A Letter from Origen to Africanus.

 2.  You begin by saying, that when, in my discussion with our friend Bassus, I used the Scripture which contains the prophecy of Daniel when yet a you

 3.  And in many other of the sacred books I found sometimes more in our copies than in the Hebrew, sometimes less.  I shall adduce a few examples, sin

 4.  Again, through the whole of Job there are many passages in the Hebrew which are wanting in our copies, generally four or five verses, but sometime

 5.  In all these cases consider whether it would not be well to remember the words, “Thou shalt not remove the ancient landmarks which thy fathers hav

 6.  Let us now look at the things you find fault with in the story itself.  And here let us begin with what would probably make any one averse to rece

 7.  Moreover, I remember hearing from a learned Hebrew, said among themselves to be the son of a wise man, and to have been specially trained to succe

 8.  And I knew another Hebrew, who told about these elders such traditions as the following:  that they pretended to the Jews in captivity, who were h

 9.  But probably to this you will say, Why then is the “History” not in their Daniel, if, as you say, their wise men hand down by tradition such stori

 10.  Your next objection is, that in this writing Daniel is said to have been seized by the Spirit, and to have cried out that the sentence was unjust

 11.  Your other objections are stated, as it appears to me, somewhat irreverently, and without the becoming spirit of piety.  I cannot do better than

 12.  I had nearly forgotten an additional remark I have to make about the prino-prisein and schino-schisein Essa chos isouoth essa is Hesre aïs is ess

 13.  You raise another objection, which I give in your own words:  “Moreover, how is it that they, who were captives among the Chaldeans, lost and won

 14.  But you say, “How could they who were in captivity pass sentence of death?” asserting, I know not on what grounds, that Susanna was the wife of a

 15.  I find in your letter yet another objection in these words:  “And add, that among all the many prophets who had been before, there is no one who

 Your last objection is, that the style is different.  This I cannot see.

13.  You raise another objection, which I give in your own words:  “Moreover, how is it that they, who were captives among the Chaldeans, lost and won at play, thrown out unburied on the streets, as was prophesied of the former captivity, their sons torn from them to be eunuchs, and their daughters to be concubines, as had been prophesied; how is it that such could pass sentence of death, and that on the wife of their king Joakim, whom the king of the Babylonians had made partner of his throne?  Then, if it was not this Joakim, but some other from the common people, whence had a captive such a mansion and spacious garden?”

Where you get your “lost and won at play, and thrown out unburied on the streets,” I know not, unless it is from Tobias; and Tobias (as also Judith), we ought to notice, the Jews do not use.  They are not even found in the Hebrew Apocrypha, as I learned from the Jews themselves.  However, since the Churches use Tobias, you must know that even in the captivity some of the captives were rich and well to do.  Tobias himself says, “Because I remembered God with all my heart; and the Most High gave me grace and beauty in the eyes of Nemessarus, and I was his purveyor; and I went into Media, and left in trust with Gabael, the brother of Gabrias, at Ragi, a city of Media, ten talents of silver.”28    Tob. i. 12–14.  And he adds, as if he were a rich man, “In the days of Nemessarus I gave many alms to my brethren.  I gave my bread to the hungry, and my clothes to the naked:  and if I saw any of my nation dead, and cast outside the walls of Nineve, I buried him; and if king Senachereim had slain any when he came fleeing from Judea, I buried them privily (for in his wrath he killed many).”  Think whether this great catalogue of Tobias’s good deeds does not betoken great wealth and much property, especially when he adds, “Understanding that I was sought for to be put to death, I withdrew myself for fear, and all my goods were forcibly taken away.”29    Tob. i. 19.

And another captive, Dachiacharus, the son of Ananiel, the brother of Tobias, was set over all the exchequer of the kingdom of king Acherdon; and we read, “Now Achiacharus was cup-bearer and keeper of the signet, and steward and overseer of the accounts.”30    Tob. i. 22.

Mardochaios, too, frequented the court of the king, and had such boldness before him, that he was inscribed among the benefactors of Artaxerxes.

Again we read in Esdras, that Neemias, a cup-bearer and eunuch of the king, of Hebrew race, made a request about the rebuilding of the temple, and obtained it; so that it was granted to him, with many more, to return and build the temple again.  Why then should we wonder that one Joakim had garden, and house, and property, whether these were very expensive or only moderate, for this is not clearly told us in the writing?

Πρὸς τούτοις ἐπαπορεῖς αὐταῖς λέξεσι: «Πῶς αἰχμάλωτοι ὄντες ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι, ἠστραγαλωμένοι, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἄταφοι ῥιπτούμενοι, ὡς ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἱστόρηται, τῶν παίδων αὐτοῖς ἀποσπωμένων εἰς εὐνουχισμὸν, καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων εἰς παλλακὰς, ὡς προπεφήτευτο, οἵδε περὶ θανάτου ἔκρινον, καὶ ταῦτα τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν γενομένῃ γυναικὶ Ἰωακεὶμ, ὃν σύνθρονον πεποίητο ὁ Βαβυλώνιος βασιλεύς; Εἰ δὲ οὐχ οὗτος, ἄλλος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰωακείμ: πόθεν τοιαύτη κατάλυσις αἰχμαλώτῳ περιῆν, καὶ παράδεισος ἀμφιλαφὴς ἦν; πόθεν δὲ λαβὼν ἔλεγες τό: 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 Τωβίας 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 Νεμεσσάρου 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 Σεναχηρεὶμ 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 ζητοῦμαι ἀποθανεῖν, φοβηθεὶς ἀνεχώρησα, καὶ διηρπάγη πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου.« Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερος αἰχμάλωτος Δαχιάχαρος 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 Δαχιάχαρος 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.