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Of the God-loving, a certain Simon, a Jew, a most lawless protector of the temple in Jerusalem, having been eager to expel Onias many times and being unable, came as a fugitive to Apollonius, general of Syria and Phoenicia and Cilicia, reporting that treasures of much private money were stored with the high priest Onias in the temple, belonging to King Seleucus. And Apollonius, having reported these things to Seleucus and having welcomed the traitor of his country, comes with him, having been ordered by Seleucus, to Jerusalem with troops, to take the same money. But when the Jews said it was impossible for the deposits entrusted to the sacred treasury to be betrayed and beseeched God with tears to stand by the temple, and when Apollonius with his armed host came into the temple to seize the money, 336 fearsome angels appeared on horseback and made everyone tremble, and Apollonius, having fallen half-dead on the all-tribes enclosure of the temple, begged the Hebrews to pray for him. And having been healed by the prayers of Onias, he came to Seleucus empty-handed, reporting the things that had happened to him; and in these circumstances Seleucus dies, as is related in the 4th book of Maccabees. But in the 2nd book of the same Maccabees, the story is related in another way concerning Heliodorus, the one in charge of the finances, sent by Seleucus for the seizure of the money, how he himself, violently seizing, went up to the deposits of widows and orphans in the temple treasury, being 600 talents of gold and 400 of silver only, among which was also some of the same money of Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a distinguished man, as Onias the holy high priest pointed out, and not as the accursed Simon had falsely stated. This Heliodorus, he says, and the spearmen with him, a certain fearsome horse adorned with a most beautiful saddle, having a more fearsome rider, and charging violently, terrified him by striking its front hooves against him and with the armed, golden gleam of its rider. And two other splendid and astonishing young men appeared and, flogging him on his back and chest, left him half-dead; for whom, when Onias was propitiating God, the same young men appeared to Heliodorus and said to be grateful to Onias the high priest, through whom he has life, and to proclaim to all the divine power; who, after sacrificing to God and departing for Seleucus, recounted to the king all the wonders. These things indeed, according to the second of Maccabees, the author, leaving aside the events concerning Seleucus, began from those concerning Alexander the Macedonian and those after him in detail from Antiochus Epiphanes, saying that in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks he became king, and that lawless sons from Israel, having gone to him, asked to Hellenize, and Antiochus himself joined them and stirred up the war against Ptolemy and Egypt 337 with chariots and elephants and horsemen and a great fleet, and having plundered Egypt, he returned to Jerusalem with a heavy host in the 143rd year of the kingdom of the Greeks; and how, having entered the sanctuary with arrogance, he took the altar and the lampstand of the light and all the vessels of the house of the Lord and the adornment and the treasures, causing a great slaughter; at which time also the events concerning Eleazar and the seven sons and their mother were done in martyrdom, as in the 4th book of Maccabees. And after 2 years he sent a chief tax-collector to Judea; this one was Apollonius, a Mysarch, having been requested by the accursed Menelaus to be sent by Antiochus for the complete destruction of Jerusalem and those in it. He came, therefore, peacefully and for 3 days behaved as a friend. But on the day of the Sabbath, when all were at rest, he slaughtered those of military age and set the city on fire, for the second time tearing down the walls and the houses, and taking captive the women and children with their possessions; and the spoils he stored in the citadel called the city of David, which was

