THE
SACRED HISTORY
OF
SULPITIUS SEVERUS
Translated by Alexander Roberts
From: A Select Library of Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series,
Volume 11
New York, 1894
Other version available: text [274K]
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
I ADDRESS myself to give a condensed account of those things which are
set forth in the sacred Scriptures from the beginning of the world and
to tell of them, with distinction of dates and according to[1] their importance, down to period within
our own remembrance. Many who were anxious to become acquainted with
divine things by means of a compendious treatise, have eagerly
entreated me to undertake this work. I, seeking to carry out their
wish, have not spared my labor, and have thus succeeded in comprising
in two short books things which elsewhere filled many volumes. At the
same time, in studying brevity, I have omitted hardly any of the
facts. Moreover, it seemed to me not out of place that, after I had
run through the sacred history down to the crucifixion of Christ, and
the doings of the Apostles, I should add an account of events which
subsequently took place. I am, therefore, to tell of the destruction
of Jerusalem, the persecutions of the Christian people, the times of
peace which followed, and of all things again thrown into confusion by
the intestine dangers of the churches. But I will not shrink from
confessing that, wherever reason required, I have made use of profane
historians to fix dates and preserve the series of events unbroken,
and have taken out of these what was wanting to a complete knowledge
of the facts, that I might both instruct the ignorant and carry
conviction to the learned. Nevertheless, as to those things which I
have condensed from the sacred books, I do not wish so to present
myself as an author to my readers, that they, neglecting the source
from which my materials have been derived, should be satisfied with
what I have written. My aim is that one who is already familiar with
the original should recognize here what he has read there; for all the
mysteries of divine things cannot be brought out except from the
fountain-head itself. I shall now enter upon my narrative.
CHAPTER II.
THE world was created by God nearly six[2] thousand years ago, as we shall set
forth in the course of this book; although those who have entered upon
and published a calculation of the dates, but little agree among
themselves. As, however, this disagreement is due either to the will
of God or to the fault of antiquity, it ought not to be a matter of
censure. After the formation of the world man was created, the male
being named Adam, and the female Eve. Having been placed in Paradise,
they ate of the tree from which they were interdicted, and therefore
were cast forth as exiles into our earth.[3] To them were born Cain and Abel; but
Cain, being an impious man, slew his brother. He had a son called
Enoch, by whom a city was first built,[4] and was called after the name of its
founder. From him Irad, and from him again Mauiahel was descended.
He had a son called Mathusalam, and he, in turn, begat Lamech, by whom
a young man is said to have been slain, without, however, the name of
the slain man being mentioned--a fact which is thought by the wise to
have presaged a future mystery. Adam, then, after the death of his
younger son, begat another son called Seth, when he was now two
hundred and thirty years old: he lived altogether eight hundred and
thirty years. Seth begat Enos, Enos Cainan, Cainan Malaleel, Malaleel
Jared, and Jared Enoch, who on account of his righteousness is said to
have been translated by God. His son was called Mathusalam who begat
Lamech; from whom Noah was descended, remarkable for his
righteousness, and above all other mortals dear and acceptable to God.
When by this time the human race had increased to a great multitude,
certain angels, whose habitation was in heaven, were captivated by the
appearance of some beautiful virgins, and cherished illicit desires
after them, so much so, that filling beneath their own proper nature
and origin, they left the higher regions of which they were
inhabitants, and allied themselves in earthly marriages. These angels
gradually spreading wicked habits, corrupted the human family, and
from their alliance giants are said to have sprung, for the mixture
with them of beings of a different nature, as a matter of course, gave
birth to monsters.
CHAPTER III.
GOD being offended by these things, and especially by the wickedness
of mankind, which had gone beyond measure, had determined to destroy
the whole human race. But he exempted Noah, a righteous man and of
blameless life, from the destined doom. He being warned by God that a
flood was coming upon the earth, built an ark of wood of immense size,
and covered it with pitch so as to render it impervious to water. He
was shut into it along with his wife, and his three sons and his three
daughters-in-law. Pairs of birds also and of the different kinds of
beasts were likewise received into it, while all the rest were cut off
by a flood. Noah then, when he understood that the violence of the
rain had ceased, and that the ark was quietly floating on the deep,
thinking (as really was the case) that the waters were decreasing,
sent forth first a raven for the purpose of enquiring into the matter,
and on its not returning, having settled, as I conjecture, on the dead
bodies, he then sent forth a dove. It, not finding a place of rest,
returned to him and being again sent out, it brought back an olive
leaf, in manifest proof that the tops of the trees were now to be
seen. Then being sent forth a third time, it returned no more, from
which it was understood that the waters had subsided; and Noah
accordingly went out from the ark. This was done, as I reckon, two
thousand two hundred[5] and forty-two
years after the beginning of the world.
CHAPTER IV.
THEN Noah first of all erected an altar to God, and offered sacrifices
from among the birds.[6] Immediately
afterwards he was blessed by God along with his sons, and received a
command that he should not eat blood, or shed the blood of any human
being, because Cain, having no such precept, had stained the first age
of the world. Accordingly, the sons of Noah were alone left in the
then vacant world; for he had three, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. But Ham,
because he had mocked his father when senseless with wine, incurred
his father's curse. His son, Chas by name, begat the giant
Nebroth,[7] by whom the city of Babylon
is said to have been built. Many other towns are related to have
been founded at that time, which I do not here intend to name one by
one. But although the human race was now multiplied, and men occupied
different places and islands, nevertheless all made use of one tongue,
as long as the multitude, afterwards to be scattered through the whole
world, kept itself in one body. These, after the manner of human
nature, formed the design of obtaining a great name by constructing
some great work before they should be separated from one another.
They therefore attempted to build a tower which should reach up to
heaven. But by the ordination of God, in order that the labors of
those engaged in the work might be hindered, they began to speak in a
kind of languages very different from their accustomed form of speech,
while no one understood the others. This led to their being all the
more readily dispersed, because, regarding each other as foreigners,
they were easily induced to separate. And the world was so divided to
the sons of Noah, that Shem occupied the East, Japhet the West, and
Ham the intermediate parts. After this, till the time of Abraham,[8] their genealogy presented nothing very
remarkable or worthy of record.
CHAPTER V.
ABRAHAM, whose father was Thara, was born in the one thousand and
seventeenth year after the deluge. His wife was called Sara, and his
dwelling-place was at first in the country[9] of the Chaldæans. He then dwelt along
with his father at Charræ. Being at this time spoken to by God, he
left his country and his father, and taking with him Lot, the son of
his brother, he came into the country of the Canaanites, and settled
at a place named Sychem. Ere long, owing to the want of corn, he went
into Egypt, and again returned. Lot, owing to the size of the
household, parted from his uncle, that he might take advantage of more
spacious territories in what was then a vacant region, and settled at
Sodom. That town was infamous on account of its inhabitants, males
forcing themselves upon males, and it is said on that account to have
been hateful to God. At that period the kings of the neighboring
peoples were in arms, though previously there had been no[10] war among mankind. But the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah and of the adjacent territories went forth to
battle against those who were making war upon the regions round about,
and being routed at the first onset, yielded the victory to the
opposite side. Then Sodom was plundered and made a spoil of by the
victorious enemy, while Lot was led into captivity. When Abraham
heard of this, he speedily armed his servants, to the number of three
hundred and eighteen, and, stripping of their spoils and arms the
kings flushed with victory, he put them to flight. Then he was
blessed by Melchisedech the priest, and gave him tithes of the spoil.
He restored the remainder to those from whom it had been taken.
CHAPTER VI.
AT the same time God spoke to Abraham, and promised that his seed was
to be multiplied as the sand of the sea; and that his predicted seed
would live in a land not his own, while his posterity would endure
slavery in a hostile country for four hundred years, but would
afterwards be restored to liberty. Then his name was changed, as well
as that of his wife, by the addition of one letter; so that instead of
Abram[11] he was called Abraham, and,
instead of Sara, she was called Sarra. The mystery involved in this
is by no means trifling, but it is not the part of this work to treat
of it. At the same time, the law of circumcision was enjoined on
Abraham, and he had by a maid-servant a son called Ishmael. Moreover,
when he himself was a hundred years old, and his wife ninety, God
promised that they should have a son Isaac, the Lord having come to
him along with two angels. Then the angels being sent to Sodom, found
Lot sitting in the gate of the city. He supposed them to be human
beings, and welcomed them to share in his hospitality, and provided an
entertainment for them in his house, but the wicked youth of the town
demanded the new arrivals for impure purposes. Lot offered them his
daughters in place of his guests, but they did not accept the offer,
having a desire rather for things forbidden, and then Lot himself was
laid hold of with vile designs. The angels, however, speedily rescued
him from danger, by causing blindness to fall upon the eyes of these
unchaste sinners. Then Lot, being informed by his guests that the
town was to be destroyed, went away from it with his wife and
daughters; but they were commanded not to look back upon it. His
wife, however, not obeying this precept (in accordance with that evil
tendency of human nature which renders it difficult to abstain from
things forbidden), turned back her eyes, and is said to have been at
once changed into a monument. As for Sodom, it was burned to ashes by
fire from heaven. And the daughters of Lot, imagining that the whole
human race had perished, sought a union with their father while he was
intoxicated, and hence sprung the race of Moab and Ammon.
CHAPTER VII.
ALMOST at the same time, when Abraham was now a hundred years old, his
son Isaac was born. Then Sara expelled the maid-servant by whom
Abraham had had a son; and she is said to have dwelt in the desert
along with her son, and defended by the help of God. Not long after
this, God tried the faith of Abraham, and required that his son Isaac
should be sacrificed to him by his father. Abraham did not hesitate
to offer him, and had already laid the lad upon the altar, and was
drawing the sword to slay him, when a voice came from heaven
commanding him to spare the young man; and a ram was found at hand to
be for a victim. When the sacrifice was offered, God spoke to
Abraham, and promised him those things which he had already said he
would bestow. But Sara died in her one hundred and twenty-seventh
year, and her body was, through the care of her husband, buried in
Hebron, a town of the Canaanites, for Abraham was staying in that
place. Then Abraham, seeing that his son Isaac was now of youthful[12] age, for he was, in fact, in his
fortieth year, enjoined his servant to seek a wife for him, but only
from that tribe and territory from which he himself was known to be
descended. He was instructed, however, on finding the girl, to bring
her into the land of the Canaanites, and not to suppose that Isaac
would return into the country of his father for the purpose of
obtaining a wife. In order that the servant might carry out those
instructions zealously, Abraham administered an oath to him, while his
hand rested on the thigh of his master. The servant accordingly set
out for Mesopotamia, and came to the town of Nachor, the brother of
Abraham. He entered into the house of Bathuel, the Syrian, son of
Nachor; and having seen Rebecca, a beautiful virgin, the daughter of
Nachor, he asked for her, and brought her to his master. After this,
Abraham took a wife named Kethurah, who is called in the Chronicles
his concubine, and begat children by her. But he left his possessions
to Isaac, the son of Sara, while, at the same time, he distributed
gifts to those whom he had begotten by his concubines; and thus they
were separated from Isaac. Abraham died after a life of a hundred and
seventy-five years; and his body was laid in the tomb of Sara his
wife.
CHAPTER VIII.
NOW, Rebecca, having long been barren, at length, through the
unceasing prayers of her husband to the Lord, brought forth twins
about twenty years after the time of her marriage. These are said to
have often leaped[13] in the womb of
their mother; and it was announced by the answer of the Lord on this
subject, that two peoples were foretold in these children, and that
the eider would, in rank, be inferior to the younger. Well, the first
that was born, bristling over with hair, was called Esau, while Jacob
was the name given to the younger. At that time, a grievous famine
had taken place. Under the pressure of this necessity, Isaac went to
Gerar, to King Abimelech, having been warned by the Lord not to go
down into Egypt. There he is promised the possession of the whole
land, and is blessed, and having been greatly increased in cattle and
every kind of substance, he is, under the influence of envy, driven
out by the inhabitants. Thus expelled from that region, he sojourned
by the well, known as "the well[14] of the oath." By and by, being
advanced in years, and his eyesight being gone, as he made ready to
bless his son Esau, Jacob through the counsel of his mother, Rebecca,
presented himself to be blessed in the place of his brother. Thus
Jacob is set before his brother as the one to be honored by the
princes and the peoples. Esau, enraged by these occurrences, plotted
the death of his brother. Jacob, owing to the fear thus excited, and
by the advice of his mother, fled into Mesopotamia, having been urged
by his father to take a wife of the house of Laban, Rebecca's brother:
so great was their care, while they dwelt in a strange country, that
their children should marry within their own kindred. Thus Jacob,
setting out for Mesopotamia, is said in sleep to have had a vision of
the Lord; and on that account regarding the place of his dream as
sacred, he took a stone from it; and he vowed that, if he returned in
prosperity, the name[15] of the pillar
should be the "house of the Lord," and that he would devote
to God the tithes of all the possessions he had gained. Then he
betook himself to Laban, his mother's brother, and was kindly received
by him to share in his hospitality as the acknowledged son of his
sister.
CHAPTER IX.
LABAN had two daughters, Leah and Rachel; but Leah had tender eyes,
while Rachel is said to have been beautiful. Jacob, captivated by her
beauty, burned with love for the virgin, and, asking her in marriage
from the father, gave himself up to a servitude of seven years. But
when the time was fulfilled, Leah was foisted upon him, and he was
subjected to another servitude of seven years, after which Rachel was
given him. But we are told that she was long barren, while Leah was
fruitful. Of the sons whom Jacob had by Leah, the following are the
names: Reuben, Symeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, and a daughter
Dinah; while there were born to him by the handmaid of Leah, Gad and
Asher, and by the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and Naphtali. But Rachel,
after she had despaired of offspring, bare Joseph. Then Jacob, being
desirous of returning to his father, when Laban his father-in-law had
given him a portion of the flock as a reward for his service, and
Jacob the son-in-law, thinking him not to be acting justly in that
matter, while he [also] suspected deceit on his part, privately
departed about the thirtieth year after his arrival. Rachel, without
the knowledge of her husband, stole the idols[16] of her father, and on account of this
injury Laban followed his son-in-law, but not finding his idols,
returned, after being reconciled, having straitly charged his
son-in-law not to take other wives in addition to his daughters. Then
Jacob, going on his way, is said to have had a vision of angels and of
the army[17] of the Lord. But, as he
directed his journey past the region of Edom, which his brother Esau
inhabited, suspecting the temper of Esau, be first sent messengers and
gifts to try him. Then he went to meet his brother, but Jacob took
care not to trust him beyond what he could help. On the day before
the brothers were to meet, God, taking a human form, is said to have
wrestled with Jacob. And when he had prevailed with God, still he was
not ignorant that his adversary was no mere mortal; and therefore
begged to be blessed by him. Then his name was changed by God, so
that from Jacob he was called Israel. But when he, in turn, inquired
of God the name of God, he was told that that should not be asked
after because it was wonderful.[18]
Moreover, from that wrestling, the breadth[19] of Jacob's thigh shrank.
ISRAEL, therefore, avoiding the house of his brother, sent forward his
company to Salem, a town of the Shechemites, and there he pitched his
tent on a spot which he had purchased. Emor, a Chorraean prince, was
the ruler of that town. His son Sychem defiled Dinah, the daughter of
Jacob by Leah. Symeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, discovering
this, cut off by a stratagem all those of the male sex in the town,
and thus terribly avenged the injury done to their sister. The town
was plundered by the sons of Jacob, and all the spoil carried off.
Jacob is said to have been much displeased with these proceedings.
Soon after being instructed by God, he went to Bethel, and there
erected an altar to God. Then he fixed his tent in a part of the
territory belonging to the tower[20]
Gader. Rachel died in childbirth: the boy she bore was called
Benjamin. Israel died at the age of one hundred and eighty years.
Now, Esau was mighty in wealth, and had taken to himself wives of the
nation of the Canaanites. I do not think that, in a work so concise
as the present, I am called upon to mention his descendants, and, if
any one is curious on the subject, he may turn to the original. After
the death of his father, Jacob stayed on in the place where Isaac had
lived. His other sons occasionally left him along with the flocks,
for the sake of pasturage, but Joseph and the little Benjamin remained
at home. Joseph was much beloved by his father, and on that account
was hated by his brethren. There was this further cause for their
aversion, that by frequent dreams of his it seemed to be indicated
that he would be greater than all of them. Accordingly, having been
sent by his father to inspect the flocks and pay a visit to his
brothers, there seemed to them a fitting opportunity for doing him
harm. For, on seeing their brother, they took counsel to slay him.
But Reuben, whose mind shuddered at the contemplation of such a crime,
opposing their plan, Joseph was let down into a well.[21] Afterwards, by the persuasions of
Judah, they were brought to milder measures, and sold him to
merchants, who were on their way to Egypt. And by them he was
delivered to Petifra, a governor of Pharaoh.
ABOUT this same time, Judah, the son of Jacob, took in marriage
Sava,[22] a woman of Canaan. By her he
had three sons,--Her, Onan, and Sela. Her was allied by
concubinage[23] to Thamar. On his
death, Onan took his brother's wife; and he is related to have been
destroyed by God, because he spilled his seed upon the earth. Then
Thamar, assuming the garb of a harlot, united with her brother-in-law,
and bore him two sons. But when she brought them forth, there was
this remarkable fact, that, when on one of the boys being born, the
midwife had bound his hand with a scarlet thread to indicate which of
them was born first, he, drawing back again into the womb of his
mother, was born[24] the last boy of
the two. The names of Fares and Zarah were given to the children.
But Joseph, being kindly treated by the royal governor who had
obtained him for a sum of money, and having been made manager of his
house and family, had drawn the eyes of his master's wife upon himself
through his remarkable beauty. And as she was madly laboring under
that base passion, she made advances to him oftener than once, and
when he would not yield to her desires, she disgraced him by the
imputation of a false crime, and complained to her husband that he had
made an attempt upon her virtue. Accordingly, Joseph was thrown into
prison. There were in the same place of confinement two of the king's
servants, who made known their dreams to Joseph, and he, interpreting
these as bearing upon the future, declared that one of them would be
put to death, and the other would be pardoned. And so it came to
pass. Well, after the lapse of two years, the king also had a dream.
And when this could not be explained by the wise men among the
Egyptians, that servant of the king who was liberated from prison
informs the king that Joseph was a wonderful interpreter of dreams.
Accordingly, Joseph was brought out of prison, and interpreted to the
king his dream, to this effect, that, for the next seven years, there
would be the greatest fertility in the land; but in those that
followed, famine. The king being alarmed by this terror, and seeing
that there was a divine spirit in Joseph, set him over the department
of food-supply, and made him equal with himself in the government.
Then Joseph, while corn was abundant throughout all Egypt, gathered
together an immense quantity, and, by increasing the number of
granaries, took measures against the future famine. At that time, the
hope and safety of Egypt were placed in him alone. About the same
period, Aseneh bore him two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. He himself,
when he received the chief power from the king, was thirty years old;
for he was sold by his brothers when he was seventeen years of age.
IN the mean time, affairs having been well settled in Egypt to meet
the famine, a grievous want of corn began to distress the world.
Jacob, constrained by this necessity, sent his sons into Egypt,
keeping only Benjamin with himself at home. Joseph, then, being at
the head of affairs, and having complete power over the corn-supplies,
his brothers come to him, and pay the same honor to him as to a king.
He, when he saw them, craftily concealed his recognition of them, and
accused them of having come as enemies, subtly to spy out the land.
But he was annoyed that he did not see among them his brother
Benjamin. Matters, then, are brought to this point, that they
promised he should be present, specially that he might be asked
whether they had entered Egypt for the purpose of spying out the land.
In order to secure the fulfillment of this promise, Symeon was
retained as hostage, while to them corn was given freely.
Accordingly, they returned, bringing Benjamin with them as had been
arranged. Then Joseph made himself known to his brothers to the shame
of these evil-deservers. Thus, he sent them home again, laden with
corn, and presented with many gifts, forewarning them that there were
still five years of famine to come, and advising them to come down
with their father, their children, and their whole connections to
Egypt. So Jacob went down to Egypt, to the great joy of the Egyptians
and of the king himself, while he was tenderly welcomed by his son.
That took place in the hundred and thirtieth year of the life of
Jacob, and one thousand three hundred and sixty years[25] after the deluge. But from the time
when Abraham settled in the land of the Canaanites, to that when
Jacob entered Egypt, there are to be reckoned two hundred and fifteen
years. After this, Jacob, in the seventeenth year of his residence in
Egypt, suffering severely from illness, entreated Joseph to see his
remains placed in the tomb. Then Joseph presented his sons to be
blessed;[26] and when this had been
done, but so that he set the younger before the elder as to the value
of the blessing given, Jacob then blessed all his sons in order. He
died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven years. His funeral was
of a most imposing character, and Joseph laid his remains in the tomb
of his fathers. He continued to treat his brothers with kindness,
although, after the death of their father, they felt alarmed from a
consciousness of the wrong they had done. Joseph himself died in his
one hundred and tenth year.
IT is almost incredible to relate how the Hebrews who had come down
into Egypt so soon increased in numbers, and filled Egypt with their
numerous descendants. But on the death of the king, who kindly
cherished them on account of the services of Joseph, they were kept
down by the government of the succeeding kings. For both the heavy
labor of building cities was laid upon them, and because their
abounding numbers were now feared, lest some day they should secure
their independence by arms, they were compelled by a royal edict to
drown their newly-born male children. And no permission was granted
to evade this cruel order. Well, at that time, the daughter of
Pharaoh found an infant in the river, and caused it to be brought up
as her own son, giving the boy the name of Moses. This Moses, when he
had come to manhood, saw a Hebrew being assaulted by an Egyptian; and,
filled with sorrow at the sight, he delivered his brother from injury,
and killed the Egyptian with a stone. Soon after, fearing punishment
on account of what he had done, he fled into the land of Midian, and,
taking up his abode with Jothor the priest of that district, he
received his daughter Sepphora in marriage, who bore him two sons,
Gersam and Eliezer. At this epoch lived Job, who had acquired both
the knowledge of God and all righteousness simply from the law[27] of nature. He was exceedingly rich,
and on that account all the more illustrious, because he was neither
corrupted by that wealth while it remained entire, nor perverted by it
when it was lost. For, when, through the agency of the devil, he was
stripped of his goods, deprived of his children, and finally covered
in his own person with terrible boils, he could not be broken down, so
as, from impatience of his sufferings, in any way, to commit sin. At
length he obtained the reward of the divine approval, and being
restored to health, he got back doubled all that he had lost.
BUT the Hebrews, oppressed by the multiplied evils of slavery,
directed their complaints to heaven, and cherished the hope of
assistance from God. Then, as Moses was feeding his sheep, suddenly a
bush appeared to him burning, but, what was surprising, the flames did
it no harm. Astonished at such an extraordinary sight, he drew nearer
to the bush, and immediately God spoke to him in words to this effect,
that he was the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that he desired
that their descendants, who were kept down under the tyranny of the
Egyptians, should be delivered from their sufferings, and that he,
therefore, should go to the king of Egypt, and present himself as a
leader for restoring them to liberty. When he hesitated, God
strengthened him with power, and imparted to him the gift of working
miracles. Thus Moses, going into Egypt, after he had first performed
miracles in the presence of his own people, and having associated his
brother Aaron with him, went to the king, declaring that he had been
sent by God, and that he now told him in the words of God to let the
Hebrew people go. But the king, affirming that he did not know the
Lord, refused to obey the command addressed to him. And when Moses,
in proof that the orders he issued were from God, changed his rod into
a serpent,[28] and soon after converted
all the water into blood, while he filled the whole land with frogs,
as the Chaldaeans were doing similar things, the king declared that
the wonders performed by Moses were simply due to the arts of magic,
and not to the power of God, until the land was covered with stinging
insects brought over it, when the Chaldaeans confessed that this was
done by the divine majesty. Then the king, constrained by his
sufferings, called to him Moses and Aaron, and gave the people liberty
to depart, provided that the calamity brought upon the kingdom were
removed. But, after the suffering was put an end to, his mind, having
no control over itself returned to its former state, and did not allow
the Israelites to depart, as had been agreed upon. Finally, however,
he was broken down and conquered by the ten plagues which were sent
upon his person and his kingdom.
