 Book 4, chapters 5 and 6 of the Antiquities of the Jews, Volume 1, this is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Antiquities of the Jews, Volume 1 by Flavius Josephus, translated by William Weston. Book 4, chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 5. How Moses conquered Sihon and Ag, kings of the Amorites, and destroyed their whole army, and then divided their land by lot, to two tribes and a half of the Hebrews. The people mourned for air in thirty days, and when this morning was over, Moses removed the army from that place, and came to the river Arnan, which, issuing out of the mountains of Arabia and running through all that wilderness, falls into the lake Asphaltitis, and becomes the limit between the land of the Moabites and the land of the Amorites. This land is fruitful and sufficient to maintain a great number of men with the good things it produces. Moses therefore sent messengers to Sihon, the king of this country, desiring that he would grant his army a passage upon what security he should please to require. He promised that he should be no way injured, neither as to that country which Sihon governed, nor as to its inhabitants, and that he would buy his provisions at such a price as should be to their advantage, even though he should desire to sell them their very water. But Sihon refused his offer, and put his army into battle array, and was preparing everything in order to hinder their passing over Arnan. When Moses saw that the Amorite king was disposed to enter upon hostilities with them, he thought he ought not to bear that insult, and determining to wean the Hebrews from their indolent temper, and prevent the disorders which arose thence, which had been the occasion of their former sedition, nor indeed were they now thoroughly easy in their minds, he inquired of God whether he would give them leave to fight. Which when he had done, and God also promised him the victory, he was himself very courageous and ready to proceed to fighting. Accordingly he encouraged the soldiers, and he desired of them that they would take the pleasure of fighting, now God gave them leave so to do. They then, upon the receipt of this permission, which they so much longed for, put on their whole armor, and set about the work without delay. But the Amorite king was not now like to himself when the Hebrews were ready to attack him, but both he himself was affrighted at the Hebrews, and his army, which before had showed themselves to be of good courage, were then found to be timorous. So they could not sustain the first onset, nor bear up against the Hebrews, but fled away, as thinking this would afford them a more likely way for their escape than fighting, for they depended upon their cities which were strong, from which yet they reaped no advantage when they were forced to fly to them. For as soon as the Hebrews saw them giving ground, they immediately pursued them close, and when they had broken their ranks they greatly terrified them, and some of them broke off from the rest and ran away to the cities. Now the Hebrews pursued them briskly, and obstinately persevered in the labors they had already undergone, and being very skillful in slinging, and very dexterous in throwing of darts, or anything else of that kind, and also having nothing but light armor which made them quick in the pursuit, they overtook their enemies, and for those that were most remote and could not be overtaken, they reached them by their slings and their bows, so that many were slain, and those that escaped the slaughter were sorely wounded, and those were more distressed with thirst than with any of those that fought against them, for it was the summer season, and when the greatest number of them were brought down to the river out of a desire to drink, as also when others fled away by troops, the Hebrews came round them and shot at them, so that, what with darts and what with arrows, they made a slaughter of them all. Sihon their king was also slain, so the Hebrews spoiled the dead bodies and took their prey. The land also which they took was full of abundance of fruits, and the army went all over it without fear and fed their cattle upon it, and they took the enemies' prisoners, for they could no way put a stop to them since all the fighting men were destroyed. Such was the destruction which overtook the Amorites, who were neither sagacious in counsel, nor courageous in action. Hereupon the Hebrews took possession of their land, which is a country situate between three rivers, and naturally resembled an island. The river Arnan being its southern, the river Jabak determining its northern side, which running into Jordan loses its own name and takes the other, while Jordan itself runs along by it on its western coast. When matters were come to this state, Ag, the king of Gilead and Golanitis, fell upon the Israelites. He brought an army with him, and in haste to the assistance of his friend Sihon. But though he found him already slain, yet did he resolve still to come and fight the Hebrews, supposing he should be too hard for them and being desirous to try their valor. But failing of his hope, he was both himself slain in the battle, and all his army was destroyed. So Moses passed over the river Jabak and overran the kingdom of Ag. He overthrew their cities, and slew all their inhabitants, who yet exceeded in riches all the men in that part of the continent on account of the goodness of the soil and the great quantity of their wealth. Now Ag had very few equals, either in the largeness of his body, or handsomeness of his appearance. He was also a man of great activity in the use of his hands, so that his actions were not unequal to the vast largeness and handsome appearance of his body. And men could easily guess at his strength and magnitude when they took his bed at Rabbath, the royal city of the Ammonites. Its structure was of iron, its breadth four cubits, and its length a cubit more than double there too. However, his fall did not only improve the circumstances of the Hebrews for the present, but by his death he was the occasion of further good success to them. For they presently took those sixty cities which were encompassed with excellent walls and had been subject to him, and all got both in general and in particular a great prey. Chapter 6 Concerning Balaam the Prophet and What Kind of Man He Was Now Moses, when he had brought his army to Jordan, pitched his camp in the great plain over against Jericho. This city is a very happy situation and very fit for producing palm trees and balsam. And now the Israelites began to be very proud of themselves and were very eager for fighting. Moses then, after he had offered for a few days sacrifices of thanksgiving to God and feasted the people, sent a party of armed men to lay waste the country of the Midianites and to take their cities. Now the occasion which he took for making war upon them was this that follows. When Balaam, the king of the Moabites, who had from his ancestors a friendship and league with the Midianites, saw how great the Israelites were grown, he was much affrighted on account of his own and his kingdom's danger. For he was not acquainted with this that the Hebrews would not meddle with any other country, but were to be contented with the possession of the land of Canaan, God having forbidden them to go any farther. So he, with more haste than wisdom, resolved to make an attempt upon them by words. But he did not judge it prudent to fight against them after they had such prosperous successes, and even became out of ill successes more happy than before. But he thought to hinder them if he could from growing greater, and so he resolved to send ambassadors to the Midianites about them. Now these Midianites, knowing there was one Balaam, who lived by Euphrates, and was the greatest of the prophets at that time, and one that was in friendship with them, sent some of their honorable princes, along with the ambassadors of Baelic, to entreat the prophet to come to them, that he might implicate curses to the destruction of the Israelites. So Baelum received the ambassadors and treated them very kindly, and when he had soft, he inquired what was God's will, and what this matter was for which the Midianites entreated him to come to them. But when God opposed his going, he came to the ambassadors and told them that he was himself very willing and desirous to comply with their request, but informed them that God was opposite to his intentions, even that God who had raised him to great reputation on account of the truth of his predictions, for that this army, which they entreated him to come in curse, was in the favor of God, on which account he advised them to go home again and not to persist in their enmity against the Israelites, and when he had given them that answer, he dismissed the ambassadors. Now the Midianites, at the earnest request and fervent entreaties of Baelic, sent other ambassadors to Baelum, who, desiring to gratify the men, inquired again of God, but he was displeased at second trial and bid him by no means to contradict the ambassadors. Now Baelum did not imagine that God gave this injunction in order to deceive him, so he went along with the ambassadors, but when the divine angel met him in the way, when he was in a narrow passage and hedged in with a wall on both sides, the ass on which Baelum rode understood that it was a divine spirit that met him, and thrust Baelum to one of the walls without regard to the stripes which Baelum, when he was hurt by the wall, gave her. But when the ass upon the angels continuing to distress her, and upon the stripes which were given her, fell down, by the will of God she made use of the voice of a man, which complained of Baelum as acting unjustly to her, that whereas he had no fault to find with her in her former service to him, he now inflicted stripes upon her, as not understanding that she was hindered from serving him in what he was now going about by the providence of God. And when he was disturbed by reason of the voice of the ass, which was that of a man, the angel plainly appeared to him and blamed him for the stripes he had given his ass, and informed him that the brute creature was not in fault, but that he was himself come to obstruct his journey as being contrary to the will of God, upon which Baelum was afraid and was preparing to turn back again. But did God excite him to go on his intended journey, but added this injunction that he should declare nothing but what he himself should suggest to his mind? When God had given him this charge, he came to Baelum, and when the king had entertained him in a magnificent manner, he desired him to go to one of the mountains to take a view of the state of the camp of the Hebrews. Baelum himself also came to the mountain and brought the prophet along with him with a royal attendance. This mountain lay over their heads and was distant sixty furlongs from the camp. Now when he saw them, he desired the king to build him seven altars and to bring him as many bulls and rams, to which desire the king did presently conform. Baelum then slew the sacrifices and offered them as burnt offerings that he might observe some signal of the flight of the