§16.2.34τῆς δʼ Ἰουδαίας τὰ μὲν ἑσπέρια ἄκρα τὰ πρὸς τῷ Κασίῳ κατέχουσιν Ἰδουμαῖοί τε καὶ ἡ λίμνη.
As for Judaea, its western extremities near Mount Casius are occupied by the Idumaeans and by the lake.
Ναβαταῖοι δʼ εἰσὶν οἱ Ἰδουμαῖοι, κατὰ στάσιν δʼ ἐκπεσόντες ἐκεῖθεν προσεχώρησαν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις καὶ τῶν νομίμων τῶν αὐτῶν ἐκείνοις ἐκοινώνησαν·
The Idumaeans are Nabataeans, but having been driven out from there in a sedition, they joined the Jews and shared in the same customs with them.
πρὸς θαλάττῃ δὲ ἡ Σιρβωνὶς τὰ πολλὰ κατέχει καὶ ἡ συνεχὴς μέχρι καὶ Ἱεροσολύμων· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς θαλάττῃ ἐστίν· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ ἐπινείου τῆς Ἰόπης εἴρηται ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐν ὄψει·
Near the sea, the Sirbonis Lake occupies most of the territory, and the region continuous with it extends even as far as Jerusalem; for this city also is near the sea, since it has been said that it is in sight from the harbor of Joppa.
ταῦτα μὲν προσάρκτια· τὰ πολλὰ δʼ ὡς ἕκαστα ἐστὶν ὑπὸ φύλων οἰκούμενα μικτῶν ἔκ τε Αἰγυπτίων ἐθνῶν καὶ Ἀραβίων καὶ Φοινίκων·
These, then, are the northern parts; but the greater part, in detail, is inhabited by mixed tribes of Egyptian, Arabian, and Phoenician nations.
τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οἱ τὴν Γαλιλαίαν ἔχοντες καὶ τὸν Ἱερικοῦντα καὶ τὴν Φιλαδέλφειαν καὶ Σαμάρειαν, ἣν Ἡρώδης Σεβαστὴν ἐπωνόμασεν.
For such are those who hold Galilee, Jericho, Philadelphia, and Samaria, which Herod renamed Sebaste.
οὕτω δʼ ὄντων μιγάδων ἡ κρατοῦσα μάλιστα φήμη τῶν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις πιστευομένων Αἰγυπτίους ἀποφαίνει τοὺς προγόνους τῶν νῦν Ἰουδαίων λεγομένων.
Although they are thus mixed, the most prevailing report of those believed concerning the temple in Jerusalem represents the ancestors of the people now called Jews as Egyptians.
§16.2.35μωσῆς γάρ τις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἱερέων ἔχων τι μέρος τῆς καλουμένης χώρας, ἀπῆρεν ἐκεῖσε ἐνθένδε δυσχεράνας τὰ καθεστῶτα, καὶ συνεξῆραν αὐτῷ πολλοὶ τιμῶντες τὸ θεῖον.
For a certain Moses, one of the Egyptian priests, holding a part of the country called the Lower land, departed thence hither, being disgusted with the established institutions, and many who honored the divine being departed with him.
ἔφη γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἐδίδασκεν, ὡς οὐκ ὀρθῶς φρονοῖεν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι θηρίοις εἰκάζοντες καὶ βοσκήμασι τὸ θεῖον, οὐδʼ οἱ Λίβυες· οὐκ εὖ δὲ οὐδʼ οἱ Ἕλληνες ἀνθρωπομόρφους τυποῦντες· εἴη γὰρ ἓν τοῦτο μόνον θεὸς τὸ περιέχον ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας καὶ γῆν καὶ θάλατταν, ὃ καλοῦμεν οὐρανὸν καὶ κόσμον καὶ τὴν τῶν ὄντων φύσιν.
For he said and taught that the Egyptians did not think rightly in representing the divine being by wild beasts and cattle, nor yet the Libyans; and that the Greeks also were not right in fashioning them in human form; for this one thing alone is God which encompasses us all, and land and sea, which we call heaven, the universe, and the nature of things.
τούτου δὴ τίς ἂν εἰκόνα πλάττειν θαρρήσειε νοῦν ἔχων ὁμοίαν τινὶ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν;
Who, then, that has sense, would venture to fashion an image of this, resembling any of the things about us?
ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν δεῖν πᾶσαν ξοανοποιίαν, τέμενος ἀφορίσαντας καὶ σηκὸν ἀξιόλογον τιμᾶν ἕδους χωρίς.
But one should abandon all image-making, and after setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy shrine, worship it without any image.
