And when the King had received these books from Demetrius, as we have said already, he adored them; and gave order, that great care should be taken of them, that they might remain uncorrupted. He also desired that the interpreters would come often to him out of Judea, and that both on account of the respect which he would pay them, and on account of the presents he would make them; for he said, it was now but just to send them away, although if, of their own accord, they would come to him hereafter, they should obtain all that their own wisdom might justly require, and what his generosity was able to give them.
So he sent them away, and gave to every one of them three garments of the best sort, and two talents of gold, and a cup of the value of one talent, and the furniture of the room wherein they were feasted. And these were the things he presented to them. But by them he sent to Eleazar the high priest ten beds, with feet of silver, and the furniture to them belonging, and a cup of the value of thirty talents, and besides these, ten garments, and purple, and a very beautiful crown, and a hundred pieces of the finest woven linen; as also vials and dishes, and vessels for pouring, and two golden cisterns, to be dedicated to God.
He also desired him, by an epistle, that he would give these interpreters leave, if any of them were desirous of coming to him; because he highly valued a conversation with men of such learning, and should be very willing to lay out his wealth upon such men. And this was what came to the Jews, and was much to their glory and honour, from Ptolemy Philadelphus.[[100]]
APPENDIX III.
An Extract from the Works of Herodotus[[101]] concerning
the Pyramids of Egypt.
The Egyptians say that this Cheops[[102]] reigned fifty years; and when he died, his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom; and he followed the same practices as the other, both in other respects, and in building a pyramid; which does not come up to the dimensions of his brother’s, for I myself measured them; nor has it subterraneous chambers; nor does a channel from the Nile flow to it, as to the other; but this flows through an artificial aqueduct round an island within, in which they say the body of Cheops is laid.
Having laid the first course of variegated Ethiopian stones, less in height than the other by forty feet, he built it near the large Pyramid. They both stand on the same hill,[[103]] which is about a hundred feet high. Chephren, they said, reigned fifty-six years.
Thus one hundred and six years are reckoned, during which the Egyptians suffered all kinds of calamities,[[104]] and for this length of time the temples were closed and never opened. From the hatred they bear them, the Egyptians are not very willing to mention their names; but call the Pyramids after Philition,[[105]] a shepherd, who at that time kept his cattle in those parts.