built by the holy prophets," he was smitten suddenly by God, and fell down. This stroke made him fall down speechless upon the ground; and un dergoing torments for many days, he at length died, when he had been high-priest four years. And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high priesthood on Judas; who hearing of the power of the Romans,+ and that they had conquered in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Lybia; and that, besides these, they had subdued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and Philip, and Antiochus the Great also, he resolved to enter into a league of friendship with them. He therefore sent to Rome some of his friends, Eupolemus the son of John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and by them desired the Romans that they would assist them, and be their friends, and would write to Demetrius that he would not fight against the Jews. So the senate received the ambassadors that came from Judas to Rome, and discoursed with them about the errand on which they came, and then granted them a league of assistance. They also made a decree concerning it, and sent a copy of it into Judea. It was also laid up in the capital, and engraven in brass. The decree itself was this :-"The decree of the senate concerning a league of assistance and friendship with the nation of the Jews. It shall not be lawful for any that are subject to the Romans to make war with the nation of the Jews, nor to assist those that do so, either by sending them corn, or ships, or money. And if any attack be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist them, as far as they are able; and again if any attack be made upon the Romans, the Jews shall assist them. And if the Jews have a mind to add to, or to take away any thing from, this league of assistance, that shall be done with the common consent of the Romans. And whatsoever addition shall thus be made, it shall be of force." This decree was written by Eupolemus the son of John, and by Jason the son of Eleazar, when Judas was high-priest of the nation, and Simon his brother was general of the army. And this was the first league that the Romans made with the Jews, and was managed after this

manner.

CHAPTER XI.

THAT BACCHIDES WAS AGAIN SENT OUT AGAINST JUDAS; AND HOW JUDAS FELL AS HE WAS COURAGEOUSLY FIGHTING.

§ 1. Bur when Demetrius was informed of the death of Nicanor, and of the destruction of the army that was with him, he sent Bacchides again with an army in Judea, who marched out of Antioch, and came into Judea, and pitched his camp at Arbela, a city of Galilee; and having besieged and taken those that were in caves (for many of the

This account of the miserable death of Alcimus or Jacimus, the wicked high-priest (the first that was not of the family of the high-priests,"

people fled into such places), he removed, and made all the haste he could to Jerusalem. And when he had learned that Judas had pitched his camp at a certain village whose name was Bethzetho, he led his army against him: they were twenty thousand footmen, and two thousand horsemen. Now Judas had no more soldiers than one thousand.§ When these saw the multitude of Bacchides's men they were afraid, and left their camp, and fled all away, excepting eight hundred. Now when Judas was deserted by his own soldiers, and the enemy pressed upon him, and gave him no time to gather, he was disposed to fight with Bacchides's army, though he had but eight hundred men with him; so he exhorted these men to undergo the danger courageously, and encouraged them to attack the enemy. And when they said they were not a body sufficient to fight so great an army, and advised that they should retire now and save themselves, and that when he had gathered his own men together, then he should fall upon the enemy afterwards, his answer was this "Let not the sun ever see such a thing, that I should show my back to the enemy; and although this be the time that will bring me to my end, and I must die in this battle, I will rather stand to it courageously, and bear whatsoever comes upon me, than by now running away, bring reproach upon my former great actions, or tarnish their glory." This was the speech he made to those that remained with him, and whereby he encouraged them to attack the enemy.

2. But Bacchides drew his army out of their camp, and put them in array for the battle. He set the horsemen on both the wings, and light soldiers and the archers he placed before the whole army, but was himself on the right wing. And when he had thus put his army in order of battle, and was going to join battle with the enemy, he commanded the trumpeter to give a signal of battle, and the army to make a shout, and to fall on the enemy. And when Judas had done the same, he joined battle with them; and as both sides fought valiantly, and the battle continued till sun-set, Judas saw that Bacchides and the strongest part of the army was in the right wing, and thereupon took the most courageous men with him, and ran upon that part of the army, and fell upon those that were there, and broke their ranks, and drove them into the middle, and forced them to run away, and pursued them as far as to a mountain called Aza: but when those of the left wing saw that the right wing was put to flight, they encompassed Judas, and pursued him, and came behind him, and took him into the middle of their army; so not being able to fly, but encompassed round about with enemies, he stood still, and he and those that were with him fought; and when he had slain a great many of those that came against him, he at last was himself wounded, and fell, and gave up the ghost, and died in a way like to his former famous actions. When Judas was dead, those that were with him had no one whom they could regard [as their com

Judas's succession to him as high-priest, both here and at the conclusion of this book, directly contradicts 1 Mac. ix. 54-57, which places his death after the death of Judas, and says not a syllable of the high-priesthood of Judas.