Hebrews. Then said he, quote, Happy is this people on whom God bestows the possession of innumerable good things and grants them his own providence to be their assistant and their guide, so that there is not any nation among mankind, but you will be esteemed superior to them in virtue and in the earnest prosecution of the best rules of life and of such as are pure from wickedness and will leave those rules to your excellent children and this out of the regard that God bears to you and the provision of such things for you as may render you happier than any other people under the sun. You shall retain that land to which he hath sent you and it shall ever be under the command of your children and both all the earth as well as the seas shall be filled with your glory and you shall be sufficiently numerous to supply the world in general and every region of it in particular with inhabitants out of your stock. However, O blessed army, wonder that you are become so many from one father and truly the land of Canaan can now hold you as being yet comparatively few, but know ye that the whole world is proposed to be your place of habitation forever. The multitude of your posterity also shall live as well in the islands as on the continent and that more in number than are the stars of heaven and when you are become so many God will not relinquish the care of you but will afford you an abundance of all good things in times of peace with victory and dominion in times of war. May the children of your enemies have an inclination to fight against you and may they be so hardy as to come to arms and to assault you in battle for they will not return with victory nor will their return be agreeable to their children and wives. To so great a degree of valor will you be raised by the providence of God who is able to diminish the affluence of some and to supply the wants of others." Thusted Balaam speak by inspiration as not being in his own power but moved to say what he did by the Divine Spirit. But then Balaam was displeased and said that he had broken the contract he had made whereby he was to come as he and his Confederates had invited him by the promise of great presence. For whereas he came to curse their enemies he had made an encomium upon them and had declared that they were the happiest of men. To which Balaam replied, O Balaam, if thou rightly considerest this whole matter, canst thou suppose that it is in our power to be silent or to say anything when the Spirit of God seizes upon us? For he put such words as he pleases in our mouths and such discourses as we are not ourselves conscious of. I well remember by what entreaties both you and the Midianites so joyfully brought me hither and on that account I took this journey. It was my prayer that I might not put any affront upon you as to what you desired of me. But God is more powerful than the purposes I had made to serve you for those that take upon them to foretell the affairs of mankind as from their own abilities are entirely unable to do it or to forbear to utter what God suggests to them or to offer violence to his will. For when he prevents us and enters into us nothing that we say is our own. I then did not intend to praise this army nor to go over the several good things which God intended to do to their race. But since he was so favorable to them and so ready to bestow upon them a happy life and eternal glory he suggested the declaration of those things to me. But now because it is my desire to oblige thee myself as well as the Midianites whose entreaties it is not decent for me to reject go to let us again rear other altars and offer the like sacrifices that we did before that I may see whether I can persuade God to permit me to bind these men with curses which when Baelic had agreed to God would not even upon second sacrifices consent to his cursing the Israelites. Then fell Baelum upon his face and foretold what calamities would befall the several kings of the nations and the most eminent cities some of which of old were not so much as inhabited which events have come to pass among the several people concerned both in the foregoing ages and in this till my own memory both by sea and by land from which completion of all these predictions that he made one may easily guess that the rest will have their completion in time to come. But Baelic being very angry that the Israelites were not cursed sent away Baelum without thinking him worthy of any honor where upon when he was just upon his journey in order to pass the Euphrates he sent for Baelic and for the princes of the Midianites and spake thus to them O Baelic and Eumidianites that are here present for I am obliged even without the will of God to gratify you it is true no entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews neither by war nor by plague nor by scarcity of the fruits of the earth nor can any other unexpected accident be their entire ruin for the providence of God is concerned to preserve them from such a misfortune nor will it permit any such calamity to come upon them whereby they may all perish but some small misfortunes and those for a short time whereby they may appear to be brought low may still befall them but after that they will flourish again to the terror of those that brought those mischiefs upon them so that if you have a mind to gain the victory over them for a short space of time you will obtain it by following my directions do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty and proper to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them and these decked and trimmed to the highest degree able then do you send them to be near camp and give them in charge let the young men of the Hebrews desire their allow at them and when they see they are enamored of them let them take leaves and if they entreat them to stay let give their consent till they have persuaded leave of their obedience to their own laws the worship of that God who established them to worship the gods of the Midianites and for by this means God will be angry at them accordingly when Balaam had suggested counsel to them he went his way so when the Midianites had sent their daughters as Balaam had exhorted them the Hebrew men were allured by their beauty and came with them and besought them not to grudge them the enjoyment of their beauty nor to deny them their conversation these daughters of Midianites received their words gladly and consented to it and stayed with them but when they brought them to be enamored of them and their inclinations to them were grown to ripeness they began to think of departing from them then it was that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women's departure and they were urgent with them not to leave them but begged they would continue there and become their wives and they promised them they should be owned as mistresses all they had this they said with an oath and called God for the arbitrator of what they promised and this with tears in their eyes and all such marks of concern as might show how miserable they thought themselves without them and so might move their compassion for them so the women as soon as they perceived they had made their slaves and had caught them with their conversation began to speak thus to them oh you illustrious young men we have of our own at home and great plenty of good things there together with the natural affectionate parents and friends nor is it out of our want of any such things that we come to discourse with you nor did we admit of your invitation with design to prostitute the beauty of our bodies for gain but taking you for brave and worthy men we agreed to your request that we might treat you with such honors as hospitality required and now seeing you say that you have a great affection for us and are troubled when you think we are departing we are not averse to your entreaties and if we may receive such assurance of your good will as we think can be alone sufficient we will be glad to lead our lives with you as your wives but we are afraid that you will in time be weary of our company and will then abuse us and send us back to our parents after an ignominious manner and they desired that they would excuse them in their guarding against that danger the young men professed they would give them any assurance they should desire nor did they at all contradict what they requested so great was the passion they had for them if then, said they, this be your resolution since you make use of such customs and conduct of life as are entirely different from all other men in so much that your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves and your kinds of drink not common to others it will be absolutely necessary if you should have us for your wives that you do with all worship our gods nor can there be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have and promise to have here after to us than this that you worship the same gods that we do for has any one reason to complain that now you are coming to this country you should worship the proper gods of the same country especially while our gods are common to all men and yours such as belong to nobody else but yourselves so they said they must either come into such methods of divine worship as all others came into or else they must look out for another world wherein they may live by themselves according to their own laws now the young men were induced by the fondness they had for these women to think they spake very well so they gave themselves up to what they persuaded them and transgressed their own laws and supposing there were many gods and resolving that they would sacrifice to them according to the laws of that country which ordained them they both were delighted with their strange food and went on to do everything that the women would have them do though in contradiction to their own laws so far indeed that this transgression was already gone through the whole army of the young men and they fell into a sedition that was much worse than the former and into danger of the entire abolition of their own institutions for when once the youth had tasted of these strange customs they went with insatiable inclinations into them and even where some of the principal men were illustrious on account of the virtues of their fathers they also were corrupted together with the rest even Zimri the head of the tribe of Simeon accompanied with Cosby a Midianitish woman who was the daughter of Sir a man of authority in that country and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses and to follow those she was used to he complied with her and this both by sacrificing after a manner different from his own and by taking a stranger to wife when things were thus Moses was afraid that matters should grow worse and called the people to a congregation but then accused nobody by name as unwilling to drive those into despair who by lying concealed might come to repentance but he said that they did not do what was either worthy of themselves or of their fathers by preferring pleasure to God and to the living according to his will that it was fit they should change their courses while their affairs were still in a good state and think that to be true fortitude which offers not