CHAPTER
1
HOW PTOLEMY, THE SON OF LAGUS, TOOK JERUSALEM AND JUDEA BY DECEIT AND TREACHERY,
AND CARRIED MANY OF THE JEWS THENCE, AND PLANTED THEM IN EGYPT
1. Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion
of the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the forementioned
manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell among many, Antigonus
obtained Asia; Seleucus, Babylon; and of the other nations which were there,
Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and Cassander possessed Macedonia; as did
Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize upon Egypt. And while these princes ambitiously
strove one against another, every one for his own principality, it came to pass
that there were continual wars, and those lasting wars too; and the cities were
sufferers, and lost a great many of their inhabitants in these times of distress,
insomuch that all Syria, by the means of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, underwent
the reverse of that denomination of Savior, which he then had. He also seized
upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use of deceit and treachery; for as he
came into the city on a Sabbath day, as if he would offer sacrifice, he, without
any trouble, gained the city, while the Jews did not oppose him, for they did
not suspect him to be their enemy; and he gained it thus, because they were
free from suspicion of him, and because on that day they were at rest and quietness;
and when he had gained it, he ruled over it in a cruel manner. Nay, Agatharchides
of Cnidus, who wrote the acts of Alexander's successors, reproaches us with
superstition, as if we, by it, had lost our liberty; where he says thus: "There
is a nation called the nation of the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and great,
named Jerusalem. These men took no care, but let it come into the hands of Ptolemy,
as not willing to take arms, and thereby they submitted to be under a hard master,
by reason of their unseasonable superstition." This is what Agatharchides relates
of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken a great many captives, both from the
mountainous parts of Judea, and from the places about Jerusalem and Samaria,
and the places near Mount Gerizzim, he led them all into Egypt,1
and settled them there. And as he knew that the people of Jerusalem were most
faithful in the observation of oaths and covenants;2
and this from the answer they made to Alexander, when he sent an embassage to
them, after he had beaten Darius in battle; so he distributed many of them into
garrisons, and at Alexandria gave them equal privileges of citizens with the
Macedonians themselves; and required of them to take their oaths, that they
would keep their fidelity to the posterity of those who committed these places
to their care. Nay, there were not a few other Jews who, of their own accord,
went into Egypt, as invited by the goodness of the soil, and by the liberality
of Ptolemy. However, there were disorders among their posterity, with relation
to the Samaritans, on account of their resolution to preserve that conduct of
life which was delivered to them by their forefathers, and they thereupon contended
one with another, while those of Jerusalem said that their temple was holy,
and resolved to send their sacrifices thither; but the Samaritans were resolved
that they should be sent to Mount Gerizzim.
CHAPTER
2
HOW PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS PROCURED THE LAWS OF THE JEWS TO BE TRANSLATED INTO
THE GREEK TONGUE; AND SET MANY CAPTIVES FREE; AND DEDICATED MANY GIFTS TO GOD
1. When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter
forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it forty
years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted,3
and set free those that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery
there, who were a hundred and twenty thousand. The occasion was this: Demetrius
Phalerius, who was library keeper to the king, was now endeavoring, if it were
possible, to gather together all the books that were in the habitable earth,
and buying whatsoever was any where valuable, or agreeable to the king's inclination,
(who was very earnestly set upon collecting of books,) to which inclination
of his Demetrius was zealously subservient. And when once Ptolemy asked him
how many ten thousands of books he had collected, he replied, that he had already
about twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a little time, he should have
fifty times ten thousand. But be said he had been informed that there were many
books of laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring after, and worthy of the king's
library, but which, being written in characters and in a dialect of their own,
will cause no small pains in getting them translated into the Greek tongue;
that the character in which they are written seems to be like to that which
is the proper character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when pronounced,
is like theirs also; and that this sound appears to be peculiar to themselves.
Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they might not get those books to
be translated also; for while nothing is wanting that is necessary for that
purpose, we may have their books also in this library. So the king thought that
Demetrius was very zealous to procure him abundance of books, and that he suggested
what was exceeding proper for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the Jewish
high priest, that he should act accordingly.
2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among
the king's most intimate friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable
to him. This Aristeus resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition
the king that he would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; and he
thought this to be a convenient opportunity for the making that petition. So
he discoursed, in the first place, with the captains of the king's guards, Sosibius
of Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to assist him in what he was going
to intercede with the king for. Accordingly Aristeus embraced the same opinion
with those that have been before mentioned, and went to the king, and made the
following speech to him: "It is not fit for us, O king, to overlook things hastily,
or to deceive ourselves, but to lay the truth open. For since we have determined
not only to get the laws of the Jews transcribed, but interpreted also, for
thy satisfaction, by what means can we do this, while so many of the Jews are
now slaves in thy kingdom? Do thou then what will be agreeable to thy magnanimity,
and to thy good nature: free them from the miserable condition they are in,
because that God, who supporteth thy kingdom, was the author of their laws as
I have learned by particular inquiry; for both these people, and we also, worship
the same God the framer of all things. We call him, and that truly, by the name
of Zhna, [or life, or Jupiter,] because he breathes life into all men. Wherefore
do thou restore these men to their own country, and this do to the honor of
God, because these men pay a peculiarly excellent worship to him. And know this
further, that though I be not of kin to them by birth, nor one of the same country
with them, yet do I desire these favors to be done them, since all men are the
workmanship of God; and I am sensible that he is well-pleased with those that
do good. I do therefore put up this petition to thee, to do good to them."
3. When Aristeus was saying thus, the king
looked upon him with a cheerful and joyful countenance, and said, "How many
ten thousands dost thou suppose there are of such as want to be made free?"
To which Andreas replied, as he stood by, and said, "A few more than ten times
ten thousand." The king made answer, "And is this a small gift that thou askest,
Aristeus?" But Sosibius, and the rest that stood by, said that he ought to offer
such a thank-offering as was worthy of his greatness of soul, to that God who
had given him his kingdom. With this answer he was much pleased; and gave order,
that when they paid the soldiers their wages, they should lay down [a hundred
and] twenty drachmae for every one of the slaves.4
And he promised to publish a magnificent decree, about what they requested,
which should confirm what Aristeus had proposed, and especially what God willed
should be done; whereby he said he would not only set those free who had been
led away captive by his father and his army, but those who were in this kingdom
before, and those also, if any such there were, who had been brought away since.
And when they said that their redemption money would amount to above four hundred
talents, he granted it. A copy of which decree I have determined to preserve,
that the magnanimity of this king may be made known. Its contents were as follows:
"Let all those who were soldiers under our father, and who, when they overran
Syria and Phoenicia, and laid waste Judea, took the Jews captives, and made
them slaves, and brought them into our cities, and into this country, and then
sold them; as also all those that were in my kingdom before them, and if there
be any that have been lately brought thither, be made free by those that possess
them; and let them accept of [a hundred and] twenty drachmas for every slave.
And let the soldiers receive this redemption money with their pay, but the rest
out of the king's treasury: for I suppose that they were made captives without
our father's consent, and against equity; and that their country was harassed
by the insolence of the soldiers, and that, by removing them into Egypt, the
soldiers have made a great profit by them. Out of regard therefore to justice,
and out of pity to those that have been tyrannized over, contrary to equity,
I enjoin those that have such Jews in their service to set them at liberty,
upon the receipt of the before-mentioned sum; and that no one use any deceit
about them, but obey what is here commanded. And I will that they give in their
names within three days after the publication of this edict, to such as are
appointed to execute the same, and to produce the slaves before them also, for
I think it will be for the advantage of my affairs. And let every one that will
inform against those that do not obey this decree, and I will that their estates
be confiscated into the king's treasury." When this decree was read to the king,
it at first contained the rest that is here inserted, and omitted only those
Jews that had formerly been brought, and those brought afterwards, which had
not been distinctly mentioned; so he added these clauses out of his humanity,
and with great generosity. He also gave order that the payment, which was likely
to be done in a hurry, should be divided among the king's ministers, and among
the officers of his treasury. When this was over, what the king had decreed
was quickly brought to a conclusion; and this in no more than seven days' time,
the number of the talents paid for the captives being above four hundred and
sixty, and this, because their masters required the [hundred and] twenty drachmas
for the children also, the king having, in effect, commanded that these should
be paid for, when he said in his decree, that they should receive the forementioned
sum for every slave.
4. Now when this had been done after so
magnificent a manner, according to the king's inclinations, he gave order to
Demetrius to give him in writing his sentiments concerning the transcribing
of the Jewish books; for no part of the administration is done rashly by these
kings, but all things are managed with great circumspection. On which account
I have subjoined a copy of these epistles, and set down the multitude of the
vessels sent as gifts [to Jerusalem], and the construction of every one, that
the exactness of the artificers' workmanship, as it appeared to those that saw
them, and which workman made every vessel, may be made manifest, and this on
account of the excellency of the vessels themselves. Now the copy of the epistle
was to this purpose: "Demetrius to the great king. When thou, O king, gavest
me a charge concerning the collection of books that were wanting to fill your
library, and concerning the care that ought to be taken about such as are imperfect,
I have used the utmost diligence about those matters. And I let you know, that
we want the books of the Jewish legislation, with some others; for they are
written in the Hebrew characters, and being in the language of that nation,
are to us unknown. It hath also happened to them, that they have been transcribed
more carelessly than they ought to have been, because they have not had hitherto
royal care taken about them. Now it is necessary that thou shouldst have accurate
copies of them. And indeed this legislation is full of hidden wisdom, and entirely
blameless, as being the legislation of God; for which cause it is, as Hecateus
of Abdera says, that the poets and historians make no mention of it, nor of
those men who lead their lives according to it, since it is a holy law, and
ought not to be published by profane mouths. If then it please thee, O king,
thou mayst write to the high priest of the Jews, to send six of the elders out
of every tribe, and those such as are most skilful of the laws, that by their
means we may learn the clear and agreeing sense of these books, and may obtain
an accurate interpretation of their contents, and so may have such a collection
of these as may be suitable to thy desire."