BUT on the day[29] before the people
went out of Egypt, being as yet unacquainted with dates, they were
instructed by the command of God to acknowledge that month which was
then passing by as the first of all months; and were told that the
sacrifice of the day was to be solemnly and regularly offered in
coming ages, so that, on the fourteenth day of the month, a lamb
without blemish, one year old, should be slain as a victim, and that
the door-posts should be sprinkled with its blood; that its flesh was
wholly to be eaten, but not a bone of it was to be broken; that they
should abstain from what was leavened for seven days, using only
unleavened bread; and that they should hand down the observance to
their posterity. Thus the people went forth rich, both by their own
wealth, and still more by the spoils of Egypt. Their number had grown
from those seventy-five[30] Hebrews,
who had first gone down into Egypt, to six hundred thousand men. Now,
there had elapsed from the time when Abraham first reached the land of
the Canaanites a period of four hundred and thirty years, but from the
deluge a period of five hundred and seventy-five[31] years. Well, as they went forth in
haste, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night,
marched before them. But since, owing to the fact that the gulf of
the Red Sea lay between, the way led by[32] the land of the Philistines, in order
that an opportunity might not afterwards be offered to the Hebrews,
shrinking from the desert, of returning into Egypt by a well-known
road through a continuous land-journey, by the command of God they
turned aside, and journeyed towards the Red Sea, where they stopped
and pitched their camp. When it was announced to the king that the
Hebrew people, through mistaking the road, had come to have the sea
right before them, and that they had no means of escape since the deep
would prevent them, vexed and furious that so many thousand men should
escape from his kingdom and power, he hastily led forth his army. And
already the arms, and standards, and the lines drawn up in the
widespreading plains were visible, when, as the Hebrews were in a
state of terror, and gazing up to heaven, Moses being so instructed by
God, struck the sea with his rod, and divided it. Thus a road was
opened to the people as on firm land, the waters giving way on both
sides. Nor did the king of Egypt hesitate to follow the Israelites
going forward, for he entered the sea where it had opened; and, as the
waters speedily came together again, he, with all his host, was
destroyed.
THEN Moses, exulting in the safety of his own people, and in the
destruction of the enemy, by such a miracle,[33] sang a song of praise to God, and the
whole multitude, both of males and females, took part in it. But,
after they had entered the desert, and advanced a journey of three
days, want of water distressed them; and, when it was found, it proved
of no use on account of its bitterness. And then for the first time
the stubbornness of the impatient people showed itself, and burst
forth against Moses; when, as instructed by God, he cast some wood
into the waters, and its power was such that it rendered the taste of
the fluid sweet. Thence advancing, the multitude found at Elim twelve
fountains of waters, with seventy palm-trees, and there they encamped.
Again the people, complaining of famine, heaped reproaches upon Moses,
and longed for the slavery of Egypt, accompanied as it was with
abundance to please their appetite, when a flock of quails was
divinely sent, and filled the camp. Besides, on the following day,
those who had gone forth from the camp perceived that the ground was
covered with a sort of pods,[34] the
appearance of which was like a coriander-seed of snowy whiteness, as
we often see the earth in the winter months covered with the
hoar-frost that has been spread over it. Then the people were
informed, through Moses, that this bread had been sent them by the
gift of God; that every one should gather in vessels prepared for the
purpose only so much of it as would be sufficient for each, according
to their number, during one day; but that on the sixth day they should
gather double, because it was not lawful to collect it on the Sabbath.
The people, however, as they were never prone to obedience, did not,
in accordance with human nature, restrain their desires, providing in
their stores not merely for one, but also for the following day. But
that which was thus laid up swarmed with worms, while its fetid odor
was dreadful, yet that which was laid up on the sixth day with a view
to the Sabbath remained quite untainted. The Hebrews made use of this
food for forty years; its taste was very like that of honey; and its
name is handed down as being manna. Moreover, as an abiding
witness to the divine gift, Moses is related to have laid up a full
gomer of it in a golden vessel.
THE people going on from thence, and being again tried with want of
water, hardly restrained themselves from destroying their leader.
Then Moses, under divine orders, striking with his rod the rock at the
place which is called Horeb, brought forth an abundant supply of
water. But when they came to Raphidin, the Amalekites destroyed
numbers of the people by their attacks. Moses, leading out his men to
battle, placed Joshua at the head of the army; and, in company with
Aaron and Hur, was himself simply to be a spectator of the fight,
while, at the same time, for the purpose of praying to the Lord, he
went up to the top of a mountain. But when the armies had met with
doubtful issue, through the prayers of Moses, Joshua slew the enemy
until nightfall. At the same time, Jothor, Moses' father-in-law, with
his daughter Sepphora (who, having been married to Moses, had remained
at home when her husband went into Egypt), and his children, having
learned the things which were being done by Moses, came to him. By
his advice Moses divided the people into various ranks; and, setting
tribunes, centurions, and decurions[35]
over them, thus furnished a mode of discipline and order to posterity.
Jothor then returned to his own country, while the Israelites came on
to Mount Sinai. There Moses was admonished by the Lord that the
people should be sanctified, since they were to hearken to the words
of God; and that was carefully seen to. But when God rested on the
mountain, the air was shaken with the loud sounds of trumpets, and
thick clouds rolled around with frequent flashes of lightning. But
Moses and Aaron were on the top of the mountain beside the Lord, while
the people stood around the bottom of the mountain. Thus a law was
given, manifold and full of the words of God, and frequently repeated;
but if any one is desirous of knowing particulars regarding it, he
must consult the original, as we here only briefly touch upon it.
"There shall not be," said God, "any strange gods among
you, but ye shall worship me alone; thou shalt not make to thee any
idol; thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; thou shalt do
no work upon the Sabbath; honor thy father and thy mother; thou shalt
not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; thou shalt not
covet anything belonging to thy neighbor."
THESE things being said by God, while the trumpets uttered their
voices, the lamps blazed, and smoke covered the mountain, the people
trembled from terror; and begged of Moses that God should speak to him
alone, and that he would report to the people what he thus heard.
Now, the commandments of God to Moses were as follows: A Hebrew
servant purchased with money shall serve six years, and after that he
shall be free; but his ear shall be bored, should he willingly remain
in slavery. Whosoever slays a man shall be put to death; he who does
so unwittingly shall in due form be banished. Whosoever shall beat
his father or his mother, and utter evil sayings against them, shall
suffer death. If any one sell a Hebrew who has been stolen, he shall
be put to death. If any one strike his own man-servant or
maidservant, and he or she die of the blow, he shall be put on his
trial for doing so. If any one cause a woman[36] to miscarry, he shall be put to death.
If any one knock out the eye or the tooth of his servant, that servant
shall receive his liberty in due form. If a bull kill a man, it shall
be stoned; and if its master, knowing the vicious temper of the
animal, did not take precautions in connection with it, he also shall
be stoned, or shall redeem himself by a price as large as the accuser
shall demand. If a bull kill a servant, money to the amount of thirty
double-drachmas shall be paid to his master. If any one does not
cover up a pit which has been dug, and an animal fall into that pit,
he shall pay the price of the animal to its master. If a bull kill
the bull of another man, the animal shall be sold, and the two masters
shall share the price; they shall also divide the animal that has been
killed. But if a master, knowing the vicious temper of the bull, did
not take precautions in connection with it, he shall give up the bull.
If any one steals a calf, he shall restore five; if he steals a sheep,
the penalty shall be fourfold; and if the animals be found alive in
the hands of him who drove them off, he shall restore double. It
shall be lawful to kill a thief by night, but not one by day. If the
cattle of any one has eaten up the corn of another, the master of the
cattle shall restore what has been destroyed. If a deposit
disappears, he, in whose hands it was deposited, shall swear that he
has not been guilty of any deceit. A thief who is caught shall pay
double. An animal given in trust, if devoured by a wild beast, shall
not be made good. If any one defile a virgin not yet betrothed, he
shall bestow a dowry on the girl, and thus take her to wife; but, if
the father of the girl shall refuse to give her in marriage, then the
ravisher shall give her a dowry. If any one shall join himself to a
beast, he shall be put to death. Let him who sacrifices to idols
perish. The widow and orphan are not to be oppressed; the poor debtor
is not to be hardly treated, nor is usury to be demanded: the garment
of the poor is not to be taken as a pledge. A ruler of the people is
not to be evil spoken of. All the first-born are to be offered to
God. Flesh taken from a wild beast is not to be eaten. Agreements to
bear false witness, or for any evil purpose, are not to be made. Thou
shalt not pass by any animal of thine enemy which has strayed, but
shalt bring it back. If you find an animal of your enemy fallen down
under a burden, it will be your duty to raise it up. Thou shall not
slay the innocent and the righteous. Thou shall not justify the
wicked for rewards. Gifts are not to be accepted. A stranger is to
be kindly treated. Work is to be done on six days: rest is to be
taken on the Sabbath. The crops of the seventh year are not to be
reaped, but are to be left for the poor and needy.
MOSES reported these words of God to the people, and placed an altar
of twelve stones at the foot of the mountain. Then he again ascended
the mountain on which the Lord had taken his place, bringing with him
Aaron, Nabad, and seventy of the elders. But these were not able to
look upon the Lord; nevertheless, they saw the place[37] in which God stood, whose form is
related to have been wonderful, and his splendor glorious. Now,
Moses, having been called by God, entered the inner cloud which had
gathered round about God, and is related to have remained there forty
days and forty nights. During this time, he was taught in the words
of God about building the tabernacle and the ark, and about the ritual
of sacrifice-things which I, as they were obviously told at great
length, have not thought proper to be inserted in such a concise work
as the present. But as Moses stayed away a long time, since he spent
forty days in the presence of the Lord, the people, despairing of his
return, compelled Aaron to construct images. Then, out of metals
which had been melted together, there came forth the head of a calf.
The people, unmindful of God, having offered sacrifices to this, and
given themselves up to eating and drinking, God, looking upon these
things, would in his righteous indignation, have destroyed the wicked
people, had he not been entreated by Moses not to do so. But Moses,
on his return, bringing down the two tables of stone which had been
written by the hand of God, and seeing the people devoted to luxury
and sacrilege, broke the tables, thinking the nation unworthy of
having the law of the Lord delivered to them. He then called around
himself the Levites, who had been assailed with many insults, and
commanded them to smite the people with drawn swords. In this onset
twenty-three thousand[38] men are said
to have been slain. Then Moses set up the tabernacle outside the
camp; and, as often as he entered it, the pillar of cloud was observed
to stand before the door; and God spoke, face to face, with Moses.
But when Moses entreated that he might see the Lord in his peculiar
majesty, he was answered that the form of God could not be seen by
mortal eyes; yet it was allowed to see his back parts; and the tables
which Moses had formerly broken were constructed afresh. And Moses is
reported, during this conference with God, to have stayed forty days
with the Lord. Moreover, when he descended from the mountain,
bringing with him the tables, his face shone with so great brightness,
that the people were not able to look upon him. It was arranged,
therefore, that when he was to make known to them the commands of God,
he covered his face with a veil, and thus spoke to the people in the
words of God. In this part of the history an account is given[39] of the tabernacle, and the building of
its inner parts. Which having been finished, the cloud descended from
above, and so overshadowed the tabernacle that it prevented Moses
himself from entering. These are the principal matters contained in
the two books of Genesis and Exodus.
THEN follows the book of Leviticus, in which the precepts bearing upon
sacrifice are set forth; commandments also are added to the law
formerly given; and almost the whole is full of instructions connected
with the priests. If any one wishes to become acquainted with these,
he will obtain fuller information from that source. For we, keeping
within the limits of the work undertaken, touch upon the history only.
The tribe of Levi, then, being set apart for the priesthood, the rest
of the tribes were numbered, and were found to amount to six hundred
and three thousand five hundred persons.[40] When, therefore, the people made use
of the manna for food, as we have related above, even amid so many and
so great kindnesses of God, showing themselves, as ever, ungrateful,
they longed after the worthless viands to which they had been
accustomed in Egypt. Then the Lord brought an enormous supply of
quails into the camp; and as they were eagerly tearing these to
pieces, as soon as their lips touched the flesh, they perished. There
was indeed on that day a great destruction in the camp, so that twenty
and three thousand men are said to have died. Thus the people were
punished by the very food which they desired. Thence the company went
forward, and came to Faran; and Moses was instructed by the Lord that
the land was now near, the possession of which the Lord had promised
them. Spies, accordingly, having been sent into it, they report that
it was a land blessed with all abundance, but that the nations were
powerful, and the towns fortified with immense walls. When this was
made known to the people, fear seized the minds of all; and to such a
pitch of wickedness did they come, that, despising the authority of
Moses, they prepared to appoint for themselves a leader, under whose
guidance they might return to Egypt. Then Joshua and Caleb, who had
been of the number of the spies, rent their garments with tears, and
implored the people not to believe the spies relating such terrors;
for that they themselves had been with them and had found nothing
dreadful in that country; and that it behooved them to trust the
promises of God, that these enemies would rather become their prey
than prove their destruction. But that stiff-necked race, setting
themselves against every good advice, rushed upon them to destroy
them. And the Lord, angry on account of these things, exposed a part
of the people to be slain by the enemy, while the spies were slain for
having excited fear among the people.
THERE followed the revolt of those, who, with Dathan and Abiron as
leaders, endeavored to set themselves up against Moses and Aaron; but
the earth, opening, swallowed them alive. And not long after, a
revolt of the whole people arose against Moses and Aaron, so that they
rushed into the tabernacle, which it was not lawful for any but the
priests to enter. Then truly death mowed them down in heaps; and all
would have perished in a moment, had not the Lord, appeased by the
prayers of Moses, turned aside the disaster. Nevertheless, the number
of those slain amounted to seven hundred and fourteen thousand.[41] And not long after, as had already
often happened, a revolt of the people arose on account of the want of
water. Then Moses, instructed by God to strike the rock with his rod,
with a kind of trial now familiar to him, since he had already done
that before, struck the rock once and again, and thus water flowed out
of it. In regard, however, to this point, Moses is said to have been
reproved by God, that, through want of faith, he did not bring out the
water except by repeated blows; in fact, on account of this
transgression, he did not enter the land promised to him, as I shall
show farther on. Moses, then, moving away from that place, as he was
preparing to lead his company along by the borders of Edom, sent
ambassadors to the king to beg liberty to pass by; for he thought it
right to abstain from war on account of the connection by blood; for
that nation was descended from Esau. But the king despised the
suppliants, and refused them liberty to pass by, being ready to
contend in arms. Then Moses directed his march towards the mountain,
Or, keeping clear of the forbidden road, that he might not furnish any
cause of war between those related by blood, and on that route he
destroyed the king of the nation of the Canaanites. He smote also
Seon the king of the Amorites, and possessed himself of all their
towns: he conquered, too, Basan and Balac. He pitched his camp beyond
Jordan, not far from Jericho. Then a battle took place against the
Midianites, and they were conquered and subdued. Moses died, after he
had ruled the people forty years in the wilderness. But the Hebrews
are said to have remained in the wilderness for so long a time, with
this view, until all those who had not believed the words of God
perished. For, except Joshua and Caleb, not one of those who were
more than twenty years old on leaving Egypt passed over Jordan. That
Moses himself only saw the promised land, and did not reach it, is
ascribed to his sin, because, at that time when he was ordered to
strike the rock, and bring forth water, he doubted, even after so many
proofs of his miraculous power. He died in the one hundred and
twentieth year of his age. Nothing is known concerning the place of
his burial.
AFTER the death of Moses, the chief power passed into the hands of
Joshua the son of Nun, for Moses had appointed him his successor,
being a man very like himself in the good qualities which be
displayed. Now, at the commencement of his rule, he sent messengers
through the camp to instruct the people to make ready supplies of
corn, and announces that they should march on the third day. But the
river Jordan, a very powerful stream, hindered their crossing, because
they did not have a supply of vessels for the occasion, and the stream
could not be crossed by fords, as it was then rushing on in full
flood. He, therefore, orders the ark to be carried forward by the
priests, and that they should take their stand against the current of
the river. On this being done, Jordan is said to have been divided,
and thus the army was led over on dry ground. There was in these
places a town called Jericho, fortified with very strong walls, and
not easy to be taken, either by storm or blockade. But Joshua,
putting his trust in God, did not attack the city either by arms or
force; he simply ordered the ark of God to be carried round the walls,
while the priests walked before the ark, and sounded trumpets. But
when the ark had been carried round seven times, the walls and the
towers fell; and the city was plundered and burnt. Then Joshua is
said to have addressed the Lord, and[42] to have called down a curse upon any
one who should attempt to restore the town which had thus by divine
help been demolished. Next, the army was led against Geth, and an
ambuscade having been placed behind the city, Joshua, pretending fear,
fled before the enemy. On seeing this, those who were in the town,
opening the gates, began to press upon the enemy giving way. Thus,
the men who were in ambush took the city, and all the inhabitants were
slain, without one escaping: the king also was taken, and suffered
capital punishment.
WHEN this became known to the kings of the neighboring nations, they
made a warlike alliance to put down the Hebrews by arms. But the
Gibeonites, a powerful nation with a wealthy city, spontaneously
yielded to the Hebrews, promising to do what they were ordered, and
were received under protection, while they were told to bring in wood
and water. But their surrender had roused the resentment of the kings
of the nearest cities. Accordingly, moving up their troops, they
surround with a blockade their town, which was called Gabaoth. The
townspeople, therefore, in their distress, send messengers to Joshua,
that he would help them in their state of siege. Accordingly, he by a
forced march came upon the enemy at unawares, and many thousands of
them were completely destroyed. When day failed the victors, and it
seemed that night would furnish protection to the vanquished, the
Hebrew general, through the power of his faith, kept off the night,
and the day continued, so that there was no means of escape for the
enemy. Five kings who were taken suffered death. By the same attack,
neighboring cities also were brought under the power of Joshua, and
their kings were cut off. But as it was not my design, studious as I
am of brevity, to follow out all these things in order, I only
carefully observe this, that twenty-nine kingdoms were brought under
the yoke of the Hebrews, and that their territory was distributed
among eleven tribes, to man after man. For to the Levites, who had
been set apart for the priesthood, no portion was given, in order that
they might the more freely serve God. I desire not, in silence, to
pass over the example thus set, but I would earnestly bring it forward
as well worthy of being read by the ministers of the Church. For
these seem to me not only unmindful of this precept, but even utterly
ignorant of it--such a lust for possessing has, in this age, seized,
like an incurable disease, upon their minds. They gape upon
possessions; they cultivate estates; they repose upon gold; they buy
and sell; they study gain by every possible means. And even, if any
of them seem to have a better aim in life, neither possessing nor
trading, still (what is much more disgraceful) remaining inactive,
they look for gifts, and have corrupted the whole glory of life by
their mercenary dispositions, while they present an appearance of
sanctity, as if even that might be made a source of gain. But I have
gone farther than I intended in expressing my loathing and disgust
over the character of our times; and I hasten to return to the subject
in hand. The vanquished territory, then, as I have already said,
having been divided among the tribes, the Hebrews enjoyed profound
peace; their neighbors, being terrified by war, did not venture to
attempt hostilities against those distinguished by so many victories.
At the same period died Joshua in the hundred and tenth year of his
age. I do not express any definite opinion as to the length of time
he ruled: the prevalent view, however, is, that he was at the head of
the Hebrew affairs during twenty-seven years. If this were so, then
three thousand eight hundred and eighty-four years had elapsed from
the beginning of the world to his death.
AFTER the death of Joshua, the people acted without a leader. But a
necessity of making war with the Canaanites having arisen, Judah was
appointed as general in the war. Under his guidance, matters were
successfully conducted: there was the greatest tranquillity both at
home and abroad: the people ruled over the nations which had either
been subdued or received under terms of surrender. Then, as almost
always happens in a time of prosperity, becoming unmindful of morals
and discipline, they began to contract marriages from among the
conquered, and by and by to adopt foreign customs, yea, even in a
sacrilegious manner to offer sacrifice to idols: so pernicious is all
alliance with foreigners. God, foreseeing these things long before,
had, by a wholesome precept enjoined upon the Hebrews to give over the
conquered nations to utter destruction. But the people, through lust
for power, preferred (to their own ruin) to rule over those who were
conquered. Accordingly, when, forsaking God, they worshiped idols,
they were deprived of the divine assistance, and, being vanquished and
subdued by the king of Mesopotamia, they paid the penalty of eight
years' captivity, until, with Gothoniel as their leader, they were
restored to liberty, and enjoyed independence for fifty years. Then
again, corrupted by the evil effect of a lengthened peace, they began
to sacrifice to idols. And speedily did retribution fall upon them
thus sinning. Conquered by Eglon, king of the Moabites, they served
him eighteen years, until, by a divine impulse, Aod slew the enemies'
king by a stratagem, and, gathering together a hasty army, restored
them to liberty by force of arms. The same man ruled the Hebrews in
peace for forty years. To him Semigar succeeded, and he, engaging in
battle with the Philistines,[43]
secured a decisive victory. But again, the king of the Canaanites,
Jabin by name, subdued the Hebrews who were once more serving idols,
and exercised over them a grievous tyranny for twenty years, until
Deborah, a woman, restored them to their former condition. They had
to such a degree lost confidence in their generals, that they were now
protected by means of a woman. But it is worthy of notice, that this
form of deliverance was arranged beforehand, as a type of the Church,
by whose aid captivity to the devil is escaped. The Hebrews were
forty years under this leader or judge. And being again delivered
over to the Midianites for their sins, they were kept under hard rule;
and, being afflicted by the evils of slavery, they implored the divine
help. Thus always when in prosperity they were unmindful of the
kindnesses of heaven, and prayed to idols; but in adversity they cried
to God. Wherefore, as often as I reflect that those people who lay
under so many obligations to the goodness of God, being chastised with
so many disasters when they sinned, and experiencing both the mercy
and the severity of God, yet were by no means rendered better, and
that, though they always obtained pardon for their transgressions, yet
they as constantly sinned again after being pardoned, it can appear
nothing wonderful that Christ when he came was not received by them,
since already, from the beginning, they were found so often rebelling
against the Lord. It is, in fact, far more wonderful that the
clemency of God never failed them when they sinned, if only they
called upon his name.[44]
ACCORDINGLY, when the Midianites, as we have related above, ruled over
them, they turned to the Lord, imploring his wonted tender mercy, and
obtained it. There was then among the Hebrews one Gideon by name, a
righteous man who was dear and acceptable to God. The angel stood by
him as he was returning home from the harvest-field, and said unto
him; "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." But
he in a humble voice complained that the Lord was not[45] with him, because captivity pressed
sore upon his people, and he remembered with tears the miracles
wrought by the Lord, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Then the angel said, "Go, in this spirit in which you have
spoken, and deliver the people from captivity." But he declared
that he could not, with his[46] feeble
strength, since he was a man of very small importance, undertake such
a heavy task. The angel, however, persisted in urging him not to
doubt that those things could be done which the Lord said. So then,
having offered sacrifice, and overthrown the altar which the
Midianites had consecrated to the image of Baal, he went to his own
people, and pitched his camp near the camp of the enemy. But the
nation of the Amalekites had also joined themselves to the Midianites,
while Gideon had not gathered more than an army of thirty-two thousand
men. But before the battle began, God said to him that this was a
larger number than he wished him to lead forth to the conflict; that,
if he did make use of so many, the Hebrews would, in accordance with
their usual wickedness ascribe the result of the fight, not to God,
but to their own bravery; he should therefore furnish an opportunity
of leaving to those who desired to do so. When this was made known to
the people, twenty and two thousand left the camp. But of the ten
thousand who had remained, Gideon, as instructed by God, did not
retain more than three hundred: the rest he dismissed from the field.
Thus, entering the camp of the enemy in the middle watch of the night,
and having ordered all his men to sound their trumpets, he caused
great terror to the enemy; and no one had courage to resist; but they
made off in a disgraceful flight wherever they could. The Hebrews,
however, meeting them in every direction, cut the fugitives to pieces.
Gideon pursued the kings beyond Jordan, and having captured them, gave
them over to death. In that battle, a hundred and twenty thousand of
the enemy are said to have been slain, and fifteen thousand captured.
Then, by universal consent, a proposal was made to Gideon that he
should be king of the people. But he rejected this proposal, and
preferred rather to live on equal terms with his fellow-citizens than
to be their ruler. Having, therefore, escaped from their captivity,
which had pressed upon the people for seven years, they now enjoyed
peace for a period of forty years.
BUT on the death of Gideon, his son Abimelech, whose mother was a
concubine, having slain his brothers with the concurrence of a
multitude of wicked men, and especially by the help of the chief men
among the Shechemites, took possession of the kingdom. And he, being
harassed by civil strife, while he pressed hard upon his people by
war, attempted to storm a certain tower, into which they, after losing
the town, had betaken themselves by flight. But, as he approached the
place without sufficient caution, he was slain by a stone which a
woman threw, after holding the government for three years. To him
succeeded Thola, who reigned two and twenty years. After him came
Jair; and after he had held the chief place for a like period of
twenty-two years, the people, forsaking God, gave themselves up to
idols. On this account, the Israelites were subdued by the
Philistines and Ammonites, and remained under their power for eighteen
years. At the end of this period, they began to call upon God; but
the divine answer to them was that they should rather invoke the aid
of their images, for that he would no longer extend his mercy to those
who had been so ungrateful. But they with tears confessed their
fault, and implored forgiveness; while, throwing away their idols, and
earnestly calling upon God, they obtained the divine compassion,
though it had been at first refused. Accordingly, under Jephtha as
general, they assembled in great numbers for the purpose of recovering
their liberty by arms, having first sent ambassadors to King Ammon,
begging that, content with his own territories, he should keep from
warring against them. But he, far from declining battle, at once drew
up his army. Then Jephtha, before the signal for battle was given, is
said to have vowed that, if he obtained the victory, the person who
first met him as he returned home, should be offered to God as a
sacrifice. Accordingly, on the enemy being defeated, as Jephtha was
returning home, his daughter met him, having joyfully gone forth with
drums and dances to receive her father as a conqueror. Then Jephtha,
being overwhelmed with sorrow, rent his clothes in his affliction, and
made known to his daughter the stringent obligation of his vow. But
she, with a courage not to be expected from a woman, did not refuse to
die; she only begged that her life might be spared for two months,
that she might before dying have the opportunity of seeing the friends
of her own age. This being done, she willingly returned to her
father, and fulfilled the vow to God. Jephtha held the chief power
for six years. To him Esebon succeeded, and having ruled in
tranquillity for seven years, then died. After him, Elon the
Zebulonite ruled for ten years, and Abdon also for eight years; but,
as their rule was peaceful, they performed nothing which history might
record.
