ι EX BIBLIOTHECA FRANCES A. YATES Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/worksofflaviusjoOOjose_0 THE WORKS OF FLAVmS JOSEPHFS, THE LEARNED AND AUTHEliTIC JEWISH HISIOBIAN, AND CELEBRATED WARKIOR, TO WHICH IS ADDED, THREE DISSERTATIONS, CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST, JOHN THE BAPTIST, JAMES THE JUST, GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM, &c., &c. TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM WHISTON, A.M. PEOPESSOE OF MATHEMATICS IN THE FNIVEESITY OP CAMBEIDGE. COMPLETE IN ONE Λ^ΟΕΠΜΕ. MILNER AND COMPAQ PATERNOSTER ROW. I ! EXTRACT FROM BISHOP PORTEUS' WORKS. *^ This History is ppoltpn of in the highest terms by men of the. greatest learning nnd the soundest judgment, from its first publication to the present time. " The fidelity, the veracity, and the probity of Josephns, are universnlly allowed : and Soaliger in particular declares, that not only in the affairs of the Jews, but even of foreign nations, he deserves more credit than all the Greek and Roman writers put together. Certain at least it is, that he had the most essential qualifieation for an historian — a perfect and accu- rate knowledge of all the transactions which he relates ; that he had no prejudices to mislead him in the representation of them ; and that, above all, he meant no favour to the Christian cause. For even allowing the so much controverted passag^^, in which he is supposed to bear testimony to Christ, to be genuine, it does not appear that he ever became a convert to his reI%ion, but continvied probably a zealous Jew to the end of his life." Viii'e Bishop Portem^? L^ctn'^^ft^ Voi. If. p. ?34 COOTENTS. r AGE ΓΠΕ LIFE OP FLAVIUS JOSEPnUS i THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. Prekace ' 23 Book I. — From the Creation to the Death of Isaac 25 Book II.— From the Death of Isaac to the Exodus out of Egypt 44 Book III.— From the Exodus out of Egypt, to the Rejection of that Generation 65 Book IV, — From the Hejection of that Generation, to the Death of Moses 84 Book V. — From tlie Death of Moses to the Death of Eli 104 Book VI. — From tlie Death of Eh to the Denth of Saul 124 Book Vi!.— From the Deallr of iSaul to tlie l)e;ith of David. 143 Book ViU. — Froin the Deatii ot David to the Death of Ahah 173 Book IX.— From the Deatli of Ahab to the Captivity of the Ten Tribes 200 Book X. — From the Captivity of tlie Ten Tribes to the First of Cyrus 217 Book XI. — From the First of Cyrus to the Death of Alexander the Great ·· 234 Bot)K XII. — From the Death of Alexander the Great to the Death of Judas Maccabeus 252 Book XIII. — From the Death of Judas Maccabeus to (iueen Alexandra's Death 2/4 Book XIV. — From the Death of Queen Alexandra to tiie Death of Antigonus 298 Bt»oK XV. — From the Death of Antigonus to tlie Finishing of the Temple by Herod 324 Book XV^I. — From the Finishing of the Temple by Ilerod to the Death of Alexander and Aristobulus 347 Book XVII. — From Alexander and Aristobulus's Death to the Banishment of Archelaus 368 Book XV 11 1. — From the Banishment of Archelaus to the Departure of the Jews from Babylon 389 Book XIX. — From the Jews' Defiarture from Babylon to Fadus the Roman Procurator 410 Book XX. — From Fadus the Roman Procui'ator to Florua > 429 THE WARS OF THE JEWS. pRKKACK 443 Book I. — From Antiochus Epiphanes taking Jerusalem to the Death of Ilerod 445 Book II. — From the Death of Herod till Vespasian was sent to subdue the Jews by Nero 488 Book 111. — From Vespasian coming to subdue the Jews to the taking of Gamala 522 Book IV. — From the siege of Gamala to the coming of Titus to besiege Jerusalem 542 Book V. — From the coming of Titus to besiege Jerusalem, to the great extremity to which the Jews were reduced 569 Book VI. — From the great extremity to which the Jews were reduced, to the taking of Jerusalem by Titus 594 Bι^<ικ VII — From tlie taking o( Jerusalem by Titus, to the sedition of the Jews at Cyrene 614 ANTIQI ITY OF THE JEWS.— FLA VIUS JOSEl'HUS AGaIiNST APION. Β ok 1 , 631 Book II 647 AN EXTRACT OUT OF JOSEPH US'S DISCOURSE TO TIIE GREEKS CONCERNING HADES 663 APFENDIX. DissKHTATioN I — The Testimonies of Josephus concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and James the Just, vindicated 665 DissKRTATroN 1 1.— Coucem ing God's command to Abraham to offer up Isaac, his son, for a sacrifice .. 673 Dissertation III. — Tacitus's account of the origin of the Jewish nation, and of the particulars of the last Jewish War; that the former was probably wi-itten in opposition to Josephus's Antiquities, and that the latter was certainly almost all directly taken from Josephus's History of the Jewtch War 679 TABLE OP THE JEWISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 688 INDEX 689 THE LIFE OF -FLAVIUS JOSEPHTJS. § 1. The family from which I am derived is not an ignoble one, but hath descended all along from the priests ; and as nobility among several people is of a different origin, so with us to be of the sa- cerdotal dignity, is an indication of the splendour of a family. Now, I am not only sprung from a sacerdotal family in general, but from the first of the twenty-four* courses ; and as among us there is not only a considerable difference between one family of each course and another, I am of the chief family of -^hat first course also ; nay, farther, by my mother I am of the royal blood ; for the children of Asamoneus, from whom that family was derived, had both the office of the high priest- hood, and the dignity of a king, for a long time together. I will accordingly set down my proge- nitors in order. My grandfather's father was named Simon, with the addition of Psellus : he lived at the same time with that son of Simon the high priest, who first of all the high priests was named Hyrcanus. This Simon Psellus had nine sons, one of Λvhom was Matthias, called Ephlias : he married the daughter of Jonathan the high priest ; which Jonathan was the first of the sons of Asmoneus, who was high priest, and was the brother of Simon the high priest also. This Matthias had a son called Matthias Curtus, and that in the first year of the government of Hyrcanus : his son's name was Joseph, born in the ninth year of the reign of Alexandi-a : his son Matthias was born in the tenth year of the reign of Archelaus ; as was I bom to Matthias in the first year of the reign of Cains Ceesar, I have three sons : Hyrcanus, the eldest, was born in the fourth year of the reign of Vespasian, as was Justus born in the seventh, and Agrippa in the ninth. Thus have I set down the genealogy of my family as I have found it describedf in the public records, and so bid adieu to those who calumniate me [as of a lower original.] 2. Now, my father Matthias was not only emi- nent on account of his nobility, but had a higher • We may hence correct the error of the Latin copy of the second book Against Apion, sect. 8 (for the Greek is there lost), which says, there were then only four tribes or courses of the priests, instead of twenty-four. Nor is this testimony to be disregarded, as if Josephus there contradicted what he had affirmed here ; because even the account there given better agrees to twenty-four than to four courses, while he euys that each of those courses contained above 5000 men, which, multi- plittl by only four, will mxke not more than 20,000 priests ; whereas the number 120,000, as multiplied by 24, seems much the most probable, they beinK about one-tenth of the whole people, even after the captivity, riee Ezra ii. 3(J-89; Nehem. vii. 39-42; 1 Esd. v. 24, 25; with Ezrail. 64; ivchem. vii. G6 ; 1 Esd. v. 41. Nor will this common reading or notion of but four courses of priests, agree with Josephus's own further asser- tion elsewhere (Antiq. b. vii. ch. xiv. sect. 7), that David's partition of the priests into twenty-four courses, had continued to that day. 4 An eminent example of the care of the Jews about their genealogies, tspecially iis to the priests. See Against Apion, b. i. sect. 7. commendation on account of his righteousness ; an rl was in great reputation in J erusalem, the greatest city we have. I was myself brought up with my brother, whose name was Matthias, for he was my own brother, by both father and mother ; and I made mighty proficiency in the improvements of my learning, and appeared to have both a great memory and understanding. Moreover, when I was a child, and about fourteen years of age, I was commended by all for the love I had to learning on which account the high priests and principa men of the city came then frequently to me toge ther, in order to know my opinion about the accu- rate understanding of points of the law ; and when I was about sixteen years old, I had a mind to make trial of the several sects that were among us. These sects are three : — The first is that of the Pha- risees, the second that of the Sadducees, and the third that of the Essens, as we have frequently told you ; for I thought that by this means I might choose the best, if I were once acquainted with them all ; so I contented myself with hard fare, and underwent great difficulties, and went through them all. Nor did I content myself with these trials only ; but when I was informed that one, whose name was Banus, lived in the desert, and used no other clothing than grew upon trees, and had no other food than what grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently, both night and day, in order to preserve his chas- tity, I imitated him in those things, and continued with him three years.f So when I had accom- plished my desires, I returned back to the city, being now nineteen years old, and began to conduct myself according to the rules of the sect of the Pha- risees, which is of kin to the sect of the Stoics, as the Greeks call them. 3. But when I was in the twenty-sixth year of my age, it happened that I took a voyage to Rome ; and this on the occasion which I shall now describe. At the time when Felix was procurator of Judea, f WTren Josephus here says, that from sixteen to nineteen, or for three years, he made trial of the three Jewish sects, the Pharisees, the Sad- ducees, and the Essens, and yet says presently, in all our copies, that he staid besides with one particular ascetic, called Banus, TTUp CVTCOy with him, and this still before he was nineteen, there is little room left for ^is trial of the three other sects. I suppose, therefore, that for παρ αυτω, mUh him, the old reading might be Trap aVTOl9, with them ; which is a very small emendation, and takes away the diffl- culty before us. Nor is Dr. Hudson's conjecture hinted at by Mr. Hall in his preface to the Doctor's edition of Josephus at all improbable, that this Banus, by this his description, might well be α follower of John the Baptist, and that from him Josephus might easily imbibe such notione, as afterwards prepared him to h.-ive a favotirable opinion of Jesus Christ [ himself, w!io was attested to by John the Baptist. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. there λνβνο certain priests of my acquaintance, and very excellent persons they were, Avhom on a small and trifling occasion he had put into bonds, and sent to Rome to plead their cause before Caesar. These I was desirous to procure delivei-ance for ; and that especially because I was informed that they were not unmindful of piety tOAvards God, even under their afflictions ; but supported themselves with figs and nuts.* Accordingly I came to Rome, though it were through a great" number of hazards, by sea ; for, as our ship was droAvned in the Adri- atic Sea, we that \vere in it, being about six hun- dred in number,+ swam for our lives all the night ; when, upon the first appearance of the day, and upon our sight of a ship of Cyi-ene, I and som.e others, eighty in all, by God's providence, prevent- ed the rest, and were taken up into the other ship : and Avhen I had thus escaped, and Avas come to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli, I be- came acquainted with Aliturius, an actor of plays, and much beloved by Nero, but a Jew by birth ; and through his interest became known to Poppea, Cisesar's wife ; and took care, as soon as possible, to entreat her to procure that the priests might be set at liberty ; and when, besides, this favour, I had obtained many presents from Poppea, I return- ed home again. 4. And now I perceived innovations were already begun, and that there were a great many very much elevated, in hopes of a revolt from the Ro- (nans. I therefore endeavoured to put a stop to these tumultuous persons, and persuaded them to change their minds ; and laid before theh* eyes against whom it was that they were going to fight, and told them that they were inferior to the Romans not only in martial skill, but also in good fortune ; and desired them not rashly, and after the most foolish manner, to bring on the dangers of the most terrible mischiefs upon their country, upon their families, and upon themselves. And this I said with vehement exhortation, because I foresaw that the end of such a war would be most unfortunate to us. But I could not persuade them ; for the madness of desperate men was quite too hard for me. 5. I was then afraid, lest by inculcating these things so often, I should incur their hatred and their suspicions, as if I were of our enemies' party, and should run into the danger of being seized by by them and slain, since they were already pos- sessed of Antonia, which v/as the citadel ; so I re- tired into the inner court of the temple ; yet did I go out of the temple again, after Manahem and the principal of the band of robbers were put to death, when I abode among the high priests and the chief of the Pharisees ; but no small .fear seized upon us when we saw the people in arms, while we ourselves iaiew not Avhat Ave should do, and were not able to restrain the seditious. However, as the danger was directly upon us, Ave pretended that we were of the same opinion with them ; but only advised them to be quiet for the present, and to let the enemy go away, still hoping that Gessius [Florus] would not be long ere he came, and that with great • We may note here, that religious men among the Jews, or at least those that -were priests, were eometimes ascetics also, and, like Daniel And his companiong in Babylon (Dan. i. C-IS), ate no Uesh, hutfigs and miia, &o. only. This was like the ξηροψα'γία, or austere diet of the Christian ascetics in Passion-Week. Constitut. v. 10. i It has been thought the number of Paul and his companions on Bhip-board (Acta xxvii. 33), which are 276 in our copies, are too many ; whereas we And here, that Josephus and his companions, a very few jears after the other, were about GOO, forces, and so put an end to these seditious pro- ceedings. 6. But, upon his coming and fighting, he was beaten, and a great many of those that were with him fell ; and this disgrace which Gessius [with Cestius] received, became the calamity of our whole nation ; for those that were fond of the war were so far elevated Avith this success, that they had hopes of finally conquering the Romans. Oi which war another occasion was ministered ; which was this : — Those that dwelt in the neighbouring cities of Syria seized upon such Jews as dwelt among them, with their wives and children, and slew them, Avhen they had not the least occasion of complaint against them ; for they did neither at- tempt any innovation or revolt from the Romans, nor had they given any marks of hatred or treach- erous designs towards the Syrians : but what was done by the inhabitants of Scythopolis was the most impious and most highly criminal of all ;X for when the Jews, their enemies, came upon them from without, they forced the Jews that were among them to bear arms against their own coun- trymen, which it is unlawful for us to do ;§ and when, by their assistance, they had joined battle with those who attacked them, and had beaten them, after that victoiy they forgot the assurances they had given these their fellow-citizens and con- federates, and slew them all ; being in number many ten thousands [13,000]. The like miseries were undergone by those Jews that were the inha- bitants of Damascus ; but we have given a more accurate account of these things in the books of the Jewish war. I only mention them now, be- cause I would demonstrate to my readers that the Jews' war with the Romans was not voluntary, but that, for the main, they were forced by necessity to enter into it. 7. So Avhen Gessius had been beaten, as we have said already, the principal men of Jerusalem, see- ing that the robbers and innovators had arms in great plenty, and fearing lest they, while they were unprovided with arms, should be in subjection to their enemies, which also came to be the case after- ward, — and, being informed that all Galilee had not yet revolted from the Romans, but that some pai-t of it was still quiet, they sent me and two others of tiie priests, who were men of excellent characters, Joazar and Judas, in order to persuade the ill men there to lay down their arms, and to teach them this lesson, — That it were better to have those arms reserved for the most courageous men that the na- tion had [than to be kept there] ; for that it had been resolved. That those our best men sliould al- ways have their arms ready against futurity ; but still so, that they should wait to see what the Ro- mans would do. 8. When I had therefore received these instruc- tions, I came into Galilee, and found the people of Sepphoris in no small agony about their country, by reason that the Galileans had resolved to plun- der it, on account of the friendship they had >vitli the Romans ; and because they had given their right hand, and made a league with Cestius Gallus^ Φ See Jewish War, b. ii. ch. xviii. sect. 3. § The Jews might collect this unlawfulness of fighting against their brethren from that law of Mosee (Levit. xix. IC), "Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour ;" and that (ver. 17), "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any gi-udge, against the children of thy people ; but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ;" as well as ftom many other places in the Pentateuch and Prophets. See Antiq. b. viii. ch. viii. sect. 3. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. the president of Syria : but I delivered them all out of the fear they were in, and persuaded the multitude to deal kindly with them, and permitted tliem to send to those that were their own hostages with Gessius to Dora, which is a city of Phoenicia, as often as they pleased ; though I still found the mliabitants of Tiberias ready to take arms, and that on the occasion following : — 9. There were three factions in this city. The first was composed of men of worth and gravity ; of these Julius Capellus was the head. Nov/- he, as well as all his companions, Herod the son of Miarus, and Herod the son of Gamalus, and Compsus the son of Compsus (for as to Compsus's brother Cris- pus, who had once been governor of the city under the great king^- [Agrippa], he was beyond Jordan in his Ολνη possessions) ; all these persons before named gave their advice, that the city should then continuein their allegiance to the Romans and to the Idng ; but Pistus, who was guided by his son Jus- tus, did not acquiesce in that resolution, otherwise he was himself naturally of a good and virtuous character : but the second faction was composed of the most ignoble persons, and was determined for war. But as for Justus, the son of Pistus, who was the head of the third faction, although he pretended to be doubtful about going to Avar, yet v/as he reatlly desirous of innovation, as supposing that he should gain poAver to himself by the change of affairs. He therefore came into the midst of them, and endea- voured to infonii the multitude that " the city Tibe- rias had ever been a city of Galilee ; and that in the days of Herod the tetrarch, who had built it, it had obtained the principal place ; and that he had ordered that the city Sepphoris should be subordi- nate to the city Tiberias : that they had not lost this pre-eminence even under Agrippa the father ; but had retained it until Felix was procui'ator of Judea ; but he told them, that now they had been so unfortunate as to be made a present by Nero to Agrippa, junior ; and that, upon Sepphoris's sub- mission of itself to the Romans, that was become the capital city of Galilee, and that the royal trea- sury and the archives were now removed from them." When he had spoken these things, and a great many more against Idag Agrippa, in order to provoke the people to a revolt, he added, That " this was the time for them to take arms, and join with the Gali- leans as their confederates (whom they might com- mand, and who would now willingly assist them, out of the hatred they bare to the people of Sep- phoi-is ; because they preserved theii- fidelity to the Romans), and to gather a great number of forces, in order to punish them." And, as he said this, he exhorted the multitude [to go to v/ar] ; for his abili- ties lay in making harangues to the people, and in being too hard in his speeches for such as opposed him; though they advised what was more to their advantage, and this by his craftiness and his falla- cies, for he was not unskilful in the learning of the Greelcs ; and in dependence on that skill it was that he undertook to v/rite ahistory of these affairs, as aiming, by this way of haranguing, to disguise the truth ; but as to this man, and how ill were his character and conduct of hfe, and how he and his l)rother were, in great measure, the authors of our destruction, I shall give the reader an account in tlie progress of ray narr?i,tion. So when Justus had, » That this Herod Agrippa, the father, was of old called a Great Emg, as here appears by his coins still remaining ; to which Haver- •ίβπιρ refers us. b2 by his persuasions, prevailed with the citizens of Tiberias to take arms, nay, and had forced a great many so to do against their wills, he Avent out, and set the villages that belonged to Gadara and Hippos on fire ; which villages were situated on the borders of Tiberias, and of the region of Scythopolis. 10. And this was the state Tiberias was now in ; but as for Gischala, its affairs were thus : — Whex John, the son of Levi, saw some of the citizens mud elevated upon their revolt from the Romans, he la- boured to restrain them ; and entreated them that they would keep their allegiance to them ; but lie could not gain his purpose, although he did his endeavours to the utmost ; for the neighbouring people of Gadara, Gabara, and Sogana, with the Tyrians, got together a great army, and fell upon Gischala, and took Gischala by force, and set it on fire ; and when they had entirely demolished it, they returned home. Upon which John v/as so enraged that he armed all his men, and joined battle witli the people forementioned ; and rebuilt Gischala after a manner better than before, ancl fortified it v/ith walls for its future security. 11. But Gamala persevered in its allegiance to the Romans for the reason following : — Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was their governor under king Agrippa, had been unexpectedly preserved when the royal palace at Jerusalem had been beseiged ; but, as he fled away, had fallen into another dan- ger ; and that was of being killed by Manahem, and the robbers that were with him ; but certain Babylonians, who were of his kindred, and v/ere then in Jerusalem, hindered the robbers from exe- cuting their design. So Philip staid there four days, and fled away on the fifth, having disguised himself with fictitious hair, that he might not be discovered ; and when he was come to one of the villages to him belonging, but one that Avas situated at the borders of the citadel of Gamala, he sent to some of those that v/ere under him, and commanded them to come to him ; but God hindered that his intention, and this for his own advantage also ; for had it not so happened, he had certainly perished ; for a fever having seized upon him immediatel}', lie VvTote to Agrippa and Bernice, and gave them to one of his freedmen to carry them to Varus, Avho at this time was procurator of the kingdom, which the king and his sister had intrusted him withal, while they were gone to Berytus with an intention of meeting Ges- sius, When Varus had received these letters of Philip, and had learned that he was preserved, he Avas very uneasy at it, as supposing that he should appear useless to the king and his sister, now Philip was come. He therefore produced the carrier of the letters before the multitude, a,nd accused him of forging the sa^me ; and said, that he spake falsely when he related that Philip Avas at Jerusalem, fighting amongst the Jews against the Romans. So he slew him. And when this freedman of Philip did not return again, Philip was doubtful Avhat should be the occasion of his stay, and sent a second messenger Avith letters, that he might, upon his return, inform him what had befallen the other that had been sent before, and Avhy he tarried so long. Varus accused this messenger also, AA'hen he came, of telling a falsehood, and sieAV him ; for he was puffed up by the Syrians that were at Ccesarea, and had great expectations ; for they said that Agrippa would be slain by the Romans for the crimes Avhich the JcAvs had committed, and that he should him- self take the government, as derived from their 4 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPlIUS. kings ; for Varus was, hy the confession of all, of the royal familj', as being a descendant of Sohemus, who had enjoyed a tetrarchy about Libanus ; for which reason it was that he was puffed up, and kept the letters to himself. He contrived also that tbe king should not meet with those writings, by guarding all the passes, lest any one should escape, and inform the king what had been done. He moreover slew many of the J ews, in order to gra- tify the S}Tians of Ctesarea. He had a mind also ο join Avith the Trachonites in Batanea, and to ake up arms and make an assault upon the Baby- onian Jews that were at Ecbatana ; for that was the name they Avent by. He therefore called to him twelve of the Jews of Csesarea, of the best character, and ordered them to go to Ecbatana, and inform their countrymen who dwelt there. That Varus hath heard that " you intend to march against the king ; but, not believing that report, he hath sent us to persuade you to lay down your arms ; and that this compliance will l3e a sign that he did well not to give credit to those that raised the re- port concerning you," He also enjoined them to send seventy of their principal men to make a de- fence for them as to the accusation laid against T,hem. So when the tAveh'^e messengers came to their countrymen at Ecbatana, and found that they had no designs of innovation at all, they persuaded them to send the seventy men also ; who, not at all suspecting what would come, sent them accord- ingly. So these seventy went down to Csesarea, together with the twelve ambassadors ; where Varus met them with the king's forces, and slew them all together with the [twelve] ambassadors, and made an expedition against the Jews of Ecba- tana. But one there was of the seventy who es- caped, and made haste to inform the Jews of their coming ; upon which they took their arms, with their wives and children, and retired to the citadel at Gamala, leaving their own villages full of all sorts of good things, and having many ten thou- sands of cattle therein. When Philip was informed of these things, he also came to the citadel of Ga- mala ; and Avhen he was come, the multitude cried aloud, and desired him to resume government, and to make an expedition against Varus and the Syrians of Csesarea ; for it was reported that they had slain the king. But Philip reptrained their zeal, and put them in mind of the benefits the king had bestOAved upon them ; and told them how pow- erful the Romans were, and said it was not for their advantage to make war with them ; and at length he prevailed with them. But now, when the king was acquainted with Varus's design, which was to cut off the Jews of Caesarea, being many ten thousands, with their wives and children, and all in one day, he called to him Equiculus Modius, and sent him to be Varus's successor, as we have else- where related. But still Philip kept possession of the citadel of Gamala, and of the country adjoin- ing to it, which thereby continued in their allegi- ance to the Romans. 12. Now, as soon as I was come into Galilee, and had learned this state of things by the infoi'mation of such as told me of them, I Avrote to the sanhe- drim at Jerusalem about them, and required their direction what I should do. Their direction was, that I should continue there, and that, if my fel- low-legates were willing, I should jom with them in the care of Galilee. But those my fellow-legates, having gotten great riches from those tithes which as priests were their dues, and were given to them, determined to return to their own countiy. Yet when I desired them to stay so long, that Ave might first settle the public affairs, they complied with me. So I removed, together with them, from the city of Sepphoris, and came to a certain village called Bethmaus, four furlongs distant from Tibe- rias ; and thence I sent messengers to the senate of Tiberias, and desh'ed that the principal men of the city would come to me : and when they were come, Justus himself being also with them, I told them that I was sent to them by the people of Jerusalem as a legate, together with these other priests, in order to persuade them to demolish that house which Herod the tetrarch had built there, and which had the figures of living creatures in it, al- though our laws have forbidden us to make any such figures ; and I desired that they would give us leave so to do immediately. But for a good while Capellus and the principal men belonging to the city would not give us leave, but were at length entirely overcome by us, and were induced to be of our opinion. So Jesus the son of Sapphias, one of those whom we have already mentioned as the leader of a seditious tumult of mariners and ' poor people, prevented us, and took with him certain Galileans, and set the entire palace on fire, and thought he should get a great deal of money there- by, because he saw some of the roofs gilt with gold. They also plundered a great deal of the furni- ture, which was done without our approbation ; for, aftes- we had discoursed Avith Capellus and the principal men of the city, we departed from Beth- maus, and went into Upper GaUlee. But Jesus and his party slew all the Greeks that were inha- bitants of Tiberias, and as many others as were their enemies before the war began. 