Scrutatio

Domenica, 28 aprile 2024 - San Luigi Maria Grignion da Montfort ( Letture di oggi)

2 Maccabees 5


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NEW JERUSALEMVULGATA
1 At about this time, Antiochus was preparing for his second attack on Egypt.1 Eodem tempore, Antiochus secundam profectionem paravit in Ægyptum.
2 It then happened that al over the city for nearly forty days there were apparitions of horsemengalloping through the air in cloth of gold, troops of lancers ful y armed,2 Contigit autem per universam Jerosolymorum civitatem videri diebus quadraginta per aëra equites discurrentes, auratas stolas habentes et hastis, quasi cohortes armatos :
3 squadrons of cavalry in order of battle, attacks and charges this way and that, a flourish of shields, aforest of pikes, a brandishing of swords, a hurling of missiles, a glittering of golden accoutrements and armour of al kinds.3 et cursus equorum per ordines digestos, et congressiones fieri cominus, et scutorum motus, et galeatorum multitudinem gladiis districtis, et telorum jactus, et aureorum armorum splendorem, omnisque generis loricarum.
4 So everyone prayed that this manifestation might prove a good omen.4 Quapropter omnes rogabant in bonum monstra converti.
5 Then, on the strength of a false report that Antiochus was dead, Jason took at least a thousand menand launched an unexpected attack on the city. When the wal s had been breached and the city was final y onthe point of being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the Citadel.5 Sed cum falsus rumor exisset, tamquam vita excessisset Antiochus, assumptis Jason non minus mille viris, repente agressus est civitatem : et civibus ad murum convolantibus ad ultimum apprehensa civitate, Menelaus fugit in arcem :
6 Jason, however, made a pitiless slaughter of his fel ow-citizens, oblivious of the fact that successagainst his own countrymen was the greatest of disasters, but rather picturing himself as winning trophies fromsome enemy, and not from his fel ow- countrymen.6 Jason vero non parcebat in cæde civibus suis, nec cogitabat prosperitatem adversum cognatos malum esse maximum, arbitrans hostium et non civium se trophæa capturum.
7 Even so, he did not manage to seize power; and, in the end, his machinations brought him nothing butshame, and he took refuge once more in Ammanitis.7 Et principatum quidem non obtinuit, finem vero insidiarum suarum confusionem accepit, et profugus iterum abiit in Ammanitem.
8 His career of wickedness was thus brought to a halt: imprisoned by Aretas, the Arab despot, escapingfrom his town, hunted by everyone, detested for having overthrown the laws, abhorred as the butcher of hiscountry and his countrymen, he drifted to Egypt.8 Ad ultimum, in exitium sui conclusus ab Areta Arabum tyranno fugiens de civitate in civitatem, omnibus odiosus, ut refuga legum et execrabilis, ut patriæ et civium hostis, in Ægyptum extrusus est :
9 He who had exiled so many from their fatherland, himself perished on foreign soil, having travel ed toSparta, hoping that, for kinship's sake, he might find harbour there.9 et qui multos de patria sua expulerat, peregre periit, Lacedæmonas profectus, quasi pro cognatione ibi refugium habiturus :
10 So many carcases he had thrust out to lie unburied; now he himself had none to mourn him, nofuneral rites, no place in the tomb of his ancestors.10 et qui insepultos multos abjecerat, ipse et illamentatus et insepultus abjicitur, sepultura neque peregrina usus, neque patrio sepulchro participans.
11 When the king came to hear of what had happened, he concluded that Judaea was in revolt. Hetherefore marched from Egypt, raging like a wild beast, and began by storming the city.11 His itaque gestis, suspicatus est rex societatem deserturos Judæos : et ob hoc profectus ex Ægypto efferatis animis, civitatem quidem armis cepit.
12 He then ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy everyone they encountered, and to butcher allwho took refuge in their houses.12 Jussit autem militibus interficere, nec parcere occursantibus, et per domos ascendentes trucidare.
13 It was a massacre of young and old, a slaughter of women and children, a butchery of young girls andinfants.13 Fiebant ergo cædes juvenum ac seniorum, et mulierum et natorum exterminia, virginumque et parvulorum neces.
14 There were eighty thousand victims in the course of those three days, forty thousand dying byviolence and as many again being sold into slavery.14 Erant autem toto triduo octoginta millia interfecti, quadraginta millia vincti, non minus autem venundati.
