In a word, Arrian, Dexippus, Strabo, Appian, Curtius, Justin, and all the ancient and modern writers who touched the point, give the same designation to the Syrians and Egyptians. That I do not quote these authorities expressly will be excused on the plea of supererogation. (Ne major thylaco accessio fiat.) From all these facts, the conclusion is obvious, that the Jews, both by reason of their country being covered with Syrian colonies, as well as being often reduced to subjection by foreign invaders; by reason of their proximity to Syria and Egypt, and of the frequent intercourse with the people of these countries which naturally ensued; but especially by reason of coming under the Grecian yoke about 190 years before, had generally received the Greek language at the time of Christ. But this subject we shall treat more fully in the next chapter. CHAPTER II.-That the Jews received the Greek language from the Greeks, Egyptians and Syrians. The foundation of my work has been laid in the facts and statements of the preceding chapter. We now enter upon our proper subject of discussion, bearing in mind, meanwhile, that from the close of the Babylonish captivity, the Jews spoke Syriac. Our purpose now is to show how the Greek language was introduced into their country by means of the Greeks, Syrians and Egyptians. § 1. The elements of Hellenism introduced into Judea under Alexander the Great. In the year of the world 3652, before the era of Christ 332, Alexander of Macedon entered Judea with his army. When he approached Jerusalem, Jaddua, who was then high priest, opening the gates of the city, went out to meet him attended by a choir of priests, and received him as a friend. As soon as Alexander perceived the priest, he went up to him alone, saluted him, adored the name of Jehovah which was graven upon his mitre, and said that in his own country he had seen God in the likeness of the high priest, who, moreover, had promised him victory over the Persians. When he had been conducted to the temple, the priests showed him the Book of Daniel, in which the prophet foretold that the Grecian emperor should become master of the Persian dominions.* Alexander, interpret Daniel, cap. 8, v. 7, 20, 21; et cap. 11, v. 13. ing this of himself, presented sacrifice with gladness to God. He invited the Jews to share in his enterprises, and promised them the most perfect religious freedom. Induced by his invitation and promise, many of that nation enrolled themselves in his army, and followed him. From that period, an intimacy of the closest kind continued with the Greeks, and the language of their Macedonian allies began to spread among the Jews, as rapidly as if they had been subject to Grecian dominion. We read, for instance, in the Chronicon Magnum|| of the Samaritans, that both the Jews and people of Samaria began to call their children after Alexander. At length, in the thirteenth year of that monarch, as the Jews in his army objected to work at the temple of Delos, whose restoration he had ordered, considering it an infraction of their religious duty, Alexander, respecting their scruples, dismissed them.§ Now, these having served with the Grecian troops for a term of eight years, when they came back to Judea, naturally brought the Greek language with them. § 2. Alexander settles Macedonians in Samaria, having removed the native inhabitants. About the same time, say 331 before Christ, the Samaritans rose up against Andromachus, the governor whom Alexander had appointed over that district, and burned him to death in his house. When the tidings of the revolt were heard by the king in Egypt, he was affected with the liveliest indignation. He hastens back again to Samaria with the utmost speed, to avenge the murder of his officer, puts to death the guilty parties, banishes the rest of the citizens, and repeoples the place with Macedonians.** The whole region of Samaria, exempted from the payment of tribute, he annexed to the territory of *Joseph. lib. 11 Antiq. cap. ult. § 5, p. 581, 582. † Vide Huetium, Dem. Evang. prop. 4, cap. 12, § 1. Ex propositione 1 capitis superioris. Chronicon Samaritanum, cap. 44. Hoc manuscriptum adhuc latet in bibliotheca Leidensi, ex Hebræa lingua in Arabi cam conversum, sed charactere Samaritano descriptum. Vide excerpta ejusdem apud Hottingerum Hist. Orient. p. 60, § 131, et in Exercitat. Anti-Morin. p. 64, § 106. § Hecatæus Abder. apud Jos. lib. 1. c. Apion, § 22, p. 456. Quin. Curtius, lib. 4, cap. 8, n. 9, 10. ** Euseb. in Chron. A. 1685, Olymp. 112, p. 177. Judea, in reward of the fidelity of the. Jews, as Hecatæus of Abdera records. Thus, from the incorporation of Samaria, the Jews became more closely than ever connected with the Greeks. § 3. Seventy thousand Jews bring the Greek language into Judea. When Alexander died in the flower of his age, his empire was broken up into many parts. The sovereignty of Judea, after many changes, was obtained by Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, by means of an act of treachery,† In the year of the world 3684, and before the Christian era 320, he found admission into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, under color of a desire to offer sacrifice. As soon as he entered, he secured the city without opposition, treated it with extreme cruelty, and carried off with him to Egypt a hundred thousand Jewish captives.‡ Part of these he distributed amongst the Macedonians of Alexandria, and part he consigned to servitude among the soldiery and the other inhabitants of the country. Here these Jews were compelled to adopt the Greek language, which we have already observed to have been the common dialect of Egypt, on the authority of Huet and others of the learned. Scaliger declares they were obliged to use the Greek language in all their covenants and agreements.