Epiphanes or the illuftrious, more rightly to call him Epimanes or the madman.

But frantic and extravagant as he was, he was however fuccefsful and victorious. And

with the arms of a flood fhall they be overflown from before him; or rather more agreeably to the (8) original, And the arms of the overflower shall be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, alfo the prince of the covenant: And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully. (ver. 22, 23.) The arms which were overflown from before him, were thofe of his competitors for the crown. Heliodorus (9) the murderer of Seleucus and his partizans, as well as those of the king of Egypt, who had formed fome defigns upon Syria, were vanquished by the forces of Eumenes and Attalus, and were diffipated by the arrival of Antiochus, whose presence difconcerted all their measures. The prince alfo of the covenant was broken, that is the high priest of the Jews; and fo (1) Theodoret understands and explains it. The prince of the covenant:

(8) Και βραχίονες το κατακλυζοντος κατακλυσθησονται από προowne ails. Sept.

Et brachia obruentis obruentur a confpectu ejus. Arab. Et brachia pugnantis expugnabuntur a facie ejus. Vulg.

(9) Heliodore meurtrier de Séleucus, et fes partifens, auf

• He

f bien que ceux du roi d' Egypte, qui avoient quelques deffeins fur la Syrie, furent vaincus par les forces d' Attalus, & d' Eumenes; et diffipez par l'arivee d' Antiochus, dont la préfence deconcerta tous leurs deffeins. Calmet. Vide, fi placet, Appian. Syriac. p.

He fpeaketh of the pious high priest, the brother of Jason, and foretelleth, that even he fhould be turned out of his office.' As foon as Antiochus was feated in the throne, (2) he removed Onias from the high priesthood, and preferred Jafon the brother of Onias to that dignity, not for any crime committed against him by the former, but for the great fums of money which were offered to him by the latter. For Jafon offered to give him no less than three hundred and fixty talents of filver for the high priesthood, befides eighty more upon another account: and good Onias was not only difplaced to make way for a wicked ufurper, but after a few years, living at Antioch, he was with as great treachery as cruelty murdered by the king's deputy. But though Antiochus had made a league with Jafon the new highpriest, yet he did not faithfully adhere to it, but acted deceitfully. For Menelaus the brother of Jafon (3) being fent to the Syrian court, with a commiffion from his brother, to pay the tribute,

116, 117. Grot. hic.

(1) Kas yr hyperos dianng. λέγει γαρ τον αρχιερέα τον ευσεβης τον τε Ιασωνος αδελφον, και προδιδασκει, ὅτι κακεῖνον το αρχιεραEt dux fæderis. Principem facerdotum intelligi vult pium Jafonis fratrem, præmonetque fore ut illum etiam

τεύειν παύσει.

abdicet pontificatu maximo. Theod. in locum. p. 683. Tom. 2. Edit. Sirmondi.

(2) 2 Macc. IV. Jofephus de Maccabæis. Sect. 4. p. 1395. Edit. Hudfon.

(3) 2 Macc. ibid. Sulpicii Severi Sacr. Hift. Lib. 2. p. 85. Edit. Elzevir. 1656. (4) Appian

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bute, and to tranfact fome bufinefs with the king; he by his address and flattery so far infinuated himself into the royal favor, that he attempted to fupplant his elder brother Jafon, as Jafon had fupplanted his elder brother Onias; and profered to give three hundred talents more for the high priesthood than Jafon had given for it. The king readily accepted the propofal, and iffued his mandate for the depofing of Jafon, and advancing of Menelaus in his room but he could not effect the change without an armed force, which put Menelaus in poffeffion of the place, and compelled Jafon to fly, and take shelter in the land of the Ammonites.

What follows is not affigning a reafon for any thing that preceded, and therefore ought not to have been tranflated For he shall come up, but And he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He fhall enter peaceably even upon the fatteft places of the province, or as it is in the margin, He fhall enter into the peaceable and fat places of the province, and he fhall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers fathers, he shall fcatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall

forecast his devices against the strong bolds, even for a time. (ver. 23, 24.) Antiochus Epiphanes had been many years an hostage at Rome; and coming from thence with only a few attendents, he appeared in Syria little at first, but foon received a great increase, and became ftrong with a fmall people. By the (4) friendship of Eume-. nes and Attalus he entered peaceably upon the upper provinces; and appointed Timarchus and Heraclides, the one to be governor of Babylon, and the other to be his treasurer, two brothers, with both of whom he had unnatural commerce. He likewife entered peaceably upon the provinces of Cœle-Syria and Paleftine. And wherever he came, he outdid his fathers, and his fathers fathers in liberality and profufion. He scattered among them the prey, and spoil, and riches. The (5) prey of his enemies, the Spoil of temples, and the riches of his friends as well as his own revenues, were expended in public fhows, and bestowed in largeffes among the people. The writer of the first book of Maccabees affirms, that (6) in the liberal giving of gifts he abounded above the kings that were before him. Jofephus teftifies, that (7) he was magnanimous and munificent. Polybius

(6) 1 Macc. III. 30. (7) Jofeph. Antiqu. Lib. 12. Cap. 7. Sect. 2. p. 537. Edit.

Hudfon. μεγαλοψυχος και φίλος Sagos. vir magni animi, et largitor.

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(8) Polyb.

bious recounts (8) various inftances of his extravagance, and relates particularly, that (9) fometimes meeting accidentally with people whom he had never feen before, he would enrich them with unexpected prefents; and (1) fometimes standing in the public ftreets, he would throw about his money, and cry aloud Let him take it to whom fortune fhall give it. His generofity was the more requifite to fix the provinces of Cœle-Syria and Paleftine in his intereft, because they were claimed as of right belonging to the king of Egypt. Ptolemy Epiphanes was now dead; his queen Cleopatra was dead too; (2) and Eulæus an eunuch, and Lenæus, who were adminiftrators of the kingdom for the young king Ptolemy Philometor, demanded the reftitution of these provinces, alleging with very good reason, that they were affigned to the firft Ptolemy in the laft partition of the empire among Alexander's captains; that they had remained ever fince in the poffeflion of the kings of Egypt, till Anti

(8) Polyb. ibid. p. 194, &c. Lib. 10. p. 438, &c.

(9) εξ απανήσεως δι τισι τυγχανῶν ἐς μη έωρακεί τότε εδίδε δερεας απροσδόκητες. aliquando forté obvios, quos nunquam viderat, infperatis muneribus afficeret, p. 194.

4

(1) αλλοτε δε εν ταις δημοσίαις ὁδοῖς ἱσαμενος λεγεῖν, τινι ἡ τυχη δίδωσι λαβέλω, και ρίψας το αργύ ριον σχεlo. nonnunquam publica via ftantem cum proclamaffet, Sumat cui fortuna dederit, jactis fparfifque aureis nummis difceffiffe. p. 438.

(2) Et