they had desired me to come to them; and as I spake thus, I
publicly showed that letter they had written, till they could not
at all deny what they had done, the letter itself convicting
them. I then said, "O Jonathan! and you that are sent with him as
his colleagues, if I were to be judged as to my behavior,
compared with that of John's, and had brought no more than two or
three witnesses, (20) good men and true, it is plain you had been
forced, upon the examination of their characters beforehand, to
discharge the accusations: that therefore you may be informed
that I have acted well in the affairs of Galilee, I think three
witnesses too few to be brought by a man that hath done as he
ought to do; so I gave you all these for witnesses. Inquire of
them (21) how I have lived, and whether I have not behaved myself
with all decency, and after a virtuous manner, among them. And I
further conjure you, O Galileans! to hide no part of the truth,
but to speak before these men as before judges, whether I have in
any thing acted otherwise than well."

50. While I was thus speaking, the united voices of all the
people joined together, and called me their benefactor and
savior, and attested to my former behavior, and exhorted me to
continue so to do hereafter; and they all said, upon their oaths,
that their wives had been preserved free from injuries, and that
no one had ever been aggrieved by me. After this, I read to the
Galileans two of those epistles which had been sent by Jonathan
and his colleagues, and which those whom I had appointed to guard
the road had taken, and sent to me. These were full of
reproaches, and of lies, as if I had acted more like a tyrant
than a governor against them, with many other things besides
therein contained, which were no better indeed than impudent