3 Maccabees 5:45-47

Common English Bible

Horror at the racecourse

⁴⁵ Now the elephant keeper drove the beasts almost to a state of madness with the most fragrant drinks, namely, wine mixed with incense, and he equipped them with frightful trappings. ⁴⁶ Around dawn, when the city was already filled with countless crowds moving toward the racecourse, he entered the palace and urged the king on to the matter at hand. ⁴⁷ So the king, filled with rage, rushed out with all fierceness to join the beasts. He wanted to witness with steely heart and with his own eyes the painful and miserable destruction of the previously mentioned people.