How well the Roman histories agree to this account of the conque-ts and powerful condition of the Romans at this time,see the notes in Havercamp's edition: only, that the number of the senators of Rome was then just 320, is, I think, only known from 1 Maccab. viii, 15,

This subscription is wanting, 1 Maccab. viii, 17, 29, and must be the words of Josephus, who, by mistake, thought, as we have just now seen, that Judas was at this time high-prie t, and accordingly then reckoned his brother Jonathan to be the general of the army, which yet he seems not to have been till after the death of Judas.

T

of such a general, they fled. But Simon and Jonathan, Judas's brethren, received his dead body by a treaty from the enemy, and carried it to the village Modin, where their father had been buried,

That this copy of Josephus, as he wrote it, had not here 1000 but 3000, with 1 Mac. ix. 5, is very plain; because, though the main part ran away at first, even in Josephus, as well as in 1 Mac, ix. 6, yet, n there, so here, 800 are said to have remained with Judas; which would be absurd, if the whole number had been no more than 1000.

and there buried him; while the multitude lamented him many days, and performed the usual solemn rites of a funeral to him. And this was the end that Judas came to. He had been a man of valour and a great warrior, and mindful of all the commands of their father Mattathias ; and had undergone all difficulties, both in doing and suffering, for

the liberty of his countrymen. And when his character was so excellent [while he was alive], he left behind him a glorious reputation and memorial, by gaining freedom for his nation, and delivering them from slavery under the Macedonians. And when he had retained the high-priesthood three years, he died.

CHAPTER I.

HOW JONATHAN TOOK THE GOVERNMENT AFTER HIS BROTHER JUDAS; AND HOW HE, TOGETHER WITH HIS BROTHER SIMON, WAGED WAR AGAINST BACCHIDES.

§ 1. By what means the nation of the Jews recovered their freedom when they had been brought into slavery by the Macedonians, and what struggles, and how many great battles, Judas, the general of their army, ran through till he was slain as he was fighting for them, hath been related in the foregoing book: but after he was dead, all the wicked, and those that transgressed the laws of their forefathers, sprang up again in Judea, and grew upon them, and distressed them on every side. A famine also assisted their wickedness, and afflicted the country, till not a few, who by reason of their want of necessaries, and because they were not able to bear up against the miseries that both the famine and their enemies brought upon them, desert. ed their country, and went to the Macedonians. And now Bacchides gathered those Jews together who had apostatized from the accustomed way of living of their forefathers, and chose to live like their neighbours, and committed the care of the country to them; who also caught the friends of Ju das, and those of his party, and delivered them up to Bacchides, who, when he had, in the first place, tortured and tormented them at his pleasure, he by that means, at length killed them. And when this calamity of the Jews was become so great, as they had never had experience of the like since their return out of Babylon, those that remained of the companions of Judas, seeing that the nation was about to be destroyed after a miserable manner, came to his brother Jonathan, and desired him that he would imitate his brother, and that care which he took of his countrymen, for whose liberty in general he died also; and that he would not permit the nation to be without a governor, especially in those destructive circumstances wherein it now was. And when Jonathan said he was ready to die for them, and was indeed esteemed no way inferior to his brother, he was appointed to be the general of the Jewish army.