5. When this epistle was sent to the king,
he commanded that an epistle should be drawn up for Eleazar, the Jewish high
priest, concerning these matters; and that they should inform him of the release
of the Jews that had been in slavery among them. He also sent fifty talents
of gold for the making of large basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense
quantity of precious stones. He also gave order to those who had the custody
of the chest that contained those stones, to give the artificers leave to choose
out what sorts of them they pleased. He withal appointed, that a hundred talents
in money should be sent to the temple for sacrifices, and for other uses. Now
I will give a description of these vessels, and the manner of their construction,
but not till after I have set down a copy of the epistle which was written to
Eleazar the high priest, who had obtained that dignity on the occasion following:
when Onias the high priest was dead, his son Simon became his successor. He
was called Simon the Just,5 because of both his piety
towards God, and his kind disposition to those of his own nation. When he was
dead, and had left a young son, who was called Onias, Simon's brother Eleazar,
of whom we are speaking, took the high priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy
wrote, and that in the manner following: "King Ptolemy to Eleazar the high priest,
sendeth greeting. There are many Jews who now dwell in my kingdom, whom the
Persians, when they were in power, carried captives. These were honored by my
father; some of them he placed in the army, and gave them greater pay than ordinary;
to others of them, when they came with him into Egypt, he committed his garrisons,
and the guarding of them, that they might be a terror to the Egyptians. And
when I had taken the government, I treated all men with humanity, and especially
those that are thy fellow citizens, of whom I have set free above a hundred
thousand that were slaves, and paid the price of their redemption to their masters
out of my own revenues; and those that are of a fit age, I have admitted into
them number of my soldiers. And for such as are capable of being faithful to
me, and proper for my court, I have put them in such a post, as thinking this
[kindness done to them] to be a very great and an acceptable gift, which I devote
to God for his providence over me. And as I am desirous to do what will be grateful
to these, and to all the other Jews in the habitable earth, I have determined
to procure an interpretation of your law, and to have it translated out of Hebrew
into Greek, and to be deposited in my library. Thou wilt therefore do well to
choose out and send to me men of a good character, who are now elders in age,
and six in number out of every tribe. These, by their age, must be skilful in
the laws, and of abilities to make an accurate interpretation of them; and when
this shall be finished, I shall think that I have done a work glorious to myself.
And I have sent to thee Andreas, the captain of my guard, and Aristeus, men
whom I have in very great esteem; by whom I have sent those first-fruits which
I have dedicated to the temple, and to the sacrifices, and to other uses, to
the value of a hundred talents. And if thou wilt send to us, to let us know
what thou wouldst have further, thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me."
6. When this epistle of the king was brought
to Eleazar, he wrote an answer to it with all the respect possible: "Eleazar
the high priest to king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe,6
and thy children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we received thy epistle,
we greatly rejoiced at thy intentions; and when the multitude were gathered
together, we read it to them, and thereby made them sensible of the piety thou
hast towards God. We also showed them the twenty vials of gold, and thirty of
silver, and the five large basons, and the table for the shew-bread; as also
the hundred talents for the sacrifices, and for the making what shall be needful
at the temple; which things Andreas and Aristeus, those most honored friends
of thine, have brought us; and truly they are persons of an excellent character,
and of great learning, and worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we will gratify
thee in what is for thy advantage, though we do what we used not to do before;
for we ought to make a return for the numerous acts of kindness which thou hast
done to our countrymen. We immediately, therefore, offered sacrifices for thee
and thy sister, with thy children and friends; and the multitude made prayers,
that thy affairs may be to thy mind, and that thy kingdom may be preserved in
peace, and that the translation of our law may come to the conclusion thou desirest,
and be for thy advantage. We have also chosen six elders out of every tribe,
whom we have sent, and the law with them. It will be thy part, out of thy piety
and justice, to send back the law, when it hath been translated, and to return
those to us that bring it in safety. Farewell."
7. This was the reply which the high priest
made. But it does not seem to me to be necessary to set down the names of the
seventy [two] elders who were sent by Eleazar, and carried the law, which yet
were subjoined at the end of the epistle. However, I thought it not improper
to give an account of those very valuable and artificially contrived vessels
which the king sent to God, that all may see how great a regard the king had
for God; for the king allowed a vast deal of expenses for these vessels, and
came often to the workmen, and viewed their works, and suffered nothing of carelessness
or negligence to be any damage to their operations. And I will relate how rich
they were as well as I am able, although perhaps the nature of this history
may not require such a description; but I imagine I shall thereby recommend
the elegant taste and magnanimity of this king to those that read this history.
8. And first I will describe what belongs
to the table. It was indeed in the king's mind to make this table vastly large
in its dimensions; but then he gave orders that they should learn what was the
magnitude of the table which was already at Jerusalem, and how large it was,
and whether there was a possibility of making one larger than it. And when he
was informed how large that was which was already there, and that nothing hindered
but a larger might be made, he said that he was willing to have one made that
should be five times as large as the present table; but his fear was, that it
might be then useless in their sacred ministrations by its too great largeness;
for he desired that the gifts he presented them should not only be there for
show, but should be useful also in their sacred ministrations. According to
which reasoning, that the former table was made of so moderate a size for use,
and not for want of gold, he resolved that he would not exceed the former table
in largeness; but would make it exceed it in the variety and elegancy of its
materials. And as he was sagacious in observing the nature of all things, and
in having a just notion of what was new and surprising, and where there was
no sculptures, he would invent such as were proper by his own skill, and would
show them to the workmen, he commanded that such sculptures should now be made,
and that those which were delineated should be most accurately formed by a constant
regard to their delineation.
9. When therefore the workmen had undertaken
to make the table, they framed it in length two cubits [and a half], in breadth
one cubit, and in height one cubit and a half; and the entire structure of the
work was of gold. They withal made a crown of a hand-breadth round it, with
wave-work wreathed about it, and with an engraving which imitated a cord, and
was admirably turned on its three parts; for as they were of a triangular figure,
every angle had the same disposition of its sculptures, that when you turned
them about, the very same form of them was turned about without any variation.
Now that part of the crown-work that was enclosed under the table had its sculptures
very beautiful; but that part which went round on the outside was more elaborately
adorned with most beautiful ornaments, because it was exposed to sight, and
to the view of the spectators; for which reason it was that both those sides
which were extant above the rest were acute, and none of the angles, which we
before told you were three, appeared less than another, when the table was turned
about. Now into the cordwork thus turned were precious stones inserted, in rows
parallel one to the other, enclosed in golden buttons, which had ouches in them;
but the parts which were on the side of the crown, and were exposed to the sight,
were adorned with a row of oval figures obliquely placed, of the most excellent
sort of precious stones, which imitated rods laid close, and encompassed the
table round about. But under these oval figures, thus engraven, the workmen
had put a crown all round it, where the nature of all sorts of fruit was represented,
insomuch that the bunches of grapes hung up. And when they had made the stones
to represent all the kinds of fruit before mentioned, and that each in its proper
color, they made them fast with gold round the whole table. The like disposition
of the oval figures, and of the engraved rods, was framed under the crown, that
the table might on each side show the same appearance of variety and elegancy
of its ornaments; so that neither the position of the wave-work nor of the crown
might be different, although the table were turned on the other side, but that
the prospect of the same artificial contrivances might be extended as far as
the feet; for there was made a plate of gold four fingers broad, through the
entire breadth of the table, into which they inserted the feet, and then fastened
them to the table by buttons and button-holes, at the place where the crown
was situate, that so on what side soever of the table one should stand, it might
exhibit the very same view of the exquisite workmanship, and of the vast expenses
bestowed upon it: but upon the table itself they engraved a meander, inserting
into it very valuable stones in the middle like stars, of various colors; the
carbuncle and the emerald, each of which sent out agreeable rays of light to
the spectators; with such stones of other sorts also as were most curious and
best esteemed, as being most precious in their kind. Hard by this meander a
texture of net-work ran round it, the middle of which appeared like a rhombus,
into which were inserted rock-crystal and amber, which, by the great resemblance
of the appearance they made, gave wonderful delight to those that saw them.
The chapiters of the feet imitated the first buddings of lilies, while their
leaves were bent and laid under the table, but so that the chives were seen
standing upright within them. Their bases were made of a carbuncle; and the
place at the bottom, which rested on that carbuncle, was one palm deep, and
eight fingers in breadth. Now they had engraven upon it with a very fine tool,
and with a great deal of pains, a branch of ivy and tendrils of the vine, sending
forth clusters of grapes, that you would guess they were nowise different from
real tendrils; for they were so very thin, and so very far extended at their
extremities, that they were moved with the wind, and made one believe that they
were the product of nature, and not the representation of art. They also made
the entire workmanship of the table appear to be threefold, while the joints
of the several parts were so united together as to be invisible, and the places
where they joined could not be distinguished. Now the thickness of the table
was not less than half a cubit. So that this gift, by the king's great generosity,
by the great value of the materials, and the variety of its exquisite structure,
and the artificer's skill in imitating nature with graving tools, was at length
brought to perfection, while the king was very desirous, that though in largeness
it were not to be different from that which was already dedicated to God, yet
that in exquisite workmanship, and the novelty of the contrivances, and in the
splendor of its construction, it should far exceed it, and be more illustrious
than that was.
10. Now of the cisterns of gold there were
two, whose sculpture was of scale-work, from its basis to its belt-like circle,
with various sorts of stones enchased in the spiral circles. Next to which there
was upon it a meander of a cubit in height; it was composed of stones of all
sorts of colors. And next to this was the rod-work engraven; and next to that
was a rhombus in a texture of net-work, drawn out to the brim of the basin,
while small shields, made of stones, beautiful in their kind, and of four fingers'
depth, filled up the middle parts. About the top of the basin were wreathed
the leaves of lilies, and of the convolvulus, and the tendrils of vines in a
circular manner. And this was the construction of the two cisterns of gold,
each containing two firkins. But those which were of silver were much more bright
and splendid than looking-glasses, and you might in them see the images that
fell upon them more plainly than in the other. The king also ordered thirty
vials; those of which the parts that were of gold, and filled up with precious
stones, were shadowed over with the leaves of ivy and of vines, artificially
engraven. And these were the vessels that were after an extraordinary manner
brought to this perfection, partly by the skill of the workmen, who were admirable
in such fine work, but much more by the diligence and generosity of the king,
who not only supplied the artificers abundantly, and with great generosity,
with what they wanted, but he forbade public audiences for the time, and came
and stood by the workmen, and saw the whole operation. And this was the cause
why the workmen were so accurate in their performance, because they had regard
to the king, and to his great concern about the vessels, and so the more indefatigably
kept close to the work.
11. And these were what gifts were sent
by Ptolemy to Jerusalem, and dedicated to God there. But when Eleazar the high
priest had devoted them to God, and had paid due respect to those that brought
them, and had given them presents to be carried to the king, he dismissed them.
