A   Morouer, kyng Antiochus þe; sonne of Demetrius sent letters fr&obar; þe; Iles of the see, vnto Symon þe; hye prest and prince of the Iewes, and to all þe; people conteyninge these wordes: Antiochus þe; kynge sendeth gretynge vnto Sym&obar; the hye prest and to the people of the Iewes. For so moch as certayne wicked m&ebar; haue gotten þe; kyngdome of oure progenitours, I am purposed to chalenge þe; realme agayne, and to restore it to the olde estate.

Wherfore I haue gathered a great host, ∧ made shippes of warre: þt; I maye goo thorow the countre, ∧ be auenged of th&ebar; which haue destroyed oure land, and wasted many cyties &ibar; my realme. And therfore now I make the fre also fr&obar; all the tributes, wherof al kinges my progenitours haue discharged þe; and fr&obar; other customes (wher fr&obar; they haue released þe;) whatsoeuer they be: Yee I geue þe; leaue to smyte money of thyne awne &wt; in thy lande. As for Ierusalem, I wyll that it be holy and fre: ∧ all the weap&ebar;s and houses of defence which thou hast buylded ∧ kepest in thine h&abar;des, shall be thyne. B   Where as eny thing is or shall be owynge vnto the kynge, I forgeue it þe;, fr&obar; this tyme forth for euermore. And wh&ebar; we haue optayned our kingdome, we shall do þe;, thy people and the t&ebar;ple great worshippe: so þt; your honoure shall be knowen thorow out the whole worlde.

In the .Clxxiiii. yeare wente Antiochus into his fathers lande, ∧ all the m&ebar; of warre came together vnto hym, so that fewe were left &wt; Triphon. So þe; kynge Antiochus folowed vp&obar; h&ibar;, but he fled vnto Dora, which lieth by the see syde: for he sawe þt; there was mischefe comming vnto him, ∧ that his host had forsak&ebar; him. Then cam Antiochus vnto Dora with an hundreth and tw&ebar;ty thousande m&ebar; of armes vpon fote, ∧ eyght thousande horsm&ebar;. So he c&obar;pased the citie ro&ubar;de about, &abar;d þe; shippes came by the See. Thus they vexed the citie by land ∧ by water, in so moch þt; they suffred no m&abar; to go in nor oute.

In the meane season came ^note Numenius (∧ they that had bene with him) from þe; citie of Rome, hauinge lettres written vnto the kynges and prouincies, wherin were c&obar;teyned these wordes: C   Lucius þe; Mayre of Rome sendeth greting vnto Ptolomy þe; kyng. The embassitours of the Iewes our frendes beyng sent from Symon the hye prest and from the people of the Iewes, came vnto vs for to renue the olde frendshippe, and bonde of loue, brought a shylde of golde weyeng a thousande pounde, which we were contente to receaue of them. Wherfore we thought it good to wryte vnto the kynges and prouincies, to do them no harme, nor to take parte agaynst them, theyr cityes ner co&ubar;trees, nether to maintene their enemies agaynst th&ebar;. If there be eny wycked personnes therfore, fled from their countre vnto you, deliuer th&ebar; vnto Symon the hye prest, that he maye punish them according to theyr awne lawe.

The same wordes wrote the Romaynes also vnto Demetrius þe; kynge, to Attalus, Araba, Arsaces ∧ to all regions: as Samsanes, to th&ebar; of Sparta, Delo, Mido, Sid&obar;, Caria, Samos, Pamphilia, Lycia, Alicarnassum, ∧ to the Rhodes, to Faselis, Coo, Sida, Arado, Gortina, Gnyd&ubar;, to Cypres and to Cyren. D   And of euery lettre they sent a copy to Simon þe; hye prest and to the people of the Iewes. So Antiochus the kynge brought his host vnto Dora þe; seconde tyme to take it: where he made diuerse ordinaunce of warre, ∧ kepte Triph&obar; in, that he shuld not come forth. Th&ebar; sent Symon to Antiochus two thousande chosen men to help him with gold, syluer and other plenteous geere: Neuerthelesse, he wolde not receaue them, but brake all þe; couenaunt which he made &wt; Sym&obar; afore, ∧ withdrewe him self fr&obar; him.

He sent Athenobius also a frende of hys vnto Sim&obar;, for to reason with him, saying: Ye witholde fro me Ioppa ∧ Gaza (with the castell that is at Ierusalem) which are cyties of my realme, whose borders ye haue destroyed, ∧ done greate euell in the lande, hauyng the dominacyon in many other places of my kyngdome. Wherfore delyuer now þe; cyties which ye haue taken, with þe; trybutes of the places that ye haue rule vp&obar; without þe; borders of Iewry: Or els geue my fyue h&ubar;dreth talentes of syluer, yee and for þe; harme that ye haue done in þe; cyties ∧ for the tributes of þe; same, other fyue hundreth talentes. If no, we shall come and fyght agaynst you.

E   So Athenobius the kynges frende came to Ierusalem, ∧ wh&ebar; he sawe the great worshyp and honoure of Symon in gold, syluer ∧ so great plenty of ornamentes: he marueled, and tolde Symon as þe; kyng commaunded hym. Then answered Symon and sayd vnto hym: ^note As for vs, we haue nether tak&ebar; other mens l&abar;des, ner withhold&ebar; th&ebar;, but onely oure fathers heritage, which oure enemyes had vnryghteously in possession a certayne tyme. This heritage of oure fathers haue we chalenged in processe of tyme. And

where as thou c&obar;playnest concernyng Ioppa and Gaza, they dyd great harme to oure people and in oure lande, yet wyll we geue an .C. talentes for them.

Neuertheles Athenobius answered hym not one word, but turned agayne wrothfully vnto the kyng, ∧ tolde him all these wordes, and the great dignite of Symon, with all that he had sene, and the kynge was very angrie. In the meane tyme fled Triphon by shippe vnto Orthosaida. Then the kyng made Cendebeus captayne of the see coast, ∧ gaue him an host of fote men and horsmen, commaundynge him to remoue the host towarde Iewry, and to buylde vp the cytie of Cedron, to make vp the portes, and to warre agaynst the people of the Iewes. As for þe; kyng hym selfe, he folowed vpon Triphon. So Cendebeus came vnto Iamnia, and beganne to vexe the people, to treade downe Iewry, to take þe; people presoners, to slaye them, and ^note to buylde vp Cedron: where he sett horsmen and other men of warre, that they myght come forth and go thorow the stretes of Iewry, lyke as the kyng had commaunded hym.

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