Page 19
Gospel of Thomas 99:
The disciples said, "Your brothers and your mother are standing
outside." He said to them, "Those here who do my father's will are
my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the Reign of
my Father." [KCH]
Page 23
Josephus, Antiquities 17.14:
. . . for it is our ancient custom to have many wives simultaneously.
[KCH]
Page 23
Mishnah, Ketuboth 10.5:
If a man was married to four wives and he died, the [claim of the]
first wife comes before that of the the second, that of the second
before that of the third, and that of the third before that of the
fourth. The first must swear on oath to the second, and the second
to the third, and the third to the fourth [that she has not
received her Kethubah]; and the fourth may be paid without
swearing [to her claim] on oath. . . . (Danby 1933:260)
Page 23
Mishnah, Kerithoth 3.7:
R. Akiba said: I asked Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua in the market
of Emmaus, where they went to buy a beast for the wedding-feast of
the son of Rabban Gamaliel, [and I said,] If a man had connexion
with his sister and his father's sister and his mother's sister
during one spell of forgetfulness, what happens?—is he liable
to one offering for them all or to one offering for each of them?
They said to me, We have heard no tradition about this, but we
have heard a tradition that if a man had connexion, during one
spell of forgetfulness, with his five wives that were menstruants,
he is liable for each one of them; and we consider that this
applies still more so in the other case. (Danby 1933:567)
Page 23
Mishnah, Sanhedrin 2.4:
. . .Nor shall he [the king] multiply wives to
himself—eighteen only. R. Judah says: He may multiply them to
himself provided that they do not turn away his heart. R. Simeon says: If
there was but one and she would turn away his heart he may not marry her.
Why then is it written, Nor shall he multiply wives to
himself?—even though they be like Abigail. . . . (Danby
1933:384)
Page 23
Gospel of Thomas 72:
A man said to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's
possessions with me." He said to him, "O man, who made me a
divider?" He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I am not a
divider, am I?" (H. Koester and T. O. Lambdin, trans.; Robinson
1990:134)
Page 23
Mishnah, Baba Qamma 9.10:
If a man said to his son, "Konam [a dedicated offering] be
any benefit you have of mine!" and he died, the son may inherit
from him; [but if moreover he said] "both during my life and at my
death!" when he dies the son may not inherit from him and he must
restore [what he had received from his father at any time] to the
father's sons or brothers; and if he has nothing [with which to
repay] he must borrow, and the creditors may come and exact
payment. (Modified from Danby 1933:345)
Page 23
Mishnah, Baba Batra 8.1-4:
1. Certain [near kin] both inherit and bequeath property, some
inherit but do not bequeath, some bequeath but do not inherit, and
some neither inherit nor bequeath. These both inherit and
bequeath: a father inherits from his sons, and sons from their
father and brothers by the same father, and they can bequeath
property to them. A man inherits from his mother, and a husband
from his wife and sisters' sons, but they do not bequeath property
to them. A woman bequeaths property to her sons, a wife to her
husband and maternal uncles, but they do not inherit from them.
Brothers by the same mother [but another father] neither inherit
[from one another] nor bequeath property [to one another].
2. This is the order of inheritance: If a man die and have no son,
then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter [Numbers
27:8]—the son precedes the daughter, and all the son's
offspring precede the daughter; the daughter precedes the brothers
and the daughter's offspring precede the brothers; brothers [of the
deceased] precede the father's brothers and the brothers' offspring
precede the father's brothers. This is the general rule: whoever has
precedence in inheritance, his offspring also have precedence. The
father has precedence over all his offspring.
3. The daughters of Zelophehad took three portions of the inheritance:
the portion of their father who was of those who came out of Egypt, and
his portion among his brethren from the property of Hepher, who also, in
that he was the firstborn, received a double portion.
