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And the man who thought a little before he could reach to the stars of heaven, no man could endure to carry for his intolerable stench.
11
Here therefore, being plagued, he began to leave off his great pride and to come to the knowledge of himself by the scourge of God, his pain increasing every moment.
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And when he himself could not abide his own smell, he said these words: It is meet to be subject unto God, and that a man who is mortal should not proudly think of himself as if he were God.
13
This wicked person vowed also unto the Lord, who now no more would have mercy upon him, saying thus:
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that the holy city, to which he was going in haste to lay it even with the ground and to make it a common burying place, he would set at liberty.
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And concerning the Jews, whom he had judged not worthy so much as to be buried, but to be cast out with their children to be devoured by the fowls and wild beasts, he would make them all equals to the citizens of Athens;
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and the holy temple, which before he had despoiled, he would garnish with goodly gifts, and restore all the holy vessels with many more, and out of his own revenue defray the charges belonging to the sacrifices;
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yea, and that also he would become a Jew himself, and go through all the world that was inhabited, and declare the power of God.
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But for all this, his pains would not cease; for the just judgment of God had come upon him. Therefore, despairing of his health, he wrote unto the Jews the letter following, containing the form of a supplication, in this manner:
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Antiochus, king and governor, to the good Jews his citizens wisheth much joy, health, and prosperity.
20
If ye and your children fare well and your affairs be to your contentment, I give very great thanks to God, having my hope in heaven.