§ Ptolemy Soter was succeeded, on his death, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, a prince distinguished beyond all of his own age or any former age by his royal virtues, besides far surpassing his father in humanity, as Philo testifies. T Clearly perceiving that the Jews whom his father had made captive were the victims of treachery and violence, enslaved in opposition to every human and divine law, Philadelphus ordered them to be redeemed with money out of the treasury, and to be sent back to Jerusalem with their children. This circumstance, I suppose it is, which has afforded a handle to the Pseudo-Aristeas to say, that Ptolemy set them free for the sake of obtaining a translation of their law; whereas, in reality, they owe their freedom *Hecatus apud Jos. lib. 2, c. Apion, § 4, p. 472. Apud. Jos. ibid. Agatharchides Cnidius, p. 585. § Scaliger in epist. 11 ad Seguinum, lib. 1, p. 100. Salma sius in Funere Linguæ Hellenisticæ, p. 158. Philo Judæus de Vita Mosis, p. 658. to the magnanimity of the king and his earnest desire to obtain the good will of all men.* The number of those to whom liberty was given was upwards of a hundred thousand, of whom thirty thousand of the military age were retained in the army; some were kept about the king's person and guarded the palace, but all the rest, about seventy thousand, went back to Judea.f Vaillant fixes the date of this event at 273 A. C., and 77 years after Soter had deported them into Egypt. The length of time is enough to prove that those whom Philadelphus emancipated were not the actual persons whom his father had enslaved. These must have died, with few if any exceptions, while those who went back to Judea must have been their children and grandchildren. Born, then, and nurtured in the midst of a Greek population, with whom Greek was the vernacular tongue, these seventy thousand Jews took back with them this language rather than any other to their own country. These remigrants must, therefore, have added to the mass of Hellenism already existing in Judea. § 4. The Jews returning from Syria also bring the Greek language into Judea. Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, contributed in no slight degree to the same end. But the history of Syrian influence over Judea we must trace a little further back. No fact can be better established than that Seleucus Nicator placed great numbers of Jews in the cities which he built in Lower Syria and in his own metropolis of Antioch, and that there they lived in the enjoyment of equal privileges with the * Vix dici potest quot commentis, et fabellis historiam hauc exornant Josephus et suppositus Aristæas, locis infra indicandis.(1) Qui dum Judaicum nomen augere student, undique corrogatis laudibus mactant, necnon se ipsos reprehendendos et deridendos præbent. Qua de re vide quæ in extremo hoc libro adnotavimus. + Vide Joseph. loc. cit. § 2, p. 586; Augustin. lib. 16 de Civ. Dei, c. 42; Sgambatum, lib. 3 Archiv. Vet. Test. tit. 3; Calmet, Hist. de la Bible et des Juifs, A. M. 3727. Vaillant, Hist. Regum Egypt. p. 18 et seq. () Joseph. lib. 12 Antiq. c. 2. Aristmas in edict. regis, et ep. ad Eleaz. Greeks and Macedonians. Such is the account of Josephus,' and of Eusebius in his chronicle, the latter of whom uses these words: ̔Ο Σέλευκος ἐν ταῖς νέαις πόλεσιν Ιουδαίους συνῷκισεν ̔Ελλησιν, καὶ πολιτείας αὐτοὺς ἠξίωσε, καὶ τοῖς ἐνοικισθεῖσιν ἰσοτίμους ἀπέδειξε. "Seleucus fixed Jews in the new towns which he built, bestowing on them the right of citizenship and municipal rank on the same terms as the Grecians."+ But as, after the death of Alexander, Judea was harassed by perpetual wars and incursions, now by the power of Syria, now by that of Egypt, without exaggeration, "tossed Like a frail bark upon a raging sea," Syria became the cominon place of refuge for the inhabitants, remembering the kind treatment their countrymen had met with there. These persons would naturally learn the language of the country to which they fled, and thus become bilingual, speaking both the Chaldaic and the Greek. But their children, born in Syria, contented with their vernacular Greek spoken around them, would neglect and disuse the native language of their parents. How all this tended to bring the Greek tongue into Judea, will be seen in the sequel. In the year 198 before the Christian epoch, while Antiochus Magnus was striving with all his might to secure possession of Palestine again, which he had once before wrested from Ptolemy Epiphanes, the Jews, deserting the side of his opponents, supplied his army and elephants with provisions, and aided him in his attack upon the Egyptian garrison left in the citadel of Jerusalem. Grateful for their important services, Antiochus bestowed many favors upon the Jews. He caused the temple at Jerusalem to be repaired at his own expense, gave for the purchase of sacrifices. 5,400 pieces of silver, together with 375 bushels of salt, and bestowed many presents besides to aid them in the services of religion. He thus established Judea again, shattered by many reverses, by rebuilding its towns and strengthening its fortresses. In its cities and territories, lest they should be widowed of inhabitant and cultivator, he fixed great numbers of the Jews whom he recalled from Syria for the purpose. Their wil Joseph. Antiq. lib. 12, c. 3, § 1, p. 596. † Eusebius in Chron. A. 1726. Olymp. 122. p. 180. Vide Fleury, Mœurs des Israëlites, par. 3, c. 3. SECOND SERIES, VOL. XI. NO. I. 14 |