And when they were come to Alexandria, and Ptolemy heard that they were come,
and that the seventy elders were come also, he presently sent for Andreas and
Aristeus, his ambassadors, who came to him, and delivered him the epistle which
they brought him from the high priest, and made answer to all the questions
he put to them by word of mouth. He then made haste to meet the elders that
came from Jerusalem for the interpretation of the laws; and he gave command,
that every body who came on other occasions should be sent away, which was a
thing surprising, and what he did not use to do; for those that were drawn thither
upon such occasions used to come to him on the fifth day, but ambassadors at
the month's end. But when he had sent those away, he waited for these that were
sent by Eleazar; but as the old men came in with the presents, which the high
priest had given them to bring to the king, and with the membranes, upon which
they had their laws written in golden letters7 he
put questions to them concerning those books; and when they had taken off the
covers wherein they were wrapt up, they showed him the membranes. So the king
stood admiring the thinness of those membranes, and the exactness of the junctures,
which could not be perceived; (so exactly were they connected one with another;)
and this he did for a considerable time. He then said that he returned them
thanks for coming to him, and still greater thanks to him that sent them; and,
above all, to that God whose laws they appeared to be. Then did the elders,
and those that were present with them, cry out with one voice, and wished all
happiness to the king. Upon which he fell into tears by the violence of the
pleasure he had, it being natural to men to afford the same indications in great
joy that they do under sorrows. And when he had bid them deliver the books to
those that were appointed to receive them, he saluted the men, and said that
it was but just to discourse, in the first place, of the errand they were sent
about, and then to address himself to themselves. He promised, however, that
he would make this day on which they came to him remarkable and eminent every
year through the whole course of his life; for their coming to him, and the
victory which he gained over Antigonus by sea, proved to be on the very same
day. He also gave orders that they should sup with him; and gave it in charge
that they should have excellent lodgings provided for them in the upper part
of the city.
12. Now he that was appointed to take care
of the reception of strangers, Nicanor by name, called for Dorotheus, whose
duty it was to make provision for them, and bid him prepare for every one of
them what should be requisite for their diet and way of living; which thing
was ordered by the king after this manner: he took care that those that belonged
to every city, which did not use the same way of living, that all things should
be prepared for them according to the custom of those that came to him, that,
being feasted according to the usual method of their own way of living, they
might be the better pleased, and might not be uneasy at any thing done to them
from which they were naturally averse. And this was now done in the case of
these men by Dorotheus, who was put into this office because of his great skill
in such matters belonging to common life; for he took care of all such matters
as concerned the reception of strangers, and appointed them double seats for
them to sit on, according as the king had commanded him to do; for he had commanded
that half of their seats should be set at his right hand, and the other half
behind his table, and took care that no respect should be omitted that could
be shown them. And when they were thus set down, he bid Dorotheus to minister
to all those that were come to him from Judea, after the manner they used to
be ministered to; for which cause he sent away their sacred heralds, and those
that slew the sacrifices, and the rest that used to say grace; but called to
one of those that were come to him, whose name was Eleazar, who was a priest,
and desired him to say grace:8 who then stood in the
midst of them, and prayed, that all prosperity might attend the king, and those
that were his subjects. Upon which an acclamation was made by the whole company,
with joy and a great noise; and when that was over, they fell to eating their
supper, and to the enjoyment of what was set before them. And at a little interval
afterward, when the king thought a sufficient time had been interposed, he began
to talk philosophically to them, and he asked every one of them a philosophical
question,9 and such a one as might give light in those
inquiries; and when they had explained all the problems that had been proposed
by the king about every point, he was well-pleased with their answers. This
took up the twelve days in which they were treated; and he that pleases may
learn the particular questions in that book of Aristeus, which he wrote on this
very occasion.
13. And while not the king only, but the
philosopher Menedus also, admired them, and said that all things were governed
by Providence, and that it was probable that thence it was that such force or
beauty was discovered in these men's words, they then left off asking any more
such questions. But the king said that he had gained very great advantages by
their coming, for that he had received this profit from them, that he had learned
how he ought to rule his subjects. And he gave order that they should have every
one three talents given them, and that those that were to conduct them to their
lodging should do it. Accordingly, when three days were over, Demetrius took
them, and went over the causeway seven furlongs long: it was a bank in the sea
to an island. And when they had gone over the bridge, he proceeded to the northern
parts, and showed them where they should meet, which was in a house that was
built near the shore, and was a quiet place, and fit for their discoursing together
about their work. When he had brought them thither, he entreated them (now they
had all things about them which they wanted for the interpretation of their
law) that they would suffer nothing to interrupt them in their work. Accordingly,
they made an accurate interpretation, with great zeal and great pains, and this
they continued to do till the ninth hour of the day; after which time they relaxed,
and took care of their body, while their food was provided for them in great
plenty: besides, Dorotheus, at the king's command, brought them a great deal
of what was provided for the king himself. But in the morning they came to the
court and saluted Ptolemy, and then went away to their former place, where,
when they had washed their hands,10 and purified themselves,
they betook themselves to the interpretation of the laws. Now when the law was
transcribed, and the labor of interpretation was over, which came to its conclusion
in seventy-two days, Demetrius gathered all the Jews together to the place where
the laws were translated, and where the interpreters were, and read them over.
The multitude did also approve of those elders that were the interpreters of
the law. They withal commended Demetrius for his proposal, as the inventor of
what was greatly for their happiness; and they desired that he would give leave
to their rulers also to read the law. Moreover, they all, both the priest and
the ancientest of the elders, and the principal men of their commonwealth, made
it their request, that since the interpretation was happily finished, it might
continue in the state it now was, and might not be altered. And when they all
commended that determination of theirs, they enjoined, that if any one observed
either any thing superfluous, or any thing omitted, that he would take a view
of it again, and have it laid before them, and corrected; which was a wise action
of theirs, that when the thing was judged to have been well done, it might continue
for ever.
14. So the king rejoiced when he saw that
his design of this nature was brought to perfection, to so great advantage;
and he was chiefly delighted with hearing the laws read to him; and was astonished
at the deep meaning and wisdom of the legislator. And he began to discourse
with Demetrius, "How it came to pass, that when this legislation was so wonderful,
no one, either of the poets or of the historians, had made mention of it." Demetrius
made answer, "that no one durst be so bold as to touch upon the description
of these laws, because they were Divine and venerable, and because some that
had attempted it were afflicted by God." He also told him, that "Theopompus
was desirous of writing somewhat about them, but was thereupon disturbed in
his mind for above thirty days' time; and upon some intermission of his distemper,
he appeased God [by prayer], as suspecting that his madness proceeded from that
cause." Nay, indeed, he further saw in a dream, that his distemper befell him
while he indulged too great a curiosity about Divine matters, and was desirous
of publishing them among common men; but when he left off that attempt, he recovered
his understanding again. Moreover, he informed him of Theodectes, the tragic
poet, concerning whom it was reported, that when in a certain dramatic representation
he was desirous to make mention of things that were contained in the sacred
books, he was afflicted with a darkness in his eyes; and that upon his being
conscious of the occasion of his distemper, and appeasing God [by prayer], he
was freed from that affliction.
15. And when the king had received these
books from Demetrius, as we have said already, he adored them, and gave order
that great care should be taken of them, that they might remain uncorrupted.
He also desired that the interpreters would come often to him out of Judea,
and that both on account of the respects that he would pay them, and on account
of the presents he would make them; for he said it was now but just to send
them away, although if, of their own accord, they would come to him hereafter,
they should obtain all that their own wisdom might justly require, and what
his generosity was able to give them. So he then sent them away, and gave to
every one of them three garments of the best sort, and two talents of gold,
and a cup of the value of one talent, and the furniture of the room wherein
they were feasted. And these were the things he presented to them. But by them
he sent to Eleazar the high priest ten beds, with feet of silver, and the furniture
to them belonging, and a cup of the value of thirty talents; and besides these,
ten garments, and purple, and a very beautiful crown, and a hundred pieces of
the finest woven linen; as also vials and dishes, and vessels for pouring, and
two golden cisterns to be dedicated to God. He also desired him, by an epistle,
that he would give these interpreters leave, if any of them were desirous of
coming to him, because he highly valued a conversation with men of such learning,
and should be very willing to lay out his wealth upon such men. And this was
what came to the Jews, and was much to their glory and honor, from Ptolemy Philadelphus.
CHAPTER
3
HOW THE KINGS OF ASIA HONORED THE NATION OF THE JEWS, AND MADE THEM CITIZENS
OF THOSE CITIES WHICH THEY BUILT
1. The Jews also obtained honors from the kings of Asia when they became
their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities which
he built in Asia, and in the Lower Syria, and in the metropolis itself, Antioch;
and gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and Greeks, who were
the inhabitants, insomuch that these privileges continue to this very day: an
argument for which you have in this, that whereas the Jews do not make use of
oil prepared by foreigners,11 they receive a certain
sum of money from the proper officers belonging to their exercises as the value
of that oil; which money, when the people of Antioch would have deprived them
of, in the last war, Mucianus, who was then president of Syria, preserved it
to them. And when the people of Alexandria and of Antioch did after that, at
the time that Vespasian and Titus his son governed the habitable earth, pray
that these privileges of citizens might be taken away, they did not obtain their
request. in which behavior any one may discern the equity and generosity of
the Romans,12 especially of Vespasian and Titus, who,
although they had been at a great deal of pains in the war against the Jews,
and were exasperated against them, because they did not deliver up their weapons
to them, but continued the war to the very last, yet did not they take away
any of their forementioned privileges belonging to them as citizens, but restrained
their anger, and overcame the prayers of the Alexandrians and Antiochians, who
were a very powerful people, insomuch that they did not yield to them, neither
out of their favor to these people, nor out of their old grudge at those whose
wicked opposition they had subdued in the war; nor would they alter any of the
ancient favors granted to the Jews, but said, that those who had borne arms
against them, and fought them, had suffered punishment already, and that it
was not just to deprive those that had not offended of the privileges they enjoyed.
2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was
of the like disposition towards the Jews: for when the people of Ionia were
very angry at them, and besought Agrippa that they, and they only, might have
those privileges of citizens which Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, (who
by the Greeks was called The God,) had bestowed on them, and desired that, if
the Jews were to be joint-partakers with them, they might be obliged to worship
the gods they themselves worshipped: but when these matters were brought to
the trial, the Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make use of their own customs,
and this under the patronage of Nicolaus of Damascus; for Agrippa gave sentence
that he could not innovate. And if any one hath a mind to know this matter accurately,
let him peruse the hundred and twenty-third and hundred and twenty-fourth books
of the history of this Nicolaus. Now as to this determination of Agrippa, it
is not so much to be admired, for at that time our nation had not made war against
the Romans. But one may well be astonished at the generosity of Vespasian and
Titus, that after so great wars and contests which they had from us, they should
use such moderation. But I will now return to that part of my history whence
I made the present digression.
