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«Next, Jannes and Jambres, Egyptian sacred scribes, men judged to be inferior to none in magic, at the time when the Jews were being driven out of 9.8.2 Egypt. At any rate, to Musaeus, the leader of the Jews, a man who became most powerful in prayer to God, these were the men deemed worthy by the multitude of the Egyptians to stand against him, and they were seen to be able to undo the most violent of the calamities which Musaeus brought upon Egypt.» 9.8.3 Through these words, then, Numenius bears witness both to the paradoxical wonders accomplished by Moses, and to the man himself as having become dear to God. 9.9.1 «And of the Jewish nation, Choerilus also, an ancient poet, makes mention, and how they campaigned with king Xerxes against Greece. And he speaks thus:

9. OF THE POET CHOERILUS CONCERNING THE JEWS

And behind them passed a race, a wonder to behold, sending forth a Phoenician tongue from their mouths, and they dwelt in the Solymian mountains by a broad lake, their heads were squalid, shorn all round; but on top they wore horses' hides, hardened by smoke.» 9.9.2 And it is clear that these things were said by him concerning the Jews, from the fact that Jerusalem lies in the mountains called Solymian by the Greeks, and that near it is the Asphaltites lake, which is very broad according to the poet and larger than all the lakes in Syria.» So much then for this author also. 9.10.1 But Porphyry in the first book of his *Philosophy from Oracles* introduces his own god as bearing witness to the wisdom of the Hebrew race, along with the other nations 9.10.2 renowned for their intelligence. And the Apollo in his work says these things through the oracle which he sets forth:

10. FROM PORPHYRY, ORACLES OF APOLLO CONCERNING THE HEBREWS

These things having been set forth, he adds still concerning the sacrifices what things we must attend to, as being full of all divine wisdom: «Steep is the path of the blessed, and very rugged, opened at first through gates bound with bronze. But there are countless paths born within, which mortals first revealed for boundless action, they who drink the fair water of the Nilotic land. Many paths of the blessed the Phoenicians also learned, Assyrians and Lydians, and the race of the Hebrew men;» and the things that follow these. To which the author adds: 9.10.3 «For the path to the gods is bound with bronze, steep and rugged, of which the barbarians discovered many paths, but the Greeks went astray, and those now in power have even corrupted them. But the discovery the god testified was made by the Egyptians and Phoenicians, 9.10.4 and by the Chaldeans—for these are the Assyrians—and by the Lydians and Hebrews. Furthermore, in another oracle Apollo says: Only the Chaldeans have obtained wisdom, and the Hebrews, revering in purity God the self-begotten king. 9.10.5 And again being asked, for what reason they speak of many heavens, he gave this oracle: One is the circle of the cosmos in all things, but with seven zones it has been borne into starry paths, which indeed the Chaldeans and the much-emulated Hebrews have named the heavens, which proceed to the seventh course.» 9.10.6 Let these things then be set forth concerning the name of Jews and Hebrews, and of the piety and philosophy long distinguished among them. 9.10.7 But concerning their ancestral history, see how many have agreed: Moses in his antiquities of the universe having recorded a flood, and how the one named Noah among the Hebrews was saved in an ark made of wood with his own family, Berossus the Chaldean and Hieronymus the Egyptian and Nicolaus of Damascus, historians

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«Τὰ δ' ἑξῆς Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς Αἰγύπτιοι ἱερογραμματεῖς, ἄνδρες οὐδενὸς ἥττους μαγεῦσαι κριθέντες εἶναι, ἐπὶ Ἰουδαίων ἐξελαυνομένων ἐξ 9.8.2 Αἰγύπτου. Μουσαίῳ γοῦν τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἐξηγησαμένῳ, ἀνδρὶ γενομένῳ θεῷ εὔξασθαι δυνατωτάτῳ, οἱ παραστῆναι ἀξιωθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τοῦ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οὗτοι ἦσαν τῶν τε συμφορῶν, ἃς ὁ Μουσαῖος ἐπῆγε τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, τὰς νεανικωτάτας αὐτῶν ἐπιλύεσθαι ὤφθησαν δυνατοί.» 9.8.3 ∆ιὰ δὴ τούτων ὁ Νουμήνιος καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ Μωσέως ἐπιτελεσθεῖσι παραδόξοις θαύμασι καὶ αὐτῷ δὲ ὡς θεοφιλεῖ γενομένῳ μαρτυρεῖ. 9.9.1 «Τοῦ δὲ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους καὶ Χοιρίλος, ἀρχαῖος γενόμενος ποιητής, μέμνηται καὶ ὡς συνεστράτευσαν τῷ βασιλεῖ Ξέρξῃ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα. λέγει δὲ οὕτως·