4. The son and the daughter are alike concerning inheritance,
except that the [firstborn] son takes a double portion of the
father's property, but he does not take a double portion of the
mother's property; and the daughters receive maintenance from the
father's property but not from the mother's property. (Modified
from Danby 1933:376-77)
Page 24
Wisdom 7:1-2:
I, too, am a mortal human, the same as everyone else, and a
descendant of the first formed [human]. And in my
mother's womb I was molded into flesh in a ten-month period: body
and blood, from the sperm of a man and the pleasure that
accompanies intercourse. [KCH]
Page 24
Philo, Special Laws 3.178:
There are two kinds of souls, just as there are two genders among humans.
The one is a male soul, belonging to men; the other a female soul, as
found in women. The male soul devotes itself to God alone, as the father
and creator of the universe and the cause of all things that exist. But
the female soul depends upon all the things which are created, those
things liable to destruction. And it puts forth, as it were, the hand of
its power so that in a blind way it may lay hold of whatever it comes
across, clinging to a generation which has an innumerable quantity of
changes and variations, when it ought to cling to the unchangeable,
honorable, and esteemed divine nature. [KCH]
Page 24
Philo, On the Virtues 38-40:
38. . . . For we confess that our gender is in danger of being
defeated, because our enemies are better provided with all the necessary
instruments of war and battle. But your gender is more completely armed,
and you will gain the greatest of all advantages—the
victory—carrying off the prize without having to encounter any
danger. For without any loss or bloodshed, or even without a single
struggle, you will overpower the enemy at his first sight of you, merely
being seen by him.
39. When they heard this, they ceased to consider or pay attention to
their character for purity of life, being quite devoid of all proper
education, and accordingly they consented, though during all the rest of
their lives they had put on a hypocritical appearance of modesty. And so
now they adorned themselves with costly garments, and necklaces, and all
those other things with which women are accustomed to set themselves off.
And they devoted all their attention to enhancing their natural beauty,
and making it more attractive. For the object of their pursuit was not an
unimportant one: alluring young men who were inclined to be seduced. And
so they went into public.
40. And when they approached them, they put forth immodest, improper
looks; and they sought to entice them with seductive words, and dances,
and promiscuous movements. And in this way they enticed the shallow-minded
group of young men, youths whose dispositions had no ballast nor
steadiness. And by the shame of their own bodies, they captivated the
souls of those who came to them, bringing them over to unholy sacrifices,
which should not have been sacrificed, and to libations which should never
have been offered in honor of deities made with hands. And thus they
alienated them from the worship of the one, only, and truly divine God. .
. [KCH]
Page 24
Ben Sira [Ecclesiasticus] 7:24:
If you have daughters, keep them chaste;
and do not be indulgent with them. [KCH]
Page 24
Ben Sira [Ecclesiasticus] 42:9-11:
A daughter is a treasure who keeps her father awake;
and worry over her drives away rest:
Lest she pass her youth unmarried,
or when she is married, lest she be disliked.
While unmarried, lest she be seduced;
or as a wife, lest she be unfaithful.
Lest she conceive while in her father's house,
or be barren in that of her husband.
Keep a close watch on your daughter,
lest she make you a laughingstock by your enemies,
a joke in the city, a reproach among the people,
an object of scorn in public gatherings.
Make sure there is no lattice in her room,
no place that overlooks the approaches to the house. [KCH]
Page 24
Philo, Hypothetica 11.14-17:
14. . . .for none of the Esennes marries a wife, since woman is a
selfish creature and addicted to jealousy to an immoderate degree, and
terribly calculated to agitate and overturn the natural inclinations of a
man, and to mislead him by her continual contrivances.
15. For as she is always studying deceitful speeches and other sorts
of hypocrisy, like an actress on the stage, when she is seducing the eyes
and ears of her husband, she proceeds to cajole his dominant mind after
the servants have been deceived.
16. Moreover, if there are children, she becomes full of pride and all
kinds of liberty in her speech. And all the secret thoughts which she
previously meditated, she ironically and in a disgusting manner begins to
utter with audacious confidence. And becoming utterly shameless, she
proceeds to acts of violence, and she performs innumerable hostile acts.
