Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The illness and death of Antiochus Epiphanes is described at length, which was briefly described in book I, chapter 6. The impious man therefore, eaten by worms with an intolerable stench, expired in the mountains.
Vulgate Text: 2 Maccabees 9:1-29
1. At the same time Antiochus was returning dishonorably from Persia. 2. For he had entered the province called Persepolis, and attempted to plunder the temple and oppress the city; but when the multitude rushed to arms, they were put to flight: and so it happened that Antiochus returned shamefully after his flight. 3. And when he had come near Ecbatana, he learned what had been done to Nicanor and Timothy. 4. But puffed up with anger, he thought he could turn upon the Jews the injury of those who had put him to flight; and therefore he ordered his chariot to be driven, pressing on without pause, the judgment of heaven driving him, because he had spoken so proudly that he would come to Jerusalem and make it a mass grave of Jews. 5. But the Lord God of Israel, who sees all things, struck him with an incurable and invisible plague. For as soon as he had finished this very speech, a dire pain of the bowels seized him, and bitter internal torments; 6. and indeed justly enough, for he who had tortured the entrails of others with many and new torments -- though he in no way ceased from his wickedness. 7. And above this, filled with pride, breathing fire in his soul against the Jews and ordering the journey to be hastened, it happened that as he was rushing forward he fell from his chariot, and his limbs were injured by the severe impact of his body. 8. And he who seemed to himself to command even the waves of the sea, filled with pride beyond human measure, and to weigh the heights of mountains in a balance, was now humbled to the ground and carried in a litter, bearing witness to the manifest power of God in himself; 9. so that worms swarmed from the body of the impious man, and while he lived in pain his flesh fell away, and the army was burdened by his smell and stench. 10. And he who shortly before thought he could touch the stars of heaven, no one could bear to carry because of the intolerableness of his stench. 11. From this point therefore he began, brought down from his great pride, to come to knowledge of himself, warned by the divine plague, as his pains received increase with every moment. 12. And when he could no longer bear his own stench, he spoke thus: It is just to be subject to God, and for a mortal not to think himself equal to God. 13. But this wicked man prayed to the Lord, from whom he was not to obtain mercy. 14. And the city to which he was hurrying to come in order to level it to the ground and make it a tomb of the dead, he now wished to set free; 15. and the Jews, whom he had said he would not consider worthy even of burial but would deliver to the birds and wild beasts to be torn apart, and would exterminate with their little ones, he now promised to make equal to the Athenians; 16. the holy temple also, which he had previously plundered, he would adorn with the finest gifts, and would multiply the sacred vessels, and would provide from his own revenues the expenses pertaining to the sacrifices: 17. and beyond this, that he would become a Jew, and would travel through every place of the earth, and would proclaim the power of God. 18. But when the pains did not cease (for the just judgment of God had come upon him) he wrote in despair to the Jews a letter in the manner of a supplication, containing these words: 19. To the most excellent citizens the Jews, much greeting, and health, and happiness, from the king and prince Antiochus. 20. If you and your children are well and all things are to your mind, we give the greatest thanks. 21. And I, being placed in infirmity, but kindly mindful of you, having returned from the regions of Persia and being seized with a grave illness, I have thought it necessary to take care for the common welfare; 22. not despairing of myself, but having great hope of escaping the illness. 23. But considering that my father also, at the times when he led his army in the upper regions, showed who would receive the principality after him: 24. so that if anything adverse should happen, or anything difficult should be reported, those who were in the provinces, knowing to whom the supreme authority had been entrusted, would not be disturbed. 25. Besides this, considering that the powerful men nearby and the neighbors of my dominions are watching for opportunities and waiting for events, I have designated my son Antiochus as king, whom I often, when returning to the upper kingdoms, commended to many of you; and I have written to him what is appended below. 26. I therefore ask and beg you, mindful of benefits both public and private, that each one may keep faith with me and with my son. 27. For I trust that he will act moderately and humanely, and following my purpose, will be agreeable to you. 28. Therefore the murderer and blasphemer, most grievously stricken, and as he himself had treated others, died a wretched death abroad in the mountains. 29. And Philip, his foster-brother, carried his body back, but fearing the son of Antiochus, he went away to Ptolemy Philometor in Egypt.
This death of Antiochus was briefly narrated in book I, chapter 6, but here it is recounted more fully for the consolation of the Jews afflicted by him, and as a perpetual example of divine vengeance upon the impious and sacrilegious.
