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For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing
from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two
books,
1
which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed
to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws
and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval
of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from
the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned
after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done
in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns
to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. It is true, our history
hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been
esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because
there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and
how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident
by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has
been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from
them, or to make any change in them; but it is become natural to all Jews
immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain
Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly
to die for them. For it is no new thing for our captives, many of them
in number, and frequently in time, to be seen to endure racks and deaths
of all kinds upon the theatres, that they may not be obliged to say one
word against our laws and the records that contain them; whereas there
are none at all among the Greeks who would undergo the least harm on that
account, no, nor in case all the writings that are among them were to be
destroyed; for they take them to be such discourses as are framed agreeably
to the inclinations of those that write them; and they have justly the
same opinion of the ancient writers, since they see some of the present
generation bold enough to write about such affairs, wherein they were not
present, nor had concern enough to inform themselves about them from those
that knew them; examples of which may be had in this late war of ours,
where some persons have written histories, and published them, without
having been in the places concerned, or having been near them when the
actions were done; but these men put a few things together by hearsay,
and insolently abuse the world, and call these writings by the name of
Histories.