36 Now the king arranged another banquet in the same way, and proclaimed an invitation to mirth. 37 He summoned Hermon to his presence, and said, with threats, “How often, Oh wretch, must I repeat my orders to you about these same persons? 38 Once more, arm the elephants for the extermination of the Yehudim tomorrow!” 39 His kinsmen, who were reclining with him, wondered at his instability, and thus expressed themselves: 40 “O king, how long do you test us, as of men bereft of reason? This is the third time that you’ve ordered their destruction. When the thing is to be done, you change your mind, and recall your instructions. 41 Because of this, the feeling of expectation causes tumult in the city. It swarms with factions, and is continually on the point of being plundered.”

42 The king, just like another Falaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Yehudim. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined immediately to send them to hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants. 43 He’d also invade Yehudah (Judea), level its towns with fire and the sword, destroy that temple which the heathen might not enter, and prevent sacrifices ever after being offered up there. 44 Joyfully his friends broke up, together with his kinsmen; and, trusting in his determination, arranged their forces in guard at the most convenient places of the city. 45 The master of the elephants urged the animals into an almost maniacal state, drenched them with incense and wine, and decked them with frightful devices. 46 About early morning, when the city was filled with an immense number of people at the hippodrome, he entered the palace and called the king to the business in hand. 47 The king’s heart teemed with impious rage; and he rushed forth with the mass, along with the elephants. With unsoftened feelings and pitiless eyes, he longed to gaze at the hard and wretched doom of the previously mentioned Yehudim. 48 But the Yehudim, when the elephants went out at the gate, followed by the armed force. When they saw the dust raised by the throng, and heard the loud cries of the crowd, 49 thought that they’d come to the last moment of their lives, to the end of what they’d tremblingly expected. They gave way, therefore, to lamentations and moans. They kissed each other. Those nearest of kin to each other hung around one another’s necks—fathers hugging their sons and mothers their daughters. Other women held their infants to their breasts, which drew what seemed their last milk. 50 Nevertheless, when they reflected on the help previously granted them from heaven, they prostrated themselves with one accord, removed even the sucking children from the breasts, and 51 sent up a very great cry asking the master of all power to reveal himself, and have mercy on those who now lay at the gates of hades.