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[155]
And with such discourses as this did these men excite the young men
to this action; and a report being come to them that the king was dead,
this was an addition to the wise men's persuasions; so, in the very middle
of the day, they got upon the place, they pulled down the eagle, and cut
it into pieces with axes, while a great number of the people were in the
temple. And now the king's captain, upon hearing what the undertaking was,
and supposing it was a thing of a higher nature than it proved to be, came
up thither, having a great band of soldiers with him, such as was sufficient
to put a stop to the multitude of those who pulled down what was dedicated
to God; so he fell upon them unexpectedly, and as they were upon this bold
attempt, in a foolish presumption rather than a cautious circumspection,
as is usual with the multitude, and while they were in disorder, and incautious
of what was for their advantage; so he caught no fewer than forty of the
young men, who had the courage to stay behind when the rest ran away, together
with the authors of this bold attempt, Judas and Matthius, who thought
it an ignominious thing to retire upon his approach, and led them to the
king. And when they were come to the king, and he asked them if they had
been so bold as to pull down what he had dedicated to God, "Yes, (said
they,) what was contrived we contrived, and what hath been performed we
performed it, and that with such a virtuous courage as becomes men; for
we have given our assistance to those things which were dedicated to the
majesty of God, and we have provided for what we have learned by hearing
the law; and it ought not to be wondered at, if we esteem those laws which
Moses had suggested to him, and were taught him by God, and which he wrote
and left behind him, more worthy of observation than thy commands. Accordingly
we will undergo death, and all sorts of punishments which thou canst inflict
upon us, with pleasure, since we are conscious to ourselves that we shall
die, not for any unrighteous actions, but for our love to religion."
And thus they all said, and their courage was still equal to their profession,
and equal to that with which they readily set about this undertaking. And
when the king had ordered them to be bound, he sent them to Jericho, and
called together the principal men among the Jews; and when they were come,
he made them assemble in the theater, and because he could not himself
stand, he lay upon a couch, and enumerated the many labors that he had
long endured on their account, and his building of the temple, and what
a vast charge that was to him; while the Asamoneans, during the hundred
and twenty-five years of their government, had not been able to perform
any so great a work for the honor of God as that was; that he had also
adorned it with very valuable donations, on which account he hoped that
he had left himself a memorial, and procured himself a reputation after
his death. He then cried out, that these men had not abstained from affronting
him, even in his lifetime, but that in the very day time, and in the sight
of the multitude, they had abused him to that degree, as to fall upon what
he had dedicated, and in that way of abuse had pulled it down to the ground.
They pretended, indeed, that they did it to affront him; but if any one
consider the thing truly, they will find that they were guilty of sacrilege
against God therein.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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- LSJ, κλι_ν-ίδιον
- LSJ, προανα-σκοπέομαι
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