He was the little horn of the Grecian goat, "the vile person to
whom they should not give the honour of the kingdom," so much was it
fallen since the time of his father, Antiochus the Great. Vile indeed he
was, nearly mad with violence and excess, going drunk about the streets
of Antioch crowned with roses, and pelting with stones those who
followed him, so that the Greeks laughed at him for calling himself
Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, and said he was really
Antiochus the madman. He cared little for the old Greek gods; but the
Roman Jupiter, "a god whom his fathers knew not," was his chief object
of devotion, and in his honour, he instituted games like those of
Greece. Some of the Jews had begun to weary of their perfect Law, and
fancy it narrow and vulgar, and the brothers of the good Onias were
among the worst; Joshua, the next in age, changed his glorious prophetic
name to the Greek Jason, and going to Antioch, offered a great sum of
money to be made High Priest, and for leave to set up at Jerusalem a
place for the practice of the heathenish games of strength, where men
fought naked. Antiochus was but too glad of the offer; so the good High
Priest was carried off to die a prisoner at Antioch, and the apostate
was set up in his room in order to pervert the Jewish youth to idolatry.
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