But let us now see what those heavy and wicked crimes are which Apion
charges upon the Alexandrian Jews. "They came (says he) out of Syria,
and inhabited near the tempestuous sea, and were in the neighborhood of
the dashing of the waves." Now if the place of habitation includes
any thing that is reproached, this man reproaches not his own real country,
[Egypt,] but what he pretends to be his own country, Alexandria; for all
are agreed in this, that the part of that city which is near the sea is
the best part of all for habitation. Now if the Jews gained that part of
the city by force, and have kept it hitherto without impeachment, this
is a mark of their valor; but in reality it was Alexander himself that
gave them that place for their habitation, when they obtained equal privileges
there with the Macedonians. Nor call I devise what Apion would have said,
had their habitation been at Necropolis? and not been fixed hard by the
royal palace [as it is]; nor had their nation had the denomination of Macedonians
given them till this very day [as they have]. Had this man now read the
epistles of king Alexander, or those of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, or met
with the writings of the succeeding kings, or that pillar which is still
standing at Alexandria, and contains the privileges which the great [Julius]
Caesar bestowed upon the Jews; had this man, I say, known these records,
and yet hath the impudence to write in contradiction to them, he hath shown
himself to be a wicked man; but if he knew nothing of these records, he
hath shown himself to be a man very ignorant: nay, when lie appears to
wonder how Jews could be called Alexandrians, this is another like instance
of his ignorance; for all such as are called out to be colonies, although
they be ever so far remote from one another in their original, receive
their names from those that bring them to their new habitations. And what
occasion is there to speak of others, when those of us Jews that dwell
at Antioch are named Antiochians, because Seleucns the founder of that
city gave them the privileges belonging thereto? After the like manner
do those Jews that inhabit Ephesus, and the other cities of Ionia, enjoy
the same name with those that were originally born there, by the grant
of the succeeding princes; nay, the kindness and humanity of the Romans
hath been so great, that it hath granted leave to almost all others to
take the same name of Romans upon them; I mean not particular men only,
but entire and large nations themselves also; for those anciently named
Iberi, and Tyrrheni, and Sabini, are now called Romani. And if Apion reject
this way of obtaining the privilege of a citizen of Alexandria, let him
abstain from calling himself an Alexandrian hereafter; for otherwise, how
can he who was born in the very heart of Egypt be an Alexandrian, if this
way of accepting such a privilege, of which he would have us deprived,
be once abrogated? although indeed these Romans, who are now the lords
of the habitable earth, have forbidden the Egyptians to have the privileges
of any city whatsoever; while this fine fellow, who is willing to partake
of such a privilege himself as he is forbidden to make use of, endeavors
by calumnies to deprive those of it that have justly received it; for Alexander
did not therefore get some of our nation to Alexandria, because he wanted
inhabitants for this his city, on whose building he had bestowed so much
pains; but this was given to our people as a reward, because he had, upon
a careful trial, found them all to have been men of virtue and fidelity
to him; for, as Hecateus says concerning us, "Alexander honored our
nation to such a degree, that, for the equity and the fidelity which the
Jews exhibited to him, he permitted them to hold the country of Samaria
free from tribute. Of the same mind also was Ptolemy the son of Lagus,
as to those Jews who dwelt at Alexandria." For he intrusted the fortresses
of Egypt into their hands, as believing they would keep them faithfully
and valiantly for him; and when he was desirous to secure the government
of Cyrene, and the other cities of Libya, to himself, he sent a party of
Jews to inhabit in them. And for his successor Ptolemy, who was called
Philadelphus, he did not only set all those of our nation free who were
captives under him, but did frequently give money [for their ransom]; and,
what was his greatest work of all, he had a great desire of knowing our
laws, and of obtaining the books of our sacred Scriptures; accordingly,
he desired that such men might be sent him as might interpret our law to
him; and, in order to have them well compiled, he committed that care to
no ordinary persons, but ordained that Demetrius Phalereus, and Andreas,
and Aristeas; the first, Demetrius, the most learned person of his age,
and the others, such as were intrusted with the guard of his body; should
take care of this matter: nor would he certainly have been so desirous
of learning our law, and the philosophy of our nation, had he despised
the men that made use of it, or had he not indeed had them in great admiration.
