3

Let no one be surprised, nor let anyone blame the work or me, its father. For having compiled the histories 1.6 from many books, in many cases I would use the arrangements and phrases of those writers, and in as many cases as I myself might parody or paraphrase, I will adapt the style of my account to their character, so that the writing may not seem discordant with itself. But before the history, let what is to be narrated be stated by me rather summarily, so that those who encounter the treatise may know that they will become acquainted with many and most necessary histories. At any rate, the epitome contains the Octateuch and whatever is narrated in it, and the books of Kings are included herein, and in addition to them, the Chronicles, and whatever the Hebrew Josephus, in his antiquities, either said beyond the more ancient writers or narrated more digressively or somewhat differently from them, and the books of Ezra, and the captivities of the Hebrews, first that of the ten tribes, which was effected by the Assyrian Shalmaneser, who took Samaria by siege and captured the nation and led it away beyond the Euphrates and settled it, but resettled in Samaria certain nations which were called Cuthaeans, then also that inflicted upon Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and how the city became desolate and the temple was burned and the entire nation was enslaved, and how after seventy years, according to the predictions of the prophets, it was granted to the people by Cyrus, who had overthrown the kingdom of the Assyrians, to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the city and restore the temple; and who Cyrus was, and how he destroyed the kingdom of the Assyrians, and who held the kingdom after him; and how 1.7 and by whom the building of the city was hindered, and by whom its rebuilding was again granted; and concerning Daniel the prophet, and how he interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and the vision of Belshazzar, when that barbarian saw the knuckle of a hand writing on the wall, and concerning some of the prophet's visions, all of which are narrated with a concise explanation; and concerning the three youths and the wonders done to them or through them by God; and concerning Esther and how she rescued the race of the Hebrews from utter destruction; and concerning Judith, who outwitted and killed Holofernes and delivered his army to destruction; and concerning Tobit, and how, having been afflicted with blindness and driven from abundance into severe poverty, he again, through good works by the providence of God, was granted to see and possessed an abundance of wealth. But also the deeds of Alexander the Macedonian are summarized here, the history having necessarily made mention of him both for other reasons and because he visited Jerusalem after the first defeat of Darius at Issus and especially honored the high priest, and how he destroyed the kingdom of the Persians and brought it under his own power, and how long a time he reigned, and how after his death his kingdom was divided into four dominions; and what things were done to the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a descendant of one of his successors; and how the Asamonaeans stood against him and freed their countrymen from his tyranny, and who these were, and how and for how long they presided over their kinsmen; and how after the return to Jerusalem from the captivity under the Assyrians 1.8 the nation of the Jews was not ruled by a king, but governed by the high priests; and that the descendants of the aforesaid Asamonaeans, holding the high-priestly honor and directing the affairs of the nation, also placed a diadem upon themselves; and how, when the brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus disputed about the Jewish kingdom, Pompey the Great, then a general of the Romans, having been called in to arbitrate for the kinsmen, both took the city of Jerusalem and subjected the nation to the Romans; and how Herod the son of Antipater after these things of the

