AGAINST APION. 

[1]

By Flavius Josephus

Translated by William Whiston

BOOK 1. 

1. I Suppose that by my books of the Antiquity of the Jews, mostexcellent Epaphroditus, [2] have made it evident to those who perusethem, that our Jewish nation is of very great antiquity, and had adistinct subsistence of its own originally; as also, I have thereindeclared how we came to inhabit this country wherein we now live. ThoseAntiquities contain the history of five thousand years, and are takenout of our sacred books, but are translated by me into the Greek tongue. However, since I observe a considerable number of people giving ear tothe reproaches that are laid against us by those who bear ill-will tous, and will not believe what I have written concerning the antiquity ofour nation, while they take it for a plain sign that our nation is of alate date, because they are not so much as vouchsafed a bare mention bythe most famous historiographers among the Grecians. I therefore havethought myself under an obligation to write somewhat briefly aboutthese subjects, in order to convict those that reproach us of spite andvoluntary falsehood, and to correct the ignorance of others, and withalto instruct all those who are desirous of knowing the truth of whatgreat antiquity we really are. As for the witnesses whom I shall producefor the proof of what I say, they shall be such as are esteemed to beof the greatest reputation for truth, and the most skillful in theknowledge of all antiquity by the Greeks themselves. I will also show, that those who have written so reproachfully and falsely about us areto be convicted by what they have written themselves to the contrary. I shall also endeavor to give an account of the reasons why it hath sohappened, that there have not been a great number of Greeks who havemade mention of our nation in their histories. I will, however, bringthose Grecians to light who have not omitted such our history, for thesake of those that either do not know them, or pretend not to know themalready. 

2. And now, in the first place, I cannot but greatly wonder at thosemen, who suppose that we must attend to none but Grecians, when we areinquiring about the most ancient facts, and must inform ourselves oftheir truth from them only, while we must not believe ourselves norother men; for I am convinced that the very reverse is the truth of thecase. I mean this, --if we will not be led by vain opinions, but willmake inquiry after truth from facts themselves; for they will find thatalmost all which concerns the Greeks happened not long ago; nay, one maysay, is of yesterday only. I speak of the building of their cities, theinventions of their arts, and the description of their laws; and as fortheir care about the writing down of their histories, it is very nearthe last thing they set about. However, they acknowledge themselves sofar, that they were the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Phoenicians(for I will not now reckon ourselves among them) that have preserved thememorials of the most ancient and most lasting traditions of mankind;for almost all these nations inhabit such countries as are least subjectto destruction from the world about them; and these also have takenespecial care to have nothing omitted of what was [remarkably] doneamong them; but their history was esteemed sacred, and put into publictables, as written by men of the greatest wisdom they had amongthem. But as for the place where the Grecians inhabit, ten thousanddestructions have overtaken it, and blotted out the memory of formeractions; so that they were ever beginning a new way of living, andsupposed that every one of them was the origin of their new state. Itwas also late, and with difficulty, that they came to know the lettersthey now use; for those who would advance their use of these lettersto the greatest antiquity pretend that they learned them from thePhoenicians and from Cadmus; yet is nobody able to demonstrate that theyhave any writing preserved from that time, neither in their temples, norin any other public monuments. This appears, because the time when thoselived who went to the Trojan war, so many years afterward, is in greatdoubt, and great inquiry is made, whether the Greeks used their lettersat that time; and the most prevailing opinion, and that nearest thetruth, is, that their present way of using those letters was unknown atthat time. However, there is not any writing which the Greeks agree tobe genuine among them ancienter than Homer's Poems, who must plainly heconfessed later than the siege of Troy; nay, the report goes, thateven he did not leave his poems in writing, but that their memory waspreserved in songs, and they were put together afterward, and that thisis the reason of such a number of variations as are found in them. [3]As for those who set themselves about writing their histories, I meansuch as Cadmus of Miletus, and Acusilaus of Argos, and any others thatmay be mentioned as succeeding Acusilaus, they lived but a little whilebefore the Persian expedition into Greece. But then for those that firstintroduced philosophy, and the consideration of things celestial anddivine among them, such as Pherceydes the Syrian, and Pythagoras, andThales, all with one consent agree, that they learned what they knewof the Egyptians and Chaldeans, and wrote but little And these are thethings which are supposed to be the oldest of all among the Greeks; andthey have much ado to believe that the writings ascribed to those menare genuine. 

3. How can it then be other than an absurd thing, for the Greeks tobe so proud, and to vaunt themselves to be the only people that areacquainted with antiquity, and that have delivered the true accountsof those early times after an accurate manner? Nay, who is there thatcannot easily gather from the Greek writers themselves, that they knewbut little on any good foundation when they set to write, but ratherwrote their histories from their own conjectures? Accordingly, theyconfute one another in their own books to purpose, and are not ashamed. To give us the most contradictory accounts of the same things; and Ishould spend my time to little purpose, if I should pretend to teachthe Greeks that which they know better than I already, what a greatdisagreement there is between Hellanicus and Acusilaus about theirgenealogies; in how many eases Acusilaus corrects Hesiod: or after whatmanner Ephorus demonstrates Hellanicus to have told lies in the greatestpart of his history; as does Timeus in like manner as to Ephorus, andthe succeeding writers do to Timeus, and all the later writers do toHerodotus nor could Timeus agree with Antiochus and Philistius, orwith Callias, about the Sicilian History, no more than do the severalwriters of the Athide follow one another about the Athenian affairs; nordo the historians the like, that wrote the Argolics, about the affairsof the Argives. And now what need I say any more about particular citiesand smaller places, while in the most approved writers of the expeditionof the Persians, and of the actions which were therein performed, thereare so great differences? Nay, Thucydides himself is accused of some aswriting what is false, although he seems to have given us the exactesthistory of the affairs of his own time. [4]

4. As for the occasions of so great disagreement of theirs, there maybe assigned many that are very probable, if any have a mind to make aninquiry about them; but I ascribe these contradictions chiefly to twocauses, which I will now mention, and still think what I shall mentionin the first place to be the principal of all. For if we remember thatin the beginning the Greeks had taken no care to have public recordsof their several transactions preserved, this must for certainhave afforded those that would afterward write about those ancienttransactions the opportunity of making mistakes, and the power of makinglies also; for this original recording of such ancient transactions hathnot only been neglected by the other states of Greece, but even amongthe Athenians themselves also, who pretend to be Aborigines, and to haveapplied themselves to learning, there are no such records extant; nay, they say themselves that the laws of Draco concerning murders, whichare now extant in writing, are the most ancient of their public records;which Draco yet lived but a little before the tyrant Pisistratus. [5]For as to the Arcadians, who make such boasts of their antiquity, whatneed I speak of them in particular, since it was still later before theygot their letters, and learned them, and that with difficulty also. [6]

5. There must therefore naturally arise great differences among writers, when they had no original records to lay for their foundation, whichmight at once inform those who had an inclination to learn, andcontradict those that would tell lies. However, we are to suppose asecond occasion besides the former of these contradictions; it isthis: That those who were the most zealous to write history were notsolicitous for the discovery of truth, although it was very easyfor them always to make such a profession; but their business was todemonstrate that they could write well, and make an impression uponmankind thereby; and in what manner of writing they thought they wereable to exceed others, to that did they apply themselves, Some of thembetook themselves to the writing of fabulous narrations; some of themendeavored to please the cities or the kings, by writing in theircommendation; others of them fell to finding faults with transactions, or with the writers of such transactions, and thought to make a greatfigure by so doing. And indeed these do what is of all things the mostcontrary to true history; for it is the great character of true historythat all concerned therein both speak and write the same things; whilethese men, by writing differently about the same things, think theyshall be believed to write with the greatest regard to truth. Wetherefore [who are Jews] must yield to the Grecian writers as tolanguage and eloquence of composition; but then we shall give them nosuch preference as to the verity of ancient history, and least of all asto that part which concerns the affairs of our own several countries. 

6. As to the care of writing down the records from the earliestantiquity among the Egyptians and Babylonians; that the priests wereintrusted therewith, and employed a philosophical concern about it; thatthey were the Chaldean priests that did so among the Babylonians; andthat the Phoenicians, who were mingled among the Greeks, did especiallymake use of their letters, both for the common affairs of life, and forthe delivering down the history of common transactions, I think I mayomit any proof, because all men allow it so to be. But now as to ourforefathers, that they took no less care about writing such records, [for I will not say they took greater care than the others I spoke of, ]and that they committed that matter to their high priests and to theirprophets, and that these records have been written all along down to ourown times with the utmost accuracy; nay, if it be not too bold for meto say it, our history will be so written hereafter;--I shall endeavorbriefly to inform you. 

7. For our forefathers did not only appoint the best of these priests, and those that attended upon the Divine worship, for that design fromthe beginning, but made provision that the stock of the priests shouldcontinue unmixed and pure; for he who is partaker of the priesthood mustpropagate of a wife of the same nation, without having any regard tomoney, or any other dignities; but he is to make a scrutiny, and takehis wife's genealogy from the ancient tables, and procure many witnessesto it. [7] And this is our practice not only in Judea, but wheresoeverany body of men of our nation do live; and even there an exact catalogueof our priests' marriages is kept; I mean at Egypt and at Babylon, orin any other place of the rest of the habitable earth, whithersoever ourpriests are scattered; for they send to Jerusalem the ancient names oftheir parents in writing, as well as those of their remoter ancestors, and signify who are the witnesses also. But if any war falls out, such as have fallen out a great many of them already, when AntiochusEpiphanes made an invasion upon our country, as also when Pompey theGreat and Quintilius Varus did so also, and principally in the wars thathave happened in our own times, those priests that survive themcompose new tables of genealogy out of the old records, and examine thecircumstances of the women that remain; for still they do not admit ofthose that have been captives, as suspecting that they had conversationwith some foreigners. But what is the strongest argument of our exactmanagement in this matter is what I am now going to say, that we havethe names of our high priests from father to son set down in our recordsfor the interval of two thousand years; and if any of these have beentransgressors of these rules, they are prohibited to present themselvesat the altar, or to be partakers of any other of our purifications; andthis is justly, or rather necessarily done, because every one isnot permitted of his own accord to be a writer, nor is there anydisagreement in what is written; they being only prophets that havewritten the original and earliest accounts of things as they learnedthem of God himself by inspiration; and others have written what hathhappened in their own times, and that in a very distinct manner also. 

8. For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have, ]but only twenty-two books, [8] which contain the records of all the pasttimes; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belongto Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin ofmankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of threethousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till thereign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, theprophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their timesin thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, andprecepts for the conduct of human life. It is true, our history hathbeen written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not beenesteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since thattime; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our ownnation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have alreadypassed, no one has been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it isbecome natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, toesteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them. For it is no new thingfor our captives, many of them in number, and frequently in time, tobe seen to endure racks and deaths of all kinds upon the theatres, thatthey may not be obliged to say one word against our laws and the recordsthat contain them; whereas there are none at all among the Greeks whowould undergo the least harm on that account, no, nor in case all thewritings that are among them were to be destroyed; for they take them tobe such discourses as are framed agreeably to the inclinations of thosethat write them; and they have justly the same opinion of the ancientwriters, since they see some of the present generation bold enough towrite about such affairs, wherein they were not present, nor had concernenough to inform themselves about them from those that knew them;examples of which may be had in this late war of ours, where somepersons have written histories, and published them, without having beenin the places concerned, or having been near them when the actions weredone; but these men put a few things together by hearsay, and insolentlyabuse the world, and call these writings by the name of Histories. 

9. As for myself, I have composed a true history of that whole war, andof all the particulars that occurred therein, as having been concernedin all its transactions; for I acted as general of those among us thatare named Galileans, as long as it was possible for us to make anyopposition. I was then seized on by the Romans, and became a captive. Vespasian also and Titus had me kept under a guard, and forced me toattend them continually. At the first I was put into bonds, but wasset at liberty afterward, and sent to accompany Titus when he camefrom Alexandria to the siege of Jerusalem; during which time there wasnothing done which escaped my knowledge; for what happened in theRoman camp I saw, and wrote down carefully; and what informations thedeserters brought [out of the city], I was the only man that understoodthem. Afterward I got leisure at Rome; and when all my materials wereprepared for that work, I made use of some persons to assist me inlearning the Greek tongue, and by these means I composed the historyof those transactions. And I was so well assured of the truth of whatI related, that I first of all appealed to those that had the supremecommand in that war, Vespasian and Titus, as witnesses for me, for tothem I presented those books first of all, and after them to many of theRomans who had been in the war. I also sold them to many of our own menwho understood the Greek philosophy; among whom were Julius Archelaus, Herod [king of Chalcis], a person of great gravity, and king Agrippahimself, a person that deserved the greatest admiration. Now all thesemen bore their testimony to me, that I had the strictest regard totruth; who yet would not have dissembled the matter, nor been silent, ifI, out of ignorance, or out of favor to any side, either had given falsecolors to actions, or omitted any of them. 

10. There have been indeed some bad men, who have attempted tocalumniate my history, and took it to be a kind of scholasticperformance for the exercise of young men. A strange sort of accusationand calumny this! since every one that undertakes to deliver the historyof actions truly ought to know them accurately himself in the firstplace, as either having been concerned in them himself, or been informedof them by such as knew them. Now both these methods of knowledge I mayvery properly pretend to in the composition of both my works; for, as Isaid, I have translated the Antiquities out of our sacred books; which Ieasily could do, since I was a priest by my birth, and have studied thatphilosophy which is contained in those writings: and for the Historyof the War, I wrote it as having been an actor myself in many of itstransactions, an eye-witness in the greatest part of the rest, and wasnot unacquainted with any thing whatsoever that was either said ordone in it. How impudent then must those deserve to be esteemed thatundertake to contradict me about the true state of those affairs!who, although they pretend to have made use of both the emperors' ownmemoirs, yet could not they he acquainted with our affairs who foughtagainst them. 

11. This digression I have been obliged to make out of necessity, asbeing desirous to expose the vanity of those that profess to writehistories; and I suppose I have sufficiently declared that this customof transmitting down the histories of ancient times hath been betterpreserved by those nations which are called Barbarians, than by theGreeks themselves. I am now willing, in the next place, to say a fewthings to those that endeavor to prove that our constitution is but oflate time, for this reason, as they pretend, that the Greek writers havesaid nothing about us; after which I shall produce testimonies for ourantiquity out of the writings of foreigners; I shall also demonstratethat such as cast reproaches upon our nation do it very unjustly. 

12. As for ourselves, therefore, we neither inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, nor in such a mixture with other menas arises from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea, and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains incultivating that only. Our principal care of all is this, to educate ourchildren well; and we think it to be the most necessary business ofour whole life to observe the laws that have been given us, and tokeep those rules of piety that have been delivered down to us. Since, therefore, besides what we have already taken notice of, we have had apeculiar way of living of our own, there was no occasion offered us inancient ages for intermixing among the Greeks, as they had for mixingamong the Egyptians, by their intercourse of exporting and importingtheir several goods; as they also mixed with the Phoenicians, wholived by the sea-side, by means of their love of lucre in trade andmerchandise. Nor did our forefathers betake themselves, as did someothers, to robbery; nor did they, in order to gain more wealth, fallinto foreign wars, although our country contained many ten thousands ofmen of courage sufficient for that purpose. For this reason it was thatthe Phoenicians themselves came soon by trading and navigation to beknown to the Grecians, and by their means the Egyptians became knownto the Grecians also, as did all those people whence the Phoenicians inlong voyages over the seas carried wares to the Grecians. The Medes alsoand the Persians, when they were lords of Asia, became well known tothem; and this was especially true of the Persians, who led their armiesas far as the other continent [Europe]. The Thracians were also known tothem by the nearness of their countries, and the Scythians by themeans of those that sailed to Pontus; for it was so in general that allmaritime nations, and those that inhabited near the eastern or westernseas, became most known to those that were desirous to be writers; butsuch as had their habitations further from the sea were for the mostpart unknown to them which things appear to have happened as to Europealso, where the city of Rome, that hath this long time been possessedof so much power, and hath performed such great actions in war, is yetnever mentioned by Herodotus, nor by Thucydides, nor by any one of theircontemporaries; and it was very late, and with great difficulty, thatthe Romans became known to the Greeks. Nay, those that were reckoned themost exact historians [and Ephorus for one] were so very ignorant of theGauls and the Spaniards, that he supposed the Spaniards, who inhabit sogreat a part of the western regions of the earth, to be no more than onecity. Those historians also have ventured to describe such customs aswere made use of by them, which they never had either done or said; andthe reason why these writers did not know the truth of their affairs wasthis, that they had not any commerce together; but the reason why theywrote such falsities was this, that they had a mind to appear to knowthings which others had not known. How can it then be any wonder, if ournation was no more known to many of the Greeks, nor had given them anyoccasion to mention them in their writings, while they were so remotefrom the sea, and had a conduct of life so peculiar to themselves?

13. Let us now put the case, therefore, that we made use of thisargument concerning the Grecians, in order to prove that their nationwas not ancient, because nothing is said of them in our records: wouldnot they laugh at us all, and probably give the same reasons for oursilence that I have now alleged, and would produce their neighbornations as witnesses to their own antiquity? Now the very samething will I endeavor to do; for I will bring the Egyptians and thePhoenicians as my principal witnesses, because nobody can complain Oftheir testimony as false, on account that they are known to have bornethe greatest ill-will towards us; I mean this as to the Egyptians ingeneral all of them, while of the Phoenicians it is known the Tyrianshave been most of all in the same ill disposition towards us: yet doI confess that I cannot say the same of the Chaldeans, since our firstleaders and ancestors were derived from them; and they do make mentionof us Jews in their records, on account of the kindred there is betweenus. Now when I shall have made my assertions good, so far as concernsthe others, I will demonstrate that some of the Greek writers have mademention of us Jews also, that those who envy us may not have even thispretense for contradicting what I have said about our nation. 

14. I shall begin with the writings of the Egyptians; not indeed ofthose that have written in the Egyptian language, which it is impossiblefor me to do. But Manetho was a man who was by birth an Egyptian, yethad he made himself master of the Greek learning, as is very evident;for he wrote the history of his own country in the Greek tongue, bytranslating it, as he saith himself, out of their sacred records;he also finds great fault with Herodotus for his ignorance and falserelations of Egyptian affairs. Now this Manetho, in the second book ofhis Egyptian History, writes concerning us in the following manner. Iwill set down his very words, as if I were to bring the very man himselfinto a court for a witness: "There was a king of ours whose name wasTimaus. Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averseto us, and there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birthout of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expeditioninto our country, and with ease subdued it by force, yet withoutour hazarding a battle with them. So when they had gotten those thatgoverned us under their power, they afterwards burnt down our cities, and demolished the temples of the gods, and used all the inhabitantsafter a most barbarous manner; nay, some they slew, and led theirchildren and their wives into slavery. At length they made one ofthemselves king, whose name was Salatis; he also lived at Memphis, andmade both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, and left garrisonsin places that were the most proper for them. He chiefly aimed to securethe eastern parts, as fore-seeing that the Assyrians, who had then thegreatest power, would be desirous of that kingdom, and invade them; andas he found in the Saite Nomos, [Sethroite, ] a city very proper for thispurpose, and which lay upon the Bubastic channel, but with regard to acertain theologic notion was called Avaris, this he rebuilt, and madevery strong by the walls he built about it, and by a most numerousgarrison of two hundred and forty thousand armed men whom he put intoit to keep it. Thither Salatis came in summer time, partly to gather hiscorn, and pay his soldiers their wages, and partly to exercise hisarmed men, and thereby to terrify foreigners. When this man had reignedthirteen years, after him reigned another, whose name was Beon, forforty-four years; after him reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-sixyears and seven months; after him Apophis reigned sixty-one years, andthen Janins fifty years and one month; after all these reigned Assisforty-nine years and two months. And these six were the first rulersamong them, who were all along making war with the Egyptians, and werevery desirous gradually to destroy them to the very roots. This wholenation was styled Hycsos, that is, Shepherd-kings: for the firstsyllable Hyc, according to the sacred dialect, denotes a king, as is Sosa shepherd; but this according to the ordinary dialect; and of these iscompounded Hycsos: but some say that these people were Arabians. " Nowin another copy it is said that this word does not denote Kings, but, on the contrary, denotes Captive Shepherds, and this on account of theparticle Hyc; for that Hyc, with the aspiration, in the Egyptian tongueagain denotes Shepherds, and that expressly also; and this to me seemsthe more probable opinion, and more agreeable to ancient history. [ButManetho goes on]: "These people, whom we have before named kings, and called shepherds also, and their descendants, " as he says, "keptpossession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years. " After these, hesays, "That the kings of Thebais and the other parts of Egypt made aninsurrection against the shepherds, and that there a terrible and longwar was made between them. " He says further, "That under a king, whosename was Alisphragmuthosis, the shepherds were subdued by him, and wereindeed driven out of other parts of Egypt, but were shut up in a placethat contained ten thousand acres; this place was named Avaris. " Manethosays, "That the shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was alarge and a strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessionsand their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis the sonof Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege, with four hundred and eighty thousand men to lie rotund about them, butthat, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to acomposition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go, without anyharm to be done to them, whithersoever they would; and that, afterthis composition was made, they went away with their whole families andeffects, not fewer in number than two hundred and forty thousand, andtook their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria; butthat as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then the dominionover Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and calledit Jerusalem. " [9] Now Manetho, in another book of his, says, "Thatthis nation, thus called Shepherds, were also called Captives, in theirsacred books. " And this account of his is the truth; for feeding ofsheep was the employment of our forefathers in the most ancient ages[10] and as they led such a wandering life in feeding sheep, theywere called Shepherds. Nor was it without reason that they were calledCaptives by the Egyptians, since one of our ancestors, Joseph, told theking of Egypt that he was a captive, and afterward sent for his brethreninto Egypt by the king's permission. But as for these matters, I shallmake a more exact inquiry about them elsewhere. [11]

15. But now I shall produce the Egyptians as witnesses to the antiquityof our nation. I shall therefore here bring in Manetho again, and whathe writes as to the order of the times in this case; and thus he speaks:"When this people or shepherds were gone out of Egypt to Jerusalem, Tethtoosis the king of Egypt, who drove them out, reigned afterwardtwenty-five years and four months, and then died; after him his sonChebron took the kingdom for thirteen years; after whom came Amenophis, for twenty years and seven months; then came his sister Amesses, fortwenty-one years and nine months; after her came Mephres, for twelveyears and nine months; after him was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-fiveyears and ten months; after him was Thmosis, for nine years and eightmonths; after him came Amenophis, for thirty years and ten months;after him came Orus, for thirty-six years and five months; then came hisdaughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month; then was her brotherRathotis, for nine years; then was Acencheres, for twelve years and fivemonths; then came another Acencheres, for twelve years and three months;after him Armais, for four years and one month; after him was Ramesses, for one year and four months; after him came Armesses Miammoun, forsixty-six years and two months; after him Amenophis, for nineteen yearsand six months; after him came Sethosis, and Ramesses, who had an armyof horse, and a naval force. This king appointed his brother, Armais, to be his deputy over Egypt. " [In another copy it stood thus: "Afterhim came Sethosis, and Ramesses, two brethren, the former of whom had anaval force, and in a hostile manner destroyed those that met himupon the sea; but as he slew Ramesses in no long time afterward, so heappointed another of his brethren to be his deputy over Egypt. ] Healso gave him all the other authority of a king, but with these onlyinjunctions, that he should not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to thequeen, the mother of his children, and that he should not meddle withthe other concubines of the king; while he made an expedition againstCyprus, and Phoenicia, and besides against the Assyrians and the Medes. He then subdued them all, some by his arms, some without fighting, andsome by the terror of his great army; and being puffed up by the greatsuccesses he had had, he went on still the more boldly, and overthrewthe cities and countries that lay in the eastern parts. But after someconsiderable time, Armais, who was left in Egypt, did all those verythings, by way of opposition, which his brother had forbid him to do, without fear; for he used violence to the queen, and continued to makeuse of the rest of the concubines, without sparing any of them; nay, atthe persuasion of his friends he put on the diadem, and set up to opposehis brother. But then he who was set over the priests of Egypt wroteletters to Sethosis, and informed him of all that had happened, andhow his brother had set up to oppose him: he therefore returned back toPelusium immediately, and recovered his kingdom again. The country alsowas called from his name Egypt; for Manetho says, that Sethosis washimself called Egyptus, as was his brother Armais called Danaus. "

16. This is Manetho's account. And evident it is from the number ofyears by him set down belonging to this interval, if they be summed uptogether, that these shepherds, as they are here called, who wereno other than our forefathers, were delivered out of Egypt, and camethence, and inhabited this country, three hundred and ninety-three yearsbefore Danaus came to Argos; although the Argives look upon him [12] astheir most ancient king Manetho, therefore, hears this testimony to twopoints of the greatest consequence to our purpose, and those from theEgyptian records themselves. In the first place, that we came out ofanother country into Egypt; and that withal our deliverance out of itwas so ancient in time as to have preceded the siege of Troy almost athousand years; but then, as to those things which Manetbo adds, notfrom the Egyptian records, but, as he confesses himself, from somestories of an uncertain original, I will disprove them hereafterparticularly, and shall demonstrate that they are no better thanincredible fables. 

