Julius Africanus

attributed by Rigault, and in the Leiden codex, to the *Poliorceticum* which Casaubon calls *Aeneas*.]

Now, by way of a supplement, I shall add an extract from the *Cestoi* of Africanus concerning one Bardesanes (17), a Parthian, who was so proficient in both the art of painting and the art of archery at the same time, that by the impact of his missiles he could describe the image of anyone he pleased—a feat which Africanus playfully calls "painting" ^A or, in short, "shooting" (18). His words are as follows, page 501: "Bardesanes was indeed a wise archer, if anyone ever was, aiming at a man just as a painter would, and his method was as follows. He once set a young man, handsome and robust, directly opposite to him—one whom a painter would have struggled to imitate—and the youth held up a shield, for this is what Bardesanes had commanded, to demonstrate his art to us, the spectators. And he, like a skilled painter, transposed the one holding it onto the shield: first, he drew the head, using arrows straight ^B to imitate the circle of the head; then the gaze of the eyes, the harmony of the lips, the rhythm of the beard, and the rest of the man followed according to the order of the body. He prided himself on combining the art of archery with painting, drawing with shots and shooting drawings. We, the spectators, were amazed that, although the art of archery is a warlike exercise, there was something nonetheless pleasant about it, and the danger itself was subject to pleasure."

(17) Others maintained that Bardesanes was a Babylonian, living under Alexander Severus (and thus a contemporary of Africanus), as Vossius wrongly asserts in his fifth book, page 483, *De historicis Graecis*. For although Porphyry says that he ^C wrote in the age of the Antonines, that must be taken in a broader sense, and it refers to the times of Antoninus, as Porphyry himself testifies in a fragment *On the Styx*, where he recounts that story about the trial water of the Tantalus Brahmins. It is also gathered from this place that he is the same Bardesanes who wrote about the philosophers of the Indians, as Porphyry and Jerome testify *Against Jovinian*, and who published a dialogue *On Fate* to the Emperor Antoninus, concerning which I shall speak below in book five. Nor are the arguments of Friedrich Strunz in his *History of Bardesanes and the Bardesanists*, in which he contends that there were two different men, difficult to solve. Grabe (in *Spicilegium*, page 317) and Dodwell (IV, 55, *Dissertations on Irenaeus*) contend that he lived under the Emperor Elagabalus Antoninus, ^D following the passage of Porphyry *On the Styx*. FABRICIUS—Jacobus de Rhoer agrees with Fabricius in his notes to Porphyry's *On Abstinence from Animal Food*, book IV, § 47, page 356. Andreas Schott was the first to publish that fragment of Porphyry in his *Observationes humanae*, page 229, and after him Lucas Holstenius published it, more accurately, in his *Opuscula Porphyrii* (Rome, 1650, pages 148-153), from the Vatican codex. After Holstenius, Tollius translated it into Latin in his *Fortuitous Things*, chapter 28. However, the celebrated Heeren gave a more accurate text in his *Selections of Physics and Ethics by John Stobaeus*, books II, part one (Göttingen, 1792, 8), pages 140 ff., and he discusses Bardesanes the Babylonian and the Syrian accurately and at length in his notes; his name is not obscure in the history of heresy. He opposes Fabricius, and teaches that Bardesanes the Babylonian is clearly distinct from Bardesanes the Syrian, whom Porphyry follows in the cited fragment; and in Vossius’s judgment, that Babylonian flourished under Alexander Severus and thus was about a hundred years removed from Bardesanes the Syrian. He concurs, and determines that the "Antoninus" is not that philosopher Marcus, but rather Heliogabalus, the predecessor of Alexander Severus, who, having been born in the city of Emesa, took the name Antoninus when he became emperor. He concludes, therefore, that the age of the writer Bardesanes the Babylonian is established therefrom, and that it should be relegated, without a doubt, to the times of Heliogabalus and Alexander with Vossius. HARLES.

(18) Concerning the saying about the arrows of Gratian destined for the mind: *τα Γρατιανου βέλη φρένας εχειν*, see Du Cange on Zonaras, page 42.

SECOND NOTITIA

1. JULIUS AFRICANUS, a Palestinian from the city of Emmaus, to which the name Nicopolis was later given, as Eusebius writes (1), flourished under Antoninus Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Regarding the history of this writer, who was certainly most learned among Christians, there is very little that we read in the ancients. Of his *Chronology*…

in the books, the bishop of Caesarea ^A tells us that he traveled to Alexandria on account of the great reputation and esteem of Heraclas, who had been promoted to the bishopric of that Church, and who excelled in philosophy and other Greek disciplines. And he teaches one other thing besides, which Jerome also repeats, that this same chronographer had once performed an embassy to Elagabalus for the restoration of Nicopolis, on which matter Scaliger has written at greater length.

Among the writings of Africanus that have in any way come down to us, although his *Chronography* takes the first place, we nevertheless assign the first position to the Epistle on the history of Susanna, inscribed to Origen, since we are moved by the importance of the subject matter; to which we have also added, as was fitting, the other epistle of Origen written in opposition to Africanus. Concerning these epistles, accept the judgment of the most renowned editor of Origenian works.

II. Africanus wrote another epistle to Aristides; in which, as Jerome says after Eusebius, he discusses most fully the discrepancy which seems to exist in the genealogy of the Savior according to Matthew and Luke. St. Augustine also mentions this, while retracting his books against Faustus the Manichaean; where he speaks of the question, how it could be that Joseph had two fathers. Indeed, looking back at this epistle of Africanus, he has this to say: "This has been found in the writings of those who, in recent memory, after the Lord's ascension, wrote about this matter." For Africanus did not keep silent about the name of the same woman who bore Jacob, the father of Joseph, of the former husband Mathan, who was the father of Jacob and grandfather of Joseph according to Matthew; and of the latter husband Melchi, she bore Heli, whose adopted son was Joseph. Furthermore, Photius, Zacharias Chrysopolitanus, and Nicephorus Callisti, who followed Eusebius, mention this; from whom also he brings forth fragments of the same epistle described elsewhere in public. These, however, we exhibit from the Valesian Eusebius with the notes of the most renowned interpreter. ^B

III. The principal work of Africanus, the *Chronography*, or five books *On the Times*, as Jerome says, is "carefully elaborated," and as Eusebius says, "most accurately composed." The author is indeed concise, in the judgment of Photius; yet he omits nothing necessary to be known. It begins from the creation of the world and arrives at the advent of Christ. He also concisely commemorates the deeds from the time of Christ up to the reign of Macrinus: at which time, as he himself affirms, this *Chronicle* was completed, of five thousand seven hundred and twenty-three years. Thus Photius. The work has long since been lost: from which, however, it is said that Eusebius and other chronographers who followed him have transcribed many things.

Now, however, so that this excellent work of Africanus of this kind may be understood somewhat more fully, it would perhaps not be useless to bring forward here what Dodwell observes on the same opinion. "There were," he says, "among the Latins, before Jerome translated the Eusebian *Chronicle*, those who had translated the *Chronicle* of Africanus into Latin, and had adapted it to the consular fasti, and then had continued it to the age in which each lived. Moreover, we learn this from the Merton codex of the Eusebian *Chronicle* of good note, at the end of which we read these things added:

Item, according to Africanus,

Who in five books of the *Times and Histories of the Hebrews, Greeks, Persians, Macedonians, and also the Alexandrians and Romans*, has embraced all things from Adam up to the Flood of Noah, 2242 years. Item, from the flood up to Abraham and the migration into the land of Canaan, 1015 years. The dwelling of all the race of Israel in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, 430 years. Moses in the wilderness, 40 years. Joshua the son of Nun and the elders who were after him, 55 years. Of the Judges and the time of peace without leaders, 490 years. Of the Priests and Judges, 90 years. Of the Kings of the Hebrews, 490 years. Of the Captivity and destruction of Jerusalem, 70 years. Of the Persian kings, 230 years. Of the Macedonians' principate with the Alexandrians and Ptolemies, 300 years. And the empire of the Romans up to the Savior and His Resurrection, 74 years. In total, all the years up to the time written above are 5726 years. From then until the empire of Alexander, that is, Moricaviti (sic), who was named Antoninus, 184 years, and under Gallus 5 years, and under Volusianus 31 years. ^C The sum total of all in the consulate of SSS (sic) is 5793 years, according to the course of the Sun and 12 months; but according to the Lunar months and the calculation of the Hebrews, who make in themselves 12 months, 11 days, and a quarter, having made the election, which become 185 Lunar years, 4 months. According to which calculation, the years in total are 5920 years, 10 months, 4 days. Item, from the second consulate of Gallienus and Volusianus up to the consulate of Limenius and Catulinus, 118 years. The sum total of all years is 5838, according to the course of the sun. ^D

^A But we know Africanus most accurately, and as one who has examined these matters more successfully than others. And it indeed seems necessary to me to first bring forward his account of the places, and then to see if we ourselves might be able to contribute anything to the discourse. He writes, therefore, in the fifth book of his Chronographies verbatim thus: ^B "We only know Africanus most accurately, and as one who has examined these matters more successfully than others. And it indeed seems necessary to me to first bring forward his account of the places, and then to see if we ourselves might be able to contribute anything to the discourse. He writes, therefore, in the fifth book of his Chronographies (21). The passage, then, having a sense such as this, means many and paradoxical things. But now there is need that we should make a discourse concerning the times and the things pertaining to them: that these things are said concerning the presence of Christ, who was to appear after seventy weeks, is clear, for in the time of the Savior, etc."

