ARGUMENT

PREFIXED TO THE BOOKS OF PHILO ON PROVIDENCE

IN THE ARMENIAN CODEX.*)

§. 1. "The man of great wisdom, Philo the Israelite, was [a man], but it is not certain from which of the twelve tribes; if indeed they had not been dispersed more than once by those who took them captive. For although they had returned in the time of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, yet in the age of Antiochus of the Maccabees, they were dispersed again, partly into Libya and Alexandria of Egypt, and partly into other regions, as fate dictated. Hence genealogies were confused and mixed, as were houses and possessions acquired in the regions into which they had been led captive. This is evident from the Book of Acts itself, where we read that a great many Hebrews ascended to Jerusalem for the imminent feast days from Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, and other near and distant places; but those who contended with Stephen and touted themselves as zealots of the law were, for the most part, from Alexandria. From

Regarding these books, compare what we said in the preface of vol. VI. p. 247 seq. Aucher possessed three codices, of which he followed the first one—which we noted was called Cod. A.—almost everywhere in these books, unless it happened to be corrupted by obvious errors. Ed. Lips.