17. I will now, therefore, pass from these records, and come to thosethat belong to the Phoenicians, and concern our nation, and shallproduce attestations to what I have said out of them. There are thenrecords among the Tyrians that take in the history of many years, and these are public writings, and are kept with great exactness, andinclude accounts of the facts done among them, and such as concern theirtransactions with other nations also, those I mean which were worthremembering. Therein it was recorded that the temple was built by kingSolomon at Jerusalem, one hundred forty-three years and eight monthsbefore the Tyrians built Carthage; and in their annals the building ofour temple is related; for Hirom, the king of Tyre, was the friend ofSolomon our king, and had such friendship transmitted down to himfrom his forefathers. He thereupon was ambitious to contribute to thesplendor of this edifice of Solomon, and made him a present of onehundred and twenty talents of gold. He also cut down the most excellenttimber out of that mountain which is called Libanus, and sent it tohim for adorning its roof. Solomon also not only made him many otherpresents, by way of requital, but gave him a country in Galileealso, that was called Chabulon. [13] But there was another passion, aphilosophic inclination of theirs, which cemented the friendship thatwas betwixt them; for they sent mutual problems to one another, witha desire to have them unriddled by each other; wherein Solomon wassuperior to Hirom, as he was wiser than he in other respects: and manyof the epistles that passed between them are still preserved among theTyrians. Now, that this may not depend on my bare word, I will producefor a witness Dius, one that is believed to have written the PhoenicianHistory after an accurate manner. This Dius, therefore, writes thus, inhis Histories of the Phoenicians: "Upon the death of Abibalus, his sonHirom took the kingdom. This king raised banks at the eastern partsof the city, and enlarged it; he also joined the temple of JupiterOlympius, which stood before in an island by itself, to the city, byraising a causeway between them, and adorned that temple with donationsof gold. He moreover went up to Libanus, and had timber cut down for thebuilding of temples. They say further, that Solomon, when he was kingof Jerusalem, sent problems to Hirom to be solved, and desired he wouldsend others back for him to solve, and that he who could not solve theproblems proposed to him should pay money to him that solved them. Andwhen Hirom had agreed to the proposals, but was not able to solve theproblems, he was obliged to pay a great deal of money, as a penaltyfor the same. As also they relate, that one OEabdemon, a man of Tyre, didsolve the problems, and propose others which Solomon could not solve, upon which he was obliged to repay a great deal of money to Hirom. "These things are attested to by Dius, and confirm what we have said uponthe same subjects before. 

18. And now I shall add Menander the Ephesian, as an additional witness. This Menander wrote the Acts that were done both by the Greeks andBarbarians, under every one of the Tyrian kings, and had taken muchpains to learn their history out of their own records. Now when he waswriting about those kings that had reigned at Tyre, he came to Hirom, and says thus: "Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hirom took thekingdom; he lived fifty-three years, and reigned thirty-four. He raiseda bank on that called the Broad Place, and dedicated that golden pillarwhich is in Jupiter's temple; he also went and cut down timber from themountain called Libanus, and got timber Of cedar for the roofs ofthe temples. He also pulled down the old temples, and built new ones;besides this, he consecrated the temples of Hercules and of Astarte. Hefirst built Hercules's temple in the month Peritus, and that of Astartewhen he made his expedition against the Tityans, who would not pay himtheir tribute; and when he had subdued them to himself, he returnedhome. Under this king there was a younger son of Abdemon, who masteredthe problems which Solomon king of Jerusalem had recommended to besolved. " Now the time from this king to the building of Carthage isthus calculated: "Upon the death of Hirom, Baleazarus his son took thekingdom; he lived forty-three years, and reigned seven years: after himsucceeded his son Abdastartus; he lived twenty-nine years, and reignednine years. Now four sons of his nurse plotted against him and slew him, the eldest of whom reigned twelve years: after them came Astartus, the son of Deleastartus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned twelveyears: after him came his brother Aserymus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned nine years: he was slain by his brother Pheles, who took thekingdom and reigned but eight months, though he lived fifty years: hewas slain by Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-twoyears, and lived sixty-eight years: he was succeeded by his sonBadezorus, who lived forty-five years, and reigned six years: he wassucceeded by Matgenus his son; he lived thirty-two years, and reignednine years: Pygmalion succeeded him; he lived fifty-six years, andreigned forty-seven years. Now in the seventh year of his reign, hissister fled away from him, and built the city Carthage in Libya. " Sothe whole time from the reign of Hirom, till the building of Carthage, amounts to the sum of one hundred fifty-five years and eight months. Since then the temple was built at Jerusalem in the twelfth year of thereign of Hirom, there were from the building of the temple, until thebuilding of Carthage, one hundred forty-three years and eight months. Wherefore, what occasion is there for alleging any more testimonies outof the Phoenician histories [on the behalf of our nation], since whatI have said is so thoroughly confirmed already? and to be sure ourancestors came into this country long before the building of the temple;for it was not till we had gotten possession of the whole land by warthat we built our temple. And this is the point that I have clearlyproved out of our sacred writings in my Antiquities. 

19. I will now relate what hath been written concerning us in theChaldean histories, which records have a great agreement with our booksin oilier things also. Berosus shall be witness to what I say: he wasby birth a Chaldean, well known by the learned, on account of hispublication of the Chaldean books of astronomy and philosophy among theGreeks. This Berosus, therefore, following the most ancient recordsof that nation, gives us a history of the deluge of waters that thenhappened, and of the destruction of mankind thereby, and agrees withMoses's narration thereof. He also gives us an account of that arkwherein Noah, the origin of our race, was preserved, when it was broughtto the highest part of the Armenian mountains; after which he gives usa catalogue of the posterity of Noah, and adds the years of theirchronology, and at length comes down to Nabolassar, who was king ofBabylon, and of the Chaldeans. And when he was relating the acts ofthis king, he describes to us how he sent his son Nabuchodonosor againstEgypt, and against our land, with a great army, upon his being informedthat they had revolted from him; and how, by that means, he subdued themall, and set our temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, and removedour people entirely out of their own country, and transferred themto Babylon; when it so happened that our city was desolate during theinterval of seventy years, until the days of Cyrus king of Persia. Hethen says, "That this Babylonian king conquered Egypt, and Syria, andPhoenicia, and Arabia, and exceeded in his exploits all that hadreigned before him in Babylon and Chaldea. " A little after which Berosussubjoins what follows in his History of Ancient Times. I will set downBerosus's own accounts, which are these: "When Nabolassar, father ofNabuchodonosor, heard that the governor whom he had set over Egypt, andover the parts of Celesyria and Phoenicia, had revolted from him, he wasnot able to bear it any longer; but committing certain parts of his armyto his son Nabuchodonosor, who was then but young, he sent him againstthe rebel: Nabuchodonosor joined battle with him, and conquered him, andreduced the country under his dominion again. Now it so fell out thathis father Nabolassar fell into a distemper at this time, and died inthe city of Babylon, after he had reigned twenty-nine years. But as heunderstood, in a little time, that his father Nabolassar was dead, heset the affairs of Egypt and the other countries in order, and committedthe captives he had taken from the Jews, and Phoenicians, and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to Egypt, to some of his friends, that theymight conduct that part of the forces that had on heavy armor, with therest of his baggage, to Babylonia; while he went in haste, having but afew with him, over the desert to Babylon; whither, when he was come, hefound the public affairs had been managed by the Chaldeans, and thatthe principal person among them had preserved the kingdom for him. Accordingly, he now entirely obtained all his father's dominions. Hethen came, and ordered the captives to be placed as colonies in the mostproper places of Babylonia; but for himself, he adorned the temple ofBelus, and the other temples, after an elegant manner, out of thespoils he had taken in this war. He also rebuilt the old city, and addedanother to it on the outside, and so far restored Babylon, that none whoshould besiege it afterwards might have it in their power to divertthe river, so as to facilitate an entrance into it; and this he did bybuilding three walls about the inner city, and three about the outer. Some of these walls he built of burnt brick and bitumen, and some ofbrick only. So when he had thus fortified the city with walls, after anexcellent manner, and had adorned the gates magnificently, he added anew palace to that which his father had dwelt in, and this close by italso, and that more eminent in its height, and in its great splendor. Itwould perhaps require too long a narration, if any one were to describeit. However, as prodigiously large and as magnificent as it was, it wasfinished in fifteen days. Now in this palace he erected very high walks, supported by stone pillars, and by planting what was called a pensileparadise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered theprospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did toplease his queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fondof a mountainous situation. "

20. This is what Berosus relates concerning the forementioned king, ashe relates many other things about him also in the third book of hisChaldean History; wherein he complains of the Grecian writers forsupposing, without any foundation, that Babylon was built by Semiramis, [14] queen of Assyria, and for her false pretense to those wonderfuledifices thereto buildings at Babylon, do no way contradict thoseancient and relating, as if they were her own workmanship; as indeedin these affairs the Chaldean History cannot but be the most credible. Moreover, we meet with a confirmation of what Berosus says in thearchives of the Phoenicians, concerning this king Nabuchodonosor, thathe conquered all Syria and Phoenicia; in which case Philostratus agreeswith the others in that history which he composed, where he mentionsthe siege of Tyre; as does Megasthenes also, in the fourth book of hisIndian History, wherein he pretends to prove that the forementionedking of the Babylonians was superior to Hercules in strength and thegreatness of his exploits; for he says that he conquered a great partof Libya, and conquered Iberia also. Now as to what I have said beforeabout the temple at Jerusalem, that it was fought against by theBabylonians, and burnt by them, but was opened again when Cyrus hadtaken the kingdom of Asia, shall now be demonstrated from what Berosusadds further upon that head; for thus he says in his third book:"Nabuchodonosor, after he had begun to build the forementioned wall, fell sick, and departed this life, when he had reigned forty-threeyears; whereupon his son Evilmerodach obtained the kingdom. He governedpublic affairs after an illegal and impure manner, and had a plot laidagainst him by Neriglissoor, his sister's husband, and was slain by himwhen he had reigned but two years. After he was slain, Neriglissoor, the person who plotted against him, succeeded him in the kingdom, andreigned four years; his son Laborosoarchod obtained the kingdom, thoughhe was but a child, and kept it nine mouths; but by reason of the veryill temper and ill practices he exhibited to the world, a plot was laidagainst him also by his friends, and he was tormented to death. Afterhis death, the conspirators got together, and by common consent putthe crown upon the head of Nabonnedus, a man of Babylon, and one whobelonged to that insurrection. In his reign it was that the walls of thecity of Babylon were curiously built with burnt brick and bitumen; butwhen he was come to the seventeenth year of his reign, Cyrus came out ofPersia with a great army; and having already conquered all the rest ofAsia, he came hastily to Babylonia. When Nabonnedus perceived he wascoming to attack him, he met him with his forces, and joining battlewith him was beaten, and fled away with a few of his troops with him, and was shut up within the city Borsippus. Hereupon Cyrus took Babylon, and gave order that the outer walls of the city should be demolished, because the city had proved very troublesome to him, and cost him agreat deal of pains to take it. He then marched away to Borsippus, tobesiege Nabonnedus; but as Nabonnedus did not sustain the siege, butdelivered himself into his hands, he was at first kindly used by Cyrus, who gave him Carmania, as a place for him to inhabit in, but sent himout of Babylonia. Accordingly Nabonnedus spent the rest of his time inthat country, and there died. "

21. These accounts agree with the true histories in our books; for inthem it is written that Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighteenth year ofhis reign, laid our temple desolate, and so it lay in that state ofobscurity for fifty years; but that in the second year of the reign ofCyrus its foundations were laid, and it was finished again in the secondyear of Darius. I will now add the records of the Phoenicians; for itwill not be superfluous to give the reader demonstrations more thanenough on this occasion. In them we have this enumeration of the timesof their several kings: "Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyre for thirteen yearsin the days of Ithobal, their king; after him reigned Baal, ten years;after him were judges appointed, who judged the people: Ecnibalus, theson of Baslacus, two months; Chelbes, the son of Abdeus, ten months;Abbar, the high priest, three months; Mitgonus and Gerastratus, the sonsof Abdelemus, were judges six years; after whom Balatorus reigned oneyear; after his death they sent and fetched Merbalus from Babylon, whoreigned four years; after his death they sent for his brother Hirom, whoreigned twenty years. Under his reign Cyrus became king of Persia. " Sothat the whole interval is fifty-four years besides three months; forin the seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he began to besiegeTyre, and Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom in the fourteenth year ofHirom. So that the records of the Chaldeans and Tyrians agree with ourwritings about this temple; and the testimonies here produced are anindisputable and undeniable attestation to the antiquity of our nation. And I suppose that what I have already said may be sufficient to such asare not very contentious. 

22. But now it is proper to satisfy the inquiry of those that disbelievethe records of barbarians, and think none but Greeks to be worthy ofcredit, and to produce many of these very Greeks who were acquaintedwith our nation, and to set before them such as upon occasion have mademention of us in their own writings. Pythagoras, therefore, of Samos, lived in very ancient times, and was esteemed a person superior to allphilosophers in wisdom and piety towards God. Now it is plain thathe did not only know our doctrines, but was in very great measure afollower and admirer of them. There is not indeed extant any writingthat is owned for his [15] but many there are who have written hishistory, of whom Hermippus is the most celebrated, who was a person veryinquisitive into all sorts of history. Now this Hermippus, in his firstbook concerning Pythagoras, speaks thus: "That Pythagoras, upon thedeath of one of his associates, whose name was Calliphon, a Crotonlateby birth, affirmed that this man's soul conversed with him both nightand day, and enjoined him not to pass over a place where an ass hadfallen down; as also not to drink of such waters as caused thirst again;and to abstain from all sorts of reproaches. " After which he adds thus:"This he did and said in imitation of the doctrines of the Jews andThracians, which he transferred into his own philosophy. " For it is verytruly affirmed of this Pythagoras, that he took a great many of the lawsof the Jews into his own philosophy. Nor was our nation unknown ofold to several of the Grecian cities, and indeed was thought worthyof imitation by some of them. This is declared by Theophrastus, in hiswritings concerning laws; for he says that "the laws of the Tyriansforbid men to swear foreign oaths. " Among which he enumerates someothers, and particularly that called Corban: which oath can only befound among the Jews, and declares what a man may call "A thing devotedto God. " Nor indeed was Herodotus of Halicarnassus unacquainted with ournation, but mentions it after a way of his own, when he saith thus, inthe second book concerning the Colchians. His words are these: "The onlypeople who were circumcised in their privy members originally, were theColchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians; but the Phoenicians andthose Syrians that are in Palestine confess that they learned it fromthe Egyptians. And for those Syrians who live about the rivers Thermodonand Parthenius, and their neighbors the Macrones, they say they havelately learned it from the Colchians; for these are the only people thatare circumcised among mankind, and appear to have done the very samething with the Egyptians. But as for the Egyptians and Ethiopiansthemselves, I am not able to say which of them received it from theother. " This therefore is what Herodotus says, that "the Syrians thatare in Palestine are circumcised. " But there are no inhabitants ofPalestine that are circumcised excepting the Jews; and therefore it mustbe his knowledge of them that enabled him to speak so much concerningthem. Cherilus also, a still ancienter writer, and a poet, [16] makesmention of our nation, and informs us that it came to the assistance ofking Xerxes, in his expedition against Greece. For in his enumeration ofall those nations, he last of all inserts ours among the rest, when hesays, "At the last there passed over a people, wonderful to be beheld;for they spake the Phoenician tongue with their mouths; they dwelt inthe Solymean mountains, near a broad lake: their heads were sooty;they had round rasures on them; their heads and faces were like nastyhorse-heads also, that had been hardened in the smoke. " I think, therefore, that it is evident to every body that Cherilus means us, because the Solymean mountains are in our country, wherein we inhabit, as is also the lake called Asphaltitis; for this is a broader andlarger lake than any other that is in Syria: and thus does Cherilus makemention of us. But now that not only the lowest sort of the Grecians, but those that are had in the greatest admiration for their philosophicimprovements among them, did not only know the Jews, but when theylighted upon any of them, admired them also, it is easy for any one toknow. For Clearchus, who was the scholar of Aristotle, and inferiorto no one of the Peripatetics whomsoever, in his first book concerningsleep, says that "Aristotle his master related what follows of a Jew, "and sets down Aristotle's own discourse with him. The account is this, as written down by him: "Now, for a great part of what this Jew said, itwould be too long to recite it; but what includes in it both wonder andphilosophy it may not be amiss to discourse of. Now, that I may be plainwith thee, Hyperochides, I shall herein seem to thee to relate wonders, and what will resemble dreams themselves. Hereupon Hyperochides answeredmodestly, and said, For that very reason it is that all of us are verydesirous of hearing what thou art going to say. Then replied Aristotle, For this cause it will be the best way to imitate that rule of theRhetoricians, which requires us first to give an account of the man, and of what nation he was, that so we may not contradict our master'sdirections. Then said Hyperochides, Go on, if it so pleases thee. This man then, [answered Aristotle, ] was by birth a Jew, and came fromCelesyria; these Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they arenamed by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians Judaei, and took theirname from the country they inhabit, which is called Judea; but forthe name of their city, it is a very awkward one, for they call itJerusalem. Now this man, when he was hospitably treated by a great many, came down from the upper country to the places near the sea, and becamea Grecian, not only in his language, but in his soul also; insomuch thatwhen we ourselves happened to be in Asia about the same places whitherhe came, he conversed with us, and with other philosophical persons, andmade a trial of our skill in philosophy; and as he had lived with manylearned men, he communicated to us more information than he receivedfrom us. " This is Aristotle's account of the matter, as given us byClearchus; which Aristotle discoursed also particularly of the greatand wonderful fortitude of this Jew in his diet, and continent way ofliving, as those that please may learn more about him from Clearchus'sbook itself; for I avoid setting down any more than is sufficient formy purpose. Now Clearchus said this by way of digression, for his maindesign was of another nature. But for Hecateus of Abdera, who was both aphilosopher, and one very useful ill an active life, he was contemporarywith king Alexander in his youth, and afterward was with Ptolemy, theson of Lagus; he did not write about the Jewish affairs by the by only, but composed an entire book concerning the Jews themselves; out ofwhich book I am willing to run over a few things, of which I have beentreating by way of epitome. And, in the first place, I will demonstratethe time when this Hecateus lived; for he mentions the fight thatwas between Ptolemy and Demetrius about Gaza, which was fought in theeleventh year after the death of Alexander, and in the hundred andseventeenth olympiad, as Castor says in his history. For when he had setdown this olympiad, he says further, that "in this olympiad Ptolemy, theson of Lagus, beat in battle Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who wasnamed Poliorcetes, at Gaza. " Now, it is agreed by all, that Alexanderdied in the hundred and fourteenth olympiad; it is therefore evidentthat our nation flourished in his time, and in the time of Alexander. Again, Hecateus says to the same purpose, as follows: "Ptolemy gotpossession of the places in Syria after that battle at Gaza; and many, when they heard of Ptolemy's moderation and humanity, went along withhim to Egypt, and were willing to assist him in his affairs; one of whom[Hecateus says] was Hezekiah [17] the high priest of the Jews; a man ofabout sixty-six years of age, and in great dignity among his own people. He was a very sensible man, and could speak very movingly, and was veryskillful in the management of affairs, if any other man ever were so;although, as he says, all the priests of the Jews took tithes of theproducts of the earth, and managed public affairs, and were in numbernot above fifteen hundred at the most. " Hecateus mentions this Hezekiaha second time, and says, that "as he was possessed of so great adignity, and was become familiar with us, so did he take certain ofthose that were with him, and explained to them all the circumstancesof their people; for he had all their habitations and polity down inwriting. " Moreover, Hecateus declares again, "what regard we have forour laws, and that we resolve to endure any thing rather than transgressthem, because we think it right for us to do so. " Whereupon he adds, that "although they are in a bad reputation among their neighbors, and among all those that come to them, and have been often treatedinjuriously by the kings and governors of Persia, yet can they notbe dissuaded from acting what they think best; but that when they arestripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, andthey are brought to the most terrible kinds of death, they meet themafter an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will notrenounce the religion of their forefathers. " Hecateus also producesdemonstrations not a few of this their resolute tenaciousness of theirlaws, when he speaks thus: "Alexander was once at Babylon, and had anintention to rebuild the temple of Belus that was fallen to decay, andin order thereto, he commanded all his soldiers in general to bringearth thither. But the Jews, and they only, would not comply with thatcommand; nay, they underwent stripes and great losses of what they hadon this account, till the king forgave them, and permitted them to livein quiet. " He adds further, that "when the Macedonians came to theminto that country, and demolished the [old] temples and the altars, theyassisted them in demolishing them all [18] but [for not assisting themin rebuilding them] they either underwent losses, or sometimes obtainedforgiveness. " He adds further, that "these men deserve to be admired onthat account. " He also speaks of the mighty populousness of our nation, and says that "the Persians formerly carried away many ten thousands ofour people to Babylon, as also that not a few ten thousands were removedafter Alexander's death into Egypt and Phoenicia, by reason of thesedition that was arisen in Syria. " The same person takes notice in hishistory, how large the country is which we inhabit, as well as of itsexcellent character, and says, that "the land in which the Jews inhabitcontains three millions of arourae, [19] and is generally of a mostexcellent and most fruitful soil; nor is Judea of lesser dimensions. "The same man describe our city Jerusalem also itself as of a mostexcellent structure, and very large, and inhabited from the most ancienttimes. He also discourses of the multitude of men in it, and of theconstruction of our temple, after the following manner: "There are manystrong places and villages [says he] in the country of Judea; but onestrong city there is, about fifty furlongs in circumference, which isinhabited by a hundred and twenty thousand men, or thereabouts; theycall it Jerusalem. There is about the middle of the city a wall ofstone, whose length is five hundred feet, and the breadth a hundredcubits, with double cloisters; wherein there is a square altar, not madeof hewn stone, but composed of white stones gathered together, havingeach side twenty cubits long, and its altitude ten cubits. Hard by itis a large edifice, wherein there is an altar and a candlestick, bothof gold, and in weight two talents: upon these there is a light that isnever extinguished, either by night or by day. There is no image, norany thing, nor any donations therein; nothing at all is there planted, neither grove, nor any thing of that sort. The priests abide thereinboth nights and days, performing certain purifications, and drinkingnot the least drop of wine while they are in the temple. " Moreover, heattests that we Jews went as auxiliaries along with king Alexander, and after him with his successors. I will add further what he says helearned when he was himself with the same army, concerning the actionsof a man that was a Jew. His words are these: "As I was myself going tothe Red Sea, there followed us a man, whose name was Mosollam; he wasone of the Jewish horsemen who conducted us; he was a person of greatcourage, of a strong body, and by all allowed to be the most skillfularcher that was either among the Greeks or barbarians. Now this man, aspeople were in great numbers passing along the road, and a certainaugur was observing an augury by a bird, and requiring them all to standstill, inquired what they staid for. Hereupon the augur showed him thebird from whence he took his augury, and told him that if the bird staidwhere he was, they ought all to stand still; but that if he got up, andflew onward, they must go forward; but that if he flew backward, theymust retire again. Mosollam made no reply, but drew his bow, and shot atthe bird, and hit him, and killed him; and as the augur and some otherswere very angry, and wished imprecations upon him, he answered themthus: Why are you so mad as to take this most unhappy bird into yourhands? for how can this bird give us any true information concerning ourmarch, who could not foresee how to save himself? for had he been ableto foreknow what was future, he would not have come to this place, butwould have been afraid lest Mosollam the Jew should shoot at him, andkill him. " But of Hecateus's testimonies we have said enough; for as tosuch as desire to know more of them, they may easily obtain them fromhis book itself. However, I shall not think it too much for me to nameAgatharchides, as having made mention of us Jews, though in way ofderision at our simplicity, as he supposes it to be; for when he wasdiscoursing of the affairs of Stratonice, "how she came out of Macedoniainto Syria, and left her husband Demetrius, while yet Seleueus would notmarry her as she expected, but during the time of his raising an army atBabylon, stirred up a sedition about Antioch; and how, after that, theking came back, and upon his taking of Antioch, she fled to Seleucia, and had it in her power to sail away immediately yet did she comply witha dream which forbade her so to do, and so was caught and put todeath. " When Agatharehides had premised this story, and had jested uponStratonice for her superstition, he gives a like example of what wasreported concerning us, and writes thus: "There are a people calledJews, and dwell in a city the strongest of all other cities, which theinhabitants call Jerusalem, and are accustomed to rest on every seventhday [20] on which times they make no use of their arms, nor meddle withhusbandry, nor take care of any affairs of life, but spread out theirhands in their holy places, and pray till the evening. Now it came topass, that when Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, came into this city with hisarmy, that these men, in observing this mad custom of theirs, instead ofguarding the city, suffered their country to submit itself to a bitterlord; and their law was openly proved to have commanded a foolishpractice. [21] This accident taught all other men but the Jews todisregard such dreams as these were, and not to follow the like idlesuggestions delivered as a law, when, in such uncertainty of humanreasonings, they are at a loss what they should do. " Now this ourprocedure seems a ridiculous thing to Agatharehides, but will appear tosuch as consider it without prejudice a great thing, and what deserveda great many encomiums; I mean, when certain men constantly prefer theobservation of their laws, and their religion towards God, before thepreservation of themselves and their country. 

