Praeparatio evangelica

9. The Outline of the High Priest Eleazar of the Allegorical Meaning in the Sacred Laws: "It is worthwhile to mention briefly what he indicated in response to our inquiries. For most people think that there is some superfluousness in the legislation, I mean concerning foods and drinks and the creatures considered unclean. For when we asked why, since there is one creation, some are considered unclean for food, and others even for touch—for the legislation is for the most part superstitious, and in these matters especially so—he began thus: 'Do you see,' he said, 'what effect associations and interactions produce, that by associating with evil men people acquire distortions and are wretched throughout their whole life; but if they live with wise and prudent men, they obtain correction from ignorance in their life. Therefore our lawgiver, having first distinguished the matters of piety and justice and taught each concerning these, not only in a prohibitive manner but also in an indicative one, both foretold the harms and the visitations sent by God upon the guilty. For he first showed that God alone exists and that his power is manifest through all things, every place being filled with his dominion, and that nothing done secretly by men on earth escapes him, but all that one does is manifest to him, as well as what is going to happen.'

Having worked this out precisely and set it forth clearly, he showed that even if someone conceives of committing a vice, he would not escape notice, let alone if he actually did it, demonstrating throughout the entire legislation the power of God. Having made this beginning and shown that all other people besides us think there are many gods, while they themselves are far more powerful than those they vainly worship. For they make statues from stones or wood, calling them images of those who discovered something useful for their life, to which they prostrate themselves, having insensibility at their feet. For if one posits that, according to discovery, it is utterly foolish; for taking some things from creation, they combined them and further indicated their construction as most useful, not having made them themselves; hence it is empty and vain to deify their like. For even now many are more inventive and more learned than the men of old, and they would not be able to worship them in time. And those who fashioned and mythologized these things think themselves the wisest of the Greeks. For what need is there even to speak of the other vain multitudes, the Egyptians and their like, who have based their reliance on beasts and most of the reptiles and vermin, and worship these, and sacrifice to them both living and dead? Having therefore considered each thing, the lawgiver, being wise and equipped by God for the knowledge of all things, fenced us in with unbroken

...ife of the man, and that he was a lover of truth and a hater of falsehood. For this reason, he was called by the Egyptians "a man of God," a title which does not belong to others unless they worship the true God. But they are men of food and drink and shelter, for their whole disposition takes refuge in these things. Among us, however, these things are accounted as nothing, and their whole life is spent in contemplation of the power of God. Therefore, so that we might not be polluted by mixing with anyone nor receive perversions from associating with the wicked, he fenced us about on all sides with purifications, through foods and drinks and touches and hearing and sight, according to the law. For everything in general is similar in accordance with natural reason, being administered by one power, and each individual thing has a deep meaning, from which we abstain in use and with which we associate. For the sake of example, I will indicate one or two things to you. Do not fall into the fallen reasoning that Moses legislated these things for the sake of curiosity about mice and weasels or such things, but everything has been arranged solemnly for the sake of pure examination and the exceptional equipment of ways of righteousness. For the birds we use are all tame and distinguished by cleanliness, using wheat and legumes for food, such as doves, turtledoves, partridges, and also geese and all such things.

Concerning the birds that are forbidden, you will find that they are wild and carnivorous, dominating the rest by their own power and obtaining their food by consuming the aforementioned tame animals unjustly. And not only this, but they also seize lambs and kids and wrong human beings, both dead and alive. Therefore, the lawgiver established a sign through these, calling them unclean, that it is necessary for those to whom the legislation is directed to practice justice in their soul and not to dominate anyone, trusting in their own strength, nor to take anything away, but to govern the affairs of life justly, just as the tame animals of the aforementioned birds consume the produce of legumes growing on the ground and do not dominate to the point of destroying either those inferior or those of their own kind. Through such things, then, the lawgiver instructed the wise to take note, to be just, and to accomplish nothing by force, nor, trusting in their own strength, to dominate others. For where it is not even permitted to touch the aforementioned because of the disposition concerning each, how should one not guard entirely against inclining one's ways toward this? All things, therefore, concerning the permission for us regarding these and the cattle have been set forth allegorically. For the cloven hoof and the parting of the hoof's nails are a sign of distinguishing each of one's actions toward what is proper. For the strength of the entire body, with its activity, rests upon the shoulders and legs. Therefore, it compels one to accomplish everything with distinction toward justice, by signifying through these, and also because we are distinguished from all men.

For most of the rest defile themselves by mingling, contributing a great injustice, and whole regions and cities pride themselves on these things. For they not only approach males, but also defile mothers, and even daughters. But we have been separated from these. And concerning that to which the aforementioned manner of separation pertains, concerning that he has also characterized the manner of memory. For all that are cloven-hoofed and ruminate clearly sets forth the matter of memory to those who understand. For rumination is nothing other than a reminder of life and sustenance. For it considers that living consists through food. Therefore

it commands through the scripture, speaking thus: "By remembrance you shall remember the Lord God, who has wrought in you the great and wondrous things." For when contemplated, they appear glorious and great: first, the formation of the body and the management of food and the distinction concerning each member, and much more the ordering of the senses, the activity and invisible movement of the mind, and the sharpness for doing each thing and the discovery of arts contains an infinite manner. Therefore it commands to have remembrance, that the aforementioned things are preserved, held together by divine power along with construction. For it has appointed every time and place for remembering throughout the ruling God, who preserves both the beginnings, middles, and ends. For it commands that, when beginning with foods and drinks, to use them immediately then. And indeed, from the coverings it has given us a sign of remembrance.

Likewise, concerning cities and dwellings, because of the need for shelter, he has commanded us to place the oracles on gates and doors, so that there may be remembrance of God. And concerning hands, he explicitly orders the sign to be attached, clearly demonstrating that every action must be performed with justice, keeping in mind our own constitution, and above all, the fear of God. He also commands that when lying down, rising, and walking, we should meditate on the constitutions of God, not only in word but also in thought, observing our own movement and perception when we go to sleep and our awakening, as the transition of these is divine and incomprehensible. The excess of the oracle concerning distinction and remembrance has also been shown to you, as we set forth the cloven hoof and rumination. For it has not been legislated idly and by chance, falling into the soul, but rather for truth and as a sign of right reason. Having given instructions concerning foods, drinks, and each of the things related to touch, he commands that nothing be done or heard idly, and that those who use the power of reason should not turn to injustice. And concerning reptiles, the same can be found. For their nature is harmful, both of the weasel and of mice and of those similar to them, as many as have been specified. For mice spoil and harm everything, not only for their own food, but also so that whatever they attack becomes completely useless to man. The race of the weasel is peculiar; for apart from what has been said, it has a destructive disposition. For it conceives through the ears and gives birth through the mouth.

And for this reason, therefore, such a manner of men is impure. For whatever they receive through hearing, they embody in speech and roll over into evils for others, and they accomplish not the ordinary impurity, being themselves wholly defiled by the stain of impiety. And your king does well to destroy such men, as we understand. And I said: "I think you mean the informers; for he continually subjects them to tortures and painful deaths." "These indeed; for vigilance for the destruction of men is unholy. But our law commands us to do evil to no one, either in word or deed. And concerning these matters, then, to go through briefly, I will also point out to you that everything has been regulated for justice and nothing has been set down idly in the scripture nor in a mythical manner, but so that throughout our life and in our actions we may practice justice towards all men, remembering the ruling God. Concerning foods, then, and the unclean, creeping things and wild beasts, the whole argument tends towards justice and the just intercourse of men." To me, then, he seemed to have spoken well in defense of each point; for he also said concerning the offerings of calves and rams and goats that it is necessary to take these from herds and flocks and to make them tame and not wild, so that those who offer

the sacrifices, they establish nothing arrogant for themselves, using the sign of the one who ordained them. For the one who offers the sacrifice makes the offering of his own soul in the manner of the whole. And concerning these matters, therefore, I consider the discourse to be worthy of mention, on account of the dignity of the law, which I have undertaken to explain to you, Philocrates, on account of the love of learning which you possess. So the high priest distinguished for the Greeks who came to him concerning the allegorized idea in the sacred laws, as if they were about to encounter the interpretations of the scriptures that would be published. And Aristobulus, who had partaken of the philosophy according to Aristotle in addition to his ancestral tradition, what he set forth concerning the things carried in the sacred books as limbs of God, it is time to hear. This is the same man whom the second book of Maccabees mentions at the beginning of the book, in the treatise to King Ptolemy, and he himself explains this manner.

10. ARISTOBULUS ON THE SO-CALLED LIMBS OF GOD. "But enough having been said concerning the questions at hand, you also, O King, have added that it is signified through our law that hands and arm and face and feet and walking are applied to the divine power. These will receive a fitting account and will contradict nothing of what has been previously said by us. I wish to exhort you to take the interpretations naturally and to hold the appropriate conception concerning God, and not to fall into the mythical and human condition.

For in many ways our lawgiver Moses, when speaking of other matters—I mean those concerning the manifestation—announces natural dispositions and preparations for great things. Those who are able to understand well marvel at his wisdom and the divine spirit by which he is proclaimed a prophet; among these are the aforementioned philosophers and many others, and poets who have taken great starting points from him, on account of which they are admired. But to those who do not share in power and understanding, but cling only to the literal text, he does not appear to clarify anything great. I will begin to take each meaning, as far as I am able. And if I do not hit upon the matter nor persuade, do not attribute irrationality to the lawgiver, but to me, who is unable to discern what he has conceived. Now hands are understood clearly and more commonly even among us. For when you, being a king, send out forces, wishing to accomplish something, we say: the king has a great hand, the hearers being carried to the power you have. This is also indicated through our legislation, when Moses speaks thus: "With a strong hand did God lead you out of Egypt." And again he says that God said to him: "I will send my hand and strike the Egyptians." And concerning the death that occurred among the cattle and the rest, he says to the king of the Egyptians, speaking: "Behold, the hand of the Lord will be upon your cattle and upon all in the fields, a great death," so that hands are indicated to be for the power of God.

For it is possible, by transference, to understand that the whole power of men and their activities are in their hands. Therefore the lawgiver has well transferred this to the sublime, calling the ends the hands of God. And a divine "station" might well be said, in the sublime sense, to be the construction of the world. For God is over all things, and all things are subject to him and have taken their station, so that men apprehend these things as immovable. I mean such a thing as that heaven has never become earth, nor earth heaven, nor has the sun shone as moon, nor the moon again as sun, nor rivers as sea, nor sea as rivers. And again, the same principle holds for living creatures: a man will not become a beast, nor a beast a man. And the same holds for the rest, both plants and other things: they are unchangeable, though they undergo their own changes and corruptions within themselves. The divine "station," then, would be spoken of in accordance with these things, all things being subject to God. And a descent upon the mountain is said to have taken place divinely through the writing of the law, at the time when he was giving the law, so that all might behold the activity of God. For this descent is clear; and concerning these things, then, one might interpret in this way, wishing to preserve the account concerning God. For it is revealed that "the mountain was burning with fire," as the legislation says, because God had descended, and that the sounds of trumpets and the fire blazing were without substance.

For the whole multitude, not less than a hundred myriads, apart from those under age, were assembled around the mountain, the circuit about it being not less than five days, and in every place of the vision all of them round about, as they were encamped, saw the fire burning. So that the descent was not local; for God is everywhere. But the power of the fire, being beyond all wonder because it consumes everything, he showed burning without substance, and consuming nothing, unless the power from God were added to it. For of the plants growing on the mountain, though places were violently burning, it consumed nothing, but the verdure of all remained untouched by fire; and trumpet sounds were heard more vehemently together with the lightning-like manifestation of the fire, there being no such instruments present nor any one to sound them, but all happening by divine arrangement. So that it is clear from these things that the divine descent took place, because the observers manifestly understood each thing, that neither had the fire burned anything, as was said before, nor were the sounds of the trumpets produced by human agency or the construction of instruments, but God displayed his own magnificence through all without any means. These things also Aristobulus says.

Since we have gone through both the ordinances of the sacred laws and the manner of the allegorical form among them, it would next be appropriate to note this as well: that the entire nation of the Jews is divided by the account into two parts, the multitude being subjected to the precepts of the laws according to their literal meaning, while the other order, that of those in a state of attainment, it released from this, deeming it worthy to attend to a more divine philosophy, superior to the many, and to the contemplation of what is signified in the laws according to their inner meaning. This was a class of Jewish philosophers, whose way of life and ascetic practice were admired by countless outsiders, and among their own people the most illustrious and worthy of undying memory deemed them so, both Josephus and Philo and many others. Passing over most of their works, for the sake of an example alone I will be satisfied for the present with the testimony of Philo, which he has set down concerning these matters in many of his own treatises. Take from his *Apology for the Jews* and read these words:

11. Philo, On the Virtue of the Life of Those Who Philosophized Among the Jews in Ancient Times. “Now our lawgiver anointed countless numbers of his disciples for fellowship, who are called Essenes, a name I think they were deemed worthy of because of their holiness. They dwell in many cities of Judaea, and also in many villages and large and populous communities. Their choice is not based on birth—for birth is not registered for voluntary matters—but through zeal for virtue and love of humanity. Indeed, among the Essenes there is no one at all who is a mere infant, nor even a youth or a stripling, since the unstable characters of these are unsettled by the immaturity of their age; but they are full-grown men already inclining toward old age, no longer overwhelmed by the flood of the body nor led by the passions, but enjoying the true and only real freedom. Their life bears witness to their freedom. No one endures to acquire any private property at all—not a house, not a slave, not a piece of land, not livestock, nor any other equipment and supplies of wealth; but placing everything together in common, they enjoy the benefit of all things in common. They live in the same place, having formed brotherhoods and common meals in groups, and they continue to manage everything for the common good. But different groups have different occupations, which they undertake and labor at tirelessly, using neither cold, nor heat, nor any changes of the air as excuses; and before the sun rises they turn to their customary tasks, scarcely returning at sunset, rejoicing no less than those who are tested in athletic contests.