17. For the man who is bound under the influence of a woman's
charms or those of children, by the necessary ties of nature—being
overwhelmed by the impulses of affection—is no longer the same person
towards others; but he is entirely changed, having, without even being
aware of it, become a slave instead of a free man. [KCH]
Page 25
Philo, Flaccus 89:
. . .their [viz. Judeans in Egypt] wives, who were enclosed [in their
houses], and who actually did not come out of their inner chambers, and
their young women, who were kept in the strictest privacy, avoiding men's
eyes, even of those who were nearest kin, out of modesty, were now alarmed
by being displayed in the public view, not only by persons who
were not their kin, but were common soldiers. [KCH]
Page 25
Josephus, Antiquities 15.419:
. . . but further into the temple area was not permitted to women. And
still further there was a third courtyard of the temple into which it
was not lawful for anyone except the priests to enter. [KCH]
Page 25
Philo Special Laws 3.178: (see above, p.
24)
Page 25
Josephus, Antiquities 4.301:
Take care—especially in your battles—that no woman wears the
clothing of a man, nor a man the garment of a woman. [KCH]
Page 25
Philo On the Virtues 18-21:
18. But such a great anxiety and energy is displayed by the Law in
attaining the object of training and exercising the soul in order to fill
it with courage, that it has even provided the particulars in the matter
of clothing. It prescribes what men should wear, and it prohibits with all
its strength a man from wearing the clothing of a woman in order that no
trace of femininity should be attached to the male part of humanity for
its discredit. For the Law, at all times perfectly consistent and in
accordance with nature, desires to establish laws which shall be
commensurate and in perfect harmony with one another from the beginning to
the end, even in those small points which, due to their insignificance,
appear to be beneath the notice of ordinary legislators.
19. For it perceived that the figures of men and women (looking at
them as if they had been sculptured or painted forms), were very
different. And furthermore, that the same kind of life was not assigned to
both the genders. For the woman is assigned a domestic life, while the
political life is more suited to the man. The same is true regarding
matters which were not actually the works of nature, but were still in
strict accordance with nature. It judged it expedient to deliver
injunctions which were the result of sound sense and wisdom. And these
related to the mode of living, and to apparel, and to other things of that
kind.
20. For it thought it desirable that the one who as truly male should
show himself a man in these particulars also, and especially in the matter
of dress, since, as he wears that both day and night, he ought to take
care that there is no indication of lacking manly courage.
21. And, in the same way, having also equipped the woman in the
ornaments suited to her, the Law prohibits her from assuming the apparel
of a man, keeping at a distance manly women, just as much as it does
womanly men. For the lawgiver [viz. Moses] was well aware that when only
one single thing in the proper economy of the house was removed, nothing
else would remain in the same position as it should and as it was before.
[KCH]
Page 28
Josphus, Antiquities 17.12-16:
Now Herod raised his sons' children with great care. For Alexander had two
sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Bernice, Salome's
daughter, and two daughters. And once, while his friends were with him, he
presented the children before them. And deploring the difficult fate of
his own sons, he prayed that no such bad fortune would happen to their
children, but that they might improve in virtue, and obtain what they
justly deserved and might repay him for his care of their
education.
He also betrothed them when they came of age for marriage. Alexander's
oldest son to Pheroras's daughter, and Antipater's daughter to
Aristobulus's oldest son. He also assigned one of Aristobulus's daughters
to Antipater's son, and Aristobulus's other daughter to Herod, his own
son, who was born to him by the high priest's daughter. For it is the
ancient practice among us to have many wives at the same time. Now the
king made those marriage arrangements for the children out of regard for
these who were now fatherless, endeavoring to make Antipater kind to them
by these marriages. But Antipater did not have any different attitude
about his brothers' children than that toward his brothers themselves. And
his father's concern about them provoked his anger against them after
these marriage arrangements, since they would become greater than even his
brothers had been. While Archelaus, a king, would support his daughter's
sons, and Pheroras, a tetrarch, would accept one of the daughters as his
son's wife. [KCH]
Page 29
Josephus, Antiquities 18.130-41:
Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamme, the daughter of Hyrcannus.