violence to their laws but that which resists their lusts and besides that he said it was not a reasonable thing when they had lived soberly in the wilderness to act madly now that they were in prosperity and that they ought not to lose now that they have abundance what they had gained when they had little and so did he endeavor by saying this to correct the young inert and to bring them to repentance for what they had done but Zimri arose up after him and said yes indeed Moses thou art at liberty to make use of such laws as thou art so fond of and hast by accustoming thyself to them made them firm otherwise if things had not been thus thou hadst often been punished before now and hadst known that the Hebrews are not easily put upon but thou shalt not have me one of thy followers in thy tyrannical commands for thou dost nothing else hitherto but under pretense of laws and of God wickedly impose on us slavery and gain dominion to thyself while thou deprivest us of the sweetness of life which consists in acting according to our own wills and is the right of free men and of those that have no lord over them nay indeed this man is harder upon the Hebrews than were the Egyptians themselves as pretending to punish according to his laws everyone's acting what is most agreeable to himself but thou thyself better deserve us to suffer punishment who presumes to abolish what everyone acknowledges to be what is good for him and aim is to make thy single opinion to have more force than that of all the rest and what I now do and think to be right I shall not hereafter deny to be according to my own sentiments I have married as thou sayest rightly and thou hearest what I do from myself as from one that is free for truly I do not intend to conceal myself I also own that I sacrificed to those gods to whom you do not think it fit to sacrifice and I think it right to come at truth by inquiring of many people and not like one that lives under tyranny to suffer the whole hope of my life to depend upon one man nor shall anyone find cause to rejoice who declares himself to have more authority over my actions than myself now when Zimri had said these things about what he and some others had wickedly done the people held their peace both out of fear of what might come upon them and because they saw that their legislator was not willing to bring his insolence before the public any further or openly to contend with him for he avoided that lest many should imitate the impudence of his language and thereby disturb the multitude upon this the assembly was dissolved however the mischievous attempt had proceeded further if Zimri had not been first slain which came to pass on the following occasion Phineas a man in other respects better than the rest of the young men and also one that surpassed his contemporaries in the dignity of his father for he was the son of Eleazar the high priest and the grandson of Aaron Moses's brother who was greatly troubled at what was done by Zimri he resolved in earnest to inflict punishment on him before his unworthy behavior should grow stronger by impunity and in order to prevent this transgression from proceeding further which would happen if the ring leaders were not punished he was of so great magnanimity both in strength of mind and body that when he undertook any very dangerous attempt he did not leave it off till he overcame it and got an entire victory so he came into Zimri's tent and slew him with his javelin and with it he slew Cosby also upon which all those young men that had a regard to virtue and aimed to do a glorious action imitated Phineas's boldness and slew those that were found to be guilty of the same crime with Zimri accordingly many of those that had transgressed perished by the magnanimous valor of those young men and the rest all perished by a plague which distemper God himself inflicted upon them so that all those there kindred who instead of hindering them from such wicked actions as they ought to have done had persuaded them to go on were esteemed by God as partners in their wickedness and died accordingly their perished out of the army no fewer than fourteen or twenty-four thousand at this time this was the cause why Moses was provoked to send an army to destroy the Midianites concerning which expedition we shall speak presently when we have first related what we have omitted for it is but just not to pass over our legislators due incomium on account of his conduct here because although this Balaam who was sent for by the Midianites to curse the Hebrews and when he was hindered from doing it by divine providence did still suggest that advice to them by making use of which our enemies had well night corrupted the whole multitude of the Hebrews with their wiles till some of them were deeply infected with their opinions yet did he do him great honor by setting down his prophecies in writing and while it was in his power to claim this glory for himself and make men believe they were his own predictions there being no one that could be a witness against him and accuse him for so doing he still gave his attestation to him and did him the honor to make mention of him on this account but let everyone think of these matters as he pleases Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by David Rhys-Thomas at www.davidrhysthomas.com The Antiquities of the Jews Volume 1 by Flavius Josephus Translated by William Whiston Book 4 Chapter 7 Chapter 7 How the Hebrews fought with the Midianites and overcame them Now Moses sent an army against the land of Midian for the causes forementioned in all 12,000 taken an equal number out of every tribe and appointed Phineas for their commander of which Phineas we made mention a little bit before as he that had guarded the laws of the Hebrews and had inflicted punishment on Zimri when he had transgressed them Now the Midianites perceived beforehand how the Hebrews were coming and would suddenly be upon them so they assembled their army together and fortified the entrances into their country and there awaited the enemies coming When they were come and they had joined battle with them an immense multitude of the Midianites fell nor could they be numbered they were so very many and among them fell all their kings Fivern number, Viz, Evi, Zer, Riba, Her and Rechem who was of the same name with the city the chief and capital of all Arabia which is still now so called by the whole Arabian nation Arakhem from the name of the king that built it but is by the Greeks called Petra Now when the enemies were discomforted the Hebrews spoiled the country and took a great prey with the words inhabitants together with the women only they let the virgins alone as Moses had commanded Phineas to do who indeed came back bringing with him an army that had received no harm and a great deal of prey 52,000 beavers, 75,600 sheep 60,000 asses with an immense quantity of gold and silver furniture which the Midianites made use of in their houses for they were so very wealthy that they were very luxurious and also led captive about 32,000 virgins so Moses parted the prey into parts and gave one 50th part to Elezar and the two priests and another 50th part to the Levites and distributed the rest of the prey among the people after which they lived happily as having obtained an abundance of good things by their valour and therefore being no misfortune that detended them or hindered their enjoyment of that happiness but Moses was now grown old and appointed Joshua for his successor both to receive directions from God as a prophet and for a commander of the army if they should at any time stand in need of such a one and this was done by the command of God that to him the care of the public should be committed now Joshua had been instructed in all those kinds of learning which concerned the laws of God himself and Moses had been his instructor at this time it was that the two tribes of Gad and Gruben and the half tribe of Manasseh abounded in a multitude of cattle as well as in all other kinds of prosperity once they had a meeting the body came and besought Moses to give them as their peculiar portion that land of the Amorites which they had taken by right of war because it was fruitful and good for feeding of cattle but Moses, supposing that they were afraid of fighting with the Canaanites and invented this provision for their cattle as a handsome excuse for avoiding that war he called them errant cowards and said they had only contrived a decent excuse for that cowardice and that they had a mind to live in luxury and ease while all the rest were laboring with great pains to obtain the land they would desire us to have and that they were not willing to march along and undergo the remaining hard service whereby they were under the divine promise to pass over Jordan and overcome those our enemies which God had shown them and so obtained their land but these tribes when they saw that Moses was angry with them and when they could not deny but he had just caused to be displeased at their petition made an apology for themselves and said that it was not on account of their fear of dangers nor on account of their laziness that they made this request to him but that they might leave the prey and thereby might be more expedite and ready to undergo difficulties and to fight battles they added this also that when they had built cities wherein they might preserve their children's and wives and possessions if he could bestow them upon them they would go along with the rest of the army here upon Moses was pleased with what they said so he called for Eliza the high priest and Joshua and the chief of the tribes and permitted these tribes to possess the land of the Amorites but upon this condition that they should join with their kinsmen in the war until all things were settled upon which condition they took possession of the country and built them strong cities and put into them their children and their wives and whatsoever else they had that might be an impediment to the labors of the future marches Moses also now built those ten cities which would to be of the number of the 48 for the Levites three of which he allotted to those that slew any person involuntarily and fled to them and he assigned the same time for their banishment with that of the life of that high priest to whom the slaughter and flight happened after which death of the high priest he permitted the slayer to return home during the time of his exile the relations of him that was slain may by this law killed the manslayer if they caught him without the bounds of the city to which he fled though this permission was not granted to any other person now the cities which was set apart for this flight were these Beze at the borders of Arabia Ramoff of the land of Gilead and Golan in the land of Bashan they were to be also by Moses command three other cities allotted for the habitation of these fugitives out of the cities of the Levites but not till after they should be in possession of the land of Canaan at this time the chief men of the tribe of Manasseh came to Moses and informed him that there was an eminent man of their tribe dead whose name was Zalofahad who left no male children but left daughters and asked him whether these daughters might inherit his land or not he made this answer that if they shall marry into their own tribe they shall carry their estate along with them but if they dispose of themselves in marriage to men of another tribe they shall leave their inheritance in their father's tribe and then it was that Moses ordained that everyone's inheritance should continue in his own tribe End of Book 4, Chapter 7 Recording by David Rhys Thomas www.davidrhysthomas.com Book 4, Chapter 8, Part 1 of the Antiquities of the Jews, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Antiquities of the Jews, Volume 1 by Flavius Josephus Translated by William Whiston Book 4, Chapter 8, Part 1 Chapter 8 The polity settled by Moses and how he disappeared from among mankind When forty years were completed within thirty days Moses gathered the congregation together near Jordan where the city Abola now stands a place full of palm trees and all the people being come together he spake thus to them O you Israelites and fellow soldiers who have been partners with me in this long and uneasy journey since it is now the will of God and the course of old age at 120 requires it that I should depart out of this life and since God has forbidden me to be a patron or an assistant to you in what remains to be done beyond Jordan I thought it reasonable not to leave off my endeavors even now for your happiness but to do my utmost to procure for you the eternal enjoyment of good things and a memorial for myself when you shall be in the fruition of great plenty and prosperity Come therefore, let me suggest to you by what means you may be happy and may leave an eternal prosperous possession thereof to your children after you and then let me thus go out of the world and I cannot but deserve to be believed by you both on account of the great things I have already done for you and because when souls are about to leave the body they speak with the sincerest freedom O children of Israel there is but one source of happiness for all mankind the favor of God God alone is able to give good things to those that deserve them and to deprive those of them that sin against him towards whom if you behave yourselves according to his will and according to what I who well understand his mind do exhort you to you will both be esteemed blessed and will be admired by all men and will never come into misfortunes nor cease to be happy you will then preserve the possession of the good things you already have and will quickly obtain those that you are at present in want of only do you be obedient to those whom God would have you to follow nor do you prefer any other constitution of government before the laws now given you neither do you disregard that way of divine worship which you now have nor change it for any other form and if you do this you will be the most courageous of all men in undergoing the fatigues of war and will not be easily conquered by any of your enemies for while God is present with you to assist you it is to be expected that you will be able to despise the opposition of all mankind and great rewards of virtue are proposed for you if you preserve that virtue through your whole lives virtue itself is indeed the principle and the first reward and after that it bestows abundance of others so that your exercise of virtue towards other men will make your own lives happy and render you more glorious than foreigners can be and procure you an undisputed reputation with posterity these blessings you will be able to obtain in case you hearken to and observe those laws which by divine revelation I have ordained for you that is in case you with all meditate upon the wisdom that is in them I am going from you myself rejoicing in the good things you enjoy and I recommend you to the wise conduct of your law to the becoming order of your polity and to the virtues of your commanders who will take care of what is for your advantage and that God who has been till now your leader and by whose good will I have myself been useful to you will not put a period now to his providence over you but as long as you desire to have him in your pursuits after virtue so long will you enjoy his care over you your high priest also as well as Joshua with the senate and chief of your tribes will go before you and suggest the best advices to you by following which advices you will continue to be happy to whom you do give ear without reluctance as sensible that all such as know well how to be governed if they be promoted to that authority themselves and do not you esteem liberty to consist in opposing such directions as your governors think fit to give you for your practice as at present indeed you place your liberty in nothing else but abusing your benefactors which error if you can avoid for the time to come your affairs will be in a better condition than they have hitherto been nor do you ever indulge such a degree of passion in these matters as you have oftentimes done when you have been very angry at me for you know that I have been oftener in danger of death from you than from our enemies what I now put you in mind of is not done in order to reproach you for I do not think it proper now I am going out of the world to bring this to your remembrance in order to leave you offended at me since at the time when I underwent those hardships from you I was not angry at you but I do it in order to make you wiser hereafter and to teach you that this will be for your security I mean that you never be injurious to those that preside over you even when you are become rich as you will be to a great degree when you have passed over Jordan and are in possession of the land of Canaan since when you shall have once proceeded so far by your wealth as to a contempt and disregard of virtue you will also forfeit the favor of God and when you have made him your enemy you will be beaten in war and will have the land which you possess taken away again from you by your enemies and this with great reproaches upon your conduct you will be scattered over the whole world and will as slaves entirely fill both sea and land and when once you have had the experience of what I now say you will repent and remember the laws you have broken when it is too late once I would advise you if you intend to preserve these laws to leave none of your enemies alive when you have conquered them but to look upon it as for your advantage to destroy them all lest if you permit them to live you taste of their manners and thereby corrupt your own proper institutions I also do further exhort you to overthrow their altars and their groves and whatsoever temples they have among them and to burn all such their nation and their very memory with fire for by this means alone the safety of your own happy constitution can be firmly secured to you and in order to prevent your ignorance of virtue and the degeneracy of your nature into vice I have also ordained you laws by divine suggestion and a form of government which are so good that if you regularly observe them you will be esteemed of all men the most happy when he had spoken thus he gave them the laws and the constitution of government written in a book upon which the people fell into tears and appeared already touched with the sense that they should have a great want of their conductor since they remembered what a number of dangers he had passed through and what care he had taken of their preservation they desponded about what would come upon them after he was dead and thought they should never have another governor like him and feared that God would then take less care of them when Moses was gone who used to intercede for them they also repented of what they had said to him in the wilderness when they were angry and were in grief on those accounts in so much that the whole body of the people fell into tears with such bitterness that it was passed the power of words to comfort them in their affliction however Moses gave them some consolation and by calling them off the thought how worthy he was of their weeping for him he exhorted them to keep to that form of government he had given them and then the congregation was dissolved at that time accordingly I shall now first describe this form of government which was agreeable to the dignity and virtue of Moses and shall thereby inform those that read these antiquities what our original settlements were and shall then proceed to the remaining histories now those settlements are all still in writing as he left them and we shall add nothing by way of ornament nor anything besides what Moses left us only we shall so far innovate as to digest the several kinds of laws into a regular system for they were by him left in writing as they were accidentally scattered on the delivery and as he upon inquiry had learned them of God on which account I have thought it necessary to premise this observation beforehand lest any of my own countrymen should blame me as having been guilty of an offense herein now part of our constitution will include the laws that belong to our political state as for those laws which Moses left concerning our common conversation and intercourse one with another that for discourse concerning our manner of life and the occasions of those laws which I propose to myself with God's assistance to write after I have finished the work I am now upon when you have possessed yourselves of the land of Canaan and have leisure to enjoy the good things of it and when you have afterward determined to build cities if you will do what is pleasing to God you will have a secure state of happiness let there be then one city in the land of Canaan and this situate in the most agreeable place for its goodness and very eminent in itself and let it be that which God shall choose for himself by prophetic revelation let there also be one temple therein and one altar not reared of hewn stones but of such as you gather together at random which stones when they are whited over with mortar will have a handsome appearance beautiful to the sight let the ascent to it be not by steps but by an eclivity of raised earth and let there be neither an altar nor a temple in any other city for God is but one and the nation of the Hebrews is but one he that blaspheme of God let him be stoned and let him hang upon a tree all that day and then let him be buried in an ignominious and obscure manner let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the Hebrews shall possess come to that city where the temple shall be and this three times in a year that they may give thanks to God for his former benefits and may entreat him for those they shall want hereafter and let them by this means maintain a friendly correspondence with one another by such meetings and feastings together for it is a good thing for those that are of the same stock and institution of laws not to be unacquainted with each other each acquaintance will be maintained by thus conversing together and by seeing and talking with one another and so renewing the memorials of this union for if they do not thus converse together continually they will appear like mere strangers to one another let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth besides that which you have allotted to give to the priests and Levites