For they suppose that whatever practices they pursue are more beneficial for life and more pleasant for soul and body, and more lasting than the exercises in athletic contests, since they do not fade with the body's prime. For some of them are farmers, skilled in sowing and planting; others are herdsmen, leaders of flocks of all kinds; and some tend swarms of bees. Others are craftsmen in the various arts, so that none of the necessities of life may be lacking, and they put off nothing that provides blameless sustenance. Then each of these diverse workers, having received his wage, gives it to a single appointed treasurer; and he, upon receiving it, immediately buys provisions and supplies abundant food and all else that human life requires. And they are messmates and table-companions daily, delighting in the same things, lovers of frugality, shunning extravagance as a disease of soul and body. Not only is their table common, but also their clothing. For thick cloaks are available in winter, and cheap sleeveless garments in summer, so that anyone who wishes may easily take whichever he desires, since the property of one is considered that of all, and conversely that of all is considered that of one. And if any of them falls ill, he is nursed from the common funds, tended with the care and concern of all. And the elderly, even if they happen to be childless, are treated not only as if they had many children, but as if they had very good children, and they are accustomed to end their lives in a most fortunate and prosperous old age, deemed worthy of such privilege and honor by so many, who consider it their duty to care for them by voluntary choice rather than by natural necessity.

Furthermore, having perceived with keener insight that which alone or especially was about to dissolve community, they declined marriage while also practicing continence in a distinctive manner. For no Essene takes a wife, because woman is self-loving, immoderately jealous, and skilled at overturning a man's character and leading him astray with constant bewitchments. Having practiced flattering words and the rest of pretense, as if on a stage, when she has ensnared eyes and ears, she deceives the ruling mind of those who are like captivated subjects. And if children are born, filled with pride and boldness, she then speaks out with more audacious shamelessness all that she previously hinted at covertly and with irony, and forces him to do things, each of which is hostile to community. For a man bound by the charms of a woman or caring for children by the necessity of nature is no longer the same towards others, but has become another without realizing it, a slave instead of a free man. Thus their life is so fiercely contested that not only private individuals but also

Great kings, taking these men as husbands, have admired them and, through honors and distinctions, have rendered their dignity even more august. Let these things be set down from the aforementioned treatise; and from the work *That Every Virtuous Person is Free* I will add the following:

12. STILL CONCERNING THE SAME SUBJECT: "Now the Syria in Palestine is not barren of nobility, and a considerable portion of the most populous nation of the Jews inhabits it. Among them are said to be some called Essenes, a body of more than four thousand, who, in my opinion, derive their name, by a not very precise form of the Greek language, from holiness, since they have become, above all, servants of God, not by sacrificing animals, but by deeming it proper to make their own minds fit for sacred things. These men, in the first place, live in villages, shunning the cities because of the inveterate lawlessness of those who engage in public life, knowing that from association with them, as from a pestilential atmosphere, an incurable attack is engendered in souls. Some of them till the soil, others practice crafts that are coworkers of peace, benefiting themselves and those who approach them, not hoarding silver and gold, nor acquiring large tracts of land through desire for revenue, but providing only what is necessary for the essential needs of life. For they alone, of almost all men, have become without money and without property, more by design than by lack of good fortune, and are considered very rich, judging frugality and simplicity, as it is, to be abundance.

You would find among them no maker of arrows or javelins or daggers or helmets or breastplates or shields, nor any armor-maker or engineer or anyone practicing anything pertaining to war, nor any of those things which in peacetime easily slip into vice; for they know not even in a dream of commerce or retail trade or shipping, banishing all occasions for greed. There is not a single slave among them, but all are free, serving one another in turn; and they condemn masters not only as unjust, for destroying equality, but also as impious, for abolishing a law of nature, which, having given birth to and nurtured all alike in the manner of a mother, has made them genuine brothers, not in name but in reality. This kinship the treacherous greed, having outrun it, has disrupted, producing estrangement instead of intimacy and enmity instead of friendship. As for philosophy, they leave the logical part to word-hunters, as not necessary for the acquisition of virtue, and the physical part to star-gazers, as too great for human nature, except insofar as it philosophizes about the existence of God and the generation of the universe; but they diligently cultivate the ethical part, using as trainers the ancestral laws, which it is impossible for a human soul to devise without divine possession. These laws they are taught at other times as well, but especially on the seventh days. For the seventh day is considered sacred, on which, refraining from other works, they come to sacred places, which are called synagogues, and sit in order according to age, the young under the elders, with appropriate decorum, listening attentively.

One person takes up the books and reads, while another, the most experienced, passes over what is not familiar and teaches; for most of their philosophy is pursued through symbols in an ancient manner. They are educated in piety, holiness, justice, household management, citizenship, knowledge of things truly good and evil and indifferent, choices of what must be pursued and avoidances of their opposites, using threefold laws and canons: the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of humanity. Now of the love of God, countless examples are provided by the continuous and unbroken purity throughout their whole life, the refusal to swear oaths, the freedom from falsehood, the belief that the divine is the cause of all good and of no evil; of the love of virtue, freedom from love of money, freedom from love of glory, freedom from love of pleasure, self-control, endurance, and further, frugality, simplicity, ease, freedom from pride, lawfulness, stability, and all things of like kind; of the love of humanity, goodwill, equality, a fellowship surpassing all description, concerning which it is not untimely to say a few words. First, then, no one has a private house which is not common to all; for besides living together in groups, it is open also to those of the same zeal who arrive from elsewhere. Next, there is one treasury and one expenditure for all; and clothes are common, and food is common, prepared for common meals. For one would not find elsewhere the sharing of a roof, or of a daily life, or of a table more firmly established in practice, and not without reason.

For whatever they earn by their daily labor for hire, they do not keep as their own, but placing it in common, they provide from it a benefit for all who wish to use it. And those who are sick are not neglected because they are unable to provide for themselves, but have at hand the means for their care from the common fund, so that they may draw upon it with complete freedom from more abundant resources. There is also reverence and care for the elders, such as is shown to parents by the hands and minds of legitimate children, who are tended in old age with every abundance. Such are the athletes of virtue that philosophy, without the fuss of Greek terminology, produces, setting before them as exercises the praiseworthy deeds from which freedom without slavery is confirmed. And here is a sign: many potentates have from time to time risen up against the country, employing natures and policies that differed. For some, striving to surpass the untamed savagery of wild beasts, omitting nothing in cruelty, slaughtering their subjects in herds or even, while still alive, butchering them like cooks into parts and limbs, did not cease until they themselves suffered the same calamities at the hands of justice that oversees human affairs. Others, shifting their frenzy and madness into another form of wickedness, practicing unspeakable bitterness while speaking softly, under the pretense of a gentler voice displaying a deep-seated anger, fawning like venomous dogs, became the cause of incurable evils, and left behind in cities monuments of their own impiety and misanthropy in the unforgettable calamities of those who suffered.

But indeed, no one—neither the most savage nor the utterly treacherous and deceitful—has been able to accuse the said company of the Essaeans or Hosians; all, being weaker than the virtue of these men, have approached them as if they were autonomous and free by nature, singing the praises of their common meals and their fellowship, which surpasses every description, being the clearest evidence of a perfect and most blessed life. So let this suffice for the philosophical practice and polity among the Jews; the rest of the life, which the divine laws prescribed for the multitude of the whole nation, has been set forth by the preceding discourse. What then remains but to show that the theology of the new is in harmony with the piety of the forefathers, so that our account of this subject may be complete? Since the oracles of inspired scripture have been presented in the preceding treatise, let us now examine the thought of the wise among the Jews, so that we may learn what sort of men the children of the Hebrews were in theology and in the virtue of discourse. Again, then, we must cite Philo from the first of his books On the Law.

13. Philo, On God and On the Cosmos Being Generated: "For some, having admired the cosmos more than the cosmopoeus, have declared it ungenerated and eternal, falsely and ignorantly attributing great inactivity to God, when on the contrary they ought to have been struck with awe at his powers as maker and father, and not to have extolled the cosmos beyond measure. But Moses, having reached the very summit of philosophy and having been taught by oracles the most essential and comprehensive truths of nature, knew that it is most necessary among existing things that there be an active cause and a passive one; and that the active cause is the mind of the universe, most pure and unmixed, superior to knowledge and superior to the good itself and the beautiful itself; while the passive is soulless and motionless of itself, but when moved, shaped, and ensouled by the mind, it changed into the most perfect work, this cosmos. Those who claim that it is ungenerated have unwittingly cut away the most beneficial and necessary of the foundations of piety, namely providence. For reason holds that the father and maker cares for what has come into being. Indeed, a father cares for his offspring and a craftsman for his creations, aiming at their preservation, and by every device repels what is harmful, and desires by every means to provide what is beneficial and advantageous; but toward what has not come into being, there is no affinity for one who has not made it. And it is a contentious and useless doctrine to establish anarchy, as in a city, for this cosmos, which has no overseer or umpire or judge by whom it is right that all things be administered and governed.

But the great Moses considered the ungenerated to be most alien to the visible, for everything perceptible is in generation and change, never being the same; to the invisible and intelligible he assigned eternity as a brother and kinsman, and to the perceptible he gave a fitting name. Since this cosmos is visible and perceptible, it would necessarily be generated as well, whence not without purpose did he record its generation, theologizing most solemnly." So much, then, on the cosmos being generated. The same man also, in his On Providence, very vigorously discusses the universe being administered by providence, having first set forth the objections of the atheists and then answering them in order. And of these, even if they should seem rather lengthy, I will set forth most of them, abridged, as necessary. He constructs this argument in the following manner:

14. On the Universe Being Administered by the Providence of God: "Do you say that providence exists amid such turmoil and confusion of affairs? For what in human life is ordered? What, indeed, is not full of disorder and corruption? Or are you alone ignorant that the most wicked and depraved are lavishly inundated with goods—wealth, good repute, honors among the masses; again, leadership, health, keen senses, beauty, strength, unhindered enjoyment of pleasures through abundance of resources and the most peaceful good condition of the body? While those who are lovers and practitioners of prudence and every virtue are all, I almost say, poor, needy, obscure, inglorious, humble?" Having said this for refutation and countless other things more than these, he then resolves the objections through these words:

God is not a tyrant, practicing cruelty, violence, and all the works of a savage ruler's dominion, but a king, wielding a gentle and lawful sovereignty with justice, and governing the whole heaven and cosmos. For a king, there is no appellation more fitting than that of father. For what parents are to their children in family relations, that a king is to a city, and God to the cosmos, having harmonized two most excellent things by the immutable laws of nature in an indissoluble union: the ruling principle together with the caring principle. Just as parents do not neglect their profligate sons, but taking pity on their misfortune, tend and care for them, considering it the work of implacable enemies to trample upon misfortunes, but of friends and kin to lighten failings, and often even bestow favors upon them more lavishly than upon the prudent, clearly knowing that for the latter, their sobriety provides an abundant foundation for prosperity, while for the former, their only hope is their parents, and if they fail in this, they will lack even necessities—in the same way, God, being the father of rational understanding, cares for all who partake of reason, and also provides for those who live culpably, at once giving them time for correction, and at the same time not overstepping his own merciful nature, of which virtue and philanthropy have become followers, worthily dwelling in the divine house. Accept this one discourse, O soul, for now as a deposit from him, and another, harmonious and concordant with it, as follows:

Never be so deceived from the truth as to think any wicked person is happy, even if he be richer than Croesus, more sharp-sighted than Lynceus, stronger than Milo of Croton, more beautiful than Ganymede, whom the gods snatched up to be cupbearer to Zeus because of his beauty. For having made his own daemon—I mean his own mind—a slave to countless masters: love, desire, pleasure, fear, grief, folly, intemperance, cowardice, injustice, he could never be happy, even if the many, deceived in their judgment of the truth, think so, bribed by an evil twin, pride and empty glory, terrible things that ensnare and lead astray unballasted souls, about which the greater part of the human race is corrupted. If, however, you were willing to stretch the eye of your soul to contemplate the mind of God, as far as human reason can, and having received a clearer impression of the truly good, you would laugh at the things among us which you formerly admired. For always, in the absence of better things, the worse are honored, inheriting their place; but when the better appear, they yield, content with second place. Therefore, struck by that godlike good and beautiful thing, you will certainly understand that before God none of the things previously mentioned is in itself deemed worthy of the good portion, because the mines of silver and gold are the worst part of the earth, inferior to the whole and to the entire part set aside for the generation of crops. For the abundance of money is not like that of food, without which it is impossible to live. One most evident test of these things is hunger, by which what is truly necessary and useful is judged.

For one would gladly exchange all the treasures everywhere for a little food at some time. But when an abundance of necessities flows in an uncontrollable flood through cities, we, luxuriating in the goods of nature, do not deign to rest content with them alone, but making surfeit the insolent guide of our life, and stripping ourselves for the acquisition of silver and gold, we grovel before all from whom we hope to gain something, as if blind, no longer seeing with our mind because of love of money, that these are lumps of earth, about which from peace there is continuous and unceasing war. Garments, indeed, are the flower of sheep, as the poets somewhere say, and according to the art of weaving, a praise of the weaver. But if anyone is proud of reputation, welcoming acceptance from the base, let him know that he himself is base; for like rejoices in like. And let him pray, having partaken of purifications, to have his ears healed, through which great diseases of the soul descend. And let those who are puffed up with strength learn not to hold their heads high, looking to the countless herds of tame and wild animals, to which strength and vigor are inborn; for it is most absurd for a man to pride himself on the virtues of beasts, and that too when he is outdone by them. And why would anyone in his right mind exult in the beauty of the body, which a brief time has extinguished, before it could bloom to its fullest, darkening its deceptive prime, and this while seeing in inanimate objects the much-contested works of calligraphers and sculptors and other craftsmen in paintings and statues and the variegations of woven fabrics, which are esteemed in every city in Greece and barbarian lands?

Of these things, then, as I said, none has been deemed worthy of the good portion by God. And why are we surprised if not by God? For not even among men who are beloved of God, among whom things truly good and noble are honored—men who have obtained a good portion of nature and have adorned nature by study and training, of whom genuine philosophy is the creator—are they so deemed. But those who have attended to a bastard education did not even imitate the physicians who treat the body, the slave of the soul, while claiming to heal the mistress. For those physicians, whenever someone who is prosperous falls ill, even if he is a great king, passing over all the peristyles, the men's quarters, the women's quarters, the paintings, the silver, the uncoined and coined gold, the multitude of drinking vessels and woven fabrics, and the rest of the king's celebrated adornment, and also the crowd of servants and the retinue of friends, relatives, and subjects in office, and the bodyguards, they come to the bed, and disregarding everything around the body itself, they neither marvel that the couches are inlaid with gems and made of solid gold, nor that the coverlets are spider-woven or embroidered with stones, nor that there are various kinds of garments; moreover, stripping off the cloaks around him, they take hold of his hands and, pressing the veins, they examine the pulses to see if they are healthy; often they also pull up his tunics and examine whether the belly is too full, whether the chest is feverish, whether the heart beats irregularly; and then they apply their own treatment.

