UC-NRLF 
 
 342 
 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN'IA. 
 
 THE SLOSS COLLECTION OF THE SEMITIC LIKKAKV 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 LOUIS SLOSS. v 
 
 FEBRUARY. 1897. 
 
 . QJSS No. 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
it. 
 
 " Ma ny shall be purified^ and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do 
 mckedly : and none of the wicked shall understand ; but the wise shall understand. 
 
 DANIEL xii. 10. 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE JEWS IN ROME 
 
 B.C. 1 60 A.D. 604. 
 
 E.. H. HUDSON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LOUISA, QUEEN OF PRUSSIA," "QUEEN BERTHA AND 
 HER TIMES," " THE ROYAL MAUSOLEUM, FROGMORE," ETC. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXII. 
 J 
 
Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 I THINK this book will not be found dull and 
 lifeless, for while seeking, viewing in different lights, 
 and blending the materials of which it is composed, 
 I have felt myself carried back to my own youthful 
 days. History was then my favourite study, which 
 I ardently pursued, guided by a dear mother the 
 Reader to our happy home circle. Then I learned 
 to love books suitable for reading in the family ; 
 consequently that is the character I wish to give to 
 every one of my own literary productions. 
 
 With regard to this compilation, being unacquainted 
 with the dead languages, I could not draw from original 
 Greek and Latin sourc^s^Ixould but make use of what 
 has been given to the world by laborious students 
 who have accomplished successful literary work, I 
 could but select from among the vast multitude of 
 events and facts, and the conflicting ideas which have 
 resulted from them through many generations of men, 
 such as most forcibly struck out sparks of thought 
 from my own mind, and suited my purpose. 
 
 The history of the Jews and the history of Rome 
 were not new to me ; but while putting them together 
 I have been led to see much that I had never before 
 perceived, to see things worth reflecting on, which 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 leads me to hope the book is worth offering to the 
 public. 
 
 I studied my subject in Rome. The standard works 
 from which I have collected information will be found 
 foot-noted ; I have most freely made use of " The 
 History of the Romans under the Empire" with the 
 kind and full permission of Dean Merivale, of Ely. 
 
 From the lively, graphic descriptions by Dr. J. G. 
 Sheppard in his Fall of Rome, and by Lord Mahon 
 (afterwards Earl Stanhope) in his Belisarius, I have 
 given ideas of the state of society, and incidents that 
 occurred during the conflicts with barbarians ; and when 
 wishing to put before young readers a general view of 
 the catacombs, I repeated Dr. Maitland's simple and 
 clear statements of what he saw and what he learned in 
 those sepulchral passages and chambers, yet not with- 
 out reference to more recent works on the subject than 
 " The Church in the Catacombs!' 
 
 This historical sketch begins with the first treaty 
 made between the Romans and the Jews, and is carried 
 up to the Barbaric or Chaotic period, out of which, a 
 little later on, the modern nations emerged under the 
 influence, and impelled by the increasing power, of the 
 Church of Rome. Earnestly and undauntedly had she 
 laboured for the conversion of the wild pagans, and 
 had attached them to herself, and her alliance with 
 Charlemagne was a master-stroke of policy by which 
 she revived the Empire, and secured its allegiance to 
 
 herself. 
 
 E. H. H. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS .... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS OESAR . . . . 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 UNDER THE CLAUDII . . .. * . . . 6 7 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE . . . . . * 97 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIERY TRIAL 123 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ROMANS IN JUDEA .. . . ... 153 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE TRIUMPH . 185 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 UNDER THE YOKE .... i ... 209 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE . 235 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN THE AGE OF CONST ANTINE . . . .271 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS .... 295 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WHEN IMPERIAL POWER FELL, AND PAPAL POWER ROSE 321 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW . . . 355 
 
 APPENDIX . . .... 379 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 
 
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make 
 thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that 
 bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ; and in thee shall all families of 
 the earth be blessed." GEN. xii. 2, 3. 
 
 " But then there came a voice, and still 
 Its words through all my being thrill ; 
 Yet whether to the soul they came, 
 Flashed inwards like the levin-flame, 
 Or whether on the ear they fell, 
 In spoken words, I cannot tell. 
 ' Abram,' it said, ' I bid thee come 
 Forth from thy kindred and thy home 
 To a far land which I will show, 
 Where I will make thy name to grow : 
 The favour of thy God possessing, 
 Thou shalt be blessed, and be a blessing.' " 
 
 From f( The Call of Abraham " By Hankinson. 
 
i. 
 
 I 
 
 THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS-. 
 
 JEHOVAH'S ancient people ! The most wonderful 
 people on the face of the earth, in the grandest of 
 earth's many cities ; for though modern cities may 
 now vie with Rome, or may surpass her in world-wide 
 power, in commercial activity, in internal magnificance, 
 yet which of them has such a history can srrow at 
 once such evidences of a most glorious past, tokens of 
 present life and growth actual prosperity, bearing hope- 
 ful signs of future advancement ? 
 
 When we read in the eighth chapter of the First Book 
 of Maccabees of the beginning of intercourse between 
 the Jews and the Romans, we see that they could 
 previously have known very little of one another, 
 scarcely as much as the Chinese knew of us when 
 Queen Victoria ascended the throne ; though more than 
 five hundred and eighty years had elapsed since the 
 foundation of Rome. 
 
 "Now Judas had heard of the fame of the Romans, that 
 they were mighty and valiant men, and such as would lovingly 
 accept all that joined themselves unto them, and make a league 
 of amity with all that came unto them. * * * 
 
 " Also, that whom they would help to a kingdom, those 
 reign ; and whom again they would, they displace : finally, 
 that they were greatly exalted. Yet, for all this, none of them 
 wore a crown, or was clothed in purple, to be magnified 
 
4 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 thereby. Moreover, how they had made for themselves a 
 senate house, wherein three hundred and twenty men sat in 
 council daily, consulting always for the people, to the end 
 they might be well ordered ; and that they committed their 
 government to one man every year, who ruled over all their 
 country, and that all were obedient to that one, and that there 
 was neither envy nor emulation among them. In considera- 
 tion of these things, Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, 
 the son of Accos, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and sent them 
 to Rome to make a league of amity and confederacy with 
 them ; and to entreat them that they would take the yoke 
 from them ; for they saw that the kingdom of the Grecians 
 did oppress Israel with servitude. They went therefore to 
 Rome, which was a very great journey, and came into the 
 senate, where they spake and said 
 
 "' Judas Maccabeus, with his brethren and the people of 
 the Jews, have sent us unto you, to make a confederacy and 
 peace with you, and that we might be registered your con- 
 federates and friends.' 
 
 " So that matter pleased the Romans well." 
 
 Four centuries had rolled away since the Prophet 
 Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream. All 
 devout Jews, being acquainted with their Scriptures, 
 must have been familiar with the words of that unful- 
 filled prophecy. Conjectures must have been formed 
 as to the meaning of the signs, yet little could Judas 
 and his councillors foresee that the nation who entrusted 
 their government every year to one man, who wore 
 neither crown nor purple robe, would prove to be the 
 kingdom strong as iron which would break in pieces and 
 bruise all other kingdoms. In happy ignorance of this 
 hidden truth, the ambassadors must have been agree- 
 ably influenced by the favourable reception they met 
 with, and deeply impressed with what they saw in the 
 great city. Such impressions could not fail to produce 
 lasting results on their own minds, which would naturally 
 be communicated to their fellow-countrymen on their 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 5 
 
 return to Judea : but of these two men, Eupolemus and 
 Jason, we know only their names, and the names of 
 their fathers. Of the general character of the Jews of 
 that generation we have some means of judging, and a 
 thoughtful historian who has considered the subject has 
 distinctly put it before us. 
 
 " After the return from captivity in Babylon, a singular alter- 
 ation in the character of the Jews displayed itself. Before they 
 had been in Babylon they had been too prone on every occasion 
 to adopt the practices and habits of adjacent nations; they 
 now secluded themselves from the rest of the world in proud 
 assurance of their own religious superiority. The law which 
 before was perpetually violated, or almost forgotten, was now 
 by general consent enforced to its extreme points, and even 
 beyond. Their city, their native land, their religious ceremonies, 
 became the objects of a too passionate attachment. Inter- 
 marriages with foreigners, neither forbidden by the statute, nor 
 by the former practice, were strictly inhibited. The observance 
 of the Sabbath, and even of the sabbatical year, was enforced 
 with unprecedented rigour, such as we do not hear of in their 
 earlier annals, even to the neglect of defence in time of war. 
 In short, from this period commences that unsocial spirit, that 
 hatred towards mankind, and want of humanity to all but their 
 own kindred, with which the Jews are branded by all the 
 Roman writers."* 
 
 Thus had the national character of God's own peculiar 
 people deteriorated under trials which had tended to 
 swell their hearts with unholy pride, and to lead them 
 dangerously near to the hidden snares of selfishness and 
 hypocrisy, developing the evil dispositions, of which we 
 read in the New Testament, as being severely rebuked 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet every generation, even 
 the most crooked and perverse, had its righteous men 
 true sons of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, and of 
 Abraham, who under God's blessing and direction went 
 
 * From Milman's " History of the Jews." 
 
6 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 forth from his country, his kindred, and his father's house, 
 that his faith and obedience might be a blessing to the 
 world at large. Always the Hebrew Church, instituted 
 by God's covenant with Abraham, has had members 
 worthy of the calling, men who might well be likened to 
 good seed widely sown by a careful prescient Husband- 
 maji. Numbers of Israelitish colonies had grown up out 
 of families, or bands of exiles, which were prospering in 
 distant lands. King Nebuchadnezzar had driven those 
 men, or their fathers, out of the Holy Land and the 
 surrounding countries ; but under the most trying cir- 
 cumstances God will provide for His faithful people, so 
 the exiles had increased wonderfully, and in course of 
 time many of them had obtained freedom, and had 
 planted themselves, or been planted by their rulers, all 
 over Babylonia, in Media and Persia, and had even 
 pushed their way to China. According to Hannenburg, 
 the Israelites of China belonged to the Ten Tribes.* 
 
 The Jews who were carried away from Judea as 
 prisoners by the Ptolemies, who afterwards made use of 
 them as soldiers, settled very numerously in all parts of 
 Egypt, especially in Alexandria, and in course of time 
 scattered themselves in small colonies along the north 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 Under the government of the Selucidae the Jews pros- 
 pered ; their aptitude and taste for commerce, their 
 intelligence and activity, and the faithful spirit in which 
 they served their conquerors, was justly appreciated ; 
 and their being well placed in that part of the world, 
 opened to their brethren in Judea the roads to Syria 
 and Asia Minor, to Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and Italy. In 
 most of the towns in those countries a Jewish quarter 
 was formed, and a synagogue rose, perhaps near a 
 * " Rome et la Jude," page 108 of vol. i. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. ^ 
 
 heathen temple. Colonies of other races likewise had 
 their quarters, and their places of worship in every one 
 of the towns of chief importance in the ancient world. 
 
 The Jews readily acquired the languages of the people 
 among whom they sojourned, or whom they visited for 
 the purposes of traffic or usury. At an early period they 
 began to thrive on money lending.* 
 
 Then, as now, the Hebrew language was used in 
 synagogues, and rabbis and well-educated Jews were 
 acquainted with it, but did not speak it, consequently 
 it rapidly became almost a dead language, as even the 
 Jews in the Holy Land, after their return from the 
 captivity, generally spoke Chaldean mixed with Syrian. 
 
 More than two hundred years before the Christian 
 era the ideas and opinions of the Hebrews were strong 
 enough in Egypt and Syria to attract the attention of 
 the rulers of those countries, who began to see that 
 these new elements introduced into society were impor- 
 tant. Their action was not always checked ; for when 
 Antioch, the capital of Syria, was founded, equal rights 
 of citizenship were given to the Jews as to the heathen. 
 Subsequently there grew up in Syria and Asia Minor, 
 and in some of the islands in that part of the world, a 
 body of Greek teachers who positively taught mono- 
 theism. Three of these philosophers at different times 
 emigrated to Athens. 
 
 The first who did so, Zeno, taught in a stoa or porch, 
 whence those who followed his system were called 
 Stoics. They grew into a highly esteemed and very 
 numerous body of teachers, whose disciples passed on 
 from Greece to Rome. May not faith in the God of 
 Abraham, the one Almighty God, and morality, which 
 
 * "Rome et la Jude'e." Par Mons. le Comte de Champagny, 
 de 1' Academic Fran^aise. Paris, 1870. 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 inculcates a sense of duty towards God and man, be 
 still justly looked upon as the porch at the door of the 
 Church ? 
 
 The Jews believed that the heathen gods were doomed 
 to be destroyed and forgotten, so also thought the Stoics, 
 who likewise derided idols and their temples. The 
 Jews, excepting the Sadducees, believed in a resurrection, 
 and they looked forward to the purifying of the earth 
 by a universal fire, which would inaugurate a new era. 
 They believed that God required men to obtain firm 
 command over their passions and appetites ; therefore, in 
 that licentious age the Stoics set a good example, and 
 notwithstanding the austerity of their sentiments and 
 manners, many of them gained the admiration and re- 
 gard of intelligent men, and the sect continued to increase 
 in number, to spread, and obtain influence. 
 
 The books of the Maccabees relate to an interesting 
 period of ancient church history. The heart of Judas 
 Maccabeus is not laid open to us by the word of God, 
 we can only know him historically as a brave patriot, 
 who ended a noble, energetic life by an heroic death. 
 As far as Judas was personally concerned, the alliance 
 he had made with the Romans was quite unavailing; the 
 treaty was concluded BC. 1 60, and before the close of 
 that year the gallant chieftain had been defeated and 
 slain in the battle of Azotus. 
 
 When we read of the struggle so earnestly, so strenu- 
 ously made by the Jews under the command of the 
 Asmonean princes, the question naturally arises, Why 
 were they not blessed with success ? 
 
 Was their strong desire and endeavour to free their 
 country, and to establish its independence, the primary 
 motive with many of them, rather than the promotion of 
 God's honour and glory ? Certainly it was not so with 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HE RODS. 9 
 
 those who refused to save their lives by denying the 
 faith. Or, was it contrary to the decree of the Almighty 
 Ruler, that at this period of her history the kingdom of 
 Judah should rise eminently, after a long career of wil- 
 fulness and disobedience, during which she, who ought 
 to have been an example to all other nations, had shown 
 herself unworthy of her high privileges, for she had not, 
 as a nation, walked consistently in the light from heaven 
 by which she was encompassed ?* 
 
 The time appointed for her visitation was drawing 
 near, her King was coming quickly, and He was to find 
 the land of His father David, not one of the great powers 
 of the world, but a land about to be forsaken of both 
 her kings, though the sceptre had not entirely departed 
 when Shiloh came.t 
 
 The calamities of the Jews at this time appear like 
 divine chastisements falling on a guilty, rebellious nation ; 
 but as we read the books of Maccabees, we are astonished 
 by the numerous instances of individuals and of whole 
 families who exhibited religious heroism in all its noblest 
 and grandest aspects. We cannot help thinking that 
 such men suffered more on account of the sins of their 
 country and their kindred than on their own. Is not 
 this Christ-like ? The early Christians thought so, and 
 included them among the Christian martyrs, whose death- 
 days they observed as festivals, in commemoration of 
 patience, courage, resignation, self-sacrifice, and the 
 trustful faith that gives everything up calmly into the 
 hands of God, as the mother gave her seven sons, and 
 they were ready to die, to give their lives for the cove- 
 nant of their fathers. 
 
 The Maccabees and their loyal adherents, as Bishop 
 
 * i Mace. i. ii 13 ; Jer. vii. 2 5, viii. 3, 5 8, 12, 13. 
 t Gen. xlix. 10. 
 
io HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Wordsworth says, "were delivered by God, not from 
 death, but by death. They were freed from this death- 
 like life of ours into that glorious life which never dies, 
 and which we hope will be ours on the other side of the 
 grave. They looked upon their death-day as their birth- 
 day, their birthday to life eternal, and they rejoiced in 
 it as such. The speeches of the Maccabean martyrs and 
 confessors clearly show that they had a lively faith in 
 the immortality of the soul, and in the resurrection of 
 the body, and that they looked upon the grave, not as a 
 dreary place, but as a bright passage to that blessed 
 region in which they would dwell for ever in* glory." 
 Bishop Wordsworth points out most remarkable points 
 of resemblance between their times and our own. There 
 was no open vision,* no miracles were worked to guide 
 or to save them ; they had no prophets among them, but 
 they were themselves the subjects of prophecy. They 
 could read in the book of Daniel of martyrs who would 
 not be delivered as he had been from the lion's den, but 
 who would die for the truth ; but their sufferings would 
 not be for destruction, but to try them, and purify them, 
 and make them white, and that the people who knew 
 their God would be strong, and do exploits ; that the 
 persecutor would be cut off; that at length the end 
 would come, according to the words of the Prophet, 
 " And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every 
 one that shall be found written in the book. And many 
 of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
 some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
 lasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn 
 many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 
 " It was faith in these glorious revelations which 
 * As in the days of Samuel's childhood (i Sam. iii. i). 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. II 
 
 enabled the Maccabees to act and to suffer as they 
 did."* 
 
 When Judas Maccabeus had fallen, Jonathan, who 
 had generously submitted to a brother younger than 
 himself, was called to the front. He was prudent as he 
 was brave ; for he affected a reconciliation with the 
 Syrians, and placed himself on friendly terms with the 
 new king. 
 
 Jonathan sent another embassy to Rome, which, like 
 the former, was favourably received; but misfortunes 
 again followed on this measure. Jonathan, lured to his 
 own destruction, was captured and massacred with a 
 thousand of his soldiers by the tyrant Trypho, who, 
 while guardian of the young king of Syria, aimed at 
 obtaining the crown of that distracted country, and as a 
 preliminary step he deprived young Antiochus of an 
 ally likely to have proved faithful to him. 
 
 Simon also perished, a victim of the basest treachery; 
 thus the three great Maccabean princes prematurely fell. 
 Nevertheless, the struggle fitfully continued long after 
 their death. 
 
 The pontifical and regal powers were united in the 
 Asmonean princes, though it is doubtful which of them 
 was the first to assume the title of king. 
 
 Aristobulus and his younger brother, Alexander, who 
 succeeded him, bore both the titles of high priest and 
 king. Alexander, who was passionately fond of war, 
 died while prosecuting a siege. He had bequeathed 
 the kingdom to his wife, Alexandra. Their elder son, 
 Hyrcanus, was, on the death of his father, made high 
 priest, as he had no talent for the arrangement of state 
 affairs, and no taste for war: their younger son, Aristo- 
 
 * See " The Maccabees and the Church," by Chr. Wordsworth, 
 D.D., commenting on Daniel xii. I 3. 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 bulus, was to succeed his mother on the throne. " The 
 Pharisees, who were becoming a very powerful sect, 
 gained undue influence over the queen, became directors 
 of the state, assuming at their pleasure to banish and 
 recall, to loose and to bind." * 
 
 Under this state of things the people became dissatis- 
 fied and refractory, and were easily excited and divided 
 into factions by ambitious leaders. These times were 
 terribly turbulent ; while the Jews were quarrelling 
 among themselves, and at last they dragged the Romans 
 into the conflict. Aristobulus the Second entreated the 
 assistance of the Romans, whose armies were then in 
 Syria and Asia Minor, under the command of Pompey. 
 The consequences of this step were fatal to the Jews. 
 The Romans had never really done them any good, had 
 rendered them little or no assistance, although they had 
 accepted valuable presents from the Maccabean princes ; 
 and now Pompey and even his emissaries treated with 
 both the contending parties, accepting all their gifts, and 
 making fair promises to each in return. Aristobulus, 
 on discovering this, with natural indignation, quitted the 
 camp of Pompey without rendering him the customary 
 tokens of respect. The haughty Romans immediately 
 entered Judea and besieged Jerusalem. Twelve thou- 
 sand Jews perished by the sword, besides numbers who 
 destroyed themselves rather than fall into the hands of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Judea was to be governed by a procurator from Rome ; 
 the whole country was completely reduced to a Roman 
 province by the proud conqueror, who had received the 
 homage of twelve crowned heads at once. Deeply was 
 he to drink of the bitter cup he had often mixed for 
 others he was to be defeated, basely betrayed, deca- 
 * " The Jewish War." By Josephus. Book i., chap. v. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HE RODS. 13 
 
 pitated, and his head despatched to his rival, Julius 
 Caesar. But Pompey the Great was in the zenith of his 
 glory when he sent King Aristobulus and his family, 
 consisting of two sons and two daughters, as prisoners 
 to Rome. The elder son contrived to escape, all the 
 other members of the Jewish royal family lived as 
 captives in Rome. At the same time vast numbers of 
 Jews were sent into the city, most of whom were publicly 
 sold in the market-place as slaves. 
 
 Slavery was not altogether an unknown condition 
 among the Jews ; bond-service was permitted under the 
 Mosaic dispensation, but the institution differed essen- 
 tially from that which prevailed in heathen nations. 
 Slavery among the Jews could arise legally either from 
 captivity in war, insolvency, or from inability to make 
 restitution in case of theft. But as it existed among 
 the Jews, to those of Hebrew descent, it was little more 
 than servitude or apprenticeship is now among ourselves, 
 and the Jewish law gave many injunctions to secure the 
 humane treatment of slaves.* But by the laws of Rome 
 they were considered "chattels," were bought, sold, 
 exchanged, could be punished to any extent, and even 
 put to death by their master. They could not appeal 
 to any court of law, unless some benevolent citizen 
 allowed the appeal to be made in his name ; for the slave 
 had no legal rights ; even the wives and children of slaves 
 belonged, not to husbands and fathers, but to the master. 
 Tyranny was in the ascendency, culminating to the 
 highest point it has ever attained ; and when we read of 
 cruel despotism on the throne, we may be sure it as 
 
 * Lev. xxv. 39 55 ; Exod. xxi. 20, 21, 26, 27, xx. 10 ; Deut. 
 v. 14, xii. 17, 18, xxv. 4. They might redeem themselves, or be 
 redeemed by another, by purchase equal to the value of the re- 
 maining years of service (Lev. xxv. 47, 53, 40, 41). 
 
