1   The news reached Simon that Trypho had mustered a large force for the invasion and destruction of Judaea, 2   and it threw the people into a state of panic. When Simon saw this, he went up to Jerusalem, called an assembly, and encouraged them in these words: 3    ‘I need not remind you of all that my brothers and I and my father's house have done for the laws and the holy place, what battles we have fought, what hardships we have endured. 4   My brothers have all fallen in this cause, fighting for Israel, and I am the only one left. 5   Now Heaven forbid that I should grudge my own life in any moment of danger, for I am not worth more than my brothers. 6   No! I will take up the cause of my nation and the holy place, of your wives and children, since all the Gentiles in their hatred have gathered to destroy us.’ 7    8   At these words the people plucked up courage, and they

The high-priesthood of Simon shouted in answer: ‘You shall be our leader in place of Judas and your brother Jonathan. 9   Fight our battles, and we will do whatever you tell us.’ 10   So Simon mustered all the fighting men and hurried on the completion of the walls of Jerusalem until it was fortified on all sides. 11   He sent Jonathan son of Absalom with a considerable force to Joppa; he expelled its inhabitants and remained in possession of the town.

12   Trypho marched out from Ptolemais with a large force to invade Judaea, taking Jonathan with him as a prisoner. 13   Simon encamped at Adida on the edge of the plain. 14   When Trypho learnt that Simon had come forward to take the place of his brother Jonathan, and that he was about to join battle with him, he sent envoys to Simon with the following message: 15   ‘We are detaining your brother Jonathan because of certain monies which he owed to the royal treasury in connection with the offices he held. 16   To ensure that he will not again revolt if we release him, send one hundred talents of silver and two of his sons as hostages, and we will let him go.’ 17   Simon himself realized that this was a trick, but he had the money and the children brought to him, fearing that otherwise he might arouse deep animosity among the people, 18   who would say, ‘It was because you did not send the money and the children that Jonathan lost his life.’ 19   So he sent the children and the hundred talents, but Trypho broke his word and did not release Jonathan.

20   After this, Trypho set out to invade the country and ravage it, taking a roundabout way through Adora. Simon and his army marched parallel with him everywhere he went. 21   Meanwhile the garrison of the citadel were sending emissaries to Trypho, urging him to come to them by way of the desert, and to send them provisions. 22   Trypho prepared to send all his cavalry, but that night there was a severe snow-storm, which prevented their arrival; so he withdrew into Gilead. 23   When he reached Bascama, he had Jonathan put to death, and there he was buried. 24   Trypho then turned and went back to his own country.

25   Simon had the body of his brother Jonathan brought to Modin, and buried in the town of their fathers; 26   and all Israel made a great lamentation and mourned him for many days. 27   Simon built a high monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers, visible at a great distance, faced back and front with polished stone. 28   He erected seven pyramids, those for his father and mother and his four brothers

The high-priesthood of Simon arranged in pairs. 29   For the pyramids he contrived an elaborate setting: he surrounded them with great columns surmounted with trophies of armour for a perpetual memorial, and between the trophies carved ships, plainly visible to all at sea. 30   This mausoleum which he made at Modin stands to this day.

31   Trypho now plotted against the young King Antiochus and murdered him. 32   He usurped his throne and assumed the crown of Asia. This was a disaster for the country.

33   Simon rebuilt the fortresses of Judaea, furnishing them with high towers and great walls with gates and bars; he also provisioned the fortresses. 34   He sent representatives to King Demetrius to negotiate a remission of taxes for the country, on the ground that all Trypho's exactions had been exorbitant. 35   Demetrius replied favourably to this request and wrote him a letter in the following terms:

   36   King Demetrius to Simon the High Priest and friend of kings, and to the Senate and nation of the Jews, greeting.

   37   We have received the golden crown and the palm branch which you sent, and we are ready to make a lasting peace with you and to instruct the revenue officers to grant you immunities. 38   All our agreements with you stand, and the strongholds which you built shall remain yours. 39   We give a free pardon for any errors of omission or commission, to take effect from the date of this letter. We remit the crown-money which you owed us, and every other tax formerly exacted in Jerusalem is henceforth cancelled. 40   All those of you who are suitable for enrolment in our retinue shall be so enrolled. Let there be peace between us.

41    42   In the year 170, ^note Israel was released from the gentile yoke. The people began to write on their contracts and agreements, ‘In the first year of Simon, the great high priest, general and leader of the Jews’.

43   Then Simon invested Gazara, ^note and surrounded it with his forces. He constructed a siege-engine and brought it up to the town, made a breach in one of the towers and captured it. 44   The men on the siege-engine leapt out of it into the town, and there was a great commotion. 45   The townspeople and their wives and children climbed up on to the city wall with their garments torn, clamouring to Simon to offer them terms. 46   ‘Do not treat us as our wickedness deserves,’ they cried, ‘but as your mercy prompts you.’ 47   Simon came to terms with

The high-priesthood of Simon them, and brought the war to an end. But he expelled them from the town, and after purifying the houses in which the idols stood, he made his entry with songs of thanksgiving and praise. 48   He removed every pollution from it and settled men in it who would keep the law. He strengthened its fortifications and built a residence there for himself.

49   The men in the citadel in Jerusalem were prevented from going in and out to buy and sell in the country; famine set in and many of them died of starvation. 50   They clamoured to Simon to accept their surrender, and he agreed: he expelled them from the citadel and cleansed it from its pollutions. 51   It was on the twenty-third day of the second month in the year 171 ^note that he made his entry, with a chorus of praise and the waving of palm branches, with lutes, cymbals, and zithers, with hymns and songs, to celebrate Israel's final riddance of a formidable enemy. 52   Simon decreed that this day should be observed as an annual festival. He fortified the temple hill opposite the citadel, and he and his men took up residence there. 53   When Simon saw that his son John had become a man, he made him commander of all the forces, with Gazara as his headquarters.

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