2. When Bacchides heard this, and was afraid that Jonathan might be very troublesome to the king and the Macedonians, as Judas had been be

fore him, he sought how he might slay him by treachery but this intention of his was not unknown to Jonathan, nor his brother Simon; but when these two were apprised of it, they took all their companions, and presently fled into that wilderness which was nearest to the city; and when they were come to a lake called Asphar, they abode there. But when Bacchides was sensible that they were in a low state, and were in that place, he hasted to fall upon them with all his forces, and pitching his camp beyond Jordan, he recruited his army: but when Jonathan knew that Bacchides was coming upon him, he sent his brother John, who was also called Gaddis, to the Nabatean Arabs, that he might lodge his baggage with them until the battle with Bacchides should be over, for they were the Jews' friends. And the sons of Ambri laid an ambush for John, from the city Medaba, and seized upon him, and upon those that were with him, and plundered all that they had with them: they also slew John, and all his companions. However, they were sufficiently punished for what they now did by John's brethren, as we shall relate presently.

3. But when Bacchides knew that Jonathan had pitched his camp among the lakes of Jordan, he observed when their Sabbath-day came, and then assaulted him, [as supposing that he would not fight because of the law for resting on that day]: but he exhorted his companions [to fight]; and told them, that their lives were at stake, since they were encompassed by the river, and by their enemies, and had no way to escape, for that their enemies pressed upon them before, and the river was behind them. So, after he had prayed to God to give them the victory, he joined battle with the enemy, of whom he overthrew many and as he saw Bacchides coming up boldly to him, he stretched out his right hand to smite him; but the other foreseeing and avoiding the stroke, Jonathan with his companions leaped into the river, and swam over it, and by that means escaped beyond Jordan, while the enemy did not pass over that river; but Bacchides returned presently to the citadel at Jerusalem, having lost about two thousand of his army. He also fortified many cities of Judea, whose walls had been demolished; Jericho, and Emmaus, and Bethoron, and Bethel, and Timna, and Pharatho, and Tecoa, and Gazara, and built towers in every one of these cities, and encompassed

them with strong walls, that were very large also, and put garrisons into them, that they might issue out of them, and do mischief to the Jews. He also fortified the citadel at Jerusalem more than all the rest. Moreover, he took the sons of the principal Jews as pledges, and shut them up in the citadel, and in that manner guarded it.

4. About the same time, one came to Jonathan, and to his brother Simon, and told them that the sons of Ambri were celebrating a marriage, and bringing the bride from the city Gabatha, who was the daughter of one of the illustrious men among the Arabians, and that the damsel was to be conducted with pomp and splendour, and much riches: so Jonathan and Simon thinking this appeared to be the fittest time for them to avenge the death of their brother, and that they had forces sufficient for receiving satisfaction from them for his death, they made haste to Medaba, and lay in wait among the mountains for the coming of their enemies; and as soon as they saw them conducting the virgin and the bridegroom, and such a great company of their friends with them as was to be expected at this wedding, they sallied out of their ambush and slew them all,-and took their ornaments, and all the prey that then followed them, and so returned, and received this satisfaction for their brother John from the sons of Ambri; for as well these sons themselves as their friends, and wives, and children, that followed them, perished, being in number about four hundred.

5. However, Simon and Jonathan returned to the lakes of the river, and abode there; but Bacchides, when he had secured all Judea with his garrisons, returned to the king; and then it was that the affairs of Judea were quiet for two years; but when the deserters and the wicked saw that Jonathan and those that were with him lived in the country very quietly, by reason of the peace, they sent to king Demetrius, and excited him to send Bacchides to seize upon Jonathan, which they said was to be done without any trouble, and in one night's time; and that if they fell upon them before they were aware, they might slay them all. So the king sent Bacchides, who, when he was come into Judea, wrote to all his friends, both Jews and auxiliaries, that they should seize upon Jonathan, and bring him to him; and when, upon their endeavours, they were not able to seize upon Jonathan, for he was sensible of the snares they laid for him, and very carefully guarded against them, Bacchides was angry at these deserters, as having imposed upon him, and upon the king, and slew fifty of their leaders; whereupon Jonathan, with his brother, and those that were with him, retired to Bethagla, a village that lay in the wilderness, out of his fear of Bacchides. He also built towers in it, and encompassed it with walls, and took care that it should be safely guarded. Upon the hearing of which Bacchides led his own army along with him, and besides took his Jewish auxiliaries, and came against Jonathan, and made an assault upon his fortifications, and besieged him many days, but Jonathan did not abate of his courage at the zeal Bacchides used in the siege, but courageously opposed him; and while he left his brother Simon in the city to fight with Bacchides, he went privately out himself into the country, and got a great body of men together of his own party, and fell upon Bacchides's camp in the night-time, and destroyed a great many of them. His brother Simon knew