THE Israelites yet again turned to idols; and, being deprived of the
divine protection, were subdued by the Philistines, and paid the
penalty of their unfaithfulness by forty years of captivity. At that
time, Samson is related to have been born. His mother, after being
long barren, had a vision of an angel, and was told to abstain from
wine, and strong drink, and everything unclean; for that she should
bear a son who would be the restorer of liberty to the Israelites, and
their avenger upon their enemies. He, with unshorn locks, is said to
have been possessed of marvelous strength, so much so that he tore to
pieces with his hands a lion which met him in the way. He had a wife
from the Philistines, and when she, in the absence of her husband, had
entered into marriage with another, he, through indignation on account
of his wife being thus taken from him, wrought destruction to her
nation. Trusting in God and his own strength, he openly brought
disaster on those hitherto victors. For, catching three hundred
foxes, he tied burning torches to their tails, and sent them into the
fields of the enemy. It so happened that at the time the harvest was
ripe, and thus the fire easily caught, while the vines and olive-trees
were burnt to ashes. He was thus seen to have avenged the injury done
him in taking away his wife, by a great loss inflicted on the
Philistines. And they, enraged at this disaster, destroyed by fire
the woman who had been the cause of so great a calamity, along with
her house and her father. But Samson, thinking himself as yet but
poorly avenged, ceased not to harass the heathen race with all sorts
of evil devices. Then the Jews, being compelled to it, handed him
over as a prisoner to the Philistines; but, when thus handed over, he
burst his bonds and seizing the jaw-bone[47] of an ass, which chance offered him as
a weapon, he slew a thousand of his enemies. And, as the heat of the
day grew violent, and he began to suffer from thirst, he called upon
God, and water flowed forth from[48]
the bone which he held in his hand.
AT that time Samson ruled over the Hebrews, the Philistines having
been subdued by the prowess of a single individual. They, therefore,
sought his life by stratagem, not daring to assail him openly, and
with this view they bribe his wife (whom he had received after what
has been stated took place) to betray to them wherein the strength of
her husband lay. She attacked him with female blandishments; and,
after he had deceived her, and staved off her purpose for a long time,
she persuaded him to tell that his strength was situated in his hair.
Presently she cut off his hair stealthily while he was asleep, and
thus delivered him up to the Philistines; for although he had often
before been given up to them, they had not been able to hold him fast.
Then they, having put out his eyes, bound him with fetters, and cast
him into prison. But, in course of time, his hair which had been cut
off began to grow again, and his strength to return with it. And now
Samson, conscious of his recovered strength, was only waiting for an
opportunity of righteous revenge. The Philistines had a custom on
their festival days of producing Samson as if to make a public
spectacle of him, while they mocked their illustrious captive.
Accordingly, on a certain day, when they were making a feast in honor
of their idol, they ordered Samson to be exhibited. Now, the temple,
in which all the people and all the princes of the Philistines
feasted, rested on two pillars of remarkable size; and Samson, when
brought out, was placed between these pillars. Then he, having first
called upon the Lord, seized his opportunity, and threw down the
pillars. The whole multitude was overwhelmed in the ruins of the
building, and Samson himself died along with his enemies, not without
having avenged himself upon them, after he had ruled the Hebrews
twenty years. To him Simmichar succeeded, of whom Scripture relates
nothing more than that simple fact. For I do not find that even the
time when his rule came to an end is mentioned, and I see that the
people was for some time without a leader. Accordingly, when civil
war arose against the tribe of Benjamin, Judah was chosen as a
temporary leader in the war. But most of those who have written about
these times note that his rule was only for a single year. On this
account, many pass him by altogether, and place Eli, the priest,
immediately after Samson. We shall leave that point doubtful, as one
not positively ascertained.
ABOUT these times, civil war, as we have said, had broken out; and the
following was the cause of the tumult. A certain Levite was on a
journey along with his concubine, and, constrained by the approach of
night, he took up his abode in the town of Gabaa, which was inhabited
by men of Benjamin. A certain old man having kindly admitted him to
hospitality, the young men of the town surrounded the guest, with the
view of subjecting him to improper treatment. After being much
chidden by the old man, and with difficulty dissuaded from their
purpose, they at length received for their wanton sport the person of
his concubine as a substitute for his own; and they thus spared the
stranger, but abused her through the whole night, and only restored
her on the following day. But she (whether from the injury their vile
conduct had inflicted on her, or from shame, I do not venture to
assert) died on again seeing[49] her
husband. Then the Levite, in testimony of the horrible deed, divided
her members into twelve parts, and distributed them among the twelve
tribes that indignation at such conduct might the more readily be
excited in them all. And when this became known to all of them, the
other eleven tribes entered into a warlike confederacy against
Benjamin. In this war, Judah, as we have said, was the general. But
they had bad success in the first two battles. At length, however, in
the third, the Benjamites were conquered, and cut off to a man; thus
the crime of a few was punished by the destruction of a multitude.
These things also are contained in the Book of Judges: the Books of
Kings follow. But to me who am following the succession of the years,
and the order of the dates, the history does not appear marked by
strict chronological accuracy. For, since after Samson as judge,
there came Semigar, and a little later the history certifies that the
people lived without judges, Eli the priest is related in the Books of
Kings to have also been a judge,[50]
but the Scripture has not stated how many years there were between Eli
and Samson. I see that there was some portion of time between these
two, which is left in obscurity. But, from the day of the death of
Joshua up to the time at which Samson died, there are reckoned four
hundred and eighteen years, and from the beginning of the world, four
thousand three hundred and three. Nevertheless, I am not ignorant
that others differ from this reckoning of ours; but I am at the same
time conscious that I have, not without some care, set forth the order
of events in the successive years (a thing hitherto left in
obscurity), until I have fallen upon these times, concerning which I
confess that I have my doubts. Now I shall go on to what remains.
THE Hebrews, then, as I have narrated above, were living according to
their own will, without any judge or general. Eli was priest; and in
his days Samuel was born. His father's name was Elchana, and his
mother's, Anna. She having long been barren, is said, when she asked
a child from God, to have vowed that, if it were a boy, it should be
dedicated to God. Accordingly, having brought forth a boy, she
delivered him to Eli the priest. By and by, when he had grown up, God
spoke to him. He denounced wrath against Eli the priest on account of
the life of his sons, who had made the priesthood of their father a
means of gain to themselves, and exacted gifts from those who came to
sacrifice; and, although their father is related to have often
reproved them, yet his reproofs were too gentle to serve the purpose
of discipline. Well, the Philistines made an incursion into Judaea,
and were met by the Israelites. But the Hebrews, being beaten,
prepare to renew the contest: they carry the ark of the Lord with them
into battle, and the sons of the priests go forth with it, because he
himself, being burdened with years, and afflicted with blindness,
could not discharge that duty. But, when the ark was brought within
sight of the enemy, terrified as if by the majesty of God's presence,
they were ready to take to flight. But again recovering courage, and
changing their minds (not without a divine impulse), they rush into
battle with their whole strength. The Hebrews were conquered; the ark
was taken; the sons of the priest fell. Eli, when the news of the
calamity was brought to him, being overwhelmed with grief, breathed
his last, after he had held the priesthood for twenty[51] years.
THE Philistines, victorious in this prosperous battle, brought the ark
of God, which had fallen into their hands, into the temple of Dagon in
the town of Azotus. But the image, dedicated to a demon, fell down
when the ark was brought in there; and, on their setting the idol up
again in its place, in the following night it was torn in pieces.
Then mice, springing up throughout all the country, caused by their
venomous bites the death of many thousand persons.[52] The men of Azotus, constrained by
this source of suffering, in order to escape the calamity, removed the
ark to Gath. But the people there being afflicted with the same
evils, conveyed the ark to Ascalon. The inhabitants, however, of that
place, the chief men of the nation having been called together, formed
the design of sending back the ark to the Hebrews. Thus, in
accordance with the opinion of the chiefs, and augurs, and priests, it
was placed upon a cart, and sent back with many gifts. This
remarkable thing then happened, that when they had yoked heifers to
the conveyance, and had retained their calves at home, these cattle
took their course, without any guide, towards Judaea, and showed no
desire of returning, from affection toward their young left behind.
The rulers of the Philistines, who had followed the ark into the
territory of the Hebrews, were so struck by the marvelousness of this
occurrence that they performed a religious service. But the Jews,
when they saw the ark brought back, vied with each other in joyously
rushing forth from the town of Betsamis to meet it, and in hurrying,
exulting, and returning thanks to God. Presently, the Levites, whose
business it was, perform a sacrifice to God, and offer those heifers
which had brought the ark. But the ark could not be kept in the town
which I have named above, and thus severe illness fell by the
appointment of God, upon the whole city. The ark was then transferred
to the town of Cariathiarim,[53] and
there it remained twenty years.
AT this time, Samuel the priest[54]
ruled over the Hebrews; and there being a cessation of all war, the
people lived in peace. But this tranquillity was disturbed by an
invasion of the Philistines, and all ranks were in a state of terror
from their consciousness of guilt. Samuel, having first offered
sacrifice, and trusting in God, led his men out to battle, and the
enemy being routed at the first onset, victory declared for the
Hebrews. But when the fear of the enemy was thus removed, and affairs
were now prosperous and peaceful, the people, changing their views for
the worse, after the manner of the mob, who are always weary of what
they have, and long for things of which they have had no experience,
expressed a desire for the kingly name--a name greatly disliked by
almost all free nations. Yes, with an example of madness certainly
very remarkable, they now preferred to exchange liberty for slavery.
They, therefore, come in great numbers to Samuel, in order that, as he
himself was now an old man, he might make for them a king. But he
endeavored in a useful address, quietly to deter the people from their
insane desire; he set forth the tyranny and haughty rule of kings,
while he extolled liberty, and denounced slavery; finally, he
threatened them with the divine wrath, if they should show themselves
men so corrupt in mind as that, when having God as their king, they
should demand for themselves a king from among men. Having spoken
these and other words of a like nature to no purpose, finding that the
people persisted in the determination, he consulted God. And God,
moved by the madness of that insane nation, replied that nothing was
to be refused to them asking against their own interests.
ACCORDINGLY, Saul, having been first anointed by Samuel with the
sacerdotal oil, was appointed king. He was of the tribe of Benjamin,
and his father's name was Kish. He was modest in mind, and of a
singularly handsome figure, so that the dignity of his person worthily
corresponded to the royal dignity. But in the beginning of his reign,
some portion of the people had revolted from him, refusing to
acknowledge his authority, and had joined themselves to the Ammonites.
Saul, however, energetically wreaked his vengeance on these people;
the enemy were conquered, and pardon was granted to the Hebrews. Then
Saul is said to have been anointed by Samuel a second time. Next, a
bloody war arose by an invasion of the Philistines; and Saul had
appointed Gilgal as the place where his army was to assemble. As they
waited there seven days for Samuel, that he might offer sacrifice to
God, the people gradually dropped away owing to his delay, and the
king, with unlawful presumption, presented a burnt-offering, thus
taking upon him the duty of a priest. For this he was severely
rebuked by Samuel, and acknowledged his sin with a penitence that was
too late. For, as a result of the king's sin, fear had pervaded the
whole army. The camp of the enemy lying at no great distance showed
them how actual the danger was, and no one had the courage to think of
going forth to battle: most had betaken themselves to the marshes.[55] For besides the want of courage on
the part of those who felt that God was alienated from them on account
of the king's sin, the army was in the greatest want of iron weapons;
so much so that nobody, except Saul and Jonathan his son, is said to
have possessed either sword or spear. For the Philistines, as
conquerors in the former wars, had deprived the Hebrews of the use of
arms,[56] and no one had had the power
of forging any weapon of war, or even making any implement for rural
purposes. In these circumstances, Jonathan, with an audacious design,
and with his armor-bearer as his only companion, entered the camp of
the enemy, and having slain about twenty of them, spread a terror
throughout the whole army. And then, through the appointment of God,
betaking themselves to flight, they neither carried out orders nor
kept their ranks, but placed all the hope of safety in flight. Saul,
perceiving this, hastily drew forth his men, and pursuing the
fugitives, obtained a victory. The king is said on that day to have
issued a proclamation that no one should help himself to food until
the enemy were destroyed. But Jonathan, knowing nothing of this
prohibition, found a honey-comb, and, dipping the point of his weapon
in it, ate up the honey. When that became known to the king through
the anger of God which followed, he ordered his son to be put to
death. But by the help of the people, he was saved from destruction.
At that time, Samuel, being instructed by God, went to the king, and
told him in the words of God to make war on the nation of the
Amalekites, who had of old hindered the Hebrews when they were coming
out of Egypt; and the prohibition was added that they should not covet
any of the spoils of the conquered. Accordingly, an army was led into
the territory of the enemy, the king was taken, and the nation
subdued. But Saul, unable to resist the magnitude of the spoil, and
unmindful of the divine injunctions, ordered the booty to be saved and
gathered together.
GOD, displeased with what had been done, spoke to Samuel, saying that
he repented that he had made Saul king. The priest reports what he
had heard to the king. And ere long, being instructed by God, he
anointed David with the royal oil, while be was as yet only a little
boy[57] living under the care of his
father, and acting as a shepherd, while he was accustomed often to
play upon the harp. For this reason, he was taken afterwards by Saul,
and reckoned among the servants of the king. And the Philistines and
Hebrews being at this time hotly engaged in war, as the armies were
stationed opposite to each other, a certain man of the Philistines
named Goliath, a man of marvelous size and strength, passing along the
ranks of his countrymen, cast insults, in the fiercest terms, upon the
enemy, and challenged any one to engage in single combat with him.
Then the king promised a great reward and his daughter in marriage to
any one who should bring home the spoils of that boaster; but no one
out of so great a multitude ventured to make the attempt. In these
circumstances, though still a youth,[58] David offered himself for the contest,
and rejecting the arms by which his yet tender age was weighed down,
simply with a staff and five stones which he had taken, advanced to
the battle. And by the first blow, having discharged one of the
stones from a sling, he overthrew the Philistine; then he cut off the
head of his conquered foe, carried off his spoils, and afterwards laid
up his sword in the temple. In the meanwhile, all the Philistines,
turning to flight, yielded the victory to the Hebrews. But the great
favor shown to David as they were returning from the battle excited
the envy of the king. Fearing, however, that if he put to death one
so beloved by all, that might give rise to hatred against himself and
prove disastrous, he resolved, under an appearance of doing him honor,
to expose him to danger. First then he made him a captain, that he
might be charged with the affairs of war; and next, although he had
promised him his daughter, he broke his word, and gave her to another.
Ere long, a younger daughter of the king, Melchol by name, fell
violently in love with David. Accordingly, Saul sets before David as
the condition of obtaining her in marriage the following proposal:
that if he should bring in a hundred foreskins of the enemy, the royal
maiden would be given him in marriage; for he hoped that the youth,
venturing on so great dangers, would probably perish. But the result
proved very different from what he imagined, for David, according to
the proposal made to him, speedily brought in a hundred foreskins of
the Philistines; and thus he obtained the daughter of the king in
marriage.
THE hatred of the king towards him increased daily, under the
influence of jealousy, for the wicked always persecute the good. He,
therefore, commanded his servants and Jonathan his son, to prepare
snares against his life. But Jonathan had even from the first had a
great regard and affection for David; and therefore the king, being
taken to task by his son, suppressed the cruel order he had given.
But the wicked are not long good. For, when Saul was afflicted by a
spirit of error, and David stood by him, soothing him with the harp
under his trouble, Saul tried to pierce him with a spear, and would
have done so, had not he rapidly evaded the deadly blow. From this
time forth, the king no longer secretly but openly sought to compass
his death; and David no longer trusted himself in his power. He fled,
and first betook himself to Samuel, then to Abimelech, and finally
fled to the king of Moab. By-and-by, under the instructions of the
prophet Gad, he returned into the land of Judah, and there ran in
danger of his life. At that time, Saul slew Abimelech the priest
because he had received David; and when none of the king's servants
ventured to lay hands upon the priest, Doeg, the Syrian, fulfilled the
cruel duty. After that, David made for the desert. Thither Saul also
followed him, but his efforts at his destruction were in vain, for God
protected him. There was a cave in the desert, opening with a vast
recess. David had thrown himself into the inner parts of this cave.
Saul, not knowing that he was there, had gone into it for the purpose
of taking[59] bodily refreshment, and
there, overcome by sleep, he was resting. When David perceived this,
although all urged him to avail himself of the opportunity, he
abstained from slaying the king, and simply took away his mantle.
Presently going out, he addressed the king from a safe position
behind, recounting the services he had done him, how often he had
exposed his life to peril for the sake of the kingdom, and how last of
all, he bad not, on the present occasion, sought to kill him when he
was given over to him by God. Upon hearing these things, Saul
confessed his fault, entreated pardon, shed tears, extolled the piety
of David, and blamed his own wickedness, while he addressed David as
king and son. He was so much changed from his former ferocious
character, that no one could now have thought he would make any
further attempt against his son-in-law. But David, who had
thoroughly[60] tested and known his
evil disposition, did not think it safe to put himself in the power of
the king, and kept himself within the desert. Saul, almost mad with
rage, because he was unable to capture his son-in-law, gave in
marriage to one Faltim his daughter Melchol, who, as we have related
above, had been married to David. David fled to the Philistines.
AT that time Samuel died. Saul, when the Philistines made war upon
him, consulted God, and no answer was returned to him. Then, by means
of a woman whose entrails a spirit of error[61] had filled, he called up and consulted
Samuel. Saul was informed by him that on the following day he with
his sons, being overcome by the Philistines, would fall in the battle.
The Philistines, accordingly, having pitched their camp on the enemy's
territory, drew up their army in battle array on the following day,
David, however, being sent away from the camp, because they did not
believe that he would be faithful to them against his own people. But
the battle taking place, the Hebrews were routed and the sons of the
king fell; Saul, having sunk down from his horse, that he might not be
taken alive by the enemy, fell on his own sword. We do not find any
certain statements as to the length of his reign, unless that he is
said in the Acts of the Apostles to have reigned forty years. As to
this, however, I am inclined to think that Paul, who made the
statement in his preaching, then meant to include also the years of
Samuel under the length of that king's reign.[62] Most of those, however, who have
written about these times, remark that he reigned thirty years. I
can, by no means, agree with this opinion, for at the time when the
ark of God was transferred to the town of Cariathiarim, Saul had not
yet begun to reign, and it is related that the ark was removed by
David the king out of that town after it had been there twenty years.
Therefore, since Saul reigned and died within that period, he must
have held the government only for a very brief space of time. We find
the same obscurity concerning the times of Samuel, who, having been
born under the priesthood of Eli, is related, when very old, to have
fulfilled the duties of a priest. By some, however, who have written
about these times (for the sacred history has recorded almost nothing
about his years),[63] but by most he is
said to have ruled the people seventy years. I have, however been
unable to discover what authority there is for this assumption. Amid
such variety of error, we have followed the account of the
Chronicles,[64] because we think that
it was taken (as said above) from the Acts of the Apostles, and we
repeat that Samuel and Saul together held the government for forty
years.
SAUL having thus been cut off, David, when the news of his death was
brought to him in the land of the Philistines, is related to have
wept, and to have given a marvelous proof of his affection. He then
betook himself to Hebron, a town of Judaea; and, being there again
anointed with the royal oil, received the title of king. But Abenner,
who had been master of the host of King Saul, despised David, and made
Isbaal king, the son of King Saul. Various battles then took place
between the generals of the kings. Abenner was generally routed; yet
in his flight he cut off the brother of Joab, who had the command of
the army on the side of David. Joab, on account of the sorrow he felt
for this, afterwards, when Abenner had surrendered to King David,
ordered him to be murdered, not without regret on the part of the
king, whose honor he had thus tarnished. At the same time, almost all
the older men of the Hebrews conferred on him by public consent the
sovereignty of the whole nation; for during seven years he had reigned
only in Hebron. Thus, he was anointed king for the third time, being
about thirty years of age. He repulsed in successful battles the
Philistines making inroads upon his kingdom. And at that time, he
transferred to Zion the ark of God, which, as I have said above, was
in the town of Cariathiarim. And when he had formed the intention of
building a temple to God, the divine answer was given him to the
effect, that that was reserved for his son. He then conquered the
Philistines in war, subjugated the Moabites, and subdued Syria,
imposing tribute upon it. He brought back with him an enormous amount
of booty in gold and brass. Next, a war arose against the Ammonites
on account of the injury which had been done by their king, Annon.
And when the Syrians again rebelled, having formed a confederacy for
war with the Ammonites, David intrusted the chief command of the war
to Joab, the master of his host, and he himself remained in Jerusalem
far from the scene of strife.
AT this time, he knew in a guilty way Bersabe, a woman of remarkable
beauty. She is said to have been the wife of a certain man called
Uriah, who was then in the camp. David caused him to be slain by
exposing him to the enemy at a dangerous place in the battle. In this
way, he added to the number of his wives the woman who was now free
from the bond of marriage, but who was already pregnant through
adultery. Then David, after being severely reproved by Nathan the
prophet, although he confessed his sin, did not escape the punishment
of God. For he lost in a few days the son who was born from the
clandestine connection, and many terrible things happened in respect
to his house and family. At last his son Absalom lifted impious arms
against his father, with the desire of driving him from the throne.
Joab encountered him in the field of battle, and the king entreated
him to spare the young man when conquered; but he, disregarding this
command, avenged with the sword his parricidal attempts. That victory
is said to have been a mournful one to the king: so great was his
natural affection that he wished even his parricidal son to be
forgiven. This war seemed hardly finished when another arose, under a
certain general called Sabaea, who had stirred up all the wicked to
arms. But the whole commotion was speedily checked by the death of
the leader. David then engaged in several battles against the
Philistines with favorable results; and all being subdued by war, both
foreign and home disturbances having been brought to accord, he
possessed in peace a most flourishing kingdom. Then a sudden desire
seized him of numbering the people, in order to ascertain the strength
of his empire; and accordingly they were numbered by Joab, the master
of the host, and were found to amount to one million three hundred
thousand[65] citizens. David soon
regretted and repented of this proceeding, and implored pardon of God
for having lifted up his thoughts to this, that he should reckon the
power of his kingdom rather by the multitude of his subjects than by
the divine favor. Accordingly, an angel was sent to him to reveal to
him a threefold punishment, and to give him the power of choosing
either one or another. Well, when a famine for three years was set
before him, and flight before his enemies for three months, and a
pestilence for three days, shunning both flight and famine, he made
choice of pestilence, and, almost in a moment of time, seventy
thousand men perished. Then David, beholding the angel by whose right
hand the people were overthrown, implored pardon, and offered himself
singly to punishment instead of all, saying that he deserved
destruction inasmuch as it was he who had sinned. Thus, the
punishment of the people was turned aside; and David built an altar to
God on the spot where he had beheld the angel. After this, having
become infirm through years and illness, he appointed Solomon, who had
been born to him by Bersabe, the wife of Uriah, his successor in the
kingdom. He, having been anointed with the royal oil by Sadoc the
priest, received the title of king, while his father was still alive.
David died, after he had reigned forty years.
SOLOMON in the beginning of his reign surrounded the city with a wall.
To him while asleep God appeared standing by him, and gave him the
choice of whatever things he desired. But he asked that nothing more
than wisdom should be granted him, deeming all other things of little
value. Accordingly, when he arose from sleep; taking his stand before
the sanctuary of God, he gave a proof of the wisdom which had been
bestowed upon him by God. For two women who dwelt in one house,
having given birth to male children at the same time, and one of these
having died in the night three days afterwards, the mother of the dead
child, while the other woman slept, insidiously substituted her child,
and took away the living one. Then there arose an altercation between
them, and the matter was at length brought before the king. As no
witness was forthcoming, it was a difficult matter to give a judgment
between both denying guilt. Then Solomon, in the exercise of his gift
of divine wisdom, ordered the child to be slain and its body to be
divided between the two doubtful claimants. Well, when one of them
acquiesced in this judgment, but the other wished rather to give up
the boy than that he should be cut in pieces, Solomon, concluding from
the feeling displayed by this woman that she was the true mother,
adjudged the child to her. The bystanders could not repress their
admiration at this decision, since he had in such a way brought out
the hidden truth by his sagacity. Accordingly, the kings of the
neighboring nations, out of admiration for his ability and wisdom,
courted his friendship and alliance being prepared to carry out his
commands.
