14. With his ships joining the attack, he completely surrounded the town and brought such pressure on it that no one was able to enter or leave.
15. Meanwhile, Numenius and those with him arrived in Jerusalem from Rome with the following letter addressed to various kings and countries:
16. “From Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greetings.
17. A delegation from our friends and allies the Jews has come to us to renew the earlier treaty of friendship and alliance. They were sent by the High Priest Simon and the Jewish people,
18. and they have brought as a gift a gold shield weighing 500 kilogrammes.
19. So we have decided to write to various kings and countries urging them not to harm the Jews, their towns, or their country in any way. They must not make war against the Jews or give support to those who attack them.
20. We have decided to accept the shield and grant them protection.
21. Therefore if any traitors escape from Judea and seek refuge in your land, hand them over to Simon the High Priest, so that he may punish them according to Jewish law.”
22. Lucius wrote the same letter to King Demetrius, to Attalus, Ariarathes, and Arsaces,
23. and to all the following countries: Sampsames, Sparta, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene.
24. A copy of the letter was also sent to Simon the High Priest.
25. King Antiochus laid siege to Dor for the second time, keeping it under constant attack. He built siege-platforms, and his blockade kept Trypho and his men from going in or out.
26. Simon sent 2,000 well-trained soldiers to help Antiochus, as well as silver and gold and a great deal of equipment.
27. But Antiochus refused to accept them, cancelled all the previous arrangements that he had made with Simon, and became his enemy.
28. Then Antiochus sent his trusted official Athenobius to negotiate with Simon. He said to Simon, “You are occupying Joppa, Gezer, and the fort in Jerusalem, cities that belong to my kingdom.
29. You have devastated those regions and brought great trouble to the country. You have seized control of many places in my kingdom.
30. Now you must hand back the cities that you have captured, and you must give me the tax money that you have taken from places that you occupied outside the territory of Judea.
31. If you are unwilling to do this, then you must pay me seventeen tonnes of silver, and seventeen additional tonnes of silver to compensate me for damages and for lost taxes. If you refuse to do either of these, we will go to war against you.”
32. When Athenobius came to Jerusalem and saw the splendour of Simon's court, the gold and silver dishes in his banqueting-hall, and the rest of the display of great wealth, he was amazed. He delivered the king's message to Simon,
33. and Simon answered, “We have never taken land away from other nations or confiscated anything that belonged to other people. On the contrary, we have simply taken back property that we inherited from our ancestors, land that had been unjustly taken away from us by our enemies at one time or another.