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the moon being almost diametrically opposite the sun? So be it, let the event seize the many and let the cosmic portent be supposed an eclipse of the sun in the error of sight. Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar there was a total eclipse of the sun at the full moon, from the 6th to the 9th hour, clearly this one. But what is the connection with an earthquake and eclipses, with rocks being rent and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a cosmic movement? At any rate, in the long period of time, such a thing happening is not remembered, but it was a God-made darkness, because it happened that the Lord suffered, and reason concludes that 70 weeks are summed up in this time in Daniel. 392 And after other things: from Artaxerxes the 70 weeks are completed in the time of Christ according to the numbers of the Jews. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem in the 115th year of the Persian kingdom, and in the 20th year of Artaxerxes himself, in the 4th year of the 83rd Olympiad, up to this time, which was the second year of the 202nd Olympiad, and the 16th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 475 years are gathered, which become 477 Hebrew years, as their years are counted by the lunar month, as is easy to say of 29 #171 days, since the cyclical solar year is 365¼ days, the twelve lunar months differ by 11¼ days. For this reason both Greeks and Jews insert three intercalary months in 8 years. For eight times 11¼ makes three months. Therefore, the 475 years become 59 eight-year periods and three months, and as a three-month intercalary period occurs in the eight-year cycle, 15 years are gathered, and these added to the 475 years are 70 weeks. Let no one then think us ignorant of the numbers of astronomy, for having set it forth as 365¼ days. For it was not from ignorance of the truth, but because of the minute detail that we shortened the calculation. But for those who try to examine all things precisely, let this also be set forth in brief. The year, in general, is 365 days each, and 5 parts of a day and night divided into nineteen. And between the end of the year of 365¼ days and that of 5/19 parts of a day and night, over 475 years the difference is 6¼ days. Moreover, we find the lunar month, according to precise minute calculation, to be 29 #171 days, and of a day and night divided into 205 parts, 70 #171 of these, which becomes three ninety-fourths. And these things occur over short periods of time. It happens therefore from the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, as in Ezra among the Hebrews, which among the Greeks was the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad, until the 16th of Tiberius Caesar, which was the 2nd year of the 202nd Olympiad, 393 that the aforementioned 475 years are gathered, which become 477 years according to the Hebrews, as has been said before, that is 70 weeks, just as the coming of Christ was prophesied to Daniel by Gabriel. But if it seems to someone that the 15 Hebrew years generate an error, after those years, close to 6 years down to us, nothing extraordinary has been recorded in between. And the one and a half week, which we suppose must be taken at the consummation, is able to console for the sought after 15 years and to lighten the time, because it is clear that the prophecies happen to have been brought forth more symbolically. As far as it is in our power, I think we have rightly received the scripture, since even the preceding section of the vision seems somehow to be summed up, the beginning of which is: “in the third year of the reign of Baltasar,” where it foretells the overthrow of the Persian rule by the Greeks, which it reveals through the ram and the goat: the sacrifice, he says, that was taken away and the holy things will be made desolate to be trampled underfoot, which will be circumscribed in 2300 days. For if we should reckon the day as a month, as elsewhere according to prophecy the days are taken for years and otherwise elsewhere, having resolved similarly to the foregoing into Hebrew months, we would find the time being completed from the capture of Jerusalem to the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes.

