Horrible fears tormented him, and in his remorse
he repented of all the evil he had done to the Jews, and sent them a
letter assuring them of his favour; but it was now too late, and he died
in great misery in 164. His son, Antiochus Eupator, was only nine years
old, and his affairs were managed by a governor named Lysias, who
continued the persecution, and led an army to the relief of the garrison
in Mount Zion. Judas marched out to meet him, but was repulsed with the
loss of six hundred men, and of his younger brother, Eleazar, who seeing
an elephant of huge size, with a tower of unusual height on its back,
thought the king himself must be there, and running beneath it, stabbed
it so as to be crushed himself in its fall. Lysias then advanced upon
Jerusalem, and laid close siege to it, placing the Jews in extreme
peril. Just then another regent rose up against Lysias, and he made a
hasty peace with Maccabaeus, and was admitted into the city; but when he
saw its strength, he broke his promises, and overthrew the wall. On his
return to Antioch, he punished the apostate high-priest, Menelaus, as
the author of all these misfortunes, by smothering him in a tower filled
with ashes.
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