Note 73 — THE ESSENES.

“Next follow the Ossenes, who were closely connected with the former sect. They too are Jews, hypocrites in their demeanour, and peculiar people in their conceits.73 They originated, according to the tradition which I received, in the regions of Nabatea, Itruria, Moabitis and Antilis, (Ἀρηϊλίτις), in the surrounding neighbourhood of the so-called Dead Sea.… The name Ossenes, according to its etymology, signifies the stout race (στιβυρὸν γένος).… A certain person named Elxai joined them at the time of the Emperor Trajan, after the advent of the Saviour, who was a false prophet. He wrote a so-called prophetical book, which he pretended to be according to divine wisdom. He had a brother named Jeeus, who also misled people in their manner of life, and caused them to err with his doctrine. A Jew by birth, and professing the Jewish doctrines, he did not live according to the Mosaic law, but introduced quite different things, and misled his own sect.… He joined the sect of the Ossenes, of which some remnants are still to be found in the same regions of Nabatea and Perea towards Moabitis. These people are now called Simseans.”74