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SULPITIUS SEVERUS

THE SACRED HISTORY.

[Translated by Alexander Roberts, D.D., Professor of Humanity, St. Andrews,
Scotland]


BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

   I address myself to give a condensed account of those things which are
set forth in the sacred Scriptures from the beginning of the world and to
tell of them, with distinction of dates and according to[1] their
importance, down to period within our own remembrance. Many who were
anxious to become acquainted with divine things by means of a compendious
treatise, have eagerly entreated me to undertake this work. I, seeking to
carry out their wish, have not spared my labor, and have thus succeeded in
comprising in two short books things which elsewhere filled many volumes.
At the same time, in studying brevity, I have omitted hardly any of the
facts. Moreover, it seemed to me not out of place that, after I had run
through the sacred history down to the crucifixion of Christ, and the
doings of the Apostles, I should add an account of events which
subsequently took place. I am, therefore, to tell of the destruction of
Jerusalem, the persecutions of the Christian people, the times of peace
which followed, and of all things again thrown into confusion by the
intestine dangers of the churches. But I will not shrink from confessing
that, wherever reason required, I have made use of pro-fine historians to
fix dates and preserve the series of events unbroken, and have taken out of
these what was wanting to a complete knowledge of the facts, that I might
both instruct the ignorant and carry conviction to the learned.
Nevertheless, as to those things which I have condensed from the sacred
books, I do not wish so to present myself as an author to my readers, that
they, neglecting the source from which my materials have been derived,
should be satisfied with what I have written. My aim is that one who is
already familiar with the original should recognize here what he has read
there; for all the mysteries of divine things cannot be brought out except
from the fountain-head itself. I shall now enter upon my narrative.

CHAPTER II.

   The world was created by God nearly six[1] thousand years ago, as we
shall set forth in the course of this book; although those who have entered
upon and published a calculation of the dates, but little agree among
themselves. As, however, this disagreement is due either to the will of God
or to the fault of antiquity, it ought not to be a matter of censure. After
the formation of the world man was created, the male being named Adam, and
the female Eve. Having been placed in Paradise, they ate of the tree from
which they were interdicted, and therefore were cast forth as exiles into
our earth.[2] To them were born Cain and Abel; but Cain, being an impious
man, slew his brother. He had a son called Enoch, by whom a city was first
built,[3] and was called after the name of its founder. From him Irad, and
from him again Matuahel was descended. He had a son called Mathusalam, and
he, in turn, begat Lamech, by whom a young man is said to have been slain,
without, however, the name of the slain man being mentioned--a fact which
is thought by the wise to have presaged a future mystery. Adam, then, after
the death of his younger son, begat another son called Seth, when he was
now two hundred and thirty years old: he lived altogether eight hundred and
thirty years. Seth begat Enos, Enos Cainan, Cainan Malaleel, Malaleel
Jared, and Jared Enoch, who on account of his righteousness is said to have
been translated by God. His son was called Mathusalam who begat Lamech;
from whom Noah was descended, remarkable for his righteousness, and above
all other mortals dear and acceptable to God. When by this time the human
race had increased to a great multitude, certain angels,  whose habitation
was in heaven, were captivated by the appearance of some beautiful virgins,
and cherished illicit desires after them, so much so, that filling beneath
their own proper nature and origin, they left the higher regions of which
they were inhabitants, and allied themselves in earthly marriages. These
angels gradually spreading wicked habits, corrupted the human family, and
from their alliance giants are said to have sprung, for the mixture with
them of beings of a different nature, as a matter of course, gave birth to
monsters.

CHAPTER III.

   GOD being offended by these things, and especially by the wickedness of
mankind, which had gone beyond measure, had determined to destroy the whole
human race. But he exempted Noah, a righteous man and of blameless life,
from the destined doom. He being warned by God that a flood was coming upon
the earth, built an ark of wood of immense size, and covered it with pitch
so as to render it impervious to water. He was shut into it along with his
wife, and his three sons and his three daughters-in-law. Pairs of birds
also and of the different kinds of beasts were likewise received into it,
while all the rest were cut off by a flood. Noah then, when he understood
that the violence of the rain had ceased, and that the ark was quietly
floating on the deep, thinking (as really was the case) that the waters
were decreasing, sent forth first a raven for the purpose of enquiring into
the matter, and on its not returning, having settled, as I conjecture, on
the dead bodies, he then sent forth a dove. It, not finding a place of
rest, returned to him and being again sent out, it brought back an olive
leaf, in manifest proof that the tops of the trees were now to be seen.
Then being sent forth a third time, it returned no more, from which it was
understood that the waters had subsided; and Noah accordingly went out from
the ark. This was done, as I reckon, two thousand two hundred[1] and forty-
two years after the beginning of the world.

CHAPTER IV.

   Then Noah first of all erected an altar to God, and offered sacrifices
from among the birds.[1] Immediately afterwards he was blessed by God along
with his sons, and received a command that he should not eat blood, or shed
the blood of any human being, because Cain, having no such precept, had
stained the first age of the world. Accordingly, the sons of  Noah were
alone left in the then vacant world; for he had three, Shem, Ham, and
Japhet. But Ham, because he had mocked his father when senseless with wine,
incurred his father's curse. His son, Chas by name, begat the giant
Nebroth,[2] by whom the city of Babylon is said to have been built. Many
other towns are related  to have been founded at that time, which I do not
here intend to name one by one. But  although the human race was now
multiplied, and men occupied different places and islands, nevertheless all
made use of one tongue, as long as the multitude, afterwards to be
scattered through the whole world, kept itself in one body. These, after
the manner of human nature, formed the design of obtaining a great name by
constructing some great work before they should be separated from one
another. They therefore attempted to build a tower which should reach up to
heaven. But by the ordination of God, in order that the labors of those
engaged in the work might be hindered, they began to speak in a kind of
languages very different from their accustomed form of speech, while no one
understood the others. This led to their being all the more readily
dispersed, because, regarding each other as foreigners, they were easily
induced to separate. And the world was so divided to the sons of Noah, that
Shem occupied the East, Japhet the West, and Ham the intermediate parts.
After this, till the time of Abraham,[8] their genealogy presented nothing
very remarkable or worthy of record.

CHAPTER V.

   ABRAHAM, whose father was Thara, was born in the one thousand and
seventeenth year after the deluge. His wife was called Sara, and his
dwelling-place was at first in the country[1] of the Chaldaeans. He then
dwelt along with his father at Charrae. Being at this time spoken to by
God, he left his country and his father, and taking with him Lot, the son
of his brother, he came into the country of the Canaanites, and settled at
a place named Sychem. Ere long, owing to the want of corn, he went into
Egypt, and again returned. Lot, owing to the size of the household, parted
from his uncle, that he might take advantage of more spacious territories
in what was then a vacant region, and settled at Sodom. That town was
infamous on account of its inhabitants, males forcing themselves upon
males, and it is said on that account to have been hateful to God. At that
period the kings of the neighboring peoples were in arms, though previously
there had been no[2] war among mankind. But the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
and of the adjacent territories went forth to battle against those who were
making war upon the regions round about, and being routed at the first
onset, yielded the victory to the opposite side. Then Sodom was plundered
and made a spoil of by the victorious enemy, while Lot was led into
captivity. When Abraham heard of this, he speedily armed his servants, to
the number of three hundred and eighteen, and, stripping of their spoils
and arms the kings flushed with victory, he put them to flight. Then he was
blessed by Melchisedech the priest, and gave him tithes of the spoil. He
restored the remainder to those from whom it had been taken.

CHAPTER VI.

   AT the same time God spoke to Abraham, and promised that his seed was
to be multiplied as the sand of the sea; and that his predicted seed would
live in a land not his own, while his posterity would endure slavery in a
hostile country for four hundred years, but would afterwards be restored to
liberty. Then his name was changed, as well as that of his wife, by the
addition of one letter; so that instead of Abram[1] he was called Abraham,
and, instead of Sara, she was called Sarra. The mystery involved in this is
by no means trifling, but it is not the part of this work to treat of it.
At the same time, the law of circumcision was enjoined on Abraham, and he
had by a maid-servant a son called Ishmael. Moreover, when he himself was a
hundred years old, and his wife ninety, God promised that they should have
a son Isaac, the Lord having come to him along with two angels. Then the
angels being sent to Sodom, found Lot sitting in the gate of the city. He
supposed them to be human beings, and welcomed them to share in his
hospitality, and provided an entertainment for them in his house, but the
wicked youth of the town demanded the new arrivals for impure purposes. Lot
offered them his daughters in place of his guests, but they did not accept
the offer, having a desire rather for things forbidden, and then Lot
himself was laid hold of with vile designs. The angels, however, speedily
rescued him from danger, by causing blindness to fall upon the eyes of
these unchaste sinners. Then Lot, being informed by his guests that the
town was to be destroyed, went away from it with his wife and daughters;
but they were commanded not to look back upon it. His wife, however, not
obeying this precept (in accordance with that evil tendency of human nature
which renders it difficult to abstain from things forbidden), turned back
her eyes, and is said to have been at once changed into a monument. As for
Sodom, it was burned to ashes by fire from heaven. And the daughters of
Lot, imagining that the whole human race had perished, sought a union with
their father while he was intoxicated, and hence sprung the race of Moab
and Ammon.

CHAPTER VII.

   ALMOST at the same time, when Abraham was now a hundred years old, his
son Isaac was born. Then Sara expelled the maid-servant by whom Abraham had
had a son; and she is said to have dwelt in the desert along with her son,
and defended by the help of God. Not long after this, God tried the faith
of Abraham, and required that his son Isaac should be sacrificed to him by
his father. Abraham did not hesitate to offer him, and had already laid the
lad upon the altar, and was drawing the sword to slay him, when a voice
came from heaven commanding him to spare the young man; and a ram was found
at hand to be for a victim. When the sacrifice was offered, God spoke to
Abraham, and promised him those things which he had already said he would
bestow. But Sara died in her one hundred and twenty-seventh year, and her
body was, through the care of her husband, buried in Hebron, a town of the
Canaanites, for Abraham was staying in that place. Then Abraham, seeing
that his son Isaac was now of youthful[1] age, for he was, in fact, in his
fortieth year, enjoined his servant to seek a wife for him, but only from
that tribe and territory from which he himself was known to be descended.
He was instructed, however, on finding the girl, to bring her into the land
of the Canaanites, and not to suppose that Isaac would return into the
country of his father for the purpose of obtaining a wife. In order that
the servant might carry out those instructions zealously, Abraham
administered an oath to him, while his hand rested on the thigh of his
master. The servant accordingly set out for Mesopotamia, and came to the
town of Nachor, the brother of Abraham. He entered into the house of
Bathuel, the Syrian, son of Nachor; and having seen Rebecca, a beautiful
virgin, the daughter of Nachor, he asked for her, and brought her to his
master. After this, Abraham took a wife named Kethurah, who is called in
the Chronicles his concubine, and begat children by her. But he left his
possessions to Isaac, the son of Sara, while, at the same time, he
distributed gifts to those whom he had begotten by his concubines; and thus
they we're separated from Isaac. Abraham died after a life of a hundred and
seventy-five years; and his body was laid in the tomb of Sara his wife.

CHAPTER VIII.

   Now, Rebecca, having long been barren, at length, through the unceasing
prayers of her husband to the Lord, brought forth twins about twenty years
after the time of her marriage. These are said to have often leaped[1] in
the womb of their mother; and it was announced by the answer of the Lord on
this subject, that two peoples were foretold in these children, and that
the eider would, in rank, be inferior to the younger. Well, the first that
was born, bristling over with hair, was called Esau, while Jacob was the
name given to the younger. At that time, a grievous famine had taken place.
Under the pressure of this necessity, Isaac went to Gerar, to King
Abimelech, having been warned by the Lord not to go down into Egypt. There
he is promised the possession of the whole land, and is blessed, and having
been greatly increased in cattle and every kind of substance, he is, under
the influence of envy, driven out by the inhabitants. Thus expelled from
that region, he sojourned by the well, known as "the well[2] of the oath."
By and by, being advanced in years, and his eyesight being gone, as he made
ready to bless his son Esau, Jacob through the counsel of his mother,
Rebecca, presented himself to be blessed in the place of his brother. Thus
Jacob is set before his brother as the one to be honored by the princes and
the peoples. Esau, enraged by these occurrences, plotted the death of his
brother. Jacob, owing to the fear thus excited, and by the advice of his
mother, fled into Mesopotamia, having been urged by his father to take a
wife of the house of Laban, Rebecca's brother: so great was their care,
while they dwelt in a strange country, that their children should marry
within their own kindred. Thus Jacob, setting out for Mesopotamia, is said
in sleep to have had a vision of the Lord; and on that account regarding
the place of his dream as sacred, he took a stone from it; and he vowed
that, if he returned in prosperity, the name a of the pillar should be the
"house of the Lord," and that he would devote to God the tithes of all the
possessions he had gained. Then he betook himself to Laban, his mother's
brother, and was kindly received by him to share in his hospitality as the
acknowledged son of his sister.

CHAPTER IX.

   LABAN had two daughters, Leah and Rachel; but Leah had tender eyes,
while Rachel is said to have been beautiful. Jacob, captivated by her
beauty, burned with love for the virgin, and, asking her in marriage from
the father, gave himself up to a servitude of seven years. But when the
time was fulfilled, Leah was foisted upon him, and he was subjected to
another servitude of seven years, after which Rachel was given him. But we
are told that she was long barren, while Leah was fruitful. Of the sons
whom Jacob had by Leah, the following are the names: Reuben, Symeon, Levi,
Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, and a daughter Dinah; while there were born to
him by the handmaid of Leah, Gad and Asher, and by the hand maid of Rachel,
Dan and Naphtali. But Rachel, after she had despaired of offspring, bare
Joseph. Then Jacob, being desirous of returning to his father, when Laban
his father-in-law had given him a portion of the flock as a reward for his
service, and Jacob the son-in-law, thinking him not to be acting justly in
that matter, while he [also] suspected deceit on his part, privately
departed about the thirtieth year after his arrival. Rachel, without the
knowledge of her husband, stole the idols[1] of her father, and on account
of this injury Laban followed his son-in-law, but not finding his idols,
returned, after being reconciled, having straitly charged his son-in-law
not to take other wives in addition to his daughters. Then Jacob, going on
his way, is said to have had a vision of angels and of the army[2] of the
Lord. But, as he directed his journey past the region of Edom, which his
brother Esau inhabited, suspecting the temper of Esau, be first sent
messengers and gifts to try him. Then he went to meet his brother, but
Jacob took care not to trust him beyond what he could help. On the day
before the brothers were to meet, God, taking a human form, is said to have
wrestled with Jacob. And when he had prevailed with God, still he was not
ignorant that his adversary was no mere mortal; and therefore begged to be
blessed by him. Then his name was changed by God, so that from Jacob he was
called Israel. But when he, in turn, inquired of God the name of God, he
was told that that should not be asked after because it was wonderful.[3]
Moreover, from that wrestling, the breadth[4] of Jacob's thigh shrank.

CHAPTER X.

   ISRAEL, therefore, avoiding the house of his brother, sent forward his
company to Salem, a town of the Shechemites, and there he pitched his tent
on a spot which he had purchased. Emor, a Chorraean prince, was the ruler
of that town. His son Sychem defiled Dinah, the daughter of Jacob by Leah.
Symeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, discovering this, cut off by a
stratagem all those of the mate sex in the town, and thus terribly avenged
the injury done to their sister. The town was plundered by the sons of
Jacob, and all the spoil carried off. Jacob is said to have been much
displeased with these proceedings. Soon after being instructed by God, he
went to Bethel, and there erected an altar to God. Then he fixed his tent
in a part of the territory belonging to the tower[1] Gader. Rachel died in
childbirth: the boy she bore was called Benjamin. lsrael died at the age of
one hundred and eighty years. Now, Esau was mighty in wealth, and had taken
to himself wives of the nation of the Canaanites. I do not think that, in a
work so concise as the present, I am called upon to mention his
descendants, and, if any one is curious on the subject, he may turn to the
original. After the death of his father, Jacob stayed on in the place where
Isaac had lived. His other sons occasionally left him along with the
flocks, for the sake of pasturage, but Joseph and the little Benjamin
remained at home. Joseph was much beloved by his father, and on that
account was hated by his brethren. There was this further cause for their
aversion, that by frequent dreams of his it seemed to be indicated that he
would be greater than all of them. Accordingly, having been sent by his
father to inspect the flocks and pay a visit to his brothers, there seemed
to them a fitting opportunity for doing him harm. For, on seeing their
brother, they took counsel to slay him. But Reuben, whose mind shuddered at
the contemplation of such a crime, opposing their plan, Joseph was let down
into a well? Afterwards, by the persuasions of Judah, they were brought to
milder measures, and sold him to merchants, who were on their way to Egypt.
And by them he was delivered to Petifra, a governor of Pharaoh.

CHAPTER XI.

   About this same time, Judah, the son of Jacob, took in marriage
Sara,[1] a woman of Canaan. By her he had three sons,--Her, Onan, and Sela.
Her was allied by concubinage[2] to Thamar. On his death, Onan took his
brother's wife; and he is related to have been destroyed by God, because he
spilled his seed upon the earth. Then Thamar, assuming the garb of a
harlot, united with her brother-in-law, and bore him two sons. But when she
brought them forth, there was this remarkable fact, that, when on one of
the boys being born, the midwife had bound his hand with a scarlet thread
to indicate which of them was born first, he, drawing back again into the
womb of his mother, was born[3] the last boy of the two. The names of Fares
and Zarah were given to the children. But Joseph, being kindly treated by
the royal governor who had obtained him for a sam of money, and having been
made manager of his house and family, had drawn the eyes of his master's
wife upon himself through his remarkable beauty. And as she was madly
laboring under that base passion, she made advances to him oftener than
once, and when he would not yield to her desires, she disgraced him by the
imputation of a false crime, and complained to her husband that he had made
an attempt upon her virtue. Accordingly, Joseph was thrown into prison.
There were in the same place of confinement two of the king's servants, who
made known their dreams to Joseph, and he, interpreting these as bearing
upon the future, declared that one of them would be put to death, and the
other would be pardoned. And so it came to pass. Well, after the lapse of
two years, the king also had a dream. And when this could not be explained
by the wise men among the Egyptians, that servant of the king who was
liberated from prison informs the king that Joseph was a wonderful
interpreter of dreams. Accordingly, Joseph was brought out of prison, and
interpreted to the king his dream, to this effect, that, for the next seven
years, there would be the greatest fertility in the land; but in those that
followed, famine. The king being alarmed by this terror, and seeing that
there was a divine spirit in Joseph, set him over the department of food-
supply, and made him equal with himself in the government. Then Joseph,
while corn was abundant throughout all Egypt, gathered together an immense
quantity, and, by increasing the number of granaries, took measures against
the future famine. At that time, the hope and safety of Egypt were placed
in him alone. About the same period, Aseneh bore him two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim. He himself, when he received the chief power from the king, was
thirty years old; for he was sold by his brothers when he was seventeen
years of age.

CHAPTER XII.

   IN the mean time, affairs having been well settled in Egypt to meet the
famine, a grievous want of corn began to distress the world. Jacob,
constrained by this necessity, sent his sons into Egypt, keeping only
Benjamin with himself at home. Joseph, then, being at the head of affairs,
and having complete power over the corn-supplies, his brothers come to him,
and pay the same honor to him as to a king. He, when he saw them, craftily
concealed his recognition of them, and accused them of having  come as
enemies, subtly to spy out the land. But he was annoyed that he did not see
among them his brother Benjamin. Matters, then, are brought to this point,
that they promised he should be present, specially that he might be asked
whether they had entered Egypt for the purpose of spying out the land. In
order to secure the fulfillment of this promise, Symeon was retained as
hostage, while to them corn was given freely. Accordingly, they returned,
bringing Benjamin with them as had been arranged. Then Joseph made himself
known to his brothers to the shame of these evil-deservers. Thus, he sent
them home again, laden with corn, and presented with many gifts,
forewarning them that there were still five years of famine to come, and
advising them to come down with their father, their children, and their
whole connections to Egypt. So Jacob went down to Egypt, to the great joy
of the Egyptians and of the king himself, while he was tenderly welcomed by
his son. That took place in the hundred and thirtieth year of the life of
Jacob, and one thousand three hundred and sixty years[1] after; the deluge.
But from the time when Abraham settled in the land of the Canaanites, to
that  when Jacob entered Egypt, there are to be reckoned two hundred and
fifteen years. After this, Jacob, in the seventeenth year of his residence
in Egypt, suffering severely from illness, entreated Joseph to see his
remains placed in the tomb. Then Joseph presented his sons to be
blessed;[2] and when this had been done, but so that he set the younger
before the elder as to the value of the blessing given, Jacob then blessed
all his sons in order. He died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven
years. His funeral was of a most imposing character, and Joseph laid his
remains in the tomb of his fathers. He continued to treat his brothers with
kindness, although, after the death of their father, they felt alarmed from
a consciousness of the wrong they had done. Joseph himself died in his one
hundred and tenth year.

CHAPTER XIII.

   It is almost incredible to relate how the Hebrews who had come down
into Egypt so soon increased in numbers, and filled Egypt with their
numerous descendants. But on the death of the king, who kindly cherished
them on account of the services of Joseph, they were kept down by the
government of the succeeding kings. For both the heavy labor of building
cities was laid upon them, and because their abounding numbers were now
feared, lest some day they should secure their independence by arms, they
were compelled by a royal edict to drown their newly-born male children.
And no permission was granted to evade this cruel order. Well, at that
time, the daughter of Pharaoh found an infant in the river, and caused it
to be brought up as her own son, giving the boy the name of Moses. This
Moses, when he had come to manhood, saw a Hebrew being assaulted by an
Egyptian; and, filled with sorrow at the sight, he delivered his brother
from injury, and  killed the Egyptian with a stone. Soon after, fearing
punishment on account of what he had done, he fled into the land of Midian,
and, taking up his abode with Jothor the priest of that district, he
received his daughter Sepphora in marriage, who bore him two sons, Gersam
and Eliezer. At this epoch lived Job, who had acquired both the knowledge
of God and all righteousness simply from the law[1] of nature. He was
exceedingly rich, and on that account all the more illustrious, because he
was neither corrupted by that wealth while it remained entire, nor
perverted by it when it was lost. For, when, through the agency of the
devil, he was stripped of his goods, deprived of his children, and finally
covered in his own person with terrible boils, he could not be broken down,
so as, from impatience of his sufferings, in any way, to commit sin. At
length he obtained the reward of the divine approval, and being restored to
health, he got back doubled all that he had lost.

CHAPTER XIV.

   But the Hebrews, oppressed by the multiplied evils of slavery, directed
their complaints to heaven, and cherished the hope of assistance from God.
Then, as Moses was feeding his sheep, suddenly a bush appeared to him
burning, but, what was surprising, the flames did it no harm. Astonished at
such an extraordinary sight, he drew nearer to the bush, and immediately
God spoke to him in words to this effect, that he was the Lord of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and that he desired that their descendants, who were kept
down under the tyranny of the Egyptians, should be delivered from their
sufferings, and that he, therefore, should go to the king of Egypt, and
present himself as a leader for restoring them to liberty. When he
hesitated, God strengthened him with power, and imparted to him the gift of
working miracles. Thus Moses, going into Egypt, after he had first
performed miracles in the presence of his own people, and having associated
his brother Aaron with him, went to the king, declaring that he had been
sent by God, and that he now told him in the words of God to let the Hebrew
people go. But the king, affirming that he did not know the Lord, refused
to obey the command addressed to him. And when Moses, in proof that the
orders he issued were from God, changed his rod into a serpent,[1] and soon
after convened all the water into blood, while he filled the whole land
with frogs, as the Chaldaeans were doing similar things, the king declared
that the wonders performed by Moses were simply due to the arts of magic,
and not to the power of God, until the land was covered with stinging
insects brought over it, when the Chaldaeans confessed that this was done
by the divine majesty. Then the king, constrained by his sufferings, called
to him Moses and Aaron, and gave the people liberty to depart, provided
that the calamity brought upon the kingdom were removed. But, after the
suffering was put an end to, his mind, having no control over itself
returned to its former state, and did not allow the Israelites to depart,
as had been agreed upon. Finally, however, he was broken down and conquered
by the ten plagues which were sent upon his person and his kingdom.

CHAPTER XV.

   But on the day[1] before the people went out of Egypt, being as yet
unacquainted with dates, they were instructed by the command of God to
acknowledge that month which was then passing by as the first of all
months; and were told that the sacrifice of the day was to be solemnly and
regularly offered in coming ages, so that, on the fourteenth day of the
month, a lamb without blemish, one year old, should be slain as a victim,
and that the door-posts should be sprinkled with its blood; that its flesh
was wholly to be eaten, but not a bone of it was to be broken; that they
should abstain from what was leavened for seven days, using only unleavened
bread; and that they should hand down the observance to their posterity.
Thus the people went forth rich, both by their own wealth, and still more
by the spoils of Egypt. Their number had grown from those seventy-five[2]
Hebrews, who had first gone down into Egypt, to six hundred thousand men.
Now, there had elapsed from the time when Abraham first reached the land of
the Canaanites a period of four hundred and thirty years, but from the
deluge a period of five hundred and seventy-five[3] years. Well, as they
went forth in haste, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by
night, marched before them. But since, owing to the fact that the gulf of
the Red Sea lay between, the way led by [4] the land of the Philistines, in
order that an opportunity might not afterwards be offered to the Hebrews,
shrinking from the desert, of returning into Egypt by a well-known road
through a continuous land-journey, by the command of God they turned aside,
and journeyed towards the Red Sea, where they stopped and pitched their
camp. When it was announced to the king that the Hebrew people, through
mistaking the road, had come to have the sea right before them, and that
they had no means of escape since the deep would prevent them, vexed and
furious that so many thousand men should escape from his kingdom and power,
he hastily led forth his army. And already the arms, and standards, and the
lines drawn up in the widespreading plains were visible, when, as the
Hebrews were in a state of terror, and gazing up to heaven, Moses being so
instructed by God, struck the sea with his rod, and divided it. Thus a road
was opened to the people as on firm land, the waters giving way on both
sides. Nor did the king of Egypt hesitate to follow the Israelites going
forward, for he entered the sea where it had opened; and, as the waters
speedily came together gain, he, with all his host, was destroyed.

