Liber II Maccabaeorum, 5

1. Circa hoc autem tempus Anti ochus secundam profectionem paravit in Aegyptum.

1. About this time Antiochus made his second invasion of Egypt.

2. Contigit autem per universam civitatem fere per dies quadraginta videri per aera equites discurrentes, auratas stolas habentes et hastas, ad modum cohortium armatos, et gladiorum evaginationes

2. And it happened that over all the city, for almost forty days, there appeared golden-clad horsemen charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords --

3. et turmas equorum per ordinem digestas et congressiones fieri et decursus utrorumque et scutorum motus et contorum multitudinem et telorum iactus et aureorum ornamentorum fulgores omnisque generis loricationes.

3. troops of horsemen drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all sorts.

4. Quapropter omnes rogabant pro bono factam esse ostensionem.

4. Therefore all men prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen.

5. Sed cum falsus rumor exisset, tamquam vita excessisset Antiochus, assumptis Iason non minus mille viris repente aggressus est civitatem; illis autem, qui erant in muro, compulsis in fugam et ad ultimum iam apprehensa civitate, Menelaus fugit in arcem.

5. When a false rumor arose that Antiochus was dead, Jason took no less than a thousand men and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When the troops upon the wall had been forced back and at last the city was being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.

6. Iason vero caedes civium suorum perpetrabat nulli parcens, non intellegens prosperitatem adversum cognatos calamitatem esse maximam, arbitrans autem hostium et non civium se trophaea constituere.

6. But Jason kept relentlessly slaughtering his fellow citizens, not realizing that success at the cost of one's kindred is the greatest misfortune, but imagining that he was setting up trophies of victory over enemies and not over fellow countrymen.

7. Et principatum quidem non obtinuit, finem vero insidiarum suarum confusionem adeptus, profugus iterum abiit in Ammanitidem.

7. He did not gain control of the government, however; and in the end got only disgrace from his conspiracy, and fled again into the country of the Ammonites.

8. Ad ultimum igitur malam reversionem sortitus est; conclusus apud Aretam Arabum tyrannum, fugiens de civitate in civitatem, expulsus ab omnibus, odiosus ut refuga legum et exsecrabilis ut patriae et civium carnifex in Aegyptum extrusus est.

8. Finally he met a miserable end. Accused before Aretas the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt;

9. Et, qui multos de patria expulerat, peregre periit ad Lacedaemonios pervectus, quasi pro cognatione habiturus protectionem;

9. and he who had driven many from their own country into exile died in exile, having embarked to go to the Lacedaemonians in hope of finding protection because of their kinship.

10. et, qui insepultos multos abiecerat, ipse illamentatus permansit nec exsequiis ullis neque patrio sepulcro participavit.

10. He who had cast out many to lie unburied had no one to mourn for him; he had no funeral of any sort and no place in the tomb of his fathers.

11. Cum autem nuntia ad regem pervenissent de his, quae gesta erant, suspicatus est rex a societate defecturam Iudaeam; et ob hoc profectus ex Aegypto efferatus animo, civitatem quidem armis cepit

11. When news of what had happened reached the king, he took it to mean that Judea was in revolt. So, raging inwardly, he left Egypt and took the city by storm.

12. et iussit militibus interficere occursantes nemini parcendo et eos, qui in domos ascenderent, trucidare.

12. And he commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly every one they met and to slay those who went into the houses.

13. Fiebant ergo iuvenum ac seniorum caedes, mulierum et natorum exterminium virginumque et parvulorum neces.

13. Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of virgins and infants.

14. Erant autem toto triduo octoginta milia perditi, quadraginta quidem milia in ipso manuum conflictu; non minus autem quam qui iugulati fuerant, venumdati sunt.

14. Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting; and as many were sold into slavery as were slain.

15. Non contentus autem his, ausus est intrare templum universae terrae sanctissimum, ducem habens Menelaum, qui legum et patriae fuit proditor,

15. Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country.

16. et scelestis manibus sumens sancta vasa et, quae ab aliis regibus et civitatibus erant posita ad augmentum et gloriam loci et honorem, profanis manibus contrectans.

16. He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands, and swept away with profane hands the votive offerings which other kings had made to enhance the glory and honor of the place.

17. Ita extollebatur mente Antiochus non considerans quod propter peccata habitantium civitatem modicum Dominus fuerat iratus; propter quod accidit circa locum despectio.

17. Antiochus was elated in spirit, and did not perceive that the Lord was angered for a little while because of the sins of those who dwelt in the city, and that therefore he was disregarding the holy place.

18. Alioquin nisi contigisset eos multis peccatis esse involutos, sicut Heliodorus, qui missus est a Seleuco rege ad inspectionem aerarii, et ipse, mox ut accessisset, confestim flagellatus repulsus fuisset ab audacia.

18. But if it had not happened that they were involved in many sins, this man would have been scourged and turned back from his rash act as soon as he came forward, just as Heliodorus was, whom Seleucus the king sent to inspect the treasury.

19. Verum non propter locum gentem, sed propter gentem locum Dominus elegit.

19. But the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the holy place, but the place for the sake of the nation.

20. Ideoque et ipse locus particeps factus populi malorum, postea factus est socius beneficiorum; et, qui derelictus in ira Omnipotentis est, iterum in magni Domini reconciliatione cum omni gloria restitutus est.

20. Therefore the place itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation and afterward participated in its benefits; and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory when the great Lord became reconciled.

21. Igitur Antiochus mille et octingentis ablatis de templo talentis, velocius Antiochiam regressus est, existimans se prae superbia terram ad navigandum, pelagus vero ad ambulandum deducturum propter mentis elationem.

21. So Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on the land and walk on the sea, because his mind was elated.

22. Reliquit autem et praepositos ad affligendam gentem: Hierosolymis quidem Philippum, genere Phrygem, moribus barbariorem eo ipso, a quo constitutus est;

22. And he left governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem, Philip, by birth a Phrygian and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him;

23. in Garizim autem Andronicum; praeter autem hos Menelaum, qui gravius quam ceteri imminebat civibus.

23. and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. In his malice toward the Jewish citizens,

24. Misit autem Apollonium Mysarcham cum exercitu — viginti vero et duo milia virorum — praecipiens omnes perfectae aetatis interficere, mulieres autem ac iuniores vendere.

24. Antiochus sent Apollonius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves.

25. Qui cum venisset Hierosolymam et pacificum se simulasset, quievit usque ad diem sanctum sabbati et, cum comprehenderet feriatos Iudaeos, arma capere suis praecepit;

25. When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peaceably disposed and waited until the holy sabbath day; then, finding the Jews not at work, he ordered his men to parade under arms.

26. omnesque, qui ad spectaculum processerant, trucidavit et civitatem cum armatis discurrens ingentem multitudinem peremit.

26. He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed men and killed great numbers of people.

27. Iudas autem, qui et Maccabaeus, decimus factus secesserat in eremum et ferarum more in montibus vitam cum suis agebat; et feni cibo vescentes demorabantur, ne participes essent coinquinationis.

27. But Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.