TRUSTING in these resources, Solomon set about erecting a temple of
immense size to God, funds for the purpose having been got together
during three years, and laid the foundation of it about the fourth
year of his reign. This was about the five hundred and eighty-eighth
year after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, although in the
third Book of Kings the years are reckoned at four hundred and
forty.[66] This is by no means
accurate; for it would have been more likely that, in the order of
dates I have given above, I should perhaps reckon fewer years than
more. But I do not doubt that the truth had been falsified by the
carelessness of copyists, especially since so many ages intervened,
rather than that the sacred[67] writer
erred. In the same way, in the case of this little work of ours, we
believe it will happen that, through the negligence of transcribers,
those things which have been put together, not without care on our
part, should be corrupted. Well, then, Solomon finished his work of
building the temple in the twentieth year from its commencement.
Then, having offered sacrifice in that place, as well as uttered a
prayer, by which he blessed the people and the temple, God spoke to
him, declaring that, if at any time they should sin and forsake God,
their temple should be razed to the ground. We see that this has a
long time ago been fulfilled, and in due time we shall set forth the
connected order of events. In the meantime, Solomon abounded in
wealth, and was, in fact, the richest of all the kings that ever
lived. But, as always takes place in such circumstances, he sunk from
wealth into luxury and vice, forming marriages (in spite of the
prohibition of God) with foreign women, until he had seven hundred
wives, and three hundred concubines. As a consequence, he set up
idols for them, after the manner of their nations, to which they might
offer sacrifice. God, turned away from him by such doings, reproved
him sharply, and made known to him as a punishment, that the greater
part of his kingdom would be taken from his son, and given to a
servant. And that happened accordingly.
FOR, on the death of Solomon in the fortieth year of his reign, Roboam
his son having succeeded to the throne of his father in the sixteenth
year of his age, a portion of the people, taking offense, revolted
from him. For, having asked that the very heavy tribute which Solomon
had imposed upon them might be lessened, he rejected the entreaties of
these suppliants, and thus alienated from him the favor of the whole
people. Accordingly, by universal consent, the government was
bestowed on Jeroboam. He, sprung from a family of middle rank, had
for some time been in the service of Solomon. But when the king found
that the sovereignty of the Hebrews had been promised to him by a
response of the prophet Achia, he had resolved privately to cut him
off. Jeroboam, under the influence of this fear, fled into Egypt, and
there married a wife of the royal family. But, when at length he
heard of the death of Solomon, he returned to his native land, and, by
the wish of the people, as we have said above, he assumed the
government. Two tribes, however, Judah and Benjamin, had remained
under the sway of Roboam; and from these he got ready an army of
thirty thousand men. But when the two hosts advanced, the people were
instructed by the words of God to abstain from fighting, for that
Jeroboam had received the kingdom by divine appointment. Thus the
army disdained the command of the king, and dispersed, while the power
of Jeroboam was increased. But, since Roboam held Jerusalem, where
the people had been accustomed to offer sacrifice to God in the temple
built by Solomon, Jeroboam, fearing lest their religious feelings
might alienate the people from him, resolved to fill their minds with
superstition. Accordingly, he set up one golden calf at Bethel, and
another at Dan, to which the people might offer sacrifice; and,
passing by the tribe of Levi, he appointed priests from among the
people. But censure followed this guilt so hateful to God. Frequent
battles then took place between the kings, and so they retained their
respective kingdoms on doubtful conditions. Roboam died at the close
of the seventeenth year of his reign.
IN his room Abiud his son held the kingdom at Jerusalem for six years,
although he is said in the Chronicles[68] to have reigned three years. Asab his
son succeeded him, being the fifth from David, as he was his
great-great-grandson. He was a pious worshiper of God; for,
destroying the altars and the groves of the idols, he removed the
traces of his father's faithlessness. He formed an alliance with the
king of Syria, and by his help inflicted much loss on the kingdom of
Jeroboam, which was then held by his son, and often, after conquering
the enemy, carried off spoil as the result of victory. After
forty-one years he died, afflicted with disease in his feet. To him
sin of a three-fold kind is ascribed; first, that he trusted too much
to his alliance with the king of Syria; secondly, that he cast into
prison a prophet of God who rebuked him for this; and thirdly, that,
when suffering from disease in his feet, he sought a remedy, not from
God, but from the physicians. In the beginning of his reign died
Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes, and left his throne to his son
Nabath. He, from his wicked works, and, both by his own and his[69] father's doings, hateful to God, did
not possess the kingdom more than two years, and his children, as
being unworthy, were deprived[70] of
the government. He had for his successor Baasa, the son of Achia, and
he proved himself equally estranged from God. He died in the
twenty-sixth year of his reign: and his power passed to Ela his son,
but was not retained more than two years. For Zambri, leader of his
cavalry, killed him at a banquet, and seized the kingdom,--a man
equally odious to God and men. A portion of the people revolted from
him, and the royal power was conferred on one Thamnis. But Zambri
reigned before him seven years, and at the same time with him twelve
years. And, on the death of Asab, Josaphat his son began to reign
over part of the tribe of Judah, a man deservedly famous for his pious
virtues. He lived at peace with Zambri; and he died, after a reign of
twenty-five years.
IN the time of his reign, Ahab, the son of Ambri, was king of the ten
tribes, impious above all against God. For having taken in marriage
Jezebel, the daughter of Basa, king of Sidon, he erected an altar and
groves to the idol Bahal, and slew the prophets of God. At this time,
Elijah the prophet by prayer shut up heaven, that it should not give
any rain to the earth, and revealed that to the king, in order that
he, in his impiety, might know himself to be the cause of the evil.
The waters of heaven, therefore, being restrained, and since the whole
country, burned up by the heat of the sun, did not furnish food either
for man or beast, the prophet had even exposed himself to the side of
perishing from hunger. At that time, when he betook himself to the
desert, he depended for life on the ravens furnishing him with food,
while a neighboring rivulet furnished him with water, until it was
dried up. Then, being instructed by God, he went to the town of
Saraptae, and turned aside to lodge with a widow-woman. And when, in
his hunger, he begged food from her, she complained that she had only
a handful of meal and a little oil, on the consumption of which she
expected death along with her children.[71] But when Elijah promised in the words
of God that neither should the meal lessen in the barrel nor the oil
in the vessel, the woman did not hesitate to believe the prophet
demanding faith, and obtained[72] the
fulfillment of what was promised, since by daily increase as much was
added as was day by day taken away. At the same time, Elijah restored
to life the dead son of the same widow. Then, by the command of God,
he went to the king, and having reproved his impiety, he ordered all
the people to be gathered together to himself. When these had hastily
assembled, the priests of the idols and of the groves to the number of
about four hundred and fifty, were also summoned. Then there arose a
dispute between them, Elijah setting forth the honor of God, while
they upheld their own superstitions. At length they agreed that a
trial should be made to this effect, that if fire sent down from
heaven should consume the slain victim of either of them, that
religion should be accepted as the true one which performed the
miracle. Accordingly, the priests, having slain a calf, began to call
upon the idol Bahal; and, after wasting their invocations to no
purpose, they tacitly acknowledged the helplessness of their God.
Then Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry aloud more vehemently,
lest perchance he sleeps, and that thus you may rouse him from the
slumber in which he is sunk." The wretched men could do nothing
but shudder and mutter to themselves, but still they waited to see
what Elijah would do. Well, he slew a calf and laid it upon the
altar, having first of all filled the sacred place with water; and
then, calling upon the name of the Lord, fire fell from heaven in the
sight of all, and consumed alike the water and the victim. Then truly
the people, casting themselves upon the earth, confessed God and
execrated the idols; while finally, by the command of Elijah, the
impious priests were seized, and, being brought down to the brook,
were there slain. The prophet followed the king as he returned from
that place; but as Jezebel, the wife of the king, was devising means
for taking his life, he retired to a more remote spot. There God
addressed him, telling him that there were still seven thousand men
who had not given themselves up to idols. That was to ELijah a
marvelous statement, for he had supposed that he himself was the only
one who had kept free from impiety.
AT that time, Ahab, king of Samaria, coveted the vineyard of Naboth,
which was adjacent to his own. And as Naboth was unwilling to sell it
to him, he was cut off by the wiles of Jezebel. Thus Ahab got
possession of the vineyard, though he is said at the same time to have
regretted the death of Naboth. Acknowledging his crime, he is related
to have done[73] penance clothed in
sackcloth; and in this way he turned aside threatening punishment.
For the king of Syria with a great army, having formed a military
confederacy with thirty-two kings, entered the territories of Samaria,
and began to besiege the city with its king. The affairs of the
besieged being then in a state of great distress, the Syrian king
offers these conditions in the war,--if they should give up their gold
and silver and women, he would spare their lives. But, with such
iniquitous conditions offered, it seemed better to suffer the greatest
extremities. And now when the safety of all was despaired of, a
prophet sent by God went to the king, encouraged him to go forth to
battle, and when he hesitated, strengthened his confidence in many
ways. Accordingly making a sally, the enemy were routed, and an
abundant store of booty was secured. But, after a year, the Syrian
king returned with recruited strength into Samaria, burning to avenge
the defeat he had received, but was again overthrown. In that battle
one hundred and twenty thousand of the Syrians perished; the king was
pardoned, and his kingdom and former position were granted him. Then
Ahab was reproved by the prophet in the words of God, for having
abused the divine kindness, and spared the enemy delivered up to him.
The Syrian king, therefore, after three years, made war upon the
Hebrews. Against him Ahab, under the advice of some false prophet,
went forth to battle, having spurned the words of Michea the prophet
and cast him into prison, because the prophet had warned him that the
fight would prove disastrous to him. Thus, then, Ahab, being slain in
that battle, left the kingdom to his son Ohozia.
HE being sick in body, and having sent some of his servants to consult
an idol about his recovery, Elijah, as instructed by God, met them in
the way, and, after rebuking them ordered them to inform the king that
his death would follow from that disease. Then the king ordered him
to be seized and brought into his presence, but those who were sent
for this purpose were consumed by fire from heaven. The king died, as
the prophet had predicted. To him there succeeded his brother Joram;
and he held the government for the space of twelve years. But on the
side of the two tribes, Josaphat the king having died, Joram his son
possessed the kingdom for eighteen years. He had the daughter of Ahab
to wife, and proved himself more like his father-in-law than his
father. After him, Ochozias his son obtained the kingdom. During his
reign, Elijah is related to have been taken up to heaven. At the same
time, Elisha his disciple showed himself powerful by working many
miracles, which am all too well known to need any description from my
pen. By him the son of a widow was restored to life, a leper of Syria
was cleansed, at a time of famine abundance of all things was brought
into the city by the enemy having been put to flight, water was
furnished for the use of three armies, and from a little oil the debt
of a woman was paid by the oil being immensely multiplied, and
sufficient means for a livelihood was provided for herself. In his
times, as we have said, Ochozia was king of the two tribes, while
Joram, as we have related above, ruled over the ten; and an alliance
was formed between them. For war was carried on by them with combined
forces both against the Syrians, and against Jeu, who had been
anointed by the prophet as king of the ten tribes; and having gone
forth to battle in company, they both perished in the same fight.
BUT Jeu possessed the kingdom of Joram. After the death of Ochozia in
Judaea, when he had reigned one year, his mother, Gotholiah, seized
the supreme power, having deprived her grandson (whose name was Joas)
of the government, he being at the time but a little child. But the
power thus snatched from him by his grandmother was, after eight
years, restored to him through means of the priests and people, while
his grandmother was driven into exile. He, at the beginning of his
reign, was most devoted to the divine worship, and embellished the
temple at great expense; afterwards, however, being corrupted by the
flattery of the chief men, and unduly honored by them, he incurred
wrath. For Azahel, king of Syria, made war upon him; and, as things
went badly with him, he purchased peace with the gold of the temple.
He did not, however, obtain it; but through resentment for what he had
done he was slain by his own people in the fortieth year of his reign.
He was succeeded by his son Amassia. But, on the side of the ten
tribes, Jeu having died, Joachas his son began to reign, displeasing
to God on account of his wicked works, in punishment of which his
kingdom was ravaged by the Syrians, until, through the mercy of God,
the enemy was driven back, and the inhabitants of the land began to
occupy their former position. Joachas, having ended his days, left
the kingdom to his son Joa. He raised civil war against Amassia, king
of the two tribes; and, having obtained the victory, conveyed much
spoil into his own kingdom. That is related to have occurred to
Amassia as a punishment of his sin, for, having entered as a conqueror
the territories of the Idumaeans, he had adopted the idols of that
nation. He is described as having reigned nine years, so far as I
find it stated in the Books of Kings. But in the Chronicles[74] of Scripture, as well as in the
Chronicles[75] of Eusebius, he is
affirmed to have held the government twenty-nine years; and the mode
of reckoning which may easily be perceived in these Books of Kings
undoubtedly leads to that conclusion. For Jeroboam is said to have
begun to reign as king of the ten tribes in the eighth year of the
reign of Amassia, and to have held the government forty-one years, and
to have at length died in the fourth year of the reign of Ozia, son of
Amassia. By this mode of reckoning, the reign of Amassia is made to
extend over twenty-eight years. Accordingly, we, following out this,
inasmuch as it is our purpose to adhere in this work to the dates in
their proper order, have accepted the authority of the Chronicles.[76]
OZIAS, then, the son of Amassia, succeeded to him. For, on the side
of the ten tribes, Joas, reaching the end of his days, had given place
to his son Jeroboa, and after him, again, his son Zacharias began to
reign. Of these kings, and of all who ruled over Samaria on the side
of the ten tribes, we have not thought it necessary to note the dates,
because, aiming at brevity, we have omitted everything superfluous;
and we have thought that the years should be carefully traced for a
knowledge especially of the times of that portion[77] of the Jews, which being carried into
captivity at a later period than the other, passed through a longer
time as a kingdom. Ozias, then, having obtained the kingdom of Judah,
gave his principal care to knowing the Lord, making great use of
Zachariah the prophet (Isaiah, too, is said to have first prophesied
under this king); and, on this account, he carried on war against his
neighbors with deservedly prosperous results, while he also conquered
the Arabians. And already he had shaken Egypt with the terror of his
name; but, being elated by prosperity, he ventured on what was
forbidden, and offered incense to God, a thing which it was the
established custom for the priests alone to do. Being, then, rebuked
by Azaria the priest, and compelled to leave the sacred place, he
burst out into a rage, but was, when he finally withdrew, covered with
leprosy. Under the influence of this disease he ended his days, after
having reigned fifty-two years. Then the kingdom was given to Joathas
his son; and he is related to have been very pious, and carried on the
government with success: he subdued in war the nation of the
Ammonites, and compelled them to pay tribute. He reigned sixteen
years, and his son Achaz succeeded him.
THE remarkable faith of the Ninevites is related to have been
manifested about these times. That town, rounded of old by Assure,
the son of Sere, was the capital of the kingdom of the Assyrians. It
was then full of a multitude of inhabitants, sustaining one hundred
and twenty thousand men, and abounding in wickedness, as is usually
the case among a vast concourse of people. God, moved by their
sinfulness, commanded the prophet Jonah to go from Judaea, and
denounce destruction upon the city, as Sodom and Gomorrah had of old
been consumed by fire from heaven. But the prophet declined that
office of preaching, not out of contumacy, but from foresight, which
enabled him to behold God reconciled through the repentance of the
people; and he embarked on board a ship which was bound for Tharsus,
in a very different direction. But, after they had gone forth into
the deep, the sailors, constrained by the violence of the sea,
inquired by means of the lot who was the cause of that suffering. And
when the lot fell upon Jonah, he was cast into the sea, to be, as it
were, a sacrifice for stilling the tempest, and he was seized and
swallowed by a whale--a monster of the deep. Cast out three days
afterwards on the shores of the[78]
Ninevites, he preached as he had been commanded, namely that the city
would be destroyed in three[79] days,
as a punishment for the sins of the people. The voice of the prophet
was listened to, not in a hypocritical fashion, as at Sodom of old;
and immediately by the order, and after the example, of the king, the
whole people, and even those infants newly born, are commanded to
abstain from meat and drink: the very beasts of burden in the place,
and animals of different kinds, being forced by hunger and thirst,
presented an appearance of those who lamented along with the human
inhabitants. In this way, the threatened evil was averted. To Jonah,
complaining to God, that his words had not been fulfilled, it was
answered that pardon could never be denied to the penitent.
BUT in Samaria, Zacharia the king, who was very wicked, and whom we
have spoken of above as occupying the throne, was slain by a certain
Sella, who seized the kingdom. He, in turn, perished by the treachery
of Mane, who simply repeated the conduct of his predecessor. Mane
held the government which he had taken from Sella, and left it to his
son Pache. But a certain person of the same name slew Pache, and
seized the kingdom. Ere long being cut off by Osee, he lost the
sovereignty by the same crime by which he had received it. This man,
being ungodly beyond all the kings who had preceded him, brought
punishment upon himself from God, and a perpetual captivity on his
nation. For Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, made war with him, and
when conquered rendered him tributary. But when, with secret plans,
he was preparing for rebellion, and had asked the king of the
Ethiopians, who then had possession of Egypt for his assistance,
Salmanasar, on discovering that, cast him into prison with fetters
never taken off, while he destroyed the city, and carried off the
whole people into his own kingdom, Assyrians being placed in the
enemy's country to guard it. Hence that district was called Samaria,
because in the language of the Assyrians guards are called
Samaritan.[80] Very many of their
settlers accepted the divine rites of the Jewish religion, while
others remained in the errors of heathenism. In this war, Tobias was
carried into captivity. But on the side of the two tribes, Achaz, who
was displeasing to God on account of his impiety, finding he had
frequently the worst of it in wars with his neighbors, resolved to
worship the gods of the heathen, undoubtedly because by their help his
enemies had proved victorious in frequent battles. He ended his days
with this crime[81] in his wicked mind,
after a reign of sixteen years.
TO him succeeded Ezekias his son, a man very unlike his father in
character. For, in the beginning of his reign, urging the people and
the priests to the worship of God, he discoursed to them in many
words, showing how often, after being chastened by the Lord, they had
obtained mercy, and how the ten tribes, having been at last carried
away into captivity, as had lately happened, were now paying the
penalty of their impiety. He added that their duty was carefully to
be on their guard lest they should deserve to suffer the same things.
Thus, the minds of all being turned to religion, he appointed the
Levites and all the priests to offer sacrifices according to the law,
and arranged that the Passover, which had for a long time been
neglected, should be celebrated. And when the holy day was at hand,
he proclaimed the special day of assembly by messengers sent
throughout all the land, so that, if any had remained in Samaria,
after the removal of the ten tribes, they might gather together for
the sacred observance. Thus, in a very full assemblage, the sacred
day was spent with public rejoicing, and, after a long interval, the
proper religious rites were restored by means of Ezekias. He then
carried on military affairs with the same diligence with which he had
attended to divine things, and defeated the Philistines in frequent
battles; until Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians, made war against
him, having entered his territories with a large army; and then, when
the country had been laid waste without any opposition, he laid siege
to the city. For Ezekias, being inferior in numbers, did not venture
to come to an engagement with him, but kept himself safe within the
walls. The king of Assyria, thundering at the gates, threatened
destruction, and demanded surrender, exclaiming that in vain did
Ezekias put his trust in God, for that he rather had taken up arms by
the appointment of God; and that the conqueror of all nations, as well
as the overthrower of Samaria could not be escaped, unless the king
secured his own safety by a speedy surrender. In this state of
affairs, Ezekias, trusting in God, consulted the prophet Isaiah, and
from his answer he learned that there would be no danger from the
enemy, and that the divine assistance would not fail him. And, in
fact, not long after, Tarraca, king of Ethiopia, invaded the kingdom
of the Assyrians.
BY this news Sennacherim was led to return in order to defend his own
territories, and he gave up the war, at the same time murmuring and
crying out that victory was snatched from him the victor. He also
sent letters to Ezekias, declaring, with many insulting words, that
he, after settling his own affairs, would speedily return for the
destruction of Judæa. But Ezekias, in no wise disturbed by these
threats, is said to have prayed to God that he would not allow the so
great insolence of this man to pass unavenged. Accordingly, in the
same night, an angel attacking the camp of the Assyrians, caused[82] the death of many thousand men. The
king in terror fled to the town of Nineveh, and being there slain by
his sons, met with an end worthy of himself. At the same time,
Ezekias, sick in body, lay suffering from disease. And when Isaiah had
announced to him in the words of the Lord that the end of his life was
at hand, the king is related to have wept; and thus he got fifteen
years added to his life. These coming to an end, he died in the
twenty-ninth year of his reign, and left the kingdom to his son
Manasse. He, degenerating much from his father, forsook God, and took
to the practice of impious worship; and being, as a punishment for
this, delivered into the power of the Assyrians, he was by his
sufferings constrained to acknowledge his error, and exhorted the
people that, forsaking their idols, they should worship God. He
accomplished nothing worthy of special mention, but reigned for
fifty-five years. Then Amos his son obtained the kingdom, but
possessed it only two years. He was the heir of his father's impiety,
and showed himself regardless of God: being entrapped by some
stratagems of his friends, he perished.
THE government then passed to his son Josia. He is related to have
been very pious, and to have attended to divine things with the utmost
care, profiting largely by the aid of the priest Helchia. Having read
a book written with the words of God, and which had been found in the
temple by the priest, in which it was stated that the Hebrew nation
would be destroyed on account of their frequent acts of impiety and
sacrilege, by his pious supplications to God, and constant tears, he
averted the impending overthrow. When he learned through Olda the
prophetess that this favor was granted him, he then with still greater
care set himself to practice the worship of God, inasmuch as he was
now under obligation to the divine goodness. Accordingly, he burned
all the vessels which had by the superstitions of former kings been
consecrated to idols. For to such a height had profane observances
prevailed, that they used to pay divine honors to the sun and moon,
and even erected shrines made of metal to these fancied deities.
Josia reduced these to powder, and also slew the priests of the
profane temples. He did not even spare the tombs of the impious; and
it was observed that thus was fulfilled what had of old been predicted
by the prophet. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the Passover was
celebrated. And about three years afterwards, having gone forth to
battle against Nechao, king of Egypt, who was making war upon the
Assyrians, before the armies properly engaged, he was wounded by an
arrow. And being carried back to the city, he died of that wound,
after he had reigned twenty and one years.
JOACHAS, his son, having then obtained the kingdom, held it for three
months, being doomed to captivity on account of his impiety. For
Nechao, king of Egypt, bound him and led him away captive, and not
long after, while still a prisoner, he ended his days. An annual
tribute was demanded of the Jews, and a king was given them at the
will of the victor. His name was Eliakim, but he afterwards changed
it to Joachim. He was the brother of Joacha, and the son of Josia,
but liker his brother than his father, displeasing God by his impiety.
Accordingly, while he was in subjection to the king of Egypt, and in
token thereof paid him tribute, Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon,
seized the land of Judæa, and as victor held it by the right of war
for three years. For the king of Egypt now giving way, and the
boundaries of their empire being fixed between them, it had been
agreed that the Jews should belong to Babylon. Thus after Joachim,
having finished his reign of eleven years, had given place to his son
of the same name, and he had excited against himself the wrath of the
king of Babylon (God undoubtedly overruling everything, having
resolved to give the nation of the Jews up to captivity and
destruction), Nabuchodonosor entered Jerusalem with an army, and
leveled the walls and the temple to the ground. He also carried off
an immense amount of gold, with sacred ornaments either public or
private, and all of mature age both of the male and female sex, those
only being left behind whose weakness or age caused trouble to the
conquerors. This useless crowd had the task assigned them of working
and cultivating the fields in slavery, in order that the soil might
not be neglected. Over them a king called Sedechias was appointed;
but while the empty shadow of the name of king was allowed him, all
real power was taken away. Joachim, for his part, possessed the
sovereignty only for three months. He was carried away, along with
the people, to Babylon, and was there thrown into prison; but being,
after a period of thirty years released, while he was admitted by the
king to his friendship, and made a partaker with him at his table and
in his counsels, he died at last, not without some consolation in that
his misfortunes had been removed.
MEANWHILE Sedechias, the king of the useless multitude, although
without power, being of an unfaithful disposition and neglectful of
God, and not understanding that captivity had been brought upon them
on account of the sins of the nation, becoming at length ripe for
suffering the last evils he could endure, offended the mind of the
king. Accordingly, after a period of nine years, Nabuchodonosor made
war against him, and having forced him to flee within the walls,
besieged him for three years. At this time, he consulted Jeremia the
prophet, who had already often proclaimed that captivity impended over
the city, to discover if perhaps there might still be some hope. But
he, not ignorant of the anger of heaven, having frequently had the
same question put to him, at length gave an answer, denouncing special
punishment upon the king. Then Sedechias, roused to resentment,
ordered the prophet to be thrust into prison. Ere long, however, he
regretted this cruel act, but, as the chief men of the Jews (whose
practice it had been even from the beginning to afflict the righteous)
opposed him, he did not venture to release the innocent man. Under
coercion from the same persons, the prophet was let down into a pit[83] of great depth, and which was
disgusting from its filth and squalor, while a deadly stench issued
from it. This was done that he might not simply die by a common
death. But the king, impious though he was, yet showed himself
somewhat more merciful than the priests, and ordered the prophet to be
taken out of the pit, and restored to the safekeeping of the prison.
