douins of the adjacent desert. The Greek leader had laid his plans for a simultaneous attack on all those fortresses on the same day. But at the very moment when at early dawn the scaling-ladders were planted, and the battering-rams prepared against one of the most important, there broke through the stillness of the morning the well-known trumpet-blast which the Grecian general recognized as the signal that the Hammer of the Gentiles was at hand, and the siege was raised, and the besiegers fled. Another fight followed on the banks of one of the mountain torrents that descend from the hills of Gilead to the Jordan. Judas dashed across the stream whilst his adversaries wavered, and down the way before him to the great sanctuary of Atargatis with the Two Horns,' and there destroyed them. This was the crowning act of his series of victories, gained, as we are assured, without the loss of a single Israelite, and the victor returned laden with spoil, and followed by vast masses of the Transjordanic population. On his way, in the pride of conquest, he destroyed the tower of Ephron, which refused them admittance. He crossed the Jordan, at the ford by which Gideon had returned from a like victorious expedition, to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost in triumph at Jerusalem. And, now that all was thus secured, he completed his successes by one more sally into Edom, reducing the ancient Hebron, since the Exile converted into an Idumæan fortress, and destroying the last stronghold of the old Philistine worship at Ashdod. In this climax of the resistance of Israel there came

1 Atargatis Carnion, 1 Macc. v. 44; 2 Macc. xii. 26; possibly the same Carnaim as Asteroth Carnaim, Gen. xiv. 5.

3

2 2 Macc. xii. 32.

8 1 Macc. v. 65.

Death of

Epiphanes,

B.C. 164.

the tidings that King Antiochus was suddenly dead. Alike in Greek and Jewish records fable gathAntiochus ered round the end of this splendid but wayward prince. Even to his own co-religionists there was a strange significance in his sudden disappearance. It seemed to them as if it was a judgment for his reckless attack on the Temple1 of Nanea, or the Moon-Goddess, in Persia; and even one of the Jewish 2 accounts represented him as having perished in his assault on the shrine. But the Hebrew historians not unnaturally connected the unexpected close of their persecutor's career with his mortification at the reception of the tidings of their hero's victories; and it agrees with their occasional recognition of some sparks of generous feeling in his capricious courses that they give him the credit of a death-bed repentance for his misdeeds -in the latest account even a complete revocation of his tyrannical edicts. It was, no doubt, the crisis of the contest. Whether the mysterious counsellor who, under the name of the Babylonian seer, had sketched in such minute detail the fortunes of the struggle till the moment of the desecration of the Temple, saw or foresaw the death of the persecutor is doubtful. There are in the Book of Daniel dim anticipations of his end; but none of the frightful details with which the historians of the next generation* abound.

From this moment the struggle, although it still continued, becomes more complicated, and its fluctuating results more difficult to follow, the more so as the ulti

1 Polyb. xxxi. 11.

22 Macc. 1. 16.

♦ Dan. xi. 45. Possibly Dan. vii. 11 may refer to the diseases by

8 1 Macc. vi. 1-16; 2 Macc. ix. which Antiochus was consumed.

Battle of

mate success of the insurgents was now assured. On both sides there was the entanglement of a civil war. Alcimus,1 Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, with a large body of adherents, maintained his position in Jerusalem as High Priest, by the influence of the Syrian court against the Maccabæan warrior; and Antiochus, the young prince, with Lysias as his guardian, had to fight for his crown against his uncle Demetrius. But, leaving the details which obscure the main thread of events, we may fix our attention on the conflict which raged in the closest quarters between the two rival fortresses in Jerusalem itself. The Temple mount was occupied by the insurgents; the ancient citadel of David was occupied by the Greeks. To secure this position a vast army was sent by Lysias down the Jordan valley, which then besieged the Judæan outpost, already taken and Second retaken, of Beth-zur. It was here that a battle Beth-zur. took place of which the unprecedented circumstances left a deep impression on the Jewish mind. It was one of the peculiarities of Alexander's remote conquests that, during this century, for the first and last time in Western history, the Indian and African elephants were brought into play in military achievements. The Syrian and Alexandrian kings specially prided themselves on their display of these vast creatures. One of them had been known as "the elephant-master" 2 on account of this passion, and had given five hundred as a wed ding-present to his daughter. On this occasion the elephants were distributed among the army ranged, in Macedonian fashion, in phalanxes or columns. Each animal rose like a mountain from its own troop of 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, of which it was the

1 See Lecture XLIX.

2 Revue des Deux Mondes, 1874, iv. 483.

centre.

The creatures were roused to fury by showing them the red juice of grapes and mulberries. Their advance was magnificent. The attendant soldiers were dressed in chain armor, their helmets were of bright brass, their shields of brass or of gold. Huge wooden towers rose on the backs of the elephants, fastened on by vast trappings. The black Indian driver was conspicuous on the neck of each animal, with a group of two or three soldiers round him, which the Israelites magnified into a whole troop. Those who have seen the effect even of an ordinary military escort defiling through the gray hills and tufted valleys of Judæa can imagine the effect of this vast array of splendor. When "the sun shone on the shields and helmets of gold and "brass," the whole range of the rocky ridges and of the winding glens "glistened therewith around, and shined "like blazing torches." The noise of the multitude, the tramp of the huge beasts, the very rattling of the armor and caparisons was portentous. Fantastic traditions of this fight lingered in various forms—a heavenly champion in white and gold- -a charge like the spring of lions against walls of steel- the watchword, "Victory is of God." But the sober fact was for once the small band of Judas's indomitable infantry failed in the face of such tremendous odds-not, however, before the achievement of one memorable deed. Eleazar, the fourth of the illustrious brothers, singling out an elephant which, from its towering howdah, he imagined to bear the young Prince, determined to sacrifice his life. He found his way through the hostile ranks,

1 Thirty-two is the impossible number in the text of 1 Macc. vi. 37. Possibly it is a confusion with the thirtytwo elephants, or with "three or

"two," or else a curious instance of the enormous exaggerations of the Jewish enumeration.

2 2 Macc. xi. 8, 11; xiii. 15.

crept under the elephant, and by one thrust brought down the enormous beast upon him- perishing, but winning by his daring act the perpetual name which he desired. He was known to the next generation as Avaran, "the Beaststicker." 1

B. C. 162.

The next decisive move was the victory over Nicanor, who was chosen to make an attack on Jerusalem, from the fanatical hatred he bore Nicanor. against the insurgents and whose name accordingly long survived the memory of Lysias, Bacchides, Timotheus, and the rest, who come and pass like shadows.

He had already taken part in the conflict at the time. of the battle of Emmaus, and a peculiar pathos is given to his history by the circumstance that of him alone amongst all their opponents at this period, there remained a tradition - difficult, perhaps, to reconcile with the hard language in which he is generally described, but quite consistent with human characterthat, whatever might be his animosity against the Jewish nation, he had perhaps from admiration of the earlier prowess displayed in their first encounter, conceived a strong personal admiration and affection for Judas Maccabæus. The momentary consternation by which his sudden appearance checked the insurgents under Simon gave him the opportunity of opening friendly communications with Judas himself. His meeting There was a natural suspicion. But Judas with Judas." came to Jerusalem, and for the first time the two foes came face to face. It was the meeting of Claverhouse and Morton.

They sat side by side on chairs of 2 state, like the curule seats of the Roman magistrates. The Syrian general was completely fascinated. He could not bear 1 1 Macc. vi. 43-46; ii. 5.

2 2 Macc. xiv. 21.