But the philosophers, who profess to practice the medicine of the soul, which is by nature queen, ought to despise all that empty opinions puff up with pride, and, approaching within, to touch her understanding, to see if it is unevenly balanced by anger and moved by unnatural palpitations; to touch also the tongue, to see if it is harsh and abusive, if it is lewd and intemperate; to touch the belly, to see if it is swollen with insatiable desire; and in general, to investigate each passion, disease, and infirmity, if it seems to be blended, so that they may not miss the remedies that preserve. But as it is, dazzled by the splendor of external things, unable to see the intelligible light, they have wandered through life, unable to reach the royal reason, barely arriving at the outer courts, and marveling at and worshipping the doorkeepers of virtue—wealth, fame, health, and the like. For just as it is the height of madness to use blind men as judges of colors or deaf men of musical notes, so it is to use base men as judges of things truly good. For these men have the most important part of themselves, their understanding, blinded, over which deep darkness of folly has poured. Do we still wonder that Socrates and this or that earnest man lived in poverty, men who never practiced anything for gain, nor even deigned to accept from wealthy friends or from kings who offered great gifts, because they considered the possession of virtue the only good and noble thing, and, laboring for it, disregarded all other goods?

Who would not disregard the spurious for the sake of providence over the genuine? But if, having partaken of a mortal body and being full of human passions, and living amidst such a multitude of unjust men, whose number it is not even easy to find, they were plotted against, why do we blame nature, when we ought to condemn the cruelty of those who attacked? For even if they had been born in a pestilential air, they would inevitably have fallen ill; and a pestilential condition is no less destructive than vice. Just as when it is raining, the wise man, if he were out in the open, must necessarily get wet, and when a cold north wind blows, he must be oppressed by chill and cold, and when summer is at its height, he must be warmed—for it is a law of nature that bodies sympathize with the seasonal changes—in the same way, one who dwells in such places, "where murders" are committed "and other tribes of passions," must necessarily be altered by the honors derived from such things. For Polycrates, in return for the terrible wrongs and impieties he committed, met with a fate worse than the misery of his life—add also that he was punished and crucified by the great king, fulfilling an oracle. I know, he said, and I myself not long ago seemed to be anointed by the sun and bathed by Zeus. For these enigmatic statements through symbols, previously obscure, received the clearest confirmation through deeds. And not only at the end, but throughout his entire life from the beginning, his soul was secretly suspended before his body. For always fearing and trembling at the multitude of his attackers, he was terrified, clearly knowing that no one was well-disposed, but all were implacable enemies in misfortune.

Of Dionysius’s unceasing and constant caution, those who wrote the Sicilian histories are witnesses, who say that he even held his most beloved wife under suspicion. A sign: he ordered the entrance to the chamber, through which she was to come to him, to be covered with planks, so that she might never slip in unnoticed, but that the noise and sound of her step would announce her arrival in advance. Further, she was to come not only without a cloak, but naked in all parts which it is not lawful for men to see. In addition to these things, the continuous floor along the path was cut into the width and depth of a farming ditch, out of fear that something might be hidden unseen for a plot, which would be detected either by leaps or by long strides. Of how many evils, then, was he full who observed and contrived these things against a wife, whom he ought to have trusted before all others? But indeed he resembled those who climb a steep cliff to observe the heavenly bodies more clearly, who, barely reaching a projecting ridge, can neither retreat further, having despaired of the remaining height, nor dare to descend, dizzy at the sight of the chasms. For having fallen in love with tyranny as a divine and much-contested thing, he supposed that it was safe neither to remain nor to run away. For while remaining, countless evils flowed upon him one after another; but if he wished to run away, the danger to his life hung over him from those armed against him, if not in body, then at least in thought. And the deed also makes this clear, which they say Dionysius employed in response to the one who called the life of tyrants blessed.

For he summoned him to the preparation of a most splendid and costly dinner, and ordered a sharpened axe to be suspended from a very fine thread. When he reclined and suddenly saw it, neither daring to rise because of the tyrant nor to enjoy any of the prepared dishes because of fear, he, being in such a state, disregarded the abundant and rich pleasures, stretched up his neck and eyes, and awaited his own destruction. Perceiving this, Dionysius said: "Do you now understand our much-sung and hotly-contested life? For it is like this, if one does not wish to deceive oneself, since it contains abundant provisions, but enjoyment of nothing good, and successive fears and incurable dangers, and a disease more grievous than creeping consumption, always bearing incurable destruction. But the majority of the unreflective, deceived by the brilliant appearance, have suffered the same as those hooked by ugly little courtesans, who, overshadowing their ugliness with dress and gold and facial cosmetics, from lack of genuine beauty produce a counterfeit for the ambush of onlookers." Such great misery do the exceedingly fortunate contain, whose excesses they themselves judge among themselves and cannot bear, but like those who under necessity divulge unspeakable things, they utter the most truthful cries from passion, living in a gathering of punishments both present and expected, just like the animals fattened for sacrifice; for these also receive the greatest care for the purpose of being slaughtered for a feast of many meats.

There are also those who, for their impious acts concerning money, paid not obscure but manifest penalties, and it is superfluous labor to enumerate their multitudes; it suffices that one deed stands as an example of all. It is told, then, by those who have recorded the sacred war in Phocis, that a law was in force that the temple-robber be thrown from a cliff, or drowned, or burned alive; and that three men who plundered the sanctuary at Delphi—Philomelus, Onomarchus, and Phayllus—divided the punishments among themselves. For one, over a rough and rocky ridge, was cast down and stoned to death by a broken cliff; another, when the horse that carried him bolted and ran down to the sea, was plunged with his beast into the vast deep as the sea surged; and Phayllus either wasted away from a wasting disease—for the account of him is twofold—or perished burned together with the sanctuary at Abae. For it would be most contentious to say that these things happened by chance. For if some had been punished at different times or by different penalties, it would be plausible to plead the instability of chance; but since all were punished at once, at the same time, and not by different penalties but by those prescribed in the laws, it is reasonable to assert that they were convicted by the judgment of God. And if some of those who remained, violent men who rose up against the multitudes and enslaved not only other peoples but also their own fatherlands, continued unpunished, that is nothing surprising.

First, for man does not judge in the same way as God, because we examine what is manifest, but He, penetrating noiselessly into the depths of the soul, illuminates the mind as with the sun, stripping off the coverings in which it is enwrapped, and surveying the intentions bare, and at once discerning what is counterfeit and what is genuine. Never, therefore, let us prefer our own judgment to the divine, saying that it is more infallible and more prudent; for that is not pious. For in the one there are many things that cause error—deceitful senses, treacherous passions, the heaviest rampart of vices—while in the other there is nothing that leads to deception, but justice and truth, by which each thing, when adjudged, is naturally set right in a praiseworthy manner. Next, noble sir, do not think that tyranny is unprofitable at certain times. For neither is punishment unprofitable, but to give penalties to the good is either more beneficial or not inferior; for this reason it has been adopted in all correctly written laws, and those who wrote them are praised by all; for what a tyrant is in a state, that punishment is in law. Therefore, when dire need and scarcity of virtue overtake the cities, and an abundance of folly prevails, then God, as if desiring to drain off the flood of wickedness like the current of a torrent, in order to cleanse our race, gives strength and power to those who are by nature rulers. For without a harsh soul, wickedness is not cleansed.

And just as cities raise up executioners for murderers, traitors, and temple-robbers, not approving the character of these men but considering the usefulness of their service, in the same way the guardian of this great city, the cosmos, appoints tyrants as common executioners over cities, wherever he perceives violence, injustice, impiety, and other evils flooding forth, so that at last they may cease and abate. Then, at that time, he deems it right to pursue also those who are responsible, who have served not from a sound mind but from a foul and merciless soul, as ringleaders above all. For just as the power of fire, when it has consumed the material placed before it, finally consumes itself, in this manner also those who have received dominion over the masses, when they have wasted the cities and made them empty of men, are themselves destroyed in turn, paying the penalty on behalf of all. And why do we wonder if God, through tyrants, averts evil that has spread through cities, lands, and nations? For often, not using other servants, he himself accomplishes this by his own means, bringing famine or plague or earthquake and all other god-sent calamities, by which great and populous multitudes perish each day, and a large portion of the inhabited world is laid waste for the sake of virtue. So then, for the present, enough has been said, I think, on the matter that no one of the wicked is happy, through which the existence of providence is especially demonstrated. But if you are not yet persuaded, speak boldly the doubt that still lurks within; for by working together on how the truth stands, we shall know. And after other things, he again says:

The movements of winds and rains were not, as you thought, for the harm of those sailing or farming, but for the benefit of our whole race, which God was working. For with waters he cleanses the earth, and with winds the entire region beneath the moon; and with both he nourishes, increases, and perfects animals and plants. And if sometimes he harms those who sail or till the soil at the wrong time, that is nothing wonderful; for these are a small part, while the care is for the whole human race. Just as in the gymnasium the anointing is set for benefit, but often the gymnasiarch, for the sake of civic needs, has changed the order of the customary hour, through which some of those being anointed were delayed, so also God, like a steward of the whole cosmos as of a city, is accustomed to make summers wintry and winters spring-like for the benefit of the whole, even if some shipmasters or farmers are to be harmed by these irregularities. Therefore, knowing the changes of the elements into one another, from which the cosmos was fixed and constituted, as a most necessary work, he provides them unhindered; and frosts and snows and all such things follow from the cooling of the air, and again from the striking and rubbing of clouds come lightnings and thunders; of which none perhaps is according to providence, but rains and winds are causes of life, nourishment, and growth for things on earth, of which these are consequences.

like the expenditures often lavished by a gymnasiarch in his ambition, when some of the unrefined, drenched with oil instead of water, let drops fall to the ground, which immediately becomes very slippery mud. But no one in his right mind would say that the mud and the slipperiness came about by the forethought of the gymnasiarch, but that these things followed otherwise from the abundance of the provisions. The rainbow and the halo and all such like things are again consequences of rays mingling with clouds, not primary works of nature, but incidental to natural works. Nevertheless, these too provide some necessary use to the more prudent: for from them they infer and predict calms and winds, fair weather and storms. Do you not see the stoas in the city? Most of them face south, so that those walking in them may be warmed in winter and cooled in summer. But something else also follows, which does not arise from the intention of the builder. What is this? The shadows falling from our feet, our measures, indicate the hours. And fire is a most necessary work of nature,

A consequence of this is smoke; but nevertheless it sometimes provides some benefit. For instance, in daytime beacon fires, when the fire is dimmed by the rays of the sun, the approach of enemies is signaled by smoke. As is the case with the rainbow, so also with eclipses: the explanation is the same. For eclipses attend the divine natures of the sun and moon, and they are signs either of the death of kings or the destruction of cities—a point which Pindar also hinted at, concerning an eclipse that occurred, through the words spoken earlier. The Milky Way, moreover, shares the same substance as the other stars; but if it is difficult to explain its cause, let those accustomed to investigating nature not shrink from the task, for discovery is most beneficial, and the inquiry itself is most pleasant to the learned. Just as the sun and moon have come into being by providence, so too have all things in the heavens, even if we, being unable to trace the natures and powers of each, remain silent. Earthquakes, plagues, thunderbolts, and all such things are said to be god-sent, but in truth they are not; for God is in no way the cause of any evil, but the changes of the elements produce these things, not as primary works of nature, but as consequences following upon the necessary and primary processes. And if some of the more refined individuals share in the harm from these things, the administration is not to be blamed. For, first of all, even if some are considered good among us, they are not so in truth, since the criteria of God are more precise than all things according to human understanding.

Second, Providence loves to look to what is most cohesive in the cosmos, just as in kingdoms and military commands it looks to cities and camps, not to some neglected and obscure random individual. Some say that, just as in tyrannicides it is lawful to kill even relatives for the sake of the magnitude of punishment deterring crimes, in the same way in pestilential diseases some who are not guilty perish along with others, so that the rest may be disciplined from afar, without it being necessary that those who are in a diseased air become ill, just as those on a ship in a storm are equally at risk. The strong beasts have come into being—for this must not be passed over in silence, even if you, being clever in speech, anticipated the defense and disparaged it—for the sake of training for military contests. For the exercises and continuous hunts thoroughly strengthen and sinew the bodies, and before the bodies they accustom the souls to disregard sudden attacks of enemies through the endurance of strength. For those who are peaceful by nature, it is possible not only within walls but also living in huts to dwell without conspiracy, having for enjoyment the most abundant herds of tame animals; since boars and lions and all such like, using their own voluntary nature, have been driven far from the city, loving to suffer nothing from human plotting. But if some, through laziness, unarmed and unprepared, dwell fearlessly in the lairs of beasts, let them blame themselves, not nature, for what happens, because they neglected to guard themselves when it was possible.

Indeed, in horse races I have seen some who yielded to irrationality, who, though they should have sat down and watched in an orderly fashion, stood in the middle and were pushed by the rush of the four-horse chariots, trampled by feet and wheels, reaping the consequences of their folly. So much for these matters; what has been said suffices. As for venomous reptiles, they came to be not by providence, but as a consequence, as I said earlier. For they are generated when the inherent moisture changes toward the warmer. Some are even animated by putrefaction, like tapeworms from food and lice from sweat. But those that have their generation from their own matter according to a natural seminal and primary process are rightly attributed to providence. I have also heard

two accounts concerning those creatures, to the effect that they came to be for the benefit of man, which I would not conceal. One account was as follows: some said that venomous creatures contribute to many medical remedies, and that those who practice the art skillfully, using them appropriately, are well supplied with antidotes for the unexpected salvation of those in the most critical condition; and even now one can see those who do not attempt to heal carelessly and negligently using each of them in the compounding of drugs, not in a perfunctory manner. The other account was not medical, but philosophical, as it seems. For it claimed that these things were prepared by God as punishments for sinners, like bristles or iron for generals and leaders; for this reason, they remain quiet at other times but are roused to fight against those condemned, whose nature in the incorruptible court of itself has condemned to death.

