Alcimus Accuses Judas
1After a space of three years, news reached Judas’s men that Demetrius, Seleucus’s son, had sailed in by way of the harbor at Tripolis with a strong force and a fleet, 2and had seized control of the country, after putting Antiochus and his guardian Lysias to death. 3There was one Alcimus, a former high priest, who had defiled himself of his own accord in the days of separation. Seeing that he had no hope of safety by any means, nor any further approach to the holy altar, 4he came to King Demetrius in or about the one hundred and fifty-first year, bringing him a gold crown and a palm branch, and in addition some of the olive shoots that are customary in the temple. That day he held his tongue. 5Then he found an opportunity that played into his own folly: Demetrius summoned him to the council and questioned him about the Jews — what frame of mind they were in and what they were planning. To this he replied: 6“The Jews who go by the name of Hasideans, led by Judas Maccabeus, are feeding the war and fomenting revolt, and they will not allow the kingdom to settle into order. 7It is for this reason that, robbed of my ancestral dignity — the high priesthood, I mean — I have now come here, 8first out of genuine concern for the king’s interests, and second out of regard for my own fellow citizens; for because of the recklessness of the men I spoke of, our entire race is suffering no small misfortune. 9Now that you know each of these things, O king, take thought for the country and for our beleaguered race, with the easy kindness that you extend to everyone. 10As long as Judas survives, there is no way for the government to have peace.” 11The moment he had said these things, the other Friends, who were ill-disposed toward Judas, set Demetrius still further ablaze. 12He at once picked out Nicanor, formerly the master of the elephants, made him commander of Judea, and dispatched him, 13under orders to do away with Judas himself, to scatter the men with him, and to set Alcimus over the greatest of temples as high priest. 14Then the nations throughout Judea that had fled from Judas joined Nicanor in droves, supposing that the misfortunes and disasters of the Jews would be their own good fortune.
Nicanor Befriends Judas
15When they heard of Nicanor’s approach and the onslaught of the nations, the Jews strewed earth on themselves and made supplication to the one who had set up his people to endure forever and who always takes up the cause of his own portion by making himself manifest. 16At the leader’s command they broke camp at once and closed with the enemy at the village of Dessau. 17Judas’s brother Simon had engaged Nicanor, but had been held back for a while by the sudden consternation the enemy caused. 18Still, Nicanor had heard of the bravery of Judas’s men and of their spirit in the contests for their homeland, and he was wary of settling the matter through bloodshed. 19So Posidonius, Theodotus, and Mattathias were sent by him to give and to receive right hands. 20The proposals were examined at length; the leader shared them with the multitude, and when the vote proved unanimous, they assented to the agreement. 21They fixed a day on which they would come together privately. From each side a chariot drove up, and chairs were set out. 22Judas had armed men stationed, ready, at strategic points, for fear of some sudden foul play from the enemy; and they held the talks in fitting fashion. 23Nicanor lingered in Jerusalem without doing anything improper; he sent home the crowds that had flocked to him. 24He had Judas constantly before his eyes, and his heart went out to the man. 25He pressed him to take a wife and raise children. Judas married, lived in quiet, and took his share in ordinary life.
Nicanor Threatens the Temple
26Alcimus, noticing the goodwill between the two men and taking the treaty they had made, went off to Demetrius and claimed that Nicanor’s mind was turned against the interests of the government, since he had named Judas, a plotter against the kingdom, as his successor. 27The king was beside himself; stung by the slanders of that thoroughly wicked man, he wrote to Nicanor saying that he took the treaty very badly, and ordering him to send Maccabeus in chains to Antioch with all speed. 28When the letter reached Nicanor, he was thrown into turmoil; he could hardly bear to break the terms they had agreed on, since the man had wronged him in nothing. 29But crossing the king was not an option, so he waited for the right moment to bring it off by a ruse. 30Maccabeus, for his part, saw that Nicanor had grown stern toward him and that he now received him with a coarseness unlike his usual manner. He judged that this sternness boded no good, so he drew together a good number of his men and slipped out of Nicanor’s sight. 31The other, realizing that he had been outgeneraled by the man, and nobly, came up to the temple, great and holy, just when the priests were presenting the prescribed sacrifices, and demanded that they give the man up. 32They swore to him that they had no idea where the wanted man might be. 33Then he pointed his right hand at the temple and swore: “Unless you deliver Judas to me in chains, I will turn this sacred enclosure of God into a flat field, raze the altar, and put up in this very spot a temple to Dionysus for all to see.” 34With these words he went away. The priests raised their hands toward heaven and called upon the one who at all times has been the champion of our people, saying: 35“You, Lord of all things, who stand in need of nothing — it pleased you that a temple for your dwelling should be among us. 36And now, holy Lord of all holiness, preserve this house, so lately made clean, free of defilement forever.”
The Death of Razis
37Word was brought to Nicanor against Razis, an elder of Jerusalem — a man who loved his fellow citizens, who stood in very high repute, and whose goodwill had earned him the title father of the Jews. 38In the earlier days of separation he had been brought to trial for Judaism, and for Judaism he had staked body and soul with unflagging zeal. 39Wanting to put on open display the hostility he felt toward the Jews, Nicanor dispatched upward of five hundred soldiers to seize him, 40reckoning that the capture of that man would bring disaster on them. 41The crowds were on the point of taking the tower; they were battering at the courtyard door and shouting for fire to be brought up and the doors set alight. Caught with no way out, Razis set his sword beneath himself, 42preferring a noble death to falling into the power of villains and being outraged in a way unworthy of his own nobility. 43But in the haste of the struggle his blow missed its mark, and as the crowds were pouring in through the doorways, he ran up nobly onto the wall and flung himself down, like a man, into the crowds. 44They drew back quickly, a gap opened, and he landed right in the middle of the open space. 45Still breathing, and burning with fury, he rose to his feet; though his blood was spouting in streams and his wounds were terrible, he ran through the crowds, and standing on a sheer rock, 46and now utterly drained of blood, he pulled out his bowels, seized them with both hands, and flung them at the crowds; and calling on the Master of life and spirit to return these to him again, in this manner he passed from life.
