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signifies a time for war. λʹ. "And the Kittim who come shall enter into it, and they will be humbled." For having taken many Cypriots and other islanders (for Kition is a town of Cyprus to this day), he will indeed march against Egypt, but being defeated and humbled he will return. "And he will return," it says, "and will be enraged against the holy covenant." For, it says, all the anger that came to him because of the defeat, he will vomit out against the holy covenant. And showing the work, "And he will act," it says. For in his second coming he will work both a great slaughter and the enslavement of those who escaped. "And he will return, and will have understanding with those who have forsaken the holy covenant." He will take, it says, every care of those who have transgressed the law, and of those who have on the one hand denied Judaism and on the other hand embraced Hellenism. λαʹ. "And arms shall stand up on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary of strength, and shall 81.1521 take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place in it the abomination that makes desolate." He calls "arms," as we have already said before, the generals who serve him, since indeed they, in the manner of arms, carry out the king's commands. He will therefore send, it says, some to profane the sanctuary of strength, that is, the temple dedicated to the all-powerful God; and to set up an idolatrous altar within; for this he calls the abomination that makes desolate. The second book of Maccabees also teaches us this; for it says thus: "About this time Antiochus undertook his second expedition into Egypt." Then, in the middle, the writer, having said something about the rivalry of the illegitimate high priests, added: "When this was reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Therefore, setting out from Egypt, raging in his soul, he took the city by storm, and commanded his soldiers to cut down unsparingly those they met." Then, having narrated how the slaughter proceeded against every age, and that eighty thousand dead were numbered, again after a short time he says: "Antiochus, having a hateful disposition towards the Jews, sent Apollonius, the leader of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, commanding him to slay all those in the prime of life." And after a short time he says again: "Not long after this the king sent an old Athenian to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers, and not to live by the laws of God, and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus." Foretelling these things, the one speaking with the blessed Daniel said: "And arms shall stand up on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice;" that is, the daily worship offered to God. "And they shall place in it the abomination that makes desolate;" the altar which the impious king set up to Zeus, and offered a pig upon it. λβʹ. "And those who do wickedly against the covenant," it says, "they shall lead away in slippery ways." For they will prepare those living in lawlessness to be openly impious, using deceitful words. "But the people who know their God shall be strong and take action." Here he alludes to those around the blessed Mattathias, who, being the first to resist the decrees of Antiochus, and having occupied the desert with his sons, campaigning with a few men, he overcame his generals. λγʹ. "And those of the people who are wise," it says, "shall understand many things." For those who rightly use the knowledge granted by God will utterly 81.1524 despise his laws, and will prefer death for the divine law to a life with impiety. And signifying this, he added: "And they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by plunder for many days." For using various and all kinds of torments, the impious one tried to strike terror into the pious, bringing upon them an untimely death, and as it were plundering their remaining days. Then the things by the blessed Mattathias, and

