31. If you are unwilling to do this, then you must pay me seventeen tonnes of silver, and seventeen additional tonnes of silver to compensate me for damages and for lost taxes. If you refuse to do either of these, we will go to war against you.”
32. When Athenobius came to Jerusalem and saw the splendour of Simon's court, the gold and silver dishes in his banqueting-hall, and the rest of the display of great wealth, he was amazed. He delivered the king's message to Simon,
33. and Simon answered, “We have never taken land away from other nations or confiscated anything that belonged to other people. On the contrary, we have simply taken back property that we inherited from our ancestors, land that had been unjustly taken away from us by our enemies at one time or another.
34. We are now only making use of this opportunity to recover our ancestral heritage.
35. As for Joppa and Gezer, which you claim, we will give you 3.4 tonnes of silver, in spite of the fact that the people of those cities have done great harm to our nation.”Athenobius made no reply,