13. When I understood this state of things, 1 was greatly provoked, and Avent doAvn to Tiberias, and took all the care I could of the royal furniture, to recover all that could be recovered from such as had plundered it. They consisted of candle- sticks made of Corinthian brass, and of royal tables, and of a great quantity of uncoined silver ; and I resolved to preserve whatsoever came to my hand for the king. So I sent for ten of the principal men of the senate, and for Capellus the son of An- tyllus, and committed the furnitui-e to them, with this charge. That they should part with it to nobody else but to myself. From thence I and my felloAv- legates went to Gischala, to John, as desirous to know his intentions, and soon saw that he was for innovations, and had a mind to the principaHty, for he desired me to give him authority to carry off that corn which belonged to Caesar, and lay in the villages of Upper Galilee ; and he pretended that he would expend what it came to in building the Avails of his OAvn city. But when I perceived Avhat he endeavoured at, and what he had in his mind, I said I would not permit him so to do ; for that I thought either to keep it for the Romans or for myself, noAV I was entrusted Avith the public affairs there by the people of Jerusalem : but, Avhen he was not able to prevail Avith me, he betook himself to my felloAv-legates ; for they had no sagacity in providing for futurity, and Avere very ready to take bribes : so he corrupted them Avith money to de- cree, That all that corn which was within his pro- vince should be delivered to him ; while I, Avho was but one, was outvoted by two, and held my tongue. Then did John introduce another cunning THE LIFS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 5 contrivance of his ; for he said that those Jews who inhabited Csesarea Philippic and were shut np hy the order of the king's deputy there, had sent to him to desire him, that, since they had no oil that was pure for tlieir use, he would provide a sufficient quantity of such oil for them, lest they should be forced to make use of oil that came from the Greeks, and thereby transgress their own laws. Now this wassaid by John, notoutof his regard to religion, but out of his most flagrant desire of gain ; for he knew that two sectaries were sold with them of Csesarea for one drachma ; but that at Gischala fourscore sectaries were sold for four sectaries : so he gave order that all the oil which was there should be carried away, as having my permission for so doing ; which yet I did not grant him voluntarily, but only out of fear of the multitude, since, if I had forbid- den him, I should have been stoned by them. — When I had therefore permitted this to be done by John, he gained vast sums of money by this his knavery. 1 4. But when I had dismissed my fellow-legates, and sent them back to Jerusalem, I took care to have arms provided, and the cities fortified ; and when I had sent for the most hardy among the robbers, I saw that it was not in my power to take their arms from them ; but I persuaded the mul- titude to allow them money as pay, and told them it was better for them to give them a little willingly rather than to [be forced to] overlook them when they plundered their goods from them. And when I had obliged them to take an oath not to come into that country, unless they were invited to come, or else when they had not their pay given them, I dismissed them, and charged them neither to make an expedition against the Romans, nor against those their neighbours that lay round about them ; for my first care was to keep Galilee in peace. So I was willing to have the principal of the Galileans, in all seventy, as hostages for their fidelity, but still under the notion of friendship. Accordingly, I made them my friends and companions as I journeyed, and set them to judge causes ; and with their^approbation it was that I gave my sentences, while I endeavoured not to mistake what justice required, and to keep my hands clear of all bribery in those determinations. 1 5. I was now about the thirtieth year Of my age ; in which time of life it is a hard thing for any one to escape the calumnies of the envious, although he restrain himself from fulfilling any unlawful desires, especially where a person is in great authority. Yet did I preserve every woman fi'ee from injuries ; and as to what presents were offered me, I despised them, as not standing in need of them ; nor indeed would I take those tithes, which were due to me as a priest, from those that brought them. Yet do I confess, that I took part of the spoils of those Syrians which inhabited the cities that adjoined to us, when I had conquered them, and that I sent them to my kindred at Jeru- salem ; although, when I twice took Sepphoris by force, and Tiberias four times, and Gadara once, and when I had subdued and taken John, who often laid treacherous snares for me, I did not punish [with death] either him or any of the peo- ple fore-named, as the progress of this discourse will show. And on this account, I suppose, it was that God,* who is never unacquainted with those * Our .]()£ι·ρ!πΐ!·; shows, both here and evei'iiwhere, that he w-ns a most religious pereoa, and one that had a deep sense of God and his that do as they ought to do, delivered me still out of the hands of these my enemies, and afterwards preserved me when I fell into those many dangers which I shall relate hereafter. 16. Now the multitude of the Galileans had that great kindness for me, and fidelity to me, that when their cities were taken by force, and their wives and children canned into slavery, they did not so deeply lament for their own calamities, as they were solicitous for my preservation. But when John saw this, he envied me, and wrote to me, de- shing that I would give him leave to come down, and make use of the hot baths of Tiberias for the recovery of the health of his body. Accordingly, \ did not hinder him, as having no suspicion of any wicked designs of his ; and I wrote to those to whom I had committed the adnoinistration of the affairs of Tiberias by name, that they should, pro- vide a lodging for John, and for such as should come with him, and should procure him what ne- cessaries soever he should stand in need of. Now at this time my abode was in a village of GaUlec" which is named Cana. 17. But when John was come to the city of Ti- berias, he persuaded the men to revolt from their fidelity to me, and to adhere to him ; and many of them gladly received that invitation of his, as ever fond of innovations, and by nature disposed to changes, and delighting in seditions ; but they were chiefly Justus and his father Pistus that were ear- nest for their revolt from me, and their adherence to John. But I came upon them, and prevented them ; for a messenger had come to me from Silas, whom I had made governor of Tiberias, as I have said already, and had told me of the inclinations of the people of Tiberias, and advised me to make haste thither ; for that if I made any delay, the city would come under another's jurisdiction. Upon the receipt of this letter of Silas, I took two hundred men along with me, and travelled all night, having sent before a messenger to let the people oi Tiberias Imow that I was coming to them. When I came near to the city, which was early in the morning, the multitude came out to meet me, and John came with them, and saluted me, but in a most disturbed manner, as being afraid that my coming was to call him to an account for Avhat I was now sensible he was doing. So he, in great haste, went to his lodging. But when I was in the open place of the city, having dismissed the guards I had about me, exceptmg one, and ten arniea men that were with him, I attempted to make a speech to the multitude of the people of Tiberiaa , and standing on a certain elevated place, I entreat- ed them not to be so hasty in their revolt ; for that such a change in their behaviour would be to their reproach, and that they would then justly be sus- pected by those that should be their governors hereafter, as if they were not likely to be faithful to them neither. 18. But before I had spoken all I designed, 1 heard one of my own domestics bidding me come down ; for that it was not a proper time to take care of retaining the good-will of the people of Ti- berias, but to provide for my own safety, and escape my enemies there ; for John had chosen the most trusty of those armed men that were about him out providence upon his mind; and ascribed all his numerous and wondc-r. ful escapes and preservations, in times of danger, to God's blessing hiin. and taking care of him ; and this on account of his acts of piety, justice, humanity, and charity, to the Jews his brethren. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 01 those thousand tliat he had with him, and had given them orders, Avhen he sent them to kill me, haAdng learned that I was alone, excepting some of my domestics. So those that were sent came, as they v/eve ordered, and they had executed what they came about, had I not leaped down from the elevation I stood on, and with one of my guards, whose name was James, heen carried [out of the crowd] upon the back of one Herod of Tiberias, and guided by him down to the lake, where I seized a ship, and got into it, and escaped my ene- mies unexpectedly, and came to Taricheee. 19. Now, as soon as the inhabitants of that city understood the perfidiousness of the people of Ti- berias, they were greatly provoked at them. So they snatched up their arms, and desired me to be their leader against them ; for they said they would avenge their commander's cause upon them. They also carried the report of what had been done to me to all the Galileans, and eagerly endeavoured to irritate them against the people of Tiberias, and desired that vast numbers of them would get toge- ther, and come to, them, that they might act in con- cert with their commander, what should be deter- mined as fit to be done. Accordingly, the Galil- eans came to me in great numbers, from all parts, with their weapons, and besought me to assault Tiberias, to take it by force, and to demolish it, till it lay even with the ground, and then to make slaves of its inhabitants, with their wives and children. Those that were Josephus's friends also, and had escaped out of Tiberias, gave him the same advice. But I did not comply with them, thinking it a ter- rible thing to begin a civil war among them ; for I thought that this contention ought not to proceed farther than words ; nay, I told them that it was not for their own advantage to do Avhat they would have me to do, while the Romans expected no other than that we should destroy one another by our mutual seditions ; and by saving this, I put a stop to the anger of the G alileans. 20. But now John was afi-aid for himself ; since his treachery had proved unsuccessful ; so he took the armed men that were about him, and removed from Tiberias to Gischala, and wrote to m.e to apologize for himself concerning what had been done, as if it had been done without his approba- tion ; and desired me to have no suspicion of him to his disadvantage. He also added oaths and cer- tain horrible curses upon himself, and supposed he should be thereby believed in the points he wrote bout to me. 21. But now another great number of the Gali- leans came together again with their weapons, as knowing the man, how wicked and how sadly per- jured he was, and desired me to lead them against him, and promised me that they would utterly destroy both him and Gischala. Hereupon I pro- fessed that I was obliged to them for their readi- ness to serve me ; and that I would more than requite their good-will to me. However, I entreated them to restrain themselves ; and begged of them to give me leave to do v/liat I intended, Avhich was to put an end to these troubles Avithout bloodshed ; and when I had prevailed with the multitude of the Galileans to let me do so, I came to Sepphoris. ; 22. But the inhabitants of this city having deter- mined to continue in their allegiance to the Romans, were afraid of ray coming to them ; and tried, by putting me upon another action, to divert me, that they iniiijht be freed from the terror they were in. Accordmgly they sent to Jesus, the captain of those robbers who were in the confines of Ptolemais, and promised to give him a great deal of money, ii he would come with those forces he had Avith him, which were in number eight hundred, and fight with us. Accordingly he complied with what they desired, upon the promises they had made him, and was desirous to fall upon us when v/e were unpre- pared for him, and knew nothing of his coming beforehand ; so he sent to me, and desired that I would give him leave to come and salute me. When I had given him that leave, which I did without the least knowledge of his treacherous intentions beforehand, he took his band of robbers, and made haste to come to me. Yet did not this knavery succeed well at last ; for, as he was already nearly approaching, one of those with him deserted him, and came to me, and told me what he had under- taken to do. When I was informed of this, I went into the market-place, and pretended to know no- thing of his treacherous purpose. I took with me many Galileans that were armed, as also some of those of Tiberias ; and when I had given orders that all the roads should be carefully guarded, I charged the keepers of the gates, to give admit- tance to none but Jesus, when he came, with the principal of his men, and to exclude the rest ; and in case they aimed to force themselves in, to use stripes [in order to repel them]. Accordingly, those that had received such a charge did as they were bidden, and Jesus came in with a few others ; and when I had ordered him to throw down his arms immediately, and told him, that if he refused so to do, he Avas a dead man, he seeing armed men standing all round about him, was terrified, and complied ; and as ibr those of his followers that were excluded, when they were informed that he was seized, they ran away. I then called Jesus to me by himself, and told him, that " I was not a stranger to that treacherous design ho had against me, nor was I ignorant by Avhom he was sent for ; that, howevei', I would forgive him Avhat he had done already, if he would repent of it, and be faith- ful to me hereafter." And thus, upon his promise to do all that I desired, I let him go, and gave him leave to get those whom he had formerly had with him, together again. Bat I threatened the mha- bitants of Sepphoris, that, if they would not leave off their ungrateful treatment of me, I would punish them sufficiently. 23. At this time it was that two great men, who were under the jurisdiction of the king [Agrippa], came to me out of the region of Trachonitis, brmg- ing their horses and their arras, and carrying Avith them their money also ; and when the Jews would force them to be circumcised, if they would stay among them, I would not permit them to have any force put upon them,* but said to them, " Every one ought to worship God according to his own in- clinations, and not to be constrained by force ; and that these men, who had fied to us for protection, ought not to be so treated as to repent of their coming hither." And when I had pacified the multitude, I provided for the men that were come to us whatsoever it v/as they wanted, according to » Josephus's opinion is here well worth noting: — That every one Is to be permitted to worship God accoi-ding to his own conscience, and is not to be compelled in matters of religion; as one may here observe, on the contrary, that the rest of the Jews were still for obliging all those who married .Tewesses to be eircumcisea, and become JeAvs; and wera ready to dtstroy all that would not submit to do so. See sect 31, aui Luke ix. 54. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 7 their usual way of living, and that in great plenty also. 24. Now King Aginppa sent an array to make themselves masters of the citadel of Gamala, and over it Equiculus Modius ; hut the forces that were sent were not enow to encompass the citadel quite round, but lay before it in the open places, and besieged it. But when Ebutius the decurion, who was intrusted with the government of the great plain, heard that I was at Simonias, a village situated in the confines of Gahlee, and was distant from him sixty furlongs, he took a hundred horse- men that were with him by niglit, and a certain number of footmen, about two hundred, and brought the inliabitants of the city Gibea along with him as auxiliaries, and marched in the night, and came to the village where I abode. Upon this I pitched my camp over against him, which had a great number of forces in it ; but Ebutius tried to draΛv us down into the plain, as greatly depending upon liis horsemen ; but we would not come dovv^n ; for when I was satisfied of the advantage that his horse would have if we came down into the plain, while we were all footmen, I resolved to join battle with the enemy where I was. Now Ebutius and his party made a courageous opposition for some time : but Avhen he saw that his horse were useless to him in that place, he retired back to the city Gibea, liaving lost three of his men in the fight. So I fol- lowed him directly with two thousand armed men ; and when I was at the city Besara, that lay in the confines of Ptolemais, but twenty furlongs from Gibea, where Ebutius abode, I placed my armed men on the outside of the village, and gave orders that they should guard the passes with great care, that the enemy might not disturb us until we should have carried off the corn, a great quantity of which lay there : it belonged to Bernice the queen, and had been gathered together out of the neighbouring villages into Besara : so I loaded my camels and asses, a great immber of v.hich I had brought along with me, and sent the corn into Galilee. When I had done this, I offered Ebutius battle ; but when he would not accept of the offer, for he was terrified at our readiness and courage, I altered my route, and marched towards Neopohtanus, because I had heard that the country about Tiberias was laid waste by him. This Neopolitanus was captain of a troop of horse, and had the custody of Scythopolis intrusted to his care by tlie enemy ; and when I had hindei'ed him from doing any farther mischief to Tiberias, I set myself to make provision for the affiiirs of Galilee. 25. But when John, the son of Levi, who, as we before told you, abode at Gischala, was informed how all things had succeeded to my mind, and that I was much in favour with those that were under me, as also that the enemy were greatly afraid of me, he Avas not pleased with it, as thinking my pros- ])erity tended to his ruin. So he took up a bitter envy and enmity against me ; and hoping, that if he could inflame those that v/eve under me to hate me, he should put an end to the prosperity I Avas in, he tried to persuade the inhabitants of Tiberias, and of Sepphoris (and for those of Gabara he sup- posed tliey would be also of the same mhid with the others), which were the greatest cities of Gali- lee, to revolt from their subjection to me, and to be of liis party ; and told them that he would com- mand them better than I did. As for the people of Sepphoris, who belonged to neitherof us, because they had chosen to be in subjection to the Romans they did not comply with his proposal ; and for those of Tiberias, they did not indeed so far comply as to make a revolt from under me, but they agreed to be his friends, while the inhabitants of Gabara did go over to John ; and it was Simon that per- suaded them so to do, one λυΙιο was both the prin- cipal man in the city and a particular friend and companion of John. It is true, these did not openly own the making a revolt, because they were i]i great fear of the Galileans, and had frequent experience of the good-will they bore to me ; yet did they privately watch for a proper opportunity to lay snares for me ; and indeed I therebj' came into the greatest danger on the occasion following. '2G. There were some bold young men of the village of Dabaritta, who observed that the wife of Ptolemy, the king's procurator, was to make a pro- gress over the great plain Avith a mighty attendance, and with some horsemen that folloAved as a guard to them, and this out of a country that was subject to the king and queen, into the jurisdiction of the Romans ; and fell upon them on a sudden, and obliged the wife of Ptolemy to fly away, and plun- dered all the carriages. They also came to me to Tarichese, with four mules' loading of garments, and other furniture ; and the weight of the silver they brought was not small ; ard there were five hundred pieces of gold also. Now I had a mind to preserve these spoils for Ptolemy, who was my ■ countryman ; and it is prohibited^- by our laws even to spoil our enemies ; so I said to those that brought these spoils, that they ought to be kept, in order to rebuild the walls of J erusalem with them when they came to be sold ; but the young men took it very ill that they did not receive a part of those spoils for themselves, as they expected to have done ; so they went among the villages in the neighbourhood of Tiberias, and told the people that I was going to betray their country to the Romans, and that I used deceitful language to them, when I said that what had been thus gotten by rapine should be kept for the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem ; although I had resolved to restore these spoils again to their former owner ; and indeed they were herein not mistaken as to my intentions ; and when I had gotten clear of them, I sent for Uvo of the principal men, Dassion, and Janneus the son of Levi, pex'sons that were among , the chief friends of the king, and commanded them ; to take the furniture that had been plundered, and to send it to him ; and I threatened that I would order them to be put to death by way of punish- ment, if they discovered this my command to any other person. * 27. Now, when all Galilee was filled with this rumour, that their country wsls about to be betrayed by me to the Romans, and when all men were ex- asperated against me, and ready to bring me to punishment, the inhabitants of Taricheee did also themselves suppose that what the young men said i »Πο\ν Josephus could say here that the Jewish laws forbade them to " Bpoil even their enemies," while yet a little before his time, out Saviour had mentioned it as then a current maxim with them, "Thou Shalt love thy neiglibour, and hate thine enemy" (Matt. v. 43), is worth our Inquiry. I take it that Josephus, having been now for many years an Ebionite Christian, had learned this interpretation of the law of Jloses from Christ, whom he owned for the true Messiah, as it follows in the succeeding verses, which, though he might not read in St. Slatthew's gospel, yet he might have read much the same exposition in their own Kbionite or Nazarene gospel itself; of which improvements made ty Josephus, after he was become a Christian, we have already had several examples in this his Life, sect. 3, 13, 15, 19. 2!, 23 ; and shall have many more therein before its conclusion, us well as \fQ have them else, where in all his later writings. 8 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. was true, and persuaded my guards and armed meu to leave me when I was asleep, and to come presently to the hippodrome, in order there to take counsel against me their commander ; and when they had prevailed Avith them, and they were gotten together, they found there a great company assembled already, λυΙιο all jomed in one clamour, to bring the man λνΐιο was so wicked to them as to betray them, to his due punishment ; and it was Jesus, the son of Sapphias, who principally set them on. He was ruler in Tiberias, a wicked man, and naturally disposed to make disturbances in matters of consequence ; a seditious person he Avas indeed, and an innovator beyond every body else. He then took the laws of Moses into his hands, and came into the midst of the people, and said, " 0 my fellow-citizens ! if you are not disposed to hate Josephus on your own account, have regard, how- ever, to these laws of your country, which your commander-in-chief is going to betray ; hate him therefore on both these accounts, and bring the man who hath acted thus insolently, to his deserved punishment." 28. When he had said this, and the multitude had openly applauded him for what he had said, he took some of the armed men, and made haste away to the house in which I lodged, as if he Avould kill me immediately, while I was wholly insensible of all till this disturbance happened ; and by reason of the pains I had been taking, was fallen fast asleep ; but Simon, who was intrusted with the care of my body, and was the only person that stayed with me, and saw the violent incursion the citizens made upon me, awaked me and told me of the dan- ger I was in, and desired me to let him kill me, that I might die bravely and like a general, before my enemies came in, and forced me [to kill myself] or killed me themselves. Thus did he discourse to me ; but I committed the care of my life to God, and made haste to go out to the multitude. Ac- cordingly, I put on a black garment, and hung my sword at my neck, and went by such a diflFerent way to the hippodrome, wherein I thought none of my adversaries would meet me ; so I appeared among them on the sudden, and fell down flat on the earth, and bedewed the ground Avith my tears : then I seemed to them an object of compassion ; and when I perceived the change that was made in the multitude, I tried to divide their opinions before the armed men should return from my house ; so I granted them that I had been as wicked as they supposed me to be ; but still I entreated them to let me first inform them for what use I had kept that money which arose from the plunder ; and that they might then kill me, if they pleased : and, upon the multitude's ordering me to speak, the armed men came upon me, and when they saw me, they ran to kill me ; but when the multitude bade them hold their hands, they complied ; and expect- ed that as soon as I should own to them, that I kept the money for the king, it would be looked on as a confession of my treason, and they should then be allowed to kill me. 29. When, therefore, silence was made by the whole multitude, I spake thus to them : — " Ο my countrymen ! I refuse not to die, if justice so re- quire. However, I am desirous to tell you the truth of this matter before I die ; for as I know that this city of yours [Tarichese] was a city of great hospi- tality, and filled with abundance of such men as liave left their o\ra countries, and are come hither to be partakers of your fortune, whatever it be, I had a mind to build walls about it, out of this money, for which you are so angry vnth me, while yet it was to be expended in building your own walls." Upon my saying this, the people of Taricheee and the strangers cried out. That "they gave me thanks ; and desired me to be of good courage," although the Galileans and the people of Tiberias continued in their vvrath against me, insomuch that there arose a tumult among them, while some threatened to kill me, and some bade me not to regard them ; but when I promised them that I would build them walls at Tiberias, and at other cities that wanted them, they gave credit to what I promised, and re- turned every one to his own home. So I escaped the forementioned danger, beyond all my hopes ; and returned to my own house, accompanied with my friends, and twenty armed men also. 30. However, these robbers and other authors of this tumult, who were afraid on their own ac- count, lest I should punish them for what they had done, took six hundred armed men, and came to the house where I abode, in order to set it on fire. When this their insult was told me, I thought it indecent for me to run away, and I resolved to ex- pose myself to danger, and to act with some bold ness ; so I gave order to shut the doors, and went up into an upper room, and desired that they would send in some of their men to receive the money [from the spoils] ; for I told them they would then have no occasion to be angry with me ; and when they had sent in one of the boldest of them all, I had him whipped severely ; and I commanded that one of his hands should be cut off, and hung about his neck ; and in this case was he put out to those that sent him. At which procedure of mine they were greatly affrighted, and in no small consterna- tion ; and were afraid that they should themselves be served in like manner, if they stayed there ; for they supposed that I had in the house more armed men than they had themselves ; so they ran away immediately, while I, by the use of this stratagem, escaped this their second treacherous design against me. 31. But there were still some that irritated the multitude against me, and said that those great men that belonged to the king ought not to be suf- fered to live, if they would not change their reli- gion to the religion of those to Avhom they fled for safety ; they spake reproachfully of them also, and said that they were wizards, and such as called in the Romans upon them. So the multitude was soon deluded by such plausible pretences as werr agreeable to their own inclinations, and were pre- vailed on by them ; but when I was informed oi this, I instructed the multitude again, that those who fled to them for refuge ought not to be perse- cuted : I also laughed at the allegation about witchcraft ;* and told them that the Romans would not maintain so many ten thousand soldiers, if they could overcome their enemies by wizards. Upon my saying this, the people assented for a while ; but they returned again afterwards, as irri- tated by some ill people against the great men , nay, they once made an assault upon the house in wliich they dwelt at Tarichese, in order to kill them ; which, when I was informed of, I was afraid lest so horrid a crime should take efi'ect, and no- • Here we may observe the vulgar Je^v^sh nottou of witchcraft ; but that our Josephus was too wise to give any countenance li> It. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 9 body else would make that city their refuge any more. I therefore came myself, and some others with me, to the house where these great men lived, and locked the doors, and had a trench drawn from their house leading to the lake, and sent for a ship, and embarked therein with them, and sailed to the confines of Hippos : I also paid them the value of their horses ; nor in such a flight could I have their horses brought to them. I then dismissed them ; and begged of them earnestly that they would courageously bear this distress which befell them. I was also myself greatly displeased that I was compelled to expose those that had fled to me, to go again into an enemy's country ; yet did I think it more eligible that they should perish among the Romans, if it should so happen, than in the country that was under my jurisdiction. How- ever, they escaped at length, and king Agrippa forgave them their offences ; and this was the con- clusion of what concerned these men. 32. But as for the inhabitants of the city of Ti- berias, they wrote to the king, and desired him to send them forces sufficient to be a guard to their country ; for that they were desuOus to come over to him. This was what they wrote to him ; but when I came to them, they desired me to build their walls, as I had promised them to do ; for they had heard that the walls of Tarichese were already built. I agreed to their proposal accord- ingly ; and when I had made preparation for the entire building, I gave order to the architects to go to work ; but on the third day, when I was gone to Taricheae, which was thirty furlongs dis- tant from Tiberias, it so fell out, that some Roman horsemen were discovered on their march, not far from the city, which made it to be supposed that the forces were come from the king ; upon which they shouted, and lifted up their voices in com- mendations of the king, and in reproaches against me. Hereupon one came running to me, and told me what their dispositions were ; and that they had resolved to revolt from me : — upon hearing which news I was very much alarmed ; for I had already sent away my armed men from Tarichero to their own homes, because the next day was our Sabbath ; for I would nothavethepeople of Tarichese disturbed [on that day] by a multitude of soldiers ; and, indeed, whenever I sojourned at that city, I never took any particular care for a guard about my own body, because I had had frequent instances of the fidelity its inhabitants bore to me. I had now about me no more than seven armed men, be- sides some friends, and was doubtful what to do ; for to send to recall my own forces I did not think proper, because the present day was almost over ; and had those forces been with me, I could not take up arms on the next day, because our laws forbade us so to do, even though our necessity should be very great ; and if I should permit the people of Tarichese, and the strangers with thetn, to guard the city, I saw that they would not be sufiicient for that purpose, and I perceived that I should be obliged to delay my assistance a great ivhile ; for I thought with myself that the forces that came from the king would prevent me, and that I should be driven out of the city. I consi- dered, therefore, how to get clear of these forces by a stratagem ; so I immediately placed those my friends of Taricheae, on whom I could best Confide, at the gates, to watch those very care- fully who went out at those gates ; I also called to me the heads of families, and bade evei7 one of them seize upon a ship,* to go on board it, and to take a master with them, and follow him to the city of Tiberias. I also myself went on board one of those ships, with my friends, and the seven armed men already mentioned, and sailed for Tibei-ias. 33. But now, when the people of Tiberias per- ceived that there were no forces come from the king, and yet saw the whole lake full of ships, they were in fear what would become of their city, and were greatly terrified, as supposing that the ships were full of men on board ; so they then changed their minds, and threw down their weapons, and met me with their wives and children, and made acclamations to me with great commendations ; for they imagined that I did not know their former inclinations [to have been against me], so they persuaded me to spare the city ; but when I was come near enough, I gave order to the masters of the ships to cast anchor a good way off" the land, that the people of Tiberias might not perceive that the ships had no men on board ; but I went nearer to the people in one of the ships, and rebuked them for their folly, and that they were so fickle as, without any just occasion in the world, to revolt from their fidelity to me. However, I assured them that I would entirely forgive them for the time to come, if they would send ten of the ring- leaders of the multitude to me ; and when they complied readily with this proposal, and sent me the men forementioned, I put them on board a ship, and sent them away to Tarichese, and ordered them to be kept in prison. 