this you may indeed sell in the country but it is to be used in those feasts and sacrifices that are to be celebrated in the holy city for it is fit that you should enjoy those fruits of the earth which God gives you to possess so as may be to the honor of the donor you are not to offer sacrifices out of the hire of a woman who is a harlot for the deity is not pleased with anything that arises from such abuses of nature of which sort none can be worse than this prostitution of the body in like manner no one may take the price of the covering of a bitch either of one that is used in hunting or in keeping of sheep and then sacrifice to God let no one blaspheme those gods which other cities esteem such nor may anyone steal what belongs to strange temples nor take away the gifts that are dedicated to any God let not any one of you wear a garment made of woolen and linen for that is appointed to be for the priests alone when the multitude are assembled together unto the holy city for sacrificing every seventh year at the Feast of Tabernacles let the high priest stand upon a high desk when he may be heard and let him read the laws to all the people and let neither the women nor the children be hindered from hearing no nor the servants neither for it is a good thing that those laws should be engraven in their souls and preserved in their memories that so it may not be possible to blot them out for by this means they shall not be guilty of sin when they cannot plead ignorance of what the laws have enjoined them the laws also will have a greater authority among them as for telling what they will suffer if they break them and imprinting in their souls by this hearing what they are commanded them to do that so there may always be within their minds that intention of the laws which they have despised and broken and have thereby been the causes of their own mischief let the children also learn the laws as the first thing they are taught which will be the best thing they can be taught and will be the cause of their future felicity let everyone commemorate before God the benefits which he bestowed upon them at their deliverance out of the land of Egypt and this twice every day both when the day begins and when the hour of sleep comes on gratitude being in its own nature a just thing and serving not only by way of return for past but also by way of invitation of future favors they are also to inscribe the principal blessings they have received from God upon their doors and show the same remembrance of them upon their arms as also they are to bear on their forehead and on their arm those wonders which declare the power of God and his good will towards them that God's readiness to bless them may appear everywhere conspicuous about them let there be seven men to judge in every city and these such as have been before most zealous in the exercise of virtue and righteousness let every judge have two officers allotted him out of the tribe of Levi let those that are chosen to judge in the several cities be had in great honor and let none be permitted to revile any others when these are present nor to carry themselves in an insolent manner to them it being natural that reverence towards those in high offices among men should procure men's fear and reverence towards God let those that judge be permitted to determine according as they think to be right unless anyone can show that they have taken bribes to the perversion of justice or can allege any other accusation against them whereby it may appear that they have passed an unjust sentence for it is not fit that causes should be openly determined out of regard to gain or to the dignity of the suitors but that the judges should esteem what is right before all other things otherwise God will by that means be despised and esteemed inferior to those the dread of whose power has occasioned the unjust sentence for justice is the power of God he therefore that gratifies those in great dignity supposes them more potent than God himself but if these judges are unable to give a just sentence about the causes that come before them which case is not on frequent in human affairs let them send the cause undetermined to the holy city and there let the high priest prophet and the Sanhedrin determine as it shall seem good to them but let not a single witness be credited but three or two at the least and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives but let not the testimony of women be admitted on account of the levity and boldness of their sex nor let the servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul since it is probable that they may not speak truth either out of hope of gain or fear of punishment but if anyone be believed to have borne false witness let him when he is convicted suffer all the very same punishments which he against whom he bore witness was to have suffered if a murder be committed in any place and he that did it be not found nor is there any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the man and so had killed him let there be a very diligent inquiry made after the man and rewards proposed to anyone who will discover him but if still no information can be procured let the magistrates and senate of those cities that lie near the place in which the murder was committed assemble together and measure the distance from the place where the dead body lies then let the magistrates of the nearest city there too purchase a heifer and bring it to a valley and to a place wherein there is no land plowed or trees planted and let them cut the sinews of the heifer then the priests and Levites and the senate of that city shall take water and wash their hands over the head of the heifer and they shall openly declare that their hands are innocent of this murder and that they have neither done it themselves nor been assisting to any that did it they shall also beseech God that no such horrid act may any more be done in that land End of Book 4 Chapter 8 Part 1 Book 4 Chapter 8 Part 2 of the Antiquities of the Jews Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Antiquities of the Jews Volume 1 by Flavius Josephus translated by William Whiston Book 4 Chapter 8 Part 2 Aristocracy and the way of living under it is the best constitution and may you never have any inclination to any other form of government and may you always love that form and have the laws for your governors and govern all your actions according to them for you need no supreme governor or God but if you shall desire a king let him be one of your own nation let him be always careful of justice and other virtues perpetually let him submit to the laws and esteem God's commands to be his highest wisdom but let him do nothing without the high priest and the votes of the senators let him not have a great number of lives nor pursue after abundance of riches nor a multitude of horses let him not be grow too proud to submit to the laws and if he affect any such things let him be restrained lest he become so potent that his state be inconsistent with your welfare let it not be esteemed lawful to remove boundaries neither our own nor of those with whom we are at peace have a care you do not take those landmarks away which are as it were that himself to last forever since this going beyond limits and gaining ground upon others is the occasion of wars and seditions for those that remove boundaries are not far off and attempt to subvert the laws he that plants a piece of land the trees of which produce fruits before the fourth year is not to bring thence any first fruits to God nor is he to make use of that fruit himself for it is not produced in its proper season for when nature has a force put upon her at an unseasonable time the fruit is not proper for God nor for the master's use but let the owner gather all that is grown on the fourth year for then it is in its proper season and let him that has gathered it carry it to the holy city and spend that together with the tithe of his other fruits in feasting with his friends with the orphans and the widows but on the fifth year the fruit is his own and he may use it as he pleases you are not to sow with seed a piece of land which is planted with vines for it is enough that it supply nourishment to that plant and be not harassed by plowing also you are to plow your land with oxen and not to oblige other animals to come under the same yoke with them but to till your land with those beasts that are of the same kind with each other the seeds are also to be pure and without mixture and not to be compounded of two or three sorts since nature does not rejoice in the union of things that are not in their own nature alike nor are you to permit beasts of different kinds to gender together for there is reason to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different kinds to men though it takes its first rise from evil practices about such smaller things nor is anything to be allowed by imitation whereof any degree of subversion may creep into the constitution nor do the laws neglect small matters but provide that even those may be managed after an unblameable manner let not those that reap and gather in the corn that is reaped gather in the gleaning also but let them rather leave some handfuls for those that are in want of the necessities of life that it may be a support and a supply to them in order to their subsistence in like manner when they gather their grapes let them leave some smaller bunches for the poor and let them pass over some of the fruits of the olive trees when they gather them and leave them to be partaken of by those that have none of their own for the advantage arising from the exact collection of all will not be so considerable to the owners as will arise from the gratitude of the poor and God will provide that the land shall more willingly produce what shall be for the nourishment of its fruits in case you do not merely take care of your own advantage but have regard to the support of others also nor are you to muzzle the mouths of the oxen when they tread the ears of corn in the threshing floor for it is not just to restrain our fellow laboring animals and those that work in order to its production nor are you to prohibit those that pass by at the time when your fruits are ripe to touch them but to give them leave to fill themselves full of what you have and this whether they be of your own country or strangers as being glad of the opportunity of giving them some part of your fruits when they are ripe but let it not be esteemed lawful for them to carry any away nor let those that gather the grapes and carry them to the wine presses remain those whom they meet from eating of them for it is unjust out of envy to hinder those that desire it to partake of the good things that come into the world according to God's will and this while the season is at the height and is hastening away as it pleases God nay, if some out of bashfulness are unwilling to touch these fruits let them be encouraged to take of them I mean those that are Israelites as if they were themselves the owners and lords on account of the kindred there is between them nay, let them desire men that come from other countries to partake of these tokens of friendship which God