Life of Martin & Chronicle 2

The times of the captivity were made illustrious by the prophecies and deeds of the prophets, and most of all by Daniel's remarkable perseverance in preserving the law, and in the acquittal of Susanna by divine counsel, and in the other things done by him, which we shall now relate in order. He was captured under king Jehoiakim and carried off to Babylon while still quite a small boy; afterward, on account of the elegance of his appearance, he was taken among the royal attendants, and along with him Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. But when the king had commanded that they be provided with more delicate foods, and had given this charge to the eunuch Asphenaz, Daniel, mindful of his ancestral traditions, lest he should partake of the Gentile foods from the king's table, asked the eunuch that they might use only vegetables.

When Asphenaz objected, fearing lest the leanness ensuing should betray that the king's command had been disregarded, Daniel, relying on God, promised that his countenance would be of greater comeliness from vegetables than from the royal foods. And faith attended his words, so that the faces of those who were provided for at imperial expense were by no means comparable. And so, admitted by the king into honor and favor, by their prudence and learning they were in a short time preferred above all who were nearest to the king.

About this same time Susanna, married to a certain Joacim, a woman of conspicuous beauty, was solicited by two elders; and when she would not consent to the shameless men, she was assailed with a false charge, these same elders alleging that a young man had been caught with her in a remote place, but that he, by youthful agility, had escaped the hands of the old men. So credit was given to the elders, and by the judgment of the people Susanna was condemned. And when, according to the law, she was being led to execution, Daniel, then twelve years old, rebuking the Jews because they had condemned an innocent woman to death, demanded that she be brought back into judgment and the case heard again.

Indeed the multitude of the Jews who were then present, judging that not without God had a boy of so despised an age broken forth into such firmness, with favor inclined toward him, returned to the council. The judgment is begun anew; it was granted to Daniel to sit among the elders. So he ordered the accusers to be separated, and questioned each of them under what kind of tree he had caught the adulteress. By the discrepancy of their answers the falsehood was detected; Susanna was acquitted, and the elders, who had brought peril upon an innocent woman, were condemned to death. At that time Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream, wondrous with the mystery of things to come.

When he could not by himself unravel its interpretation, having summoned to interpret it the Chaldeans and those who by magic arts and by the entrails of victims seemed to know hidden things and to foretell the future, he soon, fearing lest after the manner of men they should conjecture from the dream not what was true but what would please the king, suppressed the things he had seen, and demanded of them that, if there were true divination in them, they should tell him the dream itself; that he would then at last believe their interpretation, if first, by declaring the dream, they had given proof of their art. But they, refusing so great a task, confessed that this was not within human power. The king, moved that men should deceive him with errors by a false profession of divining, since, bound by the present task, they confessed they knew nothing —

so by the king's edict punishment was inflicted upon them, and all of this art were openly being put to death. When this became known to Daniel, he addressed the man nearest to the king, and promised the declaration of the dream and its interpretation. The matter was brought to the king, and Daniel was summoned. Now, the mystery having been revealed to him by God, he reports and unfolds the king's vision. But the matter requires that we set forth the king's dream and the prophet's interpretation and the faithfulness of what followed. The king had seen in his sleep an image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, which ended in feet partly of iron, partly of clay; but the iron and the earthenware, being mingled together, could not cohere.

At last a stone, cut out without hands, ground the image to pieces, and all of it, reduced to dust, was carried away by the wind. So, according to the prophet's interpretation, the image seen bears the figure of the world. The golden head is the empire of the Chaldeans, since we have received that it was the first and most opulent. The breast and silver arms announce the second kingdom; for Cyrus, having conquered the Chaldeans and the Medes, transferred the empire to the Persians. By the belly of bronze a third kingdom is declared to be portended, and we see it fulfilled, since Alexander claimed for Macedon the empire wrested from the Persians. The legs of iron are understood as the fourth empire, and that the Roman, the strongest of all kingdoms before it.

But the feet, partly of iron, partly of clay, prefigure that the Roman kingdom is to be divided, so that it should never cohere among itself; which has been likewise fulfilled, since the Roman state is administered not by one emperor, but by several, ever at variance among themselves whether by arms or by partisanship.

Finally, by the mingling of earthenware and iron, with the materials never coalescing among themselves, are signified the future intermixtures of the human race that are at odds with one another, since it is established that Roman soil has been occupied by foreign or rebel nations, or handed over by those surrendering under the appearance of peace, and we see barbarian nations intermingled with our armies, cities, and provinces — and especially the Jews — dwelling among us, yet not passing over into our ways. And the prophets announce these to be the last things. But in the stone cut out without hands, which crushes the gold, silver, bronze, iron, and earthenware, there is the figure of Christ.

For He, brought forth not by human condition — since He was born not of the will of man, but of God — will reduce to nothing this world in which are the kingdoms of the earth, and will establish another kingdom, incorruptible and everlasting, that is, the age to come, which has been prepared for the saints. Concerning this one thing alone the faith of some is still in doubt, for they do not believe concerning things to come, though they are convinced concerning things past. So Daniel, endowed by the king with many gifts, set over Babylonia and the whole empire, was held in the highest honors. By his vote Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were likewise advanced to the highest dignity and power.

About the same time the remarkable prophecy of Ezekiel arose, the mystery of things to come and of the resurrection being revealed to him. There exists a book of great work, to be read with care. But in Judaea, over which, after the destruction of Jerusalem, we mentioned above that Gedaliah had been set, the Jews, taking it ill that a leader of non-royal stock had been given them by the choice of the conqueror, with a certain Ishmael as leader and instigator of a wicked conspiracy, slew him by an ambush prepared at a banquet. But those who had been free of the crime, eager to go avenge the deed, hastily took up arms against Ishmael. But when he learned that destruction was hanging over him, abandoning the army he had gathered, with no more than eight companions he fled to the Ammonites.

So fear pervaded the whole people, lest the king of Babylon should go to avenge the crime of a few with the destruction of all; for besides Gedaliah they had slain many of the Chaldeans along with him. And so they form a plan of fleeing into Egypt, but first they go in throngs to Jeremiah, inquiring the divine response. But he, by the words of God, exhorted them all to remain in their native soil; if they did so, they would be protected by God's guard and there would be no danger from the Babylonians; but if they sought Egypt, all would perish there by sword and famine and by various kinds of death. But the common people, insolent through their accustomed evil and unused to obeying salutary counsels and the divine command, set out into Egypt. What was afterward done concerning them is passed over in silence by the sacred writings; nothing is known to us.

In this stretch of time Nebuchadnezzar, exalted by his successes, set up for himself a golden statue of immense magnitude and commanded it to be worshiped as a sacred effigy. When this was done with rivalry by all, the minds of all being corrupted by flattery, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael abstained from the profane service, not ignorant that this honor was due to God alone. So by the king's edict they were arraigned, and the condition of penalties was set before them, a burning furnace, that by present fear they might be compelled to worship the statue. But they chose rather to be devoured by the flames than to commit a sacrilege. And so, bound with fetters, they were cast into the midst of the flames. But the ministers of the unspeakable work, while they were the more eagerly driving the condemned into the fire, the flame swallowed up;

the Hebrews — wondrous to tell and incredible to those who did not see it — the fire did not touch, when by the onlookers they were seen walking in the furnace and singing a psalm to God, and a fourth was seen with them amid the fires, in the likeness of an angel, whom Nebuchadnezzar, gazing more closely, confessed he had seen to be the Son of God. Then the king, in no doubt that a divine power had been present in the matter, sent edicts throughout his whole kingdom and published abroad the miracle of the deed, confessing that honor was to be rendered to God alone. And not long after, a dream being set before him, and soon admonished also by a voice sent from heaven, his royal power being cast off and himself removed from all human company, sustaining life on herbs alone, he is recorded to have done penance;

the dominion being preserved for him by God's will, until, the time being fulfilled and God being at last acknowledged, after seven years he was restored both to his kingdom and to his former state. He is recorded, after having conquered Zedekiah, as we said above, whom he carried captive to Babylon, to have reigned twenty-six years, although I have not found this written in the sacred history. But it chanced that, while I was perusing many things, I found this notation in a little book already corrupted by age and without the author's name, in which the times of the king of the Babylonians were contained;

which I did not think should be passed over, since it both agreed with the Chronicles, and the reckoning of it so fitted our own that, through the order of the kings whose times it contained, down to the first year of king Cyrus, it filled out seventy years — for so many are reported by the sacred history to have been from the captivity to Cyrus. After Nebuchadnezzar his son obtained the kingdom, whom I found in the Chronicles to have been called Evilmerodach. He, dying in the twelfth year of his reign, made way for his younger brother, who was called Belshazzar.

When in the fourteenth year he was giving a public banquet to his princes and prefects, he ordered the sacred vessels to be brought forth — those which had been carried off from the temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and not employed for royal uses, but kept stored away in the treasuries. And when, through the luxury and license of the royal feast, all indiscriminately, of male and female sex, his wives and concubines, made use of these, suddenly the king beheld upon the wall fingers writing, and letters were seen drawn out in a line; but no one could be found who could read what was written. So the king, terrified, summoned the magi and the Chaldeans.

When these muttered and made no answer at all, the queen reminded the king that there was a certain Hebrew named Daniel, who had once revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the dream of a hidden mystery, and had even then, on account of his illustrious wisdom, been endowed with the highest honors. And so, being summoned, he read it through and interpreted that, because of the king's offense, who had profaned the vessels sacred to God, destruction was hanging over him and his kingdom was given to the Medes and Persians. Which soon followed; for that same night Belshazzar perished, and Darius, a Mede by nation, seized his kingdom, and set Daniel, found by his illustrious repute, over the whole empire, following the judgment of the former kings.

For both Nebuchadnezzar had set him over the kingdom, and Belshazzar had endowed him with a purple robe and a golden chain and constituted him the third ruler of the kingdom. So those who, together with him, were in power, vexed by envy that a foreigner of a captive nation had been made equal to them, urge the king, corrupted by flattery, that for the next thirty days divine honors be rendered to himself, and that it be lawful for no one to pray to God save the king. This was easily persuaded to Darius, by the folly of all kings who claim divine things for themselves. So Daniel, not untaught nor ignorant that prayers are to be rendered to God, not to man, is arraigned as one who had not obeyed the king's edict.

And though Darius much refused, to whom he had always been dear and acceptable, the princes prevailed, so that he was let down into a pit. But, exposed to the beasts, there was no peril. When the king had learned this, he ordered the accusers to be consigned to the lions; who did not come off by a like example, for they were straightway devoured and satisfied the wild beasts' hunger. Daniel, illustrious before, was held more illustrious; the king, his own edict being annulled, set forth a new one, that, errors and superstitions being abandoned, the God of Daniel should be worshiped. There exist also his visions, by which he revealed the order of the ages to follow, embracing even the number of years within which, as in fact happened, Christ would descend to the earth; and he openly set forth that Antichrist would come.

(6) But if anyone is more diligent, he will find these matters more accurately treated there; our own aim is merely to weave together the order of events. Darius is reported to have reigned eighteen years; at that time Astyages ruled the Medes. 8 (1) Cyrus, his grandson by a daughter, drove him from the kingdom by force of Persian arms, whereby the supreme power was transferred to the Persians. The Babylonians too passed under his power and dominion. (2) Therefore at the beginning of his reign, by edicts published openly, he gave the Jews leave to return to their native land, and he also restored the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from the temple of Jerusalem. And so few then returned into Judaea; whether the rest lacked the will or the means to return, we have not sufficiently ascertained.

(3) At that time there was among the Babylonians a bronze statue of Bel, a most ancient king whom even Virgil mentions (Aen. 1.729), which, consecrated by the superstition of men, Cyrus too was accustomed to worship, being deceived by the trickery of its priests, who declared that the image ate and drank, whereas they themselves secretly consumed the daily offering that was set before the idol. (4) So Cyrus, being on familiar terms with Daniel, asked him why he did not worship the statue, since it gave a clear sign of being a living god, consuming what was offered to it. (5) Daniel, laughing at the man's error, denied that it could happen that this bronze, that is, brute matter, should make use of food or drink.

Therefore the king ordered the priests to be summoned (for they were about seventy in number), and confronting them with terror he upbraided them, asking who was consuming the provisions, since Daniel, a man of remarkable prudence, maintained that this could in no way be done by a senseless image. (6) Then they, relying on the trick they had prepared, demanded that the usual offerings be brought in and that the temple be sealed by the king, so that, unless on the next day everything were found consumed, they should pay the penalty with death, provided the same condition remained for Daniel. (7) And so the temple was sealed with the king's seal, after Daniel had first, unknown to the priests, sprinkled the floor with ashes, so that the footprints of those entering might betray their hidden passages. Therefore on the next day the king, entering the temple, observed that what he had ordered set before the idol had been consumed.

(8) Then Daniel, with the footprints betraying it, uncovered the hidden fraud: that the priests with their wives and children, entering through a tunneled hole, had devoured what had been placed before the idol. Thus by the king's order all were put to death, and the temple and the statue were given over to Daniel's power and were demolished at his discretion. 9 (1) Meanwhile the Jews, who as we mentioned above had returned to their homeland by Cyrus' permission, undertook to restore the city and the temple; but being few and poor, they made little progress, until nearly in the hundredth year, while Artaxerxes was ruling as king over the Persians, they were deterred from building by those who were set over those regions; (2) for at that time Syria and all Judaea were governed under Persian rule through magistrates and prefects.

So their plan was to write to king Artaxerxes, saying that leave ought not to be given to the Jews to restore their city, lest, with their stubborn disposition, having recovered their strength—being a people once accustomed to rule over other nations—they should refuse to dwell under a foreign dominion. (3) Thus, the prefects' counsel being approved by the king, the building of the city was forbidden and deferred until the second year of king Darius. But in this stretch of time we shall insert which kings ruled over the Persians, so that the sequence of years woven into order may be more easily set forth. (4) After Darius the Mede, whom we have indicated reigned eighteen years, Cyrus held power for thirty-one years.

While making war on the Scythians he fell in battle, in the second year after Tarquinius Superbus had begun to reign at Rome. (5) Cambyses, his son, succeeded Cyrus; he reigned nine years. He, while pressing Egypt and Ethiopia with war and having subdued them, and returning victorious into Persia, wounded himself by chance, and from that blow he perished. (6) After his death two magi, brothers, Medes by nation, held the Persian kingdom for seven months. To kill these, seven of the noblest Persians conspired, whose chief was Darius, son of Hystaspes, born of a cousin of Cyrus; and by the consent of all the kingdom was conferred on him; he reigned thirty-six years.

(7) He, four years before he died, fought at Marathon, a battle most celebrated in Greek and Roman histories. This was waged about the two hundred and sixtieth year after the founding of Rome, in the consulship of Macerinus and Augurinus, and—if indeed the investigation of the Roman consuls has not deceived me—eight hundred and eighty-eight years ago; for I have directed the whole reckoning of time toward the consul Stilicho. (8) After Darius came Xerxes, and he is reported to have reigned twenty-one years; although in most copies I have found that his reign was twenty-five years. To him succeeded Artaxerxes, whom we mentioned above. (9) When he had ordered the building of the city of Judaea and of the temple to be checked, the work hung suspended until the second year of king Darius.

But that the order of times may be connected up to him: Artaxerxes reigned forty-one years, Xerxes two months. And after him Sogdianus held power for seven months. 10 (1) Then Darius, under whom the temple was restored, obtained the kingdom; his name at that time was Ochus. He, having three Hebrew youths of tested fidelity as his bodyguards, and one of them having turned the king's admiration upon himself by a proof of his prudence, was given the choice of asking whatever he had conceived in his mind; and groaning over the ruins of his homeland, he begged for the means to restore the city, and he obtained from the king that he should command the under-kings and prefects to hasten the building of the sacred house, the costs being supplied.

(2) Thus the temple was completed in four years, in the sixth year after Darius had begun to reign, and this seemed enough to the Jews; and because it was a task of great magnitude to restore the city, distrusting their strength they did not dare to begin so laborious a work, and confined themselves to the temple. (3) About the same time Ezra, the scribe of the law, nearly twenty years after the temple had been completed—Darius being now dead, who had held power for nineteen years—set out from Babylonia by permission of Artaxerxes the Second (not the one who was between the two Xerxes, but this one who had succeeded Darius Ochus); and many followed him and brought to Jerusalem vessels of various workmanship and gifts which the king had sent to the temple of God, together with twelve Levites; (4) for scarcely this number, it is reported, was found from that tribe.

When he had discovered that the Jews were mingled in marriages with Gentiles, he rebuked many and ordered them to renounce marriages of this kind and to cast out the sons begotten of them, and all obeyed his word. The people, being purified, conducted themselves according to the rite of the old law. (5) For the rest, I find that Ezra did nothing concerning the rebuilding of the city—I believe because he judged it a higher concern to reform the people corrupted in their morals. 11 (1) There was at that time in Babylonia Nehemiah, a royal servant, a Jew by birth, dearest to Artaxerxes by the merit of his services.

(2) He, having inquired of the Jews what was the state of their ancestral city, when he learned that his homeland lay in those same ruins, was disturbed in all his senses, and with groaning and many tears is reported to have prayed to God, recounting the sins of his nation and earnestly imploring divine mercy. (3) Therefore, when the king had noticed him sorrowful beyond his custom amid the banquet, he demanded that he set forth the cause of his griefs. Then he lamented the adversities of his nation and the ruin of his city, which now for nearly two hundred and fifty years had been laid level with the ground, offering a testimony of misfortunes and a spectacle to enemies; and he asked that the power be given him of going and restoring it.

(4) The king yielded to his pious prayers, and at once sent him off with an escort of cavalry, so that he might journey more safely, with letters given to the governors that they should supply what was necessary. When he had arrived at Jerusalem, he distributed the work of the city to the people man by man, and all eagerly attended to his orders. (5) And already they had advanced to the middle of the structures, when, inflamed with envy of the nations, the neighboring cities conspired to interrupt the works and to deter the Jews from building. But Nehemiah, having posted guards against the assailants, in no way terrified, carried out what he had begun; and when the wall was completed and the gate-leaves finished, he laid out the city by families for the building of houses within.

And he reckoned the people by no means equal to the city, for no more than about fifty thousand of mixed sex and rank were found; (6) so much had been consumed by frequent wars or held in captivity out of that once enormous number. For formerly these two tribes, of whom this was the remnant, when they were separated from the other ten tribes, had armed three hundred and twenty thousand men. Given over by God to slaughter and captivity for their sin, they had come down to this small number. (7) But this, as I said, was the people of two tribes; the ten, however, having earlier been led away, scattered among the Parthians, Medes, Indians, and Ethiopians, never returned to their native land, and to this day are held under the dominions of barbarian nations.

But the completed restoration of the city is reported in the thirty-second year of the reign of Artaxerxes. (8) From that time until the cross of Christ, that is, to the consuls Fufius Geminus and Rubellius, there are three hundred and ninety-eight years; and further, from the restoration of the temple to its overthrow—which was accomplished under Vespasian, consul and Augustus, by Titus Caesar—there are four hundred and eighty-three years. (9) This was foretold long ago by Daniel, who had declared that from the renewal of the temple to its overthrow there would be sixty-nine weeks. And from the day of the captivity of the Jews until the time of the restored city there were two hundred and sixty years. 12 (1) Within this stretch of time we judge that Esther and Judith lived;

but to which kings precisely I should attach their deeds, I cannot easily make out. For since Esther is referred to as living under a king Artaxerxes, and moreover I have found that there were two Persian kings of this name, there is much hesitation as to whose times this should be applied to. (2) Yet it has seemed to me to connect the history of Esther to this Artaxerxes under whom Jerusalem was restored, because it is not likely that, if she had lived under the earlier Artaxerxes, whose times Ezra has covered, he would have made no mention of so illustrious a woman—especially since it is established that the building of the temple was checked by that Artaxerxes, as we mentioned above; nor would Esther have allowed it, had she then been in marriage to him. (3) Now I shall relate what was done.

At that time the king had in marriage a certain Vashti, a woman of marvelous beauty. When he was proclaiming her beauty to all, on a certain day, while he was giving a public banquet, he ordered the queen to be present for the sake of displaying her beauty. (4) But she, being wiser than her foolish king and ashamed to offer the spectacle of her body to the eyes of men, refused his command. The barbarian's mind, stirred by this affront, drove the wife from the marriage and from the palace. (5) Therefore, when a girl was sought for the king's wedlock in her place, Esther was found to surpass the others in appearance. She was a Jewess of the tribe of Benjamin, bereaved of both parents, reared by Mordecai her cousin.

(6) When she was led to the royal nuptials, at the bidding of her guardian she concealed her lineage and her homeland, having been admonished that, even though as a captive she was entering into marriage with a foreigner, she should not be forgetful of her ancestral traditions nor partake of Gentile foods. (7) So, joined to the king, in a short time, as happens, by the force of her beauty she easily captured his whole heart, so much that he made her equal to his power and bestowed on her a distinguished royal garment of purple. 13 (1) At that time Mordecai was among those closest to the king, manager of his household affairs to the best of his ability. He had betrayed a plot laid against the king by two eunuchs, and from that he became dearer and was endowed with the highest honors. (2) At that time there was a certain Haman, very intimate with the king, whom he had ordered to be worshiped as equal to himself, after the manner of kings.

Mordecai, alone of all men disdaining to do this, had grievously kindled the hatred of the Persian against himself. (3) Therefore Haman, bending his mind to the destruction of the Hebrew, approached the king and asserted that there was in his kingdom a kind of men, hateful to God and to men by their depraved superstitions, living by foreign laws, deserving of destruction; that it was right to give over all of this nation to slaughter, and from their goods he promised immense wealth. (4) This was easily persuaded to the barbarian; an edict was issued that the Jews should be killed, and men were at once sent out to proclaim it throughout the whole kingdom from India to Ethiopia. When this was learned by Mordecai, with his garments rent he wrapped himself in sackcloth, and sprinkled with ashes he proceeded to the palace, and there with much wailing filled all places with his laments;

that it was an unworthy crime that an undeserving nation should perish, and that no cause for their perishing was given. (5) Esther, roused by the voice of one lamenting, learned the matter as it was. Then indeed she was doubtful of counsel, because there was no power of approaching the king—for after the manner of the Persians a queen is not permitted to enter to the king unless summoned, and not even then, when it has pleased the king, but is admitted at an appointed time—and it had by chance happened just then that for the last thirty days Esther was kept separated from the sight of the king. (6) Therefore, judging that something must be ventured for her fellow-citizens, even though certain destruction were at hand, prepared to fall in a noble enterprise, having first called upon God, she entered the king's court.

But the barbarian, struck by the unusual thing, little by little soothed by feminine blandishment, was at last brought to the queen's banquet, and together with him that Haman, dear to the king and hostile to the Jewish nation. (7) Therefore, when after the feast the banquet had begun to grow warm with many cups, Esther threw herself at the king's knees and pleaded against the destruction of her nation. The king indeed promised that he would deny her nothing she asked, if she should ask anything further. (8) Then Esther, seizing the moment, demanded the death of Haman in vengeance for the nation which he had desired to destroy. But the king, mindful of his friend, hesitating a little, withdrew briefly for the sake of deliberation. Then, returning, when he saw Haman clasping the queen's knees, kindled with anger and crying out that the queen was being assailed, he ordered him to be put to death.

(9) And then it was discovered by the king that a punishment of the cross had been prepared by Haman for Mordecai. Thus Haman is fastened to the very same cross, and all his goods are given to Mordecai, and the Jews are set free. Artaxerxes reigned sixty-two years, and Ochus succeeded him. 14 (1) To this order of events I shall rightly join the deeds of Judith; for she is reported to have lived after the captivity, but which king reigned over the Persians at that time the divine history has not set forth; yet it names the king under whom these things were done as Nebuchadnezzar—not indeed the one who captured Jerusalem. (2) But I find that no one of this name reigned among the Persians after the captivity, unless perhaps, on account of his violence and like attempts, whoever that king was, he was called Nebuchadnezzar by the Jews.

(3) Yet most think it was Cambyses, son of king Cyrus, on the ground that as victor he penetrated into Egypt and Ethiopia. But the same sacred history opposes this opinion; (4) for Judith is marked as having lived in the twelfth year of that king. Yet Cambyses held power no more than eight years. Hence, if one may form an opinion in history, I would believe these things were done under king Ochus, who came after Artaxerxes the Second; and I conjecture this even from the fact that this same Ochus, as I have read in the secular writers, is reported to have been by nature harsh and eager for wars. For he both bore arms against his neighbors and recovered Egypt, which many years before had revolted, by war. (5) At which time he is also reported to have mocked their sacred rites and Apis, who had been received as a god;

which afterward Bagoas, his eunuch, an Egyptian by nation, taking it ill, avenged the insult to his nation by the death of the king. Now the divine history makes mention of this Bagoas; (6) for when Holofernes led an army against the Jews at the king's command, it records that Bagoas was in those same camps. Hence not without reason might I adduce this in support of our opinion, that the king named Nebuchadnezzar was that Ochus under whom secular historians have reported that Bagoas existed. (7) But that ought to be a wonder to no one, that the writers of secular literature have touched nothing of those things which are written in the sacred volumes;

the Spirit of God prevailing, so that, untainted by a corrupt mouth or by one mingling false things with true, the history might be contained within its own mysteries alone—a history which, set apart from the affairs of the world and to be brought forth by sacred utterances only, ought not to be mingled with others as though by an equal lot; (8) for it was most unworthy that, among men doing other things or seeking other things, these too should be mixed with the rest. But I shall pass on to the rest, and concerning the deeds of Judith I shall, as I can, dispatch them in few words. 15 (1) Therefore, when the Jews had returned, as we mentioned above, to their native soil, while the state of affairs or of the city was not yet settled, the king of the Persians made war upon the Medes and, against their king named Arphaxad, joined battle with a favorable outcome; the king being slain, he annexed the nation to his empire.

(2) He does the same to the remaining nations, having sent ahead Holofernes, whom he had appointed chief of the army, with one hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry. He, having laid waste Cilicia and Arabia by war, either takes many cities by force or compels them into surrender by fear. (3) And now the army, brought up to Damascus, had struck the Jews with great terror. (4) But unequal to resisting, and with their minds not consenting to surrender—having indeed before this experienced the evils of captivity—they ran together in crowds to the temple. There with common groaning and mingled wailing they implore divine aid; saying that they had given God penalties enough for their sins or crimes; let Him at least spare the remnant lately rescued from servitude.

(5) Meanwhile Holofernes, having received the Moabites into surrender and taken them into alliance for the war against the Jews, when he inquired of their leaders by what forces the Hebrews relied so as not to have given their minds to surrender, (6) a certain Achior, from what he had learned, set forth that the Jews, worshipers of God, instituted by their fathers in a pious rite, had long ago endured servitude in Egypt; that thence, led out by a divine gift and crossing the dried sea on foot, they had at last, with all nations conquered, recovered the lands inhabited by their forefathers.