34. And by this stratagem it was that I gradu- ally got all the senate of Tiberias into my power, and sent them to the city forementioned, with many of the principal men among the populace ; and those not fewer in number than the other ; but, when the multitude saw into what great miseries they had brought themselves, they desired me to punish the author of this sedition : his name was Clitus, a young man, bold and rash in his under- takings. Now, since I thought it not agreeable to piety to put one of my own people to death, and }'et found it necessary to punish him, I ordered Levi, one of my own guards, to go to him, and cut off* one of Clitus's hands ; but as he that was order- ed to do this, was afraid to go out of the ship alone among so great a multitude, I was not willing that the timorousness of the soldier should appear to the people of Tiberias ; — so I called to Clitus him- self, and said to him, " Since thou deservest to lose both thme hands for thy ingratitude to me, be thou thine own executioner, lest if thou refusest so to be, thou undergo a worse punishment." And when he earnestly begged of me to spare him one of his hands, it was with difficulty that I granted it. So, in order to prevent the loss of both his hands, he willingly took his sword, and cut off his own left hand ; and this put an end to the sedition. 35. Now the men of Tiberias, after I was gone to Taricheae, perceived what stratagem I had used against them, and they admired how I had put an end to theii' foolish sedition, without shedding of * In this section, as well as In the 18 and 33, those small vessels that sailed on the sea of Galilee, are called by Josephus Νη€9, and Πλο^α, and Έκαφαΐ] ί. e. plainly i/it>i ; so that we need not wonder at oiw Evangelists, who still call them thipe ; nor ought we to render them boats, as some do. Their number was in aU 230, as we learn from our author «i«ewhere. Jewish Wax, b. ii. ch. xxl. sect. & THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. Mood. But now, wlieu 1 liad sent for some of those multitudes of the people of Tiberias out of prison, among whom were Justus and his father Pistus, I made them to sup with me ; and during our sup- per t ime I said to them, that I knew the power of the Komans was superior to all others ; but did not say so [publicly] because of the robbers. So I advised them to do as I did, and to wait for a proper opportunity, and not to be uneasy at my being their commander ; for that they could not expect to have another who would use the lilie moderation that I had done. I also put Justus in mind how the Galileans had cut off his brother's hands before ever I came to Jerusalem, upon an accusation laid against him, as if he had been a rogue, and liad forged some letters ; as also how the peo]ile of Gamala, in a sedition they raised against the Babylonians, after the departure of Philip, slew Chares, who Avas a kinsman of Phi- lip, and withal how they had wisely punished Jesus, his brother Justus's sister's husband [with death]. When 1 had said this to them during supper-time, I in the morning ordered Justus, and all the rest that were in prison, to be loosed out of it, and sent aAvay. 36. But before this, it happened that Philip, the son of Jacimus, went out of the citadel of Gamala upon the following occasion : When Philip had been informed that Varus was put out of his go- vernment by king Agrippa, and that Equiculus Modius, a man that Avas of old his friend and com- ])amon, was come to succeed him, he wrote to him, and i-elated what turns of fortune he had had, and desired him to forward the letters he sent to the king and queen. Now, v/nen Modius had received these letters, lie Avas exceedingly glad, and sent the letters to the king and queen, who were then about Bery tus. But when king Agrippa knew that the story about Philip was false (for it had been given out, that the Jews had begun a war with the Romans, and that this Philip had been their comma^nder in that war), he sent some horsemen to conduct Philip to him ; and Avhen he Avas come, he saluted him very obligingly, and showed him to the Roman com- manders, and told them that this was the man of whom the report had gone about as if he had re- volted from the Romans. He also bid him to take some horsemen with him, and to go quickly to the citadel of Gamala, and to bring out thence all his domestics, and to restore the Babylonians to Bata- nea again. He also gave it him in charge to take all possible care that none of his sulijects should be guilty of making any innovation. Accordingly, upon these directions from the king, he made haste to do what he was commanded. 37. Now there was one J oseph, the son of a fe- male physician, who excited a great many young men to join with him. He also insolently addres- sed himself to the principal persons at Gamala, and persuaded them to revolt from the king, and iake up arms, and gave them hopes that they should, by his means, recover their liberty : and some they forced into the service ; and those that would not acquiesce in what they had resolved on, they slew. Tliey also slew Chares, and with him Jesus, one of liis kinsmen, and a brother of Justus of Til)erias, as we have already said. Those of Gamala also wrote to me, desiring me to send them an anued force, and workmen to raise up the Avails of their city ; nor did I reject cither of their re- quests. The region of Gaulanitis did also revoit from the king, as far as the village Solyma. I also built a wall about Seleucia and Soganui, which are villages naturally of very great strength. More- over, I, in like manner, walled several viUages of Upper Galilee, though they were very rocky of them- selves. Their names are Jamnia, and Meroth, and Achabare. I also fortified, in the Lower Galilee, the cities Tarlcheae, Tiberias, Sepphoris, and the villages, the cave of Arbela, Bersobe, Selamin, Jotapata, Capharecho, and Sigo, and Japha, and Mount Tabor.* I also laid up a great quantity of corn in these places, and arms withal, that might be for their security afterward. 38. But the haired that John, the son of Levi, bore to me, grew now more violent, while he could not bear my prosperity with patience. So he pro- posed to himself, by all means possible, to make away with me ; and built the walls of Gischala, which Avas the place of his nativity. He then sent his brother Simon, and Jonathan, the son of Sisen- na, and about a hundred amied m.en, to Jerusalem, to Simon, the son of Gamaliel,^ in order to per- suade him to induce tlie commonalty of Jerusalem to take from me the government over the Galileans, and to give their suffrages for conferring that authority upon him. This Simon was of the city of Jerusalem, and of a very noble family, of the sect of the Pharisees, which are supposed to excel others in the accurate knoAvledge of the laws of their country. He AA'as a man of great Avisdora and reason, and capable of restoring public affiiirs by his prudence, when they were in an ill posture. He was also an old friend and companion of John ; but at that time he had a difference Avith me. When therefore he had received such an exhorta- tion, he persuaded the high priests, Ananus, and Jesus the son of Gamala, and some others of tlie same seditious faction, to cut me doAvn, noAV I was growing so great, and not to overlook me Avhile I Avas aggrandizing myself to the height of glory ; and he said that it Avould be for the advantage of tlie Galileans if I Avere depriA'ed of my government there. Ananus also, and his friends, desired them to make no delay about the matter, lest I should get the knowledge of Avhat Avas doing too soon, and should come and makean assault upon the city Avith a great army. ThisAvasthe counsel of Simon ; but Ana- nus the high priest demonstrated to them that this Avas not an easy thing to be done, because many of the high priests and of the rulers of the people, bore Avitness that ί had acted lilvc an excellent general, and that it Avas the work of ill men to accuse one against Avhom they had nothing to say. 39. When Simon heard Ananus say this, he de- sired that the messengers Avould conceal the thing, and not let it come among many : for that he Avould take care to have Josephus removed out of Galilee very quickly. So he called for John's brother [Si- mon], and charged him that they should send pre- sents to Ananus and his friends : for, as he said, they might probably by that means, persiiade them to change their minds. And indeed Simon did at length thus compass Avhat he aimed at ; for Ananus, and those Avith him,being corrupted by bribes, agreed to expel me out of Galilee, Avithout making the rest • Part of these fortifications on JTount Tahor may he those still re- mainiii-j, and which were seen lately by Jlr. Maundrel. See his Travels, p. H2 t Thi^i Gamaliel niav he the very same that is mentioned hy the rahhins in the Mi tina, in Juchasin, and in Porta Mosis, as is observed in tiie Latin notes. He minlit be also that Gamaliel II., whose i;randfather was Gamaliel T., Λνΐιο is mentioned in Acts v. 34; and at whose feet St Paul nuis Ιιι-ουι^/ιΙ up. Act xxii. 3. See Friil. at the year 4-1!). THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 11 of the citizens acquainted with wliat they were doing. Accordingly they resolved to send men of distinction as to their families, and of distinction as to their learning also. Two of these were of the populace, Jonathan* and Ananias, hy sect Pharisees ; while tlie third, Jozar, was of the stock of the priests, and a Pharisee also ; and Simon, the last of them, was of the youngest of the high priests. These had it given them in charge, that, when they were come to the multitude of the Galileans, they should ask them what Avas the reason of their love to me ? and if they said that it was because I was horn at Jerusa- lem, that they should reply, that they four were all horn at the same place ; and if they should say, it was because I was well versed in their law, they should reply, tliat neither were they unacquainted with the practices of their country ; but if, besides these, they should say they loved me because I was a priest, they should reply, that two of these were priests also. 40. Now, when they had given J onathan and his companions these instructions, they gave them forty thousand [drachmse] out of the pul)lic money : but when they heard that there was a certain Galilean that then sojourned at Jerusalem, whose name was Jesus, who had about him a band of six hundred armed men, they sent for him, and gave him three months' pay, and gave him orders to follow Jonathan and his companions, and be obedient to them. They also gave money to three hundred men that were citizens of Jerusalem to maintain them all, and or- dered them also to follow the ambassadors ; and when they had complied, and were gotten ready for the march, Jonathan and his companions went out with them, having along v/ith them John's brother and a hundred armsd men. The charge that was given tliem by those that sent them was this: That if I would voluntarily lay down my arms, they should send me alive to the city of Jerusalem ; but that, in case I opposed them, they should kill me, and fear nothing ; for that it was their command for them so to do. They also wrote to John to make all ready for fighting me, and gave orders to the inhabitants of Sepphoris, and Gabara, and Tiberias, to send auxiliaries to John. 41. Now, as my father Avrote me an account of this (for Jesus the Son of Gamala, who was present in that council, a friend and companion of mine, told him of it), I was very much troubled, as dis- covering thereby tliat ray felloAV-citizens proved so ungra.teful to me, as, out of envy, to give order that I should be slain ; my father earnestly j)ressed me also in his letter to come to him, for that he longed to see his son before he died. I informed my friends of these things, and that in three days' time Τ should leave the country and go home. Upon hearing this, they were all very sorry, and desired me, with tears in their eyes, not to leave them to be destroyed ; for so they thought they should be, if 1 were deprived of the command over them : but as I did not grant their request, but was tpJdng care of my own safety, tlie Galileans, out of their dread of the consequence of my departure, that they should then be at the mercy of the robbers, sent messengers over all Galilee to inform them of my resolution to leave them. Whereupon, as soon as they heard it, they got together in great numbers, from all parts, with their wives and children ; and ( his they did, as it appeared to me, not more out of ' This Jonathan is also taken notice of in the Latin notes, as the same that is inentiuiiei! by the rabbins in Porta. iJIoiiis. their affection to me, than out of tlieir fear on theii own account ; for, while I staid with them, they sup- posed that they should suffer no harm. So they all ca;me into the great plain, wherein I lived, the name of Avhich was Asochis. 42. But wonderful it was what a dream I saw that very night ; for when I had betaken myself to my bed, as grieved and disturbed at the news that had been written to me, it seemed to me, that a certainpersonstoodbyme,f andsaid, "0 Josephus ! leave off to afflict thy soul, and put away all fear ; for what now grieves thee will render thee very considei'able, and in all respects most happy ; for thou shait get over not only these difficulties, but many others, with great success. However, be not cast dov/n, but remember that thou art to fight with the Romans." When I had seen this dream, I got up with an intention of going down to the phiin. Now, when the whole multitude of the Gali- leans, among whom were the women and children, saΛv me, they threw themselves down upon their faces, and, with tears in their eyes, besought me not to leave them exposed to their enemies, nor to go away and permit their country to be injured by them ; but, when I did not comply with their en- treaties, they compelled me to take an oath, that I would stay with them : they also cast abundance of reproaches upon the people of Jerusalem, that they would not let their country enjoy peace. 43. IVhen I heard this, and saw what sorrow the people were in, I was moved with comxpassion to them, and thought it became me to undergo the most manifest hazards for the sake of so great a multitude ; so I let them know I would stay with them ; and when I had given order that five thou- sand of them should come to me armed, and with provisions for their maintenance, I sent the resfc away to their own homes ; and, when tliose five thousand Avere come, ί took them, together with three thousand of the soldiers that were with me before, and eighty horsemen, and marched to the village of Chabolo, situated in the confines of Ptole- mais, and there kept my forces together, pretending to get ready to fi_ght with Placidus, who was come with two cohorts of footmen, and one troop of horsemen ; and Avas sent thither by Costius Gallus to burn those villages of Galilee that were near Ptolemais. Upon whose casting up a bank before the city Ptolemais, I also pitchedmy camp at about the distance of sixty furlongs from that village ; and now we frequently brought out our forces as if we would fight, but proceeded no farther than skir- mishes at a distance ; for when Placidus perceived that I was earnest to come to a battle, he was afraid, and avoided it ; yet did he not remove from the neighbourhood of Ptolemais. 44. About this time it v/as that J onathan and his fellow-legates came. They were sent, as we have said already, by Simon, and Ananus, the high priest ; and Jonathan contrived how he might catch me by treachery ; for he durst not make any n-ttempt upon me openly. So he wrote me the fol- lowing epistle : — " Jonathan and those that are with iiim, and are sent by the people of Jerusalem to Josephus, send greeting. We are sent by the prm- cipal men of Jerusalem, who have heard that John of Gischala hath laid many snares for thee, to re- f Tliis I take to he the first of Josephus's remarkable or divine dreams, which were predictive of the great tilings that afterwards came to pass ; of which see more in the note on Antiq. b. iii. cliap. viii. sect. 9. Th« oilier is in the War. b, iii. ch, viii. sect. 3, 9, 12 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. buke him, and to exhort him to be subject to thee hereafter. We are also desirous to consult with thee about our common concerns, and what is fit to be done. We, therefore, desire thee to come to us quickly, and to bring only a few men with thee ; for this village will not contain a great number of sol- diers." Thus it was that they wi'ote, as expecting one of these two things ; either that ί should come without armed men, and then they should have me wholly in their power : or if I came with a great number, they should judge me to be a public ene- my. Now it was a horseman who brought the let- ter, a man at other times bold, and one that had served in the army under the Idng. It was the second hour of the night that he came, when I was feasting with my friends and the principal of the Galileans. This man, upon my servant's telling me that a certain horseman of the Jewish nation was come, was called in at my command, but did not so much as salute me at all, but held out a letter, and said, " This letter is sent thee by those that are come from Jerusalem ; do thou write an answer to it quickly, for I am obliged to return to them very soon." Nowmy guests could not but wonder at the boldness of the soldier ; but I desired him to sit down and sup with us ; but when he refused so to do, I held the letter in my hands as I received it, and fell a-talldng with my guests about other mat- ters ; but a few hours afterwards, I got up, and when I had dismissed the rest to go to their beds, I bid only four of my intimate friends to stay ; and ordered my servant to get some wine ready. I also opened the letter so, that nobody could perceive it ; and understanding thereby presently the purport of the writing, I sealed it up again, and appeared as if £ had not yet read it, but only held it in my hands. I ordered twenty drachmee should be given to the soldier for the charges of his journey ; and when he took the money, and said that he thanked me for it, I perceived that he loved money, and that he was to be caught chiefly by that means ; and I said to him, " If thou wilt but drink with us, thou ahalt have a drachma ibr every glass thou drinkest." So he gladly embraced this proposal, and drank a great deal of wine, in order to get the more money, and was so drunk, that at last he could not keep the secrets he was intrusted with, but discovered them without my putting questions to him, viz. That a treacherous design was contrived against me ; and that I was doomed to die by those that sent him. When I heard this, I wrote back this answer : — " Josephus to Jonathan, and those that are with hira, sendeth greeting. Upon the information that you are come in health mto Galilee, I rejoice, and this especially, because I can now resign the care of public affairs here into your hands, and return into my native country, — which is what I have de- sired to do a great while ; and I confess I ought not only to come to you as far as Xaloth, but far- ther, and this without your commands : but I de- sire you to excuse me, because I cannot do it now, since I watch the motions of Placidus, who hath a Blind to go up into Galilee ; and this I do here at Chabolo. Do you, therefore, on the receipt of this epistle, come hither to me. Fare you well." 45. When I had written thus, and given the letter to be carried by the soldier, I sent along with him thirty of the Galileans of the best characters, and gave them instructions to salute those ambassadors, but to say nothing else to them. I also gave orders to as many of those armed men, whom 1 esteemed most faithful to me, to go along with the others, every one with him whom he was to guard, lest some conversation might pass between those whom I sent and those who were with Jonathan. So those men went [to Jonathan]. But, when Jona- than and his partners had failed in this their first attempt, they sent me another letter, the contents whereof were as follows : — " Jonathan, and those with him, to Josephus, send greeting. We require thee to come to us to the village Gabaroth, on the third day, without any armed men, that we may hear what thou hast to lay to the chai'ge of Jolm [of Gischala] ." When they had written this letter, they saluted the Galileans whom I sent ; and came to Japha, which was the largest village of all Gali- lee, and encompassed with very strong walls, and had a great number of inhabitants in it. There the multitude of men, with their wives and children, met them, and exclaimed loudly against them ; and desired them to be gone, and not to envy them the advantage of an excellent commander. With these clamours Jonathan and his partners were greatly provoked, although they durst not show their anger openly ; so they made them no answer, but went to other villages. But still the same clamours met them from all the people, who said, "Nobody should persuade them to have any other commander be- sides Josephus." So Jonathan and his partners went away from them without success, and came to Sepphoris, the greatest city of all Galilee. Now the men of that city, who inclined to the Ro- mans in their sentiments, met them indeed, but neither praised nor reproached me ; and when they were gone down from Sepphoris to Λ sochis, the people of that place made a clamour against them, as those of Japha had done ; whereupon they were able to contain themselves no longer, but ordered the armed men that were with them to beat those that made the clamour with their clubs ; and when they came to Gabara, John met them with three thousand armed men ; but, as I understood by their letter that they had resolved to fight against me, I arose from Chabolo, with three thousand armed men also, but left in my camp one of my fastest friends, and came to Jotapata, as desirous to be near them, the distance being no more than forty fur- longs. Whence I wrote thus to them : — " If you are very desirous that I should come to you, you know there are two hundred and forty cities and villages in Galilee : I will come to any of them which you please, excepting Gabara and Gischala, — the one of which is John's native city, and the other in confederacy and friendship with him." 46. When Jonathan and his partnershadi-eceived this letter, they wrote me no more answers, but called a counsel of their friends together ; and tak- ing John into their consultation, they took comise^ together by what means they might attack me. John's opinion was, that they should \vrite to all the cities and villages that were in Galilee ; for that there must be certainly one or two persons in every one of them that were at variance with me ; and that they should be invited to come, to oppose me as an enemy. He would also have them send this resolution of theirs to the city of Jerusalem, that its citizens, upon the knowledge of my being adjudged to be an enemy by the Galileans, might themselves also confirm that determination. He said also, that when this was doue, even those Gali- leans who were well affected to me, would desert me out of fear. When John had aiven them this ftlE LIFE OF FLAVlliS JOSEPHUS. counsel, what he had said was very agreeable to the rest of them. I was also made acquainted with these affairs about the third hour of the night, by the means of one Saccheus, who had belonged to them, but now deserted them and came over to me, and told me what they were about ; so I perceived that no time was to be lost. Accordingly I gave command to Jacob, an armed man of my guard, whom I esteemed faithful to me, to take two hun- dred men, and to guard the passages that led from G-abara to Galilee, and to seize upon the passengers, and send them to me, especially such as were caught with letters about them : I also sent Jere- mias himself, one of my friends, with six hundred armed men, to the borders of Galilee, in order to watch the roads that led from this country to the city Jerusalem ; and gave him charge to lay hold of such as travelled with letters about them, to keep the men in bonds upon the place, but to send me the letters. 47. When I had laid these commands upon them, I gave them orders, and bid them take their arms, and bring three days' provision with them, and be with me the next day. I also parted those that were about me into four parts, and ordained those of them that were most faithful to me to be a guard to my body. I also set over them centurions ; and com- manded them to take care that not a soldier which they did not know, should mingle himself among them. Now, on the fifth day following, when I was at Gabaroth, I found the entire plain that was be- fore the village full of armed men, who were come out of Galilee to assist me ; many others of the mul- titude also out of the village, ran along with me : but as»soon as I had taken my place, and began to speak to them, they all made an acclamation, and called me the Benefactor and Saviour of the coun- try ; and when I had made them my acknowledge- ments, and thanked them [for their affection to me], I also advised them to fight with nobody,* nor to spoil the country, but to pitch their tents in the plain, and be content with their sustenance they had brought with them ; for I told them that I had a mind to compose these troubles without shedding any blood. Now it came to pass, that on the very same day those who were sent by John with letters, fell among the guards whom I had appointed to watch the roads ; so the men were themselves kept upon the place, as my orders were ; but I got the letters, which were full of reproaches and lies ; and I in- tended to fall upon these men, without saying a word of these matters to any body. 48. Now, as soon as Jonathan and his compani- ons heard of my coming, they took all their own friends, and John with them, and retired to the house of Jesus, which indeed was a large castle, and no way unlike a citadel ; so they privately led a band of armed men therein, and shut all the other doors but one, which they kept open, and they ex- pected that I should come out of the road to them, to salute! them ; and indeed they had given ordei's to the armed men, that when I came they should let nobody besides me come in, but should exclude others ; as supposing that, by this means, they should easily get me under their power : but they were deceived in their expectation, for I perceived • Joi.ephus's directions to his soldiers here ar« much the same that John the Baptist gave (Ijuke iii. 14) :— "Do Tiolence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your -wages." Whence Dr. Hud- eon confirms this conjecture, that Josephus, in some thinjis, was, even uow, a follower of Jolin the Baptist, which is no way improbable. See the uute on sect. 2. what snares they had laid for me. Noav, as soon as I was got off my journey, I took up my lodgings over against them, and pretended to be asleep ; ho Jonathan and his party, thinking that I was really asleep and at rest, made haste to go down into the plain to persuade the people that I was an ill gov- ernor : but the matter proved otherwise ; for, upon their appearance, there was a cry made by the Galileans immediately, declaring their good opinion of me as their governor ; and they made a clamour against Jonathan and his partners for coming to them when they had suffered no harm, and as though they would overtmTi theirhappy settlement ; and desired them by all means to go back again, for that they would never be persuaded to have any other to rule over them but myself. When I heard of this, I did not fear to go down into the midst of them ; I went therefore myself down pre- sently, to hear what Jonathan and his companions said. As soon as I appeared, there was immedi- ately an acclamation made to me by the whole mul- titude, and a cry in my commendation by them, who confessed their thanks was owing to me for my good government of them. 49. When Jonathan and his companions hear(l this, they were in fear of their own lives, and iu danger lest they should be assaulted by the Gali- leans on my account ; so they contrived' how they might run away ; but as they were not able to get off, for I desired them to stay, they looked down with concern at my words to them. I ordered, therefore, the multitude to restrain entirely, their acclamations, and placed the most faithful of my armed men upon the avenues, to be a guard to us, lest John should unexpectedly fall upon us ; and J encouraged the Galileans to take their weapons, lest they should be disturbed at their enemies, if any sudden insult should be made upon them ; and then, in the first place, I put Jonathan and iiis partners in mind of their [former] letter, and after what manner they had written to me, and declared they were sent by the common consent of the peo- ple of Jerusalem, to make up the differences I had with John, and how they had desired me to come to them ; and as I spake thus, I publicly showed that letter they had written, till they could not at all deny what they had done, the letter itself con- victing them. I then said, " 0 Jonathan ! and you that are sent with him as his colleagues, if I were to be judged as to my behaviour, compared Avith that of John's, and had brought no more than two or three witnesses,^ good men and true, it is plaia you had been forced, upon the examination of their characters beforehand, to discharge the accusations ; that, wherefore, you may be informed that I have acted well in the affairs of Galilee, I think three witnesses too few to be brought by a man that hath done as he ought to do ; so I gave you all these for witnesses. Inquire of themj how I have lived, and whether I have not behaved myself with all decen- cy, and after a virtuous manner among them. And I farther conjure you, 0 Galileans ! to hide no part of the truth, but to speak before these men as before t "VVe here le»m the practice of the Jews, In the day* of Jogephus,t Inquire into th» ch»racter« of witnesses before they were admitted ; and that their number ought to be three, or two at the leajt, alio exactl.v as in the law of Moses, and in the Apostolical Constitutions, b. ii. ch. xrxvli. Se* Horeb Covenant Revived, page 97, 98. t This appeal to the whole body of the Galileans by Josephus, and the testimony they gave him of integrity in h^ »9nduct as their governor, is very like that appeal and testimony in the ease of the prophet Samuel U^ainuel xii. and oerhaps was done by Josephms in imitation of THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHU: judges, whether I Iiave in any thing acted otherwise thanAvell." 