39 and arrived in Rome the next spring (Philo,Legat.355; Josephus,Ant.
18.257-60). Philo suffered through the indignities of Gaius and the arrival
of a second Jewish delegation. Philo probably returned to Alexandria fol-
lowing Claudius’s letter. It was in the maelstrom of these “civil cares” that
Philo wrote his apologetic treatises.TheHypothetica
One of the most enigmatic works attributed to Philo is theHypothetica.
While Eusebius knew and accepted the work as Philonic, some modern
scholars have registered doubts. The ambiguous position of the work is
represented by its place in the standard critical edition: Cohn and
Wendland omitted the fragments in theireditio majorbut included it in
theireditio minor.Although the work is poorly preserved and has some
unusual features, the majority of scholars consider it authentic.
Eusebius preserved two fragments. He attributed the first fragment to
the first scroll of a work entitled theHypotheticathat “argued on behalf of
the Jews against their accusers” (Praep. Evang.8.5.11–8.7.20). Later the
bishop quoted a fragment “from his apology on behalf of the Jews” (Praep.
Evang.8.10.19–8.11.18). The two excerpts are probably from the same work:
Eusebius dropped the opaque titleHypotheticawhen he introduced the
second fragment and repeated his description of the work as an apology.
This is confirmed by his division of the Jewish people into two groups in
his preface to the second fragment: the multitudes follow the literal mean-
ing of the Law (first fragment), while the philosophical group of Essenes
(second fragment) move to higher forms of contemplation (8.10.18-19).
The relationship between the fragments is complicated by Eusebius’s cata-
logue of Philo’s works in theHistoria Ecclesiastica,where the bishop does
not mention theHypotheticabut includes a one-volume workConcerning
the Jews(Hist. Eccl.2.18.6). This title is a common heading for works that
deal with the Jewish people and was probably a secondary title. While it is
possible thatConcerning the Jewsrefers to theHypothetica,the fact that it is
listed among the single-scroll works of Philo, while thePraeparatio
Evangelicasuggests that theHypotheticacontained at least two scrolls,
makes the identification problematic.
The titleHypotheticadoes not help us understand the work. It has
been taken variously to mean “Suppositions,” based on the hypothetical
approach of the opening of fragment 1; “Counsels or Admonitions,” based279PhiloEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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