23. Now that some writers have omitted to mention our nation, notbecause they knew nothing of us, but because they envied us, or for someother unjustifiable reasons, I think I can demonstrate by particularinstances; for Hieronymus, who wrote the History of Alexander'sSuccessors, lived at the same time with Hecateus, and was a friend ofking Antigonus, and president of Syria. Now it is plain that Hecateuswrote an entire book concerning us, while Hieronymus never mentions usin his history, although he was bred up very near to the places where welive. Thus different from one another are the inclinations of men;while the one thought we deserved to be carefully remembered, as someill-disposed passion blinded the other's mind so entirely, that he couldnot discern the truth. And now certainly the foregoing records of theEgyptians, and Chaldeans, and Phoenicians, together with so many ofthe Greek writers, will be sufficient for the demonstration of ourantiquity. Moreover, besides those forementioned, Theophilus, andTheodotus, and Mnaseas, and Aristophanes, and Hermogenes, Euhemerusalso, and Conon, and Zopyrion, and perhaps many others, [for I have notlighted upon all the Greek books, ] have made distinct mention of us. Itis true, many of the men before mentioned have made great mistakes aboutthe true accounts of our nation in the earliest times, because they hadnot perused our sacred books; yet have they all of them afforded theirtestimony to our antiquity, concerning which I am now treating. However, Demetrius Phalereus, and the elder Philo, with Eupolemus, have notgreatly missed the truth about our affairs; whose lesser mistakesought therefore to be forgiven them; for it was not in their power tounderstand our writings with the utmost accuracy. 

24. One particular there is still remaining behind of what I at firstproposed to speak to, and that is, to demonstrate that those calumniesand reproaches which some have thrown upon our nation, are lies, and tomake use of those writers' own testimonies against themselves; and thatin general this self-contradiction hath happened to many other authorsby reason of their ill-will to some people, I conclude, is not unknownto such as have read histories with sufficient care; for some of themhave endeavored to disgrace the nobility of certain nations, and of someof the most glorious cities, and have cast reproaches upon certainforms of government. Thus hath Theopompus abused the city of Athens, Polycrates that of Lacedemon, as hath he hat wrote the Tripoliticus[for he is not Theopompus, as is supposed by some] done by the city ofThebes. Timeils also hath greatly abused the foregoing people and othersalso; and this ill-treatment they use chiefly when they have a contestwith men of the greatest reputation; some out of envy and malice, andothers as supposing that by this foolish talking of theirs they may bethought worthy of being remembered themselves; and indeed they do by nomeans fail of their hopes, with regard to the foolish part of mankind, but men of sober judgment still condemn them of great malignity. 

25. Now the Egyptians were the first that cast reproaches upon us;in order to please which nation, some others undertook to pervert thetruth, while they would neither own that our forefathers came into Egyptfrom another country, as the fact was, nor give a true account of ourdeparture thence. And indeed the Egyptians took many occasions to hateus and envy us: in the first place, because our ancestors had had thedominion over their country? and when they were delivered from them, andgone to their own country again, they lived there in prosperity. In thenext place, the difference of our religion from theirs hath occasionedgreat enmity between us, while our way of Divine worship did as muchexceed that which their laws appointed, as does the nature of Godexceed that of brute beasts; for so far they all agree through the wholecountry, to esteem such animals as gods, although they differ onefrom another in the peculiar worship they severally pay to them. Andcertainly men they are entirely of vain and foolish minds, who havethus accustomed themselves from the beginning to have such bad notionsconcerning their gods, and could not think of imitating that decentform of Divine worship which we made use of, though, when they saw ourinstitutions approved of by many others, they could not but envy us onthat account; for some of them have proceeded to that degree of follyand meanness in their conduct, as not to scruple to contradict their ownancient records, nay, to contradict themselves also in their writings, and yet were so blinded by their passions as not to discern it. 

26. And now I will turn my discourse to one of their principal writers, whom I have a little before made use of as a witness to our antiquity; Imean Manetho. [22] He promised to interpret the Egyptian history out oftheir sacred writings, and premised this: that "our people had come intoEgypt, many ten thousands in number, and subdued its inhabitants;"and when he had further confessed that "we went out of that countryafterward, and settled in that country which is now called Judea, andthere built Jerusalem and its temple. " Now thus far he followed hisancient records; but after this he permits himself, in order to appearto have written what rumors and reports passed abroad about the Jews, and introduces incredible narrations, as if he would have the Egyptianmultitude, that had the leprosy and other distempers, to have been mixedwith us, as he says they were, and that they were condemned to fly outof Egypt together; for he mentions Amenophis, a fictitious king's name, though on that account he durst not set down the number of years ofhis reign, which yet he had accurately done as to the other kings hementions; he then ascribes certain fabulous stories to this king, as having in a manner forgotten how he had already related that thedeparture of the shepherds for Jerusalem had been five hundred andeighteen years before; for Tethmosis was king when they went away. Now, from his days, the reigns of the intermediate kings, according toManethe, amounted to three hundred and ninety-three years, as he sayshimself, till the two brothers Sethos and Hermeus; the one of whom, Sethos, was called by that other name of Egyptus, and the other, Hermeus, by that of Danaus. He also says that Sethos east the other outof Egypt, and reigned fifty-nine years, as did his eldest son Rhampsesreign after him sixty-six years. When Manethe therefore had acknowledgedthat our forefathers were gone out of Egypt so many years ago, heintroduces his fictitious king Amenophis, and says thus: "This kingwas desirous to become a spectator of the gods, as had Orus, one ofhis predecessors in that kingdom, desired the same before him; he alsocommunicated that his desire to his namesake Amenophis, who was the sonof Papis, and one that seemed to partake of a divine nature, both asto wisdom and the knowledge of futurities. " Manethe adds, "how thisnamesake of his told him that he might see the gods, if he would clearthe whole country of the lepers and of the other impure people; that theking was pleased with this injunction, and got together all that had anydefect in their bodies out of Egypt; and that their number was eightythousand; whom he sent to those quarries which are on the east side ofthe Nile, that they might work in them, and might be separated from therest of the Egyptians. " He says further, that "there were some of thelearned priests that were polluted with the leprosy; but that still thisAmenophis, the wise man and the prophet, was afraid that the gods wouldbe angry at him and at the king, if there should appear to have beenviolence offered them; who also added this further, [out of his sagacityabout futurities, ] that certain people would come to the assistance ofthese polluted wretches, and would conquer Egypt, and keep it in theirpossession thirteen years; that, however, he durst not tell the kingof these things, but that he left a writing behind him about all thosematters, and then slew himself, which made the king disconsolate. " Afterwhich he writes thus verbatim: "After those that were sent to work inthe quarries had continued in that miserable state for a long while, theking was desired that he would set apart the city Avaris, which was thenleft desolate of the shepherds, for their habitation and protection;which desire he granted them. Now this city, according to the ancienttheology, was Typho's city. But when these men were gotten into it, andfound the place fit for a revolt, they appointed themselves a ruler outof the priests of Hellopolis, whose name was Osarsiph, and they tooktheir oaths that they would be obedient to him in all things. He then, in the first place, made this law for them, That they should neitherworship the Egyptian gods, nor should abstain from any one of thosesacred animals which they have in the highest esteem, but kill anddestroy them all; that they should join themselves to nobody but tothose that were of this confederacy. When he had made such laws asthese, and many more such as were mainly opposite to the customs of theEgyptians, [23] he gave order that they should use the multitude of thehands they had in building walls about their City, and make themselvesready for a war with king Amenophis, while he did himself take into hisfriendship the other priests, and those that were polluted with them, and sent ambassadors to those shepherds who had been driven out of theland by Tefilmosis to the city called Jerusalem; whereby he informedthem of his own affairs, and of the state of those others that had beentreated after such an ignominious manner, and desired that they wouldcome with one consent to his assistance in this war against Egypt. Healso promised that he would, in the first place, bring them backto their ancient city and country Avaris, and provide a plentifulmaintenance for their multitude; that he would protect them and fightfor them as occasion should require, and would easily reduce thecountry under their dominion. These shepherds were all very glad of thismessage, and came away with alacrity all together, being in number twohundred thousand men; and in a little time they came to Avaris. And nowAmenophis the king of Egypt, upon his being informed of their invasion, was in great confusion, as calling to mind what Amenophis, the sonof Papis, had foretold him; and, in the first place, he assembled themultitude of the Egyptians, and took counsel with their leaders, andsent for their sacred animals to him, especially for those that wereprincipally worshipped in their temples, and gave a particular charge tothe priests distinctly, that they should hide the images of their godswith the utmost care he also sent his son Sethos, who was also namedRamesses, from his father Rhampses, being but five years old, to afriend of his. He then passed on with the rest of the Egyptians, beingthree hundred thousand of the most warlike of them, against the enemy, who met them. Yet did he not join battle with them; but thinkingthat would be to fight against the gods, he returned back and came toMemphis, where he took Apis and the other sacred animals which he hadsent for to him, and presently marched into Ethiopia, together withhis whole army and multitude of Egyptians; for the king of Ethiopia wasunder an obligation to him, on which account he received him, and tookcare of all the multitude that was with him, while the country suppliedall that was necessary for the food of the men. He also allotted citiesand villages for this exile, that was to be from its beginning duringthose fatally determined thirteen years. Moreover, he pitched a camp forhis Ethiopian army, as a guard to king Amenophis, upon the borders ofEgypt. And this was the state of things in Ethiopia. But for the peopleof Jerusalem, when they came down together with the polluted Egyptians, they treated the men in such a barbarous manner, that those who saw howthey subdued the forementioned country, and the horrid wickedness theywere guilty of, thought it a most dreadful thing; for they did not onlyset the cities and villages on fire but were not satisfied till they hadbeen guilty of sacrilege, and destroyed the images of the gods, and usedthem in roasting those sacred animals that used to be worshipped, andforced the priests and prophets to be the executioners and murderers ofthose animals, and then ejected them naked out of the country. It wasalso reported that the priest, who ordained their polity and their laws, was by birth of Hellopolls, and his name Osarsiph, from Osyris, who wasthe god of Hellopolls; but that when he was gone over to these people, his name was changed, and he was called Moses. "

27. This is what the Egyptians relate about the Jews, with much more, which I omit for the sake of brevity. But still Manetho goes on, that"after this, Amenophis returned back from Ethiopia with a great army, as did his son Ahampses with another army also, and that both of themjoined battle with the shepherds and the polluted people, and beat them, and slew a great many of them, and pursued them to the bounds ofSyria. " These and the like accounts are written by Manetho. But I willdemonstrate that he trifles, and tells arrant lies, after I have made adistinction which will relate to what I am going to say about him;for this Manetho had granted and confessed that this nation was notoriginally Egyptian, but that they had come from another country, andsubdued Egypt, and then went away again out of it. But that thoseEgyptians who were thus diseased in their bodies were not mingled withus afterward, and that Moses who brought the people out was not one ofthat company, but lived many generations earlier, I shall endeavor todemonstrate from Manetho's own accounts themselves. 

28. Now, for the first occasion of this fiction, Manetho supposes whatis no better than a ridiculous thing; for he says that, "King Amenophisdesired to see the gods. " What gods, I pray, did he desire to see? Ifhe meant the gods whom their laws ordained to be worshipped, the ox, thegoat, the crocodile, and the baboon, he saw them already; but for theheavenly gods, how could he see them, and what should occasion this hisdesire? To be sure? it was because another king before him had alreadyseen them. He had then been informed what sort of gods they were, andafter what manner they had been seen, insomuch that he did not stand inneed of any new artifice for obtaining this sight. However, the prophetby whose means the king thought to compass his design was a wise man. If so, how came he not to know that such his desire was impossible tobe accomplished? for the event did not succeed. And what pretense couldthere be to suppose that the gods would not be seen by reason of thepeople's maims in their bodies, or leprosy? for the gods are not angryat the imperfection of bodies, but at wicked practices; and as to eightythousand lepers, and those in an ill state also, how is it possible tohave them gathered together in one day? nay, how came the king not tocomply with the prophet? for his injunction was, that those that weremaimed should be expelled out of Egypt, while the king only sent themto work in the quarries, as if he were rather in want of laborers, thanintended to purge his country. He says further, that, "this prophet slewhimself, as foreseeing the anger of the gods, and those events whichwere to come upon Egypt afterward; and that he left this prediction forthe king in writing. " Besides, how came it to pass that this prophetdid not foreknow his own death at the first? nay, how came he not tocontradict the king in his desire to see the gods immediately? how camethat unreasonable dread upon him of judgments that were not to happenin his lifetime? or what worse thing could he suffer, out of the fearof which he made haste to kill himself? But now let us see the silliestthing of all:--The king, although he had been informed of these things, and terrified with the fear of what was to come, yet did not he eventhen eject these maimed people out of his country, when it had beenforetold him that he was to clear Egypt of them; but, as Manetho says, "he then, upon their request, gave them that city to inhabit, which hadformerly belonged to the shepherds, and was called Avaris; whither whenthey were gone in crowds, " he says, "they chose one that had formerlybeen priest of Hellopolls; and that this priest first ordained that theyshould neither worship the gods, nor abstain from those animals thatwere worshipped by the Egyptians, but should kill and eat them all, andshould associate with nobody but those that had conspired with them;and that he bound the multitude by oaths to be sure to continue inthose laws; and that when he had built a wall about Avaris, he madewar against the king. " Manetho adds also, that "this priest sent toJerusalem to invite that people to come to his assistance, and promisedto give them Avaris; for that it had belonged to the forefathers ofthose that were coming from Jerusalem, and that when they were come, they made a war immediately against the king, and got possession ofall Egypt. " He says also that "the Egyptians came with an army oftwo hundred thousand men, and that Amenophis, the king of Egypt, notthinking that he ought to fight against the gods, ran away presentlyinto Ethiopia, and committed Apis and certain other of their sacredanimals to the priests, and commanded them to take care of preservingthem. " He says further, that, "the people of Jerusalem came accordinglyupon the Egyptians, and overthrew their cities, and burnt their temples, and slew their horsemen, and, in short, abstained from no sort ofwickedness nor barbarity; and for that priest who settled their polityand their laws, " he says, "he was by birth of Hellopolis, and his namewas Osarsiph, from Osyris the god of Hellopolis, but that he changed hisname, and called himself Moses. " He then says that "on the thirteenthyear afterward, Amenophis, according to the fatal time of the durationof his misfortunes, came upon them out of Ethiopia with a great army, and joining battle with the shepherds and with the polluted people, overcame them in battle, and slew a great many of them, and pursued themas far as the bounds of Syria. "

29. Now Manetho does not reflect upon the improbability of his lie; forthe leprous people, and the multitude that was with them, althoughthey might formerly have been angry at the king, and at those that hadtreated them so coarsely, and this according to the prediction of theprophet; yet certainly, when they were come out of the mines, and hadreceived of the king a city, and a country, they would have grown mildertowards him. However, had they ever so much hated him in particular, they might have laid a private plot against himself, but would hardlyhave made war against all the Egyptians; I mean this on the account ofthe great kindred they who were so numerous must have had among them. Nay still, if they had resolved to fight with the men, they would nothave had impudence enough to fight with their gods; nor would they haveordained laws quite contrary to those of their own country, and tothose in which they had been bred up themselves. Yet are we beholdento Manethe, that he does not lay the principal charge of this horridtransgression upon those that came from Jerusalem, but says that theEgyptians themselves were the most guilty, and that they were theirpriests that contrived these things, and made the multitude take theiroaths for doing so. But still how absurd is it to suppose that noneof these people's own relations or friends should be prevailed withto revolt, nor to undergo the hazards of war with them, while thesepolluted people were forced to send to Jerusalem, and bring theirauxiliaries from thence! What friendship, I pray, or what relationwas there formerly between them that required this assistance? On thecontrary, these people were enemies, and greatly differed from them intheir customs. He says, indeed, that they complied immediately, upontheir praising them that they should conquer Egypt; as if they did notthemselves very well know that country out of which they had been drivenby force. Now had these men been in want, or lived miserably, perhapsthey might have undertaken so hazardous an enterprise; but as they dweltin a happy city, and had a large country, and one better than Egyptitself, how came it about that, for the sake of those that had of oldbeen their enemies, of those that were maimed in their bodies, and ofthose whom none of their own relations would endure, they should runsuch hazards in assisting them? For they could not foresee that theking would run away from them: on the contrary, he saith himself that"Amenophis's son had three hundred thousand men with him, and met themat Pelusium. " Now, to be sure, those that came could not be ignorant ofthis; but for the king's repentance and flight, how could they possiblyguess at it? He then says, that "those who came from Jerusalem, and madethis invasion, got the granaries of Egypt into their possession, andperpetrated many of the most horrid actions there. " And thence hereproaches them, as though he had not himself introduced them asenemies, or as though he might accuse such as were invited from anotherplace for so doing, when the natural Egyptians themselves had done thesame things before their coming, and had taken oaths so to do. However, "Amenophis, some time afterward, came upon them, and conquered themin battle, and slew his enemies, and drove them before him as far asSyria. " As if Egypt were so easily taken by people that came from anyplace whatsoever, and as if those that had conquered it by war, whenthey were informed that Amenophis was alive, did neither fortify theavenues out of Ethiopia into it, although they had great advantages fordoing it, nor did get their other forces ready for their defense! butthat he followed them over the sandy desert, and slew them as far asSyria; while yet it is rot an easy thing for an army to pass over thatcountry, even without fighting. 

