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Of the same, on the pious constitution according to Moses, 8. Of Josephus, on the constitution according to Moses, 9. Of Eleazar the high priest, a sketch of the allegorical meaning in the sacred laws. From the writings of Aristeas, 10. Of Aristobulus, concerning those things called, as it were, members of God, 11. Of Philo, concerning the virtue in the life of those who of old philosophized among the Jews. From the Apology for the Jews, 12. Further concerning the same things. From 'That every good man is free', 13. Of the same, concerning God and concerning the world being created, 14. Of the same, concerning the world being governed by the providence of God

8 8.1.1 1. PROOEMIUM; AND CONCERNING THE PIOUS CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO MOSES

Having in the preceding book described the lives of the ancient Hebrews, men who truly verified their title of 'beloved of God,' crowned with the prizes of every virtue before Moses appeared, both their pious doctrines and teachings and furthermore their devout and all-true theologies, for which we have confessed to have come to a love and longing, I now proceed in due order to the constitution according to Moses, which holds a second rank of piety after that first grade, that indeed was legislated for the Jewish nation alone. 8.1.2 For we shall prove at the proper time that the ordinances of Moses were suited to the Jews alone, and no longer to the nations throughout the world, nor possible for all men, I mean for Greeks and 8.1.3 barbarians dwelling far from the land of Judaea, to observe. But for the present I shall set forth the manner of this life, I mean the life according to Moses, not in my own words, but again in those only of men approved among them for their ancestral learning; for I think it is fitting for me to furnish the testimonies for my proofs by means of the writers appropriate to each subject, in the same way as I began. 8.1.4 Just as, therefore, I summoned Phoenicians and Egyptians and Greeks, men well known among their own people, as witnesses concerning their own country, so in this way it seems to me fitting for the present occasion to introduce these men also, that we may not ourselves be thought to be improvising on foreign matters. 8.1.5 But before coming to this, how their oracles passed to the Greeks, and what was the method of the interpretation of the divine scriptures entrusted to them, and by how many and what kind of men, and through how much royal diligence their translation into the Greek language was accomplished, I think it is one of the necessary things to set forth clearly to my readers, since the exposition of these things will not be without contribution to the proof of the Preparation for the Gospel. 8.1.6 For since the life-giving proclamation of our Savior was about to shine forth to all mankind under the rule of the Romans, and no ordinary report was spreading the prophecies concerning him, and the life of the ancient God-beloved Hebrews and the lessons of their pious teaching, which had been hidden in their native tongue for a long age, were now at length to pass to all the nations to whom the knowledge of God was to be imparted; God himself, the cause of these good things, anticipating the future, as God would, with his foreknowledge, arranges for the prophecies concerning the Savior of all men, who was soon to appear, and the teacher of piety of the one God over all who was to be established for all the nations under the sun, to be revealed to all and to come to light, accurately translated and deposited in public libraries, putting it into the mind of King Ptolemy to do this, in preparation, as it seems, for what was soon to come from them to all the nations 8.1.7

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Τοῦ αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς κατὰ Μωσέα θεοσεβοῦς πολιτείας ηʹ. Ἰωσήπου περὶ τοῦ κατὰ Μωσέα πολιτεύματος θʹ. Ἐλεαζάρου ἀρχιερέως ὑποτύπωσις τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς νόμοις ἀλληγορουμένης διανοίας. Ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀρισταίου ιʹ. Ἀριστοβούλου περὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων ὥσπερ θεοῦ μελῶν ιαʹ. Φίλωνος περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀρετῆς τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις τὸ παλαιὸν φιλοσοφούντων. Ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπὲρ Ἰουδαίων ἀπολογίας ιβʹ. Ἔτι περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν. Ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντα σπουδαῖον ἐλεύθερον εἶναι ιγʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ περὶ θεοῦ καὶ περὶ τοῦ γενητὸν εἶναι κόσμον ιδʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ περὶ τοῦ προνοίᾳ θεοῦ διοικεῖσθαι τὸν κόσμον

Η 8.1.1 αʹ. ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ· ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΜΩΣΕΑ ΘΕΟΣΕΒΟΥΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΥΜΑΤΟΣ

Τοὺς βίους τῶν παλαιῶν Ἑβραίων, τῶν δὴ καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐπαληθευσάντων θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν, πρόσθεν ἢ Μωσέα φανῆναι πάσης ἀρετῆς βραβείοις ἀναδησαμένων τά τε θεοσεβῆ δόγματά τε καὶ παιδεύματα καὶ προσέτι τὰς εὐσεβεῖς καὶ παναληθεῖς αὐτῶν θεολογίας, ὧν εἰς ἔρωτα καὶ πόθον ἐλθεῖν ὡμολογήκαμεν, διελθὼν ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου μέτειμι νῦν ἀκολούθῳ τῇ τάξει χρώμενος ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ Μωσέα πολιτείαν, δεύτερον ἐπέχουσαν εὐσεβείας μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον ἐκεῖνον βαθμόν, τὸν δὴ καὶ μόνῳ τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει 8.1.2 νενομοθετημένον. ὡς γὰρ μόνοις Ἰουδαίοις, οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἔθνεσιν ἦν ἁρμόδια τὰ διὰ Μωσέως οὐδὲ δυνατὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, λέγω δὲ τοῖς πόρρω που τῆς Ἰουδαίας γῆς οἰκοῦσιν Ἕλλησί τε καὶ 8.1.3 βαρβάροις, φυλάττεσθαι κατὰ τὸν οἰκεῖον καιρὸν ἀποδείξομεν. νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τούτου, λέγω δὲ τοῦ κατὰ Μωσέα βίου, τὸν τρόπον οὐκ ἐμαῖς φωναῖς, αὐτῶν δὲ μόνων πάλιν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐπὶ τῇ πατρίῳ δεδοκιμασμένων παιδεύσει παραθήσομαι· καὶ γάρ μοι προσήκειν ἡγοῦμαι ταύτη, ᾗπερ καὶ ἠρξάμην, διὰ τῶν οἰκείων ἑκάστῳ τὰς τῶν ἀποδείξεων μαρτυρίας παρέ8.1.4 χειν. ὥσπερ οὖν Φοίνικας καὶ Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Ἕλληνας τῶν παρὰ σφίσι γνωρίμων κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν χώραν μάρτυρας ἀνεκαλούμην, ταύτη μοι καὶ τούσδε ὁ παρὼν καιρὸς δοκεῖ ἐπιτηδείως εἰσποιεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τὰ ὀθνεῖα νομίζεσθαι κατασχεδιάζειν. 8.1.5 Πρὶν δ' ἐπὶ τοῦτ' ἐλθεῖν, ὅπως εἰς Ἕλληνας τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς παρῆλθε λόγια καὶ τίς ὁ τρόπος συνέστη τῆς τῶν πεπιστευμένων αὐτοῖς θείων γραφῶν ἑρμηνείας δι' ὅσων τε καὶ ὁποίων ἀνδρῶν καὶ δι' ὁπόσης βασιλικῆς σπουδῆς τῆς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν μεταβολῆς ἔτυχε, τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἡγοῦμαι εἰς φανερὸν θέσθαι τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, οὐκ ἀσυμβούλου μοι γενησομένης καὶ τῆς τούτων ἐκθέσεως εἰς τὴν τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς Προπαρασκευῆς ἀπόδειξιν. 8.1.6 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὅσον οὔπω τὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν βιωφελοῦς κηρύξεως ἔμελλεν ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς εἰς πάντας ἐκλάμπειν ἀνθρώπους λόγος τε οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν ᾕρει τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας τόν τε βίον τῶν πάλαι θεοφιλῶν Ἑβραίων καὶ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς διδασκαλίας αὐτῶν μαθήματα, τῇ πατρίῳ αὐτῶν φωνῇ ἐξ αἰῶνος μακροῦ κεκαλυμμένα, ἤδη ποτὲ εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, οἷς τὰ τῆς θεογνωσίας ἔμελλε προξενεῖσθαι, παρελθεῖν, θεὸς αὐτὸς ὁ τῶνδε τῶν ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος, προλαβὼν τὸ μέλλον ὡς ἂν θεὸς τῇ προγνώσει, τὰς περὶ τοῦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ἀναφανησομένου σωτῆρος διδασκάλου τε εὐσεβείας ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑφ' ἥλιον ἔθνεσι καταστησομένου προρρήσεις ἀποκαλυφθῆναι τοῖς πᾶσιν εἰς φῶς τε ἐλθεῖν ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς μεταβληθείσας δημοσίαις τε βιβλιοθήκαις ἀνατεθείσας διοικεῖται, βασιλεῖ Πτολεμαίῳ τοῦτο πρᾶξαι κατὰ νοῦν ἐμβαλών, εἰς προπαρασκευήν, ὡς ἔοικε, τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων ὅσον οὔπω μελλούσης ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔσεσθαι 8.1.7