Eulogies [elogia], which may be as [it were] illustrious Epitaphs, I find three. The First, in Josephus
(col. 1285)
[…The First, in Josephus,] bk. 5, ch. 1, near the end: Ἰησοῦς ἀνὴρ μήτε συνέσεως ὢν ἐνδεής, μήτε τοῦ τὰ νοηθέντα πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐξενεγκεῖν ἄτερος, ἀλλ’ ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ἄκρος· πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἔργα καὶ τοὺς κινδύνους εὔψυχος καὶ μεγαλότολμος, πρυτανεῦσαί τε τὰ κατὰ τὴν εἰρήνην δεξιώτατος, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντα καιρὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἡρμοσμένος [Iēsous anēr mēte syneseōs ōn endeēs, mēte tou ta noēthenta pros tous pollous exenenkein ateros, all’ en amphoterais akros…, “Joshua, a man neither lacking in understanding, nor without skill in bringing forth [his] thoughts to the multitude, but supreme in both; and toward deeds and dangers [he was] stout-hearted and of great daring, most dexterous to administer the affairs of peace, and fitted to every occasion of virtue”].
The Second, in Ecclesiasticus ch. 46: “Valiant in war [was] Jesus [Joshua] son of Nave, the successor of Moses in the Prophets [prophecies], who was great according to his name, [exceeding great] in the salvation of the elect of God, to overthrow the rebelling enemies, that he might obtain the inheritance of Israel” (that is, that he might make Israel obtain the promised inheritance, and might establish [Israel] in it). “How great glory did he gain, when he lifted up his hands, and threw spears [rhomphaeas] against the cities? Who before him so withstood? For the Lord himself brought the enemies [to him]. Was not the sun stopped in his anger (or by his hand), and one day made as two? He called upon the most High Sovereign, when the enemies assailed [him] on every side; and the great and holy God heard him by hailstones of exceeding great force. He made an assault against the hostile nation, and in the descent [or, descending] he destroyed the adversaries; that the nations might know his [the Lord’s] power, because it is not easy to fight against God. And he followed close behind the Mighty One” (that is, [he] pursued the enemy, himself following the Leader-God, or the Angel, concerning whom Josh. ch. 6 — “the mighty [one]”) “and in the days of Moses he did [a work of] mercy, he and Caleb son of Jephone, to stand against the enemy” (or, as [it] is in other books, “before the Church [assembly]”) “and to hinder the [Israelite] nation from sins, and to break the murmur of malice” (or, the wicked and criminal murmuring). “And these two, [being] appointed, were delivered from peril, out of the number of six hundred thousand footmen, to bring them into the inheritance, into the land which floweth with milk and honey” (Sir. 46:1–10).
The Third is this very [eulogy] (ch. ult. [= 24], v. 29): [in] words indeed most brief, yet in the weight of things, and in dignity, greatest — “IOSVE [Joshua] SON OF NUN, SERVANT OF THE LORD.” But this [was] explained above (ch. 1, q. 2). And to this can be added [that] which here, a little after, is added (v. 31), and is repeated [in] Judges 2:7: “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua.” What greater praise of that Prince, King, and Commander, than that — in his time, [in his] principate, reign, and command — the peoples should serve the Lord? Happy, and truly great before God and men, and thrice and four times great, [are those] to whom this most noble eulogy can apply. These [are] the truest Philosophers, by whom reigning [as kings] both Plato and Aristotle said [there would be] a blessed Commonwealth — as from that [passage] Tullius [Cicero] also mentions, in [his] Epistle to [his] brother Quintus; who, also, [in] bk. 1, Epistle to Lentulus: “These [things] are written divinely by our Plato: such as the Princes in a Commonwealth are, such the rest of the citizens are wont to be.”