ἐγκοιμᾶσθαι δὲ καὶ αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων ἄλλους τοὺς εὐονείρους· καὶ προσδοκᾶν δεῖν ἀγαθὸν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δῶρον ἀεί τι καὶ σημεῖον τοὺς σωφρόνως ζῶντας καὶ μετὰ δικαιοσύνης, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους μὴ προσδοκᾶν.
And indeed, they themselves should sleep in the temple for themselves, and others who are favored with good dreams for others; and those who live temperately and with justice should expect some good thing and always some gift and sign from God, but the others should not expect them.
§16.2.36Ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα λέγων ἔπεισεν εὐγνώμονας ἄνδρας οὐκ ὀλίγους καὶ ἀπήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον, ὅπου νῦν ἐστι τὸ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις κτίσμα.
He, then, by saying such things, persuaded not a few right-minded men and led them away to this place where now is the settlement in Jerusalem.
κατέσχε δὲ ῥᾳδίως οὐκ ἐπίφθονον ὂν τὸ χωρίον οὐδʼ ὑπὲρ οὗ ἄν τις ἐσπουδασμένως μαχέσαιτο· ἔστι γὰρ πετρῶδες, αὐτὸ μὲν εὔυδρον τὴν δὲ κύκλῳ χώραν ἔχον λυπρὰν καὶ ἄνυδρον, τὴν δʼ ἐντὸς ἑξήκοντα σταδίων καὶ ὑπόπετρον.
And he occupied it easily, since the place was not enviable, nor one for which anyone would eagerly fight; for it is rocky, itself indeed well-provided with water, but having the surrounding country wretched and waterless, and the territory within sixty stadia also rocky beneath.
ἅμα δʼ ἀντὶ τῶν ὅπλων τὰ ἱερὰ προὐβάλλετο καὶ τὸ θεῖον, ἵδρυσιν τούτου ζητεῖν ἀξιῶν, καὶ παραδώσειν ὑπισχνούμενος τοιοῦτον σεβασμὸν καὶ τοιαύτην ἱεροποιίαν ἥτις οὔτε δαπάναις ὀχλήσει τοὺς χρωμένους οὔτε θεοφορίαις οὔτε ἄλλαις πραγματείαις ἀτόποις.
At the same time, instead of weapons, he put forward the sacred rites and the divine being, deeming it right to seek a seat for it, and promising to deliver such a worship and such a ritual as would neither trouble those who used it with expenses, nor with divine possessions, nor with other strange undertakings.
οὗτος μὲν οὖν εὐδοκιμήσας τούτοις συνεστήσατο ἀρχὴν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν, ἁπάντων προσχωρησάντων ῥᾳδίως τῶν κύκλῳ διὰ τὴν ὁμιλίαν καὶ τὰ προτεινόμενα.
He, then, having obtained a good reputation by these means, established no ordinary sovereignty, as all the people around joined him easily because of his intercourse and his proposals.
§16.2.37οἱ δὲ διαδεξάμενοι χρόνους μέν τινας ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς διέμενον δικαιοπραγοῦντες καὶ θεοσεβεῖς ὡς ἀληθῶς ὄντες, ἔπειτʼ ἐφισταμένων ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην τὸ μὲν πρῶτον δεισιδαιμόνων, ἔπειτα τυραννικῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐκ μὲν τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας αἱ τῶν βρωμάτων ἀποσχέσεις, ὧνπερ καὶ νῦν ἔθος ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς ἀπέχεσθαι, καὶ περιτομαὶ καὶ αἱ ἐκτομαὶ καὶ εἴ τινα τοιαῦτα ἐνομίσθη, ἐκ δὲ τῶν τυραννίδων τὰ λῃστήρια.
And his successors for some time remained in the same practices, acting justly and being truly pious; but afterwards, when there were appointed to the priesthood first superstitious, and then tyrannical men, from superstition arose the abstinences from foods, from which indeed it is still their custom to abstain, and circumcisions, and excisions, and whatever such things were established, and from the tyrannies arose the robber-bands.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀφιστάμενοι τὴν χώραν ἐκάκουν καὶ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν γειτνιῶσαν, οἱ δὲ συμπράττοντες τοῖς ἄρχουσι καθήρπαζον τὰ ἀλλότρια καὶ τῆς Συρίας κατεστρέφοντο καὶ τῆς Φοινίκης πολλήν.
For those who revolted harassed both the country itself and the neighboring land, while those who cooperated with the rulers plundered the property of others and subdued much of Syria and Phoenicia.
ἦν δʼ ὅμως εὐπρέπειά τις περὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν αὐτῶν, οὐχ ὡς τυραννεῖον βδελυττομένων, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἱερὸν σεμνυνόντων καὶ σεβομένων.
Nevertheless, there was still a certain respectability about their acropolis, as they did not loathe it as a seat of tyranny, but honored and revered it as a temple.