Three years later, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to deliver money to the king and to complete the negotiations on some important matters. But when Menelaus was presented to the king, he flattered him with an air of authority and thereby secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver. He returned with the royal appointment, despite the fact that he possessed no qualification that made him worthy of the high priesthood. He had the temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage beast. Then Jason, who had supplanted his own brother, was now himself supplanted by another man and driven out as a fugitive into the land of the Ammonites. Although Menelaus continued to hold the office of high priest, he failed to make any payments of the money he had promised to the king, despite the insistent demands for payment by Sostratus, the captain of the citadel, who had the responsibility for the collection of revenues. As a result, both men were summoned to appear before the king. Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as his deputy in the high priesthood, while Sostratus designated Crates, the commander of the Cypriots, to act in his place.
2 MACCABEES: chapter 4, verses23 - 29
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