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 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM 
 ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 
 
 PART I. FROM THEIR EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE 
 PERIOD OF THE FLAVIAN DYNASTY 
 
 A PAPEK READ BEFOBE THE 
 
 LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL. 
 
 NOVEMBER 18, 1895. 
 BY 
 
 B. L. BENAS.
 
 StacR 
 Annex
 
 <^- 
 
 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, AND THEIR 
 INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 
 
 PABT I. FROM THEIR EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE 
 PERIOD OF THE FLAVIAN DYNASTY. 
 
 WHEN I stand before such monuments as the Tower of 
 London, or the walls of Chester, I cannot help mentally 
 expressing a wish that the stones might become vocal, and 
 echo some of the phases and incidents that have occurred 
 since the day they left the quarry to become mute wit- 
 nesses of history. So I felt when I watched the demolition 
 of the Ghetto, or Jews' quarter, in Rome. With the 
 carting away of the debris there is an end to a district in 
 the City of the Seven Hills full of classic and archaeo- 
 logical interest. It represents an unbroken history and 
 tradition of upwards of two thousand years. 
 
 Whilst the present Roman citizens are only Romans 
 from the fact of having been born, or being descended 
 from those who for some generations have lived, in the 
 metropolis of Italy, ethnologically they are so mixed up 
 with Neapolitan, Longobardic, Vandal, Hun, and Gothic, 
 as well as Spanish, Austro-German, and French infusions, 
 that it would require a very powerful microscope to detect 
 any original blood of the Roman of the republic or of 
 the Caesars. The Roman Jews are the same family un- 
 changed, and identically the same in race, as those that 
 lived on the shores of the Tiber at the period of the 
 
 20976R1
 
 2 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 Consuls. They still repeat their Hosanna, Selah, Amen, 
 and Alleluia as they did when they first settled there 
 more than two thousand years ago. If anyone would have 
 dared to tell a Patrician of ancient time that in subse- 
 quent ages his descendants would repeat with religious 
 unction what they then called the unmeaning jargon of 
 these tribal Jews, his predictions might have been sub- 
 jected to the keenest ridicule. 
 
 The Eoman aristocrats may have looked upon these 
 early Palestinian settlers in their city very much as now a 
 resident in Hyde Park or Belgravia might upon a few 
 Parsees who, though white men, have spiritual traditions 
 differing altogether from those of the commonwealth. Yet 
 the Koman Jew has outlived the Consulate, the Empire, 
 the Vandal and Gothic invasions, the supremacy of 
 Charlemagne, the temporal power of the Popes ; has seen 
 the rise of a Rienzi, the Avignon and Roman schism, the 
 Napoleonic kingdom of Rome, the ephemeral Republic of 
 1848, the Austrian and French occupation, a Garibaldi 
 and a Victor Emmanuel, with Rome once more the 
 metropolis of Italy, the final result of these changes 
 and vicissitudes being that the political Roman world has 
 to-day approached him, and extended him the hand of 
 political equality, brotherhood, and citizenship. Notwith- 
 standing the wear and tear, persecutions and sufferings of 
 later centuries, the Roman Jews are certainly to-day as 
 vigorous physically as any other community in the 
 capital, and according to reliable statistics their hygienic 
 condition and longevity is undoubtedly higher, and they 
 have a remarkable immunity from the distempers of a 
 malarial climate ; and although in later centuries they 
 were compelled to inhabit exclusively the most insalu- 
 brious and insanitary portion of the city, they have 
 enjoyed average good health, have robust and vigorous
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 3 
 
 progeny, and are proud, like our Anglo-Normans, of 
 dating back to an ancient period of their history. 
 
 I propose to sketch some of the phases and incidents in 
 the life of this interesting colony in the Eoman metropolis, 
 not only from the traditional, congregational, and syna- 
 gogal records, but from the epitaphs of the necrological 
 inscriptions found in the Catacombs of Eome. Some of 
 these, discovered lately, abound in historical and archaeo- 
 logical interest. 
 
 The first point we have to determine is how, when, 
 and by what means the people of Palestine first came into 
 commercial contact with the Eoman capital. 
 
 The earliest authenticated evidence is the mission that 
 Judas Maccabreus sent to the then rising republic, asking 
 for a friendly alliance against the Syro-Hellenes, who were 
 then endeavouring to crush the Jewish commonwealth 
 out of existence. The mission may not have been unlike 
 that in modern times of Benjamin Franklin to the Court 
 of Versailles asking French aid in support of the strug- 
 gling American colonists. The friendship of Louis XVI 
 to America was no doubt dictated less by an admiration of 
 the political ethics and aims of the Puritan colonists than 
 from a desire to weaken the growing and rival power of 
 Great Britain. So it may have been at that period with 
 Eome. The successors of Alexander of Macedon were 
 expanding the power and traditions of the Greeks to such 
 an extent, and over so wide an area, that for some 
 time it was a question whether the world would become 
 Hellenised or Latinised. Their culture may have been to 
 some extent on similar lines, just as the culture of France 
 and Great Britain are, from an Asiatic point of view, 
 almost identical. Yet, had Hindostan been brought under 
 the sway and political influence of France rather than 
 Great Britain, the current of history would have even-
 
 4 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 tuated differently, and a Gallicised India would not be a 
 British India. 
 
 The Jews in Palestine were very much favoured by 
 Alexander the Great. He seems to have had a decided 
 partiality for them, their history, and literature. He 
 relieved them from Persian suzerainty, and, through the 
 conquest and destruction of Tyre, opened the way for 
 a more cultured and refined environment. When he 
 founded Alexandria, the Macedonian monarch was keen 
 enough to see that the Palestinian Jews might prove a 
 useful element in the new city, and, inviting a large 
 number of them to settle there, he ensured them abso- 
 lutely equal rights of citizenship with the Hellenic immi- 
 grants. It was there that the Greek and the Jew first 
 began to know each other thorough!}', and involuntarily 
 the virtues and the failings of the two peoples began to act 
 and react upon the individuals of the two communities. 
 The Greek stood supreme in his love of beauty of form, 
 poetry, and music, and in his keen appreciation of the 
 temporary pleasures of life, perhaps from the sensuous and 
 material love of enjoyment for its own sake. The Hellenes 
 possessed that faculty which the French so well express, 
 namely, " Joie de vivre." On the other hand, the Jew 
 was a Puritan. His hygienic condition may have been 
 better, his physique was not so showy as the Hellene nor 
 so attractive, but it lasted longer, it stood the wear and 
 tear of the battle of life, and could survive misfortune 
 without the apathy and reaction of despondency. The 
 Jew, too, had music of his own, poetry of his own, and 
 pleasures of his own, but, like the Anglo-Saxon, took them 
 all very seriously. He reflected too much upon the day 
 after the feast ; he failed to give himself the abandon of 
 reckless enjoyment of the fleeting hour and the never- 
 heeding-to-moiTow of the Hellenic Greek of what the one
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 5 
 
 people had to overflow the other had barely sufficient. A 
 perfect type of humanity might have resulted in the 
 amalgamation of the two ideals the cult of beauty, art, 
 philosophy, and pleasure, with the softening influences of 
 chastity, sobriety, and self-restraint. 
 
 The influence of the Syro- Greek was not without its 
 effect upon the Jews. In Jerusalem public games were 
 instituted, the use of floral decoration introduced into 
 public worship, the young men and women of good social 
 standing adopted the Grecian attire, painting and statuary 
 formed the luxury of the homes of the wealthy, and, 
 indeed, the then high priest of Jerusalem, Menelaus, 
 became a too rapid convert to Hellenism, which only 
 tended to bring about a violent reaction. There was a 
 sharp division between the orthodox Puritan Jew and the 
 new Hellenising and reforming Jew. Had these rival 
 instincts been allowed to have fought out their principles 
 without alien interference, some compromise might have 
 resulted in a succeeding generation, and the blending of 
 the two schools of thought might have come about imper- 
 ceptibly; but the Hellenising Jew was in a hurry, and 
 made no allowance for the conservative instincts of the 
 other side, and, to accomplish his purpose with rapidity, 
 the Hebrew Helleniser asked aid from the Syro-Greek 
 to crush his conservative co-religionist by physical force, 
 and to Hellenise him whether he would or not. 
 
 Antiochus, the ruler of the Syro-Greeks, delighted to 
 be called in as military occupant, adopted the thorough 
 method, and proposed plucking out the old Hebraic 
 modes of thought by the very root. Deeming the Mosaic 
 Pentateuch and the Davidic and other psalms the very 
 life of orthodox sentiment, he made the reading of the 
 former and the chanting of the latter a penal offence. 
 Bonfires were kindled everywhere throughout the land,
 
 () RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 and every scroll of the five books of Moses, and every 
 psalm or hymn book was brought to the public places to 
 be burned. In fact, Hellenism wanted to stamp out 
 Hebraism once and for all, thoroughly and effectually, by 
 brute force, and to destroy every written record of their 
 so-called Jewish sacred scriptures. 
 
