XLVI

OF A FALSEHOOD OF FLAVIAN JOSEPHUS, RELATING TO ALEXANDER AND THE JEWS

WHEN ALEXANDER, who was elected by all the Greeks like his father, (and as Agamemnon had formerly been) to go and avenge the injuries that Greece received from Asia, had gained the victory of Issus, he became master of Syria, one of the provinces belonging to Darah or Darius; he wanted to secure Egypt before he passed the Euphrates or the Tigris, and deprive Darius of all the posts by which he could be furnished with fleets. To compass this design, which was the plan of a very great captain, it was necessary to lay siege to Tyre. This city was under the protection of the kings of Persia, and was sovereign of the sea: Alexander took it, after an obstinate siege of seven months, in which he displayed as much art as courage; the dyke which he had the resolution to raise upon the sea coast is still looked upon as the model, which should be followed by all generals in similar enterprises. It was by imitating Alexander, that the duke of Parma took Antwerp, and cardinal Richelieu Rochelle, if it be allowed to compare small things with great. Rollin, indeed, says that Alexander took Tyre only because the inhabitants scoffed at the Jews, and that God would avenge the honor of his people. But Alexander might have had still other reasons; it was necessary, after having made Tyre submit, not to lose a moment before he seized the post of Pelusium. So that Alexander having made a forced march to surprise Gaza, he went from Gaza to Pelusium in seven days. It is thus faithfully related by Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Diodorus, and even Paul Oroseus himself, according to the Journal of Alexander.

What doth Josephus to raise his nation in subjection to the Persians, fallen under the power of Alexander with all Syria, and afterwards honored with some privileges by this great man? He pretends that Alexander had, in a dream at Macedon, seen Jaddus the high-priest of the Jews (supposing there was a Jewish priest whose name terminated in us) that this priest had encouraged him to undertake his expedition against the Persians, and that this was the reason that Alexander had attacked Asia. He could not, then, avoid going six or seven days’ march out of his way, after the siege of Tyre to visit Jerusalem. As the high-priest Jaddus had formerly appeared to Alexander in a dream, he received also in a dream an order from God to go and salute this king: he obeyed, and being dressed in his pontifical habit, followed by his Levites in surplices, he marched in procession before Alexander. As soon as this monarch saw Jaddus, he recollected the same man who had instructed him in a dream seven or eight years before, to come and conquer Persia; and this he told to Parmenio. Jaddus had upon his head his cap ornamented with a plate of gold, upon which a Hebrew word was engraven; Alexander, who was doubtless a proficient in Hebrew, immediately discovered the word Jehovah, and prostrated himself with humility, knowing very well that none but God could have this name. Jaddus instantly displayed prophecies which clearly indicated that Alexander would conquer the empire of Persia; prophecies that were never made after the event had happened. He flattered Alexander, that God had chosen him to destroy all the hopes of his cherished people, to reign in the Land of Promise, in the same manner as he had formerly chosen Nabuchodonosor and Cyrus, who had successively possessed the Land of Promise. This absurd story of that romance-writer Josephus should not, methinks, have been copied by Rollin, as if it had been attested by a holy writer.

But in this manner has ancient history been written, and modern history often the same.