Entered at about dawn into the courtyard: The elephant keeper is the subject of this clause (see the comments on the previous verse). For the courtyard, see verse 10. We may render this clause as “At about dawn Hermon came into the palace courtyard.”

The city now being filled with countless masses of people crowding their way into the hippodrome: As in verse 24, people came crowding into the stadium for the spectacle. We may say “Huge numbers of people were already crowding their way into the stadium [or, race track].” In this model we do not translate the city, since it is clear by now that the city is where the people are coming from. For hippodrome see the comments on 3 Macc 4.11.

And urged the king on to the matter at hand: The subject here is again Hermon, the elephant keeper, who arrived at the courtyard to advise the king that all was ready, and that he could give the command to go ahead (compare verses 10 and 26). This clause may be placed after the first clause by rendering this verse as follows:

• About dawn Hermon came into the palace courtyard and urged the king to get started [or, to proceed with his plans]. Huge numbers of people were already crowding their way into the stadium [or, race track].

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.