But the claim that they lurk more in houses is false; for they are observed outside the city, in the countryside and in deserted places, fleeing from man as from a master. Nevertheless, even if it were true, it would have some reason. For in corners there is heaped up a mass of rubbish and filth, into which they love to creep, besides the fact that the savor of burnt fat has an attractive power. And if swallows dwell with us, it is no wonder; for we abstain from hunting them. A desire for safety is implanted not only in rational souls but also in irrational ones, while nothing that serves for pleasure shares our dwelling because of the plots we devise against it, except among those whose use of such things is forbidden by law. There is a city on the coast of Syria named Ascalon; when I was in that city, at the time when I was setting out for my ancestral temple to pray and sacrifice, I saw an incredible multitude of doves in the streets and in every house. And when I inquired about the cause, they said it was not lawful to catch them; for from ancient times the inhabitants had been forbidden to use them. Thus the animal has been tamed by immunity, so that it not only lives under the roof but also always shares the table and revels in the truces. And in Egypt one may see something even more remarkable. For the man-eating and most dangerous of beasts, the crocodile, which is born and reared in the most sacred Nile, perceives the benefit, even though it is a deep-dweller. For among those who honor it, it multiplies greatly, while among those who harm it, it does not appear even in a dream.

as of sailors, where even the boldest dare not dip even a fingertip, they swarm in herds, but where even the most timid leap out and swim playfully. In the land of the Cyclopes, since their race is a fiction of myth, without sowing and husbandmen no cultivated fruit grows, just as nothing is generated from non-being. Greece is not to be accused of being barren and unproductive; for there is much deep-soiled land in it as well. But if the barbarian land excels in fruitfulness, it has an advantage in provisions, but is inferior in those who are nourished, for whose sake the provisions exist. For Greece alone truly produces man, "a heavenly plant" and a divine shoot refined, giving birth to reason akin to knowledge. The cause is this: the mind is naturally sharpened by the fineness of the air. Hence Heraclitus says not off the mark: "A dry ray is the wisest and best soul." One might also infer from the fact that the sober and frugal are more intelligent, while those always gorging on drink and food are least prudent, since their reason is drowned by what enters. Therefore in the barbarian land, while there are very tall trunks in accuracy and good nourishment, and the most fertile of irrational animals, it least generates mind, because the continuous and successive exhalations of earth and water have prevailed over the rising from the eternal air. The species of fish, birds, and land animals are not accusations of nature inviting to pleasure, but a terrible reproach of ourselves

intemperance. For it was necessary for the completion of the whole, that the world might come into being, that in each part there should arise species of all living creatures; but it was not necessary that man, the thing most akin to wisdom, should rush to the enjoyment of these, turning into the savagery of beasts. Hence even to this day, those who possess the principle of self-restraint abstain from all such things, using vegetable greens and tree fruits with the most pleasant relish as seasoning. But for those who consider the feasting on the aforementioned things to be according to nature, teachers, chasteners, and lawgivers arose in cities, who took care to curb the excess of desires, not permitting the use of all things without fear to all. Violets, roses, crocus, and the other variety of flowers came into being for health, not for pleasure. For their powers are vast and in themselves benefit through their scents, filling all with fragrance, and much more so in the medical compositions of drugs. For some, when mixed, provide their powers more clearly, just as in the generation of an animal the mixture of male and female, each alone not being naturally able to produce what both together accomplish. These things have been said necessarily in response to the remaining points raised by you, being able to produce sufficient conviction in those not disposed to contentiousness concerning the god's care for human affairs. So much then I have excerpted from the indicated author, at once showing what kind of men the children of the Hebrews were even in recent times, and at the same time making clear both their pious conception concerning god and their harmony with their forefathers.

Now is the time to proceed from this point to the testimonies of external authors concerning the same matters.

9. The second book of Eusebius of Pamphilus contains the following, being the ninth treatise of the Evangelical Preparation: 9.1. How many of the Greek historians made mention of the Jewish nation. 9.2. Theophrastus concerning the Jews, from the first book of Porphyry’s On Abstinence from Animal Food. 9.3. Porphyry concerning the philosophy that once flourished among the Jews. 9.4. Hecataeus concerning the Jews. 9.5. Clearchus concerning the same, from the first book On Sleep. 9.6. Clement concerning those who mentioned the Jewish nation, from the first book of the Stromata. 9.7. Numenius the Pythagorean philosopher concerning the Jews, from the first book On the Good. 9.8. The same concerning Moses and also concerning the Jews, from the third book of the same subject. 9.9. The poet Choerilus concerning the Jews. 9.10. From the works of Porphyry, oracles of Apollo concerning the Hebrews. 9.11. From Josephus’ Antiquities, how many external writers mentioned the flood according to Moses. 9.12. From the writing of Abydenus concerning the flood. 9.13. From Josephus’ Antiquities, concerning the fact that many have mentioned the long life of the ancients. 9.14. From the writing of Abydenus concerning the construction of the tower. 9.15. That many others also mentioned the same, from Josephus’ Antiquities. 9.16. Concerning Abraham, the forefather of all Hebrews, from the same. 9.17. Eupolemus concerning Abraham, from Alexander Polyhistor’s On the Jews. 9.18. Artapanus concerning the same, from the same writing of Polyhistor. 9.19.

Molon on the same subject, from the same writing, 20. Philo on the same subject, 21. Demetrius on Jacob, 22. Theodotus on the same subject, 23. Artapanus on Joseph, 24. Philo on the same subject, 25. Aristaeus on Job, 26. Eupolemus on Moses, 27. Artapanus on the same subject, 28. Ezekiel on the same subject, 29. Demetrius on the same subject, 30. Ezekiel on the same subject, 31. Eupolemus on David and Solomon and on Jerusalem, 32. Letter of Solomon to Vaphres the king of the Egyptians, 33. Letter of Vaphres to King Solomon, 34. Letter of Solomon to Souron king of Phoenicia, 35. Letter of Souron to Solomon, 36. Theophilus on Solomon, 37. Eupolemus on the same subject, 38. Timochares on Jerusalem, from the writings concerning Antiochus of the same writing, 39. The surveyor of Syria on the same subject, 40. Philo on the waters in Jerusalem, 41. Aristeas on the same subject, 42. Eupolemus on Jeremiah the prophet, 43. Berossus on the captivity of the Jews which occurred under Nabuchodonosor, 44. Abydenus on Nabuchodonosor, 45. The same on the foundation of Babylon, 46. Josephus on those who have made mention of the Jewish nation, from the first book of Josephus’ Antiquities.

Chapter 1. How Many of the Greek Writers Made Mention of the Jewish Nation. And since the acceptance of the oracles among the Hebrews has not been made by us without reasoning, but with judgment and examined understanding, now that the proofs have been brought together, it is time to see that even the most distinguished of the Greeks themselves were not unacquainted with the affairs of the Hebrews, but some bore witness to the truth of the lives of the men and the historical narratives current among them, while others likewise touched upon their doctrinal theology. I will first set forth the primary matters, showing how many of the Greek writers made mention by name of the Jews and Hebrews, and of the philosophy anciently practiced among them, and of the history of their forefathers from the beginning. My discourse will begin with the life of the men, so that you may learn that we have not preferred the philosophy of those indicated over that of the Greeks without sound reasoning. Consistent, then, with what has been previously examined in the treatise before this, the accomplishment of their ethical training is attested not only by their sacred books, but also by the most distinguished philosophers among the Greeks, who are celebrated even in our time. And so, take and read the words of Theophrastus in the writings of Porphyry On Abstinence from Animal Food, which are set forth in this manner:

2. Theophrastus on the Jews. "And yet the Syrians, of whom the Jews are one part, because of their original sacrifice even now, says Theophrastus, sacrifice living animals. If someone were to command us to sacrifice in the same manner, we would desist from the act. For they do not feast on the victims, but burn them whole at night, pouring much honey and wine over them, and they consume the sacrifice quickly, so that not even the all-seeing god might be a spectator of the dreadful thing. And they do this while fasting on the days between these events; and during all this time, being philosophers by race, they converse with each other about the divine, and at night they make observation of the stars, looking at them and being inspired by the gods through prayers. For they were the first to begin the sacrifice of other living beings and of themselves, doing this from necessity and not from desire."

3. Porphyry on the Philosophy that Once Shone among the Jews. And in the fourth book of the same treatise, Porphyry relates the following about them: "There are, then, the Essenes, who are Jews by race, and more loving of each other than others. They turn away from pleasures as vice, and consider continence and not succumbing to passions as virtue. And among them there is a disregard for marriage, but they take the children of others while still tender for learning, consider them as kin, and impress their own character upon them, not abolishing marriage and its succession, but guarding against the licentiousness of women. They are despisers of wealth, and their communality is remarkable, nor is it possible to find any possession among them that is superior to another's.

It is the law for those entering the sect to confiscate their property to the order, so that among all neither the lowliness of poverty nor the superiority of wealth appears, but with the possessions of each mingled together, there is one substance for all as for brothers. They consider oil a stain, and if anyone is anointed with it, he wipes his body; for they consider squalor a good thing and to wear white garments always. The overseers of the common goods are elected, and each is undivided from all for the needs. They have not one city, but many dwell in each, and the houses of one another are open to sectarians coming from elsewhere; and those seeing them for the first time enter as if to acquaintances; therefore they travel without bringing anything for expenses. They do not change either garment or shoes until they are completely torn or worn out by time. They neither buy nor sell anything, but each gives what he has to the one in need and receives in return what is useful from him; and without exchange, taking from whomever they wish is unhindered for them. Moreover, they are especially pious toward the divine. For before the sun rises they utter nothing profane, but offer certain ancestral prayers to it as if beseeching it to rise. After this, they are sent by the overseers to whatever crafts each knows, and they work strenuously until the fifth hour, then again they gather in one place, gird themselves with coverings, and thus wash their body with cold water; and after this purification they come together into a private room, into which no one of different beliefs is permitted to enter.

They themselves come pure into the dining hall as into some sacred precinct. When they have sat down in silence, the baker sets out loaves in order, and the cook places one vessel of a single dish before each. The priest prays before the food, which is holy and pure, and it is forbidden for anyone to taste before the prayer. After the meal, he prays again, and both at the beginning and at the end they honor God. Then, laying aside their garments as sacred, they turn again to their labors until evening. They dine in like manner upon returning, with strangers who happen to be present sitting together with them. Neither shouting nor tumult ever defiles the house; they yield to one another in turn for conversation, and to those outside the silence within appears as some awe-inspiring mystery. The cause of this is their constant sobriety and the fact that food and drink are measured among them to the point of satiety. For those who desire to join the sect, entry is not immediate, but for a year the candidate remains outside, following the same regimen, and they give him a small axe, a loincloth, and a white garment. When during this time he has given proof of self-control, he approaches nearer to the regimen and partakes of the purifying waters more purely. He is not yet admitted to the communal life; for after the demonstration of endurance, his character is tested for two further years, and if he appears worthy,

Thus he is admitted into the company. But before touching the common food, he swears fearsome oaths: first, that he will reverence the divine; second, that he will observe justice toward men, and will harm no one either by his own will or by command, and that he will always hate the unjust and fight alongside the just; that he will provide faithfulness to all, but especially to those in authority—for it is not without God that anyone comes to rule; and if he himself rules, he will never abuse his power nor outshine his subjects by his dress or any greater adornment; that he will always love truth and expose liars; that he will keep his hands clean of theft and his soul clean of unholy gain, and will neither conceal anything from the electors nor reveal anything of theirs to others, even if tortured to death. In addition, he swears to impart the doctrines to no one otherwise than as he himself received them, and to abstain from robbery, and likewise to preserve the books of their sect and the names of the angels. Such are the oaths. Those who are caught and expelled perish by an evil fate. For bound by the oaths and customs, they cannot even partake of the food of others, but feeding on grass and wasting away from hunger, they die. Hence many, taking pity on them in their extreme distress, have taken them back, considering the torture unto death sufficient punishment for their sins.

They give the trowel to those who are about to become initiates, since they themselves do not otherwise relieve themselves except by digging a pit a foot deep and covering it with their cloak, so as not to insult the rays of the god. Such is their simplicity in diet and their frugality that during the week they have no need of evacuation, which they are accustomed to keep for hymns to the god and for rest. From this training they have acquired such endurance that, when twisted, bent, burned, and made to pass through all instruments of torture, in order that they might either blaspheme the lawgiver or eat something unfamiliar, they endure neither. They demonstrated this in the war against the Romans. For they do not even endure flattering those who are being tortured or weeping, but smiling in their pains and mocking those who apply the tortures, they cheerfully gave up their souls, as if they would receive them again. For this belief is firmly held among them: that bodies are perishable and their matter not permanent, but souls are immortal and endure forever; and that they come from the most subtle ether, being drawn down by natural impulse, and when they are released from the bonds of the flesh, as if freed from long slavery, then they rejoice and are borne aloft. From such a way of life and from training in truth and piety, it is natural that among them there are many who also foreknow the future, as they are trained from childhood in sacred books, various purifications, and utterances of prophets.

It is rare, however, that they fail in their predictions." So says Porphyry, bearing witness in the fourth book of his work On Abstinence from Animal Food, from ancient readings, as is likely, to both the piety and philosophy of the men in question. Hecataeus of Abdera, a man both philosophical and very capable in practical affairs, devoted a separate book to the history of the Jews, and discusses many things about them, of which for the present it will suffice to set forth these:

4. From Hecataeus, On the Jews: "For the Jews have many strongholds and villages throughout their land; but one fortified city, about fifty stades in circumference, which is inhabited by about one hundred and twenty thousand men, and they call it Jerusalem. There, in about the middle of the city, is a stone enclosure, about five plethra in length and one hundred cubits in width, having double gates, in which there is a square altar, composed of unhewn, collected, rough stones, each side being twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits. And beside it is a large building, in which there is an altar and a lampstand; both are of gold, weighing two talents; and upon these there is an inextinguishable light both by night and by day. There is no statue at all, nor any votive offering, nor any planting whatsoever, nor anything like a grove or the like. And priests spend both night and day there, practicing certain purifications, and they drink no wine at all in the temple." Having said this, he adds below that they campaigned with King Alexander and afterwards with his successors, and he has borne witness to this.

