in the habitable earth, and buying whatsoever was any
where valuable, or agreeable to the king's inclination, [who was very
earnestly set upon collecting of books,] to which inclination of his
Demetrius was zealously subservient. And when once Ptolemy asked him how
many ten thousands of books he had collected, he replied, that he had
already about twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a little time, he
should have fifty times ten thousand. But he said he had been informed
that there were many books of laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring
after, and worthy of the king's library, but which, being written in
characters and in a dialect of their own, will cause no small pains in
getting them translated into the Greek tongue; [3] that the character
in which they are written seems to be like to that which is the proper
character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when pronounced, is like
theirs also; and that this sound appears to be peculiar to themselves.
Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they might not get those
books to be translated also; for while nothing is wanting that is
necessary for that purpose, we may have their books also in this
library. So the king thought that Demetrius was very zealous to procure
him abundance of books, and that he suggested what was exceeding proper
for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the Jewish high priest, that he
should act accordingly.

2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among the king's most intimate
friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable to him. This
Aristeus resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition the
king that he would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; and
he thought this to be a convenient opportunity for the making that
petition. So he discoursed, in the first place, with the captains of the
king's guards, Sosibius of Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them
to assist him in what he was going to intercede with the king for.
Accordingly Aristeus embraced the same opinion with those that have been
before mentioned, and went to the king, and made the following speech
to him: "It is not fit for us, O king, to overlook things hastily, or
to deceive ourselves, but to lay the truth open. For since we have
determined not only to get the laws of the Jews transcribed, but
interpreted also, for thy satisfaction, by what means can we do this,
while so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy kingdom? Do thou then
what will be