Here we must observe that an excerpt of this type from Africanus, which Lambecius published as if it were unpublished, exists more correctly in Eusebius ^C (23), and St. Jerome provides the complete version of it (24). It is the beginning of fragment XVI, which can be read below in its proper place, page 570. One is surprised that this escaped not only Lambecius, but also Cave (25) and Fabricius (26).

Lambecius proceeds further, and reports these things elsewhere (27): "As for what specifically pertains to Sextus Julius Africanus, he is cited among the *Sententiae* of various authors in these words: 'It is related in Africanus that, at the singing of the hymn by Manasses, the bonds, though they were of iron, were broken, and he fled.'" This learned man has followed the erring Suidas, who confuses Julius Africanus with Africanus the Sixth, as was noted above in § 1. Fabricius and Cave have subsequently imitated him.

Finally, the same Lambecius (28) mentions another fragment, which is still preserved as a manuscript in the Imperial Library. Its inscription is: "Account of Africanus ^D regarding the things that happened in Persia through the incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It begins: "From Persia it was known from the beginning that Christ—for nothing escapes those who are learned in her laws and who labor over all things. For all who, etc." And this fragment is deservedly thought to pertain to the Chronography of Africanus. For Syncellus exhibits similar fragments inscribed in the same way, as can be seen below on pages 372, 374.

Besides these things related by Lambecius, we add another fragment from Royal Codex 2441, described by the distinguished Montfaucon (29); where Africanus and Athanasius are asserted to have discussed the burial of Adam in these words: "These are they who have spoken concerning the burial of Adam, Africanus and the holy Athanasius." Hence in the preface of Montfaucon, p. vi, § 18, it must be rewritten concerning the burial of Adam, where it is wrongly read concerning the burial of the Lord.

THE SURVIVING WORKS OF JULIUS AFRICANUS.

LETTER TO ORIGEN CONCERNING THE HISTORY OF SUSANNA AND ORIGEN'S RESPONSE TO AFRICANUS

AFRICANUS' LETTER TO ARISTIDES

Africanus on the genealogy which is in the holy Gospels.

^A I. Some do not speak accurately when they say that this diverse enumeration and intermixture of names, of priests, as they suppose, and of kings, occurred rightly, so that Christ might be shown to be justly both priest and king. ^B As if anyone were in doubt about this, or had any other hope, namely, that Christ is not eternal. ^A [Africanus on the genealogy in the holy Gospels. 1. Some, indeed, do not speak accurately when they say that this diverse enumeration and intermixture of names, of priests, as they suppose, and of kings, occurred rightly, so that Christ might be shown to be justly both priest and king; as if anyone were in doubt about this, or had any other hope, namely, that Christ ^B is the eternal high priest of the Father, bringing our prayers to him, and king of all...]

^A supermundane, feeding those whom he has liberated with his Spirit, having become a co-operator in the ordering of all things. And this was heralded to us not by the catalog of the tribes, nor by the mixture of written generations, but by the patriarchs and prophets. Let us not, therefore, descend into such pettiness of piety, that we would establish the kingdom and priesthood of Christ by the manipulation of names. For otherwise, the priestly tribe of Levi was joined to the royal tribe of Judah, from which Aaron took as a wife ^B Elisabeth, the sister of Naasson, and again Eleazar took the daughter of Phatiel, and from these, children were born. Have the evangelists, therefore, lied, establishing not the truth, but a fabricated eulogy? And because of this, one [evangelist] traced the genealogy of Jacob, the father of Joseph, from David through Solomon; while the other, from Nathan the son of David, traced Heli, who was likewise in another way the father of Joseph. And yet it was not fitting for them to be ignorant that each of the enumerated lines ^C is of the race of David, being of the royal tribe of Judah. For if Nathan was a prophet, then so too was Solomon, and the father of both of them was [David]; and while prophets came from many tribes, no priests came from any of the twelve tribes except the Levites alone. It is therefore in vain that this falsehood has been fabricated by them, nor should such a discourse prevail in the Church of Christ [against] accurate truth, namely, that a lie is compounded for the praise and glorification of Christ. For who does not know those most sacred words of the Apostle, proclaiming and announcing the resurrection of our Savior, and ^D insisting upon the truth, saying with great fear: "If some people say that Christ has not been raised, and we both say and believe this, and we also hope for and preach it, we are found to be false witnesses of God, because he raised Christ, whom he did not raise." If, therefore, he who honors God the Father fears that he might appear a liar, while recounting a wondrous work, why would he not justly fear, seeing that he is one who, through falsehood, procures a basis for the truth, putting together a glory that is not true? For if the lineages are different, and if it brings forward no genuine seed to Joseph, but is spoken only as a basis for the one to be born, that the one who is to come will be King and Priest, without proof being present, but with the solemnity of the words being carried away into a futile hymn, it is clear that the praise does not touch God, being a lie, but the judgment [falls] upon the speaker, as if he were boasting of that which is not. Therefore, so that we may both refute the ignorance of the speaker and prevent anyone from being scandalized through ignorance, I will set forth the true history of the facts.

II. Since the names of the generations in Israel

55 JULIUS AFRICANUS 56

^A were reckoned either by nature or by law: by nature, where there is a legitimate succession of children to their parents; by law, whenever someone raises up children in the name of a deceased brother who died childless. For because a clear hope of resurrection had not yet been given to them, they used to imitate the promised future resurrection by means of a mortal ^B resurrection, so that the name of the one who had departed might remain, never to be obliterated by time. Since, therefore, those who are numbered among the ancestors of Christ succeeded their parents in some cases by natural right, as sons, and in others were ascribed to others although they were begotten by different parents: for this reason, mention is made of both, both of those who were truly fathers and of those who were fathers in name. Thus it happens that neither of the Gospels is false, as one follows nature and the other the law in enumerating the ancestors. For the families which are traced on the one hand from Solomon and on the other from Nathan are so inextricably intertwined, partly through the restoration of the name of those who had died without offspring, partly through second marriages, and partly also through the raising of seed, that the same men are rightly believed to have had different fathers—those who were ostensibly the fathers, and those who were the actual fathers—so that both accounts, being true, descend with complexity, yet accurately, down to Joseph.

III. But in order that what we have said may become clearer, we will set forth the series of both lineages. Therefore, if from David ^C through Solomon and through Nathan [the lineage] is led down, through legal substitutions which were made for those who died without children, and likewise through second marriages, by which one and the same person, begotten by different parents, appeared to be the son of others.

^D III. But that what is said may be clear, I will describe the interweaving of the generations. From David through Solomon and through Nathan.

If you count the generations with Matthew, Matthan will be found third from the end, who begat Jacob the father of Joseph. But if you count with Luke from Nathan, the son of David, Melchi will likewise be found third from the end, whose son was Heli, the father of Joseph. For he says: Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Melchi. Since, therefore, Joseph is set before us as the mark, it must be explained to us how he is said to have each as his father, both Jacob, who derives his lineage from Solomon, and Heli, who derives his from Nathan; and further, how these two, Jacob and Heli, were brothers; and besides, how their fathers, Matthan and Melchi, being of different lineages, are shown to be the grandfathers of Joseph.

