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both my works; for, as I faid, I have tranflated the Antiqui. ties out of our facred books; which I eafily could do, fince I was a priest by my birth, and have ftudied that philofophy which is contained in thofe writings: And for the Hiftory of the War, I wrote it as having been an actor my felf in many of its tranfactions, an eye witnefs in the greatest part of the reft, and was not unacquainted with any thing whatfoever that was either faid or done in it. How impudent then must thofe deferve to be elteemed, that undertake to contradi& me about the true ftate of thofe affairs? who, although they pretend to have made use of both the emperor's own memoirs, yet could not they be acquainted with our affairs, who fought against them. 11. This digreffion I have been obliged to make out of neceffity, as being defirous to expofe the vanity of thofe that profefs to write hiftories; and I fuppofe I have fufficiently declared that this cuftom of tranfmitting down the hiftories of ancient times hath been better preferved by thofe nations which are called Barbarians, than by the Greeks themselves. I am now willing, in the next place, to fay a few things to thofe that endeavour to prove that our conftitution is but of late time, for this reafon, as they pretend, that the Greek writers have faid nothing about us; after which I fhall produce teftimonies for our antiquity out of the writings of foreigners: I fhall alfo demonftrate that fuch as caft reproaches upon our nation do it very unjustly.

12. As for ourselves, therefore, we neither inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, nor in fuch a mixture with other men as arifes from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the fea, and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains in cultivating that only. Our principal care of all is this, to educate our children well; and we think it to be the most neceffary bufinefs of our whole life, to obferve the laws that have been given us, and to keep thofe rules of piety that have been delivered down to us. Since, therefore, befides what we have already taken notice of, we have had a peculiar way of living of our own, there was no occafion offered us in ancient ages for intermixing among the Greeks, as they had for mixing among the Egyptians, by their intercourfe of exporting and importing their feveral goods; as they alfo mixed with the Phenicians, who lived by the fea-fide, by means of their love of lucre in trade and merchandife. Nor did our forefathers betake themfelves, as did fome others, to robbery ; nor did they, in order to gain more wealth, fall into foreign wars, although our country contained many ten thoufands of men of courage fufficient for that purpose. For this reafon it was that the Phenicians themfelves came foon by trading and navigation to be known to the Grecians, and by their means the Egyptians became known to the Grecians alfo, as did all thofe people whence the Phenicians in long voyages over the feas carried wares to the Gre

cians. The Medes alfo and the Perfians, when cos, that is, lords of Afia, became well known to them; and this wto the facially true of the Perfians, who led their armies as far as acother continent, [Europe]. The Thracians were also knowled to them by the nearness of their countries; and the Scythians by the means of thofe that failed to Pontus; for it was fo in general that all maritime nations, and those that inhabited near the eastern or western feas, became most known to thofe that were defirous to be writers; but fuch as had their habitations farther from the fea were for the most part unknown to them: Which things appear to have happened as to Europe alfo, where the city of Rome, that hath this long time been poffefled of fo much power, and hath performed fuch great actions in war, is yet never mentioned by Herodotus, nor by Thucydides, nor by any one of their contemporaries; and it was very late, and with great difficulty, that the Romans became known to the Greeks. Nay, thofe that were reckoned the moft exact hiftorians, and Ephorus for one, were fo very ignorant of the Gauls and the Spaniards, that he fuppofed the Spaniards, who inhabit so great a part of the western regions of the earth, to be no more than one city. Those hiftorians also have ventured to describe such customs as were made use of by them, which they never had either done or faid; and the reason why thele writers did not know the truth of their affairs, was this, that they had not any commerce together; but the reason why they wrote fuch falfities was this, that they had a mind to appear to know things which others had not known. How can it then be any wonder, if our nation was no more known to many of the Greeks, nor had given them any occafion to mention them in their writings, while they were fo remote from the fea, and had a conduct of life fo peculiar to themselves.

