1Then he called Hermon, who had charge of the elephants. Full of rage, altogether fixed in his furious design,
2he commanded him, with a quantity of unmixed wine and handfuls of incense [infused] to drug the elephants early on the following day. These five hundred elephants were, when infuriated by the copious draughts of frankincense, to be led up to the execution of death upon the Yahudim (Jews).
3The king, after issuing these orders, went to his feasting, and gathered together all those of his friends and of the army who hated the Yahudim (Jews) the most.