Now, Matthan and Melchi, having taken the same woman in turn, begat children who were uterine brothers; for the law did not forbid a widow, ^B whether divorced or one whose husband had died, from being married to another. Therefore, from Estha—for this is the name handed down for the woman—first Matthan, who traced his lineage from Solomon, begat Jacob. And after the death of Matthan, Melchi, who is referred to the lineage of Nathan, having taken her, being from the same tribe but, as we have said, of a different family, had a son, Heli. Thus we shall find Jacob and Heli to be uterine brothers, though born of different lineages. ^C When one of them, Jacob, had his brother Heli die without children, he took his wife and begat of her a third, Joseph, by nature indeed his own, and according to reason. Wherefore it is written: Jacob begat Joseph. But according to the law he was the son of Heli; for the law commanded that his brother should raise up seed to him. Therefore the genealogy traced through him will not be invalidated, which Matthew the evangelist recounts, saying, Jacob begat Joseph. Luke, on the contrary, ascending from sons to parents: Jesus, he says, who was, as was supposed (for he expressly adds this), the son ^D of Joseph, of Heli, of Melchi. For it was not more fitting to declare the change of the lineages.

And he was silent ^A until the end, concerning the word "begat," having made the reference as far as Adam and God (14) by way of dissolution.

IV. Nor indeed is this without logical demonstration or merely fabricated. For the kinsmen of our Savior, whether they were showing off or simply teaching—but in any case speaking the truth—handed down these things also: namely, that Idumean robbers, having attacked the city of Ascalon in Palestine, took Antipater, the son of a certain Herod ^B—a temple servant—as a captive along with other sacred booty, from the temple of Apollo which was situated by the walls of the city; and because the priest (16) could not pay the ransom for the boy, Antipater, having been raised in the customs of the Idumeans, later became a friend ^C to Hyrcanus, the high priest of the Jews (17). Having served as an envoy to Pompey on behalf of Hyrcanus, and having liberated for him the kingdom which had been curtailed by his brother Aristobulus, he himself had the good fortune to be appointed curator of Palestine (18). He was succeeded by his son Herod, who was murdered out of envy for his great success, and who was later judged by the decree of the Senate, under Antony and Augustus, to be king of the Jews; from him descended Herod and the other tetrarchs. These things are, of course, common also to the histories of the Greeks.

V. Since at that time the origins of the Jewish ^D families were inscribed in the public records, as well as those of the proselytes (19) — [alt-version omitted] Rufinus, as his version shows. [alt-version omitted] (15) Antipater, the son of a certain Herod. This narrative is entirely fabulous and counterfeit. For Antipater had as a father not Herod, a temple servant of the temple of Apollo, but Antipater the Idumean, as Josephus writes in book xiv, chapter 2. Alexander, king of the Jews, appointed this man, Antipater, as governor of all Idumea. And this Antipater seems to have been the author of this power, to which his descendants later attained. For he held the governorship of Idumea while Alexander and Alexandra were reigning; and having entered into hospitality and friendship with the Ascalonites, Gazaeans, and Arabs, he amassed the greatest wealth for himself. (16) The temple servant. He improperly calls him a priest; for these things differ greatly from each other, as I noted above. It could have happened, however, that the same man was both priest and temple servant; for instance, if this were the condition of the priesthood, that they were not taken as priests unless they had relinquished their liberty. (17) Friend of Hyrcanus. This also in this place the King’s, Mazarin, Medicean, and Fuketian codices constantly have written. Which reading I know not why Robertus Stephanus rejected; for it is said to be... (18) Curator of Palestine having succeeded. Antipater, the parent of Herod, managed the administration of the whole kingdom under Hyrcanus, king of the Jews, and conducted business both civil and military. Therefore he is called by Josephus in the said book. Furthermore, the Medicean and Savilian codices have the writing, not... In the Mazarin and Fuketian, however, it is read... which reading Nicephorus confirms. For thus he has it in chapter... of book... The Greeks elegantly say... (19) Of the proselytes. It is strange that in the codices...

^A of others, whose families were traced—such as Achior the Ammonite, and Ruth the Moabitess, and the mixed multitude who came up with them from ^B Egypt—Herod, since the stock of the Israelites contributed nothing to his own, and being pricked by the conscience of his ignoble birth, burned their genealogical records (20). He thought he would appear noble if no other person could trace his lineage back to the patriarchs, or to the proselytes (21), or to those called *georas* (22), the mixed ones. A few of the diligent, having private records of their own—either by remembering the names or by having copies from elsewhere—prided themselves on the preservation of their noble origin in their memory; among whom were the aforementioned so-called *desposyni*, who were connected by kinship to the Savior’s family, having moved from the villages of Nazareth and Cochaba (24) to the rest of the land, and having explained the aforementioned genealogy (25) from the Book of Days (26) as far as they were able to trace it. Whether it is thus, or otherwise, no one else could find a more transparent explanation.

(20) *He burned their records.* I think this narrative is not very certain. For Josephus, in his autobiography, mentioning the origin and antiquity of his own lineage, repeats it from public archives. Therefore, public records still existed in the time of Josephus in which the origins of Jewish families were contained. Consequently, it is false that Herod burned them. Furthermore, these archives were in the Jerusalem Temple under the custody of the scribes, as I indeed believe. Thus, Rufinus translated the words of Africanus most excellently: "All the generations of the Hebrews were inscribed in the secret archives of the Temple."

(21) *Proselytes.* I would prefer to write *archiproselytes*, as above. For Africanus does not speak here ^C of the recent or newly-converted proselytes, but of the most noble and ancient ones, whose names were recorded in the Sacred Scriptures; such as Achior, who is frequently mentioned in the Book of Judith. For in this place Africanus deals with nobility, the chief hallmark of which is the antiquity of one's lineage. For he says that Herod burned the origins of the families so that no one could prove from public monuments that they drew their lineage from the patriarchs themselves or from the proselytes. But if we understand "new" proselytes, the entire point of this passage perishes; since in the age of Herod there were innumerable people in Judea who would refer their lineage back to recent proselytes, being themselves born of a proselyte grandfather; and these certainly had no need of the support of archives to prove that they were descended from proselytes. Furthermore, to draw one's origin from proselytes was held to be ignoble rather than splendid among the Jews, except, as I said, for those ancient proselytes whose faith and religion were ennobled by the Holy Scriptures.

(22) *Those called georas.* In Exodus 12:19, ^D where God speaks to Moses while he is still in Egypt, it is read: "Whoever eats leavened bread, that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Israel, whether he is a *geora* or a native of the land." Africanus interprets *georas* as the mixed ones who came up with them from Egypt. It is appropriate that they were the mixed multitude who joined themselves to the Jews as they departed from Egypt. For a twofold type of people joined the Jews departing from Egypt: one was of the indigenous Egyptians, whom Moses calls *autocthones*; the other was of the *georas*, that is, of the mixed multitude. Hesychius notes: *Georae* among the Egyptians were called those strangers who had received land to farm under a certain rent; such were the Jews in Egypt before they departed. Africanus appears to have confused these with the indigenous Egyptians, although Moses refutes him in the quoted passage. However, Holy Scripture in the said chapter, verse 38, embraces both—the *georas* as well as the indigenous Egyptians—under one name, "a mixed multitude." Origen, however, in his third book *On Principles*, appears to have understood the name "Egyptians" to mean only those who, having mixed with the Hebrews, left Egypt. Drusius, in his book *On the Three Sects of the Jews*, dealing with proselytes, says that the word *geora* is of Hebrew origin, and by it is signified a proselyte or stranger. Hesychius writes the same.

(24) *From Nazareth and Cochaba.* Cochaba was a village in Basanitis near the Decapolis, as Epiphanius relates in his work on the heresy of the Ebionites, chapter 18.

(26) *From the Book of Days.* By the "Book of Days" Africanus understands the diaries which he himself mentioned a little earlier. For most of the Jews, being studious of their own origins, had in their possession private commentaries of their lineage described from public archives, just as we see even now among the more noble.

and from the villages of Cochaba in Judea, they dispersed, and they made known the aforesaid genealogy as faithfully as they could from the books of the daily records. Whether, therefore, the matter stands thus or otherwise, in my own judgment, and that of others who wish to be fair assessors of these things, no one will easily find a clearer interpretation. Wherefore, let this suffice for us, even though it is supported by no other testimony; since we can produce neither a better nor a truer one. However, that the narrative of the Gospel is true, there can be no doubt.

VI. Matthan, tracing his lineage to Solomon, begat Jacob. Upon the death of Matthan, Melchi, who was of the lineage of Nathan, begat Heli of the same woman. Therefore, Heli and Jacob were uterine brothers. When Heli died childless, Jacob raised up seed to him, begetting Joseph, who was by nature the son of Jacob, but by law the son of Heli. Thus, Joseph is rightly called the son of both. ^A

OF JULIUS AFRICANUS: WHAT SURVIVES FROM THE FIVE BOOKS OF CHRONOGRAPHY, Pertaining chiefly to sacred and ecclesiastical matters.

On the fictitious chronology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.