In the meantime the force of the enemy and want began to press the
besieged hard, and everything being consumed that could be eaten,
famine took a firm hold of them. Thus, its defenders being worn out
with want of food, the town was taken and burnt. The king, as the
prophet had declared, had his eyes put out, and was carried away to
Babylon, while Jeremia, through the mercy of the enemy, was taken out
of his prison. When Nabuzardan, one of the royal princes, was leading
him away captive with the rest, the choice was granted by him to the
prophet, either to remain in his deserted and desolated native
country, or to go along with him in the possession of the highest
honors; and Jeremia preferred to abide in his native land.
Nabuchodonosor, having carried away the people, appointed as governor
over those left behind by the conquerors (either from the
circumstances attending the war, or from an absolute weariness of
accumulating spoil) Godolia, who belonged to the same nation. He gave
him, however, no royal ensign, or even the name of governor, because
there was really no honor in ruling over these few wretched
persons.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
THE times of the captivity have been rendered illustrious by the
predictions and deeds of the prophets, and especially by the
remarkable persistency of Daniel in upholding the law, and by the
deliverance of Susanna through the divine wisdom, as well as by the
other things which it accomplished, and which we shall now relate in
their order, Daniel was made a prisoner under King Joachim, and was
brought to Babylon, while still a very little child. Afterwards, on
account of the beauty of his countenance, he had a place given him
among the king's servants, and along with him, Annanias, Misael, and
Azarias. But, when the king had ordered them to be supplied with the
finer kinds of food, and had imposed it as a duty on Asphane the
eunuch to attend to that matter, Daniel, mindful of the traditions of
his fathers which forbade him to partake of food from the table of a
king of the Gentiles, begged of the eunuch to be allowed to use a diet
of pulse only. Asphane objected that the leanness which would follow
might reveal the fact that the king's commandment had been disobeyed;
but Daniel, putting his trust in God, promised that he would have
greater beauty of countenance from living on pulse than from the use
of the king's dainties. And his words were made good, so that the
faces of those who were cared for at the public expense were regarded
as by no means comparable to those of Daniel and his friends.
Accordingly, being promoted by the king to honor and favor, they were,
in a short time, by their prudence and wise conduct, preferred to all
those that stood nearest to the king. About the same time, Susanna,
the wife of a certain man called Joachis, a woman of remarkable
beauty, was desired by two elders, and, when she would not listen to
their unchaste proposals, was assailed by a false accusation. These
elders reported that a young man was found with her in a retired
place, but escaped their hands by his youthful nimbleness, while they
were enfeebled with age. Credit, accordingly, was given to these
elders, and Susanna was condemned by the sentence of the people. And,
as she was being led away to punishment according to the law, Daniel,
who was then twelve years old, after having rebuked the Jews for
delivering the innocent to death, demanded that she should be brought
back to trial, and that her cause should be heard afresh. For the
multitude of the Jews who were then present, thought that a boy of an
age so little commanding respect, had not ventured to take such a bold
step without a divine impulse, and, granting him the favor which was
asked, returned anew to council. The trial, then, is entered upon
once more; and Daniel was allowed to take his place among the elders.
Upon this, he orders the two accusers to be separated from each other,
and inquires of each of them in turn, under what kind of a tree he had
discovered the adulteress. From the difference of answers which they
gave, their falsehood was detected: Susanna was acquitted; and the
elders, who had brought the innocent into danger, were condemned to
death.
CHAPTER II.
AT that time, Nabuchodonosor had a dream marvelous for that insight[84] into the future which it implied. As
he could not of himself bring out its interpretation, he sent for the
Chaldæans who were supposed by magic arts and by the entrails of
victims to know secret things, and to predict the future, in order to
its interpretation. Presently becoming apprehensive lest, in the
usual manner of men, they should extract from the dream not what was
true, but what would be acceptable to the king, he suppresses the
things he had seen, and demands of them that, if a real power of
divination was in them, they should relate to him the dream itself;
saying that he would then believe their interpretation, if they should
first make proof of their skill by relating the dream. But they
declined attempting so great a difficulty, and confessed that such a
thing was not within the reach of human power. The king, enraged
because, under a false profession of divination, they were mocking men
with their errors, while they were compelled by the present case to
acknowledge that they had no such knowledge as was pretended, made an
exposure of them by means of a royal edict; and all the men professing
that art were publicly put to death. When Daniel heard of that, he
spoke to one of those nearest to the king, and promised to give an
account of the dream, as well as supply its interpretation. The thing
is reported to the king, and Daniel is sent for. The mystery had
already been revealed to him by God; and so he relates the vision of
the king, as well as interprets it. But this matter demands that we
set forth the dream of the king and its interpretation, along with the
fulfillment of his words by what followed. The king, then, had seen
in his sleep an image with a head of gold, with a breast and arms of
silver, with a belly and thighs of brass, with legs of iron, and which
in its feet ended partly with iron, and partly with clay. But the
iron and the clay when blended together could not adhere to each
other. At last, a stone cut out without hands broke the image to
pieces, and the whole, being reduced to dust, was carried away by the
wind.
CHAPTER III.
ACCORDINGLY, as the prophet interpreted the matter, the image which
was seen furnished a representation of the world. The golden head is
the empire of the Chaldæans; for we have understood that it was the
first and wealthiest. The breast and the arms of silver represent the
second kingdom; for Cyrus, after the Chaldæans and the Medes were
conquered, conferred the empire on the Persians. In the brazen belly
it is said that the third sovereignty was indicated; and we see that
this was fulfilled, for Alexander took the empire from the Persians,
and won the sovereignty for the Macedonians. The iron legs point to a
fourth power, and that is understood of the Roman empire, which is
more powerful[85] than all the kingdoms
which were before it. But the fact that the feet were partly of iron
and partly clay, indicates that the Roman empire is to be divided, so
as never to be united. This, too, has been fulfilled, for the Roman
state is ruled not by one emperor but by several, and these are always
quarreling among themselves, either in actual warfare or by factions.
Finally, by the clay and the iron being mixed together, yet never in
their substance thoroughly uniting, are shadowed forth those future
mixtures of the human race which disagree among themselves, though
apparently combined. For it is obvious that the Roman territory is
occupied by foreign nations, or rebels, or that it has been given over
to those who have surrendered themselves under an appearance[86] of peace. And it is also evident that
barbarous nations, and especially Jews, have been commingled with our
armies, cities, and provinces; and we thus behold them living among
us, yet by no means agreeing to adopt our customs. And the prophets
declare that these are the last times. But in the stone cut out
without hands, which broke to pieces the gold, silver, brass, iron,
and clay, there is a figure of Christ. For he, not born under human
conditions (since he was born not of the will of man, but of the will
of God), will reduce to nothing that world in which exist earthly
kingdoms, and will establish another kingdom, incorruptible and
everlasting, that is, the future world, which is prepared for the
saints. The faith of some still hesitates about this point only,
while they do not believe about things yet to come, though they are
convinced of the things that are past. Daniel, then, was presented
with many gifts by the king, was set over Babylon and the whole
empire, and was held in the highest honor. By his influence,
Annanias, Azarias, and Misael, were also advanced to the highest
dignity and power. About the same time, the remarkable prophecies of
Ezekiel came out, the mystery of future things and of the
resurrection[87] having been revealed
to him. His book is one of great weight, and deserves to be read with
care.
CHAPTER IV.
BUT in Judæa, over which, as we have related above, Godolin was set
after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews taking it very ill that a
ruler not of the royal race had been assigned them by the mere will of
the conqueror, with a certain Ismael as their leader and instigator of
the execrable conspiracy, cut off Godolin by means of treachery while
he was at a banquet. Those, however, who had no part in the plot,
wishing to take steps for avenging the deed, hastily take up arms
against Ismael. But when he learned that destruction threatened him,
leaving the army which he had collected, and with not more than eight
companions he fled to the Ammonites. Fear, therefore, fell upon the
whole people, lest the king of Babylon should avenge the guilt of a
few by the destruction of all; for, in addition to Godolin, they had
slain many of the Chaldæans along with him. They, therefore, form a
plan of fleeing into Egypt, but they first go in a body to Jeremia,
requesting of him divine counsel. He then exhorted them all in the
words of God to remain in their native country, telling them that if
they did so, they would be protected by the power of God, and that no
danger would accrue from the Babylonians, but that, if they went into
Egypt, they would all perish there by sword; and famine, and different
kinds of death. The rabble, however, with the usual evil tendency
they show, being unaccustomed to yield to useful advice and the divine
power, did go into Egypt. The sacred Scriptures are silent as to
their future fate; and I have not been able to discover anything
regarding it.
CHAPTER V.
AT this period of time, Nabuchodonosor elated with prosperity, erected
a golden statue to himself of enormous size, and ordered it to be
worshiped as a sacred image. And when this was zealously gone about
by all, inasmuch as their minds had been corrupted by the universal
flattery which prevailed, Annanias, Azarias, and Misael kept aloof
from the profane observance, being well aware that that honor was due
to God alone. They were therefore, according to an edict of the king,
regarded as criminals, and there was set before them, as the means of
punishment, a fiery furnace, in order that, by present terror, they
might be compelled to worship the statue. But they preferred to be
swallowed up by the flames rather than to commit such a sin.
Accordingly, they were bound, and cast into the midst of the fire.
But the flames laid hold of the agents in this execrable work, as they
were forcing, with all eagerness, the victims into the fire;
while--wonderful to say, and indeed incredible to all but
eye-witnesses--the fire did not touch the Hebrews at all. They were
seen by the spectators walking in the midst of the furnace, and
singing a song of praise to God, while there was also beheld along
with them a fourth person having the appearance of an angel, and whom
Nabuchodonosor, on obtaining a nearer view of him, acknowledged to be
the[88] Son of God. Then the king
having no doubt that the divine power was present in the event which
had taken place, sent proclamations throughout his whole kingdom
making known the miracle which had taken place, and confessing that
honor was to be paid to God alone. Not long after, being instructed
by a vision which presented itself to him, and presently also by a
voice which reached him from heaven, he is said to have done penance
by laying aside his kingly power, retiring from all intercourse with
mankind, and to have sustained life by herbs alone. However, his
empire was kept for him by the will of God, until the time was
fulfilled, and at length duly acknowledging God, he was, after seven
years, restored to his kingdom and former position. He is related,
after having conquered Sedechia (whom he carried away captive to
Babylon), as we have said above, to have reigned twenty-six years,
although I do not find that recorded in the sacred history. But it
has perhaps happened that, while I was engaged in searching out many
points, I found this remark in the work of some anonymous author which
had become interpolated in course of time, and in which the dates of
the Babylonish kings were contained. I did not think it right to pass
the remark unnoticed, since it does in fact harmonize with the
Chronicles, and thus its account agrees with us, to the effect that,
through the succession of the kings, whose dates the record contained,
it completed seventy years up to the first year of king Cyrus, and
such in fact is the number of years which is stated in the sacred
history to have elapsed from the captivity up to the time of Cyrus.
CHAPTER VI.
AFTER Nabuchodonosor, the kingdom fell to his son, whom I find called
Euilmarodac in the Chronicles. He died in the twelfth year of his
reign, and made room for his younger brother, who was called
Balthasar. He, when in the fourteenth year he gave a public feast to
his chief men and rulers, ordered the sacred vessels (which had been
taken away by Nabuchodonosor from the temple at Jerusalem, yet had not
been employed for any uses of the king, but were kept laid up in the
treasury) to be brought forth. And when all persons, both of the male
and female sex, with his wives and concubines, were using these amid
the luxury and licentiousness of a royal banquet, suddenly the king
observed fingers writing upon the wall, and the letters were perceived
to be formed into words.[89] But no
one could be found who was able to read the writing. The king,
therefore, in perturbation called for the magi and the Chaldæans.
When these simply muttered among themselves and answered nothing, the
queen reminded the king that there was a certain Hebrew, Daniel by
name, who had formerly revealed to Nabuchodonosor a dream containing a
secret mystery, and had then, on account of his remarkable wisdom,
been promoted to the highest honors. Accordingly, he, being sent for,
read and interpreted the writing, to the effect that, on account of
the sin of the king, who had profaned vessels sacred to God,
destruction impended over him, and that his kingdom was given to the
Medes and Persians. And this presently took place. For, on the same
night, Balthasar perished, and Darius, a Mede by nation, took
possession of his kingdom. He again, finding that Daniel was held in
the highest reputation, placed him at the head of the whole empire, in
this following the judgment of the kings who had preceded him. For
Nabuchodonosor had also set him over the kingdom, and Balthasar had
presented him with a purple robe and a golden chain, while he also
constituted him the third ruler in the kingdom.
CHAPTER VII.
THOSE, therefore, who were possessed of power along with him,
stimulated by envy, because a foreigner belonging to a captive nation
had been placed on a footing of equality with them, constrain the
king, who had been corrupted by flattery, to enact that divine honors
should be paid to him for the next thirty days, and that it should not
be lawful for any one to pray to a god except the king. Darius was
easily persuaded to that, through the folly of all kings who claim for
themselves divine honors. In these circumstances, Daniel being not
unacquainted with what had happened, and not being ignorant that
prayer ought to be addressed to God, and not to man, is accused of not
having obeyed the king's commandment. And much against the will of
Darius, to whom he had always been dear and acceptable, the rulers
prevailed that he should be let down into a den.[90] But no harm came to him when thus
exposed to the wild beasts. And on the king discovering this, he
ordered his accusers to be given over to the lions. They, however,
did not pass through a similar experience, for they were instantly
devoured to satisfy the hunger of the savage beasts. Daniel, who had
been famous before, was now esteemed still more famous; and the king,
repealing his former edict, issued a new one to the effect that, all
errors and superstitions being abandoned, the God of Daniel was to be
worshiped. There exists also a record of visions of Daniel, in which
he revealed the order of events in coming ages, embracing in them also
the number of the years, within which he announced that Christ would
descend to earth (as has taken place), and clearly set forth the
future coming of Antichrist. If any one is eager to inquire into
these points, he will find them more fully treated of in the book of
Daniel: our design is simply to present a connected statement of
events. Darius is related to have reigned eighteen years; after which
date Astyages began to rule over the Medes.
CHAPTER VIII.
HIM Cyrus, his grandson by his daughter, expelled from the kingdom,
having used the arms of the Persians for the purpose; and hence the
chief power was transferred to the Persians. The Babylonians also
fell under his power and government. It happened at the beginning of
his reign that, by the issue of public edicts, he gave permission to
the Jews to return into their own country; and he also restored the
sacred vessels which Nabuchodonosor had carried away from the temple
at Jerusalem. Accordingly, a few then returned into Judæa; as to the
others, we have not been able to discover whether the desire of
returning, or the power of doing so, was wanting. There was at that
time among the Babylonians a brazen image of Belus, a very ancient
king, whom Virgil also has mentioned.[91] This having been deemed sacred by the
superstition of the people, Cyrus also had been accustomed to worship,
being deceived by the trickery of its priests. They affirmed that the
image ate and drank, while they themselves secretly carried off the
daily portion which was offered to the idol. Cyrus, then, being on
intimate terms with Daniel, asked him why he did not worship the
image, since it was a manifest symbol of the living God, as consuming
those things which were offered to it. Daniel, laughing at the
mistake of the man, replied that it could not possibly be the case,
that that work of brass--mere insensate matter--could use either meat
or drink. The king, therefore, ordered the priests to be called (they
were about seventy in number); and, bringing terror to bear upon them,
he reprovingly asked them who was in the way of consuming what was
offered, since Daniel, a man distinguished for his wisdom, maintainedthat that could not be done by an insensate image. Then they,
trusting in their ready-made trick, ordered the usual offering to be
made, and the temple to be sealed up by the king, on the understanding
that, unless on the following day the whole offering were found to
have been consumed, they should suffer death, while, on the opposite
being discovered, the same fate awaited Daniel. Accordingly, the
temple was sealed up by the signet of the king; but Daniel had
previously, without the knowledge of the priests, covered the floor of
it with ashes, so that their footprints might betray the clandestine
approaches of those who entered. The king, then, having entered the
temple on the following day, perceived that those things had been
taken away, which he had ordered to be served up to the idol. Then
Daniel lays open the secret fraud by the betraying footprints, showing
that the priests, with their wives and children, had entered the
temple by a hole opened from below, and had devoured those things
which were served up to the idol. Accordingly, all of them were put
to death by the order of the king, while the temple and image were
submitted to the power of Daniel, and were destroyed at his
command.
CHAPTER IX.
IN the meantime, those Jews, who, as we have said above, returned into
their native land by the permission of Cyrus, attempted to restore
their city and temple. But, being few and poor, they made but little
progress, until, at last, after the lapse of about a hundred years,
while Artaxerxes the king ruled over the Persians, they were
absolutely deterred from building by those who had local authority.
For, at that time, Syria and all Judæa was ruled under the empire of
the Persians by magistrates and governors. Accordingly, these took
counsel to write to king Artaxerxes, that it was not fitting that
opportunity should be granted to the Jews of rebuilding their city,
lest, in accordance with their stubborn character, and being
accustomed to rule over other nations, they should, on recovering
their strength, not submit to live under the sway of a foreign power.
Thus, the plan of the rulers being approved of by the king, the
building of the city was put a stop to, and delayed until the second
year of Darius the king. But, who were kings of Persia throughout
this period of time, we shall here insert, in order that the
succession of the dates may be set forth in a regular and fixed order.
Well, then, after Darius the Mede, who, as we have said above, reigned
eighteen years, Cyrus held the supreme power for thirty-one years.
While making war upon the Scythians, he fell in battle, in the second
year after Tarquinius Superbus began to reign at Rome. To Cyrus
succeeded his son Cambyses, and reigned eight years. He, after
harassing with war Egypt and Ethiopia, and subduing these countries,
returned as victor to Persia, but accidentally hurt himself, and died
from that wound. After his death, two brothers, who were magi, and
Medes by nation, held rule over the Persians for seven months. To
slay these, seven of the most noble of the Persians formed a
conspiracy, of whom the leader was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who
was a cousin of Cyrus, and by unanimous consent the kingdom was
bestowed on him: he reigned thirty and six years. He, four years
before his death, fought at Marathon, in a battle greatly celebrated
both in Greek and Roman history. That took place about the two
hundred and sixtieth year after the founding of Rome, while Macerinus
and Augurinus were consuls, that is, eight hundred and eighty-eight
years ago, provided the research I have made into the succession of
Roman consuls does not deceive me; for I have made the entire
reckoning down to the time of Stilico.[92] After Darius came Xerxes, and he is
said to have reigned twenty-one years, although I have found that the
length of his rule is, in most copies,[93] set down at twenty and five years. To
him succeeded Artaxerxes, of whom we have made mention above. Since
he ordered the building of the Jewish city and temple to be stopped,
the work was suspended to the second year of king Darius. But that
the succession of dates may be completed up to him, I have to state
that Artaxerxes reigned forty-one years, Xerxes two months, and that,
after him, Sucdianus ruled for seven months.
NEXT, Darius, under whom the temple was restored, obtained the
kingdom, his name being at that time Ochus. He had three Hebrew
youths of tried fidelity as his bodyguard, and of these had, from the
proof of his prudence which he had given, attracted towards himself
the admiration of the king. The choice, then, being given him of
asking for anything which he had formed a desire for in his heart,
groaning over the ruins of his country, he begged permission to
restore the city, and obtained an order from the king to urge the
lieutenants and rulers to hurry forward the building of the holy
temple, and furnish the expense needful to that end. Accordingly, the
temple was completed in four years; that is, in the sixth year, after
Darius began to reign, and that seemed, for the time, enough to the
people of the Jews. For, as it was a work of great labor to restore
the city, distrusting their own resources, they did not venture at the
time to begin an undertaking of so great difficulty, but were content
with having rebuilt the temple. At the same time, Esdras the scribe,
who was skilled in the law, about twenty years after the temple had
been completed (Darius being now dead who had possessed the
sovereignty for nineteen years), by the permission of Artaxerxes the
second (not he who had a place between the two Xerxes, but he who had
succeeded to Darius Ochus), set out from Babylon with many following
him, and they carried to Jerusalem the vessels of various workmanship,
as well as the gifts which the king sent for the temple of God. Along
with them were but twelve Levites; for with difficulty that number of
the tribe is related then to have been found. He, having found that
the Jews united in marriage with the Gentiles, rebuked them severely
on that account, and ordered them to renounce all connections of that
kind, as well as to put away the children which had been the issue of
such marriages; and all yielded obedience to his word. The people,
then, being sanctified, performed the rites sanctioned by the ancient
law. But I do not find that Esdras did anything with the view of
restoring the city; because he thought, as I imagine, that a more
urgent duty was to reform the people from the corrupt habits which
they had contracted.
THERE was at that time at Babylon one Nehemiah, a servant of the king,
a Jew by birth, and very much beloved by Artaxerxes on account of the
services he had rendered. He, having inquired of his
fellow-countrymen the Jews, what was the condition of their ancestral
city; and having learned that his native land remained in the same
fallen condition as before, is said to have been disturbed with all
his heart, and to have prayed to God with groans and many tears. He
also called to mind the sins of his nation, and urgently entreated the
divine compassion. Accordingly, the king noticing that he, while
waiting at table, seemed more sorrowful than usual, asked him to
explain the reasons of his grief. Then he began to bewail the
misfortunes of his nation, and the ruin of his ancestral city, which
now, for almost two hundred and fifty years, being leveled with the
ground, furnished a proof of the evils which had been endured, and a
gazing-stock to their enemies. He therefore begged the king to grant
him the liberty of going and restoring it. The king yielded to these
dutiful entreaties, and immediately sent him away with a guard of
cavalry, that he might the more safely accomplish his journey, giving
him, at the same time, letters to the rulers requesting them to
furnish him with all that was necessary. When he arrived at
Jerusalem, he distributed the work connected with the city to the
people, man by man; and all vied with each other in carrying out the
orders which they received. And already the work of rebuilding[94] had been half accomplished, when the
jealousy of the surrounding heathen burst out, and the neighboring
cities conspired to interrupt the works, and to deter the Jews from
building. But Nehemiah, having stationed guards against those making
assaults upon the people, was in no degree alarmed, and carried out
what he had begun. And thus, after the wall was completed, and the
entrances of the gates finished, he measured out the city for the
construction by families of houses within it. He reckoned, also, that
the people were not adequate in numbers to the size of the city; for
there were not more of them than fifty thousand of both sexes and of
all ranks--to such an extent had their formerly enormous numbers been
reduced by frequent wars, and by the multitude kept in captivity.
For, of old, those two tribes, of whom the remaining people were all
that survived, had, when the ten tribes were separated from them, been
able to furnish three hundred and twenty thousand armed men. But
being given up by God, on account of their sin, to death and
captivity, they had sunk down to the miserably small number which they
now presented. This company, however, as I have said, consisted only
of the two tribes: the ten[95] which
had previously been carried away being scattered among the Parthians,
Medes, Indians, and Ethiopians never returned to their native country,
and are to this day held under the sway of barbarous nations. But the
completion of the restored city is related to have been effected in
the thirty-second year of the reign of Artaxerxes. From that time to
the crucifixion of Christ; that is, to the time when Fufius Geminus
and Rubellius were consuls, there elapsed three hundred and ninety and
eight years. But from the restoration of the temple to its
destruction, which was completed by Titus under Vespasian, when
Augustus was consul, there was a period of four hundred and eighty-
three years. That was formerly predicted by Daniel, who announced
that from the restoration of the temple to its overthrow there would
elapse seventy and nine weeks. Now, from the date of the captivity of
the Jews until the time of the restoration of the city, there were two
hundred and sixty years.
AT this period of time we think Esther and Judith lived, but I confess
that I cannot easily perceive with what kings especially I should
connect the actions of their lives. For, while Esther is said to have
lived under King Artaxerxes, I find that there were two Persian kings
of that name, and there is much hesitation in concluding to which of
these her date is to be assigned. However, it has seemed preferable
to me to connect the history of Esther with that Artaxerxes under whom
Jerusalem was restored, because it is not likely that, if she had
lived under the former Artaxerxes, whose times Esdras has given an
account of, he would have made no mention of such an illustrious
woman. This is all the more convincing since we know that the
building of the temple was (as we have related above) prohibited by
that Artaxerxes and Esther would not have allowed that had she then
been united with him in marriage. But I will now repeat what things
she accomplished. There was at that time a certain Vastis connected
with the king in marriage, a woman of marvelous beauty. Being
accustomed to extol her loveliness to all, he one day, when he was
giving a public entertainment, ordered the queen to attend for the
purpose of exhibiting her beauty. But she, more prudent than the
foolish king, and being too modest to make a show of her person before
the eyes of men, refused compliance with his orders. His savage mind
was enraged by this insult, and he drove her forth, both from her
condition of marriage with him and from the palace. Consequently,
when a young woman was sought after to take her place as the wife of
the king, Esther was found to excel all others in beauty. She being a
Jewess of the tribe of Benjamin, and an orphan, without father or
mother, had been brought up by her cousin-german,[96] Mardochæus. On being espoused to the
king, she, by the instructions of him who had brought her up,
concealed her nation and fatherland, and was also admonished by him
not to become forgetful of her ancestral traditions, nor, though as a
captive she had entered into marriage with a foreigner, to take part
in the food of the heathen. Thus, then, being united to the king,
she, in a short time, as was to be expected, easily captivated his
whole mind by the power of her beauty, so that, equalizing her with
himself in the emblem of sovereign power, he presented her with a
purple robe.
