Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the hippodrome with the beasts and all the arrogance of his forces: The hippodrome is the race track or stadium (see the comments on 3 Macc 4.11). The beasts are the elephants. All the arrogance of his forces is a way of saying “his arrogant soldiers,” but the Greek word translated arrogance refers literally to the snorting of a horse. There is an unexpressed comparison here of the soldiers to horses. The army has the attitude of a snorting horse. The first model of this verse is wordy, but does not go too far. Translators may choose, however, the alternative.

• Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the stadium [or, race track] with the elephants. His soldiers came in with him, as arrogant [or, proud] as a bunch of snorting horses.

• Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the stadium [or, race track] with the elephants and his arrogant soldiers.

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.