One of them, Salampsio, was given in marriage by her father to Phasaelus,
her cousin, the son of Herod's brother Phasaelus. The other, Cypros, also
married a cousin: Antipater, the son of Herod's sister Salome. By
Salampsio, Phasaelus had three sons (Antipater, Alexander, and Herod) and
two daughters (Alexandra and Cypros). Cypros's husband was Agrippa, the
son of Aristobulus. Alexandra's [husband] was Timius of Cyprus, a man of
some importance, in union with whom she died childless. By Agrippa,
Cypros had two sons, named Agrippa and Drusus, and three daughters,
Berenice, Mariamme, and Drusilla. Of these children: Drusus died before
reaching adolescence; Agrippa, together with his brothers Herod and
Aristobulus, was raised by their father. Berenice, the daughter of
Costobarus and Herod's sister Salome, and these sons of Aristobulus, Herod
the Great's son, were raised together. These were left as infants by
Aristobulus when, as I have previously related, he, together with his
brother Alexander, was executed by his father. When they had reached
adolescence, Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married Mariamme, the daughter
of Olympias—who herself was the daughter of King Herod—and of
Joseph—who was the sons of Joseph, the brother of King Herod. By her
he had a son: Aristobulus. The other brother of Agrippa, Aristobulus,
married Jotape, the daughter of Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa. They had a
daughter also named Jotape, who was a deaf-mute. Such were the children of
the sons. Their sister Herodias was married to Herod [Philip], the son of
Herod the Great by Mariamme, daughter of Simon the high priest. They had a
daughter, Salome, after whose birth Herodias, taking it into her head to
flout the way of our ancesters, married Herod, her husband's brother by
the same father, who was tetrarch of Galilee; to do this she parted from a
living husband. Her daughter, Salome, was married to Philip, Herod's son
and tetrarch of Trachonitis. When he died childless, Aristobulus, the son
of Agrippa's brother Herod, married her. Three sons were born to them:
Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus. Such then was the line of Phasaelus and
Salampsio. As to cypros, a daughter names Cypros was born to her of
Antipater. Alexas, who was surnamed Helcias and was the son of Alexas,
married this daughter, and she in turn had a daughter named Cypros. Herod
and Alexander, who, as I have said, were the brothers of Antipater, died
childless. Alexander, King Herod's son, who was executed by his father,
had two sons, Alexander and Tigranes, by the daughter of Archelaus, the
king of Cappadocia. Tigranes, who was the king of Armenia, died childless
after charges were brought against him at Rome. Alexander had a son who
had the same name as his brother Tigranes and who was sent forth by Nero
to be the king of Armenia. This Tigranes had a son: Alexander, who married
Jotape, the daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagene. Vespasian
appointed him king of Cetis in Cilicia. (Modified from Feldman,
1965:89-95)
Page 30
Wisdom 7:1: (see above, p. 24)
Page 30
Gospel of Thomas 53:
His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?" He
[Jesus] said to them, "If it were beneficial, their father would sire
them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision
in spirit has become completely beneficial." [KCH]
Page 31
Judith 13:18-20:
Then Uzziah said to her, "Blessed are you, O daughter, by the Most High
God, above all the women on earth. And blessed be the Lord God, the
creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow to the head of our
enemies' chieftain. For your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those
who remember God's might. And may God make this contribute to your honor
forever, rewarding you with blessings, because you risked your life when
your people were oppressed. And you averted our disaster, walking
uprightly before our God." And all the people said, "Amen, amen."