13. Let us now put the cafe, therefore, that we made ufe of this argument concerning the Grecians, in order to prove that their nation was not ancient, because nothing is faid of them in our records; would not they laugh at us all, and probably give the fame reasons for our filence that I have now alleged, and would produce their neighbour nations as witneffes to their own antiquity? Now the very fame thing will I endeavour to do; for I will bring the Egyptians and the Phenicians as my principal witneffes, becaufe nobody can complain of their teftimony as falfe, on account that they are known to have borne the greateft ill-will towards us: I mean this as to the Egyptians in general all of them, while of the Phenicians it is known the Tyrians have been moft of all in the fame ill difpofition towards us: Yet do I confess that I cannot fay the fame of the Chaldeans, fince our first leaders and ancestors were derived from them, and they do make mention of us Jews in their records, on account of the kindred there is between us. Now, when I fhall have made my affertions good, so far VOL. III.

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of Egypt that he was a captive*, and afterward fent for his brethren into Egypt by the king's permiffion. But as for thefe matters, I fhall make a more exact inquiry about them elfewhere t.

15. But now I fhall produce the Egyptians as witneffes to the antiquity of our nation. I fhall therefore here bring in Manetho again, and what he writes as to the order of the times in this cafe And thus he fpeaks: "When this people or fhepherds were gone out of Egypt to Jerufalem, Tethmofis the king of Egypt, who drove them out, reigned afterward twenty-five years and four months, and then died: After him his fon Chebron took the kingdom for thirteen years; after whom came Amenophis, for twenty years and feven months; then came his fifter Ameffes, for twenty-one years and nine months; after her came Mephres, for twelve years and nine months; after him was Mephramuthofis, for twenty-five years and ten months; after him was Thmofis, for nine years and eight months; after him came Amenophis, for thirty years. and ten months; after him came Orus, for thirty-fix years and five months; then came is daughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month; then was her brother Rathotis, for nine years; then was Acencheres, for twelve years and five months; then came another Acencheres, tor twelve years and three months; after him Armais, for four years and one month; after him was Rameffes, for one year and four months; after him came Armeffes Miammoun, for fixty years and two months; after him Amenophis, for nineteen years and fix months; after him came Sethofis and Rameffes, who had an army of horfe, and a naval force. This king appointed his brother Armais, to be his deputy over Egypt. [In another copy it flood thus: After him came Sethofis and Rameffes, two brethren, the former of which had a naval force, and in an hoftile manner destroyed those that met him upon the fea; but as he flew Rameffes in no long time afterward, fo he appointed another of his brethren to be his deputy over Egypt.] He allo gave him all the other authority of a king, but with thefe only injunctions, that he fhould not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the Queen, the mother of his children, and that he should not meddle with the other concubines of the king; while he made an expedition against Cyprus, and Phenicia, and befides against the Affyrians and the Medes. He then fubdued them all, fome by his arms, fome without fighting, and fome by the terror of his great army; and being puff. ed up by the great fucceffes he had had, he went ftill on the more boldly, and over threw the cities and countries that lay in the eastern parts. But after fome confiderable time, Arma

* In our copies of the book of Genefis and of Jofephus, this Jofeph never calls himself a captive, when he was with the king of Egypt, though he does call himself a fervant, a slave, or a captive, many times in the Teftament of the twelve Patriarchs, under joseph, sec. 1, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16.

+ This is now wanting.

is, who was left in Egypt, did all thofe very things, by way of oppofition, which his brother had forbid him to do, without fear; for he uled violence to the Queen, and continued to make ufe of the rest of the concubines, without sparing any of them: Nay, at the perfuafion of his friends he put on the diadem, and fet up to oppofe his brother. But then, he who was fet over the priests of Egypt, wrote letters to Sethos, and informed him of all that had happened, and how his brother had fet up to oppofe him: He therefore returned back to Pelufium immediately, and recovered his kingdom again. The country alfo was called from his name Egypt; for Manetho fays that Setholis was himfelt called Egyptus, as was his brother Armais called Danaus."

And evident it is from the

16. This is Manetho's account. number of years by him fet down belonging to this interval, if they be fummed up together that thele thepherds, as they are here called, who were no other than our forefathers, were delivered out of Egypt, and came thence, and inhabited this country, three hundred and ninety-three years before Danaus came to Argos; although the Argives look upon him as their moft ancient king. Manetho, therefore, bears this teftimony to two points of the greatest confequence to our purpose, and thofe from the Egyptian records themfelves. In the first place, that we came out of another country into Egypt; and that withal our deliverance out of it was fo ancient in time, as to have preceded the fiege of Troy almost a thousand years;† but then, as to thofe things which Manetho adds, not from the Egyptian records, but, as he confeffes himfelf from fome ftories of an uncertain original, I will difapprove them hereafter particularly, and fhall demonftrate that they are no better than incredible fables.

