36. And they all ordained with a common decree in no wise to let this day pass undistinguished, but to mark with honor the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (it is called Adar in the Syrian tongue), the day before the day of Mordecai.
37. THIS then having been the issue of the attempt of Nicanor, and the city having from those times been held by the Hebrews, I also will here make an end of my book.
38. And if I have written well and to the point in my story, this is what I myself desired; but if meanly and indifferently, this is all I could attain to.
39. For as it is distasteful to drink wine alone and in like manner again to drink water alone, while the mingling of wine with water at once gives full pleasantness to the flavour; so also the fashioning of the language delights the ears of them that read the story. And here shall be the end. THE END OF APOCRYPHA.