1   In the year 149, ^note information reached Judas and his men that Antiochus Eupator was advancing on Judaea with a large army; 2   he was accompanied by Lysias, his guardian and vicegerent, bringing in addition a Greek force, consisting of one hundred and ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.

3   Menelaus also joined them and urged Antiochus on; this he did most disingenuously, not for his country's good, but because he believed he would be maintained in office. 4   However, the King of kings aroused the rage of Antiochus against Menelaus: Lysias produced evidence that this criminal was responsible for all Antiochus's troubles, and so the king ordered him to be taken to Beroea and there to be executed in the manner customary at that place. 5   Now in

The campaign against Eupator Beroea there is a tower some seventy-five feet ^note high, filled with ashes; it has a circular device sloping down sheer on all sides into the ashes. 6   This is where the citizens take anyone guilty of sacrilege or any other notorious crime, and thrust him to his doom; 7   and such was the fate of the law-breaker Menelaus, who was not even allowed burial—a fate he richly deserved. 8   Many a time he had desecrated the hallowed ashes of the altar-fire, and by ashes he met his death.

9   So the king came on with the barbarous intention of inflicting on the Jews sufferings far worse than his father had inflicted. 10   When Judas heard this he ordered the people to invoke the Lord day and night and pray that now more than ever he would come to their aid, since they were on the point of losing law, country, and temple; 11   and that he would not allow them, just when they had begun to breathe again, to fall into the hands of blaspheming Gentiles. 12   They all obeyed his orders: for three days without respite they prayed to their merciful Lord, they wailed, they fasted, they prostrated themselves. Then Judas urged them to action and called upon them to stand by him.

13   After holding a council of war with the elders, he decided not to wait until the royal army invaded Judaea and took Jerusalem, but to march out and with God's help to bring things to a decision. 14   He entrusted the outcome to the Creator of the world; his troops he charged to fight bravely to the death for the law, for the temple and for Jerusalem, for their country and their way of life. He pitched camp near Modin, 15   and giving his men the signal for battle with the cry ‘God's victory!’, he made a night attack on the royal pavilion with a picked force of the bravest young men. He killed as many as two thousand in the enemy camp, and his men stabbed to death ^note the leading elephant and its driver. 16   In the end they reduced the whole camp to panic and confusion, and withdrew victorious. 17   It was all over by daybreak, through the help and protection which Judas had received from the Lord.

18   Now that he had had a taste of Jewish daring, the king tried stratagems in attacking their strong-points. 19   He advanced on Bethsura, one of their powerful forts; he was repulsed; he attacked, he was beaten. 20    21   Judas sent in supplies to the garrison, but a soldier in the Jewish ranks, Rhodocus by name, betrayed their secrets to the enemy. 22   However, he was tracked down, arrested, and put away. The king parleyed for the second time with the inhabitants of Bethsura,

The campaign against Eupator and, when he had given and received guarantees, he withdrew; he then attacked Judas and his men, but had the worst of it. 23   He now received news that Philip, whom he had left in charge of state affairs in Antioch, had gone out of his mind. In dismay he summoned the Jews, agreed to their terms, took an oath to respect all their rights, and, after this settlement, offered a sacrifice, paid honour to the sanctuary and its precincts, and received Maccabaeus graciously. 24   He left behind Hegemonides as governor of the region from Ptolemais to Gerra, and went himself to Ptolemais. 25   Its inhabitants were furious at the treaty he had made, and in their alarm wanted to repudiate it. 26   Lysias mounted the rostrum, made the best defence he could, won the people over, calmed them down, and, having thus gained their support, left for Antioch.

Such was the course of the king's offensive and retreat.

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