30. Our nation, therefore, according to Manetho, was not derived fromEgypt, nor were any of the Egyptians mingled with us. For it is to besupposed that many of the leprous and distempered people were deadin the mines, since they had been there a long time, and in so illa condition; many others must be dead in the battles that happenedafterward, and more still in the last battle and flight after it. 

31. It now remains that I debate with Manetho about Moses. Now theEgyptians acknowledge him to have been a wonderful and a divine person;nay, they would willingly lay claim to him themselves, though aftera most abusive and incredible manner, and pretend that he was ofHeliopolis, and one of the priests of that place, and was ejected outof it among the rest, on account of his leprosy; although it hadbeen demonstrated out of their records that he lived five hundred andeighteen years earlier, and then brought our forefathers out of Egyptinto the country that is now inhabited by us. But now that he wasnot subject in his body to any such calamity, is evident from what hehimself tells us; for he forbade those that had the leprosy either tocontinue in a city, or to inhabit in a village, but commanded that theyshould go about by themselves with their clothes rent; and declares thatsuch as either touch them, or live under the same roof with them, shouldbe esteemed unclean; nay, more, if any one of their disease be healed, and he recover his natural constitution again, he appointed them certainpurifications, and washings with spring water, and the shaving off alltheir hair, and enjoins that they shall offer many sacrifices, and thoseof several kinds, and then at length to be admitted into the holy city;although it were to be expected that, on the contrary, if he had beenunder the same calamity, he should have taken care of such personsbeforehand, and have had them treated after a kinder manner, as affectedwith a concern for those that were to be under the like misfortunes withhimself. Nor was it only those leprous people for whose sake he madethese laws, but also for such as should be maimed in the smallest partof their body, who yet are not permitted by him to officiate as priests;nay, although any priest, already initiated, should have such a calamityfall upon him afterward, he ordered him to be deprived of his honor ofofficiating. How can it then be supposed that Moses should ordain suchlaws against himself, to his own reproach and damage who so ordainedthem? Nor indeed is that other notion of Manetho at all probable, wherein he relates the change of his name, and says that "he wasformerly called Osarsiph;" and this a name no way agreeable to theother, while his true name was Mosses, and signifies a person who ispreserved out of the water, for the Egyptians call water Moil. I think, therefore, I have made it sufficiently evident that Manetho, while hefollowed his ancient records, did not much mistake the truth of thehistory; but that when he had recourse to fabulous stories, without anycertain author, he either forged them himself, without any probability, or else gave credit to some men who spake so out of their ill-will tous. 

32. And now I have done with Manetho, I will inquire into what Cheremonsays. For he also, when he pretended to write the Egyptian history, setsdown the same name for this king that Manetho did, Amenophis, as also ofhis son Ramesses, and then goes on thus: "The goddess Isis appearedto Amenophis in his sleep, and blamed him that her temple had beendemolished in the war. But that Phritiphantes, the sacred scribe, saidto him, that in case he would purge Egypt of the men that had pollutionsupon them, he should be no longer troubled with such frightfulapparitions. That Amenophis accordingly chose out two hundred and fiftythousand of those that were thus diseased, and cast them out of thecountry: that Moses and Joseph were scribes, and Joseph was a sacredscribe; that their names were Egyptian originally; that of Moses hadbeen Tisithen, and that of Joseph, Peteseph: that these two came toPelusium, and lighted upon three hundred and eighty thousand that hadbeen left there by Amenophis, he not being willing to carry them intoEgypt; that these scribes made a league of friendship with them, andmade with them an expedition against Egypt: that Amenophis could notsustain their attacks, but fled into Ethiopia, and left his wife withchild behind him, who lay concealed in certain caverns, and therebrought forth a son, whose name was Messene, and who, when he was grownup to man's estate, pursued the Jews into Syria, being about two hundredthousand, and then received his father Amenophis out of Ethiopia. "

33. This is the account Cheremon gives us. Now I take it for grantedthat what I have said already hath plainly proved the falsity of boththese narrations; for had there been any real truth at the bottom, itwas impossible they should so greatly disagree about the particulars. But for those that invent lies, what they write will easily give us verydifferent accounts, while they forge what they please out of their ownheads. Now Manetho says that the king's desire of seeing the gods wasthe origin of the ejection of the polluted people; but Cheremon feignsthat it was a dream of his own, sent upon him by Isis, that was theoccasion of it. Manetho says that the person who foreshowed thispurgation of Egypt to the king was Amenophis; but this man says it wasPhritiphantes. As to the numbers of the multitude that were expelled, they agree exceedingly well [24] the former reckoning them eightythousand, and the latter about two hundred and fifty thousand! Now, forManetho, he describes those polluted persons as sent first to work inthe quarries, and says that the city Avaris was given them for theirhabitation. As also he relates that it was not till after they had madewar with the rest of the Egyptians, that they invited the people ofJerusalem to come to their assistance; while Cheremon says only thatthey were gone out of Egypt, and lighted upon three hundred and eightythousand men about Pelusium, who had been left there by Amenophis, andso they invaded Egypt with them again; that thereupon Amenophis fledinto Ethiopia. But then this Cheremon commits a most ridiculous blunderin not informing us who this army of so many ten thousands were, orwhence they came; whether they were native Egyptians, or whether theycame from a foreign country. Nor indeed has this man, who forged a dreamfrom Isis about the leprous people, assigned the reason why the kingwould not bring them into Egypt. Moreover, Cheremon sets down Joseph asdriven away at the same time with Moses, who yet died four generations[25] before Moses, which four generations make almost one hundred andseventy years. Besides all this, Ramesses, the son of Amenophis, byManetho's account, was a young man, and assisted his father in his war, and left the country at the same time with him, and fled into Ethiopia. But Cheremon makes him to have been born in a certain cave, after hisfather was dead, and that he then overcame the Jews in battle, anddrove them into Syria, being in number about two hundred thousand. O thelevity of the man! for he had neither told us who these three hundredand eighty thousand were, nor how the four hundred and thirty thousandperished; whether they fell in war, or went over to Ramesses. And, whatis the strangest of all, it is not possible to learn out of him who theywere whom he calls Jews, or to which of these two parties he appliesthat denomination, whether to the two hundred and fifty thousand leprouspeople, or to the three hundred and eighty thousand that were aboutPelusium. But perhaps it will be looked upon as a silly thing in meto make any larger confutation of such writers as sufficiently confutethemselves; for had they been only confuted by other men, it had beenmore tolerable. 

34. I shall now add to these accounts about Manethoand Cheremon somewhatabout Lysimachus, who hath taken the same topic of falsehood with thoseforementioned, but hath gone far beyond them in the incredible nature ofhis forgeries; which plainly demonstrates that he contrived them out ofhis virulent hatred of our nation. His words are these: "The people ofthe Jews being leprous and scabby, and subject to certain other kindsof distempers, in the days of Bocchoris, king of Egypt, they fled to thetemples, and got their food there by begging: and as the numbers werevery great that were fallen under these diseases, there arose a scarcityin Egypt. Hereupon Bocehoris, the king of Egypt, sent some to consultthe oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon about his scarcity. The god's answerwas this, that he must purge his temples of impure and impious men, byexpelling them out of those temples into desert places; but as to thescabby and leprous people, he must drown them, and purge his temples, the sun having an indignation at these men being suffered to live; andby this means the land will bring forth its fruits. Upon Bocchoris'shaving received these oracles, he called for their priests, and theattendants upon their altars, and ordered them to make a collection ofthe impure people, and to deliver them to the soldiers, to carry themaway into the desert; but to take the leprous people, and wrap them insheets of lead, and let them down into the sea. Hereupon the scabby andleprous people were drowned, and the rest were gotten together, and sentinto desert places, in order to be exposed to destruction. In this casethey assembled themselves together, and took counsel what they shoulddo, and determined that, as the night was coming on, they should kindlefires and lamps, and keep watch; that they also should fast the nextnight, and propitiate the gods, in order to obtain deliverance fromthem. That on the next day there was one Moses, who advised them thatthey should venture upon a journey, and go along one road till theyshould come to places fit for habitation: that he charged them to haveno kind regards for any man, nor give good counsel to any, but always toadvise them for the worst; and to overturn all those temples and altarsof the gods they should meet with: that the rest commended what hehad said with one consent, and did what they had resolved on, and sotraveled over the desert. But that the difficulties of the journey beingover, they came to a country inhabited, and that there they abused themen, and plundered and burnt their temples; and then came into that landwhich is called Judea, and there they built a city, and dwelt therein, and that their city was named Hierosyla, from this their robbing of thetemples; but that still, upon the success they had afterwards, they intime changed its denomination, that it might not be a reproach to them, and called the city Hierosolyma, and themselves Hierosolymites. "

35. Now this man did not discover and mention the same king with theothers, but feigned a newer name, and passing by the dream and theEgyptian prophet, he brings him to [Jupiter] Hammon, in order to gainoracles about the scabby and leprous people; for he says that themultitude of Jews were gathered together at the temples. Now it isuncertain whether he ascribes this name to these lepers, or to thosethat were subject to such diseases among the Jews only; for he describesthem as a people of the Jews. What people does he mean? foreigners, orthose of that country? Why then' dost thou call them Jews, if they wereEgyptians? But if they were foreigners, why dost thou not tell us whencethey came? And how could it be that, after the king had drowned many ofthem in the sea, and ejected the rest into desert places, there shouldbe still so great a multitude remaining? Or after what manner did theypass over the desert, and get the land which we now dwell in, and buildour city, and that temple which hath been so famous among all mankind?And besides, he ought to have spoken more about our legislator than bygiving us his bare name; and to have informed us of what nation he was, and what parents he was derived from; and to have assigned the reasonswhy he undertook to make such laws concerning the gods, and concerningmatters of injustice with regard to men during that journey. For in casethe people were by birth Egyptians, they would not on the sudden have soeasily changed the customs of their country; and in case they had beenforeigners, they had for certain some laws or other which had been keptby them from long custom. It is true, that with regard to those who hadejected them, they might have sworn never to bear good-will to them, and might have had a plausible reason for so doing. But if these menresolved to wage an implacable war against all men, in case they hadacted as wickedly as he relates of them, and this while they wanted theassistance of all men, this demonstrates a kind of mad conduct indeed;but not of the men themselves, but very greatly so of him that tellssuch lies about them. He hath also impudence enough to say that a name, implying "Robbers of the temples, " [26] was given to their city, andthat this name was afterward changed. The reason of which is plain, thatthe former name brought reproach and hatred upon them in the times oftheir posterity, while, it seems, those that built the city thought theydid honor to the city by giving it such a name. So we see that this finefellow had such an unbounded inclination to reproach us, that he did notunderstand that robbery of temples is not expressed By the same word andname among the Jews as it is among the Greeks. But why should a man sayany more to a person who tells such impudent lies? However, since thisbook is arisen to a competent length, I will make another beginning, andendeavor to add what still remains to perfect my design in the followingbook. 

APION BOOK 1 FOOTNOTES

[1] This first book has a wrong title. It is not written against Apion, as is the first part of the second book, but against those Greeks ingeneral who would not believe Josephus's former accounts of the veryancient state of the Jewish nation, in his 20 books of Antiquities; andparticularly against Agatharelddes, Manetho, Cheremon, and Lysimachus. It is one of the most learned, excellent, and useful books of allantiquity; and upon Jerome's perusal of this and the following book, he declares that it seems to him a miraculous thing "how one that wasa Hebrew, who had been from his infancy instructed in sacred learning, should be able to pronounce such a number of testimonies out of profaneauthors, as if he had read over all the Grecian libraries, " Epist. 8. Ad Magnum; and the learned Jew, Manasseh-Ben-Israel, esteemed these twobooks so excellent, as to translate them into the Hebrew; this we learnfrom his own catalogue of his works, which I have seen. As to the timeand place when and where these two books were written, the learned havenot hitherto been able to determine them any further than that they werewritten some time after his Antiquities, or some time after A. D. 93;which indeed is too obvious at their entrance to be overlooked by even acareless peruser, they being directly intended against those that wouldnot believe what he had advanced in those books con-the great of theJewish nation As to the place, they all imagine that these two bookswere written where the former were, I mean at Rome; and I confess thatI myself believed both those determinations, till I came to finish mynotes upon these books, when I met with plain indications that they werewritten not at Rome, but in Judea, and this after the third of Trajan, or A. D. 100. 

[2] Take Dr. Hudson's note here, which as it justly contradicts thecommon opinion that Josephus either died under Domitian, or at leastwrote nothing later than his days, so does it perfectly agree to my owndetermination, from Justus of Tiberias, that he wrote or finished hisown Life after the third of Trajan, or A. D. 100. To which Noldius alsoagrees, de Herod, No. 383 [Epaphroditus]. "Since Florius Josephus, "says Dr. Hudson, "wrote [or finished] his books of Antiquities on thethirteenth of Domitian, [A. D. 93, ] and after that wrote the Memoirs ofhis own Life, as an appendix to the books of Antiquities, and at lasthis two books against Apion, and yet dedicated all those writingsto Epaphroditus; he can hardly be that Epaphroditus who was formerlysecretary to Nero, and was slain on the fourteenth [or fifteenth] ofDomitian, after he had been for a good while in banishment; but anotherEpaphroditas, a freed-man, and procurator of Trajan, as says Grotius onLuke 1:3. "

[3] The preservation of Homer's Poems by memory, and not by his ownwriting them down, and that thence they were styled Rhapsodies, as sungby him, like ballads, by parts, and not composed and connectedtogether in complete works, are opinions well known from the ancientcommentators; though such supposal seems to myself, as well as toFabricius Biblioth. Grace. I. P. 269, and to others, highly improbable. Nor does Josephus say there were no ancienter writings among the Greeksthan Homer's Poems, but that they did not fully own any ancienterwritings pretending to such antiquity, which is trite. 

[4] It well deserves to be considered, that Josephus here says how allthe following Greek historians looked on Herodotus as a fabulous author;and presently, sect. 14, how Manetho, the most authentic writer of theEgyptian history, greatly complains of his mistakes in the Egyptianaffairs; as also that Strabo, B. XI. P. 507, the most accurategeographer and historian, esteemed him such; that Xenophon, themuch more accurate historian in the affairs of Cyrus, implies thatHerodotus's account of that great man is almost entirely romantic. Seethe notes on Antiq. B. XI. Ch. 2. Sect. 1, and Hutchinson's Prolegomenato his edition of Xenophon's, that we have already seen in the note onAntiq. B. VIII. Ch. 10. Sect. 3, how very little Herodotus knew aboutthe Jewish affairs and country, and that he greatly affected what wecall the marvelous, as Monsieur Rollin has lately and justly determined;whence we are not always to depend on the authority of Herodotus, whereit is unsupported by other evidence, but ought to compare the otherevidence with his, and if it preponderate, to prefer it before his. I donot mean by this that Herodotus willfully related what he believed tobe false, [as Cteeias seems to have done, ] but that he often wantedevidence, and sometimes preferred what was marvelous to what was bestattested as really true. 

[5]About the days of Cyrus and Daniel. 

[6] It is here well worth our observation, what the reasons are thatsuch ancient authors as Herodotus, Josephus, and others have been readto so little purpose by many learned critics; viz. That their main aimhas not been chronology or history, but philology, to know words, andnot things, they not much entering oftentimes into the real contents oftheir authors, and judging which were the most accurate discoverers oftruth, and most to be depended on in the several histories, but ratherinquiring who wrote the finest style, and had the greatest elegance intheir expressions; which are things of small consequence in comparisonof the other. Thus you will sometimes find great debates among thelearned, whether Herodotus or Thucydides were the finest historian inthe Ionic and Attic ways of writing; which signify little as to the realvalue of each of their histories; while it would be of much more momentto let the reader know, that as the consequence of Herodotus's history, which begins so much earlier, and reaches so much wider, than thatof Thucydides, is therefore vastly greater; so is the most part ofThucydides, which belongs to his own times, and fell under his ownobservation, much the most certain. 

[7] Of this accuracy of the Jews before and in our Savior's time, incarefully preserving their genealogies all along, particularly those ofthe priests, see Josephus's Life, sect. 1. This accuracy. Seems to haveended at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, or, however, at that byAdrian. 

[8] Which were these twenty-two sacred books of the Old Testament, seethe Supplement to the Essay of the Old Testament, p. 25-29, viz. Thosewe call canonical, all excepting the Canticles; but still with thisfurther exception, that the book of apocryphal Esdras be taken into thatnumber instead of our canonical Ezra, which seems to be no more than alater epitome of the other; which two books of Canticles and Ezra it noway appears that our Josephus ever saw. 

[9] Here we have an account of the first building of the city ofJerusalem, according to Manetho, when the Phoenician shepherds wereexpelled out of Egypt about thirty-seven years before Abraham came outof Harsh. 

[10] Genesis 46;32, 34; 47:3, 4. 

[11] In our copies of the book of Genesis and of Joseph, this Josephnever calls himself "a captive, " when he was with the king of Egypt, though he does call himself "a servant, " "a slave, " or "captive, " manytimes in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, under Joseph, sect. 1, 11, 13-16. 

[12] Of this Egyptian chronology of Manetho, as mistaken by Josephus, and of these Phoenician shepherds, as falsely supposed by him, andothers after him, to have been the Israelites in Egypt, see Essay on theOld Testament, Appendix, p. 182-188. And note here, that when Josephustells us that the Greeks or Argives looked on this Danaus as "a mostancient, " or "the most ancient, " king of Argos, he need not be supposedto mean, in the strictest sense, that they had no one king so ancient ashe; for it is certain that they owned nine kings before him, and Inachusat the head of them. See Authentic Records, Part II. P. 983, as Josephuscould not but know very well; but that he was esteemed as very ancientby them, and that they knew they had been first of all denominated"Danai" from this very ancient king Danaus. Nor does this superlativedegree always imply the "most ancient" of all without exception, but issometimes to be rendered "very ancient" only, as is the case in the likesuperlative degrees of other words also. 

[13] Authentic Records, Part II. P. 983, as Josephus could not but knowvery well; but that he was esteemed as very ancient by them, and thatthey knew they had been first of all denominated "Danai" from this veryancient king Danaus. Nor does this superlative degree always imply the"most ancient" of all without exception, but is sometimes to be rendered"very ancient" only, as is the case in the like superlative degrees ofother words also. 

[14] This number in Josephus, that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the templein the eighteenth year of his reign, is a mistake in the nicety ofchronology; for it was in the nineteenth. The true number here for theyear of Darius, in which the second temple was finished, whether thesecond with our present copies, or the sixth with that of Syncellus, or the tenth with that of Eusebius, is very uncertain; so we had bestfollow Josephus's own account elsewhere, Antiq. ;B. XI. Ch. 3. Sect. 4, which shows us that according to his copy of the Old Testament, afterthe second of Cyrus, that work was interrupted till the second ofDarius, when in seven years it was finished in the ninth of Darius. 

[15] This is a thing well known by the learned, that we are not securethat we have any genuine writings of Pythagoras; those Golden Verses, which are his best remains, being generally supposed to have beenwritten not by himself, but by some of his scholars only, in agreementwith what Josephus here affirms of him. 

[16] Whether these verses of Cherilus, the heathen poet, in the days ofXerxes, belong to the Solymi in Pisidia, that were near a small lake, orto the Jews that dwelt on the Solymean or Jerusalem mountains, near thegreat and broad lake Asphaltitis, that were a strange people, andspake the Phoenician tongue, is not agreed on by the learned. If is yetcertain that Josephus here, and Eusebius, Prep. IX. 9. P. 412, took themto be Jews; and I confess I cannot but very much incline to the sameopinion. The other Solymi were not a strange people, but heathenidolaters, like the other parts of Xerxes's army; and that these spakethe Phoenician tongue is next to impossible, as the Jews certainlydid; nor is there the least evidence for it elsewhere. Nor was thelake adjoining to the mountains of the Solvmi at all large or broad, in comparison of the Jewish lake Asphaltitis; nor indeed were these soconsiderable a people as the Jews, nor so likely to be desired by Xerxesfor his army as the Jews, to whom he was always very favorable. As forthe rest of Cherilus's description, that "their heads were sooty; thatthey had round rasures on their heads; that their heads and faces werelike nasty horse-heads, which had been hardened in the smoke;" theseawkward characters probably fitted the Solymi of Pisidi no better thanthey did the Jews in Judea. And indeed this reproachful language, heregiven these people, is to me a strong indication that they were the poordespicable Jews, and not the Pisidian Solymi celebrated in Homer, whomCherilus here describes; nor are we to expect that either Cherilus orHecateus, or any other pagan writers cited by Josephus and Eusebius, made no mistakes in the Jewish history. If by comparing theirtestimonies with the more authentic records of that nation we find themfor the main to confirm the same, as we almost always do, we ought to besatisfied, and not expect that they ever had an exact knowledge of allthe circumstances of the Jewish affairs, which indeed it was almostalways impossible for them to have. See sect. 23. 

[17] This Hezekiah, who is here called a high priest, is not named inJosephus's catalogue; the real high priest at that time being ratherOnias, as Archbishop Usher supposes. However, Josephus often uses theword high priests in the plural number, as living many at the same time. See the note on Antiq. B. XX. Ch. 8. Sect. 8. 

[18] So I read the text with Havercamp, though the place be difficult. 

