to have written a monograph on Syrian history. But the variations on the phrase, "as has been shown elsewhere" (lit. "in others") and (twice) ". . . by others," make it probable that the use of the first person, where it occurs, has been carelessly taken over from one of his authorities.
The fourth book of Maccabees (in vol. iii. of Dr. Swete's LXX) appears in the older editions of Josephus, but has no claim to have come from his pen.
The Man and the Historian. Importance of
his Work[1]
The personal character of Josephus and his credibility as a historian have been often impugned, more especially by his own compatriots. Edersheim's article in the Dictionary of Christian Biography (where our author finds himself in strange company), while not lacking in appreciation of his merits, displays some of this rancour, though not in its more virulent form. He has been denounced as traitor and renegade, as a flatterer of the Romans and one whose statements must always be regarded with suspicion.
His character is somewhat of an enigma. We may grant that it is not one to arouse any feeling of keen admiration. He was no ardent patriot, like Judas Maccabæus, no missionary in a great cause to which he was ready to devote his whole heart and soul and to sacrifice his life. His three years' sojourn in the wilderness was not, like the visit to Arabia of an older contemporary, the prelude to a life-work of strenuous and unremitting toil ending in imprisonment and martyrdom. His faults are
- ↑ I have in this section made considerable use of the essay, "On the Personal Character and Credibility of Josephus," prefixed to Dr. Traill's translation of the Jewish War—a very judicious estimate.