[KCH]
Page 31
Josephus, War 1.240:
And Antigonus having been banished from the country, Herod returned to
Jerusalem, where his success won him everyone's affection. Even those who
had previously stood aloof were now reconcilied by his marriage into the
family of Hyrcannus. (Modified from Thackeray 1927:113)
Page 31
Mishnah, Aboth 5.21:
He [Judah b. Tema] used to say: At five years old [one is fit] for the
Scripture, at ten years for the Mishnah, at thirteen for [the fulfilling
of] the commandments, at fifteen for the Talmud, at eighteen for the
bride-chamber, at twenty for pursuing [a calling], at thirty for
authority, at forty for discernment, at fifty for counsel, at sixty to be
an elder, at seventy for grey hairs, at eighty for special strength, at
ninety for bowed back, and at a hundred a man is as one that has [already]
died and passed away and ceased from the world. (Modified from Danby
1933:458)
Page 31
Mishnah, Pesachim 3.7:
If a man was on the way to slaughter his Passover-offering or to
circumcise his son or to eat the betrothal meal at his father-in-law's
house and he remembered that he had left leavened bread in his house, if
he has yet time to go back and remove it and return to fulfil his
religious duty, let him go back and remove it; but if not, he may annul
it in his heart. . . (Modified from Danby 1933:139-40)
Page 31
Mishnah, Kethuboth 5.2:
After the husband has demanded her, a virgin is granted twelve months
wherein to provide for herself; and like as [such time] is granted to the
woman so is it granted to the man to provide for himself. And a widow [is
granted] thirty days. If after such time they have not married, the woman
may eat from his goods, and eat of heave-offering [if he is a priest]. R.
Tarfron says: They may give her all her food of heave-offering. R. Akiba
says: One-half common food and one-half heave-offering. (Modified
from Danby 1933:251)
Page 32
Mishnah, Shebiith 7.4:
If a man brought a firstling for his son's wedding feast or for a feast
[at Jerusalem], and he does not need it, he may sell it. . . (Danby
1933:47)
Page 32
Mishnah, Hallah 2.7:
The measure prescribed for the dough-offering is one twenty-fourth part.
Whether a man prepared the dough for himself or for his son's wedding
feast, [it is] one twenty-fourth part. . . (Modified from Danby
1933:85)
Page 32
Mishnah, Negaim 3.2:
If skin disease appears in a bridegroom, they must allow him to remain
free [before inspection] during the seven days of the marriage feast . . .
(Modified from Danby 1933:679)
Page 32
Tobit 8:19-20:
And he held the wedding feast for fourteen days. And Raguel had told him
that he should not depart before the fourteen days of the wedding feast
were completed. [KCH; note that the various manuscripts differ on this
passage, but all mention the fourteen day feast]
Page 32
Tobit 1:9; 3:15; 4:12-13:
Furthermore, when I became a man, I married Anna, a woman of my own
kin-group; and from her I sired Tobias." (1:9)
. . . I am the only daughter of my father; and he did not have another
child to be his heir, nor [did he have] any brothers, nor was there any
living son [of the uncles] to whom I might preserve myself as a wife. My
seven husbands are already dead, and why should I live? But if it does not
suit you that I should die, look upon me, and take pity on me so that I
hear no more reproach. (3:15)
Watch out for prostitutes, son; and take a wife from the seed of your
fathers; and do not take a foreign woman as a wife, who is not from your
father's tribe. For we are the children of the prophets, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Remember, son, that our fathers—even from the
beginning—all married wives of thier own kin-group, and they were
blessed in their children; and their offspring shall inherit the land.
(4:12-13) [KCH]
Page 32
Judith 8:2:
Her husband, Manasseh—from her own tribe and clan—died at the
time of the barley harvest. [KCH]
Page 33
Jubilees 41:2:
But he [Er] hated (her) and would not lie with her because his mother was
from the daughters of Canaan. And he wanted to take a wife from his
mother's people, but Judah, his father, did not permit him. (O. S.