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τῷ πολέμῳ σημαίνει καιρόν. λʹ. "Καὶ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς αὐτὸν οἱ εἰσπορευό μενοι Κίτιοι, καὶ ταπεινωθήσονται." Παραλαβὼν γὰρ πολλοὺς Κυπρίους, καὶ ἑτέρους νησιώτας (τὸ γὰρ Κίτιον μέχρι τῆς σήμερον πόλισμά ἐστι τῆς Κύπρου), ὁρμήσει μὲν κατὰ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἡττηθεὶς δὲ καὶ ταπεινωθεὶς ἐπανήξει. "Καὶ ἐπι στρέψει, φησὶ, καὶ θυμωθήσεται ἐπὶ διαθήκην ἁγίαν." Πάντα γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν θυμὸν, τὸν διὰ τὴν ἧτταν αὐτῷ προσγινόμενον, κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας δια θήκης ἐμέσει. Καὶ δεικνὺς τὸ ἔργον, "Καὶ ποιήσει," φησί. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ δευτέρᾳ παρουσίᾳ τόν τε πολὺν ἐργάσεται φόνον, καὶ τῶν διαφυγόντων τὸν ἀνδρα ποδισμόν. "Καὶ ἐπιστρέψει, καὶ συνήσει ἐπὶ τοὺς καταλιπόντας διαθήκην ἁγίαν." Πᾶσαν, φησὶ, ποιή σεται πρόνοιαν τῶν παρανομησάντων, καὶ τὸ μὲν Ἰουδαΐζειν ἀρνηθέντων, τὸ δὲ Ἑλληνίζειν ἀσπασα- μένων. λαʹ. "Καὶ βραχίονες ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀναστήσονται, καὶ βεβηλώσουσι τὸ ἁγίασμα τῆς δυναστείας, καὶ με 81.1521 ταστήσουσι τὸν ἐνδελεχισμὸν, καὶ δώσουσιν εἰς αὐ τὸν βδέλυγμα ἠφανισμένον." Βραχίονας καλεῖ, ὡς καὶ ἤδη προειρήκαμεν, τοὺς ὑπουργοῦντας αὐτῷ στρατηγοὺς, ἅτε δὴ δίκην βραχιόνων τά τε τοῦ βα σιλέως πληροῦντας προστάγματα. Πέμψει τοιγαροῦν, φησὶ, τινὰς τὸ μὲν ἁγίασμα τῆς δυναστέιας βεβη λοῦντας, ἀντὶ τοῦ, τῷ Θεῷ τῷ παντοδυνάμῳ ἀνακείμενον νεών· βωμὸν δὲ εἰδωλικὸν ἔνδον ἀναστή σοντας· τοῦτο γὰρ καλεῖ βδέλυγμα ἠφανισμένον. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς τοῦτο καὶ ἡ δευτέρα τῶν Μακκα βαίων· φησὶ γὰρ οὕτως· "Περὶ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ τον, τὴν δευτέραν ἔφοδον ὁ Ἀντίοχος εἰς τὴν Αἴγυ πτον ἐστείλατο." Εἶτα ἐν μέσῳ ὁ συγγραφεύς τινα περὶ τῆς τῶν νόθων ἀρχιερέων φιλονεικίας εἰρη κὼς, ἐπήγαγε· "Προσπεσόντων δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ, περὶ τῶν γεγονότων ὑπέλαβεν ἀποστατεῖν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν· Ὅθεν ἀναστρέψας ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τεθηριωμένος τὴν ψυ χὴν, ἔλαβε τὴν πόλιν δορυάλωτον, καὶ ἐκέλευσε τοῖς στρατιώταις κόπτειν ἀφειδῶς τοὺς ἐμπίπτοντας." Εἶτα διηγησάμενος, ὡς κατὰ πάσης ἡλικίας ὁ φόνος ἐχώρει, καὶ ὀκτὼ μυριάδες νεκρῶν ἠριθμήθησαν, πά λιν μετὰ βραχέα φησίν· "Ἀπεχθῆ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους διάθεσιν ἔχων ὁ Ἀντίοχος, ἔπεμψε μυσάρχην Ἀπολλώνιον μετὰ στρατεύματος δισμυρίων πρὸς τοῖς δισχιλίοις, προστάξας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πάσῃ πάντας κατασφάξαι." Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα πάλιν φησί· "Μετ' οὐ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασι λεὺς γέροντα Ἀθηναῖον, ἀναγκάζειν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους μεταβαίνειν ἀπὸ τῶν πατρίων νόμων, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμοις μὴ πολιτεύεσθαι, μολῦναι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ νεὼν, καὶ προσονομάσαι ∆ιὸς Ὀλυμπίου." Ταῦτα προαγορεύων ὁ τῷ μακαρίῳ ∆ανιὴλ προσδιαλεγόμενος ἔφη· "Καὶ βραχίονες ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀναστήσονται, καὶ βεβηλώσουσι τὸ ἁγίασμα τῆς δυναστείας, καὶ μεταστήσουσι τὸν ἐνδελεχισμόν·" τουτέστι, τὴν καθ' ἡμέραν τῷ Θεῷ προσφερομένην λατρείαν. "Καὶ δώσουσιν εἰς αὐτὸν βδέλυγμα ἠφανι σμένον·" τὸν βωμὸν, ὃν τῷ ∆ιῒ ἀνέστησεν ὁ δυσσεβὴς βασιλεὺς, καὶ χοῖρον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ προσενήνοχε. λβʹ. "Καὶ τοὺς ἀνομοῦντας, φησὶ, διαθήκην ἀπ άξουσιν ἐν ὀλισθήμασι." Τοὺς γὰρ παρανομίᾳ συζῶν τας προφανῶς δυσσεβεῖν παρασκευάσουσι τοῖς ἀπατη λοῖς χρώμενοι λόγοις. "Καὶ λαὸς, γινώσκοντες Θεὸν αὑτῶν, κατισχύσουσι καὶ ποιήσουσι." Τοὺς περὶ τὸν μακάριον Ματταθίαν ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται, ὃς πρῶτος τοῖς τοῦ Ἀντιόχου δόγμασιν ἀντιστὰς, καὶ σὺν τοῖς υἱέσι τὴν ἔρημον καταλαβὼν, μετ' ὀλίγων στρατευόμενος τοὺς ἐκείνου κατηγωνίσατο στρα τηγούς. λγʹ. "Καὶ οἱ συνετοὶ λαοῦ, φησὶ, συνήσουσιν εἰς πολλά." Οἱ γὰρ εἰς δέον τῇ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ χορηγη θείσῃ γνώσει χρώμενοι, σφόδρα τῶν ἐκείνου κατα 81.1524 φρονήσουσι νόμων, καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ θείου νόμου τε λευτὴν τῆς μετ' ἀσεβείας ζωῆς προτιμήσουσι. Καὶ τοῦτο σημαίνων ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ἀσθενήσουσιν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ, καὶ ἐν φλογὶ, καὶ ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ καὶ ἐν διαρπαγῇ ἡμερῶν αὐτῶν." ∆ιαφόροις γὰρ καὶ παν τοδαποῖς κολαστηρίοις ὁ δυσσεβὴς χρώμενος κατα πλήττειν ἐπειρᾶτο τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς, ἄωρον αὐτοῖς ἐπι φέρων θάνατον, καὶ οἱονεὶ τὰς ὑπολοίπους αὐτῶν διαρπάζων ἡμέρας. Εἶτα τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου Ματταθίου, καὶ