 This was undoubtedly a most eventful crisis in the 
 history of the Jews. A violent reaction from Hellenism 
 was the result. Whilst for centuries the religious cult of 
 the Jewish people had been carried on by patriarchal 
 tradition, rather than by rigid adherence to words con- 
 tained in a sacred book for, indeed, we find periods when 
 the life and religious current of the nation flowed on with- 
 out even the knowledge of the existence of a so-called 
 sacred written volume, and the Biblical edition by Ezra 
 was but recently making its way. The moment, however, 
 the alien stranger attempted to forbid the possession of 
 the written records of their people, the faithful went to 
 the very opposite extreme, and considered every edition of 
 the scroll of the law of Moses saved, and every psalm 
 secreted or committed to memory, as a divine message 
 rescued. The women of the Jews hid the parchment 
 scrolls of their cosmic and national lore in the folds of 
 their clothing, and risked their lives over and over again 
 to save what they deemed the holy records of their fore- 
 fathers. 
 
 A community that were hitherto respectful to the 
 folk lore of their ancestry, now assembled in caves and 
 hiding places to hear their traditions expounded and 
 explained, and deemed them holy. The uprising of the 
 Assidean youth of Palestine, led by the Maccabean family, 
 marching from victory to victory with the sword in one 
 hand and their sacred scrolls in the other moreover, 
 against the Macedonian phalanx, then reputed to be invin-
 
 AND THEIK INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 7 
 
 cible a mere raw peasantry against Grecian veterans, 
 trained and experienced in a hundred combats, naturally 
 led these young enthusiasts to deem themselves a chosen 
 people and the instruments of some special providence. 
 
 The result of the rout of the Greeks and Hellen- 
 ising Jews, who lacked enthusiasm and patience for the 
 ultimate success of their aims, was that a newly kindled 
 worship of the very letter and text, never known before 
 in their previous history, was initiated by the Hebrew 
 Puritans, and has been engrained in their life for twenty- 
 five centuries. On the other hand, had the Syro-Greeks 
 been successful in stamping out every vestige of Hebraic 
 literature, and making it as lost to the world as the Book 
 of Jasher and the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the names 
 of which are all that is left, had the Hebrew Puritans not 
 fought so valiantly, nor the Hebrew women been so 
 earnest in leading their children to combat and in saving 
 their literature at the peril of their lives, it is probable 
 that four hundred millions of people would have had in 
 cathedral, chapel, meeting house, and mosque a very 
 different liturgy to that now in use, and Mount Olympus 
 might have been more frequently mentioned therein than 
 Mount Zion. The physical encounter between the Hebrew 
 and the Hellene at this period appeals very much to the 
 philosophic speculation of what might have happened had 
 results eventuated otherwise. 
 
 I have been obliged to bring in this phase of history, by 
 way of parenthesis, to lead up to the why and wherefore y 
 and to the earliest record of the official contact between 
 the Eomans and the Jews. Most historians favour the 
 idea that the plenipotentiaries of Judas Maccabeus were 
 the first Jews in Eome, and that several members of 
 the mission remained in the Eoman metropolis, and 
 became the earliest settlers. True it is that until the rise
 
 8 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 of Alexandria as a seaport the Jew, qua Jew, was not 
 known in Europe, or as a distinct people. After that they 
 became better known as the Atheists of Palestine, from 
 the circumstance of their refusing to render homage to 
 any visible representation of the deity. From the con- 
 tempt with which these strangers looked upon the anthro- 
 pomorphic ideals of the ancient classic world, they were 
 credited with having no deity at all by many of the 
 ignorant masses, though later on, as we shall show, they 
 became [a powerful community in Eome, in turn admired, 
 disliked and envied, and sometimes feared. 
 
 It is, however, probable that the Jews traded and lived 
 in Kome long before they were officially known to be 
 there, and I will proceed to explain the reason for support- 
 ing that hypothesis. 
 
 Now, of all modern European nations, the British 
 people have the maritime instinct most largely developed, 
 their ships are in every port, and their Colonies and settle- 
 ments are to be found in every quarter of the globe, the 
 English language being the bond of union between the 
 disjecta membra of the English speaking people. Side by 
 side our island is another island, the people of which have 
 no love for their predominent partners. I allude, of 
 course, to the anti-English and the anti-Protestant portion 
 of the Irish people. 
 
 This section would rather worship in the cathedral of 
 Notre Dame, in France, than in a Protestant meeting 
 house, and yet their masses will not emigrate to nations or 
 countries with which they have absolute religious affinities. 
 The Irish emigrate to the United States and Australia in 
 vast numbers, but not to Mexico, Brazil, Peru, or Argen- 
 tina. In Canada, although the Irishman may dislike the 
 religion of the Protestant Canadian, and is in touch with 
 that of the French colonist, yet he prefers to reside close
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 9 
 
 to the English quarter. Nearer home, when he leaves 
 Ireland, he prefers to work at the docks in Liverpool or 
 Glasgow rather than in Antwerp, Havre, Bordeaux or 
 Marseilles. 
 
 The only satisfactory solution of this instinct seems to 
 be that the Irish cling to the skirts of English speaking 
 colonies and settlements because of the lingual affinity. A 
 common language seems to over-ride, for practical and 
 colonising purposes, many religious and social barriers and 
 even antipathies. Another point I wish you to examine, 
 when the average Englishman hears of the differences 
 between Original, Primitive, Calvinistic Methodism, or 
 Established, United or Free Presbyterianism, the lines of 
 demarcation may be quite broad enough for the respective 
 seceders from each community, but to an outsider the 
 points of difference between them are hardly noticeable. 
 Thus, by a Mahomedan in Turkey or in Egypt every 
 Christian is termed a Frank, and he scarcely perceives the 
 difference between a Eoman Catholic, an Anglican or a 
 Unitarian, they are all the same to him, namely, Franks ; 
 and to the eyes of Chinese and Japanese all Christian 
 denominations are the same, they are all Bible men, just 
 as to the Mongolian all sects of Islam are called Koran 
 men. Now, to the Eoman world, all Hebrew speaking 
 people seem to have been considered Phoenicians or 
 Carthaginians the Hebrew language being the tongue 
 of the Phoenician and Carthaginian ; so, wherever Tyre 
 and Carthage sent their ships, there the Palestinian Jew 
 probably followed. True, he had no religious affinity 
 with the predominant commercial partner in the Hebrew- 
 speaking world, and he had separate meeting houses 
 for worship ; but the Eomans and Greeks could see no 
 difference between the Anthropomorphic speaking Hebrew 
 and the Monotheistic one. Therefore, when the Phoenician
 
 10 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 traded to Ostia, the port of Kome, it seems natural to 
 conclude that the Jew went along with the Punic vessels, 
 and may have been both at Ostia and Kome long before 
 the political mission we have recorded. It was only when 
 Kome and Carthage became deadly enemies that the Jew 
 had to declare to the Latin world that, although Hebrew- 
 speaking, he was not Punic. Until that period he may 
 have had no desire or interest to dissociate himself from a 
 powerful commercial and maritime community. Similarly 
 it occurred in modern times that the average Russian 
 moujik, when he heard English spoken, as a rule deemed 
 the speaker an " Anglisk," or Englishman. It was only 
 at the period of the Crimean war that the English- 
 speaking traveller from the United States had to declare 
 that, although speaking the same English language, his 
 own immediate people were not at war with the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 We shall now begin with the accepted historical fact of 
 the first official mission, 160 years before the Christian 
 era. Fifteen years later a second mission arrived from 
 Jerusalem to the Latin metropolis, sent by Jonathan, 
 brother and successor of Judas Maccabeus ; and again six 
 years later, 615, Roman era, another embassy, by Simon 
 Maccabeus ; and then for the first time the Republic 
 entered into an offensive and defensive treaty of alliance 
 with a non -European state. 
 
 From this time the Jews began to settle in the Trans- 
 Tiberian district of the metropolis, and no one knows why 
 they chose this particular portion of the capital any more 
 than why the French protestants chose Spitalfields ; the 
 French republicans, Soho ; the Italians, Saffron Hill ; and 
 the Germans the east end of London. According to 
 Valerius Maximus, the Jewish deputations to Rome made 
 some religious propaganda; though in point of numbers
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 11 
 
 the Jews were as yet a very small community, still their 
 influence seems to have been considerable. 
 
 A large number of Jewish captives were brought to 
 Eome by Pompey, and their co-religionists having 
 purchased their manumission, they became libertini or 
 freedmen, and helped to swell the number of Koman 
 Jewish citizens, the community gradually becoming more 
 important and wealthy. Juvenal, xiv, 105, shows us the 
 reason why Jewish captives were ransomed on compara- 
 tively easy terms. He says the absurd custom of the Jews, 
 which deprives a master of the seventh part of his labour, 
 owing to the superstition of keeping a seventh day as a 
 day of rest, and the fact that other slaves pretended to be 
 Jews in order to obtain a day free from labour, made 
 the owners glad to rid themselves of these so-called 
 superstitious strangers. It must be admitted that the 
 Roman masters, as a rule, were indulgent, and rarely 
 interfered with the religious practices of their bondsmen ; 
 indeed, the Romans respected sincere religious practices 
 and convictions in all people, although they may not have 
 followed the customs themselves ; yet in practice they con- 
 sidered that all religions tended towards the preservation 
 of law and order and were conducive to the well- 
 being of the State, providing the cult taught nothing 
 subversive to the ruling powers. 
 
