the] sea, and the fowls of the dry land; that this man was
amazed at these dainties thus set before him; that he
immediately adored the king, upon his coming in, as hoping
that he would afford him all possible assistance; that he fell
down upon his knees, and stretched out to him his right
hand, and begged to be released; and that when the king bid
him sit down, and tell him who he was, and why he dwelt
there, and what was the meaning of those various sorts of
food that were set before him the man made a lamentable
complaint, and with sighs, and tears in his eyes, gave him this
account of the distress he was in; and said that he was a
Greek and that as he went over this province, in order to get
his living, he was seized upon by foreigners, on a sudden, and
brought to this temple, and shut up therein, and was seen by
nobody, but was fattened by these curious provisions thus set
before him; and that truly at the first such unexpected
advantages seemed to him matter of great joy; that after a
while, they brought a suspicion him, and at length
astonishment, what their meaning should be; that at last he
inquired of the servants that came to him and was by them
informed that it was in order to the fulfilling a law of the
Jews, which they must not tell him, that he was thus fed; and
that they did the same at a set time every year: that they used
to catch a Greek foreigner, and fat him thus up every year,
and then lead him to a certain wood, and kill him, and
sacrifice with their accustomed solemnities, and taste of his
entrails, and take an oath upon this sacrificing a Greek, that
they would ever be at enmity with the Greeks; and that then
they threw the remaining parts of the miserable wretch into a
certain pit." Apion adds further, that" the man said there