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them in any thing which they have introduced; and when they determine
that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from
men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath
pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so
that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe
that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth
there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived
virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained
in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive
and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to
persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine
worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their
direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on
account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their
lives and their discourses also.

4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the
bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what
the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute
with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine
is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity.
But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they
become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes
obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees,
because the multitude would not otherwise bear them.

5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed
to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards
of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send
what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer
sacrifices [3] because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on
which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but
offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life
better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to
husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all
other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness;
and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any
other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no,