Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
Chapter the Eighth. Synopsis of the Chapter
The brave and faithful deeds of the Romans are recounted, on account of which Judas makes a covenant with them. Whence the Romans command Demetrius to cease from molesting the Jews.
1. And Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they are mighty and strong, and willingly agree to all things that are requested of them, and whosoever have come to them, they have made amity with them, and that they are mighty and strong. 2. And they told him of their battles, and of the noble acts which they had done among the Gauls, and how they had conquered them, and made them tributaries: 3. And what they had done in the country of Spain, and that they had brought under their power the mines of silver and gold that are there, and had gotten possession of every place by their counsel and patience: 4. And that they had conquered places that were very far off from them, and kings that came against them from the ends of the earth, and had overthrown them with great slaughter, and the rest pay them tribute every year. 5. And that they had defeated in battle Philip, and Perses the king of the Ceteans, and the rest that had borne arms against them, and had conquered them: 6. And how Antiochus the great king of Asia, who came against them in battle, having a hundred and twenty elephants, with horsemen, and chariots, and a very great army, was routed by them: 7. And how they took him alive, and appointed that he and they that should reign after him, should pay a great tribute, and give hostages, and that which was agreed upon, 8. And the country of the Indians, and of the Medes, and of the Lydians, of their best provinces: and the Romans took them of him, and gave them to king Eumenes: 9. And that they who were in Greece, had a mind to go and destroy them: and they had notice thereof, 10. And they sent against them a general, and fought with them, and many of them were slain, and they carried away their wives and their children captives, and spoiled them, and took possession of their land, and threw down their walls, and brought them to be their bondmen unto this day: 11. And the rest of the kingdoms and islands, that at any time had resisted them, they have destroyed and brought under their power. 12. But with their friends, and such as relied upon them, they kept amity: and they had conquered kingdoms both near and afar off, and all that heard of their name were afraid of them: 13. For whom they will help to be kings, those reign; and whom they will, they depose again from the kingdom: and they were greatly exalted. 14. Yet for all this, none of them wore a crown, or was clothed in purple, to be magnified thereby. 15. But they made themselves a senate house, and every day consulted three hundred and twenty men, who consulted always of the people, to do the things that were right: 16. And they commit their government to one man every year, to rule over all their country, and they all obey one, and there is no envy nor jealousy amongst them. 17. And Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, the son of Jacob, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome, to make a league of amity and society with them: 18. And to take off the yoke from them, for they saw that the kingdom of the Greeks did oppress Israel with slavery. 19. And they went to Rome, a very long journey, and they entered into the senate house, and said: 20. Judas Machabeus, and his brethren, and the people of the Jews, have sent us to you, to make a confederacy and peace with you, and that we may be registered your allies and friends. 21. And the matter pleased them. 22. And this is the copy of the writing, which they wrote back in tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with them there a memorial of the peace and confederacy: 23. Good success be to the Romans, and to the people of the Jews, by sea and land for ever: and the sword and the enemy be far from them. 24. But if there come first any war upon the Romans, or any of their allies in all their dominions: 25. The nation of the Jews shall assist them according as the time shall direct, with a willing heart: 26. And to them that make war upon them they shall not give, nor supply wheat, arms, money, or ships, as it hath seemed good to the Romans; and they shall keep their ordinances, taking nothing of them. 27. In the same manner also, if war shall come first upon the nation of the Jews, the Romans shall help them with all their heart, according as the time shall allow them: 28. And to them that are confederate there shall not be given wheat, arms, money, or ships, as it hath seemed good to the Romans; and they shall keep their ordinances without any deceit. 29. According to these articles the Romans made a league with the people of the Jews. 30. And if after these words, these or those shall have a mind to add to, or take away any thing, they shall do it at their pleasure, and whatsoever they shall add, or take away, shall be ratified. 31. Moreover as to the evils that Demetrius the king hath done against them, we have written to him, saying: Why hast thou made thy yoke heavy upon our friends and allies the Jews? 32. If therefore they come again to us complaining of thee, we will do them justice, and will fight with thee by sea and land.
1. AND JUDAS HEARD OF THE FAME (of the warlike fortitude and political virtues) OF THE ROMANS.—Note: The “heard” signifies that the heroic deeds of the Romans which are afterwards narrated were reported to Judas and the Jews by hearsay and fame; from this, however, it does not follow that all those things are true. For fame is often greater than the truth, and enlarges a thing beyond the truth, or distorts it, while each adds to or takes away from fame something of his own, as we experience daily in the narrations not only of hearers but of eyewitnesses. This could be answered to the Innovators, who strike the book of Maccabees from the canon, objecting that it attributes to the Romans more than Livy, Florus, Diodorus, Plutarch attribute to them. So Serarius, Salianus, Sanchez and others. But if the several things said of them here are closely examined, nothing is found that can be charged with falsity, and that cannot be rightly reconciled with the profane historians, as I shall show in detail. So in the Gospels many things are said by the Jews of Christ; as that he is a Samaritan, a drinker of wine, a demoniac, which were most false; but that the Jews said them is most true, and this only Scripture means, as St. Augustine teaches, Quest. 6 to Orosius.
AND WILLINGLY AGREE TO ALL THINGS THAT ARE REQUESTED OF THEM,—if, that is, the demands are equitable and just, and not contrary to the advantages or rights of the Romans.
2. AND THEY TOLD HIM (Judas and the Jews) OF THEIR BATTLES AND OF THEIR NOBLE ACTS,—Greek andragathias, that is, manliness, strenuousness, deeds bravely done, acts of fortitude, famous deeds; for andragathe is the same as I act manfully, I bear myself as a man, I act bravely, I show myself a brave and good man.
WHICH THEY HAD DONE AMONG THE GAULS,—for the Romans subdued these by arms about this time, as is plain from Livy, Josephus, Justin and others. By Galatians he means the Gallo-Greeks, whom the Romans attacked in war, because they had helped Antiochus the Great fighting against the Romans, whence they sent against them Manlius Vulso who conquered them, and after two years triumphed over them, as Livy testifies, book 37.