CHAPTER XVI.

   Then Moses, exulting in the safety of his own people, and in the
destruction of the enemy, by such a miracle,[1] sang a song of praise to
God, and the whole multitude, both of males and females, took part in it.
But, after they had entered the desert, and advanced a journey of three
days, want of water distressed them; and, when it was found, it proved of
no use on account of its bitterness. And then for the first time the
stubbornness of the impatient people showed itself, and burst forth against
Moses; when, as instructed by God, he cast some wood into the waters, and
its power was such that it rendered the taste of the fluid sweet. Thence
advancing, the multitude found at Elim twelve fountains of waters, with
seventy palm-trees, and there they encamped. Again the people, complaining
of famine, heaped reproaches upon Moses, and longed for the slavery of
Egypt,  accompanied as it was with abundance to please their appetite, when
a flock of quails was divinely sent, and filled the camp. Besides, on the
following day, those who had gone forth from the camp perceived that the
ground was covered with a sort of pods,[2] the appearance of which was like
a coriander-seed of snowy whiteness, as we often see the earth in the
winter months covered with the hoar- frost that has been spread over it.
Then the people were informed, through Moses, that this bread had been sent
them by the gift of God; that every one should gather in vessels prepared
for the purpose only so much of it as would be sufficient for each,
according to their number, during one day; but that on the sixth day they
should gather double, because it was not lawful to collect it on the
Sabbath. The people, however, as they were never prone to obedience, did
not, in accordance with human nature, restrain their desires, providing in
their stores not merely for one, but also for the following day. But that
which was thus laid up swarmed with worms, while its fetid odor was
dreadful, yet that which was laid up on the sixth day with a view to the,
Sabbath remained quite untainted. The Hebrews made use of this food for
forty years; its taste was very like that of honey; and its name is handed
down as being manna. Moreover, as an abiding witness to the divine gift,
Moses is related to have laid up a full gomer of it in a golden vessel.

CHAPTER XVII.

   The people going on from thence, and being again tried with want of
water, hardly restrained themselves from destroying their leader. Then
Moses, under divine orders, striking with his rod the rock at the place
which is called Horeb, brought forth an abundant supply of water. But when
they came to Raphidin, the Amalekites destroyed numbers of the people by
their attacks. Moses, leading out his men to battle, placed Joshua at the
head of the army; and, in company with Aaron and Hur, was himself simply to
be a spectator of the fight, while, at the same time, for the purpose of
praying to the Lord, he went up to the top of a mountain. But when the
armies had met with doubtful issue, through the prayers of Moses, Joshua
slew the enemy until nightfall. At the same time, Jothor, Moses' father-in-
law, with his daughter Sepphora (who, having been married to Moses, had
remained at home when her husband went into Egypt), and his children,
having learned the things which were being done by Moses, came to him. By
his advice Moses divided the people into various ranks; and, setting
tribunes, centurions, and decurions[1] over them, thus furnished a mode of
discipline and order to posterity. Jothor then returned to his own country,
while the Israelites came on to Mount Sinai. There Moses was admonished by
the Lord that the people should be sanctified, since they were to hearken
to the words of God; and that was carefully seen to. But when God rested on
the mountain, the air was shaken with the loud sounds of trumpets, and
thick clouds rolled around with frequent flashes of lightning. But Moses
and Aaron were on the top of the mountain beside the Lord, while the people
stood around the bottom of the mountain. Thus a law was given, manifold and
full of the words of God, and frequently repeated; but if any one is
desirous of knowing particulars regarding it, he must consult the original,
as we here only briefly touch upon it. "There shall not be," said God, "any
strange gods among you, but ye shall worship me alone; thou shall not make
to time any idol; thou shall not take the name of thy God in vain; thou
shall do no work upon the Sabbath; honor thy father and thy mother; thou
shall not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shall not steal; thou
shalt not bear false witness against  thy neighbor; thou shalt not covet
anything  belonging to thy neighbor."

CHAPTER XVIII.

   These things being said by God, while the trumpets uttered their
voices, the lamps blazed, and smoke covered the mountain, the people
trembled from terror; and begged of Moses   that God should speak to him
alone, and that he would report to the people what he thus heard. Now, the
commandments of God to Moses were as follows: A Hebrew servant purchased
with money shall serve six years, and after that he shall be free; but his
ear shall be bored, should he willingly remain in slavery. Whosoever slays
a man shall be put to death; he who does so unwittingly shall in due form
be banished. Whosoever shall beat his father or his mother, and utter evil
sayings against them, shall suffer death. If any one sell a Hebrew who has
been stolen, he shall be put to death. If any one strike his own manservant
or maidservant, and he or she die of the blow, he shall be put on his trial
for doing so. If any one cause a woman[1] to miscarry, he shall be put to
death. If any one knock out the eye or the tooth of his servant, that
servant shall receive his liberty in due form. If a bull kill a man, it
shall be stoned; and if its master, knowing the vicious temper of the
animal, did not take precautions in connection with it, he also shall be
stoned, or shall redeem himself by a price as large as the accuser shall
demand. If a bull kill a servant, money to the amount of thirty double-
drachmas shall be paid to his master. If any one does not cover up a pit
which has been dug, and an animal fall into that pit, he shall pay the
price of the animal to its master. If a bull kill the bull of another man,
the animal shall be sold, and the two masters shall share the price; they
shall also divide the animal that has been killed. But if a master, knowing
the vicious temper of the bull, did not take precautions in connection with
it, he shall give up the bull. If any one steals a calf, he shall restore
five; if he steals a sheep, the penalty shall be fourfold; and if the
animals be found alive in the hands of him who drove them off, he shall
restore double. It shall be lawful to kill a thief by night, but not one by
day. If the cattle of any one has eaten up the corn of another, the master
of the cattle shall restore what has been destroyed. If a deposit
disappears, he, in whose hands it was deposited, shall swear that he has
not been guilty of any deceit. A thief who is caught shall pay double. An
animal given in trust, if devoured by a wild beast, shall not be made good.
If any one defile a virgin not yet betrothed, he shall bestow a dowry on
the girl, and thus take her to wife; but, if the father of the girl shall
refuse to give her in marriage, then the ravisher shall give her a dowry.
If any one shall join himself to a beast, he shall be put to death. Let him
who sacrifices to idols perish. The widow and orphan are not to be
oppressed; the poor debtor is not to be hardly treated, nor is usury to be
demanded: the garment of the poor is not to be taken as a pledge. A ruler
of the people is not to be evil spoken of. All the first-born are to be
offered to God. Flesh taken from a wild beast is not to be eaten.
Agreements to bear false witness, or for any evil purpose, are not to be
made. Thou shalt not pass by any animal of thine enemy which has strayed,
but shalt bring it back. If you find an animal of your enemy fallen down
under a burden, it will be your duty to raise it up. Thou shall not slay
the innocent and the righteous. Thou shall not justify the wicked for
rewards. Gifts are not to be accepted. A stranger is to be kindly treated.
Work is to be done on six days: rest is to be taken on the Sabbath. The
crops of the seventh year are not to be reaped, but are to be left for the
poor and needy.

CHAPTER XIX.

   MOSES reported these words of God to the people, and placed an altar of
twelve stones at the foot of the mountain. Then he again ascended the
mountain on which the Lord had taken his place, bringing with him Aaron,
Nabad, and seventy of the elders. But these were not able to look upon the
Lord; nevertheless, they saw the place[1] in which God stood, whose form is
related to have been wonderful, and his splendor glorious. Now, Moses,
having been called by God, entered the inner cloud which had gathered round
about God, and is related to have remained there forty days and forty
nights: During this time, he was taught in the words of God about building
the tabernacle and the ark, and about the ritual of sacrifice-things which
I, as they were obviously told at great length, have not thought proper to
be inserted in such a concise work as the present. But as Moses stayed away
a long time, since he spent forty days in the presence of the Lord, the
people, despairing of his return, compelled Aaron to construct images.
Then, out of metals which had been melted together, there came forth the
head of a calf. The people, unmindful of God, having offered sacrifices to
this, and given themselves up to eating and drinking, God, looking upon
these things, would in his righteous indignation, have destroyed the wicked
people, had he not been entreated by Moses' not to do so. But Moses, on his
return, bringing down the two tables of stone which had been written by the
hand of God, and seeing the people devoted to luxury and sacrilege, broke
the tables, thinking the nation unworthy of having the law of the Lord
delivered to them. He then called around himself the Levites, who had been
assailed with many insults, and commanded them to smite the people with
drawn swords. In this onset twenty-three thousand[2] men are said to have
been slain. Then Moses set up the tabernacle outside the camp; and, as
often as he entered it, the pillar of cloud was observed to stand before
the door; and God spoke, face to face, with Moses. But when Moses entreated
that he might see the Lord in his peculiar majesty, he was answered that
the form of God could not be seen by mortal eyes; yet it was allowed to see
his back parts; and the tables which Moses had formerly broken were
constructed afresh. And Moses is reported, during this conference with God,
to have stayed forty days with the Lord. Moreover, when he descended from
the mountain, bringing with him the tables, his face shone with so great
brightness, that the people were not able to look upon him. It was
arranged, therefore, that when he was to make known to them the commands of
God, he covered his face with a veil, and thus spoke to the people in the
words of God. In this part of the history an account is given[3] of the
tabernacle, and the building of its tuner parts. Which having been
finished, the cloud descended from above, and so overshadowed the
tabernacle that it prevented Moses himself from entering. These are the
principal matters contained in the two books of Genesis and Exodus.

CHAPTER XX.

   Then follows the book of Leviticus, in which the precepts bearing upon
sacrifice are set forth; commandments also are added to the law formerly
given; and almost the whole is full of  instructions connected with the
priests. If any one wishes to become acquainted with these, he will obtain
fuller information from that source. For we, keeping within the limits of
the work undertaken, touch upon the history only. The tribe of Levi, then,
being set apart for the priesthood, the rest of the tribes were numbered,
and were found to amount to six hundred and three thousand five hundred
persons.[1] When, therefore, the people made use of the manna for food, as
we have related above, even amid so many and so great kindnesses of God,
showing themselves, as ever, ungrateful, they longed after the worthless
viands to which they had been accustomed in Egypt. Then the Lord brought an
enormous supply of quails into the camp; and as they were eagerly tearing
these to pieces, as soon as their lips touched the flesh, they perished.
There was indeed on that day a great destruction in the camp, so that
twenty and three thousand men are said to have died. Thus the people were
punished by the very food which they desired. Thence the company went
forward, and came to Faran; and Moses was instructed by the Lord that the
land was now near, the possession of which the Lord had promised them.
Spies, accordingly, having been sent into it, they report that it was a
land blessed with all abundance, but that the nations were powerful, and
the towns fortified with immense walls. When this was made known to the
people, fear seized the minds of all; and to such a pitch of wickedness did
they come, that, despising  the authority of Moses, they prepared to
appoint for themselves a leader, under whose guidance they might return to
Egypt. Then Joshua and Caleb, who had been of the number of the spies, rent
their garments with tears, and implored the people not to believe the spies
relating such terrors; for that they themselves had been with them, and had
found nothing dreadful in that country; and that it behooved them to trust
the promises of God, that these enemies would rather become their prey than
prove their destruction. But that stiff-necked race, setting themselves
against every good advice, rushed upon them to destroy them. And the Lord,
angry on account of these things, exposed a part of the people to be slain
by the enemy, while the spies were slain for having excited fear among the
people.

CHAPTER XXI.

   THERE followed the revolt of those, who, with Dathan and Abiron as
leaders, endeavored to set themselves up against Moses and Aaron; but the
earth, opening, swallowed them alive. And not long after, a revolt of the
whole people arose against Moses and Aaron, so that they rushed into the
tabernacle, which it was not lawful for any but the priests to enter. Then
truly death mowed them down in heaps; and all would have perished in a
moment, had not the Lord, appeased by the prayers of Moses, turned aside
the disaster. Nevertheless, the number of those slain amounted to seven
hundred and fourteen thousand.[1] And not long after, as had already often
happened, a revolt of the people arose on account of the want of water.
Then Moses, instructed by God to strike the rock with his rod, with a kind
of trial new familiar to him, since he had already done that before, struck
the rock once and again, and thus water flowed out of it. In regard,
however, to this point, Moses is said to have been reproved by God, that,
through want of faith, he did not bring out the water except by repeated
blows; in fact, on account of this transgression, he did not enter the land
promised to him, as I shall show farther on. Moses, then, moving away  from
that place, as he was preparing to lead his company along by the borders of
Edom, sent ambassadors to the king to beg liberty to pass by; for he
thought it right to abstain from war on account of the connection by blood;
for that nation was descended from Esau. But the king despised the
suppliants, and refused them liberty to pass by, being ready to contend in
arms. Then Moses directed his march towards the mountain, Or, keeping clear
of the forbidden road, that he might not furnish any cause of war between
those related by blood, and on that route he destroyed the king of the
nation of the Canaanites. He smote also Seon the king of the Amorites, and
possessed himself of all their towns: he conquered, too, Basan and Balac.
He pitched his camp beyond Jordan, not far from Jericho. Then a battle took
place against the Midianites, and they were conquered and subdued. Moses
died, after he had ruled the people forty years in the wilderness. But the
Hebrews are said to have remained in the wilderness for so long a time,
with this view, until all those who had not believed the words of God
perished. For, except Joshua and Caleb, not one of those who were more than
twenty years old on leaving Egypt passed over Jordan. That Moses himself
only saw the promised land, and did not reach it, is ascribed to his sin,
because, at that time when he was ordered to strike the rock, and bring
forth water, he doubted, even after so many proofs of his miraculous power.
He died in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age. Nothing is known
concerning the place of his burial.

CHAPTER XXII.

   AFTER the death of Moses, the chief power passed into the hands of
Joshua the son of Nun, for Moses had appointed him his successor, being a
man very like himself in the good qualities which be displayed. Now, at the
commencement of his rule, he sent messengers through the camp to instruct
the people to make ready supplies of corn, and announces that they should
march on the third day. But-the river Jordan, a very powerful stream,
hindered their crossing, because they did not have a supply of vessels for
the occasion, and the stream could not be crossed by fords, as it was then
rushing on in full flood. He, therefore, orders the ark to be carried
forward by the priests, and that they should take their stand against the
current of the river. On this being done, Jordan is said to have been
divided, and thus the army was led over on dry ground. There was in these
places a town called Jericho, fortified with very strong walls, and not
easy to be taken, either by storm or blockade. But Joshua, putting his
trust in God, did not attack the city either by arms or force; he simply
ordered the ark of God to be carried round the walls, while the priests
walked before the ark, and sounded trumpets. But when the ark had been
carried round seven times, the walls and the towers fell; and the city was
plundered and burnt. Then Joshua is said to have addressed the Lord, and[1]
to have called down a curse upon any one who should attempt to restore the
town which had thus by divine help been demolished. Next, the army was led
against Geth, and an ambuscade having been placed behind the city, Joshua,
pretending fear, fled before the enemy. On seeing this, those who were in
the town, opening the gates, began to press upon the enemy giving way.
Thus, the men who were in ambush took the city, and all the inhabitants
were slain, without one escaping: the king also was taken, and suffered
capital punishment.

CHAPTER XXIII.

   When this became known to the kings of the neighboring nations, they
made a warlike alliance to put down the Hebrews by arms. But the
Gibeonites, a powerful nation with a wealthy city, spontaneously yielded to
the Hebrews, promising to do what they were ordered, and were received
under protection, while they were told to bring in wood and water. But
their surrender had roused the resentment of the kings of the nearest
cities. Accordingly, moving up their troops, they surround with a blockade
their town, which was called Gabaoth. The townspeople, therefore, in their
distress, send messengers to Joshua, that he would help them in their state
of siege. Accordingly, he by a forced march came upon the enemy at
unawares, and many thousands of them were completely destroyed. When day
failed the victors, and it seemed that night would furnish protection to
the vanquished, the Hebrew general, through the power of his faith, kept
off the night, and the day continued, so that there was no means of escape
for the enemy. Five kings who were taken suffered death. By the same
attack, neighboring cities also were brought under the power of Joshua, and
their kings were cut off. But as it was not my design, studious as I am of
brevity, to follow out all these things in order, I only carefully observe
this, that twenty-nine kingdoms were brought under the yoke of the Hebrews,
and that their territory was distributed among eleven tribes, to man after
man. For to the Levites, who had been set apart for the priesthood, no
portion was given, in order that they might the more freely serve God. I
desire not, in silence, to pass over the example thus set, but I would
earnestly bring it forward as well worthy of being read by the ministers of
the Church. For these seem to me not only unmindful of this precept, but
even utterly ignorant of it- -such a lust for possessing has, in this age,
seized, like an incurable disease, upon their minds. They gape upon
possessions; they cultivate estates; they repose upon gold; they buy and
sell; they study gain by every possible means. And even, if any of them
seem to have a better aim in life, neither possessing nor trading, still
(what is much more disgraceful) remaining inactive, they look for gifts,
and have corrupted the whole glory of life by their mercenary dispositions,
while they present an appearance of sanctity, as if even that might be made
a source of gain. But I have gone farther than I intended in expressing my
loathing and disgust over the character of our times; and I hasten to
return to the subject in hand. The vanquished territory, then, as I have
already said, having been divided among the tribes, the Hebrews enjoyed
profound peace; their neighbors, being terrified by war, did not venture to
attempt hostilities against those distinguished by so many victories. At
the same period died Joshua in the hundred and tenth year of his age. I do
not express any definite opinion as to the length of time he ruled: the
prevalent view, however, is, that he was at the head of the Hebrew affairs
during twenty-seven years. If this were so, then three thousand eight
hundred and eighty-four years had elapsed from the beginning of the world
to his death.

CHAPTER XXIV.

   AFTER the death of Joshua, the people acted without a leader. But a
necessity of making war with the Canaanites having arisen, Judah was
appointed as general in the war. Under his guidance, matters were
successfully conducted: there was the greatest tranquillity both at home
and abroad: the people ruled over the nations which had either been subdued
or received under terms of surrender. Then, as almost always happens in a
time of prosperity, becoming unmindful of morals and discipline, they began
to contract marriages from among the conquered, and by and by to adopt
foreign customs, yea, even in a sacrilegious manner to offer sacrifice to
idols: so pernicious is all alliance with foreigners. God, foreseeing these
things long before, had, by a wholesome precept enjoined upon the Hebrews
to give over the conquered nations to utter destruction. But the people,
through lust for power, preferred (to their own ruin) to rule over those
who were conquered. Accordingly, when, forsaking God, they worshiped idols,
they were deprived of the divine assistance, and, being vanquished and
subdued by the king of Mesopotamia, they paid the penalty of eight years'
captivity, until, with Gothoniel as their leader, they were restored to
liberty, and enjoyed independence for fifty years. Then again, corrupted by
the evil effect of a lengthened peace, they began to sacrifice to idols.
And speedily did retribution fall upon them thus sinning. Conquered by
Eglon, king of the Moabites, they served him eighteen years, until, by a
divine impulse, Aod slew the enemies' king by a stratagem, and, gathering
together a hasty army, restored them to liberty by force of arms. The same
man ruled the Hebrews in peace for forty years. To him Semigar sucseeded,
and he, engaging in battle With the Philistines,[1] secured a decisive
victory. But again, the king of the Canaanites, Jabin by name, subdued the
Hebrews who were once more serving idols, and exercised over them a
grievous tyranny for twenty years, until Deborah, a woman, restored them to
their former condition. They had to such a degree lost confidence in their
generals, that they were now protected by means of a woman. But it is
worthy of notice, that this form of deliverance was arranged beforehand, as
a type of the Church, by whose aid captivity to the devil is escaped. The
Hebrews were forty years under this leader or judge. And being again
delivered over to the Midianites for their sins, they were kept under hard
rule; and, being afflicted by the evils of slavery, they implored the
divine help. Thus always when in prosperity they were unmindful of the
kindnesses of heaven, and prayed to idols; but in adversity they cried to
God. Wherefore, as often as I reflect that those people who lay under so
many obligations to the goodness of  God, being chastised with so many
disasters when they sinned, and experiencing both the mercy and the
severity of God, yet were by no means rendered better, and that, though
they always obtained pardon for their transgressions, yet they as
constantly sinned again after being pardoned, it can appear nothing
wonderful that Christ when he came was not received by them, since already,
from the beginning, they were found so often rebelling against the Lord. It
is, in fact, far more wonderful that the clemency of God never failed them
when they sinned, if only they called upon his name.[2]

CHAPTER XXV.

   ACCORDINGLY, when the Midianites, as we have related above, ruled over
them, they turned to the Lord, imploring his wonted tender mercy, and
obtained it. There was then among the Hebrews one Gideon by name, a
righteous man who was dear and acceptable to God. The angel stood by him as
he was returning home from the harvest- field, and said unto him; "The Lord
is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." But he in a humble voice
complained that the Lord was not[1] with him, because captivity pressed
sore upon his people, and he remembered with tears the miracles wrought by
the Lord, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then the angel
said, "Go, in this spirit in which you have spoken, and deliver the people
from captivity." But he declared that he could not, with his[2] feeble
strength, since he was a man of very small importance, undertake such a
heavy task. The angel, however, persisted in urging him not to doubt that
those things could be done which the Lord said. So then, having offered
sacrifice, and overthrown the altar which the Midianites had consecrated to
the image of Baal, he went to his own people, and pitched his camp near the
camp of the enemy. But the nation of the Amalekites had also joined
themselves to the Midianites, while Gideon had not gathered more than an
army of thirty-two thousand men. But before the battle began, God said to
him that this was a larger number than he wished him to lead forth to the
conflict; that, if he did make use of so many, the Hebrews would, in
accordance with their usual wickedness ascribe the result of the fight, not
to God, but to their own bravery; he should therefore furnish an
opportunity of leaving to those who desired to do so. When this was made
known to the people, twenty and two thousand left the camp. But of the ten
thousand who had remained, Gideon, as instructed by God, did not retain
more than three hundred: the rest he dismissed from the field. Thus,
entering the camp of the enemy in the middle watch of the night, and having
ordered all his men to sound their trumpets, he caused great terror to the
enemy; and no one had courage to resist; but they made off in a disgraceful
flight wherever they could. The Hebrews, however, meeting them in every
direction, cut the fugitives to pieces. Gideon pursued the kings beyond
Jordan, and having captured them, gave them over to death. In that battle,
a hundred and twenty thousand of the enemy are said to have been slain, and
fifteen thousand captured. Then, by universal consent, a proposal was made
to Gideon that he should be king of the people. But he rejected this
proposal, and preferred rather to live on equal terms with his fellow-
citizens than to be their ruler. Having, therefore, escaped from their
captivity, which had pressed upon the people for seven years, they now
enjoyed peace for a period of forty years.

CHAPTER XXVI.

   BUT on the death of Gideon, his son Abimelech, whose mother was a
concubine, having slain his brothers with the concurrence of a multitude of
wicked men, and especially by the help of the chief men among the
Shechemites, took possession of the kingdom. And he, being harassed by
civil strife, while he pressed hard upon his people by war, attempted to
storm a certain tower, into which they, after losing the town, had betaken
themselves by flight. But, as he approached the place without sufficient
caution, he was slain by a stone which a woman threw, after holding the
government for three years. To him succeeded Thola, who reigned two and
twenty years. After him came Jair; and after he had held the chief place
for a like period of twenty-two years, the people, forsaking God, gave
themselves up to idols. On this account, the Israelites were subdued by the
Philistines and Ammonites, and remained under their power for eighteen
years. At the end of this period, they began to call upon God; but the
divine answer to them was that they should rather invoke the aid of their
images, for that he would no longer extend his mercy to those who had been
so ungrateful. But they with tears confessed their fault, and implored
forgiveness; while, throwing away their idols, and earnestly calling upon
God, they obtained the divine compassion, though it had been at first
refused. Accordingly, under Jephtha as general, they assembled in great
numbers for the purpose of recovering their liberty by arms, having first
sent ambassadors to King Ammon, begging that, content with his own
territories, he should keep from warring against them. But he, far from
declining battle, at once drew up his army. Then Jephtha, before the signal
for battle was given, is said to have vowed that, if he obtained the
victory, the person who first met him as he returned home, should be
offered to God as a sacrifice. Accordingly, on the enemy being defeated, as
Jephtha was returning home, his daughter met him, having joyfully gone
forth with drums and dances to receive her father as a conqueror. Then
Jephtha, being overwhelmed with sorrow, rent his clothes in his affliction,
and made known to his daughter the stringent obligation of his vow. But
she, with a courage not to be expected from a woman, did not refuse to die;
she only begged that her life might be spared for two months, that she
might before dying have the opportunity of seeing the friends of her own
age. This being done, she willingly returned to her father, and fulfilled
the vow to God. Jephtha held the chief power for six years. To him Esebon
succeeded, and having ruled in tranquillity for seven years, then died.
After him, Elon the Zebulonite ruled for ten years, and Abdon also for
eight years; but, as their rule was peaceful, they performed nothing which
history might record.