50. While Τ Avas thus speaking, tlie united voices of all the people joi?:ed together, and calledmetheir Benefactor and Saviour, and attested to my former behavioux', and exhorted me to continue so to do hereafter ; and they all said, upon their oatlis, that their Avives had l)een preserved free from injuries, and that no one had ever been aggrieved by me. After this, I read to the Galileans tAvo of those epistles which had been sent by Jonathmi and his colleagues, and which those whom ί had appointed to guard the road had taken, and sent to me. These were full of reproaclies and of lies, as if I had acted more like a tyrant than a governor against them ; Avith many other things besides therein contained, which were no better indeed than impudent falsi- ties, ί also informed the multitude how I came by these lettei-s, and that those who carried them de- livei'ed them up voluntarily ; for I was not willing that my enemies should know any thing of the guards I had set, lest they should be afraid, and leave ©if writing hereafter. 51. V/hen the multitude heard these things, they were greatly pro voiced at Jonathan and his colleagues that were with hira, and were going to attack them, and kill them ; and this they had certamly done, unless I had restrained the anger of the Galileans, and said, that " I forgave Jonathan and his col- leagues what was past, if they would repent, and go to their own country, and tell those who sent them the truth, as to my conduct." 'When I had said this, I let them go, although ί knew they would do nothing of what they had promised. But the mul- titude were very much enraged against them, and entreated me to give them leave to punisli them for their insolence ; yet did I try all methods to persuade them to spare the men ; for I knew that every instance of sedition was pernicious to the public welfare. But the multitude was too angry with them to be dissuaded ; and all of them yvent immediately to the house in which Jonathan and his colleagues abode. However, when I perceived that their rage couhl not be restrained, I got on horseback, and ordered the multitude to follow me to the village Sogane, which was twenty furlongs off Gabara ; and by using this stratagem, I so managed myself, as not to appear to begin a civil war amongst them. 52. But when I was come near Sogane, I caused the multitude to make a halt, and exhorted them not to be so easily provoked to anger, and to the inflicting such punishments as could not be afterwards recalled : I also gave order, that a hun- di'ed men, who were already in years, and were principal men among them, should get themselves ready to go to the city of Jerusalem, and should make a complaint before the people, of such as raised seditions in the country. And I said to them, that " in case they be moved Avitli what you say, you shall desire the community to write to me, and to enjoin me to continue in Galilee, and to order Jonathan and his colleagues to depart out of it." When I had suggested these instructions to them, \nd while they were getting themselves ready as fa st as they could, I sent .them on this errand the third day after they had been assembled : I also Bcntfive hundredarmedmenwith them [as a guard], ί then wTote to my friends in Samaria, to take care that they might safely pass through the country ; for Samaria was already under the Romans, and it was absolutely necessary for those that go quickly [to Jerusalem] to pass through that country ; for in that road you may, in three days' time, go from Galilee to Jerusalem, I also went myself, and con- ducted the old men as far as the bounds of Galilee, and set guards in the roads, that it might not bo easily known by any one that these men were gone. And when I had thus done, I went and abode at Japha. 53. Now Jonathan and his colleagues, having failed οϊ accomplishing ivhat they would have done against me, sent John back to Gischala, but went themselves to the city of Tiberias, expecting it would submit itself to them ; and this was founded on a letter which Jesus, their then governor, had written them, promising that, if they came, the multitude would receive tliem, and choose to be under their government ; so tliey went their ways with this expectation. But Silas, Λνΐιο, as I said, had been left curator of Tiberias by me, informed me of this, and desu*ed me to make haste thither. Accordingly, I complied with his advice immedi- ately, and came thither ; but found myself in dan- ger of my life, from the following occasion : Jona- than and his colleagues had been at Tiberias, and had persuaded a great many of such as had a quar- rel with me to desert me ; but when they heard of my coming, they were in fear for themselves, and came to me ; and when they had saluted me, they said that I was a happy man in having behaΛ^ed myself so well in the government of Galilee ; and they congratulated me upon the honours that were paid me : for they said that my glory was a credit to them, since they had been my teachers and fel- ΙθΛν-citizens ; and they said farther, that it was but just that they should prefer my friendship to them ratlier than John's, and that they Avould have im- mediately gone home, but that they staid that they might deliver up John into my poAver ; and when they said this, they took their oaths of it, and those such as are most tremendous amongst us, and such as I did not think fit to disbelieve. However, they desired me to lodge somewhere else, because the next day was the Saljbath ; and that it was not fit the city of Tiberias should be disturbed [on that day]. 54. So I suspected nothing, and went aAvay to Taricheai ; yet did withal leave some to make in- quiry in the city how matters went, and Avhetlier any thing was said about me : I also set many per- sons all the way that led from Tarichese to Tiberias, that they might communicate fi'ora one to another, if they learned any news from those that Avere left i-n the city. On the next day, therefore, they all came into the Proseucha ;* it was a large edifice, and capable of receiving a great number of people ; thither Jonathan went in, and though he durst not openly speak of a revolt, yet did he say that their city stood in need of a better governor than it then had. But Jesus, λυΙιο was the ruler, made no scru- ple to speak out, and said openly, " Ο fellow-citizens ! it is better for you to be in subjection to four than to one ; and those such as are of high birth, and not without reputation for their wisdom ;" and loointed to Jonathan and his colleagues.. Upon his » It is worth notifiR here, that there was now a prcat Proseucha, oi place of prayer, in the city of Tiberias itself, thouijh such Proseucha used to be out of cities, as the synagogues were within them. Of them, sfe Le Moyne on Polycai'p's Tpistle, page 76. It is also worth our re- mark, that the Jews, in the days of Josephus, used to dine at the sixth hour, or noon ; and tliat, in obedience to their notions of the law ο Moses also. THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 15 Bajing this, Justus came in and commended him for Avhat he had said, and persuaded some of the people to be of his mind also. But the multitude were not pleased with what was said, and had cer- tainly gone into a tumult, unless the sixth hour, which Avas now come, had not dissolved the assembly, at which hour our laws require us to go to dinner on Sabbath-days; so Jonathan and his colleagues put off their council till the next day, and went off without success. When I was informed of these affairs, I determined to go to the city of Tiberias in the mornmg. Accordingly, on the next day, about the first hour of the day, I came from Tari- cheve, and found the multitude already assembled in the Proseucha ; but on what account they were gotten together, those that v/ere assembled did not know. But when Jonathan and his colleagues saw me there unexpectedly, they were in disorder ; after Avhich they raised a report of their own contrivance, that Roman horsemen Avere seen at a place called Union, in the borders of Galilee, thirty furlongs distant from the city. Upon which report, Jona- than and his colleagues cunningly exhorted me not to neglect this matter, nor to suffer the land to be ppoiled by the enemy. And this they said with a design to remove me out of the city, under the pretence of the want of extraordinary assistance, while they might dispose the city to be my enemy. 55. As for myself, although I knew of their de- sign, yet did I comply with what they proposed, lest the people of Tiberias should have occasion to suppose that I Avas not careful of their scrutiny. I therefore went out ; but, when I was at the place, I found not the least footsteps of any enemy ; so I returned as fast as ever I could, and found the whole council assembled, and the body of the people gotten together, and Jonathan and his colleagues bringing vehement accusations against me, as one who had no concern to ease them of the burdens of war, and as one that lived luxuriously. And as they were discoursing thus, they produced four letters as \vritten to them, from some people that lived at the borders of Galilee, imploring that they would come to their assistance, for that there was an army of Romans, both horsemen and footmen, who would come and lay waste the country on the third day ; they desired them also to make haste, and not to overlook them. When the people of Tibenas heard this, they thought they spake truth, and made a clamour against me, and said I ought not to sit still, but to go away to the assistance of their countrymen. Hereupon I said (for I under- stood the meaning of Jonathan and his colleagues) that I was ready to comply with what they pro- posed, and without delay to march to the war which they spake of, yet did I advise them at the same time, that since these letters declared that the Romans would malie their assault in four several places, they should part their forces into Rye bodies, and make Jonathan and his colleagues generals of each body of them, because it was fit for brave men not only to give counsel, but to take the place of leaders, and assist their countrymen when such a necessity pressed them ; for, said I, it is not possible for me to lead more than one party. This advise of mine greatly pleased the multitude ; so they compelled them to go forth to the war. But their designs were put into very much disor- der, because they had not done what they had de- signed to do, on account of my stratagem, Vvhich was opposite to their undertakin.i£S. ^ 56. Now there was one whose name was Ananias (a wicked man he was, and very mischievous) ; he proposed that a general religious fast* should be appointed the next day for all the people, and gave order that at the same hour they should come to the same place, without any weapons, to nmke it manifest before iGod, that while they obtained his assistance, they thought all these weapons useless. This he said, not out of piety, but that they might catch me and my friends unarmed. Now, I was hereupon forced to comply, lest 1 shoald appear to despise a proposal that tended to piety. As soon, therefore, a^s we were gone home, Jonathan and his colleagues wrote to John to come to them in the morning, and desiring him to come with as many soldiers as he possibly could, for that they should then be able easily to get me into their hands, and to do all they desired to do. — \Vhen John had received this letter, he resolved to com- ply with it. As for myself, on the next day, I ordered two of the guards of my body, whom I esteemed the most courageous and the most faith- ful, to hide daggers under their garments, and go along with me, that we might defend ourselves, if any a ttack should be made upon us by our enemies. I also myself took my breast-plate, and girded on my sword, so that it might be, as far as it was pos- sible, concealed, and came into the Proseucha. 57. Now Jesus, Avho was the ruler, commanded that they shou.ld exclude all that came with me, for he kept the door himself, and suffered none but his friends to go in. And while we were engaged in the duties of the day, and had betaken ourselves to our prayers, Jesus got up, and inquired of me what was become of the vessels that were taken out of the king's palace when it was burnt down, [and] of the uncoined silver : and in Avhose pos- session they now Avere ? This he said, in order to drive away time till Jolm should come. I said that Capellus, and the ten principal men of Tiberias, had them all ; and I told him that they might ask them Avhether I told a lie or not. And when they said they had them, he asked me. What is become of those twenty pieces of gold which thou didst re- ceive upon the sale of a certain weight of uncoined money ? I replied, that I had given them to those ambassadors of theirs, as a maintenance for them, when they were sent by them to Jerusalem. So Jonathan and liis colleagues said that I had not done well to pay the ambassadors out of the public money. And when the multitude were very angry at them for this, for they perceived the wickedness of the men, 1 understood that a tumult Avas going to arise ; and being desirous to provoke the people to a greater rage against the men, I said, " But if I have not done well in paying our ambassadors out of the public stock, leave off your anger at me, for Ϊ Avill repay the twenty pieces of gold myself." 58. When I had said this, Jonathan and his colleagues held their peace ; but the people were still more irritated against them, upon their openly showing their unjust ill-will to me. When Jesus saw this change in the people, he ordered them to depart, but desired the senate to stay, for that they could not examine things of such a nature in a tmnult ; and as the people were crying out that they would not leave me alone, there came one and told Jesus and his friends pi'ivately, that John and * One may oIisRrve here, that this lay-Pharisee, Ananias, as we have seen he -was (seot. .lit), took upon him to appoint a fast at Tiberias, and waa obeyed ; tliough indeed it was not out of religion, but kn.ivish policy. IB THE LTFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. his armed men were at hand : Avhereupon Jona- than and his colleagues, being able to contain them- selves no longer (and perhaps the providence of God hereby procuring my deliverance, for, had not this been so, I had certainly been destroyed by John^, said, " 0 you people of Tiberias ! leave off this mqiiiry about the twenty pieces of gold ; for Josephus hath not deserved to die for them ; but he hath deserved it by his desire of tyrannizing, and by cheating the multitude of the Galileans mth his speeches, in order to gain the dominion over them." When he had said this, they presently laid hands upon me, and endeavoured to kill me : but as soon as those that Avere with me saw what they did, they drew their SAVords, and threatened to smite them, if they offered any violence to me. The people also took up stones, and were about to throw them at Jonathan ; and so they snatched me from the violence of my enemies. 59. But as I was gone out a little way, I was i'ust.upon meeting John, who was marching with lis armed.men. So I was afraid of him, and turn- ed aside, and escaped by a narrow passage to the lake, and seized on a ship, and embarked in it, and sailed. over to Tarichese. So, beyond my expecta- tion, I escaped this danger. Whereupon I pre- sently sent for the chief of the Galileans, and told them after what manner, against all faith given, I had been very near to destruction from Jonathan and his colleagues, and the people of Tiberias. Upon which the multitude of the Galileans were very angry, and encouraged me to delay no longer to make war upon them, but to permit them to go against John, and utterly to destroy him, as well as Jonathan and his colleagues. However, I restrain- ed them, though they were in such a rage, and de- sired them to tarry a Avhile, till we should be in- formed what orders those ambassadors that -were sent by them to the city of Jerusalem should bring thence ; for I told them that it was best to act according to their determination ; whereupon they were prevailed on. At which time also, John, when the snares he had laid did not take effect, returned back to Gischala. 60. Now, in a few days those ambassadors whom we had sent, came back again and informed us that the people were greatly provoked at Ananus, and Simon the son of Gamaliel, and their friends ; that, without any public determination, they had sent to Galilee, and had done their endeavours that I might be turned out of the government. The am- bassadors said farther, that the people were ready to burn their houses. They also brought letters, whereby the chief men of Jerusalem, at the earnest petition of the people, confirmed me in the govern- ment of Galilee, and enjoined Jonathan and his colleagues to return home quickly. When I had gotten these letters, I came to the village Arbela, where I procured an assembly of the Galileans to meet, and bid the ambassadors declare to them the anger of the people of Jerusalem at what had been done by Jonathan and his colleagues, and how much they hated their wicked doings, and how they had confirmed me in the government of their country, as also what related to the order they had in writing for Jonathan and his colleagues to return home. So I immediately sent them the letter, and bid him that carried it to inquire, as well as he could, how they intended to act [on this occasion], 61. Now when they had received that letter, and were thereby greatly disturbed, they sent for John, and for the senators of Tiberias, and for the principal men of the Gabarens, and proposed to hold a council, and desh'ed them to consider what was to be done by them. However, the governors of Tiberias were greatly disposed to keep the goveruv ment to themselves ; for they said it was not fit t( desert their city, now it was committed to their trust, and that otherwise I should not delay to fall upon them ; for they pretended falsely that so 1 had threatened to do. Now John was not only of their opinion, but advised them, that two of them should go to acQuse me before the multitude, [at Jerusalem], that I do not manage the affairs of Galilee as I ought to do ; and that they would easily persuade the people, because of their dignity, and because the whole multitude are very mutable — When, therefore, it appeared that John had sug- gested the wisest advice to them, they resolved that two of them, J onathan and Ananias, should go to the people of Jerusalem, and the other two, [Simon and Joazar] should be left behind to tarry at Tibe- rias. They also took along with them a hundred soldiers for their guard. 62. However, the governors of Tiberias, took care to have their city secured with walls, and com- manded their inhabitants to take their arms. They also sent for a great many soldiers from J ohn, to assist them against me, if there should be occasion for them. Now John was at Gischala. Jonathan, therefore, and those that were with him, when they were departed from Tiberias, and as soon as they were come to Dabaritta, a village that lay in the utmost parts of Galilee, in the great plain, they, about midnight, fell among the guards I had set, who both commanded them to lay aside their wea- pons, and kept them in bonds upon the place, as I had charged them to do. This news was written to me by Levi, who had the command of that guard committed to him by me. Hereupon I said nothing of it for two da>ys ; and, pretending to know nothing about it, I sent a message to the people of Tiberias, and advised them to lay their arms aside, and to dismiss their men, that they might go home ; but supposing that Jonathan, and those that were with him, were already arrived at Jerusalem, they made reproachful ansAvers to me ; yet was I not terrified thereby, but contrived another stratagem against them ; for I did not think it agreeable Avith piety to kindle the fire of war against the citizens. As I was desirous to draw those men away from Tiberi- as, I chose out ten thousand of thelbestof my armed men, and divided them into three bodies, and or- dered them to go privately, and lie still as an am- bush, in the villages. I also led a thousand into another village, which lay indeed in the mountains, as did the others, but only four furlongs distant from Tiberias ; and gave orders, that when they saw my signal, they should come down immediately, while I myself lay with my soldiers in the sight of every body. Hereupon the people of Tiberias, at the sight of me, came running out of the city perpetually, and abused me greatly. Nay, their madness was come to that height, that they made a decent bier for me, and, standing about it, they mourned over me in the way of jest and sport ; and I could not but be myself in a pleasant humour upon the sight of this madness of theirs. 63. And noAv being desirous to catch Simon by a wile, and Joazar with him, I sent a message to them, and desired them to come a little way out of the city, and many of their friends to guard them j THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 11 for I said I would come down to tliem, and make a league with tliem, and divide the government of Galilee withthem. Accordingly Simon was deluded, on account of his imprudence, and out of the hopes of gain, and did not delay to come ; but Joazar, suspecting snares were laid for him, staid behind. So when Simon was come out, and his friends with him for his guard, I met him, and saluted him with great civility, and professed that I was obliged to him for his coming up to me ; but a little while afterward I walked along with him, as though I would say something to him by himself ; but when I had drawn him a good way from his friends, I took him about the middle, and gave him to my friends that were with me, to carry him into a vil- lage ; and commanding my armed men to come down, I with them made an assault upon Tiberias. Now, as the fight grew hot on both sides, and the soldiers belonging to Tiberias were in a fair way to conquer me (for my armed men were already fled away), I saw the posture of my affairs ; and encou- raging those that were with me, I pursued those of Tiberias, even when they were already conquerors, into the city. I also sent another band of soldiers into the city by the lake, and gave them orders to set on fire the first house they could seize upon. Wheii this was done the people of Tiberias thought that their city was taken by force, and so threw down their arms for fear ; and implored, they, their wives, and children, that I would spare their city. So I was over-persuaded by their entreaties, and restrained the soldiers from the vehemency with which they pursued them ; while I myself, upon the coming on of the evening, returned back with my soldiers, and went to refresh myself. I also in- vited Simon to sup with me, and comforted him on occasion of what had happened ; and I promised that I would send him safe and secure to Jerusalem, and withal would give him provisions for his jour- ney thither. 64. But on the next day, Τ brought ten thousand armed men with me, and came to Tiberias. I then sent for the principal men of the multitude into the public place, and enjoined them to tell me who were the authors of the revolt ; and when they told me who the men were, I sent them bound to the city .Totapata ; but, as to Jonathan and Ananias, 1 freed them from their bonds, and gave them pro- visions for their journey, together with Simon and Joazar, and five hundred armed men who should guard them ; and so I sent them to Jerusalem. The people of Tiberias also came to me again, and de- sired that I would forgive them for what they had done ; and they said they would amend what they had done amiss Avith regard to me, by their fidelity for the time to come ; and they besought me to pre- serve what spoils remained upon the plunder of the city, for those that had lost them. Accordingly, I enjoined those that had got them, to bring them all before us ; and when they did not comply for a great Avhile, and I saw one of the soldiers that were a bout me with a garment on that was more splen- did than ordinary, I asked him whence he had it ; and when he replied that he had it out of the plun- der of the city, Τ had him punished with stripes ; and I threatened all the rest to inflict a severer punishment upon them, unless they produced before us whatsoever they had plundered ; and when a great many spoils were brought together, I restored to every one of Tiberias what they claimed to be their own. c 65. And now I am come to this part of my nar- ration, I have a mind to say a few things to Justus, who hath himself written a history concerning these affairs ; as also to others Avho profess to write his- tory, but have little regard to truth, and are not afraid, either out of ill-will or good-Avill to some persons, to relate falsehoods. These men do like those who compose forged deeds and conveyances ; and because they are not brought to the like pun- ishment with them, they have no regard to truth. When, therefore, Justus undei^took to write about these facts, and about the Jemsh war, that he might appear to have been an industrious man, he falsi- fied in what he related about me, and could not speak truth even about his own country ; whence it is that, being belied by him, I am under a neces- sity to make my defence ; and so ί shall say what I have concealed tUl now ; and let no one wonder that I have not told the world these things a great while ago ; for although it be necessary for a histo- rian to write the truth, yet is such a one not bound severely to animadvert on the wickedness of certain men, — not out of any favour to them, but out of an author's own moderation. How then comes it to pass, 0 Justus ! thou most sagacious of writers, (that I may address myself to him as if he were here present), for so thou boastest of thyself, that I and the Galileans have been the authors of that sedition which thy country engaged in, both against the Romans and against the king [Agrippa, junior] — for before ever I was appointed governor of Gali- lee by the community of Jerusalem, both thou and all the people of Tiberias had not only taken up arms, but had made war with Decapolis of Syria. Accordingly, thou hadst ordered their villages to be burnt, and a domestic servant of thine fell in the battle. Nor is it I only who say this ; but so it is wi'itten in the Commentaries of Vespasian, the em- peror ; as also how the inhabitants of Decapolis came clamouring to Vespasian at Ptolemais, and desired that thou, who wast the author [of that war], mightst be brought to punishment ; and thou hadst certamly been punished at the command of Vespasian, had not king Agrippa, who had power given him to have thee put to death, at the earnest entreaty of his sister Bernice, changed the punish- ment from death into a long imprisonment. Thy political administration of affairs afterward doth also clearly discover both thy other behaviour in life, and that thou wast the occasion of thy country's revolt from the Romans ; plain signs of which I shall produce presently. I have also a mind to say a few things to the rest of the people of Tiberias on thy account ; and to demonstrate to those that light upon this history, that you bare no good-Avill, nei- ther to the Romans nor to the king. To be sure, the greatest cities of Galilee, 0 Justus ! Avere Sep- phoris, and thy country Tiberias ; but Sepphoris, situated in the very midst of Galilee, and having many villages about it, and able with ease to have been bold and troublesome to the Romans, if they had so pleased, — yet did it resolve to continue faithful to those their masters, and at the same time excluded me out of their city, and prohibited all their citizens from joining with the Jews in the war ; and, that they might be out of danger from me, they, by a wile, got leave of me to fortify their city with walls : they also, of their own accord, ad- mitted of a garrison of Roman legions, sent them by Cestius Gallus, who was then president of Syria, and so had me in contempt, though I was then very THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS J03EPHUS. powcvful, and all were greatly afraid of me ; and at the same time that the greatest of our cities, Jerusalem, was besieged, and that temple of ours, which belonged to us all, was in danger of falling under the enemy's power, they sent no assistance thither, as not willing to have it thought they Avould bear arms agamst the Romans ; but as for thy coun- try, Ο Justus ! situated upon the lake of Genesar- eth, and distant from Hippos thirty furlongs, from Gadara sixty, and from Scythopolis, which was under the khig's jurisdiction, a hundred and twen- ty ; Avhen there was no Jewish city near, it might easily have preserved its fidelity [to the Romans] if it had so pleased them to do ; for the city and its people had plenty of weapons ; but, as thou sayest, I was then the author [of their revolt] ; and pray, Ο Justus ! who was that author afterwards ? — for thou knowest that I was in the power of the Ro- mans before Jerusalem was besieged, and before the same time J otapata was taken by force, as well as many other fortresses, and a great many of the Galileans fell in the war. It was therefore then a proper time, when you were certainly freed from any fear on my account, to throAv away your wea- pons, and to demonstrate to the king and to the Romans, that it was not of choice, but as forced by necessity, that you fell into the war against them ; but you staid till Vespasian came himself as far as your walls, with his whole army ; and then you did indeed lay aside your weapons out of fear, and your city had for certain been taken by force, unless Vespasian had compUed with the Idng's supplication for you, and had excused your madness. It was not I, therefore, who was the author of this, but your own inclinations to war. Do not you remem- ber how often I got you under my power, and yet put none of you to death ? Nay, you once fell into a tumult one against another, and slew one hundred and eighty -five of your citizens, not on account of vour good-will to the king and the Romans, but on account of your own wickedness, and this while I was besieged by the Romans in Jotapata. Nay, indeed, were there not reckoned up two thousand of the people of Tiberias during the siege of Jeru- salem, some of whom were slain, and the rest caught and carried captives ? But thou wilt pretend that thou didst not engage in the war, since thou didst flee to the king ! Yes, indeed, thou didst fiee to him ; but I say it was out of fear of me. Thou Bayest, indeed, that it is I who am a wicked man. But then, for what reason was it that Idng Agrippa, who procured thee thy life Avhen thou wast con- demned to die by Vespasian, and who bestowed so much riches upon thee, did tAvice afterward put thee in bonds, and as often obliged thee to run away from thy country, and, when he had once ordered thee to be put to death, he granted thee a pardon at the earnest desire of Bernice ? And when (after so many of thy wicked pranks) lie had made thee his secretary, he caughfc thee falsifying his epistles, and drove thee away irom his sight. But I shall not inquire accurately into these matters of scandal against thee. Yet cannot I but wonder at thy impudence, when thou hast the assurance to say, that thou hast better related these affairs [of the Wiir] than have all the others that haA^e written about them, whilst thou didst not know what was done in Galilee ; for thou wast then at Berytus with the king ; nor didst thou know how much the Romans suffered at the siege of Jotapata, or