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in its infancy, brings it down to the ground and steps on it with its feet. But when the aforementioned sacred scribe saw this and attempted to kill him, Thermuthis snatched him away and saved him. That the ibises, being tame, are savage only toward the race of snakes, and snatching them up terribly, they devour them more than stags. That a countless multitude of lice broke out upon the Egyptians, rising up from within and badly destroying them, and not being destroyed by any remedy. That the Hebrews, having gone out of Egypt, were fed sparingly for 30 days on mixed and hardened flours; whence also in memory of the want at that time they keep a festival for eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread; and they went out after four hundred and thirty years. That a great number of the quail species, being fed, flies to the Arabian gulf, having crossed the sea between, and both from the weariness of the flight and being nearer to the ground than other birds, it was brought down to the Hebrews. That it was commanded that all should equally gather an assaron of manna (this is a measure) each day, as their food would not fail them, so that it might not be impossible for the weak to receive it on account of the strength of the more powerful who were taking more in the gathering.

1.132 That at high noon Moses is deemed worthy of the theophany at the bush, and unwillingly the leadership of his kinsmen is entrusted to him, being armed with signs and wonders, having left Jothor his father-in-law or brother-in-law (for he is called both ways) for Egypt, together with his two sons Gersam and Eliezer, and his wife Zipporah, to whom an angel appeared and threatened death. But the wife, although a foreigner, propitiated him with the blood of the child's circumcision. And Aaron, sent from God, also meets him, and the power of the signs is confirmed. Whence also he brought the first plague upon Pharaoh and the Egyptian enchanters who resisted him, turning all the water into blood; but for Moses and Aaron and the Hebrews it was pure and drinkable. For from there it was also devised against the magicians that the water found among the Hebrews should seem to appear as blood. And the same is understood also in the case of the second plague of the frogs, that all the Egyptians were scourged by the affliction, but only the land of the Hebrews was clean of the affliction. The third plague was that of the gnats, the fourth that of the dog-fly, the fifth the death of the cattle, the sixth the sooty dust, the seventh the blisters of the hail, the eighth the locust, the ninth the palpable darkness, the tenth the death of the firstborn. The Decalogue. 1st. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 2nd. You shall have no other gods but me; you shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything. 3rd. You shall not take the name of God in vain; for the Lord will not 1.133 hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 4th. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 5th. Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the earth. 6th. You shall not commit adultery. 7th. You shall not murder. 8th. You shall not steal. 9th. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10th. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his house, or his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his beast of burden, or any of his cattle, nor anything that is your neighbor's. This decalogue is the ordinance of the general commandments. These divine teachings were ordained with a certain dreadful and articulate voice, with the people seeing and hearing; the awesomeness and difficulty of hearing of which they could not bear, they asked through Moses that the rest of the subsequent things be spoken to them specifically, legislated in fifty chapters; and they were concerning servants and voluntary and involuntary murders, dishonoring of parents and slander, theft, striking in fights unto death or life, a freeman against a freeman and a master against a slave, and a man against a pregnant woman, the knocking out of the eyes of a male or female slave, goring

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νηπιότητα καταφέρει αὐτὸ εἰς γῆν καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν ἐπιβαίνει. τοῦ δὲ προδηλωθέντος ἱερογραμ ματέως τοῦτο θεασαμένου καὶ ἀνελεῖν ἐπιχειρήσαντος ἡ Θέρμουθις ἐξαρπάσασα διεσώσατο. ὅτι χειροήθεις οὖσαι αἱ ἴβεις πρὸς μόνον τὸ τῶν ὄφεων γένος ἀγρίως ἔχουσι, καὶ δεινῶς ἀναρπαζόμεναι κατεσθίουσιν ἐλάφων μᾶλλον. ὅτι φθειρῶν ἄπειρόν τι πλῆθος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἐξήνθησεν, ἔνδοθεν ἀναδιδόμενον καὶ κακῶς δια φθεῖρον αὐτοὺς καὶ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς διαφθειρόμενον φαρμάκου. ὅτι ἐξελθόντες οἱ Ἑβραῖοι ἀπὸ Αἰγύπτου πεφυρμένοις ἀλεύροις καὶ πεπηγόσιν ἐπὶ λʹ ἡμέραις διετράφησαν σπανίως· ὅθεν καὶ εἰς μνή μην τῆς τότε ἐνδείας ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν ἐφ' ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ τὴν τῶν ἀζύμων λεγομένην· ἐξῆλθον δὲ μετὰ ἔτη τετρακόσια τριάκοντα. ὅτι τὸ τῶν ὀρτύγων γένος τρεφόμενον πλῆθος εἰς τὸν Ἀράβιον κόλπον ἐφίπταται, τὴν μεταξὺ θάλασσαν ὑπερελθόν, καὶ ὑπὸ κό που τε ἅμα τῆς πτήσεως καὶ πρόσγειον μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ὂν κατεφέρετο εἰς τοὺς Ἑβραίους. ὅτι τὸ μάννα παρήγγελτο ἐξ ἴσου πᾶσιν ἀσσάρωνα (τοῦτο δέ ἐστι μέτρον) εἰς ἑκάστην ἡμέραν συλ λέγειν, ὡς οὐκ ἐπιλείψοντος αὐτοῖς βρώματος, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς ἀδυ νάτοις ἄπορον ᾖ τὸ λαμβάνειν δι' ἀλκὴν τῶν δυνατωτέρων πλεονε κτούντων περὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν.

