The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 02 : $b Israel, India, Persia, Phoenicia, Minor Nations of Western Asia
History
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 02 : $b Israel, India, Persia, Phoenicia, Minor Nations of Western Asia
World history
“So the king took this army, and marched hastily out of Antioch, with
Lysias, who had the command of the whole, and came to Idumæa, and
thence went up to the city Bethzur, a city that was strong, and not to
be taken without great difficulty. He set about this city, and besieged
it; and while the inhabitants of Bethzur courageously opposed him, and
sallied out upon him, and burnt his engines of war, a great deal of
time was spent in the siege; but when Judas heard of the king’s coming,
he raised the siege of the citadel, and met the king, and pitched
his camp in certain straits, at a place called Bethzachariah, at the
distance of seventy furlongs from the enemy; but the king soon drew his
forces from Bethzur, and brought them to those straits; and as soon
as it was day, he put his men in battle-array, and made his elephants
follow one another through the narrow passes, because they could not
be set sideways by one another. Now round about every elephant there
were a thousand footmen and five hundred horsemen. The elephants also
had high towers (upon their backs), and archers (in them); and he also
made the rest of his army to go up the mountains, and put his friends
before the rest; and gave orders for the army to shout aloud, and so he
attacked the enemy. He also exposed to sight their golden and brazen
shields, so that a glorious splendour was sent from them; and when they
shouted, the mountains echoed again. When Judas saw this, he was not
terrified, but received the enemy with great courage, and slew about
six hundred of the first ranks. But when his brother Eleazar, whom they
called Auran, saw the tallest of all the elephants armed with royal
breast-plates, and supposed that the king was upon him, he attacked
him with great quickness and bravery. He also slew many of those that
were about the elephant, and scattered the rest, and then went under
the belly of the elephant, and smote him, and slew him; so the elephant
fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight crushed him to death. And thus did
this man come to his end, when he had first courageously destroyed many
of his enemies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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