I 4 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 a rule existed in families and in households of every 
 description. Gibbon thus describes family life : " Woman 
 was defined by the laws of Rome, not as a person, but 
 as a thing, who could be claimed like other moveables. 
 She was treated as the slave of man, not as his help- 
 mate, companion, and best friend : the husband held 
 most absolute power over the wife and daughter, could 
 even put them to death for the most trifling offences. 
 In his father's house the son was confounded by the 
 laws with the other property, the cattle and the slaves. 
 The parent was responsible to no earthly tribunal. Ac- 
 cording to his discretion, a father might chastise his 
 children by stripes, by imprisonment, by exile, by 
 sending them to work with the meanest of his servants. 
 The parent held the power of life and death ; infants 
 and sickly or otherwise unpromising children were often 
 put out of the way by fathers or mothers who did not 
 care to have the trouble of bringing them up ; and it 
 was considered a disgrace, as well as a misfortune, for 
 parents to have a family consisting only of daughters."* 
 Since such was the lot of members of the family, 
 that of the slave must have been sad indeed. Even 
 well-born, well-educated men and women might be, by 
 force or fraud, in peace or war, converted into slaves, 
 whose lives, in every sense of the word, were held 
 entirely at the mercy of a fellow-man. In Rome 
 the aristocrats were generally more cruelly disposed 
 towards slaves, than were citizens of the popular party. 
 Rich men held slaves by thousands, and perhaps took 
 pride in having them from diverse nationalities. Many 
 slaves were purchased for their capacity as pugilists, 
 wrestlers, or gladiators, and not a few because of per- 
 sonal beauty, or for capacity as clowns or jesters. The 
 
 * Gibbon's " Decline and Fall," chap. xliv. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 15 
 
 aggregation into one mass of human beings, without 
 moral or other discipline, with no common objects, 
 and many of them trained to fighting, could not but 
 cause unhappiness and crime and danger to society.* 
 Many masters thought chiefly of curbing their slaves 
 rigorously and heartlessly, to keep them in order. 
 Nevertheless, when the head of a house was a noble- 
 minded man, and there were many noble Romans, the 
 unlimited power he held enabled him to do a great 
 deal of good, and to soften down the hardships, and 
 brighten the lives of all around him. This is illus- 
 trated in the life of Terence, the dramatic poet, a 
 native of Carthage, brought to Rome as a captive 
 slave, and bought by P. Terentius Lucanus, a senator, 
 who, perceiving that the boy had excellent abilities, 
 bestowed on him a superior education, and then emanci- 
 pated him, and permitted him to take his own name, 
 which was often done when a master liberated a slave 
 to whom he had become attached. Scipio, who had 
 taste for literature, took great interest in this lad, 
 one of the many who had lost their freedom and been 
 expatriated by his own conquests, and those of his 
 distinguished relatives ; and being pleased with the 
 young poet's writings, he introduced him into the most 
 refined and intellectual circles in Rome. From the 
 works of Terence we can gather that in his master's 
 family, while still a slave, he was kindly treated. He 
 saw home life under so happy an aspect, that in after 
 years it was refreshing to look back on, when, as 
 an author, he had to battle with the world, appre- 
 ciated by some, envied and calumniated by others. 
 Referring to his own hard experiences, he remarks : 
 
 * " Judaism at Rome, B.C. 76 to A.D. 140." By Frederick Huide- 
 koper. New York. p. 89. 
 
16 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 "I have found nothing so advantageous as mildness 
 and a forgiving disposition ; " and, " remembering that, 
 as I am a human being, I ought to consider none of 
 the incidents which befall my fellow-creatures to be 
 matters of unconcern to me." 
 
 The sentiments expressed by Terence show that his 
 impressions of domestic life were such as had tended 
 to give refined feelings and a good tone of mind ; 
 his heart had not withered, as one might have imagined 
 would be the case with a captive taken from his country, 
 and sold as a slave. He writes of home, as the place 
 in which children may receive the best instruction. 
 He says, " As fathers form their children, so they prove. 
 .... I know it is better to bind your children to you 
 by a feeling of respect and gentleness, than by fear." 
 
 Philo, the Jewish historian, tells us that the Jews 
 captured by Pompey were emancipated almost without 
 exception by their generous masters, who were unwill- 
 ing to do violence to their religious scruples. If this 
 be true, surely it must be attributed to a wholesome 
 fear of the great God of the Jews, of whose wonderful 
 works they heard, not only from the Jews, but also 
 from the soldiers lately returned from the East. Dean 
 Milman suggests that probably there were opulent 
 commercial Jews already in Rome, who with their 
 usual national spirit purchased, to the utmost of their 
 means, their unhappy fellow-countrymen, and enabled 
 them to settle in freedom, to begin a new life in the 
 great metropolis of the world. It is certain that from 
 this time forward great numbers of Jewish freed men 
 inhabited Rome. Jews themselves now tell us that the 
 Roman masters found Jewish slaves unfit for service, 
 and continual causes of difficulty and inconvenience, 
 on account of the peculiar manners and customs to 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HE RODS. 17 
 
 which they were so religiously attached, that it proved 
 impossible to train them for servitude. 
 
 All that we read concerning the state of bondage, 
 as it existed in the age or day on which the Sun of 
 righteousness arose to lighten Our dark world, helps 
 us to realize the full meaning and force of the blessed 
 word Redemption, as it must have been felt and un- 
 derstood in that day, when taught by the common 
 experience of daily life. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival, Aristobulus was joined 
 by his elder son, but they were both quickly put out of 
 Pompey's way ; the king was poisoned, and the prince 
 seized and beheaded. Some time afterwards Antony 
 sent the body of Aristobulus home to Jerusalem, where 
 it was buried in the royal sepulchre. 
 
 Antigonus, the younger son of the deceased king, 
 retired to Chalchis, where he waited the opportunity for 
 asserting his right to the crown of Judaea. 
 
 Meanwhile that country and also Galilee and the 
 adjacent districts constituted a Roman province, go- 
 verned by a procurator. Generally speaking, countries 
 subjugated by the superior power submitted quietly to 
 their fate. Their people felt at first crushed, well 
 knowing that further efforts to assert independence 
 must be worse than useless, and under Roman govern- 
 ment they soon became reconciled to the change. The 
 legions stationed in their midst at first overawed them, 
 but these were mainly recruited from the inhabitants of 
 the land, and became fixed to the districts which they 
 defended. This system had a tranquilizing effect on 
 the popular mind ; not a few of the men grew proud of 
 being considered Roman soldiers, proud of their con- 
 nection with Rome, though they had never seen that 
 great city, the far-famed mistress of the world. " As 
 
 2 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 state after state was annexed, the conquering general 
 was allowed, with the help of a commission of instruc- 
 tions from the senate, to define the political condi- 
 tions of the country, and to lay down the provincial 
 laws. The object of this was mainly to fix the amount 
 of tithe and tribute, to map out the countries lately 
 acquired into assize districts for the courts of justice, 
 and to give or to withhold special privileges in the case 
 of those who had been most marked as friends or foes. 
 But the Roman statesmen were always tolerant of local 
 customs, and did not attempt to obtain uniformity of 
 system. They broke up political unions, or federations 
 that had been strong and might still be dangerous, but 
 they respected the religion of conquered nations, and 
 all other old forms of national life, and let their subjects 
 manage their own affairs, for the most part, as they 
 pleased. Each country held its separate life with 
 varying customs that had been slowly shaped in the 
 course of ages, and every part of it enjoyed a large 
 measure of self-government.* In Egypt the laws of 
 Ptolemy were still respected, as were those of Hiero in 
 Sicily, and of Solon in Athens. 
 
 To this general rule the Jews formed no positive 
 exception, although, for obvious reasons, those peculiar 
 people did not mix with their fellow-subjects of the 
 empire as readily and thoroughly as others ; yet in pro- 
 cess of time a kind of amalgamation was effected, and 
 the people, when not stirred up by ambitious leaders, 
 grew disposed towards submission and peace. 
 
 Antipater, procurator of the province including Judaea 
 and the neighbouring districts, was an Idumean. Idu- 
 mea and Galilee had, under the rule of the Maccabees, 
 
 * " Epochs of Roman History : The Early Empire." By W. W. 
 Copes, M.A. pp. 1 8 1, 182. London : Longman and Co. 1879. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 19 
 
 become converted to the knowledge of the one true 
 God, though they had not adopted everything pertain- 
 ing to the religion of the Jews. The people generally 
 acknowledged God and forsook idols, though they were 
 still very ignorant and superstitious ; and the educated 
 classes accepted with reverence the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 which had been translated into Greek. 
 
 Antipater appointed his eldest son tetrarch, or mili- 
 tary governor of Jerusalem and the country immediately 
 round that city, and he sent Herod, his son next in age, 
 into Galilee, with equal authority and the same title, 
 although he was then a mere youth. The young Idu- 
 mean chief proved himself equal to the position, and 
 he gained a quite romantic reputation by the adventures 
 he met with in his expeditions against the brigands, 
 who infested the border-land between Judaea and Syria. 
 Herod caught and put to death a notorious robber, who 
 for years had alarmed and disturbed the country, and 
 had made travelling or conveying goods so dangerous, 
 that, for mutual protection, people congregated in very 
 large parties to perform a journey. His achievements 
 gave him the renown always gratifying to a young 
 hero ; made him so great a favourite with the people, 
 that songs were composed in his honour, and sung 
 in the villages and towns in praise of him who had 
 come among them to deliver them from the terrible 
 freebooter, and to give them the blessings of peace. 
 The fame of his exploits made Herod known, through 
 Sextus Caesar, governor of Syria, to Julius Caesar, who 
 interested himself in the young Idumean Jew and his 
 prospects. 
 
 Before the Christian era the ancient pagan religions 
 had begun to be widely and forcibly shaken to their 
 very foundations by the unseen, unsuspected power 
 
 TV 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of Jewish influence in favour of monotheism. Jewish 
 views had gained rapid foothold at Rome ; multitudes 
 of Gentiles, without adopting Judaism, had adopted 
 monotheism. Wherever belief in a moral Ruler of the 
 universe was diffused, civilization received an impetus. 
 Belief in such a Ruler gave encouragement to, and sense 
 of responsibility for, a right use of life. A difficulty 
 experienced by modern missionaries confronted the 
 Jews in their first efforts. The Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages contained no term for the one Supreme Being. 
 The word " God " was a common noun, as our word 
 man. The heathen use of the word " God " was 
 analogous. We say, " Man proposes, God disposes." 
 
 By man we mean any mortal. A Greek or Roman 
 would equally have understand the word " god " as 
 meaning any divine being. To meet this difficulty the 
 Jews connected with the word God, or substituted for 
 it, adjectives which would partly at least convey their 
 meaning. Generally speaking, the plebeians much 
 more readily adopted Jewish ideas and opinions, than 
 did the patricians ; indeed, in Rome the aristocracy 
 was the chief enemy of Judaism. The senate and the 
 upper classes thought new light dangerous, likely to 
 increase the difficulty of keeping those beneath them 
 in subjection. Cicero advocated that no one should 
 be permitted the exercise of any religion, either publicly 
 or privately, except what had been established by the 
 senate.* 
 
 In spite of all that man could do to shut out the 
 knowledge of God, the light from heaven struggled 
 through. Looking intently on those dark times, we may 
 find a glimmering ray, and trace it on from generation to 
 
 * "Judaism at Rome." By Fred. Huidekoper. Published at 
 New York. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 21 
 
 generation. Take, for instance, Antonia, a daughter of 
 Marc Antony and Octavia, the sister of Augustus a 
 beautiful, virtuous, and influential lady. She was pro- 
 bably a monotheist, for not only was her intimate friend 
 in early life a Jewess, but also her business agent and 
 superintendent of her estates in Alexandria was the 
 Jewish ethnarch of that city, brother of Philo, the Jew- 
 ish historian. This amiable Antonia brought up from 
 childhood the freedwoman Caenis, educated her well, and 
 she became the much-loved wife of Vespasian, who was 
 raised to the imperial throne.* When the popular party 
 under Julius Caesar came into power, monotheists were 
 introduced into the senate, and in his time Roman 
 dignitaries on the first day of the passover threw away 
 idol images. Caesar's conduct had won the respect and 
 grateful regard of the Jews, and his untimely end called 
 forth their tears and lamentations. Many Jews were 
 present at the burning of his remains in the forum. The 
 pyre was erected in an open space in front of the 
 Temple of Vesta, a spot overlooked by his own house. 
 The wailing of the large body of oriental mourners was 
 a most remarkable feature of that scene, which could 
 never be forgotten by one who had witnessed it. After 
 the funeral, for several following nights the Jews assem- 
 bled at the tomb. The visitation of tombs was an 
 ancient custom among them. There are two kinds of 
 mourning for the dead ; the one at the house, by 
 relations and friends; the other more general, at the 
 burial place of distinguished men, prophets, and teachers. 
 Then the wailing chant was again raised, and prayers 
 were offered towards the Holy City, commending the 
 dead man to God, to whom they believed he still lived, 
 though their ideas concerning a future life were very dim. 
 
 * " Judaism at Rome." By Fred. Huidekoper. 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The sect of the Sadducees altogether denied the resur- 
 rection, believed in no angels or spirits ; but happily 
 those sceptical materialists were comparatively few in 
 number. 
 
 After the death of Julius Caesar, when the aristocracy 
 again obtained control in B.C. 30, by the victory over 
 Antony, they were hampered by members of the popular 
 party. Some of these senators were at once got rid of 
 by threats or other means, and in B.C. 18 or 17, by a 
 preconcerted plot, nearly all the advocates of monotheism 
 and popular rights were violently ejected. This reac- 
 tionary senate, during a fierce conflict against Tiberius 
 and the popular party, undertook to put Cicero's sugges- 
 tion in practice. They drove the Jews out of Rome, and 
 prohibited Jewish teaching. From this time forward no 
 Roman could legally profess Judaism.* 
 
 Under these disadvantageous circumstances the Jews 
 fell into disrepute ; and it became the fashion of the day 
 to deride their peculiarities. All their national customs 
 greatly excited the curiosity of the Romans ; the multi- 
 tude strangely misunderstood the meaning of many of 
 them. In the works of classical authors we read the 
 most absurd explanations accounting for Jewish customs. 
 Romans, being puzzled by the fact that Jews would not 
 eat pork, which they themselves relished as delicious 
 food, thought the Hebrew worshipped the pig. Plutarch 
 has given us an amusing argument carried on by a little 
 party of philosophers, who had met to discuss interesting 
 subjects in a friendly social way. The chief speakers 
 are Polycrates, Callistratus and Lamprias. " I very 
 much doubt," says the first, " whether it is on account of 
 the honour and reverence in which swine are held by the 
 
 * From "Judaism at Rome." By Frederick Huidekoper. Chap. 
 , pp. i 7. New York, 1877. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 23 
 
 Jews, or whether, on the contrary, it is not out of abo- 
 mination, that they refrain from eating them ; for the 
 things they say about it themselves are like fables." " I 
 think," said Callistratus, " that the animal is held in a 
 certain honour by the Jew; and although it is an ugly, ill- 
 favoured thing, I do not see that it is any more repulsive 
 than the beetle, the griffin, the crocodile, or the cat, which 
 are worshipped, some in one place, and some in another, 
 by Egyptian priests, as most holy. The mole is deified 
 by the Egyptians, because it is blind, and darkness is 
 more ancient than light, and because it brings forth 
 mice in the fifth generation at the new moon ; and the 
 lion is dedicated to the sun, because it sleeps very lightly, 
 its eyes glistening when it is asleep ; and because the 
 Nile pours a fresh flood upon the fields when the sun 
 passes through the sign of Leo, they make water foun- 
 tains in the form of lion's heads. The followers of 
 Zoroaster worshipped the hedgehog, and hated water- 
 mice, and said that he who should kill most of them 
 would render the most acceptable service to the gods, 
 and therefore be himself most happy. This makes me 
 think that if the Jews had abominated swine, they would 
 have killed them as the Magi killed mice." 
 
 Lamprias agrees with Polycrates, being inclined to 
 think that the pig cannot be a suitable object of wor- 
 ship, that it is not to be compared to the lion, the bull, 
 the horned animals, or to the ibis cat, moles, and others 
 reverenced in Egypt, because it in no wise illustrates 
 power or noble aspirations, nor does it in any way set 
 a good example to man, for it takes pleasure in nothing 
 but wallowing in the mire. " Observe," he says, " that 
 the eyes of swine are so bent and fixed downwards, that 
 they can see nothing above, and cannot so much as look 
 up to the sky, unless they are thrown on their backs, 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 with their feet upwards, so that the balls of their eyes 
 are turned quite contrary to their natural direction, and 
 although, as a general rule, this creature is always cry- 
 ing or grunting, yet if the feet are turned upward, as 
 before said, it will be perfectly silent with amazement at 
 seeing the face of heaven, which it is not accustomed to 
 do, and so at once it ceases to make a noise." These 
 heathen " friends in council " carried on the discussion, 
 and considered the question, Are the Hebrew God and 
 Bacchus both one ? The little they knew about the 
 feast of tabernacles, when the Jews sat under tents or 
 arbours covered with vine branches and ivy, had given 
 rise to that idea. We do not know at what conclusion 
 the philosophers arrived, as the end of that book of 
 Plutarch is lost. * 
 
 Seneca gives a curious account of one of his early 
 experiences. He tells us that when he was a young 
 man, his most intimate friend, a disciple of Pythagoras, 
 persuaded him to give up eating animal food At 
 the end of a year he was not only quite reconciled to 
 the change, but really preferred the diet of bread and 
 vegetables, and thought his mind was more active in 
 consequence. But prejudices against foreign customs 
 gained ground, and decrees were made for the expulsion 
 of what were called other race religious observances. 
 One of the proofs of adhesion to foreign superstitions 
 was abstaining from the flesh of certain animals. Seneca's 
 father had no distaste for philosophy, but he greatly 
 
 * " Peter Cunasus (De Republica fJebrceorum^ ed. Lyons, p. 273) 
 complains bitterly that Plutarch should have tried to fix on the 
 Jews the stigma of Bacchus worship, which Marcus Cato condemned 
 in the strongest terms as the worst evil that ever afflicted the 
 Roman state." 
 
 " Notices of the Jews and their Country by the Classic Writers 
 of Antiquity." By John Gill. pp. 75, 76. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 25 
 
 dreaded calumny, and therefore wished his son to 
 resume his former way of living, to which the young 
 man consented, not sorry to return to better fare.* 
 
 Possibly he had gained something by this training 
 on the Samian philosopher's system, which, in a luxu- 
 rious age, braced the mind and body by self-denial, 
 study, and gymnastic exercises. 
 
 Although the Jew and his principles were so little 
 understood, yet the Greek and Roman world adopted 
 his division of time into weeks of seven days. For a long 
 while the Jewish customs with regard to the Sabbath- 
 day perplexed their fellow-citizens, before their meaning 
 was perceived clearly enough to be respected. 
 
 Horace, Juvenal, Tacitus, and many other writers, 
 derided the Jews, yet they were obliged to acknow- 
 ledge that all over Rome they were making proselytes. 
 Their Sabbaths, their festivals, and even their fast-days 
 were becoming generally in some degree observed. 
 Jewish festivals were getting popular, on which lanterns 
 in the windows and other signs of festivity were to be 
 seen, not only in the Jewish quarter, but also in other 
 parts of Rome. Many Roman women were converted ; 
 the men were not so easily convinced, but the high- 
 minded, who respected truth and justice, and philosophers 
 of various schools, were attracted by the righteousness 
 of the Hebrew law, and thus led to esteem the Hebrew, 
 though they might feel no desire to embrace his religion. 
 The multitude of heathen were not superior to the age 
 in which they lived, and to this common herd the ex- 
 clusiveness of most of the Jews, and their refusal to 
 enter heathen temples, could seem nothing but absurd 
 stupidity, or insolent national pride, or a heartless want 
 
 * Seneca, Epistle 108, xx. 21, 22, as the story is related in 
 " Judaism at Rome," by Frederick Huidekoper. 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of sympathy ; accordingly, Molon describes them as 
 godless, and hostile to all other men, and his words have 
 been repeated by many writers ; thus the opinion they 
 express has gone down from generation to generation. 
 
 Yet always there were Jews who, on the contrary, 
 yielded too much to circumstances, and to Romanizing 
 influences. The Herods set this example ; for although 
 ostentatiously observing, when at Rome, their national 
 rites, yet they were far from being genuine Israelites in 
 heart and faith : of this their conduct continually reminded 
 the Jews, as it now reminds us who read of them. 
 
