The Fourth Book of Maccabees, Chapter 4ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Δ′ Δ′

Σιμων γάρ τις πρὸς Ονιαν ἀντιπολιτευόμενος τόν ποτε τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην ἔχοντα διὰ βίου καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα ἐπειδὴ πάντα τρόπον διαβάλλων ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους οὐκ ἴσχυσεν κακῶσαι φυγὰς ᾤχετο τὴν πατρίδα προδώσων

For a certain Simon, acting in political opposition to Onias, the man who had at one time held the high priesthood and who throughout life was a noble and good man, after failing despite every kind of slander against the nation to injure him, went away as an exile intending to betray his homeland.

ὅθεν ἥκων πρὸς Ἀπολλώνιον τὸν Συρίας τε καὶ Φοινίκης καὶ Κιλικίας στρατηγὸν ἔλεγεν

Therefore, coming to Apollonius, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia and Cilicia, he said,

εὔνους ὢν τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως πράγμασιν ἥκω μηνύων πολλὰς ἰδιωτικῶν χρημάτων μυριάδας ἐν τοῖς Ιεροσολύμων γαζοφυλακίοις τεθησαυρίσθαι τοῖς ἱεροῖς μὴ ἐπικοινωνούσας καὶ προσήκειν ταῦτα Σελεύκῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ

'Since I am well-disposed toward the king’s interests, I have come to report that many tens of thousands of private funds have been stored in the treasuries of Jerusalem, funds not belonging to the sanctuary, and that these rightly belong to King Seleucus.'

τούτων ἕκαστα γνοὺς ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος τὸν μὲν Σιμωνα τῆς εἰς τὸν βασιλέα κηδεμονίας ἐπαινεῖ πρὸς δὲ τὸν Σέλευκον ἀναβὰς κατεμήνυσε τὸν τῶν χρημάτων θησαυρόν

When Apollonius learned each of these details, he praised Simon for his zeal toward the king, then went up to Seleucus and reported the hoard of money.

καὶ λαβὼν τὴν περὶ αὐτῶν ἐξουσίαν ταχὺ εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἡμῶν μετὰ τοῦ καταράτου Σιμωνος καὶ βαρυτάτου στρατοῦ

And after receiving authority concerning it, he quickly came to our homeland with the accursed Simon and a very heavy force,

προσελθὼν ταῖς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐντολαῖς ἥκειν ἔλεγεν ὅπως τὰ ἰδιωτικὰ τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου λάβοι χρήματα

and, having arrived, he said that he had come by the king’s commands in order to take the private monies of the treasury.

καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους πρὸς τὸν λόγον σχετλιάζοντος ἀντιλέγοντός τε πάνδεινον εἶναι νομίσαντες εἰ οἱ τὰς παρακαταθήκας πιστεύσαντες τῷ ἱερῷ θησαυρῷ στερηθήσονται ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν ἐκώλυον

But when the nation cried out against the proposal and objected that it would be utterly dreadful if those who had entrusted deposits to the sacred treasury were to be deprived of them, they resisted him as best they could.

μετὰ ἀπειλῶν δὲ ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος ἀπῄει εἰς τὸ ἱερόν

But Apollonius proceeded to the sanctuary with threats.

τῶν δὲ ἱερέων μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἱκετευσάντων τὸν θεὸν ὑπερασπίσαι τοῦ ἱεροῦ καταφρονουμένου τόπου

And while the priests, together with women and children, were imploring God in the sanctuary to protect the place that was being contemptuously treated as holy,

ἀνιόντος τε μετὰ καθωπλισμένης τῆς στρατιᾶς τοῦ Ἀπολλωνίου πρὸς τὴν τῶν χρημάτων ἁρπαγὴν οὐρανόθεν ἔφιπποι προυφάνησαν ἄγγελοι περιαστράπτοντες τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ πολὺν αὐτοῖς φόβον τε καὶ τρόμον ἐνιέντες

and while Apollonius was going up with his armed force to seize the funds, horsemen from heaven appeared, angels flashing with their weapons and throwing great fear and terror into them.

καταπεσών γέ τοι ἡμιθανὴς ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος ἐπὶ τὸν πάμφυλον τοῦ ἱεροῦ περίβολον τὰς χεῖρας ἐξέτεινεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ μετὰ δακρύων τοὺς Εβραίους παρεκάλει ὅπως περὶ αὐτοῦ προσευξάμενοι τὸν οὐράνιον ἐξευμενίσωνται στρατόν

Then Apollonius fell half-dead upon the broad court of the sanctuary, stretched out his hands to heaven, and with tears begged the Hebrews to pray for him and appease the heavenly host.