3. Now it happened that in the reign of
Antiochus the Great, who ruled over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the
inhabitants of Coelesyria, suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed;
for while he was at war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called
Epiphanes, it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both when
he was beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very like to a
ship in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides; and just thus were
they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus's prosperity and its
change to adversity. But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized
upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a great army under
Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants of Coelesyria, who
took many of their cities, and in particular our nation; which when he fell
upon them, went over to him. Yet was it not long afterward when Antiochus overcame
Scopas, in a battle fought at the fountains of Jordan, and destroyed a great
part of his army. But afterward, when Antiochus subdued those cities of Coelesyria
which Scopas had gotten into his possession, and Samaria with them, the Jews,
of their own accord, went over to him, and received him into the city [Jerusalem],
and gave plentiful provision to all his army, and to his elephants, and readily
assisted him when he besieged the garrison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem.
Wherefore Antiochus thought it but just to requite the Jews' diligence and zeal
in his service. So he wrote to the generals of his armies, and to his friends,
and gave testimony to the good behavior of the Jews towards him, and informed
them what rewards he had resolved to bestow on them for that their behavior.
I will set down presently the epistles themselves which he wrote to the generals
concerning them, but will first produce the testimony of Polybius of Megalopolis;
for thus does he speak, in the sixteenth book of his history: "Now Scopas, the
general of Ptolemy's army, went in haste to the superior parts of the country,
and in the winter time overthrew the nation of the Jews?" He also saith, in
the same book, that "when Scopas was conquered by Antiochus, Antiochus received
Batanea, and Samaria, and Abila, and Gadara; and that, a while afterwards, there
came in to him those Jews that inhabited near that temple which was called Jerusalem;
concerning which, although I have more to say, and particularly concerning the
presence of God about that temple, yet do I put off that history till another
opportunity." This it is which Polybius relates. But we will return to the series
of the history, when we have first produced the epistles of king Antiochus.
"KING ANTIOCHUS TO PTOLEMY, SENDETH GREETING.
"Since the Jews, upon our first entrance on their
country, demonstrated their friendship towards us, and when we came to their
city [Jerusalem], received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us with
their senate, and gave abundance of provisions to our soldiers, and to the elephants,
and joined with us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians that were in the
citadel, we have thought fit to reward them, and to retrieve the condition of
their city, which hath been greatly depopulated by such accidents as have befallen
its inhabitants, and to bring those that have been scattered abroad back to
the city. And, in the first place, we have determined, on account of their piety
towards God, to bestow on them, as a pension, for their sacrifices of animals
that are fit for sacrifice, for wine, and oil, and frankincense, the value of
twenty thousand pieces of silver, and [six] sacred artabrae of fine flour, with
one thousand four hundred and sixty medimni of wheat, and three hundred and
seventy-five medimni of salt. And these payments I would have fully paid them,
as I have sent orders to you. I would also have the work about the temple finished,
and the cloisters, and if there be any thing else that ought to be rebuilt.
And for the materials of wood, let it be brought them out of Judea itself and
out of the other countries, and out of Libanus tax free; and the same I would
have observed as to those other materials which will be necessary, in order
to render the temple more glorious; and let all of that nation live according
to the laws of their own country; and let the senate, and the priests, and the
scribes of the temple, and the sacred singers, be discharged from poll-money
and the crown tax and other taxes also. And that the city may the sooner recover
its inhabitants, I grant a discharge from taxes for three years to its present
inhabitants, and to such as shall come to it, until the month Hyperberetus.
We also discharge them for the future from a third part of their taxes, that
the losses they have sustained may be repaired. And all those citizens that
have been carried away, and are become slaves, we grant them and their children
their freedom, and give order that their substance be restored to them."
4. And these were the contents of this epistle.
He also published a decree through all his kingdom in honor of the temple, which
contained what follows: "It shall be lawful for no foreigner to come within
the limits of the temple round about; which thing is forbidden also to the Jews,
unless to those who, according to their own custom, have purified themselves.
Nor let any flesh of horses, or of mules, or of asses, he brought into the city,
whether they be wild or tame; nor that of leopards, or foxes, or hares; and,
in general, that of any animal which is forbidden for the Jews to eat. Nor let
their skins be brought into it; nor let any such animal be bred up in the city.
Let them only be permitted to use the sacrifices derived from their forefathers,
with which they have been obliged to make acceptable atonements to God. And
he that transgresseth any of these orders, let him pay to the priests three
thousand drachmae of silver." Moreover, this Antiochus bare testimony to our
piety and fidelity, in an epistle of his, written when he was informed of a
sedition in Phrygia and Lydia, at which time he was in the superior provinces,
wherein he commanded Zeuxis, the general of his forces, and his most intimate
friend, to send some of our nation out of Babylon into Phrygia. The epistle
was this:—
"KING ANTIOCHUS TO ZEUXIS, HIS FATHER, SENDETH GREETING.
"If you are in health, it is well. I also am in
health. Having been informed that a sedition is arisen in Lydia and Phrygia,
I thought that matter required great care; and upon advising with my friends
what was fit to be done, it hath been thought proper to remove two thousand
families of Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon, unto the
castles and places that lie most convenient; for I am persuaded that they will
be well-disposed guardians of our possessions, because of their piety towards
God, and because I know that my predecessors have borne witness to them, that
they are faithful, and with alacrity do what they are desired to do. I will,
therefore, though it be a laborious work, that thou remove these Jews, under
a promise, that they shall be permitted to use their own laws. And when thou
shalt have brought them to the places forementioned, thou shalt give everyone
of their families a place for building their houses, and a portion of the land
for their husbandry, and for the plantation of their vines; and thou shalt discharge
them from paying taxes of the fruits of the earth for ten years; and let them
have a proper quantity of wheat for the maintenance of their servants, until
they receive bread corn out of the earth; also let a sufficient share be given
to such as minister to them in the necessaries of life, that by enjoying the
effects of our humanity, they may show themselves the more willing and ready
about our affairs. Take care likewise of that nation, as far as thou art able,
that they may not have any disturbance given them by any one." Now these testimonials
which I have produced are sufficient to declare the friendship that Antiochus
the Great bare to the Jews.
CHAPTER
4
HOW ANTIOCHUS MADE A LEAGUE WITH PTOLEMY; AND HOW ONIAS PROVOKED PTOLEMY EUERGETES
TO ANGER; AND HOW JOSEPH BROUGHT ALL THINGS RIGHT AGAIN, AND ENTERED INTO FRIENDSHIP
WITH HIM; AND WHAT OTHER THINGS WERE DONE BY JOSEPH, AND HIS SON HYRCANUS
1. After this Antiochus made a friendship and league with Ptolemy, and
gave him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and yielded up to him Coelesyria, and
Samaria, and Judea, and Phoenicia, by way of dowry. And upon the division of
the taxes between the two kings, all the principal men framed the taxes of their
several countries, and collecting the sum that was settled for them, paid the
same to the [two] kings. Now at this time the Samaritans were in a flourishing
condition, and much distressed the Jews, cutting off parts of their land, and
carrying off slaves. This happened when Onias was high priest; for after Eleazar's
death, his uncle Manasseh took the priesthood, and after he had ended his life,
Onias received that dignity. He was the son of Simon, who was called The Just:
which Simon was the brother of Eleazar, as I said before. This Onias was one
of a little soul, and a great lover of money; and for that reason, because he
did not pay that tax of twenty talents of silver, which his forefathers paid
to these things out of their own estates, he provoked king Ptolemy Euergetes
to anger, who was the father of Philopater. Euergetes sent an ambassador to
Jerusalem, and complained that Onias did not pay his taxes, and threatened,
that if he did not receive them, he would seize upon their land, and send soldiers
to live upon it. When the Jews heard this message of the king, they were confounded;
but so sordidly covetous was Onias, that nothing of this nature made him ashamed.
2. There was now one Joseph, young in age,
but of great reputation among the people of Jerusalem, for gravity, prudence,
and justice. His father's name was Tobias; and his mother was the sister of
Onias the high priest, who informed him of the coming of the ambassador; for
he was then sojourning at a village named Phicol,13
where he was born. Hereupon he came to the city [Jerusalem], and reproved Onias
for not taking care of the preservation of his countrymen, but bringing the
nation into dangers, by not paying this money. For which preservation of them,
he told him he had received the authority over them, and had been made high
priest; but that, in case he was so great a lover of money, as to endure to
see his country in danger on that account, and his countrymen suffer the greatest
damages, he advised him to go to the king, and petition him to remit either
the whole or a part of the sum demanded. Onias's answer was this: That he did
not care for his authority, and that he was ready, if the thing were practicable,
to lay down his high priesthood; and that he would not go to the king, because
he troubled not himself at all about such matters. Joseph then asked him if
he would not give him leave to go ambassador on behalf of the nation. He replied,
that he would give him leave. Upon which Joseph went up into the temple, and
called the multitude together to a congregation, and exhorted them not to be
disturbed nor affrighted, because of his uncle Onias's carelessness, but desired
them to be at rest, and not terrify themselves with fear about it; for he promised
them that he would be their ambassador to the king, and persuade him that they
had done him no wrong. And when the multitude heard this, they returned thanks
to Joseph. So he went down from the temple, and treated Ptolemy's ambassador
in a hospitable manner. He also presented him with rich gifts, and feasted him
magnificently for many days, and then sent him to the king before him, and told
him that he would soon follow him; for he was now more willing to go to the
king, by the encouragement of the ambassador, who earnestly persuaded him to
come into Egypt, and promised him that he would take care that he should obtain
every thing that he desired of Ptolemy; for he was highly pleased with his frank
and liberal temper, and with the gravity of his deportment.
3. When Ptolemy's ambassador was come into
Egypt, he told the king of the thoughtless temper of Onias; and informed him
of the goodness of the disposition of Joseph; and that he was coming to him
to excuse the multitude, as not having done him any harm, for that he was their
patron. In short, he was so very large in his encomiums upon the young man,
that he disposed both the king and his wife Cleopatra to have a kindness for
him before he came. So Joseph sent to his friends at Samaria, and borrowed money
of them, and got ready what was necessary for his journey, garments and cups,
and beasts for burden, which amounted to about twenty thousand drachmae, and
went to Alexandria. Now it happened that at this time all the principal men
and rulers went up out of the cities of Syria and Phoenicia, to bid for their
taxes; for every year the king sold them to the men of the greatest power in
every city. So these men saw Joseph journeying on the way, and laughed at him
for his poverty and meanness. But when he came to Alexandria, and heard that
king Ptolemy was at Memphis, be went up thither to meet with him; which happened
as the king was sitting in his chariot, with his wife, and with his friend Athenion,
who was the very person who had been ambassador at Jerusalem, and had been entertained
by Joseph. As soon therefore as Athenion saw him, he presently made him known
to the king, how good and generous a young man he was. So Ptolemy saluted him
first, and desired him to come up into his chariot; and as Joseph sat there,
he began to complain of the management of Onias: to which he answered, "Forgive
him, on account of his age; for thou canst not certainly be unacquainted with
this, that old men and infants have their minds exactly alike; but thou shalt
have from us, who are young men, every thing thou desirest, and shalt have no
cause to complain." With this good humor and pleasantry of the young man, the
king was so delighted, that he began already, as though he had had long experience
of him, to have a still greater affection for him, insomuch that he bade him
take his diet in the king's palace, and be a guest at his own table every day.