 The first Herod, that gallant young prince who had 
 distinguished himself in the guerilla war in Galilee, 
 went to Rome before the death of Julius Csesar, and 
 was warmly received. We have an amusing account 
 of the manner in which his birthday was celebrated in 
 that city. The loyal Jews covered their door posts and 
 the fronts of their houses with evergreens and a profu- 
 sion of flowers, among which fragrant violets were the 
 most abundant ; but the writer of this description, evi- 
 dently a conceited genius, more cynical than amiable, is 
 pleased to notice the less pleasant odour of inferior oil 
 in the lamps suspended from windows and trees. Such 
 ill-natured satire, intended to ridicule the parsimony of 
 the Jews, who did not keep the feast on this occasion 
 in the luxurious Roman style, was likely to be popular, 
 as the favour shown by Julius Caesar to Herod and his 
 family gave them immense influence, of which no doubt 
 many Romans were jealous.* 
 
 The assassination of Julius Caesar caused great dis- 
 turbance throughout the empire ; but although Herod 
 had by that event lost a good friend, yet it did not 
 
 * " Notices of the Jews and their Country in the Classic Writers 
 of Antiquity." By John Gill. Longman and Green, London. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 27 
 
 impede his advancement. Octavius was even more 
 favourably disposed towards him, than had been the 
 late dictator. Between these two young men a strong 
 friendship sprang up, which lasted till death parted 
 them. Both were gifted with superior talents and 
 abilities, but the character of the Roman became by 
 far the nobler, because he attained the power of self- 
 control; and the trying circumstances in which he was 
 so suddenly placed tended to make him thoughtful 
 and cautious. Though surrounded by magnificence, he 
 maintained simple habits which pleased the people, and 
 he attracted poets and other writers to his court, whose 
 encomiums were of real service to him. 
 
 When he assumed imperial dignity as Octavius 
 Augustus Caesar, he, with admirable strength of will, 
 put a stop to severe measures and other evils which 
 had prevailed during the civil war, effectually producing 
 order and peace, because he checked not only other 
 men in authority, but also himself. He spent money 
 liberally on his people, amused them with games and 
 festivals, and in times of distress he gave bountiful 
 provision to the needy. The affectionate title, " Fattier 
 of the country!' had long been generally bestowed on 
 Augustus, before he received it from the senate and 
 the people with the warmest expressions of gratitude. 
 
 As regards Herod, it was natural that a young prince 
 whose strong arm and military skill had made all things 
 yield to his will, who courted difficulties and hazardous 
 adventures for the pleasure of overcoming, should, when 
 in the heyday of prosperity, flushed with flattery, set 
 his affections passionately on a beautiful daughter of a 
 rival house. Mariamne, the Maccabean princess, was 
 the most lovely and altogether attractive woman of the 
 day. She was granddaughter of Hyrcanus the Second, 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 one of those Asmonean princes, in whom, as we have 
 seen, the pontifical and regal powers were united. He 
 was both high priest and king. The union of those high 
 offices had not tended to exalt the characters of those 
 who bore them. The old man was proud, and fond of 
 Mariamne, and for her sake pleaded Herod's cause with 
 Marc Antony, who may also have been somewhat influ- 
 enced by his admiration of a clever-spirited beauty. 
 
 He entrusted the government of Judaea to Herod and 
 his brothers, and Mariamne's name was joined with that 
 of her husband. As this marriage could not found a 
 purely Jewish dynasty, the arrangements displeased the 
 Jews, and especially the large important sect of the 
 Pharisees ; indeed, the Idumean family was generally 
 unpopular. Antigonus, aware of this, quietly prepared 
 his schemes. He obtained the promise of aid from 
 Chalchis, hired a powerful body of Parthian soldiers, 
 and then set up his standard, round which multitudes of 
 Jews readily flocked. After some sharp fighting and 
 much ignoble treachery, Antigonus obtained a tempo- 
 rary possession of the throne of Judaea. His first act 
 was to mutilate the high priest by cutting off his ears, 
 and allowing him to be carried away by the Parthians. 
 Those barbarous enemies, before they retired, plundered 
 Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. Unhappily for 
 himself, Hyrcanus survived these indignities, to be 
 restored to his country, and at last put to death by 
 Herod's command, given in a fit of rage. Dearly did 
 the high priest pay for having recommended and pro- 
 moted the advancement of a bad man. 
 
 While the Parthians were ravaging his dominions, 
 Herod escaped, and arrived safely in Rome, where his 
 cause was warmly espoused by Marc Antony and 
 Octavius Caesar. Herod had never yet been honoured 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HE RODS. 29 
 
 by the title of King of Judaea, and does not seem to 
 have desired it, but his powerful friends thought him 
 more competent than Mariamne's brother, who had a 
 better hereditary claim to hold and exercise regal power. 
 
 In Rome Herod was made king of Judaea, and by the 
 aid of the Romans he was established on his throne. 
 It was not an ill-judged appointment, for he had dis- 
 played the qualities then required in a monarch, courage, 
 subtlety, and capacities for ruling ; all of the utmost 
 value, because they were the characteristics most highly 
 esteemed in the world. He was cruel, but as yet not 
 more so than were many of his distinguished contem- 
 poraries. It was a cruel age. Men were brought up to 
 think that taking a fellow-creature's life in the exciting 
 and dangerous conflict for dominion and supremacy 
 was as excusable as taking it on an actual battle-field. 
 Even those who fell, if they were high-minded, took 
 that view of the subject. Parents who destroyed their 
 weak or deformed infants were applauded ; and as to 
 the aged, many persons agreed with Seneca, who consi- 
 dered it shameful to pray that life might be spared 
 after strength and comeliness had departed. 
 
 Herod began his reign by endeavouring to gain the 
 confidence, and to conciliate the feelings, of his subjects. 
 He tried to attain popularity by much the same means 
 which appeared to work successfully in Rome. He im- 
 proved the city of Jerusalem, and built a grand palace 
 for his own residence. He was condescending in his 
 manner to the people, and often very liberal to them, 
 and introduced Roman games and shows for their 
 amusement. He made really zealous efforts to exalt 
 the name of the Most High God, to whom he gave 
 praise and glory by keeping up all the services and 
 ceremonies of the divinely ordained religion, though he 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 did not perceive and understand how indissolubly the 
 honour of God is connected with the conduct of man, 
 as exhibited throughout the course of every human life. 
 
 In the fifteenth year of his reign Herod restored the 
 temple in a style of unprecedented magnificence, at an 
 incalculable expense, and surrounded it with a wall, so 
 as to enclose an area twice as large as its former extent. 
 The Jews and their king were very proud of the splendid 
 edifice, which surpassed Greek and Roman temples, and 
 astonished Agrippa, the builder of the Pantheon, and 
 other visitors from distant lands. 
 
 Yet, even while he was doing so much for the house 
 and the city chosen and blessed by the God of Israel, 
 Herod was also occupied with planning a new town 
 which he built in the district of Samaria, and enclosed 
 with a very strong wall. Into this city, which he called 
 Sebaste, he introduced six thousand colonists, to whom 
 he assigned an extremely fertile tract, and gave the 
 inhabitants an enviable charter. In the centre of the 
 buildings was erected a large and richly decorated 
 temple to Caesar, surrounded with consecrated ground. 
 Indeed, there was not a suitable spot in his dominions 
 which Herod permitted to be without some honourable 
 memorial to Csesar. One of the most beautiful, built 
 of white marble, stood near the sources of the Jordan.* 
 
 Josephus commends the generosity of Herod, but his 
 narrative shows that the king could be generous only 
 to those who did not thwart his imperious will. He 
 was not naturally devoid of the noble spirit of benevo- 
 lence, which incited him to be a beneficent governor ; 
 and many favoured cities and individuals enjoyed the 
 advantages bestowed by his liberality, and yet he was 
 guilty of despicable meanness and atrocious cruelty. 
 * Josephus. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 31 
 
 When any man stood in his way, whom he could not 
 otherwise get rid of, Herod assumed absolute power, 
 and put him to death. Thus died the high priest 
 Hyrcanus, his wife's grandfather, and also her only 
 brother. Then Mariamne's heart turned against her 
 husband. The bitterness of her resentment gave her 
 enemies pretexts for accusations against her ; they 
 fanned Herod's anger by every scandal they could in- 
 vent, till at last he believed her to have been unfaithful, 
 and the beautiful head of the queen he had been so 
 proud of was struck off by his command. The com- 
 mission of this crime almost turned his own brain. At 
 times he could not believe she was dead, at others he 
 suffered agonies of remorse : he retired into Samaria, 
 where he diverted his thoughts by hunting. Mariamne 
 had been beloved by the people ; for her sake they 
 now hated the king ; her memory was sacred, and the 
 hopes of the nation were set upon her sons, who 
 through her, belonging to the Maccabean family, had, 
 many thought, a better right to the throne than their 
 father. Their grandmother, Alexandra, asserted their 
 rights. She was put to death by Herod, but he spared 
 the boys, and felt, or pretended to feel, great paternal 
 affection for them. Six years later (B.C. 23) he took the 
 lads Aristobulus and Alexander to Rome. Augustus 
 received them most honourably and kindly. Herod 
 left his sons under the Emperor's guardianship, to com- 
 plete their education, and they had every facility given 
 to them for growing up in the midst of high Roman 
 life. Here, bright and promising were their youthful 
 days, but on their return to Judaea they became victims 
 of jealousy. Having neither respect nor affection for 
 their father, they were drawn by conspirators into plots 
 against him. Herod, who lived in a state of perpetual 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 dread of losing his crown or his life, discovered a con- 
 spiracy, and ordered his sons to be strangled. 
 
 No man has ever developed a character more com- 
 pletely illustrative of the unsubdued natural man, nur- 
 tured in pride, than did Herod the Great. He was, 
 we may say, selfish-pride personified. Following his 
 career from youth to age, we see for years much that 
 was promising. He was not only uncommonly hand- 
 some and strong, he had moreover excellent intellectual 
 abilities, quick feelings, and abundant energy. Herod 
 was capable of a true and warm friendship, as we see 
 by his fidelity to Augustus Caesar. He was not fond 
 of money, not avaricious of wealth, but he loved praise, 
 and no miser ever clutched his gold more selfishly than 
 Herod grasped his power by wilful deliberate acts of 
 heartlessless, injustice, cruelty, and crime ; sinning more 
 and more as the better part of his disposition became 
 over-mastered by pride and self-will. The fully deve- 
 loped character is not lovely, even to the eye of the 
 world; but the faults that constitute it, while they are 
 growing, are looked on leniently, are even encouraged 
 and applauded by flatterers.* Habitually giving way 
 to his passions, Herod lost all power of self-control, 
 and blinded by self-conceit, he could not see his own 
 
 * " Proportioned to his mind were Herod's personal endowments. 
 In the chase, from his skill in horsemanship, he was always foremost. 
 In a single day, accordingly, he sometimes overcame forty wild 
 animals. The country abounds in wild boars, but particularly in 
 deer and wild asses. As a warrior he was irresistible, and in the 
 gymnasium exercise many have been astonished, seeing him the 
 most direct javelin thrower and the most unerring bowman. But 
 besides this mental and physical superiority, he was the favourite 
 of fortune ; for he rarely met with any disaster in war, and when 
 he did, it was attributable, not to himself, but either to treachery, 
 or to the rashness of his troops."; Josephus, Book i., chap. xxi. 
 
THE MACCABEES AND THE HERODS. 33 
 
 conduct in the real light. In such a state of mind man 
 is incapable of repentance, unless he be miraculously 
 humbled ; he cannot turn by any power inherent in 
 himself, he can but do his utmost to kill his conscience, 
 lest at arty time it should awaken him to suffer the 
 pangs of unavailing remorse. 
 
 Most strikingly does the character of this king of the 
 Jews contrast with that of Him who came in great 
 humility the Babe for whom there was no room in the 
 inn of the little town of Bethlehem the young child 
 whom Herod sought, that he might destroy him. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR. 
 
" Rome ! the city that so long 
 Reigned absolute, the mistress of the world, 
 The mighty vision that the prophets saw, 
 And trembled ; that from nothing, from the least, 
 The lowliest village (what but here and there 
 A reed -roofed cabin by a river-side ?) 
 Grew into everything ; and year by year, 
 Patiently, fearlessly, working her way 
 O'er brook and field, o'er continent and sea, 
 Not like the merchant with his merchandize, 
 Or traveller with staff and scrip exploring ; 
 But hand to hand and foot to foot, thro' hosts, 
 Thro' nations numberless in battle array, 
 Each behind each, each when the other fell, 
 Up and in arms, at length subdued them all." 
 
 Rogers. 
 
II. 
 
 IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR. 
 
 A COURSE of 132 years elapsed from the taking 
 of Jerusalem by Pompey to the final destruction 
 of the city by Titus. During this period the Jews, as 
 a nation, continued to live on their own land, but were 
 tributaries to the Roman Empire. In return for the 
 tribute money they obtained security, internal order, 
 and protection against external foes, and a measure of 
 indulgence as regarded their religion, so unusual, and 
 so remarkable as to show us clearly that their God was 
 lovingly, mercifully, holding them in the hollow of His 
 hand till a time of tyranny was overpast. Not giving 
 them independence, though they still boasted of their 
 freedom, but holding them in a position in which they 
 were safe in times of tremendous commotion, of great 
 tribulation, when wars were raging throughout the then 
 known world, and every little world within a human 
 heart was so shaken by the general disturbance, that 
 natural affection was lost, or preserved only by those 
 who cherished it carefully, believing it to be good in the 
 sight of God. 
 
 As it was in the days of Noah, so was it before the 
 first, so will it be before the second advent of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 At the period of history we are now considering, the 
 passions of men, agitated and goaded on by the excite- 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 merits of very trying times, if not checked by strong, firm 
 principles, forced the mind off its balance, and unre- 
 strained wilfulness ran on to madness. The many and 
 various crimes of which we read could not have been 
 committed by reasonable men in a right state of mind. 
 Herod's jealous rage had maddened him, or he could 
 not have caused Mariamne to be put to death, and then 
 raved about his affection for her. He would thankfully 
 have given all he possessed to bring her back to life, 
 but he could not get rid of the consequences of his sin, 
 which made him feel that his will was not omnipotent. 
 
 The Jews, firmly held under the guardianship of the 
 only political power competent to protect them as a 
 nation, and enlightened enough to preserve their exist- 
 ence as a religious community, were permitted to ad- 
 here to their institutions and customs. They were not 
 at all prevented from maintaining the public worship 
 of the temple in Jerusalem, in its appointed order and 
 splendour. The changes that had occurred in the state 
 of the world, though they had lessened the national 
 power of the Jews, had increased their means of acquir- 
 ing religious and moral influence among the people of 
 many nations, by whom they were rapidly becoming 
 more known than could have been the case in former 
 years, when there were less facilities for travelling, less 
 thirst for all kinds of knowledge. By clearing the 
 Mediterranean of pirates, the Romans were making it 
 a great highway on which people from all directions 
 met, and interchanged ideas, and more or less it was 
 the same on every one of the roads which the Romans 
 made through every province of the empire. Those 
 strong roads of which we see the remains, inaugurated 
 a new era in the history of civilization, as effectually as 
 in our time the railroads have done. The people then 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C&SAR. 39 
 
 living under the widespread dominion of Rome travelled 
 so much farther, and acquired so much more knowledge 
 of all kinds than their ancestor had ever had, that they 
 may have thought they were fulfilling Daniel's prophecy 
 (chap. xii. 4), and so they were, in their wonderfully 
 marked generation, though they did not run to and 
 fro as fast as we do. How blind they were to the im- 
 portance of the times in which they lived, and to their 
 own duties, to the part assigned by God to His own 
 peculiar people in those days ! Motives connected with 
 nothing beyond their prospects in this life led them to 
 emigrate. Their own land had become over-populated, 
 they adopted commerce as their pursuit, and dwelt in 
 the great cities of other nations, but retained their 
 nationality, their religion, and customs, which isolated 
 them in a social sense from the rest of mankind. Every- 
 where their peculiarities attracted attention, and they 
 were silent witnesses to the two great truths, the exist- 
 ence of one only God and the prospect of a golden age 
 coming for the tired workers and unsatisfied loiterers 
 in this weary world. Their ideas on this latter subject 
 were vague and conflicting, but the faintest gleams of 
 light are better than perfect darkness. It was the first 
 breaking of a new day, the day appointed for the sons 
 of Abraham to accomplish the duties of their mission, 
 to diffuse among the families of the earth all the divine 
 truth with which they had been entrusted, of which 
 they had so long been the sole depositories, and to 
 show forth God's goodness and righteousness by con- 
 ducting themselves towards others according to His will. 
 When the Great Teacher of that day said to a vast 
 multitude of Jews gathered round Him, "Ye are the 
 salt of the earth," they knew what He meant. The 
 men and women who listened to the sermon could see 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 that the application of that simile extended beyond 
 the family and the fatherland. Some of them must 
 have had relations or friends dwelling or sojourning for 
 a while afar off, along the shores of the Mediterranean, 
 or in some distant busy city in which they were bar- 
 tering goods or beginning to trade to a considerable 
 extent. In Rome they had multiplied exceedingly, 
 so as to form a formidable body. The common people 
 disliked them and judged them harshly ; indeed, this 
 singular race seem to have excited a superstitious kind 
 of fear in the minds of the vulgar, who fancied that the 
 strangers had formed a secret society, the members of 
 which unscrupulously sought their own advancement, 
 to the hindrance and injury of others. But the well- 
 bred, noble-minded Roman looked on the Jew, feeling 
 that there was something superior about him. It was 
 an inquiring age, and the Jew might help to solve some 
 of the questions that had arisen. Greek philosophy 
 had shaken the faith of all thinking men in ancestral 
 heathenism. Philosophy was the order of the day. 
 Every young Roman was to some extent a student of 
 philosophy ; and in each of the various schools there 
 were men of riper years and judgment, honestly seeking 
 truth, whom we now call "seekers after God." And 
 even the barbarian, from beyond the borders of the 
 empire, who might now and then be seen in the streets 
 of Rome, even he might have notions tending God- 
 ward. Tacitus, writing of the age before his own, 
 acknowledges that a nobler conception of the nature 
 of the Divine Being subsisted among the wild Germans 
 than among the highly civilized nations of Greece and 
 Italy. He says, " They deem it unworthy of the dig- 
 nity of heavenly beings to enclose their gods within walls, 
 or to fashion their forms under human similitude." 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR. 41 
 
 The great Gothic race included Germans, Scandina- 
 vians and Saxons, who always had some dim belief in 
 a Being that could never die. One superior to Odin 
 or Woden, and their other deified heroes. They made 
 no idol to represent this God of gods, they dared not 
 name Him, but spoke of Him mysteriously by His 
 attributes ; generally choosing His most endearing 
 quality "The Good." These restless tribes were on 
 their way moving from the east: their migrations 
 were very gradually made. The one idea that drove 
 them on was that of finding, and very often fighting 
 for, new ground, that would give fresh food. When 
 the land on which they had halted for awhile was 
 exhausted by their rapidly increasing families and 
 flocks and herds, they struck their tents, or abandoned 
 their crazy huts, and moved on.* Very faint and im- 
 perfect must be our conceptions of those wild people 
 and their ways, though we have reason to believe that 
 our own ancestors were among them ; but very clearly 
 can we see that they were impelled and guided by the 
 One whose Name they could not utter> that they might 
 be ready to sit down in their companies to take their 
 portion of the Bread of Life, when it would be dis- 
 tributed by the disciples of Jesus. 
 
 Neither Romans nor barbarians were so debased as 
 to have among them no men who could sympathize 
 with the Jew in his deepest and purest feelings, none 
 who could respect him for refusing to bend the knee 
 to the statues of the gods in the Roman temples, none 
 capable of obtaining through a son of Abraham elevat- 
 ing ideas of the Supreme God and of the higher life 
 of faith in Him. At that time the Jew had every 
 opportunity of being a blessing to the people among 
 
 * See Sharon Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons." 
 
42 HISTORY Of THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 whom he sojourned. There were in Rome wealthy 
 and highly educated Jews, Jews whose society was 
 eagerly sought by senators and patricians, and through 
 them attention was naturally drawn to their country. 
 Its past history, its magnificent temple to the invisible 
 God, became topics of the day subjects on which 
 men's minds were opening, and on which the good 
 and intelligent heartily desired further information. 
 Among the rich and learned Jews were some who 
 attained the highest honours which the empire had 
 to give, and more than once a Jew exercised important 
 influence on public affairs. Although, like almost all 
 the rest of the then known world, Judea was a Roman 
 province, and paid tribute to Caesar, yet the Jews were 
 not destitute of moral power. Seeing this, reminds us 
 of our Saviour's words, " If thou hadst known in this thy 
 day the things that belong to thy peace." * 
 
 In one of the 'Hibbert Lectures of 1880, Ernest Renan 
 tells us that in the time of Cicero, that is, in the reign 
 of Augustus Caesar, the Jews were so powerful and 
 influential in Rome, that the word of Zechariah was 
 verified to the letter : " The world laid hold of the skirt 
 of the Jew, and said to him, Lead us to Jerusalem." t 
 
 Alas ! as a nation, the Jews, notwithstanding the 
 wonderful privileges they had enjoyed, were not worthy 
 to lead. They had not learnt what God's dealings 
 with them and their forefathers should have taught 
 them ; therefore, as regarded spiritual things, they were 
 ignorant and blind, and they gave no heed to the signs 
 of the times. Wrapt up in his own exclusiveness, each 
 one felt sure that he was safe, because he was one of 
 the chosen people, and had taken part in all the ordi- 
 nances of a divinely instituted religious system. But in 
 
 * Lukexix. 41, 42. t Ernest Renan, quoting Zech. viii. 23. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR. .43 
 
 the visible church there is always a circle within a 
 circle, a sanctuary beyond the outer court. This is 
 equally true with the Hebrew and the Christian Church. 
 Those members who have been drawn into the inner 
 circle cannot fail to grow in grace, and in the know- 
 ledge and love of God, cannot fail to see that it is theirs 
 to make Him known, to speak of His goodness and 
 His wondrous works to their fellow-men. The number 
 of Jews who were actuated by this love and trust in 
 Jehovah, and this sense of duty, was large enough to 
 be influential, of which we have abundant evidence in 
 the works of heathen authors of that age, although, as 
 the Hebrews held but few, if any, political offices and 
 occupations in Rome, they are not often mentioned in 
 political history. Moreover the Jews and their mono- 
 theistic and moral ideas found more favour among the 
 lower classes than with the Roman aristocracy ; and 
 the patricians held control over the Italian literature, 
 absolutely condemning what they disapproved, dis- 
 believed, or considered dangerous. Yet, despite these 
 difficulties, reliable evidence has been left to us, which 
 proves that monotheism and morality made its way 
 in Roman society, and leavened Roman literature, 
 which we can fairly attribute to no other cause than 
 that of Jewish influence. 
 
 Horace, at the end of the Satire, in which he jestingly 
 claims the privilege of writing anything he likes to 
 amuse himself and his readers, threatens that if this 
 indulgence be not granted to him, he will assemble a 
 whole company of poets, like proselytizing Jews, to 
 help him in converting his opponent. This allusion 
 evidently points to the great activity of the Jews in 
 making converts to their faith. 
 
 Seneca bears testimony to the moral power of this 
 
44 HIS70RY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 " most outrageous nation," as he calls it ; for he regards 
 the universal adoption of some of their customs as a 
 remarkable instance in which the conquered have given 
 laws to their conquerors. Slight allusions are found, 
 which show that a considerable number among the 
 Romans, though not converted to Judaism, in course 
 of time watched these strange Eastern people with a 
 not altogether unsympathizing curiosity, and became 
 sufficiently interested in their sacred days to show them 
 some degree of respect, and that a great many Romans 
 went into the synagogues, looked upon the worshippers, 
 and heard the service there, and the reading of the 
 Word of God. These services must have been imper- 
 fect, yet the heathen who entered when a thoughtful 
 Jew was reading or expounding, might listen to views 
 which the range of heathen literature nowhere presented, 
 to the idea that God takes interest in the moral educa- 
 tion of mankind, that He is to be served by justice and 
 kindness towards our fellow-men, and by maintaining 
 a right frame of mind ; that this is the service which 
 He most desires. If the heathen listened to a judi- 
 ciously selected psalm or hymn, he heard what might 
 strengthen moral purpose, and quicken right affections, 
 or aid devout aspirations. Heathen literature contained 
 nothing which resembled it. The religious duties of 
 heathenism consisted in rites and ceremonies and 
 augury. Much of what passed for practical religion 
 was merely fortune-telling under another name, and 
 religious performances were utterly disconnected from 
 thoughts of right behaviour between man and man, 
 religious duties were treated as having no connection 
 with morality or with human improvement.* 
 
 * "Judaism at Rome." See chapter ii., on Causes of Jewish 
 influence. Zenophon represents Socrates as saying, " If we are 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR. 45 
 
 The managers of the senatorial faction in Rome 
 had long ago created, and since nourished, a super- 
 stitious reverence for mystical books which they kept 
 secreted in their own charge, and made use of when 
 they desired to excite or direct the popular mind. 
 These scrolls, attributed to a real or imaginary woman 
 called Sibylla, or the Sibyl of Cumae, perished when 
 the capital was burnt, B.C. 83.* 
 
 The people greatly lamented this loss, and an idea 
 suggested itself to superstitious minds, which gained 
 currency. Surely Sibylla, being no common mortal, 
 might be yet alive, or other sibyls might exist, and 
 be found if diligently sought. 
 
 A clever Jew, or a monotheist, took advantage of 
 this excitement, and when the Capitol had been rebuilt, 
 he turned the tables on the patricians by persuading 
 the senate to bring from Erythrae, a city of lona in 
 Asia Minor, leaves in Greek verse, said to have been 
 written by a sibyl who was, some believed, the Sibylla 
 who sold her books to Tarquin. 
 
 The senate must have exercised little or no scrutiny 
 with regard to this book, written in a foreign language, 
 which afterwards proved so vexatious to them. Sixty 
 years later, stringent measures were taken to prevent its 
 perusal ; but by that time it had made impressions on 
 the popuplar mind, which could not be obliterated.! 
 
 unable to foreknow, touching future events, what course of action 
 will be advantageous, the gods assist us by telling to inquirers, 
 through divination, how things will turn out, and by teaching how 
 they will be most favourably brought to pass." Zenophon, Memo- 
 rabilia iv. 3, 12. 
 
 * The old story of Tarquin the Proud and the Sibyl is well 
 known. At Cumae, not far from Naples, the Sibyl's cave, in the 
 midst of a wood full of beautiful wild flowers, is still shown. 
 
 t See " Judaism at Rome." 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 An extraordinary struggle a storm of conflicting 
 opinions, religious and political, was raging when our 
 Lord Jesus Christ was born. On one side was heathen- 
 ism, upheld by the Emperor and the patricians ; on the 
 other was monotheism, vehemently taken up by the 
 opposite party, which was contending for popular 
 rights, for civil and religious liberty. Augustus himself, 
 the members of the senate, from which he had excluded 
 monotheists, and the wealthy and influential M.Vipsanius 
 Agrippa, headed the former party. The latter had its 
 dauntless leaders ; among the foremost was Tiberius, 
 who afterwards succeeded Augustus ; he was at that 
 time out of favour, not banished, but being discontented 
 with the state of things, he had gone to Rhodes, whence 
 he was recalled in the second year of the Christian era. 
 
 In those tempestuous days, when old ideas were being 
 rooted up and prostrated as trees fall before a mighty 
 wind, the superstitious minds of the people were greatly 
 disturbed. The verses of the Erythraean Sibyl, called 
 also the Babylonian and Chaldean, because she was 
 said to have at one time dwelt in Babylon, were causing 
 great excitement. This book differed materially from 
 the more ancient books or scrolls that had been burnt, 
 which had referred only to the affairs of this life, and 
 did not touch on morality, nor on a future state. Some 
 Jew of Erythrae, or who operated from that place, had 
 fabricated Homeric verses, teaching Jewish views drawn 
 from the Hebrew Scriptures, and mixed up with fic- 
 titious prophecies of events that had already become 
 historical, such, for instance, as the siege of Troy. 
 
 Readers competent to criticise must have found much 
 in these poems which betrayed their real origin, and the 
 mistrust engendered in such minds must have injured 
 the cause of truth, which cannot be promoted, or faith- 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR. 47 
 
 fully and effectually served by falsehood, or by what are 
 commonly called pious frauds. Yet the sibylline verses 
 were so clever a forgery, that sincere men, not wanting 
 in natural capacity, may have believed in their authen- 
 ticity, and their teaching was in most respects superior 
 to what could be found in heathen literature, as they in- 
 culcated belief in the one great God, and by imitations 
 of genuine prophecies they startled even the heathen, 
 and awoke many to look out for tokens of some wonder- 
 ful change that might be expected.* 
 
 Only persons who are actually leading the NEW LIFE, 
 beginning to lead it, or persevering in its course, can 
 be deriving real strength and safe satisfaction from 
 looking for the new heavens and the new earth ; no 
 tonic can strengthen the lifeless. Yet the first move- 
 ment, the first sign of life may be partly attributable to 
 some alarm which has struck the human heart with awe, 
 and under the divine blessing such fear may prove the 
 beginning of wisdom. 
 
 The following extracts from sibylline verses show the 
 character of the poems, f 
 
 " Come, let us bow to the earth, let us invoke 
 The immortal King, the great God, the Most High, 
 Let us send to his temple, for he is the only potentate, 
 Let us consider the law of God the Most High, 
 Which is the most just of all things on earth. 
 We had wandered from the path of the Immortal ; 
 With senseless minds we worshipped hand-made works, 
 Of carved idols, and of dead men." 
 
 ***** 
 
 As for the wicked, below Tartarus 
 
 They shall pay threefold the evil they have perpetrated; 
 
 Rocked by the sea of fire, they shall gnash with their teeth ; 
 
 * " Judaism at Rome.'' 
 
 t See " Judaism at Rome," pp. 423430, 456. 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Consumed by thirst, and by their flaming torments, 
 
 They shall call it a blessing to die, but shall not be able. 
 
 But those who have done justice and good works, 
 
 With true monotheism and just thoughts, 
 
 The angels shall bear through the flaming river, 
 
 And bring them to light, and a life without care, 
 
 Where is the immortal path of the great God, 
 
 And three fountains of wine, honey, and milk. 
 
 And the land belongs equally to all, with no walks or inclosures, 
 
 And without divisions ; it bears abundant fruits without labour. 
 
 Life is in common, and wealth undivided ; 
 
 For neither poor men nor rich men will be there ; 
 
 Neither tyrant nor bondsmen, nor yet great men nor small, 
 
 Nor king nor rulers, but all will be alike. 
 
 * * * # * 
 
 There shall not be multiplied days of care, 
 Nor spring, nor summer, nor winter, nor closing autum, 
 Nor marriage, nor death, nor buying nor selling, 
 Nor sunset, nor sunrise, for God shall make one long day." 
 * * * * * 
 
 And then he will establish an eternal kingdom 
 Over men ; a holy law which he once gave. 
 
 ##### 
 
 For perfect peace shall come on the land of the good, 
 And the prophets of the great God shall do away the sword, 
 And they shall be judges among mortals, and kings shall be just, 
 And the wealthy among men shall be just. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Wolves shall play with lambs on the mountains, 
 
 Lynxes shall eat grapes with the stags, 
 
 And bears with calves, among all mortals, 
 
 The carnivorous lion shall eat straw in the manger, 
 
 And dragons nestle with unweaned children."* 
 
 The anticipation of a coming kingdom, a kingdom 
 from the east, as Romans would say, was Jewish. The 
 advocates of sibylline authority, whether Jews or Romans, 
 must have found it for their interest to maintain the 
 
 * Abridged from the translation in "Judaism at Rome." By 
 Frederick Huidekoper. New York, 1877. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C^ESAR. "49 
 
 existence of but one Sibylla, since, if but one existed, 
 her authority had already been recognized by the Roman 
 Senate in the most public manner.* So trusting in the 
 credulity of the people, depending on the popular igno- 
 rance, the sibyl was supposed to assert her claims to 
 extraordinary longevity. 
 
 "Born at Ery thras some will pronounce 
 Me Sibylla, a crazy impostor : 
 But when all things shall take place, 
 Then you will remember me, and no one will longer 
 Pronounce as mad the great God's prophetess. 
 Did he not show me what occurred to my forefathers ? 
 The earliest events God enumerated to me, 
 And all things subsequent he put into my mind ; 
 So I proclaim the future and the past, 
 
 And tell them to mortals. For when the world was overwhelmed 
 With waters, and but one approved man was left 
 Sailing in his hewn-wood house on the waters, 
 With beasts and fowls, that the world might be filled again, 
 I was his daughter-in-law and his relative ; 
 To whom the earliest events happened, and all the last were 
 
 unfolded, 
 So that by my mouth all these truths should be uttered." 
 
 This reminds us of "The Wandering Jew." In dark 
 times, history and poetry, truth and fiction, credible tra- 
 ditions and the very wildest legends were confounded 
 together ; as they were not in the days of Eugene Sue, 
 whose book was accepted as a clever romance, founded 
 on a legend. 
 
 The Roman aristocracy and their adherents, who 
 were, generally speaking, unfriendly to Judaism, must, 
 as a class, have derided this Jewish sibylline lite- 
 rature. Cicero had suggested its withdrawal from the 
 public, a kind of suppression which was afterwards 
 zealously undertaken by Augustus and the patricians, t 
 
 * "Judaism at Rome." t "Judaism at Rome/' p. 447. 
 
 4 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 With that strong aristocratic party in Rome the king of 
 Judea sympathized and sided. 
 
 Their fears were not wholly without foundation : the 
 dangers they dreaded and endeavoured to avert were 
 not altogether visionary. Throughout the wide range 
 of Rome's dominion, multitudes, including men of all 
 classes, but chiefly the lower, were eagerly anticipating 
 some wonderful revolution ; a suddenly altered state of 
 society, a kingdom quite different to any that had ever 
 preceded it, which was to be characterized by mono- 
 theism and strict morality, liberty, and equality. Igno- 
 rant or base- minded men propagated their own imperfect 
 or erroneous views and opinions concerning the coming 
 kingdom, and its King, who was to overthrow all existing 
 governments, and when he had conquered the whole 
 earth, was to reign as the only Potentate ; and then would 
 come a golden age, like that described, by Greek and 
 Latin poets. 
 
 One of the finest fragments of the sibylline poems, 
 translated by Frederick Huidekoper, begins thus : 
 
 " And then God will afterwards show a great sign, 
 For a brilliant star like a crown shall shine, 
 Brightly gleaming from the sparkling heavens, 
 During many days. For then He will show a victor's crown 
 From heaven, to men who wrestle in the conflict. 
 For then shall be a great contest for triumphal entry 
 Into the heavenly city. It shall be world-embracing, 
 Open to all men, having immortality as its reward." 
 
 These verses continue by eloquently expressing the 
 nobility and the necessity of morality, enumerating its 
 many and various duties ; and thus close the subject : 
 
 " This is the contest, these the strifes, these the rewards, 
 This the gate of life, and entrance to immortality, 
 Which the heavenly God has established as the prize 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C&SAR. 51 
 
 For the most righteous of men. Such as gain the crown 
 Shall gloriously enter this gate." SibL Orac. ii. 34, 153. 
 
 King Herod died shortly after the visit of the Magi 
 to the infant Saviour. He was seized by a disease which 
 caused intense suffering. On his deathbed he medi- 
 tated a horrible massacre, but his last orders were not 
 carried into effect. 
 
 His funeral was conducted in a style of unprecedented 
 magnificence ; all the regalia were brought out to grace 
 the procession. The bier was of solid gold studded with 
 precious stones, the bed of variegated purple. On this 
 lay the body, covered with purple. On his head was 
 placed a diadem, and over him a crown of gold, and in 
 his right hand was a sceptre. 
 
 We have observed the contrast between this king of 
 the Jews, and Him whose title was written, and put 
 upon the cross, who was lifted up from the earth, that 
 He might draw all men unto Him.* 
 
 The vivid description given by Josephus, of what he 
 calls the end of Herod's history, reminds us of the 
 purple robe, the crown of thorns, and the reed that 
 mocked the sceptre. 
 
 Archelaus, Herod's eldest son, well knowing that the 
 whole country was ripe for rebellion, prudently avoided 
 assuming the title of king, but told the people he hoped 
 it would be confirmed to him by the government of 
 Rome. Notwithstanding this caution on his part, a 
 violent dispute arose even at the funeral banquet. An 
 insurrection ensued, the soldiers were called out, and 
 the king's guard killed about 3,000 of the rioters. 
 
 The public declaration of Archelaus, that he con- 
 sidered the sovereignty at present in abeyance, en- 
 couraged his brothers and many of his own family to 
 * John xii. 32. 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 intrigue against him. King Herod had had ten wives, 
 consequently the royal family was large, and dangerously 
 devoid of union and sympathy. Selfishness seems to 
 have been the only motive that actuated its members. 
 Driven to despair by the difficulties of his position, 
 Archelaus went to Rome, and literally threw himself at 
 the feet of Augustus Caesar. The Emperor raised him 
 with the utmost courtesy, intimating that he believed 
 him worthy to succeed his father, but still pronouncing 
 no decision. He took time for considering the subject 
 of the succession, and also that of the late king's will, 
 which one of the contending parties was endeavouring 
 to overthrow on the plea that Herod was not in a sound 
 state of mind when he made it. The will was clearly 
 expressed, and was far more consistent with reason and 
 justice, than had been most of that man's acts and 
 deeds. He had died immensely rich, and after dividing 
 the bulk of his property among his offspring, he be- 
 queathed several other legacies. To his patron and 
 friend Augustus he gave ten million pieces of silver, 
 (probably shekels) with his valuable plate and ward- 
 robe, and five million pieces of silver to the Empress Julia, 
 daughter of Augustus, wife of young Tiberius Caesar. 
 
 While the affairs of Judea were being deliberated on 
 in Rome, the country continued in a state of anarchy, 
 and this present distress, and the recollection of Herod's 
 tyranny, added to the number of Jews who desired " no 
 king but Caesar," they longed for the measure of inde- 
 pendence that would be insured to them if their country 
 were incorporated into the Roman Empire. 
 
 This body, which included many of the upper classes 
 and superior men, sent a respectful petition to Rome, 
 stating their grievances, and entreating to be heard. 
 Fifty of the noblest men among the Jews conveyed this 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C&SAR. 53 
 
 petition to Rome ; where they were graciously received, 
 and supported by eight thousand of their countrymen 
 then residing in Rome. Csesar convened a council of 
 the Romans then in office, and of his friends, in the 
 temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill an edifice which 
 he had erected at his own charge, and ornamented at a 
 vast expense. The Jews stood in a body, with the am- 
 bassadors, and Archelaus opposite, with his friends. 
 Besides these, was present also Philip, Archelaus' brother, 
 previously sent over, through kindness, by Varus, who 
 then commanded the Roman legions stationed at Jeru- 
 salem. He had sent Philip with a twofold object, that 
 he might assist Archelaus, and also be allotted a portion, 
 should Caesar distribute Herod's property among his 
 sons. The accusing party, being allowed to speak, 
 commenced with a recapitulation of Herod's violent 
 proceedings, stated that they had found the late king, 
 not a sovereign, but the most cruel of tyrants. Such 
 were the miseries endured by those who survived the 
 thousands murdered by him, that they accounted them 
 happy who had perished. Through Herod, Judea had 
 lost her ancient happiness and hereditary laws, and had 
 become full of poverty and the lowest degree of crime. 
 In a word, the Jews had undergone more calamities 
 under Herod's rule than their forefathers had suffered in 
 the whole interval since their departure from Babylon. 
 To such a state of humiliation and habitual misfortune 
 had they been reduced, that they had continued to sub- 
 mit to this servitude ; and on the death of Herod they 
 had acknowledged Archelaus as their king, and had 
 prayed for the prosperity of his reign. But, as if appre- 
 hensive that there should be any doubt as to the stock 
 from which he sprang, this son of a tyrant had prefaced 
 his reign by the slaughter of three thousand citizens. 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Those, therefore, who had survived such complicated 
 miseries, now at length faced their calamities, wishing 
 to receive their wounds in front, as by the law of war, 
 and to implore the Romans to have compassion on the 
 relics of Judea, to unite the country to Syria, and 
 administer the government by their own officers ; for 
 though calumniated as seditious and inclined for war, 
 they would show that they knew how to obey authority 
 wisely exercised.* 
 
 The other party replied by refuting the charges 
 against the deceased king and his eldest son, on whom 
 the government of the kingdom had devolved. Nico- 
 laus pleaded eloquently on behalf of Archelaus, and 
 severely lashed those of his relatives who had joined 
 his accusers. 
 
 Caesar, having heard both parties, dissolved the 
 council. A few days afterwards he gave one half of 
 the kingdom to Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch, 
 promising hereafter to make him king, should he prove 
 himself deserving. The other half he divided into two 
 tetrarchies for Antipas and Philip, also sons of the late 
 king. Augustus, after having distributed the patrimonial 
 property according to Herod's will, divided a thousand 
 talents and the personal property bequeathed to himself 
 among the members of the late king of Judea's family, 
 selecting for himself only a few things which he kept in 
 memory of his departed friend. 
 
 The appointment of an ethnarch was simply the 
 establishment of a dependent king under another title. 
 
 Antipas, or Herod Antipas, as he is often styled, 
 was tetrarch of Galilee when the holy family returned 
 from Egypt (Matt. ii. 22 ; Luke ii. 39) ; yet this Herod 
 
 * Slightly abridged from Josephus' " Wars of the Jews." Trans- 
 lated by the late Rev. Robert Traill, D.D. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS CsESAR. 55 
 
 though generally considered a man of milder disposition, 
 beheaded John the Baptist. 
 
 The return of Archelaus to assume the government 
 of Judea under his altered title did not restore peace to 
 the distracted land. The people feared him, and the 
 country was rent with factions, and continually dis- 
 turbed by seditious movements, false Messiahs, and 
 alarming outbreaks ; and by the intrigues of the Hero- 
 dian princes, who were not satisfied by the decision of 
 Caesar. The state of things grew worse and worse, till 
 Archelaus, having lost the confidence and favour of 
 Augustus, was deprived of his office, and banished to 
 Vienne in Gaul ; then the urgent request of the Jews 
 was granted ; Judea was incorporated with the Roman 
 empire. By the desire of her people, the sceptre of 
 Judah was broken. 
 
 Augustus seems to have felt that, as the sovereign 
 ruler of Judea, it was incumbent on him, or at least 
 consistent with propriety, that he should show respect 
 to the ancient national religion of the Jews, which was 
 so closely interwoven with their past history. Ambas- 
 sadors from Rome never entered the courts of the 
 Temple that were open to Gentiles, without adoring 
 the God of the Hebrews ; and when M. V. Agrippa, as 
 the minister of Augustus, was staying at Jerusalem, he 
 went daily to the Temple, and offered rich gifts. Both 
 Augustus and Livia presented golden vases and cups 
 to the Temple, and the emperor, although he ordered 
 the members of his family to abstain from personal 
 homage or acts of worship, yet desired that in his 
 name, and at his expense, a bull and two lambs should 
 be sacrificed every day. This sacrifice, ordered by 
 Augustus, and continued by his successor, was celebrated 
 by the Jews with pious zeal was felt to be the gauge 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of Roman tolerance and Jewish submission ; a seal of 
 friendship between Rome and Jerusalem.* 
 
 Yet Augustus did not at all encourage his Roman or 
 other subjects to embrace Judaism. Towards mono- 
 theism in general he can never have seriously inclined ; 
 and when the excitement caused by the sibylline litera- 
 ture led him to dread its effects on the popular mind, 
 he acted against it with despotic severity. At the be- 
 ginning of his reign he had declined the post of supreme 
 pontiff, and it remained in the feeble hands of Lepidus 
 till his death. Then the emperor assumed the office and 
 title, and immediately exercised the priestly power. 
 He caused two thousand copies of various sibylline 
 books to be at once seized and burnt. About the same 
 time he ordered that every senator, before proceeding 
 to senatorial business, should offer frankincense to the 
 god in whose temple they were for the time being 
 assembled.! He may have done this to exclude mono- 
 theists from the senate, or he may simply have acted in 
 accordance with his sense of propriety. 
 