[19] This number of arourae or Egyptian acres, 3, 000, 000, each arouracontaining a square of 100 Egyptian cubits, [being about three quartersof an English acre, and just twice the area of the court of the Jewishtabernacle, ] as contained in the country of Judea, will be about onethird of the entire number of arourae in the whole land of Judea, supposing it 160 measured miles long and 70 such miles broad; whichestimation, for the fruitful parts of it, as perhaps here in Hecateus, is not therefore very wide from the truth. The fifty furlongs in compassfor the city Jerusalem presently are not very wide from the truth also, as Josephus himself describes it, who, Of the War, B. V. Ch. 4. Sect. 3. Makes its wall thirty-three furlongs, besides the suburbs and gardens;nay, he says, B. V. Ch. 12. Sect. 2, that Titus's wall about it at somesmall distance, after the gardens and suburbs were destroyed, wasnot less than thirty-nine furlongs. Nor perhaps were its constantinhabitants, in the days of Hecateus, many more than these 120, 000, because room was always to be left for vastly greater numbers which cameup at the three great festivals; to say nothing of the probable increasein their number between the days of Hecateus and Josephus, which was atleast three hundred years. But see a more authentic account of some ofthese measures in my Description of the Jewish Temples. However, we arenot to expect that such heathens as Cherilus or Hecateus, or therest that are cited by Josephus and Eusebius, could avoid making manymistakes in the Jewish history, while yet they strongly confirm the samehistory in the general, and are most valuable attestations to those moreauthentic accounts we have in the Scriptures and Josephus concerningthem. 

[20] A glorious testimony this of the observation of the sabbath by theJews. See Antiq. B. XVI. Ch. 2. Sect. 4, and ch. 6. Sect. 2; the Life, sect. 54; and War, B. IV. Ch. 9. Sect. 12. 

[21] Not their law, but the superstitious interpretation of theirleaders which neither the Maccabees nor our blessed Savior did everapprove of. 

[22] In reading this and the remaining sections of this book, and someparts of the next, one may easily perceive that our usually cool andcandid author, Josephus, was too highly offended with the impudentcalumnies of Manethe, and the other bitter enemies of the Jews, withwhom he had now to deal, and was thereby betrayed into a greater heatand passion than ordinary, and that by consequence he does not hearreason with his usual fairness and impartiality; he seems to departsometimes from the brevity and sincerity of a faithful historian, whichis his grand character, and indulges the prolixity and colors of apleader and a disputant: accordingly, I confess, I always read thesesections with less pleasure than I do the rest of his writings, thoughI fully believe the reproaches cast on the Jews, which he here endeavorsto confute and expose, were wholly groundless and unreasonable. 

[23] This is a very valuable testimony of Manetho, that the laws ofOsarsiph, or Moses, were not made in compliance with, but in oppositionto, the customs of the Egyptians. See the note on Antiq. B. III. Ch. 8. Sect. 9. 

[24] By way of irony, I suppose. 

[25] Here we see that Josephus esteemed a generation between Josephand Moses to be about forty-two or forty-three years; which, if takenbetween the earlier children, well agrees with the duration of humanlife in those ages. See Antheat. Rec. Part II. Pages 966, 1019, 1020. 

[26] That is the meaning of Hierosyla in Greek, not in Hebrew. 

BOOK II. 

1. In the former book, most honored Epaphroditus, I have demonstratedour antiquity, and confirmed the truth of what I have said, from thewritings of the Phoenicians, and Chaldeans, and Egyptians. I have, moreover, produced many of the Grecian writers as witnesses thereto. I have also made a refutation of Manetho and Cheremon, and of certainothers of our enemies. I shall now [1] therefore begin a confutation ofthe remaining authors who have written any thing against us; althoughI confess I have had a doubt upon me about Apion [2] the grammarian, whether I ought to take the trouble of confuting him or not; for someof his writings contain much the same accusations which the others havelaid against us, some things that he hath added are very frigid andcontemptible, and for the greatest part of what he says, it is veryscurrilous, and, to speak no more than the plain truth, it shows himto be a very unlearned person, and what he lays together looks like thework of a man of very bad morals, and of one no better in his wholelife than a mountebank. Yet, because there are a great many men so veryfoolish, that they are rather caught by such orations than by whatis written with care, and take pleasure in reproaching other men, andcannot abide to hear them commended, I thought it to be necessary notto let this man go off without examination, who had written such anaccusation against us, as if he would bring us to make an answer in opencourt. For I also have observed, that many men are very much delightedwhen they see a man who first began to reproach another, to be himselfexposed to contempt on account of the vices he hath himself beenguilty of. However, it is not a very easy thing to go over this man'sdiscourse, nor to know plainly what he means; yet does he seem, amidst agreat confusion and disorder in his falsehoods, to produce, in the firstplace, such things as resemble what we have examined already, and relateto the departure of our forefathers out of Egypt; and, in the secondplace, he accuses those Jews that are inhabitants of Alexandria; as, inthe third place, he mixes with those things such accusations as concernthe sacred purifications, with the other legal rites used in the temple. 

2. Now although I cannot but think that I have already demonstrated, and that abundantly more than was necessary, that our fathers were notoriginally Egyptians, nor were thence expelled, either on accountof bodily diseases, or any other calamities of that sort; yet will Ibriefly take notice of what Apion adds upon that subject; for in histhird book, which relates to the affairs of Egypt, he speaks thus: "Ihave heard of the ancient men of Egypt, that Moses was of Heliopolis, and that he thought himself obliged to follow the customs of hisforefathers, and offered his prayers in the open air, towards the citywalls; but that he reduced them all to be directed towards sun-rising, which was agreeable to the situation of Heliopolis; that he also setup pillars instead of gnomons, [3] under which was represented a cavitylike that of a boat, and the shadow that fell from their tops fell downupon that cavity, that it might go round about the like course as thesun itself goes round in the other. " This is that wonderful relationwhich we have given us by this grammarian. But that it is a false oneis so plain, that it stands in need of few words to prove it, butis manifest from the works of Moses; for when he erected the firsttabernacle to God, he did himself neither give order for any such kindof representation to be made at it, nor ordain that those that cameafter him should make such a one. Moreover, when in a future age Solomonbuilt his temple in Jerusalem, he avoided all such needless decorationsas Apion hath here devised. He says further, how he had "heard of theancient men, that Moses was of Hellopolis. " To be sure that was, becausebeing a younger man himself, he believed those that by their elder agewere acquainted and conversed with him. Now this grammarian, as he was, could not certainly tell which was the poet Homer's country, nomore than he could which was the country of Pythagoras, who livedcomparatively but a little while ago; yet does he thus easily determinethe age of Moses, who preceded them such a vast number of years, asdepending on his ancient men's relation, which shows how notorious aliar he was. But then as to this chronological determination of the timewhen he says he brought the leprous people, the blind, and the lame outof Egypt, see how well this most accurate grammarian of ours agrees withthose that have written before him! Manetho says that the Jews departedout of Egypt, in the reign of Tethmosis, three hundred ninety-threeyears before Danaus fled to Argos; Lysimaehus says it was under kingBocchoris, that is, one thousand seven hundred years ago; Molo and someothers determined it as every one pleased: but this Apion of ours, asdeserving to be believed before them, hath determined it exactly to havebeen in the seventh olympiad, and the first year of that olympiad;the very same year in which he says that Carthage was built by thePhoenicians. The reason why he added this building of Carthage was, to be sure, in order, as he thought, to strengthen his assertion byso evident a character of chronology. But he was not aware that thischaracter confutes his assertion; for if we may give credit to thePhoenician records as to the time of the first coming of their colonyto Carthage, they relate that Hirom their king was above a hundred andfifty years earlier than the building of Carthage; concerning whom Ihave formerly produced testimonials out of those Phoenician records, asalso that this Hirom was a friend of Solomon when he was building thetemple of Jerusalem, and gave him great assistance in his building thattemple; while still Solomon himself built that temple six hundred andtwelve years after the Jews came out of Egypt. As for the number ofthose that were expelled out of Egypt, he hath contrived to have thevery same number with Lysimaehus, and says they were a hundred and tenthousand. He then assigns a certain wonderful and plausible occasion forthe name of Sabbath; for he says that "when the Jews had traveled a sixdays' journey, they had buboes in their groins; and that on this accountit was that they rested on the seventh day, as having got safely to thatcountry which is now called Judea; that then they preserved the languageof the Egyptians, and called that day the Sabbath, for that malady ofbuboes on their groin was named Sabbatosis by the Egyptians. " Andwould not a man now laugh at this fellow's trifling, or rather hate hisimpudence in writing thus? We must, it seems, fake it for granted thatall these hundred and ten thousand men must have these buboes. But, for certain, if those men had been blind and lame, and had all sorts ofdistempers upon them, as Apion says they had, they could not have goneone single day's journey; but if they had been all able to travel over alarge desert, and, besides that, to fight and conquer those that opposedthem, they had not all of them had buboes on their groins after thesixth day was over; for no such distemper comes naturally and ofnecessity upon those that travel; but still, when there are many tenthousands in a camp together, they constantly march a settled space [ina day]. Nor is it at all probable that such a thing should happen bychance; this would be prodigiously absurd to be supposed. However, ouradmirable author Apion hath before told us that "they came to Judea insix days' time;" and again, that "Moses went up to a mountain that laybetween Egypt and Arabia, which was called Sinai, and was concealedthere forty days, and that when he came down from thence he gave laws tothe Jews. " But, then, how was it possible for them to tarry forty daysin a desert place where there was no water, and at the same time to passall over the country between that and Judea in the six days? And as forthis grammatical translation of the word Sabbath, it either contains aninstance of his great impudence or gross ignorance; for the words Sabboand Sabbath are widely different from one another; for the word Sabbathin the Jewish language denotes rest from all sorts of work; but the wordSabbo, as he affirms, denotes among the Egyptians the malady of a buboin the groin. 

3. This is that novel account which the Egyptian Apion gives usconcerning the Jews' departure out of Egypt, and is no better than acontrivance of his own. But why should we wonder at the lies he tellsabout our forefathers, when he affirms them to be of Egyptian original, when he lies also about himself? for although he was born at Oasisin Egypt, he pretends to be, as a man may say, the top man of all theEgyptians; yet does he forswear his real country and progenitors, and byfalsely pretending to be born at Alexandria, cannot deny the [4] pravityof his family; for you see how justly he calls those Egyptians whom hehates, and endeavors to reproach; for had he not deemed Egyptians tobe a name of great reproach, he would not have avoided the name of anEgyptian himself; as we know that those who brag of their own countriesvalue themselves upon the denomination they acquire thereby, and reprovesuch as unjustly lay claim thereto. As for the Egyptians' claim to be ofour kindred, they do it on one of the following accounts; I mean, eitheras they value themselves upon it, and pretend to bear that relationto us; or else as they would draw us in to be partakers of their owninfamy. But this fine fellow Apion seems to broach this reproachfulappellation against us, [that we were originally Egyptians, ] in orderto bestow it on the Alexandrians, as a reward for the privilege they hadgiven him of being a fellow citizen with them: he also is apprized ofthe ill-will the Alexandrians bear to those Jews who are their fellowcitizens, and so proposes to himself to reproach them, although he mustthereby include all the other Egyptians also; while in both cases he isno better than an impudent liar. 

4. But let us now see what those heavy and wicked crimes are which Apioncharges upon the Alexandrian Jews. "They came [says he] out of Syria, and inhabited near the tempestuous sea, and were in the neighborhood ofthe dashing of the waves. " Now if the place of habitation includes anything that is reproached, this man reproaches not his own real country, [Egypt, ] but what he pretends to be his own country, Alexandria; for allare agreed in this, that the part of that city which is near the sea isthe best part of all for habitation. Now if the Jews gained that part ofthe city by force, and have kept it hitherto without impeachment, thisis a mark of their valor; but in reality it was Alexander himself thatgave them that place for their habitation, when they obtained equalprivileges there with the Macedonians. Nor call I devise what Apionwould have said, had their habitation been at Necropolis? and not beenfixed hard by the royal palace [as it is]; nor had their nation hadthe denomination of Macedonians given them till this very day [as theyhave]. Had this man now read the epistles of king Alexander, or thoseof Ptolemy the son of Lagus, or met with the writings of the succeedingkings, or that pillar which is still standing at Alexandria, andcontains the privileges which the great [Julius] Caesar bestowed uponthe Jews; had this man, I say, known these records, and yet hath theimpudence to write in contradiction to them, he hath shown himself tobe a wicked man; but if he knew nothing of these records, he hath shownhimself to be a man very ignorant: nay, when lie appears to wonder howJews could be called Alexandrians, this is another like instance of hisignorance; for all such as are called out to be colonies, although theybe ever so far remote from one another in their original, receive theirnames from those that bring them to their new habitations. And whatoccasion is there to speak of others, when those of us Jews that dwellat Antioch are named Antiochians, because Seleucns the founder of thatcity gave them the privileges belonging thereto? After the like mannerdo those Jews that inhabit Ephesus, and the other cities of Ionia, enjoythe same name with those that were originally born there, by the grantof the succeeding princes; nay, the kindness and humanity of the Romanshath been so great, that it hath granted leave to almost all others totake the same name of Romans upon them; I mean not particular men only, but entire and large nations themselves also; for those anciently namedIberi, and Tyrrheni, and Sabini, are now called Romani. And if Apionreject this way of obtaining the privilege of a citizen of Alexandria, let him abstain from calling himself an Alexandrian hereafter; forotherwise, how can he who was born in the very heart of Egypt be anAlexandrian, if this way of accepting such a privilege, of which hewould have us deprived, be once abrogated? although indeed theseRomans, who are now the lords of the habitable earth, have forbidden theEgyptians to have the privileges of any city whatsoever; while this finefellow, who is willing to partake of such a privilege himself as he isforbidden to make use of, endeavors by calumnies to deprive those of itthat have justly received it; for Alexander did not therefore get someof our nation to Alexandria, because he wanted inhabitants for thishis city, on whose building he had bestowed so much pains; but this wasgiven to our people as a reward, because he had, upon a careful trial, found them all to have been men of virtue and fidelity to him; for, asHecateus says concerning us, "Alexander honored our nation to such adegree, that, for the equity and the fidelity which the Jews exhibitedto him, he permitted them to hold the country of Samaria free fromtribute. Of the same mind also was Ptolemy the son of Lagus, as to thoseJews who dwelt at Alexandria. " For he intrusted the fortresses of Egyptinto their hands, as believing they would keep them faithfully andvaliantly for him; and when he was desirous to secure the government ofCyrene, and the other cities of Libya, to himself, he sent a party ofJews to inhabit in them. And for his successor Ptolemy, who was calledPhiladelphus, he did not only set all those of our nation free who werecaptives under him, but did frequently give money [for their ransom];and, what was his greatest work of all, he had a great desire ofknowing our laws, and of obtaining the books of our sacred Scriptures;accordingly, he desired that such men might be sent him as mightinterpret our law to him; and, in order to have them well compiled, hecommitted that care to no ordinary persons, but ordained that DemetriusPhalereus, and Andreas, and Aristeas; the first, Demetrius, the mostlearned person of his age, and the others, such as were intrusted withthe guard of his body; should take care of this matter: nor would hecertainly have been so desirous of learning our law, and the philosophyof our nation, had he despised the men that made use of it, or had henot indeed had them in great admiration. 

5. Now this Apion was unacquainted with almost all the kings of thoseMacedonians whom he pretends to have been his progenitors, who were yetvery well affected towards us; for the third of those Ptolemies, who wascalled Euergetes, when he had gotten possession of all Syria by force, did not offer his thank-offerings to the Egyptian gods for his victory, but came to Jerusalem, and according to our own laws offered manysacrifices to God, and dedicated to him such gifts as were suitable tosuch a victory: and as for Ptolemy Philometer and his wife Cleopatra, they committed their whole kingdom to the Jews, when Onias andDositheus, both Jews, whose names are laughed at by Apion, were thegenerals of their whole army. But certainly, instead of reproachingthem, he ought to admire their actions, and return them thanks forsaving Alexandria, whose citizen he pretends to be; for when theseAlexandrians were making war with Cleopatra the queen, and were indanger of being utterly ruined, these Jews brought them to terms ofagreement, and freed them from the miseries of a civil war. "But then[says Apion] Onias brought a small army afterward upon the city at thetime when Thorruns the Roman ambassador was there present. " Yes, do Iventure to say, and that he did rightly and very justly in so doing;for that Ptolemy who was called Physco, upon the death of his brotherPhilometer, came from Cyrene, and would have ejected Cleopatra as wellas her sons out of their kingdom, that he might obtain it for himselfunjustly. [5] For this cause then it was that Onias undertook a waragainst him on Cleopatra's account; nor would he desert that trust theroyal family had reposed in him in their distress. Accordingly, God gavea remarkable attestation to his righteous procedure; for when PtolemyPhysco [6] had the presumption to fight against Onias's army, and hadcaught all the Jews that were in the city [Alexandria], with theirchildren and wives, and exposed them naked and in bonds to hiselephants, that they might be trodden upon and destroyed, and whenhe had made those elephants drunk for that purpose, the event provedcontrary to his preparations; for these elephants left the Jews who wereexposed to them, and fell violently upon Physco's friends, and slewa great number of them; nay, after this Ptolemy saw a terrible ghost, which prohibited his hurting those men; his very concubine, whomhe loved so well, [some call her Ithaca, and others Irene, ] makingsupplication to him, that he would not perpetrate so great a wickedness. So he complied with her request, and repented of what he either hadalready done, or was about to do; whence it is well known that theAlexandrian Jews do with good reason celebrate this day, on the accountthat they had thereon been vouchsafed such an evident deliverance fromGod. However, Apion, the common calumniator of men, hath the presumptionto accuse the Jews for making this war against Physco, when he oughtto have commended them for the same. This man also makes mention ofCleopatra, the last queen of Alexandria, and abuses us, because she wasungrateful to us; whereas he ought to have reproved her, who indulgedherself in all kinds of injustice and wicked practices, both with regardto her nearest relations and husbands who had loved her, and, indeed, ingeneral with regard to all the Romans, and those emperors that were herbenefactors; who also had her sister Arsinoe slain in a temple, whenshe had done her no harm: moreover, she had her brother slain by privatetreachery, and she destroyed the gods of her country and the sepulchersof her progenitors; and while she had received her kingdom from thefirst Caesar, she had the impudence to rebel against his son: [7] andsuccessor; nay, she corrupted Antony with her love-tricks, and renderedhim an enemy to his country, and made him treacherous to his friends, and [by his means] despoiled some of their royal authority, and forcedothers in her madness to act wickedly. But what need I enlarge upon thishead any further, when she left Antony in his fight at sea, though hewere her husband, and the father of their common children, and compelledhim to resign up his government, with the army, and to follow her [intoEgypt]? nay, when last of all Caesar had taken Alexandria, she came tothat pitch of cruelty, that she declared she had some hope of preservingher affairs still, in case she could kill the Jews, though it were withher own hand; to such a degree of barbarity and perfidiousness had shearrived. And doth any one think that we cannot boast ourselves ofany thing, if, as Apion says, this queen did not at a time of faminedistribute wheat among us? However, she at length met with thepunishment she deserved. As for us Jews, we appeal to the great Caesarwhat assistance we brought him, and what fidelity we showed to himagainst the Egyptians; as also to the senate and its decrees, and theepistles of Augustus Caesar, whereby our merits [to the Romans] arejustified. Apion ought to have looked upon those epistles, and inparticular to have examined the testimonies given on our behalf, underAlexander and all the Ptolemies, and the decrees of the senate and ofthe greatest Roman emperors. And if Germanicus was not able to make adistribution of corn to all the inhabitants of Alexandria, that onlyshows what a barren time it was, and how great a want there was then ofcorn, but tends nothing to the accusation of the Jews; for what all theemperors have thought of the Alexandrian Jews is well known, for thisdistribution of wheat was no otherwise omitted with regard to the Jews, than it was with regard to the other inhabitants of Alexandria. But theystill were desirous to preserve what the kings had formerly intrusted totheir care, I mean the custody of the river; nor did those kings thinkthem unworthy of having the entire custody thereof, upon all occasions. 

6. But besides this, Apion objects to us thus: "If the Jews [says he] becitizens of Alexandria, why do they not worship the same gods with theAlexandrians?" To which I give this answer: Since you are yourselvesEgyptians, why do you fight it out one against another, and haveimplacable wars about your religion? At this rate we must not call youall Egyptians, nor indeed in general men, because you breed up withgreat care beasts of a nature quite contrary to that of men, althoughthe nature of all men seems to be one and the same. Now if there be suchdifferences in opinion among you Egyptians, why are you surprised thatthose who came to Alexandria from another country, and had original lawsof their own before, should persevere in the observance of those laws?But still he charges us with being the authors of sedition; whichaccusation, if it be a just one, why is it not laid against us all, since we are known to be all of one mind. Moreover, those that searchinto such matters will soon discover that the authors of sedition havebeen such citizens of Alexandria as Apion is; for while they were theGrecians and Macedonians who were ill possession of this city, therewas no sedition raised against us, and we were permitted to observe ourancient solemnities; but when the number of the Egyptians therein cameto be considerable, the times grew confused, and then these seditionsbrake out still more and more, while our people continued uncorrupted. These Egyptians, therefore, were the authors of these troubles, whohaving not the constancy of Macedonians, nor the prudence of Grecians, indulged all of them the evil manners of the Egyptians, and continuedtheir ancient hatred against us; for what is here so presumptuouslycharged upon us, is owing to the differences that are amongstthemselves; while many of them have not obtained the privileges ofcitizens in proper times, but style those who are well known to havehad that privilege extended to them all no other than foreigners: for itdoes not appear that any of the kings have ever formerly bestowed thoseprivileges of citizens upon Egyptians, no more than have the emperorsdone it more lately; while it was Alexander who introduced us intothis city at first, the kings augmented our privileges therein, and theRomans have been pleased to preserve them always inviolable. Moreover, Apion would lay a blot upon us, because we do not erect images for ouremperors; as if those emperors did not know this before, or stood inneed of Apion as their defender; whereas he ought rather to have admiredthe magnanimity and modesty of the Romans, whereby they do notcompel those that are subject to them to transgress the laws of theircountries, but are willing to receive the honors due to them after sucha manner as those who are to pay them esteem consistent with piety andwith their own laws; for they do not thank people for conferring honorsupon them, When they are compelled by violence so to do. Accordingly, since the Grecians and some other nations think it a right thing to makeimages, nay, when they have painted the pictures of their parents, andwives, and children, they exult for joy; and some there are who takepictures for themselves of such persons as were no way related to them;nay, some take the pictures of such servants as they were fond of;what wonder is it then if such as these appear willing to pay thesame respect to their princes and lords? But then our legislator hathforbidden us to make images, not by way of denunciation beforehand, thatthe Roman authority was not to be honored, but as despising a thing thatwas neither necessary nor useful for either God or man; and he forbadethem, as we shall prove hereafter, to make these images for any part ofthe animal creation, and much less for God himself, who is no part ofsuch animal creation. Yet hath our legislator no where forbidden us topay honors to worthy men, provided they be of another kind, and inferiorto those we pay to God; with which honors we willingly testify ourrespect to our emperors, and to the people of Rome; we also offerperpetual sacrifices for them; nor do we only offer them every day atthe common expenses of all the Jews, but although we offer no other suchsacrifices out of our common expenses, no, not for our own children, yetdo we this as a peculiar honor to the emperors, and to them alone, whilewe do the same to no other person whomsoever. And let this suffice foran answer in general to Apion, as to what he says with relation to theAlexandrian Jews. 

