their substance brought into the king's treasury. And such was the import of this epistle. Now the number of those that came out of captivity to Jerusalem, were forty-two thousand four hundred and sixty-two.

CHAP. II.

OF THE OPPOSITION WHICH THE JEWS EXPERIENCED FROM THE CUTHEANS, AND THE NEIGHBOURING GOVERNORS; OF THE COMMAND OF CAMBYSES TO STOP THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.

WHEN the foundations of the temple were laying, and when the Jews were zealous about building it, the neighbouring nations, and especially the Cutheans, whom Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, had brought out of Persia and Media, and had planted in Samaria, when he carried the people of Israel captive; besought the governors, and those that had the care of such affairs, that they would interrupt the Jews, both in the rebuilding of their city, and in the building their temple. Now as these men were corrupted with money, they sold the Cutheans their interest for rendering this building a slow and careless work. For Cyrus, who was busy about other wars knew nothing of all this; and it so happened that when he had led his army against the Massagetæ,* he ended his life.† But

*

Josephus here follows Herodotus, and those that related how Cyrus made war with the Scythians and Massagetes, near the Caspian Sea, and perished in it. Of whom Strabo speaks, XI page 307, to whom yet he gives little credit. While Xenophon's account, which appears never to have been seen by Josephus, that Cyrus died in peace in his own country of Persia, corroborated by the writers of the affairs of Alexander the Great; when they agree, that he found Cyrus's sepulchre or Pasargada near Persepolis. This account of Xenophon's is also strongly confirmed by the circumstances of Cambyses, upon his succession to Cyrus; who instead of a war to avenge his father's death upon the Scythians and Massagetes, and to prevent those nations from over-running his northern provinces; which would have been the natural consequence of his father's ill success and death there; went immediately to an Egyptian war, long ago begun by Cyrus, according to Xenophon, page 644, and conquered that kingdom. Nor is there, that I ever heard of, the least mention in the reign of this Cambyses of any war against the Scythians or Massagetes that he was ever engaged in. Nor, by the way, is this Cambyses any other than that Artashashta, which our canonical Ezra names in this place, iv. 5, &c.

+ It is generally agreed by historians, that Cyrus was much about seventy years old when he died; but then they widely differ among themselves as to the manner

when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, had taken the kingdom, the governors in Syria, and Phoenicia, and in the countries of Ammon and Moab, and Samaria, wrote an epistle to Cambyses, whose contents were as follows:

"To our lord Cambyses; we thy servants, Rathumus the historiographer, and Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are thy judges in Syria and Phoenicia, greeting. It is fit, O king! that thou shouldst know, that those Jews who where carried to Babylon, are come into our country; and are building that rebellious and wicked city, and its market-places, and setting up its walls, and raising up the temple. Know therefore, that when these things are finished, they will not be willing to pay tribute, nor will they submit to thy commands; but will resist kings, and will choose rather to rule over others, than be ruled over themselves. We therefore thought it proper to write to thee, O king, while the works about the temple are going on so fast, and not to overlook this matter; that thou mayest search into the books of thy fathers; for thou wilt find in them, that the Jews have been rebels, and enemies to kings: as hath their city been also: which, for that reason, hath been till now laid waste. We thought proper also to inform thee of this matter, because thou mayest otherwise perhaps be ignorant that if this city be once inhabited, and entirely encompassed with walls, thou wilt be excluded from thy passage to Cœlesyria and Phoenicia."

When Cambyses had read the epistle, being naturally wicked, he was irritated at what they told him; and wrote back to them as follows:

of his death. Some say, that he was taken in an engagement, and hanged; others that he died of a wound which he received in his thigh; and others, that he was killed in a battle with the people of Samos. Herodotus, Justin, and Valerius Maximus relate, that, in his war against the Scythians, falling into an ambush which Queen Tomyris had laid for him, he was taken prisoner, and, with insult enough, had his head cut off by her order; but Xenophon's account is,—that he died peaceably in his bed, amidst his friends, and in his own country; as, indeed, there is little reason to think, either that so wise a man as Cyrus should, in his advanced years, engage in so desperate an undertaking as this Scythian expedition is represented on all hands, or that, had he died in Scythia, his mangled body could have ever been got out of the hands of these barbarians to be buried at Pasargada in Persia, as most authors agree it was, and where his monument was to be seen in the time of Alexander the Great. Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Cyrus; and Prideaux's Connection, anno 530. B.

manner.

