1 Now turn we to Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, that was the first to reign over all Greece. This Alexander marched out from his own land of Cethim, and overcame Darius, king of the Medes and Persians. 2 Battles he waged a many; nor any fortress might hold out against him, nor any king escape with his life; 3 and so he journeyed on to the world’s end, spoiling the nations everywhere; at his coming, silence fell on the earth. 4 So great the power of him, so valiant his armies, what wonder if his heart grew proud? 5 All those lands conquered, all those kings his tributaries! 6 Then, all at once, he took to his bed, and the knowledge came to him he must die. 7 Whereupon he summoned the noblest of his courtiers, men that had shared his own upbringing, and to these, while he had life in him yet, divided up his kingdom. 8 So reigned Alexander for twelve years, and so died.
1 Et factum est, postquam percussit Alexander Philippi Macedo, qui primus regnavit in Græcia, egressus de terra Cethim, Darium regem Persarum et Medorum: 2 constituit prælia multa, et obtinuit omnium munitiones, et interfecit reges terræ, 3 et pertransiit usque ad fines terræ: et accepit spolia multitudinis gentium, et siluit terra in conspectu ejus. 4 Et congregavit virtutem, et exercitum fortem nimis: et exaltatum est, et elevatum cor ejus: 5 et obtinuit regiones gentium, et tyrannos: et facti sunt illi in tributum. 6 Et post hæc decidit in lectum, et cognovit quia moreretur. 7 Et vocavit pueros suos nobiles, qui secum erant nutriti a juventute: et divisit illis regnum suum, cum adhuc viveret. 8 Et regnavit Alexander annis duodecim, et mortuus est.
9 And what of these courtiers turned princes, each with a province of his own? 10 Be sure they put on royal crowns, they and their sons after them, and so the world went from bad to worse. 11 Burgeoned then from the stock of Antiochus a poisoned growth, another Antiochus, he that was called the Illustrious. He had been formerly a hostage at Rome, but now, in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Grecian empire, he came into his kingdom. 12 In his day there were godless talkers abroad in Israel, that did not want for a hearing; Come, said they, let us make terms with the heathen that dwell about us! Ever since we forswore their company, nought but trouble has come our way. 13 What would you? Such talk gained credit, 14 and some were at pains to ask for the royal warrant; whereupon leave was given them, Gentile usages they should follow if they would. 15 With that, they must have a game-place at Jerusalem, after the Gentile fashion, 16 ay, and go uncircumcised; forgotten, their loyalty to the holy covenant, they must throw in their lot with the heathen, and become the slaves of impiety.
9 Et obtinuerunt pueri ejus regnum, unusquisque in loco suo: 10 et imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata post mortem ejus, et filii eorum post eos annis multis, et multiplicata sunt mala in terra. 11 Et exiit ex eis radix peccatrix, Antiochus illustris, filius Antiochi regis, qui fuerat Romæ obses: et regnavit in anno centesimo trigesimo septimo regni Græcorum. 12 In diebus illis, exierunt ex Israël filii iniqui, et suaserunt multis, dicentes: Eamus, et disponamus testamentum cum gentibus, quæ circa nos sunt: quia ex quo recessimus ab eis, invenerunt nos multa mala. 13 Et bonus visus est sermo in oculis eorum. 14 Et destinaverunt aliqui de populo, et abierunt ad regem: et dedit illis potestatem ut facerent justitiam gentium. 15 Et ædificaverunt gymnasium in Jerosolymis secundum leges nationum: 16 et fecerunt sibi præputia, et recesserunt a testamento sancto, et juncti sunt nationibus, et venundati sunt ut facerent malum.
17 And now that he was firmly established on his throne, Antiochus would be lord of Egypt, and wear two crowns at once. 18 So, with overwhelming force, with chariots and elephants and horsemen and a great array of ships, he marched on Egypt, 19 and levied war against king Ptolemy, that could not hold his ground, but fled away, leaving many fallen. 20 So Antiochus made himself master of all the strongholds in Egypt, and ransacked it for spoil; 21 then, in the hundred and forty-third year, he turned his victorious march against Israel. 22 With all that great army of his he came to Jerusalem 23 and entered the sanctuary in royal state; the golden altar, the lamp-stand with its appurtenances, the table where bread was set out, beaker and goblet and golden bowl, curtain and capital and golden facings of the temple, all alike were stripped. 24 Silver nor gold was spared, nor any ornament of price, nor hoarded treasures could he but find them; and thus laden he went back to his own country, 25 first shedding a deal of blood, and speaking very blasphemously.
