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and plundered them all. And while the holy city was inhabited with all peace on account of the hatred of wickedness and the piety of the high priest Onias, it happened that throughout the whole city for almost forty days there appeared horsemen rushing through the air, armed, wearing golden robes, and attacks of both sides were made and movements of weapons and flashes of golden ornaments, clad in all kinds of armor. Wherefore all prayed that the apparition might be for good. which also 1.286 foretold the wicked attack of Antiochus; for having set out after a great victory and being savage in his soul, he took the city by storm, then having ordered the soldiers to cut down without mercy those they met, 180,000 were slain. Therefore, having dared even to enter the sanctuary with great arrogance, and having set up an altar and an idol, the abomination of desolation, and having defiled the temple with unclean sacrifices, naming it the temple of Olympian Zeus, and having sat in a high place, he ordered his guards to compel each and every Hebrew to taste swine's flesh and things sacrificed to idols, and if any were unwilling, that they should be killed. And when many were seized, among whom was a certain Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, already advanced in age, he was compelled to eat the unclean food; but he, choosing a death with glory rather than a life with defilement, went willingly to the instrument of torture, and so after many torments and scourgings beforehand, he departed this life, leaving his own death as an example of nobility and virtue not only to the young but also to those advanced in years. After him, seven other brothers with their mother, being tortured in various ways, gloriously took up the crown of martyrdom. By them the tyrant, being put to shame and driven even more mad, taking all the sacred vessels, and infinite gold and silver, and having plundered the whole city and slaughtered the cattle and committed much bloodshed and spoken great swelling words, departed to 1.287 Antioch. And after two years, campaigning against the Persians, he sent a chief tax-collector to the city of Jerusalem, who, arriving with a great force and speaking words of peace with deceit to Jerusalem, entered and struck it a great blow, and tearing down the walls, he burned it all, and he filled the temple with unclean sacrifices, and those of the Jews who did not choose to Hellenize he killed without mercy. Therefore, having killed many, he departed, leaving behind a ruler to torture the Jews. But a certain priest, Matthias, who had five sons, of whom Judas Maccabeus was one, being filled with zeal and rushing against the ruler, killed him. And gathering all those around him, he went forth and tore down the unclean altars of the Greeks, and killed those who had apostatized from the law. And Antiochus, making his return from Persia in disorder and defeat, falling sick from great despondency, said to his own companions, "sleep departs from my eyes, and I have collapsed from care. Now therefore I remember the evils which I did in Jerusalem. I know that for these reasons these evils have found me, and behold, I am perishing in a foreign land." And he commanded his charioteer to drive unceasingly, clearly perceiving the punishment from the judgment from above. For an incurable pain of his bowels seized him; and it happened that he fell also from his chariot as it was carried along with a rush, and suffered a grievous fall, and all the members of his body were wrenched, so that he also 1.288 gushed forth worms and in greatest pains his flesh fell away. And so he ended his life by a most shameful fate in a strange land. And after Antiochus, Antiochus Eupator, his son, reigned, in whose time Judas Maccabeus, having routed the garrisons of Antiochus, prepared for Antiochus to come against him with twenty thousand horsemen and one hundred thousand foot soldiers and three hundred chariots and elephants