"Cambyses the king, to Rathumus the historiographer, to Beeltethmus, to Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are in commission, and dwelling in Samaria and Phoenicia, after this I have read the epistle that was sent from you; and I gave order that the books of my forefathers should be searched into. And it is there found, that this city hath always been an enemy to kings: and its inhabitants have raised seditions and wars. We also are sensible that their kings have been powerful, and tyrannical, and have exacted tribute of Cœlesyria and Phoenicia. Wherefore I give order, that the Jews shall not be permitted to build that city; lest such mischief as they used to bring upon kings, be greatly augmented." When this epistle was read, Rathumus, and Semellius the scribe, and their associates, got suddenly on horse-back, and made haste to Jerusalem; they also brought a great company with them, and forbade the Jews to build the city and the temple. Accordingly these works were hindered from going on till the second year of the reign of Darius; for nine more years. For Cambyses reigned seven years; and within that time overthrew Egypt; and when he was come back, he died at Damascus.

CHAP. III.

OF THE ELEVATION OF DARIUS TO THE THRONE OF PERSIA; THE SUPERIORITY OF ZOROBABEL IN THE solution of PROBLEMS; AND THE PERMISSION WHICH HE ATTAINED FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.

AFTER the slaughter of the Magi,† who, upon the death of Cambyses, retained the government of the Persians for a year those families which were called the seven families of the Persians appointed Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to be their king.

* Cambyses reigned, according to the canon of Ptolemy, including the seven months of the Magi, eight years. Josephus gives here Cambyses but six years, and the Magi one year; seven in all. I suppose Ptolemy's canon to be the true number; though the difference between that account and Josephus's, is no more than a single year.

+ An. 522.

Now he, while he was a private man, had made a vow to God, that if he came to be king, he would send all the vessels of God that were in Babylon to the temple at Jerusalem. Now it so fell out, that about this time Zorobabel, who had been made governor of the Jews that had been in captivity, came to Darius, from Jerusalem; for there had been an old friendship between him and the king. He was also, with two others, thought worthy to be guards of the king's body; and obtained that honour which he hoped for.

Now in the first year of the king's reign, Darius feasted those that were about him, and those born in his house, with the rulers of the Medes, and princes of the Persians, and the toparchs of India and Ethiopia, and the generals of the armies, of his hundred and twenty-seven provinces. But when they had eaten and drank abundantly, they every one departed to their own houses. And Darius the king went to bed. But after he had rested a little part of the night, he awoke, and not being able to sleep any more, he fell into conversation with the three guards of his body; and promised that to him who should make an oration, about points that he should inquire of, such as should be most agreeable to truth, and to the dictates of wisdom, he would grant it as a reward of his victory, to put on a purple garment, to drink in cups of gold, to sleep upon gold, and to have a chariot with bridles of gold, and a head tire of fine linen, and a chain of gold about his neck, and to set next to himself, on account of his wisdom, and to be called his cousin. Now when he had promised to give them these gifts, he asked the first of them, whether wine were not the strongest? the second, whether kings were not such? and the third, whether women were not such? or whether truth were not rather the strongest of all? When he had proposed that they should make their inquiries about these problems, he went to rest. But in the morning he sent for his great men, his princes, and toparchs of Persia and Media; and set himself down in the place where he used to give audience; and bade each of his body guards to declare what they thought proper concerning the proposed questions, in the hearing of them all.

Accordingly the first of them began to speak of the strength of wine; and demonstrated it thus: "When," said he, "I am to give my opinion of wine, O ye men, I find that it exceeds VOL. II. G g

every thing by the following indications. It deceives the mind of those that drink it, and reduces that of the king to the same state with that of the orphan, and he who stands in need of a tutor; and erects that of the slave to the boldness of him that is free, and that of the needy becomes like that of the rich man. For it changes and renews the souls of men, when it gets into them and it quenches the sorrow of those that are under calamities, and makes men forget the debts they owe to others, and makes them think themselves to be of all men the richest ; it makes them talk of no small things, but of talents, and such other names, as become wealthy men only. Nay, more, it makes them insensible of their commanders, and of their kings, and takes away the remembrance of their friends and companions. For it arms men even against those that are dearest to them, and makes them appear the greatest strangers to them. And when they are become sober, and they have slept out their wine in the night, they arise without knowing any thing they have done in their cups. I take these for signs of power, and by them discover that wine is the strongest, and most insuperable of all things."

As soon as the first had given the aforementioned demonstrations of the strength of wine; the next to him began to speak about the strength of a king, and demonstrated that he was the strongest of all, and more powerful than any thing else, that appears to have any force or wisdom. "They are men,” said he, "who govern all things: they force the earth and the sea to become profitable to them, in what they desire: and over these men do kings rule: and over them they have authority. Now those who rule over that animal which is of all the strongest, and most powerful, must needs deserve to be esteemed insuperable in power and force. For example, when kings command their subjects to make wars and undergo dangers, they are hearkened to: and when they send them against their enemies, their power is so great, that they are obeyed. They command men to level mountains, and to pull down walls and towers: nay, when they are commanded to be killed, and to kill, they submit to it; that they may not appear to transgress the king's commands. And when they have conquered, they bring what they have gained in the war to the king. Those also who are not soldiers, but cultivate the ground, after they have endured the la