AT this time, Mardochæus was among those nearest to the king, having
entirely under his charge the affairs of the household. He had made
known to the king a plot which had been formed by two eunuchs, and, on
that account, had become a greater favorite, while he was presented
with the highest honors. There was at that period one Haman, a very
confidential friend of the king, whom he had made equal to himself
and, after the manner of sovereign rulers, had ordered to be
worshiped. Mardochæus being the one man among all who refused to do
that, had greatly kindled the wrath of the Persian against himself.
Accordingly, Haman setting his mind to work the ruin of the Hebrew,
went to the king, and affirmed that there was in his kingdom a race of
men of wicked superstitions, and hateful alike to God and men. He
said that, as they lived according to foreign laws, they deserved to
be destroyed; and that it was a righteous thing to hand over the whole
of this nation to death. At the same time, he promised the king
immense wealth out of their possessions. The barbarous prince was
easily persuaded, and an edict was issued for the slaughter of the
Jews, while men were at once sent out to publish it through the whole
kingdom from India even to Ethiopia. When Mardochæus heard of this,
he rent his clothes, clothed himself in sackcloth, scattered ashes
upon his head, and, going to the palace, he there made the whole place
resound with his wailing and complaints, crying out that it was an
unworthy thing that an innocent nation should perish, while there
existed no ground for its destruction. Esther's attention was
attracted by the voice of lamentation, and she learned how the case
really stood. But she was then at a loss what step she should take
(for, according to the custom of the Persians, the queen is not
permitted access to the king, unless she has been sent for, and indeed
is not admitted at any time the king may please, but only at a fixed
period); and it happened at the time, that by this rule, Esther was
held as separated from the presence of the king for the next thirty
days. However, thinking that she ought to run some risk in behalf of
her fellow-countrymen, even should sure destruction await her, she was
prepared to encounter death in such a noble cause, and, after having
called upon God, she entered the court of the king. But the
barbarian, though at first amazed at this unusual occurrence, was
gradually won over by female blandishments, and at length went so far
as to accompany the queen to a banquet which she had prepared. Along
with him also went Haman, the favorite of the king, but a deadly enemy
of the nation of the Jews. Well, when after the feasting the banquet
began to become jovial through the many cups which were drank, Esther
cast herself down at the knees of the king, and implored him to stay
the destruction which threatened her nation. Then the king promised
to refuse nothing to her entreaties, if she had any further request to
make. Esther at once seized the opportunity, and demanded the death
of Haman as a satisfaction to her nation, which he had desired to see
destroyed. But the king could not forget his friend, and hesitating a
little, he withdrew for a short time for the purpose of considering
the matter. He then returned, and when he saw Haman grasping the
knees of the queen, excited with rage, and, crying out that violence
was being applied to the queen, he ordered him to be put to death. It
then came to the knowledge of the king that a cross[97] had been got ready by Haman on which
Mardochaeus was to suffer. Thus, Haman was fixed to that very cross,
and all his goods were handed over to Mardochæus, while the Jews at
large were set free. Artaxerxes reigned sixty and two years, and was
succeeded by Ochus.
TO this series of events it will be right that I should append an
account of the doings of Judith; for she is related to have lived
after the captivity, but the sacred history has not revealed who was
king of the Persians in her day. It, however, calls the king under
whom her exploits were performed by the name of Nabuchodonosor, and
that was certainly not the one who took Jerusalem. But I do not find
that any one of that name reigned over the Persians after the
captivity, unless it be that, on account of the[98] wrath and like endeavors which he
manifested, any king acting so was styled Nabuchodonosor by the Jews.
Most persons, however, think that it was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus,
on this ground that he, as a conqueror, penetrated into Egypt and
Ethiopia. But the sacred history is opposed to this opinion; for
Judith is described as having lived in the twelfth year of the king in
question. Now, Cambyses did not possess the supreme power for more
than eight years. Wherefore, if it is allowable to make a conjecture
on a point of history, I should be inclined to believe that her
exploits were performed under king Ochus, who came after the second
Artaxerxes. I found this conjecture on the fact that (as I have read
in profane histories) he is related to have been by nature cruel and
fond of war. For he both engaged in hostilities with his neighbors,
and recovered by wars Egypt, which had revolted many years before. At
that time, also, he is related to have ridiculed the sacred rites of
the Egyptians and Apis, who was regarded by them as a god; a thing
which Baguas, one of his eunuchs, an Egyptian by nation, and indignant
at the king's conduct, afterwards avenged by the death of the king,
considering that the king had insulted the race to which he belonged.
Now, the inspired[99] history makes
mention of this Baguas; for, when Holofernes by the order of the king
led an army against the Jews, it has related that Baguas was among the
host. Wherefore, not without reason may I bring it forward in proof
of the opinion I have expressed that that king who was named
Nabuchodonosor was really Ochus, since profane historians have related
that Baguas lived in his reign. But this ought not to be felt at all
remarkable by any one, that mere worldly writers have not touched on
any of those points which are recorded in the sacred writings. The
spirit of God thus took care that the history should be strictly
confined within its own mysteries, unpolluted by any corrupt mouth, or
that which mingled truth with fiction. That history being, in fact,
separated from the affairs of the world, and of a kind to be expressed
only in sacred words, clearly ought not to have been mixed up with
other histories, as being on a footing of equality with them. For it
would have been most unbecoming that this history should be commingled
with others treating of other things, or pursuing different inquiries.
But I will now proceed to what remains, and will narrate in as few
words as I can the acts performed by Judith.
THE Jews, then, having returned, as we have narrated above, to their
native land, and the condition of their affairs and of their city
being not yet properly settled, the king of the Persians made war on
the Medes, and engaged in a successful battle against their king, who
was named Arhaxad. That monarch being slain, he added the nation to
his empire. He did the same to other nations, having sent before him
Holofernes whom he had appointed master of his host, with a hundred
and twenty thousand foot-soldiers, and twelve thousand cavalry. He,
after having ravaged in war, Cilicia and Arabia, took many cities by
force, or compelled them through fear to surrender. And now the army,
having moved on to Damascus, had struck the Jews with great terror.
But as they were unable to resist, and as, at the same time, they
could not bring their minds to acquiesce in the thought of surrender,
since they had previously known from experience the miseries of
slavery, they betook themselves in crowds to the temple. There, with
a general groaning and commingled wailing, they implored the divine
assistance; saying that they had been sufficiently punished by God for
their sins and offenses; and begging him to spare the remnant of them
who had recently been delivered from slavery. In the meantime,
Holofernes had admitted the Moabites to surrender, and joined them to
himself as allies in the war against the Jews. He inquired of their
chief men what was the power on which the Hebrews relied in not
bringing their minds to submit to the thought of submission. In
reply, a certain man called Achior stated to him the facts, viz.: that
the Jews being worshipers of God, and trained by their fathers to
pious observances, had formerly passed through a period of slavery in
Egypt, and that, brought out from that country by the divine aid, and
having passed over on foot the sea which was dried up before them,
they had at last conquered all the opposing nations, and recovered the
territory inhabited by their ancestors. That subsequently, with
various fluctuations in their affairs, they had either prospered or
the reverse, that, when they did sink into adversity, they had again
escaped from their sufferings, finding that God was, in turn, either
angry against them, or reconciled towards them, according to their
deserts, so that, when they sinned, they were chastised by the attacks
of enemies or by being sent into captivity, but were always
unconquerable when they enjoyed the divine favor. So then, if at the
present time they are free from guilt, they cannot possibly be
subdued; but if they are otherwise situated, they will easily be
conquered. Upon this, Holofernes, flushed with many victories, and
thinking that everything must give way before him, was roused to
wrath, because victory on his part was regarded as principally
depending on the sin of the Jews, and ordered Achior to be pushed
forward into the camp of the Hebrews, that he might perish in company
with those who he had affirmed could not be conquered. Now, the Jews
had then made for the mountains; and those to whom the business had
been assigned, proceeded to the foot of the mountains, and there left
Achior in chains. When the Jews perceived that, they freed him from
his bonds and conducted him up the hill. On their inquiring the
reason of what had happened, he explained it to them, and, being
received in peace, awaited the result. I may add that, after the
victory, he was circumcised and became a Jew. Well, Holofernes,
perceiving the difficulty of the localities, because he could not
reach the heights, surrounded the mountains with soldiers, and took
the greatest pains to cut off the Hebrews from all water supplies. On
that account, they felt all the sooner the misery of a siege. Being
therefore overcome through want of water, they went in a company to
Ozias, their leader, all inclined to make a surrender. But he replied
that they should wait a little, and look for the divine assistance, so
that the time of surrender was fixed for the fifth day afterwards.
WHEN this became known to Judith (a widow woman of great wealth, and
remarkable for beauty, but still more distinguished for her virtue
than her beauty), who was then in the camp, she thought that, in the
distressed circumstances of her people, some bold effort ought to be
made by her, even though it should lead to her own destruction. She
therefore decks her head and beautifies her countenance, and then,
attended by a single maid-servant, she enters the camp of the enemy.
She was immediately conducted to Holofernes, and tells him that the
affairs of her countrymen were desperate, so that she had taken
precautions for her life by flight. Then she begs of the general the
right of a free egress from the camp during night, for the purpose of
saying her prayers. That order was accordingly given to the sentinels
and keepers of the gates. But when by the practice of three days she
had established for herself the habit of going out and returning, and
had also in this way inspired belief in her into the barbarians, the
desire took possession of Holofernes of abusing the person of his
captive; for, being of surpassing beauty, she had easily impressed the
Persian. Accordingly, she was conducted to the tent of the general by
Baguas, the eunuch; and, commencing a banquet, the barbarian stupefied
himself with a great deal of wine. Then, when the servants withdrew,
before he offered violence to the woman, he fell asleep. Judith,
seizing the opportunity, cut off the head of the enemy and carried it
away with her. Being regarded as simply going out of the camp
according to her usual custom, she returned to her own people in
safety. On the following day the Hebrews held forth for show the head
of Holofernes from the heights; and, making a sally, marched upon the
camp of the enemy. And then the barbarians assemble in crowds at the
tent of their general, waiting for the signal of battle. When his
mutilated body was discovered, they turned to flight under the
influence of a disgraceful panic, and fled before the enemy. The
Jews, for their part, pursued the fugitives, and after slaying many
thousands, took possession of the camp and the booty within it.
Judith was extolled with the loftiest praises, and is said to have
lived one hundred and five years. If these things took place, as we
believe, under king Ochus, in the twelfth year of his reign, then from
the date of the restoration of Jerusalem up to that war there elapsed
two and twenty years. Now Ochus reigned in all twenty-three years.
And he was beyond all others cruel, and more than of a barbarous
disposition. Baguas, the eunuch, took him off by poison on an
occasion of his suffering from illness. After him, Arses his son held
the government for three years, and Darius for four.
AGAINST him Alexander of Macedon engaged in war. And on his being
conquered, the sovereign power was taken from the Persians, after
having lasted, from the time of its establishment by Cyrus, two
hundred and fifty years. Alexander, the conqueror of almost all
nations, is said to have visited the temple at Jerusalem, and to have
conveyed gifts into it; and he proclaimed throughout the whole
territory which he had reduced under his sway that it should be free
to the Jews living in it to return to their own country. At the end
of the twelfth year of his reign, and seven years after he had
conquered Darius, he died at Babylon. His friends who, along with
him, had carried on those very important wars, divided his empire
among themselves. For some time they administered the charges they
had undertaken without making use of the name of king, while a certain
Arridæus Philippus, the brother of Alexander, reigned, to whom, being
of a very weak character, the sovereignty was nominally and in
appearance given, but the real power was in the hands of those who had
divided among themselves the army and the provinces. And indeed this
state of things did not long continue, but all preferred that they
should be called by the name of kings. In Syria Seleucus was the
first king after Alexander, Persia and Babylon being also subject to
his sway. At that time the Jews paid an annual tribute of three
hundred talents of silver to the king; but they were governed not by
foreign magistrates but by their own priests. And they lived
according to the fashions of their ancestors until very many of them,
again corrupted by a long peace, began to mingle all things with
seditions, and to create disturbances, while they aimed at the
high-priesthood under the influence of lust, avarice, and the desire
of power.
FOR, first of all, under king Seleucus, the son of Antiochus the
great, a certain man called Simon accused to the king on false charges
Onias the priest, a holy and uncorrupted man, and thus tried, but in
vain, to overthrow him. Then, after an interval of time, Jason, the
brother of Onias, went to Antiochus the king, who had succeeded his
brother Seleucus, and promised him an increase of tribute, if the
high-priesthood were transferred to him. And although it was an
unusual, and indeed, until now, an unpermitted thing for a man to
enjoy the high-priesthood year after year, still the eager mind of
the king, diseased with avarice, was easily persuaded. Accordingly,
Onias was driven from office, and the priesthood bestowed on Jason.
He harassed his countrymen and his country in the most shameful
manner. Then, as he had sent through a certain Menelaus (the brother
of that Simon who has been mentioned) the money he had promised to the
king, a way being once laid open to his ambition, Menelaus obtained
the priesthood by the same arts which Jason had employed before. But
not long after, as he had not furnished the promised amount of money,
he was driven from his position, and Lysimachus substituted in his
stead. Then there arose disgraceful conflicts between Jason and
Menelaus, until Jason, as an exile, left the country. By examples
like these, the morals of the people became corrupted to such an
extent, that numbers of the natives begged permission from Antiochus
to live after the fashion of the Gentiles. And when the king granted
their request, all the most worthless vied with each other in their
endeavors to construct temples, to sacrifice to idols, and to profane
the law. In the meantime, Antiochus returned from Alexandria (for he
had then made war upon the king of Egypt, which, however, he gave up
by the orders of the senate and Roman people, when Paulus and Crassus
were consuls), and went to Jerusalem. Finding the people at variance
from the diverse superstitions they had adopted, he destroyed the law
of God, and showed favor to those who followed impious courses, while
he carried off all the ornaments of the temple, and wasted it with
much destruction. That came to pass in the hundred and fiftieth year
after the death of Alexander, Paulus and Crassus being, as we have
said, consuls, about five years after Antiochus began to reign.
BUT that the order of the dates may be correctly preserved, and that
it may appear more clearly who this Antiochus was, we shall enumerate
both the names and times of the kings who came after Alexander in
Syria. Well, then, king Alexander having died, as we have related
above, his whole empire was portioned out by his friends, and was
governed for some time by them under the name of the king.[100] Seleucus, after the lapse of nine
years, was himself styled king in Syria, and reigned thirty-two years.
After him came Antiochus, his son, with a reign of twenty-one years.
Then came Antiochus, the son of Antiochus, who was surnamed Theus, and
he reigned fifteen years. After him, his son Seleucus, surnamed
Callinicus, reigned twenty-one years. Another Seleucus, the son of
Callinicus, reigned three years. After his death Antiochus, the
brother of Callinicus, held Asia and Syria for thirty-seven years.
This is the Antiochus against whom Lucius Scipio Asiaticus made war;
and he, being worsted in the war was stripped of a part of his empire.
He had two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, the latter of whom he had
given as a hostage to the Romans. Thus, then, Antiochus the great
having died; his younger son Seleucus obtained the kingdom, under
whom, as we have said, Onias the priest had an accusation brought
against him by Simon. Then Antiochus was set free by the Romans, and
there was given in his place as hostage Demetrius, the son of
Seleucus, who was at that time reigning. Seleucus dying in the
twelfth year of his reign, his brother Antiochus, who had been a
hostage at Rome, seized the kingdom. He, five years after the
beginning of his reign, did, as we have shown above, lay waste
Jerusalem. For, as he had to pay a heavy tribute to the Romans, he
was almost of necessity compelled, in order to meet that enormous
expense, to provide himself with money by rapine, and to neglect no
opportunity of plundering. Then, after two years, the Jews being
again visited by a similar disaster to that which they had suffered
before, lest it should happen that, driven on by their numerous
miseries, they should commence war, he placed a garrison in the
citadel. Next, with the view of overturning the holy law, he
published an edict, that all, forsaking the traditions of their
ancestors, should live after the manner of the Gentiles. And there
were not wanting those who readily obeyed this profane enactment.
Then truly there was a horrible spectacle presented; through all the
cities sacrifices were publicly offered in the streets, while the
sacred volumes of the law and the prophets were consumed with fire.
AT that time, Matthathias, the son of John, was high-priest. When he
was being forced by the servants of the king to obey the edict, with
marvelous courage he set at naught the profane enactments, and slew,
in the presence of all, a Hebrew who was publicly performing profane
acts. A leader having thus been found, rebellion at once took place.
Matthathias left the town; and as many flocked to him, he got up the
appearance of a regular army. The object of every man in that host
was to defend himself by arms against a profane government, and rather
even to fall in war than to take part in impious ceremonies. In the
meantime, Antiochus was compelling those Jews who were found in the
Greek cities in his dominions to offer sacrifice, and was visiting
with unheard-of torments those who refused. At this time, there
occurred that well-known and remarkable suffering of the seven
brothers and their mother. All of the brothers, when they were being
forced to violate the law of God, and the customs of their ancestors,
preferred rather to die. At last, their mother, too, accompanied them
both in their sufferings and death.
IN the meantime, Matthathias dies, having appointed in his own place
his son Judah, as general of the army which he had brought together.
Under his leadership, several successful battles took place against
the royal forces. For first of all, he destroyed, along with his
whole army, Apollonius, the enemy's general, who had entered on the
conflict with a large number of troops. When a certain man, named
Seron, who was then the ruler of Syria, heard of this, he increased
his forces, and attacked Judah with much spirit as being superior in
numbers, but when a battle took place, he was routed and put to
flight; and with the loss of nearly eight hundred men, he returned to
Syria. On this becoming known to Antiochus, he was filled with rage
and regret, inasmuch as it vexed him that his generals had been
conquered, notwithstanding their large armies. He therefore gathers
aid from his whole empire, and bestows a donative on the soldiers,
almost to the exhaustion of his treasury. For he was then suffering
in a very special manner from the want of money. The reason of this
was, on the one side, that the Jews, who had been accustomed to pay
him an annual tribute of more than three hundred talents of silver,
were now in a state of rebellion against him; and on the other side,
that many of the Greek cities and countries were unsettled by the evil
of persecution. For Antiochus had not spared even the Gentiles, whom
he had sought to persuade to abandon their long-established
superstitions, and to draw over to one kind of religious observance.
And no doubt, those of them who regarded nothing as sacred, easily
were induced to give up their ancient forms of worship, but at the
same time all were in a state of alarm and disaster. For these
reasons, then, the taxes had ceased to be paid. Boiling with wrath on
these grounds (for he who had of old been the richest of kings now
deeply felt the poverty due to his own wickedness), he divided his
forces with Lysias, and committed to him Syria and the war against the
Jews, while he himself set out against the Persians, to collect the
taxes among them. Lysias, then, selected Ptolemy, Gorgias, Doro, and
Nicanor, as generals in the war; and to these he gave forty thousand
infantry, and seven thousand cavalry. At the first onset these caused
great alarm among the Jews. Then Judah, when all were in despair,
exhorted his men to go with courageous hearts to battle--that, if they
put their trust in God, everything would give way before them; for
that often before then the victory had been won by a few fighting
against many. A fast was proclaimed, and sacrifice was offered, after
which they went down to battle. The result was that the forces of the
enemy were scattered, and Judah, taking possession of their camp,
found in it both much gold and Tyrian treasures. For merchants from
Syria, having no doubt as to victory, had followed the king's army
with the hope of purchasing prisoners, and now were themselves
spoiled. When these things were reported to Lysias by messengers, he
got together troops with still greater efforts, and in a year after
again attacked the Jews with an enormous army; but being defeated, he
retreated to Antioch.
JUDAH, on the defeat of the enemy, returned to Jerusalem, and bent his
mind on the purification and restoration of the temple, which having
been overthrown by Antiochus, and profaned by the Gentiles, presented
a melancholy spectacle. But as the Syrians held the citadel, which
being connected with the temple, but standing above it in position,
was really impregnable, the lower parts proved inaccessible, as
frequent sallies from above prevented persons from approaching them.
But Judah placed against these assailants a very powerful body of his
men. Thus the work of the sacred building was protected, and the
temple was surrounded with a wall, while armed men were appointed to
maintain a perpetual defence. And Lysias, having again returned into
Judaea with increased forces, was once more defeated with a great loss
both of his own army and of the auxiliaries, which being sent to him
by various states had combined with him in the war. In the meantime,
Antiochus, who, as we have said above, had marched into Persia,
endeavored to plunder the town of Elymus, the wealthiest in the
country, and a temple situated there which was filled with gold; but,
as a multitude flocked together from all sides for the defense of the
place, he was put to flight. Moreover, he received news of the want
of success which had attended the efforts of Lysias.[101] Thus, from distress of mind, he
fell into bodily disease. But as he was then tormented with internal
sufferings, he remembered the miseries which he had inflicted on the
people of God, and acknowledged that these evils had deservedly been
sent upon him. Then, after a few days, he died, having reigned eleven
years. He left the kingdom to his son Antiochus, to whom the name of
Eupator was given.
AT that time Judah besieged the Syrians who were posted in the
citadel. They, being sore pressed with famine and want of all things,
sent messengers to the king to implore assistance. Accordingly,
Eupator came to their aid with a hundred thousand infantry and twenty
thousand cavalry, while elephants marched in front of his line,
causing immense terror to the onlookers. Then Judah, abandoning the
siege, went to meet the king, and routed the Syrians in the first
battle. The king begged for peace, which, because[102] he, with his treacherous
disposition, made a bad use of, vengeance followed his treachery. For
Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, who, we have said above, was handed
over as a hostage to the Romans, when he heard that Antiochus had
departed, begged that they would send him to take possession of the
kingdom. And when this was refused to him, he secretly fled from
Rome, came into Syria, and seized the supreme power, having slain the
son of Antiochus, who had reigned one year and six months. It was
during his reign that the Jews first begged the friendship of the
Roman people, and alliance with them; and the embassy to this effect
having been kindly received, they were, by a decree of the senate,
styled allies and friends. In the meantime Demetrius was, by means of
his generals, carrying on war against Judah. And first the army was
led by a certain man named Bacchides, and by Alcimus, a Jew; Nicanor,
being afterwards placed at the head of the war, fell in battle. Then
Bacchides and Alcimus, recovering power, and having increased their
forces, fought against Judah. The Syrians, turning out victorious in
that battle, cruelly abused their victory. The Hebrews elect
Jonathan, the brother of Judah, in his place. In the meantime,
Alcimus, after he had fearfully desolated Jerusalem, dies; Bacchides,
being thus deprived of his ally, returns to the king. Then, after an
interval of two years, Bacchides again made war upon the Jews, and
being beaten, he begged for peace. This was granted him on certain
conditions, to the effect that he should give up the deserters and
prisoners, along with all that he had taken in war.
WHILE these things are going on in Jud&#@30;a, a certain young man
educated at Rhodes, by name Alexander, gave himself out as being the
son of Antiochus (which was false), and assisted by the power of
Ptolemy, king of Alexandria, came into Syria with an army. He
conquered Demetrius in war, and slew him after he had reigned twelve
years. This Alexander before he made war against Demetrius, had
formed an alliance with Jonathan, and had presented him with a purple
robe and royal ensigns. For this reason Jonathan had assisted him
with auxiliary forces; and on the defeat of Demetrius, had been the
very first to meet him with congratulations. Nor did Alexander
afterwards violate the faith which he had pledged. Accordingly, in
the five years during which he held the chief power, the affairs of
the Jews were peaceful. In these circumstances, Demetrius, the son of
Demetrius, who, after the death of his father, had betaken himself to
Crete, at the instigation of Lasthenes, general of the Cretans, tried
by war to recover the kingdom of his father, but finding his power
unequal to the task, he implored Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt,
the father-in-law of Alexander, but who was then on bad terms with his
son-in-law, to give him assistance. But he, induced not so much by
the entreaties of the suppliant as by the hope of seizing Syria,
joined his forces with those of Demetrius, and gives him his daughter,
who had been married to Alexander. Against these two Alexander fought
a pitched battle. Ptolemy fell in the fight, but Alexander was
defeated; and he was soon afterwards slain, after he had reigned five,
or as I find it stated in many authors, nine years.
DEMETRIUS, having thus obtained the kingdom, treated Jonathan with
kindness, made a treaty with him, and restored the Jews to their own
laws. In the meantime, Tryphon, who had belonged to the party of
Alexander, was appointed[103] governor
of Syria, to keep him in check by war. Jonathan,[104] on the other hand, descended to
battle, formidable with an army of forty thousand men. Tryphon, when
he saw himself unequal to the contest, pretended a desire for peace,
and slew Ptolemais who had been received and invited into friendship
with him. After Jonathan, the chief power was conferred on his
brother Simon. He celebrated the funeral of his brother with great
pomp, and built those well-known seven pyramids of most noble
workmanship, in which he buried the remains both of his brothers and
of his father. Then Demetrius renewed his treaty with the Jews; and
in consideration of the loss caused to them by Tryphon (for after the
death of Jonathan he had wasted by war their cities and territories),
he remitted to them their annual tribute forever; for up to that time,
they had paid tribute to the kings of Syria, except when they resisted
by force of arms. That took place in the second year of king
Demetrius; and we have noted that, because up to this year we have run
through the times of the Asiatic kings, that the series of dates being
given in order might be perfectly clear. But now we shall arrange the
order of events through the times of those, who were either
high-priests or kings among the Jews, up to the period of the birth of
Christ.
