tiochus, the son of Seleucus Nicator, and Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, formed pretensions to that crown, which their fathers had enjoyed, one after the other. Antigonus, who, after the fatal expedition of his father into Asia, had reigned ten years in Greece, finding the state of his affairs more favourable than those of his competitor, was the first who ascended the throne, but each of them raised great armies, and contracted powerful alliances; the one, to support himself in his new conquest, and the other, to dispossess him. Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, having espoused the party of Antigonus in this conjuncture, Antiochus, when he was preparing to enter Macedonia, was unwilling to leave so powerful an enemy in his rear. Instead, therefore, of passing the Hellespont, he suddenly poured his troops into Bithynia, which then became the theatre of the war. The forces were at first so equal that neither party would presume to attack the other, and continued for some time in that state of inaction; during which a treaty was concerted, and in consequence Antigonus espoused Phila, the daughter of Stratonice and Seleucus, and Anticchus resigned to him his pretensions to the throne of Macedonia. In this manner he remained peaceable possessor, and transmitted it to his posterity, who enjoyed it for several generations, to the time of Perseus, the last of this race, who was defeated by Paulus Emilius, and divested of his dominions, which the Romans, in a few years after, formed into a province of the empire. 'Antiochus, having thus disengaged himself from this war, marched against the Gauls, who, after set

y A. M. 3729. Ant. J. C. 275.

tling in the land granted them by Nicomedes, were continually making incursions on all sides, by which they extremely incommoded their neighbours. Antiochus defeated them with great slaughter, and delivered the country from their oppressors. This action acquired him the title of Soter, which signifies a deliverer.

SECTION VI.

PTOLEM PHILADELPHUS CAUSES THE BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE TO BE TRANSLATED INTO GREEK.

Σ

THE tumult of the wars, which diversity of interest had kindled among the successors of Alex. ander, throughout the whole extent of their territories, did not prevent Ptolemy Philadelphus from devoting his utmost attention to the noble library he had founded in Alexandria, and wherein he deposited the most valuable and curious books he was capable of collecting from all parts of the world. This prince being informed that the Jews were masters of a work which contained the laws of Moses, and the history of that people, was desirous of having it translated out of the Hebrew language into the Greek, in order to enrich his library with that performance. To accomplish this design, it became necessary for him to address himself to the high priest of the Jewish nation; but the affair happened to be attended with great difficulty. A. very considerable number of Jews had been actually reduced to a state of slavery

in Egypt, by Ptolemy Soter, during the invasions of Judea in his time; and it was represented to the king, that there would be no probability of obtaining from that people either a copy, or a faithful translation of their law, while he suffered such a number of their country men to continue in their present servitude. Ptolemy, who always acted with the utmost generosity, and was extremely solicitous to enlarge his library, did not hesitate a moment, but issued a decree for restoring all the Jewish slaves in his dominions to their full liberty; with orders to his treasurer to pay twenty drachms a head to their masters for their ransom. The sum expended on this occasion amounted to four hundred talents; which make it evident, that one hundred and twenty thousand Jews recovered their freedom by this bounteous proceeding. The king then gave orders for discharging the children born in slavery, with their mothers, and the sum employed for this purpose amounted to above half the former.

These advantageous preliminaries gave Ptolemy hopes that he should easily obtain his request from the high priest, whose name was Eleazar. He had sent ambassadors to that pontiff, with a very obliging letter on his part, accompanied with magnificent presThe ambassadors were received at Jerusalem with all imaginable honours, and the king's request was granted with the greatest joy; upon which they returned to Alexandria with an authentic copy of the Mosaic law, written in letters of gold, and given them

ents.

!

• About 10s.

b About 60,000!.

by the high priest himself, with six elders of each tribe, that is to say, seventy two in the whole; and they were authorized to translate that copy into the Greek language.

The king was desirous of seeing these deputies, and proposed to each of them a different question, in order to make a trial of their capacity. He was satisfied with their answers, in which great wisdom appeared, and loaded them with presents, and other marks of his friendship. The elders were then conducted to the isle of Pharos, and lodged in a house prepared for their reception, where they were plentifully supplied with all necessary accommodations. They applied themselves to their work without losing time, and in seventy two days completed the volume which is commonly called the septuagint version. The whole was afterwards read, and approved in the presence of the king, who admired, in a peculiar manner, the wisdom of the laws of Moses, and dismissed the seventy two deputies with extremely magnificent presents; part of which were for themselves, others for the high priest, and the remainder for the temple. Expenses of this nature, though very considerable, never ruin a state, and do a prince great honour.

The author from whom these facts are extracted is Aristeus, who represents himself as one of the officers of the guard to Ptolemy Philadelphus. He adds a number of other circumstances, which I have omitted, because they seem more improbable than those I have inserted. It is pretended that the writers, whether

It is called the septuagint, for the sake of the round number seventy, but the sacred books were translated by seventy two persons.

.

Jews, as Aristobulus, Philo, and Josephus; or Christians, as Justin, Ireneus, Clement of Alexandria, Hilary, Austin, and some others, who have employed their pens on the subject of the septuagint version, have founded all their relations on the mere veracity of Aristeus, when the work that bears his name is thought to be a spurious piece. Some of these authors have added circumstances which are generally disbelieved, because they have too much of the marvellous in them. Philo declares, that though their translations were made in separate apartments, yet the least difference in the sense or style in which they were couched, was so far from appearing, that, on the contrary, the expressions were every where the same, even to a single word; from whence he concludes, that these persons were not mere translators, but men inspired by the spirit of God, who conducted them on that occasion, and dictated the whole to them, even to the minutest word. Justin, and after him, the other fathers already mentioned, suppose that each of the seventy two interpreters performed his version in a separate cell, without the least correspondence with each other, and yet that all their trans. lations were perfectly conformable to each other in every particular.

I have frequently declared my resolution not to enter into any historical disquisitions of this nature, which require much time and learning, and would therefore call off my attention too long from my principal object. The reader may consult the learned Prideaux, who has treated this subject at large. All that can be depended upon, and which no one has thought

* Philo de vita Mosis, l. ii. p. 658.