what miseries they brought upon us ; nor couldst thou learn by inquiry what I did during that siege my- self ; for all those that might afford such informa- tion were quite destroyed in that siege. But per- haps thou wilt say, thou hast written of what was done against the people of Jerusalem exactly. But how should that be ? for neither wast thou con- cerned in that war, nor hast thou read the commen- taries of Caesar ; of Avhich we have evident proof, because thou hast contradicted those commentaries of Caesar in thy history. But if thou art so hardy as to affirm that thou hast written that history bet- ter than all the rest, why didst thou not publish thy history while the emperors Vespasian and Titus, the generals in that war, as well as king Agrippa and his family, who were men very well skilled in the leafning of the Greeks, were all alive ; for thou hast had it written these twenty years, and then mightst thou have had the testimony of thy accuracy. But now when these men are no longer with us, and thou thinkest thou canst not be contradicted, thou venturest to publish it. But then I was not in like manner afraid of my own wi-iting, but I offered my books to the emperors themselves, when the facts were almost under men's eyes ; for I was conscious to myself that I had observed the truth of the facts ; and as I expected to have their attestation to them, so I was not deceived in such expectation. Moreover, I immediately presented my history to many other persons, some of Avhomwere concerned in the war, as was king Agrippa and some of his kindred. Now the emperor Titus was so desirous that the knowledge of these affau-s should be taken from these books alone, that he subscribed his own hand to them, and ordered that they should be pubhshed ; and forking Agrippa, he wrote me sixty- two letters, and attested to the truth of what I had therein delivered ; two of which letters I have here subjoined, and thou mayst thereby knoAv their con- tents — '^^ King Agrippa to Josephus, his dear friend, sendeth greeting. I have read over thy book with great pleasure, and it appears to me that thou hast clone it much more accurately, and with greater care, than have the other writers. Send me the rest of these books. Farewell, my dear friend." " King Agrippa to Josephus, his dear friend, sendeth greet- ing. It seems by what thou hast written, that thou siandest in need of no instruction, in order to our information from the beginning. However, when thou comest to me, I will infoi'm thee of a great many things which thou dost not know." So when this history was perfected, Agrippa, neither by way of flattery, which was not agreeable to him, nor by ^vay of irony, as thou wilt say, for he was entirely a stranger to such an evil disposition of mind, but he wrote this by way of attestation to what was true, as all that read histories may do. And so much shall be said concerning Justus, * Avhich I am obli- ged to add by Avay of digression. « The character of this history of Justus of Tiberias, the rival of our Josephus, which is now lost, with its only remainingfragment, are given us by a very able critic, Photius, who read that history. It is in the 33d code of his Bibliotheca, and runs thus:— "I have read (says Photius) tlie chronology of Justus of Tiberias, Λvhose title is this, [The Chronoloi;y o/] the Kin^s of Judah, wliich succeeded one another. This [Justus] came out of the city of Tiberias in Galilee. He begins his historv from Moses, and ends it not till the death of Atri'ippa, the seventh [ruler] of the family of Herod, and the last king of the Jews ; who took the govern- ment under Claudius, had it augmented under Nero, and still more aug- mented by Vespasian. He died in tlie third year of Trajan, where also his history ends. He is very concise in his language, ;md slightly passes over those affairs that wore most necessary to be insisted on ; and being under the Jewish prejudices, as indeed he was himself also a Jew by birth, he makes not the least mention of the appearance of Christ, or what things happened to him, or of the wonderliil works that he did. He waa the sou of a certain Jew, whose name w.as Pistus. He was a man, as he is described by Josephus, of a most profligate character ; « slave both to moupy and to pleasures. In public affairs he was opi)csiti' THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. Ii> 66. Now, when I had settled the ΆΐίΆΪνα οί' Tibe- rias, and had assembled my friends as a sanhedrim, I consulted what I should do as to John : where- upon it appeared to be the opinion of all the Gali- leans that I should arm them all, and march against John, and ]miii5h liim as the author of all the dis- orders that had happened. Yet was not I pleased with their determination ; as purposing to compose these troubles without bloodshed. Upon this I exhorted them to use the utmost care to learn the names of all that were under John ; which when they had done, and I thereby was apprized who the men were, I published an edict, wherein I of- fered security and my right hand to such of John's party as had a mind to repent ; and I allowed twenty days' time to such as would take this most advantageous course for themselves. I also threat- ened, that unless they threw down their arms, I would burn their houses, and expose their goods to public sale. When the men heard of this, they were in no small disorder, and deserted John ; and to the number of four thousand threw down their arms, and came to me. So that no others staid with John but his own citizens, and about fifteen hundred strangers that came from the metropolis of Tyre ; and when John saw that he had been outwitted by my stratagem, he continued afterward in his own country, and was in great fear of me. · 67. But about this time it was that the people of Sepplioris grew insolent, and took up arms, out of a confidence they had in the strength of their walls, and because they saw me engaged in other affair's also. So they sent to Cestius Gallus, who was pre- sident of Syria, and desired that he would either come quickly to them, and take their city under his jirotection, or send them a garrison. Accordingly Gallus promised them to come, but did not send word when he would come : and when I had learned so much, I took the soldiers that were with me, and made an assault upon the people of Sep- })horis, and took the city by force. The Galileans took this opportunity, as thinking they had now a proper time for shewing their hatred to them, since they bore ill-will to that city also. They then ex- erted themselves, as if they would destroy them all utterly, with those that sojourned there also. So they ran upon them, and set their houses on fire, as finding them without inhabitants ; for the men, out of fear, ran together to the citadel. So the Galileans carried off every thing, and omitted no kind of desolation which they could bring upon their countrymen. When I saw this, I was ex- ceedingly troubled at it, and commanded them to leave off, and put them in mind that it was not agreeable to piety to do such things to their coun- tr}Tnen : but since they neither would hearken to what I exhorted, nor to what I commanded them to do (for the hatred they bore to the people there was too hard for my exhortations to them), I bade those my friends, who were most faithful to me, and were about me, to give out reports, as if the Romans were falling upon the other part of the city with a great army ; and this I did, that, by Buch a report being spread abroad, I might restram tlie violence of the Galileans, and preserve the city of Sepphoris. And at length this stratagem had its to Josephus ; and it is related, that he laid many plots against him ; but that Josephus, though he had his enemy frequently under his power, did only reproach him in words, and so let him go without farther pun- ishment. He says also, that the history which this man wrote is, for the main fabTxlous, and chiefly as to those parts where he describes the Roman ^vnr with the Jews, and the taking of Jerusalem," C 3 effect ; for, upon hearing this report, they were in fear for themselves, and so they left off plundering, and ran away ; and this more especially, because they saw me, their general,. do the same also ; foi", that I might cause this report to be believed, ί pre- tended to be in fear as well as they. — Thus were the inhabitants of Sepphoris unexpectedly preserv- ed by this contrivance of mine. 68. Nay, indeed, Tiberias had like to have been plundered by the Galileans also upon the following occasion : — The chief men of the senate wrote to the king, and desired that he would come to them, and take possession of their city. The Idng pro- mised to come, and wrote a letter in ansAver to theirs, and gave it to one of his bed-chamber, Avhose name was Crispus, and who Avas by birth a Jew, to carry it to Tiberias. When the Galileans knew that this man carried such a letter, they caught him and brought him to me ; but as soon as the whole multitude heard of it, they were en- raged, and betook themselves to their arras. So ? great many of them got together from all quarters the next day, and came to the city Asochis, where I then lodged, and made heavy clamours, and called the city of Tiberias a trajtor to them, and a friend to the king ; and desired leave of me to go doAvn and utterly destroy it ; for they bore the hke ill-will to the people of Tiberias as they did to those of Sepphoris. 69. When I heard this, I was in doubt what to do, and hesitated by what means I might deliver Tiberias from the rage of the Galileans ; for I could not deny that those of Tiberias had written to the Idng, and invited him to come to them ; for his let- ters to them, in answer thereto, would fully prove the truth of that. So I sat a long time musing with myself, and then said to them, " I know well enough that the people of Tiberias have offended ; nor shall I forbid you to plunder the city. How- ever, such things ought to be done with discretion ; for they of Tiberias have not been the only betray- ers of our liberty, but many of the most eminent patriots of the Galileans, as they pretended to be, have done the same. Tarry therefore till I shall thoroughly find out those authors of our danger and then you shall have them all at once under your power, with all such as you shall yourselves brmg in also." Upon my saying this, I pacified the multitude, and they left off their anger, and went their ways ; and I gave order's that he who brought the king's letters should be put into bonds ; but in a few days I pretended that I was obliged, by a ne- cessary affair of my own, to go out of the kingdom. I then called Crispus privately, and ordered him to make the soldier that kept him drunk, and to run away to the king. So when Tiberias was in danger of being utterly destroyed a second time, it escaped the danger by my skilful management, and the care that I had for its preservation. 70. About this time it was that Justus, the son of Pistus, vnthout my knowledge, ran aAvay to the king ; the occasion of which I will here relate. Upon the beginning of the war between the Jews and the Romans, the people of Tiberias resolved to submit to the king, and not to revolt from the Ro- mans ; while Justus tried to persuade them to be- take themselves to their arms, as being himself desirous of innovations, and having hopes of obtain- ing the government of Galilee, as well as of his own country [Tiberias] also. Yet did he not obtam what he hoped for, because the Galileans bore ill- 20 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. will to those of Tiberias, and this on account of their anger at what miseries they had suffered from them before the war ; thence it was that they would not endure tliat Justus should be their governor. I myself also, who had been intrusted by the com- munity of Jerusalem with the government of Gali- lee, did frequently come to that degree of rage at Justus, that I had almost resolved to kill him, as not able to bear his mischievous disposition. He was therefore much afraid of me, lest at length my passion should come to extremity ; so he went to the king, as supposing that he would dwell better and more safely with him. 71. Now when the people of Sepphoris had, in so surprising a manner, escaped their first danger, thev sent to Cestius Gallus, and desired him to come to tnem immediately, and take possession of their city, or else to send forces sufficient to repress all their enemies' incm'sions upon them ; and at the last they did prevail with Gallus to send them a considerable army, both of horse and foot, which came in the mght-time, εαιά which they admitted into the city. But when the country round about it was harassed by the Roman army, I took those soldiers that were about me, and came to Garisme, where I cast up a bank, a good way off the city Sepphoris ; and when I was at twenty furlongs dis- tance, I came upon it by night, and made an as- sault upon its walls with my forces : and when I had ordered a considerable nvimber of my soldiers to scale them with ladders, I became master of the greatest part of the city. But soon after, our un- acquaintedness with the places forced us to retire, after we had killed twelve of the Roman footmen, and two horsemen, and a few of the people of Sep- phoris, with the loss of only a single man of our own. And when it afterwards came to a battle in the plain against the horsemen, and we had under- gone the dangers of it courageously for a long time, we were beaten ; for upon the Romans encompas- ing me about, my soldiers were afraid, and fell back. There fell in that battle one of those that had been intrusted to guard my body ; his name was Justus, who at this time had the same post with the king. At the same time also there came forces, both horsemen and footmen, from the king, and Sylla their commander, who was the captain of his guard ; this Sylla pitched his camp at five furlongs' distance from Julias, and set a guard upon the roads, both that which led to Cana, and that which led to the fortress Gamala, that he might hinder their inhabitants from getting provisions out of Galilee. 72. As soon as I had got intelligence of this, I sent two thousand armed men, and a captain over them, whose name was Jeremiah, who raised a bank a furlong off" Julias, near to the river Jordan, and did no more than skirmish with the enemy ; till I took three thousand soldiers myself, and came to them. But on the next day, when I had laid an ambush in a certain valley, not far from the banks, Γ provoked those that belonged to the king to come to a battle, and gave orders to my own soldiers to turn their backs upon them, xmtil they should have drawn the enemy away from their camp, and brought them out into the field, which was done accordingly ; for Sylla, supposing that our party did really run away, was ready to pursue them, when our soldiers that lay in ambush took them on their backs, and put them all into great disorder. I also immedi- ately made a sudden turn with m;/ ΟΛνη forces, and met those of the king's party, and put them to flight. And I had performed great things that day, if a certain fate had not been my hinderance ; for the horse on which I rode, and upon whose back I fought, fell into a quagmire, and threw me on the ground ; and I was bruised on my wrist, and car- ried mto a village named Cepharnome, or Caper- naum. When my soldiers heard of this, they were afraid I had been worse hurt than I was ; and so they did not go on with their pursuit any farther, but returned in very great concern for me. I therefore sent for the physicians, and while I was under their hands, I continued feverish that day ; and as the physicians directed, I was that night relieved to Tarichese. 73. When Sylla and his party were informed what happened to me, they took courage again ; and understanding that the watch was negligently kept in our camp, they by night placed a body of horsemen in ambush beyond Jordan, and when it was day they provoked us to fight ; and as we did not refuse it, but came into the plain, their horse- men appeared out of that ambush in which they had lain, and put our men into disorder, and made them run away ; so they slew six men of our side. Yet did they not go off with the victory at last ; for when they heard that some armed men were sailea from Tarichese to Julias, they were afraid, and retired. 74. It was not now long before Vespasian came to Tyre, and king Agrippa with him : but the Ty- rians began to speak reproachfully of the king, and called him an enemy to the Romans ; for they said that Philip, the general of his army, had betrayed the royal palace and the Roman forces that were in Jerusalem, and that it was done by his command. When Vespasian heard of this report, he rebuked the Tyrians for abusing a man who was both a king and a friend to the Rotnans ; but he exhorted the king to send Philip to Rome, to answer for what he had done before Nero. But when Philip was sent thithei', he did not come into the sight of Nero, for he found him very near death, on account of the troubles that then happened, and a civil war ; and so he returned to the king. But when Vespasian was come to Ptolemais, the chief men of Decapolis of Syria made a clamour against Justus of Tiberias, because he had set their villages on fire : so Ves- pasian delivered him to the king, to be put to death by those under the king's jurisdiction ; yet did the king only put him into bonds, and concealed Avhat he had done from Vespasian, as I have before related. But the people of Sepphoris met Vespa- sian, and saluted him, and had forces sent him, with Placidus their commander : he also went up with them, as I also followed them, till Vespasian came into Galilee. As to which coming of his, and after what manner it was ordered, and how he foughthis first battle with , me near the village Tarichese, and how from thence they went to Jotapata, and ΙιοΛν I was taken alive, and bound, and how I was after- ward loosed, with all that was done by me in the J ewish war, and during the siege of Jerusalem, I have accurately related them in the books concern- ing the War of the Jews. However, it will, I think, be fit for me to add now an account of those actions of my life which I have not related in that book of the Jewish war. 75. For, when the sie.ge of Jotapata was over, and I was among the Romans, I was kept with much care, by means of the great respect that Ves- THE LIFE OF FLAYIUS JOSEPHUS. 21 pasian showed me. Moreover, at his command, 1 married a virgin, who was from among the captives of that country :* yet did she not live with me long, hut was divorced, upon my being freed from my bonds, and my going to Alexandria. However, I married another wife at Alexandria, and was thence sent, together with Titus, to the siege of J erusalem, and was frequently in danger of being put to death, — while both the Jews were very desirous to get me under their power, m order to have me punished ; and the Romans also, whenever they were beaten, supposed that it was occasioned by my treachery, a,nd made continual clamours to the emperors, and desii'ed that they would bring me to punishment, as j a traitor to them : but Titus Caesar was well ap- ι quainted with the uncertain fortune of war, and ! returned no answer to the soldiers' vehement soli- citations against me. Moreover, when the city of Jerusalem was taken by force, Titus Caesar per- suaded me frequently to take whatsoever I would of the ruins of my country, and said that he gave me leave so to do ; but when my coimtry was des- troyed, I thought nothing else to be of any value vv'hich I could take and keep as a comfort under my calamities ; so I made this request to Titus, that ray family might have their Kberty : I had also the holy bookst by Titus's concession : nor was it long after, that I asked of him the life of my brother, and of fifty fi-iends with him ; and was not denied. When I also went once to the temple, by the per- mission of Titus, Λvhere there were a great multi- tude of captive women and children, I got all those that I remembered, as among my own friends and acquaintances, to be set free, being in number about one hundred and ninety ; and so I delivered them, without their paying any price of redemption, and restored them to their former fortune ; and when 1 was sent by Titus Caesar with Cerealius, and a thousand horsemen, toacertain village called Thecoa, in order to know whether it were a place fit for a camp, as I came back, I saw many captives cruci- fied ; and remembered three of them as my former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told liim of them; so he immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest care taken of them, in order to their recovery ; yet two of them died under the physician's hands, while the third recovered. 76. But when Titus had composed the troubles in Judea, and conjectured that the lands which I had in Judea would bring me no profit, because a garrison to guard the country was afterward to pitch * Here .Tosephus, a priest, honestly confesses that he did that at the command of Vespasian, which he had before told us w£is not lawful for a priest to do by the law of Moses, Antiq. b. iii. ch. xii. sect 2. I mean, the taking a captive woman to wife. See also Against Appion, b. i. sect. 7. But he seems to have been quickly sensible that his compliance with the commands of an emperor would not excuse him, for he soon put her away, as Eeland justly observes here. f Of this most remarkable clause, and its most important conse- vjuences, see Kssay on the Old Testament, page lO.l-lQS j there, he gave me another country in the plains, and, when he was going away to Rome, he made choice of me to sail along with him, and paid me great respect ; and when we were come to Rome, I had great care taken of me by Vespasian ; for he gave me an apartment in his own house, which he lived in before he came to the empire. He also honoured me with the privilege of a Roman citizen, and gave me an annual pension ; and continued to respect me to the end of his life, v/ithout any abate- ment of his kindness to me ; which very thing made me envied, and brought me into danger ; for a certain Jew, whose name was Jonathan, who had raised a tumult in Cyrene, and had persuaded two thousand men of that country to join Avithhim, was the occasion of their ruin ; but when he was bound by the governor of that country, and sent to the emperor, he told him that I had sent him both weapons and money. However, he could not con- ceal his being a liar from Vespasian, who condemn- ed him to die ; according to which sentence he was put to death. Nay, after that, when those thai envied my good fortune did frequently bring accu- sations against me, by God's providence I escaped them all. I also received from Vespasian no small quantity of land, as a free gift, in Judea ; about which time I divorced my wife also, as not pleased v/ith her behaviour, though not till she had been the mother of three children ; two of whom are dead, and one, whom I had named Hyrcanus, is alive. After this I married a wife who had lived at Crete, but a Jewess by birth : a woman she was of eminent parents, and such as were the most il- lustrious in all the country, and whose character was beyond that of most other women, as her future life did demonstrate. By her I had two sons ; the elder's name was Justus, and the next Simonides Avho was also named Agrippa : and these were the circumstances of my domestic afiairs. However, the kindness of the emperor to me continued still the same ; for when Vespasian was dead, Titus, who succeeded him in the government, kept up the same respect for me which I had from his father ; and when I had frequent accusations laid against me, he would not believe them : and Domitian, who succeeded, still augmented his respects to me ; for he punished those Jews that were my accusers ; and gave command that a servant of mine, who was a eunuch, and my accuser, should be punished. He also made that country I had in Judea, tax- free, which is a mark of the greatest honour to him who hath it ; nay, Domitia, the \vife of Csesar, con- tinued to do me kindnesses : And this is the ac- count of my whole life ; and let others judge of my character by them as they please ; but to thee, 0 Epaphroditus,i thou most excellent of men ! do I dedicate all this treatise of our Antiquities ; and so, for the present, I here conclude the whole. ί Ortliis Fipaphroditus, see the note on the Preface to the Antiquitl s THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. PREFACE.' § 1. Those who undertake to write histories, do not, I perceive, take that trouble on one and the same account, but for many reasons, and those such as are very different one from another ; for some of them apply themselves to this part of learning to show their skill in composition, and that they may therein acquire a reputation for speaking finely ; others of them there are who write histo- ries, in order to gratify those that happened to be concerned in them, and on that account have spa- red no pains, but rather gone beyond their OAvn abilities in the pei-fomiance ; but others there are, who, of necessity and by force, are driven to write history, because they are concerned in the facts, and so cannot excuse themselves from committmg them to writing, for the advantage of posterity : nay, there are not a few who are induced to draw their historical facts out of darkness into light, and to produce them for the benefit of the public, on account of the great importance of the facts them- selves with which they have been concerned. Now of these several reasons for writing history, I must profess the two last were my own reasons also ; for since I was myself interested in that war which we Jews had with the Romans, and knew myself its particular actions, and what conclusion it had, I was forced to give the history of it, because I saw that others perverted the truth of those actions in their writings. 2. Now I have undertaken the present work, as thinking it will appear to all the Greeksf worthy of their study ; for it will contain all our antiqui- ties, and the constitution of our government, as in- terpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures ; and in- deed I did formerly intend, when I wrote of the Vv'ar,i: to explain who the Jews originally were, — v/hat fortunes they had been subject to, — and by what legislator they had been instructed in piety, and the exercise of other virtues, — what wars also they had made in remote ages, till they were un- willingly engaged in this last witli the Romans ; but because this work would take up a great com- pass, I separated it into a set treatise by itself, with a beginning of its own, and its own conclusion ; but in process of time, as usually happens to such as \Hidertake great things, I grew weary, and went on slowly, it being a large subject, and a difficult thing » This preface of Josephus is excellent in its kind, and highly worthy the repeated perusal of the reader, before he set about the perusal of the work itself. j Tiiat is, all the Gentiles, both Greeks and Romans. φ We miiy sfnsouaWy note here, that Josephus wrote his Seven Boolis "f the Jewish War, long before he wrote these his Antiquities. Those lioolfB of the War were published about A. D. 7Γτ, and these Antiquities, A. D. S3, about eighteen years later. to translate our history into a foreign, and to us unaccustomed language. However, some persons there were who desired to know our history, and so exhorted me to go on with it ; and, above all the rest, Epaphroditus,§ a man who is a lover of all kind of learning, but is principally delighted with the knowledge of history ; and this on account of his having been himself concerned in great affairs, and many turns of fortune, and having shewn a wonderful vigour of an excellent nature, and an immoveable vu'tuous resolution in them all. I yielded to this man's persuasions,, who always ex- cites such as have abilities in what is useful and acceptable, to join their endeavours with his. I was also ashamed myself to pennit any laziness of disposition to have a greater influence upon ,mei than the delight of taking pains in such studies as were very useful : I thereupon stirred up myself, and went on with my v/ork more cheerfully. Be- sides the foregoing motives, I had others which 1 greatly reflected on ; and these were, that our fore- fathers were willing to communicate such things to others ; and that some of the Greeks took consider- able pains to know the affairs of our nation. 3. I found, therefore, that the second of the Ptolemies was a king who was extraordinarily dili- gent in what concerned learning and the collection of books ; that he was also peculiarly ambitious to procure a translation of our law, and of the consti- tution of our government therein contained, into the Greek tongue. Now Eleazar, the high priest, one not inferior to any other of that dignity among us, did not envy the forenamed king the participa- tion of that advantage, which otherwise he would for certain have denied him, but . that he knew the custom of our nation was, to hinder nothhig of what we esteemed ourselves from being communicated to others. Accordingly, I thought it became me both to imitate the generosity of our high priest, and to suppose there might even now be many lov- ers of learning like the king ; for he did not obtain all our writings at that time ; but those who were sent to Alexandria as interpreters, gave him only the books of the law, while there were a vast num · ber of other matters in our sacred books. They indeed contain in them the history of five thousand years ; in which time happened many strange acci- dents, many chances of war, and great actions of § This Epaphroditus was certainly alive in the third year of Trajan A. D. 100. See the note on the first book Against Apion, sect. 1, WTic he was we do not know; for as to Epaphroditus, the freed -man of Nero, I and afterwards Domitian's secretary, who was put to death by Doinitian, I in the 14th or 16th year of hi? reif^n, he could not be alive in the tliird ' of Trajan. 24 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, the commanders, and mutations of the form of our government. Upon the whole, a man that will pe- ruse this history, may principally learn from it, that all events succeed well, even to an incredible •degree, and the reward of felicity is proposed by God ; but then it is to those that follow his will, and do not venture to break his excellent laws ; — ■ and that so far as men any way apostatize from the accurate observation of them, what was practicable befoi-e, becomes impracticable ;* and whatsoever they set about as a good thing is converted into an incurable calamity : — and now I exhort all those that peruse these books to apply their minds to God ; and to examine the mind of our legislator, whether he hath not vind^rstood his nature in a manner worthy of him ; and hath not ever ascribed to him such operations as become his power, and hath not preserved his writings from those indecent fables Avhich others have framed, although, by the great distance of time when he lived, he might have securely forged such lies ; for he lived two thou- sand years ago ; at which vast distance of ages the poets themselves have not been so hardy as to fix even the generations of their gods, much less the actions of their men, or their ovm laws. As I pro- ceed, therefore, I shall accurately describe \vhat is contained in our records, in the order of time that belongs to them ; for I have already promised so to do throughout this undertaking, and this without adding any thing to what is therein contained, or taking away any thing therefrom. 