Глава IV

Further intrigues of Simon and opposition to them by Onias (2 Mac. 4: 1–6). Jason, through bribery, occupies the high priesthood and introduces Hellenistic customs into St. city ​​(2Mac 4:7–22). Menelaus ousts Jason by giving a large bribe to the king and squanders the church treasures. The murder of Onias for exposing the iniquities of Menelaus. Lynching of the people over the murderers of Onia. Menelaus gains the upper hand and becomes a cruel enemy of the people (2 Mac. 4:23–50). 2Mac.4:1 And the above-mentioned Simon, having become a traitor to treasures and the fatherland, slandered Onias, as if he himself encouraged Heliodorus and was the author of evil. “The aforementioned Simon...” – III: 4 et d. 2Mac.4:2-4 He dared to call the benefactor of the city, the trustee of his fellow tribesmen and the zealot of the laws an enemy of the government. When the enmity reached the point that murders began to be committed through one of Simon’s trusted people, then Onias, seeing that the fight was dangerous, that Apollonius, as the military leader of Coele-Syria and Phenicia, was going on a rampage, increasing Simon’s anger, 2Mac.4:5-6 He went to the king not as an accuser of his fellow citizens, but with the benefit of each and all the people in mind, for he saw that without the king’s guardianship it was impossible to arrange things peacefully, and Simon would not abandon his madness. Nothing is known about the consequences of Onias’s journey to the king. From the mention in v. 7. about the death of Seleucus and the removal of Onias to the Antioch city of Daphne (33rd century) - it is usually believed that he never returned to Jerusalem. But this assumption is very arbitrary, since the murder of Onias followed no earlier than 4–5 years after the death of Seleucus, and his removal from office by Jason hardly followed immediately after the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes. 2Mac.4:7 But when Seleucus died, and Antiochus, called Epiphanes, received the kingdom, then Jason, the brother of Onias, sought the leadership of the hierarchy, About Antiochus Epiphanes - see 1 Mac I: 10. – Jason Ιάσων is the Greekized form of the Hebrew name Yeshua – Ιησούς – Jesus, and this change of name, according to Ios Archaeol XII, 5, 1, belongs entirely to Jason himself. 2Mac.4:8 Promising the king at the meeting three hundred and sixty talents of silver, and from some proceeds eighty talents. “360 talents of silver and from some income 80 talents...” This last addition makes it clear that Jason apparently meant to give 360 ​​talents of silver from the church treasury or church property. The total amount of the bribe, if we consider Jewish talents, is more than 1,000,000 rubles, and Syrian talents are about half of this. This huge sum, obviously, was promised not as an annual tribute, but as a one-time, once and for all, payment, perhaps only with some delay, in parts. 2Mac.4:9 Moreover, he promised to sign one hundred and fifty talents, if it were granted to him by his authority to establish a school for the physical training of young men and to write the Jerusalemites as Antiochians. “By his power...”, that is, royal - διά τής εξουσίας αυτού. - “And to write the Jerusalemites as Antiochians” - και τους έν Ί εροσολύμας A ντιοχείς αναγρώφαι , i.e. or: “to rewrite the Antiochites who lived in Jerusalem”, emphasizing them the advantage of granting the rights of citizenship, or: “to register all the inhabitants of Jerusalem as Antiochenes,” granting all of them the rights of Antiochene citizenship, but also obliging them through this to adopt Antiochene customs. – Art. speaks for the second assumption. 19, where these “Antiochians from Jerusalem” are mentioned, who were obviously Jews. Like Alexandria and Rome, Antiochian citizenship rights consisted of certain privileges, including the right to attend Greek public games and celebrations (Art. 19). – Jason obviously hoped to make the power to distribute these rights a rich source of income for himself, more than covering the costs of acquiring this power. 2 Mac.4:10–11 When the king gave his consent and he received power, he immediately began to persuade his fellow tribesmen to embrace Greek morals. He rejected the royal benefits kindly granted to the Jews at the request of John, the father of Eupolemos, who was undertaking an embassy to the Romans about friendship and alliance; violating legal institutions, he introduced customs contrary to the law. “Royal benefits philanthropically granted to the Jews...”, τα κείμενα τοις Ί ουδαίοις φιλάνθρωπα βασιλικά glorified: “royal philanthropy instituted for the Jews...” Here This probably means the rights and benefits of the Jews of Antiochus the Great (Arch I. Fl., XII, 3, 3, etc.), including: unhindered life according to the laws of the fathers, freedom of priests and other church servants from taxes, allowance for the expenses of the church and for the needs of Divine services, etc. - “At the intercession of John, the father of Eupolemos, who (according to 1 Mac VIII: 17 etc.) undertook (more precisely: who undertook - τού ποιησαμένου ...) an embassy to the Romans about friendship and alliance..." 