Those which he himself says he witnessed, occurring through a Jewish man during the campaign, I will set forth. He speaks thus: "When I was traveling to the Red Sea, one of the Jewish horsemen who were escorting us, named Mosollamus, accompanied me—a man capable in spirit, robust, and acknowledged by all, both Greeks and barbarians, as the best archer. This man, when many were proceeding along the road and a certain diviner was observing birds and urging everyone to halt, asked why they were waiting. The diviner showed him the bird and said: 'If it stays here, it is beneficial for all to wait; if it rises and flies forward, to advance; if backward, to retreat again.' Without a word, Mosollamus drew his bow, struck the bird, and killed it. When the diviner and some others were indignant and cursed him, he said: 'Why are you mad, you wretches?' Then, taking the bird in his hands, he said: 'How could this bird, not foreseeing its own safety, announce anything sound to us about our journey? For if it had been able to foreknow the future, it would not have come to this place, fearing that Mosollamus the Jew would shoot and kill it.'" So says Hecataeus. And Clearchus the Peripatetic philosopher, in the first book of his work On Sleep, attributes to Aristotle the philosopher a certain account about the Jews, writing verbatim as follows:

5. Clearchus on the Same Subjects: "But it would be too long to recount most things; however, it is not amiss to go through those of his qualities which involve both wonder and philosophy alike. 'Know clearly, Hyperochides,' he said, 'that I will seem to you to be speaking of something as marvelous as dreams.' And Hyperochides, being cautious, said: 'It is precisely for this reason that we all seek to hear it.' 'Well then,' said Aristotle, 'let us first go through his lineage according to the precept of the rhetoricians, so that we may not disobey the teachers of narratives.' 'Speak,' said Hyperochides, 'if it seems so to you.' 'That man, then, was a Jew by birth, from Coele Syria; these are descendants of the philosophers among the Indians. The philosophers are called, as they say, Calani among the Indians, and among the Syrians, Jews, taking their name from the place. For the region they inhabit is called Judaea; the name of their city is quite difficult, for they call it Hierusalem. This man, then, being a guest to many and descending from the upper regions to the coastal ones, was Greek not only in his language, but also in his soul. And at that time, when we were spending time in Asia, he came to the same places.

he meets with us and with certain other scholars, attempting to test their wisdom. And since he was associated with many men of learning, he imparted rather more of what he possessed." "These things also Clearchus says. And our Clement mentions him in the first Stromateis, where he speaks as follows:

9. Clement on Those Who Have Made Mention of the Jewish Nation: "Clearchus the Peripatetic says he knows a certain Jew who associated with Aristotle." And after other matters he adds: "Numa, the king of the Romans, was a Pythagorean, and having been benefited by the writings of Moses, he prevented the Romans from making a human-shaped or animal-shaped image of God. For indeed, in the first one hundred and seventy years, although they built temples, they made neither a molded nor a painted image. For Numa showed them, by concealment, that it is not possible to grasp the highest with the tongue, but only with the mind." Further, after these things, proceeding, he says the following: "Most clearly, Megasthenes, the writer who lived with Seleucus Nicanor, writes in the third book of his Indica as follows: 'All the things said about nature by the ancients are also said by those who philosophize outside of Greece, some among the Indians by the Brahmans, and some in Syria by those called Jews.'" Further, in addition to these, Clement mentions Aristobulus the Peripatetic and Numenius the Pythagorean, saying: "Aristobulus, in the first book of his work To Philometor, writes word for word: 'Plato followed our legislation, and it is evident that he has thoroughly worked through each of the things said in it.'

It has been interpreted before Demetrius by others, before the supremacy of Alexander and the Persians, both the matters concerning the exodus of the Hebrews, our fellow citizens, from Egypt, and the manifestation of all that happened to them, and the occupation of the land, and the exposition of the entire legislation; so that it is quite evident that the aforementioned philosopher took many things; for he became learned, just as Pythagoras also, having transferred many of our things into his own system of doctrine." And Numenius the Pythagorean philosopher writes outright: "For what is Plato but Moses speaking Attic?"" These things Clement says. And from the Pythagorean philosopher himself, I mean Numenius, from his first book On the Good, I will set forth the following:

7. OF NUMENIUS THE PYTHAGOREAN PHILOSOPHER CONCERNING THE JEWS: "For this purpose it will be necessary, having spoken and indicated, to withdraw to the testimonies of Plato and to bind them together with the words of Pythagoras, and to invoke the nations that are held in esteem, bringing forward their rites and doctrines and the institutions accomplished in agreement with Plato, as many as the Brahmans and Jews and Magi and Egyptians have set forth." These things then concerning these matters. And in the third book he mentions Moses, speaking as follows:

8. The same author on Moses and also on the Jews

"Next, Jannes and Jambres, Egyptian sacred scribes, men judged to be inferior to none in sorcery, were active at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt. For when Moses, the interpreter of the Jews, a man who became most powerful in prayer to God, was leading them, these were the ones deemed worthy by the multitude of the Egyptians to stand by them, and they were seen to be capable of resolving the most vigorous of the calamities that Moses brought upon Egypt." Through these words, Numenius bears witness both to the extraordinary miracles accomplished by Moses and to Moses himself as having become beloved of God. "And Choerilus, an ancient poet, also mentions the Jewish nation, and how they campaigned with King Xerxes against Greece. He speaks thus:

9. From the poet Choerilus on the Jews: And behind them passed a race wondrous to behold, uttering a Phoenician tongue from their mouths; they dwelt in the Solymian mountains by a broad lake, with unkempt heads, round-shaven; and above they wore the dried hides of horses, faces hardened by smoke." It is clear that he speaks of the Jews because Jerusalem lies among the mountains called Solymoi by the Greeks, and nearby is the Asphaltite Lake, which is very broad according to the poet and larger than all the lakes in Syria." So much for him. And Porphyry, in the first book of his Philosophy from Oracles, introduces his own god as bearing witness to the wisdom of the Hebrew race, along with other nations renowned for intelligence. And Apollo, as presented by him, speaks through the oracle he sets forth as follows:

10. From the Oracles of Porphyry: Oracles of Apollo concerning the Hebrews. After these things have been set forth, he adds, concerning sacrifices, to whom one must pay attention, since they are full of all divine wisdom: "The path of the blessed is steep and very rough, opened at first by bronze-bound gates; and there are countless branching paths that have been revealed, which the first of men showed for boundless achievement, those who drink the good water of the land of the Nile; and the Phoenicians learned many paths of the blessed, the Assyrians, Lydians, and the race of Hebrew men." And the things that follow these. To which the author adds: "For the path to the gods is bronze-bound, steep and rough, of which the barbarians discovered many paths, but the Greeks went astray, and those who now hold power have corrupted them. And the god testified to the discovery for the Egyptians, for the Phoenicians and Chaldeans (for these are the Assyrians), for the Lydians, and for the Hebrews." Further to these, in another oracle, Apollo says: "Only the Chaldeans and the Hebrews obtained wisdom, reverencing the self-begotten lord, the god, purely." And again, when asked for what reason they speak of many heavens, he gave this oracle: "There is one circle of the cosmos in everything, but it is borne with seven zones into the starry paths, which the Chaldeans and the renowned Hebrews named the heavenly spheres, to creep into the seventh course." Let these things be set forth concerning the name of the Jews and Hebrews, and concerning the piety and philosophy that once flourished among them. But concerning their ancestral history, see how many agreed.

Moses, in his antiquities concerning the universe, having recorded the flood and how the one named Noah among the Hebrews was saved in a chest made of wood with his household, Berossus the Chaldean and Hieronymus the Egyptian and Nicolaus of Damascus, historical writers, recalled the same things, as Josephus in the first book of his Antiquities sets forth in this manner:

11. From the Antiquities of Josephus, How Many of the External Writers Mentioned the Flood in Moses. "All those who have written the histories of the barbarians mention this flood and the ark, among whom is Berossus the Chaldean. For in recounting the matters concerning the flood, he goes through them somewhere thus: 'It is said that a part of the vessel still exists in Armenia near the mountain of the Cordyaeans, and that some carry away pieces of the bitumen; and people use what is carried off especially for apotropaic purposes.' Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote the Phoenician antiquities, also mentions these things, as does Mnaseas and many others. And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the ninety-sixth book, relates concerning them, speaking thus: 'There is a great mountain above the Minyas in Armenia, called Baris, into which many are said to have fled and been saved at the time of the flood, and that someone borne on a chest ran aground on the summit, and the remnants of the wood were preserved for a long time. This would be the one whom Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews, recorded.'" So says Josephus.

I, however, having gone through the Median and Assyrian matters from the writing of Abydenus, will set forth the following words of the man concerning the same history:

12. From the writing of Abydenus concerning the same flood: "After him others ruled, and also Sisithrus, to whom Kronos foretold that there would be a multitude of rains on the fifteenth of Desius, and commanded that everything that was contained in writings be hidden in the city of the Sun, that in Sippara. Sisithrus, having accomplished these things, immediately sailed to Armenia, and at once the things from the god overtook him. On the third day, when the rain had ceased, he sent out birds to make a test, to see if they might see land emerging from the water. But they, being received by a vast open sea, being at a loss where to anchor, returned to Sisithrus, and after them others. When on the third attempt they succeeded—for they arrived with their claws full of mud—the gods removed him from among men. The ship in Armenia provided the natives with amulets of wood as protections." So much for this. Again, when Moses said that the first-born of men were long-lived, Josephus also sets forth witnesses of this account from the Greek writers, speaking thus:

13. From the Archaeology of Josephus concerning the need to mention the longer life of the ancients: "Let no one, comparing the present life and the brevity of the years we live, consider false the things said about those ancients, inferring from the fact that we do not now extend so long a time in life that they did not reach that length of life. For they, being beloved of God and created by God himself, and because their foods were more suitable for a longer time, naturally lived a multitude of such years. Moreover, on account of their virtue and the usefulness of the things they devised, such as astronomy and geometry, God granted them to live longer, which they could not have safely foretold without living six hundred years; for through these the great year is completed. And all those among Greeks and barbarians who have written the ancient histories bear witness to my account. For Manetho, who made the record of Egyptian affairs, and Berossus, who compiled the Chaldean matters, and Molus, and Hestiaeus, and in addition the Egyptian Hieronymus, and those who composed the Phoenician histories, agree with what I say; and Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus, Acusilaus, and besides these Ephorus and Nicolaus record that the ancients lived a thousand years. Concerning these matters, then, let each judge as he pleases." Again, when Moses related the construction of the tower and how from one language they were confounded into many dialects, in the aforementioned writing concerning the Assyrians, the author indicated a little earlier bears witness to similar things, speaking thus:

14. From the writing of Abydenus concerning the construction of the tower: "They say that the first men, who sprang from the earth, being puffed up with strength and size and thinking themselves better than the gods, raised a towering citadel where Babylon now stands; and when it was already near the sky, the winds, aiding the gods, overturned the structure around them; and the ruins of this are said to be Babylon. At that time, being of one language, they received a many-sounding voice from the gods, and afterwards war broke out between Cronus and Titan."

15. That several others also mentioned the same thing. From the Archaeology of Josephus: "The place where they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of language which first became evident; for the Hebrews call confusion Babel. Concerning this tower and the diversity of speech among men, the Sibyl also makes mention, speaking thus: 'When all men were of one speech, some built a very high tower, intending to ascend to heaven through it. But the gods sent winds and overturned the tower, and gave each a distinct speech, and for this reason the city came to be called Babylon.' And concerning the plain called Shinar in the Babylonian country, Hestiaeus makes mention, speaking thus: 'The priests who survived, taking the sacred objects of Zeus Enyalius, came to Shinar in Babylonia.'

They then scattered from there, making settlements everywhere according to their common language, and each took possession of the land that came to hand." Again, when Moses set forth at length the history concerning the forefather of the Hebrews, Abraham, Josephus says that even the external historians bear witness to him through these words:

10. Those who have made mention of the forefather of all Hebrews, Abraham

"Berosus makes mention of our father Abraham, not naming him, but speaking thus: 'After the flood, in the tenth generation among the Chaldeans, there was a certain just man, great and skilled in celestial matters.' Hecataeus, moreover, has done more than merely mention him; for he composed and left behind a book about him. Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his histories, speaks thus: 'Abrames reigned over Damascus, having come as a foreigner with an army from the land above Babylon, called that of the Chaldeans. After not much time, he departed from this country as well with his own people and migrated to the land then called Canaan, but now Judea, and those descended from him multiplied, concerning whom I will relate the accounts in another discourse.' Even now the name of Abraham is celebrated in the region of Damascus, and a village named after him is shown, called the dwelling of Abraham. Later, when a famine overtook Canaan, Abramos, learning that the Egyptians were prosperous, was eager to cross over to them, both to share in their abundance and to become a hearer of their priests, regarding what they might say about the gods; for either he would follow them if they were found to be superior, or he would reform them for the better, being himself of better understanding." Then he adds the following:

He consorted with the most learned of the Egyptians, and from this it came about that his virtue and the fame attending it became more conspicuous. For since the Egyptians were pleased with different customs and disparaged each other’s laws, and were therefore hostile to one another, he engaged with each of them, and, spurning the arguments they made about their own practices, he showed them to be empty and containing nothing true. He was therefore admired by them in their gatherings as a most intelligent and clever man, not only in understanding but also in persuading when speaking about whatever he might undertake to teach; and he bestowed arithmetic upon them and taught them matters concerning astronomy. For before Abraham’s arrival, the Egyptians were ignorant of these things. For these sciences came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, whence they also came to the Greeks.” So says Josephus. And Alexander Polyhistor, a man of much understanding and great learning, well known to those Greeks who have not made the fruit of education a secondary matter, agrees with these things; in his work On the Jews he relates the matters concerning this Abraham word for word in the following manner:

17. From Eupolemus concerning Abraham, from Alexander Polyhistor’s work On the Jews: “Eupolemus, in his work On the Jews of Assyria, says that the city of Babylon was first built by those who were saved from the flood; and that these were giants, and that they built the famous tower. When this tower fell by the act of God, the giants were scattered over the whole earth. In the tenth generation, he says, in a city of Babylonia called Camarina, which some call the city of Ur, being interpreted as the city of the Chaldeans, or in the thirteenth generation, Abraham was born, who surpassed all in nobility and wisdom, and who indeed discovered astrology and the Chaldean science, and, striving for piety, was well-pleasing to God. This man, because of the commands of God, came to Phoenicia and dwelt there, and taught the Phoenicians the solstices and lunar phases and all other things, and was well-pleasing to their king. Later, the Armenians made war on the Phoenicians; and when they were victorious and took captive his nephew, Abraham, with the help of his servants, became master of the

After they had taken captives, and the enemy had captured children and women, and envoys came to him asking that he take money and ransom them, he chose not to trample on the unfortunate, but taking provisions for the young men, he returned the captives; and he was entertained by the city at the temple of Argarizin, which is interpreted as “mountain of the highest.” And from Melchisedek, who was a priest of God and a king, he received gifts. When a famine occurred, Abraham departed to Egypt with his whole household and dwelt there; and the king of the Egyptians married his wife, as he said she was his sister. He further related that the king was unable to have intercourse with her, and that it happened that his people and his household were being destroyed; and when he summoned seers, they said that the woman was not a widow. And so the king of the Egyptians recognized that she was Abraham’s wife and returned her to her husband. And Abraham, living in Heliopolis with the Egyptian priests, taught them many things and introduced them to astrology and the rest, claiming that the Babylonians and he himself had discovered these things, and he referred their discovery back to Enoch, saying that he was the first to discover astrology, not the Egyptians. For the Babylonians say that Belus was first, who is Cronus; and from him were born Belus and Chanaan; and this Chanaan begot the father of the Phoenicians; and from him came Choum as a son, who is called by the Greeks Asbolus, father of the Ethiopians, and brother of Mestraim, father of the Egyptians.

