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he went to Jerusalem to go forth with Zerubbabel; but two and a half tribes, men and women and children, five myriads in number, remained in the Persian lands by their own choice, fearing the surrounding nations. But the nine and a half returned, as Timothy the chronographer wrote. And he released them at the request of Daniel. And after the kingdom of the Lydians was destroyed, the Samians, having gained mastery of the sea, ruled those parts. And after some time, Cyrus the king of the Persians heard of it and campaigned against them, and engaging them in a naval battle, he was defeated and fled, and coming to his own country, he was slain; concerning this war of Cyrus and the Samians, the most wise Pythagoras the Samian wrote; who also said that Cyrus himself died in the war. And the wise Africanus also chronicled all these things. And after the reign of Cyrus, his son Darius, who is also Cambyses, and many others ruled the Assyrians. And in the time of the reign of Darius, the son of Cyrus, Anaximander philosophized among the Greeks. who said that the earth is the middle of the whole cosmos, and that the sun is not smaller than the earth, and that the principle of all things is air; from it all things came to be and into it all things are resolved. And he declared the soul of man and the whole spirit to be airy, introducing a vain reasoning of error. 159 And he himself set forth the equinoxes and the solstices. And the aforementioned Pythagoras the Samian wrote on arithmetic; and he introduced a doctrine to the Greeks, opining that certain principles are incorporeal. And the wise Timothy recorded these things in his writings. And in the reign of Darius, son of Cyrus, a war was stirred up against him by the Ethiopians; who treated him badly. And when the Jews dwelling in the land of the Medes learned this, they left and went to Jerusalem; and there was a great multitude of Jews. And when Darius, the son of Cyrus, learned this, he sent his general against them, named Holofernes, with a great force to Jerusalem. And he besieged Jerusalem, and it happened that something terrible occurred then. For there was a certain Hebrew woman, Judith, and she devised a plan against the Persian leader Holofernes, pretending that she wanted to betray, he says, the nation of the Jews. And she came to him in secret; and Holofernes, seeing her beauty, fell in love with her. And she says to him, "Do not let anyone be here near me, on my account, because they come to me wishing to fornicate with me;" and being persuaded, he stayed alone with her. And after she waited on him for three days, when he was sleeping with her at night, she arose and took off his head; and in the middle of the night, going out through the side-gate, she entered Jerusalem, carrying his head. And she 160 ordered it to be hung up; for Holofernes had pitched his pavilion near the wall because of her. Therefore the Jews, taking the head from her, fixed it on a pole upon the wall before dawn, showing it to his army. And when morning came, the Persians, seeing the head of Holofernes impaled, supposed that this had happened through some power and fled; and the war was broken off, and the Jews gained the victory over the Persians. These things are related in the Hebrew writings. And the wise Irenaeus wrote these things. And after the reign of Darius, Artaxerxes ruled the Assyrians; and Nehemiah the priest, who was of the seed of David, having boldness toward him, entreated Artaxerxes; for he loved him, and he also made him ruler of the eunuchs; and having received much money, he persuaded him to be released and to go to build Jerusalem which had been sacked; for this was the first capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple. But Nehemiah, being released, went up to Jerusalem, and rebuilt it and the wall of the city, and