(7) Thereafter, in the varying state of affairs, they flourished or fell, and again emerged from evils, having experienced God angered or appeased by turns according to their merits, since when sinning they are restrained by the incursions of enemies or by captivities, but with the divine power favorable they are always unconquered. For the rest, if at the present time they were without sin, they could in no way be overcome; but if it were otherwise with them, they would be easily vanquished. (8) At these words Holofernes, fierce with many victories, thinking nothing unconquerable by himself, kindled with anger that his victory should be thought to depend chiefly upon the sin of the Jews, ordered Achior to be thrust into the camp of the Hebrews, so that he might perish with those whom he had affirmed could not be conquered. (9) And then the Jews had made for the mountains;

so those to whom this task was given approached the foot of the mountains and there left Achior bound. When the Jews observed this, they took him out of his bonds and led him up onto the hill. To those asking the causes of the matter he set forth what had been done, and being received into peace he awaited the outcome. He, after the victory, having been circumcised, became a Jew. (10) Therefore Holofernes, having learned of the difficulty of the terrain, since the heights could not be approached, surrounded the mountains with soldiers and with the utmost care kept the Hebrews from watering; and therefore they felt the siege the sooner. So, conquered by scarcity of water, they ran together to Ozias their leader, all inclined to surrender. But he, answering that they must wait a little and look for divine aid, at last on the fifth day set a time for surrender.

16 (1) When Judith learned this—she who was a widow from her husband, exceedingly rich in wealth, distinguished in appearance, but more illustrious in character than in countenance, and was then in the camp—judging that, in the desperate state of her people's affairs, even with certain destruction for herself something must be dared and attempted, she adorned her head, polished her appearance, and with her maidservant as companion entered the enemy's camp. (2) And being at once brought to Holofernes, she recounted the ruined state of her people, saying that she had consulted for her life by desertion. Then she asked of the general freedom to go out beyond the camp at night for the sake of praying. This was commanded to the watchmen and the keepers of the gates. (3) But when over three days she had given the barbarians confidence in her custom of going out and returning, a desire seized Holofernes to abuse the body of the suppliant;

for indeed she had easily moved the Persian by her excellent beauty. So she is led to the general's tent through Bagoas the eunuch, and, the banquet begun, the barbarian overwhelmed himself with much wine. (4) Then, the attendants having been removed, before he could offer violence to the woman, he was seized by sleep. Judith, seizing the moment, cut off the enemy's head and carried it away with her. And when, according to her custom, she was believed to be going out of the camp, she returned unharmed. (5) On the next day the Hebrews, displaying Holofernes' head from the heights, having made a sally, advanced upon the enemy's camp. Then indeed the barbarians, demanding the signal for battle, stood thronging about the general's tent. When the headless body was found, in foul terror they turned to flight and offered their backs to the enemy.

(6) The Jews, pursuing the fleeing, slew many thousands and gained possession of the camp and the spoil. Judith, celebrated with the highest praises, is reported to have lived one hundred and five years. (7) If these things were done under king Ochus, as we suppose, in the twelfth year of his reign, then from the time of the restored Jerusalem until that war there were twenty-two years. For the rest, Ochus reigned twenty-three years. (8) He was, moreover, bloody beyond all and of a mind more than barbarian. Bagoas the eunuch carried him off with poisons while he was sick. After him Arses, his son, held the empire for three years, and Darius for four years. 17 (1) Against this man Alexander of Macedon clashed in battle. He being conquered, the empire was taken from the Persians, which had stood from the beginning of Cyrus for two hundred and fifty years.

(2) Alexander, victor over nearly all nations, is said to have visited the temple of Jerusalem and to have brought in gifts, and he decreed throughout the whole empire which he had made subject to his own authority that the Jews dwelling there should be free to return to their homeland. Having completed the twelfth year of his reign, in the seventh year after he had conquered Darius, he died at Babylon. (3) His friends, who together with him had waged those greatest wars, divided the kingdom. These for some time administered the portions they had received without assuming the royal title, while a certain Arridaeus Philippus, Alexander's brother, reigned—to whom the empire seemed given in name on account of his great feebleness, while in reality it lay with those who had distributed the army and the provinces among themselves.

(4) But indeed this state of affairs did not last long, and they all preferred to be called kings. The first king in Syria after Alexander was Seleucus, with Persia and Babylon subjected to him. (5) At that time the Jews paid the king an annual tribute of three hundred talents of silver, yet they were governed not by foreign magistrates but by their own priests. And they lived by their ancestral rite, until many of them, corrupted again by long peace, began to confound everything with seditions and to throw it into turmoil, aspiring to the high priesthood out of lust, avarice, and the desire to rule. 18 (1) For first, under king Seleucus, son of Antiochus the Great, a certain Simon had been unable to shake out the priest Onias, a holy and upright man, whom he had falsely accused before the king.

(2) Then, after an interval of time, Jason, brother of Onias, approached king Antiochus, who had succeeded his brother Seleucus, promising an increase of tribute if the high priesthood were handed over to him. (3) And although it was unusual and had never before been permitted to perform the priesthood in perpetuity, nevertheless the king's anxious mind, sick with avarice, was easily overcome. (4) So, Onias being expelled, the priesthood was entrusted to Jason. He most foully tore at his fellow-citizens and his homeland. Then, when through a certain Menelaus, brother of that Simon, he had sent the king the promised money, the way to ambition once laid open, by the same arts by which Jason before, Menelaus had obtained the priesthood. (5) And not long after, when he had not rendered the promised sum of silver, he is driven from his place;

Lysimachus is substituted. Thence arose foul contests between Jason and Menelaus, until Jason, a fugitive, departed from his homeland. (6) From these beginnings, with morals corrupted, matters had so far advanced that most of the populace begged of Antiochus that it be permitted them to live after the manner of the Gentiles. When the king had granted this to the petitioners, each worst man vied to build shrines, to supplicate idols, to profane the law. (7) Meanwhile Antiochus, returning from Alexandria—for he had then made war upon the king of Egypt, which by command of the senate and people of Rome he laid down, in the consulship of Paulus and Crassus—came to Jerusalem.

When he had found the people at variance over the superstitions they had taken up, destroying the law of God and favoring those who pursued impious things, he stripped off all the ornaments of the temple and laid it waste with much slaughter. (8) This was done in the one hundred and fifty-first year from the death of Alexander, in the consulship, as we have said, of Paulus and Crassus, about five years after Antiochus had begun to reign. 19 (1) But that the order of times may be connected and may appear more clearly, who this Antiochus was, we shall enumerate the names and the times of the kings who had been in Syria after Alexander. (2) Upon the death, as we related above, of king Alexander, by his friends the whole kingdom was divided and for some time administered under the royal title.