also of this his falling upon them, because he perceived that the enemies were slain by him, so he sallied out upon them, and burnt the engines which the Macedonians used, and made a great slaughter of them; and when Bacchides saw himself encompassed with enemies, and some of them before, and some behind him, he fell into despair and trouble of mind, as confounded at the unexpected ill success of this siege. However, he vented his displeasure at these misfortunes upon those deserters who sent for him from the king, as having deluded him. So he had a mind to put an end to this siege after a decent manner, if it were possible for him so to do, and then to return home.

6. When Jonathan understood these his intentions, he sent ambassadors to him about a league of friendship and mutual assistance, and that they might restore those they had taken captive on both sides. So Bacchides thought this a pretty decent way of retiring home, and made a league of friendship with Jonathan, when they sware that they would not any more make war against one another. Accordingly, he restored the captives, and took his own men with him, and returned to the king at Antioch; and after this his departure, he never came into Judea again. Then did Jonathan take the opportunity of this quiet state of things, and went and lived in the city Michmash; and there governed the multitude, and punished the wicked and ungodly, and by that means purged the nation of them.

CHAPTER II.

HOW ALEXANDER [BALA], IN HIS WAR WITH DEMETRIUS, GRANTED JONATHAN MANY ADVANTAGES, AND APPOINTED HIM TO BE HIGH-PRIEST, AND PERSUADED HIM TO ASSIST HIM, ALTHOUGH DEMETRIUS PROMISED HIM GREATER ADVANTAGES ON THE OTHER SIDE. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF DEMETRIUS.

§ 1. Now in the hundred and sixtieth year, it fell out that Alexander, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes,* came up into Syria, and took Ptolemais, the soldiers having betrayed it to him, for they were at enmity with Demetrius, on account of his insolence and difficulty of access: for he shut himself up in a palace of his that had four towers, which he had built himself, not far from Antioch, and admitted nobody. He was withal slothful and negligent about the public affairs, whereby the hatred of his subjects was the more kindled against him, as we have elsewhere already related. When, therefore, Demetrius heard that Alexander was in Ptolemais, he took his whole army, and led it against him; he also sent ambassadors to Jonathan, about a league of mutual assistance and friendship, for he resolved to be beforehand with Alexander, lest the other should treat with him first, and gain assistance from him; and this he did out of the fear he had

This Alexander Bala, who certainly pretended to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and was owned for such by the Jews and Romans, and many others, and yet is by several historians deemed to be a counterfeit, and of no family at all, is, however, by Josephus, believed to have been the real son of that Antiochus, and by him always spoken of accordingly; and truly, since the original contemporary and authentic author of the first book of Maccabees (x. 2) calls him by his father's name, Epiphanes, and says he was the son of Antiochus, I suppose the other writers, who are all much later, are not to be followed against such evidence, though perhaps Epiphanes might have him by a woman of no family. The king of Egypt also, Philometor, soon gave him his daughter in marriage, which he would hardly have done, had he believed him to be a counterfeit, and of so very mean a birth as the later historians pretend.

and that all be done at my expenses. I also allow you to build the walls of your city, and to erect high towers, and that they be erected at my charge. And if there be any fortified town that would be convenient for the Jewish country to have very strong, let it be so built at my expenses."

4. This was what Demetrius promised and granted to the Jews, by this letter. But king Alexander raised a great army of mercenary soldiers, and of those that deserted to him out of Syria, and made an expedition against Demetrius. And when it was come to a battle, the left wing of Demetrius put those who opposed them to flight, and pursued them a great way, and slew many of them, and spoiled their camp; but the right wing, where Demetrius happened to be, was beaten; and as for all the rest, they ran away. But Demetrius fought courageously, and slew a great many of the enemy; but as he was in pursuit of the rest, his horse carried him into a deep bog, where it was hard to get out, and there it happened, that upon his horse's falling down, he could not escape being killed; for when his enemies saw what had befallen him, they returned back, and encompassed Demetrius round, and they all threw their darts at him; but he, being now on foot, fought bravely. But at length he received so many wounds, that he was not able to bear up any longer, but fell. And this is the end that Demetrius came to, when he had reigned eleven years,* as we have elsewhere related.

