, and thence went up to the city Bethsnra, a city that
was strong, and not to be taken without great difficulty. He set
about this city, and besieged it. And while the inhabitants of
Bethsura courageously opposed him, and sallied out upon him, and
burnt his engines of war, a great deal of time was spent in the
siege. But when Judas heard of the king's coming, he raised the
siege of the citadel, and met the king, and pitched his camp in
certain straits, at a place called Bethzachriah, at the distance
of seventy furlongs from the enemy; but the king soon drew his
forces from Bethsura, and brought them to those straits. And as
soon as it was day, he put his men in battle-array, and made his
elephants follow one another through the narrow passes, because
they could not be set sideways by one another. Now round about
every elephant there were a thousand footmen, and five hundred
horsemen. The elephants also had high towers [upon their backs],
and archers [in them]. And he also made the rest of his army to
go up the mountains, and put his friends before the rest; and
gave orders for the army to shout aloud, and so he attacked the
enemy. He also exposed to sight their golden and brazen shields,
so that a glorious splendor was sent from them; and when they
shouted the mountains echoed again. When Judas saw this, he was
not terrified, but received the enemy with great courage, and
slew about six hundred of the first ranks. But when his brother
Eleazar, whom they called Auran, saw the tallest of all the
elephants armed with royal breastplates, and supposed that the
king was upon him, he attacked him with great quickness and
bravery. He also slew many of those that were about the elephant,
and scattered the rest, and then went under the belly of the
elephant, and smote him, and slew him; so the elephant fell upon
Eleazar, and by his weight crushed him to death. And thus did
this man come to his end, when he had first courageously
destroyed manyof his enemies.
5. But Judas, seeing the strength of the enemy, retired to
Jerusalem, and prepared to endure a siege. As for Antiochus, he
sent part of his army to Bethsura, to besiege it, and with the
rest of his army he came against Jerusalem; but the inhabitants
of Bethsura were terrified at his strength; and seeing that their
provisions grew scarce,. they delivered themselves up on the
security of oaths that they should suffer no hard treatment from
the king. And when Antiochus had thus taken the city, he did them
no other harm than sending them out naked. He also placed a
garrison of his own in the city. But as for the temple of
Jerusalem, he lay at its siege a long time, while they within
bravely defended it; for what engines soever the king set against
them, they set other engines again to oppose them. But then their
provisions failed them; what fruits of the ground they had laid
up were spent and the land being not ploughed that year,
continued unsowed, because it was the seventh year, on which, by
our laws, we are obliged to let it lay uncultivated. And withal,
so many of the besieged ran away for want of necessaries, that
but a few only were left in the temple.
6. And these happened to be the circumstances of such as were
besieged in the temple. But then, because Lysias, the general of
the army, and Antiochus the king, were informed that Philip was
coming upon them out of Persia, and was endeavoring to get the
management of public affairs to himself, they came into these
sentiments, to leave the siege, and to make haste to go against
Philip; yet did they resolve not to let this be known to the
soldiers or to the officers: but the king commanded Lysias to
speak openly to the soldiers and the officers, without saying a
word about the business of Philip; and to intimate to them that
the siege would be very long; that the place was very strong;
that they were already in want of provisions; that many affairs
of the kingdom wanted regulation; and that it was much better to
make a league with the besieged, and to become friends to their
whole nation, by permitting them to observe the laws of their
fathers, while they broke out into this war only because they
were deprived of them, and so to depart home. When Lysias had
discoursed thus to them, both the army and the officers were
pleased with this resolution.
7. Accordingly the king sent to Judas, and to those that were
besieged with them, and promised to give them peace, and to
permit them to make use of, and live according to, the laws of
their fathers; and they gladly received his proposals; and when
they had gained security upon oath for their performance, they
went out of the temple. But when Antiochus came into it, and saw
how strong the place was, he broke his oaths, and ordered his
army that was there to pluck down the walls to the ground; and
when he had so done, he returned to Antioch. He also carried with
him Onias the high priest, who was also called Menelaus; for
Lysias advised the king to slay Menelaus, if he would have the
Jews be quiet, and cause him no further disturbance, for that
this man was the origin of all the mischief the Jews had done
them, by persuading his father to compel the Jews to leave the
religion of their fathers. So the king sent Menelaus to Berea, a
city of Syria, and there had him put to death, when he had been
high priest ten years. He had been a wicked and an impious man;
and, in order to get the government to himself, had compelled his
nation to transgress their own laws. After the death of Menelaus,
Alcimus, who was also called Jacimus, was made high priest. But
when king Antiochus found that Philip had already possessed
himself of the government, he made war against him, and subdued
him, and took him, and slew him. Now as to Onias, the son of the
high priest, who, as we before informed you, was left a child
when his father died, when he saw that the king had slain his
uncle Menelaus, and given the high priesthood to Alcimus, who was
not of the high priest stock, but was induced by Lysias to
translate that dignity from his family to another house, he fled
to Ptolemy, king of Egypt; and when he found he was in great
esteem with him, and with his wife Cleopatra, he desired and
obtained a place in the Nomus of Heliopolis, wherein he built a
temple like to that at Jerusalem; of which therefore we shall
hereafter give an account, in a place more proper for it.
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