The Egyptians, indeed, boasting of the antiquity of their own age, ^B in this place it appears that something is missing from the particle TE, which is held in all our codices and in Nicephorus. Wherefore, these words are to be supplied: “and from memory, as far as they could reach.” Thus, certainly, Rufinus seems to have read it, for he translates thus: “They taught the order of the aforesaid genealogy partly from memory, and partly also from the records of the days, as far as was possible.” ^C And in Nicephorus is read what is the same. Moreover, how much value should be placed on this explanation of the Gospel passage is clear from these words of Africanus, who indeed confesses that it is supported by no testimony of ancient writers. Nevertheless, he wishes it to be admitted by us, because no better one can be brought forward. Since these things are so, I could wish that Eusebius had not made mention of this matter in the vestibule of his History. It would surely have been more prudent and more advisable to wrap this dissonance of the Gospels in silence, lest to readers alien to our faith—of whom there were very many at that time—an occasion should be supplied to doubt the truth of the Gospels. Certainly, Julian the Emperor, in his book against the Christians, objects this dissension of the Evangelists to us, as St. Jerome testifies in his Commentaries on Matthew. The passage of Julian exists in Cyril in the eighth book against Julian. The author of the Questions of the Old and New Testament, chapter 56, speaking of this dissonance, disapproves of the opinion of Africanus. But he himself brings forward another that is less probable.

Matthan, from Solomon. There is such variety of accent in this name. The Maz. and Fuk. codices have the accent on the antepenultimate. Nicephorus, however, and the Fuk. codex place the circumflex on the penultimate. In the Regio and Med. there is a double accent, both on the penultimate and on the antepenultimate syllable. And this occurs in other names also, which the aforesaid codices observe, as often as it is ambiguous with which accent the words ought to be marked, so that it may be denoted that in some copies this accent is found, and in others that one. Moreover, our codices have written a little before: “For so all our codices, except the Regio, which has *Solomonos* there.” ^D Regarding the uterine brothers which Africanus reports, there are two things that seem to have some difficulty. For, first, I doubt whether it was lawful for a uterine brother to take to wife the widow of his deceased brother, and to beget children from her who were to pass into the name and family of his brother. For the law of Deuteronomy, chapter xxv, speaks of a brother who dwells in the same house, and who is a kinsman. This, indeed, belongs only to brothers of full blood or those related by blood. For a uterine brother is not of the same house, nor from the same lineage; since lineage, especially among the Jews, is traced from the paternal side. Certainly, Africanus explicitly testifies that Jacob and Heli were uterine brothers, indeed sharing the same mother, yet of a different lineage. In the second place, one might not unjustly doubt whether in recounting the generations the Jews took account of adoptive fathers. We have an illustrious example in Obed, of whom mention is made in the genealogy of Christ. For when Mahlon died...

in the land of Moab, and had left Ruth a widow without children, Booz, a kinsman of Mahlon—with the nearer kinsman ceding his right to him—took Ruth as his wife, to raise up seed to Mahlon. Nevertheless, Obed, who was born of her, is called not the son of Mahlon but of Booz by the evangelists who recorded the lineage of Christ; and this is in the book inscribed Ruth. I know what can be answered: that Moses spoke only of a brother; but Booz was not the brother of Mahlon, and therefore the law, by which it was commanded that a son born of the widow of a brother should be called by his name, did not apply to Booz. Then it can be said that Booz is named in the line of Christ because he was more illustrious than Mahlon.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE FIVE BOOKS OF CHRONOGRAPHY

^A...concerning the revolutions of years and myriads of years—setting forth a certain account of the things held as astronomical among them—those who deemed themselves accurate in these matters, drawing them together, spoke of lunar years. Inclining in no small measure toward the mythical, they arrive at the eight-and-nine thousand years which the priests of the Egyptians, in Plato, recounted to Solon, but which they do not truly state. And after a little: For the thirty thousand years of the Phoenicians, or the nonsense of the Chaldeans—that of forty-eight myriads—what need is there to speak of them? For the Jews, tracing their origin from the beginning from Abraham, and being taught in a more sober and human fashion by the Spirit of God through Moses, along with the rest of the Hebrew histories, have handed down to posterity, and published to the world, the number of five thousand five hundred years until the advent of the saving Word, which was proclaimed under the monarchy of the Caesars.

CONCERNING THE WATCHERS

^BWhen a multitude of men had arisen upon the earth, the angels of heaven went into the daughters of men. In some copies I have found "the sons of God." But it is mythologized, as I think, that those born of Seth are called "sons of God" by the Spirit, because of the righteous ones and patriarchs who were generated from his line down to the Savior; while he refers to the people from Cain as "the seed of men," as possessors of nothing divine due to the wickedness of the race, and because of the dissimilarity of nature—that they, having intermingled, provoked the indignation of God. But if we were to understand this of the angels, it must be accepted that they were given over to magic and sorcery, and that they handed down to the women the knowledge of the movement of the stars and of the heavens, ^C from which the women conceived the giants, through whom, with wickedness having supervened, God determined to destroy the whole faithless race of living creatures in the Flood.

Adam, having lived 230 years, begets Seth; and having lived after these for 700 years, he died, that is, he underwent the second death. Seth, having reached 205 years, begot Enos; from Adam, therefore, until the birth of Enos, there are counted in total 435 years. Enos, being 190 years old, begets Cainan.

Cainan, at 170 years, begets Malaleel. Malaleel, at 165 years, begets Jared. Jared, at 162 years, begets Enoch. Enoch, being 165 years old, begets Mathusala; and having pleased God, and lived for 200 years, he was found no more. Mathusala, having reached 187 years, begot Lamech. Lamech, at 188 years, begets Noah.

IV. On the Deluge

God decreed to consume the entire race of living creatures in a flood, having threatened that men would not exceed 120 years. Let no one be hesitant or anxiously raise a question, observing that some have exceeded this span of life. For the duration of time was set at 100 years until the flood for the sinners of that time; for they were twenty years of age. Because of his righteousness, God commanded Noah to build an ark which was pleasing to Him; and when it was finished, Noah himself and his sons, his wife and his daughters-in-law, and the first-fruits of every animal for the preservation of their kind, entered into it. ^B Noah was 600 years old when the flood occurred. And when the water ceased, the ark was set upon the mountains of Ararat, which we know to be in Parthia; though some say it is in Celaenae of Phrygia; but I have seen both places. The flood prevailed for a year; and then the earth dried. Those that went forth from the ark by pairs, as can be found—and not in the manner they entered, by species—are blessed by God. Each of these things signifies something special.

Noah was 600 years old when the flood occurred. From Adam, therefore, down to Noah and the flood, there are counted 2262 years.

VI. After the deluge

Post the deluge, Shem begot Arphaxad. Arphaxad, at 135 years, begets Sala, in the year 2397. Sala, at 130 years, begets Heber, in the year 2527. Heber, at 134 years, in the year 2661, begets Phalec, so named because in his age the earth was divided. Phalec, at 130 years, begot Ragau, and having survived for 209 years, he died.

VII. Ibid., pag. 93, al. 74. In the year 3277 of the world, Abraham entered the land of Canaan which had been promised to him. ^A

Concerning Abraham.

IX. Ibid., pag. 100, al. 80.

Concerning Abraham and Lot.

X. Ibid., pag. 107, al. 86.

Concerning the patriarch Jacob.

^A (43) of the Romans, suffered destruction by lightning.

Jacob, being displeased with the deeds committed in Shechem by Simeon and Levi on account of the defilement of their sister, and not bearing that the paternal gods of that people should be worshipped by his own, buried all those idols by the rock under the wonderful terebinth ^B (44), which to this current day is held in esteem by the inhabitants in honor of the patriarchs; and he moved ^C to Bethel. Near the trunk of this terebinth there was an altar, to which the inhabitants of the region would offer extended and assiduous prayers during the more solemn festivals ^D (47); and although it seemed to be burning, the terebinth suffered no damage (48). The tomb of Abraham and Isaac is situated near it. Some affirm that it is a staff of one of the angels who were received in hospitality by Abraham, planted there by his hand.

XI. Ibid., pag. 106. al. 85. From Adam until the death of Joseph, in this book, 23 generations are indeed counted, and 3563 years.

XII. Ibid., pag. 148, al. 118, ex lib. III Chronogr. Africani. We say, therefore, from this register, that Ogygus ^A (50), who became eponymous of the first flood ^B (51), [was lost to history until the times of Antonine, as Africanus says.] [alt-version omitted] ^{C D}

having been preserved, [occurred] in Egypt after the exodus of the people with Moses. And after a little: After Ogygus, because of the great destruction from the flood, [the region] now [called] Attica remained without kings (52), until Cecrops, [who reigned] 189 [years]. For Philochorus says that neither Ogygus nor Actaeus, nor the fictive names, ever existed. And after other things: From Ogygus to Cyrus, just as from Moses to that same boundary, 1235 years are numbered (53).