4. But because almost all our constitution depends on the wisdom of Moses, our legislator, I cannot avoid saying somewhat concerning hira beforehand, though ί shall do it briefly ; I mean, because other- v/ise those that read my book may wonder how it comes to pass that my discourse, which promises an account of laws and historical facts, contains so much of philosophy. The reader is therefore to know, that Moses deemed it exceeding necessary, that he Λνΐιο would conduct his own life well, and give laws to others, m the first place should consi- der the divine nature, and upon the contemplation of God's operations, should thereby imitate the best of all patterns, so far as it is possible for human nature to do, and to endeavour to follow after it ; neither could the legislator himself have a right mind wthout such a contemplation ; nor would any thing he should write tend to the promotion of vir- • Josephua here plainly alludes to the famous Greek proverb : If God be with us, ever\' thini; thpt is impossible bpoomes possible. tue in his readers ; I mean, unless they be taught first of all, that God is the Father and Lord of all things, and sees all things, and that thence he be- stows a happy hfe upon those that follow hira ; but plunges such as do not walk in the paths of virtue into inevitable miseries. Now when Moses was desirous to teach this lesson to his countrymen, he did not begin the establishment of his laws after the same manner that other legislators did ; I mean, upon contracts and other rites between one man and another, but by raising their minds up- wards to regard God, and his creation of the world ; and by persuading them, that we men are the most excellent of the creatures of God upon earth. Now when once he had brought them to submit to reli- gion, he easily persuaded them to submit in all other things ; for, as to other legislators, they fol- lowed fables, and, by their discourses, transferred the most reproachful of human vices unto the gods, and so afforded wicked men the most plausible ex- cuses for their crimes ; but, as for our legislator, when he had once demonstrated that God was pos- sessed of perfect virtue, he supposed that men also ought to strive after the participation of it ; and on those who did not so thmk and so believe, he in- flicted the severest punishments. I exhort, there- fore, my readers to examine this whole underta- king in that view ; for thereby it will appear to them that there is nothing therein disagreeable either to the majesty of God, or to his love to man- kind ; for all things have here a reference to the na- ture of the universe ; while our legislature speaks some things wisely, but enigmatically, and others under a decent allegory, but still explains such tilings as required a direct explication plainly and expressly. However, those that have a mind to know the reasons of every thing, may find here a very curious philosophical theory, which I now in- deed shall wave the explication of ; but if God af^ ford me time for it, I will set about writing itj+ 1 after ΐ have finished the present work. I shall I ηοΛν betake myself to the history before me, after i I have first mentioned what Moses says of the cre- ation of the world, which I find described in the sacred books after the manner following. f As to this intended work of Josephus, concerning the reasons ol many of the Jewish laws, and what philosophical or allegorical sense they would bear, the loss of which work is by son.e of the learned not much regretted, I am inclinable in part to Fabricius's opinion, ap. Ha vercamp, p. 63, 64, that "we need not doubt lut, amou" some vain and frigid coniectures derived from Jewish imaginations Josephus would have taught us a greater jiumber of excellent and useful thmgs, which perhaps nobody, neither among the Jews nor among the Christians, can now inform us of - so that I would pive a great deal to find it still extant." ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. BOOK I. CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF THREE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE YEARS. FROM THE CREATION TO THE DEATH OF ISAAC. ; CHAPTER I. i ΓΗΕ CONSTITUTION OF THE WORLD, AND THE DISPOSI- TION OF THE ELEMENTS. § 1 . In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ; but when the earth did not come into sight, but was covered with thick darkness, and a wind moved upon its surface, God commanded that there should be light ; and when that was made, he considered the whole mass, and separated the light and tlie darkness ; and the name he gave to one was Night, and the other he called Oay ; and he named the beginning of light and the time of rest. The Evening and The Morning ; and this was indeed the first day : but Moses said it was one day, — the cause of which I am able to give even now ; but because I have promised to give such reasons for all things in a treatise by itself, I shall put off its exposition till that time. After this, on the se- cond day, he placed the heaven over the whole world, and separated it from the other parts ; and he determined it should stand by itself. He also placed a crystalline [firmament] round it, and put togethfir in a manner agi'eeable to the earth, and fitted it for giving moisture and rain, and for af- fording the advantage of dews. On the third day he ;ippointed the dry land to appear, with the sea itself round about it ; and on the very same day he made the plants and the seeds to spring out of the earth. On the fourth day he adorned the heavens with the sun, the moon, and the otlier stars ; and appointed them their motions and courses, that the vicissitudes of the seasons might be clearly signified. And on the fifth day he produced the living crea- tures, both those that swim and those that fly ; the former in the sea, tlie latter in the air : he also sorted them as to society and mixture, for procre- ation, and that their kinds might increase and mul- tiply. On the sixth day he created the four-footed beasts, and made them male and female : on the same day he also formed man. Accordingly Moses says, That in just six days the world and all that is therein was made ; and that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labour of such ope- rations ; — whence it is that we celebrate a rest from our labours on that day, and call it the Sabbath ; which word denotes rest in the Hebrew tongue. 2. Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over,* begins to talk philosophically ; and concern- • Since Josephus, 5n his Preface, sect. 4. says, that Moses wrote some things enigmatically, some allegorically, and the rest in plain words, since in his account of the first chapter of Genesis, and the first three verses of the second, he gives us no hints of any mystery at all ; but when he here comes to ver. 4, &c, he says that Moses, after the seventh day was over, iiegan to talk philosophically, it is not vei-y improbable that he under- stood the rest of the second and the third chapters in some enigmatical, or allegorical, or philosophical sense. The change of the name of God, just at this place, from Elohim to Jehovah Elohim ; from God to Lord God, in the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint, does also not a little favour some such change in the narration or construction. ing the formation of man, says thus : That God took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a soul.f This man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue sig- nifies one that is red, because he was formed out of red earth, compounded together ; for of that kind is virgin and true earth. God also presented the living creatures, when he had made them, accord- ing to their Icinds, both male and female, to Adam, who gave them those names by which they are still called. But when he saw that Adam had no female companion, no society, for there was no such cre- ated, and that he wondered at the other animals which were male and female, he laid him asleep, and took away one of his ribs, and out of it formed the woman ; whereupon Adam knew her when she Avas brought to him, and acknowledged that she was made out of himself. Now a woman is called in the Hebrew tongue Issa ; but the name of this wo- man was Eve, which signifies the mother of all living. 3. Moses says farther, that God planted a para- dise in the east, flourishing with all sorts of trees , and that among them was the tree of life, and ano- ther of knowledge, whereby was to be known what was good and evil ; and that when he brought Adam and his wife into this garden, he commanded them to take care of the plants. Now the garden was watered by one river,i which ran round about the whole earth, and was parted into four parts. And Phison, which denotes a multitude, miming into India, makes its exit mtothe sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges. Euphrates also, as well as Tigris, goes down into the Red Sea.§ Now the name I'^uphrates, or Phrath, denotes either a dispersion, or a flower : by Tigris, or Diglath, is signified what is swift, -with narrowness ; and Geon runs through Egypt, and denotes what arises from the east, which the Greeks call Nile. 4. God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge ; and foretold to them, that, if they touched it, it would prove their f We may observe here, that Josephus supposed man to be compounded of spirit, soul, and body, with St. Paul, 1 Thes. v. 23, and the rest of the ancients : he elsewhere says also, that the blood of animals was forbid- den to be eaten, as having in it soul and spirit. Antiq. b. iii. chap. xi. sect. 2. φ Whence this strange notion came, which yet is not peculiar to Jose- phus, but, as Dr. Hudson says here, is derived from older authors, as if lour of the greatest rivers in the world, running two of them at vast dis- tances from the other two, by some means or other watered paradise, la hard to say. Only, since Josephus has already appeared to allegorize this history, and take notice that these four names had a particular signification : Phison for Ganges, a multitude : Phrath for Euphrates either α dispersion or a flower . Diglath for Tigris, what is tmift, with narrowness ; and Geon for Nile, rvhat arises from the east, — we perhaps mistake him when we suppose he literally means those for rivers ; espe- cially as to Geon or Nile, which arises from the east, while he very well knew the literal Nile arises from the south ; though what farther alle. gorical sense he had in view, is now, I fear, impossible to be determined. § By the Red Sea is not here meant the Arabian Gulf, which alone we cow call by that name, but all that South Se.i, which included the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, as far as the East Indies as Reland and Hud bon here truly note, from the old geographers. 2β ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. destruction. But while all the living creatures had one language,* at that time the serpent which then lived together with Adam and his wife, showed an envious disposition, at his supposal of their living happily, and in obedience to the commands of God ; and imagining, that, when they disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree of knowledge, telling them, that in that tree was the knowledge of good and evil ; which know- ledge when they should obtain, they would lead a happy life, nay, a life not inferior to that of a god : by which means he overcame the woman, and per- suaded her to despise the command of God. Now Avhen she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also. Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to one another ; and being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them ; for the tree sharpened their under- standing ; and they covered themselves with fig- leaves ; and tying these before them, out of modes- ty, they thought they were happier than they were before, as they had discovered what they were in want of. But when God came into the garden, Adam, who was wont before to come and converse with him, being conscious of his wicked behaviour, went out of the way. This behaviour surprised God ; And he asked what was the cause of this his procedure ; and why he, that before delighted in that conversation, did now fly from it, and avoid it. When he made no reply, as conscious to himself that he had transgressed the command of God, God said, " I had before determined about you both, how you might lead a happy life, without any affliction, and care, and vexation of soul ; and that all things which might contribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should grow up by my providence, of their own accord, without your ΟΛνη labour and pains- taking ; which state of labour and pains-taking would soon bring on old age ; and death would not be at any remote distance : but now thou hast abused this my good-will, and hast disobeyed my commands ; for thy silence is not the sign of thy vir- tue, but of thy evil conscience. However, Adam ex- cused his sin, and entreated God not to be angry at him, and laid the blame of what was done upon his wife ; and said that he was deceived by her, and thence became an offender ; while she again ac- cused the sei-pent. But God allotted him punish- ment, because he weakly submitted to the counsel of his wife ; and said, the ground should not hence- forth yield its fruits of its ΟΛνη accord, but that when it should be harassed by their labour, it should brmg forth some of its fruits, and refuse to bring forth others. He also made Eve liable to the inconveniency of breeding, and the sharp pains of bringing forth children, and this because she persuaded Adam with the same arguments where- with the serpent had persuaded her, and had there- * Hence It appeaTa that Josephus thought several, at least, of the brute anlmala, particularly the serpent, couM speak before the Fall. And I think few of the more perfect kinds of those animals want the organs of speech at this day. Many inducements there are also to a notion, that the present state they are in. Is not their original state; and that their capacities have been once much greater than we now see them, and are capalile of being restored to their fcirmer condition. But as to this most finciont, and authentic, and probably allegorical account of that grand affair of the fall of our first parents, I have somewhat more to say in way of conieoture, but being only a conjecture, I omit it : only thus far, that the inriputation of the sin of our first parents to their posterity, any far- ther than !\s some way the cause or occasion of man's mortiility, teems almost entirely groundless; and that both man, and the other .' abordi- nate creatures, are hereafter to be delivered from the curse then brought npon them, and at last to be delivered from thnt bondage of oorrnption, !ίυηι. viii. 19-22. BOOK J. by brought him into a calamitous condition. He also deprived the serpent of speech, out of indigna- tion at his malicious disposition toAvards Adam. Besides this, he inserted poison imder his tongue and made him an enemy to men ; and suggested tc them that they should direct their strokes against his head, that being the place wherein lay his mis- chievous designs towards men, and it being easiest to take vengeance on him that way : and when he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all along, and di'agging himself upon the ground. , And when God had appointed these penalties for them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another place , CHAPTER II. CONCERNING THE POSTERITY OP ADAM, AND THE TEN GENERATIONS FROM HIM TO THE DELUGE. § I. Ada5I and Eve had two sons ; the elder of them was named Cain ; which name, when it is in- terpreted, signifies a possession. The younger was Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daugh- ters. Now, the two brethren were pleased with different courses of life ; for Abel, the younger, Avas a lover of righteousness, and, believing that God was present at all his actions, he excelled iv virtue ; and his employment was that of a shep- herd. But Cain was not only very wicked in other respects, but was wholly intent upon getting ; and he first contrived to plough the ground. He slew his brother on the occasion followiug : — They had resolved to sacrifice to God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his husbandry ; but Abel brought milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks ; but God was more delighted with the latter obla- tion,+ when he was honoured with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he was with what was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing the ground ; whence it was that Cain was very angry that Abel was preferred by God before him ; and he slew his brother, and hid his dead body, thinking to escape discovery. But God, knowing what had been done, came to Cain, and asked him what was become of his brother, because he had not seen him of many days, whereas he used to observe them conversing together at other times. But Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not what answer to give to God. At first he said that he was himself at a loss about his brother's disap- pearing ; but when he was provoked by God, who pressed him vehemently, as resolving to know what the matter was, he replied, he was not his brother's guardian or keeper, nor w&s he an observer of what he did. But in return, God convicted Cain, as having been the murderer of his brother ; and said, " I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not what is become of a man whom thou thyself hast destroyed." God therefore did not inflict the pun- ishment [of death] upon him, on account of his offering sacrifice, and thereby making supplication to him not to be extreme in his wrath to him ; but t St. John's account of the reason why God accepted the sacrifice of Abel, and rejected that of Cain ; ae also why Cain slew Abel, on account of that his acceptance with God,— Is much better than this of Josephus: I mean, because " Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him ? Because his own Avorks were evil, and his bro- thor's righteous." 1 Johri iii. 12. Josephu;;'s reason seems; to be no l etter than a piiavisaical notion or trnilition. :πΛΓϊκιι 111. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 27 he made him accursed, and threatened his posterity in the seventh generation. He also cast him, to- gether with his wife out of that land. And when he was afraid, that in wandering about he should fall among^ wild beasts, and by that means perish, God bid him not to entertain such a melancholy suspicion, and to go over all the earth without fear of what mischief he might suffer from wild beasts ; and setting a mark upon him that he might be known, he commanded him to depart. 2. And when Cain had travelled over many countries, he, with his wife, built a city, named Nod, which is a place so called, and there he set- tled his abode ; where also he had children. How- ever, he did not accept of his punishment in order to amendment, but to increase his wickedness ; for he only aimed to procure every thing that M'as for his own bodily pleasure, though it obliged him to be injurious to his neighbours. He augmented his household substance with much wealth, by rapine and violence ; he excited his acquaintance to pro- ciu-e pleasures and spoils by robbery, and became a great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a change in that way of simplicity wherein men lived before ; and was the author of measures and weights. And whereas they lived innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the world into cunning craftiness. He first of all set boundaries about lands ; he built a city, and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his family to come together to it ; and called that city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch. Now Jared was the son of Enoch ; whose son was Malaliel ; whose son was Mathusela ; whose son was Lamech ; who had seventy-seven children by two wives, Silla and Ada. Of those children by Ada, one was Jabal ; he erected tents, and loved the life of a shepherd. But Jubal, who was born of the same mother with him, exercised himself in music ;* and invented the psaltery and the harp. But Tubal, one of his chil- dren by the other wife, exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and famous in martial per- formances. He procured what tended to the plea- sures of the body by that method ; and first of all invented the art of making brass. Lamech was also the father of a daughter, whose name was Na- amah ; and because he was so skilful in matters ot divine revelation, that he knew he was to be punished for Cain's murder of his brother, he made that known to his wives. Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the posterity of Cain became exceeduigly wicked, every one successively d}ing one after another, more wicked than the for- mer. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies ; and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behaviour, in acting unjustly, and doing injury for gain. 3. Now, Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth (for our discourse must now be nbout him,) after Abel was slain, and Cain fled away on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a vehement desire of children, ne being two hundred and thirty years old ; after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died. He had indeed many other children,t but Seth in particular. As for the rest, it would be te- * From this Jubal, not improbably, came Jobel, the trumpet of jobel or jubilee; that largo and loud musical inati-ument, used in proclaiming the liberty at the year of jubilee. t The number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition, was thir- ty-three sons^ and twenty -three duught'ji" dious to name them ; I will therefore only endea- voiir to give an account of those that proceeded from Seth. Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could dis- cern what was good, became a virtuous man ; and as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his vir- tues.i All these proved to be of good dispositions. They also inhabited the same country without dis- sensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes falling upon them till they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wis- dom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently Imown, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars ;§ the one of brick, the other of stone : they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be de- stroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might re- main, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind ; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day. CHAPTER III. CONCERNING THE FLOOD ; AND AFTER WHAT MANNER NOAH WAS SAVED IN AN ARK, WITH HIS KINDRED, AND AFTERWARDS DWELT IN THE PLAIN OF SHINAR. § 1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the imiverse, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations ; but in process of time they Avere perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers, and did neither pay those honours to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice to- wards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness ; where- by they made God to be their enemy ; for many angels || of God accompanied with women, and be- gat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength, for the tradition is. That these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did ; and, being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dis · positions and their acts for the better ; — but, seeing that they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he M^as afi'aid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and Φ \Vhat is here said of Seth and his posterity, that they were very good and virtuous, and at the same tirne very happy, without any considera- ble misfortunes, for seven generations [see ch. ii. sect. 1, before ; and ch. iii. sect. 1, hereafter] is exactly agreeable to the state of the world and tlie conduct of Providence ii>. all the fii-st ages. § Of Josephus's mistake here, when he took Seth the son of Adam for Seth or Sesostris, king of Egypt, tho erecter of this pillar in the land of Siriad, see Essay on the Old Testament, Appendix, p. 159, 160. Although the main of this relation might be true, and Adam might foretell a con- fiagration and a deluge, which all antiquity witnesses to be an ancient tradition ; nay, Seth's poeterity micrht engrave their inventions in astro- nomy on two such pillars, yet it is no way credible that they could sur- vive the deluge, which has buried all such pillars and edifices far under ground, in the sediment of its waters ; especially since the like pillars oi the Egyptian Seth or Sesostris •w ere extant aft«r the flood, in the land of Siriad, and perhaps in the days of Jo eph us also, as is shown in the place here referred to. 11 TiiiK notion, that the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers o( the old giants. wa3 the constant opinion of antiquity. 28 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. BOOK I. those they had married ; so he departed out of that land. 2. Now God loved this man for his righteousness ; yet he not only condemned those other men for their wickedness, but determined to destroy the whole race of manldnd, and to make another race that should be pure from wickedness ; and cutting short their hves, and making their years not so many as they formerly lived, but one hundred and twenty only,* he turned the dry land into sea ; and thus were all these men destroyed : but Noah alone was saved ; for God suggested to him the following contrivances and way of escape : — That he should make an ark of four stories high, three hundred cubitsf long, fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high. Accordingly he entered mto that ark, and his wife and sons, and their wives ; and put into it not only other provisions, to support their wants there, but also sent in with the rest all sorts of liv- ing creatures, the male and his female, for the pre- servation of their kinds ; and others of them by sevens. Now this ark had firm walls, and a roof, and Avas braced with cross beams, so that it could not be any way drowned or overborne by the vio- lence of the water ; and thus Λvas Noah, with his family, preserved. Now he was the tenth from Adam, as being the son of Lamech, whose father was Mathusela. He was the son of Enoch, the son of Jared ; and Jared was the son of Malaleel, who, with many of his sisters, were the children of Cain- an, the son of Enos. Now Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam. 3. This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's government [age], in the second monthji called by the Macedonians JDms, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan ; for so did they order their year in Egypt ; but Moses appointed that Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that month : so that this month began the year as to all the solemnities they observed to the honour of God, although he preserved the original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs. Now he says that this flood began on the twenty-seventh [seventeenth] day of the forementioned month ; and this was two thousand six hundred and fifty- six [one thousand six hundred and fifty-six] years from Adam, the first man ; and the time is written down in our sacred books, those who then lived havmg noted down,§ with great accuracy, both the births and deaths of illustrious men. 4. For indeed Seth was born when Adam was in • Josephue here supposes, that the life of there giants, for of them only do I understand him, was now reduced to 120 years ; which is con- firmed by the fragment of Enoch, sect. 10, in Authent. Eec, Parti, p. 2(ί8. For as to the rest of mankind, Josephus himself confesses their lives were much longer than 120 years, for many generations after the flood, as we shall see presently ; and he says they were gradually short- ened till the days of Moses, and then fixed [for some time] at 120, chap, vi. sect. 6. Nor indeed need we suppose that either Enoch or Josephus Meant to interpret these 120 years for the life of men before the Flood, to be different from the 120 years of God's patience [perhaps while the ark was preparing] till the Deluge; which I take to be the meaning of God, •when he threatened this wicked world, that if they so long continued Impenitent, their days should be no more than 120 years. f A cubit is about twenty-one English inches. φ Josephus here truly determines, that the year at the Flood began «,l(out the autumnal equinox. As to what day of the month the Flood b.gan, our Hebrew and Samaritan, and perhaps Josephas's own copy, more rightly placed it on the 17th day, instead of the 27th, as here ; for Joroad, for the thorough peopling of the earth, — that they might not raise seditions among them- selves, but might cultivate a great part of the earth, and enjoy its fruits after a plentiful manner : but they were so ill instructed, that they did not obey Cod ; for which reason they fell into calamities, and were made sensible, by experience, of what sin they had been guilty ; for when they flourished with a numerous youth, God admonished them again to send out colonies ; but they, imagining the prosperity they enjoyed was not derived from the favour of God, but supposing that their own power Λvas the proper cause of tfte plentiful conditionthey were in, did not obey him. Nay, they added to this their disobedience to the divine will, the suspicion that they were therefore ordered to send out sepa- rate colonies, that, being divided asunder, they might the more easily be oppressed. 2. Now it was Ninirod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, — a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyi'anny, — seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again ; for that he would build a tower too high for the Avaters to be able to reach ! and that he would avenge himself on God for des- troying their forefathers ! 3. Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God ; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work ; and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect ; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mor- tiir, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were r.ot grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners ; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them divers lan- guages ; and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to under- stand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon ; because of the confusion of that language which they readily under- stood before ; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion. The Sibyl also makes mention of this tower, and of the confusion of the language, when she says thus : — " When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to heaven ; but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower, and gave every one his peculiar language ; and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon.^' But as to the plain of Shinar, in the country of Babylonia, Hestiseus mentions it, when he says thus : — " Such of the priests as were saved, took the sacred vessels of Jupiter Enyalius, and came to Shinar of Babylonia." OF THE JEWS. BOOK ]. CHAPTER V. AFTER WHAT MANNER THE POSTERITY OF NOAH SENT OUT COLONIES, AND INHABITED THE WHOLE EARTH. A.FTER this they were dispersed abroad, on account of their languages, and went out by colonies every- where ; and each colony took possession of that land which they light upon, and unto Avhich God led them ; so that the whole continent was filled with them, both the inland and maritime countries. There were some also who passed over the sea in ships, and inhabited the islands : and some of those nations do still retain the denominations which were given them by their first founders ; but some have lost them also ; and some have only admitted cer- tain changes in them, that they might be the more i]itelligible to the inhabitants ; and they were the Greeks who became the authors of such mutations ; for when, in after ages, they grew potent, they claimed to themselves the glory of antiquity, — giv- ing names to the nations that sounded well (in Greek) that they might be better understood among themseh''es ; and setting agreeable forms of govern- ment over them, as if they were a people derived from themselves. CHAPTER VI. ΗΟΛΥ EVERY NATION WAS DENOMINATED FROM THEIR FIRST INHABITANTS. § 1. Now they were the grand-children of Noah, in honour of whom names were imposed on the nations by those that first seized upon them. Ja.