"
FROM MANETHO RESPECTING THE ISRAELITES.
FROM MANETHO RESPECTING THE ISRAELITES.
Tacitus
They likewise suggested to him, that the ancestors of
the Jews were driven out of Egypt as impious and hateful to the Gods.
For their bodies being overspread and infected with the itch and
leprosy, they brought them together into one place by way of expiation,
and as profane and wicked wretches expelled them from their coasts.
Those too that were thus expelled seated themselves about Jerusalem,
and being afterwards embodied into one nation, called the nation of
the Jews, their hatred of all other men descended with their blood to
posterity. Hence they made strange laws, entirely different from those
of other nations. In consequence of this, they will neither eat nor
drink with any one of a different nation, nor wish him any prosperity.
For, say they, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, having subdued the Jews,
entered into the temple of God, into which by their law no one was
permitted to enter but the priest. Here, when he found the image of a
man with a long beard carved in stone sitting on an ass, he conceived
it to be Moses who built Jerusalem, established the nation, and made all
their impious customs and practises legal: for these abound in hatred
and enmity to all other men. Antiochus, therefore, abhorring this
{50}
their contrariety to all other nations, used his utmost endeavour to
abrogate their laws. In order to effect this, he sacrificed a large hog
at the image of Moses and at the altar of God that stood in the outward
court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded
likewise that the sacred books, whereby they were taught to hate all
other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the hog's
flesh. And he extinguished the lamp called by them immortal, which was
continually burning in the temple. Lastly, he compelled the high priest
and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh. Afterwards, when Antiochus and
his friends had deliberately considered these things, they urged him to
root out the whole nation, or at least to abrogate their laws and compel
them to change their former mode of conducting themselves in common
life. But the king being generous and of a mild disposition, received
hostages and pardoned the Jews. He demolished, however, the walls of
Jerusalem, and took the tribute that was due.
"
FROM MANETHO RESPECTING THE ISRAELITES.
"While such was the state of things in Ethiopia, the people of
Jerusalem, having come down with the defiled of the Egyptians, treated
the inhabitants in such an unholy manner, that those who witnessed
{51}
their impieties, believed that their joint sway was more execrable than
that which the shepherds had formerly exercised. For they not only set
fire to the cities and villages, but committed every kind of sacrilege,
and destroyed the images of the gods, and roasted and fed upon those
sacred animals that were worshipped; and having compelled the priests
and prophets to kill and sacrifice them, they cast them naked out of the
country. It is said also that the priest who ordained their polity and
laws was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osons the
god of Heliopolis; but that when he went over to these people, his name
was changed, and he was called Moÿses. "
Manetho again says: "After this, Amenophis returned from Ethiopia with
a great force, and Rampses also his son with other forces; and
encountering the shepherds and defiled people, they defeated and slew
multitudes of them, add pursued them to the bounds of Syria. "--Joseph
contn App. lib. i. cap. 26, & 27.
"Cherilus also, a still more ancient writer [than Herodotus], and a
poet, makes mention of our nation, and informs us that it came to the
assistance of king Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. For in his
enumeration of all those nations, he last of
{52}
all inserts ours among the rest, when he says: "At the last, there
passed over a people wonderful to behold; for they spake the Phoenician
tongue, and dwelt in the Solymæan mountains, near a broad lake. Their
heads were sooty; they had round rasures on them; their heads and
faces were like nasty horse heads, also, that had been hardened in the
smoke. "--Whiston's Josephus, vol. iv. p.
the Jews were driven out of Egypt as impious and hateful to the Gods.
For their bodies being overspread and infected with the itch and
leprosy, they brought them together into one place by way of expiation,
and as profane and wicked wretches expelled them from their coasts.
Those too that were thus expelled seated themselves about Jerusalem,
and being afterwards embodied into one nation, called the nation of
the Jews, their hatred of all other men descended with their blood to
posterity. Hence they made strange laws, entirely different from those
of other nations. In consequence of this, they will neither eat nor
drink with any one of a different nation, nor wish him any prosperity.
For, say they, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, having subdued the Jews,
entered into the temple of God, into which by their law no one was
permitted to enter but the priest. Here, when he found the image of a
man with a long beard carved in stone sitting on an ass, he conceived
it to be Moses who built Jerusalem, established the nation, and made all
their impious customs and practises legal: for these abound in hatred
and enmity to all other men. Antiochus, therefore, abhorring this
{50}
their contrariety to all other nations, used his utmost endeavour to
abrogate their laws. In order to effect this, he sacrificed a large hog
at the image of Moses and at the altar of God that stood in the outward
court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded
likewise that the sacred books, whereby they were taught to hate all
other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the hog's
flesh. And he extinguished the lamp called by them immortal, which was
continually burning in the temple. Lastly, he compelled the high priest
and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh. Afterwards, when Antiochus and
his friends had deliberately considered these things, they urged him to
root out the whole nation, or at least to abrogate their laws and compel
them to change their former mode of conducting themselves in common
life. But the king being generous and of a mild disposition, received
hostages and pardoned the Jews. He demolished, however, the walls of
Jerusalem, and took the tribute that was due.
"
FROM MANETHO RESPECTING THE ISRAELITES.
"While such was the state of things in Ethiopia, the people of
Jerusalem, having come down with the defiled of the Egyptians, treated
the inhabitants in such an unholy manner, that those who witnessed
{51}
their impieties, believed that their joint sway was more execrable than
that which the shepherds had formerly exercised. For they not only set
fire to the cities and villages, but committed every kind of sacrilege,
and destroyed the images of the gods, and roasted and fed upon those
sacred animals that were worshipped; and having compelled the priests
and prophets to kill and sacrifice them, they cast them naked out of the
country. It is said also that the priest who ordained their polity and
laws was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osons the
god of Heliopolis; but that when he went over to these people, his name
was changed, and he was called Moÿses. "
Manetho again says: "After this, Amenophis returned from Ethiopia with
a great force, and Rampses also his son with other forces; and
encountering the shepherds and defiled people, they defeated and slew
multitudes of them, add pursued them to the bounds of Syria. "--Joseph
contn App. lib. i. cap. 26, & 27.
"Cherilus also, a still more ancient writer [than Herodotus], and a
poet, makes mention of our nation, and informs us that it came to the
assistance of king Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. For in his
enumeration of all those nations, he last of
{52}
all inserts ours among the rest, when he says: "At the last, there
passed over a people wonderful to behold; for they spake the Phoenician
tongue, and dwelt in the Solymæan mountains, near a broad lake. Their
heads were sooty; they had round rasures on them; their heads and
faces were like nasty horse heads, also, that had been hardened in the
smoke. "--Whiston's Josephus, vol. iv. p.