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θεοφιλοῦς, Σίμων τις Ἰουδαῖος προστάτης τοῦ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ναοῦ παρανομώτατος, τὸν Ὀνείαν ἐκβάλλειν σπουδάσας πολλαχοῦ καὶ μὴ δυνηθείς, φυγὰς ἧκε πρὸς Ἀπολλώνιον Συρίας καὶ Φοινί κης καὶ Κιλικίας στρατηγόν, μηνύων θησαυροὺς πλείστων χρημάτων ἰδιω τικῶν εἶναι παρὰ τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ Ὀνείᾳ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τεθησαυρισμένους, προσ ήκοντας τῷ βασιλεῖ Σελεύκῳ. ὁ δ' Ἀπολλώνιος μηνύσας τῷ Σελεύκῳ ταῦτα καὶ τὸν τῆς πατρίδος προδότην ἀποδεξάμενος ἔρχεται σὺν αὐτῷ κελευσθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Σελεύκου εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ μετὰ στρατευμάτων, τὰ αὐτὰ ληψόμενος χρήματα. τῶν δὲ Ἰουδαίων ἀδύνατον εἶναι λεγόντων τὰς τῷ ἱερῷ θησαυρῷ πιστευθείσας παρακαταθήκας προδίδοσθαι καὶ τὸν θεὸν λιπαρούντων σὺν δάκρυσι προστῆναι τοῦ ἱεροῦ, τοῦ τε Ἀπολλωνίου μετὰ τῆς ἐνόπλου στρατείας ἐλθόντος εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἁρπάξαι τὰ χρήματα, 336 ἄγγελοι φοβεροὶ φανέντες ἔφιπποι πάντας ἐντρόμους κατέστησαν, ὅ τε Ἀπολλώνιος ἡμιθανὴς καταπεσὼν ἐπὶ τὸν πάμφυλον περίβολον τοῦ ἱεροῦ παρεκάλει δεηθῆναι τοὺς Ἑβραίους ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ. θεραπευθεὶς δὲ ταῖς Ὀνείου λιταῖς ἧκε πρὸς Σέλευκον κενός, ἀγγέλλων τὰ συμβάντα αὐτῷ· καὶ ἐν τού τοις ὁ Σέλευκος τελευτᾷ, ὡς ἐν τῇ δʹ τῶν Μακκαβαϊκῶν βίβλῳ φέρεται. Ἐν δὲ τῇ βʹ τῶν αὐτῶν Μακκαβαϊκῶν βίβλῳ ἄλλως πως ἱστορεῖται τὰ κατὰ τὸν παρὰ Σελεύκου σταλέντα πρὸς ἁρπαγὴν τῶν χρημάτων Ἡλιόδω ρον τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν χρημάτων, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν βιαίως ἁρπάζων ἀνῆλθε τὰς χηρῶν τε καὶ ὀρφανῶν παρακαταθήκας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ γαζοφυλακίῳ, ταλάν των οὔσας χρυσίου ςʹ καὶ ἀργυρίου υʹ μόνων, ἐν οἷς καί τινα ἦν τῶν αὐτῶν χρημάτων Ὑρκανοῦ τοῦ Τωβίου ἀνδρὸς ἐπισήμου, ὡς Ὀνείας ὁ ἱερὸς ἀρχιερεὺς ἀπέδειξε, καὶ οὐχ ὡς Σίμων ὁ κατάρατος διεψεύσατο. Τοῦτον οὖν Ἡλιόδωρον, φησί, καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ δορυφόρους ἵππος τις φοβερὸς καλλίστῃ σάγῃ διακεκοσμημένος, φοβερώτερον ἔχων τὸν ἐπιβά την, καὶ ῥύδην φερόμενος ἐξεδειμάτωσε τὰς ἐμπροσθίους ἐνσείσας ὁπ λὰς αὐτῷ καὶ τῇ ἐνόπλῳ χρυσαυγείᾳ τοῦ ἐπιβάτου. οἵ τε ἄλλοι φανέντες ἐκπρεπεῖς καὶ καταπληκτικοὶ βʹ νεανίαι μαστίζοντες αὐτὸν κατὰ νώτου καὶ στέρνων ἀφῆκαν ἡμιθανῆ· ὑπὲρ οὗ τὸν θεὸν ἐξιλεουμένου τοῦ Ὀνείου οἱ αὐτοὶ νεανίαι φανέντες τῷ Ἡλιοδώρῳ εἶπον ἔχειν Ὀνείᾳ τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ τὴν χάριν, δι' οὗ τὸ ζῆν ἔχει, καὶ πᾶσι διαγγέλλειν τὸ θεῖον κράτος· ὃς θύσας τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἀναζεύξας πρὸς Σέλευκον ἅπαντα τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ παράδοξα διηγεῖτο. Ταῦτα δὴ κατὰ τὴν δευτέραν τῶν Μακκαβαϊκῶν ὁ συγγραφεύς, ἀφεὶς τὰ κατὰ τὸν Σέλευκον, ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Μακεδόνα καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτὸν ἐπιτεταμένως ἀπὸ Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Ἐπιφανοῦς ἤρξατο, λέγων ὅτι τῷ ρλζʹ ἔτει βασιλείας Ἑλλήνων ἐβασίλευσε, καὶ ὅτι παρανόμως οἱ υἱοὶ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ πορευθέντες πρὸς αὐτὸν ἑλληνίζειν ᾐτήσαντο, αὐτός τε Ἀντίοχος τούτοις προσετέθη καὶ τὸν κατὰ Πτολεμαίου καὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου 337 πόλεμον ἐκίνησεν ἐν ἅρμασι καὶ ἐλέφασι καὶ ἱππεῦσι καὶ στόλῳ μεγάλῳ, σκευάσας τε τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ τῷ ρμγʹ ἔτει βασιλείας Ἑλλήνων· ὅπως τε εἰς τὸ ἁγίασμα μεθ' ὑπερηφανίας εἰσελθὼν ἔλαβε τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ τὴν λυχνίαν τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ πάντα τὰ σκεύη οἴκου κυρίου καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τοὺς θησαυρούς, ποιήσας φονοκτο νίαν πολλήν· ἡνίκα καὶ τὰ κατὰ Ἐλεάζαρον καὶ τοὺς ζʹ παῖδας καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῶν μαρτυρικῶς πέπρακται, ὡς ἐν δʹ βίβλῳ τῶν Μακκαβαϊ κῶν. Καὶ μετὰ βʹ ἔτη ἀπέστειλεν ἄρχοντα φορολογῆσαι τὴν Ἰουδαίαν· οὗτος δὲ ἦν Ἀπολλώνιος μυσάρχης ὑπὸ Μενελάου τοῦ καταράτου αἰτηθεὶς στα λῆναι παρὰ Ἀντιόχου πρὸς τελείαν καταφθορὰν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ. ἐλθὼν οὖν εἰρηνικῶς ἐφ' ἡμέρας γʹ διῆγεν ὡς φίλος. τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου πάντων ἀργούντων κατέσφαξε τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπρησε, τὸ δεύτερον τὰ τείχη καθελὼν καὶ τοὺς οἴκους, αἰχμαλωτίσας τε γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα σὺν τοῖς ὑπάρχουσι· τὰ δὲ σκῦλα ἀπέθετο ἐν τῇ ἄκρᾳ τῇ λεγομένῃ πόλει ∆αβίδ, ἥτις ἦν