 At the time of Cicero the Jews had already become a 
 powerful, influential, and numerically important section of 
 the Roman citizens. 
 
 In Cicero, Pro Flacpttf^ihe orator maintains that it is 
 an act of courage on his part to withstand the powerful 
 influence the Jews were exercising when he was defending 
 Flaccus from the many charges brought against him; 
 amongst others, one being that Flaccus embezzled the 
 Aurum Judseorum, which, translated into modern parlance,
 
 12 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 is that he misappropriated the Jewish "Peter's pence" 
 destined for the Temple at Jerusalem ; these amounted to 
 vast sums of money, coming as they did from all parts of 
 the Empire, and were remitted from the capital to the 
 sanctuary of the holy city of the Jews. The minimum 
 contribution of a Jew to the sanctuary in Jerusalem being 
 half a shekel, one denarius and a half. These sums were 
 collected all over the Roman world and elsewhere, and 
 remitted to the Temple treasury. We can get an approxi- 
 mate idea of the number of Jews outside Palestine by the 
 fact that the Temple treasures seized by Crassus or, 
 perhaps, what was left after a large portion had been 
 rescued and abstracted amounted to ten thousand talents, 
 or over 3 millions sterling of our money. 
 
 These are Cicero's words : Now respecting the charge 
 of embezzling Jewish gold, that is the very reason why 
 this trial is held not far from the Aurelian Hall. On 
 account of this plaint, hast thou, Laelius, chosen this 
 spot and sought these people ; thou knowest how numerous 
 they are, how they cling together, and W 7 hat power they 
 have in our popular assemblies. I will speak with bated 
 breath so that only the judges shall hear me. For there 
 are not wanting individuals who would gladly set these 
 people against me, and against those who seek justice, and 
 I will not facilitate the Jews in their machinations. Now, 
 inasmuch as from all the provinces of Italy, vast sums of 
 gold are being sent to Jerusalem, Flaccus really put a 
 stop to this flow. You judges dare not object to this, for 
 have not the senate themselves passed resolutions depre- 
 cating the drain of gold from the Eepublic. It is but right 
 and proper to hinder and oppose the barbarous super- 
 stitions of Palestine ; and to show no fear of the Jewish 
 mobs that crowd our public places, is a proof of my earnest 
 convictions. All nations, Laelius, have their religions
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 13 
 
 as we have ours. Even when Jerusalem was our ally, and 
 lived in peace with us, yet their singular religious views, 
 and their form of worship, was antagonistic to the glory of 
 our Eoman traditions, and to the institutions of our illus- 
 trious ancestors. How much the more should we now 
 injure them, when they 'now oppose in war our Pompey 
 and the arms of the Republic, and does it not appear as if 
 our immortal Gods are vanquished, put to shame, placed 
 under the yoke and subjected to tribute by the remitting of 
 this Aurum Judjeorum from the Roman Republic to 
 Palestine. 
 
 Cicero shows his remarkable ingenuity and great skill 
 in the defence of Flaccus, and adopts quite the modern, 
 Jin de siecle, anti-Semitic method, of no case or bad 
 case abuse the plaintiff as much as possible. 
 
 This extract from Cicero's oration is most important, 
 showing as it does that we have now emerged from mere 
 tradition and hypothesis, and are now standing on a solid 
 historical basis, and gives us convincing proof that whilst 
 but a century before the Jews were scarcely known in the 
 Roman metropolis, towards the close of the republican 
 era they became a power to be reckoned with.* As we 
 have previously stated, and subsequent events will amply 
 prove, that the Roman people and Government were 
 remarkably tolerant of every form of religious belief, 
 always providing that cult was not antagonistic to their 
 rule or to their civic ethics, or gave credence to the idea 
 that the government of Rome could be supplanted by 
 another. The Jews never forgave Pompey for his invasion 
 of their Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem, a spot 
 only to be visited by their High Priest once a year, on the 
 day of Atonement, and in his struggle with Julius Caesar, 
 the Jews everywhere threw the whole weight of their 
 
 * Dr. Berliner, Gcschichtc dcr Juden in Horn,
 
 14 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 influence with the latter, and they exerted themselves by 
 every possible means to further the cause of Caesar and his 
 fortune. At the end of the republican era the Jews of the 
 city of Kome were on good terms with the people and the 
 government, but it was when Julius Caesar rose to power 
 that they seem to have reached their very culminating 
 point of prosperity, and their congregations had special 
 privileges accorded to them. Julius Caesar, like Alex- 
 ander the Great, saw in the scheme of a greater Eome, 
 and not a little Kome, that the Jews would form a 
 useful element. They were interpreters for the many 
 languages spoken in the vast dominions of the republic, 
 they seem to have been brokers, money changers or 
 bankers, importers of wheat, general international factors, 
 and also petty traders. Following, as we pointed out, 
 with loyal fidelity, Caesar and his fortunes, they laid the 
 foundation of many Jewish congregations in Iberia, on the 
 banks of the Ehine, in Gaul, and perhaps in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Curiously enough history repeats itself in our days in 
 Hindostan, where the Beni Israel, or indigenous Indian 
 Jews, are the most trusted factors in the native Indian 
 army ; many of them are Haviklars, Subahdars, and Jemi- 
 dars, upon whose fidelity and adaptability to the climate 
 the British Government can absolutely rely ; the shrewd 
 common-sense of the Beni Israel soldier indicating to him 
 that his welfare is bound up with the supremacy of Great 
 Britain. At the same time he forms a convenient link for 
 the British Government between the Mahomedan and 
 Hindoo by his remarkable facility in speaking the many 
 Indian languages and dialects. 
 
 The advent of an Alexander, a Caesar, a Cromwell, or a 
 Napoleon seems to be the phenomenal production of cen- 
 turies, yet all these superlatively prominent leaders, with-
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 15 
 
 out exception, appear to have specially sought out the 
 representatives of the Abrahamic race, and found a sphere 
 of usefulness for their activity in the various dominions 
 which they brought under their political influence. 
 
 So thoroughly had the Jews won the confidence of the 
 great Julius, that not only did he grant them the full 
 rights of Eoman citizenship in the metropolis of the 
 empire, but he gave their little independent common- 
 wealth in Jerusalem the right to rebuild their fortifica- 
 tions, and place their walls in a perfect state of military 
 defence. 
 
 The educated classes of Eome now began to interest 
 themselves in the literature and methods of the com- 
 munity that Csesar delighted to honour. In the later 
 writings of St. Augustine* there appears a quotation of 
 Varro, a philosopher who lived 47 B.C., and wrote on the 
 archaeology of the Eomans. Varro observes that, in the 
 early period of Numa Pompilius, the gods were worshipped 
 for almost two hundred years without any images or 
 visible objects of adoration. If this custom had been 
 retained, he says, our Koman worship would have 
 remained more pure. He adds : Look at the Jews ; and 
 proceeds to draw favourable conclusions from the spiritual 
 ideal of Palestinian ethics. He goes on to say that those 
 who were responsible for the introduction of images to 
 represent the deity took away the fear of God, and pro- 
 vided the people with the seed of error. 
 
 From the writings of Philo we can elicit the fact that 
 the Jews of Eome had congregations recognised by the 
 State, and numerous synagogues in the Trans-Tiberian 
 district. When the Alexandrian philosopher was sent with 
 a deputation to appeal to Caligula to withdraw the edict 
 that his statue should be placed in the Temple at Jeru- 
 
 * De Civitate Dei, iv, 31.
 
 16 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 salem for public adoration, Philo thus addresses the 
 emperor: "It is well known that from olden times the 
 Jews have occupied a large portion of the city of Borne 
 beyond the Tiber, and that they continued to maintain the 
 traditional observances of their forefathers ; that they had 
 synagogues, where they assembled on the seventh day to 
 have expounded to them the words of wisdom which they 
 received from their ancestors. . . ." 
 
 This gives additional positive historical evidence of the 
 antiquity of the settlement of the Roman Jews, and, 
 furthermore, that their community was spiritually equipped 
 as an ecclexia or congregation. 
 
 We return to Julius Caesar. A proof of his solicitude 
 for the well-being of the Jews in the whole of the Roman 
 dominion is evidenced by an edict to the inhabitants of 
 Paros, where some friction seems to have existed. It runs 
 thus : " Caius Julius to the people of Paros. I herewith 
 declare my displeasure that an}- decrees should be issued 
 against our friends and allies forbidding them to follow 
 their ancestral rites, and preventing their collecting money 
 for divine worship and their religious services ill Jeru- 
 salem, inasmuch as they are permitted to do this in Rome, 
 the metropolis, without let or hindrance. . . ." 
 
 Suetonius records that of all those who wept for Julius 
 Caesar the Jews were the most vehement in their demon- 
 strations of grief. He observes that night after night 
 crowds of Jews visited Caesar's grave, and mourned and 
 lamented the untimely end of their friend and benefactor. 
 