 We hear of the Jews in Rome at the time when 
 an impostor pretended to be Alexander, one of the 
 two unfortunate sons of Herod and Mariamne, who had 
 been enducated in Rome, and whose lives had been 
 cut short by their own father. The false Alexander 
 was a Jew of Sidon. His plausible stories deceived 
 many, and large sums of money were given to him 
 to enable him to support his claims. He was imprudent 
 enough to go to Rome. The whole Jewish body in 
 Rome turned out to welcome him, his likeness to the 
 deceased prince whom he personated was extraordinary. 
 
 * " Rome et la Judee." Par le Comte de Ghampagny. Paris, 
 1870. 
 t " Judaism at Rome." 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C&SAR. 57 
 
 Almost all the Jews believed in him gave him, royal 
 honours, carried him in a litter, and provided him with 
 attendants at their own expense. Caesar, however, who 
 perfectly remembered the features of the real Alexander, 
 could not be imposed on : Augustus laughed at the 
 whole affair, and gave the pretender, who was strong and 
 fit for such employment, a place among the rowers 
 of his fleet. But steps were taken to discover the 
 author of the plot, a clever Jew, who was arrested and 
 executed. 
 
 The thousands of Jewish residents in Rome who 
 pressed in and around the new temple of Apollo when 
 Herod Archelaus appeared before Caesar to answer to 
 the charges against him, must have thankfully felt that 
 their lot as colonists in Rome was far happier than that 
 of their brethren living in their own land ; to which 
 nevertheless their hearts were bound by associations 
 most sacred as well as endearing. Under favourable 
 circumstances the Jewish colony in Rome increased 
 with inconvenient rapidity. The influx of their lower 
 orders meeting the corresponding classes of the plebeians 
 caused a clashing of interests, always very trying to 
 vulgar minds, and uncommonly so in this case, on ac- 
 count of the singular customs of the Jews, and their 
 unfitness for domestic service under the Romans of 
 higher grade. Jealousies and disturbances arose, which 
 did not escape the vigilant eye and prescient rule of 
 Augustus, who separated the conflicting elements by 
 assigning to the Jews that portion of the city which lay 
 beyond the Tiber. Wealthy Jews then built houses on 
 both sides of the river ; as most of them were engaged 
 in commerce, it suited them to live on the quay where 
 the merchandise brought from Ostia on lighters was un- 
 loaded. Their residences and storehouses must have 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 formed a substantial front, not far from what is now 
 called the Porta Portese.* 
 
 Frederick Huidekoper justly remarks that Jewish 
 habits of industry must have been partly due to Jewish 
 religious views, to a sense of responsibility for the right 
 use of time; and "if," he says, "the Jews were, as 
 Josephus claims, and as some other circumstances might 
 indicate, the mechanics of the Roman Empire, this would 
 bring them largely in contact with their heathen neigh- 
 bours, and give to those of them who were fitted for it 
 an opportunity of making a favourable impression by 
 their skill, industry, and fidelity.! 
 
 All the characteristics that command respect could 
 not fail to co-operate in diffusing their religious views ; 
 and that the Jews throughout the world made converts 
 to the main points of their faith is obvious from the 
 frequent mention of such converts in the New Testa- 
 ment. Nevertheless, the absence of modern conversion 
 to Judaism has blinded prominent writers to its influ- 
 ence on the teachers of antiquity.! 
 
 * Ernest Renan. 
 
 t " The countries where monotheism had spread were the work- 
 shops of the Roman Empire. Josephus appeals to heathen cogni- 
 zance of the fact that mechanical occupations were largely in Jewish 
 hands. Philo mentions their workshops at Alexandria. The 
 industrial prosperity of the countries where they settled is attested 
 by patrician desire of obtaining office there. Cicero testifies that 
 Asia Minor was the portion of the republic where reason and 
 diligence effect most. Tacitus bears witness to the peacefulness 
 and wealth of Syria. The Jews are mentioned by Dion Cassius as 
 fabricators of arms for the Romans." Judaism at Rome^ p. 381. 
 
 $ " At the present day the Jews exercise no perceptible religious 
 influence in the Christian communities amid which they dwell, 
 because, as regards accordance with reason, adaptation to human 
 wants, and the evidence on which it rests, their religion has no 
 advantage over Christianity." Ibid. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C&SAR. 59 
 
 The poorer Jews landed in large numbers where the 
 more fortunate were founding the Hebrew colony in 
 Rome. They were not compelled to dwell on that spot, 
 they had not yet, as a nation, lost their place among 
 the nations, they were neither captives nor outcasts. 
 Naturally, almost all of them were glad to settle on the 
 ground chosen for them by Csesar ; they felt in that 
 yet unknown land the force of the everlasting truth, 
 " union is strength ; " and they cheerfully located them- 
 selves behind the edifices which their richer brethren 
 were building, and all, according to their means, contri- 
 buted and laboured to raise the synagogues in which 
 they met together to worship the God of their fathers. 
 The whole of the Hebrew Church no doubt took part 
 in that work, for the intercourse of the Roman syna- 
 gogues with Jerusalem was constant. In Rome they got 
 their livelihood as they could ; large numbers must 
 have found employment under men engaged in business. 
 It is known that many Jews were litter carriers and por- 
 ters. The dirty dregs of the multitude took to bartering 
 and huckstering, and tanning hides, and to keeping 
 slaughter-houses for their own people, that the animals 
 might be prepared for food according to the Levitical law. 
 
 We can understand why the Romans avoided these 
 narrow streets, and that being avoided, they got worse 
 and worse, till the smell of garlic was the least objection- 
 able of the many which combined to offend the noses 
 of persons brought up in cleanliness and refinement. 
 The poor Jews in the Transtevere shared in the general 
 largess of corn distributed among the poor inhabitants 
 of Rome, and by a special command of Augustus, if the 
 distribution took place on their Sabbath, their portion 
 was reserved. 
 
 The Romans were not only the most highly civilized 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 people in the world, they had imparted civilization, had 
 spread it in all directions had thrown the world itself 
 open. Men moved about regarding all the then 
 known lands as one common country. The same 
 interminable straight road led them with ease and 
 safety from one extremity to another ; everywhere 
 they found themselves under the protection of the same 
 strong government and the same laws. In every con- 
 siderable city they came to, the temples, basilicas, 
 theatres, baths, houses, and streets had much the same 
 appearance, and everywhere Romans, and those who 
 imitated them, were to be seen in the same dress, follow- 
 ing the same customs, and speaking what had become 
 almost the one universal language. Greece and Rome 
 had filled the valleys and levelled the hills, and made 
 the crooked ways straight, and the rough places smooth, 
 and prepared the way for the coming of the Lord, that 
 all flesh might see the salvation of God ; and Judaism 
 (no longer confined to Judea), like a herald, had raised 
 a general expectation of His coming.* 
 
 Yet more wonderful still was the unanimous longing 
 after " The desire of all nations." Men were tired of 
 their ancestral gods, really believed in little or nothing 
 of what they had been taught to say concerning them, 
 or only believed as we believe in touching, heart-stirring 
 poetry the latter kind of faith animated the hearts of 
 women. Men thought it was well that women and the 
 ignorant multitude should be religious ; religion was 
 very. useful in a state, as it helped to maintain order. 
 On no higher motive thousands upon thousands con- 
 tinued to countenance what they did not venerate. 
 
 * Isa. xliv. 3 5, Luke iii. 4, as quoted by Rev. L. Cutts, B.A., 
 in " Turning Points of Church History." Published by the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR. 61 
 
 Every thinking man felt that something was wanting 
 to make the religion of the day more real. Augustus 
 thought about it ; he evidently felt that the old deified 
 heroes, Jupiter, Bacchus, Hercules, had lived so long 
 ago as to have lost their hold on the sympathies of men. 
 Actuated by his great talent for organization, he tried 
 to effect a radical reformation in idolatry, and to estab- 
 lish it as the religion of the Roman state. He saw that 
 great dangers might arise from hastily upsetting existing 
 modes of worship, so he permitted the local cults every- 
 where to continue, but everywhere he set up the altars 
 of Rome. He permitted the lares in every house and 
 at every cross-road throughout his wide dominions to 
 remain ; but on every altar, and to every company of 
 household and wayside lares those cherished and 
 revered images of the departed favourites and heroes 
 of families and communities was to be added the 
 genius of the Emperor. He wished his people to feel 
 that in him they had a living protector and friend. 
 Not till after his death was his statue positively an idol. 
 
 Throughout the ancient world the word synonymous 
 with our Saxon word God conveyed ideas very different 
 from those awakened when we hear, or speak, or read 
 that hallowed word; and words of ancient languages 
 synonymous with our words worship and worshipful 
 may have had a signification rather more like that 
 which our ancestors attached to them, than is the higher 
 meaning in which they are now commonly used and 
 understood by us. 
 
 Throughout the Empire there were Romans whose 
 loyalty was based on something better than mere 
 selfish considerations, and such could look on the statue 
 of Augustus as a symbol of the over-ruling Providence, 
 which heathens could not think of as do pious Chris- 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 tians, but they felt that the highest guardian power of 
 which they could form any conception, which had 
 secured to them the blessings of prosperity, was repre- 
 sented by the statue of the Emperor. 
 
 This was felt in the provinces more than in Rome. 
 In the imperial city the emperors were known as men, 
 but very little of their personal characters was known 
 by their distant subjects. Occasionally, dark reports of 
 what had occurred in Rome made their way down into 
 the country, but they floated chiefly in the upper circles, 
 not among the people ; and as far as Augustus was 
 concerned, only in his last years were unpleasing stories 
 of him circulated, and these did not go far enough to 
 materially affect his popularity. 
 
 He seems to have set up a figure of his genius, not in 
 quite the same spirit as that in which King Nebuchad- 
 nezzar set up the golden image, but rather under the 
 pressure of the desire, then prevailing in all nations 
 the sense of a great want the instinctive effort to try 
 in some measure to satisfy man's need of a God to bless 
 him with sympathetic blessings ; to guide and lead every 
 child of man through the intricate paths of life, and 
 to dwell in every home. " God with us." 
 
 In a province of the Empire our Saviour was living, 
 but His advent had not been revealed to the Emperor, 
 nor even to the Jews in Rome. The world was no 
 longer in darkness, the humble seeker after truth had 
 light enough to find it ; but men's minds were still 
 shackled by the learning of the pagan schools, and 
 Augustus was blinded by pride, which his position and 
 all the circumstances of his life had fostered. We see 
 that the heathen needed to be chastened, that they 
 might know themselves to be but men, yet surely we 
 need not unmercifully judge the Roman for thinking 
 
IN THE DAYS Of AUGUSTUS C^ZSAR. 63 
 
 that he might do more for his people, whose welfare 
 he had earnestly at heart, than could the lares of their 
 ignorant ancestors.* 
 
 It is sad to read of the disappointment and sorrow 
 which clouded the old age of Augustus. The defeat of 
 Varus by Arminius, and the series of deaths, the trouble 
 in his own family, and, above all, the shame, revolting 
 to his best instincts, touching him so closely, grievously 
 disturbed his latter years. Misfortune and failing 
 strength made him more impatient and arbitrary than 
 he had hitherto been. This was felt most by his sub- 
 jects in Rome Romans, Jews, and others and they 
 openly murmured against him, to which he was keenly 
 sensible. Looking upon emigration as the remedy for 
 over-population, he banished a large number of mal- 
 contents, but this did not tend to revive his popularity.! 
 Nevertheless the Romans were proud of their Caesar, 
 and most of the people were attached to him personally. 
 
 When Augustus knew that his end was approaching, 
 he compiled a concise memorial of his acts. The ruined 
 wall at Ancyra, engraved with this precious document, 
 in both Greek and Latin, is one of the most curious of 
 existing antiquities. The inscription gives a detailed 
 
 * "Thanks to this confraternity, all local gods, all private 
 divinities, became Augustal gods. It was an admirable promo- 
 tion for them. But this great attempt to produce a religion of 
 the Roman state was evidently incapable of satisfying the religious 
 wants of the heart. Augustus was even more a religious organizer 
 than a great politician. The altars of Rome and of Augustus 
 became the centre of an hierarchical organization of colleges of 
 priests, which, to a much greater extent than is commonly sup- 
 posed, furnished the basis for the division of dioceses and eccle- 
 siastical provinces." Hibbert Lectures, 1880, by Ernest Renan. 
 
 f In Rome, within a circuit of little more than twelve miles, 
 more than two millions of people were crowded. Conybeare and 
 Hoivson. 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 account of his life and the events of his reign. The 
 record extends over a period of fifty-eight years, and 
 the great deeds it enumerates are not to be equalled 
 by the achievements of any other hero of ancient or 
 modern history. Yet even these are not so striking 
 as is the marvellous sobriety and dignity of its tone. 
 Certainly no pagan hero ever made a more becoming 
 preparation for death.* We have no assurance that he 
 was cheered by any kind of religious hope, but he died 
 calmly, breathed his last in the arms of Livia; a few 
 kind words to her were the last that passed his lips; 
 a rare instance of conjugal fidelity in those times ! 
 Augustus died at Nola. His body was taken with 
 the utmost pomp to the Forum of Rome, where the 
 funeral oration was pronounced by Tiberius, the late 
 Emperor's adopted son. Thence the remains were 
 borne to the grassy fields on the banks of the Tiber, 
 where the Roman youths met for athletic sports and 
 martial exercises, and there the corpse was laid on an 
 enormous funeral pyre. The fire burnt so fiercely and 
 so long, that five nights and days elapsed before it was 
 cool enough for the ashes to be collected ; and during 
 all that time the beautiful Livia, with ungirt dress, di- 
 shevelled hair, and bare feet, watched the pyre, attended 
 by the principal senators. It was the widow's duty as 
 chief mourner. 
 
 Augustus had built a mausoleum, in which he had 
 laid the ashes of several members of his family. First, 
 Marcellus, the nephew whom he loved with wannest 
 affection, and afterwards that young man's mother, his 
 sister Octavia, the widow of Antony. The mausoleum 
 stood in a meadow not far from the river. It was a 
 circular building, a lofty tower of white marble with 
 * Merivale. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTUS CJZSAR. 65 
 
 three retiring stages, each of which had its terrace 
 covered with earth and planted with cypresses. These 
 stages were pierced with numerous chambers, destined 
 to receive, row within row, and story within story, the 
 remains of every member of the imperial family, and 
 many of their most attached slaves and freedmen. 
 There was an entrance hall, round which statues of 
 Augustus and his successors were to stand. The top 
 of the tower was, we may suppose, ornamented with 
 friezes, and the entablature terminated by a circle of 
 statues.* In the centre of that massive mound the 
 founder of the empire was to sleep his last sleep, and 
 his statue, conspicuous on its summit, was to be so 
 placed as to overlook the beloved city. 
 
 The Roman mind, cultivated by the aid of Greek 
 literature and art, had grown philosophical, and still 
 more eminently dramatical. A governing idea, first 
 expressed, as far as we know, by Pythagoras, had given 
 its bent to many a Roman, had helped to mould the 
 national character. 
 
 Their own authors perceived this-. For instance, 
 Petronius wrote, "I don't go in for vehement contro- 
 versy (literally, don't drag the rope of controversy). It 
 seems that we are generally agreed that almost the 
 whole world is merely acting a stage play." 
 
 In another passage he says, " Almost the whole 
 world appears to be simply taking part in a 
 comedy." f 
 
 * As was generally prescribed for the Roman mausolea. (Hemans 
 and Merivale.) 
 
 t "Totus fere mundus mimum implere videtur." 
 " Non dueo contentions funem dum constet inter nos quod fere 
 totus mundus exercet histrioniam." The quotations are given 
 side by side under the loth Fragment of Petronius in the 
 
 5 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Augustus Caesar made his exit, satisfied that an im- 
 portant part in the grand drama had been assigned to 
 him, and that he had performed it well. 
 
 best edition it is not known from what book of Petronius they 
 come. 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD I I. 
 
" What though in faded splendour Judah held 
 His trembling sceptre, darkness wrapt the arth. . . . 
 Each region had its dynasty of gods 
 Primeval Asshur hers, whose altars blazed 
 Upon the plains of Shinar ; Persia hers, 
 Beside her founts of liquid fire : and where 
 The mighty Indus rolls its tide of wealth, 
 Innumerable shrines, sparkling with gems, 
 Studded the odorous banks. But none like Greece 
 Could boast its names of graceful deities 
 For every fountain and for every wind, 
 For every stream, and wood, and ocean shore, 
 For night and day, for sunshine and for storms, 
 For every changeful phase of Nature's moods, 
 For every passion of the human heart, 
 For wine, for war, for laughter and for tears, 
 For nuptial dances, and for funeral dirge, 
 For all things from the cradle to the grave, 
 And past the grave, in Hades over all 
 Were gods, or goddesses, or demi-gods, 
 Sylphs, nymphs, fawns, muses, graces, president. 
 In Greece the sevenfold power of Ashtaroth, 
 Encamping with his limitary hosts, 
 First fixed his seat, in after-years removed 
 Where Tiber rolls beneath the walls of Rome." 
 
 ' ' Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever" 
 By Rev. E. H. Bickersteth, M.A. 
 
III. 
 
 UNDER THE CLAUD II. 
 
 THE Claudian dynasty sprang from the descendants 
 of the Empress Livia, by her first husband, Tiberius 
 Claudius. 
 
 When Augustus, having no son of his own, appointed 
 Tiberius as his successor, the so doing amounted to a 
 confession that he had previously treated his stepson 
 unjustly. Throughout his early life Tiberius had been 
 treated with an inconsistency, often harsh, and always 
 unsympathetic, which had affected the formation of his 
 character and manners. Naturally, his mother had 
 been true to him, but she had frequently been obliged 
 to conceal her maternal feelings and her hopes and 
 designs on his behalf, while his training, education, and 
 future prospects were depending entirely on the abso- 
 lute will of the Emperor so equivocal was the young 
 man's position ! 
 
 His heart had been ruthlessly crushed ; for, while 
 yet a youth, he had married Agrippa's daughter, 
 whom he loved, but was forced to leave her for the 
 vain, unprincipled, twice widowed Julia. Such a train- 
 ing could hardly produce even worldly wisdom, could 
 not tend to make him grow up quite what Livia her- 
 self might have desired him to be. The will of 
 Augustus had made her co-heiress, had given her the 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 official title of Augusta, and raised her to the level of 
 her son. She consequently in some measure shared 
 with him the imperial dignity, and during the early 
 years of the reign held considerable power, which in 
 many respects she exercised judiciously. 
 
 When Tiberius ascended the imperial throne, the 
 Senate and most of the public officers were controlled 
 by an 'adverse faction, disposed, as far as possible, to 
 resist the guiding power which was vested in the 
 Emperor as the supreme ruler. In more than one 
 instance the Senate acted in opposition to the new 
 Emperor, and the haste with which it deified Augustus 
 hampered his successor, as it rendered the undoing of 
 anything that he had done apparently sacrilegious. 
 Not that the Roman mind revolted strongly against 
 such sacrilege, it was generally inclined to be too 
 sceptical ; and when the formal proposal was made in 
 the House to confer divine honours on Augustus, and 
 in course of time on each of his successors, the vote 
 was commonly passed unanimously, as a matter of 
 course, or withheld only as a token of abhorrence and 
 contempt. 
 
 Livia, warmly desiring to endear the ruling race to 
 the Roman people, enlisted the fine arts in her service ; 
 found employment for all the best painters and sculptors 
 by multiplying portraits, busts, and statues of favourite 
 members of the imperial family. She at the same time 
 strongly supported paganism, as it had been established 
 by her late husband. Under her influence priesthoods 
 were formed, and temples rose in all parts of the empire 
 to extend the adoration of Augustus, and inscriptions 
 still preserved upon them testify to her pride and self- 
 assertion, as well as to the policy with which she strove 
 to surround the family with solemn associations of re- 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD II. 71 
 
 ligious awe.* Yet deification signified little or nothing 
 more than was in later ages signified by canonization. 
 Vividly is this taught us in Rome, where we continually 
 see representations of heathen gods and goddesses side 
 by side with those of saints, gathered out of all genera- 
 tions since the Christian era. In the grand old Sistine 
 chapel of the Vatican, in which so many deeply interest- 
 ing scenes most powerful assemblies have taken place 
 where the election of every new Pope is first pro- 
 claimed with impressive ceremonial on the ceiling of 
 that magnificent old chapel we see depicted Isaiah, 
 Daniel, and the other prophets mingled with the sibyls, 
 who are quite as attractively painted. 
 
 It is well for us to be reminded of the truth we are 
 so apt to forget, though it interpenetrates all we can 
 learn of the years that are past, all that we meet with, 
 and all that we contemplate in the present day. Imper- 
 fection is the word that expresses man's condition, and 
 that of all his faculties and powers. Well is it to be 
 sometimes reminded that this state of existence has its 
 appointed end, which Holy Scripture connects with the 
 Last Judgment ; so we may be thankful for the preserva- 
 tion of Michael Angelo's picture, though our conceptions 
 of what that retrospective, searching, truth-telling day, 
 or period, will be, may differ greatly from those which 
 guided the famous old master's hand, as, year after year, 
 he worked out the innumerable number of figures, by 
 which he designed to show the joy of the blessed and 
 the agonies of the condemned. It is a wonderful, a 
 grand work of art, because earnestly devoted to a sub- 
 ject greater than the world itself, of deeper importance 
 than all the deeds that have ever been done throughout 
 
 * W. W. Capes, M.A., " Epochs of Ancient History. The 
 Early Roman Empire." Longman, Green, and Co. 
 
 fall* U 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 all generations, whether they have been written on the 
 pages of history, or have been consigned to what we 
 call oblivion, until the revelations appointed for that 
 day are made by God to man. Then, as the perfect 
 history of the past comes before us, we shall clearly see 
 its connection with the future, with the life that will 
 energise perfected faculties, with what will lie before us 
 when the stream of time has fallen into the ocean of 
 eternity. 
 