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κατὰ διάμετρον σχεδὸν ὑπαρχούσης τῆς σελήνης ἡλίῳ; ἔστω δή, συναρπαζέτω τοὺς πολλοὺς τὸ γεγενημένον καὶ τὸ κοσμικὸν τέρας ἡλίου ἔκλειψις ὑπονοείσθω ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν πλάνῃ. Φλέγων ἱστορεῖ ἐπὶ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἐν πανσελήνῳ ἔκλειψιν ἡλίου γεγονέναι τελείαν ἀπὸ ὥρας ςʹ μέχρις θʹ, δῆλον ὡς ταύτην. τίς δ' ἡ κοι νωνία σεισμῷ καὶ ἐκλείψεσι, πέτραις τε ῥηγνυμέναις καὶ ἀναστάσει νεκ ρῶν, τοσαύτη τε κίνησις κοσμική; Ἐν γοῦν τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ τοιοῦτόν τι συμβὰν οὐ μνημονεύεται, ἀλλ' ἦν σκότος θεοποίητον, διότι τὸν κύριον συνέβη παθεῖν, καὶ λόγος αἱρεῖ ὅτι οʹ ἑβδομάδες εἰς τοῦτον συναιροῦνται τὸν χρόνον ἐν τῷ ∆ανιήλ. 392 Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀρταξέρξου αἱ οʹ ἑβδομάδες εἰς τὸν ἐπὶ Χρι στοῦ συντελοῦνται χρόνον κατὰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίων ἀριθμούς. ἀπὸ γὰρ Νεεμίου, ὃς ὑπ' Ἀρταξέρξου τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀνοικίσων ἐπέμφθη ἔτει τῷ ιεʹ καὶ ρʹ τῆς Περσῶν βασιλείας, αὐτοῦ δ' Ἀρταξέρξου κʹ ἔτει, ὀλυμπιάδος πγʹ ἔτει δʹ, ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, ὃς ἦν ὀλυμπιάδος σβʹ ἔτος δεύτερον, Τιβερίου δὲ Καίσαρος ἡγεμονίας ἔτος ιςʹ, ἔτη συνάγεται υοεʹ, ἅπερ Ἑβραϊκὰ υζʹ ἔτη γίνεται, κατὰ τὸν σεληνιαῖον μῆνα τοὺς ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐκείνων ἐξαριθμουμένων, ὡς ἔστι πρόχειρον εἰπεῖν ἡμερῶν κθʹ #171, τοῦ κυκλικοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τοῦ καθ' ἥλιον ὑπάρχοντος ἡμερῶν τξεʹ δʹ, τὴν κατὰ σελήνην δωδεκάμηνον παραλλάσσειν ἡμέρας ιαʹ καὶ δʹ. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι τρεῖς μῆνας ἐμβολίμους ἔτεσιν ηʹ παρεμβάλλουσιν. ὀκτάκις γὰρ τὰ ιαʹ δʹ ποιεῖ τρίμηνον. τὰ τοίνυν υοεʹ ἔτη ὀκταετίαι μὲν γίνονται νθʹ καὶ μῆνες τρεῖς, ὡς τριμήνου ἐμβολίμου τῇ ὀκταετίᾳ γινομένης, ἔτη συνάγε ται ιεʹ, ταῦτά τε πρὸς τοῖς υοεʹ ἔτεσιν οʹ ἑβδομάδες. μὴ δή τις ἡμᾶς τῶν κατ' ἀστρονομίαν ἀριθμῶν ἀπείρους εἶναι νομιζέτω, τξεʹ ἡμερῶν καὶ δʹ προτεταχέναι αὐτήν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀγνοίᾳ τἀληθοῦς, διὰ δὲ τὴν λεπτολογίαν τὸ ψηφιζόμενον συνετέμομεν. Τοῖς δὲ ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς πάντα πειρωμένοις ἐξετάζειν καὶ τοῦθ' ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ παρακείσθω. τὸ μὲν ἔτος ἐπίπαν ἕκαστόν ἐστιν ἡμερῶν τξεʹ, καὶ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς ἐννεακαιδέκατον διαιρεθείσης μέρη τούτων τὰ εʹ. μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ λήγειν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἡμερῶν τξεʹ δʹ καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ ιθʹ τῆς νυχθημέρου μερῶν εʹ εἰς τὰ υοεʹ ἡμέραι τὸ παράλληλόν εἰσιν ςʹ καὶ δʹ. ἔτι γε μὴν τὸν τῆς σελήνης μῆνα κατὰ τὴν ἀκριβῆ λεπτολογίαν εὑρίσκομεν κθʹ #171, ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς διαιρεθείσης εἰς μέρη σεʹ. τούτων τὰ οʹ #171, ἃ γίνεται ἐνενηκοστοτέταρτα τρία. καὶ ταῦτα περὶ ὀλίγων χρόνων καταγίνεται. Συμβαίνει δὲ τοίνυν ἀπὸ Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείας ἔτους κʹ, ὡς ἐν τῷ Ἔσδρᾳ παρ' Ἑβραίοις, ὅπερ καθ' Ἕλληνας ἦν ὀλυμπιάδος ὀγδοηκοστῆς τέταρτον ἔτος, μέχρις ςʹ καὶ ιʹ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ὅπερ ἦν ὀλυμπιάδος σβʹ ἔτος βʹ, 393 ἐπισυνάγεσθαι τὰ προειρημένα υοεʹ, ἃ γίνεται καθ' Ἑβραίους ἔτη υζʹ, ὡς προείρηται, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἑβδομάδες οʹ, καθὰ προεφητεύθη τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ὑπὸ τοῦ Γαβριὴλ ἡ Χριστοῦ παρουσία. εἰ δέ τῳ δοκεῖ τὰ ιεʹ ἔτη τὰ Ἑβραϊκὰ πλάνην ἐγγεννᾶν, μετ' ἐκεῖνα εἰς ἡμᾶς ἔτη ςʹ ἐγγὺς καὶ οὐδὲν ἐν μέσῳ παράδοξον ἱστόρηται. δύναται δὲ καὶ ἡ μία καὶ ἡμίσεια ἑβδομάς, ἣν ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ παραλαμβάνεσθαι δεῖν ὑπονοοῦμεν, παρηγορεῖν τὸν ἐπι ζητούμενον τῶν ιεʹ ἐτῶν καὶ κουφίζειν χρόνον, ὅτι τε συμβολικώτερον αἱ προφητεῖαι ἐξενηνεγμέναι τυγχάνουσι δῆλον. ὁπόσον δὲ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, ὀρ θῶς οἶμαι τὴν γραφὴν ἐδεξάμεθα, ἐπεὶ καὶ συναιρεῖσθαί πως ἡ ἡγου μένη τῆς ὀπτασίας περικοπὴ δοκεῖ, ἧς ἡ ἀρχή· «ἐν ἔτει τρίτῳ τῆς βασιλείας Βαλτάσαρ», ἔνθα περὶ τῆς καθαιρέσεως τῆς Περσῶν ἀρχῆς ὑφ' Ἑλλήνων προδηλοῖ, ἣν διὰ τοῦ κριοῦ καὶ τοῦ τράγου προδηλοῖ· ἡ θυσία, φησίν, ἡ ἀρθεῖσα καὶ τὰ ἅγια ἐρημωθήσεται εἰς καταπάτημα, ἅπερ εἰς βτʹ ἡμέ ρας περιγραφήσεται. εἰ γὰρ εἰς μῆνα τὴν ἡμέραν λογισαίμεθα, ὡς ἀλλα χοῦ κατὰ προφητείαν εἰς ἐνιαυτοὺς αἱ ἡμέραι παραλαμβάνονται καὶ ἄλλως ἀλλαχόθι, ἀναλύσαντες ὁμοίως τοῖς πρὸ τούτου εἰς μῆνας τοὺς Ἑβραϊ κούς, εὕροιμεν ἂν κʹ τῆς Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείας ἀπὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως Ἱερουσαλὴμ συντελούμενον τὸν χρόνον.