Verse 2: He Attempted to Plunder the Temple
2. FOR HE HAD ENTERED THE PROVINCE (that is, the region and territory of Persia) WHICH (from its primary city or metropolis) IS CALLED PERSEPOLIS (in Greek; for in Hebrew it is called Elam or Elymais, as is clear from chapter 6, book I, verse 1, which Pererius, book IX on Daniel, on the words 'And he shall be broken without hand,' thinks was Susa); as if to say: Antiochus entered the territory of Persepolis with his army and attempted to besiege its primary city, which was likewise called Persepolis or Elymais; but he was repulsed by the citizens rushing to the walls, and indeed suffered a great slaughter of his men: "For the citizens pursued him as he retreated, so that having lost very many men he withdrew to Babylon in the manner of a fugitive," says Josephus, book XII, chapter 13.
AND HE ATTEMPTED TO PLUNDER THE TEMPLE -- of Diana, which was the most august in those regions, says Pliny, book 6, chapters 26-27. So Josephus, Polybius, and St. Jerome on Daniel 11:36, from Diodorus: although Appian, in the Syriaca, says it was a temple of Venus.
Verse 3: He Learned What Happened to Nicanor and Timothy
3. AND WHEN HE HAD COME NEAR ECBATANA (the most celebrated city of Persia) HE LEARNED (from messengers and letters sent to him) WHAT HAD BEEN DONE TO NICANOR AND TIMOTHY (his generals) -- by Judas Maccabeus, namely that he had overthrown them, struck them down, and put them to flight.
Verse 4: He Would Make Jerusalem a Mass Grave
4. THAT HE WOULD COME TO JERUSALEM AND MAKE IT A MASS GRAVE OF JEWS. -- Greek: that he would make it a polyandreion, that is, a cemetery in which the corpses of many men are customarily heaped; as if to say: Antiochus boasted that he would avenge the slaughter his forces had received from the Jews, and would so utterly destroy Jerusalem that the entire city would become a tomb of Jewish funerals and corpses.
Verse 5: God Struck Him with an Incurable Plague
5-6. THE GOD OF ISRAEL STRUCK HIM WITH AN INCURABLE AND INVISIBLE PLAGUE, (namely with most bitter pains of the bowels, because) HE HAD TORTURED THE ENTRAILS OF OTHERS (the Maccabees) WITH NEW TORMENTS, -- as follows, together with the most severe melancholy and bile. St. Jerome adds, in the passage cited, from Diodorus, that he was "turned to madness by certain phantasms and terrors." But externally He struck him with the lousy disease, a flux of flesh, and an intolerable stench, as is said in verse 9.
Verse 7: He Fell from His Chariot
7. ORDERING THE JOURNEY TO BE HASTENED (in driving the chariot so as to arrive quickly at Jerusalem), IT HAPPENED THAT AS HE WAS RUSHING FORWARD HE FELL FROM HIS CHARIOT, AND HIS LIMBS WERE INJURED BY THE SEVERE IMPACT. -- Gorionides narrates the event more fully and probably, book III, chapter 22: "It happened, he says, when he was now riding and accompanying his army, that his chariot passed near a certain elephant, and the elephant began to trumpet, and from its bellowing the horses were frightened, kicked and overturned the chariot, and Antiochus fell from the chariot and all his bones were broken; for he was a heavy and fat man.
Verse 9: Worms Swarmed from His Body
9. SO THAT WORMS (lice) SWARMED FROM THE BODY OF THE IMPIOUS MAN. -- This disease is called by physicians phthiriasis, that is, the lousy disease, by which these worms swarm from the body and eat and consume it with foul horror and unbearable itching. It sometimes arises naturally from a delicate and sweet constitution or nourishment of the body, or from filth and putrefaction, as happens among the poor; but often God supernaturally inflicts it upon the proud, the blasphemous, the sacrilegious, and the persecutors and torturers of the faithful and saints, as He inflicted it upon Herod the Ascalonite, who was the persecutor of Christ and murderer of the infants, as Josephus attests (book XVII, chapter 8), and upon his grandson Herod Agrippa, because he had accepted the acclamation of the people who cried out 'The voice of God and not of man,' and had killed the Apostle James, and would have killed Peter too had not an Angel freed him (Acts 12:23), and upon the Emperor Maximian, a fierce torturer of Christians, as Eusebius attests (book VIII, chapter 18), and upon Julian the Apostate, as Sozomen attests (book V, chapter 8), and upon Huneric, the Arian king of the Vandals, whose savage cruelty against the Orthodox and God's vengeance and phthiriasis upon him Victor of Utica narrates at length in the three books he wrote on the Vandal persecution; also upon John Calvin, as a heresiarch who blasphemed God, Christ and the Saints, as Bolsec writes, nor does Beza deny it in his Life, who adds even more and greater things: "He was tortured, he says, with such various and numerous diseases that it is simply incredible: namely migraine, ulcerous hemorrhoids, bloody excretions, quartan fever, gout, kidney stones, and colic." Thus "God follows the proud as an avenger from behind," as the tragedian sings, and Holy Scripture often proclaims.