has given in their proper season for that is not to be deemed as idly spent which anyone out of kindness communicates to another since God bestows plenty of good things on men not only for themselves to reap the advantage but also to give to others in a way of generosity and he is desirous by this means to make known to others his peculiar kindness to the people of Israel and how freely he communicates happiness to them while they abundantly communicate out of their great super fluidies to even these foreigners also but for him that acts contrary to this law let him be beaten with 40 stripes save one by the public executioner let him undergo this punishment which is a most ominous one for a free man and this because he was such a slave to gain as to lay a blot upon his dignity for it is proper for you who have had the experience of the afflictions in Egypt and of those in the wilderness to make provision for those that are in the like circumstances and while you have now obtained plenty yourselves through the mercy and providence of God to distribute of the same plenty by the like sympathy to such and in need of it besides those two tithes which I have already said you are to pay every year the one for the Levites the other for the festivals you are to bring every third year a third tithe to be distributed to those that want to women also that are widows and to children that are orphans but as to the ripe fruits let them carry that which is ripe first of all into the temple and when they have blessed God and which he had given them for a possession when they have also offered those sacrifices which the law has commanded them to bring let them give the first fruits to the priests but when any hath done this and hath brought the tithe of all that he hath together with those first fruits that are for the Levites and for the festivals and when he is about to go home let him stand before the holy house and return thanks to God that he hath delivered him from the injurious treatment they had in Egypt and hath given them a good land and a large and lets them enjoy the fruits thereof and when he hath openly testified that he hath fully paid the tithes and other dues according to the laws of Moses let him entreat God that he will be ever merciful and gracious to him and continue so to be to all the Hebrews both by preserving the good things which he hath already given them and by adding still in his power to bestow upon them let the Hebrews marry at the age fit for it virgins that are free and born of good parents and he that does not marry a virgin let him not corrupt another man's wife and marry her nor grieve her former husband nor let free men marry slaves although their affections should strongly bias any of them so to do for it is decent and for the persons themselves to govern those their affections and further no one ought to marry a harlot whose matrimonial oblations arising from the prostitution of her body God will not receive for by these means the dispositions of the children will be liberal and virtuous I mean when they are not born of base parents and of the lustful conjunction of such as marry women that are not free if anyone has been espoused to a woman as to a virgin and does not afterward find her so to be let him bring his action and accuse her and let him make use of such indications to prove his accusation as he is furnished with all and let the father or the brother of the damsel or someone that is after them nearest of kin to her defend her if the damsel obtain a sentence in her favor that she had not been guilty let her live with her husband that accused her and let him not have any further power at all to put her away unless she give him very great occasions of suspicion and such as can be no way contradicted but for him that brings an accusation and calamity against his wife in an impudent and rash manner let him be punished by receiving forty stripes save one and let him pay fifty shekels to the father but if the damsel be convicted as having been corrupted and as one of the common people let her be stoned because she did not preserve her virginity till she were lawfully married but if she were the daughter of a priest let her be burnt alive if anyone has two wives and if he greatly respect and be kind to one of them either out of his affection for her or for her beauty or for some other reason while the other is of less esteem with him and if the son of her that is beloved be the younger by than another born of the other wife but endeavors to obtain the right of primogenitor from his father's kindness to his mother and would thereby obtain a double portion of his father's substance for that double portion is what I have allotted him in the laws let not this be permitted for it is unjust that he who is the elder by birth should be deprived of what is due to him on the father's disposition of his estate because his mother was not equally regarded by him he that hath corrupted a damsel espoused to another man in case he had her consent let both him and her be put to death for they are both equally guilty the man because he persuaded the woman willingly to submit to a most impure action and to prefer it to a lawful wedlock the woman because she was persuaded to yield herself to be corrupted either for pleasure or for gain however if a man light on a woman when she is alone enforces her where nobody was present to come to her assistance let him only be put to death let him that hath corrupted a virgin not yet espoused marry her but if the father of the damsel be not willing that she should be his wife let him pay fifty shekels as the price of her prostitution he that desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever and many such causes happen among men let him in writing give assurance that he will never use her as his wife any more for by this means she may be at liberty to marry another husband although before this bill of divorce be given she is not to be permitted so to do but if she be misused by him also or if when he is dead her first husband would marry her again it shall not be lawful for her to return to him if a woman's husband die and leave her without children let his brother marry her and let him call the son that is born to him by his brother's name and educate him as the heir of his inheritance for this procedure will be for the benefit of the public because thereby families will not fail and the estate will continue among the kindred and this will be for the solace of wives under their affliction that they are to be married to the next relation of their former sons but if the brother will not marry her let the woman come before the senate and protest openly that this brother will not admit her for his wife but will injure the memory of his deceased brother while she is willing to continue in the family and to bear him children and when the senate have inquired of him for what reason it is that he is averse to this marriage whether he gives a good or a bad reason the matter must come to an issue that the woman shall loose the sandals of the brother and shall spit in his face and say he deserves this reproachful treatment from her as having injured the memory of the deceased and then let him go away out of the senate and bear this reproach upon him all his life long and let her marry to whom she pleases of such a seeker in marriage but now if any man take captive either a virgin or one that hath been married and has a mind to marry her let him not be allowed to bring her to bed with him or to live with her as his wife before she hath her head shaven and hath put on her mourning habit and lamented her relations and friends that were slain in the battle that by this means she may give vent to her sorrow for them and after that maybe take herself to feasting and matrimony for it is good for him that takes a woman in order to have children to be complacent to her inclinations and not merely to pursue his own pleasure while he hath no regard to what is agreeable to her but when thirty days is past as the time of mourning for so many are sufficient to prudent persons for lamenting the dearest friends then let them proceed to the marriage but in case when he hath satisfied his lust he be too proud to retain her for his wife let him not have it in his power to make her a slave but let her go away with her she pleases and have that privilege of a free woman as to those young men that despise their parents and do not pay them honor but offer them affronts either because they are ashamed of them or think themselves wiser than they in the first place let their parents admonish them in words for they are by nature of authority sufficient for becoming their judges and let them say thus to them they are cohabited together not for the sake of pleasure nor for the augmentation of their riches by joining both their stocks together but that they might have children to take care of them in their old age and might by them have what they then should want and say further to him that when thou wast born we took thee up with gladness and gave God the greatest thanks for thee and brought thee up with great care and spared for nothing that appeared useful for your salvation and for thy instruction in what was most excellent and now since it is reasonable to forgive the sins of those that are young let it suffice thee to have given so many indications of thy contempt of us reform thyself and act war wisely for the time to come considering that God is displeased with those that are insolent towards their parents because he is himself the father of the whole race of mankind then seems to bear part of that dishonor which falls upon those that have the same name when they do not meet with dire returns from their children and on such the law inflicts inexorable punishment of which punishment mayest thou never have the experience now if the insolence of young men be thus cured let them escape the reproach which their former errors deserved for by this means the law giver will appear to be good and parents happy while they never behold either a son or daughter brought to punishment but if it happened that these words and instructions conveyed by them in order to reclaim the man appear to be useless then the offender renders the law's implacable enemies to the insolence he has offered his parents let him therefore be brought forth by these very parents out of the city with a multitude following him and there let him be stoned but when he has continued there for one whole day that all the people may see him let him be buried in the night and thus it is that we bury all whom the laws condemned to die upon any account whatsoever let our enemies that fall in battle be also buried nor let any one dead body lie above the ground or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires let no one lend to any one of the Hebrews upon usury neither usury of what is eaten nor what is drunken for it is not just to make advantage of the misfortunes of one of thine own countrymen but when thou hast been assistant to his necessities think at thy gain if thou obtainest their gratitude to thee and with all that reward which will come to thee from God for thy humanity towards him those who have borrowed