The original accounts we have of them are confined to three authors--Philo, Pliny the Elder, and Josephus. Philo describes them in his treatise known as _Quod omnis probus liber_ (SS 12, 13; ii. 457-460), and also in his "Apology for the Jews," a fragment of which has been preserved by Eusebius (_Praep. Ev._ viii. 11, 12). Pliny (_N.H._ v. 17) has a short but striking sketch of them, derived in all probability from Alexander Polyhistor, who is mentioned among the authorities for the fifth book of his _Natural History_. This historian, of whom Eusebius had a very high opinion (_Praep. Ev._ ix. 17, S 1), lived in the time of Sulla. Josephus treats of them at length in his _Jewish War_ (ii. 8), and more briefly in two passages of his _Antiquities_ (xiii. 5, S 9; xviii. 1, S 5). He has also interesting accounts of the prophetic powers possessed by three individual members of the sect--Judas (_B.J._ i. 3, S 5; _Ant._ xiii. 11, S 2), Menahem (_Ant._ xv. 10, S 5), and Simon (_B.J._ ii. 7, S 3; _Ant._ xvii. 13, S 3). Besides this he mentions an Essene Gate in Jerusalem (_B.J._ v. 4, S 2) and a person called John the Essene, one of the bravest and most capable leaders in the war against the Romans (_B.J._ ii. 20, S 4; iii. 2, S 1). Josephus himself made trial of the sect of Essenes in his youth; but from his own statement it appears that he must have been a very short time with them, and therefore could not have been initiated into the inner mysteries of the society (_De vita sua_, 2). After this the notices that we have of the Essenes from antiquity are mere reproductions, except in the case of Epiphanius (died A.D. 402), who, however, is so confused a writer as to be of little value. Solinus, who was known as "Pliny's Ape," echoed the words of his master about a century after that writer's death, which took place in A.D. 79. Similarly Hippolytus, who lived in the reign of Commodus (A.D. 180-192), reproduced the account of Josephus, adding a few touches of his own. Porphyry (A.D. 233-306) afterwards did the same, but had the grace to mention Josephus in the context. Eusebius quoted the account as from Porphyry, though he must have known that _he_ had derived it from Josephus (_Praep. Ev._ ix. 3, SS 1, 13). But Porphyry's name would impress pagan readers. There is also a mention of the Essenes by Hegesippus (Eus. _H.E._ iv. 22) and by Synesius in his life of Dio Chrysostom. It has been conjectured that the Clementine literature emanated from Essenes who had turned Christian. (See EBIONITES.)