 In Rome you come into such close contact with 
 superstition, that it does not surprise you to hear that 
 Augustus Caesar was superstitious ; that he, like the 
 Athenians, erected an altar to " The unknown God?* 
 The following story is still told of him in Rome : 
 
 On the Capitoline Hill, near the spot on which had 
 stood the ancient citadel, the first capital, of which relics 
 might be then existing, and close to the temple of 
 Jupiter, built by Tarquinius Supurbus, and magnificently 
 restored by Sulla, Augustus raised an altar to comme- 
 morate the Delphic Oracle respecting the coming of the 
 Son of God; on which he inscribed the words, " Ara 
 Primogeniti Dei" The spot on which stood that altar 
 on the Capitoline Hill is now covered by the spacious 
 church of Sta. Maria in Ara Coeli, hoary with age and 
 solemnly picturesque. A quaint chapel within the 
 sacred building marks the site of that altar. | 
 
 * Acts xvii. 23. 
 
 t " As we lift the leathern curtain and push into the church, a 
 faint perfume of incense meets us. As the curtain of the west door 
 sways forward, the golden sunset bursts in and illuminates the 
 mosaic floor, and flashes here and there on the golden ceiling and 
 over the crowd, on some brilliant costume, or closely shaven head. 
 All sorts of people are thronging there. ... A dim, dingy look is 
 over all. But it is the history of the church, its great antiquity, the 
 varied fortunes it has known, which gives deep interest to its faded 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDI1. 73 
 
 In the sixth year of his reign, Tiberius was threatened 
 with a dangerous and widely spread rebellion. Whether 
 the legions had really resolved on elevating their favour- 
 ite Germanicus to the throne must remain a subject 
 of conjecture, as the death of the young hero soon 
 after his removal from Germany to Syria prevented 
 the possibility of that consummation, and there is no 
 positive proof that he actually took part in any con- 
 spiracy against his uncle. On the other hand, there is 
 no proof that he was murdered, still less that Tiberius 
 was privy to the deed. His death, in the prime of man- 
 hood, by a sudden illness, naturally suggested the idea 
 of poison. Germanicus himself, on his deathbed, had 
 charged his friends to expose his murderer, and avenge 
 his death. Piso was to have been brought to trial, but 
 committed suicide, which, even in those times, had a 
 guilty appearance. Germanicus had been universally 
 respected and beloved, and more than common sym- 
 pathy was shown when his widow and her children 
 came home with the funeral urn containing his ashes. 
 This sad event happened when the minds of all classes 
 of people were filled with apprehension that they were 
 on the eve of some terrible . disturbance of the peace. 
 Such fear breeds many kinds of excitement, and a pre- 
 diction was at that time sung in the streets, as sibylline, 
 about some awful judgment decreed to fall upon Rome, 
 
 "When thrice three hundred years have passed away." 
 Generally speaking, the Jews in times of popular corn- 
 splendour. Here Romulus, in the grey dawning of Rome, built the 
 temple of Jupiter. Here the triumphal processions of emperors 
 and generals ended. On the steps of Ara Cceli the first great 
 Caesar climbed on his knees after his first triumph, and if the tra- 
 dition of the church is to be trusted, here Augustus Caesar erected 
 the ' Ara Primogeniti Dei."' Abridged from Roba di Roma, i. 73. 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 motion, sided with the popular rather than with the 
 aristocratic party. Habitually, they were quiet citizens, 
 engaged in commerce, and were the chief mechanics of 
 that day ; consequently the wants of the industrial portion 
 of the community, as well as their politics, would tend to 
 draw together the Jews and the plebeians, and thereby 
 to considerably swell and strengthen the popular party, 
 making it appear too formidable. This explains why 
 the Senate enlisted four thousand of the strongest Jews, 
 and sent them to Sardinia. This decree of the Senate 
 was imputed to Tiberius. Suetonius says, " He dis- 
 tributed the young men of the Jews, under guise of a 
 military conscription, into provinces where the climate 
 was severe. The others of that race he removed from 
 the city, under pain of perpetual servitude if they did 
 not obey." In the Annals of Tacitus we read (Ann. ii. 85), 
 "Action was also held touching expulsion of the Egyptian 
 and Jewish religions, and a decree was enacted by the 
 Senate, that four thousand freedmen of suitable age who 
 were infected with the Jewish superstition should be 
 sent to the island of Sardinia to restrain the robbers 
 there, as if they perished by the severity of the climate 
 the loss would be a cheap one; and that the others 
 should quit Italy unless before a fixed day they re- 
 nounced their profane rites." 
 
 Dion Cassius tells us that the freedmen sent to 
 Sardinia were not all Jews by birth, but also other men 
 devoted to their institutions. In the reign of Augustus, 
 discontented refractory Jews had been sent to that 
 island. In spite of the unhealthiness of the climate, the 
 Hebrew colony was flourishing there when St. Paul was 
 a boy. 
 
 These severe measures have stained the reputation of 
 Tiberius. Thus far the Roman law as it then stood was 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD II. 75 
 
 excessively rigorous against political offences even the 
 least ; even a few seditious words, or words merely dis- 
 respectful to the ruling government, were punishable ; 
 but as yet there was no established law that authorised 
 condemnation solely on religious grounds. But to the 
 Emperor belonged the power of interpreting the old 
 time-honoured laws, so he could strain them and bring 
 them to bear on his own projects, and he had full power 
 to issue edicts and decrees which had not the substantial 
 and permanent character of laws, but were intended to 
 overrule difficulties, and to promptly and despotically 
 quell occasional disturbances. 
 
 From the writings of Cicero we learn that Roman 
 law, which enforced as much of morality as pagans could 
 appreciate, and which came within the scope of judges, 
 was mainly derived, in past times, from the Stoics. The 
 influence of Judaism upon the Greek Stoics seems to 
 have reacted upon Roman law.* As emperor, Tiberius 
 presided over the Senate, but he was often unsupported 
 by that body, which was disposed to rebel against his 
 authority. 
 
 Modern critics have come forward to defend the cha- 
 racter of this emperor, as they think he has been calum- 
 niated by the chroniclers of his reign, whose political 
 opinions differed from his own, which inclined to the 
 popular rather than to the aristocratic side. A fine, 
 pleasing statue of him in the Vatican pleads in his 
 favour. Tiberius, when in the prime of life, had an 
 active mind, well cultivated. He wrote a history of 
 his own times, at least Memoirs, but the work is 
 destroyed, lost, or undiscovered. His advocates say 
 that he had nothing to do with the death of his 
 nephew, Germanicus, although he may have been pro- 
 * "Judaism at Rome," p. 173. 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 voked to jealousy by the adulation bestowed on that 
 favourite prince. The suspicion against Tiberius was 
 no mere after-thought of later days, when the Romans 
 had learnt to know the darker features of his character. 
 He became more than commonly suspicious, and sus- 
 picious men are those most liable to be themselves sus- 
 pected. The hardships and disadvantages of his early 
 life account for the prominence of this dark feature of 
 his character. Naturally he had warm feelings, he 
 grieved sincerely for the death of his brother Drusus, and 
 he dearly loved his first young wife ; but when cruelly 
 parted from her, he lived peacefully with Julia for a 
 while, patiently resigning his will to those of the elders 
 of his family in age and position. But when power came 
 at last, it found him sullen and uncourteous, soured by 
 rancour and resentment, afraid of the Senate and Ger- 
 manicus, yet ashamed to own his fears ; curbed by 
 his mother, and spurred on by Sejanus ; and at length, 
 when he, the only man whom Tiberius had ever fondly 
 trusted, played him false, his old mistrust settled into a 
 general contempt for other men, and for the restraints 
 of their opinion.* These safeguards gone, he plunged 
 into the depths of intemperance, that lie beyond the 
 bounds of reason, far down into which men may be 
 driven, when mastered by their own passions ; mysterious 
 depths, haunted by evil spirits, who are sometimes per- 
 mitted to take possession of those who make no resistance. 
 John Milton must have conceived this idea of Tiberius 
 when he wrote the fourth book of Paradise Regained. 
 He makes the tempter say 
 
 " This Emperor hath no son, and now is old, 
 Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired 
 
 * W. W. Capes, M.A. See " Epochs of Ancient Roman History," 
 p. 70. Longman and Co., 1879. 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD II. 77 
 
 To Capreae, an island small but strong 
 
 On the Campanian shore ; with purpose there 
 
 His horrid lusts in private to enjoy, 
 
 Committing to a wicked favourite 
 
 All public cares, and yet of him suspicious. 
 
 Hated of all, and haling. With what ease, 
 
 Endued with regal virtues, as Thou art 
 
 Appearing, and beginning noble deeds, 
 
 Mightest Thou expel this monster from his throne. 
 
 ******* 
 
 To whom the Son of God unmoved replies, 
 ******* 
 
 How gloriously, I shall, thou sayest, expel 
 A brutish monster ; what if I withal 
 Expel a devil that hath made him such ? ' 
 
 The poet drew his view of the life led by Tiberius 
 at Capreae from Tacitus and ' Suetonius, whose works, 
 when the learning we call classical was revived, were 
 among those of the heathen authors most widely read. 
 It has been suggested that misrepresentations may have 
 arisen out of a joke on the name of the island that 
 some one may have called the Emperor Caprineus, 
 which might mean either a resident at Capreae, or by 
 a play on the word, a grossly dissolute man. His evil 
 doings, when in retirement, may have been exaggerated, 
 but undoubtedly they left the serpent's trail. Those 
 were wicked times ; but when human nature was at 
 its worst, the Saviour thought it worth dying for. A 
 dark shadow seems to rest on the life of Tiberius, and 
 to blur his name. Let us hope that when all shadows 
 flee away, the amiable features of the affectionate boy 
 may reappear. Beyond everything that casts a shadow, 
 light must be shining, even beyond the cross which 
 has set its mark on this reign. 
 
 Pontius Pilate thought it would be an honourable 
 achievement to introduce into Jerusalem those images 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of Augustus Caesar which were loyally received in the 
 chief cities of other Roman provinces. No doubt he 
 felt encouraged to venture on this step, by his trust- 
 fulness in the fellow-feeling between the upper classes 
 of the nations. For some time the Jewish aristocracy 
 had in many respects sympathized with, or at least 
 co-operated with, the Roman. Both Herod the Great 
 and Herod Agrippa, who were closely leagued with the 
 patrician faction at Rome, found support in the aristo- 
 cracy of Judea, rather than in the middle and lower 
 classes, from which we may infer that co-operation, 
 direct or indirect, existed between the influential classes 
 at Rome and Jerusalem. 
 
 Nevertheless Pontius Pilate was quite aware that 
 he was attempting to do a very hazardous thing ; so, 
 well knowing that at least a large number of the Jews 
 would be offended, he sent the images into the city 
 secretly, by night. On the following morning a terrible 
 tumult occurred. The Jews of all classes were struck 
 with consternation at seeing their laws treated with 
 contempt. The indignant crowds in the town were 
 soon swelled into vast numbers, as excited people 
 poured in from the country. A formidable body imme- 
 diately went to Caesarea, where Pilate then was, and 
 besought him to remove the images from their city, 
 and to preserve their ancestral laws. Pilate rejected 
 their suit; whereupon, they fell prostrate, and during 
 five days and nights remained immovable. On the 
 ensuing day, Pilate having seated himself on the 
 tribunal in the great circus, summoned these people, 
 as if with a view to reconsidering their petition ; but 
 when they pressed near the tribunal, he gave a pre- 
 concerted signal, and the whole assembly of Jews was 
 instantly surrounded by Roman soldiers. Then the 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDIL 79 
 
 Procurator declared that he would cut them down, 
 should they still refuse to admit the images of Caesar ; 
 and at the Governor's nod every soldier unsheathed 
 and brandished his sword, ready to execute the final 
 word of command. The Jews, by one consent, fell 
 prostrate in a mass, and offering their necks, cried out 
 that they would rather die than trangress their law. 
 Pilate, astonished at this courageous fidelity to their 
 religion, gave the sign for the soldiers to sheathe their 
 swords ; and ordered that the images should be taken 
 away from Jerusalem. 
 
 He subsequently occasioned another tumult by 
 touching the corban, a sacred fund formed of the gifts 
 of the people devoted to God's service for religious 
 purposes. Pilate took possession of this accumulated 
 money, and spent it on what he considered a good 
 work for the benefit of all. He constructed an aqueduct 
 which brought pure water from a distance of 400 
 furlongs. Indignant at this profanation, the populace, 
 on his return to Jerusalem, collected with loud clamours 
 about his tribunal. Having foreseen the tumult, he 
 interspersed among the crowd a troop of soldiers in 
 plain clothes, but armed. These men were directed 
 not to use their swords, but to chastise the rioters with 
 staves, and this they did so cruelly that numbers died 
 of the blows they received ; and in the confusion others 
 were trodden to death. The rest took flight, and the 
 multitude, terrified by the fate of their friends, were 
 silenced. 
 
 The conduct of Pontius Pilate as Governor of Judea 
 did not meet with the approbation of the Roman Senate ; 
 he was recalled in the fifth year after that in which he 
 had given up a man whom he believed to be a just 
 person to his enemies, to be put to death, contrary to 
 
8o HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Roman law, which the accused had never broken. Pilate 
 acted under cowardly fears and selfish ideas as to what 
 course of action would be most likely to promote his 
 own worldly interests, and was regardless of Roman 
 law, which he was bound to uphold. 
 
 The cross was a Roman punishment, therefore the 
 fitting instrument of death for Him who was to die, 
 not for one nation, but for the whole world, of which 
 Rome was at that time the acknowledged head and 
 representative. 
 
 Pilate had held the office of procurator for ten years 
 when he was summoned to Rome. The next time he 
 left that city he was under sentence of banishment, and 
 he died in exile. It has been said that he put an end 
 to his own life ; but so many legends have clung to his 
 name, that it is now impossible to disentangle truth from 
 fiction. 
 
 When Tiberius heard of the wonders that had oc- 
 curred in Judea, he proposed to admit Jesus among the 
 twelve most highly honoured gods of Rome.* The 
 emperor was willing to add a thirteenth, but the senate 
 raised objections which prevailed. 
 
 During the reign of Tiberius, young Herod Agrippa 
 resided in Rome, where he was educated highly, and 
 became the favourite companion of the Emperor's son, 
 the second Drusus. After the death of that prince, 
 being very little noticed by Tiberius, he bitterly felt this 
 neglect, and suffered under it, falling into distress and 
 poverty, but he afterwards attached himself to young 
 Caius (or Caligula), whom Tiberius had named as his 
 successor. In a moment of thoughtlessness Agrippa 
 
 * See "Romeet la Jude'e," vol. i., page 54. Par le Comte de 
 Champagny. Paris, 1870. This author quotes Tertullian, Euse- 
 bius, Saint Jerome, and other early Christian writers. 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD II. 
 
 expressed the wish that Tiberius were dead, which was 
 reported to that tyrant, who threw the young prince 
 of Judea into prison, and he was not released until 
 his wish had come to pass, till Tiberius was no more, 
 and Caligula reigned in his stead. The new Caesar 
 immediately released his friend, and ere long gave 
 him a crown, reviving the kingdom of Judea, after an 
 interregnum of twenty-six years. Thus at last were 
 the Maccabean and Idumean families united in a sove- 
 reign descended from Herod the Great and Mariamne. 
 Caligula presented him with a chain of gold of equal 
 weight with the iron chain with which he had been 
 bound. This chain Herod hung up in the treasury of 
 the Temple, to remind him of the instability of human 
 affairs, and no doubt under a feeling that the placing 
 it there was an act pleasing to the God of that temple, 
 who saith, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He 
 maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." 
 Herod's religion was half-hearted, a striving to serve 
 two masters. 
 
 By death in the one case, and by confiscation in the 
 other, the territories of Philip, the tetrarch of Ituraea, 
 and Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, fell into the 
 hands of the Roman Emperor, who added them to the 
 dominions of King Herod Agrippa. Antipas was ac- 
 cused of treasonable correspondence with the Parthians, 
 and banished to Lyons. He was the murderer of John 
 the Baptist, and before his judgment-seat our Saviour 
 appeared. 
 
 The new king of the Jews was careful to show rever- 
 ence for the Jewish religion, and anxious to gain the 
 regard of his subjects. He relieved them from burdens 
 taxes they had borne when under the more immediate 
 government of Rome, he still further beautified the 
 
 6 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 temple, and effected useful and magnificent improve- 
 ments in the city of Jerusalem, making it such as Pliny 
 describes it to be, " the most glorious of all the eastern 
 cities." Herod also gave especial attention to the 
 fortifications, but there his building was checked by the 
 Romans. 
 
 While the Jews were relieved from distress and 
 enjoying prosperity, great sufferings fell upon the 
 Christians. The rest which the churches had enjoyed 
 throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was 
 now at an end, for Herod Agrippa cruelly persecuted 
 the Christians. " He killed James the brother of John 
 with the sword,* and because he saw that it pleased 
 the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also" 
 (Acts xii. I 3). 
 
 That man seems to have done everything that he 
 might be seen of men. He had his reward ; more than 
 he could have calculated on ; but he did not long 
 enjoy it. 
 
 Caligula, on his accession to the imperial throne, had 
 been most enthusiastically received by all his subjects ; 
 for the Roman people had lost all patience with the 
 gloomy, cruel Tiberius, and were consequently the more 
 disposed to admire the free manners and lively dis- 
 position of this young son of the loved and lamented 
 Germanicus. Caligula had a kind of quick wit, always 
 ready with a jest, and as his character was not well 
 balanced, it was natural with him to speak carelessly 
 and to excite a laugh unwisely. His thoughtless words, 
 
 -* Thus briefly does Scripture speak of the martyrdom of the 
 Apostle who first suffered death for Christ's sake. He is often 
 .called James the Elder to distinguish him from James the Less, 
 who lived to preside over the church in Jerusalem ; but was 
 martyred A.D. 62. Shortly before his death he wrote his General 
 Epistle. 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDIL 83 
 
 spoken with no other object than temporary amusement, 
 might be easily perverted, or an undue importance, which 
 he had never thought of, might be attached to them. 
 He was fond of giving nicknames to ' persons in any 
 way remarkable ; thus he used to call the stately Livia, 
 whom he knew well in his boyhood, Ulysses in petticoats. 
 His name was Caius ; but that of Caligula, or Little Boots, 
 had been given to him in jest, when, as a mere baby, he 
 was dressed as a soldier, and was very proud of his boots. 
 Little did those who gave him the pet name foresee 
 how deeply it would be dishonoured by cruelty and the 
 wildest folly ; and execrated, perhaps even more than 
 he deserved, by the number of enemies he made, among 
 whom were contemporary historians. Never were sub- 
 jects more bitterly disappointed in a sovereign than 
 were the Romans in Caligula ; though he reigned only 
 four years, the flattery they lavished on him quite turned 
 his weak head. The Jews, having more sense of morality, 
 were likely to hold such a man in even greater con- 
 tempt and abhorrence than did the heathen. 
 
 The system of religion which Augustus had, in his 
 heathen ignorance, tried to improve, and which he had 
 but too well succeeded in establishing as the religion of 
 the empire, had rapidly degenerated, and become cor- 
 ruption itself, as must always be the case with every 
 kind of idolatry. In the hands of such a man as 
 Caligula it was no better than the grossest paganism 
 that ever degraded human nature. The Jews of Alex- 
 andria sent a petition to Rome, begging that they might 
 be defended against the oppression of the Greeks ; the 
 Greeks in their turn retaliated on the Jews by comment- 
 ing on their being the only people who refused divine 
 honours to the Emperor. This mortified Caligula, and 
 in his passionate vexation he sent peremptory orders to 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Petronius then prefect of Syria to set up his statues in 
 Jerusalem, and on the altars there, as on those in other 
 towns of the Empire. Then, as both Josephusand Philo 
 relate, all Judea and Phoenicia, the grey-headed, the 
 vigorous men, the women and children, all feeling that 
 a great cloud covered their land, made the heathen 
 sensible of this by their deep unanimous distress and 
 lamentation. So great was their wailing and crying, that 
 when it ceased, the echo seemed still to fill the air. 
 
 Then they assembled on a plain near Ptoletnais tc 
 address Petronius, first on the subject of their laws, and 
 afterwards supplicating for themselves. As a Roman 
 general, Petronius acted with good sense and modera- 
 tion. He left his army and all the obnoxious statues 
 in Ptolemais, went himself immediately into Galilee, and 
 convened at Tiberius the mass of the people with all 
 those of distinction. Petronius spoke to them of the 
 power of the Romans, of the threats of Caesar, and of 
 the unreasonableness of their request ; for, when all the 
 subject nations had in every city placed among their 
 gods the effigies of Caesar, their opposition was little less 
 than rebellion, and that aggravated by insult. The 
 multitude cried out, " We will die rather than that our 
 law should be broken." Petronius, having allayed the 
 clamour, said, " Will you then war with Caesar?" Then 
 one from among them stood up and said, " For Caesar 
 and the Roman people twice a day do we sacrifice ; but 
 if he will .erect these images, he must first sacrifice the 
 whole Jewish nation, and we now present ourselves, our 
 wives and children, ready for the slaughter. Petronius 
 was touched, he dismissed the assembly, which quietly 
 dispersed. 
 