3

θαυμαζέτω μηδεὶς μηδέ τις τὸν λόγον αἰτιῷτο η τὸν τούτου πατέρα με. ἐκ πολλῶν γὰρ βίβλων τὰς ἱστορίας 1.6 ἐρανισάμενος, εν γε πολλοῖς ταῖς τῶν συγγραφέων ἐκείνων χρησαίμην αν συνθήκαις καὶ φράσεσιν, ἐν οσοις δ' αν καὶ αὐτὸς παρῳδήσω η παραφράσω, πρὸς τὸν ἐκείνων χαρακτῆρα τὴν ἰδέαν τοῦ λόγου μοι μεθαρμόσομαι, ινα μὴ ἀσύμφωνος αὐτὴ ἑαυτῇ δοκῇ ἡ γραφή. ̓Αλλά μοι πρὸ τῆς ἱστορίας κεφαλαιωδέστερον εἰρήσθω τίνα τὰ ἱστορηθησόμενα, ιν' εἰδεῖεν οἱ τῷ συγγράμματι ἐντευξόμενοι ὡς πολλῶν τε καὶ τούτων ἀναγκαιοτάτων ἱστοριῶν ἐν εἰδήσει γενήσονται. περιέχεται γοῦν τῇ ἐπιτομῇ ἡ ̓Οκτάτευχος καὶ οσα ἐν ἐκείνῃ ἱστόρηται, καὶ τῶν Βασιλειῶν αἱ βίβλοι ταύτῃ συμπεριέχονται, καὶ ἐπ' αὐταῖς τὰ Παραλειπόμενα, καὶ οσα ὁ ̔Εβραῖος ̓Ιώσηπος ἀρχαιολογῶν η τῶν παλαιοτέρων ειπεν ἐπέκεινα η παρεκβατικώτερον η καὶ ἀλλοιότερόν τι παρ' ἐκείνους ἱστόρησε, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Εσδρα, τά τε τῶν αἰχμαλωσιῶν τῶν ̔Εβραίων, προτέρας μὲν τῆς τῶν δέκα φυλῶν, η παρὰ τοῦ ̓Ασσυρίου Σαλμανασὰρ γέγονε τὴν Σαμάρειαν ἑλόντος πολιορκίᾳ καὶ τὸ εθνος αἰχμαλωτίσαντος καὶ πέραν Εὐφράτου ἀπαγαγόντος καὶ κατοικίσαντος, εἰς δὲ Σαμάρειαν μετοικίσαντος εθνη τινὰ α Χουθαῖοι ἐπωνομάζοντο, ειτα καὶ τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐπενηνεγμένης τῇ ̔Ιερουσαλήμ, καὶ ὡς ερημος ἡ πόλις ἐγένετο καὶ ὁ ναὸς ἐνεπέπρηστο καὶ τὸ εθνος απαν ἐξηνδραπόδιστο, καὶ ὡς μετὰ ἐνιαυτοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα κατὰ τὰς προρρήσεις τῶν προφητῶν ἐκκεχώρηται τῷ λαῷ ὑπὸ Κύρου τοῦ τὴν ̓Ασσυρίων βασιλείαν καθῃρηκότος ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀνεγεῖραι καὶ ἀνακαινίσαι τὸ ἱερόν· τίς τε ην ὁ Κῦρος, καὶ οπως τὴν ̓Ασσυρίων βασιλείαν κατέλυσε, καὶ τίνες μετ' ἐκεῖνον τῆς βασιλείας ἐκράτησαν· καὶ οπως 1.7 καὶ παρὰ τίνων ἡ τῆς πόλεως ἐκωλύθη οἰκοδομή, κἀκ τίνος αυθις ἡ ταύτης ἐξεχωρήθη ἀνέγερσις· καὶ περὶ ∆ανιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ οπως εκρινε τὰ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὀνείρατα καὶ τοῦ Βαλτάσαρ τὴν ορασιν, οτ' ειδεν ὁ βάρβαρος ἐκεῖνος τῆς χειρὸς τὸν ἀστράγαλον γράφοντα ἐν τῷ τοίχῳ, καὶ περί τινων τῶν τοῦ προφήτου ὁράσεων, α πάντα μετὰ συντετμημένης ἱστόρηται ἐξηγήσεως· καὶ περὶ τῶν τριῶν παίδων καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς η δι' αὐτῶν γεγονότων ὑπὸ θεοῦ ἐξαισίων· περί τε τῆς ̓Εσθὴρ καὶ οπως τὸ τῶν ̔Εβραίων γένος πανωλεθρίας αυτη ἐρρύσατο· καὶ περὶ ̓Ιουδίθ, η τὸν ̓Ολοφέρνην κατασοφισαμένη ἀνεῖλε καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ στρατιὰν παρέδωκεν εἰς ἀπώλειαν· καὶ περὶ Τωβίτ, καὶ οπως ἀορασίᾳ πληγεὶς καὶ ἐξ εὐπορίας εἰς ἀκριβῆ πενίαν συνελαθεὶς αυθις δι' ἀγαθοεργίαν θεοῦ προνοίᾳ τετύχηκε τοῦ ὁρᾶν καὶ πλούτου δαψίλειαν εσχηκεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τοῦ Μακεδόνος ̓Αλεξάνδρου ἐνταῦθα συντέτμηνται, μνησθείσης τῆς ἱστορίας ἀναγκαίως κἀκείνου διά τε αλλα καὶ οτι τῇ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ μετὰ τὴν ἐν ̓Ισσῷ τοῦ ∆αρείου προτέραν ητταν ἐπιδεδήμηκε καὶ τὸν ἀρχιερέα διαφερόντως ἐτίμησε, καὶ οπως τὴν Περσῶν κατέλυσε βασιλείαν καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιήσατο, καὶ οσον ἐβασίλευσε χρόνον, καὶ ὡς εἰς τέσσαρας ἀρχὰς ἡ ἐκείνου βασιλεία θανόντος μεμέριστο· καὶ οσα ἐξ ̓Αντιόχου τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίοις γέγονε τοῦ ̓Επιφανοῦς, τῶνἐκείνου διαδόχων ἑνὸς ἀπογόνου τυγχάνοντος· καὶ ὡς οἱ ̓Ασαμωναῖοι τούτῳ ἀντέστησαν καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τυραννίδος τοὺς ὁμοεθνεῖς ἐλυτρώσαντο, καὶ τίνες ουτοι, καὶ οπως τῶν ὁμοφύλων καὶ ἐπὶ πόσον προέστησαν· καὶ ὡς μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τῆς ὑπ' ̓Ασσυρίων εἰς τὴν ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ ἐπανέλευσιν 1.8 οὐκ ην τὸ τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων εθνος βασιλευόμενον, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἀρχόμενον· καὶ οτι οἱ τῶν εἰρημένων ̓Ασαμωναίων ἀπόγονοι τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν τιμὴν περικείμενοι καὶ τὰ τοῦ εθνους ἰθύνοντες καὶ διάδημα ἑαυτοῖς περιέθεντο· καὶ οπως ̔Υρκανοῦ καὶ ̓Αριστοβούλου τῶν ἀδελφῶν διενεχθέντων περὶ τῆς ̓Ιουδαϊκῆς βασιλείας ὁ Μάγνος Πομπήιος στρατηγῶν τότε ̔Ρωμαίων, διαιτῆσαι μετακληθεὶς τοῖς ὁμαίμοσι, τήν τε πόλιν ειλεν ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὸ εθνος τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις ὑπέταξε· καὶ οπως ̔Ηρώδης ὁ ̓Αντιπάτρου υἱὸς μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς τῶν