[6358] This notice is followed by the somewhat blasphemous story of the achievements of Choni (Onias) hammeaggel, to which reference will be made in the sequel.
[6359] Chammumoth.
[6360] Comp. also Sanh. 46 a.
[6361] Comp. Derenbourg, pp. 108, 109.
[6362] According to some (Ant. xiv. 1. 3), he was of noble Jewish, according to others, or heathen and slave descent. The truth lies probably between these extremes.
[6363] It almost seems as if this repugnant story were a sort of Jewish Imitation of the circle which Popilius Lænas drew around Antiochus Epiphanes, bidding him decide, ere he left it, whether or not he would comply with the demand of the Romans.
[6364] Both Josephus and the Talmud (Sotah 49 b) give an account, though in different version, of the manner in which the besieged sought a supply of sacrifices from the besiegers.
[6365] According to Josephus, it was on the Day of Atonement; according to Dio Cassius, apparently on a Sabbath. Comp. the remarks of Derenbourg on these conflicting statements (u. s. p. 117, note).
[6366] The captives then brought to Rome and sold as slaves became the nucleus of the Jewish community in the imperial city.
[6367] Comp. the masterly survey of the state of matters in Syria and Judæa in Marquardt, Handb. d. Rom. Alterth., vol. iv. pp. 247-260.
[6368] Comp. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 204; Derenbourg, p. 119, note.
[6369] Comp. Geiger, u. s. p. 205, Note, Hamburger, u. s. p. 367. Various strange and most unsatisfactory explanations have been proposed of these mysterious words, which yet, on consideration, seem so easy of understanding. Comp. the curious explanations of Grimm, Ewald, and others, in Grimm's Exeget. hand. zu d. Apokryphen, 3te Lief. p. xvii. Derenbourg (Hist. de la Palest. pp. 450-452) regards sarbd as a corruption for sapharbd, and would render the whole by Book of the family of the Chief ({hebrew}) of the people of God.' __________________________________________________________________