2Mac.4:12 He deliberately built a school for the physical training of young men right under the fortress and, having attracted the best of the young men, brought them under the shameful cover. "Under a shameful tire...", υπό πέτασον..., in glory. left without translation: “under the petas...” Actually, πέτασος means a hat with wide brims for protection from the sun and rain, which was usually worn over the χλαμύς by έφηβοι and worn when practicing on the palaestra. Hence, the expression “put under petas” could simply mean to involve in participation in bodily exercises or games, and then generally to give Hellenic education. But the matter, as you can see, was far from limited to this. The further meaning of πέτασος is a screen, a cover, something like modern “scenes” behind which indecent deeds were committed. It was under such and such “backstages,” or, more simply, in “indecent houses” (according to the Vulgate - lupanaria) that the best Jewish youths were found, to please Syrian customs. 2 Mac.4:13 Thus, a tendency towards Hellenism and a rapprochement with foreign tribes appeared due to the excessive wickedness of Jason, this atheist, and not the high priest, “This is how the inclination towards Hellenism and rapprochement with foreign tribes appeared...” αλλοφυλισμού; slav., “and there was a certain zeal for Hellenism and the success of pagan life...” It would be more accurate to express this passage like this: “there was such a degree of voluptuousness of Hellenism and passion for foreignness... that even the priests...”, etc. Art. 14. 2 Mac.4:14 so that the priests ceased to be zealous in serving the altar and, despising the church and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to take part in the games of the palaestra, which were against the law, at the call of the thrown disc. “Taking part in the games of the palaestra that are against the law...” slav.: “(I strive) to be partakers of the palestra of lawless tradition...”, it would be more accurate to express this in Russian: “they tried to take part in the palestra of lawless round dancing...”, that is, in the games of the palaestra, accompanied by the singing of choirs and all sorts of fun. – “At the call of the thrown disc...”, μετά τή v then ύ δίσκου πρόκλησι v. Ό δίσκος is a small copper circle thickened in the middle without a handle (like a plate), which made the exercise quite difficult for them. Games (palestra) usually began by playing this disk. 2Mac.4:15 They did not value domestic honor; only Hellenic honors were recognized as the best. “Patriotic honor...”, πατρώοι τιμαί, slav.: “fatherly honor” - everything, one’s own, dear, that was considered respectable and honorable by the fathers. - “Hellenic honors...”, ελληνικαι δόξαι - everything that the Hellenes considered glorious and desirable. What is said here - about the preference of the latter to the former - applies not only to the priests, about whom we are talking in v. 14, but also to all the Jews who sought pleasure in the Greek pagan way of life. 2Mac.4:16-18 For this they suffered a difficult visit, and the very ones with whom they competed in their lifestyle and wanted to be like them in everything became their enemies and tormentors; for it is impossible to act wickedly against the Divine laws without punishment, as the coming time shows. When the five-year games were celebrated in Tire and the king was present there, “Quinennial Games” – celebrated every 5 years. 2Mac.4:19 Then the wicked Jason sent the Antiochians from Jerusalem there as spectators to deliver three hundred drachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but those who brought them asked not to use them for sacrifice, considering it indecent, but to allocate them to other expenses: Games and festivities were usually combined with solemn offerings of abundant sacrifices to Hercules and feasts in his honor; Jason sends 300 drachmas of silver for these expenses. - “Antiochians from Jerusalem”, whom Jason sent as spectators of the Tire games, as it turns out later, were simply newly-made “citizens of Antioch” from purebred Jews - Jerusalemites (see v. 9), who therefore did not find enough courage to carry out exactly the will of Jason II, they themselves asked the money sent with them to be used, instead of a sacrifice to Hercules, for the construction of rowing boats ships. – 300 drachmas of silver – if only here drachmas are counted in the Attic way, such an insignificant amount compared to the dignity of the Jewish people and the intentions of Jason (less than 100 rubles) that some codes prefer to indicate here 3,300 drachmas (about 1,000 rubles). Some interpreters, leaving the first figure unchanged, find it only probable that the writer of the book here called drachmas the current coins of the Seleucid times, equivalent to the Aginaean didrachm or the Attic tetradrachm and the Hebrew shekel (preserved to this day in some European museums), which were at that time in wide circulation in Phoenician and Syrian cities. If so, then 300 drachmas will amount to a much larger amount than calculated, about 400 rubles. 