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When the Egyptians had returned to their own places, he takes her in marriage, and builds a city, and names it Hermopolis; for so Moses is called by the Egyptians, because of his having made the interpretation of the sacred letters. And he was honored not a little by the Ethiopians on account of his admirable wisdom. For he was the first to invent for them the use of boats, and machines for stone-laying, and Egyptian weapons, and hydraulic and war instruments. Furthermore, he also divided all of Egypt into thirty nomes, in order to secure the kingdom for Chenephres; since the Egyptians were ruled in a disorderly way, appointing and deposing by their own judgment whomever they chose. For which reasons, then, he was honored by the priests as a god, and by the Ethiopians as a king; for having learned circumcision from him they preserve it to this day. For this man was the first to become wise, as Eupolemus relates, and he was the first to give letters to the Hebrews, which the blessed Abraham had brought from the Chaldeans; for the Chaldeans were the first inventors of these. From the Hebrews the Phoenicians received them; and Cadmus brought these to the Greeks. And after the campaign against the Ethiopians he arrives in Egypt; and Chenephres welcomed him with fair words, but in deeds was plotting his death; for having left him destitute of his kinsmen, he comes with him to Memphis; and asks him what is most useful to men. And he said: The race of oxen, because the land is made arable by them. Chenephres therefore, having ordered the crowds to build a shrine for the Apis bull, hid the memorials of the virtue of Moses (and these were made of bronze, proclaiming the invention of the ibises, and the history of his valor against the Ethiopians) under the foundation of the temple, in order to consign his deeds to oblivion. And the crowd of Hebrews that surrounded him, he divided for two tasks; for some he sent to guard Ethiopia, and others he ordered to build the temple in the city of Diospolis out of stone, having quarried the nearby mountain; for formerly the temple had been built of baked brick. And having alienated him also from the Egyptians, he commanded his friends to kill him, making them all swear an oath not to reveal to him the plot being devised against him. When all, therefore, had refused this plan, a certain Chanenothes agreed to serve the king's will, promising to assassinate Moses. Then indeed, when 785 Merrhoe (for so Thermouthis was called) died, the Pharaoh, considering the occasion a godsend, orders Moses and Chanenothes to bury her in the regions beyond Egypt. But as they arrived, one of those privy to the Pharaoh's plan communicates it to Moses; and Moses, having guarded himself on all sides, buried Merrhoe, and from her he named the place and the river Meroe. And he himself, having crossed the Nile from Memphis, by the suggestion of Aaron his brother, fled into Arabia; but Chanenothes, learning of it, drew his sword and went to meet him; but Moses seized his hand, and pulling his sword from his hand, he ran him through with his own sword, and came into Arabia to Raguel the ruler of those places, and taking his daughter Zipporah, he begot two sons from her. But the Pharaoh, learning of the whole drama of Moses, poured out his anger upon the multitude of the Jews, and ordered them to be utterly destroyed; for having commanded them alone to wear linen clothing for easy identification, he gives them over to the Egyptians for slaughter; for which God punished him with the greatest penalty; for the Pharaoh, being the first of all men to contract elephantiasis, ended his life with a shameful end. But he