CHAPTER XXVII.

   THE Israelites yet again turned to idols; and, being deprived of the
divine protection, were subdued by the Philistines, and paid the penalty of
their unfaithfulness by forty years of captivity. At that time, Samson is
related to have been born. His mother, after being long barren, had a
vision of an angel, and was told to abstain from wine, and strong drink,
and everything unclean; for that she should bear a son who would be the
restorer of liberty to the Israelites, and their avenger upon their
enemies. He, with unshorn locks, is said to have been possessed of
marvelous strength, so much so that he tore to pieces with his hands a lion
which met him in the way. He had a wife from the Philistines, and when she,
in the absence of her husband, had entered into marriage with another, he,
through indignation on account of his wife being thus taken from him,
wrought destruction to her nation. Trusting in God and his own strength, he
openly brought disaster on those hitherto victors. For, catching three
hundred foxes, he tied burning torches to their tails, and sent them into
the fields of the enemy. It so happened that at the time the harvest was
ripe, and thus the fire easily caught, while the vines and olive-trees were
burnt to ashes. He was thus seen to have avenged the injury done him in
taking away his wife, by a great loss inflicted on the Philistines. And
they, enraged at this disaster, destroyed by fire the woman who had been
the  cause of so great a calamity, along with her house and her father. But
Samson, thinking himself as yet but poorly avenged, ceased not to harass
the heathen race with all sorts of evil devices. Then the Jews, being
compelled to it, handed him over as a prisoner to the Philistines; but,
when thus handed over, he burst his bonds and seizing the jaw- bone[1] of
an ass, which chance offered him as a weapon, he slew a thousand of his
enemies. And, as the heat of the day grew violent, and he began to suffer
from thirst, he called upon God, and water flowed forth from the bone which
he held in his hand.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

   AT that time Samson ruled over the Hebrews, the Philistines having been
subdued by the prowess of a single individual. They, therefore, sought his
life by stratagem, not daring to assail him openly, and with this view they
bribe his wife (whom he had received after what has been stated took place)
to betray to them wherein the strength of her husband lay. She attacked him
with female blandishments; and, after he had deceived her, and staved off
her purpose for a long time, she persuaded him to tell that his strength
was situated in his hair. Presently she cut off his hair stealthily while
he was asleep, and thus delivered him up to the Philistines; for although
he had often before been given up to them, they had not been able to hold
him fast. Then they, having put out his eyes, bound him with fetters, and
cast him into prison. But, in course of time, his hair which had been cut
off began to grow again, and his strength to return with it. And now
Samson, conscious of his recovered strength, was only waiting for an
opportunity of righteous revenge. The Philistines had a custom on their
festival days of producing Samson as if to make a public spectacle of him,
while they mocked their illustrious captive. Accordingly, on a certain day,
when they were making a feast in honor of their idol, they ordered Samson
to be exhibited. Now, the temple, in which all the people and all the
princes of the Philistines feasted, rested on two pillars of remarkable
size; and Samson, when brought out, was placed between these pillars. Then
he, having first called upon the Lord, seized his opportunity, and threw
down the pillars. The whole multitude was overwhelmed in the ruins of the
building, and Samson himself died along with his enemies, not without
having avenged himself upon them, after he had ruled the Hebrews twenty
years. To him Simmichar succeeded, of whom Scripture relates nothing more
than that simple fact. For I do not find that even the time when his rule
came to an end is mentioned, and I see that the people was for some time
without a leader. Accordingly, when civil war arose against the tribe of
Benjamin, Judah was chosen as a temporary leader in the war. But most of
those who have written about these times note that his rule was only for a
single year. On this account, many pass him by altogether, and place Eli,
the priest, immediately after Samson. We shall leave that point doubtful,
as one not positively ascertained.

CHAPTER XXIX.

   ABOUT these times, civil war, as we have said, had broken out; and the
following was the cause of the tumult. A certain Levite was on a journey
along with his concubine, and, constrained by the approach of night, he
took up his abode in the town of Gabaa, which was inhabited by men of
Benjamin. A certain old man having kindly admitted him to hospitality, the
young men of the town surrounded the guest, with the view of subjecting him
to improper treatment. After being much chidden by the old man, and with
difficulty dissuaded from their purpose, they at length received for their
wanton sport the person of his concubine as a substitute for his own; and
they thus spared the stranger, but abused her through the whole night, and
only restored her on the following day. But she (whether from the injury
their vile conduct had inflicted on her, or from shame, I do not venture to
assert) died on again seeing[1] her husband. Then the Levite, in testimony
of the horrible deed, divided her members into twelve parts, and
distributed them among the twelve tribes that indignation at such conduct
might the more readily be excited in them all. And when this became known
to all of them, the other eleven tribes entered into a warlike confederacy
against Benjamin. In this war, Judah, as we have said, was the general. But
they had bad success in the first two battles. At length, however, in the
third, the Benjamites were conquered, and cut off to a man; thus the crime
of a few was punished by the destruction of a multitude. These things also
are contained in the Book of Judges: the Books of Kings follow. But to me
who am following the succession of the years, and the order of the dates,
the history does not appear marked by strict chronological accuracy. For,
since after Samson as judge, there came Semigar, and a little later the
history certifies that the people lived without judges, Eli the priest is
related in the Books of Kings to have also been a judge,[2] but the
Scripture has not stated how many years there were between Eli and Samson.
I see that there was some portion of time between these two, which is left
in obscurity. But, from the day of the death of Joshua up to the time at
which Samson died, there are reckoned four hundred and eighteen years, and
from the beginning of the world, four thousand three hundred and three.
Nevertheless, I am not ignorant that others differ from this reckoning of
ours; but I am at the same time conscious that I have, not without some
care, set forth the order of events in the successive years (a thing
hitherto left in obscurity), until I have fallen upon these times,
concerning which I confess that I have my doubts. Now I shall go on to what
remains.

CHAPTER XXX.

   THE Hebrews, then, as I have narrated above, were living according to
their own will, without any judge or general. Eli was priest; and in his
days Samuel was born. His father's name was Elchana, and his mother's,
Anna. She having long been barren, is said, when she asked a child from
God, to have vowed that, if it were a boy, it should be dedicated to God.
Accordingly, having brought forth a boy, she delivered him to Eli the
priest. By and by, when he had grown up, God spoke to him. He denounced
wrath against Eli the priest on account of the life of his sons, who had
made the priesthood of their father a means of gain to themselves, and
exacted gifts from those who came to sacrifice; and, although their father
is related to have often reproved them, yet his reproofs were too gentle to
serve the purpose of discipline. Well, the Philistines made an incursion
into Judaea, and were met by the Israelites. But the Hebrews, being beaten,
prepare to renew the contest: they carry the ark of the Lord with them into
battle, and the sons of the priests go forth with it, because he himself,
being burdened with years, and afflicted with blindness, could not
discharge that duty. But, when the ark was brought within sight of the
enemy, terrified as if by the majesty of God's presence, they were ready to
take to flight. But again recovering courage, and changing their minds (not
without a divine impulse), they rush into battle with their whole strength.
The Hebrews were conquered; the ark was taken; the sons of the priest fell.
Eli, when the news of the calamity was brought to him, being overwhelmed
with grief, breathed his last, after he had held the priesthood for twenty
[1] years.

CHAPTER XXXI.

   The Philistines, victorious in this prosperous battle, brought the ark
of God, which had fallen into their hands, into the temple of Dagon in the
town of Azotus. But the image, dedicated to a demon, fell down when the ark
was brought in there; and, on their setting the idol up again in its place,
in the following night it was torn in pieces. Then mice, springing up
throughout all the country, caused by their venomous bites the death of
many thousand persons.[1] The men of Azotus, constrained by this source of
suffering, in order to escape the calamity, removed the ark to Gath. But
the people there being afflicted with the same evils, conveyed the ark to
Ascalon. The inhabitants, however, of that place, the chief men of the
nation having been called together, formed the design of sending back the
ark to the Hebrews. Thus, in accordance with the opinion of the chiefs, and
augurs, and priests, it was placed upon a cart, and sent back with many
gifts. This remarkable thing then happened, that when they had yoked
heifers to the conveyance, and had retained their calves at home, these
cattle took their course, without any guide, towards Judaea, and showed no
desire of returning, from affection toward their young left behind. The
rulers of the Philistines, who had followed the ark into the territory of
the Hebrews, were so struck by the marvelousness of this occurrence that
they performed a religious service. But the Jews, when they saw the ark
brought back, vied with each other in joyously rushing forth from the town
of Betsamis to meet it, and in hurrying, exulting, and returning thanks to
God. Presently, the Levites, whose business it was, perform a sacrifice to
God, and offer those heifers which had brought the ark. But the ark could
not be kept in the town which I have named above, and thus severe illness
fell by the appointment of God, upon the whole city. The ark was then
transferred to the town of Cariathiarim,[2] and there it remained twenty
years.

CHAPTER XXXII.

   AT this time, Samuel the priest[1] ruled over the Hebrews; and there
being a cessation of all war, the people lived in peace. But this
tranquillity was disturbed by an invasion of the Philistines, and all ranks
were in a state of terror from their consciousness of guilt. Samuel, having
first offered sacrifice, and trusting in God, led his men out to battle,
and the enemy being routed at the first onset, victory declared for the
Hebrews. But when the fear of the enemy was thus removed, and affairs were
now prosperous and peaceful, the people, changing their views for the
worse, after the manner of the mob, who are always weary of what they have,
and long for things of which they have had no experience, expressed a
desire for the kingly name--a name greatly disliked by almost all free
nations. Yes, with an example of madness certainly very remarkable, they
now preferred to exchange liberty for slavery. They, therefore, come m
great numbers to Samuel, in order that, as he himself was now an old man,
he might make for them a king. But he endeavored in a useful address,
quietly to deter the people from their insane desire; he set forth the
tyranny and haughty rule of kings, while he extolled liberty, and denounced
slavery; finally, he threatened them with the divine wrath, if they should
show themselves men so corrupt in mind as that, when having God as their
king, they should demand for themselves a king from among men. Having
spoken these and other words of a like nature to no purpose, finding that
the people persisted in the determination, he consulted God. And God, moved
by the madness of that insane nation, replied that nothing was to be
refused to them asking against their own interests.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

   ACCORDINGLY, Saul, having been first anointed by Samuel with the
sacerdotal oil, was appointed king. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, and
his father's name was Kish. He was modest in mind, and of a singularly
handsome figure, so that the dignity of his person worthily corresponded to
the royal dignity. But in the beginning of his reign, some portion of the
people had revolted from him, refusing to acknowledge his authority, and
had joined themselves to the Ammonites. Saul, however, energetically
wreaked his vengeance on these people; the enemy were conquered, and pardon
was granted to the Hebrews. Then Saul is said to have been anointed by
Samuel a second time. Next, a bloody war arose by an invasion of the
Philistines; and Saul had appointed Gilgal as the place where his army was
to assemble. As they waited there seven days for Samuel, that he might
offer sacrifice to God, the people gradually dropped away owing to his
delay, and the king, with unlawful presumption, presented a burnt-offering,
thus taking upon him the duty of a priest. For this he was severely rebuked
by Samuel, and acknowledged his sin with a penitence that was too late.
For, as a result of the king's sin, fear had pervaded the whole army. The
camp of the enemy lying at no great distance showed them how actual the
danger was, and no one had the courage to think of going forth to battle:
most had be-taken themselves to the marshes[1] For besides the want of
courage on the part of those who felt that God was alienated from them on
account of the king's sin, the army was in the greatest want of iron
weapons; so much so that nobody, except Saul and Jonathan his son, is said
to have possessed either sword or spear. For the Philistines, as conquerors
in the former wars, had deprived the Hebrews of the use of arms,[2] and no
one had had the power of forging any weapon of war, or even making any
implement for rural purposes. In these circumstances, Jonathan, with an
audacious design, and with his armor-bearer as his only companion, entered
the camp of the enemy, and having slain about twenty of them, spread a
terror throughout the whole army. And then, through the appointment of God,
betaking themselves to flight, they neither carried out orders nor kept
their ranks, but placed all the hope of safety in flight. Saul, perceiving
this, hastily drew forth his men, and pursuing the fugitives, obtained a
victory. The king is said on that day to have issued a proclamation that no
one should help himself to food until the enemy were destroyed. But
Jonathan, knowing nothing of this prohibition, found a honey-comb, and,
dipping the point of his weapon in it, ate up the honey. When that became
known to the king through the anger of God which followed, he ordered his
son to be put to death. But by the help of the people, he was saved from
destruction. At that time, Samuel, being instructed by God, went to the
king, and told him in the words of God to make war on the nation of the
Amalekites, who had of old hindered the Hebrews when they were coming out
of Egypt; and the prohibition was added that they should not covet any of
the spoils of the conquered. Accordingly, an army was led  into the
territory of the enemy, the king was taken, and the nation subdued. But
Saul, unable to resist the magnitude of the spoil, and unmindful of the
divine injunctions, ordered the booty to be saved and gathered together.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

   GOD, displeased with what had been done, spoke to Samuel, saying that
he repented that he had made Saul king. The priest reports what he had
heard to the king. And ere long, being instructed by God, he anointed David
with the royal oil, while be was as yet only a little boy[1] living under
the care of his father, and acting as a shepherd, while he was accustomed
often to play upon the harp. For this reason, he was taken afterwards by
Saul, and reckoned among the servants of the king. And the Philistines and
Hebrews being. at this time hotly engaged in war, as the armies were
stationed opposite to each other, a certain man of the Philistines named
Goliath, a man of marvelous size and strength, passing along the ranks of
his countrymen, cast insults, in the fiercest terms, upon the enemy, and
challenged any one to engage in single combat with him. Then the king
promised a great reward and his daughter in marriage to any one who should
bring home the spoils of that boaster; but no one out of so great a
multitude ventured to make the attempt. In these circumstances, though
still a youth,[2] David offered himself for the contest, and rejecting the
arms by which his yet tender age was weighed down, simply with a staff and
five stones which he had taken, advanced to the battle. And by the first
blow, having discharged one of the stones from a sling, he overthrew the
Philistine; then he cut off the head of his conquered foe, carried off his
spoils, and afterwards laid up his sword in the temple. In the meanwhile,
all the Philistines, turning to flight, yielded the victory to the Hebrews.
But the great favor shown to David as they were returning from the battle
excited the envy of the king. Fearing, however, that if he put to death one
so beloved by all, that might give rise to hatred against himself and prove
disastrous, he resolved, under an appearance of doing him honor, to expose
him to danger. First then he made him a captain, that he might be charged
with the affairs of war; and next, although he had promised him his
daughter, he broke his word, and gave her to another. Ere long, a younger
daughter of the king, Melchol by name, fell violently in love with David.
Accordingly, Saul sets before David as the condition of obtaining her in
marriage the following proposal: that if he should bring in a hundred
foreskins of the enemy, the royal maiden would be given him in marriage;
for he hoped that the youth, venturing on so great dangers, would probably
perish. But the result proved very different from what he imagined, for
David, according to the proposal made to him, speedily brought in a hundred
foreskins of the Philistines; and thus he obtained the daughter of the king
in marriage.

CHAPTER XXXV.

   The hatred of the king towards him increased daily, under the influence
of jealousy, for the wicked always persecute the good. He, therefore,
commanded his servants and Jonathan his son, to prepare snares against his
life. But Jonathan had even from the first had a great regard and affection
for David; and therefore the king, being taken to task by his son,
suppressed the cruel order he had given. But the wicked are not long good.
For, when Saul was afflicted by a spirit of error, and David stood by him,
soothing him with the harp under his trouble, Saul tried to pierce him with
a spear, and would have done so, had not he rapidly evaded the deadly blow.
From this time forth, the king no longer secretly but openly sought to
compass his death; and David no longer trusted himself in his power. He
fled, and first betook himself to Samuel, then to Abimelech, and finally
fled to the king of Moab. By-and-by, under the instructions of the prophet
Gad, he returned into the land of Judah, and there ran in danger of his
life. At that time, Saul slew Abimelech the priest because he had received
David; and when none of the king's servants ventured to lay hands upon the
priest, Doeg, the Syrian, fulfilled the cruel duty. After that, David made
for the desert. Thither Saul also followed him, but his efforts at his
destruction were in vain, for God protected him. There was a cave in the
desert, opening with a vast recess. David had thrown himself into the inner
parts of this cave. Saul, not knowing that he was there, had gone into it
for the purpose of taking[1] bodily refreshment, and there, overcome by
sleep, he was resting. When David perceived this, although all urged him to
avail himself of the opportunity, he abstained from slaying the king, and
simply took away his mantle. Presently going out, he addressed the king
from a safe position behind, recounting the services he had done him, how
often he had exposed his life to peril for the sake of the kingdom, and how
last of all, he bad not, on the present occasion, sought to kill him when
he was given over to him by God. Upon hearing these things, Saul confessed
his fault, entreated pardon, shed tears, extolled the piety of David, and
blamed his own wickedness, while he addressed David as king and son. He was
so much changed from his former ferocious character, that no one could now
have thought he would make any further attempt against his son-in-law. But
David, who had thoroughly[2] tested and known his evil disposition, did not
think it safe to put himself in the power of the king, and kept himself
within the desert. Saul, almost mad with rage, because he was unable to
capture his son-in-law, gave in marriage to one Faltim his daughter
Melchol, who, as we have related above, had been married to David. David
fled to the Philistines.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

   AT that time Samuel died. Saul, when the Philistines made war upon him,
consulted God, and no answer was returned to him. Then, by means of a woman
whose entrails a spirit of error[1] had filled, he called up and consulted
Samuel Saul was informed by him that on the following day he with his sons,
being overcome by the Philistines, would fall in the battle. The
Philistines, accordingly, having pitched their camp on the enemy's
territory, drew up their army in battle array on the following day, David,
however, being sent away from the camp, because they did not believe that
he would be faithful to them against his own people. But the battle taking
place, the Hebrews were routed and the sons of the king fell; Saul, having
sunk down from his horse, that he might not be taken alive by the enemy,
fell on his own sword. We do not find any Certain statements as to the
length of his reign, unless that he is said in the Acts of the Apostles to
have reigned forty years. As to this, however, I am inclined to think that
Paul, who made the statement in his preaching, then meant to include also
the years of Samuel under the length of that king's reign.[2] Most of
those, however, who have written about these times, remark that he reigned
thirty years. I can, by no means, agree with this opinion, for at the time
when the ark of God was transferred to the town of Cariathiarim, Saul had
not yet begun to reign, and it is related that the ark was removed by David
the king out of that town after it had been there twenty years. Therefore,
since Saul reigned and died within that period, he must have held the
government only for a very brief space of time. We find the same obscurity
concerning the times of Samuel, who, having been born under the priesthood
of Eli, is related, when very old, to have fulfilled the duties of a
priest. By some, however, who have written about these times (for the
sacred history has recorded almost nothing about his years),[3] but by most
he is said to have ruled the people seventy years. I have, however, been
unable to discover what authority there is for this assumption. Amid such
variety of error, we have followed the account of the Chronicles,[4]
because we think that it was taken (as said above) from the Acts of the
Apostles, and we repeat that Samuel and Saul together held the government
for forty years.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

   SAUL having thus been cut off, David, when the news of his death was
brought to him in the land of the Philistines, is related to have wept, and
to have given a marvelous proof of his affection. He then betook himself to
Hebron, a town of Judaea; and, being there again anointed with the royal
oil, received the title of king. But Abenner, who had been master of the
host of King Saul, despised David, and made Isbaal. king, the son of King
Saul. Various battles then took place between the generals of the kings.
Abenner was generally routed; yet in his flight he cut off the brother of
Joab, who had the command of the army on the side of David. Joab, on
account of the sorrow he felt for this, afterwards, when Abenner had
surrendered to King David, ordered him to be murdered, not without regret
on the part of the king, whose honor he had thus tarnished. At the same
time, almost all the older men of the Hebrews conferred on him by public
consent the sovereignty of the whole nation; for during seven years he had
reigned only in Hebron. Thus, he was anointed king for the third time,
being about thirty years of age. He repulsed in successful battles the
Philistines making inroads upon his kingdom. And at that time, he
transferred to Zion the ark of God, which, as I have said above, was in the
town of Cariathiarim. And when he had formed the intention of building a
temple to God, the divine answer was given him to the effect, that that was
reserved for his son. He then conquered the Philistines in war, subjugated
the Moabites, and subdued Syria, imposing tribute upon it. He brought back
with him an enormous amount of booty in gold and brass. Next, a war arose
against the Ammonites on account of the injury which had been done by their
king, Annon. And when the Syrians again rebelled, having formed a
confederacy for war with the Ammonites, David intrusted the chief command
of the war to Joab, the master of his host, and he himself remained in
Jerusalem far from the scene of strife.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

   AT this time, he knew in a guilty way Bersabe, a woman of remarkable
beauty. She is said to have been the wife of a certain man called Uriah,
who was then in the camp. David caused him to be slain by exposing him to
the enemy at a dangerous place in the battle. In this way, he added to the
number of his wives the woman who was now free from the bond of marriage,
but who was already pregnant through adultery. Then David, after being
severely reproved by Nathan the prophet, although he confessed his sin, did
not escape the punishment of God. For he lost in a few days the son who was
born from the clandestine connection, and many terrible things happened in
respect to his house and family. At last his son Absalom lifted impious
arms against his father, with the desire of driving him from the throne.
Joab encountered him in the field of battle, and the king entreated him to
spare the young man when conquered; but he, disregarding this command,
avenged with the sword his parricidal attempts. That victory is said to
have been a mournful one to the king: so great was his natural affection
that he wished even his parricidal son to be forgiven. This war seemed
hardly finished when another arose, under a certain general called Sabaea,
who had stirred up all the wicked to arms. But the whole commotion was
speedily checked by the death of the leader. David then engaged in several
battles against the Philistines with favorable results; and all being
subdued by war, both foreign and home disturbances having been brought to
accord, he possessed in peace a most flourishing kingdom. Then a sudden
desire seized him of numbering the people, in order to ascertain the
strength of his empire; and accordingly they were numbered by Joab, the
master of the host, and were found to amount to one million three hundred
thousand[1] citizens. David soon regretted and repented of this proceeding,
and implored pardon of God for having lifted up his thoughts to this, that
he should reckon the power of his kingdom rather by the multitude of his
subjects than by the divine favor. Accordingly, an angel was sent to him to
reveal to him a threefold punishment, and to give him the power of choosing
either one or another. Well, when a famine for three years was set before
him, and flight before his enemies for three months, and a pestilence for
three days, shunning both flight and famine, he made choice  of pestilence,
and, almost in a moment of time, seventy thousand men perished. Then David,
beholding the angel by whose right hand the people were overthrown,
implored pardon, and offered himself singly to punishment instead of all,
saying that he deserved destruction inasmuch as it was he who had sinned.
Thus, the punishment of the people was turned aside; and David built an
altar to God on the spot where he had beheld the angel. After this, having
become infirm through years and illness, he appointed Solomon, who had been
born to him by Bersabe, the wife of Uriah, his successor in the kingdom.
He, having been anointed with the royal oil by Sadoc the priest, received
the title of king, while his father was still alive. David died, after he
had reigned forty years.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

   SOLOMON in the beginning of his reign surrounded the city with a wall.
To him while asleep God appeared standing by him, and gave him the choice
of whatever things he desired. But he asked that nothing more than wisdom
should be granted him, deeming all other things of little value.
Accordingly, when he arose from sleep; taking his stand before the
sanctuary of God, he gave a proof of the wisdom which had been bestowed
upon him by God. For two women who dwelt in one house, having given birth
to male children at the same time, and one of these having died in the
night three days afterwards, the mother of the dead child, while the other
woman slept, insidiously substituted her child, and took away the living
one. Then there arose an altercation between them, and the matter was at
length brought before the king. As no witness was forthcoming, it was a
difficult matter to give a judgment between both denying guilt. Then
Solomon, in the exercise of his gift of divine wisdom, ordered the child to
be slain and its body to be divided between the two doubtful claimants.
Well, when one of them acquiesced in this judgment, but the other wished
rather to give up the boy than that he should be cut in pieces, Solomon,
concluding from the feeling displayed by this woman that she was the true
mother, adjudged the child to her. The bystanders could not repress their
admiration at this decision, since he had in such a way brought out the
hidden truth by his sagacity. Accordingly, the kings of the neighboring
nations, out of admiration for his ability and wisdom, courted his
friendship and alliance being prepared to carry out his commands.

CHAPTER XL.

