Heliodoros had, however, received the positive commands of the king, and was resolved to carry them into execution.
The high priest was in the deepest distress; and his horror and indignation at the intended robbery and sacrilege were shared by the priests and the people. Women, girded with sackcloth, mourned in the streets; the priests prostrated themselves before the altar—all, lifting up their hands, implored the Lord to keep safe and sure that intrusted treasure which they were themselves unable to defend.
HELIODOROS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE.
Then, as is related, there appeared before Heliodoros[3] a horse, on which sat a terrible rider, arrayed in bright armour of glittering gold; and beside him glorious beings, who, with scourges, sorely chastised the mortal who had dared to profane the sanctity of the temple. Overpowered by the vision, [Heliodoros] fell to the ground, thick darkness seemed to surround him, and he was carried, fainting and almost dying, from the treasury which he had impiously entered.
ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES.
Seleucus was succeeded, in 175 b.c., by his brother [Antiochus Epiphanes], one of the most base and cruel tyrants that ever disgraced a throne. As soon as he was settled in the kingdom, Jason, the unworthy brother of Onias, by underhand means contrived not only to induce the monarch to let him supplant his brother, but to banish Onias to Antioch, where this good man was subsequently murdered.