The king’s friends one by one sullenly slipped away: For The king’s friends, see the comments on 3 Macc 2.23. Sullenly indicates that they left in an angry and gloomy mood. Slipped away means they left quietly, trying not to call attention to themselves.

And dismissed the assembled people, each to his own occupation: A textual variant, noted in Revised Standard Version‘s footnote, has the king dismiss the crowds rather than his friends, but we prefer the Greek text that Revised Standard Version used. We do not think a footnote is necessary. Each to his own occupation means each person in the crowd was to return to what he or she would ordinarily be doing at that time.

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• One by one, the king’s advisers quietly left, in an angry mood. They told the crowds that had come together [or, at the stadium/race track] to leave, and go about their usual business.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.