 Happily for the Jews, Antony was soon succeeded by 
 Augustus, whose whole aim and object seemed to be to 
 secure social order with a strong hand. He not only 
 confirmed all the enactments of Julius Caesar in favour of 
 the Roman Jews, but considerably added to their privi- 
 leges. He permitted them the unrestricted right of free
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 17 
 
 public worship, owing, as the emperor observes, to the 
 gratitude the Jews have evinced for the protection of the 
 Eoman people. He facilitates their observance of the 
 seventh-day Sabbath by relieving them from appearing at 
 courts of justice on that day. He also decrees that 
 distribution of corn to the poor should take place on the 
 day after the customary Saturday, so that the poorer Jews 
 who participated in the relief might not suffer through 
 their Sabbath observance. He forbids any molestation in 
 the collection of the Aurum Judteoruin, or pence sent to the 
 Temple at Jerusalem, and adds, it is henceforward enacted 
 an act of sacrilege to steal any of the sacred books of the 
 Jews, whether used in public places of worship or in 
 private houses, . . . and concludes with a remarkable 
 phrase, used for the very first time by any chief of the 
 Eoman State. Augustus concludes with these words: 
 "or wherever or in any place the Jews pray to the Most 
 High God:' 
 
 The expressions of gratitude of the Eoman Jews to 
 Augustus knew no bounds. They built a synagogue, and 
 named it the Synagogue and Congregation of Augustus, 
 and inasmuch as they dared not render Divine honours to 
 a human being, they instituted the recital of a daily 
 prayer for Caesar and the Eoman Empire. Mommsen 
 calls especial attention to this incident in his History of 
 Rome. 
 
 The frequent visits to Eome of Herod and the princes 
 of the Herodean family, who mingled freely with the 
 aristocracy and the leaders of Eoman Society, caused 
 considerable interest to be evinced in the local concerns of 
 the Jews in the metropolis, though curiously enough as. 
 we shall show hereafter, and this Professor Graetz, in his 
 History of the Jews, has brought out vividly it was not 
 until the temporal power in Jerusalem of the Jews was
 
 18 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 abolished that the populace of Rome began to look sym- 
 pathetically upon the practices of the Judaeo-Romans. 
 Seneca remarks, in his De superstitio: " So potent is the 
 influence of this contemptible people that they, the con- 
 quered ones, have in all the countries where they have 
 been introduced (as captives), given laws to their con- 
 querors." Horace, Ovid, Perseus, and Juvenal complain 
 that in Eome innumerable Roman citizens would do no 
 business on the seventh day; that they refrained from 
 travelling ; they fasted, prayed, lit the regulation lamp, 
 decorated their houses with the tabernacle wreaths, and 
 even contributed to the pence, or Aurum Judteorum, sent 
 to the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 It seems singular how the name of "sabbath" has 
 adhered to the seventh day in most countries that were 
 Roman provinces, even after Constantine had relegated 
 the observance to the first day of the week. Thus the 
 Italian still calls the seventh day "Sabato;" the Spaniard, 
 " Sabado ; " the French, " Samedi ; " the German, " Sam- 
 stag," and the Greek, " Sabbaton," all derived from the 
 Hebrew Sabat, to rest. 
 
 In his Fourteenth Satire Juvenal laments the de- 
 crepitude of the age, the falling away from old 
 republican customs, and the aping by the Romans of 
 the methods of foreign religions, and remarks : " The 
 fashion now seems to be to learn the Jewish laws, and to 
 pay reverence to what Moses teaches in their esoteric 
 scrolls." 
 
 At this period those Romans who had lost touch 
 with the cult of Jupiter seem to have crowded the 
 synagogues, and listened to the reading of the scrip- 
 tures and the singing of the psalms and the ora- 
 tions of the Presbyters, and, although not admitted to 
 the full communion of the Jews, it appears they were
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 19 
 
 termed God-fearing men. Men that fear God, or Juda- 
 izers.* 
 
 Though Herod and his sons visited the Eoman capital 
 very frequently, yet, as the modern King of Greece on his 
 recent visit to London would probably be more in touch 
 with Hyde Park, Belgravia, and the best sets in the 
 English capital than with the Greek merchants in London 
 Wall, so the Eoman Jews preferred to identify them- 
 selves with Home as Eoman citizens, rather than court 
 any reflected distinction from the visit of a monarch of 
 Little Jewry. Outside Palestine there were probably as 
 many Jews and followers of the Mosaic code as there 
 were in the dominions of Palestine proper, and there 
 was hardly an important community in the Eoman 
 Empire, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Ehine, or 
 from the Alps to the Egean Sea, from Alexandria to the 
 borders of the Persian dominions, where, co-incident with 
 the existence of the temple worship in Jerusalem, the fol- 
 lowers of the ten commandments had not flourishing 
 congregations and important synagogues. These Trans- 
 Palestinian Jews were generally advocates of a Greater 
 Jewry, not limited by the mere political boundaries of 
 Palestine, and from time to time there seems to have been 
 friction between those in Jerusalem, who thought the 
 temporal power "indispensable" to Mosaism, and the 
 others, who preferred the security and order guaranteed by 
 the Eoman laws, and would gladly have incorporated 
 themselves in the Eoman political family, surrendered 
 their little kingship to Eome, and secured that which 
 Eome gladly accorded, viz., full freedom for the practice of 
 their ancestral rites and customs. Moreover, the foreign 
 Herodian dynasty evoked no sympathy from the majority 
 of their subjects even in Little Jewry, and the adherents 
 
 :;: (f)o!Bovp.fvoi TOV 6fov or <rffiop.(voi rov 6eov or Iov8aiovrf s.
 
 20 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 of the Greater Jewry, outside Palestine, positively pre- 
 ferred Eome to the rule of the Herodian foreigners, who 
 by force and fraud had assumed the royal title in Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
 If one dared give an illustration of a hypothetical 
 incident it might the better show the position we have 
 under consideration. Suppose an Indian Prince or Maha- 
 rajah had allied himself to British interests, and wielded 
 a powerful military organisation, and in a moment of peril 
 for little England defeated her enemies. Now, going a 
 step further, let us assume that he had his troops in Lon- 
 don, and, after saving the city, overturned both the 
 dynasty and parliament, and by brute force sustained 
 himself and his followers in the Windsor and St. 
 James' that once were occupied by such well-beloved 
 monarchs as Elizabeth and Victoria. How little real 
 affection or loyalty would the inhabitants of little England 
 show such a dynasty ; the people of greater England, 
 living beyond the seas, perhaps none at all even though 
 this hypothetical Maharajah might adopt the Anglican 
 form of worship and support the High Church party by 
 lavish gifts and magnificent ecclesiastical constructions. 
 This seems to be, as nearly as possible, the relationship 
 between Jewry and the Herodian monarchy. Little Jewry 
 hoped for some supernatural restoration of their ancient 
 line of kinglets. Greater Jewry could hope for nothing 
 better than incorporation in the Roman Empire, with the 
 continuation of their spiritual power wielded b}" the San- 
 hedrin, and the Temple building, with its rites and 
 ceremonies unfettered by matters of kingship or petty 
 state policy. 
 
 The Herodians, however, in Palestine pursued the 
 Roman principle of Divide et Irnpera, and were glad to 
 set one school of thought against the other. At the
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. '21 
 
 time of the first Herod in the city of Jerusalem there 
 were over four hundred separate little organisations, 
 each having its religious meetings, some numbering 
 their hundreds, others thousands ; many of them deviat- 
 ing from strict orthodoxy, yet each and all paying their 
 devotions at the Temple on the high festivals. It can 
 be well imagined that the quarrels and wrangles between 
 these little factions w r ere at times as fierce as we hear in 
 our own days of attacks made upon evangelists in Cork, or 
 as dangerous as the anti-popery riots in Belfast. The 
 Herodian police, or " shoterim" as they were termed, had 
 constantly to interfere to maintain a semblance of order. 
 All this was accentuated under the successor of Herod, 
 Archelaus, who became merely ethnarc of the Little Jewry 
 in Palestine, the country being occupied by the Roman 
 legions, and the civil administration subject to Eoman 
 laws. Disloyal and indifferent as the Jews were to his 
 kingship, they could but respect the strength of character 
 and the firmness with which the first Herod ruled over 
 the various factions, and the absolute ordered security of 
 his administration. Archelaus, however, was the very 
 reverse of his father, weak in will and powerless in 
 adminstration, and under him the various religious 
 factions became ungovernable. 
 
 This state of affairs, however, only concerned the Little 
 Jewry in Palestine. In the Greater Jewry, in the various 
 Roman provinces, and in the metropolis of the empire, 
 there was scarcely any deviation from orthodoxy, and the 
 farther off the Jews were from Palestine the less they 
 seemed to be divided into sectional differences, and the 
 more they appeared to accept the decisions of the Sanhe- 
 drin at Jerusalem, as a final court of religious appeal. 
 However severely the arm of Rome was wielded in Pales- 
 tine, yet in the metropolis of the Roman Empire, and in
 
 22 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 the provinces generally, the Jewish congregations were 
 contented to come under the general Imperial laws. 
 