Now this Apion was unacquainted with almost all the kings of those
Macedonians whom he pretends to have been his progenitors, who were yet
very well affected towards us; for the third of those Ptolemies, who was
called Euergetes, when he had gotten possession of all Syria by force,
did not offer his thank-offerings to the Egyptian gods for his victory,
but came to Jerusalem, and according to our own laws offered many sacrifices
to God, and dedicated to him such gifts as were suitable to such a victory:
and as for Ptolemy Philometer and his wife Cleopatra, they committed their
whole kingdom to the Jews, when Onias and Dositheus, both Jews, whose names
are laughed at by Apion, were the generals of their whole army. But certainly,
instead of reproaching them, he ought to admire their actions, and return
them thanks for saving Alexandria, whose citizen he pretends to be; for
when these Alexandrians were making war with Cleopatra the queen, and were
in danger of being utterly ruined, these Jews brought them to terms of
agreement, and freed them from the miseries of a civil war. "But then
(says Apion) Onias brought a small army afterward upon the city at the
time when Thorruns the Roman ambassador was there present." Yes, do
I venture to say, and that he did rightly and very justly in so doing;
for that Ptolemy who was called Physco, upon the death of his brother Philometer,
came from Cyrene, and would have ejected Cleopatra as well as her sons
out of their kingdom, that he might obtain it for himself unjustly. note
For this cause then it was that Onias undertook a war against him on Cleopatra's
account; nor would he desert that trust the royal family had reposed in
him in their distress. Accordingly, God gave a remarkable attestation to
his righteous procedure; for when Ptolemy Physco note
had the presumption to fight against Onias's army, and had caught all the
Jews that were in the city [Alexandria], with their children and wives,
and exposed them naked and in bonds to his elephants, that they might be
trodden upon and destroyed, and when he had made those elephants drunk
for that purpose, the event proved contrary to his preparations; for these
elephants left the Jews who were exposed to them, and fell violently upon
Physco's friends, and slew a great number of them; nay, after this Ptolemy
saw a terrible ghost, which prohibited his hurting those men; his very
concubine, whom he loved so well, (some call her Ithaca, and others Irene,)
making supplication to him, that he would not perpetrate so great a wickedness.
So he complied with her request, and repented of what he either had already
done, or was about to do; whence it is well known that the Alexandrian
Jews do with good reason celebrate this day, on the account that they had
thereon been vouchsafed such an evident deliverance from God. However,
Apion, the common calumniator of men, hath the presumption to accuse the
Jews for making this war against Physco, when he ought to have commended
them for the same. This man also makes mention of Cleopatra, the last queen
of Alexandria, and abuses us, because she was ungrateful to us; whereas
he ought to have reproved her, who indulged herself in all kinds of injustice
and wicked practices, both with regard to her nearest relations and husbands
who had loved her, and, indeed, in general with regard to all the Romans,
and those emperors that were her benefactors; who also had her sister Arsinoe
slain in a temple, when she had done her no harm: moreover, she had her
brother slain by private treachery, and she destroyed the gods of her country
and the sepulchers of her progenitors; and while she had received her kingdom
from the first Caesar, she had the impudence to rebel against his son:
note
and successor; nay, she corrupted Antony with her love-tricks, and rendered
him an enemy to his country, and made him treacherous to his friends, and
[by his means] despoiled some of their royal authority, and forced others
in her madness to act wickedly. But what need I enlarge upon this head
any further, when she left Antony in his fight at sea, though he were her
husband, and the father of their common children, and compelled him to
resign up his government, with the army, and to follow her [into Egypt]?
nay, when last of all Caesar had taken Alexandria, she came to that pitch
of cruelty, that she declared she had some hope of preserving her affairs
still, in case she could kill the Jews, though it were with her own hand;
to such a degree of barbarity and perfidiousness had she arrived. And doth
any one think that we cannot boast ourselves of any thing, if, as Apion
says, this queen did not at a time of famine distribute wheat among us?
However, she at length met with the punishment she deserved. As for us
Jews, we appeal to the great Caesar what assistance we brought him, and
what fidelity we showed to him against the Egyptians; as also to the senate
and its decrees, and the epistles of Augustus Caesar, whereby our merits
[to the Romans] are justified. Apion ought to have looked upon those epistles,
and in particular to have examined the testimonies given on our behalf,
under Alexander and all the Ptolemies, and the decrees of the senate and
of the greatest Roman emperors. And if Germanicus was not able to make
a distribution of corn to all the inhabitants of Alexandria, that only
shows what a barren time it was, and how great a want there was then of
corn, but tends nothing to the accusation of the Jews; for what all the
emperors have thought of the Alexandrian Jews is well known, for this distribution
of wheat was no otherwise omitted with regard to the Jews, than it was
with regard to the other inhabitants of Alexandria. But they still were
desirous to preserve what the kings had formerly intrusted to their care,
I mean the custody of the river; nor did those kings think them unworthy
of having the entire custody thereof, upon all occasions.
