eigned in Greece, coming out of the land of
Cethim, had overthrown Darius, king of the Persians and Medes:

1:2. He fought many battles, and took the strong holds of all, and slew
the kings of the earth:

1:3. And he went through even to the ends of the earth: and took the
spoils of many nations: and the earth was quiet before him.

1:4. And he gathered a power, and a very strong army: and his heart was
exalted and lifted up:

1:5. And he subdued countries of nations, and princes; and they became
tributaries to him.

1:6. And after these things, he fell down upon his bed, and knew that he
should die.

1:7. And he called his servants, the nobles that were brought up with
him from his youth: and he divided his kingdom among them, while he was
yet alive.

Divided his kingdom, etc... This is otherwise related by Q. Curtius;
though he acknowledges that divers were of that opinion, and that it had
been delivered by some authors, lib. 10. But here we find from the
sacred text, that he was in error.

1:8. And Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died.

1:9. And his servants made themselves kings, every one in his place:

1:10. And they all put crowns upon themselves after his death, and their
sons after them, many years; and evils were multiplied in the earth.

1:11. And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus the
Illustrious, the son of king Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome:
and he reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of
the Greeks.

Antiochus the Illustrius... Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the
Great, who usurped the kingdom, to the prejudice of his nephew
Demetrius, son of his elder brother Seleucus Philopater.-Ibid. Of the
kingdom of the Greeks... Counting, not from the beginning of the reign
of Alexander, but from the first year of Seleucus Nicator.

1:12. In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they
persuaded many, saying: Let us go and make a covenant with the heathens
that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils
have befallen us.

1:13. And the word seemed good in their eyes.

1:14. And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the
king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the
heathens.

1:15. And they built a place of excercise in Jerusalem, according to the
laws of the nations:

1:16. And they made themselves prepuces, and departed from the holy
covenant, and joined themselv