WELL, then, after Jonathan, his brother Simon, as has been said above,
ruled over the Hebrews with the power of high-priest. For that honor
was then bestowed upon him both by his own countrymen and by the Roman
people. He began to rule over his countrymen in the second year of
king Demetrius, but eight years afterwards, being deceived by a plot
of Ptolemy, he met his death. He was succeeded by his son John. And
he, on the ground that he had fought with distinction against the
Hyrcani, a very powerful nation, received the surname of Hyrcanus. He
died, after having held the supreme power for twenty-six years. After
him, Aristobulus being appointed high-priest, was the first of all
living after the captivity to assume the name of king, and to have a
crown placed upon his head. At the close of a year, he died. Then
Alexander, his son, who was both king and high-priest, reigned
twenty-seven years; but I have found nothing in his doings worthy of
mention, except his cruelty. He having left two young sons named
Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, Salina or Alexandra, his wife, held the
sovereignty for three years. After his decease, frightful conflicts
about the supreme power arose between the two brothers. And first of
all, Hyrcanus held the government; but being by and by defeated by his
brother Aristobulus, he fled to Pompey. That Roman general, having
finished the war with Mithridates, and settled Armenia and Pontus,
being, in fact, the conqueror of all the nations which he had visited,
desired to march inwards,[105] and to
add all the neighboring regions to the Roman empire. He therefore
inquired into the causes of the war, and the means of obtaining[106] the mastery. Accordingly he readily
received Hyrcanus, and, under his guidance, attacked the Jews; but
when the city was taken and destroyed, he spared the temple. He sent
Aristobulus in chains to Rome, and restored the right of the
high-priesthood to Hyrcanus. Settling the tribute to be paid by the
Jews, he placed over them as governor a certain Antipater of Askelon.
Hyrcanus held the chief power for thirty-four years; but while he
carried on war against the Parthians, he was taken prisoner.
THEN Herod, a foreigner, the son of Antipater of Askelon, asked and
received the sovereignty of Judaea from the senate and people of Rome.
Under him, the Jews began for the first time to have a foreigner as
king. For as now the advent of Christ was at hand, it was necessary,
according to the predictions of the prophets, that they should be
deprived of their own rulers, that they might not look for anything
beyond Christ. Under this Herod, in the thirty-third year of his
reign, CHRIST was born on the twenty-fifth of December in the
consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus. But we do not venture to touch on
these things which are contained in the Gospels, and subsequently in
the Acts of the Apostles, lest the character of our condensed work
should, in any measure, detract from the dignity of the events; and I
shall proceed to what remains. Herod reigned four years after the
birth of the Lord; for the whole period of his reign comprised
thirty-seven years. After him, came Archelaus the tetrarch, for eight
years, and Herod for twenty-four years. Under him, in the eighteenth
year of his reign, the Lord was crucified, Fufius Geminus and
Rubellius Geminus being consuls; from which date up to the consulship
of Stilico, there have elapsed three hundred and seventy-two years.
LUKE made known the doings of the apostles up to the time when Paul
was brought to Rome under the emperor Nero. As to Nero, I shall not
say that he was the worst of kings, but that he was worthily held the
basest of all men, and even of wild beasts. It was he who first began
a persecution; and I am not sure but he will be the last also to carry
it on, if, indeed, we admit, as many are inclined to believe, that he
will yet appear immediately before the coming of Antichrist. Our
subject would induce me to set forth his vices at some length, if it
were not inconsistent with the purpose of this work to enter upon so
vast a topic. I content myself with the remark, that he showed
himself in every way most abominable and cruel, and at length even
went so far as to be the murderer of his own mother. After this, he
also married a certain Pythagoras in the style of solemn alliances,
the bridal veil being put upon the emperor, while the usual dowry, and
the marriage couch, and wedding torches, and, in short, all the other
observances were forthcoming--things which even in the case of women,
are not looked upon without some feeling of modesty. But as to his
other actions, I doubt whether the description of them would excite
greater shame or sorrow. He first attempted to abolish the name of
Christian, in accordance with the fact that vices are always inimical
to virtues, and that all good men are ever regarded by the wicked as
casting reproach upon them. For, at that time, our divine religion
had obtained a wide prevalence in the city. Peter was there executing
the office of bishop, and Paul, too, after he had been brought to
Rome, on appealing to Cæsar from the unjust judgment of the governor.
Multitudes then came together to hear Paul, and these, influenced by
the truth which they were given to know, and by the miracles[107] of the apostles, which they then so
frequently performed, turned to the worship of God. For then took
place the well-known and celebrated encounter of Peter and Paul with
Simon.[108] He, after he had flown up
into the air by his magical arts, and supported by two demons (with
the view of proving that he was a god), the demons being put to flight
by the prayers of the apostles, fell to the earth in the sight of all
the people, and was dashed to pieces.
IN the meantime, the number of the Christians being now very large, it
happened that Rome was destroyed by fire, while Nero was stationed at
Antium. But the opinion of all cast the odium of causing the fire
upon the emperor, and he was believed in this way to have sought for
the glory of building a new city. And in fact, Nero could not by any
means he tried escape from the charge that the fire had been caused by
his orders. He therefore turned the accusation against the
Christians, and the most cruel tortures were accordingly inflicted
upon the innocent. Nay, even new kinds of death were invented, so
that, being covered in the skins of wild beasts, they perished by
being devoured by dogs, while many were crucified or slain by fire,
and not a few were set apart for this purpose, that, when the day came
to a close, they should be consumed to serve for light during the
night. In this way, cruelty first began to be manifested against the
Christians. Afterwards, too, their religion was prohibited by laws
which were enacted; and by edicts openly set forth it was proclaimed
unlawful to be a Christian. At that time Paul and Peter were
condemned to death, the former being beheaded with a sword, while
Peter suffered crucifixion. And while these things went on at Rome,
the Jews, not able to endure the injuries they suffered under the rule
of Festus Florus, began to rebel. Vespasian, being sent by Nero
against them, with proconsular power, defeated them in numerous
important battles, and compelled them to flee within the walls of
Jerusalem. In the meanwhile Nero, now hateful even to himself from a
consciousness of his crimes, disappears from among[109] men, leaving it uncertain whether or
not he had laid violent hands upon himself: certainly his body was
never found. It was accordingly believed that, even if he did put an
end to himself with a sword, his wound was cured, and his life
preserved, according to that which was written regarding
him,--"And his mortal[110] wound
was healed,"--to be sent forth again near the end of the world,
in order that he may practice the mystery of iniquity.
SO then, after the departure of Nero, Galba seized the government; and
ere long, on Galba being slain, Otho secured it. Then Vitellius from
Gaul, trusting to the armies which he commanded, entered the city, and
having killed Otho, assumed the sovereignty. This afterwards passed
to Vespasian, and although that was accomplished by evil means, yet it
had the good effect of rescuing the state from the hands of the
wicked. While Vespasian was besieging Jerusalem, he took possession
of the imperial power; and as the fashion is, he was saluted as
emperor by the army, with a diadem placed upon his head. He made his
son Titus, Cæsar; and assigned him a portion of the forces, along
with the task of continuing the siege of Jerusalem. Vespasian set out
for Rome, and was received with the greatest favor by the senate and
people; and Vitellius having killed himself, his hold of the sovereign
power was fully confirmed. The Jews, meanwhile, being closely
besieged, as no chance either of peace or surrender was allowed them,
were at length perishing from famine, and the streets began everywhere
to be filled with dead bodies, for the duty of burying them could no
longer be performed. Moreover, they ventured on eating all things of
the most abominable nature, and did not even abstain from human
bodies, except those which putrefaction had already laid hold of and
thus excluded from use as food. The Romans, accordingly, rushed in
upon the exhausted defenders of the city. And it so happened that the
whole multitude from the country, and from other towns of Judæa, had
then assembled for the day of the Passover: doubtless, because it
pleased God that the impious race should be given over to destruction
at the very time of the year at which they had crucified the Lord.
The Pharisees for a time maintained their ground most boldly in
defense of the temple, and at length, with minds obstinately bent on
death, they, of their own accord, committed themselves to the flames.
The number of those who suffered death is related to have been eleven
hundred thousand, and one hundred thousand were taken captive and
sold. Titus is said, after calling a council, to have first
deliberated whether he should destroy the temple, a structure of such
extraordinary work. For it seemed good to some that a sacred edifice,
distinguished above all human achievements, ought not to be destroyed,
inasmuch as, if preserved, it would furnish an evidence of Roman
moderation, but, if destroyed, would serve for a perpetual proof of
Roman cruelty. But on the opposite side, others and Titus himself
thought that the temple ought specially to be overthrown, in order
that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians might more
thoroughly be subverted; for that these religions, although contrary
to each other, had nevertheless proceeded from the same authors; that
the Christians had sprung up from among the Jews; and that, if the
root were extirpated, the offshoot would speedily perish. Thus,
according to the divine will, the minds of all being inflamed, the
temple was destroyed, three hundred and thirty-one years ago. And
this last overthrow of the temple, and final captivity of the Jews, by
which, being exiles from their native land, they are beheld scattered
through the whole world, furnish a daily demonstration to the world,
that they have been punished on no other account than for the impious
hands which they laid upon Christ. For though on other occasions they
were often given over to captivity on account of their sins, yet they
never paid the penalty of slavery beyond a period of seventy years.
THEN, after an interval, Domitian, the son of Vespasian, persecuted
the Christians. At this date, he banished John the Apostle and
Evangelist to the island of Patmos. There he, secret mysteries having
been revealed to him, wrote and published his book of the holy
Revelation, which indeed is either foolishly or impiously not accepted
by many. And with no great interval there then occurred the third
persecution under Trajan. But he, when after torture and racking he
found nothing in the Christians worthy of death or punishment, forbade
any further cruelty to be put forth against them. Then under Adrian
the Jews attempted to rebel, and endeavored to plunder both Syria and
Palestine; but on an army being sent against them, they were subdued.
At this time Adrian, thinking that he would destroy the Christian
faith by inflicting an injury upon the place, set up the images of
demons both in the temple and in the place where the Lord suffered.
And because the Christians were thought principally to consist of Jews
(for the church at Jerusalem did not then have a priest except of the
circumcision), he ordered a cohort of soldiers to keep constant guard
in order to prevent all Jews from approaching to Jerusalem. This,
however, rather benefited[111] the
Christian faith, because almost all then believed in Christ as God
while continuing[112] in the
observance of the law. Undoubtedly that was arranged by the
over-ruling care of the Lord, in order that the slavery of the law
might be taken away from the liberty of the faith and of the church.
In this way, Mark from among the Gentiles was then, first of all,
bishop at Jerusalem. A fourth persecution is reckoned as having taken
place under Adrian, which, however, he afterwards forbade to be
carried on, declaring it to be unjust that any one should be put on
his trial without a charge being specified against him.
AFTER Adrian, the churches had peace under the rule of Antoninus Pius.
Then the fifth persecution began under Aurelius, the son of Antoninus.
And then, for the first time, martyrdoms were seen taking place in
Gaul, for the religion of God had been accepted somewhat late beyond
the Alps. Then the sixth persecution of the Christians took place
under the emperor Severus. At this time Leonida, the father of
Origen, poured forth his sacred blood in martyrdom. Then, during an
interval of thirty-eight years, the Christians enjoyed peace, except
that at the middle of that time Maximinus persecuted the clerics of
some churches. Ere long, under Decius as emperor, the seventh bloody
persecution broke out against the Christians. Next, Valerian proved
himself the eighth enemy of the saints. After him, with an interval
of about fifty years, there arose, under the emperors Diocletian and
Maximian, a most bitter persecution which, for ten continuous years,
wasted the people of God. At this period, almost the whole world was
stained with the sacred blood of the martyrs. In fact, they vied with
each other in rushing upon these glorious struggles, and martyrdom by
glorious deaths was then much more keenly sought after than bishoprics
are now attempted to be got by wicked ambition. Never more than at
that time was the world exhausted by wars, nor did we ever achieve
victory with a greater triumph than when we showed that we could not
be conquered by the slaughters of ten long years. There survive also
accounts of the sufferings of the martyrs at that time which were
committed to writing; but I do not think it suitable to subjoin these
lest I should exceed the limits prescribed to this work.
WELL, the end of the persecutions was reached eighty-eight years ago,
at which date the emperors began to be Christians. For Constantine
then obtained the sovereignty, and he was the first Christian of all
the Roman rulers. At that time, it is true, Licinius, who was a rival
of Constantine for the empire, had commanded his soldiers to
sacrifice, and was expelling from the service those who refused to do
so. But that is not reckoned among the persecutions; it was an affair
of too little moment to be able to inflict any wound upon the
churches. From that time, we have continued to enjoy tranquillity;
nor do I believe that there will be any further persecutions, except
that which Antichrist will carry on just before the end of the world.
For it has been proclaimed in divine words, that the world was to be
visited by ten afflictions;[113] and
since nine of these have already been endured, the one which remains
must be the last. During this period of time, it is marvelous how the
Christian religion has prevailed. For Jerusalem which had presented a
horrible mass of ruins was then adorned with most numerous and
magnificent churches. And Helena, the mother of the emperor
Constantine (who reigned along with her son as Augusta), having a
strong desire to behold Jerusalem, cast down the idols and the temples
which were found there; and in course of time, through the exercise of
her royal powers, she erected churches[114] on the site of the Lord's passion,
resurrection, and ascension. It is a remarkable fact that the spot on
which the divine footprints had last been left when the Lord was
carried up in a cloud to heaven, could not be joined by a pavement
with the remaining part of the street. For the earth, unaccustomed to
mere human contact, rejected all the appliances laid upon it, and
often threw back the blocks of marble in the faces of those who were
seeking to place them. Moreover, it is an enduring proof of the soil
of that place having been trodden by God, that the footprints are
still to be seen; and although the faith of those who daily flock to
that place, leads them to vie with each other in seeking to carry away
what had been trodden by the feet of the Lord, yet the sand of the
place suffers no injury; and the earth still preserves the same
appearance which it presented of old, as if it had been sealed by the
footprints impressed upon it.
THROUGH the kind efforts of the same queen, the cross of the Lord was
then found. It could not, of course, be consecrated at the beginning,
owing to the opposition of the Jews, and afterwards it had been
covered over by the rubbish of the ruined city. And now, it would
never have been revealed except to one seeking for it in such a
believing spirit. Accordingly, Helena having first got information
about the place of our Lord's passion, caused a band of soldiers to be
brought[115] to it, while the whole
multitude of the inhabitants of the locality vied with each other in
seeking to gratify the desires of the queen, and ordered the earth to
be dug up, and all the adjacent most extensive ruins to be cleared
out. Ere long, as the reward of her faith and labor, three crosses
(as of old they had been fixed for the Lord and the two robbers) were
discovered. But upon this, the greater difficulty of distinguishing
the gibbet on which the Lord had hung, disturbed the minds and
thoughts of all, lest by a mistake, likely enough to be committed by
mere mortals, they might perhaps consecrate as the cross of the Lord,
that which belonged to one of the robbers. They form then the plan of
placing one who had recently died in contact with the crosses. Nor is
there any delay in carrying out this purpose; for just as if by the
appointment of God, the funeral of a dead man was then being conducted
with the usual ceremonies, and all rushing up took the body from the
bier. It was applied in vain to the first two crosses, but when it
touched that of Christ, wonderful to tell, while all stood trembling,
the dead body was[116] shaken off, and
stood up in the midst of those looking at it. The cross was thus
discovered, and was consecrated with all due ceremony.[117]
SUCH were the things accomplished by Helena, while, under a Christian
prince, the world had both attained to liberty, and possessed in him
an exemplar of faith. But a far more dreadful danger than all that
had preceded fell upon all the churches from that state of
tranquillity. For then the Arian heresy burst forth, and disturbed
the whole world by the error which it instilled. For by means of the
two[118] Ariuses, who were the most
active originators of this unfaithfulness, the emperor himself was led
astray; and while he seemed to himself to fulfill a religious duty, he
proceeded to a violent exercise of persecution. The bishops were
driven into exile: cruelty was exerted against the clerics; and even
the laity were punished, who had separated from the communion of the
Arians. Now, the doctrines which the Arians proclaimed were of the
following nature,--that God the Father had begotten his Son for the
purpose of creating the world; and that, by his power, he had made[119] out of nothing into a new and second
substance, a new and second God; and that there was a time when the
Son had no existence. To meet this evil, a synod was convened from
the whole world to meet at Nicæa. Three hundred and eighteen bishops
were there assembled: the faith was fully set forth in writing; the
Arian heresy was condemned; and the emperor confirmed the whole by an
imperial decree. The Arians, then, not daring to make any further
attempt against the orthodox faith, mixed themselves among the
churches, as if they acquiesced in the conclusions which had been
reached, and did not hold any different opinions. There remained,
however, in their hearts, a deep-seated hatred against the Catholics,
and they assailed, with suborned accusers and trumped-up charges,
those with whom they could not contend in argument on matters of
faith.
ACCORDINGLY, they first attack and condemn in his absence Athanasius,
bishop of Alexandria, a holy man, who had been present as deacon at
the Synod of Nicæa. For they added to the charges which false
witnesses had heaped up against him, this one, that, with wicked
intentions, he had received[120]
Marcellus and Photinus, heretical priests who had been condemned by a
sentence of the Synod. Now, it was not doubtful as to Photinus that
he had been justly condemned. But in the case of Marcellus, it seemed
that nothing had then been found worthy of condemnation, and[121] a belief in his innocence was above
all strengthened by the animus of that party, inasmuch as no
one doubted that those same judges were heretical by whom he had been
condemned. But the Arians did not so much desire to get these persons
out of the way as Athanasius himself. Accordingly, they constrain the
emperor to go so far as this, that Athanasius should be sent as an
exile into Gaul. But ere long, eighty bishops, assembling together in
Egypt, declare that Athanasius had been unjustly condemned. The
matter is referred to Constantine: he orders[122] bishops from the whole world to
assemble at Sardes, and that the entire process by which Athanasius
had been condemned, should be reconsidered by the council. In the
meantime, Constantine dies, but the Synod, called together while he
was yet emperor, acquits Athanasius. Marcellus, too, is restored to
his bishopric, but the sentence on Photinus, bishop of Sirmion, was
not rescinded; for even[123] in the
judgment of our friends, he is regarded as a heretic. However, even
this result chagrined Marcellus, because Photinus was known to have
been his disciple in his youth. But this, too, tended to secure an
acquittal for Athanasius, that Ursatius and Valens, leading men among
the Arians, when they were openly separated from the communion of the
Church after the Synod at Sardes, entering into the presence of
Julius, bishop of Rome, asked pardon of him for having condemned the
innocent, and publicly declared that he had been justly acquitted by
the decree of the Council of Sardes.
WHEN, after an interval of some time had elapsed, Athanasius, finding
that Marcellus was by no means sound in the faith, suspended him from
communion. And he had this degree of modesty, that, being censured by
the judgment of so great a man, he voluntarily gave way. But though
at a former period innocent, yet confessedly afterwards becoming
heretical, it may be allowed to conclude that he was really then
guilty when judgment was pronounced regarding him. The Arians, then,
finding an opportunity of that kind, conspire to subvert altogether
the decrees of the Synod of Sardes. For a certain coloring of right
seemed to be furnished them in this fact, that a favorable judgment
had as unjustly been formed on the side of Athanasius, as Marcellus
had been improperly acquitted, since now, even in the opinion of
Athanasius himself, he was deemed a heretic. For Marcellus had stood
forward as an upholder of the Sabellian heresy.[124] But Photinus had already brought
forward a new heresy, differing indeed from Sabellius with respect to
the union of the divine persons, but proclaiming that Christ had his
beginning in Mary. The Arians, therefore, with cunning design, mix up
what was harmless with what was blameworthy, and embrace, under the
same judgment, the condemnation of Photinus, and Marcellus, and
Athanasius. They undoubtedly did this with the view of leading the
minds of the ignorant to conclude, that those had not judged
incorrectly regarding Athanasius, who, it was admitted, had expressed
a well-based opinion respecting Marcellus and Photinus. At that time,
however, the Arians concealed their treachery; and not daring openly
to proclaim their erroneous doctrines, they professed themselves
Catholics. They thought that their first great object should be to
get Athanasius turned out of the church, who had always presented a
wall of opposition to their endeavors, and they hoped that, if he were
removed, the rest would pass over to their evil[125] opinion. Now, that part of the
bishops which followed the Arians accepted the condemnation of
Athanasius with delight. Another part, constrained by fear and
faction, yielded to the wish of the Arian party; and only a few, to
whom the true faith was dearer than any other consideration, refused
to accept their unjust judgment. Among these was Paulinus, the bishop
of Treves. It is related that he, when a letter on the subject was
placed before him, thus wrote, that he gave his consent to the
condemnation of Photinus and Marcellus, but did not approve that of
Athanasius.
BUT then the Arians, seeing that stratagem did not succeed, determined
to proceed by force. For it was easy for those to attempt and carry
out anything who were supported by the favor of the monarch, whom they
had thoroughly won over to themselves by wicked flatteries. Moreover,
they were by the consent of all unconquerable; for almost all the
bishops of the two Pannonias, and many of the Eastern bishops, and
those throughout all Asia, had joined in their unfaithfulness. But
the chief men in that evil company were Ursatius of Singidunum, Valens
of Mursa, Theodorus of Heraclia, Stephanus of Antioch, Acatius of
Cæsarea, Menofantus of Ephesus, Georgius of Laodicia, and Narcissus
of Neronopolis. These had got possession of the palace to such an
extent that the emperor did nothing without their concurrence. He was
indeed at the beck of all of them, but was especially under the
influence of Valens. For at that time, when a battle was fought at
Mursa against Magnentius, Constantius had not the courage to go down
to witness for himself the conflict, but took up his abode in a church
of the martyrs which stood outside the town, Valens who was then the
bishop of the place being with him to keep up his courage. But Valens
had cunningly arranged, through means of his agents, that he should be
the first to be made acquainted with the result of the battle. He did
this either to gain the favor of the king, if he should be the first
to convey to him good news, or with a view to saving his own life,
since he would obtain time for flight, should the issue prove
unfortunate. Accordingly, the few persons who were with the king
being in a state of alarm, and the emperor himself being a prey to
anxiety, Valens was the first to announce to them the flight of the
enemy. When Constantius requested that the person who had brought the
news should be introduced to his presence, Valens, to increase the
reverence felt for himself, said that an angel was the messenger who
had come to him. The emperor, who was easy of belief, was accustomed
afterwards openly to declare that he had won the victory through the
merits of Valens, and not by the valor of his army.
FROM this first proof that the prince had been won over to their side,
the Arians plucked up their courage, knowing that they could make use
of the power of the king, when they could make little impression by
their own authority. Accordingly, when our friends did not accept of
the judgment which they had pronounced in regard to Athanasius, an
edict was issued by the emperor to the effect that those who did not
subscribe to the condemnation of Athanasius should be sent into
banishment. But, at that time, councils of bishops were held by our
friends at Aries and Bitteræ, towns situated in Gaul. They requested
that before any were compelled to subscribe against Athanasius, they
should rather enter on a discussion as to the true faith; and
maintained that only then was a decision to be come to respecting the
point in question, when they had agreed as to the person of the
judges.[126] But Valens and his
confederates not venturing on a discussion respecting the faith, first
desired to secure by force the condemnation of Athanasius. Owing to
this conflict of parties, Paulinus was driven into banishment. In the
meantime, an assembly was held at Milan, where the emperor then was;
but the same controversy was there continued without any relaxation of
its bitterness. Then Eusebius, bishop of the Vercellenses, and
Lucifer, bishop of Caralis[127] in
Sardinia, were exiled. Dionysius, however, priest of Milan,
subscribed to the condemnation of Athanasius, on the condition that
there should be an investigation among the bishops as to the true
faith. But Valens and Ursatius, with the rest of that party, through
fear of the people, who maintained the Catholic faith with
extraordinary enthusiasm, did not venture to set forth in public their
monstrous[128] doctrines, but
assembled within the palace. From that place, and under the name of
the emperor, they issued a letter full[129] of all sorts of wickedness, with
this purpose, no doubt, that, if the people gave it a favorable
hearing, they should then bring forward, under public authority, the
things which they desired; but if it should be received otherwise,
that all the ill feeling might be directed against the king, while his
mistake might be regarded as excusable, because being then only a
catechumen, he might readily be supposed to have erred concerning the
mysteries of the faith. Well, when the letter was read in the church,
the people expressed their aversion to it. And Dionysius, because he
did not concur with them, was banished from the city, while Auxentius
was immediately chosen as bishop in his place. Liberius, too, bishop
of the city of Rome, and Hilarius, bishop of Poictiers, were driven
into exile. Rhodanius, also, bishop of Toulouse (who, being by nature
of a softer disposition, had resisted the Arians, not so much from his
own powers as from his fellowship with Hilarius) was involved in the
same punishment. All these persons, however, were prepared to suspend
Athanasius from communion, only in order that an inquiry might be
instituted among the bishops as to the true faith. But it seemed best
to the Arians to withdraw the most celebrated men from the
controversy. Accordingly, those whom we have mentioned above were
driven into exile, forty-five years ago, when Arbitio and Lollianus
were consuls. Liberius, however, was, a little afterwards, restored
to the city, in consequence of the disturbances at Rome. But it is
well known that the persons exiled were celebrated by the admiration
of the whole world, and that abundant supplies of money were collected
to meet their wants, while they were visited by deputies of the
Catholic people from almost all the provinces.
