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with their ankles bound and cast out unburied in the squares; or, as far as I know, from Tobit? concerning whom we ought to have known, that the Hebrews do not use Tobit, nor Judith; for they do not even have them in Hebrew among the apocrypha; as we have learned from them themselves. But since the Churches use Tobit, it should be known that even in the captivity some of the captives were rich, and did well. But Tobit himself says: “Because I was mindful of God with all my soul, the Most High gave me grace and favor before Nemessarus, and I was his purveyor; and I went into Media, and I left in trust with Gabael, the brother of Gabrias, at Rages in Media, ten talents of silver.” And he adds, as a rich man: “In the days of Nemessarus I gave many alms to my brethren. I gave my bread to the hungry, and my garments to the naked; and if I saw any of my nation dead, and cast behind the wall of Nineveh, I buried him; and if king Sennacherib had slain any, when he came fleeing from Judea, I buried them secretly; for in his wrath he killed many.” And consider if this great catalogue of the good deeds of Tobit does not show great wealth and much abundance; and especially, that he adds, saying: “Perceiving that I was 11.81 sought for to be put to death, I withdrew myself for fear, and all my goods were forcibly taken away.” But also another captive, Dachiacharus the son of Ananiel, Tobit’s brother, was set over all the accounts of the kingdom of king Acherdonus, and over all the administration; and it is said, “that Dachiacharus was cupbearer, and keeper of the signet, and steward, and overseer of the accounts.” And Mordecai, too, was in the king’s court, and had such boldness before him, as to be enrolled among the benefactors of Artaxerxes. And further, in Ezra: Nehemiah, the king's cupbearer and his eunuch, a Hebrew by race, asked concerning the building of the temple, and obtained his request; so that he was permitted to go with many others to restore the temple. What is so wonderful, then, that a garden, and a house, and a possession belonged to a certain Joachim, whether it was luxurious or modest? For such a thing is not clearly stated in the Scripture. But you say: “How could they judge concerning death while they were in captivity?” I do not know why you doubt, on account of the homonymy of Joachim, that Susanna was the king's wife. But it must be said that it is not at all strange that, when great nations have become subject, the captives should be permitted by the king to use their own laws and courts. And so now, when the Romans rule, and the Jews pay the two-drachma tax to them, we who have experience know how much power their ethnarch has among them by Caesar's 11.84 permission, so that it differs in nothing from the rule of a king of the nation. And trials are also held secretly according to the law, and some are condemned to death; not with full license for this, nor yet without the ruler's knowledge; and this we have learned and have been fully informed of, having spent much time in the country of that nation. And yet under the Romans, only two tribes are recorded, those of Judah and Benjamin; and let there be also the Levitical. But Israel, apart from the people of Judah, were ten tribes; and it is likely that the Assyrians, being content to have them as subjects, permitted them their own courts of justice. I also found this in your letter in these very words: “And above all, when so many prophets have gone before, and of those who followed, no one has used the expressed thought of another; for their word, being true, was not impoverished; but this one, threatening one of them, reminds you of the Lord saying: ‘The innocent and righteous you shall not kill;’” and I was amazed how, having spent much time in the examinations and study of Scripture, you have not observed prophets using the words of other prophets, almost in the same words. For who, even of the many faithful, does not know what is written in Isaiah: “It shall be in the

