friendship
and mutual alliance which was between them, And it seems to me to be
necessary here to give an account of all the honors that the Romans
and their emperor paid to our nation, and of the leagues of mutual
assistance they have made with it, that all the rest of mankind may know
what regard the kings of Asia and Europe have had to us, and that they
have been abundantly satisfied of our courage and fidelity; for whereas
many will not believe what hath been written about us by the Persians
and Macedonians, because those writings are not every where to be met
with, nor do lie in public places, but among us ourselves, and certain
other barbarous nations, while there is no contradiction to be made
against the decrees of the Romans, for they are laid up in the public
places of the cities, and are extant still in the capitol, and engraven
upon pillars of brass; nay, besides this, Julius Caesar made a pillar of
brass for the Jews at Alexandria, and declared publicly that they were
citizens of Alexandria. Out of these evidences will I demonstrate what
I say; and will now set down the decrees made both by the senate and by
Julius Caesar, which relate to Hyrcanus and to our nation.

2. "Caius Julius Caesar, imperator and high priest, and dictator the
second time, to the magistrates, senate, and people of Sidon, sendeth
greeting. If you be in health, it is well. I also and the army are well.
I have sent you a copy of that decree, registered on the tables, which
concerns Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch
of the Jews, that it may be laid up among the public records; and I will
that it be openly proposed in a table of brass, both in Greek and in
Latin. It is as follows: I Julius Caesar, imperator the second time, and
high priest, have made this decree, with the approbation of the senate.
Whereas Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander the Jew, hath demonstrated his
fidelity and diligence about our affairs, and this both now and in
former times, both in peace and in war, as many of our generals have
borne witness, and came to our assistance in the last Alexandrian
war, [17] with fifteen hundred soldiers; and when he was sent by me to
Mithridates, showed himself superior in valor to all the rest of that
army;--for these reasons I will that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, and
his children, be ethnarchs of the Jews, and have the high priesthood of
the Jews for ever, according to the customs of their forefathers,