   TRUSTING in these resources, Solomon set about erecting a temple of
immense size to God, funds for the purpose having been got together during
three years, and laid the foundation of it about the fourth year of his
reign. This was about the five hundred and eighty-eighth year after the
departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, although in the third Book of Kings
the years are reckoned at four hundred and forty.[1] This is by no means
accurate; for it would have been more likely that, in the order of dates I
have given above, I should perhaps reckon fewer years than more. But I do
not doubt that the truth had been falsified by the carelessness of
copyists, especially since so many ages intervened, rather than that the
sacred[2] writer erred. In the same way, in the case of this little work of
ours, we believe it will happen that, through the negligence of
transcribers, those things which have-been put together, not without care
on our part, should be corrupted. Well, then, Solomon finished his work of
building the temple in the twentieth year from its commencement. Then,
having offered sacrifice in that place, as well as uttered a prayer, by
which he blessed the people and the temple, God spoke to him, declaring
that, if at any time they should sin and forsake God, their temple should
be razed to the ground. We see that this has a long time ago been
fulfilled, and in due time we shall set forth the connected order of
events. In the meantime, Solomon abounded in wealth, and was, in fact, the
richest of all the kings that ever lived. But, as always takes place in
such circumstances, he sunk from wealth into luxury and vice, forming
marriages (in spite of the prohibition of God) with foreign women, until he
had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines. As a consequence, he
set up idols for them, after the manner of their nations, to which they
might offer sacrifice. God, turned away from him by such. doings, reproved
him sharply, and made known to him as a punishment, that the greater part
of his kingdom would be taken from his son, and given to a servant. And
that happened accordingly.

CHAPTER XLI.

   FOR, on the death of Solomon in the fortieth year of his reign, Roboam
his son having succeeded to the throne of his father in the sixteenth year
of his age, a portion of the people, taking offense, revolted from him.
For, having asked that the very heavy tribute which Solomon had imposed
upon them might be lessened, he rejected the entreaties of these
suppliants, and thus alienated from him the favor of the whole people.
Accordingly, by universal consent, the government was bestowed on Jeroboam.
He, sprung from a family of middle rank, had for some time been in the
service of Solomon. But when the king found that the sovereignty of the
Hebrews had been promised to him by a response of the prophet Achia, he had
resolved privately to cut him off. Jeroboam, under the influence of this
fear, fled into Egypt, and there married a wife of the royal family. But,
when at length he heard of the death of Solomon, he returned to his native
land, and, by the wish of the people, as we have said above, he assumed the
government. Two tribes, however, Judah and Benjamin, had remained under the
sway of Roboam; and from these he got ready an army of thirty thousand men.
But when the two hosts advanced, the people were instructed by the words of
God to abstain from fighting, for that Jeroboam had received the kingdom by
divine appointment. Thus the army disdained the command of the king, and
dispersed, while the power of Jeroboam was increased. But, since Roboam
held Jerusalem, where the people had been accustomed to offer sacrifice to
God in the temple built by Solomon, Jeroboam, fearing lest their religious
feelings might alienate the people from him, resolved to fill their minds
with superstition. Accordingly, he set up one golden calf at Bethel, and
another at Dan, to which the people might offer sacrifice; and, passing by
the tribe of Levi, he appointed priests from among the people. But censure
followed this guilt so hateful to God. Frequent battles then took place
between the kings, and so they retained their respective kingdoms on
doubtful conditions. Roboam died at the close of the seventeenth year of
his reign.

CHAPTER XLII.

   In his room Abiud his son held the kingdom at Jerusalem for six years,
although he is said in the Chronicles[1] to have reigned three years. Asab
his son succeeded him, being the fifth from David, as he was his great-
great-grandson. He was a pious worshiper of God; for, destroying the altars
and the groves of the idols, he removed the traces of his father's
faithlessness. He formed an alliance with the king of Syria, and by his
help inflicted much loss on the kingdom of Jeroboam, which was then held by
his son, and often, after conquering the enemy, carried off spoil as the
result of victory. After forty-one years he died, afflicted with disease in
his feet. To him sin of a three- fold kind is ascribed; first, that he
trusted too much to his alliance with the king of Syria; secondly, that he
cast into prison a prophet of God who rebuked him for this; and thirdly,
that, when suffering from disease in his feet, he sought a remedy, not from
God, but from the physicians. In the beginning of his reign died Jeroboam,
king of the ten tribes, and left his throne to his son Nabath. He, from his
wicked works, and, both by his own and his[2] father's doings, hateful to
God, did not possess the kingdom more than two years, and his children, as
being unworthy, were deprived[3] of the government. He had for his
successor Baasa, the son of Achia, and he proved himself equally estranged
from God. He died in the twenty-sixth year of his reign: and his power
passed to Ela his son, but was not retained more than two years. For
Zambri, leader of his cavalry, killed him at a banquet, and seized the
kingdom,--a man equally odious to God and men. A portion of the people
revolted from him, and the royal power was conferred on one Thamnis. But
Zambri reigned before him seven years, and at the same time with him twelve
years. And, on the death of Asab, Josaphat his son began to reign over part
of the tribe of Judah, a man deservedly famous for his pious virtues. He
lived at peace with Zambri; and he died, after a reign of twenty-five
years.

CHAPTER XLIII.

   In the time of his reign, Ahab, the son of Ambri, was king of the ten
tribes, impious above all against God. For having taken in marriage
Jezebel, the daughter of Basa, king of Sidon, he erected an altar and
groves to the idol Bahal, and slew the prophets of God. At this time,
Elijah the prophet by prayer shut up heaven, that it should not give any
rain to the earth, and revealed that to the king, in order that he, in his
impiety, might know himself to be the cause of the evil. The waters of
heaven, therefore, being restrained, and since the whole country, burned up
by the heat of the sun, did not furnish food either for man or beast, the
prophet had even exposed himself to the side of perishing from hunger. At
that time, when he betook himself to the desert, he depended for life on
the ravens furnishing him with food, while a neighboring rivulet furnished
him with water, until it was dried up. Then, being instructed by God, he
went to the town of Saraptae, and turned aside to lodge with a widow-woman.
And when, in his hunger, he begged food from her, she complained that she
had only a handful of meal and a little oil, on the consumption of which
she expected death along with her children.[1] But when Elijah promised in
the words of God that neither should the meal lessen in the barrel nor the
oil in the vessel, the woman did not hesitate to believe the prophet
demanding faith, and obtained[2] the fulfillment of what was promised,
since by daily increase as much was added as was day by day taken away. At
the same time, Elijah restored to life the dead son of the same widow.
Then, by the command of God, he went to the king, and having reproved his
impiety, he ordered all the people to be gathered together to himself. When
these had hastily assembled, the priests of the idols and of the groves to
the number of about four hundred and fifty, were also summoned. Then there
arose a dispute between them, Elijah setting forth the honor of God, while
they upheld their own superstitions. At length they agreed that a trial
should be made to this effect, that if fire sent down from heaven should
consume the slain victim of either of them, that religion should be
accepted as the true one which performed the miracle. Accordingly, the
priests, having slain a calf, began to call upon the idol Bahal; and, after
wasting their invocations to no purpose, they tacitly acknowledged the
helplessness of their God. Then Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry aloud
more vehemently, lest perchance he sleeps, and that thus you may rouse him
from the slumber in which he is sunk." The wretched men could do nothing
but shudder and mutter to themselves, but still they waited to see what
Elijah would do. Well, he slew a calf and laid it upon the altar, having
first of all filled the sacred place with water; and then, calling upon the
name of the Lord, fire fell from heaven in the sight of all, and consumed
alike the water and the victim. Then truly the people, casting themselves
upon the earth, confessed God and execrated the idols; while finally, by
the command of Elijah, the impious priests were seized, and, being brought
down to the brook, were there slain. The prophet followed the king as he
returned from that place; but as Jezebel, the wife of the king, was
devising means for taking his life, he retired to a more remote spot. There
God addressed him, telling him that there were still seven thousand men who
had not given themselves up to idols. That was to Elijah a marvelous
statement, for he had supposed that he himself was the only one who had
kept free from impiety.

CHAPTER XLIV.

   At that time, Ahab, king of Samaria, coveted the vineyard of Naboth,
which was adjacent to his own. And as Naboth was unwilling to sell it to
him, he was cut off by the wiles of Jezebel. Thus Ahab got possession of
the vineyard, though he is said at the same time to have regretted the
death of Naboth. Acknowledging his crime, he is related to have done[1]
penance clothed in sackcloth; and in this way he turned aside threatening
punishment. For the king of Syria with a great army, having formed a
military confederacy with thirty-two kings, entered the territories of
Samaria, and began to besiege the city with its king. The affairs of the
besieged being then in a state of great distress, the Syrian king offers
these conditions in the war,--if they should give up their gold and silver
and women, he would spare their lives. But, with such iniquitous conditions
offered, it seemed better to suffer the greatest extremities. And now when
the safety of all was despaired of, a prophet sent by God went to the king,
encouraged him to go forth to battle, and when he hesitated, strengthened
his confidence in many ways. Accordingly making a sally, the enemy were
routed, and an abundant store of booty was secured. But, after a year, the
Syrian king returned with recruited strength into Samaria, burning to
avenge the defeat he had received, but was again overthrown. In that battle
one hundred and twenty thousand of the Syrians perished; the king was
pardoned, and his kingdom and former position were granted him. Then Ahab
was reproved by the prophet in the words of God, for having abused the
divine kindness, and spared the enemy delivered up to him. The Syrian king,
therefore, after three years, made war upon the Hebrews. Against him Ahab,
under the advice of some false prophet, went forth to battle, having
spurned the words of Michea the prophet and cast him into prison, because
the prophet had warned him that the fight would prove disastrous to him.
Thus, then, Ahab, being slain in that battle, left the kingdom to his son
Ochozia.

CHAPTER XLV.

   HE being sick in body, and having sent some of his servants to consult
an idol about his recovery, Elijah, as instructed by God, met them in the
way, and, after rebuking them ordered them to inform the king that his
death would follow from that disease. Then the king ordered him to be
seized and brought into his presence, but those who were sent for this
purpose were consumed by fire from heaven. The king died, as the prophet
had predicted. To him there succeeded his brother Joram; and he held the
government for the space of twelve years. But on the side of the two
tribes, Josaphat the king having died, Joram his son possessed the kingdom
for eighteen years. He had the daughter of Ahab to wife, and proved himself
more like his father-in-law than his father. After him, Ochozias his son
obtained the kingdom. During his reign, Elijah is related to have been
taken up to heaven. At the same time, Elisha his disciple showed himself
powerful by working many miracles, which am all too well known to need any
description from my pen. By him the son of a widow was restored to life, a
leper of Syria was cleansed, at a time of famine abundance of all things
was brought into the city by the enemy having been put to flight, water was
furnished for the use of three armies, and from a little oil the debt of a
woman was paid by the oil being immensely multiplied, and sufficient means
for a livelihood was provided for herself. In his times, as we have said,
Ochozia was king of the two tribes, while Joram, as we have related above,
ruled over the ten; and an alliance was formed between them. For war was
carried on by them with combined forces both against the Syrians, and
against Jeu, who had been anointed by the prophet as king of the ten
tribes; and having gone forth to battle in company, they both perished in
the same fight.

CHAPTER XLVI.

   But Jeu possessed the kingdom of Joram. After the death of Ochozia in
Judaea, when he had reigned one year, his mother, Gotholiah, seized the
supreme power, having deprived her grandson (whose name was Joas) of the
government, he being at the time but a little child. But the power thus
snatched from him by his grandmother was, after eight years, restored to
him through means of the priests and people, while his grandmother was
driven into exile. He, at the beginning of his reign, was most devoted to
the divine worship, and embellished the temple at great expense;
afterwards, however, being corrupted by the flattery of the chief men, and
unduly honored by them, he incurred wrath. For Azahel, king of Syria, made
war upon him; and, as things went badly with him, he purchased peace with
the gold of the temple. He did not, however, obtain it; but through
resentment for what he had done he was slain by his own people in the
fortieth year of his reign. He was succeeded by his son Amassia. But, on
the side of the ten tribes, Jeu having died, Joachas his son began to
reign, displeasing to God on account of his wicked works, in punishment of
which his kingdom was ravaged by the Syrians, until, through the mercy of
God, the enemy was driven back, and the inhabitants of the land began to
occupy their former position. Joachas, having ended his days, left the
kingdom to his son Joa. He raised civil war against Amassia, king of the
two tribes; and, having obtained the victory, conveyed much spoil into his
own kingdom. That is related to have occurred to Amassia as a punishment of
his sin, for, having entered as a conqueror the territories of the
Idumaeans, he had adopted the idols of that nation. He is described as
having reigned nine years, so far as I find it stated in the Books of
Kings. But in the Chronicles[1] of Scripture, as well as in the
Chronicles[2] of Eusebius, he is affirmed to have held the government
twenty-nine years; and the mode of reckoning which may easily be perceived
in these Books of Kings undoubtedly leads to that conclusion. For Jeroboam
is said to have begun to reign as king of the ten tribes in the eighth year
of the reign of Amassia, and to have held the government forty-one years,
and to have at length died in the fourth year of the reign of Ozia, son of
Amassia. By this mode of reckoning, the reign of Amassia is made to extend
over twenty-eight years. Accordingly, we, following out this, inasmuch as
it is our purpose to adhere in this work to the dates in their proper
order, have accepted the authority of the Chronicles.[3]

CHAPTER XLVII.

   Ozias, then, the son of Amassia, succeeded to him. For, on the side of
the ten tribes, Joas, reaching the end of his days, had given place to his
son Jeroboa, and after him, again, his son Zacharias began to reign. Of
these kings, and of all who ruled over Samaria on the side of the ten
tribes, we have not thought it necessary to note the dates, because, aiming
at brevity, we have omitted everything superfluous; and we have thought
that the years should be carefully traced for a knowledge especially of the
times of that portion[1] of the Jews, which being carried into captivity at
a later period than the other, passed through a longer time as a kingdom.
Ozias, then, having obtained the kingdom of Judah, gave his principal care
to knowing the Lord, making great use of Zachariah the prophet (Isaiah,
too, is said to have first prophesied under this king); and, on this
account, he carried on war against his neighbors with deservedly prosperous
results, while he also conquered the Arabians. And already he had shaken
Egypt with the terror of his name; but, being elated by prosperity, he
ventured on what was forbidden, and offered incense to God, a thing which
it was the established custom for the priests alone to do. Being, then,
rebuked by Azaria the priest, and compelled to leave the sacred place, he
burst out into a rage, but was, when he finally withdrew, covered with
leprosy. Under the influence of this disease he ended his days, after
having reigned fifty-two years. Then the kingdom was given to Joathas his
son; and he is related to have been very pious, and carried on the
government with success: he subdued in war the nation of the Ammonites, and
compelled them to pay tribute. He reigned sixteen years, and his son Achaz
succeeded him.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

   The remarkable faith of the Ninevites is related to have been
manifested about these times. That town, rounded of old by Assure, the son
of Sere, was the capital of the kingdom of the Assyrians. It was then full
of a multitude of inhabitants, sustaining one hundred and twenty thousand
men, and abounding in wickedness, as is usually the case among a vast
concourse of people. God, moved by their sinfulness, commanded the prophet
Jonah to go from Judaea, and denounce destruction upon the city, as Sodom
and Gomorrah had of old been consumed by fire from heaven. But the prophet
declined that office of preaching, not out of contumacy, but from
foresight, which enabled him to behold God reconciled through the
repentance of the people; and he embarked on board a ship which was bound
for Tharsus, in a very different direction. But, after they had gone forth
into the deep, the sailors, constrained by the violence of the sea,
inquired by means of the lot who was the cause of that suffering. And when
the lot fell upon Jonah, he was cast into the sea, to be, as it were, a
sacrifice for stilling the tempest, and he was seized and swallowed by a
whale--a monster of the deep. Cast out three days afterwards on the shores
of the[1] Ninevites, he preached as he had been commanded, namely that the
city would be destroyed in three[2] days, as a punishment for the sins of
the people. The voice of the prophet was listened to, not in a hypocritical
fashion, as at Sodom of old; and immediately by the order, and after the
example, of the king, the whole people, and even those infants newly born,
are commanded to abstain from meat and drink: the very beasts of burden in
the place, and animals of different kinds, being forced by hunger and
thirst, presented an appearance of those who lamented along with the human
inhabitants. In this way, the threatened evil was averted. To Jonah,
complaining to God, that his words had not been fulfilled, it was answered.
that pardon could never be denied to the penitent.

CHAPTER XLIX.

   But in Samaria, Zacharia the king, who was very wicked, and whom we
have spoken of above as occupying the throne, was shin by a certain Sella,
who seized the kingdom. He, in turn, perished by the treachery of Mane, who
simply repeated the conduct of his predecessor. Mane held the government
which he had taken from Sella, and left it to his son Pache. But a certain
person of the same name slew Pache, and seized the kingdom. Ere long being
cut off by Osee, he lost the sovereignty by the same crime by which he had
received it. This man, being ungodly beyond all the kings who had preceded
him, brought punishment upon himself from God, and a perpetual captivity on
his nation. For Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, made war with him, and
when conquered rendered him tributary. But when, with secret plans, he was
preparing for rebellion, and had asked the king of the Ethiopians, who then
had possession of Egypt for his assistance, Salmanasar, on discovering
that, cast him into prison with fetters never taken off, while he destroyed
the city, and carried off the whole people into his own kingdom, Assyrians
being placed in the enemy's country to guard it. Hence that district was
called Samaria, because in the language of the Assyrians guards are called
Samaritan.[1] Very many of their settlers accepted the divine rites of the
Jewish religion, while others remained in the errors of heathenism. In this
war, Tobias was carried into captivity. But on the side of the two tribes,
Achaz, who was displeasing to God on account of his impiety, finding he had
frequently the worst of it in wars with his neighbors, resolved to worship
the gods of the heathen, undoubtedly because by their help his enemies had
proved victorious in frequent battles. He ended his days with this crime[2]
in his wicked mind, after a reign of sixteen years.

CHAPTER L.

   To him succeeded Ezekias his son, a man very unlike his father in
character. For, in the beginning of his reign, urging the people and the
priests to the worship of God, he discoursed to them in many words, showing
how often, after being chastened by the Lord, they had obtained mercy, and
how the ten tribes, having been at last carried away into captivity, as had
lately happened, were now paying the penalty of their impiety. He added
that their duty was carefully to be on their guard lest they should deserve
to suffer the same things. Thus, the minds of all being turned to religion,
he appointed the Levites and all the priests to offer sacrifices according
to the law, and arranged that the Passover, which had for a long time been
neglected, should be celebrated. And when the holy day was at hand, he
proclaimed the special day of assembly by messengers sent throughout all
the land, so that, if any had remained in Samaria, after the removal of the
ten tribes, they might gather together for the  sacred observance. Thus, in
a very full assemblage, the sacred day was spent with public rejoicing,
and, after a long interval, the proper religious rites were restored by
means of Ezekias. He then carried on military affairs with the same
diligence with which he had attended to divine things, and defeated the
Philistines in frequent battles; until Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians,
made war against him, having entered his territories with a large army; and
then, when the country had been laid waste without any opposition, he laid
siege to the city. For Ezekias, being inferior in numbers, did not venture
to come to an engagement with him, but kept himself safe within the walls.
The king of Assyria, thundering at the gates, threatened destruction, and
demanded surrender, exclaiming that in vain did Ezekias put his trust in
God, for that he rather had taken up arms by the appointment of God; and
that the conqueror of all nations, as well as the overthrower of Samaria
could not be escaped, unless the king secured his own safety by a speedy
surrender. In this state of affairs, Ezekias, trusting in God, consulted
the prophet Isaiah, and from his answer he learned that there would be no
danger from the enemy, and that the divine assistance would not fail him.
And, in fact, not long after, Tarraca, king of Ethiopia, invaded the
kingdom of the Assyrians.

CHAPTER LI.

   By this news Sennacherim was led to return in order to defend his own
territories, and he gave up the war, at the same time murmuring and crying
out that victory was snatched from him the victor. He also sent letters to
Ezekias, declaring, with many insulting words, that he, after settling his
own affairs, would speedily return for the destruction of Judaea. But
Ezekias, in no wise disturbed by these threats, is said to have prayed to
God that he would not allow the so great insolence of this man to pass
unavenged. Accordingly, in the same night, an angel attacking the camp of
the Assyrians, caused[1] the death of many thousand men. The king in terror
fled to the town of Nineveh, and being there slain by his sons, met with an
end worthy of himself. At the same time, Ezekias, sick in body, lay
suffering from disease. And when Isaiah had announced to him in the words
of the Lord that the end of his life was at hand, the king is related to
have wept; and thus he got fifteen years added to his life. These coming to
an end, he died in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, and left the kingdom
to his son Manasse. He, degenerating much from his father, forsook God, and
took to the practice of impious worship; and being, as a punishment for
this, delivered into the power of the Assyrians, he was by his sufferings
constrained to acknowledge his error, and exhorted the people that,
forsaking their idols, they should worship God. He accomplished nothing
worthy of special mention, but reigned for fifty-five years. Then Amos his
son obtained the kingdom, but possessed it only two years. He was the heir
of his father's impiety, and showed himself regardless of God: being
entrapped by some stratagems of his friends, he perished.

CHAPTER LII.

   The government then passed to his son Josia. He is related to have been
very pious, and to have attended to divine things with the utmost care,
profiting largely by the aid of the priest Helchia. Having read a book
written with the words of God, and which had been found in the temple by
the priest, in which it was stated that the Hebrew nation would be
destroyed on account of their frequent acts of impiety and sacrilege, by
his pious supplications to God, and constant tears, he averted the
impending overthrow. When he learned through Olda the prophetess that this
favor was granted him, he then with still greater care set himself to
practice the worship of God, inasmuch as he was now under obligation to the
divine goodness. Accordingly, he burned all the vessels which had by the
superstitions of former kings been consecrated to idols. For to such a
height had profane observances prevailed, that they used to pay divine
honors to the sun and moon, and even erected shrines made of metal to these
fancied deities. Josia reduced these to powder, and also slew the priests
of the profane temples. He did not even spare the tombs of the impious; and
it was observed that thus was fulfilled what had of old been predicted by
the prophet. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the Passover was
celebrated. And about three years afterwards, having gone forth to battle
against Nechao, king of Egypt, who was making war upon the Assyrians,
before the armies properly engaged, he was wounded by an arrow. And being
carried back to the city, he died of that wound, after he had reigned
twenty and one years.

CHAPTER LIII.

   Joachas, his son, having then obtained the kingdom, held it for three
months, being doomed to captivity on account of his impiety. For Nechao,
king of Egypt, bound him and led him away captive, and not long after,
while still a prisoner, he ended his days. An annual tribute was demanded
of the Jews, and a king was given them at the will of the victor. His name
was Eliakim, but he afterwards changed it to Joachim. He was the brother of
Joacha, and the son of Josia, but liker his brother than his father,
displeasing God by his impiety. Accordingly, while he was in subjection to
the king of Egypt, and in token thereof paid him tribute, Nabuchodonosor,
the king of Babylon, seized the land of Judaea, and as victor held it by
the right of war for three years. For the king of Egypt now giving way, and
the boundaries of their empire being fixed between them, it had been agreed
that the Jews should belong to Babylon. Thus after Joachim, having finished
his reign of eleven years, had given place to his son of the same name, and
he had excited against himself the wrath of the king of Babylon (God
undoubtedly overruling everything, having resolved to give the nation of
the Jews up to captivity and destruction), Nabuchodonosor entered Jerusalem
with an army, and leveled the walls and the temple to the ground. He also
carried off an immense amount of gold, with sacred ornaments either public
or private, and all of mature age both of the male and female sex, those
only being left behind whose weakness or age caused trouble to the
conquerors. This useless crowd had the task assigned them of working and
cultivating the fields in slavery, in order that the soil might not be
neglected. Over them a king called Sedechias was appointed; but while the
empty shadow of the name of king was allowed him, all real power was taken
away. Joachim, for his part, possessed the sovereignty only for three
months. He was carried away, along with the people, to Babylon, and was
there thrown into prison; but being, after a period of thirty years
released, while he was admitted by the king to his friendship, and made a
partaker with him at his table and in his counsels, he died at last, not
without some consolation in that his misfortunes had been removed.

CHAPTER LIV.

   Meanwhile Sedechias, the king of the useless multitude, although
without power, being of an unfaithful disposition and neglectful of God,
and not understanding that captivity had been brought upon them on account
of the sins of the nation, becoming at length ripe for suffering the last
evils he could endure, offended the mind of the king. Accordingly, after a
period of nine years, Nabuchodonosor made war against him, and having
forced him to flee within the walls, besieged him for three years. At this
time, he consulted Jeremia the prophet, who had already often proclaimed
that captivity impended over the city, to discover if perhaps there might
still be some hope. But he, not ignorant of the anger of heaven, having
frequently had the same question put to him, at length gave an answer,
denouncing special punishment upon the king. Then Sedechias, roused to
resentment, ordered the prophet to be thrust into prison. Ere long,
however, he regretted this cruel act, but, as the chief men of the Jews
(whose practice it had been even from the beginning to afflict the
righteous) opposed him, he did not venture to release the innocent man.
Under coercion from the same persons, the prophet was let down into a
pit[1] of great depth, and which was disgusting from its filth and squalor,
while a deadly stench issued from it. This was done that he might not
simply die by a common death. But the king, impious though he was, yet
showed himself somewhat more merciful than the priests, and ordered the
prophet to be taken out of the pit, and restored to the safekeeping of the
prison. In the meantime the force of the enemy and want began to press the
besieged hard, and everything being consumed that could be eaten, famine
took a firm hold of them. Thus, its defenders being worn out with want of
food, the town was taken and burnt. The king, as the prophet had declared,
had his eyes put out, and was carried away to Babylon, while Jeremia,
through the mercy of the enemy, was taken out of his prison. When
Nabuzardan, one of the royal princes, was leading him away captive with the
rest, the choice was granted by him to the prophet, either to remain in his
deserted and desolated native country, or to go along with him in the
possession of the highest honors; and Jeremia preferred to abide in his
native land. Nabuchodonosor, having carried away the people, appointed as
governor over those left behind by the conquerors (either from the
circumstances attending the war, or from an absolute weariness of
accumulating spoil) Godolia, who belonged to the same nation. He gave him,
however, no royal ensign, or even the name of governor, because there was
really no honor in ruling over these few wretched persons.

