2 Maccabees 4:45-47

Revised Standard Version

⁴⁵ But Menela′us, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe to Ptol′emy son of Dorym′enes to win over the king. ⁴⁶ Therefore Ptol′emy, taking the king aside into a colonnade as if for refreshment, induced the king to change his mind. ⁴⁷ Menela′us, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scyth′ians.