XIII. From the same book III. At Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, bk. X, ch. 40.

I. Before the series of the Olympiads, you will find nothing certain or explored in the history of the Greeks; for everything is so perturbed, and the things that are reported to have happened before that time do not agree with each other in any respect. But in the arranging of the Olympiads, many have been accurate and diligent, because the Greeks recorded the things defined in their own four-year periods, covering a not very long interval. Wherefore, having briefly and cursorily touched upon those fabulous matters which, by rumor and the opinion of men, were held in higher esteem than the others up to the first Olympiad, I shall interweave the Hebrew [history] with the Greek things that happened later, if only they seem significant, such that, having just passingly touched upon the Greek matters, I may set forth the Hebrew ones more fully, after the manner of the historians. My method in this shall be of such a kind that, as often as I undertake to recount a piece of Hebrew history that corresponds at some point with Greek history, I shall constantly adhere to it, subtracting or adding some things where the matter requires, and I shall disclose who, either of the Greeks or Persians or any other people, flourished at the same time: for thus I think I shall make myself master of that which is my set purpose.

II. The most notable migration of the Hebrews, therefore, when they were taken into captivity by Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, lasted ^B seventy years, as ^C Jeremiah had predicted before. Moreover, Berosus the Babylonian makes mention of Nabuchodonosor. When those seventy years of captivity were finished, Cyrus attained the Persian kingdom, when the fifty-fifth Olympiad was being held, as may be gathered from the libraries of Diodorus, and the histories of Thallus and Castor, and furthermore of Polybius and Phlegon; for the time is agreed upon by them all in defining this period. Cyrus, therefore, in the first year of his reign, which was also the first year of the fifty-fifth Olympiad, through Zorobabel, whose equal and associate was Jesus the son of Josedec, released a portion of the Jewish people, the seventy-year sum having now been completed, as we read in the Hebrew historian Esdras. And since the beginning of the reign of Cyrus concurs with the end of the Jewish captivity by the consent of all historians, a similar [concurrence] also in the Olympiads...

as well as the rest of the periods following, is brought down to our own times: since those who proceed from him as from a hinge, we shall propose to weave together and connect the subsequent histories in the same manner among themselves. ^A

III. But in recording the times prior to these, if one chooses to follow the method of the Attic chronology, from Ogyges, who is believed to be autochthonous among them, under whom occurred the great and first flood in Attica, while Phoroneus was reigning over the Argives, as the author Acusilaus relates, down to the first Olympiad, from which the Greeks considered that they could produce an accurate series of times, there are gathered one thousand and twenty years; which number both agrees perfectly with the aforementioned [data] and will be established by the declaration of what follows. For Hellanicus and Philochorus, who recorded the Attic affairs, as well as Castor and Thallus, who pursued the Syrian [affairs], and Diodorus, who included the history of all nations in his Bibliotheca, and Alexander Polyhistor, and some of those of our own time, have remembered these things more diligently and accurately than all the Attic writers. ^B Therefore, if any history of note occurs within the space of those thousand and twenty years, we shall conveniently provide it in its proper place.

IV. We wish, therefore, relying also on the authority of this writing, to place that Ogyges—who, having survived while a great multitude perished by the force of the waters, gave his name to the first flood—around that time when the people migrated from Egypt with Moses. This we work out in this manner. From Ogyges to the first Olympiad, there are thought to be one thousand and twenty years; from the first Olympiad to the first year of the fifty-fifth, which also is the first year of King Cyrus, and the same [as] the end of the Jewish captivity, there are two hundred and seventeen years; therefore, from Ogyges to Cyrus, one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven years are gathered in total. ^C Now, whoever wishes to count back the years from the end of the captivity, he will count by revolving one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven years; this is exactly the same interval down to that year when Israel was first led out of Egypt by Moses, as it was said that [the time] runs from the fifty-fifth Olympiad to Ogyges, who founded Eleusis. And from that point, a more distinguished beginning of Attic chronology can be derived.

V. But enough so far concerning the time preceding Ogyges. As for his time, Moses departed from Egypt—a fact which, as it is akin to truth, we show in this way. From the exodus of Moses to Cyrus, who reigned after the captivity, the years are thought to be one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven. For the remainder of the years of Moses from the exodus are forty; those of Jesus, who led the people after him, are twenty-five; those of the elders, ^D who were judges after Jesus, are thirty; those of all the judges, who are contained in their own book, are four hundred and ninety; of the priests Eli and Samuel, ninety; [then] follow the subsequent kings of the Hebrews, four hundred and ninety; [then] follow the seventy of the captivity; the last year of which was the first year of the reign of Cyrus, as we have already said.

^A VI. Now from Moses to the first Olympiad, one thousand and twenty years flow; while from the same [Moses] to the first year of the fifty-fifth [Olympiad], one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven are numbered; in which [reckoning] we also agree most excellently with the times of the Greeks. But truly, after Ogyges, because of the immense desolation which followed from that flood, what is now called Attica remained without kings for one hundred and eighty-nine years, until Cecrops. For that Actaeus, who is listed after Ogyges, and the other names which are subsequently fabricated, Philochorus confirms did not even exist at all. And again: "Therefore," he says, "from Ogyges to Cyrus, you should count just as much as [the years] to the same [Cyrus] from Moses, that is, one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven years." And in truth, some of the Greeks themselves attest that Moses lived during those same times. For Polemo, in the first book of the Greek histories, states in explicit terms that in the time of Apis, son of Phoroneus, a portion of the Egyptian army withdrew from Egypt and settled in that part of Palestine which is called Syria, not far from Arabia—understanding them, of course, to be the very ones who departed under the leadership of Moses. Apio, son of Posidonius, also, a man most curious of all grammarians, writes in the fourth book of his ^B *Against the Jews* and his *Histories* that when Inachus was reigning at Argos, the Jews, under the leadership of Moses, revolted from Amosis, king of the Egyptians. Herodotus also makes mention of this revolt, and of Amosis, in his second book; indeed, he even counts the Jews themselves among those who are circumcised and names them the Assyrians of Palestine, perhaps because of [their descent from] Abraham for both reasons. And with all these [claims], Ptolemy of Mendes, who records the history of the Egyptians from the earliest times, also agrees, in such a way that there is almost no difference to be noted between them, except for the very slightest in their chronologies.

VII. Moreover, it must also be observed here that whatever the Greeks fable, however rarely, due to its antiquity, the whole of it is found to be later than Moses: floods, conflagrations, Prometheus, Io, Europa, the rape of Proserpina, ^C mysteries, the sanctions of laws, the deeds of Bacchus, Perseus, the Argonauts, the Centaurs, the Minotaur, the affairs of Troy, the contests of Hercules, the return of the Heraclidae, the migration of the Ionians, and the Olympiads. And indeed, to me, planning to compare Greek histories with Hebrew ones, it seemed best to describe those times of the Attic kingdom in particular. For thus it will be permitted to anyone at all, provided he wishes to take the beginning from my work, to enter into calculating the number in the same way as I have. Therefore, of those one thousand and twenty years which we have said passed from Moses and Ogyges to the first Olympiad, in the first year, just as the Passover of the Hebrews and the departure from Egypt took place, so too did the Ogygian flood in Attica occur. And this is indeed fitting. For when the Egyptians, ^D by the wrath of God and by hailstorms...

^A were lashed, it was to be expected that certain parts of the earth should suffer with them; and since it was likely that the Athenians should likewise share in the same troubles as the Egyptians, being suspected—as others, and Theopompus in his *Tricarenus*, say—to be their colonists. The time intervening is passed over, in which nothing noteworthy is recorded among the Greeks. But after ninety-four years, there was Prometheus, as some say, who was fabled to have fashioned men; for being wise, he refashioned them from excessive ignorance to the cultivation of learning.

XIV. From the same book, III.

Eschylus, son of Agamestor, governed the Athenians for twenty-three years; during his reign, Joatham likewise reigned in Jerusalem.

Our own canon includes King Joatham of Judah in the first Olympiad.

XV. From the same book and from book IV.

Africanus in the third book of his Histories writes:

XVI. From book V.

Of the LXX Weeks of Daniel.

