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the three children making it clear, and showing that through their works the form of punishment came to pass, and they themselves confessing to God, spoke about their common sins: You have delivered us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful apostates, and to a king unjust and most wicked above all the earth. Do you see how that curse was fulfilled which says: You shall be few in number; and which says, that I will bring upon you a shameless nation. This same thing Daniel also hints at here, and says: Evils have come upon us, such as have not happened under the whole heaven, according to what happened in Israel. What then were these? Mothers tasted of their children. And Moses foretells this, but Jeremiah shows it came to pass; for the one says, that The delicate woman, the tender one, whose foot has not experienced treading on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, will touch a lawless table, and will taste of her own offspring. But Jeremiah, declaring that this same thing came to pass, said: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. But nevertheless, having stated the sins which they sinned, and having brought forward the punishment which they endured, not even so does he think it right to be saved by these things. See, therefore, the good disposition of a servant. For he also, showing that they had not yet endured anything worthy of their sins, nor had they atoned for their trespasses through what they suffered, finally takes refuge in the mercies of God and the manner of His love for mankind, and says: And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt, and made a name for yourself, as it is this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. For just as you saved them, he says, not by their good deeds, 48.893 but seeing their affliction and distress, and hearing their cry; so also deliver us from our present evils for your love for mankind alone; for we have no other claim to salvation. Having said these things, and having lamented sufficiently, he then introduces the city, like some captive woman, and says: Let your face shine upon your sanctuary; incline your ear, my God, and hear; open your eyes, and see our desolation and that of your city, upon which your name has been called. For since, having gone through the people, he saw no one able to make God merciful, he takes refuge in the buildings, and puts forward the city itself, and presents its desolation, and ending his discourse with these things, he made God merciful; and this is clear from what follows. But as I was saying; for it is necessary to return again to the subject at hand; for I interjected these things not simply nor randomly, but so as to give your mind a little rest from being weary from the continual struggles. Come then, let us return to the point from which we digressed to say these things, and let us show the evils destined to overtake the Jews, foretold from above with all accuracy. The discourse has shown indeed these two servitudes to have come upon them with prophecy, and not simply, nor unexpectedly. It remains then to bring on the third, and to speak of this one which now holds them, and to show clearly, how not one prophet promised that there would be any release from the evils holding them, nor any deliverance. What then is the third? That under Antiochus Epiphanes. For since Alexander, the king of the Macedonians, having slain Darius the king of the Persians, transferred the rule to himself, after his death, there were four kings after him; then, Antiochus, having come from one of these four after a long time later, both burned the temple, and desolated the holy of holies, and abolished the sacrifices, and subjugated the Jews, and destroyed their entire commonwealth.

7. And all these things with all accuracy, and to a single day, were foretold by Daniel, both when it would be, and how, and by whom, and in what manner, and where it will end, and what change it will undergo. And you will know more clearly,

