[
40]
When this epistle was sent to the king, he commanded that an epistle
should be drawn up for Eleazar, the Jewish high priest, concerning these
matters; and that they should inform him of the release of the Jews that
had been in slavery among them. He also sent fifty talents of gold for
the making of large basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense quantity
of precious stones. He also gave order to those who had the custody of
the chest that contained those stones, to give the artificers leave to
choose out what sorts of them they pleased. He withal appointed, that a
hundred talents in money should be sent to the temple for sacrifices, and
for other uses. Now I will give a description of these vessels, and the
manner of their construction, but not till after I have set down a copy
of the epistle which was written to Eleazar the high priest, who had obtained
that dignity on the occasion following: When Onias the high priest was
dead, his son Simon became his successor. He was called Simon the Just
1 because
of both his piety towards God, and his kind disposition to those of his
own nation. When he was dead, and had left a young son, who was called
Onias, Simon's brother Eleazar, of whom we are speaking, took the high
priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote, and that in the manner
following: "King Ptolemy to Eleazar the high priest, sendeth greeting.
There are many Jews who now dwell in my kingdom, whom the Persians, when
they were in power, carried captives. These were honored by my father;
some of them he placed in the army, and gave them greater pay than ordinary;
to others of them, when they came with him into Egypt, he committed his
garrisons, and the guarding of them, that they might be a terror to the
Egyptians. And when I had taken the government, I treated all men with
humanity, and especially those that are thy fellow citizens, of whom I
have set free above a hundred thousand that were slaves, and paid the price
of their redemption to their masters out of my own revenues; and those
that are of a fit age, I have admitted into them number of my soldiers.
And for such as are capable of being faithful to me, and proper for my
court, I have put them in such a post, as thinking this [kindness done
to them] to be a very great and an acceptable gift, which I devote to God
for his providence over me. And as I am desirous to do what will be grateful
to these, and to all the other Jews in the habitable earth, I have determined
to procure an interpretation of your law, and to have it translated out
of Hebrew into Greek, and to be deposited in my library. Thou wilt therefore
do well to choose out and send to me men of a good character, who are now
elders in age, and six in number out of every tribe. These, by their age,
must be skillful in the laws, and of abilities to make an accurate interpretation
of them; and when this shall be finished, I shall think that I have done
a work glorious to myself. And I have sent to thee Andreas, the captain
of my guard, and Aristeus, men whom I have in very great esteem; by whom
I have sent those first-fruits which I have dedicated to the temple, and
to the sacrifices, and to other uses, to the value of a hundred talents.
And if thou wilt send to us, to let us know what thou wouldst have further,
thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me."