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“Christ the ruler” is named by the prophecy. 8.2.75 After these, when their last high priest, Alexander, died, the affairs of the Jewish nation were left without rule and without a leader, so that their kingdom devolved upon a woman. And when her two sons, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, rose up against each other, Pompey, being a Roman general, came to Jerusalem, took the city by siege, and defiled the holy places, proceeding as far as the adytum of the temple. 8.2.76 And these things happened in the first year of the one hundred and seventy-ninth Olympiad, four hundred and ninety-five years after the reign of Cyrus, which began in the fifty-fifth Olympiad. 8.2.77 Then, indeed, Pompey, having taken Jerusalem by force, sent the aforementioned Aristobulus as a captive to Rome, and handed over the high priesthood to his brother Hyrcanus, and from that time made the whole nation tributary to the Romans. 8.2.78 After him, Herod the son of Antipater, having killed Hyrcanus, is entrusted with the kingdom of the Jews by the counsel of the Roman senate, and he is the first of a foreign race to rule the nation, having corrupted the order of the high priests according to the law of Moses. 8.2.79 For the divine law commands the highest priest to minister to God for life; but Herod did not give the ministry to those of the lineage nor to whom it was fitting, but to certain men who were alienated and foreign to the succession of the high priests, and not even to these for long, but for a short and limited time, at different times bestowing the honor on different men, so that the first seven weeks are defined from Cyrus until Darius, and the remaining sixty-two from Darius until Pompey the Roman general. 8.2.80 And according to a third view you would find, counting otherwise, the times of the seven and sixty-two weeks, which extend for four hundred and eighty-three years to Augustus himself and to Herod, the first to reign from a foreign race, in whose time the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ is recorded as occurring, if you begin from Darius and the completion of the temple and reckon the indicated number. 8.2.81 For in the second year of Darius, the prophet Zechariah declares that the seventy-year period of the desolation of Jerusalem had been completed, saying: "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is Sabat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Barachiah," 8.2.82 Then he says next: "And the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have overlooked this seventieth year?" Daniel, therefore, having perceived this very time by the divine spirit, notes it, saying: "I, Daniel, understood in the books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, seventy years. And I set my face to the Lord my God to seek prayer and supplication." 8.2.83 Then after the prayer, the angel appeared to him and revealed the things concerning the seventy weeks, and indicates the time from which one must begin to count, saying: "And you shall know and understand from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem until Christ the ruler." There was, indeed, a first decree of Cyrus to build Jerusalem, but it was not carried into effect, as the neighboring peoples prevented it. 8.2.84 But when Darius afterwards commanded and the building of the temple was completed under him, from that point Daniel's prophecy began to have its fulfillment, both the one saying "from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem," and that by which it is said, "I, Daniel, understood in the books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem,

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«χριστὸν ἡγούμενον» ὑπὸ τῆς προφητείας ὀνομάζεσθαι. 8.2.75 Μεθ' οὕς, τελευτήσαντος τοῦ ὑστάτου αὐτῶν ἀρχιερέως Ἀλεξάνδρου, ἄναρχα καὶ ἀπροστάτητα τὰ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἀπολείπεται, ὥστε εἰς γυναῖκα περιστῆναι τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῶν. τῶν δὲ δύο παίδων Ἀριστοβούλου καὶ Ὑρκανοῦ στασιασάντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐπιστὰς τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις Πομπήιος, Ῥωμαίων στρατηγὸς ὤν, αἱρεῖ μὲν πολιορκίᾳ τὴν πόλιν, μιαίνει δὲ τὰ ἅγια, μέχρι τῶν ἀδύτων τοῦ ἱεροῦ προελθών. 