17. I will now, therefore, pals from thefe records, and come to those that belong to the Phenicians, and concern our nation and fhall produce atteftations to what I have faid out of them. There are then records among the Tyrians, that take in the hiftory of many years, and thefe are public writings, and are kept with great exactnefs, and includes accounts of the facts done among them, and fuch as concern their tranfaétions with o

Of this Egyptian chronology of Manetho, as mistaken by Josephus, and of thefe Phenician fhepherds, as faitely fuppofed by him, and others after him, to -have been the Ifraelites in Egypt, fee Ellay on the Old Teitament, Appendix, page :82-1S8. And note here, that when Jofephus tells us that the Greeks or Argives looked on this Danaus as aparatos, a most ancient, or the most ancient king of Argos, he need not be supposed to mean, in the strictest sense, that they had no one king fo ancient as he; for it is certain that they owned nine kings before him, and Inachus at the head of them. See Authentic Records, part II. page 983, as Jofephus could not but know very well; but that he was efteemed as very ancient by them, and that they knew they had been first of all denominate i Danai from this very ancient king Danaus. Nor does this fuperlative degree always imply the moft ancient of all without exception, but is sometimes to be rendered very ancient only as is the cafe in the like fuperlative degrees of other words allo.

+ See the preceding note,

ther nations alfo, thofe I mean which were worth remembering. Therein it was recorded, that the temple was built by king Solomon at Jerufalem, one hundred forty-three years and eight months before the Tyrians built Carthage; and in their annals the building of our temple is related: For Hirom, the king of Tyre, was the friend of Solomon our king and had fuch friendship tranfmitted down to him from his forefathers. He thereupon was ambitious to contribute to the splendour of this edifice of Solomon's and made him a present of one bundred and twenty talents of gold. He alfo cut down the mof excellent timber out of that mountain which is called Libanus, and fent it to him for adorning the roof. Solomon alfo not only made him many other prefents, by way of requital, but gave him country in Galilee alfo, that was called Chabulon.* But there was another paffion, a philofophic inclination of theirs, which cemented the friendship that was betwixt them; for they fent mutual problems to one another, with a defire to have them unriddled by each other; wherein Solo. mon was fuperior to Hirom, as he was wifer than he in other refpecs: And many of the epiftles that paffed between them are ftill preferved among the Tyrians. Now that this may not depend on my bare word, I will produce for a witnefs Dius, one that is believed to have written the Phenician hifto. ry after an accurate manner. This Dius, therefore, writes thus, in his hiftories of the Phenicians: "Upon the death of Abibalus, his fon Hirom took the kingdom. This king raifed banks at the eaftern parts of the city, and enlarged it; he alfo joined the temple of Jupiter Olympus, which flood be fore in an illand by itself, to the city, by railing a causeway between them, and adorned that temple with donations of gold. He moreover went up to Libanus, and had timber cut down for the building of the temples. They fay farther, that Solomon, when he was king of Jerufalem, fent problems to Hirom to be folved, and defired he would fend others back for him to folve, and that he who could not folve the problems propo fed to him, fhould pay money to him that folved them. And when Hirom had agreed to the propofals, but was not able to folve the problems, he was obliged to pay a great deal of mo. ney, as a penalty for the fame. As alfo they relate, that one Abdemon, a man of Tyre, did folve the problems, and propofe others which Solomon could not folve, upon which he was obliged to repay a great deal of money to Hirom." Thefe things are attefted to by Dius, and confirm what we have faid upon the fame fubjects before.

18. And now I shall add Menander, the Ephefian, as an additional witness. This Menander wrote the acts that were done both by the Greeks and Barbarians, under every one of the Tyrian kings, and had taken much pains to learn their history. out of their own records. Now, when he was writing abou • 1 Kings ix, 13.

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