Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/778

 772 MACCABEES McCHEYNE priest, the victories and death of his son Judas Maccabseus, and the wars and death by assas- sination of the two brothers and successors of the latter, Jonathan and Simon, concluding with the succession of Simon's son John Hyrcanus. It embraces a period of about 40 years (175-135 B. 0.), but the history of the first seven years is very briefly given. In regard to the time treat- ed this is the last of the four books. Its narra- tion is lucid and brief, and there is little doubt that it was originally written in Hebrew. The author is unknown, but he is supposed to have lived in Egypt, and to have belonged to the Pharisees. According to Bertholdt, De Wette, and Ewald, he wrote his work shortly after the death of John Hyrcanus (106). The Greek text of the Septuagint version is the original of all others extant. Jerome says that he saw the original Hebrew. The book is highly val- ued by the fathers of the church, as well as by Jewish and Christian historians. The second book is superior to the former in the purity and elegance of its language, which is believed to have been originally Greek. It professes to be an abridgment of an earlier historical work by a Jewish writer of Cyreae named Jason, relates the principal events of Jewish history in the reigns of Seleucus IV., Anti- ochus Epiphanes, and Antiochus Eupator, a period of 15 years, partly covered by the con- tents of the first book, and .contains besides some letters which are held by, many critics to be spurious. The historical epitome, which commences with the attempt of a Syrian gen- eral, Heliodorus, to rob the treasury at Jeru- salem, and closes with the death of another, Nicanor, contains some valuable additions to other extant authorities on that period. This book is the second also in order of time. The precise age of both the author and his pre- decessor Jason is unknown; both probably lived between 150 and 70 B. C. Luther in his preface to the translation is severe in his judgment on this book, while he regards the first as hardly inferior to the histories of the Protestant canonical Scriptures. A still lower opinion is generally entertained by Protestant theologians, as well as critics, of the contents of the third book of Maccabees, the first in order of time, which gives an account of a sac- rilegious attempt of Ptolemy Philopator, after his victory over Antiochus the Great at Raphia (217 B. C.), to enter the holy of holies in the temple of Jerusalem, which was baffled by a miracle, and of a subsequent equally abortive attempt of the same king to have his Jewish subjects crushed by elephants in the hippo- drome of Alexandria. The author and his age are unknown, and the book is in no way en- titled to rank among the histories of the Mac- cabsean struggle. It was written in Greek; and besides the Latin and other versions, there is also one in Syriac. The fourth book, the third in order of time, contains an amplifica- tion of the history of the martyrdom of Elea- zar and of the seven sons of Hannah, the so- called Maccabees, whose deaths are also de- scribed in the second book. An ethical use is made of the history, as indicated in the sec- ond title, " The Supremacy of Reason." It was attributed to Josephus by Eusebius, Je- rome, and others, an opinion which is now generally regarded as unfounded. Besides these four books, there is a fifth extant in Arabic and Syriac, by an unknown author, translated probably from Hebrew, which, like the second book, commences with the attempt of Heliodorus, but brings the history of the house of the Asmoneans down to its extermi- nation by Herod the Great. The translators seem to have lived after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem by Titus. Only the first two books of Maccabees are printed in the Apocrypha of the authorized English version. All are contained in Cotton's " Five Books of Maccabees in English" (Oxford, 1832). See Grimm, Das erste Buck der Maccabder (Leip- sic, 1853), and Das zweite, dritte und merte Buck der Maccabaer (1857) ; Ewald, Geschichte des Vollces Israel, vol. iv. ; Freudenthal, Die flavins Josephus beigelegte ScJirift uber die Herrschaft der Vernunft (Breslau, 1869); and Fritzsche, Libri ApocrypM Veteris Testamenti Greece (Leipsic, 1871). MCCARTHY, Jnstin, an Irish author, born in Cork, Nov. 22, 1830. From 1846 to 1853 he was connected with the Cork "Examiner," and then joined the staff of the "Northern Times " at Liverpool. In 1860 he was a re- porter in the house of commons for the Lon- don "Morning Star," of which he was subse- quently foreign editor, and in 1864 chief edi- tor. In 1868 he resigned that post, travelled extensively through the United States, resided for some time in New York, and returned to London in 1871. He has published " Paul Messie," a novel (anonymously, 1866 ; new ed., 18^4); "The Waterdale Neighbors" (1867); " Con Amore," a collection of critical essays (1868); "My Enemy's Daughter" (1869); " Lady Judith " (1871) ; " Prohibitory Legisla- tion in the United States," an account of some studying of such legislation and its workings in Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Iowa, &c. (1872); "Modern Leaders," a series of arti- cles on living celebrities, republished from the " Galaxy " (1872) ; "A Fair Saxon," a political novel (1873) ; and " Linley. Rochf ord " (1874). He is now (1874) preparing a "History of Eng- lish Radicalism and its Leaders since 1832." MeCHEYNE, Robert Man-ay, a Scottish clergy- man, born in Edinburgh, May 21, 1813, died in Dundee, March 25, 1843. He entered the Edinburgh university in 1827, where, besides the usual course, he studied modern languages, and became proficient in gymnastic exercises, music, and drawing. He began to study the- ology in 1831, and in 1835 was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Annan, beginning his labors in the parish of Larbert. In 1836 he was called to St. Peter's church, Dundee. His health failing, he went to Palestine with