7. However, I cannot but admire those other authors who furnished thisman with such his materials; I mean Possidonius and Apollonius [the sonof] Molo, [8] who, while they accuse us for not worshipping the samegods whom others worship, they think themselves not guilty of impietywhen they tell lies of us, and frame absurd and reproachful storiesabout our temple; whereas it is a most shameful thing for freemen toforge lies on any occasion, and much more so to forge them about ourtemple, which was so famous over all the world, and was preserved sosacred by us; for Apion hath the impudence to pretend that, "the Jewsplaced an ass's head in their holy place;" and he affirms that this wasdiscovered when Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled our temple, and found thatass's head there made of gold, and worth a great deal of money. To thismy first answer shall be this, that had there been any such thing amongus, an Egyptian ought by no means to have thrown it in our teeth, sincean ass is not a more contemptible animal than [9] and goats, and othersuch creatures, which among them are gods. But besides this answer, Isay further, how comes it about that Apion does not understand this tobe no other than a palpable lie, and to be confuted by the thing itselfas utterly incredible? For we Jews are always governed by the same laws, in which we constantly persevere; and although many misfortunes havebefallen our city, as the like have befallen others, and although Theos[Epiphanes], and Pompey the Great, and Licinius Crassus, and last ofall Titus Caesar, have conquered us in war, and gotten possession ofour temple; yet have they none of them found any such thing there, norindeed any thing but what was agreeable to the strictest piety; althoughwhat they found we are not at liberty to reveal to other nations. Butfor Antiochus [Epiphanes], he had no just cause for that ravage in ourtemple that he made; he only came to it when he wanted money, withoutdeclaring himself our enemy, and attacked us while we were hisassociates and his friends; nor did he find any thing there thatwas ridiculous. This is attested by many worthy writers; Polybius ofMegalopolis, Strabo of Cappadocia, Nicolaus of Damascus, Timagenes, Castor the chronotoger, and Apollodorus; [10] who all say that it wasout of Antiochus's want of money that he broke his league with the Jews, and despoiled their temple when it was full of gold and silver. Apionought to have had a regard to these facts, unless he had himself hadeither an ass's heart or a dog's impudence; of such a dog I mean as theyworship; for he had no other external reason for the lies he tells ofus. As for us Jews, we ascribe no honor or power to asses, as do theEgyptians to crocodiles and asps, when they esteem such as are seizedupon by the former, or bitten by the latter, to be happy persons, andpersons worthy of God. Asses are the same with us which they are withother wise men, viz. Creatures that bear the burdens that we lay uponthem; but if they come to our thrashing-floors and eat our corn, or donot perform what we impose upon them, we beat them with a great manystripes, because it is their business to minister to us in our husbandryaffairs. But this Apion of ours was either perfectly unskillful in thecomposition of such fallacious discourses, or however, when hebegun [somewhat better], he was not able to persevere in what he hadundertaken, since he hath no manner of success in those reproaches hecasts upon us. 

8. He adds another Grecian fable, in order to reproach us. In reply towhich, it would be enough to say, that they who presume to speak aboutDivine worship ought not to be ignorant of this plain truth, that it isa degree of less impurity to pass through temples, than to forge wickedcalumnies of its priests. Now such men as he are more zealous to justifya sacrilegious king, than to write what is just and what is true aboutus, and about our temple; for when they are desirous of gratifyingAntiochus, and of concealing that perfidiousness and sacrilege whichhe was guilty of, with regard to our nation, when he wanted money, theyendeavor to disgrace us, and tell lies even relating to futurities. Apion becomes other men's prophet upon this occasion, and says that"Antiochus found in our temple a bed, and a man lying upon it, with asmall table before him, full of dainties, from the [fishes of the]sea, and the fowls of the dry land; that this man was amazed at thesedainties thus set before him; that he immediately adored the king, upon his coming in, as hoping that he would afford him all possibleassistance; that he fell down upon his knees, and stretched out to himhis right hand, and begged to be released; and that when the king bidhim sit down, and tell him who he was, and why he dwelt there, and whatwas the meaning of those various sorts of food that were set before himthe man made a lamentable complaint, and with sighs, and tears in hiseyes, gave him this account of the distress he was in; and said that hewas a Greek and that as he went over this province, in order to get hisliving, he was seized upon by foreigners, on a sudden, and broughtto this temple, and shut up therein, and was seen by nobody, but wasfattened by these curious provisions thus set before him; and that trulyat the first such unexpected advantages seemed to him matter of greatjoy; that after a while, they brought a suspicion him, and at lengthastonishment, what their meaning should be; that at last he inquired ofthe servants that came to him and was by them informed that it was inorder to the fulfilling a law of the Jews, which they must not tell him, that he was thus fed; and that they did the same at a set time everyyear: that they used to catch a Greek foreigner, and fat him thus upevery year, and then lead him to a certain wood, and kill him, andsacrifice with their accustomed solemnities, and taste of his entrails, and take an oath upon this sacrificing a Greek, that they would ever beat enmity with the Greeks; and that then they threw the remaining partsof the miserable wretch into a certain pit. " Apion adds further, that, "the man said there were but a few days to come ere he was to be slain, and implored of Antiochus that, out of the reverence he bore to theGrecian gods, he would disappoint the snares the Jews laid for hisblood, and would deliver him from the miseries with which he wasencompassed. " Now this is such a most tragical fable as is full ofnothing but cruelty and impudence; yet does it not excuse Antiochus ofhis sacrilegious attempt, as those who write it in his vindication arewilling to suppose; for he could not presume beforehand that he shouldmeet with any such thing in coming to the temple, but must have found itunexpectedly. He was therefore still an impious person, that was givento unlawful pleasures, and had no regard to God in his actions. But [asfor Apion], he hath done whatever his extravagant love of lying hathdictated to him, as it is most easy to discover by a consideration ofhis writings; for the difference of our laws is known not to regard theGrecians only, but they are principally opposite to the Egyptians, andto some other nations also for while it so falls out that men of allcountries come sometimes and sojourn among us, how comes it about thatwe take an oath, and conspire only against the Grecians, and that by theeffusion of their blood also? Or how is it possible that all the Jewsshould get together to these sacrifices, and the entrails of one manshould be sufficient for so many thousands to taste of them, as Apionpretends? Or why did not the king carry this man, whosoever he was, andwhatsoever was his name, [which is not set down in Apion's book, ] withgreat pomp back into his own country? when he might thereby have beenesteemed a religious person himself, and a mighty lover of the Greeks, and might thereby have procured himself great assistance from all menagainst that hatred the Jews bore to him. But I leave this matter;for the proper way of confuting fools is not to use bare words, but toappeal to the things themselves that make against them. Now, then, allsuch as ever saw the construction of our temple, of what nature it was, know well enough how the purity of it was never to be profaned; for ithad four several courts [12] encompassed with cloisters round about, every one of which had by our law a peculiar degree of separationfrom the rest. Into the first court every body was allowed to go, evenforeigners, and none but women, during their courses, were prohibitedto pass through it; all the Jews went into the second court, as well astheir wives, when they were free from all uncleanness; into the thirdcourt went in the Jewish men, when they were clean and purified; intothe fourth went the priests, having on their sacerdotal garments; butfor the most sacred place, none went in but the high priests, clothed intheir peculiar garments. Now there is so great caution used about theseoffices of religion, that the priests are appointed to go into thetemple but at certain hours; for in the morning, at the opening of theinner temple, those that are to officiate receive the sacrifices, asthey do again at noon, till the doors are shut. Lastly, it is not somuch as lawful to carry any vessel into the holy house; nor is there anything therein, but the altar [of incense], the table [of shew-bread], the censer, and the candlestick, which are all written in the law; forthere is nothing further there, nor are there any mysteries performedthat may not be spoken of; nor is there any feasting within the place. For what I have now said is publicly known, and supported by thetestimony of the whole people, and their operations are very manifest;for although there be four courses of the priests, and every one of themhave above five thousand men in them, yet do they officiate on certaindays only; and when those days are over, other priests succeed in theperformance of their sacrifices, and assemble together at mid-day, andreceive the keys of the temple, and the vessels by tale, without anything relating to food or drink being carried into the temple; nay, weare not allowed to offer such things at the altar, excepting what isprepared for the sacrifices. 

9. What then can we say of Apion, but that he examined nothing thatconcerned these things, while still he uttered incredible words aboutthem? but it is a great shame for a grammarian not to be able to writetrue history. Now if he knew the purity of our temple, he hath entirelyomitted to take notice of it; but he forges a story about the seizing ofa Grecian, about ineffable food, and the most delicious preparation ofdainties; and pretends that strangers could go into a place whereintothe noblest men among the Jews are not allowed to enter, unless theybe priests. This, therefore, is the utmost degree of impiety, and avoluntary lie, in order to the delusion of those who will not examineinto the truth of matters; whereas such unspeakable mischiefs as areabove related have been occasioned by such calumnies that are raisedupon us. 

10. Nay, this miracle or piety derides us further, and adds thefollowing pretended facts to his former fable; for he says that this manrelated how, "while the Jews were once in a long war with the Idumeans, there came a man out of one of the cities of the Idumeans, who there hadworshipped Apollo. This man, whose name is said to have been Zabidus, came to the Jews, and promised that he would deliver Apollo, the god ofDora, into their hands, and that he would come to our temple, if theywould all come up with him, and bring the whole multitude of the Jewswith them; that Zabidus made him a certain wooden instrument, and put itround about him, and set three rows of lamps therein, and walked aftersuch a manner, that he appeared to those that stood a great way offhim to be a kind of star, walking upon the earth; that the Jews wereterribly affrighted at so surprising an appearance, and stood very quietat a distance; and that Zabidus, while they continued so very quiet, went into the holy house, and carried off that golden head of an ass, [for so facetiously does he write, ] and then went his way back againto Dora in great haste. " And say you so, sir! as I may reply; thendoes Apion load the ass, that is, himself, and lays on him a burden offooleries and lies; for he writes of places that have no being, and notknowing the cities he speaks of, he changes their situation; for Idumeaborders upon our country, and is near to Gaza, in which there is nosuch city as Dora; although there be, it is true, a city named Dora inPhoenicia, near Mount Carmel, but it is four days' journey from Idumea. [12] Now, then, why does this man accuse us, because we have not gods incommon with other nations, if our fathers were so easily prevailed uponto have Apollo come to them, and thought they saw him walking upon theearth, and the stars with him? for certainly those who have so manyfestivals, wherein they light lamps, must yet, at this rate, have neverseen a candlestick! But still it seems that while Zabidus took hisjourney over the country, where were so many ten thousands of people, nobody met him. He also, it seems, even in a time of war, found thewalls of Jerusalem destitute of guards. I omit the rest. Now the doorsof the holy house were seventy [13] cubits high, and twenty cubitsbroad; they were all plated over with gold, and almost of solid golditself, and there were no fewer than twenty [14] men required to shutthem every day; nor was it lawful ever to leave them open, though itseems this lamp-bearer of ours opened them easily, or thought heopened them, as he thought he had the ass's head in his hand. Whether, therefore, he returned it to us again, or whether Apion took it, andbrought it into the temple again, that Antiochus might find it, andafford a handle for a second fable of Apion's, is uncertain. 

11. Apion also tells a false story, when he mentions an oath of ours, as if we "swore by God, the Maker of the heaven, and earth, and sea, to bear no good will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of theGreeks. " Now this liar ought to have said directly that, "we wouldbear no good-will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of theEgyptians. " For then his story about the oath would have squared withthe rest of his original forgeries, in case our forefathers had beendriven away by their kinsmen, the Egyptians, not on account of anywickedness they had been guilty of, but on account of the calamitiesthey were under; for as to the Grecians, we were rather remote from themin place, than different from them in our institutions, insomuch that wehave no enmity with them, nor any jealousy of them. On the contrary, ithath so happened that many of them have come over to our laws, and someof them have continued in their observation, although others of them hadnot courage enough to persevere, and so departed from them again; nordid any body ever hear this oath sworn by us: Apion, it seems, was theonly person that heard it, for he indeed was the first composer of it. 

12. However, Apion deserves to be admired for his great prudence, as towhat I am going to say, which is this, "That there is a plain mark amongus, that we neither have just laws, nor worship God as we ought to do, because we are not governors, but are rather in subjection to Gentiles, sometimes to one nation, and sometimes to another; and that our cityhath been liable to several calamities, while their city [Alexandria]hath been of old time an imperial city, and not used to be in subjectionto the Romans. " But now this man had better leave off this bragging, for every body but himself would think that Apion said what he hath saidagainst himself; for there are very few nations that have had the goodfortune to continue many generations in the principality, but still themutations in human affairs have put them into subjection under others;and most nations have been often subdued, and brought into subjectionby others. Now for the Egyptians, perhaps they are the only nation thathave had this extraordinary privilege, to have never served any ofthose monarchs who subdued Asia and Europe, and this on account, as theypretend, that the gods fled into their country, and saved themselves bybeing changed into the shapes of wild beasts! Whereas these Egyptians[15] are the very people that appear to have never, in all the pastages, had one day of freedom, no, not so much as from their own lords. For I will not reproach them with relating the manner how the Persiansused them, and this not once only, but many times, when they laid theircities waste, demolished their temples, and cut the throats of thoseanimals whom they esteemed to be gods; for it is not reasonable toimitate the clownish ignorance of Apion, who hath no regard to themisfortunes of the Athenians, or of the Lacedemonians, the latter ofwhom were styled by all men the most courageous, and the former themost religious of the Grecians. I say nothing of such kings as have beenfamous for piety, particularly of one of them, whose name was Cresus, nor what calamities he met with in his life; I say nothing of thecitadel of Athens, of the temple at Ephesus, of that at Delphi, norof ten thousand others which have been burnt down, while nobody castreproaches on those that were the sufferers, but on those that werethe actors therein. But now we have met with Apion, an accuser of ournation, though one that still forgets the miseries of his own people, the Egyptians; but it is that Sesostris who was once so celebrated a kingof Egypt that hath blinded him. Now we will not brag of our kings, Davidand Solomon, though they conquered many nations; accordingly we will letthem alone. However, Apion is ignorant of what every body knows, thatthe Egyptians were servants to the Persians, and afterwards to theMacedonians, when they were lords of Asia, and were no better thanslaves, while we have enjoyed liberty formerly; nay, more than that, have had the dominion of the cities that lie round about us, and thisnearly for a hundred and twenty years together, until Pompeius Magnus. And when all the kings every where were conquered by the Romans, ourancestors were the only people who continued to be esteemed theirconfederates and friends, on account of their fidelity to them. [16]

13. "But, " says Apion, "we Jews have not had any wonderful men amongstus, not any inventors of arts, nor any eminent for wisdom. " He thenenumerates Socrates, and Zeno, and Cleanthes, and some others of thesame sort; and, after all, he adds himself to them, which is the mostwonderful thing of all that he says, and pronounces Alexandria to behappy, because it hath such a citizen as he is in it; for he wasthe fittest man to be a witness to his own deserts, although he hathappeared to all others no better than a wicked mountebank, of acorrupt life and ill discourses; on which account one may justly pityAlexandria, if it should value itself upon such a citizen as he is. But as to our own men, we have had those who have been as deservingof commendation as any other whosoever, and such as have perused ourAntiquities cannot be ignorant of them. 

14. As to the other things which he sets down as blameworthy, it mayperhaps be the best way to let them pass without apology, that he maybe allowed to be his own accuser, and the accuser of the rest of theEgyptians. However, he accuses us for sacrificing animals, and forabstaining from swine's flesh, and laughs at us for the circumcisionof our privy members. Now as for our slaughter of tame animals forsacrifices, it is common to us and to all other men; but this Apion, by making it a crime to sacrifice them, demonstrates himself to bean Egyptian; for had he been either a Grecian or a Macedonian, [as hepretends to be, ] he had not shown any uneasiness at it; for those peopleglory in sacrificing whole hecatombs to the gods, and make use of thosesacrifices for feasting; and yet is not the world thereby rendereddestitute of cattle, as Apion was afraid would come to pass. Yet if allmen had followed the manners of the Egyptians, the world had certainlybeen made desolate as to mankind, but had been filled full of thewildest sort of brute beasts, which, because they suppose them to begods, they carefully nourish. However, if any one should ask Apion whichof the Egyptians he thinks to be the most wise and most pious of themall, he would certainly acknowledge the priests to be so; for thehistories say that two things were originally committed to their careby their kings' injunctions, the worship of the gods, and the support ofwisdom and philosophy. Accordingly, these priests are all circumcised, and abstain from swine's flesh; nor does any one of the other Egyptiansassist them in slaying those sacrifices they offer to the gods. Apionwas therefore quite blinded in his mind, when, for the sake of theEgyptians, he contrived to reproach us, and to accuse such others as notonly make use of that conduct of life which he so much abuses, but havealso taught other men to be circumcised, as says Herodotus; which makesme think that Apion is hereby justly punished for his casting suchreproaches on the laws of his own country; for he was circumcisedhimself of necessity, on account of an ulcer in his privy member; andwhen he received no benefit by such circumcision, but his member becameputrid, he died in great torment. Now men of good tempers ought toobserve their own laws concerning religion accurately, and to perseveretherein, but not presently to abuse the laws of other nations, whilethis Apion deserted his own laws, and told lies about ours. And thiswas the end of Apion's life, and this shall be the conclusion of ourdiscourse about him. 

15. But now, since Apollonius Molo, and Lysimachus, and some others, write treatises about our lawgiver Moses, and about our laws, which areneither just nor true, and this partly out of ignorance, but chieflyout of ill-will to us, while they calumniate Moses as an impostor anddeceiver, and pretend that our laws teach us wickedness, but nothingthat is virtuous, I have a mind to discourse briefly, according tomy ability, about our whole constitution of government, and about theparticular branches of it. For I suppose it will thence become evident, that the laws we have given us are disposed after the best manner forthe advancement of piety, for mutual communion with one another, for ageneral love of mankind, as also for justice, and for sustaining laborswith fortitude, and for a contempt of death. And I beg of those thatshall peruse this writing of mine, to read it without partiality; forit is not my purpose to write an encomium upon ourselves, but I shallesteem this as a most just apology for us, and taken from those ourlaws, according to which we lead our lives, against the many and thelying objections that have been made against us. Moreover, since thisApollonius does not do like Apion, and lay a continued accusationagainst us, but does it only by starts, and up and clown his discourse, while he sometimes reproaches us as atheists, and man-haters, andsometimes hits us in the teeth with our want of courage, and yetsometimes, on the contrary, accuses us of too great boldness andmadness in our conduct; nay, he says that we are the weakest of all thebarbarians, and that this is the reason why we are the only people whohave made no improvements in human life; now I think I shall have thensufficiently disproved all these his allegations, when it shall appearthat our laws enjoin the very reverse of what he says, and that we verycarefully observe those laws ourselves. And if I he compelled to makemention of the laws of other nations, that are contrary to ours, thoseought deservedly to thank themselves for it, who have pretended todepreciate our laws in comparison of their own; nor will there, I think, be any room after that for them to pretend either that we have no suchlaws ourselves, an epitome of which I will present to the reader, orthat we do not, above all men, continue in the observation of them. 

16. To begin then a good way backward, I would advance this, in thefirst place, that those who have been admirers of good order, and ofliving under common laws, and who began to introduce them, may well havethis testimony that they are better than other men, both for moderationand such virtue as is agreeable to nature. Indeed their endeavor was tohave every thing they ordained believed to be very ancient, thatthey might not be thought to imitate others, but might appear to havedelivered a regular way of living to others after them. Since then thisis the case, the excellency of a legislator is seen in providing for thepeople's living after the best manner, and in prevailing with those thatare to use the laws he ordains for them, to have a good opinion ofthem, and in obliging the multitude to persevere in them, and to make nochanges in them, neither in prosperity nor adversity. Now I venture tosay, that our legislator is the most ancient of all the legislators whomwe have ally where heard of; for as for the Lycurguses, and Solons, andZaleucus Locrensis, and all those legislators who are so admired by theGreeks, they seem to be of yesterday, if compared with our legislator, insomuch as the very name of a law was not so much as known in old timesamong the Grecians. Homer is a witness to the truth of this observation, who never uses that term in all his poems; for indeed there was then nosuch thing among them, but the multitude was governed by wise maxims, and by the injunctions of their king. It was also a long time that theycontinued in the use of these unwritten customs, although they werealways changing them upon several occasions. But for our legislator, who was of so much greater antiquity than the rest, [as even those thatspeak against us upon all occasions do always confess, ] he exhibitedhimself to the people as their best governor and counselor, and includedin his legislation the entire conduct of their lives, and prevailed withthem to receive it, and brought it so to pass, that those that were madeacquainted with his laws did most carefully observe them. 

