3
Certain of our friends, by frequently urging us out of spite, persuaded us to gather the Jews from throughout the kingdom together in one place and to torment them with unusual punishments as traitors.
4
They insisted that our government would never be stable until this was accomplished, due to the hostility that these people were said to have toward all the nations.
5
These friends also drove them along in chains, treating them harshly as slaves, or rather, as traitors. Without any investigation or trial they attempted to destroy them, displaying a cruelty more savage than the barbarians from Scythia.
6
Now we threatened them sternly for these actions, but we granted them their lives (but just barely!) in keeping with the patience that we show toward all people. Because we have learned that the heavenly God surely shields the Jews and fights alongside them as a father for his children,
7
and because we have considered the constant goodwill that they have shown toward us and our ancestors, we rightly hold them innocent of every charge of whatever kind.