17 Et paratum est regnum in conspectu Antiochi, et cœpit regnare in terra Ægypti ut regnaret super duo regna. 18 Et intravit in Ægyptum in multitudine gravi, in curribus, et elephantis, et equitibus, et copiosa navium multitudine: 19 et constituit bellum adversus Ptolemæum regem Ægypti, et veritus est Ptolemæus a facie ejus, et fugit, et ceciderunt vulnerati multi. 20 Et comprehendit civitates munitas in terra Ægypti, et accepit spolia terræ Ægypti. 21 Et convertit Antiochus, postquam percussit Ægyptum in centesimo et quadragesimo tertio anno: et ascendit ad Israël, 22 et ascendit Jerosolymam in multitudine gravi. 23 Et intravit in sanctificationem cum superbia, et accepit altare aureum, et candelabrum luminis, et universa vasa ejus, et mensam propositionis, et libatoria, et phialas, et mortariola aurea, et velum, et coronas, et ornamentum aureum, quod in facie templi erat: et comminuit omnia. 24 Et accepit argentum, et aurum, et vasa concupiscibilia: et accepit thesauros occultos, quos invenit: et sublatis omnibus, abiit in terram suam. 25 Et fecit cædem hominum, et locutus est in superbia magna.
26 Loud mourning there was in Israel, mourning in all the country-side; 27 wept ruler and elder, pined man and maid, and colour fled from woman’s cheeks; 28 bridegroom took up the dirge, bride sat in her bower disconsolate; 29 here was a land that trembled for its inhabitants, a whole race covered with confusion.
26 Et factus est planctus magnus in Israël, et in omni loco eorum: 27 et ingemuerunt principes et seniores; virgines et juvenes infirmati sunt: et speciositas mulierum immutata est. 28 Omnis maritus sumpsit lamentum, et quæ sedebant in thoro maritali, lugebant: 29 et commota est terra super habitantes in ea, et universa domus Jacob induit confusionem.
30 Two years passed, and then the king sent his chief collector of revenue to visit the cities of Juda. To Jerusalem he came, with a great rabble at his heels, 31 and won credence with idle professions of friendship. 32 Then he fell suddenly on the town and grievously mishandled it, slaying Israelites a many, 33 plundering the city and setting fire to it. Houses and encircling walls of it were thrown down in ruins, 34 women and children carried off into slavery, cattle driven away. 35 And as for David’s Keep, they enclosed it with high, strong walls, and strong towers besides, to serve them for a fortress; 36 garrisoned it with a godless crew of sinners like themselves, and made it fast, storing it with arms and provisions, besides the plunder they had amassed in Jerusalem, 37 which they bestowed there for safety. Alas, what peril of treachery was here, 38 what an ambush laid about the holy place, what devil’s work against Israel! 39 What a tide of guiltless blood must flow about the sanctuary, till it was a sanctuary no more! 40 Little wonder if the inhabitants of Jerusalem took to flight, leaving their city to strangers; mother so unnatural her own children must forsake. 41 Her sanctuary a desert solitude, her feasts all lament, her sabbaths derided, her greatness brought low! 42 Her pride was the measure of that abasement, her glory of that shame.
30 Et post duos annos dierum, misit rex principem tributorum in civitates Juda, et venit Jerusalem cum turba magna. 31 Et locutus est ad eos verba pacifica in dolo: et crediderunt ei. 32 Et irruit super civitatem repente, et percussit eam plaga magna, et perdidit populum multum ex Israël. 33 Et accepit spolia civitatis: et succendit eam igni, et destruxit domos ejus, et muros ejus in circuitu: 34 et captivas duxerunt mulieres, et natos et pecora possederunt. 35 Et ædificaverunt civitatem David muro magno et firmo, et turribus firmis, et facta est illis in arcem: 36 et posuerunt illic gentem peccatricem viros iniquos, et convaluerunt in ea: et posuerunt arma, et escas, et congregaverunt spolia Jerusalem: 37 et reposuerunt illic: et facti sunt in laqueum magnum. 38 Et factum est hoc ad insidias sanctificationi, et in diabolum malum in Israël: 39 et effuderunt sanguinem innocentem per circuitum sanctificationis, et contaminaverunt sanctificationem. 40 Et fugerunt habitatores Jerusalem propter eos, et facta est habitatio exterorum, et facta est extera semini suo, et nati ejus reliquerunt eam. 41 Sanctificatio ejus desolata est sicut solitudo; dies festi ejus conversi sunt in luctum, sabbata ejus in opprobrium, honores ejus in nihilum. 42 Secundum gloriam ejus multiplicata est ignominia ejus, et sublimitas ejus conversa est in luctum.