17. But let us consider his first and greatest work; for when it wasresolved on by our forefathers to leave Egypt, and return to theirown country, this Moses took the many tell thousands that were of thepeople, and saved them out of many desperate distresses, and broughtthem home in safety. And certainly it was here necessary to travel overa country without water, and full of sand, to overcome their enemies, and, during these battles, to preserve their children, and their wives, and their prey; on all which occasions he became an excellent general ofan army, and a most prudent counselor, and one that took the truestcare of them all; he also so brought it about, that the whole multitudedepended upon him. And while he had them always obedient to what heenjoined, he made no manner of use of his authority for his own privateadvantage, which is the usual time when governors gain great powers tothemselves, and pave the way for tyranny, and accustom the multitudeto live very dissolutely; whereas, when our legislator was in so greatauthority, he, on the contrary, thought he ought to have regard topiety, and to show his great good-will to the people; and by this meanshe thought he might show the great degree of virtue that was in him, andmight procure the most lasting security to those who had made him theirgovernor. When he had therefore come to such a good resolution, andhad performed such wonderful exploits, we had just reason to look uponourselves as having him for a divine governor and counselor. And whenhe had first persuaded himself [17] that his actions and designs wereagreeable to God's will, he thought it his duty to impress, above allthings, that notion upon the multitude; for those who have once believedthat God is the inspector of their lives, will not permit themselvesin any sin. And this is the character of our legislator: he was noimpostor, no deceiver, as his revilers say, though unjustly, but sucha one as they brag Minos [18] to have been among the Greeks, and otherlegislators after him; for some of them suppose that they had their lawsfrom Jupiter, while Minos said that the revelation of his laws was tobe referred to Apollo, and his oracle at Delphi, whether they reallythought they were so derived, or supposed, however, that they couldpersuade the people easily that so it was. But which of these it was whomade the best laws, and which had the greatest reason to believethat God was their author, it will be easy, upon comparing those lawsthemselves together, to determine; for it is time that we come to thatpoint. [19] Now there are innumerable differences in the particularcustoms and laws that are among all mankind, which a man may brieflyreduce under the following heads: Some legislators have permitted theirgovernments to be under monarchies, others put them under oligarchies, and others under a republican form; but our legislator had no regardto any of these forms, but he ordained our government to be what, by astrained expression, may be termed a Theocracy, [20] by ascribing theauthority and the power to God, and by persuading all the people to havea regard to him, as the author of all the good things that were enjoyedeither in common by all mankind, or by each one in particular, and ofall that they themselves obtained by praying to him in their greatestdifficulties. He informed them that it was impossible to escape God'sobservation, even in any of our outward actions, or in any of ourinward thoughts. Moreover, he represented God as unbegotten, [21] andimmutable, through all eternity, superior to all mortal conceptions inpulchritude; and, though known to us by his power, yet unknown to us asto his essence. I do not now explain how these notions of God are thesentiments of the wisest among the Grecians, and how they were taughtthem upon the principles that he afforded them. However, they testify, with great assurance, that these notions are just, and agreeable to thenature of God, and to his majesty; for Pythagoras, and Anaxagoras, andPlato, and the Stoic philosophers that succeeded them, and almost allthe rest, are of the same sentiments, and had the same notions of thenature of God; yet durst not these men disclose those true notions tomore than a few, because the body of the people were prejudiced withother opinions beforehand. But our legislator, who made his actionsagree to his laws, did not only prevail with those that were hiscontemporaries to agree with these his notions, but so firmly imprintedthis faith in God upon all their posterity, that it never could beremoved. The reason why the constitution of this legislation was everbetter directed to the utility of all than other legislations were, isthis, that Moses did not make religion a part of virtue, but he saw andhe ordained other virtues to be parts of religion; I mean justice, andfortitude, and temperance, and a universal agreement of the members ofthe community with one another; for all our actions and studies, and allour words, [in Moses's settlement, ] have a reference to piety towardsGod; for he hath left none of these in suspense, or undetermined. For there are two ways of coming at any sort of learning and a moralconduct of life; the one is by instruction in words, the other bypractical exercises. Now other lawgivers have separated these two waysin their opinions, and choosing one of those ways of instruction, orthat which best pleased every one of them, neglected the other. Thus didthe Lacedemonians and the Cretians teach by practical exercises, but notby words; while the Athenians, and almost all the other Grecians, madelaws about what was to be done, or left undone, but had no regard to theexercising them thereto in practice. 

18. But for our legislator, he very carefully joined these two methodsof instruction together; for he neither left these practical exercisesto go on without verbal instruction, nor did he permit the hearing ofthe law to proceed without the exercises for practice; but beginningimmediately from the earliest infancy, and the appointment of everyone's diet, he left nothing of the very smallest consequence to be doneat the pleasure and disposal of the person himself. Accordingly, he madea fixed rule of law what sorts of food they should abstain from, andwhat sorts they should make use of; as also, what communion theyshould have with others what great diligence they should use in theiroccupations, and what times of rest should be interposed, that, byliving under that law as under a father and a master, we might be guiltyof no sin, neither voluntary nor out of ignorance; for he did not sufferthe guilt of ignorance to go on without punishment, but demonstratedthe law to be the best and the most necessary instruction of all others, permitting the people to leave off their other employments, and toassemble together for the hearing of the law, and learning it exactly, and this not once or twice, or oftener, but every week; which thing allthe other legislators seem to have neglected. 

19. And indeed the greatest part of mankind are so far from livingaccording to their own laws, that they hardly know them; but when theyhave sinned, they learn from others that they have transgressed the law. Those also who are in the highest and principal posts of the government, confess they are not acquainted with those laws, and are obliged to takesuch persons for their assessors in public administrations as profess tohave skill in those laws; but for our people, if any body do but ask anyone of them about our laws, he will more readily tell them all than hewill tell his own name, and this in consequence of our having learnedthem immediately as soon as ever we became sensible of any thing, and ofour having them as it were engraven on our souls. Our transgressors ofthem are but few, and it is impossible, when any do offend, to escapepunishment. 

20. And this very thing it is that principally creates such a wonderfulagreement of minds amongst us all; for this entire agreement of oursin all our notions concerning God, and our having no difference in ourcourse of life and manners, procures among us the most excellent concordof these our manners that is any where among mankind; for no otherpeople but the Jews have avoided all discourses about God that any waycontradict one another, which yet are frequent among other nations; andthis is true not only among ordinary persons, according as every oneis affected, but some of the philosophers have been insolent enough toindulge such contradictions, while some of them have undertaken to usesuch words as entirely take away the nature of God, as others of themhave taken away his providence over mankind. Nor can any one perceiveamongst us any difference in the conduct of our lives, but all our worksare common to us all. We have one sort of discourse concerning God, which is conformable to our law, and affirms that he sees all things;as also we have but one way of speaking concerning the conduct of ourlives, that all other things ought to have piety for their end; and thisany body may hear from our women, and servants themselves. 

21. And, indeed, hence hath arisen that accusation which some makeagainst us, that we have not produced men that have been the inventorsof new operations, or of new ways of speaking; for others think it afine thing to persevere in nothing that has been delivered down fromtheir forefathers, and these testify it to be an instance of thesharpest wisdom when these men venture to transgress those traditions;whereas we, on the contrary, suppose it to be our only wisdom and virtueto admit no actions nor supposals that are contrary to our originallaws; which procedure of ours is a just and sure sign that our lawis admirably constituted; for such laws as are not thus well made areconvicted upon trial to want amendment. 

22. But while we are ourselves persuaded that our law was made agreeablyto the will of God, it would be impious for us not to observe the same;for what is there in it that any body would change? and what can beinvented that is better? or what can we take out of other people's lawsthat will exceed it? Perhaps some would have the entire settlementof our government altered. And where shall we find a better or morerighteous constitution than ours, while this makes us esteem God to bethe Governor of the universe, and permits the priests in general to bethe administrators of the principal affairs, and withal intrusts thegovernment over the other priests to the chief high priest himself?which priests our legislator, at their first appointment, did notadvance to that dignity for their riches, or any abundance of otherpossessions, or any plenty they had as the gifts of fortune; but heintrusted the principal management of Divine worship to those thatexceeded others in an ability to persuade men, and in prudence ofconduct. These men had the main care of the law and of the other partsof the people's conduct committed to them; for they were the priests whowere ordained to be the inspectors of all, and the judges in doubtfulcases, and the punishers of those that were condemned to sufferpunishment. 

23. What form of government then can be more holy than this? what moreworthy kind of worship can be paid to God than we pay, where the entirebody of the people are prepared for religion, where an extraordinarydegree of care is required in the priests, and where the whole polity isso ordered as if it were a certain religious solemnity? For what thingsforeigners, when they solemnize such festivals, are not able to observefor a few days' time, and call them Mysteries and Sacred Ceremonies, weobserve with great pleasure and an unshaken resolution during our wholelives. What are the things then that we are commanded or forbidden? Theyare simple, and easily known. The first command is concerning God, andaffirms that God contains all things, and is a Being every way perfectand happy, self-sufficient, and supplying all other beings; thebeginning, the middle, and the end of all things. He is manifest inhis works and benefits, and more conspicuous than any other beingwhatsoever; but as to his form and magnitude, he is most obscure. Allmaterials, let them be ever so costly, are unworthy to compose an imagefor him, and all arts are unartful to express the notion we ought tohave of him. We can neither see nor think of any thing like him, nor isit agreeable to piety to form a resemblance of him. We see his works, the light, the heaven, the earth, the sun and the moon, the waters, thegenerations of animals, the productions of fruits. These things hath Godmade, not with hands, nor with labor, nor as wanting the assistance ofany to cooperate with him; but as his will resolved they should be madeand be good also, they were made and became good immediately. Allmen ought to follow this Being, and to worship him in the exercise ofvirtue; for this way of worship of God is the most holy of all others. 

24. There ought also to be but one temple for one God; for likeness isthe constant foundation of agreement. This temple ought to be common toall men, because he is the common God of all men. High priests are tobe continually about his worship, over whom he that is the first by hisbirth is to be their ruler perpetually. His business must be to offersacrifices to God, together with those priests that are joined with him, to see that the laws be observed, to determine controversies, and topunish those that are convicted of injustice; while he that does notsubmit to him shall be subject to the same punishment, as if he had beenguilty of impiety towards God himself. When we offer sacrifices to him, we do it not in order to surfeit ourselves, or to be drunken; forsuch excesses are against the will of God, and would be an occasion ofinjuries and of luxury; but by keeping ourselves sober, orderly, andready for our other occupations, and being more temperate than others. And for our duty at the sacrifices [22] themselves, we ought, in thefirst place, to pray for the common welfare of all, and after that forour own; for we are made for fellowship one with another, and he whoprefers the common good before what is peculiar to himself is above allacceptable to God. And let our prayers and supplications be made humblyto God, not [so much] that he would give us what is good, [for hehath already given that of his own accord, and hath proposed the samepublicly to all, ] as that we may duly receive it, and when we havereceived it, may preserve it. Now the law has appointed severalpurifications at our sacrifices, whereby we are cleansed aftera funeral, after what sometimes happens to us in bed, and afteraccompanying with our wives, and upon many other occasions, which itwould be too long now to set down. And this is our doctrine concerningGod and his worship, and is the same that the law appoints for ourpractice. 

25. But, then, what are our laws about marriage? That law owns no othermixture of sexes but that which nature hath appointed, of a man with hiswife, and that this be used only for the procreation of children. But itabhors the mixture of a male with a male; and if any one do that, deathis its punishment. It commands us also, when we marry, not to haveregard to portion, nor to take a woman by violence, nor to persuade herdeceitfully and knavishly; but to demand her in marriage of him who hathpower to dispose of her, and is fit to give her away by the nearnessof his kindred; for, says the Scripture, "A woman is inferior to herhusband in all things. " [23] Let her, therefore, be obedient to him; notso that he should abuse her, but that she may acknowledge her duty toher husband; for God hath given the authority to the husband. A husband, therefore, is to lie only with his wife whom he hath married; but tohave to do with another man's wife is a wicked thing, which, if any oneventures upon, death is inevitably his punishment: no more can heavoid the same who forces a virgin betrothed to another man, or enticesanother man's wife. The law, moreover, enjoins us to bring up all ouroffspring, and forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten, orto destroy it afterward; and if any woman appears to have so done, shewill be a murderer of her child, by destroying a living creature, and diminishing human kind; if any one, therefore, proceeds to suchfornication or murder, he cannot be clean. Moreover, the law enjoins, that after the man and wife have lain together in a regular way, theyshall bathe themselves; for there is a defilement contracted thereby, both in soul and body, as if they had gone into another country; forindeed the soul, by being united to the body, is subject to miseries, and is not freed therefrom again but by death; on which account the lawrequires this purification to be entirely performed. 

26. Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at thebirths of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking toexcess; but it ordains that the very beginning of our education shouldbe immediately directed to sobriety. It also commands us to bring thosechildren up in learning, and to exercise them in the laws, and makethem acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, in order to theirimitation of them, and that they might be nourished up in the laws fromtheir infancy, and might neither transgress them, nor have any pretensefor their ignorance of them. 

27. Our law hath also taken care of the decent burial of the dead, butwithout any extravagant expenses for their funerals, and without theerection of any illustrious monuments for them; but hath ordered thattheir nearest relations should perform their obsequies; and hath showedit to be regular, that all who pass by when any one is buried shouldaccompany the funeral, and join in the lamentation. It also ordains thatthe house and its inhabitants should be purified after the funeral isover, that every one may thence learn to keep at a great distance fromthe thoughts of being pure, if he hath been once guilty of murder. 

28. The law ordains also, that parents should be honored immediatelyafter God himself, and delivers that son who does not requite them forthe benefits he hath received from them, but is deficient on any suchoccasion, to be stoned. It also says that the young men should pay duerespect to every elder, since God is the eldest of all beings. It doesnot give leave to conceal any thing from our friends, because that isnot true friendship which will not commit all things to their fidelity:it also forbids the revelation of secrets, even though an enmity arisebetween them. If any judge takes bribes, his punishment is death: hethat overlooks one that offers him a petition, and this when he is ableto relieve him, he is a guilty person. What is not by any one intrustedto another ought not to be required back again. No one is to touchanother's goods. He that lends money must not demand usury for its loan. These, and many more of the like sort, are the rules that unite us inthe bands of society one with another. 

29. It will be also worth our while to see what equity our legislatorwould have us exercise in our intercourse with strangers; for it willthence appear that he made the best provision he possibly could, boththat we should not dissolve our own constitution, nor show anyenvious mind towards those that would cultivate a friendship with us. Accordingly, our legislator admits all those that have a mind to observeour laws so to do; and this after a friendly manner, as esteeming thata true union which not only extends to our own stock, but to those thatwould live after the same manner with us; yet does he not allow thosethat come to us by accident only to be admitted into communion with us. 

30. However, there are other things which our legislator ordained for usbeforehand, which of necessity we ought to do in common to all men; asto afford fire, and water, and food to such as want it; to show themthe roads; not to let any one lie unburied. He also would have us treatthose that are esteemed our enemies with moderation; for he doth notallow us to set their country on fire, nor permit us to cut down thosetrees that bear fruit; nay, further, he forbids us to spoil those thathave been slain in war. He hath also provided for such as are takencaptive, that they may not be injured, and especially that the womenmay not be abused. Indeed he hath taught us gentleness and humanityso effectually, that he hath not despised the care of brute beasts, by permitting no other than a regular use of them, and forbidding anyother; and if any of them come to our houses, like supplicants, we areforbidden to slay them; nor may we kill the dams, together with theiryoung ones; but we are obliged, even in an enemy's country, to spare andnot kill those creatures that labor for mankind. Thus hath our lawgivercontrived to teach us an equitable conduct every way, by using usto such laws as instruct us therein; while at the same time he hathordained that such as break these laws should be punished, without theallowance of any excuse whatsoever. 

31. Now the greatest part of offenses with us are capital; as if anyone be guilty of adultery; if any one force a virgin; if any one be soimpudent as to attempt sodomy with a male; or if, upon another's makingan attempt upon him, he submits to be so used. There is also a law forslaves of the like nature, that can never be avoided. Moreover, if anyone cheats another in measures or weights, or makes a knavish bargainand sale, in order to cheat another; if any one steals what belongs toanother, and takes what he never deposited; all these have punishmentsallotted them; not such as are met with among other nations, but moresevere ones. And as for attempts of unjust behavior towards parents, orfor impiety against God, though they be not actually accomplished, theoffenders are destroyed immediately. However, the reward for such aslive exactly according to the laws is not silver or gold; it is not agarland of olive branches or of small age, nor any such public sign ofcommendation; but every good man hath his own conscience bearing witnessto himself, and by virtue of our legislator's prophetic spirit, and ofthe firm security God himself affords such a one, he believes that Godhath made this grant to those that observe these laws, even though theybe obliged readily to die for them, that they shall come into beingagain, and at a certain revolution of things shall receive a better lifethan they had enjoyed before. Nor would I venture to write thus at thistime, were it not well known to all by our actions that many of ourpeople have many a time bravely resolved to endure any sufferings, rather than speak one word against our law. 

32. Nay, indeed, in case it had so fallen out, that our nation had notbeen so thoroughly known among all men as they are, and our voluntarysubmission to our laws had not been so open and manifest as it is, butthat somebody had pretended to have written these laws himself, and hadread them to the Greeks, or had pretended that he had met with men outof the limits of the known world, that had such reverent notions of God, and had continued a long time in the firm observance of such lawsas ours, I cannot but suppose that all men would admire them on areflection upon the frequent changes they had therein been themselvessubject to; and this while those that have attempted to write somewhatof the same kind for politic government, and for laws, are accusedas composing monstrous things, and are said to have undertaken animpossible task upon them. And here I will say nothing of those otherphilosophers who have undertaken any thing of this nature in theirwritings. But even Plato himself, who is so admired by the Greeks onaccount of that gravity in his manners, and force in his words, and thatability he had to persuade men beyond all other philosophers, is littlebetter than laughed at and exposed to ridicule on that account, by thosethat pretend to sagacity in political affairs; although he that shalldiligently peruse his writings will find his precepts to be somewhatgentle, and pretty near to the customs of the generality of mankind. Nay, Plato himself confesseth that it is not safe to publish the truenotion concerning God among the ignorant multitude. Yet do some men lookupon Plato's discourses as no better than certain idle words set offwith great artifice. However, they admire Lycurgus as the principallawgiver, and all men celebrate Sparta for having continued in the firmobservance of his laws for a very long time. So far then we have gained, that it is to be confessed a mark of virtue to submit to laws. [24] Butthen let such as admire this in the Lacedemonians compare that durationof theirs with more than two thousand years which our politicalgovernment hath continued; and let them further consider, that thoughthe Lacedemonians did seem to observe their laws exactly while theyenjoyed their liberty, yet that when they underwent a change of theirfortune, they forgot almost all those laws; while we, having been underten thousand changes in our fortune by the changes that happened amongthe kings of Asia, have never betrayed our laws under the most pressingdistresses we have been in; nor have we neglected them either outof sloth or for a livelihood. [25] if any one will consider it, thedifficulties and labors laid upon us have been greater than what appearsto have been borne by the Lacedemonian fortitude, while they neitherploughed their land, nor exercised any trades, but lived in their owncity, free from all such pains-taking, in the enjoyment of plenty, andusing such exercises as might improve their bodies, while they made useof other men as their servants for all the necessaries of life, and hadtheir food prepared for them by the others; and these good and humaneactions they do for no other purpose but this, that by their actions andtheir sufferings they may be able to conquer all those against whom theymake war. I need not add this, that they have not been fully able toobserve their laws; for not only a few single persons, but multitudes ofthem, have in heaps neglected those laws, and have delivered themselves, together with their arms, into the hands of their enemies. 

33. Now as for ourselves, I venture to say that no one can tell of somany; nay, not of more than one or two that have betrayed our laws, no, not out of fear of death itself; I do not mean such an easy death ashappens in battles, but that which comes with bodily torments, and seemsto be the severest kind of death of all others. Now I think those thathave conquered us have put us to such deaths, not out of their hatred tous when they had subdued us, but rather out of their desire of seeing asurprising sight, which is this, whether there be such men in the worldwho believe that no evil is to them so great as to be compelled to do orto speak any thing contrary to their own laws. Nor ought men to wonderat us, if we are more courageous in dying for our laws than all othermen are; for other men do not easily submit to the easier things inwhich we are instituted; I mean working with our hands, and eating butlittle, and being contented to eat and drink, not at random, or at everyone's pleasure, or being under inviolable rules in lying with our wives, in magnificent furniture, and again in the observation of our times ofrest; while those that can use their swords in war, and can put theirenemies to flight when they attack them, cannot bear to submit to suchlaws about their way of living: whereas our being accustomed willinglyto submit to laws in these instances, renders us fit to show ourfortitude upon other occasions also. 

34. Yet do the Lysimachi and the Molones, and some other writers, [unskillful sophists as they are, and the deceivers of young men, ]reproach us as the vilest of all mankind. Now I have no mind to make aninquiry into the laws of other nations; for the custom of our country isto keep our own laws, but not to bring accusations against the laws ofothers. And indeed our legislator hath expressly forbidden us to laughat and revile those that are esteemed gods by other people? on accountof the very name of God ascribed to them. But since our antagoniststhink to run us down upon the comparison of their religion and ours, itis not possible to keep silence here, especially while what I shall sayto confute these men will not be now first said, but hath been alreadysaid by many, and these of the highest reputation also; for who is thereamong those that have been admired among the Greeks for wisdom, whohath not greatly blamed both the most famous poets, and most celebratedlegislators, for spreading such notions originally among the body of thepeople concerning the gods? such as these, that they may be allowed tobe as numerous as they have a mind to have them; that they are begottenone by another, and that after all the kinds of generation you canimagine. They also distinguish them in their places and ways of livingas they would distinguish several sorts of animals; as some to be underthe earth; as some to be in the sea; and the ancientest of them all tobe bound in hell; and for those to whom they have allotted heaven, theyhave set over them one, who in title is their father, but in his actionsa tyrant and a lord; whence it came to pass that his wife, and brother, and daughter [which daughter he brought forth from his own head] madea conspiracy against him to seize upon him and confine hint, as he hadhimself seized upon and confined his own father before. 

