Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/97

 his purpose; and he referred for counsel on her words to Ananias. Ananias took the mother's side and threatened to leave Izates if he did not obey her. He said he feared that, if the matter became public, he would run the risk of being punished himself as the responsible party who had instructed the king in unseemly practices. He added that, if he was fully determined to follow the Jews' ancestral customs, he might worship God even without being circumcised; worship was more essential than circumcision; and God Himself would forgive him because the omission of the act was due to necessity and fear of his subjects. So for the time the king was persuaded. But he had not altogether relinquished his desire, when there came, later on, another Jew from Galilee, named Eleazar, with a reputation for the strictest observance of the customs of his fathers, and prevailed on him to do the deed. For, on entering to salute the king, Eleazar found him reading the Law of Moses, and said: "In your ignorance, O king, you are sinning grievously against the laws and thereby against God. It behoves you not merely to read them but even more to do what they command. How long will you remain uncircumcised? If you have not yet read the law concerning this matter, read it now, that you may know what impiety is yours."

On hearing this speech the king delayed no longer; he withdrew to another room, summoned his physician, carried out the injunctions, and sent for his mother and his instructor Ananias and announced that he had done the deed. And they were at once filled with dismay and fear beyond measure, lest the king should be convicted of the deed and risk the loss of his kingdom