Seleucus, after nine years, was called king in Syria, and reigned thirty-two years. After him Antiochus, his son, reigned nineteen years. Then Antiochus, son of Antiochus, who was also surnamed Theus, reigned fifteen years. After him Seleucus, his son, surnamed Callinicus, reigned twenty-one years. (4) Likewise Seleucus, son of Callinicus, reigned three years. When he had died, Antiochus, brother of Callinicus, held Asia and Syria for thirty-seven years. This is the Antiochus against whom Lucius Scipio Asiaticus made war; in which war he was conquered and was fined of a part of his empire. He had two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, whom he had given as a hostage to the Romans.

(5) So, Antiochus the Great being dead, Seleucus his elder-born son obtained the kingdom, under whom we said the priest Onias was accused by Simon. Then Antiochus, released by the Romans, and Demetrius given as a hostage in his place—son of Seleucus, the king who was reigning at that time. Seleucus being dead in the twelfth year of his reign, his brother Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome, seized the kingdom. (6) He, five years after he had begun to reign, as we taught above, laid Jerusalem waste. For, paying the Romans a heavy tribute, and himself almost necessarily compelled by immense expenses, he was forced to seek money by plunder and to omit no occasion of pillaging.

(7) Then, after two years, the Jews being again afflicted with like calamity, lest perhaps, compelled by frequent evils, they should take up war, he imposed a garrison on the citadel. Thence, undertaking to overthrow the sacred law, he sent out an edict that all, having abandoned the traditions of their forefathers, should live by the rite of the Gentiles. (8) Nor were there lacking those who willingly obeyed the profane command. Then indeed there was a foul spectacle: throughout all the cities openly in the streets sacrifices were offered, and even the sacred volumes of the law and the prophets were burned with fire. 20 (1) At that time Mattathias, son of John, was a priest. He, when he was being compelled by the royal officers to obey the edict, with remarkable steadfastness despising profane things, cut the throat of a Hebrew profaning publicly before the face of all. (2) Then at last, a leader having been found, a withdrawal was made.

Mattathias, having gone out of the town, with many flocking to him, had formed the appearance of a regular army; to all of whom it was resolved to defend themselves by arms against the profane rule, and to fall in war rather than to practice impious ceremonies. (3) Meanwhile Antiochus, throughout the Greek cities too which were under his rule, compelled the Jews found there to sacrifice, and afflicted with unheard-of tortures those who resisted. (4) At that time occurred that illustrious passion of the seven brothers and their mother; who all, when they were being compelled by tortures to violate the law of God and the institutions of their forefathers, chose rather to die. At the last the mother accompanied their punishments and deaths. 21 (1) Meanwhile Mattathias dies;

As a replacement leader for the army he had prepared, he appointed in his stead Judas, his son. Under his command many battles were fought successfully against the king's forces. For first he destroyed, together with his whole army, Apollonius, the enemy's commander, who had come down to the conflict with great forces. When a certain Seron, who then governed Syria, learned of this, he multiplied his legions and attacked Judas, fierce because he was superior in numbers; but when he had come down onto level ground, he was routed and put to flight, and, having lost about eight hundred men, withdrew into Syria. When this became known to Antiochus, he was inflamed with anger and grief, for he was tormented that his commanders had been defeated along with great armies. He gathered reinforcements throughout his whole kingdom, and, his treasuries being utterly drained, lavished a donative upon his soldiers.

For at that time especially he was severely afflicted by a shortage of money. For the Jews had revolted from him, who had previously paid him more than three hundred talents of silver each year; moreover the Greek cities and many regions were thrown into turmoil by the evil of his persecution. He had not even spared the heathen, whom he had tried to compel to abandon their inveterate superstitions and to be led to a single rite; and these indeed, where there was nothing sacred, readily gave them up; yet since all were stricken with fear and disaster, the tax revenues had ceased.

Seething at these matters—for he himself, once richer than all kings, now felt poverty through his own wickedness—he divided his forces with Lysias, and entrusted to him Syria and the war against the Jews, while he himself set out against the Persians to collect tribute. So Lysias appointed as commanders of the war Ptolemy, Gorgias, Doron, and Nicanor; to these were given forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse. And at the first onset they struck great terror into the Jews. Then Judas, when all were despairing, exhorted his men to go down into battle with stout heart; that for those who trusted in God nothing would be unconquerable; that often before fewer had fought well against more. A fast having been proclaimed and a sacrifice celebrated, they went down into the battle line;

the enemy's forces were routed; Judas took possession of the camp, and much gold and Tyrian wealth was found there. For traders from Syria, in no doubt about the victory, had followed the royal army in hope of buying captives, and now became the spoil. When this was learned by Lysias from reports, he prepared his forces with greater care and a year later attacked the Jews with an immense army; defeated, he withdrew to Antioch. Judas, having driven off the enemy, returned to Jerusalem and set his mind to purify the temple and to restore it, since, overthrown by Antiochus and profaned by the heathen, it presented a foul appearance of itself. But since the Syrians held the citadel, which was joined to the temple and by the nature of the site was higher and impregnable, the parts below could not be approached, for they were prevented by frequent sallies.

Against these Judas set his strongest battle line. Thus the work of the sacred house was attended to and the temple surrounded with a wall, and armed men were appointed to keep up a perpetual garrison. But Lysias, having multiplied his army, returned into Judaea and was again defeated, with great slaughter of his army and of the auxiliaries which had been sent to him by the cities and had joined together in the war. Meanwhile Antiochus, who as we mentioned above had set out into Persia, attempted to plunder the town of Elymais, the richest of that region, and a shrine situated there filled with much gold; but a multitude flocking together from all sides to defend the place put him to flight. Moreover he received a message that affairs had been managed unsuccessfully by Lysias.

Thus, from grief of mind, he fell ill of a bodily disease. And as he was tormented by internal pains, recalling the evils with which he had harassed the people of God, he confessed that those things had justly befallen him. Then after a few days he died, having reigned eleven years. He left the kingdom to his son Antiochus, whose name was Eupator. At that time Judas was besieging the Syrians stationed in the citadel. When they were afflicted by hunger and want, they sent messengers to the king and implored a relieving force. So Eupator came to their aid with a hundred thousand men and twenty thousand horse, the battle line being led by elephants that caused immense terror. Then Judas, slackening the siege, marched out to meet the king, and in the first battle routed the Syrians. The king sued for peace;

and because he had ill-used his treacherous nature, vengeance followed his perfidy. For Demetrius, son of Seleucus, whom (as we mentioned above) had been given to the Romans as a hostage, when he heard that Antiochus had died, asked that they send him back into the kingdom. When this was refused him, he secretly fled from Rome, came into Syria, and seized the kingdom, having killed the son of Antiochus, who had reigned one year and six months. Under his reign the Jews first sought friendship and a treaty from the Roman people; the embassy was graciously received, and by a decree of the senate they were called allies and friends. Meanwhile Demetrius waged war against Judas through his commanders. And first an army was led by a certain Bacchides and by Alcimus the Jew; afterwards Nicanor, put in charge of the war, fell in battle.