ἔλεγεν γὰρ ἡμαρτηκὼς ὥστε καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἄξιος ὑπάρχειν πᾶσίν τε ἀνθρώποις ὑμνήσειν σωθεὶς τὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ τόπου μακαριότητα

For, he said, he had sinned so grievously as even to deserve death, and if saved he would proclaim to all people the blessed majesty of the holy place.

τούτοις ὑπαχθεὶς τοῖς λόγοις Ονιας ὁ ἀρχιερεύς καίπερ ἄλλως εὐλαβηθείς μήποτε νομίσειεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Σέλευκος ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ μὴ θείας δίκης ἀνῃρῆσθαι τὸν Ἀπολλώνιον ηὔξατο περὶ αὐτοῦ

Moved by these words, Onias the high priest, though otherwise fearful lest King Seleucus suppose that Apollonius had been destroyed by human plotting rather than by divine justice, prayed for him.

καὶ ὁ μὲν παραδόξως διασωθεὶς ᾤχετο δηλώσων τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ συμβάντα αὐτῷ

And so he, having been saved in astonishing fashion, went away to report to the king what had happened to him.

τελευτήσαντος δὲ Σελεύκου τοῦ βασιλέως διαδέχεται τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Ἀντίοχος ὁ Ἐπιφανής ἀνὴρ ὑπερήφανος καὶ δεινός

But when King Seleucus died, his son Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded to the rule, a proud and formidable man.

ὃς καταλύσας τὸν Ονιαν τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης Ιασονα τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ κατέστησεν ἀρχιερέα

He deposed Onias from the high priesthood and appointed Jason, his own brother, as high priest,

συνθέμενον δώσειν εἰ ἐπιτρέψειεν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχήν κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν τρισχίλια ἑξακόσια ἑξήκοντα τάλαντα

after Jason agreed to pay him, if he would grant him the office, three thousand six hundred and sixty talents each year.

ὁ δὲ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀρχιερᾶσθαι καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους ἀφηγεῖσθαι

And he granted him both to serve as high priest and to govern the nation.

καὶ ἐξεδιῄτησεν τὸ ἔθνος καὶ ἐξεπολίτευσεν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν παρανομίαν

And he regulated the nation in a new way and drove its civic life toward every kind of lawlessness.

ὥστε μὴ μόνον ἐπ' αὐτῇ τῇ ἄκρᾳ τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν γυμνάσιον κατασκευάσαι ἀλλὰ καὶ καταλῦσαι τὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ κηδεμονίαν

Thus he not only constructed a gymnasium at the very citadel of our homeland, but also abolished the guardianship of the sanctuary.

ἐφ' οἷς ἀγανακτήσασα ἡ θεία δίκη αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς τὸν Ἀντίοχον ἐπολέμωσεν

Because of these things divine justice, stirred to indignation, made Antiochus himself wage war against them.

ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολεμῶν ἦν κατ' Αἴγυπτον Πτολεμαίῳ ἤκουσέν τε ὅτι φήμης διαδοθείσης περὶ τοῦ τεθνάναι αὐτὸν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα χαίροιεν οἱ Ιεροσολυμῖται ταχέως ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἀνέζευξεν

For while he was at war in Egypt against Ptolemy, and when he heard that, as the rumor of his death had spread, the Jerusalemites were rejoicing as much as possible, he quickly marched against them.

καὶ ὡς ἐπόρθησεν αὐτούς δόγμα ἔθετο ὅπως εἴ τινες αὐτῶν φάνοιεν τῷ πατρίῳ πολιτευόμενοι νόμῳ θάνοιεν

And when he had ravaged them, he established a decree that if any of them were found living by the ancestral law, they should die.

καὶ ἐπεὶ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον ἴσχυεν καταλῦσαι διὰ τῶν δογμάτων τὴν τοῦ ἔθνους εὐνομίαν ἀλλὰ πάσας τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἀπειλὰς καὶ τιμωρίας ἑώρα καταλυομένας

And since he was in no way able by decrees to overthrow the law-abiding order of the nation, but saw all his threats and punishments brought to nothing,

ὥστε καὶ γυναῖκας ὅτι περιέτεμον τὰ παιδία μετὰ τῶν βρεφῶν κατακρημνισθῆναι προειδυίας ὅτι τοῦτο πείσονται

so that even women who had circumcised their children were hurled down together with their infants, though they knew beforehand that they would suffer this,

ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ δόγματα αὐτοῦ κατεφρονεῖτο ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτὸς διὰ βασάνων ἕνα ἕκαστον τοῦ ἔθνους ἠνάγκαζεν μιαρῶν ἀπογευομένους τροφῶν ἐξόμνυσθαι τὸν Ιουδαϊσμόν

therefore, since his decrees were being despised by the people, he himself by tortures compelled each person of the nation, after tasting defiled foods, to renounce Judaism on oath.