1The previously mentioned Simon, who had given information about the money against his country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and had been the real cause of these evils. 2He dared to call him a conspirator against the state who was actually the benefactor of the city, the guardian of his fellow countrymen, and a zealot for the laws. 3When his hatred grew so great that even murders were perpetrated through one of Simon’s approved agents, 4Onias, seeing the danger of the contention, and that Apollonius the son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was increasing Simon’s malice, 5appealed to the king, not to be an accuser of his fellow citizens, but looking to the good of all the people, both public and private; 6for he saw that without the king’s involvement it was impossible for the state to obtain peace any more, and that Simon would not cease from his madness.
7When Seleucus was deceased, and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias supplanted his brother in the high priesthood, 8having promised to the king at an audience three hundred sixty talents of silver, and out of another fund eighty talents. 9In addition to this, he undertook to assign one hundred fifty more, if it might be allowed him through the king’s authority to set him up a gymnasium and a body of youths to be trained in it, and to register the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. 10When the king had assented, and Jason had taken possession of the office, he immediately shifted those of his own race to the Greek way of life. 11Setting aside the royal ordinances of special favor to the Jews, granted by the means of John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to the Romans to establish friendship and alliance, and seeking to overthrow the lawful ways of living, he brought in new customs forbidden by the law. 12For he eagerly established a gymnasium under the citadel itself, and caused the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat. 13Thus there was an extreme of hellenization, and an advance of a foreign religion, by reason of the exceeding profaneness of Jason, who was an ungodly man and not a high priest; 14so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar; but despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the wrestling arena, after the summons to the discus-throwing. 15They despised the honors of their fathers, and valued the prestige of the Greeks best of all. 16For this reason, severe calamity overtook them. The men whose ways of living they earnestly followed, and to whom they desired to be made like in all things, these became their enemies and punished them. 17For it is not a light thing to show irreverence to God’s laws, but later events will make this clear.
18Now when certain games that came every fifth year were kept at Tyre, and the king was present, 19the vile Jason sent sacred envoys, as being Antiochians of Jerusalem, bearing three hundred drachmas of silver to the sacrifice of Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought not right to use for any sacrifice, because it was not fit, but to spend it for another purpose. 20Although the sender intended that this money was for the sacrifice of Hercules, yet on account of present circumstances it went to the construction of trireme warships.
21Now when Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent into Egypt for the enthronement of Philometor as king, Antiochus, learning that Philometor had shown himself hostile toward the government, took precautions for the security of his realm. Therefore, going to Joppa, he travelled on to Jerusalem. 22Being magnificently received by Jason and the city, he was brought in with torches and shouting. Then he led his army down into Phoenicia.
23Now after a space of three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the previously mentioned Simon’s brother, to carry the money to the king, and to make reports concerning some necessary matters. 24But he being commended to the king, and having been glorified by the display of his authority, secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver. 25After receiving the royal mandates, he returned bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the passion of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage animal. 26So Jason, who had supplanted his own brother, was supplanted by another and driven as a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites 27Menelaus had possession of the office, but of the money that had been promised to the king nothing was regularly paid, even though Sostratus the governor of the citadel demanded it— 28for his job was the gathering of the revenues—so they were both called by the king to his presence. 29Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus for his deputy in the high priesthood; and Sostratus left Crates, who was over the Cyprians.
30Now while this was the state of things, it came to pass that the people of Tarsus and Mallus revolted because they were to be given as a present to Antiochis, the king’s concubine. 31The king therefore quickly came to settle matters, leaving for his deputy Andronicus, a man of high rank. 32Then Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a favorable opportunity, presented to Andronicus certain vessels of gold belonging to the temple, which he had stolen. He had already sold others into Tyre and the neighboring cities. 33When Onias had sure knowledge of this, he sharply reproved him, having withdrawn himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lies by Antioch. 34Therefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, asked him to kill Onias. Coming to Onias, and being persuaded to use treachery, and being received as a friend, Andronicus gave him his right hand with oaths and, though he was suspicious, persuaded him to come out of the sanctuary. Then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him to death. 35For this reason not only Jews, but many also of the other nations, had indignation and displeasure at the unjust murder of the man. 36And when the king had come back from the places in Cilicia, the Jews who were in the city appealed to him against Andronicus (the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wickedness), urging that Onias had been wrongfully slain. 37Antiochus therefore was heartily sorry, and was moved to pity, and wept, because of the sober and well ordered life of him who was dead. 38Being inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off Andronicus’s purple robe, and tore off his under garments, and when he had led him round through the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias, there he put the murderer out of the way, the Lord rendering to him the punishment he had deserved.