2 Mac.4:20 So, this money was sent to them as a sacrifice to Hercules on behalf of the sender, and those who brought it were used to build rowing ships. Due to the inaccuracy of the translation and, perhaps, a typo by the author of the book himself, the thought in this verse is devoid of any meaning. Instead of έπεμψεν (sent, and not sent, as the Russian text translates), some codices have επεσεν (from πίπτω), which modifies this whole thought as follows: “so, for the sake of the one who sent, it went (fell, was credited) not as a sacrifice to Hercules, but for the sake of those who brought it - for the construction of rowing ships...” 2 Mac.4:21 When Apollonius, the son of Menestheus, was then sent to Egypt on the occasion of the accession of King Ptolemy Philometor to the throne, Antiochus suspected him of being hostile to himself and began to try to protect himself against him; therefore, having gone to Joppa, he came to Jerusalem. “Apollonius the son of Menestheus,” in contrast to Apollonius the son of Thraseus (III: 5, 7; IV: 4), may be the same Apollonius who accompanied the embassy sent to Rome by Antiochus Epiphanes (Liv. XLII, 6). – “On the occasion of the accession to the throne of King Ptolemy Philometor...”, δια τα πρωτοκλήσια..., glor.: “triumph for the sake of the acceptance of the throne...” Ptolemy Philometor was a king before that time, but due to his youth he was under the tutelage of his mother Cleopatra, and after her death, the nobles Evleia and Lenea. The described perception of the throne was a solemn celebration of coming of age and independent entry into government of the state (in the 14th year of the life of this king - 173 BC). - “I suspected him of being hostile to himself...” πραγμάτων ..., more precisely famous: “Antiochus assumed that the being of his things was alien to him,” that is, suspecting his hostility to his interests, he became concerned about his safety - κατ᾿ αυτόν ασφαλείας εφρόντιζεν (rude and awkward Russian text: “I began to try to protect myself against him...”). Ptolemy really dreamed of restoring the province of Coele-Syria, separated from the monarchy of Lag under Antiochus III, with the inclusion of Palestine and Phenicia, which was once given as a dowry for his mother, and on this occasion he started a war (cf. Poliv. XXVII, 17). - Noticing this hostility to himself, Antiochus undertook his travels - first to Joppa, an important coastal city, in order to take measures to protect it, and from here to Jerusalem, to establish the location of this main Jewish city for his rule and ensure his loyalty. From here Antiochus goes to Phenicia, obviously for the same purpose with which he went to Jerusalem. 2Mac 4:22-23 Greatly received by Jason and the city, he entered with lamps and shouts and from there went with the army to Phenicia. After three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the above-mentioned Simon, to deliver money to the king and make an introduction to some necessary matters. “After 3 years...” – not from the one mentioned in v. 21. the king's visit to Jerusalem, and from the beginning of Jason's high priesthood (verse 10). – “Menelaus, brother of the above-mentioned Simon...” (III: 4 et d.; IV: 1). Josephus (Arch XII, 5, 1; cf. XX: 10) considers him the brother of the retired Onias and at the same time notes that his Jewish name was also Onias. This seems to be contradicted by testimony III: 4, from which it follows that Menelaus, as a Benjamite, could not be invested with high priestly dignity, although it is not surprising that Antiochus could easily have had the advantage of money, rather than the Mosaic institutions. Joseph's testimony about the identity and name of Menelaus, however, is very suspicious - in view of the improbability that Simon had two sons with the same name; on the other hand, the joy of the zealots of Judaism (Chasidim) that Alcimus was a worthy high priest from the family of Aaron (1 Mac VII: 14) will only be understandable when his predecessor Menelaus was not from this family and not of high priestly origin. – The money (τα χρήματα), which Menelaus had to deliver to the king, was either promised (8 art.) for the high priesthood, or for the permission of the Jerusalem gymnasium (9 art.), or, finally, could be a certain annual tribute of the church. – “Imagination about some necessary things...”, περί πραγμάτων αναγκαίων υπομνηματισμοί – own. a reminder to carry out what has so far remained without consequences. 