 In tracing the influence and character of the Eoman 
 Jews upon the Latin population, proper regard must be 
 had to the duality or polarity of the character of the 
 Jewish people. All nations or races possess this character- 
 istic more or less, but it is more strongly developed in the 
 Jew. I must again illustrate this feature. For instance, 
 when I visited a certain town in Holland I saw the walls 
 placarded with notices that a series of temperance meet- 
 ings were being held, and that numerous very distinguished 
 men were preaching on the advantages of a holy and 
 temperate life. The first thing that it occurred to me to 
 ask my guide was not whether the place was very piou s 
 or a very temperate one but whether there were not a 
 number of drunkards there, and his reply was what I 
 expected, namely, that those who were not drunkards were 
 very pious and absolutely temperate, and those who were 
 not absolute temperate were very drunken. The duality 
 and polarity of the Netherlander is also a remarkable 
 feature. There are Flemings who are phlegmatic, lifeless 
 and soulless, and there are Flemings who are artists to the 
 tips of their fingers, exquisite painters-, exquisite carvers in 
 wood and stone, and skilful executants in music, all in one 
 and the same people. There is again the German orches- 
 tra, where every player is a perfect artist, and who lead 
 the world in symphonic poetry. There is again the 
 German band, which is a reproach and a by- word, every 
 player being out of tune. There is the Italian sculptor 
 who breathes life into marble such as no modern people 
 can do, side by side with the plaster-of-Paris-image man. 
 There is in France a real gastronomic cult, producing the 
 French chef, whose art is appreciated in every court and 
 hotel in Europe, side by side with the Gargotier, of whom
 
 AND THEIE INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 23 
 
 it may be remarked, as Mercutio observed of his sword : 
 " Heaven send me no need of thee." 
 
 So we have the imaginative, poetical, dreamy, pro- 
 phetical, as well as the unpractical kind of Jew, together 
 with the heroic, the fighting, the swashbuckler Jew, side 
 by side with the ultra-practical, acquisitive and conserva- 
 tively legal Jew, who is for peace at any price. 
 
 The same generation that seems to produce a Karl 
 Marx, the founder and prophet of Socialism ; his greater 
 disciple Lasalle ; and Singer, one of the present leaders of 
 the German Social Democrats, produces also a Rothschild, 
 a Baron Hirsch, a Barnato, a Sassoon and a Ricardo, who, 
 as individualists and orthodox political economists, are 
 prominent exponents of the rights of personal acquisition. 
 The same race producing eminent types of antagonistic 
 principles, the same family seeming to bring forth indi- 
 vidualism in excelsis, and socialism or collectivism in 
 excelsis. Nay, we can pursue this duality or polarity of 
 character in other branches or walks of life. For in- 
 stance, there have been such Jewish pugilistic champions 
 as Dutch Sam, Aaron-Mendoza, and many other pets of 
 the prize ring when boxing was in fashion; and there is 
 the meek Jew, who, if his right cheek is smitten, turns the 
 left also. 
 
 Again, the same generation that produces a jingo singer 
 like the great Jew tenor, John Braham, who wrote the 
 " Death of Nelson," produced also Henry Russell, a Jew of 
 bucolic tendency, who did not a little to foster emigration 
 to the Colonies by his songs, " Cheer Boys Cheer " and 
 "To the West." A historian failing to take into account 
 the greater or less degree of polarity or duality that exists 
 in the character of the community whose records he 
 examines, is like the astronomer of old, who saw merely 
 with the naked eye, and knew not the use of the telescope.
 
 24 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 Thus, whilst Palestine produced Jews in abundance who 
 were warriors, poets, dreamers, philosophers, and thinkers, 
 many of them wandering to Alexandria and Babylonia ; 
 on the other hand, in the Roman dominions on the Euro- 
 pean continent, the Jews seem to have been eminently 
 practical, but unpoetical, and unimaginative, bent upon 
 material acquisition, prone to mind their own business, 
 and pay their rates and taxes with regular promptitude to 
 Eome, being too respectably dull to trouble themselves 
 about metaphysics. Unlike the Jews in Jerusalem, 
 where there were over four hundred organisations, with at 
 least as many preachers, many deviating from both 
 Sanhedrin and Temple worship the Latin Jews remained 
 tolerably orthodox, and made very little use of their 
 undoubted ethical influence in the Roman metropolis, 
 except by their exemplary social virtues, which could not 
 escape notice. Friend and foe in Rome unite in bearing 
 testimony to the sobriety and chastity of the Jews ; and in 
 a capital where, in Imperial times, profligacy and lewd- 
 ness was in the air, many a pure and high-minded Roman 
 matron found in a Jewish house an oasis in the desert of 
 immorality, as inscriptions from the catacombs will show. 
 
 But the Roman Jews had neither the intellectual capa- 
 city, the so-called " go," nor the poetic fire and imagery 
 of their Palestinian co-religionists. Happily for them, the 
 early break-up of Judaic temporal power in Jerusalem, 
 and the dispersion and emigration of the Palestinian 
 Jews into all the provinces of the vast Roman empire, was 
 a " blessing in disguise " to the Jewish people, although 
 unappreciated at the time by them ; for it reinf used into 
 their blood the element which was dying out. It acted 
 upon greater Jewry the same as the mixture of Celtic 
 blood has done in England and greater Britain ; it infused 
 the element of poetry, the love of religious cheerfulness,
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 25 
 
 and the cult of the ideal, all of which was rapidly evaporat- 
 ing from the vast masses of Trans-Palestinian Israel, and 
 enabled them to withstand a subsequent fifteen hundred 
 years of persecution, contumely, and social ostracism. 
 
 Lord Acton has assured us that the value of history 
 does not lie in accurate knowledge of what happened, 
 which, indeed, may be regarded as unattainable, but in 
 the scope it gives for solid and penetrative criticism of 
 conflicting accounts. Prince Lobanoff, one of the most 
 eminent Russian statesmen, lately assured M. de Blowitz 
 that every time he had an interview with Lord Granville, 
 the then Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, he endea- 
 voured to record accurately all that had passed between 
 them immediately after the conversation, and he took the 
 precaution the next day to read over the written report, 
 when it invariably occurred that Lord Granville found 
 some things that needed correction. 
 
 There is the pitfall before every historian, and he is 
 probably only on fairly safe ground when friend and foe 
 record events on almost identical lines. Now most 
 writings of the Latin historians are full of envy, preju- 
 dice, and hatred to the Jews, and accuse them of every 
 imaginable failing except that of sexual immorality. On 
 the contrary, in many instances their stern morality, 
 virtue, and constancy are charged to them as proofs of 
 weakness and obstinacy. Tacitus, who has nothing but 
 sneers for the people of Palestine and their absurd tradi- 
 tions, has admitted their morals to be above reproach, and 
 remarks that no Roman woman had to suffer indignity 
 from Jews, and that the bodies of the men are healthy, 
 and such as will bear great labour.* 
 
 I must revert to the reign of Tiberius. That the 
 Jewish population in Rome continued to increase in vast 
 
 * Tacitus, Account of the Jews, Book v, cap. 5, 6.
 
 26 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 proportions is evidenced by the quotation that Mommsen 
 gives us (vol. iii, p. 549) of the remark of a Roman 
 governor : that he was always careful to stand well with the 
 Jews in the provinces he had to administer, otherwise he 
 ran the risk of being whistled at and hooted by mobs of 
 the lower classes of the Jews who abounded in the Roman 
 metropolis ; and we read * that at about this period, after 
 the death of Herod, when a deputation of fifty elders 
 arrived in Jerusalem, and when they were received in 
 audience by the Emperor at the Temple of Apollo, they 
 were joined in procession by eight thousand of the in- 
 fluential Roman Jews. 
 
 Sejanus was, however, indisposed towards this grow- 
 ing influence, and began to take severe measures to 
 uphold the cult of Jupiter, banishing a large number 
 of Egyptians and Jews to the island of Sardinia. After 
 the death of Sejanus, however, Tiberius was so convinced 
 of the groundlessness of the charges brought against them, 
 that he reaffirmed all their rights, and issued an edict to 
 all the governors and pro-Consuls that the Jews were to be 
 left unmolested, and the free exercise of their ancestral 
 customs to be guaranteed. 
 
 During the reign of Caligula, the celebrated deputation 
 of Philo of Alexandria went to persuade the Emperor 
 to remove his effigy from the Temple and Jewish places of 
 worship generally, for whilst it may have been congenial 
 to Latins and Hellenes to deify an emperor, it was always 
 contrary to the genius of the Hebrew race to render divine 
 honours to any born of woman. The death of Caligula and 
 the advent of Claudius removed this difficulty, and in an 
 edict to the Jews lie remarks that whilst he confirms the 
 right to follow their accustomed ritual and observances, 
 he entreats the Jews not to despise the superstitions of 
 
 * Josephus.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 27 
 
 other but to be content with following their own 
 ordinances. This may have reference to the incipient 
 proselytizing zeal of the Ebionites, who for a considerable 
 period were classed by Romans as Jewish Sectarians. 
 