39Now when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and when the report of them had spread abroad outside, the people gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, after many vessels of gold had already been stolen. 40When the multitudes were rising against him and were filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and with unrighteous violence began the attack under the leadership of Hauran, a man far gone in years and no less also in folly. 41But when they perceived the assault of Lysimachus, some caught up stones, others logs of wood, and some took handfuls of the ashes that lay near, and they flung them all in wild confusion at Lysimachus and those who were with him. 42As a result, they wounded many of them, they killed some, and they forced the rest of them to flee, but the author of the sacrilege himself they killed beside the treasury.
43But about these matters, there was an accusation laid against Menelaus. 44When the king had come to Tyre, the three men who were sent by the senate pleaded the cause before him. 45But Menelaus, seeing himself now defeated, promised much money to Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, that he might win over the king. 46Therefore Ptolemy taking the king aside into a cloister, as if to get some fresh air, convinced him to change his mind. 47He who was the cause of all the evil, Menelaus, he discharged from the accusations; but these hapless men, who, if they had pleaded even before Scythians, would have been discharged uncondemned, them he sentenced to death. 48Those who were spokesmen for the city and the families of Israel and the holy vessels soon suffered that unrighteous penalty. 49Therefore even certain Tyrians, moved with hatred of the wickedness, provided magnificently for their burial. 50But Menelaus, through the covetous dealings of those who were in power, remained still in his office, growing in wickedness, established as a great conspirator against his fellow citizens.
1Simon autem prædictus, pecuniarum et patriæ delator, male loquebatur de Onia, tamquam ipse Heliodorum instigasset ad hæc, et ipse fuisset incentor malorum: 2provisoremque civitatis, ac defensorem gentis suæ, et æmulatorem legis Dei, audebat insidiatorem regni dicere. 3Sed cum inimicitiæ in tantum procederent ut etiam per quosdam Simonis necessarios homicidia fierent, 4considerans Onias periculum contentionis, et Apollonium insanire, utpote ducem Cœlesyriæ et Phœnicis, ad augendam malitiam Simonis ad regem se contulit, 5non ut civium accusator, sed communem utilitatem apud semetipsum universæ multitudinis considerans. 6Videbat enim sine regali providentia impossibile esse pacem rebus dari, nec Simonem posse cessare a stultitia sua. 7Sed post Seleuci vitæ excessum, cum suscepisset regnum Antiochus, qui Nobilis appellabatur, ambiebat Jason frater Oniæ summum sacerdotium: 8adito rege, promittens ei argenti talenta trecenta sexaginta, et ex redditibus aliis talenta octoginta, 9super hæc promittebat et alia centum quinquaginta, si potestati ejus concederetur, gymnasium et ephebiam sibi constituere, et eos qui in Jerosolymis erant, Antiochenos scribere. 10Quod cum rex annuisset, et obtinuisset principatum, statim ad gentilem ritum contribules suos transferre cœpit, 11et amotis his quæ humanitatis causa Judæis a regibus fuerant constituta per Joannem patrem Eupolemi, qui apud Romanos de amicitia et societate functus est legatione legitima, civium jura destituens, prava instituta sanciebat. 12Etenim ausus est sub ipsa arce gymnasium constituere, et optimos quosque epheborum in lupanaribus ponere. 13Erat autem hoc non initium, sed incrementum quoddam, et profectus gentilis et alienigenæ conversationis, propter impii et non sacerdotis Jasonis nefarium, et inauditum scelus: 14ita ut sacerdotes jam non circa altaris officia dediti essent, sed contempto templo et sacrificiis neglectis, festinarent participes fieri palæstræ et præbitionis ejus injustæ, et in exercitiis disci. 15Et patrios quidem honores nihil habentes, græcas glorias optimas arbitrabantur: 16quarum gratia periculosa eos contentio habebat, et eorum instituta æmulabantur, ac per omnia his consimiles esse cupiebant, quos hoste et peremptores habuerant. 17In leges enim divinas impie agere impune non cedit: sed hoc tempus sequens declarabit. 