either silver or any sort of fruits whether dry or wet I mean this when the Jewish affairs shall by the blessing of God be to their own mind let the borrowers bring them again and restore them with pleasure to those who lent them laying them up as it were in their own treasuries and justly expecting to receive them then if they shall want them again but if they be without shame and do not restore it let not the lender go to the borrower's house and take a pledge himself before judgment be given concerning it but let him require the pledge and let the debtor bring it of himself without the least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of the law and if he that gave the pledge be rich let the creditor retain it to what he lent be paid him again but if he be poor let him that takes it return it before the going down of the sun especially if the pledge be a garment that the debtor may have it for a covering in his sleep God himself naturally showing mercy to the poor it is also not lawful to take a millstone or any utensil there too belonging for a pledge that the debtor may not be deprived of instruments to get their food with all unless they be undone by their necessity let death be the punishment for stealing a man but he that hath perloined gold or silver let him pay double if anyone kill a man that is stealing something out of his house let him be esteemed guiltless although the man were only breaking in at the wall let him that hath stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost accepting the case of an ox for which let the thief pay fivefold let him that is so poor that he cannot pay what mullet is laid upon him be his servant to whom he was a judged to pay it if anyone be sold to one of his own nation let him serve six years and on the seventh let him go free but if he have a son by a woman servant in his purchaser's house and if on account of his goodwill to his master and his natural affection to his wife and children he will be his servant still let him be set free only at the coming of the year of jubilee which is the fiftieth year and let him then take away with him his children and wife and let them be free also if anyone find gold or silver on the road let him inquire after him that lost it and make proclamation of the place where he found it and then restore it to him again as not thinking it right to make his own profit by the loss of another and the same rule as to be observed in cattle found to have wandered away into a lonely place if the owner be not presently discovered let him that is the finder keep it with himself and appeal to God that he has not perloined what belongs to another it is not lawful to pass by any beast that is in distress when in a storm it is fallen down in the mire but to endeavor to preserve it as having a sympathy with it in its pain it is also a duty to show the roads to those who do not know them and not to esteem it a matter for sport when we hinder others advantages by setting them in a wrong way in like manner let no one revile a person blind or dumb and of book four chapter eight part two book four chapter eight part three of the antiquities of the Jews volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the antiquities of the Jews volume one by Flavius Josephus translated by William Winston book four chapter eight part three if men strive together and there be no instrument of iron let him that is smitten be avenged immediately by inflicting the same punishment on him that smote him but if when he is carried home he lies sick many days and then die let him that smote him not escape punishment but if he that is smitten escape death and yet be at great expense for his cure the smiter shall pay for all that has been expended during the time of his sickness and for all that he has paid the physician he that kicks a woman with child so that the woman miscarry let him pay a fine in money as the judges shall determine as having diminished the multitude by the destruction of what was in her womb and let money also be given to the woman's husband by him that kicked her but if she die of the stroke let him also be put to death it is notable that life should go for life let no one of the Israelites keep any poison that may cause death or any other harm but if he be caught with it let him be put to death and suffer the very same mischief that he would have brought upon them for whom the poison was prepared he that may myth anyone let him undergo the like himself and be deprived of the same member of which he hath deprived the other unless he is maimed will accept of money instead of it for the law makes the sufferer the judge of the value of what he hath suffered and permits him to estimate it unless he will be more severe let him that is the owner of an ox which pusheth with his horn kill him but if he pushes and gores anyone in the threshing floor let him be put to death by stoning and let him not be thought fit for food but if his owner be convicted and known what his nature was and hath not kept him up let him also be put to death as being the occasion of the oxes having killed a man but if the ox have killed a man-servant or a maidservant let him be stoned and let the owner of the ox pay thirty shekels to the master of him that was slain but if it be an ox that is thus smitten and killed let both the oxen that which smote the other and that which was killed and let the owners of them divide their price between them let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over them and so keep them shut up not in order to hinder any persons from drawing water but that there may be no danger of falling into them but if anyones beast fall into such a well or pit thus digged and not shut up and perish let the owner pay its price to the owner of the beast let there be a battlement round the tops of your houses instead of a well that may prevent any persons from rolling down and perishing let him that has received anything in trust for another take care to keep it as a sacred and divine thing and let no one invent any contrivance whereby to deprive him that hath entrusted it with him of the same and this whether he be a man or a woman no not although he or she were to gain an immense of gold and this where he cannot be convicted of it by anybody for it is fit that a man's own conscience which knows what he hath should in all cases oblige him to do well let this conscience be his witness and make him always act so as may procure him commendation from others but let him chiefly have regard to God from whom no wicked man can lie concealed but if he in whom the trust was reposed without any deceit of his own lose what he was entrusted with all let him come before the seven judges and swear by God that nothing hath been lost willingly or with a wicked intention and that he hath not made use of any part thereof and so let him depart without blame but if he hath made use of the least part of what was committed to him and it be lost let him be condemned to pay all that he had received after the same manner as in these trusts it is to be if anyone defraud those that undergo bodily labor for him and let it be always remembered that we are not to defraud a poor man of his wages as being sensible that God has allotted these wages to him instead of land and other possessions nay this payment is not at all to be delayed but to be made that very day since God is not willing to deprive the laborer of the wealth labored for you are not to punish children for the faults of their parents but on account of their own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commiseration because they were born of wicked parents than hatred because they were born of bad ones nor indeed ought we to impute the sin of children to their fathers while young persons indulge themselves in many practices different from what they have been instructed in and this by their proud destruction let those that have made themselves eunuchs be had in detestation and do you avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves of their manhood and of that fruit of generation which God has given to men for the increase of their kind let such be driven away as if they had killed their children since they beforehand have lost what should procure them for evident it is that while their soul is become effeminate they have with all transfused that effeminacy to their body also in like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked on nor is it lawful to gelled men or any other animals let this be the constitution of your political laws in time of peace and God will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent settlement free from disturbance and may that time never come which may innovate anything and change it for the contrary but since it must needs happen that mankind fall into troubles and dangers either undesignedly or intentionally come let us make a few constitutions concerning them that so being apprised beforehand what ought to be done you may have salutary councils ready when you want them and may not then be obliged to go and seek what is to be done and so be unprovided and fall into dangerous circumstances may you be a laborious people and exercise your souls in virtuous actions and thereby possess and inherit the land without wars while neither any foreigners make war upon it and so inflict you nor any internal sedition sees upon it whereby you may do things that are contrary to your fathers and so lose the laws which they have established and you may continue in all the observation of these laws which God approved of and have delivered to you. Let all sort of war like operations whether they befall you now in your own time or hereafter in the times of your posterity be done out of your own borders but when you are about to go to war send embossages and heralds to those who are your voluntary enemies for it is a right thing to make use of words to them before you come to your weapons of war and assure them thereby that although you have a numerous army with horses and weapons and above these a God merciful to you and ready to assist you you do however desire them not to compel you to fight against them nor to take from them what they have which will indeed be our gain but what they will have no reason to wish we should take to ourselves and if they hearken to you it will be proper for you to keep peace with them but if they trust in their strength as superior to yours and will not do you justice lead your army against them making use of God as your supreme commander but ordaining for a lieutenant under him one that is of the greatest courage among you for these different commanders besides their being an obstacle to actions that are to be done on the sudden are a disadvantage to those that make use of them lead an army pure and of chosen men composed of all such as extraordinary strength of body and hardiness of soul but do you send away the timorous part lest they run away in the time of action and so afford an advantage to your enemies do you also give leave to those that have lately built them houses and have not yet lived in them a year's time and to those that have planted them vineyards and have not yet been partakers of their fruits to continue