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| Chapter XIV.
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Chapter XIV.
To this series of events
it will be right that I should append an account of the doings of
Judith; for she is related to have lived after the captivity, but the
sacred history has not revealed who was king of the Persians in her
day. It, however, calls the king under whom her exploits were performed
by the name of Nabuchodonosor, and that was certainly not the one who
took Jerusalem. But I do not find that any one of that name reigned
over the Persians after the captivity, unless it be that, on account of
the344
| 344 The text here is
uncertain. | wrath and like endeavors which he
manifested, any king acting so was styled Nabuchodonosor by the Jews.
Most persons, however, think that it was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, on
this ground that he, as a conqueror, penetrated into Egypt and
Ethiopia. But the sacred history is opposed to this opinion; for Judith
is described as having lived in the twelfth year of the king in
question. Now, Cambyses did not possess the supreme power for more than
eight years. Wherefore, if it is allowable to make a conjecture on a
point of history, I should be inclined to believe that her exploits
were performed under king Ochus, who came after the second Artaxerxes.
I found this conjecture on the fact that (as I have read in profane
histories) he is related to have been by nature cruel and fond of war.
For he both engaged in hostilities with his neighbors, and recovered by
wars Egypt, which had revolted many years before. At that time, also,
he is related to have ridiculed the sacred rites of the Egyptians and
Apis, who was regarded by them as a god; a thing which Baguas, one of
his eunuchs, an Egyptian by nation, and indignant at the king’s
conduct, afterwards avenged by the death of the king, considering that
the king had insulted the race to which he belonged. Now, the
inspired345
| 345 “historia
divina”: the writer applies these words to the book of
Judith. | history makes
mention of this Baguas; for, when Holofernes by the order of the king
led an army against the Jews, it has related that Baguas was among the
host. Wherefore, not without reason may I bring it forward in proof of
the opinion I have expressed that that king who was named
Nabuchodonosor was really Ochus, since profane historians have related
that Baguas lived in his reign. But this ought not to be felt at all
remarkable by any one, that mere worldly writers have not touched on
any of those points which are recorded in the sacred writings. The
spirit of God thus took care that the history should be strictly
confined within its own mysteries, unpolluted by any corrupt mouth, or
that which mingled truth with fiction. That history being, in fact,
separated from the affairs of the world, and of a kind to be expressed
only in sacred words, clearly ought not to have been mixed up with
other histories, as being on a footing of equality with them. For it
would have been most unbecoming that this history should be commingled
with others treating of other things, or pursuing different inquiries.
But I will now proceed to what remains, and will narrate in as few
words as I can the acts performed by Judith.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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