- phet, the son of Noah, had seven sons : they inhabi- ted so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Tanais, and along Europe to Cadiz ; and set- tling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inha,bited before, they called the nations by their own names ; for Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians [Galls], but were then called Gomerites. Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, hut who are by the Greeks called Scythians. Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet ; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Modes by the Greeks ; but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians are derived. Thobel founded the Tho- belites, who are now called Iberes ; and the Mos- ocheni were founded by Mosoch ; now they are Cappadocians. There is also a mark of their an- cient denomination still to be shown ; for there is even now among them a city called Mazaca, which may inform those that are able to undei-stand, that so was the entire nation once called. Thiras also called those whom he ruled over, Thirasians ; but the Greelvs changed the name into Thracians. And so many were the countries that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants. Of the three sons of Gomer, Aschanax founded the Aschanaxians, Λνΐιο are now called by the Greeks Rheginians. So did Riphath found the Ripheans, now called Paph- lagonians ; and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygi- ans. Of the three sons of Javan also, the son of CIIAPTEH VI. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. Japhet, Elisa gave name to the Eliseans, who were his subjects ; they are now the Cohans. Tharsus to the Tharsians ; for so was Cilicia of old called ; the sign of which is this, that the noblest city they have, and a metropolis also, is Tarsus, the tau bemg by change put for the theta. Cethimus pos- sessed the island Cethima ; it is now called Cyprus : and from that it is that' all islands, and the great- est part of the sea-coasts are named Cethim by the Hebrews : and one city there is in Cyprus that has been able to preserve its denomination ; it is called Citius by those who use the language of the Greeks, and has not, by the use of that dialect, escaped the name of Cethim. And so many nations have the children and grand-children of Japhet possessed. Now when I have premised somewhat, which per- haps the Greeks do not know, I will return and explain what I have omitted ; for such names are pronounced here after the manner of the Greeks, to please my readers ; for oiu: own country language does not so pronounce them : but the names in all cases are of one and the same ending ; for the name we here pronounce Noeas, is there Noah, and in every case retains the same termination. 2. The children of Ham possessed the land from S}Tia and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus, seizmg upon all that was on its sea-coasts and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away ; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered ; yet a few there are which have kept their denomi- nations entire : for of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus ; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites. The memory also of the Mesra- ites is .preserved in their name ; for all we who in- habit this country [of Judea] call Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestreans. Phut also was the founder of Libyia, and called the inhabitants Phut- ites, from himself : thei'e is also a river in the country of the Moors which bears that name ; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the appellation of Phut : but the name it has now, has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos. We will inform you presently what has been the occasion why it has been called Africa also. Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, inhabited the country now called Judea, and called it from his own name Canaan. The children of these [four] were these : Sabas, who founded the Sabeans ; Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are called G etuli ; Sabathes founded the Sabathens ; they are now called by the Greeks, Astaborans ; Sabactas settled the Sabactens ; and Ragmus the Ragmeans ; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, and left them his name ; as did Sabas to the Sabeans. But Nimrod, the son of Chus, etaid and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you. Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim ; for the Greeks call that part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludie- im, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited bi Libya, and called the country from himself, Ne- dini, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Ceptho- rim, we know nothing of them besides their names ; for the Ethiopic war,* which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown. The sons of Canaan were these : Si- donius, who also built a city of the same name ; it is called by the Greeks, Sidon ; Amathus inhabited in Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity ; Arudeus possessed the island Aradus : Arucas possessed Arce, which is in Libanus ; — but for the seven others, [Eueus], Chetteus, Jebuseus, Ainorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have no- thing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities ; and their calami- ties came upon them on the occasion folloAving : — 3. Noah, when, after the Deluge, the earth was re-settled in its former condition, set about its cul- tivation ; and when he had planted it with vines, and when the fruit was ripe, and he had gathered the grapes in their season, and the wine was ready for use, he offered sacrifice, and feasted, and, being drunk, he fell asleep, and lay naked in an unseemly manner. When his youngest son saw this, he came laughing, and showed him to his brethren ; but they covered their father's nakedness. And when Noah was made sensible of what had been done, he prayed for prosperity to his other sons ; but for Ham, he did not curse him, by reason of his near- ness in blood, but cursed his posterity. And when the rest of them escaped that curse, God inflicted it on the children of Canaan. But as to these mat- ters, we shall speak more hereafter. 4. Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean ; for Elam left behind him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians. Ashur lived at the city Nineve ; and named liis subjects Assyrians, Avho became the most fortunate nation, beyond others. Arphaxad named the Ar- phaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans. Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks call Syrians ; as Laud founded the Laudites, which are now called Lydians. Of the four sons of Aram, Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus ; this country lies be- tween Palestine and Celesyria. Ul founded Arme- nia ; and Gather the Bactrians ; and Mesa the Mesaneans ; it is now called Charax Spasini. Sala was the son of Arphaxad ; and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews, He- brews.f Heber begat Joctan and Phaleg : he was called Phaleg, because he was born at the disper- sion of the nations to their several countries ; for Phaleg, among the Hebrews, signifies division. Now Joctan, one of the sons of Heber, had these sons, Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, Aizel, Decla, Ebal, Abhnael, Sabeus, Ophir, Eui- lat, and Jobab. These inhabited from Cophen, an * One observation ought not here to « neglected, -with regard to that Ethiopic war, which Moses, as general of the Egyptians, put an end to, Antiq. b. ii. chap, x., and about which our late writers seem very much unconcerned ; viz. That it was a war of that consequence, as to occasion the removal or destruction of six or seven nations of the posterity of Mitzraim, with their cities : which Joscphus would not have said, if he had not had ancient records to justify those his assertions, though those records be now all lost. f That the Jews were called Hebrews, from this their progonibor He- ber, our author Joscphus here rightly affirms; and not from Abram the , Hebrew, or passenger over Euphrates, as many of the moderns suppose. Shem is also called the father of all the children of Heber, or of all the Hebrews, in a history long before Abram passed over Euphrates (Gen. .-c, 21), though it must be confessed that (Gen. xiv. 13), where the original says they told Abram the Hehrerv, the Septuagint renders it the passenger, ΤΓίρατηζ. But this is spoken only of Abram himself, who had then lately pas ed over Euphrates : and is another signification of the Hebrew Avord, taken as an appellative, and not as a proper name. 32 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. EOOK I. [ndian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it. ϊίηά this shall suffice concerning the sous of Shera. 5. I will now treat of the Hebrews. The son of Phaleg, whose father was Heber, was Ragau ; whose 5on was Serug, to whom was born Nahor ; his son was Terah, who was the father of Abraham, who accordingly was the tenth from Noah, and was born in the two hundred and ninety-second year after the Deluge ; for Terah begat Abram in his seven- tieth year. Mahor begat Haran when he was one hundred and twenty years old ; Nahor was born to Serug in his hundred and thirty-second year ; Ra- gau had Serug at one hundred and thirty ; at the same age also Phaleg had Ragau ; Heber begat Phaleg in his hundred and thirty-fourth year ; he himself being begotten by Sala when he was an hun- dred and thirty years old, whom Arphaxad had for his son at the hundred and thirty-fifth year of his age. Arphaxad was the son of Shem, and born twelve years after the Deluge. Now Abram had two brethren, Nahor and Haran : of these Haran left a son. Lot ; as also Sarai and Milcha his daugh- ters, and died among the Chaldeans, in a city of the Chaldeans, called Ur ; and his monument is shown to this day. These married their nieces. Nahor married Milcha, and Abram married Sarai. Now Terah, hating Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Haran, they all removed to Haran of Mesopo- tamia, where Terah died, and was buried, when he had lived to be two hundred and five years old ; for the live of man was already, by degrees diminished, and became shorter than before, till the birth of Moses ; after Avhom the term of human life was one hundred and twenty years, God determining it to the length that Moses happened to live. Now Na- hor had eight sons by Milcha ; Uz and Buz, Kem- uel, Chesed, Azau, Pheldas, Jadelph, and Bethuel. These were all the genuine sons of Nahor ; for Teba and Gaam, and Tachas, and Maaca, were born of Reuma his concubine ; but Bethuel had a daughter, Rebecca^,-— and a son, Laban. CHAPTER VII. HOW ABRAM OUR FOREFATHER WENT OUT OF THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS, AND LIVED IN THE LAND THEN CALLED CANAAN, BUT NOW JUDEA. 1. Now Abram having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran's son, and his wife Sarai's brother ; and he left the land of Chaldea when he was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God Avent into Canaan, and therein he dwelt him- self, and left it to his posterity. He was a person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading his hearers, and not mistakeninhis opinions ; for which reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinion all men hap- pened then to have concerning God ; for he was the first that ventured to pulilish this notion. That there was but one God, the Creator of the universe ; and that, as to other [gods], if they contributed any thing to the happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their own power. This his opinion was de- rived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus : — " If [said he] these bodies had powei of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions ; but since they do not pre- serve such regularity, they make it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subser- vient to Him that commands them ; to whom alono we ought justly to offer our honour and thanksgiv- ing." For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans and other people of Mesopotamia I'aised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country ; and at the command, and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land of Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an altar, and performed a sacrifice to God. 2. Berosus mentions our father Abram without naming him, when he says thus : — " In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skilful in the celestial science." But Hecataeus does more than barely mention him ; for he composed and left behmd him a book concerning him. And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his history, says thus : — " Abram reigned at Damascus, being a fo- reigner, who came Avith an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans. But after a long time he got him up, and removed from that country also with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but ηοΛν the land of Judea, and this when his poste- rity were become a multitude ; as to which poste- rity of hiS; we relate their history in another work." Now the name of Abram is even still famous in the country of Damascus ; and there is shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abram, CHAPTER VIII. THAT WHEN THERE WAS A FAMINE IN CANAAN, ABRAM WENT THENCE INTO EGYPT ; AND AFTER HE HAD CONTINUED THERE A WHILE, HE RETURNED BACK AGAIN. § 1. Νολν, after tliis, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and Abram had discovered tha t the Egyptians Avere in a flourishing condition, he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to Imow what they said con- cerning the gods ; designing either to follow them, if they had better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own notions proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with him, and was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women, lest the Idng should kill him on occasion of his wife's great beaut}^, he contrived this device : — he pretended to be her brother, and dii-ected her m a dissembling way to pretend the same, for he said it would be for their benefit. Now, as soon as he came into Egypt, it happened to Abram as he supposed it would ; for the fame of his Avife's beauty was greatly talked of, for which reason Pharaoh the king of Egypt would not be satisfied with what wns reported of her, but would needs see her himself, and was preparing to enjoy her ; but God put a stop to liis unjust inclinations, l)y sending upon him a distemper, and a sedition against his government. And when he inquired, oi the priests, how he might be freed from these cala- CHAPTER IX. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 33 luities, they told him that this his miserable condi- tion was derived from the wrath of God, upon account of his inclinations to abuse the stranger^s wife. He then out of fear asked Sai-ai who she was, and who it was that she brought along with her. And when he had found out the truth, he ex- cused himself to Abram, that supposing the woman to be his sister, and not his wife, he set his affec- tions on her, as desiring an affinity with him by marrying her, but not as incited by lust to abuse er. He also made him a large present in money, nd gave him leave to enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians ; from which conversation, his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous than they had been before. 2. For whereas the Egyytians were formerly addicted to different customs, and despised one another's sacred and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram, conferred with each of them, and, confut- ing the reasonings they made use of every one for their own practices, demonstrated that such reason- ings were vain and void of truth ; whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he j discoursed on any subject he undertook ; and this | not only in understanding it, but in persuading other men also to assent to him. He communica- ted to them arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy ; for, before Abram came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning ; for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the Greeks also. 3. As soon as Abram Avas come back into Canaan, he parted the land between him and Lot, upon c. ccount of the tumultuous behaviour of their shep- ] erps, concerning the pastures wherein they should feed their flocks. However, he gave Lot his option, or leave^ to choose which lands he would take ; and he took iiimself Λvhat the other left, which were the lower grounds at the foot of the mountains ; and he himself dwelt in Hebron, which is a city seven years moi'e ancient than Tanis of Egypt. But Lot possessed the land of the plain, and the river Jordan, not far from the city of Sodom, which was then a fine city ; but is now destroyed by the will and wrath of God ; — the cause of which I shall show in its proper place hereafter. CHAPTER IX. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SODOMITES BY THE ASSYRIAN WAR. At this time, when the Assyrians had the dominion over Asia, the people of Sodom were in a flourish- ing condition, both as to riches and the number of their youth. There were five kings that managed th? affairs of this country : Ballas, Barsas, Senabar, and Sumobor, with the king of Bela ; and each king led on his own troops ; and the Assyrians made war upon them ; and, dividing their army into four parts^ fought against them. Now every part of the army had its own commander ; and when the battle was joined, the Assyrians were conquerors ; and imposed a tribute on the kings of the Sodomites, who submitted to this slavery twelve years ; and so long they continued to pay their tribute : but on the thirteenth year they rebelled, and then the army of the Assyrians came upon them, under their commanders Amra- phel, Arioch, Chodorlaomer, and Tidal. These kings had laid waste all Syria, and overthrown the off- spring of the giants ; and when they were como over against Sodom, they pitched their camp at the vale called the Slime Pits, for at that time there were pits in that place ; but now, upon the destruc- tion of the city of Sodom, that vale became the Lake Asphaltites, as it is called. However, con- cerning this lake we shall speak more presently, Now when the Sodomites joined battle with the Assyrians, and the fight was very obstinate, many of them were killed, and the rest were carried cap- tive ; among which captives was Lot, who had come to assist the Sodomites. CHAPTER X. HOW ABRAM FOUGHT WITH THE ASSYRIANS, AND OVER- CAME THEM, AND SAVED THE SODOMITE PRISONERS, AND TOOK FROM THE ASSYRIANS THE PREY THEY HAD GOTTEN. § 1. When Abram heard of their calamity, he wa at once afraid for Lot his kinsman, and pitied th Sodomites his friends and neighbours ; and think ing it proper to afford them assistance, he did not delay it, but marched hastily, and the fifth nigh fell upon the Assyrians, near Dan, for that is the name of the other spring of Jordan ; and before they could arm themselves, he slew some as they were in their beds, before they could suspect and harm ; and others, who were not yet gone to sleep but were so drunk they could not fight, ran away. Abram pursued after them, till on the second day he drove them in a body unto Hoba, a place be- longing to Damascus ; and thereby demonstrated that victory does not depend on multitude and the number of hands, but the alacrity and courage of soldiers overcome the most numerous bodies of men, while he got the victory over so great an army with no more than three hundred and eigh- teen of his servants, and three of his friends : but all those that fled returned home ingloriously. 2. So Abram, when he had saved the captive Sodomites who had been taken by the Assyrians, and Lot also, his kinsman, returned home in peace. Now the king of Sodom met him at a certain place, which they called The King's Dale, where Mel- chisedec, king of the city Salem, recei\^ed him. That name signifies the rigJiteous king ; and such he was without dispute, insomuch that, on this ac- count, he was made the priest of God : however, they afterward called Salem Jerusalem. Now this Melchisedec supplied Abram's army in an hospita- ble manner, and gave them provisions in abun- dance ; and as they were feasting, he began to praise him, and to bless God for subduing hia enemies under him. And when Abram gave him the tenth part of his prey, he accepted of the gift : but the king of Sodom desired Abram to take the prey, but entreated that he might have those men restored to him whom Abram had saved from the Ass^Tians, because they belong to him ; but Abram would not do so ; nor v/ould make any other advan- tage of that prey than what his servants had eaten; 84 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. BOOK but still insisted that he should afford a pai't to his Friends that had assisted him in the battle. The first of them was called Eschol, and then Enner, and Mambre. 3. And God commended his virtue, and said, Thou shalt not, however, lose the reAvards thou hast deserved to receive by such thy glorious ac- tions. He answered, And what advantage will it be to me to have such rewards, when I have none to enjoy them after me — for he was hitherto childless. And God promised that he should have a son. and that his posterity should be very numer- ous, insomuch that their number should be like the stars. When he heard that, he offered a sacrifice to God, as he commanded him. The manner of the sacrifice was this : — He took an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram in like manner of three years old, and a turtle dove and a pigeon ;* and as he was enjoined, he divided the three former ; but the birds he did not divide. After which, before he built his altar, where the birds of prey flew about, as desirous of blood, a divine voice came to him, declaring that their neighbours Avould be grievous to his posterity when they should be in Egypt, for four hundred years,t during which time they should be afflicted ; but afterwards should overcome their enemies, should conquer the Canaanites in war, and possess themselves of their land, and of their cities. 4. Now Abram dwelt near the oalc called Ogyges, — the place lielongs to Canaan, not far from the city of Hebron : but being uneasy at his wife's barrenness, he entreated God to grant that he might have male issue ; and God required of hivn to be of good courage ; and said, that he would add to all the rest of the benefits that he had bestowed on him ever since he led him out of Mesopotamia, the gift of children. Accordingly Sarai, at God's command, brought to his bed one of her handmaid- ens, a woman of Egyptian descent, in order to ol)- tain children by her ; and when this handmaid was with child, she triumplied, and ventured to affront Sarai, as if the dominion were to come to a son to be born of her : but when Abram resigned her into the hand of Sarai, to punish her, she contrived to fly away, as not able to bear the instances of Sarai's severity to her ; and she entreated God to have compassion on her. Now a divine angel met her, as she Avas going forward in the wilderness, and bid her return to her master and mistress ; for, if she would submit to that wise advice, she would live better hereafter ; for that the reason of her being η such a miserable case was this, that she had been mgrateful and arrogant to^vards her mistress. He also told her, that if she disobeyed God, and went on still in her way, she should perish ; but if she would return back, she should Ijecome the mother of a son who should reign over that country. These admonitions she obeyed, and returned to her master and mistress, and obtained forgiveness. little vhile afterwards, she bare Ismael, which may be interpreted Heard of God, because God had heard his mother's prayer. 5. The forementioned son was born to Abram when he was eighty-six years old : but when he • It is-worth noting here, that God required no other saoriflcos under the law of Mosee, than what were t^ken from these five kinds of animals which he here required of Abram. Nor did the Jews feed upon any other domestie animals than the tliree liere named, as Eelaud observes >ii Antiq. b. iv. ch. v. sect. 4. \ As to this affliction of Abram's posterity for 400 yeary, see Antiq. h, U. ch. ix. sect. 1. was ninety-nine, God appeared to him, and pro- mised him that he should have a son by Sarai, and commanded that his name should be Isaac ; and showed him, that from this son should spring gi^eat nations and kings, and that they should obtain all the hind of Canaan by war, from Sidon to Egypt. But he charged him, in order to keep his posterity unmixed with others, that they should be circum- cised in the flesh of their foreskin, and that this should be done on the eighth day after they were born : the reason of which circumcision I will ex- plain in another place. And Abram inquiring also concermng Ismael, whether he should live or not, God signified to him that he should live to be very old, and should be the father of great nations. Abram, therefore, gave thanks to God for these blessings ; and then he, and all his family, and his son Ismael were circumcised immediately, the son being that day thirteen years of age, and he ninety- nine. CHAPTER XL HOW GOD OVERTHREW THE NATION OF THE SODOM- ITES, OUT OF HIS WRATH AGAINST THEM FOR THEIR SINS. § I . About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth : they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, insomuch that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him : they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices. God was therefore much displeased at them, and determined to punish them for then' pride, and to overthrow their city, and to lay waste their country, until there should neither plant nor fruit grow out of it. 2. When God had thus resolved concerning the Sodomites, Abraham, as he sat by the oak of Mam- bre, at the door of his tent, saw three angels ; and, thinking them to be strangers, he rose up and sa- luted them, and desired they would accept of an entertainment, and abide with him ; to which when they agreed, he ordered cakes of meal to be made presently : and when he had slain a calf, he roasted it, and bi'ought it to them, as they sat under the oak. Now they made a show of eating ; and be- sides, they asked him about his wife Sarah, where she was ; and when he said she was within, they said they would come again hereafter, and find her become a mother. Upon which the woman laughed and said that it was impossible she should bear children, since she was ninety years of age, and her husband was an hundred. Then they concealed themseh es no longer, but declared that they were angels of God ; and that one of them was sent to inform tlion about the child, and two of the over- throw of Sodom. 3. When Abraham heard this, he was grieved for the Sodomites ; and he rose up, and besought God for them, and entreated him that he would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And wlien God had replied that there was no good man among the Sodomites ; for if there were but ten such men among them, he would not punish any of them for theii- sins, Abraham held his peace. And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites, and Lot entreated them to accept of a lodging with him ; for he Avas a very generous and hospitable man, and CliAPTKR xtr. ANTIQUITIES 0Γ THE JEWS. cue that had learned to imitate the goodness of Abraham. Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an exti-aordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence ; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house ; and pro- mised, that if their inclinations could not be gov- erned, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers — neither thus were they made ashamed. 4. But God was much dispfeased at their impu- dent behaviour, so that he both smote those men with blindness, and condemned the Sodomites to universal destruction. But Lot, upon God's in- forming him of the future destruction of the So- domites, went away, taking with him his wife and daughters, who were two, and still virgins ; for those that were betrothed* to them weve above the thoughts of going, and deemed that Lot's words were trifling. God then cast a thunderbolt upon the city, and set it on fire with its inhabitants ; and laid Avaste the country with the like burning, as I formerly said when I wrote the Jewish war.f But Lot's wife continually turning back to view the city as she went from it, and being too nicely inquisitive what would become of it, although God had forbid- den her so to do, was changed into a pillar of salt ;ΐ for I have seen it, and it remains at this day. Now he and his daughters fled to a certain small place, encompassed with the fire, and settled in it. It is to this day called Ζ oar, for that is the word which the Hebrews use for a small thing. There it was that he lived a miserable life, on account of his having no company, and his want of provisions. 