θʹ. ΧΟΙΡΙΛΟΥ ΠΟΙΗΤΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΙΟΥ∆ΑΙΩΝ

Τῶν δ' ὄπιθεν διέβαινε γένος θαυμαστὸν ἰδέσθαι, γλῶσσαν μὲν Φοίνισσαν ἀπὸ στομάτων ἀφιέντες, ᾤκουν δ' ἐν Σολύμοις ὄρεσι πλατέῃ παρὰ λίμνῃ, αὐχμαλέοι κεφαλάς, τροχοκουράδες· αὐτὰρ ὕπερθεν ἵππων δαρτὰ πρόσωπ' ἐφόρουν ἐσκληκότα καπνῷ.» 9.9.2 δῆλον δ' ἐστὶν ὅτι περὶ Ἰουδαίων αὐτῷ ταῦτ' εἴρηται ἐκ τοῦ καὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐν τοῖς παρ' Ἕλλησι Σολύμοις ὀνομαζομένοις ὄρεσι κεῖσθαι, πλησίον δὲ εἶναι τὴν Ἀσφαλτῖτιν λίμνην, πλατυτάτην οὖσαν κατὰ τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ μείζονα πασῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ λιμνῶν.» Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ οὗτος. 9.10.1 Ὁ δὲ Πορφύριος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς Ἐκ λογίων φιλοσοφίας αὐτὸν εἰσάγει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θεὸν τῷ Ἑβραίων γένει μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπὶ συνέσει 9.10.2 βοωμένων ἐθνῶν σοφίαν ἐπιμαρτυροῦντα. λέγει δὲ ὁ παρ' αὐτῷ Ἀπόλλων δι' οὗ ἐκτίθεται χρησμοῦ τάδε·

ιʹ. ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΠΟΡΦΥΡΙΟΥ ΧΡΗΣΜΟΙ ΤΟΥ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΟΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΒΡΑΙΩΝ

Ἐκκειμένων δέ, ἔτι περὶ τῶν θυσιῶν ἐπάγει οἷς προσέχειν δεῖ, ἅτε μεστοῖς οὖσι πάσης θεοσοφίας· «αἰπεινὴ μὲν ὁδὸς μακάρων τρηχεῖά τε πολλόν, χαλκοδέτοις τὰ πρῶτα διοιγομένη πυλεῶσιν· ἀτραπιτοὶ δὲ ἔασιν ἀθέσφατοι ἐγγεγαυῖαι, ἃς πρῶτοι μερόπων ἐπ' ἀπείρονα πρῆξιν ἔφηναν οἱ τὸ καλὸν πίνοντες ὕδωρ Νειλώτιδος αἴης· πολλὰς καὶ Φοίνικες ὁδοὺς μακάρων ἐδάησαν, Ἀσσύριοι Λυδοί τε καὶ Ἑβραίων γένος ἀνδρῶν·» καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα. οἷς ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἐπιλέγει· 9.10.3 «Χαλκόδετος γὰρ ἡ πρὸς θεοὺς ὁδὸς αἰπεινή τε καὶ τραχεῖα, ἧς πολλὰς ἀτραποὺς βάρβαροι μὲν ἐξεῦρον, Ἕλληνες δὲ ἐπλανήθησαν, οἱ δὲ κρατοῦντες ἤδη καὶ διέφθειραν. τὴν δὲ εὕρεσιν Αἰγυπτίοις ὁ θεὸς ἐμαρτύρησε Φοίνιξί τε 9.10.4 καὶ Χαλδαίοις Ἀσσύριοι γὰρ οὗτοι Λυδοῖς τε καὶ Ἑβραίοις. ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ χρησμῷ φησιν ὁ Ἀπόλλων· μοῦνοι Χαλδαῖοι σοφίην λάχον ἠδ' ἄρ' Ἑβραῖοι, αὐτογένεθλον ἄνακτα σεβαζόμενοι θεὸν ἁγνῶς. 9.10.5 καὶ πάλιν ἐρωτηθείς, τίνι λόγῳ πολλοὺς λέγουσιν οὐρανούς, ἔχρησε τάδε· εἷς ἐν παντὶ πέλει κόσμου κύκλος, ἀλλὰ σὺν ἑπτὰ ζώναισιν πεφόρηται ἐς ἀστερόεντα κέλευθα, ἃς δὴ Χαλδαῖοι καὶ ἀριζήλωτοι Ἑβραῖοι οὐρανίας ὀνόμηναν, ἐς ἑβδόματον δρόμον ἕρπειν.» 9.10.6 Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἰουδαίων τε καὶ Ἑβραίων προσηγορίας τῆς τε παρ' αὐτοῖς πάλαι διαπρεπούσης εὐσεβείας τε καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐκκείσθω ταῦτα. 9.10.7 περὶ δὲ τῆς πατρίου αὐτῶν ἱστορίας θέα ὁπόσοι συνεφώνησαν· Μωσέως ἐν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχαιολογίαις κατακλυσμὸν ἱστορήσαντος καὶ ὡς ὁ παρ' Ἑβραίοις ὀνομαζόμενος Νῶε ἐν λάρνακι ξύλου πεποιημένῃ μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων διασέσωσται, Βηρωσσὸς ὁ Χαλδαῖος καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Αἰγύπτιος Νικόλαός τε ὁ ∆αμασκηνός, ἱστορικοὶ