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

   The times of the captivity have been rendered illustrious by the
predictions and deeds of the prophets, and especially by the remarkable
persistency of Daniel in upholding the law, and by the deliverance of
Susanna through the divine wisdom, as well as by the other things which it
accomplished, and which we shall now relate in  their order, Daniel was
made a prisoner under King Joachim, and was brought to Babylon, while still
a very little child. Afterwards, on account of the beauty of his
countenance, he had a place given him among the king's servants, and along
with him, Annanias, Misael, and Azarias. But, when the king had ordered
them to be supplied with the finer kinds of food, and had imposed it as a
duty on Asphane the eunuch to attend to that matter, Daniel, mindful of the
traditions of his fathers which forbade him to partake of food from the
table of a king of the Gentiles, begged of the eunuch to be allowed to use
a diet of pulse only. Asphane objected that the leanness which would follow
might reveal the fact that the king's commandment had been disobeyed; but
Daniel, putting his trust in God, promised that he would have greater
beauty of countenance from living on pulse than from the use of the king's
dainties. And his words were made good, so that the faces of those who were
cared for at the public expense were regarded as by no means comparable to
those of Daniel and his friends. Accordingly, being promoted by the king to
honor and favor, they were, in a short time, by their prudence and wise
conduct, preferred to all those that stood nearest to the king. About the
same time, Susanna, the wife of a certain man called Joachis, a woman of
remarkable Beauty, was desired by two elders, and, when she would not
listen to their unchaste proposals, was assailed by a false accusation.
These elders reported that a young man. was found with her in a retired
place, but escaped their hands by his youthful nimbleness, while they were
enfeebled with age. Credit, accordingly, was given to these elders, and
Susanna was condemned by the sentence of the people. And, as she was being
led away to punishment according to the law, Daniel, who was then twelve
years old, after having rebuked the Jews for delivering the innocent to
death, demanded that she should be brought back to trial, and that her
cause should be heard afresh. For the multitude of the Jews who were then
present, thought that a boy of an age so little commanding respect, had not
ventured to take such a bold step without a divine impulse, and, granting
him the favor which was asked, returned anew to council. The trial, then,
is entered upon once more; and Daniel was allowed to take his place among
the elders. Upon this, he orders the two accusers to be separated from each
other, and inquires of each of them in turn, under what kind of a tree he
had discovered the adulteress. From the difference of answers which they
gave, their falsehood was detected: Susanna was acquitted; and the elders,
who had brought the innocent into danger, were condemned to death.

CHAPTER II.

   AT that time, Nabuchodonosor had a dream mrvelous for that insight[1]
into the future which it implied. As he could not of himself bring out its
interpretation, he sent for the Chaldaeans who were supposed by magic arts
and by the entrails of victims to know secret things, and to predict the
future, in order to its interpretation. Presently becoming apprehensive
lest, in the usual manner of men, they should extract from the dream not
what was true, but what would be acceptable to the king, he suppresses the
things he had seen, and demands of them that, if a real power of divination
was in them, they should relate to him the dream itself; saying that he
would then believe their interpretation, if they should first make proof of
their skill by relating the dream. But they declined attempting so great a
difficulty, and confessed that such a thing was not within the reach of
human power. The king, enraged because, under a false profession of
divination, they were mocking men with their errors, while they were
compelled by the present case to acknowledge that they had no such
knowledge as was pretended, made an exposure of them by means of a royal
edict; and all the men professing that art were publicly put to death. When
Daniel heard of that, he spoke to one of those nearest to the king, and
promised to give an account of the dream, as well as supply its
interpretation. The thing is reported to the king, and Daniel is sent for.
The mystery had already been revealed to him by God; and so he relates the
vision of the king, as well as interprets it. But this matter demands that
we set forth the dream of the king and its interpretation, along with the
fulfillment of his words by what followed. The king, then, had seen in his
sleep an image with a head of gold, with a breast and arms of silver, with
a belly and thighs of brass, with legs of iron, and which in its feet ended
partly with iron, and partly with clay. But the iron and the day when
blended together could not adhere to each other. At last, a stone cut out
without hands broke the image to pieces, and the whole, being reduced to
dust, was carried away by the wind.

CHAPTER III.

   ACCORDINGLY, as the prophet interpreted the matter, the image which was
seen furnished a representation of the world. The golden head is the empire
of the Chaldaeans; for we have understood that it was the first and
wealthiest. The breast and the arms of silver represent the second kingdom;
for Cyrus, after the Chaldaeans and the Medes were conquered, conferred the
empire on the Persians. In the brazen belly it is said that the third
sovereignty was indicated; and we see that this was fulfilled, for
Alexander took the empire from the Persians, and won the sovereignty for
the Macedonians. The iron legs point to a fourth power, and that is
understood of the Roman empire, which is more powerful[1] than all the
kingdoms which were before it. But the fact that the feet were partly of
iron and partly day, indicates that the Roman empire is to be divided, so
as never to be united. This, too, has been fulfilled, for the Roman state
is ruled not by one emperor but by several, and these are always quarreling
among themselves, either in actual warfare or by factions. Finally, by the
clay and the iron being mixed together, yet never in their substance
thoroughly uniting, are shadowed forth those future mixtures of the human
race which disagree among themselves, though apparently combined. For it is
obvious that the Roman territory is occupied by foreign nations, or rebels,
or that it has been given over to those who have surrendered themselves
under an appearance[2] of peace. And it is also evident that barbarous
nations, and especially Jews, have been commingled with our armies, cities,
and provinces; and we thus behold them living among us, yet by no means
agreeing to adopt our customs. And the prophets declare that these are the
last times. But in the stone cut out without hands, which broke to pieces
the gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, there is a figure of Christ. For
he, not born under human conditions (since he was born not of the will of
man, but of the will of God), will reduce to nothing that world in which
exist earthly kingdoms, and will establish another kingdom, incorruptible
and everlasting, that is, the future world, which is prepared for the
saints. The faith of some still hesitates about this point only, while they
do not believe about things yet to come, though they are convinced of the
things  that are past. Daniel, then, was presented with many gifts by the
king, was set over Babylon and the whole empire, and was held in the
highest honor. By his influence, Annanias, Azarias, and Misael, were also
advanced to the highest dignity and power. About the same time, the
remarkable prophecies of Ezekiel came out, the mystery of future things and
of the resurrection[3] having been revealed to him. His book is one of
great weight, and deserves to be read with care.

CHAPTER IV.

   But in Judaea, over which, as we have related above, Godolin was set
after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews taking it very ill that a
ruler not of the royal race had been assigned them by the mere will of the
conqueror, with a  certain Ismael as their leader and instigator of the
execrable conspiracy, cut off Godolin by means of treachery while he was at
a banquet. Those, however, who had no part in the plot, wishing to take
steps for avenging the deed, hastily take up arms against Ismael. But when
he learned that destruction threatened him, leaving the army which he had
collected, and with not more than eight companions he fled to the
Ammonites. Fear, therefore, fell upon the whole people, lest the king of
Babylon should avenge the guilt of a few by the destruction of all; for, in
addition to Godolin, they had slain many of the Chaldaeans along with him.
They, therefore, form a plan of fleeing into Egypt, but they first go in a
body to Jeremia, requesting of him divine counsel. He then exhorted them
all in the words of God to remain in their native country, telling them
that if they did so, they would be protected by the power of God, and that
no danger would accrue from the Babylonians, but that, if they went into
Egypt, they would all perish there by sword; and famine, and different
kinds of death. The rabble, however, with the usual evil tendency they
show, being unaccustomed to yield to useful advice and the divine power,
did go into Egypt. The sacred Scriptures are silent as to their future
fate; and I have not been able to discover anything regarding it.

CHAPTER V.

   At this period of time, Nabuchodonosor elated with prosperity, erected
a golden statue to himself of enormous size, and ordered it to be worshiped
as a sacred image. And when this was zealously gone about by all, inasmuch
as their minds had been corrupted by the universal flattery which
prevailed, Annanias, Azarias, and Misael kept aloof from the profane
observance, being well aware that that honor was due to God alone. They
were therefore, according to an edict of the king, regarded as criminals,
and there was set before them, as the means of punishment, a fiery furnace,
in order that, by present terror, they might be compelled to worship the
statue. But they preferred to be swallowed up by the flames rather than to
commit such a sin. Accordingly, they were bound, and cast into the midst of
the fire. But the flames laid hold of the agents in this execrable work, as
they were forcing, with all eagerness, the victims into the fire; while --
wonderful to say, and indeed incredible to all but eye- witnesses--the fire
did not touch the Hebrews at all. They were seen by the spectators walking
in the midst of the furnace, and singing a song of praise to God, while
there was also beheld along with them a fourth person having the appearance
of an angel, and whom Nabuchodonosor, on obtaining a nearer view of him,
acknowledged to be the[1] Son of God. Then the king having no doubt that
the divine power was present in the event which had taken place, sent
proclamations throughout his whole kingdom making known the miracle which
had taken place, and confessing that honor was to be paid to God alone. Not
long after, being instructed by a vision which presented itself to him, and
presently also by a voice which reached him from heaven, he is said to have
done penance by laying aside his kingly power, retiring from all
intercourse with mankind, and to have sustained life by herbs alone.
However, his empire was kept for him by the will of God, until the time was
fulfilled, and at length duly acknowledging God, he was, after seven years,
restored to his kingdom and former position. He is related, after having
conquered Sedechia (whom he carried away captive to Babylon), as we have
said above, to have reigned twenty-six years, although I do not find that
recorded in the sacred history. But it has perhaps happened that, while I
was engaged in searching out many points, I found this remark in the work
of some anonymous author which had become interpolated in course of time,
and in which the dates of the Babylonish kings were contained. I did not
think it right to pass the remark unnoticed, since it does in fact
harmonize with the Chronicles, and thus its account agrees with us, to the
effect that, through the succession of the kings, whose dates the record
contained, it completed seventy years up to the first year of king Cyrus,
and such in fact is the number of years which is stated in the sacred
history to have elapsed from the captivity up to the time of Cyrus.

CHAPTER VI.

   After Nabuchodonosor, the kingdom fell to his son, whom I find called
Euilmarodac in the Chronicles. He died in the twelfth year of his reign,
and made room for his younger brother, who was called Balthasar. He, when
in the fourteenth year he gave a public feast to his chief men and rulers,
ordered the sacred vessels (which had been taken away by Nabuchodonosor
from the temple at Jerusalem, yet had not been employed for any uses of the
king, but were kept laid up in the treasury) to be brought forth. And when
all persons, both of the male and female sex, with his wives and
concubines, were using these amid the luxury and licentiousness of a royal
banquet, suddenly the king observed fingers writing upon the wall, and the
letters were perceived to be formed into words.[1] But no one could be
found who was able. to read the writing. The king, therefore, in
perturbation called for the magi and the Chaldaeans. When these simply
muttered, among themselves and answered nothing, the queen reminded the
king that there was a certain Hebrew, Daniel by name, who had formerly
revealed to Nabuchodonosor a dream containing a secret mystery, and had
then, on account of his remarkable wisdom, been promoted to the highest
honors. Accordingly, he, being sent for, read and interpreted the writing,
to the effect that, on account of the sin of the king, who had profaned
vessels sacred to God, destruction impended over him, and that his kingdom
was given to the Medes and Persians. And this presently took place. For, on
the same night, Balthasar perished, and Darius, a Mede by nation, took
possession of his kingdom. He again, finding that Daniel was held in the
highest reputation, placed him at the head of the whole empire, in this
following the judgment of the kings who had preceded him. For
Nabuchodonosor had also set him over the kingdom, and Balthasar had
presented him with a purple robe and a golden chain, while he also
constituted him the third ruler in the kingdom.

CHAPTER VII.

   Those, therefore, who were possessed of power along with him,
stimulated by envy, because a foreigner belonging to a captive nation had
been placed on a footing of equality with them, constrain the king, who had
been corrupted by flattery, to enact that divine honors should be paid to
him for the next thirty days, and that it should not be lawful for any one
to pray to a god except. the king. Darius was easily persuaded to that,
through the folly of all kings who claim for themselves divine honors. In
these circumstances, Daniel being not unacquainted with what had happened,
and not being ignorant that prayer ought to be addressed to God, and not to
man, is accused of not having obeyed the king's commandment. And much
against the will of Darius, to whom he had always been dear and acceptable,
the rulers prevailed that he should be let down into a den.[1] But no harm
came to him when thus exposed to the wild beasts. And on the king
discovering this, he ordered his accusers to be given over to the lions.
They, however, did not pass through a similar experience, for they were
instantly devoured to satisfy the hunger of the savage beasts. Daniel, who
had been famous before, was now esteemed still more famous; and the king,
repealing his former edict, issued a new one to the effect that, all errors
and superstitions being abandoned, the God of Daniel was to be worshiped.
There exists also a record of visions of Daniel, in which he revealed the
order of events in coming ages, embracing in them also the number of the
years, within which he announced that Christ would descend to earth (as has
taken place), and clearly set forth the future coming of Antichrist. If any
one is eager to inquire into these points, he will find them more fully
treated of in the book of Daniel: our design is simply to present a
connected statement of events. Darius is related to have reigned eighteen
years; after which date Astyages began to rule over the Medes.

CHAPTER VIII.

   Him Cyrus, his grandson by his daughter, expelled from the kingdom,
having used the arms of the Persians for the purpose; and hence the chief
power was transferred to the Persians. The Babylonians also fell under his
power and government. It happened at the beginning of his reign that, by
the issue of public edicts, he gave permission to the Jews to return into
their own country; and he also restored the sacred vessels which
Nabuchodonosor had carried away from the temple at Jerusalem. Accordingly,
a few then returned into Judaea; as to the others, we have not been able to
discover whether the desire of returning, or the power of doing so, was
wanting. There was at that time among the Babylonians a brazen image of
Belus, a very ancient king, whom Virgil also has mentioned.[1] This having
been deemed sacred by the superstition of the people, Cyrus also had been
accustomed to worship, being deceived by the trickery of its priests. They
affirmed that the image ate and drank, while they themselves secretly
carried off the daily portion which was offered to the idol. Cyrus, then,
being on intimate terms with Daniel, asked him why he did not worship the
image, since it was a manifest symbol of the living God, as consuming those
things which were offered to it. Daniel, laughing at the mistake of the
man, replied that it could not possibly be the case, that that work of
brass--mere insensate matter--could use either meat or drink. The king,
therefore, ordered the priests to be called (they were about seventy in
number); and, bringing terror to bear upon them, he reprovingly asked them
who was in the way of consuming what was offered, since Daniel, a man
distinguished for his wisdom, maintained that that could not be done by an
insensate image. Then they, trusting in their ready-made trick, ordered the
usual offering to be made, and the temple to be sealed up by the king, on
the understanding that, unless on the following day the whole offering were
found to have been consumed, they should suffer death, while, on the
opposite being discovered, the same fate awaited Daniel. Accordingly, the
temple was sealed up by the signet of the king; but Daniel had previously,
without the knowledge of the priests, covered the floor of it with ashes,
so that their footprints might betray the clandestine approaches of those
who entered. The king, then, having entered the temple on the following
day, perceived that those things had been taken away, which he had ordered
to be served up to the idol. Then Daniel lays open the secret fraud by the
betraying footprints, showing that the priests, with their wives and
children, had entered the temple by a hole opened from below, and had
devoured those things which were served up to the idol. Accordingly, all of
them were put to death by the order of the king, while the temple and image
were submitted to the power of Daniel, and were destroyed at his command.

CHAPTER IX.

   In the meantime, those Jews, who, as we have said above, returned into
their native land by the permission of Cyrus, attempted to restore their
city and temple. But, being few and poor, they made but little progress,
until, at last, after the lapse of about a hundred years, while Artaxerxes
the king ruled over the Persians, they were absolutely deterred from
building by those who had local authority. For, at that time, Syria and all
Judaea was ruled under the empire of the Persians by magistrates and
governors. Accordingly, these took counsel to write to king Artaxerxes,
that it was not fitting that opportunity should be granted to the Jews of
rebuilding their city, lest, in accordance with their stubborn character,
and being accustomed to rule over other nations, they should, on recovering
their strength, not submit tO live under the sway of a foreign power. Thus,
the plan of the rulers being approved of by the king, the building of the
city was put a stop to, and delayed until the second year of Darius the
king. But, who were kings of Persia throughout this period of time, we
shall here insert, in order that the succession of the dates may be set
forth in a regular and fixed order. Well, then, after Darius the Mede, who,
as we have said above, reigned eighteen years, Cyrus held the supreme power
for thirty-one years. While making war upon the Scythians, he fell in
battle, in the second year after Tarquinius Superbus began to reign at
Rome. To Cyrus succeeded his son Cambyses, and reigned eight years. He,
after harassing with war Egypt and Ethiopia, and subduing these countries,
returned as victor to Persia, but accidentally hurt himself, and died from
that wound. After his death, two brothers, who were magi, and Medes by
nation, held rule over the Persians for seven months. To slay these, seven
of the most noble of the Persians formed a conspiracy, of whom the leader
was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who was a cousin of Cyrus, and by
unanimous consent the kingdom was bestowed on him: he reigned thirty and
six years. He, four years before his death, fought at Marathon, in a battle
greatly celebrated both in Greek and Roman history. That took place about
the two hundred and sixtieth year after the founding of Rome, while
Macerinus and Augurinus were consuls, that is, eight hundred and eighty-
eight years ago, provided the research I have made into the succession of
Roman consuls does not deceive me; for I have made the entire reckoning
down to the time of Stilico.[1] After Darius came Xerxes, and he is said to
have reigned twenty-one years, although I have found that the length of his
rule is, in most copies,[2] set down at twenty and five years. To him
succeeded Artaxerxes, of whom we have made mention above. Since he ordered
the building of the Jewish city and temple to be stopped, the work was
suspended to the second year of king Darius. But that the succession of
dates may be completed up to him, I have to state that Artaxerxes reigned
forty-one years, Xerxes two months, and that, after him, Sucdianus ruled
for seven months.

CHAPTER X.

   Next, Darius, under whom the temple was restored, obtained the kingdom,
his name being at that time Ochus. He had three Hebrew of tried fidelity as
his bodyguard, and of these had, from the proof of his prudence which he
had given, attracted towards himself the admiration of the king. The
choice, then, being given him of asking for anything which he had formed a
desire for in his heart, groaning over the ruins of his country, he begged
permission to restore the city, and obtained an order from the king to urge
the lieutenants and rulers to hurry forward the building of the holy
temple, and furnish the expense needful to that end. Accordingly, the
temple was completed in four that is, in the sixth year, after Darius began
to reign, and that seemed, for the time, enough to the people of the Jews.
For, as it was a work of great labor to restore the city, distrusting their
own resources, they did not venture at the time to begin an undertaking of
so great difficulty, but were content with having rebuilt the temple. At
the same time, Esdras the scribe, who was skilled in the law, about twenty
years after the temple had been completed (Darius being now dead who had
possessed the sovereignty for nineteen years), by the permission of
Artaxerxes the second (not he who had a place between the two Xerxes, but
he who had succeeded to Darius Ochus), set out from Babylon with many
following him, and they carded to Jerusalem the vessels of various
workmanship, as well as the gifts which the king sent for the temple of
God. Along with were but twelve Levites; for with difficulty number of the
tribe is related then to have found. He, having found that the Jews united
in marriage with the Gentiles, rebuked them severely on that account, and
ordered to renounce all connections of that kind, as well as to put away
the children which had been the issue of such marriages; and all yielded
obedience to his word. The people, then, being sanctified, performed the
rites sanctioned by the ancient law. But I do not find that Esdras did
anything with the view of restoring the city; because he thought, as I
imagine, that a more urgent duty was to reform the people from the corrupt
habits which they had contracted.

CHAPTER XI.

   There was at that time at Babylon one Nehemiah, a servant of the king,
a Jew by birth, and very much beloved by Artaxerxes on account of the
services he had rendered. He, having inquired of his fellow-countrymen the
Jews, what was the condition of their ancestral city; and having learned
that his native land remained in the same fallen condition as before, is
said to have been disturbed with all his heart, and to have prayed to God
with groans and many tears. He also called to mind the sins of his nation,
and urgently entreated the divine compassion. Accordingly, the king
noticing that he, while waiting at table, seemed more sorrowful than usual,
asked him to explain the reasons of his grief. Then he began to bewail the
misfortunes of his nation, and the ruin of his ancestral city, which now,
for almost two hundred and fifty years, being leveled with the ground,
furnished a proof of the evils which had been endured, and a gazing-stock
to their enemies. He therefore begged the king to grant him the liberty of
going and restoring it. The king yielded to these dutiful entreaties, and
immediately sent him away with a guard of cavalry, that he might the more
safely accomplish his journey, giving him, at the same time, letters to the
rulers requesting them to furnish him with all that was necessary. When he
arrived at Jerusalem, he distributed the work connected with the city to
the people, man by man; and all vied with each other in carrying out the
orders which they  received. And already the work of rebuilding[1] had been
half accomplished, when the jealousy of the surrounding heathen burst out,
and the neighboring cities conspired to interrupt the works, and to deter
the Jews from building. But Nehemiah, having stationed guards against those
making assaults upon the people, was in no degree alarmed, and carried out
what he had begun. And thus, after the wall was completed, and the
entrances of the gates finished, he measured out the city for the
construction by families of houses within it. He reckoned, also, that the
people were not adequate in numbers to the size of' the city; for there
were not more of them than fifty thousand of both sexes and of all ranks--
to such an extent had their formerly enormous numbers been reduced by
frequent wars, and by the multitude kept in captivity. For, of old, those
two tribes, of whom the remaining people were all that survived, had, when
the ten tribes were separated from them, been able to furnish three hundred
and twenty thousand armed men. But being given up by God, on account of
their sin, to death and captivity, they had sunk down to the miserably
small number which they now presented. This company, however, as I have
said, consisted only of the two tribes: the ten[2] which had previously
been carried away being scattered among the Parthians, Medes, Indians, and
Ethiopians never returned to their native country, and are to this day held
under the sway of barbarous nations. But the completion of the restored
city is related to have been effected in the thirty-second year of the
reign of Artaxerxes. From that time to the crucifixion of Christ; that is,
to the time when Fufius Geminus and Rubellius were consuls, there elapsed
three hundred and ninety and eight years. But from the restoration of the
temple to its destruction, which was completed by Titus under Vespasian,
when Augustus was consul, there was a period of four hundred and eighty-
three years. That was formerly predicted by Daniel, who announced that from
the restoration of the temple to its overthrow there would elapse seventy
and nine weeks. Now, from the date of the captivity of the Jews until the
time of the restoration of the city, there were two hundred and sixty
years.

CHAPTER XII.

   At this period of time we think Esther and Judith lived, but I confess
that I cannot easily perceive with what kings especially I should connect
the actions of their lives. For, while Esther is said to have lived under
King Artaxerxes, I find that there were two Persian kings of that name, and
there is much hesitation in concluding to which of these her date is to be
assigned. However, it has seemed preferable to me to connect the history of
Esther with that Artaxerxes under whom Jerusalem was restored, because it
is not likely that, if she had lived under the former Artaxerxes, whose
times Esdras has given an account of, he would have made no mention of such
an illustrious woman. This is all the more convincing since we know that
the building of the temple was (as we have related above) prohibited by
that Artaxerxes and Esther would not have allowed that had she then been
united with him in marriage. But I will now repeat what things she
accomplished. There was at that time a certain Vastis connected with the
king in marriage, a woman of marvelous beauty. Being accustomed to extol
her loveliness to all, he one day, when he was giving a public
entertainment, ordered the queen to attend for the purpose of exhibiting
her beauty. But she, more prudent than the foolish king, and being too
modest to make a show of her person before the eyes of men, refused
compliance with his orders. His savage mind was enraged by this insult, and
he drove her forth, both from her condition of marriage with him and from
the palace. Consequently, when a young woman was sought after to take her
place as the wife of the king, Esther was found to excel all others in
beauty. She being a Jewess of the tribe of Benjamin, and an orphan, without
father or mother, had been brought up by her cousin-german,[1] Mardochaeus
us. On being espoused to the king, she, by the instructions of him who had
brought her up, concealed her nation and fatherland, and was also
admonished by him not to become forgetful of her ancestral traditions, nor,
though as a captive she had entered into marriage with a foreigner, to take
part in the food of the heathen. Thus, then, being united to the king, she,
in a short time, as was to be expected, easily captivated his whole mind by
the power of her beauty, so that, equalizing her with himself in the emblem
of sovereign power, he presented her with a purple robe.

CHAPTER XIII.

