hat 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."

6. When this epistle of the king was brought to Eleazar, he wrote an
answer to it with all the respect possible: "Eleazar the high priest to
king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe, [6] and
thy children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we received thy
epistle, we greatly rejoiced at thy intentions; and when the multitude
were gathered together, we read it to them, and thereby made them
sensible of the piety thou hast towards God. We also showed them the
twenty vials of gold, and thirty of silver, and the five large basons,
and the table for the shew-bread; as also the hundred talents for the
sacrifices, and for the making what shall be needful at the temple;
which things Andreas and Aristeus, those most honored friends of thine,
have brought us; and truly they are persons of an excellent character,
and of great learning, and worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we will
gratify thee in what is for thy advantage, though we do what we used
not to do before; for we ought to make a return for the numerous acts
of kindness which thou hast done to our countrymen. We immediately,
therefore, offered sacrifices for thee and thy sister, with thy children
and friends; and the multitude made prayers, that thy affairs may be to
thy mind, and that thy kingdom may be preserved in peace, and that the
translation of our law may come to the conclusion thou desirest, and be
for thy advantage. We have also chosen six elders out of every tribe,
whom we have sent, and the law with them. It will be thy part, out
of thy piety and justice, to send back the law, when it hath been
translated, and to return those to us that bring it in safety.
Farewell."

7. This was the reply which the high priest made. But it does not seem
to me to be necessary to set down the names of the seventy [two] elders
who were sent by Eleazar, and carried the law, which yet were subjoined
at the end of the epistle. However, I thought it not improper to give an
account of those very valuable and artificially contrived vessel