The Greeks say that Atlas discovered astrology, and that Atlas is the same as Enoch; and that Enoch had a son Methuselah, who knew all things through angels of God, and thus we also come to know them.

18. Artapanus on the Same Subject, from the Same Work of the Polymath: "Artapanus says in his Jewish History that the Jews are called Hermiouth, which when translated into the Greek tongue means 'Jews'; and that they are called Hebrews from Abraham. He says that this man came with his whole household to Egypt to the king of the Egyptians, Pharethothes, and taught him astrology; and after staying there twenty years, he departed again to the regions of Syria. Many of those who came with him remained in Egypt because of the prosperity of the land. In anonymous works we find that Abraham traces his lineage to the giants, and that these giants, dwelling in Babylonia, were destroyed by the gods because of their impiety; one of them, Belus, escaping death, settled in Babylon and built a tower in which he lived, and this tower was called Belus after its builder Belus. Abraham, having been instructed in the science of astrology, first went to Phoenicia and taught the Phoenicians astrology, and later arrived in Egypt.

19. Molon on the same subject: "Molon, who wrote the treatise against the Jews, says that after the flood the surviving man departed from Armenia with his sons, driven out by the natives from their own lands; and having traversed the intervening country, he came to the mountainous region of Syria, which was deserted. After three generations, Abraham was born, whose name is interpreted as 'father's friend'; and having become wise, he pursued the desert. He took two wives, one a native relative, the other an Egyptian handmaid. From the Egyptian he fathered twelve sons, who, having departed for Arabia, divided the land among themselves and were the first to rule over the natives; whence down to our time there are twelve kings of the Arabs bearing the same names as those. From his lawful wife he had one son, who in Greek was named Gelos. And Abraham died of old age; and from Gelos and a native wife eleven sons were born, and a twelfth, Joseph, and from him a third, Moses." So much from Polyhistor; to which, after other matters, he adds, saying: "Not long after, God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a whole burnt sacrifice to him. And he, having led the boy up the mountain, heaped up a pyre and placed Isaac upon it; but when he was about to slay him, he was prevented by an angel, who provided a ram for the sacrifice. And Abraham took the boy down from the pyre and sacrificed the ram." "Philon also speaks about this in the first book of his On Jerusalem.

20. Philo on the same subject: "I have heard that in primeval customs the thigh, of glorious fame, was bound by a superior bond of Abraham, all-bright, overflowing with boastful reasonings, divine charms. For when he left the splendid enclosure of terrible plants, the renowned holder of the mighty fire made his own utterance immortal, from which that descendant of the terrible ancestor obtained much-hymned glory," and so forth; after a little he adds: "When the ready-handed one prepared the sword-bearing with courage and the roaring was gathered aside; but he in his hands drove the horn-bearing ram," and what follows these." These things then are from the aforementioned writing of Polyhistor. And Josephus also in the first book of his Antiquities mentions the same through these words: "It is said that this Aphren, having campaigned against Libya, took possession of it, and his descendants, having settled in it, named the land Africa from his name. And Alexander Polyhistor bears witness to my account, speaking thus: 'Cleodemus the prophet, also called Malchas, says, when relating the history of the Jews, just as Moses their lawgiver also related, that from Hagar Abraham had many children; and he also gives their names, naming three: Apher, Assouri, Aphran; and from Assouri the Assyria was named, and from the other two, Aphra and Apher, the city Aphra and the land Africa were named. And these campaigned with Heracles against Libya and Antaeus; and Heracles, having married the daughter of Aphra, begot from her a son Diodorus; and from him was born Sophonas, from whom the barbarians are called Sophas.'" So much then concerning Abraham, let this be set forth in brief.

Let us return again to Alexander Polyhistor.

21. Demetrius on Jacob: from the same writing of Polyhistor: "Demetrius says that Jacob, when he was seventy-five years old, fled to Charran of Mesopotamia, sent by his parents because of the secret enmity toward his brother Esau, because the father, thinking Esau to be the one, had blessed him, and in order that he might take a wife from there. So Jacob set out for Charran of Mesopotamia, leaving behind his father Isaac, who was one hundred thirty-seven years old, while he himself was seventy-seven years old. Having spent seven years there, he married two daughters of Laban, his maternal uncle, Leah and Rachel, being eighty-four years old; and in another seven years twelve children were born to him: in the eighth year, tenth month, Reuben; and in the ninth year, eighth month, Simeon; and in the tenth year, sixth month, Levi; and in the eleventh year, fourth month, Judah. And Rachel, not bearing children, was jealous of her sister and caused her own handmaid Zilpah to sleep with Jacob, at the same time that Bilhah conceived Naphtali, in the eleventh year, fifth month, and she gave birth in the twelfth year, second month, to a son, who was named Gad by Leah; and from the same woman, in the same year and twelfth month, she bore another, who was also named Asher by Leah. And Leah again, in exchange for the mandrake apples which Reuben had brought from Rachel, conceived, and also the handmaid Zilpah at the same time, in the twelfth year, third month, and she gave birth in the same year, twelfth month, to a son and gave him the name Issachar.

And again Leah in the thirteenth year, tenth month, bore another son, named Zebulun, and in the fourteenth year, eighth month, she bore a son named Dan. At the same time, Rachel conceived in the same period when Leah bore a daughter, Dinah, and in the fourteenth year, eighth month, she bore a son, who was named Joseph, so that in the seven years with Laban twelve children were born. Jacob, wishing to go to his father in Canaan, was asked by Laban to remain another six years, so that he stayed altogether with Laban in Charran for twenty years. As he was traveling to Canaan, an angel of God wrestled with him and touched the breadth of Jacob’s thigh, and he became numb and limped; hence the sinew in the thigh of animals is not eaten. And the angel told him that from then on he would no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. And he came from the land of Canaan to another city, Shechem, having children: Reuben, twelve years and two months old; Simeon, eleven years and four months; Levi, ten years and six months; Judah, nine years and eight months; Naphtali, eight years and ten months; Gad, eight years and ten months; Asher, eight years; Issachar, eight years; Zebulun, seven years and two months; Dinah, six years and four months; Joseph, six years and four months. And Israel dwelt with Hamor for ten years, and his daughter Dinah, being sixteen years and four months old, was violated by Shechem, the son of Hamor.

The sons of Israel, leaping out, Simeon being twenty-one years and four months old, and Levi twenty years and six months old, killed both Emmor and Sychem his son and all the males because of the violation of Dina; Jacob then being one hundred and seven years old. And so, having come to Louza of Baithél, God said that he should no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. From there he came to Chaphrathá, and then to Ephrathá, which is Bethleém, and there he begat Benjamin, and Rachel died, having given birth to Benjamin, Jacob having lived with her twenty-three years. From there Jacob came to Mambré of Chebrón to his father Isaac. Joseph was then seventeen years old, and he was sold into Egypt and remained in prison thirteen years, so that he was thirty years old, and Jacob one hundred and twenty years old, at which time Isaac died one year earlier, being one hundred and eighty years old. Joseph, having interpreted the dreams for the king, ruled Egypt for seven years, during which he also married Asenéth, daughter of Pentephrés, priest of Heliopolis, and begat Manassés and Ephraím; and the famine occurred for

two. And that he did not send Joseph, though he had been fortunate for nine years, to his father, because both he and his brothers were shepherds; and that shepherding was considered disgraceful among the Egyptians. And that he made it clear that this was the reason he did not send him; for when his relatives came, he said to them, if they were summoned by the king and asked what they did, to say that they were cattle-breeders. And he puzzled over why Joseph gave Benjamin a portion five times larger at the feast, though he could not consume so much meat. That he did this because from Leah his father had seven sons, and from Rachel his mother two; therefore he set out five portions for Benjamin and took two himself; thus there were seven, the same number as the sons from Leah received. And likewise also when he gave each one double garments, and to Benjamin five and three hundred gold pieces, and sent the same to his father, so that his mother's household would be equal. And they lived in the land of Canaan, from the time when Abraham was chosen from the nations and moved to Canaan, Abraham being twenty-five years old, Isaac sixty years old, Jacob one hundred and thirty years old; the total years in the land of Canaan being two hundred and fifteen. And in the third year of a famine in Egypt, Jacob came to Egypt at the age of one hundred and thirty, Reuben being forty-five years old, Simeon forty-four years old, Levi forty-three years old, Judah forty-two years and two months old, Naphtali forty-one years and seven months old, Gad forty-one years and three months old, Asher forty years and eight months old, Zebulun forty years old, Dinah thirty-nine years old, Benjamin twenty-eight years old.

And he says that Joseph was in Egypt for thirty-nine years. And that from Adam until the entry of Joseph's relatives into Egypt there were 3,624 years. And from the flood until Jacob's arrival in Egypt there were 1,360 years. And from the time when Abraham was chosen from the nations and came from Charran to Chanaan until the arrival of those around Jacob in Egypt, there were 215 years. And that Jacob came to Charran to Laban when he was eighty years old and begot Levi. And that Levi was in Egypt for seventeen years from the time he came from Chanaan to Egypt, so that he was sixty years old, and begot Caath. And in the same year that Caath was born, Jacob died in Egypt, having blessed Joseph's sons, being 147 years old, leaving Joseph who was fifty years old. And that Levi died when he was 137 years old. And that Caath, when he was forty years old, begot Amram, who was fourteen years old when Joseph died in Egypt at the age of 110. And that Caath died when he was 133 years old. And that Amram took as wife the daughter of his uncle, Jochabed, and when he was seventy-five years old begot Aaron and Moses. And that Amram begot Moses when he was seventy-eight years old, and that Amram died when he was 130 years old. Let these things be set down by me from the writing of Alexander Polyhistor. And next let these also be added:

22. Theodotus on Jacob: "Sycamore," says Theodotus in his work On the Jews, took its name from Sycamius, the son of Hermes; for he founded the city. And he says it lies in the region of the Jews, as follows: "It was good and rich in goats and well-watered, and the road from the countryside to the city was not long; nor did the shaggy thickets ever cause trouble. From it, very near, two strong mountains appear, full of grass and wood; between them a narrow path is cut, a hollow way; and on the other side, the sacred city of Sycamore is visible, built below at the root, and around it a smooth wall runs under the steep ridge as a fence." Later, he says it was taken over by the Hebrews when Emmor was ruler; for Emmor fathered a son, Sychem. He says: "From there, stranger, the shepherd Jacob came to the broad city of Sycamore; and over the men at that time Emmor with his son Sychem were rulers, very mighty men." Then concerning Jacob and his arrival in Mesopotamia, and the marriage of the two women, and the birth of the children, and the journey from Mesopotamia to Sycamore. He said: "Jacob came to cattle-rearing Syria and left the broad stream of the roaring Euphrates River. For he came from there, leaving the harsh rebuke of his own brother; Laban received him willingly into his home, who was his cousin, but at that time ruled Syria alone, having newly acquired blood. He promised and agreed to the marriage of his younger daughter; but he did not intend to fulfill it at all, but spun a deceit and sent Leah to the man's bed, who was the elder.

Nor did it escape him entirely, but he perceived the evil scheming and received another child, and mingled with both of his own kin. To him were born sons exceedingly wise in mind, eleven in number, and a daughter, Deina, possessing a surpassingly beautiful form, a comely figure and blameless spirit." And from the Euphrates, he says, Jacob came to Sycam to Emmor; and Emmor received him and gave him a portion of the land. And Jacob himself tilled the soil, while his eleven sons tended flocks, and his daughter Deina and the women worked wool. And Deina, being a virgin, went to Sycam during a festival, wishing to see the city; and Sychem, the son of Emmor, saw her, fell in love with her, seized her, took her to himself, and violated her. Then, coming with his father to Jacob, he asked for her in marriage; but Jacob said he would not give her until all the inhabitants of Sycam were circumcised and Judaized; and Emmor said he would persuade them. And Jacob says about the necessity of their circumcision: "For this is not lawful for Hebrews, to bring in bridegrooms or brides from elsewhere into the house, but only one who claims to be of the same lineage." Then, continuing, concerning the circumcision: "When once divine Abraham led forth from his homeland, he himself from heaven called a man with his whole household to strip away the flesh of the foreskin, and he accomplished it.

It is unshakable, since God himself spoke. So when Emmor went into the city and urged those subject to him to be circumcised, one of Jacob’s sons, by name Symeon, resolved to kill both Emmor and Sychem, not wishing to bear the outrage against his sister in a civic manner; and having resolved this, he communicated it to his brother Levi; and having obtained his consent, he urged him on to the deed, citing an oracle that said God would give ten nations to the descendants of Abraham. And Symeon speaks thus to Levi: “For I have well learned a word of God; he once said he would give ten nations to the children of Abraham.” And that God instilled this intention in them because the inhabitants of Sikimoi were impious. And he says: “God harms the inhabitants of Sikimoi, for they honored neither the bad nor the good who came among them; they judged no suits in the city nor gave judgments; ruinous deeds were rife among them, deeds they had contrived.” So Levi and Symeon went into the city armed and first killed those they met, and then slew both Emmor and Sychem. And he speaks of their slaying thus: “Then indeed Symeon rushed at Emmor and struck him on the head, and seized his neck with his left hand, and left him still gasping, since another task was at hand. Meanwhile Levi, with irresistible fury, seized Sychem by the hair as he clutched his knees, raging mightily.

He drove the key into the middle, and thrust the sharp sword through the breast into the vitals, and the soul immediately left the body. When the other brothers learned of this, they came to assist them in their deed, and sacked the city, and after rescuing their sister together with the captives, conveyed her to their father’s home. To these things let the following concerning Joseph be added from the same writing of Polyhistor.