43 And now came a letter from king Antiochus to all the subjects of his realm, bidding them leave ancestral custom of this race or that, and become one nation instead. 44 As for the heathen, they fell in readily enough with the royal will; 45 and in Israel itself there were many that chose slavery, offering sacrifice to false gods and leaving the sabbath unobserved. 46 Both in Jerusalem and in all the cities of Juda the king’s envoys published this edict; men must live by the law of the heathen round about, 47 burnt-sacrifice, offering and atonement in God’s temple should be none, 48 nor sabbath kept, nor feast-day. 49 And, for the more profanation of the sanctuary, and of Israel’s holy people, 50 altar and shrine and idol must be set up, swine’s flesh offered, and all manner of unhallowed meat; 51 children be left uncircumcised, and their innocent lives contaminated with rites unclean, abominable; till the law should be forgotten, and the divine precepts fashioned anew. 52 Durst any neglect the royal bidding, he must die.
43 Et scripsit rex Antiochus omni regno suo ut esset omnis populus unus: et relinqueret unusquisque legem suam. 44 Et consenserunt omnes gentes secundum verbum regis Antiochi: 45 et multi ex Israël consenserunt servituti ejus, et sacrificaverunt idolis, et coinquinaverunt sabbatum. 46 Et misit rex libros per manus nuntiorum in Jerusalem, et in omnes civitates Juda, ut sequerentur leges gentium terræ, 47 et prohiberent holocausta et sacrificia, et placationes fieri in templo Dei, 48 et prohiberent celebrari sabbatum, et dies solemnes: 49 et jussit coinquinari sancta, et sanctum populum Israël. 50 Et jussit ædificari aras, et templa, et idola, et immolari carnes suillas, et pecora communia, 51 et relinquere filios suos incircumcisos, et coinquinari animas eorum in omnibus immundis, et abominationibus, ita ut obliviscerentur legem, et immutarent omnes justificationes Dei: 52 et quicumque non fecissent secundum verbum regis Antiochi, morerentur.
53 Through the whole of his dominions the king’s writ ran, and commissioners were appointed besides to enforce it; 54 no city of Juda but was ordered to do sacrifice. 55 Many there were, traitors to the divine law, that took their part, and much mischief they did, 56 driving the men of Israel to seek refuge in hiding, where refuge was to be had. 57 It was on the fifteenth of Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, that king Antiochus set up an idol to desecrate God’s altar;[1] shrines there were in every township of Juda, 58 offering of incense and of victims before house doors and in the open street; 59 never a copy of the divine law but was torn up and burned; 60 if any were found that kept the sacred record, or obeyed the Lord’s will, his life was forfeit to the king’s edict. 61 Month by month such deeds of violence were done, in all townships where men of Israel dwelt, 62 and on the twenty-fifth of the month sacrifice was made at the shrine that overshadowed the altar. 63 Death it was for woman to have her child circumcised in defiance of the king; 64 there in her own house she must be hung up, with the child about her neck, and the circumciser, too, must pay for it with his life. 65 Many a son of Israel refused the unclean food, preferring death to defilement; 66 and die they must, because they would not break God’s holy law. 67 Grievous, most grievous was the doom that hung then over his people.
53 Secundum omnia verba hæc scripsit omni regno suo: et præposuit principes populo, qui hæc fieri cogerent. 54 Et jusserunt civitatibus Juda sacrificare. 55 Et congregati sunt multi de populo ad eos qui dereliquerant legem Domini, et fecerunt mala super terram: 56 et effugaverunt populum Israël in abditis, et in absconditis fugitivorum locis. 57 Die quintadecima mensis Casleu, quinto et quadragesimo et centesimo anno, ædificavit rex Antiochus abominandum idolum desolationis super altare Dei, et per universas civitates Juda in circuitu ædificaverunt aras: 58 et ante januas domorum et in plateis incendebant thura, et sacrificabant: 59 et libros legis Dei combusserunt igni, scindentes eos: 60 et apud quemcumque inveniebantur libri testamenti Domini, et quicumque observabat legem Domini, secundum edictum regis trucidabant eum. 61 In virtute sua faciebant hæc populo Israël, qui inveniebatur in omni mense et mense in civitatibus. 62 Et quinta et vigesima die mensis sacrificabant super aram, quæ erat contra altare. 63 Et mulieres, quæ circumcidebant filios suos, trucidabantur secundum jussum regis Antiochi, 64 et suspendebant pueros a cervicibus per universas domos eorum: et eos, qui circumciderant illos, trucidabant. 65 Et multi de populo Israël definierunt apud se, ut non manducarent immunda: et elegerunt magis mori, quam cibis coinquinari immundis: 66 et noluerunt infringere legem Dei sanctam, et trucidati sunt: 67 et facta est ira magna super populum valde.