But when the king was come to Alexandria, the principal men of Syria saw him
sitting with the king, and were much offended at it.
4. And when the day came on which the king
was to let the taxes of the cities to farm, and those that were the principal
men of dignity in their several countries were to bid for them, the sum of the
taxes together, of Coelesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria, [as they
were bidden for,] came to eight thousand talents. Hereupon Joseph accused the
bidders, as having agreed together to estimate the value of the taxes at too
low a rate; and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for them:
but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home their whole substance;
for this privilege was sold together with the taxes themselves. The king was
pleased to hear that offer; and because it augmented his revenues, he said he
would confirm the sale of the taxes to him. But when he asked him this question,
whether he had any sureties that would be bound for the payment of the money?
he answered very pleasantly, "I will give such security, and those of persons
good and responsible, and which you shall have no reason to distrust." And when
he bid him name them who they were, he replied, "I give thee no other persons,
O king, for my sureties, than thyself, and this thy wife; and you shall be security
for both parties." So Ptolemy laughed at the proposal, and granted him the farming
of the taxes without any sureties. This procedure was a sore grief to those
that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly disappointed; and they
returned every one to their own country with shame.
5. But Joseph took with him two thousand
foot soldiers from the king, for he desired he might have some assistance, in
order to force such as were refractory in the cities to pay. And borrowing of
the king's friends at Alexandria five hundred talents, he made haste back into
Syria. And when he was at Askelon, and demanded the taxes of the people of Askelon,
they refused to pay any thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized
upon about twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what they
had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him what he had done.
Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man, and commended him for what he
had done, and gave him leave to do as he pleased. When the Syrians heard of
this, they were astonished; and having before them a sad example in the men
of Askelon that were slain, they opened their gates, and willingly admitted
Joseph, and paid their taxes. And when the inhabitants of Scythopolis attempted
to affront him, and would not pay him those taxes which they formerly used to
pay, without disputing about them, he slew also the principal men of that city,
and sent their effects to the king. By this means he gathered great wealth together,
and made vast gains by this farming of the taxes; and he made use of what estate
he had thus gotten, in order to support his authority, as thinking it a piece
of prudence to keep what had been the occasion and foundation of his present
good fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he was already possessed
of, for he privately sent many presents to the king, and to Cleopatra, and to
their friends, and to all that were powerful about the court, and thereby purchased
their good-will to himself.
6. This good fortune he enjoyed for twenty-two
years, and was become the father of seven sons by one wife; he had also another
son, whose name was Hyrcanus, by his brother Solymius's daughter, whom he married
on the following occasion. He once came to Alexandria with his brother, who
had along with him a daughter already marriageable, in order to give her in
wedlock to some of the Jews of chief dignity there. He then supped with the
king, and falling in love with an actress that was of great beauty, and came
into the room where they feasted, he told his brother of it, and entreated him,
because a Jew is forbidden by their law to come near to a foreigner, to conceal
his offense; and to be kind and subservient to him, and to give him an opportunity
of fulfilling his desires. Upon which his brother willingly entertained the
proposal of serving him, and adorned his own daughter, and brought her to him
by night, and put her into his bed. And Joseph, being disordered with drink,
knew not who she was, and so lay with his brother's daughter; and this did he
many times, and loved her exceedingly; and said to his brother, that he loved
this actress so well, that he should run the hazard of his life [if he must
part with her], and yet probably the king would not give him leave [to take
her with him]. But his brother bid him be in no concern about that matter, and
told him he might enjoy her whom he loved without any danger, and might have
her for his wife; and opened the truth of the matter to him, and assured him
that he chose rather to have his own daughter abused, than to overlook him,
and see him come to [public] disgrace. So Joseph commended him for this his
brotherly love, and married his daughter; and by her begat a son, whose name
was Hyrcanus, as we said before. And when this his youngest son showed, at thirteen
years old, a mind that was both courageous and wise, and was greatly envied
by his brethren, as being of a genius much above them, and such a one as they
might well envy, Joseph had once a mind to know which of his sons had the best
disposition to virtue; and when he sent them severally to those that had then
the best reputation for instructing youth, the rest of his children, by reason
of their sloth and unwillingness to take pains, returned to him foolish and
unlearned. After them he sent out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three
hundred yoke of oxen, and bid him go two days' journey into the wilderness,
and sow the land there, and yet kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that
coupled them together. When Hyrcanus came to the place, and found he had no
yokes with him, he contemned the drivers of the oxen, who advised him to send
some to his father, to bring them some yokes; but he thinking that he ought
not to lose his time while they should be sent to bring him the yokes, he invented
a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than his own; for he slew
ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their flesh among the laborers, and cut
their hides into several pieces, and made him yokes, and yoked the oxen together
with them; by which means he sowed as much land as his father had appointed
him to sow, and returned to him. And when he was come back, his father was mightily
pleased with his sagacity, and commended the sharpness of his understanding,
and his boldness in what he did. And he still loved him the more, as if he were
his only genuine son, while his brethren were much troubled at it.
7. But when one told him that Ptolemy had
a son just born, and that all the principal men of Syria, and the other countries
subject to him, were to keep a festival, on account of the child's birthday,
and went away in haste with great retinues to Alexandria, he was himself indeed
hindered from going by old age; but he made trial of his sons, whether any of
them would be willing to go to the king. And when the elder sons excused themselves
from going, and said they were not courtiers good enough for such conversation,
and advised him to send their brother Hyrcanus, he gladly hearkened to that
advice, and called Hyrcanus, and asked him whether he would go to the king,
and whether it was agreeable to him to go or not. And upon his promise that
he would go, and his saying that he should not want much money for his journey,
because he would live moderately, and that ten thousand drachmas would be sufficient,
he was pleased with his son's prudence. After a little while, the son advised
his father not to send his presents to the king from thence, but to give him
a letter to his steward at Alexandria, that he might furnish him with money,
for purchasing what should be most excellent and most precious. So he thinking
that the expense of ten talents would be enough for presents to be made the
king, and commending his son, as giving him good advice, wrote to Arion his
steward, that managed all his money matters at Alexandria; which money was not
less than three thousand talents on his account, for Joseph sent the money he
received in Syria to Alexandria. And when the day appointed for the payment
of the taxes to the king came, he wrote to Arion to pay them. So when the son
had asked his father for a letter to the steward, and had received it, he made
haste to Alexandria. And when he was gone, his brethren wrote to all the king's
friends, that they should destroy him.
8. But when he was come to Alexandria, he
delivered his letter to Arion, who asked him how many talents he would have
(hoping he would ask for no more than ten, or a little more); he said he wanted
a thousand talents. At which the steward was angry, and rebuked him, as one
that intended to live extravagantly; and he let him know how his father had
gathered together his estate by painstaking, and resisting his inclinations,
and wished him to imitate the example of his father: he assured him withal,
that he would give him but ten talents, and that for a present to the king also.
The son was irritated at this, and threw Arion into prison. But when Arion's
wife had informed Cleopatra of this, with her entreaty, that she would rebuke
the child for what he had done, (for Arion was in great esteem with her,) Cleopatra
informed the king of it. And Ptolemy sent for Hyrcanus, and told him that he
wondered, when he was sent to him by his father, that he had not yet come into
his presence, but had laid the steward in prison. And he gave order, therefore,
that he should come to him, and give an account of the reason of what he had
done. And they report that the answer he made to the king's messenger was this:
That "there was a law of his that forbade a child that was born to taste of
the sacrifice, before he had been at the temple and sacrificed to God. According
to which way of reasoning he did not himself come to him in expectation of the
present he was to make to him, as to one who had been his father's benefactor;
and that he had punished the slave for disobeying his commands, for that it
mattered not whether a master was little or great: so that unless we punish
such as these, thou thyself mayst also expect to be despised by thy subjects."
Upon hearing this his answer he fell a laughing, and wondered at the great soul
of the child.
9. When Arion was apprised that this was
the king's disposition, and that he had no way to help himself, he gave the
child a thousand talents, and was let out of prison. So after three days were
over, Hyrcanus came and saluted the king and queen. They saw him with pleasure,
and feasted him in an obliging manner, out of the respect they bare to his father.
So he came to the merchants privately, and bought a hundred boys, that had learning,
and were in the flower of their ages, each at a talent apiece; as also he bought
a hundred maidens, each at the same price as the other. And when he was invited
to feast with the king among the principal men in the country, he sat down the
lowest of them all, because he was little regarded, as a child in age still;
and this by those who placed every one according to their dignity. Now when
all those that sat with him had laid the bones of the several parts on a heap
before Hyrcanus, (for they had themselves taken away the flesh belonging to
them,) till the table where he sat was filled full with them, Trypho, who was
the king's jester, and was appointed for jokes and laughter at festivals, was
now asked by the guests that sat at the table [to expose him to laughter]. So
he stood by the king, and said, "Dost thou not see, my lord, the bones that
lie by Hyrcanus? by this similitude thou mayst conjecture that his father made
all Syria as bare as he hath made these bones." And the king laughing at what
Trypho said, and asking of Hyrcanus, how he came to have so many bones before
him? he replied, "Very rightfully, my lord; for they are dogs that eat the flesh
and the bones together, as these thy guests have done, (looking in the mean
time at those guests,) for there is nothing before them; but they are men that
eat the flesh, and cast away the bones, as I, who am also a man, have now done."