23. Artapanus concerning Joseph, from the same writing of Polyhistor: “Artapanus says in his work On the Jews that Joseph was a descendant of Abraham, and a son of Jacob. He excelled the others in intelligence and prudence, and was plotted against by his brothers. Foreseeing the conspiracy, he asked the neighboring Arabs to convey him to Egypt, and they did what was requested; for the kings of the Arabs were descendants of Israel, sons of Abraham, and brothers of Isaac. Upon arriving in Egypt and being presented to the king, he became administrator of the whole country. And whereas previously the Egyptians had farmed the land in a disorderly manner, because the land was undivided and the weaker were wronged by the stronger, he was the first to divide the land, mark it with boundaries, make much of the waste land arable, and assign some of the arourae to the priests. He also invented measures, and for these reasons was greatly loved by the Egyptians. He married Aseneth, the daughter of a priest of Heliopolis, and by her fathered children.

After this, the father and the brothers came to him, bringing much property, and they settled in Heliopolis and Sais, and the Syrians multiplied in Egypt. These, he says, also built the sanctuary at Athos and that at Heliopolis, the ones called Hermiouth. After this, both Joseph and the king of the Egyptians died. Joseph, then, who held the grain of Egypt for the seven years, which became abundant in the harvest, stored it up and became master of Egypt.

24. Philo on Joseph: from the same writing. "Philo also bears witness to the sacred books in the fourteenth of his On Jerusalem, speaking thus: 'The great highest ruler built a blessed seat for the whole, and before that from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob of good offspring, whence Joseph, the interpreter of dreams, scepter-holder on the thrones of Egypt, whirling the secret flood of time with the tide of fate,' and so forth. These things also concerning Joseph." Now hear what the same author records concerning Job.

25. Aristeas on Job similarly: "Aristeas says in his On the Jews that Esau married Bassara and begat a son in Edom, Job; and that this man dwelt in the land of Ausitis on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia. He became righteous and possessed many possessions; for he acquired seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys for pasturing; and he also had sufficient farmland. This Job was formerly called Jobab. God tested him to see if he would persevere, and encompassed him with great misfortunes. First, his donkeys and oxen were destroyed by robbers; then his sheep were burned up along with the shepherds by fire that fell from the sky; not long after, his camels were driven off by robbers; then his children died when the house collapsed; and on the same day his body was covered with sores. While he was in a wretched state, Eliphaz the king of the Thaimanites, Bildad the tyrant of the Sauchaeans, and Zophar the king of the Minnaeans came to visit him; and Elihu the son of Barachiel the Zobite also came. Though entreated, he said that even without entreaty he would persevere both in piety and in his afflictions. And God, pleased at his fortitude, released him from his disease and made him lord of many possessions." So much on these matters from Polyhistor. And concerning Moses the same author cites a great deal, which it is also worthwhile to hear:

26. Eupolemus on Moses: "Eupolemus says that Moses was the first wise man and first gave letters to the Jews, and that the Phoenicians received them from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians, and that Moses first wrote laws for the Jews."

27. Artapanus on Moses similarly: "Artapanus says in his On the Jews that after Abraham died, and his son Mempsasthenoth, and likewise the king of the Egyptians, his son Palmanothes took over the rule. This man treated the Jews badly; and first he built Saïs and established the temple there, then constructed the temple in Heliopolis. He fathered a daughter, Merris, whom he betrothed to a certain Chenephres, who ruled the regions above Memphis; for many then ruled Egypt. She, being barren, adopted a child of one of the Jews, and named this child Moses; when he grew up, he was called Musaeus by the Greeks. This Moses became the teacher of Orpheus. When he grew up, he handed down many useful things to mankind; for he invented ships, machines for stone-setting, Egyptian arms, water-drawing and war instruments, and philosophy. Further, he divided the city into thirty districts and assigned to each district the god to be worshipped, and the sacred writings to the priests; and there were also cats, dogs, and ibises. He also allotted special land to the priests. He did all these things in order to preserve the monarchy securely for Chenephres.

For before this the masses, being without order, would at one time expel kings, at another set them up, and often the same ones, but at other times different ones. For these reasons, then, Moses was loved by the masses and deemed worthy of honor equal to the gods by the priests, and was addressed as Hermes, because of his interpretation of the sacred writings. But Chenephres, seeing Moses' virtue, became jealous of him and sought to put him to death on some plausible pretext. And so, when the Ethiopians once made war on Egypt, Chenephres, thinking he had found a suitable opportunity, sent Moses against them as general with a force; but he gave him a multitude of farmers, supposing that he would easily be killed by the enemy because of the weakness of the soldiers. But Moses, coming to the nome called Hermopolite, with about a hundred thousand farmers, encamped there; and he sent the generals who were presiding over the country, who indeed were clearly superior in battles; and he says that the Heliopolitans say this war lasted ten years. Then those around Moses, because of the size of the army, founded a city in that place and consecrated the ibis in it, because this bird destroys the animals that harm men; and they named it the City of Hermes. Thus the Ethiopians, although they were enemies, came to love Moses so much that they learned circumcision of the genitals from him; and not only they, but also all the priests. And Chenephres, when the war was ended, received him in word, but in fact plotted against him.

He therefore took away his crowds, sending some to the borders of Ethiopia for the purpose of outpost duty, and ordering others to demolish the temple in Diospolis built of baked brick and to construct another of stone by quarrying the nearby mountain. He appointed Nacherōtas as overseer of the building. The latter, having come with Moses to Memphis, inquired of him whether there was anything else useful for men. Moses said a breed of cattle, because the land was plowed by them. Chenephrēs, having named the bull Apis, ordered the crowds to establish a sanctuary for it and to bring there the animals consecrated by Moses and bury them, wishing to conceal Moses' inventions. When the Egyptians had estranged him, he made his friends swear not to reveal to Moses the conspiracy being formed against him, and put forward those who would kill him. When no one obeyed, Chenephrēs reproached Chanethōthēs, whom he especially addressed. The reproached one promised to make the attack, seizing an opportunity. At this time, when Merris had died, Chenephrēs promised both Moses and Chanethōthēs to convey the body to the regions beyond Egypt and bury it, supposing that Moses would be killed by Chanethōthēs. As they were traveling, one of those who knew of the conspiracy revealed it to Moses. He, guarding himself, buried Merris, and named the river and the city in it Meroë. This Merris is honored by the natives no less than Isis.

Aaron, the brother of Moses, learning of the plot, advised his brother to flee to Arabia. Persuaded, Moses sailed from Memphis down the Nile and departed for Arabia. Chanethothes, learning of Moses' flight, lay in ambush to kill him. Seeing him approach, he drew his sword against him, but Moses, anticipating him, seized his hand, drew his own sword, and slew Chanethothes. He then escaped to Arabia and lived with Raguel, the ruler of those regions, taking his daughter in marriage. Raguel wished to campaign against the Egyptians, intending to restore Moses and secure dominion for his daughter and son-in-law. Moses prevented him, out of consideration for his own people. Raguel, forbidding the campaign, ordered the Arabs to plunder Egypt. At the same time, Chenephres died, having been the first of all men to suffer from elephantiasis. He fell into this affliction because he had ordered the Jews to wear linen garments and not to clothe themselves in wool, so that, being conspicuous, they might be punished by him. Moses prayed to God, that the peoples might at last be delivered from their sufferings. While he was propitiating, suddenly, it is said, fire blazed up from the earth and burned, though there was neither wood nor any other fuel in the place. Moses, fearing what had happened, fled. A divine voice told him to campaign against Egypt and to lead the Jews to safety in

to lead an ancient fatherland. And that he, taking courage, decided to bring a hostile force against the Egyptians; but first he went to Aaron, his brother. And the king of the Egyptians, learning of Moses' arrival, summoned him to himself and inquired for what purpose he had come. And he said that the master of the inhabited world commanded him to release the Jews. And when he heard this, he imprisoned him. But when night came, all the doors of the prison opened of their own accord, and of the guards, some died, while others were overcome by sleep, and their weapons were broken. And Moses, going out, came to the palace; and finding the doors open, he entered, and there, with the guards relaxed, he roused the king. And the king, astonished at what had happened, ordered Moses to tell the name of the god who had sent him, mocking him. And he, bending down to his ear, spoke; and when the king heard, he fell speechless, but being held up by Moses, he revived again. And he wrote the name on a tablet and sealed it; and when one of the priests disparaged what was written on the tablet, he died in convulsions. And the king told him to perform some sign for him; and Moses, taking the staff he had, made it into a serpent. And when all were terrified, he seized it by the tail, took it up, and made it a staff again. And going forward a little, he struck the Nile with his staff, and the river, becoming swollen, flooded all of Egypt. And from that time his descent also occurred.

Having gathered the water, he made it putrefy and destroyed the riverine animals, and the peoples were perishing from thirst. And the king, when these portents occurred, said that after a month he would release the peoples, if he restored the river. And Moses, again striking the water with his rod, contracted the stream. When this happened, the king summoned the priests from above Memphis and said that he would kill them and raze the temples, unless they too performed some wonder. They then, by means of certain incantations and spells, created a serpent and changed the color of the river. The king, emboldened by what had happened, subjected the Jews to every kind of torment and punishment. And Moses, seeing this, performed other signs, and striking the ground with his rod, released a winged creature that ravaged the Egyptians, and all of them broke out in sores on their bodies. Since the physicians were unable to heal the afflicted, the Jews again obtained relief. And again Moses released a frog through his rod, and in addition locusts and gnats. Because of this, the Egyptians dedicated the rod in every temple, and likewise to Isis, since the earth is Isis, and when struck with the rod, it released the portents. But when the king still acted foolishly, Moses produced hail and earthquakes during the night, so that those fleeing the earthquake were destroyed by the hail, and those avoiding the hail were destroyed by the earthquakes. Then all the houses and most of the temples collapsed. Finally, having fallen into such calamities, the king released the Jews.

Those who had borrowed from the Egyptians many drinking vessels, not a little clothing, and a great quantity of other treasure, after crossing the rivers of Arabia and traversing a considerable distance, arrived at the Red Sea on the third day. Now the people of Memphis say that Moses, being experienced in the region, observed the ebb tide and led the multitude across the sea on dry land. The people of Heliopolis say that the king pursued with a great force, together with the consecrated animals, because the Jews were carrying off the property of the Egyptians which they had borrowed. And a divine voice came to Moses to strike the sea with his staff and divide it. And Moses, hearing, touched the water with his staff, and thus the stream parted, and the army marched on a dry path. But when the Egyptians entered and pursued, he says fire blazed forth before them, and the sea again flooded the path; and the Egyptians were all destroyed by both the fire and the flood. And the Jews, having escaped the danger, spent forty years in the desert, while God rained down for them a grain similar to groats, resembling snow in color. And he says that Moses was tall, ruddy, gray-haired, long-haired, and dignified. And he accomplished these things when he was about eighty-nine years old.

28. Ezekiel on Moses: "Concerning Moses being exposed by his mother in the marsh and being taken up and raised by the king's daughter, Ezekiel the tragic poet also relates, taking up the story from the beginning from those who came to Egypt with Jacob to Joseph. He speaks thus, introducing Moses as speaker: 'After Jacob left the land of Canaan and came down to Egypt with seventy souls with him, he begot a great people who fared badly and were oppressed, until these times, being ill-treated by evil men and the power of a strong hand. For when Pharaoh the king saw our race greatly increased, he devised a great plot against us, torturing men with heavy brick-making and building, and fortifying cities for the sake of these wretched ones. Then he proclaims that the male children of the Hebrew race be thrown into the deep-flowing river. Thereupon my mother, who bore me, hid me for three months, as she said. But not escaping notice, she exposed me, having put adornment on me, by the edge of the river in a thick marsh; and my sister Miriam watched nearby. Then the king's daughter came down with her maids to bathe and cleanse her young skin; seeing me at once, she took me up, and knew that I was a Hebrew; and Miriam my sister, running up, says this to the princess: "Do you wish me to quickly find a nurse for this child from among the Hebrews?" And she urged the girl on. Going, she spoke to her mother, and she herself, the mother, came quickly and took me in her arms. And the king's daughter said: "Woman, rear this child, and I will give you wages."'

name she called Moses, for what reason she took him from the watery bank of the river." After these things, Ezekiel adds further concerning these matters in his tragedy, introducing Moses speaking: "When the time of infancy had passed for me, the mother of the princess brought me to the palace, having told me everything and related to me my father's lineage and the gifts of God. As long as we had the time of childhood, with royal nurture and education she promised me everything, as if from her own womb. But when the full bosom of days was present, I left the royal house; for my spirit urged me to deeds and the king's device. I first see men in hand-to-hand combat, one a Hebrew, the other of Egyptian race. Seeing them alone and no one present, I rescued my brother, and the one I killed I hid in the sand, so that no other might see us and expose the murder. On the next day, again seeing two men, especially kinsmen, being oppressed, I said: 'Why do you strike one weaker than yourself?' He said: 'Who sent you here as judge or overseer for us? Will you not kill me, as you did the man yesterday?' And being afraid, I said: 'How has this become known?' And he quickly reported all this to the king; Pharaoh seeks to take my life; and hearing this, I depart and

Now I wander to a land of other boundaries." Then concerning the daughters of Raguel he adds as follows: "I see these seven maidens." And when he asks who the maidens are, Sepphora says: "The whole land is called Libya, stranger, and it is inhabited by tribes of all kinds, black Ethiopian men; and there is one ruler of the land, both tyrant and sole general. And a priest rules this city and judges mortals, who is father of me and these." Then after discussing the watering of the flocks, he introduces the marriage of Sepphora, bringing in Choum and Sepphora speaking in dialogue: Choum: "Nevertheless you must tell this, Sepphora." Sepphora: "My father gave me to this stranger as a wife."

