nate by the dictator, or by the general of the horse; and when they
have introduced them, their answers shall be returned them in ten days
at the furthest, after the decree of the senate is made about their
affairs."

7. "Caius Caesar, imperator, dictator the fourth time, and consul
the fifth time, declared to be perpetual dictator, made this speech
concerning the rights and privileges of Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander,
the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews. Since those imperators that
have been in the provinces before me have borne witness to Hyrcanus, the
high priest of the Jews, and to the Jews themselves, and this before
the senate and people of Rome, when the people and senate returned
their thanks to them, it is good that we now also remember the same, and
provide that a requital be made to Hyrcanus, to the nation of the Jews,
and to the sons of Hyrcanus, by the senate and people of Rome, and that
suitably to what good-will they have shown us, and to the benefits they
have bestowed upon us."

8. "Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of Rome, to the magistrates, senate,
and people of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Delos, and
some other Jews that sojourn there, in the presence of your ambassadors,
signified to us, that, by a decree of yours, you forbid them to make use
of the customs of their forefathers, and their way of sacred worship.
Now it does not please me that such decrees should be made against our
friends and confederates, whereby they are forbidden to live according
to their own customs, or to bring in contributions for common suppers
and holy festivals, while they are not forbidden so to do even at Rome
itself; for even Caius Caesar, our imperator and consul, in that decree
wherein he forbade the Bacchanal rioters to meet in the city, did yet
permit these Jews, and these only, both to bring in their contributions,
and to make their common suppers. Accordingly, when I forbid other
Bacchanal rioters, I permit these Jews to gather themselves together,
according to the customs and laws of their forefathers, and to persist
therein. It will be therefore good for you, that if you have made any
decree against these our friends and confederates, to abrogate the same,
by reason of their virtue and kind disposition towards us."

9. Now after Caius was slain, when Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella
were consuls, they both assembled the senate, and introduced Hyrcanus's
ambassadors into it, and discours