 An incident of the time of Nero, described by Jose- 
 phus, speaks for itself. He says in his biography : "And 
 when I had thus escaped, and was come to ' Dicearchia,' 
 which the Italians call Puteoli, I became acquainted with 
 Aliturius, an actor of plays, and much beloved by Nero, 
 but a Jew by birth. Through his interest I became known 
 to Poppea, Caesar's wife, and took care as soon as possible 
 to entreat her to procure that the priests might be set at 
 liberty, and when besides this favour I had obtained 
 many presents from Poppea, I returned home again." So 
 much for the Jewish historian. We see with Poppea, as 
 with Mary of England and Philip of Spain, it depends 
 for the side-lights of their character whether the historian 
 be a Roman Catholic or a Protestant. 
 
 It redounds to the credit of Roman statesmanship, 
 that whilst Vespasian and Titus were carrying on war to 
 the knife with Little Jewry in Jerusalem, Greater Jewry 
 in Rome, or elsewhere out of Palestine, had little to 
 complain of. The rights and liberties of the Roman Jews, 
 both in the metropolis and in the empire, were not sensibly 
 abridged. One might have observed the same occur- 
 rence in modern daj's with the British Gauls in Canada, 
 notwithstanding that Britain and France were engaged in 
 mortal combat which culminated at Waterloo, yet no 
 Canadian French-speaking Gauls ever lost any of their 
 rights and privileges as British citizens. Perhaps in their 
 heart of hearts the French-Canadian might have felt a 
 pang at the report that those who were living in the 
 land which was the cradle of their race, were fallen 
 from their high estate. Perhaps the Jews in Rome may
 
 28 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 have felt like the English did in the Transvaal, or 
 South Africa, after the disaster at Majuba Hill, when 
 every Boer urchin used to skriek after an Englishman, 
 " Verdamter Englander, we've licked you!" And so, 
 no doubt, many a Eoman urchin, at the triumph of 
 Titus, might have shouted in the Forum, "Yerdamter 
 Jew, we've licked you ! " But just as the Englishman 
 felt instinctively that the scheme and influences of 
 the Greater Britain would in the end permeate South 
 Africa, so the Eoman-Jew instinctively felt, even when 
 Little Jewry was put an end to, that' his Amen, Hossana 
 and Alleluia might survive the chants to Jupiter, and 
 perhaps take their place. Time was on his side, and his 
 defence of Jerusalem was sufficiently valorous to make 
 him feel that though the temporal power was vanquished, 
 his military honour was not lost, and, strange to say, 
 although the Jewish citizens of the Eoman empire seem 
 to have felt that the Temple, and perhaps Mount Zion 
 and its ritual might have been saved had there been a 
 timel} 7 concession to Eome, deeply as their hearts were 
 seared at the loss of the Temple and its sacred associa- 
 tions, very few regretted the abolition of the mere 
 temporal power in Palestine. They felt now that the 
 taunt that the Jews had a dual allegiance, one to Eome 
 and another to Jerusalem, was over, and the best they 
 hoped for was that perhaps ultimately they might regain 
 the right to rebuild their central place of worship, 
 where in time all the world might make pilgrimages 
 to Mount Zion; but few practical Eoman Jews ever 
 seemed to wish for a renewed Herodian monarchy for 
 Little Jewry. 
 
 There appears to have been at this period very many 
 Eomans who deeply sympathised with the aims and ob- 
 jects of Greater Jewry outside Palestine. These Eomans
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 29 
 
 were divided into three classes. (1). Those who sym- 
 pathised with and respected the ethics of the Jews were 
 called the righteous. (2). Those that went a step further 
 and attended the reading of Scripture and chanting the 
 Psalms were called the pious. (3). Those that, absolutely 
 in communion, entered into the Abrahamic covenant and 
 were called proselytes of righteousness. 
 
 In the authorized prayer book of the Jews is a litany 
 probably composed about the reign of Titus, which best 
 shows the inner sentiment of the Jews at the period of 
 the Flavian dynasty. It reads thus : Towards the 
 righteous, towards the pious, towards the presbyters of 
 thy people, the house of Israel, towards the remnant of 
 their scribes, towards the proselytes of righteousness, and 
 towards us also may thy tender mercies be stirred. 
 Lord our God, grant a good reward unto all who faith- 
 fully trust in Thy name ; set our portion with them for 
 ever, so that we may not be put to shame because we 
 have trusted in Thee. Blessed art Thou, Lord, the 
 stay and trust of all the righteous. 
 
 The enormous infusion of Jewish Palestinian blood 
 into the disjecta membra of the Greater Jewry was, as we 
 previously pointed out, the rejuvenation of the Jewish race 
 everywhere throughout the Eoman Empire, and perhaps 
 the greatest boon that ever happened to this people. One 
 might venture to speculate upon the problem that, were 
 it not for the destruction of the temporal power and 
 the dispersion and denationalisation of Little Jewry, 
 the same result might have happened to the Israel of 
 Piome that we find with the remnant of the Jews now in 
 China. 
 
 The following inscriptions are from tombs in the cata- 
 combs of the Jews, from about the period of Julius Caesar 
 to about the third century, or pre-Christian Rome :
 
 30 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 1. Here lies Irene Parthenike, wife of Clodius, brother of 
 Quintus Claudius Synesius, father of the Campensian Synagogue in 
 Rome. The word Shalom D1^B>* (peace) in Hebrew. All the rest 
 is written in Greek. 
 
 2. To her worthy and well-beloved husband, Aurelius Hermia- 
 tus, his wife, Julia Afrodisia, has erected this, and begs that a place 
 may be retained so that she may be put by the side of him when she 
 ceases to live. This is a Latin inscription. 
 
 3. Here lies Asterias, the pious and irreproachable father of the 
 Synagogue Rest in Peace. 
 
 4. To his parents, Asterius the Gerusiarch, and to Lucina, his 
 mother, the Archont. Asterius has erected this. 
 
 5. To Aurelia Camerina, the good and well bred wife with 
 whom he lived 17 years, Semprouius Basileus has erected this. To 
 the well deserving wife, may her rest be in peace. 
 
 6. To Abundantius, who was seventeen years of age. He was 
 well deserving, and Cocotia, who was also called Judas, who grew up 
 with him and worked side by side with him, has erected this In 
 peace may he rest. 
 
 7. To Aelia Septima, the very dear and well deserving mother, 
 Aelia Alexandria has erected this Concludes ivith an S., abbrevia- 
 tion for Shalom, Hebrew, = peace, but the whole is in Latin. 
 
 8. To Aelia, the well deserved, Procles has erected this. She 
 lived 82 years and 10 months. 
 
 9. To Aemilia Theodora, Aurelius Bassus has erected this. 
 
 10. To Agathus, the well deserving son, who lived 15 years. 
 Aurelius Joses and Aurelia Auguria have erected this. 
 
 11. Here lies Agentia, she was only married once, and lived 
 together with her young husband nine years. 
 
 12. To Agrius Evangelus, the well deserving colleague of 
 Reginus. 
 
 13. To Alexander, the subsequent Archont to his dear child, 
 Alexander, the revered Archont. 
 
 14. To Alexander, sausage maker (Bubularius) of Macello, 
 who lived 30 years ; an honest soul, everybody's friend. May he 
 rest among the pious. 
 
 15. Alypis Tiberius and his sons, Justus and Alypis, the 
 Hebrews, rest here with their father. 
 
 * Only a few tombs are minutely described, the majority being trans- 
 lations of the verbal inscriptions only.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 31 
 
 16. Here lies Amachius, who was also Primus. Let the 
 memory of the righteous be a blessing. The words of praise to him 
 are true indeed. 
 
 17. Here lies Ammias, Jewess from Laodicea, who lived 85 years. 
 
 18. Here lies Annianus, the young Archont, 8 years and 2 
 months old ; son of Julianus, father of the Synagogue of the Cam- 
 pensians. 
 
 19. To the wife, Appidia Lea, L'Domitius Abbas and her 
 daughter, Domitia Felicitas, have erected this. 
 
 20. To his mother, Asclephiodote ; and to his brother, Alex- 
 ander the Archont, Constans has erected this. 
 
 21. To Asius, the ten years old child. 
 
 22. To Aurelia Helenete, his well deserving wife, Aurelius 
 Alexander has erected this. 
 
 23. To Aurelia Flavia, his well deserving wife, Jonata, the 
 reverend Archont, has erected this. 
 
 24. To Aurelia Quintitia, her dearest and well beloved mother, 
 who lived 60 years and five months, Aurelia Protogenia has erected 
 this. 
 
 25. To Aurelia Mara, the worthy and very dear child, Polycarp, 
 her father, and Crescentine, her mother. 
 
 26. Here lies Aurelia 'Zioiike, years old. Her grandchild, 
 Fronto, has erected this. 
 
 27. Beturia Paulla, removed to the everlasting house, 86 years 
 and 6 months old ; 16 years she lived as a proselyte. She was 
 mother of the Synagogue of Campus and Bolumnus. 
 
 28. To Castricius the Grammateus, his wife Julia has erected 
 this to her well-deserved husband. 
 
 29. Here lies Centulia, daughter of Ursacius 
 
 30. To Sister Chryside, the very sweet proselyte, erected by 
 Manacius. Her rest be peace. 
 
 31. Here lies Constantinus the child. 
 
 32. In peace be the sleep of Cossutius, who lived 21 years and 
 6 months. His brothers have erected this. 
 
 33. Crispina, daughter of Procopius, industrious and law- 
 loving, lies here. 
 
 34. To his brother Decembrus, Justus has erected this. 
 
 35. To the blameless Deuterus of the Synagogue. To Deuterus, 
 the excellent Grammateus, Dulcis has erected this.
 
 82 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 36. Here lies Doreis. 
 