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Ἠστραγαλωμένοι καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἄταφοι ῥιπτούμενοι· ἢ, ὅσον ἐπ' ἐμῇ γνώσει, ἀπὸ τοῦ Τωβία; περὶ οὗ ἡμᾶς ἐχρῆν ἐγνωκέναι, ὅτι Ἑβραῖοι τῷ Τωβίᾳ οὐ χρῶνται, οὐδὲ τῇ Ἰουδήθ· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ ἐν ἀποκρύφοις ἑβραϊστί· ὡς ἀπ' αὐτῶν μαθόντες ἐγνώκαμεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ χρῶνται τῷ Τωβίᾳ αἱ Ἐκκλησίαι, ἰστέον, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τινὲς τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐπλούτουν, καὶ εὖ ἔπραττον. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Τω- βίας φησί· «Καθότι ἐμεμνήμην τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ μου, καὶ ἔδωκεν ὁ Ὕψιστος χάριν καὶ μορφὴν ἐνώπιον Νεμεσσάρου, καὶ ἤμην αὐτοῦ ἀγοραστής· καὶ ἐπορευόμην εἰς τὴν Μηδίαν, καὶ παρεθέμην Γαβαήλῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Γαβρία ἐν Ῥάγοις τῆς Μηδίας ἀργυρίου τάλαντα δέκα.» Καὶ ἐπιφέρει ὡς πλούσιος τό· «Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Νεμεσ- σάρου ἐλεημοσύνας πολλὰς ἐποίησα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου. Τοὺς ἄρτους μου ἐδίδουν πεινῶσι καὶ ἱμάτια τοῖς γυμνοῖς· καὶ εἴ τινα ἐκ τοῦ γένους ἑώρων τεθνηκότα καὶ ἐῤῥιμμένον ὀπίσω τοῦ τείχους Νινευῒ, ἔθαπτον αὐτόν· καὶ εἴ τινα ἀπέκτεινε Σενα- χηρεὶμ βασιλεὺς, ὅτε ἦλθε φεύγων ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἔθαψα αὐτοὺς κλέπτων· πολλοὺς γὰρ ἐπέκτεινεν ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ κατανόει εἴ γε μὴ πολὺν πλοῦτον ἐμφαίνει καὶ πολλὴν περιουσίαν ὁ κατάλογος ὁ τοσοῦτος τῶν εὐποιῶν τοῦ Τωβία· καὶ μάλιστα, ὅτι ἐπιφέρει λέγων τό· «Ἐπιγνοὺς, ὅτι ζη 11.81 τοῦμαι ἀποθανεῖν, φοβηθεὶς ἀνεχώρησα, καὶ διηρπάγη πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου.» Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερος αἰχμάλωτος ∆αχιάχαρος ὁ τοῦ Ἀνανιὴλ υἱὸς ἀδελφοῦ Τωβία ἐπὶ πᾶσαν κατεστάθη τὴν λογιστείαν τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀχερδόνος, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν διοίκησιν· καὶ λέγεται, «ὅτι ἦν ὁ ∆αχιάχαρος οἰνοχόος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δακτυλίου, καὶ διοικητὴς, καὶ ἐκλογιστής.» Καὶ ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος δὲ περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν διέτριβε τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τοσαύτην εἶχε παῤῥησίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν, ὥστε καὶ ἐν εὐεργέταις ἀναγεγράφθαι τοῦ Ἀρταξέρξου. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἔσδρᾳ· Νεεμίας οἰνοχόος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ εὐνοῦχος αὐτοῦ, Ἑβραῖος τῷ γένει, ᾐτήσατο τὰ περὶ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τοῦ ναοῦ, καὶ ἔτυχεν· ὥστε μετὰ πλειόνων ἐπιτραπῆναι ἀπελθεῖν ἀνορθῶσαι τὸν ναόν. Τί οὖν θαυμαστὸν τὸ, παράδεισον, καὶ οἰκίαν, καὶ κτῆμα γεγονέναι τινὸς Ἰωακεὶμ, εἴτε πολυτελὴς εἴτε καὶ μετρία ἦν; Οὐ γὰρ σαφῶς δηλοῦται ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς τὸ τοιοῦτον. Ἀλλὰ φῄς· «Πῶς περὶ θανάτου ἔκρινον ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τυγχάνοντες;» οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν ἀμφιβάλλων τὸ βασιλέως εἶναι γυναῖκα, διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν τοῦ Ἰωακεὶμ, τὴν Σωσάνναν. Λεκτέον δ', ὅτι οὐδὲν παράδοξον, μεγάλων ἐθνῶν ὑποχειρίων γενομένων, πρὸς βασιλέως συγκεχωρῆσθαι τοῖς οἰκείοις νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους καὶ τοῖς δικαστηρίοις. Καὶ νῦν γοῦν Ῥωμαίων βασιλευόντων, καὶ Ἰουδαίων τὸ δίδραχμον αὐτοῖς τελούντων, ὅσα συγχωροῦντος Καίσαρος 11.84 ὁ ἐθνάρχης παρ' αὐτοῖς δύναται, ὡς μηδὲν διαφέρειν βασιλεύοντος τοῦ ἔθνους, ἴσμεν οἱ πεπειραμένοι. Γίνεται δὲ καὶ κριτήρια λεληθότως κατὰ τὸν νόμον, καὶ καταδικάζονταί τινες τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ· οὔτε μετὰ τῆς πάντη εἰς τοῦτο παῤῥησίας, οὔτε μετὰ τοῦ λανθάνειν τὸν βασιλεύοντα· καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τοῦ ἔθνους πολὺν διατρίψαντες χρόνον μεμαθήκαμεν καὶ πεπληροφορήμεθα. Καί τοι γε ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίοις δύο φυλαὶ μόναι εἶναι ἱστόρηνται, ἥ τε Ἰούδα καὶ Βενιαμίν· ἔστω δὲ καὶ Λευϊτική. Ὁ δὲ, παρὰ τὸν λαὸν Ἰούδα, Ἰσραὴλ, δέκα ἦσαν φυλαί· καὶ εἰκὸς, ἀρκεσθέντας τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τῷ ὑποχειρίους αὐτοὺς ἔχειν, ἐπιτετραφέναι αὐτοῖς τὰ οἰκεῖα δικαστήρια. Εὗρόν σου ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ καὶ τοῦτο αὐταῖς λέξεσι τό· «Ἐπὶ δὲ πᾶσι, τοσούτων προωδοιπορηκότων προφητῶν, τῶν τε ἑξῆς οὐδεὶς ἕτερος ἑτέρου κέχρηται ῥητῷ νοήματι· οὐ γὰρ ἐπτώχευσεν ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ἀληθὴς ὤν· οὑτοσὶ δὲ, ἐκείνων θατέρῳ ἐπαπειλῶν ὑπομιμνήσκει σε λέγοντος τοῦ Κυρίου· Ἀθῶον καὶ δίκαιον οὐκ ἀποκτενεῖς·» καὶ ἐθαύμασα, πῶς πολλὰς διατριβὰς ἔχων ἐν ταῖς ἐξετάσεσι καὶ μελέταις τῆς Γραφῆς, οὐ τετήρηκας συγχρωμένους προφήτας προφητῶν λόγοις σχεδὸν αὐταῖς λέξεσι. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδε καὶ τῶν πολλῶν πιστῶν κείμενον ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ τό· «Ἔσται ἐν ταῖς