I. The passage itself, which is formatted roughly thus, signifies many and marvelous things; yet we shall now speak only of those things which pertain to the calculation of times and matters connected with them. That these things are said concerning the advent of Christ, who was to appear after seventy weeks, is clear. For with our Savior, or from Him, both offenses are worn away and sins are completed. And because of the forgiveness, iniquities are blotted out by expiation along with injustices, and an everlasting righteousness is proclaimed, beyond that which was acquired by the Law; visions ^C and prophecies cease until John, and the Holy of Holies is anointed; for prior to the Savior’s [interpretatio S. Hieronymi (Jerome’s interpretation):]

I. The chapter which we read concerning the seventy weeks of Daniel contains many wonderful things, which it would take too long to recount now: therefore, regarding what pertains to the present work, we must discuss the times. There is no doubt that this is a prediction of the advent of Christ, who appeared to the world after seventy weeks; after whom transgressions were finished, sin came to an end, and iniquity was blotted out; and everlasting righteousness was announced, which would surpass the righteousness of the law; and vision and prophecy were fulfilled, because the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist: and the Holy of Holies was anointed: all of which, before Christ assumed a human body, were rather hoped for than possessed. But the angel himself speaks of seventy weeks of years—that is, four hundred and ninety years—having their beginning from the issuing of the decree, so that answer might be made, and Jerusalem rebuilt, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. For Nehemiah, his cupbearer, as we read in the book of Ezra, asked the king; and he received the answer that Jerusalem should be built. And this went forth as the word which gave license for the city to be built and for it to be surrounded by walls; for until that time it lay open to the incursions of neighboring nations. Indeed, under the empire of King Cyrus, who had granted the power to those requesting to return to Jerusalem, Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel, and afterwards Ezra the priest, and the others who desired to set out with them, attempted to build the temple and the city and its walls, while the nations in the surrounding areas prevented the work from being completed, as if the king had not ordered it.

^B 11. It remained, therefore, until Nehemiah and the reign of Artaxerxes, and the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian empire; but since the capture of Jerusalem, one hundred and eighty-five years had passed. And then King Artaxerxes commanded that the city be built. Nehemiah, having been sent, was in charge of the work, and the streets and the surrounding walls were built, just as it had been prophesied. Therefore, when we begin to count from there, seventy weeks are completed in Christ; for if we were to begin to count from any other time, and not from there, neither would the time match, and many absurdities would be encountered. For if we were to make the beginning of the counting of the seventy weeks from Cyrus and the first release, there would be an excess of one hundred years and more, and a greater amount of time if we count from the day the angel prophesied to Daniel, and a much greater time yet if we begin from the start of the captivity. For we find the Persian kingdom to be contained within two hundred and thirty years, and that of the Macedonians extending for three hundred and seventy years, and from then until the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar for sixty years.

^C *Interpretatio S. Hieronymi.*

11. The work remained imperfect until Nehemiah and the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes: at which time, of the Persian reign, one hundred and fifteen years had elapsed; indeed, it was the one hundred and eighty-fifth year of the captivity of Jerusalem; and then for the first time Artaxerxes ordered the walls of Jerusalem to be constructed; over which work Nehemiah presided; and a street and surrounding walls were built; and if you wish to count from that time, you will be able to find seventy weeks of years until Christ. But if we wish to take the beginning of these from another time, the periods will not coincide, and we will find many things contrary. For if we count the seventy weeks from Cyrus, and his first indulgence by which the captivity of the Jews was relaxed; we will find one hundred and more years, which exceed the stated number of seventy weeks, and more. Or from the day on which the angel spoke to Daniel; and a larger number is added, if you wish to have the beginning of the weeks from the start of the captivity. For the Persian kingdom remained, until the beginning of the Macedonians, for two hundred and thirty years; and the Macedonians themselves reigned for three hundred years; and from then until the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Christ suffered, sixty years are counted; which together make five hundred and ninety years, so that one hundred years remain over.

^D 111. But from Artaxerxes, seventy weeks ...

*Interpretatio S. Hieronymi.*

111. But from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes until Christ, seventy weeks are completed, according to...

the reckoning of the Jews; for from Nehemiah, who was sent to rebuild Jerusalem in the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian kingdom—which was the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself and the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad—until this time, which was the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^A there are gathered four hundred and seventy-five years. These become four hundred and ninety Hebrew years when their years are reckoned according to the lunar course, which is to say, as is easy to state, by days numbering three hundred and fifty-four, whereas the solar cycle is three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days. For the lunar twelve-month period differs by eleven and a quarter days. For this reason, the Greeks and the Jews insert three intercalary months every eight years. For eight times eleven and a quarter makes for three months. Therefore, the four hundred and seventy-five years become fifty-nine octennials and three additional months. Since a three-month intercalary period occurs every eight years, fifteen years ^B are produced, with a few days subtracted. If you add these to the four hundred and seventy-five years, you will complete the seventy weeks.

*Interpretation of Saint Jerome.* I am teaching the lunar calculation of the Hebrews, who count their months not according to the sun, but according to the lunar course. For from the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian empire, when Artaxerxes, king of that same empire, was in the twentieth year of his reign, and it was the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad, down to the two hundred and second Olympiad, and the second year of that same Olympiad, and the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, there are gathered four hundred and seventy-five years, which make four hundred and ninety Hebrew years, according, as we have said, to the lunar months. These, according to their calculation, can make twenty-nine and a half days per individual month: so that the solar circle over four hundred and ninety years has three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days more; and through twelve months of individual years, eleven and a quarter days are found to be in excess. Whence the Greeks and Jews perform an ἐμβολισμός of three months every eight years. For if you wish to calculate eight times eleven and a quarter, you will effect ninety days, that is to say, three months; and in four hundred and seventy-five years, fifty-nine octaeterides (cycles of eight) will be found, and three months: which together make more or less fifteen years; if you wish to add these to the four hundred and seventy-five years, you will make seventy weeks of years, that is to say, four hundred and ninety years in total.

XVII. From Syncellus, ibid., p. 307, and following. Concerning those things which happened to Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and concerning Herod, Augustus, Antony and Cleopatra, summarily.

I. Octavius, called Augustus by the Romans, being the adoptive son of Gaius, having returned to Rome from the city of Apollonia in Epirus, where he was studying, seized authority over the leading men of the state. Antony later obtained the governance of Asia and neighboring regions. To his judgment, the Jews brought Herod as an accused man, whose ambassadors were punished with death, and he restored the kingdom to Herod; who finally, having been expelled along with Hyrcanus and his brother Phasael, betook himself in flight to Antony. As the Jews would not admit his return, a bloody battle was fought; and not long after, having gained the upper hand, he put Antigonus to flight. The latter went to the king of the Parthians, and having promised a thousand talents of gold, he recovered the kingdom with the aid of his son Pacorus. Herod, the fortune of war having turned, was driven into flight; Phasael fell in the battle;

^A Hyrcanus was delivered alive to Antigonus. The latter gave him over to the Parthians to lead away, having cut off his ears so that he might never again serve as a priest—for he feared to kill his own kinsman—and surrendered him as a captive to the power of the Parthians. Herod, having lost his kingdom, first took refuge with Malichus, the king of the Arabs, but as he would not receive him for fear of the Parthians, he went away to Alexandria to Cleopatra. It was then the 185th Olympiad. Cleopatra, having killed her brother who shared the kingdom with her, and having been summoned by Antony to Cilicia to plead her case, entrusted the care of the kingdom to Herod; but he obtained nothing from her by which he might be restored to his kingdom, and he soon followed her as a companion on the journey to Antony. He, taken by the allurements of the woman, sent Herod to Rome to Octavius Augustus, who, remembering both Antipater, the father of Herod, and Herod himself, and finally the fact that Antigonus held the kingdom by the arms of the Parthians, sent letters to the generals in Palestine and Syria, ordering them to restore Herod to his kingdom. Then, joined with Sosius, Herod fought with arms against Antigonus for a long time and in various battles. At that time, Josephus, the brother of Herod, one of the commanders of the forces, fell in battle. When Herod had gone to Antony... ^B

II. For three years they prolonged the siege, and at last led Antigonus alive to Antony. Antony himself proclaimed Herod king and further committed to his government other cities: Hippum, Gadara, Gaza, Joppe, Anthedon, and a part of Arabia, and Trachonitis and Auranitis, Sacia and Gaulane, and lastly he committed to him the administration of Syria; and Herod, having been declared king of the Jews by the senate and Octavius Augustus, reigned for thirty-four years. ^C Antony, about to set out on an expedition against the Parthians, killed the Jewish king Antigonus, and handed over Arabia to Cleopatra; and having crossed into Parthia, he suffered a great defeat, having lost the greater part of his army. It was then the 186th Olympiad. The Emperor Octavius led forces gathered from Italy and the western regions against Antony, who did not wish to return to Rome for fear of the failures among the Parthians and because of his love for Cleopatra. Antony, having forces from Asia, met him. Herod, however, being shrewd and accustomed to currying favor with the powerful, sent dual epistles ^D and sent his army by ship, instructing the commanders to await the outcome of the war before engaging. When the victory was adjudged, and Antony, having been defeated in two battles, fled into Egypt together with Cleopatra, those who were carrying the letters that they had kept back from Antony delivered them to Augustus. But there fell upon Herod...