in their own country as well as those also who have betrothed or lately married them wives lest they have such an affection for these things that they be too sparing of their lives and by reserving themselves for these enjoyments they become voluntary cowards on account of their wives when you have pitched your camp take care that you do nothing that is cruel and when you are engaged in a siege and want timber for the making of war like engines do not you render the land naked by cutting down trees that bear fruit but spare them as considering that they were made for the benefit of men and that if they could speak they would have a just plea against you because though they are not occasions of the war they are unjustly treated and suffer in it and would if they were able remove themselves into another land when you have beaten your enemies in battle slay those that have fought against you preserve the others alive that they may pay you tribute accepting the nation of the Canaanites for as to that people you must entirely destroy them take care especially in your battles that no woman use the habit of a man nor man the garment of a woman this was the form of political government which was left us by Moses moreover he had already delivered laws in writing in the 40th year when he came out of Egypt concerning which we will discourse in another book but now on the following days where he called them to assemble continually he delivered blessings to them and curses upon those that should not live according to the laws but should transgress the duties that were determined for them to observe after this he read to them a poetic song which was composed in hexameter verse and left it to them in the holy book he obtained a prediction of what was to come to pass afterward agreeably where to all things have happened all along and do still happen to us and wherein he has not at all deviated from the truth accordingly he delivered these books to the priest with the ark into which he also put the ten commandments written on two tables he delivered to them the tabernacle also and exhorted the people that when they had conquered the land and were settled in it they should not forget the injuries of the Amalekites but make war against them and inflict punishment upon them for what mischief they did them when they were in the wilderness and that when they got possession of the land of the Canaanites and when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its inhabitants as they ought to do they should erect an altar that should face the rising sun not far from the city of Shechem between the two mountains of Gerozim situate on the right hand and that called Ebal on the left and that the army should be so divided that six tribes should stand upon each of the two mountains and with them the Levites and the priests and that first those that were upon Mount Gerozim should pray for the best blessings upon those who were diligent about the worship of God and the observation of his laws and do not reject what Moses had said to them while the other wished them all manner of happiness also and when these last put up the like prayers the former praised them after this curses were denounced upon those that should transgress those laws they answering one another alternately by way of confirmation of what had been said Moses also wrote their blessings and their curses that they might learn them so thoroughly that they might never be forgotten by length of time and when he was ready to die he wrote these blessings and curses upon the altar on each side of it where he says also the people stood and then sacrificed and offered burnt offerings though after that day they never offered upon it any other sacrifice for it was not lawful to do so these are the constitutions of Moses and the Hebrew nation still live according to them on the next day the people together with the women and children to a congregation so as the very slaves were present also that they might engage themselves to the observation of these laws by oath and that duly considering the meaning of God in them they might not either for favor of their kindred or out of fear of anyone or indeed for any motive whatsoever think anything ought to be preferred to these laws and so might transgress them any one of their own blood or any city should attempt to confound or dissolve their constitution of government they should take vengeance upon them both all in general and each person in particular and when they had conquered them should overturn their city to the very foundations and if possible should not leave the least footsteps of such madness but that if they were not able to take such vengeance they should still demonstrate that what was done was contrary to their wills so the multitude bound themselves by oath to do so Moses taught them also by what means their sacrifices might be the most acceptable to God and how they should go forth to war making use of the stones in the high priest's breastplate for their direction as I have before signified Joshua also prophesied while Moses was present and when Moses had recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the preservation of the people both in their wars and in peace and had composed them a body of laws and procured them an excellent form of government he foretold as God had declared to him that if they transgressed that institution for the worship of God they should experience the following miseries their land should be full of weapons of war from their enemies and their cities should be overthrown and their temple should be burnt that they should be sold for slaves to such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions that they would then repent when that repentance would no way profit them under their sufferings yet said he will that God who founded your nation restore your cities to your citizens with their temple also and you shall lose these advantages not once only but often now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against the Canaanites by telling him that God would assist him in all his undertakings and had blessed the whole multitude he said since I am going to my forefathers and God has determined that this should be the day of my departure to them I return him thanks while I am still alive and present with you for that providence he hath exercised over you which hath not only delivered us from the miseries we lay under but hath bestowed a state of prosperity upon us as also that he hath assisted me in the pains I took and in all the contrivances I had in my care about you in order to better your condition and hath on all occasions showed himself favorable to us or rather he it was who first conducted our affairs and brought them to a happy conclusion by making use of me as a vicarious general under him and as a minister in those matters wherein he was willing to do you good on which account I think it propered to bless that divine power which will take care of you for the time to come and this in order to repay that debt which I owe him and to leave behind me a memorial that we are obliged to worship and honor him and to keep those laws which are the most excellent gift of all those he hath already bestowed upon us or which if he continue favorable to us he will bestow upon us hereafter certainly a human legislator is a terrible enemy when his laws are affronted and are made to no purpose and may you never experience that displeasure of God which will be the consequence of the neglect of these his laws which he who is your creator hath given you when Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life and had foretold what would be fall to every one of their tribes afterward with the addition of a blessing to them the multitude fell into tears in so much that even the women by beating their breasts made manifest the deep concern they had when he was about to die the children also lamented still more as not able to contain their grief and thereby declared that even at their age they were sensible of his virtue and mighty deeds and truly there seemed to be a strife betwixt the young and the old who should most grieve for him the old grieved because they knew what a careful protector they were to be deprived of and so lamented their future state but the young grieved not only for that but also because it so happened that they were to be left by him before they had well tasted of his virtue now one may make a guess at the excess of this sorrow and lamentation of the multitude from what happened to the legislator himself for although he was always persuaded that he ought not to be cast down at the approach of death since the undergoing it was agreeable to the will of God and the law of nature yet what the people did so overbore him that he wept himself now as he went thence to the place where he was to vanish out of their sight they all followed after him weeping but Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him and bade them stay behind in quiet while he exhorted those that were near him that they should not render his departures so lamentable whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favor to let him depart according as he himself desired so they restrained themselves though weeping still towards one another all those who accompanied him were the senate and LEA's are the high priest and Joshua their commander now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Aberim which is a very high mountain situate over against Jericho and one that affords to such as are upon it a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan he dismissed the senate and as he was going to embrace LEA's are and Joshua and was still discoursing with them a cloud stood over him on the sudden and he disappeared in a certain valley although he wrote in the holy books that he died which was done out of fear he was a very good venture to say that because of his extraordinary virtue he went to God now Moses lived in all 120 years a third part of which time abating one month he was the people's ruler and he died on the last month of the year which is called by the Macedonians deistress but by us Adar on the first day of the month he was one that exceeded all men that there ever were and made the best use of what that understanding suggested to him he had a very graceful way of speaking and addressing himself to the multitude and as to his other qualifications he had such a full command of his passions as if he hardly had any such in his soul and only knew them by their names as rather perceiving them in other men than in himself he was also such a general of an army as his seldom seen as well as such a prophet as was never known and this to such a degree that whatsoever he pronounced you would think you heard the voice of God himself so the people mourned for him 30 days nor did ever any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this upon the death of Moses nor were those that had experienced his conduct the only persons that desired him but those also that perused the laws he left behind him had desire after him and by them gathered the extraordinary virtue he was master of and this shall suffice for the declaration of the manner of the death of Moses