 37. To Dulcitia, the youthful bride, Pancharius the Geru- 
 siarch has erected this. 
 
 38. Here is placed Eparchia Theosibes, who lived 55 years and 
 6 days. 
 
 39. Here lies the artist (painter) Eudoxius. In peace be thy 
 sleep. 
 
 40. 
 
 41. To Elogius, his very dear son, and his grandson Socus. 
 
 42. To the very dear mother, Eulogia, who lived 81 years, 
 Castus, her son, and Sabinus, her grandson, have erected this. 
 
 43. To her son Eutychetes, who lived 19 years, his mother, 
 Afrodisia, has erected this. 
 
 44. Here lies Eutychianus, the Archont, a worthy husband. Be 
 comforted; he rests among the righteous. 
 
 45. Here lies Faustina. (Shalom in Hebrew.) 
 
 46. Faustinus, the baby, lies here. Son of Alexis. 
 
 47. Here lies Flavia Antonina, wife of Dativus, Presbyter of the 
 Synagogue of Augustus. 
 
 48. To Flavia Caritine, the well-deserved, Flavia Dativa has 
 erected this. (A pair of clasped hands.) 
 
 49. To Flavia Vitaline, the well-deserving wife, Cocianus, has 
 erected this. 
 
 50. To her father, Flavius Julianus, the Synagogue Inspector, 
 his daughter, Flavia Juliana. 
 
 51. Here lie two daughters of the father of the Hebrews, 
 Gadia. 
 
 52. Here lies Gaius, the pious Prostates ; he lived 72 years of 
 age. 
 
 53. To the well-deserved husband, Gaius, Antonina and her 
 son has erected this. 
 
 54. To Gargiglia Eufraxia, his dear wife, Ch***, her husband, 
 has recorded this. She lived 19 years, 3 months, and 12 days. She 
 was well deserving, and merited not so untimely an end. 
 
 55. To GemeDina, the child; lived 1 year and 11 months, 
 Victor, the Grammateus, has erected this. 
 
 56. * :::::; gogue of the Bhodians. 
 
 57. To her husband, Imerus, the well-deserving Mounna, or 
 public trustee, Julia Alexandra has erected this.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 38 
 
 58. Here lies Jocathinus, the young Archont. 
 
 59. Here lies Joses, the sweet infant, 2 years and 8 days old. 
 Procopius, the father, and Crispina, the mother, ask the prayers of 
 the passers-by for peace in his sleep. 
 
 60. To Irenetia, then- daughter, who lived only 2 years, her 
 parents, Fortunatia and Justa, have erected this. 
 
 61. Here lies Judas, a promising Grammateus, aged 25. 
 
 62. Here lies Judas, the child. 
 
 63. Here lies the child Judas, son of the Grammateus Salutius. 
 
 64. To her daughter, Julia, aged 34, Polla erected this. 
 
 65. To his mother, Julia, her son, Castriciup, has erected this. 
 
 66. Console thyself, Julia ^Emilia, only 40 years old. Well 
 hast thou cared for thy loving husband, and he is grateful to thy soul 
 for it. 
 
 67. Here lies Julianus, the Priest Archont, and son of the 
 Archisynagogus, Julianus. 
 
 68. To Justus, the Grammateus, 37 years old a loving son, 
 father, and loving brother Maron, twice Archont, has erected this. 
 
 69. Isodorus Eterus. 
 
 70. To his adopted one, Justus, Menandros has erected this. 
 
 71. Pure and spotless Klaudius Propinquius, of the Synagogue 
 of ''" '-' and Epiphania, her son, who lived 23 years and 6 months. 
 
 72. Klaudius, son of Joses, Archont, lived 35 years. 
 
 73. -""' lies Leontius, son of Leontius. 
 
 74. Lucilla, the blessed, the pride of Sophronius. 
 
 75. Lucinus. 
 
 76. Valerius, the Archont, has erected this to Lucretia, liis 
 wife. She was 23 years old. 
 
 77. Here lies Magna Petronia, wife of Oronatus, aged 45. 
 
 78. Here lies Maria ; she fulfilled 55 years. 
 
 79. Marcellus and his wife, buccessa, have erected this to their 
 dear daughter, Marcella. 
 
 80. Here lies the child, Marcellus. 
 
 81. Marcia, the good Jewess. 
 
 82. To Marcia, his dear wife, erected by ^Elianus. 
 
 83. The dear child, Maria, lies here ; daughter of Procopius. 
 
 84. Marcus Quintus Alexus, Grammateus oi the Augustines, 
 and afterwards Archont of the Synagogue of Augustus. 
 
 85. Here lies Mardeploos, 80 years of age.
 
 84 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 86. Here lies Margarita, who lived 19 years, and with her hus- 
 band 4 years. 
 
 87. To Maro, her husband, and Justus, to his father, he and 
 Maria have erected this. 
 
 88. To the sweetest mother, Melition, age 29 years, her 
 daughter, Dulcilia, has erected this. 
 
 89. Here lies Minaseas, pupil of the wise, and father of the 
 Synagogue (Pater Synagogce . 
 
 90. Nepia Marosa ; lived 4 years. 
 
 91. Here lies Nicodemus, Archont of the Siburesians, beloved 
 by everybody ; aged 30 years and 42 days. 
 
 92. Here lies the virgin, Nometora, aged 18 years. 
 
 93 To her adopted child, Notus, aged 27, Alexandra Severa 
 has inscribed this. He assisted her with his works during his life- 
 time. 
 
 94. Numenius, the Gramniateus. 
 
 95. Numenius, the child, lies here. 
 
 96. Here lies Onoratus, the young Gramniateus, son of Rufus, 
 the Archont ; he lived 6 years and 28 days. 
 
 97. Here lies Onoratus, the blameless Gramniateus, aged 70 
 years, 8 months, and 12 days. Rufus, the Archont, to his amiable 
 father. 
 
 98. Oproman lies here. 
 
 99. Here lies Pancharius, father of the Velian Synagogue, 
 aged 110 years. He led a good life, was a philanthropist, and a 
 friend of all mankind. 
 
 100. Here lies Parthenos among the righteous. 
 
 101. Here lies Parthenicus, son of Clodius, brother of Quintus 
 Claudius Synesius, father of the Synagogue of the Campensians in 
 Rome. 
 
 102. To Petronius, the Grammateus, the pure one, aged 23 
 years, 4 months and 8 days, Onoratus, the father, a Grammateus, 
 and Petronia, his mother, have inscribed this. 
 
 103. To Petronius, the Gramniateus. 
 
 104. Here lies Poeininis, the blameless one ; she lived 96 years, 
 1 month and 18 days. 
 
 105. Here lies Probus, a child that loved his father and mother, 
 age 2 years, 1 month, 13 days, 
 
 106. Here lies Primitiva and her grandchild Euphrenon.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 85 
 
 107. Here lies Quintianus, Gerusiarch of the Synagogue of 
 Augustus, age 54. 
 
 108. Here lies Quintiane, age 26. 
 
 109. Here lies Quirinus Judaeus, age 44. 
 
 110. To her brother, Benatus, Sabbatia has erected this. 
 
 111. lllA. Here lies Eoman Amen, a pious child, and Bufilla 
 Pietas, who, together with Celerina, lived 8 years, 4 months and 15 
 days. 
 
 112. To Sabbatius, his son, Gaius has erected this. 
 
 113. To Sabbatis, daughter of Vibea, 13 years old. 
 
 114. Sabbatis, the wife of Leo, lies here ; 27 years old. 
 
 115. To his dear daughter, Sabbatis, only 3 years old, her 
 father, Lucius ****. 
 
 115A. Here lies Sabbatis, twice Archont, age 35. 
 
 116. To his daughter, Sabina, age 16, Pardus has erected this. 
 
 117. Here lies Sabina. She loved her husband, and was a 
 friend to all. 
 
 118. To his well-deserving wife, Sabine, age 18 years and 
 3 days, Gerinanus has inscribed this to his most perfect wife, 
 who lived 3 years and 3 days in a blissful union. 
 
 119. To the Archont and Archisynagogus Safulus, who worthily 
 filled every honorable post, Eestitua has erected this to her well- 
 deserving husband. 
 
 120. Salbius, a child, aged 7 years. 
 
 121. Here lies Salome, age 10 years and 1 month, daughter of 
 Gadia. father of the Synagogue of the Hebrews. 
 
 122. 122A. Salpingius, a tender child. Here lies Semoel, a 
 young child, 1 year and 2 months old. Be comforted, Samuel ; no 
 one is immortal. 
 
