and seeing a man who was a Jew upon the point of doing it, he rushed upon him and slew him. Whereupon the Syrian officers also were put to death, and the altar they had erected destroyed with the cry: “Whosoever is zealous for the law and maintaineth the covenant let him follow me.” Mattathias with his two sons, and a few others, now plunged into the neighboring wilderness where forces might be safely collected, and time gained for reflection over the course to be pursued. This was the small beginning