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καὶ πάσας ἐσκύλευσε. Τῆς δὲ ἁγίας πόλεως κατοικουμένης μετὰ πάσης εἰρήνης διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως Ὀνίου μισοπονηρίαν τε καὶ εὐσέβειαν, συνέβη καθ' ὅλην τὴν πόλιν σχεδὸν ἐφ' ἡμέραις μʹ φαίνεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος ἱππεῖς τρέχοντας ἐνόπλους, διαχρύσους στολὰς ἔχοντας, καὶ προσβολὰς ἑκατέρων γινομένας καὶ ὅπλων κινήσεις καὶ χρυσέων κόσμων ἐκλάμψεις παντοίοις εἴδεσιν ἀμφιάσεων τεθωρακισμένους. διὸ πάντες ἠξίουν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ γενέσθαι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν. ἥτις καὶ 1.286 προεδήλου τὴν πονηρὰν ἔφοδον Ἀντιόχου· ἀναζεύξας γὰρ μετὰ νίκης πολλῆς καὶ τεθηριωμένος τὴν ψυχὴν παρέλαβε τὴν πόλιν δορυάλωτον, εἶτα προστάξαντος τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀφειδῶς κόπτειν τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας ἀνῃρέθησαν χιλιάδες ρπʹ. κατατολμήσας οὖν καὶ εἰς τὸ ἁγίασμα εἰσελθὼν ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ πολλῇ, καὶ στή σας βωμὸν καὶ εἴδωλον βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως, καὶ τὸν ναὸν μιάνας δι' ἀκαθάρτων θυσιῶν, ἱερὸν ∆ιὸς Ὀλυμπίου προσαγορεύσας, καὶ ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ τόπου καθίσας, ἐκέλευσε τοῖς δορυφόροις ἕνα ἕκαστον Ἑβραῖον καὶ κρεῶν χοιρείων καὶ εἰδωλοθύτων ἀπογεύε σθαι ἀναγκάζειν, εἰ δέ τινες μὴ θέλοιεν, τούτους ἀναιρεῖσθαι. πολλῶν δὲ συναρπασθέντων, ἐξ ὧν Ἐλεάζαρ τις τῶν πρωτευόν των γραμματέων, ἤδη προβεβηκὼς τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἠναγκάζετο μια ροφαγῆσαι· ὁ δὲ τὸν μετ' εὐκλείας θάνατον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν μετὰ μύσους βίον ἀναδεξάμενος αὐθαιρέτως ἐπὶ τὸ τύμπανον προσή γετο, καὶ οὕτω μετὰ πολλῶν πρότερον αἰκισμῶν καὶ μαστίγων ὑπαλλάξας τὸν βίον οὐ μόνον τοῖς νέοις ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς προβεβηκόσι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θάνατον ὑπόδειγμα γενναιότητος καὶ ἀρετῆς κατέλιπε. μεθ' ὃν καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς ἑπτὰ ἀδελφοὶ μετὰ μητρὸς διαφόρως βασανισθέντες τὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἐνδόξως ἀνεδήσαντο. ὑφ' ὧν ὁ τύραννος καταισχυνθεὶς καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκμανείς, τὰ ἱερὰ πάντα σκεύη λαβών, χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον ἄπειρον, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν λαφυραγωγήσας καὶ τὰ κτήνη κρεουργήσας καὶ πολλὴν φονοκτονίαν ποιήσας καὶ μεγαλορρημονήσας ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Ἀν 1.287 τιόχειαν. καὶ μετὰ δύο ἔτη κατὰ Περσῶν ἐπιστρατεύσας ἀπέ στειλεν ἄρχοντα φορολογῆσαι τὴν πόλιν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὃς παρα γενόμενος μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως καὶ λαλήσας εἰρηνικοὺς λόγους μετὰ δόλου πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ εἰσελθὼν ἐπάταξεν αὐτὴν πληγῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ καθελὼν τὰ τείχη πᾶσαν ἐνέπρησε, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἱερὸν μιαρῶν θυσιῶν ἐνέπλησε, τοὺς δὲ μὴ προαιρουμένους τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἑλληνίσαι ἀφειδῶς κατέκτεινε. πολλοὺς οὖν ἀνελὼν ἀπῆλθεν, ἄρχοντα καταλιπὼν εἰς τὸ βασανίζειν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους. Ματθίας δέ τις ἱερεὺς ἔχων υἱοὺς πέντε, ἀφ' ὧν Ἰούδας ὁ Μακκαβαῖος ἐτύγχανε, ζήλου πλησθεὶς καὶ ὁρμήσας κατὰ τοῦ ἄρχον τος ἀνεῖλεν αὐτόν. καὶ συναγαγὼν ἅπαντας τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν ἀπέρ χεται καὶ κατασκάπτει τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους βωμοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ τοὺς ἀποστάντας τοῦ νόμου ἀναιρεῖ. ὁ δέ γε Ἀντίοχος ἀκό σμως τε καὶ ἡττημένος ἐκ τῆς Περσίδος τὴν ὑποστροφὴν ποιού μενος, ἐκ πολλῆς ἀθυμίας ἀρρωστήσας ἔφη πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους ἑαυτοῦ "ἀφίσταται ὁ ὕπνος ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου, καὶ συμ πέπτωκα ἀπὸ τῆς μερίμνης. νῦν οὖν μιμνήσκομαι τῶν κακῶν ὧν ἐποίησα ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. ἔγνων ὅτι χάριν τούτων εὗρον τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀπόλλυμαι ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ." καὶ συνέταξε τὸν ἁρματηλάτην αὐτοῦ ἐλαύνειν ἀνενδότως, ἐπαισθανόμενος ἐναργῶς τῆς ἄνωθεν κρίσεως τὴν τιμωρίαν. συνέσχε γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀνήκεστος ἀλγηδὼν τῶν σπλάγχνων· συνέβη δὲ πεσεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος ῥοίζῳ φερόμενον, καὶ δυσχερεῖ πτώματι περιπεσεῖν, καὶ πάντα τοῦ σώματος ἀποστρεβλοῦσθαι τὰ μέλη, ὥστε καὶ σκώλη 1.288 κας ἐκβράσαι καὶ ἐν ὀδύναις μεγίσταις καταπίπτειν αὐτοῦ τὰς σάρκας. καὶ οὕτως αἰσχίστῳ μόρῳ τὸν βίον ἐπὶ ξένης κατέ στρεψε. Μετὰ δὲ Ἀντίοχον ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀντίοχος ὁ Εὐπάτωρ. υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ἐφ' οὗ Ἰούδας ὁ Μακκαβαῖος τοὺς φρουράρχας Ἀντιόχου τροπωσάμενος ἐπελθεῖν καθ' αὑτοῦ Ἀντίοχον παρεσκεύασε μετὰ χιλιάδων ἱππέων εἴκοσι καὶ πεζῶν χιλιάδων ἑκατὸν καὶ ἁρμάτων τριακοσίων καὶ ἐλεφάντων