this, that they had not any commerce together; but the reason why they
wrote such falsities was this, that they had a mind to appear to know
things which others had not known. How can it then be any wonder, if our
nation was no more known to many of the Greeks, nor had given them any
occasion to mention them in their writings, while they were so remote
from the sea, and had a conduct of life so peculiar to themselves?
13. Let us now put the case, therefore, that we made use of this
argument concerning the Grecians, in order to prove that their nation
was not ancient, because nothing is said of them in our records: would
not they laugh at us all, and probably give the same reasons for our
silence that I have now alleged, and would produce their neighbor
nations as witnesses to their own antiquity? Now the very same
thing will I endeavor to do; for I will bring the Egyptians and the
Phoenicians as my principal witnesses, because nobody can complain Of
their testimony as false, on account that they are known to have borne
the greatest ill-will towards us; I mean this as to the Egyptians in
general all of them, while of the Phoenicians it is known the Tyrians
have been most of all in the same ill disposition towards us: yet do
I confess that I cannot say the same of the Chaldeans, since our first
leaders and ancestors were derived from them; and they do make mention
of us Jews in their records, on account of the kindred there is between
us. Now when I shall have made my assertions good, so far as concerns
the others, I will demonstrate that some of the Greek writers have made
mention of us Jews also, that those who envy us may not have even this
pretense for contradicting what I have said about our nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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