Then Bacchides and Alcimus, with their strength renewed and their forces increased, joined battle against Judas. In that fight the Syrians were victors, and used their victory most bloodily. The Hebrews chose Jonathan, his brother, in Judas's place. Meanwhile Alcimus, after he had foully laid waste Jerusalem, died; Bacchides, deprived of his ally, returned to the king. Then after two years Bacchides again made war upon the Jews; defeated, he sought peace, which was granted on stated conditions: if he would return the deserters and captives and all that had been seized in the war. While these things were being done within Judaea, a certain young man brought up at Rhodes, named Alexander, claiming to be the son of Antiochus—which was false—aided by the resources of Ptolemy, king of Alexandria, came into Syria with an army;

he killed Demetrius, defeated in war, after he had reigned twelve years. This Alexander, before he engaged against Demetrius, had made a treaty with Jonathan and had presented him with a purple garment and royal insignia. On account of this Jonathan had assisted him with auxiliaries, and when Demetrius was defeated had been the first of all to hasten to congratulate him. Nor afterwards did Alexander break the pledge he had given. Thus during the five years in which he held power, the affairs of the Jews were tranquil. Then Demetrius, son of Demetrius, who after his father's death had fled to Crete, urged on by Lasthenes the Cretan leader, sought his father's kingdom by war; unequal in strength, he implored Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, Alexander's father-in-law and already by then hostile to his son-in-law, to be of aid to him.

He indeed, enticed not so much by the suppliant's prayers as by the hope of seizing Syria, joined his forces with him, and gave to Demetrius the daughter who had been married to Alexander. Against these Alexander joined battle in the field. In that battle Ptolemy fell, and Alexander was defeated; a little later he was killed, having reigned five years—or, as I have found in most authors, nine. Demetrius, having obtained the kingdom, treated Jonathan kindly, made a treaty with him, and restored the Jews to their own laws. Meanwhile Tryphon, who had belonged to Alexander's party, as governor of Syria... in order to debar him from the kingdom by war. Against this Jonathan went down to battle, formidable with an army of forty thousand.

Tryphon, when he perceived himself unequal, feigned peace, and having received Jonathan into friendship and invited him to Ptolemais, killed him. After Jonathan the supreme command passed to his brother Simon. He arranged his brother's funeral magnificently and built those seven pyramids of most noble workmanship, in which he laid the bones both of his brothers and of his father. Then Demetrius, having renewed the treaty with the Jews, in consideration of the disaster brought on by Tryphon—for after Jonathan's slaying he had laid waste their cities and fields by war—remitted to them the annual tribute in perpetuity; for up to that time they had paid tribute to the kings of Syria, except when they resisted with arms.

This was done in the second year of king Demetrius, which we have therefore noted because up to this year we have run through the times by the reigns of the kings of Asia, so that an orderly reckoning of the dates might be clear. But now we shall set forth the order of events by the times of those who were either high priests or kings of the Jews, down to the nativity of Christ. So, after Jonathan, his brother Simon, as has been said above, ruled the Hebrews by right of the priesthood; for this honour was then conferred upon him both by his own people and by the Roman people. He, when he had begun to govern the citizens in the second year of king Demetrius, after eight years fell, ensnared by the treachery of Ptolemy. To him succeeded his son John.

He, having fought excellently against the Hyrcani, a most powerful nation, received the surname Hyrcanus. He died after holding power twenty-six years. After him Aristobulus was appointed high priest, and was the first of all after the captivity to assume the royal name and to place a diadem upon his head. With the year completed, he met his end. Then Alexander, his son, was both king and high priest, and reigned twenty-seven years; in his deeds I have found nothing worthy of memory except cruelty. He, having left Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, his young sons, his wife Salina—or Alexandra—held the kingdom for nine years. After her death there were foul contests between the brothers over the kingdom. And first Hyrcanus held the power;

soon, driven out by his brother Aristobulus, he fled for refuge to Pompey, who, having then finished the Mithridatic war and pacified Armenia and Pontus, was victor over all the nations he had approached, and, desiring to push further inward and to annex to the Roman empire whatever neighbouring lands there were, was seeking causes for war and material for conquering. So he gladly received Hyrcanus, and under his guidance attacked the Jews; the city being captured and razed, he spared the temple. He sent Aristobulus in chains to Rome, restored to Hyrcanus the right of the high priesthood, and, having imposed tribute on the Jews, set over them as procurator a certain Antipater of Ascalon. Hyrcanus, after holding power thirty-four years, while waging war against the Parthians, was taken captive.

Then Herod, a foreigner, son of Antipater of Ascalon, sought and received the kingdom of Judaea from the senate and people of Rome. The Jews first began to have him as a foreign king. For now, with Christ already drawing near, it was necessary, according to the prophecies of the prophets, that they be deprived of leaders of their own, lest they should expect anything beyond Christ. Under this Herod, in the thirty-third year of his reign, Christ was born, in the consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January. But these matters, which are contained in the Gospels and thereafter in the Acts of the Apostles, I have not dared to touch upon, lest by the form of an abridged work I should diminish the dignity of those events; so I shall pursue the remainder. Herod, after the nativity of the Lord, reigned four years;

for the whole time of his reign was thirty-seven years. After him came Archelaus the tetrarch for nine years, then Herod for twenty-four years. While he reigned, in the eighteenth year of his reign, the Lord was crucified, in the consulship of Fufius Geminus and Rubellius Geminus; from which time down to the consulship of Stilicho there are three hundred and seventy-two years. The Acts of the Apostles Luke published up to the time when Paul was brought to Rome under Nero as emperor; who—I will not say of kings, but of all men and even of monstrous beasts—showed himself the most foul, worthy to be the first to begin persecution; whether he was also the last to complete it I do not know, since it has been received in the opinion of many that he himself will come before Antichrist.

The subject prompted me to set forth his vices more fully, were it not that it is beyond this work to enter upon so vast a matter; I am content to have noted only this much: that he advanced through every kind of foulest and cruelest deed to the point of killing his mother, and afterwards even of being married off to a certain Pythagoras after the manner of solemn weddings; and the bridal veil was put upon the emperor; a dowry, the marriage couch, the nuptial torches—everything, in short, that even in women is not beheld without shame—were on display. As for the rest of his deeds, it is uncertain whether one should be more wearied or ashamed to discuss them. He was the first to undertake to abolish the Christian name; for vices are always hostile to virtues, and all the best men are looked upon by the wicked as if reproaching them.

For at that time the divine religion had grown strong in the city, Peter holding the episcopate there, and Paul—after he had appealed to Caesar from the unjust judgment of the governor—having been brought to Rome; to hear whom many then gathered, who, having understood the truth and being moved by the miracles of the Apostles, which they then frequently performed, betook themselves to the worship of God. For at that time occurred that famous encounter of Peter and Paul against Simon. When he, by magical arts, in order to prove himself a god, supported by two demons had flown up, the demons being put to flight by the prayers of the Apostles, he fell to the ground in the sight of the people and was dashed to pieces.