CHAPTER III.

THE FRIENDSHIP THAT WAS BETWEEN ONIAS AND PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR; AND HOW ONIAS BUILT A TEMPLE IN EGYPT LIKE TO THAT AT JERUSALEM.

§ 1. BUT then the son of Onias the high-priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame, he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra :-"Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation, where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill will one against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude of their temples, and the difference of opinion about divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath

. Since the rest of the historians now extant give this Demetrius 13 years, and Josephus only 11 years, Dean Prideaux does not amiss in asribing to him the mean number 12.

its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals: I desire, therefore, that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews who dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and be subservient to thy advantages; for the prophet Isaiah foretold, that there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God + and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place."

2. And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. Now any one may observe his piety, and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by that epistle which they wrote in answer to it; for they laid the blame and the transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply:" King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra to Onias, send greeting. We have read thy petition, wherein thou desirest leave to be given to thee to purge that temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis, in the Nomus of Heliopolis, and which is named from the country Bubastis; on which account we cannot but wonder that it should be pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals. But since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago, we give thee leave to do it, if it may be done according to your law, and so that we may not appear to have at all offended God herein."

3. So Onias took the place, and built a temple, and an altar to God, like indeed to that at Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not think it proper for me now to describe its dimensions, or its vessels, which have been already described in my seventh book of the Wars of the Jews. However, Onias found other Jews like himself, together with priests and Levites, that there performed divine service. But we have said enough about this temple.

4. Now it came to pass that the Alexandrian

It seems to me, contrary to the opinion of Josephus, and of the moderns, both Jews and Christians, that this prophecy of Isaiah, xix. 19, &c. In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt,' &c. directly foretold the building of this temple of Onias in Egypt, and was a sufficient warrant to the Jews for building it, and for worshipping the true God, the God of Israel, therein. See Authent. Rec. ii. p. 755. That God seems to have soon better accepted of the sacrifices and prayers here offered him than those of Jerus dem; see the note on ch. x. sect. 7. And truly the marks of Jewish corruption or proving of the worship of God here, are very strong, and highly deserve interpolation in this text, in order to discourage their people from ap. our consideration and correction. The foregoing verse in Isaiah runs of Egypt speak the language of Canaan," the Hebrew language; shall thus in our common copies :---"In that day shall five cities in the land be full of Jews, whose sacred books were in Hebrew] "and swear to the Lord of Host. One [or the first] shall be called the City of Destruction," Isa. xx. 18. A strange name, "City of Destruction," upon so joyful an occasion; and a name never heard of in the land of Egypt, or

perhaps in any other nation. The old reading was evidently the City of the Sun, or Heliopolis; and Onkelos, in effect, and Symmachus, with the Arabic version, entirely confess that to be the true reading. The Septuagint also, although they have the text disguised in the common copies, and call it Asedek, the City of Righteousness; yet in two or three other copies the Hebrew word itself for the Sun, Achares, or Thares, is preserved. And since Onias insists with the king and queen, that Isaiah's prophecy contained many other predictions relating to this place besides the words recited, it is highly probable that these were especially meant by him; and that one main reason why he applied this prediction to himself, and to his prefecture of Heliopolis, which Dean Prideaux well proves was in that part of Egypt, and why he chose to build in that prefecture of Heliopolis, though otherwise an improper temple in Egypt, the very same he had for building it in his own prefecture of Heliopolis alo; which he desired to do, and which he did accordingly. Dean Prideaux has much ado to avoid seeing this cor. ruption of the Hebrew; but it being in support of his own opinion about this temple, he durst not see it; and indeed he reasons here in the mot injudicious manner possible. See him at the year 149.

place, was this: That the same authority that he had for building this