35. And justly have the wisest men thought these notions deservedsevere rebukes; they also laugh at them for determining that we ought tobelieve some of the gods to be beardless and young, and others of themto be old, and to have beards accordingly; that some are set to trades;that one god is a smith, and another goddess is a weaver; that one godis a warrior, and fights with men; that some of them are harpers, ordelight in archery; and besides, that mutual seditions arise among them, and that they quarrel about men, and this so far, that they not only layhands upon one another, but that they are wounded by men, and lament, and take on for such their afflictions. But what is the grossest of allin point of lasciviousness, are those unbounded lusts ascribed to almostall of them, and their amours; which how can it be other than a mostabsurd supposal, especially when it reaches to the male gods, and to thefemale goddesses also? Moreover, the chief of all their gods, and theirfirst father himself, overlooks those goddesses whom he hath deluded andbegotten with child, and suffers them to be kept in prison, or drownedin the sea. He is also so bound up by fate, that he cannot save his ownoffspring, nor can he bear their deaths without shedding of tears. Theseare fine things indeed! as are the rest that follow. Adulteries trulyare so impudently looked on in heaven by the gods, that some of themhave confessed they envied those that were found in the very act. Andwhy should they not do so, when the eldest of them, who is their kingalso, hath not been able to restrain himself in the violence of hislust, from lying with his wife, so long as they might get into theirbedchamber? Now some of the gods are servants to men, and will sometimesbe builders for a reward, and sometimes will be shepherds; while othersof them, like malefactors, are bound in a prison of brass. And whatsober person is there who would not be provoked at such stories, andrebuke those that forged them, and condemn the great silliness of thosethat admit them for true? Nay, others there are that have advanced acertain timorousness and fear, as also madness and fraud, and any otherof the vilest passions, into the nature and form of gods, and havepersuaded whole cities to offer sacrifices to the better sort of them;on which account they have been absolutely forced to esteem some gods asthe givers of good things, and to call others of them averters of evil. They also endeavor to move them, as they would the vilest of men, bygifts and presents, as looking for nothing else than to receive somegreat mischief from them, unless they pay them such wages. 

36. Wherefore it deserves our inquiry what should be the occasion ofthis unjust management, and of these scandals about the Deity. And trulyI suppose it to be derived from the imperfect knowledge the heathenlegislators had at first of the true nature of God; nor did they explainto the people even so far as they did comprehend of it: nor did theycompose the other parts of their political settlements according to it, but omitted it as a thing of very little consequence, and gave leaveboth to the poets to introduce what gods they pleased, and those subjectto all sorts of passions, and to the orators to procure politicaldecrees from the people for the admission of such foreign gods as theythought proper. The painters also, and statuaries of Greece, had hereingreat power, as each of them could contrive a shape [proper for a god];the one to be formed out of clay, and the other by making a bare pictureof such a one. But those workmen that were principally admired, had theuse of ivory and of gold as the constant materials for their new statues[whereby it comes to pass that some temples are quite deserted, whileothers are in great esteem, and adorned with all the rites of all kindsof purification]. Besides this, the first gods, who have long flourishedin the honors done them, are now grown old [while those that flourishedafter them are come in their room as a second rank, that I may speak themost honorably of them I can]: nay, certain other gods there are whoare newly introduced, and newly worshipped [as we, by way of digression, have said already, and yet have left their places of worship desolate];and for their temples, some of them are already left desolate, andothers are built anew, according to the pleasure of men; whereas theyought to have their opinion about God, and that worship which is due tohim, always and immutably the same. 

37. But now, this Apollonius Molo was one of these foolish and proudmen. However, nothing that I have said was unknown to those that werereal philosophers among the Greeks, nor were they unacquainted withthose frigid pretensions of allegories [which had been alleged for suchthings]; on which account they justly despised them, but have stillagreed with us as to the true and becoming notions of God; whence it wasthat Plato would not have political settlements admit to of any one ofthe other poets, and dismisses even Homer himself, with a garland on hishead, and with ointment poured upon him, and this because he should notdestroy the right notions of God with his fables. Nay, Plato principallyimitated our legislator in this point, that he enjoined his citizensto have he main regard to this precept, "That every one of them shouldlearn their laws accurately. " He also ordained, that they should notadmit of foreigners intermixing with their own people at random; andprovided that the commonwealth should keep itself pure, and consist ofsuch only as persevered in their own laws. Apollonius Molo did no wayconsider this, when he made it one branch of his accusation against us, that we do not admit of such as have different notions about God, norwill we have fellowship with those that choose to observe a way ofliving different from ourselves, yet is not this method peculiar to us, but common to all other men; not among the ordinary Grecians only, butamong such of those Grecians as are of the greatest reputation amongthem. Moreover, the Lacedemonians continued in their way of expellingforeigners, and would not indeed give leave to their own people totravel abroad, as suspecting that those two things would introduce adissolution of their own laws: and perhaps there may be some reason toblame the rigid severity of the Lacedemonians, for they bestowed theprivilege of their city on no foreigners, nor indeed would give leaveto them to stay among them; whereas we, though we do not think fit toimitate other institutions, yet do we willingly admit of those thatdesire to partake of ours, which, I think, I may reckon to be a plainindication of our humanity, and at the same time of our magnanimityalso. 

38. But I shall say no more of the Lacedemonians. As for the Athenians, who glory in having made their city to be common to all men, what theirbehavior was Apollonius did not know, while they punished those thatdid but speak one word contrary to the laws about the gods, without anymercy; for on what other account was it that Socrates was put to deathby them? For certainly he neither betrayed their city to its enemies, nor was he guilty of any sacrilege with regard to any of their temples;but it was on this account, that he swore certain new oaths [26] andthat he affirmed either in earnest, or, as some say, only in jest, thata certain demon used to make signs to him [what he should not do]. Forthese reasons he was condemned to drink poison, and kill himself. Hisaccuser also complained that he corrupted the young men, by inducingthem to despise the political settlement and laws of their city: andthus was Socrates, the citizen of Athens, punished. There was alsoAnaxagoras, who, although he was of Clazomente, was within a fewsuffrages of being condemned to die, because he said the sun, which theAthenians thought to be a god, was a ball of fire. They also made thispublic proclamation, "That they would give a talent to any one who wouldkill Diagoras of Melos, " because it was reported of him that he laughedat their mysteries. Protagoras also, who was thought to have writtensomewhat that was not owned for truth by the Athenians about thegods, had been seized upon, and put to death, if he had not fled awayimmediately. Nor need we at all wonder that they thus treated suchconsiderable men, when they did not spare even women also; for they verylately slew a certain priestess, because she was accused by somebodythat she initiated people into the worship of strange gods, it havingbeen forbidden so to do by one of their laws; and a capital punishmenthad been decreed to such as introduced a strange god; it being manifest, that they who make use of such a law do not believe those of othernations to be really gods, otherwise they had not envied themselves theadvantage of more gods than they already had. And this was the happyadministration of the affairs of the Athenians! Now as to the Scythians, they take a pleasure in killing men, and differ but little from brutebeasts; yet do they think it reasonable to have their institutionsobserved. They also slew Anacharsis, a person greatly admired for hiswisdom among the Greeks, when he returned to them, because he appearedto come fraught with Grecian customs. One may also find many to havebeen punished among the Persians, on the very same account. And to besure Apollonius was greatly pleased with the laws of the Persians, andwas an admirer of them, because the Greeks enjoyed the advantage oftheir courage, and had the very same opinion about the gods which theyhad. This last was exemplified in the temples which they burnt, andtheir courage in coming, and almost entirely enslaving the Grecians. However, Apollonius has imitated all the Persian institutions, and thatby his offering violence to other men's wives, and gelding his own sons. Now, with us, it is a capital crime, if any one does thus abuse even abrute beast; and as for us, neither hath the fear of our governors, nora desire of following what other nations have in so great esteem, beenable to withdraw us from our own laws; nor have we exerted our couragein raising up wars to increase our wealth, but only for the observationof our laws; and when we with patience bear other losses, yet when anypersons would compel us to break our laws, then it is that we choose togo to war, though it be beyond our ability to pursue it, and bear thegreatest calamities to the last with much fortitude. And, indeed, whatreason can there be why we should desire to imitate the laws of othernations, while we see they are not observed by their own legislators[27] And why do not the Lacedemonians think of abolishing that form oftheir government which suffers them not to associate with any others, as well as their contempt of matrimony? And why do not the Eleans andThebans abolish that unnatural and impudent lust, which makes them liewith males? For they will not show a sufficient sign of their repentanceof what they of old thought to be very excellent, and very advantageousin their practices, unless they entirely avoid all such actions for thetime to come: nay, such things are inserted into the body of their laws, and had once such a power among the Greeks, that they ascribed thesesodomitical practices to the gods themselves, as a part of their goodcharacter; and indeed it was according to the same manner that the godsmarried their own sisters. This the Greeks contrived as an apology fortheir own absurd and unnatural pleasures. 

39. I omit to speak concerning punishments, and how many ways ofescaping them the greatest part of the legislators have affordedmalefactors, by ordaining that, for adulteries, fines in money should beallowed, and for corrupting [28] [virgins] they need only marry themas also what excuses they may have in denying the facts, if any oneattempts to inquire into them; for amongst most other nations it isa studied art how men may transgress their laws; but no such thing ispermitted amongst us; for though we be deprived of our wealth, of ourcities, or of the other advantages we have, our law continues immortal;nor can any Jew go so far from his own country, nor be so aftrighted atthe severest lord, as not to be more aftrighted at the law than at him. If, therefore, this be the disposition we are under, with regard to theexcellency of our laws, let our enemies make us this concession, thatour laws are most excellent; and if still they imagine, that though weso firmly adhere to them, yet are they bad laws notwithstanding, whatpenalties then do they deserve to undergo who do not observe their ownlaws, which they esteem so far superior to them? Whereas, therefore, length of time is esteemed to be the truest touchstone in all cases, Iwould make that a testimonial of the excellency of our laws, and of thatbelief thereby delivered to us concerning God. For as there hath beena very long time for this comparison, if any one will but compare itsduration with the duration of the laws made by other legislators, hewill find our legislator to have been the ancientest of them all. 

40. We have already demonstrated that our laws have been such as havealways inspired admiration and imitation into all other men; nay, theearliest Grecian philosophers, though in appearance they observed thelaws of their own countries, yet did they, in their actions, and theirphilosophic doctrines, follow our legislator, and instructed men to livesparingly, and to have friendly communication one with another. Nay, further, the multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclinationof a long time to follow our religious observances; for there is notany city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nationwhatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath notcome, and by which our fasts and lighting up lamps, and many of ourprohibitions as to our food, are not observed; they also endeavorto imitate our mutual concord with one another, and the charitabledistribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades, and ourfortitude in undergoing the distresses we are in, on account of ourlaws; and, what is here matter of the greatest admiration, our law hathno bait of pleasure to allure men to it, but it prevails by its ownforce; and as God himself pervades all the world, so hath our law passedthrough all the world also. So that if any one will but reflect on hisown country, and his own family, he will have reason to give credit towhat I say. It is therefore but just, either to condemn all mankindof indulging a wicked disposition, when they have been so desirous ofimitating laws that are to them foreign and evil in themselves, ratherthan following laws of their own that are of a better character, or elseour accusers must leave off their spite against us. Nor are we guilty ofany envious behavior towards them, when we honor our own legislator, andbelieve what he, by his prophetic authority, hath taught us concerningGod. For though we should not be able ourselves to understand theexcellency of our own laws, yet would the great multitude of those thatdesire to imitate them, justify us, in greatly valuing ourselves uponthem. 

41. But as for the [distinct] political laws by which we are governed, Ihave delivered them accurately in my books of Antiquities; and haveonly mentioned them now, so far as was necessary to my present purpose, without proposing to myself either to blame the laws of other nations, or to make an encomium upon our own; but in order to convict thosethat have written about us unjustly, and in an impudent affectation ofdisguising the truth. And now I think I have sufficiently completedwhat I proposed in writing these books. For whereas our accusers havepretended that our nation are a people of very late original, I havedemonstrated that they are exceeding ancient; for I have produced aswitnesses thereto many ancient writers, who have made mention of usin their books, while they had said that no such writer had so done. Moreover, they had said that we were sprung from the Egyptians, while Ihave proved that we came from another country into Egypt: while they hadtold lies of us, as if we were expelled thence on account of diseaseson our bodies, it has appeared, on the contrary, that we returned toour country by our own choice, and with sound and strong bodies. Thoseaccusers reproached our legislator as a vile fellow; whereas God in oldtime bare witness to his virtuous conduct; and since that testimony ofGod, time itself hath been discovered to have borne witness to the samething. 

42. As to the laws themselves, more words are unnecessary, for they arevisible in their own nature, and appear to teach not impiety, but thetruest piety in the world. They do not make men hate one another, butencourage people to communicate what they have to one another freely;they are enemies to injustice, they take care of righteousness, theybanish idleness and expensive living, and instruct men to be contentwith what they have, and to be laborious in their calling; they forbidmen to make war from a desire of getting more, but make men courageousin defending the laws; they are inexorable in punishing malefactors;they admit no sophistry of words, but are always established by actionsthemselves, which actions we ever propose as surer demonstrations thanwhat is contained in writing only: on which account I am so bold as tosay that we are become the teachers of other men, in the greatest numberof things, and those of the most excellent nature only; for what is moreexcellent than inviolable piety? what is more just than submission tolaws? and what is more advantageous than mutual love and concord? andthis so far that we are to be neither divided by calamities, nor tobecome injurious and seditious in prosperity; but to contemn deathwhen we are in war, and in peace to apply ourselves to our mechanicaloccupations, or to our tillage of the ground; while we in all thingsand all ways are satisfied that God is the inspector and governor ofour actions. If these precepts had either been written at first, or moreexactly kept by any others before us, we should have owed them thanks asdisciples owe to their masters; but if it be visible that we have madeuse of them more than any other men, and if we have demonstrated thatthe original invention of them is our own, let the Apions, and theMolons, with all the rest of those that delight in lies and reproaches, stand confuted; but let this and the foregoing book be dedicated tothee, Epaphroditus, who art so great a lover of truth, and by thy meansto those that have been in like manner desirous to be acquainted withthe affairs of our nation. 

APION BOOK 2 FOOTNOTES

[1] The former part of this second book is written against the calumniesof Apion, and then, more briefly, against the like calumnies ofApollonius Molo. But after that, Josephus leaves off any more particularreply to those adversaries of the Jews, and gives us a large andexcellent description and vindication of that theocracy which wassettled for the Jewish nation by Moses, their great legislator. 

[2] Called by Tiberius Cymbalum Mundi, The drum of the world. 

[3] This seems to have been the first dial that had been made in Egypt, and was a little before the time that Ahaz made his [first] dial inJudea, and about anno 755, in the first year of the seventh olympiad, aswe shall see presently. See 2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8. 

[4] The burial-place for dead bodies, as I suppose. 

[5] Here begins a great defect in the Greek copy; but the old Latinversion fully supplies that defect. 

[6] What error is here generally believed to have been committed by ourJosephus in ascribing a deliverance of the Jews to the reign of PtolemyPhysco, the seventh of those Ptolemus, which has been universallysupposed to have happened under Ptolemy Philopater, the fourth of them, is no better than a gross error of the moderns, and not of Josephus, asI have fully proved in the Authentic. Rec. Part I. P. 200-201, whither Irefer the inquisitive reader. 

[7] Sister's son, and adopted son. 

[8] Called more properly Molo, or Apollonius Molo, as hereafter; forApollonins, the son of Molo, was another person, as Strabo informs us, lib. Xiv. 

[9] Furones in the Latin, which what animal it denotes does not nowappear. 

[10] It is great pity that these six pagan authors, here mentioned tohave described the famous profanation of the Jewish temple by AntiochusEpiphanes, should be all lost; I mean so far of their writings ascontained that description; though it is plain Josephus perused them allas extant in his time. 

[11] It is remarkable that Josephus here, and, I think, no where else, reckons up four distinct courts of the temple; that of the Gentiles, that of the women of Israel, that of the men of Israel, and that of thepriests; as also that the court of the women admitted of the men, [Isuppose only of the husbands of those wives that were therein, ] whilethe court of the men did not admit any women into it at all. 

[12] Judea, in the Greek, by a gross mistake of the transcribers. 

[13] Seven in the Greek, by a like gross mistake of the transcribers. See of the War, B. V. Ch. 5. Sect. 4. 

[14] Two hundred in the Greek, contrary to the twenty in the War, B. VII. Ch, 5. Sect. 3. 

[15] This notorious disgrace belonging peculiarly to the people ofEgypt, ever since the times of the old prophets of the Jews, notedboth sect. 4 already, and here, may be confirmed by the testimony ofIsidorus, an Egyptian of Pelusium, Epist. Lib. I. Ep. 489. And this is aremarkable completion of the ancient prediction of God by Ezekiel 29:14, 15, "that the Egyptians should be a base kingdom, the basest of thekingdoms, " and that, "it should not exalt itself any more above thenations. "

[16] The truth of which still further appears by the present observationof Josephus, that these Egyptians had never, in all the past ages sinceSesostris, had one day of liberty, no, not so much as to have been freefrom despotic power under any of the monarchies to that day. And allthis has been found equally true in the latter ages, under the Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks, from the days of Josephus till thepresent ago also. 

[17] This language, that Moses, "persuaded himself" that what he did wasaccording to God's will, can mean no more, by Josephus's own constantnotions elsewhere, than that he was "firmly persuaded, " that he had"fully satisfied himself" that so it was, viz. By the many revelationshe had received from God, and the numerous miracles God had enabled himto work, as he both in these very two books against Apion, and in hisAntiquities, most clearly and frequently assures us. This is furtherevident from several passages lower, where he affirms that Moses was noimpostor nor deceiver, and where he assures that Moses's constitution ofgovernment was no other than a theocracy; and where he says they are tohope for deliverance out of their distresses by prayer to God, and thatwithal it was owing in part to this prophetic spirit of Moses that theJews expected a resurrection from the dead. See almost as strange a useof the like words, "to persuade God, " Antiq. B. VI. Ch. 5. Sect. 6. 

[18] That is, Moses really was, what the heathen legislators pretendedto be, under a Divine direction; nor does it yet appear that thesepretensions to a supernatural conduct, either in these legislators ororacles, were mere delusions of men without any demoniacal impressions, nor that Josephus took them so to be; as the ancientest and contemporaryauthors did still believe them to be supernatural. 

[19] This whole very large passage is corrected by Dr. Hudson fromEusebius's citation of it, Prep. Evangel. Viii. 8, which is here not alittle different from the present MSS. Of Josephus. 

[20] This expression itself, that "Moses ordained the Jewish governmentto be a theocracy, " may be illustrated by that parallel expression inthe Antiquities, B. III. Ch. 8. Sect. 9, that "Moses left it to God tobe present at his sacrifices when he pleased; and when he pleased, tobe absent. " Both ways of speaking sound harsh in the ears of Jews andChristians, as do several others which Josephus uses to the heathens;but still they were not very improper in him, when he all along thoughtfit to accommodate himself, both in his Antiquities, and in these hisbooks against Apion, all written for the use of the Greeks and Romans, to their notions and language, and this as far as ever truth would givehim leave. Though it be very observable withal, that he never uses suchexpressions in his books of the War, written originally for the Jewsbeyond Euphrates, and in their language, in all these cases. However, Josephus directly supposes the Jewish settlement, under Moses, to be aDivine settlement, and indeed no other than a real theocracy. 

[21] These excellent accounts of the Divine attributes, and that Godis not to be at all known in his essence, as also some other clearexpressions about the resurrection of the dead, and the state ofdeparted souls, etc. , in this late work of Josephus, look more like theexalted notions of the Essens, or rather Ebionite Christians, than thoseof a mere Jew or Pharisee. The following large accounts also of the lawsof Moses, seem to me to show a regard to the higher interpretations andimprovements of Moses's laws, derived from Jesus Christ, than to thebare letter of them in the Old Testament, whence alone Josephus tookthem when he wrote his Antiquities; nor, as I think, can some of theselaws, though generally excellent in their kind, be properly now foundeither in the copies of the Jewish Pentateuch, or in Philo, or inJosephus himself, before he became a Nazarene or Ebionite Christian; noreven all of them among the laws of catholic Christianity themselves. Idesire, therefore, the learned reader to consider, whether some of theseimprovements or interpretations might not be peculiar to the Essensamong the Jews, or rather to the Nazarenes or Ebionites among theChristians, though we have indeed but imperfect accounts of thoseNazarenes or Ebionite Christians transmitted down to us at this day. 

[22] We may here observe how known a thing it was among the Jews andheathens, in this and many other instances, that sacrifices were stillaccompanied with prayers; whence most probably came those phrases of"the sacrifice of prayer, the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice ofthanksgiving. " However, those ancient forms used at sacrifices are nowgenerally lost, to the no small damage of true religion. It is here alsoexceeding remarkable, that although the temple at Jerusalem was builtas the only place where the whole nation of the Jews were to offer theirsacrifices, yet is there no mention of the "sacrifices" themselves, butof "prayers" only, in Solomon's long and famous form of devotion at itsdedication, 1 Kings 8. ; 2 Chronicles 6. See also many passages cited inthe Apostolical Constitutions, VII. 37, and Of the War, above, B. VII. Ch. 5. Sect. 6. 

[23] This text is no where in our present copies of the Old Testament. 

[24] It may not be amiss to set down here a very remarkable testimonyof the great philosopher Cicero, as to the preference of "laws tophilosophy:--I will, " says he, "boldly declare my opinion, though thewhole world be offended at it. I prefer this little book of the TwelveTables alone to all the volumes of the philosophers. I find it to be notonly of more weight, ' but also much more useful. "--Oratore. 

[25] we have observed our times of rest, and sorts of food allowed us[during our distresses]. 

[26] See what those novel oaths were in Dr. Hudson's note, viz. Toswear by an oak, by a goat, and by a dog, as also by a gander, as sayPhilostratus and others. This swearing strange oaths was also forbiddenby the Tyrians, B. I. Sect. 22, as Spanheim here notes. 

[27] Why Josephus here should blame some heathen legislators, when theyallowed so easy a composition for simple fornication, as an obligationto marry the virgin that was corrupted, is hard to say, seeing he hadhimself truly informed us that it was a law of the Jews, Antiq. B. IV. Ch. 8. Sect. 23, as it is the law of Christianity also: see HorebCovenant, p. 61. I am almost ready to suspect that, for, we should hereread, and that corrupting wedlock, or other men's wives, is the crimefor which these heathens wickedly allowed this composition in money. 

[28] Or "for corrupting other men's wives the same allowance. "