The history of the Maccabees, an excerpt from The Story of the Greeks by Christine Miller:

For when those who had been appointed by the king came to a certain village, to force the Jews to sacrifice pigs to the Greek idols, the envoy desired that Mat-ta-thi´as be the first to sacrifice. He was highly esteemed, being of the family of the priests, and the elderly father of five well-favored sons, and they thought his example would encourage the others to follow him.

But Mattathias refused, saying that it mattered not if every person in every nation obeyed the commands of Antiochus; he and his sons would never abandon the God of their fathers. He no sooner ended this speech, when one of the Jews came forward, and sacrificed, as Antiochus had commanded. This so horrified the old priest, that he and his sons rushed upon the hapless Jew and slew him, along with the king’s envoy, and some of the soldiers. He next overthrew the idol altar that had been raised, and cried out, “If any one be zealous for the laws of his country, and for the worship of God, let him follow me.” In the general confusion which followed this unexpected turn of events, Mattathias and his sons fled into the wilderness, leaving all their possessions behind; and many others, having learned to hate their Greek overlords, soon joined him there, with their wives and children (168 BC).

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