2Mac.4:24 He, having introduced himself to the king and flattered his authority, delighted the hierarchy by adding three hundred talents of silver against Jason. “And having flattered his power...” Greek: και δοξασας αυτόν τώ προσώπω τής εξουσίας, - glory. more precisely: “and exalting him in the person of power for the sake of...” 2Mac 4:25 Having received orders from the king, he returned, bringing with him nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but only the wrath of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast. “Having received orders from the king” - βασιλικός εντολας - through which Jason was declared removed from the high priesthood, and Menelaus was established in his place. 2Mac 4:26 Thus Jason, having deceived his brother, was himself deceived by another and, as an exile, withdrew to the country of the Ammonites. 2 Mac.4:27-28 Menelaus received power, but did not care at all about the money promised to the king, although Sostratos, the commander of the city fortress, made demands, for he was responsible for collecting tribute; for this reason both of them were summoned by the king. Menelaus received power and, at the same time, access to the treasures of the church, which, in fact, was what he needed. He does not pay the amount promised to the tsar, apparently because this swindler no longer needed anything more. Even if he had been threatened with dismissal for failure to pay the bribe, he – as they say – would have managed not to lose money. After even Sostratus, the commander (έπαρχος) of the city fortress (i.e., the Syrian detachment left in it for order), who also corrected the position of tribute collector, could not obtain the promised bribe, the king summons both to himself - one for non-payment, the other for malfunction and inability to collect this tax. Both leave themselves “successors,” i.e., actual deputies (διάδοχος) during their absence, as follows from the fact that Menelaus then again acts as a high priest (39 v. 43 et c.; V: 5). 2 Mac.4:29 Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus as successor to the high priesthood, and Sostratus left Cratitus, the commander of Cyprus. Menelaus's deputy, Lysimachus, turned out to be quite worthy of his “brother” (39 et c.). – Nothing is further mentioned about Cratitis, Sostratus’s deputy. The narrator designates him as τόν επί των Κυπρίων - the chief of Kiprian. At that time (173 BC) Cyprus was not in the possession of the Syrians, but belonged to the Ptolemies. In 168, during his last Egyptian campaign, Antiochus captured this island, but immediately had to return it back at the request of the Romans (cf. Poliv XXIX, 11, 9–11 and Liv 45, 11 etc.). Hence, Cratytus is called ό επί τών Κυπρίων either as the former governor of the island, like Ptolemy Macron, who went over to the side of Antiochus, or as the commander-in-chief in Cyprus during the Syrian occupation of this island. Nothing is known about what answer Menelaus and Sostratos gave to the king when they appeared before his court. Apparently, things turned out well for Menelaus, thanks to the king's unexpected difficulty. Revolt of Tarsian and Mallotyan (30 Art. etc.) forced him to hastily depart from Antioch, where he left a certain Andronicus as his governor, apparently entrusting him with the case of Menelaus. The latter’s generosity ensured that Andronicus not only ended the case in favor of the defendant, but also, to please him, committed a new serious crime, killing the denouncer of Menelaus’s iniquities – Onias. 2Mac.4:30 While this was happening, the Tarsians and Mallotes rebelled because they were given as a gift to Antiochides, the king's concubine. “While this was happening...”, that is, when Menelaus and Sostratus were about to appear before the king’s court. - Tarsians are residents of the city of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia. - The Mallots are residents of the city of Malla, in Cilicia not far from the sea. Giving away regions and cities, i.e., income from them as a dowry or “for toilet expenses” of royal brides and wives, was a custom among ancient Asian rulers. Antiochus goes even further in this case, making an attempt to extend this custom to his concubines, which, naturally, could not please anyone, like the Tarsians. 2Mac 4:31-33 Therefore the king hastened to put things in order, leaving Andronikos, one of the honorary dignitaries, in his place. Then Menelaus, thinking to take advantage of the favorable opportunity, stole some golden vessels from the church and presented them to Andronicus, and sold others in Tire and surrounding cities. Having correctly learned this, Onias exposed him and withdrew to a safe place - Daphne, lying near Antioch. Daphne, a town near Antioch, actually its suburb, beyond the river. Orontes, with the famous grove in which was the church of Apollo and Artemis and άσυλον τέμενος (Strab. XVI, 750). 