 " This," says Gerovius, " is a striking scene in the 
 great world's tragedy, and will ever remain a reproach 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDII. 85 
 
 against Caligula, and an abiding witness for the Jewish 
 nation, which reflects nobler honour on them, than do 
 the greatest deeds of David or of Solomon." 
 
 Under the influence of this example, affecting a mind 
 not incapable of receiving good impressions, Petronius 
 wrote immediately to the Emperor. By thus daring 
 to refrain from promptly executing the positive orders 
 he had already received, this Roman general put his 
 own life and the fate of his family in most imminent peril. 
 Happily for them the widespread conspiracy against 
 the tyrant was at that time secretly forming, and ere 
 long proved fatally successful. Among the numerous 
 conspirators against the life of Caligula was one of the 
 most wealthy Jews of Rome, Romanized as a patrician. 
 This man some time afterwards stated that Caligula 
 had given directions for the construction of a statue 
 of himself to be erected in the Temple of Jerusalem. 
 Frederick Huidekoper considers that this charge, made 
 by a murderer against his victim, comes from a suspicious 
 source, and he does not believe in its truth, although 
 Josephus mentions it, and Philo treats the subject 
 dramatically ; describing the scene of excitement when 
 a Jew arrived at Jerusalem, and told the news, that 
 Caesar had ordered a colossal statue of himself to be 
 erected in the Holy of Holies, having his own name 
 inscribed on it, with the title of Jupiter ; and while the 
 people were listening to him in astonishment and terror, 
 others arrived, bearing the same sad tale. The Jews 
 with one accord determined on making a firm resistance, 
 but the assassination of the tyrant prevented the sacrilege. 
 
 King Herod Agrippa happened to be in Rome when 
 the catastrophe occurred ; he had gone thither in the 
 hope of appeasing the rage of the Emperor, with whom 
 he had pleaded for his people, and at the same time 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 had begged that he might still continue to reign over 
 them. Caligula had given no immediate promise of 
 pardon ; we know not what he might have done had 
 not his own life been cut short by a band of assassins. 
 Pierced with thirty wounds, he expired, and his dis- 
 honoured corpse was left in the corridor where it had 
 fallen. Agrippa found it there, covered it with purple, 
 and carried it into a garden, where he had it hastily 
 burnt and buried, for he feared lest further. insults should 
 be vented on it: he knew that Caligula's memory would 
 be hated even by his successor. When time had 
 brought tranquillity, the ashes were exhumed, and 
 received funeral honours. 
 
 The timid Claudius, uncle to the murdered despot, 
 frightened by the awful event and the terrible com- 
 motion, hid himself behind some drapery, but was found 
 by a party of the Praetorian Guards who were searching 
 through the palace for conspirators. The soldiers re- 
 spected the blood of the Caesars, and remembered the 
 relationship to Germanicus, whose name they greatly 
 honoured ; so, at first more in jest than in earnest, they 
 saluted Claudius as emperor, and carried him off to 
 their camp. Their officers, while yet the Senate was 
 deliberating on the important question, decided that 
 this brother of Germanicus and grandson of Drusus 
 should sit on the imperial throne. Thoughts of restor- 
 ing the ancient republic were being entertained, and 
 some who desired a continuation of the imperial form 
 of government had another candidate in view; but when 
 the Praetorian Guard, making an imposing demonstra- 
 tion, descended in full force from their camp to the city, 
 the citizens, with whom Claudius was popular, joined 
 them, and the Senate, which had again assembled in 
 the temple of Jupiter, submitted, and offered the crown 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDIL 87 
 
 to Claudius. He was really afraid to accept it ; but, 
 encouraged by the arguments and entreaties of Agrippa 
 the Jew, he allowed his name to be proclaimed, and 
 the crown to be set upon his head, and no doubt he 
 ever afterwards felt grateful to the friend who had up- 
 held him in every way in this moment of imminent 
 danger and perplexing trial. The Romans generally 
 were pleased with the part Agrippa had taken, and he 
 left Rome loaded with honours. Additional territory 
 had been added to his kingdom, and he had been made 
 a consul of Rome, a dignity which seems never before 
 to have been bestowed upon a Jew. Yet, if he had 
 any feeling at all, he must have started from Rome 
 with a heavy heart. 
 
 Caligula and Agrippa had been life-long friends 
 companions in boyhood. The survivor must have been 
 struck by what he heard, and by the scenes in which he 
 had been called on to take part. The excitement seems 
 to have sharpened his insight into his own worldly in- 
 terests ; but what a wonderfully different view of the 
 shocking event he must have taken, from that in which 
 we see it ! King Agrippa was well acquainted with the 
 Scriptures, yet no thrill of awe turned his immortal soul 
 towards the God of Israel, whom outwardly he honoured 
 by beautifying the temple, attending the services, and 
 duly performing the prescribed devotional exercises. 
 When the Jews faithfully and firmly resisted the impious 
 decree of Caligula, their king thought only of the safety 
 of his crown, and the preservation of his territory. 
 Rejoicing in having so wisely acted as to have secured 
 the one and enlarged the other, Agrippa left Rome 
 to return triumphantly to Judea. Though warned by 
 example, he soon afterwards was guilty of the same 
 presumptuous sin committed by Caligula, and was as 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 signally, and more promptly, called away from all that 
 he had set his heart upon. His return to Jerusalem was 
 celebrated as a national triumph. In that city he acted 
 the zealous Jew, at Caesarea he could play the part of 
 a Greek and a heathen. Here the sagacity he had 
 displayed at Rome was highly estimated ; and, feeling 
 themselves exalted in the exaltation of their admirable 
 sovereign, his subjects were very proud of him. Here it 
 was that the populace greeted the speech he made to 
 them with the cry, " It is the voice of a god, and not of 
 a man." 
 
 While seated above the people in his royal apparel, he 
 was smitten by a stroke of sudden illness, and died, as 
 St. Luke describes in Acts xii. 21. This memorable 
 feast was held in celebration of Roman victories in 
 Britain. The tributary kings and the rulers of the pro- 
 vinces proclaimed a feast for rejoicing, and thanking the 
 gods, that throughout the empire all people might 
 participate in the triumph at Rome. 
 
 On that occasion Claudius on his knees climbed 
 the stone steps that led up to the temple of Jupiter 
 Capitolinus. Those steps, or whatever of them is re- 
 maining after repeated restoration, are now mounted by 
 persons going on foot from the modern city to the church 
 of Sta. Maria di Ara-Cceli. To the young and healthy it 
 is a toilsome ascent ; so perhaps we may give a man past 
 the prime of life a paralyzed man, with a weak spine, 
 a halting foot, and a trembling hand credit for having 
 performed a real act of humility, in the face of the world 
 over which he had reluctantly consented to reign. The 
 war thus happily terminated in favour of Rome had been 
 begun by Caligula in person, but he gained no decided 
 advantage, and after his death historians and satirists 
 threw contempt on the boasted achievements of this 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD I I. 89 
 
 hated Emperor. Modern historians, looking impartially 
 on things that happened so long ago, see that the expe- 
 dition to Britain was not entirely a whimsical design, 
 foolishly executed. The erection of a light-house bears 
 witness in Caligula's favour. Dean Merivale points out 
 that even the picking up of shells on our coast may be 
 a grotesque misrepresentation of receiving a tribute in 
 oysters or Rutupian pearls.* Claudius, at the beginning 
 of his reign, favoured the Jews, perhaps for Herod 
 Agrippa's sake, as after his death a change in the 
 Emperor's conduct towards them is obvious, though he 
 never abandoned them finally. 
 
 At this time there was in the city of Rome a very 
 large number of Greeks, called Alexandrians, as they 
 had at different times come chiefly from Alexandria in 
 Egypt. When Alexander the Great of Macedon founded 
 that city, one-third of its first inhabitants were Jews. 
 The city had prospered, and become over-peopled, and 
 large numbers had emigrated to Rome, with a view to 
 bettering their condition by traffic. These people were 
 more like the poor Jews in their habits and ways of life 
 than they were like the Roman plebeians; consequently, 
 in the Roman mind they became rather confounded 
 together ; the more so, as they also gained precarious 
 livelihoods by the lowest kind of trade, and by such 
 
 * Rutupise, on the coast of Kent, where stood a grand old 
 Roman Castle, is now Richborough, near Sandwich. Not far from 
 the castle was a large oyster-bed which produced uncommonly fine 
 oysters, perhaps also mother-of-pearl. In early times rents and 
 taxes were paid in kind by the produce most abundant. Long 
 after the Romans had left Britain the town of Sandwich paid a 
 yearly rent of forty thousand eels to the Benedictine Monastery at 
 Canterbury, and we read of an estate that was valued as worth 
 thirty-eight thousand herrings per annum. (Hasted's " History of 
 Kent.") 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 disgusting occupations as made them unfit for the 
 better parts of the city. Consequently they had got 
 mixed up together in the narrow streets of the 
 Transtevere, and, no doubt, they became somewhat 
 neighbourly one with the other, although the differ- 
 ence of religion prevented their fraternizing and blend- 
 ing. It had become a mixed colony of Jews and 
 Greeks, among which the former preponderated. Dis- 
 putes occasionally arose, but were not important enough 
 to disturb the public peace, until Christianity had 
 spread among the Greeks. Numbers of the poorest 
 and most ignorant of them were admitted into the 
 infant Church in Rome, and this caused a clashing 
 with their Jewish neighbours, which created serious 
 disturbances, such as needed to be put down by the 
 strong control of the government. The Romans at 
 that time generally looked upon Christianity as a sect, 
 or offshoot, of Judaism. They did not clearly under- 
 stand the distinction, and senators, patricians, and every 
 class of the Roman people were partakers in a growing 
 prejudice against the Jews ; so that they were not dis- 
 posed to bear with patience the outbreaks of religious 
 animosity which they imperfectly comprehended, and in 
 which they were interested only as far as concerned the 
 maintenance of order throughout the city. 
 
 A bitter contest between the Jews and their inveterate 
 foes, the Alexandrians, occurred just at a time when the 
 whole population of Rome was suffering in consequence 
 of a great scarcity. There was not food enough for all, 
 and Claudius gave general satisfaction to his own people, 
 when, exasperated by the continual feuds between the 
 Jews and the Greek Christians, he turned them all out 
 of the Transtevere, and ordered that the synagogues, in 
 which riots had occurred, should be closed. Suetonius 
 
UNDER THE CLAUD I I. 91 
 
 says that Claudius drove the Jews from Rome because 
 they were incessantly raising tumults at the instigation 
 of a certain Chrestus. This passage has been much 
 discussed. Some have thought that there was a Jew 
 named Chrestus; others, that the historian of the Caesars 
 mistook that name for the name of Christ, which may 
 have been used unadvisedly by the ignorant and 
 seditious. Or Chrestus may have been one of the 
 many false Messiahs. The expulsion of the Jews from 
 Rome, decreed by Claudius, was either not strictly exe- 
 cuted or else soon repealed, as Scripture clearly shows 
 by the little it tells us concerning Aquila and his wife 
 Priscilla.* No doubt the memory of Agrippa, really 
 cherished by Claudius, in some measure protected the 
 Jews. Josephus thought the sudden death of King 
 Herod Agrippa very unfortunate, as he was building 
 a wall of extraordinary strength all round Jerusalem, 
 and, had he lived to finish it, the Romans might have 
 found the city impregnable. 
 
 Immediately on Agrippa's decease the Roman govern- 
 ment resumed the ruling power over Judea, and held it 
 until his son was old enough to be placed on the throne 
 as Herod Agrippa the Second. This was the king be- 
 fore whom St. Paul was brought, t At that time there 
 were many Jews in Rome. The Apostle had lately 
 written his Epistle to the Romans, in which Jews are 
 named. Nevertheless the decree of banishment, though 
 so leniently enforced or so quickly rescinded, must have 
 caused much trouble ; but we may suppose that in the 
 
 * Compare Acts xviii. 13 with the salutations at the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans to 
 the sixteenth verse. From verse 3 it is evident that Aquila and 
 his wife were at that time in Rome. 
 
 t Acts xxv. 23. 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 days of Claudius, as in the days of Pompey, their 
 wealthy and influential brethren helped them ; for we 
 read that among the Jews were men and women of 
 great accomplishments, who ingratiated themselves with 
 the highest families, and familiarized them with the rites 
 and doctrines of their own religion. Such as these could 
 stem the tide of fortune that had turned against the 
 nation : each one in his or her limited sphere could, by 
 winning esteem and regard, subdue the force of preju- 
 dice, although, as a nation, the Jews were now beginning 
 to fall into adversity and disrepute. Their day was 
 done, their light was passing away, and a long time of 
 darkness must intervene before the faintest streak of 
 dawn could break on the glorious morrow, a day on 
 which the sun has not yet risen, a day of which the 
 noontide joy and splendour will exceed all that has 
 ever gone before. 
 
 The growing and strengthening of prejudices against 
 the Jews, and the rapidity with which this ill-feeling 
 spread and deeply rooted itself all over the world, may 
 in a great measure be attributed to the increase of the 
 Pharisaical spirit among themselves. There were several 
 schools of Pharisees, and all of them partook more or 
 less of the general character of the sect on which our 
 Saviour so severely commented, which He branded as 
 hypocritical. From the frequency of His warnings to 
 the multitude against this spirit, we may infer that all 
 classes were being deceived and led astray by it, and 
 no doubt the Pharisees were followed to an extent 
 which actually affected the national character of the 
 Jews, and the opinion entertained of them by other 
 nations. 
 
 The habits of thought in which they had been 
 trained had contracted and cramped their minds so 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDIL 93 
 
 much that they could not grasp a grand idea, or obtain 
 a wide or a thorough view of any subject. The learn- 
 ing of their reading-men, steeped as it was in sectarian 
 prejudice, was nothing better than moral pedantry. 
 They did not look beyond the letter, did not enter 
 into the spirit of meanings which feed the spiritual 
 parts of our triune nature. Their ostentation, though 
 not at all greater or more inflating to vanity, was dif- 
 ferent to that of other men, and very offensive to them. 
 Affectation of sanctity is sure to excite an antagonistic 
 encounter with the pride of righteous indignation, which 
 is generally only another form of self-righteousness. 
 
 When he was sixteen years old, Josephus joined the 
 Pharisees, on considerations as mature as that age is 
 capable of. He appears not to have regretted this 
 step, although his descriptions of their feelings, aspira- 
 tions, and habits are anything but attractive. 
 
 Pharisaical character did not commend itself to the 
 Roman mind, which was disgusted by its blemishes, 
 and could not appreciate its best points, its stricter 
 morality, its habitual regularity, and conspicuous pro- 
 priety. Josephus himself, renegade, as he was, though 
 not little in his own eyes, must have been looked upon 
 with contempt by a Roman patriot. 
 
 We must not judge of the Roman mind by the 
 Claudian Emperors, nor by the military despots who 
 succeeded them ; it is fairer to judge by the literature 
 of the period. Likewise we should remember that as 
 every Roman was not a Claudian, so every Jew was 
 not a Pharisee, neither was every Pharisee a hypocrite. 
 Among them we find Gamaliel, wise, merciful, watch- 
 ing for indications of God's will. Moreover, in all the 
 great cities in which they dwelt, there were individual 
 Jews, whose conduct was such as to gain the respect 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of those among whom they sojourned. A few of these 
 were men who grew rich, and were not so absorbed in 
 money-making, that they could not spend it liberally 
 with a view to the public good. Now and then we 
 read of a Jew who gained popularity with his fellow- 
 citizens, but it clung to himself alone, not to the nation 
 to which he belonged. These individual instances, so 
 rarely noticed, throw us back upon the simple truth, 
 that under every condition human life has its partially 
 enlightened, as well as its dark side, that always " the 
 best portion of a good man's life" consists "in little 
 nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love." 
 Is not this a convincing proof that under the most 
 depressing misery that can be produced by evil powers, 
 as well as in unclouded happiness, the listening ear 
 may hear Jehovah's voice declaring still, " All souls 
 are mine "? * 
 
 Ever since the intercourse between Jews and Romans 
 began, there have been Romanized Jews. When 
 Judea became a Roman province, there, as in every 
 other province of the empire, educated and deserving 
 natives were admitted to all the privileges of free-born 
 Romans. With a sum of money they bought their 
 freedom, and they could make it an hereditary right, 
 for the benefit of their heirs. Being Romans in the 
 eyes of the law, they were bound to serve and to fight 
 for the empire, not for their native lands in particular. 
 For obvious reasons, the Jews were less disposed to 
 Romanize, than were the people of other nations. Very 
 many of them were prevented by religious scruples. 
 Those strict Jews, and those who could not afford to 
 buy their freedom, were apt to look on their Romanized 
 brothers as unfaithful and worldly-minded. We do 
 
 * Ezekiel xviii. 4. 
 
UNDER THE CLAUDIL 
 
 not read of many in the early times of the empire. 
 Tiberius-Alexander, and Josephus are well-known 
 representatives of this class. They were both living 
 in the days of Claudius, but had not yet obtained 
 celebrity. That emperor chose Augustus as his 
 model, tried to imitate him in all things great and 
 small, to a curious extent, although in his childhood 
 he had suffered much through the unkindness of all 
 the elder members of the imperial family. Augustus 
 himself had set the example of treating the poor boy 
 with contempt, because paralysis had affected his per- 
 sonal appearance, and stunted his growth. Possibly 
 it had also touched his mental faculties, making them 
 weak on some points, and leaving them strong on 
 others. He seems to have been only now and then 
 competent to wield the sceptre of the Roman Empire, 
 which he grasped most despotically in his weakest 
 moments. Throughout his reign he generally sup- 
 ported the Patrician party, which was doing its utmost, 
 under strong opposition, to uphold heathenism, and to 
 crush down every kind of monotheism. Had the Jews 
 not been protected by Herodian influence, they might 
 have fared far worse than they did in this reign. 
 
 Dr. Farrar, in his " Seekers after God," compares 
 Claudius to our James the First, and his unfortunate 
 matrimonial experiments to those of our Henry the 
 Eighth. 
 
 The Roman put only one of several wives (a really 
 abandoned woman) to death. She was avenged, as 
 he was poisoned by his last wife, Agrippina, a sister 
 of the late Emperor Caligula. 
 
 Taken altogether, the Claudii so conducted them- 
 selves, as to have suggested to modern historians 
 the idea that the blood of the family may have been 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 tainted by hereditary insanity. Under calamities con- 
 sequent on this, the Jews in Rome must have suffered, 
 at least equally with the Romans and others of that 
 mixed population. 
 
 One of the most important architectural achievements 
 of this period is the Claudian Aqueduct. Two channels 
 are supported on the same series of arcades, which now, 
 extending like a procession of ruins along the Campagna, 
 are of the continuous length of six miles and a half. 
 These are the most imposing, the loftiest, and in their 
 present state the most graceful among all such con- 
 structions. In ancient times they brought, first three, 
 and finally four springs of pure water into Rome. * 
 
 From the high ground on which stands the church 
 of St. John Lateran very picturesque fragments of the 
 Claudian Aqueduct are seen ; indeed, it contributes to 
 the pleasing effect of many an extensive landscape, 
 and of many a charming little bit of Roman scenery. 
 Perhaps the finest view of it is that obtained from the 
 Appian Way, whence the line of arches is seen running 
 along towards the foot of the Alban Hills. On that 
 green range the towns of Albano and Frascati, and 
 little villages and white villas catch the sunshine, and 
 attract the traveller's eye, to cheer him while his feet 
 are treading the barren moor-like waste below, or the 
 hard hot road, or clambering over rugged ruins of by- 
 gone days vestiges of homes that must have seemed 
 built to last for ever, or of tombs and monuments 
 reduced to nameless heaps of stones, among which 
 wild flowers luxuriate. The sight of the bee orchis, 
 or the scent of the mignonette, may send thoughts very 
 far away. 
 
 * " Historic and Monumental Rome." By C. I. Hemans. 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 
 
" And as of old by two and two 
 His herald saints the Saviour sent 
 To soften hearts like morning dew, 
 Where He to shine in mercy meant : 
 So evermore He deems His Name 
 Best honour'd, and His way prepared, 
 When, watching by His altar -flame, 
 He sees His servants duly paired." KEBLE. 
 
 And time passed on in spite of prayer or pleading. 
 
 Through storm and peril, that that life might gain 
 A peace through strife, all other peace exceeding, 
 
 Fresh joy from sorrow, and new hope from pain." 
 
 ADELAIDE A. PROCTOR. 
 
IV. 
 
 ST PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 
 
 AS soon as it had been revealed to St. Paul that he 
 was especially called to be sent far away to the 
 Gentiles, his most ardent desire was to go to the great 
 city which ruled all the kingdoms of the earth ; but in 
 a vision of the night God directed him to go to Mace- 
 donia. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, written 
 by St. Luke, we have connected details of St. Paul's 
 travels in Greece, which make the abrupt conclusion the 
 more remarkable, and we read the last chapter, wonder- 
 ing why we are not permitted to know more about his 
 sojourn in Rome and his death. 
 
 His Epistle to the Romans, written from Corinth, 
 shows us how earnestly he desired to go to them. His 
 opening sentence after the salutation must have greatly 
 encouraged the'm. He assures them that they are 
 remembered in his prayers, and that he is praying for 
 a prosperous journey to Rome. Oh how different was 
 the answer' from what he or they could have anticipated ! 
 and yet they met, and their intercourse was begun and 
 continued under God's blessing. 
 