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τῶν Αἰγυπτίων εἰς τοὺς οἰκείους τόπους ἐπανελθόντων, ἄγεται πρὸς γάμον αὐτὴν, καὶ κτίζει πόλιν, καὶ Ἑρμούπολιν ἀναγορεύει· οὕτω γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὁ Μωϋσῆς προσαγορεύεται, διὰ τὴν [φ. τὸ] τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων ἑρμηνείαν ποιήσασθαι. Ἐτιμᾶτο δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν οὐ μικρῶς διὰ τὴν σοφίαν τὴν ἀξιάγαστον. Πλοίων γὰρ τὴν χρῆσιν, καὶ μηχανὰς πρὸς λιθοθεσίαν, καὶ ὅπλα Αἰγύπτια, καὶ ὄργανα ὑδρευτικὰ καὶ πολέμια πρῶτος αὐτοῖς ἐπενόησεν. Ἕτι δὲ καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον πᾶσαν εἰς τριάκοντα διεῖλε νομοὺς, πρὸς τὸ τῷ Χενεφρῇ τὴν βασιλείαν βεβαιῶσαι· ἐπειδὴ ἀτάκτως ἐβασιλεύοντο Αἰγύπτιοι, γνώμῃ προσάγοντες καὶ καθαιροῦντες ὃν ἂν προῄρηντο. ∆ι' ἃ γοῦν ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν ἱερέων ὡς θεὸς ἐτιμᾶτο, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Αἰθιόπων ὡς βασιλεύς· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν περιτομὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ μαθόντες ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο φυλάττουσιν. Πρῶτος γὰρ οὗτος σοφὸς γεγένηται, ὡς ἱστορεῖ ὁ Εὐπόλεμος, καὶ γράμματα πρῶτος Ἑβραίοις παραδέδωκεν, ἅπερ ὁ μακάριος Ἀβραὰμ ἀπὸ τῶν Χαλδαίων ἐκόμισε· πρῶτοι γὰρ εὑρεταὶ τούτων οἱ Χαλδαῖοι γεγένηνται· παρὰ δὲ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἔλαβον Φοίνικες· καὶ Κάδμος ταῦτα μετήγαγεν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν κατὰ τῶν Αἰθιόπων στρατηγίαν ἀφικνεῖται εἰς Αἴγυπτον· καὶ ὁ Χενεφρῆς λόγοις μὲν εὐφήμοις ἐδεξιοῦτο αὐτὸν, ἔργοις δὲ τὸ θάνατον κατὰ αὐτοῦ ἤρτυεν· ἔρημον γὰρ τῶν ὁμοφύλων καταστήσας αὐτὸν, εἰς Μέμφιν μετ' αὐτοῦ παραγίνεται· καὶ ἐρωτᾷ αὐτὸν, τί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει εὔχρηστον. Ὁ δὲ ἔφη· Τῶν βοῶν τὸ γένος, διὰ τὸ ἀρώσιμον τὴν γῆν ὑπ' αὐτῶν καθίστασθαι. Κελεύσας οὖν τοῖς ὄχλοις ὁ Χενεφρῆς ταύρου Ἄπιδος σηκὸν τεκτήνασθαι, τὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπομνήματα (ἦν δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ χαλκοῦ πεποιημένα, τῶν ἴβεων τὴν ἐπίνοιαν, καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν τῆς κατ' Αἰθιόπων ἀνδραγαθίας κηρύττοντα) ὑπὸ τὸ ἔδαφος ἐνέκρυψε τοῦ ναοῦ πρὸς τὸ λήθῃ παραδοῦναι τὰ τούτου δράματα. Τὸν δὲ ὄχλον τῶν Ἑβραίων τὸν περιέποντα αὐτὸν, εἰς δύο ἔργα διένειμε· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ εἰς φυλακὴν τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ἐξέπεμψε, τοὺς δὲ τὸν ἐν ∆ιὸς πόλει ναὸν ἐκ λίθου κατασκευάσαι, λατομήσαντας τὸ πλησίον ὄρος, ἐπέτρεψε· πάλαι γὰρ ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου ὁ ναὸς κατεσκεύαστο· Ἀποξενώσας δὲ καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων αὐτὸν, ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν τοῖς φίλοις αὐτοῦ ἐνετέλλετο, πάντας ὁρκωμοτῶν, μὴ ποιῆσαι αὐτῷ τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ τυρευομένην κατάδηλον. Πάντων οὖν τὴν βουλὴν ταύτην ἀπειπαμένων, Χανενώθης τις διακονῆσαι τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ βασιλέως κατέθετο, δολοφονῆσαι τὸν Μωϋσέα ἐπαγγειλάμενος. Τότε δὴ καὶ τῆς 785 Μεῤῥόης (οὕτω γὰρ ἡ Θέρμουθις ἐκαλεῖτο) τελευτησάσης, ἕρμαιον ὁ Φαραὼ τὸν καιρὸν ἡγησάμενος, προστάττει Μωϋσῇ καὶ Χανενώθῃ εἰς τοὺς ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου τόπους κηδεῦσαι αὐτήν. Ἀφικνουμένων δὲ αὐτῶν, εἷς τις τῶν συνειδότων τὴν γνώμην τοῦ Φαραὼ ἀνακοινοῦται τῷ Μωϋσῇ· καὶ φυλάξας ἑαυτὸν πάντοθεν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, τὴν Μεῤῥόην ἔθαψε, καὶ τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν Μεῤῥόην ἐξ αὐτῆς προσηγόρευσεν. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐκ μὲν Μέμφεως τὸν Νεῖλον διαπορθμεύσας, καθ' ὑπόθεσιν Ἀαρὼν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἀπέφευγεν· ὁ δὲ Χανενώθης πυθόμενος, γυμνώσας τὸ ξίφος ὑπαντιάξει αὐτῷ· ὁ δὲ Μωϋσῆς κατεῖχεν αὐτοῦ τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ἐκσπάσας τὸ ξίφος αὐτοῦ τῆς χειρὸς, τῷ οἰκείῳ ξίφει αὐτὸν διεχειρίσατο, καὶ εἰς Ἀραβίαν πρὸς Ῥαγουῆλον τὸν τῶν τόπων ἄρχοντα παρεγένετο, καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ Σεπφόραν ἀγόμενος, ἐξ αὐτῆς δύο παῖδας ἐγέννησεν. Ὁ δὲ Φαραὼ, πᾶσαν τὴν δραματουργίαν τοῦ Μωϋσέως πυθόμενος, τὸν θυμὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔχεε, καὶ ἄρδην τούτους ἀναιρεῖσθαι προσέταξε· μόνους γὰρ αὐτοὺς λινῆν ἐσθῆτα φορεῖν κελεύσας διὰ τὸ εὔσημον, εἰς σφαγὴν αὐτοὺς τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἐκδίδωσιν· ἐφ' ᾧ ὁ Θεὸς μεγίστῃ τιμωρίᾳ τοῦτον ἐκόλασε· πρῶτος γὰρ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐλεφαντιάσας ὁ Φαραὼ, αἰσχρῷ τὸν βίον τέλει κατέλυσεν. Ὁ δὲ