III. Cleopatra, enclosed in a sepulchral Mausoleum, made use of an asp, a wild beast, as a weapon of death against herself.

^A At the same time Augustus captured the children of Cleopatra, Sol and Luna, as they were fleeing toward the Thebaid. Nicopolis was built by the Actian gulf, and the Actian games were instituted. Alexandria having been taken, Cornelius Gallus was sent as the first Augustal prefect of Egypt, who razed the cities of those Egyptians who were revolting. ^B Up to this point the Lagidae lasted, and the entire duration of the Macedonian dominion, after the destruction of the kingdom of the Persians, stood for two years less than three hundred. The entire space of time, therefore, from the institution of the Macedonian empire to the end of the Egyptian kingdom—that is, to Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies—concludes at the eleventh year of the Roman monarchy and empire, and the fourth year of the 187th Olympiad. The total number of years from the creation of Adam is 5472.

IV. After the capture of Alexandria, the 188th Olympiad began.

Herod, having rebuilt the city of the Gabinians, formerly called Samaria, named it Sebaste; he also restored its naval station, formerly named the Tower of Straton, into the form of a city, and from his own name called it Caesarea, and in each he erected a temple to be consecrated to Octavius. Last of all, he founded Antipatris in the Lydian plain, named after his father, and settled in it the inhabitants of the region around Sebaste, whose land he had confiscated. He built other cities as well; and to the Jews he was burdensome, but to the other nations he showed himself most gracious. ^C It was the 189th Olympiad, which accepted the intercalary day on the sixth day before the Kalends of March, in the 24th year according to the Antiochene era, by which benefit the year began to settle upon its own certain and proper boundaries.

Concerning the things that happened during the salutary passion and life-giving resurrection of Christ

I. Concerning each of the deeds of his, and ^D the things that pertain to the salutary passion and the life-giving resurrection.

1. Indeed, concerning every single one of his deeds, and the things that occurred during the salutary passion and life-giving resurrection. First, regarding the details of his deeds and the times of his life, it is right to say that he who reflects upon the facts carefully will find that the matters surrounding the dates often vary in the hands of scribes or in the intent of the chroniclers themselves, yet these things do not diminish the truth of the events.

^A The healings of bodies and souls, and the hidden secrets of knowledge, and the resurrection from the dead, have been most sufficiently manifested to His disciples and apostles, and to those before us. An utterly terrible darkness pressed upon the whole world; the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many buildings throughout Judea and the remaining lands were cast down. Thallus, in the third book of his Histories, calls this darkness an eclipse of the sun, which, in my opinion, is unreasonable. For the Hebrews celebrate the Passover at the time of the moon, and the events concerning the Savior happened on the day before the Passover. A solar eclipse, however, occurs when the moon passes under the sun. It is impossible for it to occur at any other time except between the new moon and the one preceding it, in the very conjunction; how, then, could an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite to the sun? Let it be so, however; let the occurrence carry away the many, and let this cosmic portent be surmised by the eyes to be an eclipse of the sun. Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, during a full moon, a total eclipse of the sun occurred from the sixth hour until the ninth; it is clear that it was this one. But what is the connection between an earthquake, and an eclipse, and the rending of rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and such a great cosmic disturbance? In any event, nothing like it is recorded to have happened in the long course of time; rather, the darkness was God-made, because it happened at the time the Lord suffered; and the account holds that the seventy weeks in Daniel are fulfilled in this period.

^B II. From the empire of Artaxerxes, ^C seventy weeks are completed until the time of Christ, according to the Hebrew numbers. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to inhabit Jerusalem, in the one hundred and twentieth year of the Persian kingdom—that is, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes himself—and from the fourth year of the 83rd Olympiad, up to these times, which was the second year of the 202nd Olympiad, and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, there are gathered 475 years; these amount to 490 Hebrew years, when those years are reckoned by the lunar month, which is easy to state; for the cyclical year according to the sun consists of 365 and one-quarter days, whereas according to the moon, the twelve-month year differs by 11 and one-quarter days; for this reason both the Greeks and the Hebrews intercalate three months over eight years; for eight times the eleven and one-quarter days make a three-month period. Thus, the 475 years are divided into octennia and three months; for in eight years there are 96 months, and three months, as a three-month intercalary period added to the eight years, make 15 months; and if you add these to the 475 years, you will reckon 70 weeks. Let no one think us ignorant of astronomical numbers, nor assume that we have arbitrarily set the year at 365 and one-quarter days. For it was not out of ignorance of the truth, but for the sake of precise calculation that we have abbreviated the reckoning. To those who try to examine everything with precision, let this be laid down as in a document.

III. Every year, then, ^A comprises 365 days in total; and when the space of day and night is divided into a nineteen-year cycle, we perceive its fifth part to be that which divides it. However, since we understand the year to be composed of 365 days and a quarter, and [derived] from the five parts of the nineteen-year quotient... after 475 years, six days and a quarter emerge as corresponding exactly. Furthermore, we find that the lunar month includes 29 days and a half for more exquisite skill in counting; and when the interval of day and night is divided into 215 parts, we have [the result] that those with the half-part ... make up ninety-four and three [parts]. And these are gathered within a short span of time. From the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes (of whom Esdras, praised by the Hebrews, is the witness and author), which was the fourth year of the 84th Olympiad among the Greeks, to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, which is equal to the second year of the 202nd Olympiad, the aforementioned Julian years—which, according to what was stated, calculate to 490 Hebrew years—are added up, that is, 70 weeks, after which the coming of Christ, foretold to Daniel by Gabriel, [occurred]. Now, even if the fifteen Hebrew years added to others seem to some to introduce an error of years, I am nonetheless certain that this, when brought into the open, presents nothing absurd. But how conveniently one and a half weeks (which we conjecture should be assumed for the completion of the number) might remedy the years in question, and render the term shorter, and in one word abbreviate the consummation, as prophecies wrapped in symbols are wont to be presented, I consider to be entirely manifest.

IV. Truly, as far as my wisdom allowed, I think I have rightly understood the Scripture: ^C since the very saying regarding the vision seems to compel all preceding calculations to be brought into a sum, in the first words of which it says: *In the third year of the reign of Balthasar*; wherein he prophesies regarding the overthrow of the Persian empire by the Greeks (the kingdom of both of which the figure of the ram and the goat designates). *The sacrifice*, he says, *will be taken away, and the holy places will be made desolate for a trampling, which will be circumscribed in 2300 days*. For if we reckon the day as a month, just as elsewhere according to prophecy days are taken for years, and yet elsewhere they are taken by a different method, having similarly reduced the days mentioned above into months, we would find that from the capture of Jerusalem to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the whole time is concluded. For the years are gathered to 185, to which another is to be added, in which Nehemiah ^D walled the city. Therefore, having shown the 186 years to be months, we find 2300 Hebrew months, with the eight-year cycle following, which takes on three additional months in addition to these. And from Artaxerxes, whence the account...

^A of these weeks is completed. Of these matters, we have spoken privately and more accurately in the treatise *On the Weeks* and on this prophecy. I cannot but marvel that the Jews say the Lord has not yet come, and that the disciples of Marcion say his advent was nowhere announced by the prophecies, when the Scriptures so clearly place the matter before their eyes. And after a few words: The years, therefore, from the creation of Adam to the advent of the Lord and his resurrection are computed at 5531. From that epoch in time to the 250th Olympiad, there elapse 192 years, as has been shown by us previously.

XIX. In St. Basil, lib. *De Spiritu sancto*, cap. 29, § 73, Opp. tom. III, pag. 61, ed. Paris.

We who understand the meaning of those words, and are not ignorant of the grace of faith, give thanks to the Father, who for us his creatures has provided the Savior of all and our Lord Jesus Christ—to whom be glory and majesty, with the Holy Spirit, for ages to come.

Fragment of Julius Africanus from the book *Cesti*; see above, col. 45.

