Secondus Machabaeorum 5

VULGATA	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Eodem tempore, Antiochus secundam profectionem paravit in Ægyptum.	1 At about this time, Antiochus was preparing for his second attack on Egypt.
2 Contigit autem per universam Jerosolymorum civitatem videri diebus quadraginta per aëra equites discurrentes, auratas stolas habentes et hastis, quasi cohortes armatos :	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,
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.	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.
4 Quapropter omnes rogabant in bonum monstra converti.	4 So everyone prayed that this manifestation might prove a good omen.
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 :	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.
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.	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.
7 Et principatum quidem non obtinuit, finem vero insidiarum suarum confusionem accepit, et profugus iterum abiit in Ammanitem.	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.
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 :	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.
9 et qui multos de patria sua expulerat, peregre periit, Lacedæmonas profectus, quasi pro cognatione ibi refugium habiturus :	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.
10 et qui insepultos multos abjecerat, ipse et illamentatus et insepultus abjicitur, sepultura neque peregrina usus, neque patrio sepulchro participans.	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.
11 His itaque gestis, suspicatus est rex societatem deserturos Judæos : et ob hoc profectus ex Ægypto efferatis animis, civitatem quidem armis cepit.	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.
12 Jussit autem militibus interficere, nec parcere occursantibus, et per domos ascendentes trucidare.	12 He then ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy everyone they encountered, and to butcher allwho took refuge in their houses.
13 Fiebant ergo cædes juvenum ac seniorum, et mulierum et natorum exterminia, virginumque et parvulorum neces.	13 It was a massacre of young and old, a slaughter of women and children, a butchery of young girls andinfants.
14 Erant autem toto triduo octoginta millia interfecti, quadraginta millia vincti, non minus autem venundati.	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.
15 Sed nec ista sufficiunt : ausus est etiam intrare templum universa terra sanctius, Menelao ductore, qui legum et patriæ fuit proditor :	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;
16 et scelestis manibus sumens sancta vasa, quæ ab aliis regibus et civitatibus erant posita ad ornatum loci, et gloriam, contrectabat indigne, et contaminabat.	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.
17 Ita alienatus mente Antiochus, non considerabat quod propter peccata habitantium civitatem, modicum Deus fuerat iratus : propter quod et accidit circa locum despectio :	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.
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.	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.
19 Verum non propter locum, gentem : sed propter gentem, locum Deus elegit.	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;
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.	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.
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.	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.
22 Reliquit autem et præpositos ad affligendam gentem : Jerosolymis quidem Philippum genere Phrygem, moribus crudeliorem eo ipso a quo constitutus est :	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;
23 in Garizim autem Andronicum et Menelaum, qui gravius quam ceteri imminebant civibus.	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,
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.	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.
25 Qui cum venisset Jerosolymam, pacem simulans, quievit usque ad diem sanctum sabbati : et tunc feriatis Judæis arma capere suis præcepit.	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;
26 Omnesque qui ad spectaculum processerant, trucidavit : et civitatem cum armatis discurrens, ingentem multitudinem peremit.	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.
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.	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.