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he took possession of the kingdom of the Jews, and who this man was and from where he was descended and what happened in his household and until when those from him held the kingdom; and in what manner and from when governors were sent from Rome to Judaea; and what Josephus wrote about our savior Jesus Christ, and also indeed about John the Baptist; and for what reasons the Jews revolted from submitting to the Romans, and how their nation was warred upon by the Romans, and by whom Jerusalem was sacked and how, in its final and irrevocable sacking. And since the history has mentioned the Romans and Rome, it seemed necessary to me to write also about these things and to hand down from where the nation of the Romans had its origin and from what, and by whom the land of Italy was formerly inhabited; and from whence Romulus, who became the founder of Rome, was brought to light, and how Remus his brother was killed, and then how he too disappeared; and how this city was first ruled by kings, and what kind of customs and laws it used; and how Tarquinius Superbus, having transformed the kingship into a tyranny 1.9, was deposed, and how many and what kind of wars Rome bore on account of his deposition; and how their affairs were changed for the Romans into an aristocracy, then also a democracy, with consuls and dictators, then also tribunes carrying out the administration of common matters; and what the consulship was in ancient times, and what the dictatorship, and what the work of the censors was, and how much time was defined for each of these offices; and what kind of thing the triumph was among them, and from where this name was derived; and what things happened in the times of the consulships, even if not all things, for lack of books that narrate them; and how later, out of these things, the rule for the Romans changed into a monarchy; and how Gaius Julius Caesar was the first to lay claim to it, even if not completely, then, when he was assassinated on the rostrum by the champions of liberty, Augustus Octavius Caesar, being the nephew of the slain Caesar and adopted by him, pursued the murderers of his adoptive father, having also Antony joining with him in the work, but afterwards, having quarreled with him, and having conquered him in a sea battle at Actium, and then having overtaken him as he fled to Alexandria with Cleopatra, he brought the man to such a state of necessity that he dispatched himself; and how great a destruction of the Romans there was in these civil wars, first when Octavius and Antony were set against Brutus and Cassius and the other assassins of Caesar, and then when they fought against each other; and how Cleopatra the queen of Egypt, being a descendant of the Ptolemies, was taken alive, but she killed herself, as was 1.10 conjectured, by the bite of an asp; and that thus returning to Rome with splendid triumphal celebrations, Octavius laid claim to absolute power and transformed the Roman dominion into a true monarchy; and who ruled as monarch after him, and how each one came to power, and how and how long he ruled, and what kind of end of life he met with; and who, in their time, after the holy apostles, adorned the thrones of the four great churches, I mean of Rome and of Alexandria and Antioch and of Jerusalem, and how many of them were deemed worthy of a martyr's end; and how Diocletian and Maximian Herculius raged against the Christians more than the others, and how, laying aside their rule, they appointed other Caesars in their place, one of whom was Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine the Great, the rule of Gaul and Britain having been assigned to him; and how, upon his death, he made his firstborn son, this very Constantine, equal-to-the-apostles, the successor of his own rule; and how this one became monarch, having vanquished the rest, after the sign of the cross appeared to him through the stars in the heaven; and how he came over to Christ and spread the faith, giving freedom of speech to the