THE PASSION OF ST. SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS

ADMONITION

^B Since we have undertaken to print the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Symphorosa and her seven sons from the Ruinart edition, we have deemed it wise to write out the preceding Admonition of the worthy scholar, so that readers may be aware of his care and study in publishing these both from edited copies and from three manuscript codices. It is as follows:

The Acts of the martyrdom of St. Symphorosa and her sons, which we present here, are attributed in the manuscript codices to the most celebrated writer Julius Africanus. And indeed, it is possible that they were inserted into his books *On Chronography*, which Eusebius testifies were most accurately written, since in them he related the principal events which had occurred from the creation of the world down to the times of the Emperor Heliogabalus. See tom. III, p. 256, where Africanus imposed an end to his fifth book of *Chronography* with these words.

since that work has long since perished, I would not dare to assert whether these Acts are truly to be ascribed to Africanus, although there seems to be no room for doubting their sincerity. We provide them here from the editions of Mombritius, Surius, and Cardulus, having collated them with two ^A manuscript codices from the Colbertine library and one from the Sorbonne.

II. The vicinity of that most famous palace—which Spartianus testifies was built by Hadrian in the Tiburtine villa—provided the occasion for the slaughter of these saints. For since the Emperor had ordered that this royal house, which he had constructed for his own pleasure, be purified by I know not what expiatory ceremonies, the priests seized this opportunity to accuse Symphorosa, claiming that nothing would please the gods at all unless either Symphorosa offered sacrifice to them first, or she herself were sacrificed. Hadrian, who is known to have been more superstitious than most, carried out this latter option approximately in the year of Christ 120, that is, near the beginning of his reign: at which time, as Dio Cassius notes, that Emperor committed many slaughters.

III. Moreover, the memory of these martyrs is celebrated in all the most ancient Martyrologies, although on different days. The Roman one, with Notker, commemorates them on the 18th of July; Rabanus on the 21st of the same month; Usuard and Ado on the 21st of June. On the Via Tiburtina there still remain the ruins of an ancient church, as Aringus notes (82), which had once been consecrated to God under their name, and which still retains the title "At the Seven Brothers." I have no doubt that it was built in that place which the pontiffs in the Acts ^B called "Ad septem Biothanatos"—that is, those who have met a violent death—as Baronius notes (83).

Thus far, the learned man. But beyond Tillemont (84), more will be provided by the Bollandists, who, according to their custom, discuss quite fully and accurately everything known to pertain to the Acts of these martyrs.

THE PASSION OF SAINT SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS

I. When Hadrian had built the palace and wished to dedicate it with that wicked rite, and had begun to demand responses from the sacrifices of the idols and the demons who dwell in the idols, they answered and said (86): "Symphorosa, a widow with her seven sons, tortures us daily by calling upon her God. If, therefore, she offers sacrifice with her sons, we promise to grant everything you ask." Then Hadrian ordered her to be taken with her sons, and exhorted them with blandishments to consent to sacrifice to the idols. ^C To him blessed Symphorosa said: "My husband Getulius (87), with his brother Amantius, being your tribunes, suffered various tortures for the name of Christ, refusing to consent to sacrifice to your idols; and like good athletes, they conquered your demons by dying. For they chose rather to be decapitated than to be conquered, enduring death; which, suffered for the name of Christ, brought them temporary ignominy among earthly men, but among the angels, eternal honor and glory—among whom they now walk, and offering up the trophies of their sufferings (88), they enjoy eternal life in the heavens with the eternal King."

II. The Emperor Hadrian said to Saint Symphorosa: "Either sacrifice to the all-powerful gods with your sons, or I shall have you yourself sacrificed with your sons." Blessed Symphorosa (89) answered: "And whence such a great good for me, that I should deserve to be offered as a host to God with my sons?" The Emperor Hadrian said: "I shall have you sacrificed to my gods." Blessed Symphorosa answered: "Your gods cannot accept me as a sacrifice: but if I am burned for the name of my God Christ, I burn those demons of yours all the more." ^D The Emperor Hadrian said: "Choose one of two things for yourself: either sacrifice to my gods, or you shall end in a miserable death." Blessed Symphorosa answered: "Do you think that my spirit can be moved by any terror, when I desire to rest with my husband Getulius (90), whom you killed for the name of Christ?" Then the Emperor Hadrian ordered her to be led to the temple of Hercules, where she was first struck with slaps and thereafter suspended by her hair. But when by no reason and by no fear he could recall her from her good purpose, he ordered her to be thrown into the river with a huge stone tied to her neck. Her body was collected by her brother Eugenius, a principal officer of the Tiburtine curia, and buried in the suburbs of the same city.

SPURIA. — ON PERSIAN AFFAIRS AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

^A Another day, the Emperor Hadrian ordered that all seven of her sons be presented to him. When he tried to induce them to sacrifice to idols, and saw that they would in no way consent to his threats and terrors, he ordered seven stakes to be fixed around the temple of Hercules, and commanded them to be stretched there upon pulleys. He then ordered the first, Crescentius, to be pierced through the throat; the second, Julian, to be stabbed in the chest; the third, Nemesius, to be struck in the heart; the fourth, Primitivus, to be wounded in the navel; the fifth, Justin, to be turned over and pierced through the back with a sword; the sixth, Stracteus, to be wounded in the side; and the seventh, Eugenius, to be split from top to bottom.

IV. On the following day, the Emperor Hadrian came to the temple of Hercules and ordered their bodies ^B to be carried off and cast into a deep pit. The pontiffs gave that place the name "To the Seven Biothanati." After this, the persecution ceased for a year and six months, during which time the holy bodies of all the martyrs were honored and, with tombs constructed, were buried with all diligence, their names being inscribed in the book of life. The feast of the holy martyrs of Christ, the blessed Symphorosa and her seven sons, Crescentius, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justin, Stracteus, and Eugenius, is celebrated on the 15th day before the Kalends of August. Their bodies rest on the Via Tiburtina at the eighth milestone from the City, while our Lord Jesus Christ reigns, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

AFRICANUS'S NARRATION CONCERNING THOSE THINGS WHICH HAPPENED IN PERSIA AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

ADMONITIO.

AFRICANI NARRATIO DE IIS QUAE IN PERSIA DOMINO DEO AC SALVATORE NOSTRO JESU CHRISTO NATO ACCIDERUNT.

Christ first of all became known from Persia. For nothing of the things of that nation escapes its men learned in the law, who with the greatest diligence have written everything in twenty-four books. These are, as it were, natural works, containing from their discourses and incantations, and from certain written characters, healings and other operations. Africanus, called Sextus, an African philosopher who wrote the *Cesti* in twenty-four books (according to Eusebius [he wrote] 9, according to Photius 14), [was the author]. These are, as it were, natural treatises, which contain remedies from sermons and incantations, and from certain written characters and other effective things. Fragments occur here and there among the Hippiatrica and Geoponica, besides the treatise *On Military Apparatus*, which is the central part of this work.

^A those who are diligent. Whatever, therefore, has been engraved—as is recorded in the golden tablets—and lies within the royal temples, I shall declare; for it is from the temples situated there and the priests in charge of them that the name of Christ was first divulged.

There stands, in fact, in Persia a temple of Juno, more magnificent than the royal palaces themselves, built by the most religious King Cyrus, who dedicated in it golden and silver statues of the gods and adorned them with the most precious stones, lest by a broader description of the entire ornamentation I should protract the discourse.

In those days, therefore (as the written golden tablets testify), when the king happened to have entered the temple to obtain the interpretation of certain dreams, the priest Prupupius said to him: "I congratulate you, my lord. Juno has conceived." The king, smiling, said to him: "Has Juno, who is dead, conceived?" The priest replied: "Yes. Juno, who was dead, has come to life again and is bringing forth life." "What is the meaning of this?" said the king. "Explain it to me more clearly." To whom he replied: "In truth, my lord, the time for these things has arrived. For throughout the whole of the past night, all the statues of the gods, both male and female, remained dancing and keeping vigil, saying to one another: 'Come, let us congratulate Juno.' And they said to me: 'Prophet, go, congratulate Juno, for she has been loved.' And I said: 'How can that which is not exist, [and] be loved?' They said, however, that she has come back to life, and is no longer called Juno, but *Caelestis* (Heavenly). For the great Sun has loved her." ^B The females then said to the males, explaining the matter more clearly: "The 'Spring' (Scaturigo) has been loved. For did not Juno betroth a craftsman to herself?" The males replied: "We agree that she is rightly called 'Spring.' But her name is Myria. For she carries a merchant ship, laden with countless things, in her womb just as on the sea." And if she is also indicated by the name "Spring," it is to be understood in this way: the Spring brings forth an eternal fountain of the Spirit, having only one fish, taken by the hook of divinity, and [conquering/leading] the whole world as [if it were] in the sea. ^C