Wintermute, trans.; Charlesworth, OTP
2.130)
Page 34
Josephus, War 1.483-84:
. . . Herod had conferred upon him [Pheroras] the further
honor of marrying one of the royal family by joining him to the
sister of his own wife. On her death, he had pledged to him the
eldest of his own daughters along with a dowry of three hundred
talents. But Pheroras rejected the royal wedding to pursue a
slave-girl with whom he was enamored. Herod was outraged and
married his daughter to one of his nephews who was subsequently
killed by the Parthians. His resentment, however, subsided after a
while, and he made allowance for his love-sick brother. (Modified
from Thackeray 1927:229-31)
Page 34
Josephus, Antiquities 16.197:
Page 35
Josephus, War 1.483-84: (see above, p.
34)
Page 35
Josephus, War 1.240:
Page 36
Josephus, Antiquities 18.109-26:
Page 37
Josephus, War 1.487 (//Antiquities 16.220-25):
Page 37
Josephus, Antiquities 16.225:
Page 37
Josephus, War 1.566 (//Antiquities 17.10):
Page 38
Mishnah, Kethuboth 6.6:
Page 38
Mishnah, Kethuboth 4.4-5:
Page 38
Mishnah, Baba Batra 6.4:
Page 38
Tobit 6:12:
Page 39
Tobit 7:11-15:
Page 40
Mishnah, Yebamoth 7.1:
Page 40
Mishnah, Kethuboth 6.5b:
Page 40
Mishnah, Kethuboth 6.3:
Page 40
1 Maccabees 10:54:
Page 40
Josephus, Antiquities 13.82:
Page 40
Josephus, War 1.483:
Page 40
Josephus, Antiquities 16.228:
Page 40
Josephus, Antiquities 17.322:
Page 41
Mishnah, Kethuboth 1.2; 5.1:
Page 43
Mishnah, Gittin 9.10b:
Page 43
Ben Sira 25:26:
Page 44
Mishnah, Kethuboth 7.1-5:
Page 44
Mishnah, Kethuboth 7.10:
Page 44
Mishnah, Nedarim 11.12:
Page 44
Mishnah, Arakin 5.6:
Page 44
Josephus, Life 414-15; 426:
Page 44
Josephus, War 1.431-33:
Page 44
Josephus, Antiquities 17.68:
Page 44
Josephus, Antiquities 17.78:
Page 45
Josephus, Antiquities 18.109-36:
Page 45
Josephus, Antiquities 18.113-15:
Page 45
Josephus, War 2.115 (//Antiquities 17.350):
Page 45
Josephus, Antiquities 17.339-41:
Page 45
Josephus, Antiquities 15.259-60; 17.341; 18.136; 20.143:
Page 46
Josephus, Antiquities 14.137:
Page 47
Mishnah, Baba Batra 8.3-5:
Page 47
Mishnah, Baba Batra 8.2:
Page 48
Mishnah, Kethuboth 4.12a+b:
Page 48
Josephus, Antiquities 17.190:
Page 48
Josephus, War 1.669:
Page 48
Suetonius, Twelve Caesars "Augustus" 60:
Each of the allied kings who enjoyed Augustus's friendship founded a city
called "Ceasarea" in his own domain. And all joined together to provide
funds for completing the temple of Olympian Zeus at Athens, which had been
started centuries earlier, and dedicating it to his [Augustus's] genius.
These kings would often leave their homes, dressed in the togas of their
honorary Roman citizenship, without any emblems of royalty watever, and
visit Augustus at Rome, or even while he was visiting the provinces. They
would attend his morning audiences with the simple devotion of family
clients. [KCH]
Page 48
Josephus, War 1.199 (//Antiquities 14.143):
Page 48
Josephus, Antiquities 17.188, 318:
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 17.189, 319:
Page 49
Josephus, War 1.668 (//Antiquities 17.188):
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 17.317, 319-20:
Page 49
Josephus, War 2.14-38, 80-100:
Page 49
Josephus, War 2.167:
Page 49
Josephus, War 2.98:
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 17.321:
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 18.31:
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 17.189:
Page 49
Josephus, War 2.100: (see above, p.