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δηλοῦντες οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες, καὶ δεικνύντες ὅτι διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἐξέβη τὸ τῆς κολάσεως εἶδος, καὶ αὐτοὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐξομολογούμενοι, περὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἔλεγον· Παρέδωκας ἡμᾶς εἰς χεῖρας ἐχθρῶν ἀνόμων, ἐχθίστων ἀποστατῶν, καὶ βασιλεῖ ἀδίκῳ καὶ πονηροτάτῳ παρὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Ὁρᾷς ὡς ἡ ἀρὰ ἐπληροῦτο ἐκείνη ἡ λέγουσα· Ἔσεσθε ἐν ἀριθμῷ βραχεῖς· καὶ ἡ λέγουσα, ὅτι Ἐπάξω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς ἔθνος ἀναιδές. Τοῦτο αὐτὸ καὶ ὁ ∆ανιὴλ ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται, καί φησιν· Ἦλθεν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς κακὰ, οἷα οὐ γέγονε ὑποκάτω παντὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, κατὰ τὰ γενόμενα ἐν Ἰσραήλ. Ποῖα δὴ ταῦτα; Μητέρες παίδων ἀπεγεύσαντο. Καὶ τοῦτο προλέγει μὲν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, δείκνυσι δὲ ἐκβεβηκὸς ὁ Ἱερεμίας· ὁ μὲν γάρ φησιν, ὅτι Ἡ ἁπαλὴ, ἡ τρυφερὰ, ἧς οὐκ ἔλαβε πεῖραν ὁ ποῦς αὐτῆς ἐπιβῆναι ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος διὰ τὴν ἁπαλότητα καὶ τὴν τρυφερότητα, ἅψεται παρανόμου τραπέζης, καὶ τῶν ἐκγόνων ἀπογεύσεται τῶν ἑαυτῆς. Ὁ δὲ Ἱερεμίας τοῦτο αὐτὸ δηλῶν ὅτι ἐξέβη, ἔλεγε· Χεῖρες γυναικῶν οἰκτιρμόνων ἥψησαν τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν εἰπὼν ἃς ἥμαρτον, καὶ τὴν δίκην ἣν ὑπέμειναν εἰς μέσον ἀγαγὼν, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐκ τούτων ἀξιοῖ σώζεσθαι. Ὅρα οὖν εὐγνωμοσύνην οἰκέτου. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐδὲν οὐδέπω τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἄξιον ὑπέμειναν, οὐδὲ διελύσαντο τὰ πλημμελήματα δι' ὧν ἔπαθον, λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς καταφεύγει τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας αὐτοῦ τρόπον, καί φησι· Καὶ νῦν, Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὃς ἐξήγαγες τὸν λαόν σου ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐποίησας σεαυτῷ ὄνομα ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη· ἡμάρτομεν, ἠνομήσαμεν. Καὶ γὰρ ὡς ἐκείνους, φησὶν, οὐκ ἀπὸ κατορθωμάτων 48.893 ἔσωσας, ἀλλὰ τὴν θλῖψιν ἰδὼν καὶ τὴν στενοχωρίαν, καὶ τῆς κραυγῆς ἀκούσας· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀπάλλαξον τῶν παρόντων κακῶν διὰ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν σου μόνην· ἕτερον γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔχομεν δικαίωμα σωτηρίας. Εἰπὼν δὴ ταῦτα, καὶ θρηνήσας ἱκανῶς, εἰσάγει λοιπὸν τὴν πόλιν, καθάπερ τινὰ γυναῖκα αἰχμάλωτον, καί φησιν· Ἐπίφανον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ ἁγίασμά σου· κλῖνον, ὁ Θεός μου, τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἄκουσον· ἄνοιξον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου, καὶ ἴδε τὸν ἀφανισμὸν ἡμῶν καὶ τῆς πόλεώς σου, ἐφ' ἧς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐπ' αὐτῆς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους περιελθὼν, οὐδένα ἑώρα δυνάμενον ἵλεω ποιῆσαι τὸν Θεὸν, πρὸς τὰ οἰκοδομήματα καταφεύγει, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν προβάλλεται, καὶ τὴν ἐρημίαν αὐτῆς προτείνεται, καὶ ἐν τούτοις καταλύσας τὸν λόγον, ἵλεω τὸν Θεὸν ἐποίησε· καὶ δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἑξῆς. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔλεγον· δεῖ γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον πάλιν ἐπανελθεῖν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα παρενέβαλλον οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ εἰκῆ, ἀλλ' ὥστε μικρὸν ὑμῶν διαναπαῦσαι τὴν διάνοιαν ἀπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν ἀγωνισμάτων καμοῦσαν. Φέρε οὖν ἐπανίωμεν ὅθεν ἐξέβημεν ταῦτα εἰπεῖν, καὶ δείξωμεν τὰ μέλλοντα καταλήψεσθαι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους κακὰ ἄνωθεν προηγορευμένα μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης. ∆ύο μὲν δὴ ταύτας δουλείας ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξε μετὰ προφητείας ἐπελθούσας αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς, οὐδὲ ἀπροσδοκήτως. Λείπεται δὲ λοιπὸν τὴν τρίτην ἐπαγαγόντας, καὶ περὶ ταύτης τῆς νῦν κατεχούσης αὐτοὺς εἰπεῖν, καὶ δεῖξαι σαφῶς, πῶς οὐδὲ εἷς προφήτης ἐπηγγείλατό τινα λύσιν ἔσεσθαι τῶν κατεχόντων αὐτοὺς κακῶν οὔτε ἀπαλλαγήν. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ τρίτη; Ἡ ἐπὶ Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Ἐπιφανοῦς.Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλεὺς, ∆αρεῖον τὸν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέα ἀνελὼν, εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὴν ἀρχὴν περιέστησε, τελευτήσαντος τούτου, τέσσαρες μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἐγένοντο βασιλεῖς· εἶτα ἐξ ἑνὸς τούτων τῶν τεσσάρων γενόμενος ὁ Ἀντίοχος μετὰ πολὺν ὕστερον χρόνον, τό τε ἱερὸν ἐνέπρησε, τά τε ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων ἠρήμωσε, τάς τε θυσίας καθεῖλε, τούς τε Ἰουδαίους ὑπέταξε, καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν αὐτῶν κατέλυσεν ἅπασαν.

ζʹ. Καὶ ταῦτα ἅπαντα μετ' ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης, καὶ μέχρι μιᾶς ἡμέρας προηγόρευτο παρὰ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ, καὶ πότε ἔσται, καὶ πῶς, καὶ παρὰ τίνος, καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ, καὶ ποῦ τελευτήσει, καὶ τίνα λήψεται μεταβολήν. Εἴσεσθε δὲ σαφέστερον,