Upon which the king admired at his answer, which was so wisely made; and bid
them all make an acclamation, as a mark of their approbation of his jest, which
was truly a facetious one. On the next day Hyrcanus went to every one of the
king's friends, and of the men powerful at court, and saluted them; but still
inquired of the servants what present they would make the king on his son's
birthday; and when some said that they would give twelve talents, and that others
of greater dignity would every one give according to the quantity of their riches,
he pretended to every one of them to be grieved that he was not able to bring
so large a present; for that he had no more than five talents. And when the
servants heard what he said, they told their masters; and they rejoiced in the
prospect that Joseph would be disapproved, and would make the king angry, by
the smallness of his present. When the day came, the others, even those that
brought the most, offered the king not above twenty talents; but Hyrcanus gave
to every one of the hundred boys and hundred maidens that he had bought a talent
a-piece, for them to carry, and introduced them, the boys to the king, and the
maidens to Cleopatra; every body wondering at the unexpected richness of the
presents, even the king and queen themselves. He also presented those that attended
about the king with gifts to the value of a great number of talents, that he
might escape the danger he was in from them; for to these it was that Hyrcanus's
brethren had written to destroy him. Now Ptolemy admired at the young man's
magnanimity, and commanded him to ask what gift he pleased. But he desired nothing
else to be done for him by the king than to write to his father and brethren
about him. So when the king had paid him very great respects, and had given
him very large gifts, and had written to his father and his brethren, and all
his commanders and officers, about him, he sent him away. But when his brethren
heard that Hyrcanus had received such favors from the king, and was returning
home with great honor, they went out to meet him, and to destroy him, and that
with the privity of their father; for he was angry at him for the [large] sum
of money that he bestowed for presents, and so had no concern for his preservation.
However, Joseph concealed the anger he had at his son, out of fear of the king.
And when Hyrcanus's brethren came to fight him, he slew many others of those
that were with them, as also two of his brethren themselves; but the rest of
them escaped to Jerusalem to their father. But when Hyrcanus came to the city,
where nobody would receive him, he was afraid for himself, and retired beyond
the river Jordan, and there abode, but obliging the barbarians to pay their
taxes.
10. At this time, Seleucus, who was called
Soter, reigned over Asia, being the son of Antiochus the Great. And [now] Hyrcanus's
father, Joseph, died. He was a good man, and of great magnanimity; and brought
the Jews out of a state of poverty and meanness, to one that was more splendid.
He retained the farm of the taxes of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria twenty-two
years. His uncle also, Onias, died [about this time], and left the high priesthood
to his son Simeon. And when he was dead, Onias his son succeeded him in that
dignity. To him it was that Areus, king of the Lacedemonians, sent an embassage,
with an epistle; the copy whereof here follows:—
"AREUS, KING OF THE LACEDEMONIANS, TO ONIAS, SENDETH GREETING.
"We have met with a certain writing, whereby we
have discovered that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, and
are derived from the kindred of Abraham.14 It is but
just therefore that you, who are our brethren, should send to us about any of
your concerns as you please. We will also do the same thing, and esteem your
concerns as our own, and will look upon our concerns as in common with yours.
Demotoles, who brings you this letter, will bring your answer back to us. This
letter is four-square; and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon in his claws."
11. As for Hyrcanus, when he saw that Antiochus
had a great army, and feared lest he should be caught by him, and brought to
punishment for what he had done to the Arabians, he ended his life, and slew
himself with his own hand; while Antiochus seized upon all his substance.
CHAPTER
5
HOW, UPON THE QUARRELS OF THE JEWS ONE AGAINST ANOTHER ABOUT THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD,
ANTIOCHUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST JERUSALEM, TOOK THE CITY, AND PILLAGED
THE TEMPLE. AND DISTRESSED THE JEWS: AS ALSO, HOW MANY OF THE JEWS FORSOOK THE
LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY; AND HOW THE SAMARITANS FOLLOWED THE CUSTOMS OF THE GREEKS,
AND NAMED THEIR TEMPLE AT MOUNT GERIZZIM, THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER HELLENIUS
1. About this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest, they gave
the high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left [or
Onias IV.] was yet but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will inform the
reader of all the circumstances that befell this child. But this Jesus, who
was the brother of Onias, was deprived of the high priesthood by the king, who
was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother, whose name also was
Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to each of which the priesthood came,
as we have already informed the reader.15 This Jesus
changed his name to Jason, but Onias was called Menelaus. Now as the former
high priest, Jesus, raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was ordained after
him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the sons of Tobias took
the part of Menelaus, but the greater part of the people assisted Jason; and
by that means Menelaus and the sons of Tobias were distressed, and retired to
Antiochus, and informed him that they were desirous to leave the laws of their
country, and the Jewish way of living according to them, and to follow the king's
laws, and the Grecian way of living. Wherefore they desired his permission to
build them a gymnasium at Jerusalem.16 And when he
had given them leave, they also hid the circumcision of their genitals, that
even when they were naked they might appear to be Greeks. Accordingly, they
left off all the customs that belonged to their own country, and imitated the
practices of the other nations.
2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable situation
of the affairs of his kingdom, resolved to make an expedition against Egypt,
both because he had a desire to gain it, and because he contemned the son of
Ptolemy, as now weak, and not yet of abilities to manage affairs of such consequence;
so he came with great forces to Pelusium, and circumvented Ptolemy Philometer
by treachery, and seized upon Egypt. He then came to the places about Memphis;
and when he had taken them, he made haste to Alexandria, in hopes of taking
it by siege, and of subduing Ptolemy, who reigned there. But he was driven not
only from Alexandria, but out of all Egypt, by the declaration of the Romans,
who charged him to let that country alone; according as I have elsewhere formerly
declared. I will now give a particular account of what concerns this king, how
he subdued Judea and the temple; for in my former work I mentioned those things
very briefly, and have therefore now thought it necessary to go over that history
again, and that with great accuracy.
3. King Antiochus returning out of Egypt,17
for fear of the Romans, made an expedition against the city Jerusalem; and when
he was there, in the hundred and forty-third year of the kingdom of the Seleucidae,
he took the city without fighting, those of his own party opening the gates
to him. And when he had gotten possession of Jerusalem, he slew many of the
opposite party; and when he had plundered it of a great deal of money, he returned
to Antioch.
4. Now it came to pass, after two years,
in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of that month which
is by us called Chasleu, and by the Macedonians Apelleus, in the hundred and
fifty-third olympiad, that the king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace,
he got possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so much
as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in the
temple; but, led by his covetous inclination, (for he saw there was in it a
great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it of very
great value,) and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to break the league
he had made. So he left the temple bare, and took away the golden candlesticks,
and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of shew-bread], and the altar
[of burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from even the veils, which were made
of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied it of its secret treasures, and left
nothing at all remaining; and by this means cast the Jews into great lamentation,
for he forbade them to offer those daily sacrifices which they used to offer
to God, according to the law. And when he had pillaged the whole city, some
of the inhabitants he slew, and some he carried captive, together with their
wives and children, so that the multitude of those captives that were taken
alive amounted to about ten thousand. He also burnt down the finest buildings;
and when he had overthrown the city walls, he built a citadel in the lower part
of the city,18 for the place was high, and overlooked
the temple; on which account he fortified it with high walls and towers, and
put into it a garrison of Macedonians. However, in that citadel dwelt the impious
and wicked part of the [Jewish] multitude, from whom it proved that the citizens
suffered many and sore calamities. And when the king had built an idol altar
upon God's altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither
according to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country. He also
compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own God, and to
adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples, and raise
idol altars in every city and village, and offer swine upon them every day.
He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened to punish
any that should be found to have transgressed his injunction. He also appointed
overseers, who should compel them to do what he commanded. And indeed many Jews
there were who complied with the king's commands, either voluntarily, or out
of fear of the penalty that was denounced. But the best men, and those of the
noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs
of their country than concern as to the punishment which he threatened to the
disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter
torments; for they were whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces,
and were crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed. They also strangled
those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed,
hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses. And if there
were any sacred book of the law found, it was destroyed, and those with whom
they were found miserably perished also.
5. When the Samaritans saw the Jews under
these sufferings, they no longer confessed that they were of their kindred,
nor that the temple on Mount Gerizzim belonged to Almighty God. This was according
to their nature, as we have already shown. And they now said that they were
a colony of Medes and Persians; and indeed they were a colony of theirs. So
they sent ambassadors to Antiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are these:
"To king Antiochus the god Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live
at Shechem. Our forefathers, upon certain frequent plagues, and as following
a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing that day which by
the Jews is called the Sabbath.19 And when they had
erected a temple at the mountain called Gerizzim, though without a name, they
offered upon it the proper sacrifices. Now, upon the just treatment of these
wicked Jews, those that manage their affairs, supposing that we were of kin
to them, and practiced as they do, make us liable to the same accusations, although
we be originally Sidonians, as is evident from the public records. We therefore
beseech thee, our benefactor and savior, to give order to Apollonius, the governor
of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs,
to give us no disturbance, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused
for, since we are aliens from their nation, and from their customs; but let
our temple, which at present hath no name at all be named the Temple of Jupiter
Hellenius. If this were once done, we should be no longer disturbed, but should
be more intent on our own occupation with quietness, and so bring in a greater
revenue to thee." When the Samaritans had petitioned for this, the king sent
them back the following answer, in an epistle: "King Antiochus to Nicanor. The
Sidonians, who live at Shechem, have sent me the memorial enclosed. When therefore
we were advising with our friends about it, the messengers sent by them represented
to us that they are no way concerned with accusations which belong to the Jews,
but choose to live after the customs of the Greeks. Accordingly, we declare
them free from such accusations, and order that, agreeable to their petition,
their temple be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius." He also sent the like
epistle to Apollonius, the governor of that part of the country, in the forty-sixth
year, and the eighteenth day of the month Hecatombeon.
CHAPTER
6
HOW, UPON ANTIOCHUS'S PROHIBITION TO THE JEWS TO MAKE USE OF THE LAWS OF THEIR
COUNTRY, MATTATHIAS, THE SON OF ASAMONEUS, ALONE DESPISED THE KING, AND OVERCAME
THE GENERALS OF ANTIOCHUS'S ARMY: AS ALSO CONCERNING THE DEATH OF MATTATHIAS,
AND THE SUCCESSION OF JUDAS
1. Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt
at Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a priest
of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five sons; John,
who was called Gaddis, and Simeon, who was called Matthes, and Judas, who was
called Maccabeus,20 and Eleazar, who was called Auran,
and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented to his children
the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in the city, and the plundering
of the temple, and the calamities the multitude were under; and he told them
that it was better for them to die for the laws of their country, than to live
so ingloriously as they then did.
2. But when those that were appointed by
the king were come to Modin, that they might compel the Jews to do what they
were commanded, and to enjoin those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the
king had commanded, they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character
among them, both on other accounts, and particularly on account of such a numerous
and so deserving a family of children, would begin the sacrifice, because his
fellow citizens would follow his example, and because such a procedure would
make him honored by the king. But Mattathias said he would not do it; and that
if all the other nations would obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of
fear, or to please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship
of their country. But as soon as he had ended his speech, there came one of
the Jews into the midst of them, and sacrificed, as Antiochus had commanded.