   At this time, Mardochaeus was among those nearest to the king, having
entirely under his charge the affairs of the household. He had made known
to the king a plot which had been formed by two eunuchs, and, on that
account, had become a greater favorite, while he was presented with the
highest honors. There was at that period one Human, a very confidential
friend of the king, whom he had made equal to himself and, after the manner
of sovereign rulers, had ordered to be worshiped. Mardochaeus being the one
man among all who refused to do that, had greatly kindled the wrath of the
Persian against himself. Accordingly, Haman setting his mind to work the
ruin of the Hebrew, went to the king, and affirmed that there was in his
kingdom a race of men of wicked superstitions, and hateful alike to God and
men. He said that, as they lived according to foreign laws, they deserved
to be destroyed; and that it was a righteous thing to hand over the whole
of this nation to death. At the same time, he promised the king immense
wealth out of their possessions. The barbarous prince Was easily persuaded,
and an edict was issued for the slaughter of the Jews, while men were at
once sent out to publish it through the whole kingdom from India even to
Ethiopia. When Mardochaeus heard of this, he rent his clothes, clothed
himself in sackcloth, scattered ashes upon his head, and, going to the
palace, he there made the whole place resound with his wailing and
complaints, crying out that it was an unworthy thing that an innocent
nation should perish, while there existed no ground for its destruction.
Esther's attention was attracted by the voice of lamentation, and she
learned how the case really stood. But she was then at a loss what step she
should take (for, according to the custom of the Persians, the queen is not
permitted access to the king, unless she has been sent for, and indeed is
not admitted at any time the king may please, but only at a fixed period);
and it happened at the time, that by this rule, Esther was held as
separated from the presence of the king for the next thirty days. However,
thinking that she ought to run some risk in behalf of her fellow-
countrymen, even should sure destruction await her, she was prepared to
encounter death in such a noble cause, and, after having called upon God,
she entered the court of the king. But the barbarian, though at first
amazed at this unusual occurrence, was gradually won over by female
blandishments, and at length went so far as to accompany the queen to a
banquet which she had prepared. Along with him also went Human, the
favorite of the king, but a deadly enemy of the nation of the Jews. Well,
when after the feasting the banquet began to become jovial through the many
cups which were drank, Esther cast herself down at the knees of the king,
and implored him to stay the destruction which threatened her nation. Then
the king promised to refuse nothing to her entreaties, if she had any
further request to make. Esther at once seized the opportunity, and
demanded the death of Human as a satisfaction to her nation, which he had
desired to see destroyed. But the king could not forget his friend, and
hesitating a little, he withdrew for a short time for the purpose of
considering the matter. He then returned, and when he saw Human grasping
the knees of the queen, excited with rage, and, crying out that violence
was being applied to the queen, he ordered him to be put to death. It then
came to the knowledge of the king that a cross[1] had been got ready by
Haman on which Mardochaeus was to suffer. Thus, Haman was fixed to that
very cross, and all his goods were handed over to Mardochaeus, while the
Jews at large were set free. Artaxerxes reigned sixty and two years, and
was succeeded by Ochus.

CHAPTER XIV.

   To this series of events it will be right that I should append an
account of the doings of Judith; for she is related to have lived after the
captivity, but the sacred history has not revealed who was king of the
Persians in her day. It, however, calls the king under whom her exploits
were performed by the name of Nabuchodonosor, and that was certainly not
the one who took Jerusalem. But I do not find that any one of that name
reigned over the Persians after the captivity, unless it be that, on
account of the[1] wrath and like endeavors which he manifested, any king
acting so was styled Nabuchodonosor by the Jews. Most persons, however,
think that it was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, on this ground that he, as a
conqueror, penetrated into Egypt and Ethiopia. But the sacred history is
opposed to this opinion; for Judith is described as having lived in the
twelfth year of the king in question. Now, Cambyses did not possess the
supreme power for more than eight years. Wherefore, if it is allowable to
make a conjecture on a point of history, I should be inclined to believe
that her exploits were performed under king Ochus, who came after the
second Artaxerxes. I found this conjecture on the fact that (as I have read
in profane histories) he is related to have been by nature cruel and l fond
of war. For he both engaged in hostilities with his neighbors, and
recovered by wars Egypt, which had revolted many years before. At that
time, also, he is related to have ridiculed the sacred rites of the
Egyptians and Apis, who was regarded by them as a god; a thing which
Baguas, one of his eunuchs, an Egyptian by nation, and indignant at the
king's conduct, afterwards avenged by the death of the king, considering
that the king had insulted the race to which he belonged. Now, the
inspired[2] history makes mention of this Baguas; for, when Holofernes by
the order of the king led an army against the Jews, it has related that
Baguas was among the host. Wherefore, not without reason may I bring it
forward in proof of the opinion I have expressed that that king who was
named Nabuchodonosor was really Ochus, since profane historians have
related that Baguas lived in his reign. But this ought not to be felt at
all remarkable by any one, that mere worldly writers have not touched on
any of those points which are recorded in the sacred writings. The spirit
of God thus took care that the history should be strictly confined within
its own mysteries, unpolluted by any corrupt mouth, or that which mingled
truth with fiction. That history being, in fact, separated from the affairs
of the, world, and of a kind to be expressed only in sacred words, clearly
ought not to have been mixed up with other histories, as being on a footing
of equality with them. For it would have been most unbecoming that this
history should be commingled with others treating of other things, or
pursuing different inquiries. But I will now proceed to what remains, and
will narrate in as few words as I can the acts performed by Judith.

CHAPTER XV.

   The Jews, then, having returned, as we have narrated above, to their
native land, and the condition of their affairs and of their city being not
yet properly settled, the king of the Persians made war on the Medes, and
engaged in a successful battle against their king, who was named Arhaxad.
That monarch being slain, he added the nation to his empire. He did the
same to other nations, having sent before him Holofernes whom he had
appointed master of his host, with a hundred and twenty thousand foot-
soldiers, and twelve thousand cavalry. He, after having ravaged in war,
Cilicia and Arabia, took many cities by force, or compelled them through
fear to surrender. And now the army, having moved on to Damascus, had
struck the Jews with great terror. But as they were unable to resist, and
as, at the same time, they could not bring their minds to acquiesce in the
thought of surrender, since they had previously known from experience the
miseries of slavery, they betook themselves in crowds to the temple. There,
with a general groaning and commingled wailing, they implored the divine
assistance; saying that they had been sufficiently punished by God for
their sins and offenses; and begging him to spare the remnant of them who
had recently been delivered from slavery. In the meantime, Holofernes had
admitted the Moabites to surrender, and joined them to himself as allies in
the war against the Jews. He inquired of their chief men what was the power
on which the Hebrews relied in not bringing their minds to submit to the
thought of submission. In reply, a certain man called Achior stated to him
the facts, viz.: that the Jews being worshipers of God, and trained by
their fathers to pious observances, had formerly passed through a period of
slavery in Egypt, and that, brought out from that country by the divine
aid, and having passed over on foot the sea which was dried up before them,
they had at last conquered all the opposing nations, and recovered the
territory inhabited by their ancestors. That subsequently, with various
fluctuations in their affairs, they had either prospered Or the reverse,
that, when they did sink into adversity, they had again escaped from their
sufferings, finding that God was, in turn, either angry against them, or
reconciled towards them, according to their deserts, so that, when they
sinned, they were chastised by the attacks of enemies or by being sent into
captivity, but were always unconquerable when they enjoyed the divine
favor. So then, if at the present time they are free from guilt, they
cannot possibly be subdued; but if they are otherwise situated, they will
easily be conquered. Upon this, Holofernes, flushed with many victories,
and thinking that everything must give way before him, was roused to wrath,
because victory on his part was regarded as principally depending on the
sin of the Jews, and ordered Achior to be pushed forward into the camp of
the Hebrews, that he might perish in company with those who he had affirmed
could not be conquered. Now, the Jews had then made for the mountains; and
those to whom the business had been assigned, proceeded to the foot of the
mountains, and there left Achior in chains. When the Jews perceived that,
they freed him from his bonds and conducted him up the hill. On their
inquiring the reason of what had happened, he explained it to them, and,
being received in peace, awaited the result. I may add that, after the
victory, he was circumcised and became a Jew. Well, Holofernes, perceiving
the difficulty  of the localities, because he could not reach the heights,
surrounded the mountains with soldiers, and took the greatest pains to cut
off the Hebrews from all water supplies. On that account, they felt all the
sooner the misery of a siege. Being therefore overcome through want of
water, they went in a company to Ozias, their leader, all inclined to make
a surrender. But he replied that they should wait a little, and look for
the divine assistance, so that the time of surrender was fixed for the
fifth day afterwards.

CHAPTER XVI.

   When this became known to Judith (a widow woman of great wealth, and
remarkable for beauty, but still more distinguished for her virtue than her
beauty), who was then in the camp, she thought that, in the distressed
circumstances of her people, some bold effort ought to be made by her, even
though it should lead to her own destruction. She therefore decks her head
and beautifies her countenance, and then, attended by a single maid-
servant, she enters the camp of the enemy. She was immediately conducted to
Holofernes, and tells him that the affairs of her countrymen were
desperate, so that she had taken precautions for her life by flight. Then
she begs of the general the right of a free egress from the camp during
night, for the purpose of saying her prayers. That order was accordingly
given to the sentinels and keepers of the gates. But when by the practice
of three days she had established for herself the habit of going out and
returning, and had also in this way inspired belief in he into the
barbarians, the desire took possession of Holofernes of abusing the person
Of his captive; for, being of surpassing beauty, she had easily impressed
the Persian. Accordingly, she was conducted to the tent of the general by
Baguas, the eunuch; and, commencing a banquet, the barbarian stupefied
himself with a great deal of wine. Then, when the servants withdrew, before
he offered violence to the woman, he fell asleep. Judith, seizing the
opportunity, cut off the head of the enemy and carried it away with her.
Being regarded as simply going out of the camp according to her usual
custom, she returned to her own people in safety. On the following day the
Hebrews held forth for show the head of Holofernes from the heights; and,
making a sally, marched upon the camp of the enemy. And then the barbarians
assemble in crowds at the tent of their general, waiting for the signal of
battle. When his mutilated body was discovered, they turned to flight under
the influence of a disgraceful panic, and fled before the enemy. The Jews,
for their part, pursued the fugitives, and after slaying many thousands,
took possession of the camp and the booty within it. Judith was extolled
with the loftiest praises, and is said to have lived one hundred and five
years. If these things took place, as we believe, under king Ochus, in the
twelfth year of his reign, then from the date of the restoration of
Jerusalem up to that war there elapsed two and twenty years. Now Ochus
reigned in all twenty-three years. And he was beyond all others cruel, and
more than of a barbarous disposition. Baguas, the eunuch, took him off by
poison on an occasion of his suffering from illness. After him, Arses his
son held the government for three years, and Darius for four.

CHAPTER XVII.

   Against him Alexander of Macedon engaged in war. And on his being
conquered, the sovereign power was taken from the Persians, after having
lasted, from the time of its establishment by Cyrus, two hundred and fifty
years. Alexander, the conqueror of almost all nations, is said to have
visited the temple at Jerusalem, and to have conveyed gifts into it; and he
proclaimed throughout the whole territory which he had reduced under his
sway that it should be free to the Jews living in it to return to their own
country. At the end of the twelfth his reign, and seven years after he had
conquered Darius, he died at Babylon. His friends who, along with him, had
carried on those very important wars, divided his empire among themselves.
For some time they administered the charges they had undertaken without
making use of the name of king, while a certain Arridaeus Philippus, the
brother of Alexander, reigned, to whom, being of a very weak character, the
sovereignty was nominally and in appearance given, but. the real power was
in the hands of those who had divided among themselves the army and the
provinces. And indeed this state of things did not long continue, but all
preferred that they should be called by the name of kings. In Syria
Seleucus was the first king after Alexander, Persia and Babylon being also
subject to his sway. At that time the Jews paid an annual tribute of three
hundred talents of silver to the king; but they were governed not by
foreign magistrates but by their own priests. And they lived according to
the fashions of their ancestors until very many of them. again corrupted by
a long peace, began to mingle all things with seditions, and to create
disturbances, while they aimed at the high-priesthood under the influence
of lust, avarice, and the desire of power.

CHAPTER XVIII.

   For, first of all, under king Seleucus, the son of Antiochus the great,
a certain man called Simon accused to the king on false charges Onias the
priest, a holy and uncorrupted man, and thus tried, but in vain, to
overthrow him. Then, after an interval of time, Jason, the brother of
Onias, went to Antiochus the king, who had succeeded his brother Seleucus,
and promised him an increase of tribute, if the high-priesthood were
transferred to him. And although it was an unusual, and indeed, until now,
an unpermitted thing for a man to enjoy the high-priesthood year after
year, still the eager  mind of the king, diseased with avarice, was easily
persuaded. Accordingly, Onias was driven from office, and the priesthood
bestowed on Jason. He harassed his countrymen and his country in the most
shameful manner. Then, as he had sent through a certain Menelaus (the
brother of that Simon who has been mentioned) the money he had promised to
the king, a way being once laid open to his ambition, Menelaus obtained the
priesthood by the same arts which Jason had employed before. But not long
after, as he had not furnished the promised amount of money, he was driven
from his position, and Lysimachus substituted in his stead. Then there
arose disgraceful conflicts between Jason and Menelaus, until Jason, as an
exile, left the country. By examples like these, the morals of the people
became corrupted to such an extent, that numbers of the natives begged
permission from Antiochus to live after the fashion of the Gentiles. And
when the king granted their request, all the most worthless vied with each
other in their endeavors to construct temples, to sacrifice to idols, and
to profane the law. In the meantime, Antiochus returned from Alexandria
(for he had then made war upon the king of Egypt, which, however, he gave
up by the orders of the senate and Roman people, when Paulus and Crassus
were consuls), and went to Jerusalem. Finding the people at variance from
the diverse superstitions they had adopted, he destroyed the law of God,
and showed favor to those who followed impious courses, while he carried
off all the ornaments of the temple, and wasted it with much destruction.
That came to pass in the hundred and fiftieth year after the death of
Alexander, Paulus and Crassus being, as we have said, consuls, about five
years after Antiochus began to reign.

CHAFFER XIX.

   But that the order of the dates may be correctly preserved, and that it
may appear more clearly who this Antiochus was, we shall enumerate both the
names and times of the kings who came after Alexander in Syria. Well, then,
king Alexander having died, as we have related above, his whole empire was
portioned out by his friends, and was governed for some time by them under
the name of the king.[1] Seleucus, after the lapse of nine years, was
himself styled king in Syria, and reigned thirty-two years. After him came
Antiochus, his son, with s reign of twenty-one years. Then came Antiochus,
the son of Antiochus, who was surnamed Theus, and he reigned fifteen years.
After him, his son Seleucus, surnamed Callinicus, reigned twenty-one years.
Another Seleucus, the son of Callinicus, reigned three years. After his
death Antiochus, the brother of Callinicus, held Asia and Syria for thirty-
seven years. This is the Antiochus against whom Lucius Scipio Asiaticus
made war;  and he, being worsted in the war was stripped of a part of his
empire. He had two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, the latter of whom he had
given as a hostage to the Romans. Thus, then, Antiochus the great having
died; his younger son Seleucus obtained the kingdom, under whom, as we have
said, Onias the priest had an accusation brought against him by Simon. Then
Antiochus was set free by the Romans, and there was given in his place as
hostage Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, who was at that time reigning.
Seleucus dying in the twelfth year of his reign, his brother Antiochus, who
had been a hostage at Rome, seized the kingdom. He, five years after the
beginning of his reign, did, as we have shown above, lay waste Jerusalem.
For, as he had to pay a heavy tribute to the Romans, he was almost of
necessity compelled, in order to meet that enormous expense, to provide
himself with money by rapine, and to neglect no opportunity of plundering.
Then, after two years, the Jews being again visited by a similar disaster
to that which they had suffered before, lest it should happen that, driven
on by their numerous miseries, they should commence war, he placed a
garrison in the citadel. Next, with the view of overturning the holy law,
he published an edict, that all, forsaking the traditions of their
ancestors, should live after the manner of the Gentiles. And there were not
wanting those who readily obeyed this profane enactment. Then truly there
was a horrible spectacle presented; through all the cities sacrifices were
publicly offered in the streets, while the sacred volumes of the law and
the prophets were consumed with fire.

CHAPTER XX.

   AT that time, Matthathias, the son of John, was high-priest. When he
was being forced by the servants of the king to obey the edict, with
marvelous courage he set at naught the profane enactments, and slew, in the
presence of all, a Hebrew who was publicly performing profane acts. A
leader having thus been found, rebellion at once took place. Matthathias
left the town; and as many flocked to him, he got up the appearance of a
regular army. The object of every man in that host was to defend himself by
arms against a profane government, and rather even to fall in war than to
take part in impious ceremonies. In the meantime, Antiochus was compelling
those Jews who were found in the Greek cities in his dominions to offer
sacrifice, and was visiting with unheard-of torments those who refused. At
this time, there occurred that well-known and remarkable suffering of the
seven brothers and their mother. All of the brothers, when they were being
forced to violate the law of God, and the customs of their ancestors,
preferred rather to die. At last, their mother, too, accompanied them both
in their sufferings and death.

CHAPTER XXI.

   In the meantime, Matthathias dies, having appointed in his own place
his son Judah, as general of the army which he had brought together. Under
his leadership, several successful battles took place against the royal
forces. For first of all, he destroyed, along with his whole army,
Apollonius, the enemy's general, who had entered on the conflict with a
large number of troops. When a certain man, named Seron, who was then the
ruler of Syria, heard of this, he increased his forces, and attacked Judah
with much spirit as being superior in  numbers, but when a battle took
place, he was  routed and put to flight; and with the loss of nearly eight
hundred men, he returned to Syria. On this becoming known to Antiochus, he
was filled with rage and regret, inasmuch as it vexed him that his generals
had been conquered, notwithstanding their large armies. He therefore
gathers aid from his whole empire, and bestows a donative on the soldiers,
almost to the exhaustion of his treasury. For he was then suffering in a
very special manner from the want of money. The reason of this was, on the
one side, that the Jews, who had been accustomed to pay him an annual
tribute of more than three hundred talents of silver, were now in a state
of rebellion against him; and on the other side, that many of the Greek
cities and countries were unsettled by the evil of persecution. For
Antiochus had not spared even the Gentiles, whom he had sought to persuade
to abandon their long-established superstitions, and to draw over to one
kind of religious observance. And no doubt, those of them who regarded
nothing as sacred, easily were induced to give up their ancient forms of
worship, but at the same time all were in a state of alarm and disaster.
For these reasons, then, the taxes had ceased to be paid. Boiling with
wrath on these grounds (for he who had of old been the richest of kings now
deeply felt the poverty due to his own wickedness), he divided his forces
with Lysias, and committed to him Syria and the war against the Jews, while
he himself set out against the Persians, to collect the taxes among them.
Lysias, then, selected Ptolemy, Gorgias, Doro, and Nicanor, as generals in
the war; and to these he gave forty thousand infantry, and seven thousand
cavalry. At the first onset these caused great alarm among the Jews. Then
Judah, when all were in despair, exhorted his men to go with courageous
hearts to battle--that, if they put their trust in God, everything would
give way before them; for that often before then the victory had been won
by a few fighting against many. A fast was proclaimed, and sacrifice was
offered, after which they went down to battle. The result was that the
forces of the enemy were scattered, and Judah, taking possession of their
camp, found in it both much gold and Tyrian treasures. For merchants from
Syria, having no doubt as to victory, had followed the king's army with the
hope of purchasing prisoners, and now were themselves spoiled. When these
things were reported to Lysias by messengers, he got together troops with
still greater efforts, and in a year after again attacked the Jews with an
enormous army; but being defeated, he retreated to Antioch.

CHAPTER XXII.

   Judah, on the defeat of the enemy, returned to Jerusalem, and bent his
mind on the purification and restoration of the temple, which having been
overthrown by Antiochus, and profaned by the Gentiles, presented a
melancholy spectacle. But as the Syrians held the citadel, which being
connected with the temple, but standing above it in position, was really
impregnable, the lower parts proved inaccessible, as frequent sallies from
above prevented persons from approaching them. But Judah placed against
these assailants a very powerful body of his men. Thus the work of the
sacred building was protected, and the temple was surrounded with a wall,
while armed men were appointed to maintain a perpetual defence. And Lysias,
having again returned into Judaea with increased forces, was once more
defeated with a great loss both of his own army and of the auxiliaries,
which being sent to him by various states had combined with him in the war.
In the meantime, Antiochus, who, as we have said above, had marched into
Persia, endeavored to plunder the town of Elymus, the wealthiest in the
country, and a temple situated there which was filled with gold; but, as a
multitude flocked together from all sides for the defense of the place, he
was put to flight. Moreover, he received news of the want of success which
had attended the efforts of Lysias.[1] Thus, from distress of mind, he fell
into bodily disease. But as he was then tormented with internal sufferings,
he remembered the miseries which he had inflicted on the people of God, and
acknowledged that these evils had deservedly been sent upon him. Then,
after a few days, he died, having reigned eleven years. He left the kingdom
to his son Antiochus, to whom the name of Eupator was given.

CHAPTER XXIII.

   At that time Judah besieged the Syrians who were posted in the citadel.
They, being sore pressed with famine and want of all things, sent
messengers to the king to implore assistance. Accordingly, Eupator came to
their aid with a hundred thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry,
while elephants marched in front of his line, causing immense terror to the
onlookers. Then Judah, abandoning the siege, went to meet the king, and
routed the Syrians in the first battle. The king begged for peace, which,
because[1] he, with his treacherous disposition, made a bad use of,
vengeance followed his treachery. For Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, who,
we have said above, was handed over as a hostage to the Romans, when he
heard that Antiochus had departed, begged that they would send him to take
possession of the kingdom. And when this was refused to him, he secretly
fled from Rome, came into Syria, and seized the supreme power, having slain
the son of Antiochus, who had reigned one year and six months. It was
during his reign that the Jews first begged the friendship of the Roman
people, and alliance with them; and the embassy to this effect having been
kindly received, they were, by a decree of the senate, styled allies and
friends. In the meantime Demetrius was, by means of his generals, carrying
on war against Judah. And first the army was led by a certain man named
Bacchides, and by Alcimus, a Jew; Nicanor, being afterwards placed at the
head of the war, fell in battle. Then Bacchides and Alcimus, recovering
power, and having increased their forces, fought against Judah. The
Syrians, turning out victorious in that battle, cruelly abused their
victory. The Hebrews elect Jonathan, the brother of Judah, in his place. In
the meantime, Alcimus, after he had fearfully desolated Jerusalem, dies;
Bacchides, being thus deprived of his ally, returns to the king. Then,
after an interval of two years, Bacchides again made war upon the Jews, and
being beaten, he begged for peace. This was granted him certain conditions,
to the effect that he should give up the deserters and prisoners, along
with all that he had taken in war.

CHAPTER XXIV.

   WHILE these things are going on in Judaea,  a certain young man
educated at Rhodes, by name Alexander, gave himself out as being the son of
Antiochus (which was false), and assisted by the power of Ptolemy, king of
Alexandria, came into Syria with an army. He conquered Demetrius in war,
and slew him after he had reigned twelve years. This Alexander before he
made war against Demetrius, had formed an alliance with Jonathan, and had
presented him with a purple robe and royal ensigns. For this reason
Jonathan had assisted him with auxiliary forces; and on the defeat of
Demetrius, had been the very first to meet him with congratulations. Nor
did Alexander afterwards violate the faith which he had pledged.
Accordingly, in the five years during which he held the chief power, the
affairs of the Jews were peaceful. In these circumstances, Demetrius, the
son of Demetrius, who, after the death of his father, had betaken himself
to Crete, at the instigation of Lasthenes, general of the Cretans, tried by
war to recover the kingdom of his, father, but finding his power unequal to
the task, he implored Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, the father-in-law
of Alexander, but who was then on bad terms with his son-in-law, to give
him assistance. But he, induced not so much by the entreaties of the
suppliant as by the hope of seizing Syria, joined his forces with those of
Demetrius, and gives him his daughter, who had been married to Alexander.
Against these two Alexander fought a pitched battle. Ptolemy fell in the
fight, but Alexander was defeated; and he was soon afterwards slain, after
he had reigned five, or as I find it stated in many authors, nine years.

CHAPTER XXV.

   Drovers having thus obtained the kingdom, treated Jonathan with
kindness, made a treaty with him, and restored the Jews to their own laws.
In the meantime, Tryphon, who had belonged to the party of Alexander, was
appointed(1) governor of Syria, to keep him in cheek by war. Jonathan,(2)
on the other hand, descended to battle, formidable with an army of forty
thousand men. Tryphon, when he saw himself unequal to the contest,
pretended a desire for peace, and slew Ptolemais who had been received and
invited into friendship with him. After Jonathan, the chief power was
conferred on his brother Simon. He celebrated the funeral of his brother
with great pomp, and built those well-known seven pyramids of most noble
workmanship, in which he buried the remains both of his brothers and of his
father. Then Demetrius renewed his treaty with the Jews; and in
consideration of the loss caused [to them by Tryphon (for after the death
of Jonathan he had wasted by war their cities and territories), he remitted
to them their annum tribute forever; for up to that time, they had paid
tribute to the kings of Syria, except when they resisted by force of arms.
That took place in the second year of king Demetrius; and we have noted
that, because up to this year we have run through the times of the Asiatic
kings, that the series of dates being given in order might be perfectly
dear. But now we shall arrange the order of events through the times of
those, who were either high-priests or kings among the Jews, up to the
period of the birth of Christ.

