ts might
have a plentiful provision made for them, and that God might have great
abundance of what things were necessary for his worship. Yet did not
Onias do this out of a sober disposition, but he had a mind to contend
with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not forget the indignation he had
for being banished thence. Accordingly, he thought that by building this
temple he should draw away a great number from them to himself. There
had been also a certain ancient prediction made by [a prophet] whose
name was Isaiah, about six hundred years before, that this temple should
be built by a man that was a Jew in Egypt. And this is the history of
the building of that temple.

4. And now Lupus, the governor of Alexandria, upon the receipt of
Caesar's letter, came to the temple, and carried out of it some of the
donations dedicated thereto, and shut up the temple itself. And as Lupus
died a little afterward, Paulinns succeeded him. This man left none of
those donations there, and threatened the priests severely if they
did not bring them all out; nor did he permit any who were desirous of
worshipping God there so much as to come near the whole sacred place;
but when he had shut up the gates, he made it entirely inaccessible,
insomuch that there remained no longer the least footsteps of any Divine
worship that had been in that place. Now the duration of the time from
the building of this temple till it was shut up again was three hundred
and forty-three years.

CHAPTER 11.

Concerning Jonathan, One Of The Sicarii, That Stirred Up A
Sedition In Cyrene, And Was A False Accuser [Of The
Innocent].

1. And now did the madness of the Sicarii, like a disease, reach as far
as the cities of Cyrene; for one Jonathan, a vile person, and by trade
a weaver, came thither and prevailed with no small number of the
poorer sort to give ear to him; he also led them into the desert, upon
promising them that he would show them signs and apparitions. And as for
the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his knavery from them, and put
tricks upon them; but those of the greatest dignity among them informed
Catullus, the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into the
desert, and of the preparations he had made for it. So he sent out after
him both horsemen and footmen, and easily overcame them, because they
were unarmed men; of these many were slain in the fight, but some were
taken alive, and brought to Catullus. As for Jon