Note 460 — Chapter VIII · The Greek Ezra (1 (3) Esdras)

Volz (Encycl. Bibl., II, 1490) says of this story that “it is an independent piece of narrative that is also found standing by itself in a MS. of the Vulgate (Berger, Hist. de la Vulgate, p. 94 [1893]). To all appearance this piece is itself also a composite production, the praise of truth being an addition. The whole seems to have been originally written in Greek, and shows affinity with the epistle of Aristeas (Ewald, Hist., v. 165); the writer appears to have knowledge of the court history of Persia (iv. 29 ff.). The hero of the story is not originally Zerubbabel.”