2 Mac.4:34-36 Therefore Menelaus, having seduced Andronicus in private, asked him to kill Onias; and he, coming to Onias and insidiously assuring him, giving his hand with an oath, although he was suspicious, convinced him to leave the shelter and immediately killed him, not ashamed of the truth. Not only the Jews, but also many of the other nations were irritated by this, and were indignant at the lawless murder of this man. When the king returned from the countries of Cilicia, the Jews who were in the city with the indignant Greeks informed him that Onias had been killed innocently. "Those who were in the city of Judah..." Οί κατά πόλιν ᾿Ιουδαίοι, that is, the Jews who lived in Antioch. 2Mac.4:37 Antiochus, mentally distressed and touched with regret, mourned the virtue and great decency of the deceased “Virtue and great decorum of the deceased...”, σωφροσύνη και ευταξία - designations of the character of Onias from a pagan point of view, which - from the Jewish point of view - is expressed (III: 1) in the concepts - ευσέβεια and μισοπονηρία. 2Mac.4:38 And in anger at Andronicus, he immediately took off his purple and tore his clothes, and ordered him to be led throughout the city and in the very place where he had villainously killed Onias, to execute the murderer, with which the Lord gave him the punishment he deserved. Πορφύρα - the purple that Andronicus wore was not a sign of his royal dignity, but simply a distinction, a sign of the king’s special favor towards Andronicus. - “Ordered to take him throughout the city and in that very place... execute him...” Greek: περιαγαγών καθόλην τήν πολιν έπ᾿ αυτόν τόν τόπον … απεκτείνε …, slav. more precisely: “he commanded to surround the whole city, in the same place... destroy...” Both of these actions mutually, so to speak, served one another: Antiochus, - more precisely, - having ordered Andronicus to be led through the entire city to the same place (επ αυτόν τον τόπον), where Onias was killed, executed the murderer himself there. 2 Mac.4:39-40 When many sacrileges were carried out in the city by Lysimachus, with the permission of Menelaus, and the rumor spread about it, the people rebelled against Lysimachus, for many golden vessels were stolen. When the people, filled with anger, rebelled, Lysimachus armed up to three thousand people and began lawless violence under the leadership of one tyrant, old in years and no less old in madness. “He began lawless violence...”, κατήρξατο χειρών αδίκων, similar to αρχειν πολέμου, to start a war. 2 Mac.4:41-45 Seeing such violence of Lysimachus, some grabbed stones, others - thick stakes, and others, grabbing dust from the ground, threw everything together at the people of Lysimachus and thus wounded many of them, struck others and put them all to flight, and killed the blasphemer himself near the treasury. The trial of Menelaus took place about this. When the king arrived in Tire, three men sent from the assembly of elders presented him with a complaint. Menelaus, already taken, promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymen, a lot of money if he asked the king for him. For Ptolemy, son of Dorymen, see 1 Mac III: 38. 2 Mac.4:46 And Ptolemy, having recalled the king to the porch under the pretext of rest, perverted the matter. “Into the vestibule...” – είς τι περίστυλον, glav.: “into a certain vestibule.” It was probably a gallery or colonnade adjacent to a palace or courtroom. 2Mac.4:47 He freed Menelaus, the author of all evil, from accusations, and condemned the unfortunates, who, even if they had spoken before the Scythians, would have been released unconvicted, to death. The “unfortunates” condemned to death were the three men who were sent by the Sanhedrin as defenders of the city, people and church in this process. – The Scythians were considered by the Greeks and Romans to be the most barbaric people. Hence the expression - “if they had spoken before the Scythians, they would have been released” - denotes the highest degree of injustice and barbarity. The expression itself strongly resembles the famous saying of Cicero (in Verr. II, 5, 58): si haec apud Scythas dicereme, tamen animos etiam barbarorum hominum permoverem. 2Mac.4:48-50 So quickly those who spoke in defense of the city, the people and the sacred vessels suffered unrighteous execution. The Tyrians, indignant at this, generously supplied what was needed for their burial. And Menelaus, with the covetousness of those in power, retained power and, growing in anger, became a cruel enemy of the citizens. “The enemy of the citizens...”, i.e. the city of Jerusalem.