15 Not content with this, he had the audacity to enter the holiest Temple in the entire world, withMenelaus, that traitor to the laws and to his country, as his guide;15 Sed nec ista sufficiunt : ausus est etiam intrare templum universa terra sanctius, Menelao ductore, qui legum et patriæ fuit proditor :
16 with impure hands he seized the sacred vessels; with impious hands he seized the offeringspresented by other kings for the aggrandisement, glory and dignity of the holy place.16 et scelestis manibus sumens sancta vasa, quæ ab aliis regibus et civitatibus erant posita ad ornatum loci, et gloriam, contrectabat indigne, et contaminabat.
17 Holding so high an opinion of himself, Antiochus did not realise that the Lord was temporarily angry atthe sins of the inhabitants of the city, hence his unconcern for the holy place.17 Ita alienatus mente Antiochus, non considerabat quod propter peccata habitantium civitatem, modicum Deus fuerat iratus : propter quod et accidit circa locum despectio :
18 Had they not been entangled in many sins, Antiochus too, like Heliodorus when King Seleucus senthim to inspect the Treasury, would have been flogged the moment he arrived and checked in his presumption.18 alioquin nisi contigisset eos multis peccatis esse involutos, sicut Heliodorus, qui missus est a Seleuco rege ad expoliandum ærarium, etiam hic statim adveniens flagellatus, et repulsus utique fuisset ab audacia.
19 The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the holy place, but the holy place forthe sake of the people;19 Verum non propter locum, gentem : sed propter gentem, locum Deus elegit.
20 and so the holy place itself, having shared the disasters that befel the people, in due course alsoshared their good fortune; having been abandoned by the Almighty in his anger, once the great Sovereign wasplacated it was reinstated in al its glory.20 Ideoque et ipse locus particeps factus est populi malorum : postea autem fiet socius bonorum, et qui derelictus in ira Dei omnipotentis est, iterum in magni Domini reconciliatione cum summa gloria exaltabitur.
21 Antiochus, having extracted eighteen hundred talents from the Temple, hurried back to Antioch; in hispride he would have undertaken to make the dry land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so high hisarrogance soared.21 Igitur Antiochus mille et octingentis ablatis de templo talentis, velociter Antiochiam regressus est, existimans se præ superbia terram ad navigandum, pelagus vero ad iter agendum deducturum propter mentis elationem.
22 But he left officials behind to plague the nation: in Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by race, and bynature more barbarous than the man who appointed him;22 Reliquit autem et præpositos ad affligendam gentem : Jerosolymis quidem Philippum genere Phrygem, moribus crudeliorem eo ipso a quo constitutus est :
23 on Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and, besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his countrymenworse than al the others. In his rooted hostility to the Jews,23 in Garizim autem Andronicum et Menelaum, qui gravius quam ceteri imminebant civibus.
24 the king also sent the Mysarch Apollonius at the head of an army twenty-two thousand strong, withorders to put to death al men in their prime and to sel the women and children.24 Cumque appositus esset contra Judæos, misit odiosum principem Apollonium cum exercitu viginti et duobus millibus, præcipiens ei omnes perfectæ ætatis interficere, mulieres ac juvenes vendere.
25 Arriving in Jerusalem and posing as a man of peace, this man waited until the holy day of the Sabbathand then, taking advantage of the Jews as they rested from work, ordered his men to parade ful y armed;25 Qui cum venisset Jerosolymam, pacem simulans, quievit usque ad diem sanctum sabbati : et tunc feriatis Judæis arma capere suis præcepit.
26 al those who came out to watch he put to the sword; then, rushing into the city with his armed troops,he cut down an immense number of people.26 Omnesque qui ad spectaculum processerant, trucidavit : et civitatem cum armatis discurrens, ingentem multitudinem peremit.
27 Judas, also known as Maccabaeus, however, with about nine others, withdrew into the desert. Helived like the wild animals in the hil s with his companions, eating nothing but wild plants to avoid contractingdefilement.27 Judas autem Machabæus, qui decimus fuerat, secesserat in desertum locum, ibique inter feras vitam in montibus cum suis agebat : et fœni cibo vescentes, demorabantur, ne participes essent coinquinationis.