Page:Chapters on Jewish literature (IA chaptersonjewish00abra).pdf/41

Rh events of long periods is comparable with that of Polybius. He was no mere chronicler; he possessed some faculty for explaining as well as recording facts and some real insight into the meaning of events passing under his own eyes.

He wrote for the most part in Greek, both because that language was familiar to may cultured Jews of his day, and because his histories thereby became accessible to the world of non-Jewish readers. Sometimes he used both Aramaic and Greek. For instance, he produced his “Jewish War” first in the one, subsequently in the other of these languages. The Aramaic version has been lost, but the Greek has survived. His style is often eloquent, especially in his book “Against Apion.” This was an historical and philosophical justification of Judaism. At the close of this work Josephus says: “And so I make bold to say that we are become the teachers of other men in the greatest num-