5. But his daughters, thinking that all mankind were destroyed, approached to their father,§ though taking care not to be perceived. This they did, that human kind might not utterly fail. And they bare sons : the son of the elder was named Moab, Avhich denotes one derived from his father. The younger bare Ammon, which name denotes one de- rived from a kinsman. The former of whom was the father of the Moabites, which is even still a great nation ; the latter was the father of the Am- monites : and both of them are inhabitants of Celes}Tia. And such was the departure of Lot from among the Sodomites. * These sons-in-law to Lot, as they are called (Gen. xix. 12-14), might e so styled because they were betrothed to Lot's daughters, though not et married to them. See the note on Antiq. b. xiv. ch. xiii. sect. 1. f Of tlie War, b. iv. ch. viii. sect. 4. φ This pillar of salt was, we see here, standing in the days of Josephus ; and he had seen it. That it was standing then, is also attested by Cle- ment of Rome, contemporary with Josephus ; as also that it was so in the next century, is attested by IrenEeus, with the addition of an hypo- thesis, how it came to last so long, with all its members entire. — Whe- ihei bhe a/icount that some modem travellers give be true, that it is still standing, I do not know. Its remote situation, at the utmost southern point of the Sea of Sodom, in the wild and dangerous deserts of Arabia, makes it exceedingly difficult for inquisitive travellers to examine the place ; and for common reports of country people, at a distance, they are not vf ry satisfactory. In the meantime, I have no opinion of le Clerc's dissertation or hypothesis about this question, which can only be deter- mined by eye-witnesses. When Christian princes, so called, lay aside their foolish and unchristian wars and quarrels, and send a body of fit persons to travel over the east, and bring us faithful accounts of all an- eient monuments, and procure us copies of all ancient records, at present .ost .among us, we may hope for full satisfaction in such inquiries, but hardly before. § I see no proper wicked intention in these daughters of Lot, vi'hen in a case which appeared to them of unavoidable necessity, they procured themselves to be with child by their father. Without such an unavoid- able necessity, incest is a horrid crime ; but whether in such a case of necessity as they apprehended this to be, according to Josephus, it was any such cinme, I am not satisfied. In the meantime, their making their father drunk, and their solicitous concealment of what they did from him, shows that they despaired of persuading him to an action wliich, at the best, could not but be very suspicious und shocking to so g'Hid a inau. Ρ 2 CHAPTER XII. CONCERNiNG ABIMELECH ; AND CONCERNING ISMAEI,, THE SON OF ABRAHAM ; AND CONCERNING THE ARA- BIANS, WHO WERE HIS POSTERITY. § 1. Abraham now removed to Gerar of Palestine, leading Sarah along with him, under the notion of his sister, using the like dissimulation that he had used before, and this out of fear ; for he was afraid of Abimelech, the king of that country, who did also himself fall in love with Sarah, and was dis- posed to corrupt her ; but he was restrained from satisfying his lust, by a dangerous distemper which befell him from God. Now when his physicians despah'ed of curing him, he fell asleep, and saw a dream, v/arning him not to abuse the stranger's wife ; and when he recovered, he told his friends that God had inflicted that disease upon liim, by way of punishment, for his injury to the stranger, and in order to preserve the chastity of his wife ; for that she did not accompany him as his sister, but as his legitimate wife ; and that God had pro- mised to be gracious to him for the time to come, if this person be once secure of his wife's chastity- When he had said tliis, by the advice of his friends, he sent for Abraham, and bid him not be concerned about his wife, or fear the corruption of her chas- tity ; for that God took care of him, and that it was by his providence that he received his wife again, without her suffering any abuse ; and he appealed to God, and to his Avife's conscience, and said that he had not any inclination at first to enjoy her, if he had knoAvn she was his wife ; but since, said he, thou ledst her about as thy sister, I was guilty of no offence. He also entreated him to be at peace with him, and to make God propitious to him ; and that if he thought fit to continue with him, he should have what he wanted in abundance ; but that if he designed to go aAvay, he should be lion- ourably conducted, and have Avhatsoever supply he wanted Λνΐιοη he came thither. Upon his saying this, Abra-ham told him that his pretence of Idndred to his wife was no lie, because she was his brother's daughter ; and that he did not think himself safe in his travels abroad, Avithout this sort of dissimu- lation ; and that he was not the cause of his dis- temper, but Avas only solicitous for his own safety. He said also, that he was ready to stay with him. "Whereupon Abimelech assigned him land and mo- ney ; and they covenanted to live together without guile, and took an oath at a certain well called Beersheba, which may be interpreted The IVell oj the Oath. And so it is named by the people of the country unto this day. 2. Now in a little time Abraham had a son by Sarah, as God had foretold to him, whom he named Isaac, which signifies Laughter; and indeed they so called him, because Sai-ah laughed whenGod|| said that she should bear a son, she not expecting such a thing, as being past the age of child-bearing, for she was ninety years old, and Abraham an hundred ; so that this son was born to them both in the last (I It is well worth observation, that Josephus here calls that principal angel, who appeared to Abr.-iham and foretold the birth of Isaac, directly God ; which language of Josephus here, prepares us to believe those other expressions of his, that Jestis was a vnse man, if it he Ιαπ'βιΙ to call him a man, Antiq. b. xviii. chap. iii. sect. 3; and of God the Word, in his hom- ily concerning Hades, may be both genuine. Nov U the oUier expression ' 0Ϊ divine angel, used presently, and before, also of any othftr signiiicdtionj ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. EOOIC L year of each of tliose decimal numbers. And they circumcised him upon the eighth day. And from that time the Jews continue the custom of circum- cising their sons within that number of days. But as for the Arabians, tliey circumcise after the thir- teenth year, because Ismael, the founder of their nation, who was born to Abraham of the concubine, was circumcised at that age ; concerning whom I will presently give a particular account, with great exactness. 3. As for Sarah, she at first loved Ismael, who was born of her ΟΛνη handmaid Hagar, with an af- fection not inferior to that of her own son, for he was brought up, in order to succeed in the govern- ment ; but when she herself had born Isaac, she was not willing that Ismael should be brought up ΛΛ'ith him, as being too old for him, and able to do him injuries when their father should be dead ; she tlierefore persuaded Abraham to send him and his mother to some distant country. Now, at the first lie did not agree to what Sarah was so zealous for, and thought it an instance of the greatest bar- barity to send away a young child* and a Avoman tmprovided of necessaries ; but at length he agreed to it, because God was pleased with what Sarah had determined ; so he delivered Ismael to his mother, as not yet able to go by himself ; and com- manded her to take a bottle of water, and a loaf of bread, and so to depart, and to take Necessity for her guide. But as soon as her necessary provisions failed, she found herself in an evil case ; and when the water was almost spent, she laid the young child, who was ready to expire, under a fig-tree, and went on farther, that so he might die while she was absent. But a divine angel came to her, and told her of a fountain hard by, and bid her take care and bring up the child, because she should be very happy by the preservation of Ismael. She then took courage, upon the prospect of what was promised her, and, meeting with some shepherds, by their care she got clear of the distresses she had been in, 4. When the lad was grown up, he married a wife, by birth an Egyptian, from whence the mo- ther was herself derived originally. Of this Avife were born to Ismael twelve sons ; Nabaioth, Kedar, Abdeel, Mabsam, Idumas, Masmaos, Masaos, Cho- dad, Theman, Jetur, Naphesus, Cadmas. These inhabited all the country from Euphrates to the Red Sea, and called it Nabatene. They are an Arabian nation, and name their tribes from these, both because of their own virtue, and because of the dignity of Abraham their father. CHAPTER XIII. CONCERNING ISAAC, THE LEGITIMATE SON OF ABRAHAM, 1. Now Abraham greatly loved Isaac, as being his only begotten,f and given to him at the borders • Josephus here calls Ismael a young child or infant, though ho was about 13 years of age; as Judas calls himself and his brethren young men, when he was 47, and had two children, Antiq. b. li. chap. vi. sect. 8, and they were of much the same age as is a damsel of 12 years old called a little child, Mark v. 39-42, five several times. Herod also is said by Joseplius to be a very young man at 25. See tlie note on Antiq. b. xiv. chap. ix. sect 2, and of the War, b. i. chap. x. And Aristobulus is Styled a very little child at 10' years of age, Antiq. b. xv. chap. ii. sect. 6, 7. Domitian is also called by him a very young child, when he went on his German expedition at about 18 years of age, of the War. b. vii. chap, iv. sect. 2. Samson's wife, and Ruth, when they were widows, are called ^ children, Antiq. b. v. chap. viii. sect. 6. and chap. ix. sect. 2, 3. + Note, that both here and Heb. xl. 17. Isaac is called Abraham's only of old age by the favour of God. The child also endeared himself to his pai*ents still more, by the exercise of every virtue, and adhering to his duty to his parents, and being zealous in the woi*ship oi God. Abraham also placed his own happiness in this prospect, that, when he should die, he should leave this his son in a safe and secure condition ; which accordingly he obtained by the will of God ; who, being desirous to make an experiment of Abraham's religious disposition tOAvards himself, appeared to him, and enumerated all the blessings he had bestowed on him ; how he had made him superior to his enemies ; and that his son Isaac, who was the principal part of his present happiness, was derived from him ; and he said that he required this son of his as a sacrifice and holy oblation. Accordingly he commanded him to carry him to the mountain Moriah, and to build an altar, and offer him for a burnt-offering upon it ; for that this would best manifest his religious disposition towards him, if he preferred what was pleasing to God, be- fore the preservation of his ΟΛνη son. 2. Now Abraham thought that it was not right to disobey God in any thing, but that he was obliged to serve him in every ch"cumstance of life, since all creatures that live enjoy their life by his providence, and the kindness he bestows on them. Accordmgly he concealed this command of God, and his own intentions about the slaughter of his son, from his wife, as also from every one of his servants, other- wise he should have been hindered from his obedi- ence to God ; and he took Isaac, together with two of his servants, and laying what things were neces- sary for a sacrifice upon an ass, he went away to the mountain. Now the two servants went along with him two days ; but on third day, as soon as he saw the mountain, he left those servants that were with him till then in the plain, and, having his son alone with him, . he came to the mountain. It was that mountain upon which king David after- wards built the temple.J Now they had brought with them every thing necessary for a sacrifice ex- cepting the animal that was to be offered only. Now Isaac was twenty-five years old. And as he was building the altar he asked his father what he was about to offer, since there was no animal there for an ol)lation : — to which it was answered, " That God would provide himself an oblation, he being able to make a plentiful provision for men out of what they have not, and to deprive others of what they already have, when they put too much trust therein ; that therefore, if God pleased to be present and propitious at this sacrifice, he would provide liimself an oblation." 3. As soon as the altar Avas prepared, and Abra- ham had laid on the wood, and all things were en- tirely ready, he said to his son, " 0 son ! I poured out a vast number of prayers that I might have thee for my son ; when thou wast come into the world, there was nothing that could contribute to thy support for which I wiis not greatly solicitous, nor any thing wherein I thought myself hapjiier than to see thee grown up to man's estate, and that I might lesbve thee at my death the successor to my begotten son, tliough he at tlie same time had another son, Ismael. The Septuagint expresses tlie true meaning, by rendering the text tht beloved son. φ Here is a plain error in the copies, wliich say that king David after- wards built the temple on this mount Moriah, while it was cerfainly no otiier than liing Solomon who built that temple, as indeed I'rocopius cites it from Josephus. For it was for certain David, and not Solomon, who built the first altar there, as we learn, 2 Sam. xxiv. 18, &c. 1 Chron sxi. 22, .^c auU Antiq. b. vii. oliap. xiii. scot. 4. CRAPTfiR XVI, ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 37 dominion ; but since it was by God's will that I became tfey father, and it is now his will that I re- linquish thee, bear this consecration to God with a generous mind ; for I resign thee up to God, who has thought fit now to require this testimony of ho- nour to himself, on account of the favours he hath conferred on me, in being to me a supporter and defender. Accordingly thou my son, wilt now die, not in any common way of going out of the world, but sent to God, the Father of all men, beforehand, by thy own father, in the nature of a sacrifice. I suppose he thinks thee worthy to get clear of this world neither by disease, neither by war, nor by any other severe Avay, by which death usually comes upon men, but so that he will receive thy soul with prayers and holy offices of religion, and will place thee near to himself, and thou wilt there be to me a succourer and supporter in my old age ; on which account I principally brought thee up, and thou wilt thereby procure me God for my Comforter in- stead of thyself." 4, Now Isaac was of such a generous disposition as became the son of such a father, and was pleased with this discourse ; and said " That he was not worthy to be born at first, if he should reject the determination of God and of his father, and should not resign himself up readily to both their pleasures ; since it would havebeen unjust if he had not obeyed, even if his father alone had so resolved." So he went immediately to the altar to be sacrificed. And the deed had been done if God had not opposed it ; for he called loudly to Abraham by his name, and forbade him to slay his son ; and said, " It was not out of a desire of human blood that he was com- manded to slay his son, nor was he willing that he should be taken away from him whom he had made his father, but to try the temper of his mind, whe- ther he would be obedient to such a command. Since, therefore, he now was satisfied as to that his alacrity, and the surprising readiness he showed in this his piety, he was delighted in having bestowed such blessings upon him ; and that he would not be wanting in all sort of concern about him, and in bestowing other children upon him ; and that his son should live to a very great age ; that he should live a happy life, and bequeath a large principality to his children, who should be good and legitimate." He foretold also, that his family should increase into many nations ;* and that those patriarchs should leave behind them an everlasting name, that they should obtain the possession of the land of Canaan, and be envied by all men. When God had said this, he produced to them a ram, which did not appear before, for the sacrifice. So Abraham and Isaac receiving each other unexpectedly, and hav- ing obtained the promises of such great blessings, embraced one another ; and when they had sacri- • It seems both here, and in God's parallel blessing to .Tacob (chap, xix. sect. J ), that Josephus had yet no notion of the hidden meaning of tliat most important and most eminent promise, " In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed ! He saith not. And to seeds, as of many, but as of one ; and to thy seed, which is Christ," Gal. iii. 16. Nor is it any wonder, he being, I think, as yet not a Christian; and had he been a Christian, yet since he was, to be sure, till the latter part of .Tiis life, no more than an Ebionite Christian, who, above all the apostles, rejected and despised St. Paul, it would be no great wonder if he did not now follow his interpretation. In the meantime, we have in effect St. Paul's exposition in the Testament of Reuben, sect. 6, in Authent. Eee. Part i. p. 302, who charges his sons " to worship the seed of Judah, who should die for them in visible and invisible wars ; and should be among them an eternal king." Nor is that observation of a learned foreigner cf my acquaintance to be despised, who takes notice, that, as seeds, in the plural, must signify posterity ; so seed, in the singular, may signify either posterity, or a single person ; and that in this promise of all nations being happy in the seed of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, &C. it is always used in the singular. To which I shall add, that it is sometimes, as it were, paraphrased by the son of Abraham, the son of David, &c. which is capa- ble a'no such jmib'guiiy. ficed, they returned to Sarah, and lived happily to- gether, God affording them his assistance in all things they desired. CHAPTER XIV. CONCERNING SARAH, ABRAHAM'S WIFE J AND HOW SHE ENDED HER DAYS. Now Sarah died a little while after, having lived one hundred and twenty-seven years. They bui'ied her in Hebron ; the Canaanites publicly allowing them a burying-place : — which piece of ground Abraham bought, for four hundred shekels, of Ephron, an inhabitant of Hebron ; and both Abra- ham and his descendants built themselves sepul- chres in that place. CHAPTER XV. HOW THE NATION OP THE TROGLODYTES WERE DE- RIVED FROM ABRAHAM BY KETURAH. Abraham after this married Keturah, by whom six sons were born to him ; men of courage and of sa- gacious minds : — Zambran, and Jazar, and Madan, and Madian, and Josabak, and Sous. Now the sons of Sous were Sabathan and Dadan : — the sons of Dadan were Latusim, and Assur, and Luom ; — the sons of Madian were Ephas, and Ophren, and Anoch, and Ebidas, and Eldas. Now, for all these sons and grandsons, Abraham contrived to settle them in colonies ; and they took possession of Tro- glodytis, and the country of Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the Red Sea. It is related of this Ophren, that he made war against Libya, and took it ; and that his grandchildren, when they in- habited it, called it (from his name) Africa ; and indeed Alexander Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say ; who speaks thus : — Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Maichus, who wrote a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses, their legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham by Ketu- rah ; nay, he names three of them, Apher and Su- rim, and Japhran : that from Surim was the land of Assyria denominated ; and that from the other two (Apher and Japhran) the country of Africa took its name ; because these men were auxiliaries to Hercules, when he fought against Libya and Antaeus ; and that Hercules married Aphra's daughter, and of her he begat a son, Diodorus ; and that Sophon was his son ; from whom that barbarous people called Sophacians were denom nated." CHAPTER XVI. how ISAAC TOOK REBEKA TO WIFE. § 1. Now when Abraham, the father of Isaac, had resolved to take Rebeka, who was grand-daughter to his brother Nahor, for a wife to his son Isaac, who was then about forty years old, he sent the an- cientest of his servants to betroth her, after he had ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. obliged him to give him the strongest assurances of his fidelity ; — Avhich assurances were given after the manner following : — They put each other's hands under each other's thighs ; then they called upon God as the witness of what Avas to be done. He also sent such presents to those that were there as were in esteem, on account that they either rarely or never were seen in that country. The servant got thither not under a considerable time ; for it requires much time to pass through Mesopotamia, in which it is tedious travelling, both in whiter for the depth of "the clay — and in summer, for want of water ; and, besides this, for the robberies there committed, which are not to be avoided by travel- lers but by caution beforehand. However, the ser- vant came to Haran ; and when he was in the sub- urbs, Tie met a considerable number of maidens going to the water ; he therefore prayed to God that Rebeka might be found among them, or her vvliom Abraham sent him as his servant to espouse to his son, in case his will Avere that this marriage should be consummated ; and that she might be made known to him by the sign, That while others denied him water to drink, she might give it him. 2. With this intention he went to the well, and desired the maidens to give him some water to drink .: but while the others refused on pretence that they wanted it all at home, and could spare none for him, one only of the company rebuked them for their peevish behaviour towards the sti^nger ; and said, What is there that you will ever communicate to any body, who have not so much as given the man some water ? She then offered him water in an obliging manner ; and now he began to hope that his grand affair would suc- ceed j but desiring still to know the truth, he com- mended her for her generosity and good-nature, that she did not scruple to afford a sufficiency of water to those that v/anted it, thought it cost her some pains to draw it ; and asked who were her parents, and wished them joy of such a daughter. " And mayest thou be espoused," said he, " to their satisfaction, into the family of an agreeable hus- band, and bring him legitimate children !" Nor did she disdain to satisfy his inquiries, but told him her family. " They," says she, " call me Rebeka ; my father was Bethuel, but he is dead ; and Laban is' my brother ; and, together with my mother, takes care of all oiu' family affairs, and is the guar- dian of my virginity." When the servant heard this, he was very glad at what had happened, and at v/hat was told him, as perceiving that God ha,d thus plainly directed his journey : and producing his bracelets, and some other ornaments which it was esteemed decent for virgins to wear, he gave them to the damsel, by way of acknowledgment, and as a reward for her kindness in giving him water to drink ; saying, it was but just that she should have them, because she was so much more obliging than any of the rest. She desired also that he would come and lodge Avith them, since the ap- proach of the night gave him not time to proceed farther ; and producing his precious ornaments for women, he said he desired to trust them to none more safely than to such as she had shown herself to be ; and that he believed he might guess at the liumanity of her mother and brother, that they would not be displeased, from the vh-tue he found in her ; for he would not be burdensome, but would pay the hire for his entertainment, and spend his own mouey. To which she replied, that he guessed BOOK li ' right as to the humanity of her parents ; but com- plained that he should think them so parsimonious as to take money, for that he should have all on free cost : but she said she would first inform her bro- ther Laban, and, if he gave her leave, she would conduct him in. 3. As soon then as this was over, she introduced the stranger ; and for the camels, the servants of Laban brought them in, and took care of them ; and he was himself brought in to supper by Laban. And, after supper, he says to him, and to the mo- ther of the damsel, addressing himself to her, " Abraham is the son of Terah, and a kinsman of yours ; for Nahor, the grandfather of these chil- di-en, was the brother of Abraham, by both father and mother ; upon which account he hath sent me to you, being desirous to take this damsel for his son to wife. He is his legitimate son, and is brought up as his only heir. He could indeed have had the most happy of all the women in that country for him, but he would not have his son marry any oi them ; but, out of regard to his own relations, he desh-ed him to match here, whose affection and in- clination I would not have you despise ; for it was by the good pleasure of God that other accidents fell out in my journey, and that thereby I lighted upon your daughter and your house ; for when I was near to the city, I saw a great many maidens coming to a well, and I prayed that I might meet with this damsel, which has come to pass accord- ingly. Do you, therefore, confirm that marriage, Avliose espousals have been already made by a di- vme appearance ; and show the respect you have for Abraham, who hath sent me with so much soli- citude, in giving your consent to the marriage of this damsel." Upon this they understood it to be the will of God, and greatly approved of the offer, and sent their daughter, as was desired. Accord- ingly Isaac married her, the inheritance being now come to him ; for the children by Keturah were gone to their own. remote habitations. CHAPTER XVII. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM. A LITTLE while after this, Abraham died. He was a man of incomparable vii^tue, and honoured by God in a manner agreeable to his piety towards him. The whole time of his Ufe Avas one hundred seventy and five years ; and he Avas buried, in He- bron, Avith his wife Sarah, by their sons Isaac and Ismael. CHAPTER XVIII. CONCERNING THE SONS OF ISAAC, ESAU AND JACOB, OF THEIll NATIVITY AND EDUCATION. § 1. Now Isaac's Avife proved Avith child, after the death of Abraham ;* and Avlien her belly Avas greatly burdened, Isaac Avas very anxious, and in- quired of God ; who answered, that Rebeka should • Tlie birth of Jacob and Esau is here said to he after Abraham's death ' it should have been after Sarah's death. The order of the nan-ation in r.enesis, not ahvpys oxactly aecordinu; to the order of tiinp, ?eonns to have led JoseOhus into this error, a.s X)r. Bernard observes here. CHAPTER XVIII. ANTIQUITIES bear twins ; and that two nations should take the names of those sons ; and that he who appeared the second should excel the elder. Accordingly she, in a little time, as God had foretold, bare twins ; the elder of whom, from his head to his feet^ was very rough and hairy ; but the younger took hold of his heel as they were in the birth. Now the fa- ther loved the elder, who was called Esau, a name agi'eeable to his roughness, for the Hebrews call such an liairy roughness [Esau,* or] Seir ; but Jacob the younger was best beloved by his another. 2. When there was a famine in the land, Isaac resolved to go into Egj-pt, the land there being good ; but he went to Gerar, as God commanded him. Here Abimelech the king received him, be- cause Abraham had formerly lived with him, and had been his friend ; and as in the heginning he treated him exceeding kindly, so he was hmdered from continuing in the same disposition to the end, by his envy at him ; for when he saw that God was with Isaac, and took such great care of him, he drove him away from him. But Isaac, when ho saw how envy had changed the temper of Abime- lech, retired to a place called the Valley, not far from Gerar ; and as he was digging a well, the shepherds fell upon him, and began to fight, in order to hinder the work ; and because he did not desire to contend, the shepherds seemed to get the better of him ; so he still retired, and dug another well ; and when certain other shepherds of Abime- lech's began to offer him violence, he left that also, and still retired ; thus purchasing security to him- self hy a rational and prudent conduct. At length the king gave him leave to dig a well without dis- turbance. He named this well Rehoboth, which denotes a large space ; hut of the former Avells, one was called Escon, which denotes strife ; the other Sitenna, which name signifies enmity. H. It was now that Isaac's affairs increased, and his power was ui a flourishing condition ; and this from his great riches. But Abimelech, thinking Isaac throve in opposition to him, while their liv- ing together made them suspicious of each other, and Isaac's retiring, showing a secret enmity also, he was afraid that his former frienship v/ith Isaac would not secure him, if Isaac should endeavour to revenge the injuries he had formerly offered him ; lie thei-efoi-e renewed his friendship with him, and brought with him Philoe, one of his generals. And when he had obtained every thing he desired, by reason of Isaac's good nature, who preferred the earlier friendship Abimelech had sho^vn to himself and his father to his later wrath against him, he returned home. 4. Now when Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, whom the father principally loved, was now come to the age of forty years, he married A dah, the daughter of Helen, and Aliolibamah, the daughter of Esebeon ; which Helen and Esebeon were great lords among the Canaanites, thereby taking upon himself the authority, and pretending to have domi- nion over his own marriages, without so much as -isldng the advice of his father ; for had Isaac been the arbitrator, he had not given him leave to marry v'lius, for he was not pleased with contracting any alliance with the people of that country ; but not caring to be uneasy to his son, by commanding hira to put away these wives, he resolved to be silent. • * For Seir in Josephus, tlie fohereiice requires that v.-e re.'irT Esau or Unr ■v'lieh signify tiie sixmo thing. OF THE JEWS. 3;) 5. But when he was old, and could not see at all, he called Esau to hira, and told him, that hesides his blindness and the disorder of his eyes, his very old age hindered him from his worship of God [by saciifice] ; he bid him therefore to go out a hunt- ing, and when he had caught as much venison as he could, to prepare him a supper,t that after this he might make supplication to God, to be to him a supporter and an assister during the whole time of his life ; saying, that it was uncertain when he should die, and that he \vas desirous, by prayers for him, to procure, beforehand, God to be niercifijl to him. 6. Accordinirly Esau went out a hunting ; but Rebekai thinking it proper to have the suj)plica- tion made for ohtaining the favour of God to Jacob, and that without the consent of Isaac, hid him kill kids of the goats, and prepare a supper. So Jacob obeyed his mother, accordmg to all her iustructions- Now when the supper was got ready, he took a goat's skin, and put it about his arm, that hy rea- son of its hairy roughness, he might by his father be believed to ])e Esau ; for they being twins, and in all things else alike, differed only in this thing. This was done out of his fear, that before his fa- ther had made his supplications, he should he caught in his evil practice ; and lest he should, on the contrary, provoke his father to curse him. So he ght in the supper to his father. Isaac per- ceiving, by the peculiarity of his voice, wlio he was, called hiy son to him, who gave him his hand, which was covered v/ith the goat's skin. When Isaac felt that, he said, "Thy voice is like the voice of Jacob, yet, because of the thickness of thy hair, thou seemest to be Esau." So suspecting no de- ceit, he ate the supper, and hetook himself to his prayers and intercessions with God : and said, "0 Lord of all ages, and Creator of all substance ; for it was thou that didst propose to my father great plenty of good things, and hast vouchsafed to be- stow on me Avhat I have ; and hast promised to my posterity to he their kind supporter, and to bestow on them still greater blessings, — do thou, therefore, confirm these thy pi'omises, and do not overlook me, because of my present weak condition, on ac- count of which I most earnestly pray to thee. Be gracious to this my son ; and preserve him, and keep hira from every thing that is evil. Give him a happy life, and the possession of as many good t Thfi supper of savourj' meat, as we call it (Gen. xxvii. 4.) to be caught by hunting, wa-; intended plainly for a festival or a sacrifice ; and upon the prayers that were frequent at sacrifices, Isaac expected, as was then usual in such eminent cases, that a divine impulse would come upon him, in order to the solemn blessing of his son there present, and his foretel- ling his future behaviour and fortune. Whence it must be, that when Isaac had unwittiiigly blessed Jacob, and was aftenvards made sensible of his mistake, yet did he not attempt to alter it, how earnestly soever his affection for Esau might incline him to wish it might be altcted, because he knew that this blessing came not from himself, but from God, and that an alteration was out of his power. A second afflatus then came xipon him, and enabled him to foretel Esau's future behaviour and for- tune also. φ Whether Jacob or his mother Eebeka were most blameable in this imposition upon Isaao in his old age, I cannot determine. However, the blessing being delivered as a prediction of future events, by a divine im pulse, and foretelling things to befal to the posterity of Jacob and Esau in future ages, was for certain providential ; and according to what Ee- lieka knew to be the purpose of God, when he answered her inquiry, "before the children were born" (Gen. xxv. 23), "that one people should be stronger than the other people ; and the elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacot)." Whether Isaac knew or remembered this old oracle, delivered in our copies only to Rebeka; or whether, if he knew and re- membered it, he did not endeavour to alter the divine determination, out of his fondness for his elder and worser son Esau, to the damage of his younger and better son Jacob ; as Josephus elsewhere supposes, Antiu, b. ii. ch. vii. sect. 3, I cannot certainly s