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Hortatory Address to the Greeks
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Chapter 13: History of the Septuagint.
IF ANYONE CLAIMS THAT THE WRITINGS OF MOSES AND THE OTHER PROPHETS WERE ALSO WRITTEN IN GREEK: let them read secular histories and learn that Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, after building the library in Alexandria and gathering books from everywhere, discovered that very ancient histories written in Hebrew were carefully preserved. Wanting to know their contents, he summoned seventy wise men from Jerusalem who knew both Greek and Hebrew and appointed them to translate the books. To ensure they could complete the translation quickly without disturbance, he had built, not within the city, but seven stadia away (where the Pharos was built), as many small huts as there were translators, so each could work independently. He instructed the officers responsible for this task to attend to them but prevented them from communicating with each other so that the accuracy of the translation could be verified by their agreement. When he learned that the seventy men not only conveyed the same meaning but used the same words, without disagreement even to one word, he was amazed and believed the translation was done by divine power, realizing that the men were worthy of all honor as beloved of God. He sent them back to their country with many gifts. Naturally, he marveled at the books and deemed them divine, consecrating them in the library.
These, people of Greece, are not myths, nor do we tell tales. Having been in Alexandria, we saw the remains of the small huts at the Pharos still preserved and heard these stories from the locals who received them as part of their tradition. We now share with you what you can also learn from others, especially from the wise and esteemed who have written about these things, like Philo and Josephus, and many others. If anyone prone to contradiction claims these books don't belong to us but to the Jews, and argues we falsely profess to have learned from them, let them know from what is written in these books that their teachings refer not to them, but to us. It is by Divine Providence for our sake that the books related to our religion are still preserved among the Jews. To avoid accusations of fraud by producing them only from the Church, we demand they also come from the Jewish synagogue, so that it may be evident that the laws written by holy men for instruction pertain to us.