rsemen were appointed. These were already there, wherever the beast was,
and wherever the beast went, they went with him and did not separate
themselves from him. And upon them were towers of wood, strong, covered,
one girded upon each beast. Upon them were engines and two or three men,
who fought upon them, besides the Indian who guided the elephant. The rest
of the horsemen he stationed on both sides of the two wings of the army to
inspire terror and to protect the phalanxes. And when the sun struck the
golden and bronze shields, the mountain shone with them and blazed like
torches of fire. And a part of the king's army was spread out on the
heights, and some on the low ground, and they moved firmly and in good
order. And all who heard the noise of their multitude, and the marching of
the great numbers, and the rattling of the arms, trembled because the army
was very great and strong.
[Sidenote: I Macc. 6:42-47]
Then Judas and his army approached for battle, and there fell of the
king's army six hundred men. Now when Eleazar, who was called Avaran, saw
one of the beasts armed with royal breastplates, which was higher than all
the beasts, and it looked as though the king was upon it, he gave himself
to save his people and to gain for himself an everlasting fame; and he ran
upon him courageously in the midst of the phalanx and slew on the right
hand and on the left, and they scattered from before him on either side.
Then he crept under the elephant, thrust him from beneath, and slew him.
And the elephant fell to the earth upon him, and he died there. But when
they saw the strength of the king and the fierce onset of the armies, they
turned away from them.
[Sidenote: I Macc. 6:48-54]
But those who were in the king's army went up to Jerusalem to meet them,
and the king encamped for a struggle with Judea and Mount Zion. And he
made peace with those in Bethsura; for they surrendered the city, because
they had no food there to endure the siege, because the land had a
sabbath. So the king took Bethsura and stationed a garrison there to keep
it. Then he encamped against the sanctuary for a long time; and he set
there mounds from which to shoot and engines of war and instruments for
casting stones and fire, and pieces to cast darts and slings. And they
also erected engines against those of the besiegers and fought for a long
time. But since there was no food in the sanctuary, because it was the
seventh year and those who had
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