1.132 Ὅτι ἐπὶ σταθηρᾷ μεσημβρίᾳ τῆς ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου θεοφανείας ἀξιοῦται Μωϋσῆς, καὶ τῶν ὁμοφύλων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ μὴ θέλων ἐγχειρίζεται, σημείοις τε καὶ τέρασι καθοπλισθείς, καταλιπὼν Ἰοθὸρ τὸν πενθερὸν αὐτοῦ ἢ γαμβρὸν (δισσῶς γὰρ καλεῖται) εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἅμα δυσὶ παισὶ Γηρσὰμ καὶ Ἐλιέζερ, καὶ γυναικὶ τῇ Σεπφόρᾳ, ᾗ καὶ ἐπιστὰς ἄγγελος θάνατον ἠπείλησεν. ἀλλὰ τοῦ τον ἱλεώσατο καίπερ ἀλλόφυλος οὖσα ἡ γυνὴ τῷ τῆς περιτομῆς τοῦ παιδὸς αἵματι. συναντᾷ δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἀαρὼν θεόθεν σταλείς, καὶ τὴν τῶν σημείων ἐπιβεβαιοῦται δύναμιν. ὅθεν καὶ τῷ Φαραὼ μετὰ καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐπαοιδῶν ἀνθισταμένοις πρώτην πληγὴν ἐπήνεγκε, πᾶν ὕδωρ εἰς αἷμα ποιήσας· Μωϋσεῖ δὲ καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις καθαρὸν ἦν καὶ πινόμενον. ἔνθεν γὰρ καὶ τοῖς γόησιν ἀντεσοφίσθη τὸ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις εὑρισκόμενον ὕδωρ αἷμα δοκεῖν φαίνεσθαι. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ νοεῖται καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς δευτέρας πληγῆς τῶν βατράχων, Αἰγυπτίους μὲν πάντας τῷ πάθει μαστί ζεσθαι, μόνην δὲ τὴν γῆν τῶν Ἑβραίων καθαρεύειν τοῦ πάθους. τρίτη πληγὴ ἡ τῶν σκνιπῶν, τετάρτη ἡ τῆς κυνομυίας, πέμπτη θάνατος κτηνῶν, ἕκτη ὁ αἰθαλώδης κονιορτός, ἑβδόμη αἱ φλυ κτίδες τῆς χαλάζης, ὀγδόη ἡ ἀκρίς, ἐννάτη τὸ ψηλαφητὸν σκό τος, δεκάτη θάνατος τῶν πρωτοτόκων. Ἡ δεκάλογος. αʹ. ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὁ ἐξαγα γών σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου. βʹ. οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ· οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον, οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα. γʹ. οὐ λήψῃ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ κενῷ· οὐ γὰρ μὴ καθαρίσει κύριος 1.133 τὸν λαμβάνοντα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ. δʹ. μνήσθητι τὴν ἡμέραν τῶν σαββάτων ἁγιάζειν αὐτήν. εʹ. τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου, ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἵνα μακροχρόνιος γένῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ϛʹ. οὐ μοιχεύσεις. ζʹ. οὐ φονεύσεις. ηʹ. οὐ κλέ ψεις. θʹ. οὐ ψευδομαρτυρήσεις κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον σου. ιʹ. οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον σου ἢ τὴν οἰκίαν ἢ τὸν ἀγρὸν ἢ τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ ἢ τὴν παιδίσκην ἢ τὸν βοῦν ἢ τὸ ὑπο ζύγιον αὐτοῦ ἢ πᾶν κτῆνος αὐτοῦ, οὔτε ὅσα τοῦ πλησίον σου ἐστίν. Αὕτη δὲ ἡ δεκάλογος τῶν γενικῶν ἐντολῶν ἐστὶν ἡ διάταξις. ταῦτα τὰ θεῖα διδάγματα φοβερᾷ τινὶ καὶ ἐνάρθρῳ φωνῇ διατέ τακται, ὁρῶντος τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἀκούοντος· ἧς τὸ καταπληκτικὸν καὶ ἀκοαῖς δυσάντητον μὴ φέροντες ᾔτησαν διὰ Μωϋσέως τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς εἰδικῶς αὐτοῖς ἐν πεντήκοντα κεφαλαίοις νομο θετηθέντα λαληθῆναι· ἦσαν δὲ περί τε οἰκετῶν καὶ φόνων ἑκου σίων καὶ ἀκουσίων, ἀτιμίας γονέων καὶ κακολογίας, κλοπῆς, πα τάξεως ἐν μάχαις πρὸς θάνατον ἢ ζωήν, ἐλεύθερος πρὸς ἐλεύθε ρον καὶ δεσπότης πρὸς δοῦλον, καὶ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς ἔγκυον γυναῖκα, ἐκβολῆς ὀφθαλμῶν δούλου καὶ δούλης, κερατισμοῦ