The Lord’s portion and its exile
Next, if anyone can, as under the figure of a history which has something true in itself and yet also points to something secret, let him see also those who kept the original language: because they did not move “from the east,” they remained in the east and in the eastern language. And let him understand that these alone became the Lord’s portion and his people called “Jacob,” and became also “Israel, the measured lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). And let these alone be governed by a ruler who did not receive those under him for punishment, as the others did.
Let him who is able see also the sins, such as happen among human beings, committed in the commonwealth of those assigned to the portion that belongs to the Lord. At first they were tolerable, and of such a kind that the people did not altogether deserve to be forsaken; later they were more numerous, but still tolerable. And understanding that this went on for a long time, and that healing was always being applied, and that at intervals they turned back, let him see them abandoned, in proportion to their sins, to those who had received the other lands by lot: at first punished lightly and paying the penalty, and then, as if they had been disciplined, returning to their own land. But later let him see them handed over to harsher rulers, whom the Scriptures would name Assyrians and then Babylonians.
Then, though remedies were applied, let him see them increasing their sins none the less, and for this reason scattered among the other portions by the rulers of the other nations who plundered them. And let their own ruler deliberately overlook their being plundered by the rulers in the other nations, so that he too, with good reason and as if avenging himself, may receive authority to draw away from the other nations all whom he can, and may do so, and give them laws and show them the life they must live, in order to lead them up to the goal to which he used to lead those of the former nation who did not sin.
Greek
Εἶτα εἴ τις δύναται ὡς ἐν ἱστορίας σχήματι, ἐχούσης μέν τι καὶ καθ᾿ αὑτὴν ἀληθὲς ἐμφαινούσης δέ τι καὶ ἀπόῤῥητον, ἰδέτω καὶ τοὺς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς διάλεκτον τετηρηκότας, τῷ μὴ κεκινηκέναι „ἀπ᾿ ἀνατολῶν“ μένοντας ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ καὶ τῇ ἀνατολικῇ διαλέκτῳ· καὶ νοείτω τούτους μόνους γεγονέναι μερίδα κυρίου καὶ λαὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν καλούμενον „Ἰακὼβ,“ γεγονέναι δὲ καὶ „σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ“· καὶ οὗτοι μόνοι ἐπιστατείσθωσαν ὑπὸ ἄρχοντος, οὐκ ἐπὶ κολάσει παρειληφότος τοὺς ὑπ᾿ αὐτῷ ὥσπερ οἱ ἄλλοι. βλεπέτω δ᾿ ὁ δυνάμενος ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐν τῇ τούτων πολιτείᾳ τῶν τεταγμένων κατὰ τὴν διαφέρουσαν μερίδα τῷ κυρίῳ γινομένας ἁμαρτίας, πρότερον μὲν ἀνεκτὰς καὶ τοιαύτας, ὡς μὴ πάντῃ ἀξίους εἶναι αὐτοὺς τοῦ ἐγκαταλείπεσθαι, ὕστερον δὲ πλείονας μὲν ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι ἀνεκτάς· καὶ τοῦτ᾿ ἐπὶ πλείονα χρόνον νοῶν γινόμενον καὶ ἀεὶ θεραπείαν προσαγομένην καὶ ἐκ διαλειμμάτων τούτους ἐπιστρέφοντας, ὁράτω αὐτοὺς καταλειπομένους κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων τοῖς λαχοῦσι τὰς ἄλλας χώρας, πρότερον μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον αὐτοὺς κολασθέντας καὶ τίσαντας δίκην, ὡσπερεὶ παιδευθέντας, ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα· ὕστερον δὲ βλεπέτω αὐτοὺς παραδιδομένους χαλεπωτέροις ἄρχουσιν, ὡς ἂν ὀνομάσαιεν αἱ γραφαὶ, Ἀσσυρίοις εἶτα Βαβυλωνίοις. εἶτα προσαγομένων θεραπειῶν ὁράτω τούτους οὐδὲν ἧττον αὔξοντας τὰ ἁμαρτανόμενα καὶ διὰ τοῦτ᾿ ἐπισπειρομένους ὑπὸ τῶν διαρπαζόντων αὐτοὺς ἀρχόντων τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν ταῖς ἄλλαις μερίσιν. ὁ δ᾿ ἄρχων αὐτῶν ἐπίτηδες παροράτω διαρπαζομένους αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀρχόντων· ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς εὐλόγως, ὡσπερεὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐκδικῶν, λαβὼν ἐξουσίαν ἀποσπάσαι τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν οὓς ἂν δύνηται, τὸ τοιοῦτο ποιήσῃ καὶ νόμους τε αὐτοῖς θῆται καὶ βίον ὑποδείξῃ καθ᾿ ὃν βιωτέον· ἵνα αὐτοὺς ἀναγάγῃ ἐπὶ τέλος, ἐφ᾿ ὅπερ ἀνῆγε τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτάνοντας ἀπὸ τοῦ προτέρου ἔθνους.