¶ Of the signes and toh•••••• sene in Ierusalem. Of the ende and offēce of ••asan. The puri••t•• of •• n••ochus against the Iewes. The •• poy••y••g•• of the temple.
CAPI. V.
AT the same tyme Antiochus made hi [unspec A] ready to go agayne into Egipt. Then were there sene at Ierusale. xl. dayes long / horsmen, running to and fro in the ayre whi¦the had raiment of golde, & speares. There were sene also whole hoostes of men weape¦ned, & horses running in an ordre / how they came together, howe they helde forth theyr shyldes, howe the harnessed men drewe out theyr sweardes, and shote their dartes.
The shyne of the golde weapens was sene, and all of maner of armure. Wherfore euery man prayed, that those tokens might turne to good. Nowe when there was gone forth a false rumour, as though Antiochus had bene deed: Iason toke a. M. mē, & came sodenly vpon the cytye. The cytesyns ran vnto the walles, at the laste was the cytye taken, & Manelaus fled in to the castell.
As for Iason, he spared not hys owne cy∣tesyns [unspec B] i the slaughter, nether consydered he what greate euel it were, to destroye yt pros∣perite of his owne kynsmen: but dyd as one that had gotten the victory of his enemies, & not of his frendes. For al this gat he not y• superiorite, but at the last receaued cōfusyō for his malice, & & led againe lyke a vaga∣bunde into the lande of the Ammonytes.
Finally, for a rewarde of his wickednesse, he was accused before Aretha the kynge of the Arabiās: In so much that he was fa••e to fle frō cyte to cite, being despised of euery mā as a forsaker of the lawes, & an abhomy¦nable persōne. And at the last (as an open e∣nemy of hys owne natural countre & of the cytesyns) he was dryuen in to Egypte.
Thus he that afore put many out of their owne natyue land, perished from home him self. He wēt to Lacedemon, thinckyng there to haue gotten succour by reason of kinred, And he that afore had casten many one our vnburyed, was throwen out hym selfe / no man mournynge for hym, nor putting•• him in hys graue: so that he nether enioyned the buryall of a straunger, nether was he parta¦ker of hys fathers sepulcre.
Nowe when thys was done, the kyng sus∣pecte, [unspec C] that the Iewes wolde haue fallen fro hym: wherfore he came in a greate dysplea∣sure out of Egypte, & toke ye cytie by vyo∣lence. He cōmaunded his m•• of warre also / yt they shuld kyl & no•• spare, but sley downe such as wt stode them, or climed vp vpō the houses. Thus was there a great slaughter of yong men, oldemen, wemen, children and virgines. In. iii. dayes were there slayne. lxxx. M. xl. M. put in preson, & no lesse sold. Yet was he not content wt this, but durst go into the moste holy temple (Menelaus that traytour to y• lawes & to hys owne natural countre, being his gyde) & with his wycked hādes toke the holy vessel, which other kin∣ges & cities had geuen thither for the garny¦shing & honour of the place: them toke he in his handes vnworthely, & defyled them.
So mad was Antiochus, that he consy∣dered [unspec D] not, how that God was a lytle wroth for the sinnes of them that dwelt in the cite, for the which such cōfucion came vpon that place. ‡ And why▪ if it had not happened thē