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3 MACCABEES

The Battle of Raphia

1When Philopator learned from those who returned that the regions that he had controlled had been seized by Antiochus, he gave orders to all his forces, both infantry and cavalry, took with him his sister Arsinoe4, and marched out to the region near Raphia, where the army of Antiochus was encamped. ²But a certain Theodotus, determined to carry out the plot he had devised, took with him the best of the Ptolemaic arms that had been previously issued to him,^* and crossed over by night to the tent of Ptolemy, intending single-handed to kill him and thereby end the war. ³But Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions, had led the king away and arranged that a certain insignificant man should sleep in the tent; and so it turned out that this man incurred the vengeance meant for the king.^{* 4}When a bitter fight resulted, and matters were turning out rather in favour of Antiochus, Arsinoe4 went to the troops with wailing and tears, her locks all dishevelled, and exhorted them to defend themselves and their children and wives bravely, promising to give them each two minas of gold if they won the battle. ⁵And so it came about that the enemy was routed in the action, and many captives also were taken.