IN the meantime, the Arians, not secretly, as before, but openly and
publicly proclaimed their monstrous heretical doctrines. Moreover,
they interpreted after their own views the Synod of Nicæa, and by the
addition of one letter to its finding, threw a sort of obscurity over
the truth. For where the expression Homoousion had been
written, which denotes "of one substance," they maintained
that it was written Homoiousion, which simply means "of
like substance." They thus granted a likeness, but took away
unity; for likeness is very different from unity; just as, for
illustration's sake, a picture of a human body might be like a man,
and yet possess nothing of the reality of a man. But some of them
went even farther, and maintained Anomoiousia, that is, an
unlike substance. And to such a pitch did these controversies extend,
that the wide world was involved in these monstrous errors. For
Valens and Ursatius, with their supporters, whose names we have
stated, infected Italy, Illyria, and the East with these opinions.
Saturninus, bishop of Arles, a violent and factious man, harassed our
country of Gaul in like manner. There was also a prevalent belief
that Osius from Spain had gone over to the same unfaithful party,
which appears all the more wonderful and incredible on this account,
that he had been, almost during his whole life, the most determined
upholder of our views, and the Synod of Nice was regarded as having
been held at his instigation. If he did go over, the reason may have
been that in his extreme old age (for he was then more than a
centenarian, as St. Hilarius relates in his epistles) he had fallen
into dotage. While the world was disturbed by these things, and the
churches were languishing as if from a sort of disease, an anxiety,
less exciting indeed, but no less serious, pressed upon the emperor,
that although the Arians, whom he favored, appeared the stronger, yet
there was still no agreement among the bishops concerning the
faith.
ACCORDINGLY, the emperor orders a Synod to assemble at Ariminum, a
city of Italy, and instructs Taurus the prefect, not to let them
separate, after they were once assembled, until they should agree as
to one faith, at the same time promising him the consulship, if he
carried the affair to a successful termination. Imperial[130] officers, therefore, being sent
through Illyria, Italy, Africa, and the two Gauls, four hundred and
rather more Western bishops were summoned or compelled to assemble at
Ariminum; and for all of these the emperor had ordered provisions[131] and lodgings to be provided. But
that appeared unseemly to the men of our part of the world, that is,
to the Aquitanians, the Gauls, and Britons, so that refusing the
public supplies, they preferred to live at their own expense. Three
only of those from Britain, through want of means of their own, made
of the public bounty, after having refused contributions offered by
the rest; for they thought it more dutiful to burden the public
treasury than individuals. I have heard that Gavidius, our bishop,
was accustomed to refer to this conduct in a censuring sort of way,
but I would be inclined to judge far otherwise; and I hold it matter
of admiration that the bishops had nothing of their own, while they
did not accept assistance from others rather than from the public
treasury, so that they burdened nobody. In both points, they thus
furnished us with noble example. Nothing worthy of mention is
recorded of the others; but I return to the subject in hand. After
all the bishops had been collected together, as we have said, a
separation of parties took place. Our friends[132] take possession of the church, while
the Arians select, as a place for prayer, a temple which was then
intentionally standing empty. But these did not amount to more than
eighty persons: the rest belonged to our party. Well, after frequent
meetings had been held, nothing was really accomplished, our friends
continuing in the faith, and the others not abandoning their
unfaithfulness. At length it was resolved to send ten deputies to the
emperor, that he might learn what was the faith or opinion of the
parties, and might know that there could be no peace with heretics.
The Arians do the same thing, and send a like number of deputies, who
should contend with our friends in the presence of the emperor. But
on the part of our people, young men of but little learning and little
prudence had been selected; while, on the side of the Arians, old men
were sent, skillful and abounding in talent, thoroughly imbued, too,
with their old unfaithful doctrines; and these easily got the upper
hand with the prince. But our friends had been specially charged not
to enter into any kind of communion with the Arians, and to reserve
every point, in its entirety, for discussion in a Synod.
IN the meantime in the East, after the example of the West, the
emperor ordered almost all the bishops to assemble at Seleucia, a town
of Isauria. At that time, Hilarius, who was now spending the fourth
year of his exile in Phrygia, is compelled to be present among the
other bishops, the means of a public conveyance being furnished to him
by the lieutenant[133] and governor.
As, however, the emperor had given no special orders regarding him,
the judges, simply following the general order by which they were
commanded to gather all bishops to the council, sent him also among
the rest who were willing to go. This was done, as I imagine, by the
special ordination of God, in order that a man who was most deeply
instructed in divine things, might be present when a discussion was to
be carried on respecting the faith. He, on arriving at Seleucia, was
received with great favor, and drew the minds and affections of all
towards himself. His first inquiry was as to the real faith of the
Gauls, because at that time the Arians had spread evil reports
regarding us, and we were held suspected by the Easterns as having
embraced the belief of Sabellius, to the effect that the unity of the
one God was simply distinguished[134]
by a threefold name. But after he had set forth his faith in harmony
with those conclusions which had been reached by the fathers at
Nicaea, he bore his testimony in favor of the Westerns. Thus the
minds of all having been satisfied, he was admitted to communion, and
being also received into alliance, was added to the council. They
then proceeded to actual work, and the originators of the wicked
heresy being discovered, were separated from the body of the Church.
In that number were Georgius of Alexandria, Acacius, Eudoxius,
Vranius, Leontius, Theodosius, Evagrius, Theodulus. But when the
Synod was over, an embassy was appointed to go to the emperor and make
him acquainted with what had been done. Those who had been condemned
also went to the prince, relying upon the power of their confederates,
and a common cause with the monarch.
IN the meantime, the emperor compels those deputies of our party who
had been sent from the council at Ariminum to join in communion with
the heretics. At the same time, he hands them a confession of faith
which had been drawn up by these wicked men, and which, being
expressed in deceptive terms, seemed to exhibit the Catholic faith,
while unfaithfulness secretly lay hid in it. For under an appearance
of false reasoning, it abolished the use of the word Ousia as
being ambiguous, and as having been too hastily adopted by the
fathers, while it rested upon no Scriptural authority. The object of
this was that the Son might not be believed to be of one substance
with the Father. The same confession of faith acknowledged that the
Son was like the Father. But deception was carefully
prepared within the words, in order that he might be like, but not
equal. Thus, the deputies being sent away, orders were given to the
prefect that he should not dissolve the Synod, until all professed by
their subscriptions their agreement to the declaration of faith which
had been drawn up; and if any should hold back with excessive
obstinacy, they should be driven into banishment, provided their
number did not amount to fifteen. But when the deputies returned,
they were refused communion, although they pleaded the force which had
been brought to bear upon them by the king. For when it was
discovered what had been decreed, greater disturbance arose in their
affairs and purposes. Then by degrees numbers of our people, partly
overcome through the weakness of their character, and partly
influenced by the thought of a weary journeying into foreign lands,
surrendered to the opposite party. These were now, on the return of
the deputies, the stronger of the two bodies, and had taken possession
of the church, our friends being driven out of it. And when the minds
of our people once began to incline in that direction, they rushed in
flocks over to the other side, until the number of our friends was
diminished down to twenty.
BUT these, the fewer they became, showed themselves all the more
powerful; as the most steadfast among them was to be reckoned our
friend Foegadius, and Servatio, bishop of the Tungri. As these had
not yielded to threats and terrors, Taurus assails them with
entreaties, and beseeches them with tears to adopt milder counsels.
He argued that the bishops were now in the seventh month since they
had been shut up within one city--that no hope of returning home
presented itself to them, worn out by the inclemency of winter and
positive want; and what then would be the end? He urged them to
follow the example of the majority, and to derive authority for so
doing at least from the numbers who had preceded them. For Foegadius
openly declared that he was prepared for banishment, and for every
kind of punishment that might be assigned him, but would not accept
that confession of faith which had been drawn up by the Arians. Thus
several days passed in this sort of discussion. And when they made
little progress towards a pacification, by degrees Foegadius began to
yield, and at the last was overcome by a proposal which was made to
him. For Valens and Ursatius affirmed that the present confession of
faith was drawn up on the lines of Catholic doctrine, and having been
brought forward by the Easterns at the instigation of the emperor,
could not be rejected without impiety; and what possible end of strife
could there be if a confession which satisfied the Easterns was
rejected by those of the West? Finally, if there appeared anything
less fully stated in the present confession than was desirable, they
themselves should add what they thought ought to be added, and that
they, for their part, would acquiesce in those things which might be
added. This friendly profession was received with favorable minds by
all. Nor did our people venture any longer to make opposition,
desiring as they did in some way or other now to put an end to the
business. Then confessions drawn up by Foegadius and Servatio began
to be published; and in these first Arius and his whole unfaithful
scheme was condemned, while the Son of God also was[135] pronounced equal to the Father, and
without beginning, [that is] without any commencement[136] in time. Then Valens, as if
assisting our friends, subjoined the statement (in which there lurked
a secret guile) that the Son of God was not a creature like the other
creatures; and the deceit involved in this declaration escaped the
notice of the hearers. For in these words, in which the Son was
denied to be like the other creatures, he was nevertheless pronounced
a creature, only superior to the rest. Thus neither party could hold
that it had wholly conquered or had wholly been conquered, since the
confession itself was in favor of the Arians, but the declarations
afterwards added were in favor of our friends. That one, however,
must be excepted which Valens had subjoined, and which, not being at
the time understood, was at length comprehended when it was too late.
In this way, at any rate, the council was brought to an end, a council
which had a good beginning but a disgraceful conclusion.
THUS, then, the Arians, with their affairs in a very flourishing
condition, and everything turning out according to their wishes, go in
a body to Constantinople where the emperor was. There they found the
deputies from the Synod of Seleucia, and compel them by an exercise of
the royal power to follow the example of the Westerns, and accept
that heretical confession of faith. Numbers who refused were tortured
with painful imprisonment and hunger, so that at length they yielded
their conscience captive. But many who resisted more courageously,
being deprived of their bishoprics, were driven into exile, and others
substituted in their place. Thus, the best priests being either
terrified by threats, or driven into exile, all gave way before the
unfaithfulness of a few. Hilarius was there at the time, having
followed the deputies from Seleucia; and as no certain orders had been
given regarding him, he was waiting on the will of the emperor to see
whether perchance he should be ordered to return into banishment.
When he perceived the extreme danger into which the faith had been
brought, inasmuch as the Westerns had been beguiled, and the Easterns
were being overcome by means of wickedness, he, in three papers
publicly presented, begged an audience of the king, in order that he
might debate on points of faith in the presence of his adversaries.
But the Arians opposed that to the utmost extent of their ability.
Finally, Hilarius was ordered to return to Gaul, as being a sower[137] of discord, and a troubler of the
East, while the sentence of exile against him remained uncanceled.
But when he had wandered over almost the whole earth which was
infected with the evil of unfaithfulness, his mind was full of doubt
and deeply agitated with the mighty burden of cares which pressed upon
it. Perceiving that it seemed good to many not to enter into
communion with those who had acknowledged the Synod of Ariminum, he
thought the best thing he could do was to bring back all to repentance
and reformation. In frequent councils within Gaul, and while almost
all the bishops publicly owned the error that had been committed, he
condemns the proceedings at Ariminum, and frames anew the faith of the
churches after its pristine form. Saturninus, however, bishop of
Arles, who was, in truth, a very bad man, of an evil and corrupt
character, resisted these sound measures. He was, in fact, a man who,
besides the infamy of being a heretic, was convicted of many
unspeakable crimes, and cast out of the Church. Thus, having lost its
leader, the strength of the party opposed to Hilarius was broken.
Paternus also of Petrocorii,[138]
equally infatuated, and not shrinking from openly professing
unfaithfulness, was expelled from the priesthood: pardon was extended
to the others. This fact is admitted by all, that our regions of Gaul
were set free from the guilt of heresy through the kind efforts of
Hilarius alone. But Lucifer, who was then at Antioch, held a very
different opinion. For he condemned those who assembled at Ariminum
to such an extent, that he even separated himself from the communion
of those who had received them as friends, after they had made
satisfaction or exhibited penitence. Whether this resolution of his
was right or wrong, I will not take upon me to say. Paulinus and
Rhodanius died in Phrygia; Hilarius died in his native country in the
sixth year after his return.
THERE follow the times of our own day, both difficult and dangerous.
In these the churches have been defiled with no ordinary evil, and all
things thrown into confusion. For then, for the first time, the
infamous heresy of the Gnostics was detected in Spain--a deadly[139] superstition which concealed itself
under mystic[140] rites. The
birthplace of that mischief was the East, and specially Egypt, but
from what beginnings it there sprang up and increased is not easy to
explain. Marcus was the first to introduce it into Spain, having set
out from Egypt, his birthplace being Memphis. His pupils were a
certain Agape, a woman of no mean origin, and a rhetorician named
Helpidius. By these again Priscillian was instructed, a man of noble
birth, of great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned through much
reading, very ready at debate and discussion--in fact, altogether a
happy man, if he had not ruined an excellent intellect by wicked
studies. Undoubtedly, there were to be seen in him many admirable
qualities both of mind and body. He was able to spend much time in
watchfulness, and to endure both hunger and thirst; he had little
desire for amassing wealth, and he was most economical in the use of
it. But at the same time he was a very vain man, and was much more
puffed up than he ought to have been with the knowledge of mere
earthly[141] things: moreover, it was
believed that he had practised magical arts from his boyhood. He,
after having himself adopted the pernicious system referred to, drew
into its acceptance many persons of noble rank and multitudes of the
common people by the arts of persuasion and flattery which he
possessed. Besides this, women who were fond of novelties and of
unstable faith, as well as of a prurient curiosity in all things,
flocked to him in crowds. It increased this tendency that he
exhibited, a kind of humility in his countenance and manner, and thus
excited in all a greater honor and respect for himself. And now by
degrees the wasting disorder of that heresy[142] had pervaded the most of Spain, and
even some of the bishops came under its depraving influence. Among
these, Instantius and Salvianus had taken up the cause of Priscillian,
not only by expressing their concurrence in his views, but even by
binding themselves to him with a kind of oath. This went on until
Hyginus, bishop of Cordova, who dwelt in the vicinity, found out how
matters stood, and reported the whole to Ydacius, priest of Emerita.
But he, by harassing Instantius and his confederates without measure,
and beyond what the occasion called for, applied, as it were, a torch
to the growing conflagration, so that he rather exasperated than
suppressed these evil men.
SO, then, after many controversies among them, which are not worthy of
mention, a Synod was assembled at Saragossa, at which even the
Aquitanian bishops were present. But the heretics did not venture to
submit themselves to the judgment of the council; sentence, however,
was passed against them in their absence, and Instantius and
Salivanus, bishops, with Helpidius and Priscillian, laymen, were
condemned. It was also added that if any one should admit the
condemned persons to communion, he should understand that the same
sentence would be pronounced against himself. And the duty was
entrusted to Ithacius, bishop of Sossuba, of seeing that the decree of
the bishops was brought to the knowledge of all, and that Hyginus
especially should be excluded from communion, who, though he had been
the first to commence open proceedings against the heretics, had
afterwards fallen away shamefully and admitted them to communion. In
the meantime, Instantius and Salvianus, having been condemned by the
judgment of the priests, appoint as bishop in the town of Arles,
Priscillian, a layman indeed, but the leader in all these troubles,
and who had been condemned along with themselves in the Synod at
Saragossa. This they did with the view of adding to their strength,
doubtless imagining that, if they armed with sacerdotal authority a
man of bold and subtle character, they would find themselves in a
safer position. But then Ydacius and Ithacius pressed forward their
measures more ardently, in the belief that the mischief might be
suppressed at its beginning. With unwise counsels, however, they
applied to secular judges, that by their decrees and prosecutions the
heretics might be expelled from the cities. Accordingly, after many
disgraceful squabbles, a rescript was, on the entreaty of Ydacius,
obtained from Gratianus, who was then emperor, in virtue of which all
heretics were enjoined not only to leave churches or cities, but to be
driven forth beyond all the territory under[143] his jurisdiction. When this edict
became known, the Gnostics, distrusting their own affairs, did not
venture to oppose the judgment, but those of them who bore the name of
bishops gave way of their own accord, while fear scattered the
rest.
AND then Instantius, Salvianus, and Priscillian set out for Rome, in
order that before Damasus who was at that time the bishop of the city,
they might clear themselves of the charges brought against them.
Well, their journey led them through the heart of Aquitania, and being
there received with great pomp by such as knew no better, they spread
the seeds of their heresy. Above all, they perverted by their evil
teachings the people of Elusa, who were then of a good and religious
disposition. They were driven forth from Bordeaux by Delfinus, yet
lingering for a little while in the territory of Euchrotia,[144] they infected some with their
errors. They then pursued the journey on which they had entered,
attended by a base and shameful company, among whom were their wives
and even strange women. In the number of these was Euchrotia and her
daughter Procula, of the latter of whom there was a common report
that, when pregnant through adultery with Priscillian, she procured
abortion by the use of certain plants. When they reached Rome with
the wish of clearing themselves before Damasus, they were not even
admitted to his presence. Returning to Milan, they found that Ambrose
was equally opposed to them. Then they changed their plans, with the
view that, as they had not got the better of the two bishops, who were
at that time possessed of the highest authority, they might, by
bribery and flattery, obtain what they desired from the emperor.
Accordingly, having won over Macedonius, who was the master[145] of public services, they procured a
rescript, by which, those decrees which had formerly been made being
trampled under foot, they were ordered to be restored to their
churches. Relying upon this, Instantius and Priscillian made their
way back to Spain (for Salvianus had died in the city); and they then,
without any struggle, recovered the churches over which they had
ruled.
BUT the power, not the will, to resist, failed Ithacius; for the
heretics had won over by bribes Voluentius, the proconsul, and thus
consolidated their own power. Moreover, Ithacius was put on his
trial, by these men as being a disturber of the churches, and he
having been ordered as the result of a fierce prosecution, to be
carried off[146] as a prisoner, fled
in terror into Gaul, where he betook himself to Gregory the prefect.
He, after he learned what had taken place, orders the authors of these
tumults to be brought before himself, and makes a report on all that
had occurred to the emperor, in order that he might close against the
heretics every means of flattery or bribery. But that was done in
vain; because, through the licentiousness and power of a few, all
things were there to be purchased. Accordingly, the heretics by their
artifices, having presented Macedonius with a large sum of money,
secure that, by the imperial authority, the hearing of the trial was
taken from the prefect, and transferred to the lieutenant in Spain.
By that time, the Spaniards had ceased to have a proconsul as ruler,
and officials were sent by the Master to bring back to Spain Ithacius
who was then living at Treves. He, however, craftily escaped them,
and being subsequently defended by the bishop Pritannius, he set them
at defiance. Then, too, a faint[147]
rumor had spread that Maximus had assumed imperial power in Britain,
and would, in a short time, make an incursion into Gaul. Accordingly,
Ithacius then resolved, although his affairs were in a ticklish state,
to wait the arrival of the new emperor; and that, in the meantime, no
step should on his part be taken. When therefore Maximus, as victor,
entered the town of the Treveri, he poured forth entreaties full of
ill-will and accusations against Priscillian and his confederates.
The emperor influenced by these statements sent letters to the prefect
of Gaul and to the lieutenant in Spain, ordering that all whom that
disgraceful[148] heresy had affected
should be brought to a Synod at Bordeaux. Accordingly, Instantius and
Priscillian were escorted thither and, of these, Instantius was
enjoined to plead his cause; and after he was found unable to clear
himself, he was pronounced unworthy of the office of a bishop. But
Priscillian, in order that he might avoid being heard by the bishops,
appealed to the emperor. And that was permitted to be done through
the want of resolution on the part of our friends, who ought either to
have passed a sentence even against one who resisted it, or, if they
were regarded as themselves suspicious persons, should have reserved
the hearing for other bishops, and should not have transferred to the
emperor a cause involving such manifest offences.
THUS, then, all whom the process embraced were brought before the
king. The bishops Ydacius and Ithacius followed as accusers; and I
would by no means blame their zeal in overthrowing heretics, if they
had not contended for victory with greater keenness than was fitting.
And my feeling indeed is, that the accusers were as distasteful to me
as the accused. I certainly hold that Ithacius had no worth or
holiness about him. For he was a bold, loquacious, impudent, and
extravagant man; excessively devoted to the pleasures of sensuality.
He proceeded even to such a pitch of folly as to charge all those men,
however holy, who either took delight in reading, or made it their
object to vie with each other in the practice of fasting, with being
friends or disciples of Priscillian. The miserable wretch even
ventured publicly to bring forward a disgraceful charge of heresy
against Martin, who was at that time a bishop, and a man clearly
worthy of being compared to the Apostles. For Martin, being then
settled at Treves, did not cease to importune Ithacius, that he should
give up his accusations, or to implore Maximus that he should not shed
the blood of the unhappy persons in question. He maintained that it
was quite sufficient punishment that, having been declared heretics by
a sentence of the bishops, they should have been expelled from the
churches; and that it was, besides, a foul and unheard-of indignity,
that a secular ruler should be judge in an ecclesiastical cause. And,
in fact, as long as Martin survived, the trial was put off; while,
when he was about to leave this world, he, by his remarkable
influence, obtained a promise from Maximus, that no cruel measure
would be resolved on with respect to the guilty persons. But
subsequently, the emperor being led astray by Magnus and Rufus, and
turned from the milder course which Martin had counseled, entrusted
the case to the prefect Evodius, a man of stern and severe character.
He tried Priscillian in two assemblies, and convicted him of evil
conduct. In fact, Priscillian did not deny that he had given himself
up to lewd doctrines; had been accustomed to hold, by night,
gatherings of vile women, and to pray in a state of nudity.
Accordingly, Evodius pronounced him guilty, and sent him back to
prison, until he had time to consult the emperor. The matter, then,
in all its details, was reported to the palace, and the emperor
decreed that Priscillian and his friends should be put to death.
BUT Ithacius, seeing how much ill-will it would excite against him
among the bishops, if he should stand forth as accuser also at the
last trial on a capital charge (for it was requisite that the trial
should be repeated), withdrew from the prosecution. His cunning,
however, in thus acting was in vain, as the mischief was already
accomplished. Well, a certain Patricius, an advocate connected with
the treasury, was then appointed accuser by Maximus. Accordingly,
under him as prosecutor, Priscillian was condemned to death, and along
with him, Felicissimus and Armenius, who, when they were clerics, had
lately adopted the cause of Priscillian, and revolted from the
Catholics. Latronianus, too, and Euchrotia were beheaded. Instantius,
who, as we have said above, had been condemned by the bishops, was
transported to the island of Sylina[149] which lies beyond Britain. A
process was then instituted against the others in trials which
followed, and Asarivus, and Aurelius the deacon, were condemned to be
beheaded, while Tiberianus was deprived of his goods, and banished to
the island of Sylina. Tertullus, Potamius, and Joannes, as being
persons of less consideration, and worthy of some merciful treatment,
inasmuch as before the trial they had made a confession, both as to
themselves and their confederates, were sentenced to a temporary
banishment into Gaul. In this sort of way, men who were most unworthy
of the light of day, were, in order that they might serve as a
terrible example to others, either put to death or punished with
exile. That conduct[150] which he had
at first defended by his right of appeal to the tribunals, and by
regard to the public good, Ithacius, harassed[151] with invectives, and at last
overcome, threw the blame of upon those, by whose direction and
counsels he had effected his object. Yet he was the only one of all
of them who was thrust out of the episcopate. For Ydacius, although
less guilty, had voluntarily resigned his bishopric: that was wisely
and respectfully done, had he not afterward spoiled the credit of such
a step by endeavoring to recover the position which had been lost.
Well, after the death of Priscillian, not only was the heresy not
suppressed, which, under him, as its author, had burst forth, but
acquiring strength, it became more widely spread. For his followers
who had previously honored him as a saint, subsequently began to
reverence him as a martyr. The bodies of those who had been put to
death were conveyed to Spain, and their funerals were celebrated with
great pomp. Nay, it came to be thought the highest exercise of
religion to swear by Priscillian. But between them and our friends, a
perpetual war of quarreling has been kept up. And that conflict,
after being sustained for fifteen years with horrible dissension,
could not by any means be set at rest. And now all things were seen
to be disturbed and confused by the discord, especially of the
bishops, while everything was corrupted by them through their hatred,
partiality, fear, faithlessness, envy, factiousness, lust, avarice,
pride, sleepiness, and inactivity. In a word, a large number were
striving with insane plans and obstinate inclinations against a few
giving wise counsel: while, in the meantime, the people of God, and
all the excellent of the earth were exposed to mockery and insult.
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