The task of writing (our national history) is thus one which cannot be capriciously undertaken by all alike; and there is no discrepancy in the records. No; the prophets alone (had this privilege), obtaining their knowledge of the most remote and ancient history through the inspiration which they owed to God, and committing to writing a faithful account of the events of their own time just as they occurred. From this it naturally, or rather necessarily, follows that we[416] do not possess vast numbers[417] of inconsistent books, conflicting with each other. Our books, those to which we justly pin our faith,[418] are but two and twenty, and contain the record of all time.[419] Of these, five are the books of Moses, comprising the laws and the traditional history from the birth of man down to the death of the lawgiver. This period falls only a little short of three thousand years. From the death of Moses to the (death)[420] of Artaxerxes,[421] who succeeded Xerxes as King of Persia, the prophets subsequent to Moses wrote the history of the events of their own times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God and precepts for (the conduct of) human life. From Artaxerxes to our own time the complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets. Jewish Veneration of their Scriptures We have given practical proof of the spirit in which we treat[422] our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to regard them as the decrees[423] of God, to abide by them, and, if need be, cheerfully to die for them. Time and again ere now the sight has been witnessed of prisoners enduring tortures and death in every form in the theatres, rather than utter a single word against the laws and the allied documents.—_c. Ap._ I. 6-8 (29-43). Footnote 412: _i. e._ Egyptians, Babylonians, Chaldæans and Phœnicians, as opposed to the Greeks, who neglected to keep records of antiquity Footnote 413: Reading ἀρχείων. MSS “from the ancients” (ἀρχαίων). Footnote 414: Or “college of priests.” Footnote 415: Or, perhaps, “from the archives” (ἀρχείων). Footnote 416: Unlike the Greeks. Footnote 417: Lit. “tens of thousands.” Footnote 418: Eusebius reads, “which are justly believed to be divine.” Footnote 419: See on this and the following paragraph Appendix, Note VII. Footnote 420: The earlier editions insert ἀρχῆς (“till the reign of ...”), not found in Niese’s MS. Perhaps we should read simply “until Artaxerxes” (μέχρις for μέχρι τῆς). Footnote 421: In Jos. Artaxerxes = Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther (_Ant._ XI. 6. 1 (184)); Xerxes = Artaxerxes of Ezra-Nehemiah. Footnote 422: