The brethren, the Jews that were at Jerusalem and in the land of Judea,
wrote a letter to the Jews that were throughout Egypt to thank God for
the death of Antiochus. In his letter are recounted all the sayings of
Jeremy, and the great deeds of Judas Maccabeus and his brother Simon, as
recorded in the books of Jason, until Nicanor the blasphemer was killed,
and his head hanged upon the tower at Jerusalem, from which time forth
the Hebrews had the city in their power.

* * * * *



ST. AUGUSTINE


THE CITY OF GOD


A French critic has said of Augustine's "City of God" that it
is the earliest serious attempt to write a philosophy of
history, and another has spoken of it as the encyclopaedia of
the fifth century. These two remarks together characterise the
work excellently. It is a huge treatise in twenty-two books,
begun in the year 413, and finished in 426, and was given to
the public in sections as these were completed. Augustine (see
LIVES AND LETTERS) himself explains the origin of the work.
The fall of Rome by Alaric's invasion in 410 had been ascribed
to the desertion of the old gods of Rome and to the wide