(printed p. 17 — Book I)
John Hyrcanus lived after the Maccabees. He was the son of Simon Maccabaeus, his firstborn, and his successor in the high priesthood and principate, as I showed in the Harmony of the Maccabees. In the appendix to his little book On the Hasidaeans, chapter 4, Drusius doubts whether the Essenes already existed in his time.
Since, however, at the beginning of this appendix he says, “I shall continue to deserve well of Serarius,” I too shall imitate fertile fields, which, as Cicero says, give back much more than they have received. For, to interpret as well and as candidly as possible this excellent service of Drusius toward me, a Catholic and, as he repeatedly says, a Jesuit - a service that others might think irony or abuse - he certainly gave nothing except words. I, however, not like those men who say of themselves, “We are accustomed to give things for things, words for words,” shall return words, but I shall give facts, and shall free him from his doubt.
Josephus clearly says in Antiquities 18.2: “Among the Jews there were three philosophies from the very ancient beginning of the ancestral institutions.” What is “from ancient times”? Is it not “from antiquity,” “from old memory,” “from the early times of ancestral institutions”? And what is meant by the emphatic adverb joined to it, “from the very ancient”? Is it not “from very great antiquity,” “from deeply old memory,” “from altogether early times”?
[margin: Drusius, fols. 774-775; pp. 58 and 52. Cicero, On Duties 1.]
(printed p. 18)
But I give Drusius an even clearer passage, from book 13, chapter 9: “At that time there were three sects of the Jews.” What is “at that time”? Is it not “at this very time,” or “about this very time”? And what time was that? Clearly the time when Jonathan Maccabaeus sent ambassadors and letters to Sparta, and received a reply from them. For after narrating the history of this matter, Josephus immediately adds: “At this very time there were three sects of the Jews,” and at once names them: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Therefore it cannot rightly be doubted that these sects existed in the times of the Maccabees.