forces to Pelusium, and circumvented
Ptolemy Philometor by treachery, and seized upon Egypt. He then came to
the places about Memphis; and when he had taken them, he made haste to
Alexandria, in hopes of taking it by siege, and of subduing Ptolemy, who
reigned there. But he was driven not only from Alexandria, but out of
all Egypt, by the declaration of the Romans, who charged him to let that
country alone; according as I have elsewhere formerly declared. I will
now give a particular account of what concerns this king, how he subdued
Judea and the temple; for in my former work I mentioned those things
very briefly, and have therefore now thought it necessary to go over
that history again, and that with great accuracy.

3. King Antiochus returning out of Egypt [16] for fear of the Romans,
made an expedition against the city Jerusalem; and when he was there,
in the hundred and forty-third year of the kingdom of the Seleucidse, he
took the city without fighting, those of his own party opening the gates
to him. And when he had gotten possession of Jerusalem, he slew many
of the opposite party; and when he had plundered it of a great deal of
money, he returned to Antioch.

4. Now it came to pass, after two years, in the hundred forty and
fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of that month which is by us called
Chasleu, and by the Macedonians Apelleus, in the hundred and fifty-third
olympiad, that the king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he
got possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so
much as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that
lay in the temple; but, led by his covetous inclination, [for he saw
there was in it a great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had
been dedicated to it of very great value,] and in order to plunder its
wealth, he ventured to break the league he had made. So he left the
temple bare, and took away the golden candlesticks, and the golden
altar [of incense], and table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of
burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from even the veils, which were
made of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied it of its secret
treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; and by this means cast the
Jews into great lamentation, for he forbade them to offer those daily
sacrifices which they used to offer to God, according to the law. And
when he had pillaged the whole city, some of the inhabitants he slew,
and some he carried captiv