CHAPTER XXVI.

   WELL, then, after Jonathan, his brother Simon, as has been said above,
ruled over the Hebrews with the power of high-priest. For that honor was
then bestowed upon him both by his own countrymen and by the Roman people.
He began to rule over his countrymen in the second year of king Demetrius,
but eight years afterwards, being deceived by a plot of Ptolemy, he met his
death. He was succeeded by his son John. And he, on the ground that he had
fought with distinction against the Hyrcani, a very powerful nation,
received the surname of Hyrcanus. He died, after having held the supreme
power for twenty-six years. After him, Aristobulus being appointed high-
priest, was the  first of all living after the captivity to assume the name
of king, and to have a crown placed upon his head. At the close of a year,
he died. Then Alexander, his son, who was both king and high-priest,
reigned twenty-seven years; but I have found nothing in his doings worthy
of mention, except his cruelty. He having left two young sons named
Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, Salina or Alexandra, his wife, held the
sovereignty for three years. After his decease, frightful conflicts about
the supreme power arose between the two brothers. And first of all,
Hyrcanus held the government; but being by and by defeated by his brother
Aristobulus, he fled to Pompey. That Roman general, having finished the war
with Mithridates, and settled Armenia and Pontus, being, in fact, the
conqueror of all the nations which he had visited, desired to march
inwards,(1) and to add all the neighboring regions to the Roman empire. He
therefore inquired into the causes of the war, and the means of
obtaining(2) the mastery. Accordingly he readily received Hyrcanus, and,
under his guidance, attacked the Jews; but when the city was taken and
destroyed, he spared the temple. He sent Aristobulus in chains to Rome, and
restored the right of the high-priesthood to Hyrcanus. Settling the tribute
to be paid by the Jews, he placed over them as governor a certain Antipater
of Askelon. Hyrcanus held the chief power for thirty-four years; but while
he carried on war against the Parthians, he was taken prisoner.

CHAPTER XXVII.

   THEN Herod, a foreigner, the son of Antipater of Askelon, asked and
received the sovereignty of Judaea from the senate and people of Rome.
Under him, the Jews began for the first time to have a foreigner as king.
For as now the advent of Christ was at hand, it was necessary, according to
the predictions of the prophets, that they should be deprived of their own
rulers, that they might not look for anything beyond Christ. Under this
Herod, in the thirty-third year of his reign, CHRIST was born on the
twenty-fifth of December in the consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus. But we
do not venture to touch on these things which are contained in the Gospels,
and subsequently in the Acts of the Apostles, lest the character of our
condensed work should, in any measure, detract from the dignity of the
events; and I shall proceed to what remains. Herod reigned four years after
the birth of the Lord; for the whole period of his reign comprised thirty-
seven years. After him, came Archelaus the tetrarch, for eight years, and
Herod for twenty-four years. Under him, in the eighteenth year of his
reign, the Lord was crucified, Fufius Geminus and Rubellius Geminus being
consuls; from which date up to the consulship of Stilico, there have
elapsed three hundred and seventy-two years.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

   LUKE made known the doings of the apostles up to the time when Paul was
brought to Rome under the emperor Nero. As to Nero, I shall not say that he
was the worst of kings, but that he was worthily held the basest of all
men, and even of wild beasts. It was he who first began a persecution; and
I am not sure but hew will be the last also to carry it on, if, indeed, we
admit, as many are inclined to believe, that he will yet appear immediately
before the coming of Antichrist. Our subject would induce me to set forth
his vices at some length, if it were not inconsistent with the purpose of
this work to enter upon so vast a topic. I content myself with the remark,
that he showed himself in every way most abominable and cruel, and at
length even went so far as to be the murderer of his own mother. After
this, he also married a certain Pythagoras in the style of solemn
alliances, the bridal veil being put upon the emperor, while the usual
dowry, and the marriage couch, and wedding torches, and, in short, all the
other observances were forthcoming--things which even in the ease of women,
are not looked upon without some feeling of modesty. But as to his other
actions, I doubt whether the description of them would excite greater shame
or sorrow.  He first attempted to abolish the name of Christian, in
accordance with the fact that vices are always inimical to virtues, and
that all good men are ever regarded by the wicked as casting reproach upon
them. For, at that time, our divine religion had obtained a wide prevalence
in the city. Peter was there executing the office of bishop, and Paul, too,
after he had been brought to Rome, on appealing to Caesar from the unjust
judgment of the governor. Multitudes then came together to hear Paul, and
these, influenced by the truth which they were given to know, and by the
miracles(1) of the apostles, which they then so frequently performed,
turned to the worship of God. For then took place the well- known and
celebrated encounter of Peter and Paul with Simon.(2) He, after he had
flown up into the air by his magical arts, and supported by two demons
(with the view of proving that he was a god), the demons being put to
flight by the prayers of the apostles, fell to the earth in the sight of
all the people, and was dashed to pieces.

CHAPTER XXIX.

   Is the meantime, the number of the Christians being now very large, it
happened that Rome was destroyed by fire, while Nero was stationed at
Antium. But the opinion of all cast the odium of causing the fire upon the
emperor, and he was believed in this way to have sought for the glory of
building a new city. And in fact, Nero could not by any means he tried
escape from the charge that the fire had been caused by his orders. He
therefore turned the accusation against the Christians, and the most cruel
tortures were accordingly inflicted upon the innocent. Nay, even new kinds
of death were invented, so that, being covered in the skins of wild beasts,
they perished by being devoured by dogs, while many were crucified or slain
by fire, and not a few were set apart for this purpose, that, when the day
came to a close, they should be consumed to serve for light during the
night. In this way, cruelty tint began to be manifested against the
Christians. Afterwards, too, their religion was prohibited by laws which
were enacted; and by edicts openly set forth it was proclaimed unlawful to
be a Christian. At that time Paul and Peter were condemned to death, the
former being beheaded with a sword, while Peter suffered crucifixion. And
while these things went on at Rome, the Jews, not able to endure the
injuries they suffered under the rule of Festus Florus, began to rebel.
Vespasian, being sent by Nero against them, with proconsular power,
defeated them in numerous important battles, and compelled them to flee
within the walls of Jerusalem. In the meanwhile Nero, now hateful even to
himself from a consciousness of his crimes, disappears from among(1) men,
leaving it uncertain whether or not he had laid violent hands upon himself:
certainly his body was never found. It was accordingly believed that, even
if he did put an end to himself with a sword, his wound was cured, and his
life preserved, according to that which was written regarding him,--"And
his mortal(2)  wound was healed," --to be sent forth again near the end of
the world, in order that he may practice the mystery of iniquity.

CHAPTER XXX.

   So then, after the departure of Nero, Galba seized the government; and
ere long, on Galba being slain, Otho secured it. Then Vitellius from Gaul,
trusting to the armies which he commanded, entered the city, and having
killed Otho, assumed the sovereignty. This afterwards passed to Vespasian,
and although that was accomplished by evil means, yet it had the good
effect of rescuing the state from the hands of the wicked. While Vespasian
was besieging Jerusalem, he took possession of the imperial power; and as
the fashion is, he was saluted as emperor by the army, with a diadem placed
upon his head. He made his son Titus, Caesar; and assigned him a portion of
the forces, along with the task of continuing the siege of Jerusalem.
Vespasian set out for Rome, and was received with the greatest favor by the
senate and people; and Vitellius having killed himself, his hold of the
sovereign power was fully confirmed. The Jews, meanwhile, being closely
besieged, as no chance either of peace or surrender was allowed them, were
at length perishing from famine, and the streets began everywhere to be
filled with dead bodies, for the duty of burying them could no longer be
performed. Moreover, they ventured on eating all things of the most
abominable nature, and did not even abstain from human bodies, except those
which putrefaction had already laid hold of and thus excluded from use as
food. The Romans, accordingly, rushed in upon the exhausted defenders of
the city. And it so happened that the whole multitude from the country, and
from other towns of Judaea, had then assembled for the day of the Passover:
doubtless, because it pleased God that the impious race should be given
over to destruction at the very time of the year at which they had
crucified the Lord. The Pharisees for a time maintained their ground most
boldly in defense of the temple, and at length, with minds Obstinately bent
on death, they, of their own accord, committed themselves to the flames.
The number of those who suffered death is related to have been eleven
hundred thousand, and one hundred thousand were taken captive and sold.
Titus is said, after calling a council, to have first deliberated whether
he should destroy the temple, a structure of such extraordinary work. For
it seemed good to some that a sacred edifice, distinguished above all human
achievements, ought not to be destroyed, inasmuch as, if preserved, it
would furnish an evidence of Roman moderation, but, if destroyed, would
serve for a perpetual proof of Roman cruelty. But on the opposite side,
others and Titus himself thought that the temple ought specially to be
overthrown, in order that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians
might more thoroughly be subverted; for that these religions, although
contrary to each other, had nevertheless proceeded from the same authors;
that the Christians had sprung up from among the Jews; and that, if the
root were extirpated, the offshoot would speedily perish. Thus, according
to the divine will, the minds of all being inflamed, the temple was
destroyed, three hundred and thirty-one years ago. And this last overthrow
of the temple, and final captivity of the Jews, by which, being exiles from
their native land, they are beheld scattered through the whole world,
furnish a daily demonstration to the world, that they have been punished on
no other account than for the impious hands which they laid upon Christ.
For though on other occasions they were often given over to captivity on
account of their sins, yet they never paid the penalty of slavery beyond a
period of seventy years.

CHAPTER XXXI.

   THEN, after an interval, Domitian, the son of Vespasian, persecuted the
Christians. At this date, he banished John the Apostle and Evangelist to
the island of Patmos. There he, secret mysteries having been revealed to
him, wrote and published his book of the holy Revelation, which indeed is
either foolishly or impiously not accepted by many. And with no great
interval there then occurred the third persecution under Trojan. But he,
when after torture and racking he found nothing in the Christians worthy of
death or punishment, forbade any further cruelty to be put forth against
them. Then under Adrian the Jews attempted to rebel, and endeavored to
plunder both Syria and Palestine; but on an army being sent against them,
they were subdued. At this time Adrian, thinking that he would destroy the
Christian faith by inflicting an injury upon the place, set up the images
of demons both in the temple and in the place where the Lord suffered. And
because the Christians were thought principally to consist of Jews (for the
church at Jerusalem did not then have a priest except of the circumcision),
he ordered a cohort of soldiers to keep constant guard in order to prevent
all Jews from approaching to Jerusalem. This, however, rather benefited(1)
the Christian faith, because almost all then believed in Christ as God
while continuing(2) in the observance of the law. Undoubtedly that was
arranged by the over-ruling care of the Lord, in order that the slavery of
the law might be taken away from the liberty of the faith and of the
church. In this way, Mark from among the Gentiles was then, first of all,
bishop at Jerusalem. A fourth persecution is reckoned as having taken place
under Adrian, which, however, he afterwards forbade to be carried on,
declaring it to be unjust that any one should be put on his trial without a
charge being specified against him.

CHAPTER XXXII.

   AFTER Adrian, the churches had peace under the rule of Antoninus Pins.
Then the fifth persecution began under Aurelius, the son of Antoninus. And
then, for the first time, martyrdoms were seen taking place in Gaul, for
the religion of God had been accepted somewhat late beyond the Alps. Then
the sixth persecution of the Christians took place under the emperor
Severus. At this time Leonida, the father of Origen, poured forth his
sacred blood in martyrdom. Then, during an interval of thirty-eight years,
the Christians enjoyed peace, except that at the middle of that time
Maximinus persecuted the clerics of some churches. Ere long, under Decius
as emperor, the seventh bloody persecution broke out against the
Christians. Next, Valerian proved himself the eighth enemy of the saints.
After him, with an interval of about fifty years, there arose, under the
emperors Diocletian and Maximian, a most bitter persecution which, for ten
continuous years, wasted the people of God. At this period, almost the
whole world was stained with the sacred blood of the martyrs. In fact, they
vied with each other in rushing upon these glorious struggles, and
martyrdom by glorious deaths was then much more keenly sought after than
bishoprics are now attempted to be got by wicked ambition. Never more than
at that time was the world exhausted by wars, nor did we ever achieve
victory with a greater triumph than when we showed that we could not be
conquered by the slaughters of ten long years. There survive also accounts
of the sufferings of the martyrs at that time which were committed to
writing; but I do not think it suitable to subjoin these lest I should
exceed the limits prescribed to this work.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

   WELL, the end of the persecutions was reached eighty-eight years ago,
at which date the emperors began to be Christians. For Constantine then
obtained the sovereignty, and he was the first Christian of all the Roman
rulers. At that time, it is true, Licinius, who was a rival of Constantine
for the empire, had commanded his soldiers to sacrifice, and was expelling
from the service those who refused to do so. But that is not reckoned among
the persecutions; it was an affair of too little moment to be able to
inflict any wound upon the churches. From that time, we have continued to
enjoy tranquillity; nor do I believe that there will be any further
persecutions, except that which Antichrist will carry on just before the
end of the world. For it has been proclaimed in divine words, that the
world was to be visited by ten afflictions; (1) and since nine of these
have already been endured, the one which remains must be the last. During
this period of time, it is marvelous how the Christian religion has
prevailed. For Jerusalem which had presented a horrible mass of ruins was
then adorned with most numerous and magnificent churches. And Helena, the
mother of the emperor Constantine (who reigned along with her son as
Augusta), having a strong desire to behold Jerusalem, cast down the idols
and the temples which were found there; and in course of time, through the
exercise of her royal powers, she erected churches(2) on the site of the
Lord's passion, resurrection, and ascension. It is a remarkable fact that
the spot on which the divine footprints had last been left when the Lord
was carried up in a cloud to heaven, could not be joined by a pavement with
the remaining part of the street. For the earth, unaccustomed to mere human
contact, rejected all the appliances laid upon it, and often threw back the
blocks of marble in the faces of those who were seeking to place them.
Moreover, it is an enduring proof of the soil of that place having been
trodden by God, that the footprints are still to be seen; and although the
faith of those who daily flock to that place, leads them to vie with each
other in seeking to carry away what had been trodden by the feet of the
Lord,  yet the sand of the place suffers no injury; and the earth still
preserves the same appearance which it presented of old, as if it had been
sealed by the footprints impressed upon it.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

   THROUGH the kind efforts of the same queen, the cross of the Lord was
then found. It could not, of course, be consecrated at the beginning, owing
to the opposition of the Jews, and afterwards it had been covered over by
the rubbish of the ruined city. And now, it would never have been revealed
except to one seeking for it in such a believing spirit. Accordingly,
Helena having first got information about the place of our Lord's passion,
caused a band of soldiers to be brought(1) to it, while the whole multitude
of the inhabitants of the locality vied with each other in seeking to
gratify the desires of the queen, and ordered the earth to be dug up, and
all the adjacent most extensive ruins to be cleared out. Ere long, as the
reward of her faith and labor, three crosses (as of old they had been fixed
for the Lord and the two robbers) were discovered. But upon this, the
greater difficulty of distinguishing the gibbet on which the Lord had hung,
disturbed the minds and thoughts of all, lest by a mistake, likely enough
to be committed by mere mortals, they might perhaps consecrate as the cross
of the Lord, that which belonged to one of the robbers. They form then the
plan of placing one who had recently died in contact with the crosses. Nor
is there any delay in carrying out this purpose; for just as if by the
appointment of God, the funeral of a dead man was then being conducted with
the usual ceremonies, and all rushing up took the body from the bier. It
was applied in vain to the first two crosses, but when it touched that of
Christ, wonderful to tell, while all stood trembling, the dead body was(2)
shaken off, and stood up in the midst of those  looking at it. The cross
was thus discovered, and was consecrated with all due ceremony.(3)

CHAPTER XXXV.

   SUCH were the things accomplished by Helena, while, under a Christian
prince, the world had both attained to liberty, and possessed in him an
exemplar of faith. But a far more dreadful danger than all that had
preceded fell upon all the churches from that state of tranquillity. For
then the Arian heresy burst forth, and disturbed the whole world by the
error which it instilled. For by means of the two(1) Ariuses, who were the
most active originators of this unfaithfulness, the emperor himself was led
astray; and while he seemed to himself to fulfill a religious duty, he
proceeded to a violent exercise of persecution. The bishops were driven
into exile: cruelty was exerted against the clerics; and even the laity
were punished, who had separated from the communion of the Arians. Now, the
doctrines which the Arians proclaimed were of the following nature,--that
God the Father had begotten his Son for the purpose of creating the world;
and that, by his power, he had made(2) out of nothing into a new and second
substance, a new and second God; and that there was a time when the Son had
no  existence. To meet this evil, a synod was convened from the whole world
to meet at Nicaea. Three hundred and eighteen bishops were there assembled:
the faith was fully set forth in writing; the Arian heresy was condemned;
and the emperor confirmed the whole by an imperial decree. The Arians,
then, not daring to make any further attempt against the orthodox faith,
mixed themselves among the churches, as if they acquiesced in the
conclusions which had been reached, and did not hold any different
opinions. There remained, however, in their hearts, a deep-seated hatred
against the Catholics, and they assailed, with suborned accusers and
trumped-up charges, those with whom they could not contend in argument on
matters of faith.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

   ACCORDINGLY, they first attack and condemn in his absence Athanasius,
bishop of Alexandria, a holy man, who had been present as deacon at the
Synod of Nicaea. For they added to the charges which false witnesses had
heaped up against him, this one, that, with wicked intentions, he had
received(1) Marcellus and Photinus, heretical priests who had been
condemned by a sentence of the Synod. Now, it was not doubtful as to
Photinus that he had been justly condemned. But in the case of Marcellus,
it seemed that nothing had then been found worthy of condemnation, and(2) a
belief in his innocence was above all strengthened by the animus of that
party, inasmuch as no one doubted that those same judges were heretical by
whom he had been condemned. But the Arians did not so much desire to get
these persons out of the way as Athanasius himself. Accordingly, they
constrain the emperor to go so far as this, that Athanasius should be sent
as an exile into Gaul. But ere long, eighty bishops, assembling together in
Egypt, declare that Athanasius had been unjustly condemned. The matter is
referred to Constantine: he orders (3) bishops from the whole world to
assemble at Sardes, and that the entire process by which Athanasius had
been condemned, should be reconsidered by the council. In the meantime,
Constantine dies, but the Synod, called together while he was yet emperor,
acquits Athanasius. Marcellus, too, is restored to his bishopric, but the
sentence on Photinus, bishop of Sirmion, was not rescinded; for even(4) in
the judgment of our friends, he is regarded as a heretic. However, even
this result chagrined Marcellus, because Photinus was known to have been
his disciple in his youth. But this, too, tended to secure an acquittal for
Athanasius, that Ursatius and Valens,  leading men among the Arians, when
they were openly separated from the communion of the Church after the Synod
at Sardes, entering into the presence of Julius, bishop of Rome, asked
pardon of him for having condemned the innocent, and publicly declared that
he had been justly acquitted by the decree of the Council of Sardes.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

   WHEN, after an interval of some time had elapsed, Athanasius, finding
that Marcellus was by no means sound in the faith, suspended him from
communion. And he had this degree of modesty, that, being censured by the
judgment of so great a man, he voluntarily gave way. But though at a former
period innocent, yet confessedly afterwards becoming heretical, it may be
allowed to conclude that he was really then guilty when judgment was
pronounced regarding him. The Arians, then, finding an opportunity of that
kind, conspire to subvert altogether the decrees of the Synod of Sardes.
For a certain coloring of right seemed to be furnished them in this fact,
that a favorable judgment had as unjustly been formed on the side of
Athanasius, as Marcellus had been improperly acquitted, since now, even in
the opinion of Athanasius himself, he was deemed a heretic. For Marcellus
had stood forward as an upholder of the Sabellian heresy.(1) But Photinus
had already brought forward a new heresy, differing indeed from Sabellius
with respect to the union of the divine persons, but proclaiming that
Christ had his beginning in Mary. The Arians, therefore, with cunning
design, mix up what was harmless with what was blameworthy, and embrace,
under the same judgment, the condemnation of Photinus, and Marcellus, and
Athanasius. They undoubtedly did this with the view of leading the minds of
the ignorant to conclude, that those had not judged incorrectly regarding
Athanasius, who, it was admitted, had expressed a well-based opinion
respecting Marcellus and Photinus. At that time, however, the Arians
concealed their treachery; and not daring openly to proclaim their
erroneous doctrines, they professed themselves Catholics. They thought that
their first great object should be to get Athanasius turned out of the
church, who had always presented a wall of opposition to their endeavors,
and they hoped that, if he were removed, the rest would pass over to their
evil(2) opinion. Now, that part of the bishops which followed the Arians
accepted the condemnation of Athanasius with delight. Another part,
constrained by fear and faction, yielded to the wish of the Arian party;
and only a few, to whom the true faith was dearer than any other
consideration, refused to accept their unjust judgment. Among these was
Paulinus, the bishop of Treves. It is related that he, when a letter on the
subject was placed before him, thus wrote, that he gave his consent to the
condemnation of Photinus and Marcellus, but did not approve that of
Athanasius.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

   BUT then the Arians, seeing that stratagem did not succeed, determined
to proceed by force. For it was easy for those to attempt and carry out
anything who were supported by the favor of the monarch, whom they had
thoroughly Won over to themselves by wicked flatteries. Moreover, they were
by the consent of all unconquerable; for almost all the bishops of the two
Pannonias, and many of the Eastern bishops, and those throughout all Asia,
had joined in their unfaithfulness. But the chief men in that evil company
were Ursatius of Singidunum, Valens of Mursa, Theodorus of Heraclia,
Stephanus of Antioch, Acatius of Caesarea, Menofantus of Ephesus, Georgius
of Laodicia, and Narcissus of Neronopolis. These had got possession of the
palace to such an extent that the emperor did nothing without their
concurrence. He was indeed at the beck Of all of them, but was especially
under the influence of Valens. For at that time, when a battle was fought
at Mursa against Magnentius, Constantius had not the courage to go down to
witness for himself the conflict, but took up his abode in a church of the
martyrs which stood outside the town, Valens who was then the bishop of the
place being with him to keep up his courage. But Valens had cunningly
arranged, through means of his agents, that he should be the first to be
made acquainted with the result of the battle. He did this either to  gain
the favor of the king, if he should be the  first to convey to him good
news, or with a view to saving his own life, since he would obtain time for
flight, should the issue prove unfortunate. Accordingly, the few persons
who were with the king being in a state of alarm, and the emperor himself
being a prey to anxiety, Valens was the first to announce to them the
flight of the enemy. When Constantius requested that  the person who had
brought the news should be introduced to his presence, Valens, to increase
the reverence felt for himself, said that an angel was the messenger who
had come to him. The emperor, who was easy of belief, was accustomed
afterwards openly to declare that he had won the victory through the merits
of Valens, and not by the valor of his army.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

   FROM this first proof that the prince had been won over to their side,
the Arians plucked up their courage, knowing that they could make use of
the power of the king, when they could make little impression by their own
authority. Accordingly, when our friends did not accept of the judgment
which they had pronounced in regard to Athanasius, an edict was issued by
the emperor to the effect that those who did not subscribe to the
condemnation of Athanasius should be sent into banishment. But, at that
time, councils of bishops were held by our friends at Aries and Bitterae,
towns situated in Gaul. They requested that before any were compelled to
subscribe against Athanasius, they should rather enter on a discussion as
to the true faith; and maintained that only then was a decision to be come
to respecting the point in question, when they had agreed as to the person
of the judges.(1) But Valens and his confederates not venturing on a
discussion respecting the faith, first desired to secure by force the
condemnation of Athanasius. Owing to this conflict of parties, Paulinus was
driven into banishment. In the meantime, an assembly was held at Milan,
where the emperor then was; but the same controversy was there continued
without any relaxation of its bitterness. Then Eusebius, bishop of the
Vercellenses, and Lucifer, bishop of Caralis(2) in Sardinia, were exiled.
Dionysius, however, priest of Milan,   subscribed to the condemnation of
Athanasius, on the condition that there should be an investigation among
the bishops as to the true faith.  But Valens and Ursatius, with the rest
of that party, through fear of the people, who maintained the Catholic
faith with extraordinary enthusiasm, did not venture to set forth in public
their monstrous(3) doctrines, but assembled within the palace. From that
place, and under the name of the emperor, they issued a letter full(4) of
all sorts of wickedness, with this purpose, no doubt, that, if the people
gave it a favorable hearing, they should then bring forward, under public
authority, the things which they desired; but if it I should be received
otherwise, that all the ill feeling might be directed against the king,
while his mistake might be regarded as excusable, because being then only a
catechumen, he might readily be supposed to have erred concerning the
mysteries of the faith. Well, when the letter was read in the church, the
people expressed their aversion to it. And Dionysius, because he did not
concur with them, was banished from the city, while Auxentius was
immediately chosen as bishop in his place. Liberius, too, bishop of the
city of Rome, and Hilarius, bishop of Poictiers, were driven into exile.
Rhodanius, also, bishop of Toulouse (who, being by nature of a sorer
disposition, had resisted the Arians, not so much from his own powers as
from his fellowship with Hilarius) was involved in the same  punishment.
All these persons, however, were prepared to suspend Athanasius from
communion, only in order that an inquiry might be instituted among the
bishops as to the true faith. But it seemed best to the Arians to withdraw
the most celebrated men from the controversy. Accordingly, those whom we
have mentioned above were driven into exile, forty-five years ago, when
Arbitio and Lollianus were consuls. Liberius, however, was, a little
afterwards, restored to the city, in consequence of the disturbances at
Rome. But it is well known that the persons exiled were celebrated by the
admiration of the whole world, and that abundant supplies of money were
collected to meet their wants, while they were visited by deputies of the
Catholic people from almost all the provinces.

