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[190]
"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, 1
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, and that he and his sons
be our confederates; and that besides this, everyone of them be reckoned
among our particular friends. I also ordain that he and his children retain
whatsoever privileges belong to the office of high priest, or whatsoever
favors have been hitherto granted them; and if at any time hereafter there
arise any questions about the Jewish customs, I will that he determine
the same. And I think it not proper that they should be obliged to find
us winter quarters, or that any money should be required of them."
1 That Hyreanus was himself in Egypt, along with Antipater, at this time, to whom accordingly the bold and prudent actions of his deputy Antipater are here ascribed, as this decree of Julius Caesar supposes, we are further assured by the testimony of Strabo, already produced by Josephus, ch. 8. sect. 3.
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