 123. Here lies Sarra, with her son. 
 
 124. To his sweet mother, Severa, her son Severus has erected 
 this. 
 
 125. Simon ***icus, *** son. 
 
 126. Here lies Simplicea, mater Synagogse. She dearly loved 
 her husband, who was also pater Synagogae. 
 
 127. Here lies Synelice, daughter of Ursacius. 
 
 128. Here lies Theophilus, the Gerusiarch, after an exemplary 
 life and beautiful reputation, his sons, Theophilus and Eusebius. 
 have perpetuated the memory of their very dear father.
 
 IK) RFCORDS OF THE .TEWS TN ROME, 
 
 129. Here lie Tobias Barzaarona ; also Pareiorius, son of Tobias 
 Barzaarona. (Repeated both in Latin and Greek). 
 
 130. Throphina, a most agreeable daughter, age 1 year and 10 
 months Throphinus has beautifully inscribed this. 
 
 131. To Tullius Irenseus, her well-beloved husband, ^Elia 
 Patricia, has erected this. He is gone to everlasting life. 
 
 132. ***te, the incomparable Tyresia, Profutura has erected 
 this. 
 
 133. To the well -deserving Ulpia Marina, age 32. 
 
 134. Here lies Ursacia, daughter of the Gerusiarch, Ursacius, 
 of Aquilega. 
 
 135. Here lies Ursus, the Grammateus. age 22 years and TWO 
 years and 3 months to the memory of a bridegroom. 
 
 136. To their dear daughter, Valeria, aged 5 years, 10 months, 
 and 4 days. Valerius and Simonis, parents, have erected this. 
 
 137. Veneroso, aged 17 ; married only 15 months. 
 
 138. Verecundus, the darling child, lies here. 
 
 139. Vitalius, the Grammateus, lies here, aged 8 years and 
 14 days. 
 
 140. Zabuttas, son of the Archont Zabuttas. 
 
 141. Grave of Vesala (locus). She departed this life aged 25. 
 
 142. Here lies Zozimus, and gone to everlasting life ; Archont 
 of the Synagogue of the Agrippans. Also Eullis, xlrchont ; years. 
 
 143. Zoticus, the Archont, lies here, after a beautiful life ; dear 
 to all and friend to all; known to everyone for his virtue, his man- 
 liness, and his ability. 
 
 144. **#***#, the philanthropist. He loved righteousness and 
 the poor. 
 
 145. Eusebius Nev***, pious and steadfast lawyer; aged * 
 years. 
 
 146. Cattia Ammias, daughter of Menophilos, pater Synagogae 
 of the Carcaresians ; lived as a faithful Jewess with her husband for 
 34 years, and of his children she saw the grandchildren. Here lies 
 Cattia Ammia (presumably lier husband was a non-Jew, and may 
 have been one of the so-called Phoboumenoi ton Theori).* 
 
 * I have invariably made use of Dr. Berliner's versions of the Roman 
 Jewish epitaphs.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIBNT CATACOMBS. 87 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 There are now five ancient Jewish cemeteries that have been 
 excavated 
 
 1. In the year 1602, in the Monte Verde, near the Porta 
 Portuensis, Bosio discovered one. and details are given in his Roma 
 Sotteranea, page 191. 
 
 2. On 1st May, 1859, Father Garrucci excavated a very large 
 Jewish cemetery in the Via Appia, and has written a valuable 
 work : Cemetero degli antichi Ebrei scoperto recentcmente tin Vigna 
 Randanini, 1862. 
 
 3. The third discovery was in the vineyard of Count Cimarra, 
 and a full account is given in the Bulletino di Archeologia Cristi- 
 ana, 1867. No. 1. 
 
 4. A fourth cemetery was found in the Via Labicana, dating 
 from the Antonine period. This discovery was in 1883, and the 
 credit is due to Prof. Orazio Marruchi, and he works out full particu- 
 lars and details in a treatise called : Di un nuovo cimitero guidaico 
 scoperta sulla Via Labicana, 1887. 
 
 5. In 1885 Dr. N. Muller found another cemetery in the Via 
 Appia Pignatelli, but as yet he has only given a short paper on 
 the subject, " In den Mitteilungen des Kaiserlich Deutschen In- 
 stituts," Band 1, S. 49-56; but we hope to have more information 
 on some important points revealed in inscriptions now for the 
 very first time. Renan and the Abbe Perreau have attached the 
 highest historical importance to these discoveries. 
 
 EXPRESSIONS USED. 
 
 1. Gerusiarch. We find the term used in inscription 107. 
 Quintianus Gerusiarch, of the Synagogue of Augustus ; likewise 
 Asterius, Ursacius Theophilus, Pancharius, these are all described as 
 Gerusiarchs. These were the chief of the Gerusia, or council, which 
 each Synagogue appointed to direct its secular affairs. 
 
 2. Archont he was the executive officer to carry out the 
 decrees of the Gerusia, and to inquire into the needs of the poor. 
 
 3. Archisynagogus was the chief presbyter, who was responsible 
 for the religious services. 
 
 4. Pater Synagogae, his function was to look after the sick and 
 dying, to superintend the burial services, and to console the bereaved.
 
 38 RECORDS OF THE JEWS IN ROME, 
 
 Mater Synagogae had similar functions, so far as regards women, 
 but she had also to look after orphan girls, as well as poor maidens 
 who were about to get married, and to help them with material 
 comfort and advice. 
 
 5. Euperetes, or Inspector, his office was to be attached in all 
 functions to the archisynagogus and pater Synagogse ; they were 
 generally men of legal training, to see that no rite or ceremony 
 should infringe the Roman laws. 
 
 6. Grammateus, Nepios, and Mello-grammateus were lawyers 
 and students attached to the congregation. 
 
 7. Nomomathes, and 
 
 8. Madethes Sophon were men, eloquent and learned in the 
 law, and students who could speak as well as teach. 
 
 9. Prostates; in Latin, Patronus. We find this term in inscrip- 
 tion 52 (Here lies Gaius, the pious prostates; he lived 72 years). 
 His office was to act as the legate from the Synagogue to the Roman 
 Government ; he was recognised by both as the official medium to 
 conduct negociations between the Synagogue and the State. 
 
 10. Praefectus, or Mounna, he was the trustee of the Syna- 
 gogue, in whom was vested the property of the community ; and 
 probably acted as general public trustee for the entire congregation, 
 individually as well as collectively. 
 
 SYNAGOGUES. 
 
 We find by dint of these inscriptions evidence of the site of 
 synagogues, their existence hitherto being merely traditionary folk- 
 lore. 
 
 1. The Synagogue of Augustus. The spot is supposed to be 
 occupied now by the Church of Salvatore. Lately, in dredging the 
 Tiber near the Porta Settimiana, a tablet was found bearing the 
 name of JASON DIS ARCHON, evidently being a portion detached 
 from the walls of the Synagogue of Augustus, and in memory of the 
 Archon JASON. 
 
 2. The Synagogue of the Agrippans, probably named after 
 Marcus Agrippa, a Roman Governor, and a benefactor of the Jews. 
 Josephus mentions this incident in his Antiquities, xvi, 2, 8. 
 
 3. Synagogue Campus was situated in the Campius Martius, 
 and is often mentioned in epitaphs, therefore it seems to have been 
 an important congregation.
 
 AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT CATACOMBS. 39 
 
 4. The Synagogue Campus and Bolumnus. We often find the 
 names of two districts attached to a synagogue. The inference seems 
 to be by experienced archaeologists, that the Bolumnus Synagogue 
 may have become impoverished, joined or amalgamated with a 
 sister synagogue, and incorporated the name of the former com- 
 munity. 
 
 5. Synagogue of the Siburesians was situated in the old dis- 
 trict of Suburra, the centre of the commercial world of the old 
 Eomans, like Lombard Street in London, or Castle Street, Liverpool. 
 The synagogue was also known as the Synagogue of the Emperor 
 Severus, probably in memory of his benefactions. This emperor bore 
 the nickname in Eome of Archisynagogus, from his friendly disposi- 
 tion to the Jews ; just like the anti-Semites in our day nicknamed 
 the late Emperor Frederick of Germany the Emperor of the Jews. 
 
 6. The Synagogue of Velia. This was situated near the Pala- 
 tine Hill. 
 
 7. The Synagogue of the Hebrews. So called because it was 
 the place of worship founded by Little Jewry from Jerusalem, and 
 those who could speak neither Latin nor Greek ; and it was probably 
 also the place of worship of Samaritans, numbers of whom lived in 
 Eome. They called themselves Hebrews, and not Jews, because 
 they were not of Jewish blood. This synagogue was extra muros, 
 outside the Portuensis gate. 
 
 8. The Synagogue of the Calcarians, situated near the Circus 
 Maximus. 
 
 9. The Synagogue of the Ehodians. We are unable to trace 
 the locale of this community, although it seems to have been a very 
 important one. 
 
 These appear to be the important Synagogues referred to in the 
 inscriptions from the catacombs, but there is good evidence to show 
 that there may have been more than a hundred meeting-houses (or 
 chapels, as we should term them now) all over the city, branches 
 of the various important synagogues. The population of the Jews 
 in the Roman metropolis has been variously estimated some say 
 80,000; others estimate the number as high as 125,000, but the 
 probable number would be between the various conflicting state- 
 ments. It would be safer to consider from 90,000 to 100,000 the 
 probable Jewish population of the capital of the Empire.
 
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