8.2.76 καὶ ταῦτα συμβαίνει ἔτους πρώτου τῆς ἑκατοστῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς ἐνάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, μετὰ τετρακόσια ἐνενήκοντα πέντε ἔτη τῆς Κύρου βασιλείας, ἥτις ἤρξατο ἐπὶ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς πέμπτης Ὀλυμπιάδος. 8.2.77 τότε δ' οὖν ὁ Πομπήιος ἑλὼν κατὰ κράτος τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ, τὸν προειρημένον Ἀριστόβουλον ἐκπέμψας δέσμιον ἐπὶ Ῥώμης, τῷ τούτου ἀδελφῷ Ὑρκανῷ τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην παραδίδωσιν, τό τε πᾶν ἔθνος ἐξ ἐκείνου ὑποτελὲς Ῥωμαίοις κατεστήσατο. 8.2.78 μεθ' ὃν Ἡρώδης ὁ Ἀντιπάτρου παῖς Ὑρκανὸν ἀνελών, τὴν τῶνἸουδαίων βασιλείαν ὑπὸ τῆς Ῥωμαίων συγκλήτου βουλῆς ἐγχειρίζεται, πρῶτός τε αὐτὸς ἐξ ἀλλοφύλου γένους βασιλεύει τοῦ ἔθνους, τὴν τῶν ἀρχιερέων κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον διαφθείρας τάξιν. 8.2.79 ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεῖος νόμος διὰ βίου ἱερᾶσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὸν ἀνωτάτω προστάττει ἀρχιερέα· ὁ δ' Ἡρώδης οὐ τοῖς ἀπὸ γένους οὐδ' οἷς προσῆκον ἦν ἀπεδίδου τὴν λειτουργίαν, ἀπεξενωμένοις δέ τισιν καὶ ἀλλοτρίοις τῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων διαδοχῆς, καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις διαρκῶς πρὸς βραχὺν δέ τινα καὶ περιωρισμένον χρόνον ἄλλοτε ἄλλοις τὴν τιμὴν ἀντιδωρούμενος, ὥστε τὰς μὲν πρώτας ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδας ἀπὸ Κύρου καὶ ἐπὶ ∆αρεῖον, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς ἑξήκοντα δύο ἀπὸ ∆αρείου καὶ ἐπὶ Πομπήιον τὸν Ῥωμαίων στρατηγὸν περιορίζεσθαι. 8.2.80 Καὶ κατὰ τρίτην δὲ θεωρίαν εὕροις ἄν, ἄλλως ἀπαριθμούμενος, τοὺς χρόνους τῶν ἑπτὰ καὶ ἑξήκοντα δύο ἑβδομάδων, αἳ συντεί νουσιν εἰς ἔτη τετρακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα τρία ἐπ' αὐτὸν Αὔγουστον καὶ ἐπὶ Ἡρώδην τὸν πρῶτον ἐξ ἀλλοφύλου γένους βασιλεύσαντας, καθ' οὓς ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ γένεσις ἱστορεῖται περιγραφομένη, εἰ ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ ∆αρείου καὶ τῆς συμπληρώσεως τοῦ ναοῦ τὸν δηλούμενον ἀριθμὸν ἀναλογίσῃ. 8.2.81 ∆αρείου γὰρ κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος τὸν ἑβδομηκονταετῆ χρόνον τῆς ἐρημώσεως Ἱερουσαλὴμ συμπεπεράνθαι ὁ προφήτης Ζαχαρίας δηλοῖ, λέγων· «τῇ τετράδι καὶ εἰκάδι τῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ μηνί αὐτός ἐστιν Σαβάτ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει ∆αρείου ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν τὸν τοῦ Βαραχίου», 8.2.82 εἶθ' ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· «καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου καὶ εἶπεν, κύριε παντοκράτορ, ἕως τίνος οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσῃς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα, ἃς ὑπερεῖδες τοῦτο ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἔτος;» τοῦτον δὴ οὖν αὐτὸν τῷ θείῳ πνεύματι θεωρήσας ὁ ∆ανιὴλ τὸν χρόνον σημειοῦται, λέγων· «ἐγὼ ∆ανιὴλ συνῆκα ἐν ταῖς βίβλοις τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐτῶν, ὃς ἐγενήθη λόγος κυρίου πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐρημώσεως Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη. καὶ ἔδωκα τὸ πρόσωπόν μου πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεόν μου τοῦ ἐκζητῆσαι προσευχὴν καὶ δέησιν». 8.2.83 εἶτα μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν ἐπιφανεὶς αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος θεσπίζει τὰ περὶ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδων, καὶ τὸν χρόνον ὅθεν δεῖ ἄρχεσθαι ἀριθμεῖν σημαίνει, λέγων· «καὶ γνώσῃ καὶ συνήσεις ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἕως χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου». γέγονε μὲν οὖν ἀπόκρισις πρώτη Κύρου οἰκοδομηθῆναι τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ, οὐ μὴν εἰς ἔργον ἐχώρησεν, τῶν περιοίκων κεκωλυκότων. 8.2.84 ∆αρείου δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα κελεύσαντος καὶ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τοῦ ἱεροῦ κατ' αὐτὸν συντελεσθείσης ἡ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ ἐντεῦθεν προφητεία τὴν καταρχὴν τῆς ἐκβάσεως ἐλάμβανεν, ἥ τε φάσκουσα «ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλήμ», καὶ δι' ἧς εἴρηται «ἐγὼ ∆ανιὴλ συνῆκα ἐν ταῖς βίβλοις τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐτῶν, ὃς ἐγενήθη λόγος κυρίου πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐρημώσεως Ἱερουσαλήμ,