CHAPTER XL.

   IN the meantime, the Arians, not secretly, as before, but openly and
publicly proclaimed their monstrous heretical doctrines. Moreover, they
interpreted after their own views the Synod of Nicaea, and by the addition
of one letter to its finding, threw a sort of obscurity over the truth. For
where the expression Homoousion had been written, which denotes "of one
substance," they maintained that it was written Homoiousion, which simply
means "of like substance." They thus granted a likeness, but took away
unity; for likeness is very different from unity; just as, for
illustration's sake, a picture of a human body might be like a man, and yet
possess nothing of the reality of a man. But some of them went even
farther, and maintained Anomoiousia, that is, an unlike substance. And to
such a pitch did these controversies extend, that the wide world was
involved in these monstrous errors. For Valens and Ursatius, with their
supporters,   whose names we have stated,  infected Italy, Illyria, and the
East with these opinions. Saturninus, bishop of Arles, a violent and
factious man, harassed our country of Gaul in like manner. There was also a
prevalent belief that Osius from Spain had gone over to the same unfaithful
party, which appears all the more wonderful and incredible on this account,
that he had been, almost during his whole life, the most determined
upholder of our views, and the Synod of Nice was regarded as having been
held at his instigation. If he did go over, the reason may have been that
in his extreme old age (for he was then more than a centenarian, as St.
Hilarius relates in his epistles) he had fallen into dotage. While the
world was disturbed by these things, and the churches were languishing as
if from a sort of disease, an anxiety, less exciting indeed, but no less
serious, pressed upon the emperor, that although the Arians, whom he
favored, appeared the stronger, yet there was still no agreement among the
bishops concerning the faith.

CHAPTER XLI.

   ACCORDINGLY, the emperor orders a Synod to assemble at Ariminum, a city
of Italy, and instructs Taurus the prefect, not to let them separate, after
they were once assembled, until they should agree as to one faith, at the
same time promising him the consulship, if he carried the affair to a
successful termination. Imperial(1) officers, therefore, being sent through
Illyria, Italy, Africa, and the two Gauls, four hundred and rather more
Western bishops were summoned or compelled to assemble at Ariminum; and for
all of these the emperor had ordered provisions(2) and lodgings to be
provided. But that appeared unseemly to the men of our part of the world,
that is, to the Aquitanians, the Gauls, and Britons, so that refusing the
public supplies, they preferred to live at their own expense. Three only of
those from Britain, through want of means of their own, made of the public
bounty, after having refused contributions offered by the rest; for they
thought it more dutiful to burden the public treasury than individuals. I
have heard that Gavidius, our bishop, was accustomed to refer to this
conduct in a censuring sort of way, but I would be inclined to judge far
otherwise; and I hold it matter of admiration that the bishops had nothing
of their own, while they did not accept assistance from others rather than
from the public treasury, so that they burdened nobody. In both points,
they thus furnished us with noble example. Nothing worthy of mention is
recorded of the others; but I return to the subject in hand. After all the
bishops had been collected together, as we have said, a separation of
parties took place. Our friends(3) take possession of the church, while the
Arians select, as a place for prayer, a temple which was then intentionally
standing empty. But these did not amount to more than eighty persons: the
rest belonged to our party. Well, after frequent meetings had been held,
nothing was really accomplished, our friends continuing in the faith, and
the others not abandoning their unfaithfulness. At length it was resolved
to send ten deputies to the emperor, that he might learn what was the faith
or opinion of the parties, and might know that there could be nO peace with
heretics. The Arians do the same thing, and send a like number of deputies,
who should contend with our friends in the presence of the emperor. But on
the part of our people, young men of but little learning and little
prudence  had been selected; while, on the side of the  Arians, old men
were sent, skillful and abounding in talent, thoroughly imbued, too, with
their old unfaithful doctrines; and these easily got the upper hand with
the prince. But our friends had been specially charged not to enter into
any kind of communion with the Arians, and to reserve every point, in its
entirety, for discussion l in a Synod.

CHAPTER XLII.

   IN the meantime in the East, after the example of the West, the emperor
ordered almost all the bishops to assemble at Seleucia, a town of Isauria.
At that time, Hilarius, who was now spending the fourth year of his exile
in Phrygia, is compelled to be present among the other bishops, the means
of a public conveyance being furnished to him by the lieutenant(1) and
governor. As, however, the emperor had given no special orders regarding
him, the judges, simply following the general order by which they were
commanded to gather all bishops to the council, sent him also among the
rest who were willing to go. This was done, as I imagine, by the special
ordination of God, in order that a man who was most deeply instructed in
divine things, might be present when a discussion was to be carried on
respecting the faith. He, on  arriving at Seleucia, was received with great
favor, and drew the minds and affections of all towards himself. His first
inquiry was as to the real faith of the Gauls, because at that time the
Arians had spread evil reports regarding us, and we were held suspected by
the Easterns as having embraced the belief of Sabellius, to the effect that
the unity of the one God was simply distinguished(2) by a threefold name.
But after he had set forth his faith in harmony with those conclusions
which had been reached by the fathers at Nicaea, he bore his testimony in
favor of the Westerns. Thus the minds of all having been satisfied, he was
admitted to communion, and being also received into alliance, was added to
the council. They then proceeded to actual work, and the originators of the
wicked heresy being discovered, were separated from the body of the Church.
In that number were Georgius of Alexandria, Acacius, Eudoxius, Vranius,
Leontius, Theodosius, Evagrius, Theodulus. But when the Synod was over, an
embassy was appointed to go to the emperor and make him acquainted with
what had been done. Those who had been condemned also went to the prince,
relying upon the power of their confederates, and a common cause with the
monarch.

CHAPTER XLIII.

   IN the meantime, the emperor compels those deputies of our party who
had been sent from the council at Ariminum to join in communion with the
heretics. At the same time, he hands them a confession of faith which had
been drawn up by these wicked men, and which, being expressed in deceptive
terms, seemed to exhibit the Catholic faith, while unfaithfulness secretly
lay hid in it. For under an appearance of false reasoning, it abolished the
use of the word Ousia as being ambiguous, and as having been too hastily
adopted by the fathers, while it rested upon no Scriptural authority. The
object of this was that the Son might not be believed to be of one
substance with the Father. The same confession of faith acknowledged that
the Son was like the Father. But deception was carefully prepared within
the words, in order that he might be like, but not equal. Thus, the
deputies being sent away, orders were given to the prefect that he should
not dissolve the Synod, until all professed by their subscriptions their
agreement to the declaration of faith which had been drawn up; and if any
should hold back with excessive obstinacy, they should be driven into
banishment, provided their number did not amount to fifteen. But when the
deputies returned, they were refused communion, although they pleaded the
force which had been   brought to bear upon them by the king. For when it
was discovered what had been decreed, greater disturbance arose in their
affairs and purposes. Then by degrees numbers of our people, partly
overcome through the weakness of their character, and partly influenced by
the thought of a weary journeying into foreign lands,   surrendered to the
opposite party. These were   now, on the return of the deputies, the
stronger of the two bodies, and had taken possession of the church, our
friends being driven out of it. And when the minds of our people once began
to incline in that direction, they rushed in flocks over to the other side,
until the number of our friends was diminished down to twenty.

CHAPTER XLIV.

   But these, the fewer they became, showed themselves all the more
powerful; as the most steadfast among them was to be reckoned our friend
Foegadius, and Servatio, bishop of the Tungri. As these had not yielded to
threats and terrors, Taurus assails them with entreaties, and beseeches
them with tears to adopt milder counsels. He argued that the bishops were
now in the seventh month since they had been shut up within one city--that
no hope of returning home presented itself to them, worn out by the
inclemency of winter and positive want; and what then would be the end? He
urged them to follow the example of the majority, and to derive authority
for so doing at least from the numbers who had preceded them. For Foegadius
openly declared that he was prepared for banishment, and for every kind of
punishment that might be assigned him, but would not accept that confession
of faith which had been drawn up by the Arians. Thus several days passed in
this sort of discussion. And when they made little progress towards a
pacification, by degrees Foegadius began to yield, and at the last was
overcome by a proposal which was made to him. For Valens and Ursatius
affirmed that the present confession of faith was drawn up on the lines of
Catholic doctrine, and having been brought forward by the Easterns at the
instigation of the emperor, could not be rejected without impiety; and what
possible end of strife could there be if a confession which satisfied the
Easterns was rejected by those of the West? Finally, if there appeared
anything less fully stated in the present confession than was desirable,
they themselves should add what they thought ought to be added, and that
they, for their part, would acquiesce in those things which might be added.
This friendly profession was received with favorable minds by all. Nor did
our people venture any longer to make opposition, desiring as they did in
some way or other now to put an end to the business. Then confessions drawn
up by Foegadius and Servatio began to be published; and in these first
Arius and his whole unfaithful scheme was condemned, while the Son of God
also was(1) pronounced equal to the Father, and without beginning, [that
is] without any commencement(2) in time. Then Valens, as if assisting our
friends, subjoined the statement (in which there lurked a secret guile)
that the Son of God was not a creature like the other creatures; and the
deceit involved in this declaration escaped the notice of the heariers. For
in these words, in which the Son was denied to be like the other creatures,
he was nevertheless pronounced a creature, only superior to the rest. Thus
neither party could hold that it had wholly conquered or had wholly been
conquered, since the confession itself was in favor of the Arians, but the
declarations afterwards added were in favor of our friends. That one,
however, must be excepted which Valens had subjoined, and which, not being
at the time understood, was at length comprehended when it was too late. In
this way, at any rate, the council was brought to an end, a council which
had a good beginning but a disgraceful conclusion.

CHAPTER XLV.

   Thus, then, the Arians, with their affairs in a very flourishing
condition, and everything turning out according to their wishes, go in a
body to Constantinople where the emperor was. There they found the deputies
from the Synod of Seleucia, and compel them by an exercise of the royal
power to follow the example of the  Westerns, and accept that heretical
confession of faith. Numbers who refused were tortured with painful
imprisonment and hunger, so that at length they yielded their conscience
captive. But many who resisted more courageously, being deprived of their
bishoprics, were driven into exile, and others substituted in their place.
Thus, the best priests being either terrified by threats, or driven into
exile, all gave way before the unfaithfulness of a few. Hilarius was there
at the time, having followed the deputies from Seleucia; and as no certain
orders had been given regarding him, he was waiting on the will of the
emperor to see whether perchance he should be ordered to return into
banishment. When he perceived the extreme danger into  which the faith had
been brought, inasmuch as the Westerns had been beguiled, and the Easterns
were being overcome by means of wickedness, he, in three papers publicly
presented, begged an audience of the king, in order that he might debate on
points of faith in the presence of his adversaries. But the Arians opposed
that to the utmost extent of their ability. Finally, Hilarius was ordered
to return to Gaul, as being a sower(1) of discord, and a troubler of the
East, while the sentence of exile against him remained uncanceled. But when
he had wandered over almost the whole earth which was infected with the
evil of unfaithfulness, his mind was full of doubt and deeply agitated with
the mighty burden of cares which pressed upon it. Perceiving that it seemed
good to many not to enter into communion with those who had acknowledged
the Synod of Ariminum, he thought the  best thing he could do was to bring
back all to repentance and reformation. In frequent councils within Gaul,
and while almost all the bishops publicly owned the error that had been
committed, he condemns the proceedings at Ariminum, and frames anew the
faith of the churches after its pristine form. Saturninus, however, bishop
of Arles, who was, in truth, a very bad man, of an evil and corrupt
character, resisted these sound measures. He was, in fact, a man who,
besides the infamy of being a heretic, was convicted of many unspeakable
crimes, and cast out of the Church. Thus, having lost its leader, the
strength of the party opposed to Hilarius was broken. Paternus also of
Petrocorii,(2) equally infatuated, and not shrinking from openly professing
unfaithfulness, was expelled from the priesthood: pardon was extended to
the others. This fact is admitted by all, that our regions of Gaul were set
free from the guilt of heresy through the kind efforts of Hilarius alone.
But Lucifer, who was then at Antioch held a very different opinion. For he
condemned those who assembled at Ariminum to such an extent, that he even
separated himself from the communion of those who had received them as
friends, after they had made satisfaction or exhibited penitence. Whether
this resolution of his was fight or wrong, I will not take upon me to say.
Paulinus and Rhodanius died in Phrygia; Hilarius died in his native country
in the sixth year after his return.

CHAPTER XLVI.

   THERE follow the times of our own day, both difficult and dangerous. In
these the churches have been defiled with no ordinary evil, and all things
thrown into confusion. For then, for the first time, the infamous heresy of
the Gnostics was detected in Spain--a deadly(1) superstition which
concealed itself under mystic(2) rites. The birthplace of that mischief was
the East, and specially Egypt, but from what beginnings it there sprang up
and increased is not easy to explain. Marcus was the first to introduce it
into Spain, having set out from Egypt, his birthplace being Memphis. His
pupils were a certain Agape, a woman of no mean origin, and a rhetorician
named Helpidius. By these again Priscillian was instructed, a man of noble
birth, of great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned through much
reading, very ready at debate and discussion-- in fact, altogether a happy
man, if he had not ruined an excellent intellect by wicked studies.
Undoubtedly, there were to be seen in him many admirable qualities both of
mind and body. He was able to spend much time in watchfulness, and to
endure both hunger and thirst; he had little desire for amassing wealth,
and he was most economical in the use of it. Put at the same time he was a
very vain man, and was much more puffed up than he ought to have been with
the knowledge of mere earthly(3) things: moreover, it was believed that he
had practised magical arts from his boyhood. He, after having himself
adopted the pernicious system referred to, drew into its acceptance many
persons of noble rank and multitudes of the common people by the arts of
persuasion and flattery which he possessed. Besides this, women who were
fond of novelties and of unstable faith, as well as of a prurient curiosity
in all things, flocked to him in crowds. It increased this tendency that he
exhibited, a kind of humility in his countenance and manner, and thus
excited in all a greater honor and respect for himself. And now by degrees
the wasting disorder of that heresy(4) had pervaded the most of Spain, and
even some of the bishops came under its depraving influence. Among these,
Instantius and Salvianus had taken up the cause of Priscillian, not only by
expressing their concurrence in his views, but even by binding themselves
to him with a kind of oath. This went on until Hyginus, bishop of Cordova,
who dwelt in the vicinity, found out how matters stood, and reported the
whole to Ydacius, priest of Emerita. But he, by harassing Instantius and
his confederates without measure, and beyond what the occasion called for,
applied, as it were, a torch to the growing conflagration, so that he
rather exasperated than suppressed these evil men.

CHAPTER XLVII.

   So, then, after many controversies among them, which are not worthy of
mention, a Synod was assembled at Saragossa, at which even the Aquitanian
bishops were present. But the heretics did not venture to submit themselves
to the judgment of the council; sentence, however, was passed against them
in their absence, and Instantius and Salivanus, bishops, with Helpidius and
Priscillian, laymen, were condemned. It was also added that if any one
should admit the condemned persons to communion, he should understand that
the same sentence would be pronounced against himself. And the duty was
entrusted to Ithacius, bishop of Sossuba, of seeing that the decree of the
bishops was brought to the knowledge of all, and that Hyginus especially
should be excluded from communion, who, though he had been the first to
commence open proceedings against the heretics, had afterwards fallen away
shamefully and admitted them to communion. In the meantime, Instantius and
Salvianus, having been condemned by the judgment of the priests, appoint as
bishop in the town of Aries, Priscillian, a layman indeed, but the leader
in all these troubles, and who had been condemned along with themselves in
the Synod at Saragossa. This they did with the  view of adding to their
strength, doubtless imagining that, if they armed with sacerdotal authority
a man of bold and subtle character, they  would find themselves in a safer
position. But then Ydacius and Ithacius pressed forward their measures more
ardently, in the belief that the   mischief might be suppressed at its
beginning. With unwise counsels, however, they applied to secular judges,
that by their decrees and prosecutions the heretics might be expelled from
the cities. Accordingly, after many disgraceful squabbles, a rescript was,
on the entreaty of Ydacius, obtained from Gratianus, who was then emperor,
in virtue Of which all heretics were enjoined not only to leave churches or
cities, but to be driven forth beyond all the territory under(1) his
jurisdiction. When this edict became known, the Gnostics, distrusting their
own affairs, did not venture to oppose the judgment, but those of them who
bore the name of bishops gave way of their own accord, while fear scattered
the rest.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

   And then Instantius, Salvianus, and Priscillian set out for Rome, in
order that before Damasus who was at that time the bishop of the city, they
might clear themselves of the charges brought against them. Well, their
journey led them through the heart of Aquitania, and being there received
with great pomp by such as knew no better, they spread the seeds of their
heresy. Above all, they perverted by their evil teachings the people of
Elusa, who were then of a good and religious disposition. They were driven
forth from Bordeaux by Delfinus, yet lingering for a little while in the
territory of Euchrotia,(1) they infected some with their errors. They then
pursued the journey on which they had entered, attended by a base and
shameful company, among whom were their wives and even strange women. In
the number of these was Euchrotia and her daughter Procula, of the latter
of whom there was a common report that, when pregnant through adultery with
Priscillian, she procured abortion by the use of certain plants. When they
reached Rome with the wish of clearing themselves before Damasus, they were
not even admitted to his presence. Returning to Milan, they found that
Ambrose was equally opposed to them. Then they changed their plans, with
the view that, as they had not got the better of the two bishops, who were
at that time possessed of the highest authority, they might, by bribery and
flattery, obtain what they desired from the emperor. Accordingly, having
won over Macedonius, who was the master(2) of public services, they
procured a rescript, by which, those decrees which had formerly been made
being trampled under foot, they were ordered to be restored to their
churches. Relying upon this, Instantius and Priscillian made their way
back to Spain (for Salvianus had died in the city); and they then, without
any struggle, recovered the churches over which they had ruled.

CHAPTER XLIX.

   But the power, not the will, to resist, failed Ithacius; for the
heretics had won over by bribes Voluentius, the proconsul, and thus
consolidated their own power. Moreover, Ithacius was put on his trial, by
these men as being a disturber of the churches, and he having been ordered
as the result of a fierce prosecution, to be carried off(1) as a prisoner,
fled in terror into Gaul, where he betook himself to Gregory the prefect.
He, after he learned what had taken place, orders the authors of these
tumults to be brought before himself, and makes a report on all that had
occurred to the emperor, in order that he might close against the heretics
every means of flattery or bribery. But that was done in vain; because,
through the licentiousness and power of a few, all things were there to be
purchased. Accordingly, the heretics by their artifices, having presented
Macedonius with a large sum of money, secure that, by the imperial
authority, the hearing of the trial was taken from the prefect, and
transferred to the lieutenant in Spain. By that time, the Spaniards had
ceased to have a proconsul as ruler, and officials were sent by the Master
to bring back to Spain Ithacius who was then living at Treves. He, however,
craftily escaped them, and being subsequently defended by the bishop
Pritannius, he set them at  defiance. Then, too, a faint(2) rumor had
spread that Maximus had assumed imperial power in Britain, and would, in a
short time, make an incursion into Gaul. Accordingly, Ithacius then
resolved, although his affairs were in a ticklish state, to wait the
arrival of the new emperor; and that, in the meantime, no step should on
his part be taken. When therefore Maximus, as victor, entered the town of
the Treveri, he poured forth entreaties full of ill-will and accusations
against Priscillian and his confederates. The emperor influenced by these
statements sent letters to the prefect of Gaul and to the lieutenant in
Spain, ordering that all whom that disgraceful(3) heresy had affected
should be brought to a Synod at Bordeaux. Accordingly, Instantius and
Priscillian were escorted thither and, of these, Instantius was enjoined to
plead his cause; and after he was found unable to dear himself, he was
pronounced unworthy of the office of a bishop. But Priscillian, in order
that he might avoid being heard by the bishops, appealed to the emperor.
And that was permitted to be done through the want of resolution on the
part of our friends, who ought either to have passed a sentence even
against one who resisted it, or, if they were regarded as themselves
suspicious persons, should have reserved the hearing for other bishops, and
should not have transferred to the emperor a cause involving such manifest
offences.

CHAPTER L.

   THUS, then, all whom the process embraced were brought before the king.
The bishops Ydacius and Ithacius followed as accusers; and I would by no
means blame their zeal in overthrowing heretics, if they had not contended
for victory with greater keenness than was fitting. And my feeling indeed
is, that the accusers were as distasteful to me as the accused. I certainly
hold that Ithacius had no worth or holiness about him. For he was a bold,
loquacious, impudent, and extravagant man; excessively devoted to the
pleasures of sensuality. He proceeded even to such a pitch of folly as to
charge all those men, however holy, who either took delight in reading, or
made it their object to vie with each other in the practice of fasting,
with being friends or disciples of Priscillian. The miserable wretch even
ventured publicly to bring forward a disgraceful charge of heresy against
Martin, who was at that time a bishop, and a man clearly worthy of being
compared to the Apostles. For Martin, being then settled at Treves, did not
cease to importune Ithacius, that he should give up his accusations, or to
implore Maximus that he should not shed the blood of the unhappy persons in
question. He maintained that it was quite sufficient punishment that,
having been declared heretics by a sentence of the bishops, they should
have been expelled from the churches; and that it was, besides, a foul and
unheard-of indignity, that a secular ruler should be judge in an
ecclesiastical cause. And, in fact, as long as Martin survived, the trial
was put off; while, when he was about to leave this world, he, by his
remarkable influence, obtained a promise from Maximus, that no cruel
measure would be resolved on with respect to the guilty persons. But
subsequently, the emperor being led astray by Magnus and Rufus, and turned
from the milder course which Martin had counseled, entrusted the case to
the prefect Evodius, a man of stern and severe character. He tried
Priscillian in two assemblies, and convicted him of evil conduct. In fact,
Priscillian did not deny that he had given himself up to lewd doctrines;
had been accustomed to hold, by night, gatherings of vile women, and to
pray in a state of nudity. Accordingly, Evodius pronounced him guilty, and
sent him back to prison, until he had time to consult the emperor. The
matter, then, in all its details, was reported to the palace, and  the
emperor decreed that Priscillian and his friends should be put to death.

CHAPTER LI.

   BUT Ithacius, seeing how much ill-will it would excite against him
among the bishops, it he should stand forth as accuser also at the last
trial on a capital charge (for it was requisite that the trial should be
repeated), withdrew from the prosecution. His cunning, however, in thus
acting was in vain, as the mischief was already accomplished. Well, a
certain Patricius, an advocate connected with the treasury, was then
appointed accuser by Maximus. Accordingly, under him as prosecutor,
Priscillian was condemned to death, and along with him, Felicissimus and
Armenius, who, when they were clerics, had lately adopted the cause of
Priscillian, and revolted from the Catholics. Latronianus, too, and
Euchrotia were beheaded. Instantius, who, as we have said above, had been
condemned by the bishops, was transported to the island of Sylina(1) which
lies beyond Britain. A process was then instituted against the others in
trials which followed, and Asarivus, and Aurelius the deacon, were
condemned to be beheaded, while Tiberianus was deprived of his goods, and
banished to the island of Sylina. Tertullus, Potamius, and Joannes, as
being persons of less consideration, and worthy of some merciful treatment,
inasmuch as before the trial they had made a confession, both as to
themselves and their confederates, were sentenced to a temporary banishment
into Gaul. In this sort of way, men who were most unworthy of the light of
day, were, in order that they might serve as a terrible example to others,
either put to death or punished with exile. That conduct(2) which he had at
first defended by his right of appeal to the tribunals, and by regard to
the public good, Ithacius, harassed(3) with invectives, and at last
overcome, threw the blame of upon those, by whose direction and counsels he
had effected his object. Yet he was the only one of all of them who was
thrust out of the episcopate. For Ydacius, although less guilty, had
voluntarily resigned his bishopric: that was wisely and respectfully done,
had he not afterward spoiled the credit of such a step by endeavoring to
recover the position which had been lost. Well, after the death of
Priscillian, not only was the heresy not suppressed, which, under him, as
its author, had burst forth, but acquiring strength, it became more widely
spread. For his followers who had previously honored him as a saint,
subsequently began to reverence him as a martyr. The bodies of those who
had been put to death were conveyed to Spain, and their funerals were
celebrated with great pomp. Nay, it came to be thought the highest exercise
of religion to swear by Priscillian. But between them and our friends, a
perpetual war of quarreling has been kept up. And that conflict, after
being sustained for fifteen years with horrible dissension, could not by
any means be set at rest. And now all things were seen to be disturbed and
confused by the discord, especially of the bishops, while everything was
corrupted by them through their hatred, partiality, fear, faithlessness,
envy, factiousness, lust, avarice, pride, sleepiness, and inactivity. In a
word, a large   number were striving with insane plans and obstinate
inclinations against a few giving wise counsel: while, in the meantime, the
people of God, and all the excellent of the earth were exposed to mockery
and insult.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/XI, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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