Note 67 — THE ESSENES.
Reading edition
“§ 4. The Essenes, as we call them, were also exempted from this necessity [of taking an oath of allegiance to Herod]. These men live the same kind of life which among the Greeks has been ordered by Pythagoras.67 I have discoursed more fully about them elsewhere. The reason, however, why Herod had the Essenes in such honour, and thought more highly of them than of mortal nature, is worthy of record. For this account, too, is not unsuitable for this history, inasmuch as it shows the people’s opinion about the Essenes.