29. Of Demetrius concerning the same subject similarly: "Demetrius, concerning the slaying of the Egyptian and the quarrel with the informer about the deceased, has narrated similarly to the writer of the sacred book. However, he says that Moses fled to Madiam and lived there with the daughter of Jothor, Sepphora, who, as far as one can conjecture from the names, was of the descendants of Chettoura, of the line of Abraham, from Iezan born to Abraham from Chettoura; and from Iezan came Dadan, from Dadan Raguel, from Raguel Jothor and Obab, from Jothor Sepphora, who married Moses. And the generations agree: for Moses is seventh from Abraham, and Sepphora sixth. For when Isaac was already living together, from whom Moses descends, Abraham married Chettoura at the age of 140 and begot Isaar from her as a second son; and Isaac, being 100 years old, begot.

so that Isaac was born forty-two years later, from which Sepphora is descended. Therefore there is no contradiction in Moses and Sepphora having been born at the same time. And they dwelt in the city of Madiam, which was named after one of the sons of Abraham. For he says that Abraham sent his sons eastward to settle; and for this reason Aaron and Mariam said in Aseroth that Moses married an Ethiopian woman.

30. EZEKIEL ON THE SAME SUBJECT, SIMILARLY: "And Ezekiel also speaks about these matters in the Exagoge, having included the dream seen by Moses but interpreted by his father-in-law. And Moses himself speaks in dialogue with his father-in-law somewhat as follows: 'I thought I saw on the peak of Mount Sinai a great throne reaching to the fold of heaven, on which sat a noble figure having a diadem and a great scepter in his left hand especially. And he beckoned to me with his right, and I stood before the throne. Then he handed me the scepter and bade me sit on the great throne; and he gave me a royal diadem and himself departed from the thrones. And I beheld the whole earth, circular, and beneath the earth and above heaven, and a multitude of stars fell at my knees, and I counted them all, and they passed by me like a host of mortals. Then, terrified, I awoke from sleep.' And his father-in-law interprets the dream thus: 'O stranger, this is a good sign for you from God; would that I might live to see when these things come to pass for you. For you will surely raise up a great throne and yourself rule and govern mortals. And as for your seeing the whole inhabited earth and the regions beneath and above heaven of God—'

you will see the things that are, the things that were before, and the things that will be later." And concerning the burning bush and his mission to Pharaoh, he again introduces Moses conversing with God in dialogue. And Moses says: "Ah! What is this sign for me from the bush, a portent and incredible to mortals? Suddenly the bush burns with much fire, but all its growth remains green. Why then? Going forward I will see a great portent; for it brings no belief to men." Then God speaks to him: "Hold back, O noble one, do not approach, Moses, before you loose the binding of your feet; for the ground on which you stand is holy, and the divine word shines forth to you from the bush. Take courage, O child, and listen to my words; for it is impossible for a mortal to see my face, but it is possible for you to hear my words, for which I have come. I am the God of your ancestors, of whom you speak, Abraham and Isaac and the third, Jacob. Mindful of them and of my gifts, I am here to save my people, the Hebrews, seeing the affliction and toil of my servants. But go and proclaim my words, first to all the Hebrews together, then to the king the commands from me, that you may lead my people out of the land." Then, after some dialogue, Moses himself says: "I am not naturally eloquent, and my tongue is hard of speech, weak-voiced, so that my words cannot be spoken before the king." Then to this God answers him:

I will send your brother Aaron quickly, to whom you will tell all that has been said by me, and he himself will speak before the king, while you come to us, and he, taking your staff." And concerning the rod and the other wonders, he has spoken thus in dialogue: "GOD: What is this you hold in your hands? Tell me quickly. MOSES: A rod, punisher of four-footed beasts and mortals. GOD: Throw it to the ground and withdraw quickly. For it will become a fearsome serpent, so that you will marvel. MOSES: Behold, it has been thrown; Lord, be gracious; how fearsome, how huge; have pity on me; I tremble seeing it, and the limbs of my body shake. GOD: Fear nothing, but stretch out your hand and take its tail, and it will again be a rod as it was. Put your hand into your bosom and bring it out. MOSES: Behold, the commanded thing has happened, as if it were snow. GOD: Put it again into your bosom, and it will be as it was." To these things he adds, after some intervening words spoken by him, saying: "Thus says Ezekiel in the Exagoge, introducing God speaking concerning the signs as follows: 'With this rod you will do all evils: first, river water will flow as blood, and all springs and bodies of water; I will cast a multitude of frogs and gnats upon the earth. Then I will sprinkle soot like furnace ash, and bitter ulcers will break out among mortals. The dog-fly will come and harm many of the Egyptians. After this, there will again be a plague, and those with a hard heart will die. I will darken the sky; hail will now fall with fire and will lay mortals dead. Fruits will be destroyed, and the bodies of four-footed beasts; I will set darkness for three whole days, and I will send locusts, and they will consume all superfluous foods and the green of the crops.

On top of all this, I will slay the firstborn of mortals. I will stop the insolence of evil men. But Pharaoh the king will be persuaded of nothing I say, except that his firstborn son will be dead; and then, terrified, he will quickly send out the people. In addition to these things, you will say to all the Hebrews together: This month is for you the first of the years. In this month I will lead the people to another land, to which I pledged to the fathers of the Hebrew race. You will say to the whole people, on the fifteenth day of the month I speak of, having sacrificed the Passover to God on the previous night, to touch the doorposts with blood, so that the terrible angel may pass by the sign. You will eat roasted meat by night. The king will hasten to expel the entire crowd. When you are about to depart, I will grant a favor to the people: a woman will receive from a woman vessels and all the adornment that a person wears, both gold and silver and also garments, so that they may repay to mortals the reward for what they have done. When you enter your own land, from which you fled at dawn, traveling a seven days' journey from Egypt, for all those days you will eat unleavened bread and serve God, the firstborn animals

Sacrificing to God, whatever firstborn male children the virgins bear, opening the wombs of mothers. And again concerning this same feast he says he has spoken more precisely, elaborating: Take of the Hebrews of this month, according to kinship, sheep and calves of cattle without blemish on the tenth; and let them be kept until the fourth day shines on the tenth, and toward evening, having sacrificed, roast everything together with the innards, and thus eat these; girded and with hollow shoes on your feet and holding a staff in your hand. For the king will in haste order all to be cast out of the land; and everyone will be called. And when you sacrifice, take a bunch of hyssop hair in your hands, dip it in blood, and touch the two doorposts, so that death may pass by the Hebrews. Keep this feast for the Lord, for seven days of unleavened bread; and leaven shall not be eaten. For he will be delivered from these evils, and in this month God grants an exodus; this is the beginning of months and of times. Again after other things he adds: And Ezekiel says in the drama entitled Exagoge, introducing an angel speaking about the condition of the Hebrews and the destruction of the Egyptians thus: For when the king Pharaoh set out from his house with this crowd, with ten thousand arms and every horse and four-horsed chariots and with commanders and adjutants together, there was a terrifying host of men drawn up. The infantry in the middle and the phalanx-men having spaces for chariots to pass through; he stationed the cavalry, some on the left, and on the right all of the Egyptian army. I asked the entire number of their army; there were one hundred myriad of a well-manned people.

Since the army of the Hebrews met us, those who had been cast near the shore of the Red Sea went forth gathered together; some gave their infant children as food together with their wives, worn out with toil; and many cattle and household goods; and all unarmed, seeing our hands for battle, they raised a tearful cry and stretched out together to the sky, to the ancestral god. There was a great crowd of men. Joy held us all in part. Then we set our camp opposite them; a city called Beelzephon by mortals. And when Titan the sun approached the west, we held back, desiring battle at dawn, trusting in our peoples and fearsome weapons. Then the divine wonders begin to be seen, marvelous to behold. And suddenly a great cloudy pillar stood before the land, great, between our camp and that of the Hebrews. And then their leader Moses, taking the rod of God, with which he had previously wrought evil signs and wonders in Egypt, struck the surface of the Red Sea and split the middle depth of the sea; and all of them rushed with strength through the swift salty path. And we went after them swiftly, following their track; we encountered them at night, running to their aid; but suddenly the wheels of the chariots did not turn, but were bound as if fitted. And from the sky a great light like fire appeared to us; as one might guess, the god was present as their helper. And when they were already across the sea, a great wave roared near us. And someone cried out seeing it: "Let us flee home before the hands of the Most High; for to them he is a helper, but to us wretched ones he works destruction." And the passage of the Red Sea was flooded together and destroyed the army." And again after a little:

From there they traveled for three days, as Demetrius himself says and the sacred book agrees. Having no sweet water there, but bitter, at God's command they cast a certain piece of wood into the spring and the water became sweet. From there they came to Elim and found there twelve springs of water and seventy palm trunks. Concerning these things and the bird that appeared, Ezekiel in the Exagoge introduces someone speaking to Moses about the palms and the twelve springs as follows: "Most excellent Moses, pay attention to what a place we have found near this very well-aired glen. For it is, as you yourself happen to see, there; and from there a light shone forth now as a sign of good cheer, like a pillar of fire. Here we found a shady meadow and moist streams; a deep, abundant place, drawing twelve springs from a single rock, and many sturdy trunks of date palms, fruitful, seventy in number, and flowing grass has grown as fodder for the flocks." Then, going on, he describes the bird that appeared: "And another strange creature we saw, marvelous, such as no one has ever seen. For it was nearly twice the length of an eagle, with varied feathers and colors. Its breast appeared purple, its legs red-colored, and along its neck it was adorned with saffron-colored wool. Its head resembled that of a tame cock, and it looked around with a quince-yellow pupil; the pupil appeared like a berry. It had the most distinguished voice of all. It seemed to be the king of all birds, as one could perceive.

For all the birds together, cowering behind him, rushed upon him, but he himself, going before, like a proud bull, advanced, bearing a swift step of his foot." And shortly after: "One must inquire how the Israelites had arms when they came out unarmed; for they said that after going out on a three days' journey and sacrificing, they would return again. It appears, then, that those who were not overwhelmed used the arms of those who were."

31. EUPOLEMUS ON DAVID AND SOLOMON WHO RULED THE HEBREWS AND ON JERUSALEM. "Eupolemus says in some work On the Prophecy of Elijah that Moses prophesied for forty years; then Joshua, the son of Nun, for thirty years; and that he lived one hundred and ten years and set up the sacred tabernacle in Shiloh. After these things, Samuel became a prophet. Then, by the will of God, Saul was chosen king by Samuel, and after reigning twenty-one years he died. Then David, his son, came to power, who subdued the Syrians dwelling by the Euphrates River and Commagene and the Assyrians in Galadene and the Phoenicians. He also campaigned against the Idumaeans and the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Ituraeans and the Nabataeans and the Nabdaeans, and again campaigned against Souron, king of Tyre and Phoenicia; and he compelled them to pay tribute to the Jews; and he made a treaty of friendship with Vaphres, the king of Egypt. And David, wishing to build a temple for God, asked God to show him a place for the altar.

There an angel appeared to him, standing above the place where the altar was established in Jerusalem, and commanded him not to establish the temple, because it was defiled with human blood and had been warred over for many years; and his name was Dianathan; and he ordered him to entrust the building to his son, while he himself prepared what pertained to the construction—gold, silver, bronze, stones, cypress wood, and cedar wood. And when David heard this, he built ships in the city of Elana in Arabia and sent miners to the island of Urphe, lying in the Red Sea, which had gold mines; and the miners brought the gold from there to Judea. And after David had reigned for forty years, he handed over the rule to his son Solomon, who was twelve years old, in the presence of Eli the high priest and the twelve phylarchs, and handed over to him the gold, silver, bronze, stone, cypress wood, and cedar wood. And he himself died, and Solomon reigned and wrote to Vaphres, the king of Egypt, the following letter.

32. Letter of Solomon

"King Solomon to King Vaphres, friend of my father, greetings. Know that I have received the kingdom from my father David through the greatest god, and that he has commanded me to build a temple for the god who created the heaven and the earth, and also to write to you to send me some of your peoples, who will assist me until I complete everything according to the need, as has been commanded."

33. Reply of Vaphres

"King Vaphres to the great King Solomon, greetings. As soon as I read your letter, I rejoiced greatly and I and all my forces kept a bright day because you have received the kingdom from a good man approved by such a god. Concerning what you write to me about the peoples among us, I have sent you eighty thousand, and I have specified to you the multitudes from which they come: from the Sebrythite nome ten thousand, from the Mendesian and Sebennyte twenty thousand, and from the Busirite, Leontopolite, and Athribite ten thousand each. Take care to provide them with what is necessary and other things, so that they may be orderly, and that they may be returned to their own land when they are no longer needed.

34. Letter of Solomon "King Solomon to Souron, king of Tyre and Sidon and Phoenicia, friend of my father, greetings. Know that I have received the kingdom from my father David through the greatest god, and that he has commanded me to build a temple for the god who created the heaven and the earth, and also to write to you to send me some of your peoples, who will assist us until we complete the service of the god, as has been commanded to me. I have also written to Galilee and Samaria and Moab and Ammon and Gilead that the necessary provisions be supplied to them from the land, monthly ten thousand cori of wheat—the corus being six artabae—and ten thousand cori of wine—the corus of wine being ten measures. The oil and other things will be supplied to them from Judaea, and sacrificial animals for meat-eating from Arabia."

35. Letter of Souron "Souron to King Solomon, greetings. Blessed is the god who created the heaven and the earth, who chose a good man from a good man. Upon reading your letter, I rejoiced greatly and blessed the god that you have received the kingdom. Concerning what you write to me about the peoples among us, I have sent you eighty thousand Tyrians and Phoenicians, and I have sent you an architect, a Tyrian man, from a Jewish mother, from the tribe of David. Concerning whatever you ask him about all things under the heaven pertaining to architecture, he will instruct you and do it.

Concerning the necessary things and the children being sent to you, you will do well to write to the local governors, so that the necessities may be provided. Then Solomon, having the friends of his father, went to the mountain of Lebanon with the Sidonians and Tyrians, and transported the timbers that had been cut by his father across the sea to Joppa, and from there by land to Jerusalem. And he began to build the temple of God, being thirteen years old, and the aforementioned nations and the twelve tribes of the Jews were to work and to provide all the necessities for the one hundred sixty thousand, one tribe per month. And he laid the foundation of the temple of God, length sixty cubits, width sixty cubits, and the width of the building and the foundations ten cubits; for thus Nathan the prophet of God had commanded him. And he built alternately a course of stone and a bond of cypress, fastening the two courses with talent-weight bronze axes. And having built it thus, he paneled the interior with cedar and cypress wood, so that the stone construction was not visible; and he gilded the temple inside, melting gold bricks of five cubits and attaching them with silver nails, of a talent weight each, breast-shaped in form, four in number. And thus he gilded it from the floor to the roof, and made the ceiling of gold coffers, and made the roof of bronze from bronze tiles, having melted bronze and poured it. And he made two bronze columns and gilded them with unalloyed gold, a finger's thickness.