that he could get under his power. For many of them were dispersed among the nations round about them, for fear of him. He also commanded that those boys which were not yet circumcised,' should be circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder such circumcision.

But when he had ruled one year, and was fallen into a distemper, he called for his sons,* and set them round about him, and said, "O my sons, I am going the way of all the earth, and I recommend to you my resolution; and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it; but to be mindful of the desires of him who begat you, and brought you up; and to preserve the customs of your country; and to recover your ancient form of government, which is in danger of being overturned; and not be carried away with those that, either by their own inclination, or out of necessity betray it; but to become such sons as are worthy of me, to be above all force and necessity; and so to dispose your souls as to be ready, when it shall be necessary to die for your laws, as sensible of this by just reasoning; that if God see that you are disposed, he will not overlook you, but will have a great value for your virtue; and will restore to you again what you have lost, and will return to you that freedom in which you shall live quietly, and enjoy your own customs. Your bodies are mortal and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of immortality by the remembrance of what actions they have done. And I would have you so in love with this immortality, that you may pursue after glory; and that, when you have undergone the greatest difficulties, you may not scruple for such things, to lose your lives. I exhort you especially to agree one with another; and in what excellence any one of you exceeds another, to yield to him so far; and by that means to reap the advantage of every one's own virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as your father; because he is a man of extraordinary prudence; and be governed by him, in what counsels he gives you. Take Maccabeus for the general of your army; because of his courage and strength. For he will avenge your nation, and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among you the righteous and religious, and augment their power."

* 1 Macc. ii, 49.

When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons, and had prayed to God to be their assistant, and to recover to the people their former constitution; he died a little afterward; and was buried at Modiu; all the people making great lamentation for him. His son Judas then took upon him the administration of public affairs; in the hundred and forty-sixth year.* And thus by the ready assistance of his brethren, and of others, Judas cast their enemies out of the country; and put those of their own country to death who had transgressed its laws; and purified the land of all the pollutions that were in it.

CHAP. VII.

OF THE SUCCESSES OF THE JEWISH ARMS UNDER JUDAS MACCABEUS; AND the purIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.

WHEN Apollonius,† the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this, he took his army and hastened to go against Judas." But having joined battle, he was defeated and slain by Judas, who seized upon his sword, and kept it for himself, as a trophy of victory. The number of Apollonius's army that were slain, was also very great; that of the wounded was still more considerable; and the victors took a great deal of prey. But when Seron, who was general of the army of Colesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas; and that he had about him an army sufficient for making war, he determined to make an expedition against him; as thinking it became him to endeavour to punish those that transgressed the king's injunctions. He then got together an army,|| as large as he was

* 1 Macc. ii. 70.

+ This, in all probability, was the same Apollonius whom Antiochus sent at first to plunder Jerusalem, and afterwards to set up the statue of Jupiter Olympius, and to compel the Jews to relinquish their religion. Calmet's Commentary. B. 1 Macc. iii 12.

|| At this time Jerusalem was in the hands of the Heathens, and the sanctuary trodden underfoot; so that Judas could not assemble his men there, to implore the assistance of God in this time of imminent danger: and therefore he repaired to Mizpeh, a place where the people oftentimes used to assemble to prayer, Judges xx. 1. 1 Kings xv. 22. 2 Chron. xvi. 6. Here he and all his army addressed them

able, and joined it to the runagate and wicked Jews, and came as far as Beth-horon, a village of Judea, and there pitched his camp. Judas met him, and resolved to give him battle; but as his soldiers were backward to fight, because their number was small, and because they wanted food, for they were fasting; he encouraged them, and reminded them, that victory and conquests of enemies are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of piety towards God; and that they had the plainest instances in their forefathers; who by their righteousness, and exerting themselves on behalf of their own laws, and their own children, had frequently conquered many thousands. By this speech he induced his men to contemn the multitude of the enemy, and to fall upon Seron. And upon joining battle with him, he defeated the Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest, they all ran away with speed; as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he pursued them into the plain, and slew about eight hundred of the enemy; but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the sea.

When king Antiochus heard of these things he was very angry at what had happened. So he assembled all his own army;* with many mercenaries whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared to break into Judea, about the beginning of the spring. But upon mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were deficient, and there was a want of money in them; for all the taxes were not paid, by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations; he having been so magnanimous and so liberal, that what he had was not sufficient for him. He therefore resolved first to go into Persia, and collect the taxes of that country. Hereupon he left one Lysias, who was in great repute with him, governor of the kingdom; as far as the bounds of Egypt, and of the lower Asia, and reaching from the river Euphrates; and committed to him a certain part of his forces, and of his ele

selves to God, in solemn fasting and prayer, for his assistance and protection: and herein he acted the part of a wise and religious commander, as knowing that the battle was the Lord's, and that therefore it would be impious to begin any such enterprize, without first imploring the divine aid. Prideaux's Connection, anno

phants; and charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all possible care, until he came back; and that he should conquer Judea, and take its inhabitants for slaves, and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the whole nation. And when king Antiochus had given these things in charge to Lysias, he went into Persia, and in the hundred and forty-seventh year he passed over Euphrates, and went up to the superior provinces.

Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, very potent men among the king's friends; and delivered to them forty thousand foot soldiers, and seven thousand horsemen; and sent them against Judea. Accordingly, they came as far as the city Emmaus, and pitched their camp in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria, and the country round about; as also many of the runagate Jews. And besides these came some merchants, to buy those that should be carried captives; (having bonds with them, to bind those that should be made prisoners ;) with that silver and gold which they were to pay for their price. And when Judas saw their camp, and how numerous their enemies were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage; and exhorted them to place their hopes of victory in God; and to make supplication to him, according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth; and to shew what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest dangers; and thereby to prevail with God to grant them the victory over their enemies. So he set them in the ancient order of battle used by their forefathers; under their captains of thousands, and other officers; and dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those that had newly gained possessions; that they might not fight in a cowardly manner, out of any inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy those blessings. When he had thus disposed his soldiers, he encouraged them to fight by the following speech: "O my fellow-soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and contempt of danger; for if you fight manfully, you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshipping God. You are in such circumstances at present, that you must either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed way of living, which is according to our

laws, and the customs of our country; or submit to the most opprobrious sufferings; nor will any seed of your nation remain, if you be beaten in this battle. Fight therefore manfully, and suppose that you must die though you do not fight. But believe, that besides such glorious rewards as those of the liberty of your country, of your laws, and of your religion, you shall obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves therefore, and put yourselves into such a posture, that you be ready to fight with the enemy, as soon as it is day to-morrow morning."*

And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when the enemy sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot, and one thousand horse, that he might fall upon Judas by night; and had for that purpose, certain of the runagate Jews as guides; the son of Mattathias perceived it, and resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time, and had left many fires in their camp, he marched all night to those enemies that were at Emmaus. So that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but suspected they were retired, and had hidden themselves among the mountains, be resolved to go and seek them, wheresoever they were. But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill armed, by reason of their poverty. And when he saw the enemy skilfully fortified in their camp, he encouraged the Jews, and told them, that they ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies; for that God had sometimes of old given such men strength, and against such as were more in number, and were armed also; out of regard to their great courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle. And by thus falling upon the enemies when they did not expect it, and thereby astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that resisted him; and went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara, and the plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia. And of these there fell about three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous of the spoils : for that still they must have a battle with Gorgias, and the forces that