Meanwhile, with the multitude of Christians now abounding, it happened that Rome was consumed by fire, while Nero was stationed at Antium. But the opinion of all turned the odium of the fire back upon the prince, and it was believed that the emperor had sought the glory of renewing the city. Nor could Nero by any means bring it about that the fire should not be thought to have been ordered by him. So he turned the odium upon the Christians, and most cruel investigations were carried out against the innocent; indeed even new modes of death were devised, so that, covered with the skins of wild beasts, they perished by the mangling of dogs, many were fastened to crosses or burned with flame, and very many were reserved for this, that when the day had failed they might be burned for the use of nocturnal light. With this beginning the raging against the Christians commenced.

Afterwards, by laws enacted, the religion was forbidden, and by edicts openly published it was made unlawful to be a Christian. Then Paul and Peter were condemned to death; of these, the neck of the one was cut off with a sword, while Peter was raised upon a cross. While these things were being done at Rome, the Jews, not enduring the wrongs of their governor Festus Florus, began to rebel. Against them Vespasian, sent by Nero with proconsular authority, having defeated them in many heavy battles, forced them to take refuge within the walls of Jerusalem. Meanwhile Nero, now hateful even to himself because of the consciousness of his crimes, was removed from human affairs; it is uncertain whether he himself brought about his own death; certainly his body was not found.

Hence it is believed that, even if he pierced himself with a sword, his wound being healed he was preserved, according to that which is written of him: 'and the wound of his death was healed'—to be sent forth at the end of the age, that he may work the mystery of iniquity. So after the death of Nero, Galba seized the empire; soon Otho, having killed Galba, took it over. Then Vitellius, relying on the armies he commanded, entered the city from Gaul, killed Otho, and usurped the supreme power. After these matters had been reported to Vespasian, although by a bad precedent yet with good intent toward the commonwealth, that it be vindicated from the wicked, while he was besieging Jerusalem he took up the imperial office and, as is the custom, with a diadem placed upon his head, was hailed by the army. He made his son Titus a Caesar;

to him was given a part of the forces and the task of besieging Jerusalem. Vespasian, having set out for Rome, was received with the highest favour of the senate and people, and, when Vitellius had killed himself, confirmed his hold on the empire. Meanwhile the Jews, shut up in the siege, since no opportunity either of peace or of surrender was given, at last began to perish of hunger, and the roads everywhere began to be filled with corpses, the duty of burial being now overcome; indeed, daring all unspeakable foods, they did not even spare human bodies, except such as the wasting brought on by such nourishment had carried off beforehand. So, the defenders being worn out, the Romans burst in. And it then happened to fall on the day of the Passover that the whole multitude had assembled from the fields and other towns of Judaea;

doubtless it was so pleasing to God that at that very time at which they had crucified the Lord, this impious nation should be given over to destruction. The Pharisees for some while resisted most fiercely on behalf of the temple, until, with minds obstinate unto death, they cast themselves of their own accord into fires they had set beneath. The number of those slain is reckoned at one million one hundred thousand, while one hundred thousand were captured and sold. It is reported that Titus, having summoned a council, first deliberated whether he should overthrow a temple of such great workmanship. For to some it seemed that a sacred edifice, illustrious beyond all things mortal, ought not to be destroyed, which, if preserved, would furnish testimony to Roman moderation, but if demolished, a perpetual mark of cruelty.

But on the contrary, others, and Titus himself, judged that the temple ought above all to be overthrown, so that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians might be more fully abolished; for these religions, although contrary to each other, yet proceeded from the same authors; the Christians had arisen out of the Jews; with the root removed, the stock would easily perish. So, by the nod of God, the minds of all being inflamed, the temple was demolished, three hundred and thirty-one years ago. And this last overthrow of the temple and final captivity of the Jews, by which they are seen as exiles from their homeland, scattered throughout the whole world, are a daily testimony to the world that they were punished for no other reason than that they laid impious hands upon Christ.

For often at other times, when on account of their sins they were given over to captivities, yet they never paid the penalty of servitude beyond seventy years. After an interval of time, Domitian, the son of Vespasian, persecuted the Christians. At which time he banished John the apostle and evangelist to the island of Patmos; where he, with secret mysteries revealed to him, published the book of the sacred Apocalypse, which indeed is by very many either foolishly or impiously not received. Not long afterward came the third persecution, under Trajan. Who, when by torments and inquisitions he had found nothing in the Christians worthy of death or punishment, forbade them to be raged against any further.

Then under Hadrian the Jews wished to rebel, attempting to plunder Syria and Palestine; an army being sent, they were subdued. At which time Hadrian, thinking that he would destroy the Christian faith by an outrage upon the place, set up images of demons both in the temple and in the place of the Lord's Passion. And because the Christians were thought to be especially from among the Jews—for then at Jerusalem the church had a priest only from among the circumcised—he ordered a cohort of soldiers to keep guard in perpetuity, which should bar all Jews from approach to Jerusalem. This indeed profited the Christian faith, because then almost all believed Christ to be God under the observance of the Law.

Doubtless this was so ordered and arranged by the Lord, that the servitude of the Law might be removed from the liberty of the faith and of the church. So then for the first time Marcus, from among the Gentiles, was bishop at Jerusalem. The fourth persecution is reckoned under Hadrian, which however he afterwards forbade to be carried on, declaring it unjust that anyone should be made a defendant without a crime. After Hadrian, while Antoninus Pius was emperor, there was peace for the churches. Then under Aurelius, son of Antoninus, the fifth persecution was set in motion. And then for the first time martyrdoms were seen within Gaul, the religion of God having been received across the Alps somewhat later. Then the sixth vexation of the Christians occurred under Severus as emperor. At which time Leonidas, the father of Origen, shed his sacred blood in martyrdom.

Then, an interval of thirty-seven years having passed, there was peace for the Christians, except that in the meantime Maximinus harassed the clergy of some churches. Soon, under Decius, in the now seventh persecution, the Christians were treated with savagery. Thereupon Valerian was the eighth enemy of the saints. After him, an interval of almost fifty years having passed, while Diocletian and Maximian were emperors, a most bitter persecution arose, which for ten continuous years ravaged the people of God. At which time nearly the whole world was stained with the sacred blood of the martyrs; for men rushed in rivalry into the glorious contests, and martyrdoms were then sought by glorious deaths far more eagerly than now bishoprics are sought after by base ambitions.

Never was the world more exhausted by any wars, nor did we ever conquer with a greater triumph than when, by ten years of slaughters, we could not be conquered. There also exist, committed to writing, the illustrious sufferings of the martyrs of that time, which I did not think should be appended here, lest I exceed the measure of the work. But the end of that persecution was eighty-nine years ago, from which time Christians began to be emperors. For then Constantine held power, who was the first of all Roman princes to be a Christian. To be sure, Licinius then, who contended with Constantine for the empire, had ordered his soldiers to sacrifice; those refusing he was casting out of military service. But this is not counted among the persecutions;