At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran upon him violently, with
his sons, who had swords with them, and slew both the man himself that sacrificed,
and Apelles the king's general, who compelled them to sacrifice, with a few
of his soldiers. He also overthrew the idol altar, and cried out, "If," said
he, "any one be zealous for the laws of his country, and for the worship of
God, let him follow me." And when he had said this, he made haste into the desert
with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others did the
same also, and fled with their children and wives into the desert, and dwelt
in caves. But when the king's generals heard this, they took all the forces
they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued the Jews into the desert;
and when they had overtaken them, they in the first place endeavored to persuade
them to repent, and to choose what was most for their advantage, and not put
them to the necessity of using them according to the law of war. But when they
would not comply with their persuasions, but continued to be of a different
mind, they fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burnt them as they
were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as stopping up the
entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on that day, because
they were not willing to break in upon the honor they owed the Sabbath, even
in such distresses; for our law requires that we rest upon that day. There were
about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were smothered and died
in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined themselves to Mattathias,
and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught them to fight, even on the Sabbath
day; and told them that unless they would do so, they would become their own
enemies, by observing the law [so rigorously], while their adversaries would
still assault them on this day, and they would not then defend themselves, and
that nothing could then hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This
speech persuaded them. And this rule continues among us to this day, that if
there be a necessity, we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a great
army about him, and overthrew their idol altars, and slew those that broke the
laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of them were dispersed
among the nations round about them for fear of him. He also commanded that those
boys which were not yet circumcised should be circumcised now; and he drove
those away that were appointed to hinder such their circumcision.
3. But when he had ruled one year, and was
fallen into a distemper, he called for his sons, and set them round about him,
and said, "O my sons, I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to
you my resolution, and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to
be mindful of the desires of him who begat you, and brought you up, and to preserve
the customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form of government,
which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be carried away with those
that, either by their own inclination, or out of necessity, betray it, but to
become such sons as are worthy of me; to be above all force and necessity, and
so to dispose your souls, as to be ready, when it shall be necessary, to die
for your laws; as sensible of this, by just reasoning, that if God see that
you are so disposed he will not overlook you, but will have a great value for
your virtue, and will restore to you again what you have lost, and will return
to you that freedom in which you shall live quietly, and enjoy your own customs.
Your bodies are mortal, and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of immortality,
by the remembrance of what actions they have done. And I would have you so in
love with this immortality, that you may pursue after glory, and that, when
you have undergone the greatest difficulties, you may not scruple, for such
things, to lose your lives. I exhort you, especially, to agree one with another;
and in what excellency any one of you exceeds another, to yield to him so far,
and by that means to reap the advantage of every one's own virtues. Do you then
esteem Simon as your father, because he is a man of extraordinary prudence,
and be governed by him in what counsels be gives you. Take Maccabeus for the
general of your army, because of his courage and strength, for he will avenge
your nation, and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among you the righteous
and religious, and augment their power."
4. When Mattathias had thus discoursed to
his sons, and had prayed to God to be their assistant, and to recover to the
people their former constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried
at Modin; all the people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son
Judas took upon him the administration of public affairs, in the hundred and
forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready assistance of his brethren, and of
others, Judas cast their enemies out of the country, and put those of their
own country to death who had transgressed its laws, and purified the land of
all the pollutions that were in it.
CHAPTER
7
HOW JUDAS OVERTHREW THE FORCES OF APOLLONIUS AND SERON, AND KILLED THE GENERALS
OF THEIR ARMIES THEMSELVES; AND HOW WHEN, A LITTLE WHILE AFTERWARD, LYSIAS AND
GORGIAS WERE BEATEN, HE WENT UP TO JERUSALEM, AND PURIFIED THE TEMPLE
1. When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this, he
took his army, and made haste to go against Judas, who met him, and joined battle
with him, and beat him, and slew many of his men, and among them Apollonius
himself, their general, whose sword being that which he happened then to wear,
he seized upon, and kept for himself; but he wounded more than he slew, and
took a great deal of prey from the enemy's camp, and went his way. But when
Seron, who was general of the army of Coelesyria, heard that many had joined
themselves to Judas, and that he had about him an army sufficient for fighting,
and for making war, he determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking
it became him to endeavor to punish those that transgressed the king's injunctions.
He then got together an army, as large as he was able, and joined to it the
runagate and wicked Jews, and came against Judas. He came as far as Bethhoron,
a village of Judea, and there pitched his camp; upon which Judas met him; and
when he intended to give him battle, he saw that his soldiers were backward
to fight, because their number was small, and because they wanted food, for
they were fasting, he encouraged them, and said to them, that victory and conquest
of enemies are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise
of piety towards God; and that they had the plainest instances in their forefathers,
who, by their righteousness, exerting themselves on behalf of their own laws,
and their own children, had frequently conquered many ten thousands,—for innocence
is the strongest army. By this speech he induced his men to contemn the multitude
of the enemy, and to fall upon Seron. And upon joining battle with him, he beat
the Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest, they all ran away with
speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he pursued them
unto the plain, and slew about eight hundred of the enemy; but the rest escaped
to the region which lay near to the sea.
2. When king Antiochus heard of these things,
he was very angry at what had happened; so he got together all his own army,
with many mercenaries, whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with
him, and prepared to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring. But
when, upon his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were
deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were not
paid, by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations he having
been so magnanimous and so liberal, that what he had was not sufficient for
him, he therefore resolved first to go into Persia, and collect the taxes of
that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was Lysias, who was in great repute
with him governor of the kingdom, as far as the bounds of Egypt, and of the
Lower Asia, and reaching from the river Euphrates, and committed to him a certain
part of his forces, and of his elephants, and charged him to bring up his son
Antiochus with all possible care, until he came back; and that he should conquer
Judea, and take its inhabitants for slaves, and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and
abolish the whole nation. And when king Antiochus had given these things in
charge to Lysias, he went into Persia; and in the hundred and forty-seventh
year he passed over Euphrates, and went to the superior provinces.
3. Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son
of Dorimenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, very potent men among the king's friends,
and delivered to them forty thousand foot soldiers, and seven thousand horsemen,
and sent them against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus, and pitched
their camp in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of
Syria, and the country round about; as also many of the runagate Jews. And besides
these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried captives, (having
bonds with them to bind those that should be made prisoners,) with that silver
and gold which they were to pay for their price. And when Judas saw their camp,
and how numerous their enemies were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of
good courage, and exhorted them to place their hopes of victory in God, and
to make supplication to him, according to the custom of their country, clothed
in sackcloth; and to show what was their usual habit of supplication in the
greatest dangers, and thereby to prevail with God to grant them the victory
over their enemies. So he set them in their ancient order of battle used by
their forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other officers, and
dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those that had newly gained
possessions, that they might not fight in a cowardly manner, out of an inordinate
love of life, in order to enjoy those blessings. When he had thus disposed his
soldiers, he encouraged them to fight by the following speech, which he made
to them: "O my fellow soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the
present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully,
you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to
all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the
liberty of worshipping God. Since therefore you are in such circumstances at
present, you must either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed
way of living, which is that according to our laws, and the customs of our country,
or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings; nor will any seed of your nation
remain if you be beat in this battle. Fight therefore manfully; and suppose
that you must die, though you do not fight; but believe, that besides such glorious
rewards as those of the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion,
you shall then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and
put yourselves into such an agreeable posture, that you may be ready to fight
with the enemy as soon as it is day tomorrow morning."
4. And this was the speech which Judas made
to encourage them. But when the enemy sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot
and one thousand horse, that he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for
that purpose certain of the runagate Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived
it, and resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time, and had left
many fires in their camp, he marched all night to those enemies that were at
Emmaus. So that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but suspected that
they were retired, and had hidden themselves among the mountains, he resolved
to go and seek them wheresoever they were. But about break of day Judas appeared
to those enemies that were at Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those
ill armed, by reason of their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and
skilfully fortified in their camp, he encouraged the Jews, and told them that
they ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had
sometimes of old given such men strength, and that against such as were more
in number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great courage. So he
commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle; and by thus falling upon the
enemies when they did not expect it, and thereby astonishing and disturbing
their minds, he slew many of those that resisted him, and went on pursuing the
rest as far as Gadara, and the plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and
of these there fell about three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers
not to be too desirous of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest
and battle with Gorgias, and the forces that were with him; but that when they
had once overcome them, then they might securely plunder the camp, because they
were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others. And just as he
was speaking to his soldiers, Gorgias's men looked down into that army which
they left in their camp, and saw that it was overthrown, and the camp burnt;
for the smoke that arose from it showed them, even when they were a great way
off, what had happened. When therefore those that were with Gorgias understood
that things were in this posture, and perceived that those that were with Judas
were ready to fight them, they also were affrighted, and put to flight; but
then Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias's soldiers without fighting,
returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great quantity of gold, and silver,
and purple, and blue, and then returned home with joy, and singing hymns to
God for their good success; for this victory greatly contributed to the recovery
of their liberty.
5. Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the
defeat of the army which he had sent, and the next year he got together sixty
thousand chosen men. He also took five thousand horsemen, and fell upon Judea;
and he went up to the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched
his camp there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the
great number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him, and
joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared, and beat them, and
slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible to the rest of
them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they were
prepared to die rather than lose their liberty, and being afraid of their desperate
way of fighting, as if it were real strength, he took the rest of the army back
with him, and returned to Antioch, where he listed foreigners into the service,
and prepared to fall upon Judea with a greater army.
6. When therefore the generals of Antiochus's
armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told
them, that after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to
go up to Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices.
But as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found
the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple
of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with
him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple; so
he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those
guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple. When
therefore he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick,
the table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold,
he hung up the veils at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down
the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new one of stones that he gathered
together, and not of such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth
day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Appelleus, they lighted
the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of
incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings
upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out, that these things
were done on the very same day on which their Divine worship had fallen off,
and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years' time; for so
it was, that the temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for
three years. This desolation happened to the temple in the hundred forty and
fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Appelleus, and on the hundred
fifty and third olympiad: but it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth
of the month Appelleus, on the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred
and fifty-fourth olympiad. And this desolation came to pass according to the
prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before; for
he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for some time].
7. Now Judas celebrated the festival of
the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted
no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid
sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay,
they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time
of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship,
that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival,
on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from
that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose
the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that
thence was the name given to that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round
about the city, and reared towers of great height against the incursions of
enemies, and set guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura, that it
might serve as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies.