Verse 12: It Is Just to Be Subject to God
12. AND WHEN HE COULD NO LONGER BEAR HIS OWN STENCH, HE SPOKE THUS: IT IS JUST TO BE SUBJECT TO GOD, AND FOR A MORTAL NOT TO THINK HIMSELF EQUAL TO GOD. -- Tormented by these diseases, the proud Antiochus came to his senses and recognized himself -- that he had foolishly esteemed himself a God and had wished to make himself equal to the true God, being a man before God, mortal before the Immortal, weak before the Almighty, temporal before the Eternal; and therefore God struck him with phthiriasis, that he might learn and say with Job, chapter 17: "I have said to corruption: You are my father; to the worm: my mother and my sister." And with David: "But I am a worm and not a man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people" (Psalm 21). And that saying of another saint: "The worm seeks the worm." Thus God showed that He had heard the prayer of the seventh Maccabean martyr, whose last words in his torments three years before were these (chapter 7, verse 37): "Calling upon God to be merciful speedily to our nation, and that you with torments and scourges may confess that He alone is God."
For the martyrdom of the Maccabees occurred in the year 145 of the Greeks, the ninth year of Antiochus; but his death occurred in the year 149 of the Greeks, as was said in book I, chapter 6, verse 16, which was Antiochus's thirteenth and last year.
Verse 13: The Wicked Man Prayed in Vain
13. BUT THIS WICKED MAN PRAYED TO THE LORD, FROM WHOM HE WAS NOT TO OBTAIN MERCY; -- because this confession, repentance and prayer of his was forced and extorted by torments, and proceeded not from love but from servile fear. For he only prayed to God for this purpose -- to be freed from the torments sent by Him -- but not with the aim of changing his life and truly and sincerely serving God. Similar was the repentance of Pharaoh when he felt the plagues inflicted by Moses (Exodus 10:16), and of Saul (1 Samuel 15:24 and 30), and of Ahab king of Israel (3 Kings 21:29), and of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:31), though about this last one may doubt. Again, even if Antiochus had sincerely repented and had elicited an act of true contrition from the love of God, and thus had saved his soul, nevertheless he would not have obtained the mercy he sought, namely deliverance from the torments. For it had already been fixed and decreed by God to punish him for his enormous crimes with these torments until death. In a similar way Esau, though repentant, could not recover his father's blessing and the right of primogeniture he had lost; for as it says in Hebrews 12:17: "Afterwards, desiring to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, although he sought it with tears."
Verse 15: He Promised to Make Them Equal to the Athenians
15. HE NOW PROMISED TO MAKE THEM EQUAL TO THE ATHENIANS, -- namely autonomous, says Josephus, that is, living freely by their own laws and their own institutions, as the Athenians did, although they were already subject to Antiochus and the Antiochenes. For Antiochus knew that the Jews supremely desired this.
Verse 17: He Would Become a Jew
17. BESIDES THIS, THAT HE WOULD BECOME A JEW, AND WOULD TRAVEL THROUGH EVERY PLACE OF THE EARTH, AND WOULD PROCLAIM THE POWER OF GOD. -- Antiochus said these things falsely and deceitfully, because he was compelled by God's scourges: therefore, if God had withdrawn them, he would have returned to his old ways, according to that popular saying:
The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be. But the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.
The impious man therefore wished to mock God, but was himself mocked by Him. For he did not intend to fulfill the things he here says and promises.