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κατέλαβεν ἐπὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα μετὰ Ζοροβάβελ ἐξελθεῖν· σκῆπτρα δὲ δύο ἥμισυ, ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ παιδία, τὸν ἀριθμὸν μυριάδες πέντε, ἔμειναν εἰς τὰ Περσικὰ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει, φοβηθέντες τὰ ὄντα ἔθνη πέριξ. τὰ δὲ ἐννέα ἥμισυ ἐπανῆλθον, καθὼς Τιμόθεος ὁ χρονογράφος συνεγράψατο. ἀπέλυσε δὲ αὐτοὺς τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ αἰτήσαντος αὐτόν. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ ἀπολέσθαι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν Λυδῶν οἱ Σάμιοι θαλασσοκρατήσαντες ἐβασίλευσαν τῶν μερῶν ἐκείνων. καὶ ἀκούσας μετὰ χρόνους Κῦρος ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν, ἐπεστράτευσε κατ' αὐτῶν, καὶ συμβαλὼν αὐτοῖς ναυμαχίᾳ πολεμήσας ἡττήθη καὶ ἔφυγε, καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ ἐσφάγη· περὶ οὗ πολέμου Κύρου καὶ τῶν Σαμίων ὁ σοφώτατος Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος συνεγράψατο· ὅστις καὶ εἶπεν αὐτὸν Κῦρον τεθνάναι εἰς τὸν πόλεμον. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα καὶ ὁ σοφὸς Ἀφρικανὸς ἐχρονογράφησε. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν Κύρου ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ∆αρεῖος ὁ καὶ Καμβύσης καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ ἐβασίλευσαν Ἀσσυρίων. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων τῆς βασιλείας ∆αρείου, τοῦ υἱοῦ Κύρου, ἐφιλοσόφει παρ' Ἕλλησιν Ἀναξίμανδρος. ὅστις εἶπε τὴν γῆν μέσην εἶναι τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, καὶ τὸν ἥλιον οὐκ ἐλάττω τῆς γῆς ὑπάρχειν, ἀρχὴν δὲ τῶν πάντων ἀέρα· ἐξ αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ τὰ πάντα εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναλύεσθαι. καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν ἀερίαν καὶ τὸ πᾶν πνεῦμα ἀπεφήνατο, μάταιον λογισμὸν πλάνης παρεισάγων. 159 καὶ τὰς ἰσημερίας δὲ καὶ τὰς τροπὰς αὐτὸς ἐξέθετο. καὶ ὁ προειρημένος δὲ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος τὴν ἀριθμητικὴν συνεγράψατο· καὶ δόγμα παρεισήγαγεν Ἕλλησιν δοξάζων ἀσωμάτους τινὰς εἶναι ἀρχάς. ταῦτα δὲ ὁ σοφὸς Τιμόθεος ἐν τοῖς συγγράμμασιν αὐτοῦ ἀπεμνημόνευσεν. Ἐν δὲ τῇ βασιλείᾳ ∆αρείου, υἱοῦ Κύρου, πόλεμος ἐκινήθη ἀπὸ Αἰθιόπων κατ' αὐτοῦ· οἵτινες κακῶς αὐτὸν ἔφερον. τοῦτο δὲ γνόντες οἱ ἐν τῇ Μήδων χώρᾳ κατοικοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀφέντες κατέλαβον τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἦν δὲ πλῆθος πολὺ Ἰουδαίων. καὶ μαθὼν τοῦτο ∆αρεῖος ὁ Κύρου, ἀπέστειλε τὸν στρατηγὸν αὐτοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν ὀνόματι Ὁλοφέρνην μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα. καὶ ἐπολιόρκει τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ συνέβη τι φοβερὸν γενέσθαι τότε. Ἰουδὶθ γάρ τις ἦν γυνὴ Ἑβραία, καὶ ἐμηχανήσατο κατὰ τοῦ ἐξάρχου Περσῶν Ὁλοφέρνου, προσποιητὴ οὖσα ὡς τὸ ἔθνος, φησί, τῶν Ἰουδαίων θέλουσα προδοῦναι. καὶ παρεγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν κρυπτομένη· καὶ ἑωρακὼς αὐτῆς τὴν εὐμορφίαν ὁ Ὁλοφέρνης, εἰς ἔρωτα αὐτῆς ἐνέπεσε. καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὅτι Μηδένα ἐάσῃς ἐνταῦθα εἶναι ἐγγιστά μου δι' ἐμέ, ὅτι ἐπέρχονταί μοι πορνεῦσαί με βουλόμενοι· καὶ πεισθεὶς μόνος μετ' αὐτῆς διῆγε. τρεῖς δὲ αὕτη προσκαρτερήσασα αὐτῷ ἡμέρας, ὡς καθεύδει μετ' αὐτοῦ νυκτός, ἐγερθεῖσα τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἀφείλετο· καὶ μέσης νυκτὸς ἐξελθοῦσα διὰ τοῦ παραπυλίου εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ βαστάζουσα. καὶ ἐπέ 160 τρεψε τοῦ κρεμασθῆναι αὐτήν· πλησίον γὰρ τοῦ τείχους δι' αὐτὴν τὸν παπυλεῶνα αὐτοῦ ἔστησεν ὁ Ὁλοφέρνης. λαβόντες οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι παρ' αὐτῆς τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰς κοντὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ τείχους ἔπηξαν πρὸ αὔγους, ἐπιδεικνύντες αὐτὴν τῷ στρατῷ αὐτοῦ. πρωίας δὲ γενομένης, ἑωρακότες οἱ Πέρσαι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ὁλοφέρνου κοντευθεῖσαν, ὑπενόησαν ὅτι διὰ δυνάμεώς τινος τοῦτο ἐγένετο καὶ ἔφυγον· καὶ διελύθη ὁ πόλεμος, καὶ νίκην ἔλαβον οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι κατὰ Περσῶν. ταῦτα δὲ ἐν ταῖς Ἑβραϊκαῖς ἐμφέρεται γραφαῖς. ταῦτα δὲ Εἰρηναῖος ὁ σοφὸς συνεγράψατο. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν ∆αρείου ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀσσυρίων Ἀρταξέρξης· καὶ Νεεμίας ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος ∆αβίδ, παῤῥησίαν ἔχων πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐδυσώπησε τὸν Ἀρταξέρξην· ἠγάπα γὰρ αὐτόν, ὅστις καὶ ἄρχειν αὐτὸν τῶν εὐνούχων ἐποίησε· καὶ λαβὼν χρήματα πολλὰ ἔπεισεν ἀπολυθῆναι αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπελθεῖν τοῦ κτίσαι τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν πορθηθεῖσαν· πρώτη γὰρ αὕτη τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἅλωσις καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ καταστροφή. ὁ δὲ Νεεμίας ἀπολυθεὶς ἀνῆλθεν εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἀνήγειρεν αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ τεῖχος τῆς πόλεως, καὶ