49)
Page 49
Josephus, Antiquities 17.322-23:
Page 50
Jubilees 8:10-11:
And it came to pass at the beginning of the thirty-third jubilee, that
they divided the land (in) three parts, for Shem, Ham, and Japheth,
according to the inheritance of each, in the first year in the first week,
while one of us who were sent was dwelling with them. And he called his
children, and they came to him, they and their children. And he divided by
lot the land which his three sons would possess. And they stretched out
their hands and took the document from the bosom of Noah, their father.
(O. S. Wintermute, trans.; Charlesworth, OTP 2.72)
Page 50
Gospel of Thomas 72: (see above, p.
23)
Page 50
Jubilees 20:11:
And he [Abraham] gave gifts to Ishmael and to his sons and to the sons of
Keturah and he sent them away from Isaac, his son, and he gave everything
to Isaac, his son. (O. S. Wintermute, trans.; Charlesworth, OTP
2.94)
Page 54
Testament of Levi 8:14-15:
But the third shall be granted a new name, because from Judah a king will
arise and shall found a new priesthood in accord with the gentile model
and for all nations. His presence is beloved, as a prophet of the Most
High, a descendant of Abraham, our father. (H. C. Kee, trans.;
Charlesworth, OTP 1.791)
Page 54
Homer, Iliad 10.144:
Zeus-sired son of Laertes, resourceful Odysseus.
Page 55
Plutarch, Parallel Lives "Alexander" 2.1; 3.2:
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Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 3.1-2:
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Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars 2.4.1-7:
Having reached this point, it will not be out of place to add an account of the omens
that occurred before he [Caesar Augustus] was born, on the very day of his birth, and
afterwards, from which it was possible to anticipate and perceive his future greatness
and uninterrupted good fortune. In ancient days, when a part of the wall of Velitrae
had been struck by lightning, the prediction was made that a citizen of that town would
one day rule the world. Through their confidence in this, the people of Velitrae had at
once made war on the Roman people and fought with them many times after that almost to
their utter destruction. But at last, long afterward, the event proved that the omen had
foretold the rule of Augustus. According to Julius Marathus, a few months before Augustus
was born a portent was generally observed at Rome, which gave warning that nature was
pregnant with a king for the Roman people. Consequently, the Senate in consternation
decreed that no male child born that year should be reared. But those whose wives were
with child saw to it that the decree was not filed in the treasury, since each one
applied the prediction to his own family.
I have read the following story in the books of Asclepias of Mendes entitled
Theologoumena. When Atia had come in the middle of the night to the solemn service
of Apollo, she had her litter set down in the temple and fell asleep, while the rest of
the matrons also slept. All of a sudden, a serpent glided up to her and shortly went away.
When she awoke, she purified herself, as if after the embraces of her husband, and at once
there appeared on her body a mark in colors like a serpent, and she could never get rid
of it; so she stopped going to the public baths. In the tenth month after that Augustus
was born and was, therefore, regarded as the son of Apollo. [KCH]
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Gospel according to the Hebrews 9:
[Quoted by Jerome in On Famous Men 2]—I recently translated
into Greek and Latin the gospel called the "Gospel of the Hebrews," the
one that Origen also frequently uses. After the resurrection of the
Savior, it says,
The Lord, after he had given the linen cloth to the priest's slave,
went to James and appeared to him. (Now James had sworn not to eat bread
from the time that he drank from the Lord's cup until he would see him
raised from among those who sleep.)
Shortly after this the Lord said,
Bring a table and some bread."
And immediately it is added:
He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to James the Just
and said to him, "My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Adam has been
raised from among those who sleep."
(Miller 1994:434)
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