d borne arms against them, and fought them, had suffered
punishment already, and that it was not just to deprive those that had
not offended of the privileges they enjoyed.

2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was of the like disposition towards
the Jews: for when the people of Ionia were very angry at them, and
besought Agrippa that they, and they only, might have those privileges
of citizens which Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, [who by the
Greeks was called The God,] had bestowed on them, and desired that, if
the Jews were to be joint-partakers with them, they might be obliged to
worship the gods they themselves worshipped: but when these matters were
brought to the trial, the Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make
use of their own customs, and this under the patronage of Nicolaus of
Damascus; for Agrippa gave sentence that he could not innovate. And if
any one hath a mind to know this matter accurately, let him peruse the
hundred and twenty-third and hundred and twenty-fourth books of the
history of this Nicolaus. Now as to this determination of Agrippa, it is
not so much to be admired, for at that time our nation had not made war
against the Romans. But one may well be astonished at the generosity of
Vespasian and Titus, that after so great wars and contests which they
had from us, they should use such moderation. But I will now return to
that part of my history whence I made the present digression.

3. Now it happened that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled
over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria,
suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed; for while he
was at war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called
Epiphanes, it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both
when he was beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very
like to a ship in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides;
and just thus were they in their situation in the middle between
Antiochus's prosperity and its change to adversity. But at length, when
Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater
was dead, his son sent out a great army under Scopas, the general of
his forces, against the inhabitants of Celesyria, who took many of their
cities, and in particular our nation; which when he fell upon them,
went over to him. Yet was it not long afterward when Antiochus overcame
Scopas, in a battle fought at the fountain