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̓Ιουδαίων βασιλείας ἐκράτησε, καὶ τίς ην ουτος καὶ οθεν κατήγετο καὶ οσα κατ' οικον ἐκείνῳ συμβέβηκε καὶ μέχρι τίνος οἱ ἐξ ἐκείνου τῆς βασιλείας ἐκράτησαν· κἀκ τίνος τρόπου καὶ ἐξότου ἡγεμόνες ἐκ ̔Ρώμης εἰς ̓Ιουδαίαν ἐστέλλοντο· καὶ οσα περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ ̓Ιώσηπος συνεγράψατο, ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ περὶ τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ ̓Ιωάννου· καὶ διὰ τίνας αἰτίας τοῦ τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις ὑπείκειν ̓Ιουδαῖοι ἀπέστησαν, καὶ οπως τὸ εθνος αὐτῶν ἐπολεμήθη παρὰ ̔Ρωμαίων, καὶ παρὰ τίνος ἡ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ καὶ οπως ἐξεπορθήθη τὴν τελευταίαν καὶ μὴ σχοῦσαν ἀνάκλησιν πόρθησιν. ̔Ρωμαίων δὲ καὶ τῆς ̔Ρώμης μνησθείσης τῆς ἱστορίας ἀναγκαῖόν μοι ἐνομίσθη καὶ περὶ τούτων συγγράψασθαι καὶ παραδοῦναι πόθεν τὸ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων εθνος κἀκ τίνος εσχηκε τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ παρὰ τίνων ἡ τῆς ̓Ιταλίας χώρα πρῴην κατῴκιστο· οθεν τε προήχθη ̔Ρωμύλος εἰς φῶς ὁ τῆς ̔Ρώμης γενόμενος οἰκιστής, καὶ οπως ἀνῃρέθη ̔Ρῶμος ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ, ειτα κἀκεῖνος ἐγένετο ἀφανής· καὶ οπως πρῶτον ἡ πόλις αυτη ἐβασιλεύθη, καὶ εθεσιν οιοις καὶ νομίμοις ἐχρήσατο· καὶ ὡς εἰς τυραννίδα τὴν βασιλείαν 1.9 ὁ Σούπερβος Ταρκύνιος μεταγαγὼν καθῃρέθη, καὶ οσους πολέμους καὶ οιους ἡ ̔Ρώμη διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου καθαίρεσιν ηνεγκε· καὶ ὡς εἰς ἀριστοκρατίαν, ειτα καὶ δημοκρατίαν μετηνέχθη ̔Ρωμαίοις τὰ πράγματα, ὑπάτων καὶ δικτατώρων, ειτα καὶ δημάρχων τὴν τῶν κοινῶν ποιουμένων διοίκησιν· καὶ τίς μὲν ἡ ὑπατεία τὸ παλαιὸν ην, τίς δὲ ἡ δικτατωρεία, τί δ' ην τὸ εργον τῶν τιμητῶν, καὶ πόσος ωριστο χρόνος ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἀρχῶν τουτωνί· καὶ οιος ἐγένετο παρ' ἐκείνοις ὁ θρίαμβος, καὶ οθεν παρήχθη τοῦτο τὸ ονομα· καὶ οσα ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἐγένοντο τῶν ὑπατειῶν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντα, ἐνδείᾳ βίβλων τῶν ταῦτα διηγουμένων· καὶ οπως υστερον ἐκ τούτων εἰς μοναρχίαν ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις μετέπεσε· καὶ ὡς πρῶτος ταύτης, εἰ καὶ μὴ καθαρῶς, ὁ Γάιος ̓Ιούλιος Καῖσαρ μετεποιήσατο, ειτα ἐπὶ βήματος ἀναιρεθέντος αὐτοῦ παρὰ τῶν τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐξεχομένων ὁ Αυγουστος ̓Οκτάβιος Καῖσαρ, ἀδελφιδοῦς ων τοῦ ἀνῃρημένου Καίσαρος καὶ εἰσποιηθεὶς ἐκείνῳ, τοὺς φονεῖς τοῦ θετοῦ μετῆλθε πατρός, εχων καὶ τὸν ̓Αντώνιον τοῦ εργου αὐτῷ συναιρόμενον, μετέπειτα δὲ κἀκείνῳ διενεχθείς, καὶ νικήσας ναυμαχίᾳ περὶ τὸ Ακτιον, ειτα καὶ εἰς ̓Αλεξάνδρειαν σὺν τῇ Κλεοπάτρᾳ φυγόντα ἐπικαταλαβών, εἰς τοῦτο περιέστησεν ἀνάγκης τὸν ανδρα ὡς διαχειρίσασθαι ἑαυτόν· οση τε φθορὰ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἐν τοῖς ἐμφυλίοις τούτοις πολέμοις ἐγένετο, πρότερον μὲν πρὸς Βροῦτον καὶ Κάσσιον καὶ τοὺς αλλους ἀναιρέτας τοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ ̓Οκταβίου καὶ τοῦ ̓Αντωνίου ἀντικαθισταμένων, ειτα καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους μαχεσαμένων αὐτῶν· καὶ ὡς ἐζωγρήθη μὲν ἡ Κλεοπάτρα ἡ τῆς Αἰγύπτου βασίλισσα, ουσα τῶν Πτολεμαίων ἀπόγονος, ἀνεῖλε δὲ ἑαυτὴν κἀκείνη, ὡς εἰ1.10 κάσθη, ἀσπίδος δήγματι· καὶ οτι ουτω μετ' ἐπινικίων λαμπρῶν εἰς τὴν ̔Ρώμην ἐπανελθὼν ὁ ̓Οκτάβιος τῆς αὐταρχίας ἀντεποιήσατο καὶ εἰς ἀκριβῆ μοναρχίαν τὴν τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν μετήνεγκε· καὶ τίνες μετ' αὐτὸν ἐμονάρχησαν, καὶ οπως εκαστος τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπέβη, καὶ οπως καὶ οσον ηρξε, καὶ οιῳ τέλει τῆς ζωῆς συνεκύρησε· καὶ τίνες ἐπὶ τούτων μετὰ τοὺς σεπτοὺς ἀποστόλους τοὺς θρόνους ἐκόσμησαν τῶν τεσσάρων μεγάλων ἐκκλησιῶν, τῆς ̔Ρώμης λέγω καὶ τῆς ̓Αλεξανδρείας ̓Αντιοχείας τε καὶ τῆς ̔Ιερουσαλήμ, καὶ οσοι τούτων μαρτυρικοῦ τέλους κατηξιώθησαν· οπως τε μᾶλλον τῶν αλλων κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐξελύττησαν ∆ιοκλητιανὸς καὶ Μαξιμιανὸς ὁ ̔Ερκούλιος, καὶ ὡς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποθέμενοι ἑτέρους ἀνθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐχειροτόνησαν Καίσαρας, ων εις ην Κωνστάντιος ὁ Χλωρὸς ὁ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου πατήρ, τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν Γαλλιῶν καὶ τῆς Βρεττανίας ἀπονεμηθείσης αὐτῷ· καὶ ὡς θνήσκων ἐκεῖνος τὸν πρωτότοκον υἱὸν ἑαυτοῦ, τοῦτον δὴ τὸν ἰσαπόστολον Κωνσταντῖνον, τῆς οἰκείας ἀρχῆς διάδοχον ἐποιήσατο· καὶ ὡς μόναρχος ουτος κατέστη, τοὺς λοιποὺς καταγωνισάμενος, ὀφθέντος αὐτῷ τοῦ σταυρικοῦ σημείου δι' ἀστέρων ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· καὶ ὡς προσεληλύθει Χριστῷ καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐπλάτυνε, παρρησίαν δοὺς τῷ