18Cum autem quinquennalis agon Tyri celebraretur, et rex præsens esset, 19misit Jason facinorosus ab Jerosolymis viros peccatores, portantes argenti didrachmas trecentas in sacrificum Herculis: quas postulaverunt hi qui asportaverant ne in sacrificiis erogarentur, quia non oporteret, sed in alios sumptus eas deputari. 20Sed hæ oblatæ sunt quidem ab eo qui miserat in sacrificium Herculis: propter præsentes autem datæ sunt in fabricam navium triremium. 21Misso autem in Ægyptum Apollonio Mnesthei filio propter primates Ptolemæi Philometoris regis, cum cognovisset Antiochus alienum se a negotiis regni effectum, propriis utilitatibus consulens, profectus inde venit Joppen, et inde Jerosolymam. 22Et magnifice ab Jasone et civitate susceptus, cum facularum luminibus et laudibus ingressus est: et inde in Phœnicen exercitum convertit. 23Et post triennii tempus, misit Jason Menelaum supradicti Simonis fratrem portantem pecunias regi, et de negotiis necessariis responsa perlaturum. 24At ille commendatus regi, cum magnificasset faciem potestatis ejus, in semetipsum retorsit summum sacerdotium, superponens Jasoni talenta argenti trecenta. 25Acceptisque a rege mandatis, venit, nihil quidem habens dignum sacerdotio: animos vero crudelis tyranni, et feræ beluæ iram gerens. 26Et Jason quidem, qui proprium fratrem captivaverat, ipse deceptus profugus in Ammanitem expulsus est regionem. 27Menelaus autem principatum quidem obtinuit: de pecuniis vero regi promissis, nihil agebat, cum exactionem faceret Sostratus, qui arci erat præpositus, 28nam ad hunc exactio vectigalium pertinebant: quam ob causam utrique ad regem sunt evocati. 29Et Menelaus amotus est a sacerdotio, succedente Lysimacho fratre suo: Sostratus autem prælatus est Cypriis. 30Et cum hæc agerentur, contigit Tharsenses et Mallotas seditionem movere, eo quod Antiochidi regis concubinæ dono essent dati. 31Festinanter itaque rex venit sedare illos, relicto suffecto uno ex comitibus suis Andronico. 32Ratus autem Menelaus accepisse se tempus opportunum, aurea quædam vasa e templo furatus donavit Andronico, et alia vendiderat Tyri, et per vicinas civitates. 33Quod cum certissime cognovisset Onias, arguebat eum, ipse in loco tuto se continens Antiochiæ secus Daphnem. 34Unde Menelaus accedens ad Andronicum, rogabat ut Oniam interficeret. Qui cum venisset ad Oniam, et datis dextris cum jurejurando (quamvis esset ei suspectus) suasisset de asylo procedere, statim eum peremit, non veritus justitiam. 35Ob quam causam non solum Judæi, sed aliæ quoque nationes indignabantur, et moleste ferebant de nece tanti viri injusta. 36Sed regressum regem de Ciliciæ locis adierunt Judæi apud Antiochiam, simul et Græci, conquerentes de iniqua nece Oniæ. 37Contristatus itaque animo Antiochus propter Oniam, et flexus ad misericordiam, lacrimas fudit, recordatus defuncti sobrietatem et modestiam: 38accensisque animis Andronicum purpura exutum, per totam civitatem jubet circumduci: et in eodem loco in quo in Oniam impietatem commiserat, sacrilegum vita privari, Domino illi condignam retribuente pœnam. 39Multis autem sacrilegiis in templo a Lysimacho commissis Menelai consilio, et divulgata fama, congregata est multitudo adversum Lysimachum multo jam auro exportato. 40Turbis autem insurgentibus, et animis ira repletis, Lysimachus armatis fere tribus millibus iniquis manibus uti cœpit, duce quodam tyranno, ætate pariter et dementia provecto. 41Sed ut intellexerunt conatum Lysimachi, alii lapides, alii fustes validos arripuere: quidam vero cinerem in Lysimachum jecere. 42Et multi quidem vulnerati, quidam autem et prostrati, omnes vero in fugam conversi sunt: ipsum etiam sacrilegum secus ærarium interfecerunt. 43De his ergo cœpit judicium adversus Menelaum agitari. 44Et cum venisset rex Tyrum, ad ipsum negotium detulerunt missi tres viri a senioribus. 45Et cum superaretur Menelaus, promisit Ptolemæo multas pecunias dare ad suadendum regi. 46Itaque Ptolemæus in quodam atrio positum quasi refrigerandi gratia regem adiit, et deduxit a sententia: 47et Menelaum quidem universæ malitiæ reum criminibus absolvit: miseros autem qui, etiamsi apud Scythas causam dixissent, innocentes judicarentur, hos morte damnavit. 48Cito ergo injustam pœnam dederunt, qui pro civitate, et populo, et sacris vasis causam prosecuti sunt. 49Quam ob rem Tyrii quoque indignati, erga sepulturam eorum liberalissimi extiterunt. 50Menelaus autem, propter eorum qui in potentia erant avaritiam, permanebat in potestate, crescens in malitia ad insidias civium.