CHAPTER
8
HOW JUDAS SUBDUED THE NATIONS ROUND ABOUT; AND HOW SIMON BEAT THE PEOPLE OF
TYRE AND PTOLEMAIS; AND HOW JUDAS OVERTHREW TIMOTHEUS, AND FORCED HIM TO FLY
AWAY, AND DID MANY OTHER THINGS AFTER JOSEPH AND AZARIAS HAD BEEN BEATEN
1. When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were
very uneasy at the revival of their power, and rose up together, and destroyed
many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them, and
making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual expeditions against
these men, and endeavored to restrain them from those incursions, and to prevent
the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity
of Esau, at Acrabattene, and slew a great many of them, and took their spoils.
He also shut up the sons of Bean, that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down
about them, and besieged them, and burnt their towers, and destroyed the men
[that were in them]. After this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites,
who had a great and a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the commander. And
when he had subdued them, he seized on the city Jazer, and took their wives
and their children captives, and burnt the city, and then returned into Judea.
But when the neighboring nations understood that he was returned, they got together
in great numbers in the land of Gilead, and came against those Jews that were
at their borders, who then fled to the garrison of Dathema; and sent to Judas,
to inform him that Timotheus was endeavoring to take the place whither they
were fled. And as these epistles were reading, there came other messengers out
of Galilee, who informed him that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre
and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee, were gotten together.
2. Accordingly Judas, upon considering what
was fit to be done, with relation to the necessity both these cases required,
gave order that Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men, and
go to the assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead, with eight thousand soldiers.
And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be over the rest of
the forces; and charged them to keep Judea very carefully, and to fight no battles
with any persons whomsoever until his return. Accordingly, Simon went into Galilee,
and fought the enemy, and put them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates
of Ptolemais, and slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of
those that were slain, and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their
baggage, and then returned home.
3. Now as for Judas Maccabeus, and his brother
Jonathan, they passed over the river Jordan; and when they had gone three days
journey, they lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably, and
who told them how the affairs of those in the land of Gilead stood; and how
many of them were in distress, and driven into garrisons, and into the cities
of Galilee; and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners, and
to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this exhortation
Judas hearkened, and returned to the wilderness; and in the first place fell
upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and beat the inhabitants,
and destroyed all the males, and all that were able to fight, and burnt the
city. Nor did he stop even when night came on, but he journeyed in it to the
garrison where the Jews happened to be then shut up, and where Timotheus lay
round the place with his army. And Judas came upon the city in the morning;
and when he found that the enemy were making an assault upon the walls, and
that some of them brought ladders, on which they might get upon those walls,
and that others brought engines [to batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound
his trumpet, and he encouraged his soldiers cheerfully to undergo dangers for
the sake of their brethren and kindred; he also parted his army into three bodies,
and fell upon the backs of their enemies. But when Timotheus's men perceived
that it was Maccabeus that was upon them, of both whose courage and good success
in war they had formerly had sufficient experience, they were put to flight;
but Judas followed them with his army, and slew about eight thousand of them.
He then turned aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and took it,
and slew all the males, and burnt the city itself. He then removed from thence,
and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of the land of Gilead.
4. But not long after this, Timotheus prepared
a great army, and took many others as auxiliaries; and induced some of the Arabians,
by the promise of rewards, to go with him in this expedition, and came with
his army beyond the brook, over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his
soldiers, if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously, and to
hinder their passing over the brook; for he said to them beforehand, that "if
they come over it, we shall be beaten." And when Judas heard that Timotheus
prepared himself to fight, he took all his own army, and went in haste against
Timotheus his enemy; and when he had passed over the brook, he fell upon his
enemies, and some of them met him, whom he slew, and others of them he so terrified,
that he compelled them to throw down their arms and fly; and some of them escaped,
but some of them fled to what was called the Temple of Carnaim, and hoped thereby
to preserve themselves; but Judas took the city, and slew them, and burnt the
temple, and so used several ways of destroying his enemies.
5. When he had done this, he gathered the
Jews together, with their children and wives, and the substance that belonged
to them, and was going to bring them back into Judea; but as soon as he was
come to a certain city, whose name was Ephron, that lay upon the road, (and
it was not possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go
back again,) he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open
their gates, and permit them to go on their way through the city; for they had
stopped up the gates with stones, and cut off their passage through it. And
when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this proposal, he encouraged
those that were with him, and encompassed the city round, and besieged it, and,
lying round it by day and night, took the city, and slew every male in it, and
burnt it all down, and so obtained a way through it; and the multitude of those
that were slain was so great, that they went over the dead bodies. So they came
over Jordan, and arrived at the great plain, over against which is situate the
city Bethshan, which is called by the Greeks Scythopolis.21
And going away hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and
hymns as they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in triumphs
upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings, both for their good success,
and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the Jews was slain in
these battles.22
6. But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias,
and Azarias, whom Judas left generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same
time when Simon was in Galilee, fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and
Judas himself, and his brother Jonathan, were in the land of Gilead, did these
men also affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
they took the army that was under their command, and came to Jamnia. There Gorgias,
the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them; and upon joining battle with
him, they lost two thousand of their army,23 and fled
away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this misfortune befell
them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas had given them, not to
fight with any one before his return. For besides the rest of Judas's sagacious
counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning the misfortune that befell
the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias, which he understood would happen,
if they broke any of the injunctions he had given them. But Judas and his brethren
did not leave off fighting with the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides,
and took from them the city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications,
and set all its towers on fire, and burnt the country of the foreigners, and
the city Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste,
and took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it, and returned
to Judea.
CHAPTER
9
CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES; HOW ANTIOCHUS EUPATOR FOUGHT AGAINST
JUDAS, AND BESIEGED HIM IN THE TEMPLE, AND AFTERWARDS MADE PEACE WITH HIM, AND
DEPARTED; OF ALCIMUS AND ONIAS
1. About this time it was that king Antiochus, as he was going over the
upper countries, heard that there was a very rich city in Persia, called Elymais;
and therein a very rich temple of Diana, and that it was full of all sorts of
donations dedicated to it; as also weapons and breastplates, which, upon inquiry,
he found had been left there by Alexander, the son of Philip, king of Macedonia.
And being incited by these motives, he went in haste to Elymais, and assaulted
it, and besieged it. But as those that were in it were not terrified at his
assault, nor at his siege, but opposed him very courageously, he was beaten
off his hopes; for they drove him away from the city, and went out and pursued
after him, insomuch that he fled away as far as Babylon, and lost a great many
of his army. And when he was grieving for this disappointment, some persons
told him of the defeat of his commanders whom he had left behind him to fight
against Judea, and what strength the Jews had already gotten. When this concern
about these affairs was added to the former, he was confounded, and by the anxiety
he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it lasted a great while, and as his
pains increased upon him, so he at length perceived he should die in a little
time; so he called his friends to him, and told them that his distemper was
severe upon him; and confessed withal, that this calamity was sent upon him
for the miseries he had brought upon the Jewish nation, while he plundered their
temple, and contemned their God; and when he had said this, he gave up the ghost.
Whence one may wonder at Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though otherwise a good
man, yet saith that "Antiochus died because he had a purpose to plunder the
temple of Diana in Persia;" for the purposing to do a thing,24
but not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. But if Polybius could
think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that account, it is much more probable
that this king died on account of his sacrilegious plundering of the temple
at Jerusalem. But we will not contend about this matter with those who may think
that the cause assigned by this Polybius of Megalopolis is nearer the truth
than that assigned by us.
2. However, Antiochus, before he died, called
for Philip, who was one of his companions, and made him the guardian of his
kingdom; and gave him his diadem, and his garment, and his ring, and charged
him to carry them, and deliver them to his son Antiochus; and desired him to
take care of his education, and to preserve the kingdom for him.25
This Antiochus died in the hundred forty and ninth year; but it was Lysias that
declared his death to the multitude, and appointed his son Antiochus to be king,
(of whom at present he had the care,) and called him Eupator.
3. At this time it was that the garrison
in the citadel of Jerusalem, with the Jewish runagates, did a great deal of
harm to the Jews; for the soldiers that were in that garrison rushed out upon
the sudden, and destroyed such as were going up to the temple in order to offer
their sacrifices, for this citadel adjoined to and overlooked the temple. When
these misfortunes had often happened to them, Judas resolved to destroy that
garrison; whereupon he got all the people together, and vigorously besieged
those that were in the citadel. This was in the hundred and fiftieth year of
the dominion of the Seleucidae. So he made engines of war, and erected bulwarks,
and very zealously pressed on to take the citadel. But there were not a few
of the runagates who were in the place that went out by night into the country,
and got together some other wicked men like themselves, and went to Antiochus
the king, and desired of him that he would not suffer them to be neglected,
under the great hardships that lay upon them from those of their own nation;
and this because their sufferings were occasioned on his father's account, while
they left the religious worship of their fathers, and preferred that which he
had commanded them to follow: that there was danger lest the citadel, and those
appointed to garrison it by the king, should be taken by Judas, and those that
were with him, unless he would send them succors. When Antiochus, who was but
a child, heard this, he was angry, and sent for his captains and his friends,
and gave order that they should get an army of mercenaries together, with such
men also of his own kingdom as were of an age fit for war. Accordingly, an army
was collected of about a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen,
and thirty-two elephants.
4. So the king took this army, and marched
hastily out of Antioch, with Lysias, who had the command of the whole, and came
to Idumea, and thence went up to the city Bethsura, a city that was strong,
and not to be taken without great difficulty. He set about this city, and besieged
it. And while the inhabitants of Bethsura courageously opposed him, and sallied
out upon him, and burnt his engines of war, a great deal of time was spent in
the siege. But when Judas heard of the king's coming, he raised the siege of
the citadel, and met the king, and pitched his camp in certain straits, at a
place called Bethzachariah, at the distance of seventy furlongs from the enemy;
but the king soon drew his forces from Bethsura, and brought them to those straits.
And as soon as it was day, he put his men in battle-array, and made his elephants
follow one another through the narrow passes, because they could not be set
sideways by one another. Now round about every elephant there were a thousand
footmen, and five hundred horsemen. The elephants also had high towers [upon
their backs], and archers [in them]. And he also made the rest of his army to
go up the mountains, and put his friends before the rest; and gave orders for
the army to shout aloud, and so he attacked the enemy. He also exposed to sight
their golden and brazen shields, so that a glorious splendor was sent from them;
and when they shouted the mountains echoed again. When Judas saw this, he was
not terrified, but received the enemy with great courage, and slew about six
hundred of the first ranks. But when his brother Eleazar, whom they called Auran,
saw the tallest of all the elephants armed with royal breastplates, and supposed
that the king was upon him, he attacked him with great quickness and bravery.
He also slew many of those that were about the elephant, and scattered the rest,
and then went under the belly of the elephant, and smote him, and slew him;
so the elephant fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight crushed him to death. And
thus did this man come to his end, when he had first cou