Verse 18: Despairing, He Wrote to the Jews
18. BUT WHEN THE PAINS DID NOT CEASE (FOR THE JUST JUDGMENT OF GOD HAD COME UPON HIM), that is, God by His just judgment had plainly decreed to torture him for his sacrileges until death, DESPAIRING (of relief from his pains and of recovering his health, as well as of God's grace and eternal salvation) HE WROTE TO THE JEWS, so that while they were alive he might leave his only son Antiochus Eupator as his successor and secure the kingdom for him. For he knew that he had stolen it from Demetrius, the son of his elder brother Seleucus, and that therefore Demetrius, who was detained at Rome as a hostage in his place, upon hearing of his death would immediately fly to Asia to seize the kingdom rightly owed to him, and would exclude the boy Eupator, to whom it did not belong -- as indeed happened; for Demetrius killed Eupator together with Lysias and claimed the kingdom for himself. Therefore Antiochus, wishing to prevent this by this letter, accomplished nothing, but both he and his son by God's just judgment lost the kingdom along with their lives.
See here the magnificence and magnificent power of our God, by which with a single pain of the bowels He so lays low the swollen and untameable Antiochus, who seemed to himself to command earth, sea and heaven, that he becomes a suppliant not only before himself but also before the Jews whom he had utterly despised. Thus He made Pharaoh a suppliant before Moses, Saul before Samuel, Nebuchadnezzar before Daniel.
Verse 20: We Give the Greatest Thanks
20. WE GIVE THE GREATEST THANKS. -- The Greek has: I give the greatest thanks to God, having hope in heaven, and I, lying weakly, have kindly remembered your honor.
Verse 23: My Father Declared His Heir
23. BUT CONSIDERING THAT MY FATHER ALSO, ETC. -- That is: Just as my father Antiochus the Great, a most prudent king and most benevolent toward you, as Josephus attests (book XII, chapter 3), when setting out abroad, declared his heir, so that if anything should happen to him, that one would succeed him; so I, following my father's example, declare to you the heir of my kingdom, my son Antiochus Eupator, and I ask that you bestow your help in cherishing and protecting him.
Verse 25: The Powerful Men Nearby
25. CONSIDERING THAT THE POWERFUL MEN NEARBY AND NEIGHBORS ARE WATCHING FOR OPPORTUNITIES, -- so that if they see the king dead, they may think the time is ripe for seizing the kingdom. He refers to his nephew Demetrius, the son of his brother Seleucus, to whom the kingdom was rightly owed, as I said at verse 18.
Verse 26: Mindful of Benefits
26. MINDFUL OF BENEFITS. -- Here is evident the fiction and flattery of Antiochus. For he splendidly lies in boasting of his benefits to the Jews, when he had exercised every kind of wrongdoing against them.
Verse 27: Following My Purpose
27. FOLLOWING MY PURPOSE, -- that he may be benevolent toward you, as I henceforth intend to be. He feigns and simulates benevolence, when he had been malevolent toward the Jews, and his son Eupator followed this paternal malevolence toward the Jews.
AND THAT HE WILL BE AGREEABLE (that is, courteous, familiar, affable, kind, benevolent) TO YOU.
Verse 28: Abroad in the Mountains
28. ABROAD IN THE MOUNTAINS -- near Ecbatana, as was said in verse 3, in the town of Tabae, says St. Jerome on Daniel chapter 11. There therefore, in the mountains of Persia and Media, Antiochus died. For although he was proceeding to Babylon, as was said in book I, chapter 6, verse 4, nevertheless as his torment increased, he died in the year 149 of the Greeks, as was said in book I, chapter 6, verse 16.
This was the most fatal end of Antiochus Epiphanes -- impious, blasphemous, sacrilegious, atheistic, and a despiser of all the gods -- who was therefore an express type and forerunner of the Antichrist.
Moreover we must beware of this error of Josephus. For he, book XIV, chapter 17, citing Polybius who says that Antiochus perished because he attempted to plunder the temple of Diana, refutes him: "For merely to have wished, he says, and not actually to have committed the sacrilege, does not seem to be a matter deserving of punishment." You err, O Josephus; for all virtue as well as vice, and hence merit and demerit, consists in the will: for the external act is not in itself free, and therefore draws and derives all its freedom, and its goodness or malice, from the internal act of the will, good or evil. Now every good act is worthy of praise and reward, and every evil act of blame and punishment. But if Antiochus perished because he wished to plunder the temple of Diana, much more did he perish because he actually plundered the temple of the true God in Jerusalem, and there wrought so many and such great slaughters as we have heard up to this point.