 How full of sympathy are the eleventh and twelfth 
 verses ! and then he goes on to say, " I would not have 
 you ignorant, brethren, that I have often purposed to 
 come to you, though hitherto I have been hindered, that 
 
loo HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 I might have some fruit among you also, as among other 
 Gentiles."* 
 
 When St. Paul wrote this, he was hoping soon to be 
 in Rome, was intending to return to Jerusalem for a 
 short time, that he might be present in the Temple at 
 the feast of Pentecost, and then go on to Rome, and 
 thence to Spain. 
 
 St. James, called by the Christians James the Less, 
 to distinguish him from James the Elder, was the chief 
 pastor in Jerusalem ; so much respected was he in the 
 world, that it had given him the honourable title of 
 James the Just. St. Paul was wishing to meet this 
 brother apostle, and to speak with him and his 
 counsellors.! (See Acts xxi. 18.) 
 
 St. Paul went to Jerusalem ; there again he was 
 hindered ; that visit proved very distressingly eventful, 
 fraught with circumstances which caused delay, and 
 threw him again and again into imminent danger. At 
 last he started from Jerusalem for Rome, not as a free 
 man, but as a prisoner. 
 
 The letter he had lately written to the Romans 
 shows how he had intended to proceed. Can there 
 be anything more trying to an energetic man than the 
 sudden frustration of carefully devised plans ? It is 
 
 * Romans i. n, 12, as translated by Conybeare and Howson. 
 
 t Origen says : " Such was James' reputation among the Jews 
 for virtue, that Josephus, who wrote of the Jewish Antiquities in 
 twenty books, wishing to assign a reason for the calamities of his 
 people, affirms that they were inflicted by God as a punishment 
 for their guilty behaviour towards James the brother of Jesus, 
 who is called the Christ." " Strange is it," remarks Origen. " that 
 this wriier, who would not admit our Jesus to be the Christ, should 
 nevertheless render such testimony to the virtue of James." (See 
 Note on TrailPs Translation of Josephus, by Isaac Taylor.) 
 St. James was put to death A.D. 62, soon after he had written his 
 General Epistle. 
 
.ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 101 
 
 none the less trying if he be one who habitually makes 
 his plans in a prayerful spirit, unselfishly, and wisely, 
 as far as he can see ; consequently he has felt almost 
 assured that those plans were blessed, and must produce 
 good results. When the frustration has been caused, 
 not by death or sickness, or anything that comes directly 
 from the hand of God, but by the injustice and ill-feeling 
 of men, whose very conduct lowers them in the estima- 
 tion of the higher minded ; or through foolish misunder- 
 standings, of which an innocent man feels himself to be 
 tire victim, so that those who naturally should be his 
 protectors and friends, his own people, turn against 
 him, this is trying to the inmost heart and soul of man. 
 When this occurs to any one, it is to him as a day of 
 battle. St. Paul fought the good fight ; through the 
 whole course of the battle he " kept the faith." 
 
 Follow him step by step, see how bravely he fought 
 it out ! Always self-possessed, true to the duty of the 
 moment ; whether he stood before the excited multitude 
 thirsting for his blood, or before priests and their 
 council, or before governor or king, or on the deck 
 of a seemingly doomed vessel in a fearful storm. Then 
 we hear of no cowardly rebellious wish that his dis- 
 appointed life might be cut short by overwhelming 
 waves, more merciful than the raging of his enemies. 
 St. Paul prayed and worked, and exhorted and com- 
 forted his companions in distress. He was glad when 
 the sun burst through the clouds ; most thankful that 
 through God's blessing on his prayers and exertions 
 many lives had been saved. 
 
 We have been led to follow the adventures of Herod, 
 Augustus, and Paul. The superiority of the Christian 
 hero claims our highest admiration. We are inclined to 
 suppose that St. Paul was upheld by superhuman power, 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 so as to be above the weaknesses of human nature. 
 A few simple words in the sacred narrative show us 
 that when the excitement was over, and he had landed 
 on the coast of Italy under circumstances so different 
 to those he had comtemplated when thinking of his 
 visit to Rome, he felt depressed even to dejection ; yet, 
 because he " kept the faith," his heart was not hardened, 
 but rather softened by anxiety and sadness. 
 
 " And so we went towards Rome. And from thence, 
 when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as 
 far as Apii forum and the three taverns : whom when 
 Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage." 
 
 St. Paul had not come unattended from Jerusalem ; 
 Luke and Aristarchus had come with him, not as 
 prisoners, but as passengers. St. Luke, as a physician, 
 might easily have procured a free passage. Dr. Farrar 
 suggests that possibly one or both of them might have 
 been sent with St. Paul by his friends in Jerusalem, 
 many of whom were wealthy, and being much attached 
 to the Apostle, they would naturally feel, under his 
 melancholy circumstances and infirm health, it was 
 better that he should not go alone. Julius, the centu- 
 rion, who had several prisoners under his charge, was 
 a humane man, and one capable of understanding 
 that Paul was no common prisoner, but a man far 
 superior to most of those with whom he had to do. 
 From the first he was disposed to treat him kindly, but 
 Roman soldiers were responsible with their own lives 
 for the security of their prisoners, and therefore, to pre- 
 vent the possibility of an escape, a custom had arisen 
 of keeping every prisoner safe by chaining him with a 
 long light chain by the right wrist to the left wrist of 
 a soldier. Prisoners were not allowed to go anywhere 
 without this galling protection ; but we may hope that 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 103 
 
 they were not always subject to it in the narrow fetid 
 cribs and hatchways of the huge, unwieldy merchant 
 vessels in which their compulsory voyages had to be 
 performed.* It is also well to recollect that the chain 
 was not looked upon, nor felt to be, a sign of moral 
 or social degradation, which inflicted lifelong disgrace. 
 When liberated, the man was free as ever, and was none 
 the worse for having worn the chain, if he had not been 
 convicted of crime. 
 
 After those never to be forgotten adventures on the 
 sea and the island of Malta, which must have drawn 
 them together, Julius and his cohort of soldiers, his 
 prisoner, and the other passengers of the Castor and 
 Pollux had landed at Puteoli. Very extensive trading 
 was done at that busy seaport, especially with Egypt. 
 We can still trace the ruins of seventeen piers of the 
 ancient mole on which the light-house stood, and with- 
 in which the merchant vessels were moored. Puteoli, the 
 trading town, and Baise, an adjacent gay watering place, 
 surrounded and crowned a rocky promontory on that 
 indented coast. Many Jews resided there, and St. Paul 
 had the happiness of rinding a little community of 
 Christians, who warmly welcomed him, and begged him 
 to spend a week with them, to which Julius consented. 
 The halt may have been convenient to him ; so here 
 they rested in one of the loveliest of earthly scenes.f 
 Strikingly beautiful are its natural features, and the 
 town on the projecting rock, and beneath it the fine 
 temple of the Egyptian god Serapis, and Beulos, a 
 marine palace of the Caesars on a neighbouring height, 
 were then in full splendour. The varied prospect over 
 land and sea obtained from the high, points above the 
 
 * Conybeare and Howson. 
 
 t See Lewin and Conybeare and Howson. 
 
104 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 coast included the calm blue Lake Avernus and a thick 
 wood, then as now enlivened by all sorts of wild flowers. 
 In the depth of that forest lay concealed the cave of 
 the Cumsean Sibyl, entered on one side from the wood, 
 and on the other from the wave-lashed shore. Vesuvius 
 was still a slumbering volcano, and Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii were basking in the sunshine. 
 
 On the eighth day St. Paul and his companions started 
 for Rome, which was a hundred and forty miles off. 
 They journeyed on first to Capua ; that town had re- 
 covered from its misfortunes and disgrace in the days 
 of Hannibal, and was one of the most fashionable in 
 Italy. Thence they passed through rich vineyards ; 
 then the scene changed, and they had to cross the 
 Pontine Marches to get to Appii Forum, forty-three 
 miles from Rome. 
 
 Horace describes this town as very noisy and busy. 
 A canal brought up merchandise, and consequently 
 bargemen and tavern-keepers abounded. It was a 
 meeting place where travellers from all parts of the 
 Empire crossed one another's paths. On that day, in 
 the motley and vulgar crowd, some of the few Christians 
 then in the world recognized each other, and emotions 
 of holy joy and thanksgiving sanctified the place of 
 coarse vice and vulgar traffic.* 
 
 The party who had come out to welcome Paul and 
 his companions, Luke and Aristarchus, included no 
 doubt most of those whom the Apostle had saluted 
 in his Epistle to the Romans, and very likely the good 
 Aquila and his wife Priscilla, with whom he had lodged 
 at Corinth. Then again St. Paul's heart was lightened 
 by the presence of sympathizing friends, and ten miles 
 farther on he found another group at the Three Taverns. 
 
 * Conybeare and Howson. 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 105 
 
 Although this affectionate welcome from some who 
 loved him in Rome could but be both gratifying and 
 comforting to Paul, yet he knew that the number of his 
 friends was comparatively few. He was well aware of 
 the power of the Hebrew multitude, and the turbulence 
 of the vast assemblage of the Jews in the synagogues of 
 the great city. That people having been permitted to 
 return to Rome, their synagogues had been re-opened, 
 and Paul knew that on their favour or opposition his 
 future destiny must much depend. 
 
 Cheered by conversation with his companions, the 
 Apostle passed through scenes of ever-deepening inter- 
 est, along a road more and more crowded with stately 
 monuments as they approached the city. As they 
 passed on, the warm-hearted brethren would point out 
 to him the tombs of the Scipios and Caecilia Metella, 
 and the thousands of other tombs with their architectural 
 beauty, and striking bas-reliefs, and touching inscrip- 
 tions.* All along on either side of this Appian Way, 
 for more than eleven miles beyond the walls of Rome, 
 the illustrious dead repose. To be buried there was 
 almost as great an honour to a Roman as the being 
 interred in Westminster Abbey is to a distinguished 
 Briton. Accommodation for travellers on foot was con- 
 veniently provided, seats being placed along the road at 
 a distance of only forty feet apart ; and there were road- 
 side inns at which refreshment could be procured. 
 
 The Dei Viales were certainly not passed by un- 
 noticed. The sight of such a group would help the 
 Christian to lift up his heart in a prayer to the God of 
 gods for a fuller diffusion of gospel light. 
 
 And so through ever-lengthening rows of suburban 
 villas, and ever-thickening throngs of people of every 
 
 * Farrar's " Life of St. Paul." 
 
io6 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 class and of various nations, and carriages for travellers 
 of every rank, and palanquins borne on the shoulders 
 of slaves passing to and from the city, Paul and his 
 companions pressed on. How many a look of con- 
 temptuous curiosity would be darted at the escort of 
 soldiers with the chained prisoner and his Jewish 
 friends ! But Paul could bear this now he felt that he 
 would not be utterly lonely amid the vast and densely 
 crowded wilderness of human habitations, which he had 
 caught sight of in the distance from the Alban hills, 
 before he had descended to the plain. They must 
 have passed near the fountain of Egeria and its colony 
 of begging Jews, and by the pyramid of Caius Cestus, 
 and under the Arch of Drusus ; through the dripping 
 Capenian Gate, leaving the Circus Maximus on the 
 left, and going on amid temples and statues and arches 
 till they reached the barracks of that section of the 
 Praetorian Guards whose turn it was to keep guard over 
 the person of the Emperor. It was thus that the dream 
 of Paul's life was accomplished, and he entered Rome 
 in March A.D. 61, the seventh year of Nero's reign.* 
 
 The household troops were quartered in a Pretorium 
 attached to the palace of Caesar on the Palatine. Here 
 Julius gave up his prisoner into the hands of Burrus, the 
 Pretorium prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in 
 custody all accused persons 'who were to be tried before 
 the Emperor. St. Paul may have been lodged in these 
 barracks, or he may have been first quartered in the 
 Pretorium camp outside the city. We do not know, 
 and it is unimportant ; but we do know that both 
 among the soldiers and in Caesar's household the seed 
 of the Word of God was sown and bore fruit. We like 
 
 * Abridged from " Life and Works of St. Paul." By Dr. Farrar. 
 Vol. ii., pp. 385390- 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 107 
 
 to think of the good-natured Julius as one who may 
 have sought Paul's company, and cheered him in his 
 captivity, thereby gaining more and more knowledge 
 and love of true religion, and recommending it by his 
 example to the men under his command. We like to 
 think of the long light chain by which St. Paul's hand 
 was connected with that of a rough soldier, as a thing 
 of earth which may be worth remembering in heaven. 
 The Apostle, and at least some of those who in turn 
 kept guard over him, and thus saw a good Christian 
 man passing through a trial, the heaviness of which they 
 could well understand, may now remember that chain 
 as the first link in a chain of causes and consequences, 
 the commencement of an intercourse which began 
 
 " 'Mid toil and tribulation," 
 
 and coupled this life 
 
 " in union 
 
 With God, the Three in One, 
 And mystic sweet communion 
 With those whose rest is won." 
 
 These are pleasant and refreshing thoughts, in which 
 we may indulge ; but it is not worth while to perplex 
 ourselves over the much-debated questions as to where 
 St: Paul was lodged on his arrival in Rome, and where 
 stood the house he afterwards hired for himself.* Let 
 us refer to the simple statement of St. Luke, that " Paul 
 
 * Three places are pointed out as the site on which stood the 
 house which St. Paul hired in Rome. 
 
 1. The Church of Sta. Maria, in Via Lata, in the Corso, adjoining 
 the Doria Palace. The subterranean part of this church is shown 
 as the actual house in which the Apostle lived, and a fountain in the 
 crypt is said to have miraculously sprung up in answer to St. Paul's 
 prayers that he might have water for baptizing his converts. 
 
 2. Another Church, St. Paolo della Regola, not far from Ponte 
 
io8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 was suffered, to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept 
 him." 
 
 This was evidently an indulgence, probably due to 
 the influence of Julian. Although a prisoner, St. Paul 
 retained a considerable degree of freedom. Three days 
 after his arrival he called together the principal Jews 
 then in Rome ; for although he had a special commission 
 to teach the Gentiles, yet he was not regardless of the 
 general rule, to preach first to the Jew and then to the 
 Gentile. These chief men, though very cautious, were 
 not uncourteous ; they expressed a desire to hear what 
 he had to say, although they candidly told him that 
 they had heard nothing about him, and that the sect to 
 which he belonged was everywhere spoken against. A 
 day was appointed for a general meeting. Then many 
 Jews came to him into his lodging, and he spake with 
 them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, 
 and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening ; and 
 some believed the things that were spoken, and some 
 believed not." As fearlessly and truthfully as he had 
 spoken to the Jews in Jerusalem, so did he now speak 
 to those in Rome. His forcible arguments, and his re- 
 ference to the words of their venerated prophets, were 
 not ineffectual. He had awakened them to reflect upon 
 these things, and they had great reasoning among them- 
 selves. 
 
 We have now reached the two verses which conclude 
 the book of the Acts of the Apostles. They contain 
 all that Scripture tells us concerning St. Paul's residence 
 
 Sisto and the ruins of the theatre of Balbus. To the right of the 
 altar is the inscription, Divi Fault Apostoli Hospitium et Schola. 
 
 3. The Rev. Dr. Philip prefers the tradition in favour of a house 
 in Via degli Strengari, about 100 yards from the Ghetto. He thinks 
 probably Paul resided near his Jewish brethren. 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 109 
 
 in Rome, except what we may glean from the epistles 
 he wrote during those two years. The verses are very 
 simple, do not express one dark idea, and clearly de- 
 scribe the life of a zealous missionary. We know that 
 St. Paul was never so happy as when he was speaking 
 of his dear Lord, or working or writing in His service ; 
 and he was cheered by the society of congenial friends, 
 his two fellow-travellers, Luke, who was so devoted to 
 him, and Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, 
 whose life had been endangered by the mob at Ephesus 
 and Epaphras, a Colossian.* There is reason for sup- 
 posing that the two last named lived with him in his 
 own hired house, and being in close attendance on the 
 Apostle, might be said, though not quite in a literal 
 sense, to share his imprisonment. We are glad to know 
 that the repentant Mark, once dismissed on account of 
 timidity and indolence, now assisted St. Paul, who grew 
 so much attached to him, that years afterwards Paul 
 sent for Mark to help him through the heavier troubles 
 of his last captivity. Demas also came to Rome for a 
 time, which was cheering, as he had not yet proved un- 
 faithful through love of this present world. 
 
 These primitive Christians had no more foresight into 
 what would happen to them on the morrow than we 
 have. They were roughly rocked on the troublesome 
 waves of doubt and fear and delusive hope with respect 
 to their worldly position and concerns ; but their minds 
 were not tossed about on life's restless ocean, as they 
 would have been without faith, that anchor of the soul, 
 which fastens it to the everlasting Rock. Most likely, 
 at the commencement of the captivity they had no idea 
 that it would last two years, although that was not an 
 unusually long time for prisoners to be detained. Tiberius 
 
 * See Col. iv. 10 and following verses, and Philemon. 
 
no HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 had been in the habit of retaining accused persons in 
 prison unheard, merely out of procrastination. St. Paul's 
 prosecutors could not immediately arrive. The charges 
 against him were divided into three separate heads. 
 First, he was accused of having caused factious disturb- 
 ances throughout the Empire; secondly, with being a 
 ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, which involved 
 heresy against the law of Moses ; and thirdly, with an 
 attempt to profane the Temple at Jerusalem, an offence, 
 not only against the Jewish, but also against the Roman 
 law, which protected the Jews in the exercise of their 
 worship. In this case the accusers had to summon their 
 witnesses from Judea, Syria, Cilicia, Macedonia, Corinth, 
 and elsewhere from all cities between Damascus and 
 Corinth.* It is easy to see how repeated delays occurred ; 
 and, of course, when all the witnesses were in Rome, the 
 proceedings would be adjourned from time to time to suit 
 the Emperor's convenience. 
 
 .Meanwhile the prisoner was treated as leniently as 
 the strictness of Roman law would permit. All the 
 members of the church in Rome could visit him freely. 
 Besides the companions already named, were young 
 Timothy, and Onesimus, a refractory slave, who had 
 run away from his master, Philemon, but had been found 
 and led into the fold of Christ. In these the faithful 
 pastor took a loving and active interest, which must 
 often have diverted his thoughts from anxieties with 
 respect to his own future. Large congregations assembled 
 in his house. Surely his eloquence was not the less 
 effective when involuntarily he lifted the fettered hand, 
 or when a sound of the shackling chain reminded his 
 hearers of what he had said on the day when first he 
 spoke publicly in Rome : " For the hope of Israel I am 
 
 * Conybeare and Howson. 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. in 
 
 bound with this chain." Nevertheless, "the iron entered 
 into his soul," as we know by the repeated allusions 
 to his bonds in all the epistles of this captivity.* It 
 could not be otherwise than galling to a man of high 
 spirit, strong will, and powerful energy. How strong 
 must have been the self-control required, and by God's 
 help attained, and exhibited. Under such a trial, how 
 admirable and loveable must every indication of un- 
 selfishness and patience and readiness to forgive have 
 seemed to lookers on, even to the soldier at the other 
 end of the chain, who had to bear his share in the unde- 
 served bondage ! Had it not been for the blessed 
 reconciling spirit of Christianity, both would have been 
 in a worse case ; for it is better to be under the eye 
 and under the rule of one whose heart is not devoid of 
 respectful kindly feeling, while he watches and curbs, 
 than to hold command over a slave who hates and is 
 disposed to rebel against the restraining power. 
 
 We know not, but we may fairly suppose that the 
 favoured prisoner was allowed to take the air and 
 exercise necessary to health ; that he went out on the 
 Palatine, among the noble edifices there. The palace 
 of Augustus, still an imperial residence, was, as we have 
 seen, guarded by the Praetorian barracks. Caligula had 
 greatly enlarged the palace towards the forum, and had 
 connected it with the capital by a bridge. The beauti- 
 ful temple of Apollo, erected by Augustus, in memory 
 of the battle of Actium, was near his palace, as were 
 also the celebrated library, the academy, and the 
 lecture hall, a kind of theatre in which poets and 
 other writers read their compositions. On that side of 
 the hill a venerable building linked together successive 
 
 * The Epistles of this two years' captivity are Philemon, Colos- 
 sians, Ephesians, and Philippians. 
 
112 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 ages, the days of the first kings and the first emperors 
 the temple of Jupiter Stator, begun by Romulus, and 
 finished by his successors. An anxious thought must 
 now and then have crossed St. Paul's mind when he 
 passed the imposing BASILICA JoviS, to which he was 
 expecting to be summoned as soon as his accusers and 
 their witnesses had arrived, that he might answer them 
 in the presence of Caesar and his councillors. The 
 substantial and extensive palaces of Tiberius and 
 Caligula, and the smaller but more elegant and highly 
 decorated house of Livia, with their baths and pleasure 
 grounds, stood near enough to one another to be con- 
 nected by corridors, in one of which Caligula had been 
 murdered. 
 
 This grandest quarter of Rome was adorned by many 
 stately edifices elevated above the busy forum, which 
 was incessantly alive with official and commercial acti- 
 vity. The upper end of the forum, near the capital, was 
 the more aristocratic part There, figuratively speaking, 
 were planted the pillars that upheld the state. Below 
 were ranged the equally important supporters of the 
 manifold civic institutions, and the centres whence circu- 
 lated business of all kinds necessary to the prosperity 
 of this great metropolis. 
 
 At the corner of the extensive Basilica Julia stood 
 the arch of Tiberius. Thence proceeded, down through 
 the forum, the long straight street, formerly a crowded 
 thoroughfare. It was so strongly paved, that the few 
 persons who may now be seen pursuing their researches, 
 are treading on the old stones ; and the mosaic pave- 
 ment of the Basilica Julia seems now wonderfully perfect, 
 when we remember the centuries that have rolled away. 
 
 The Forum Romanum occupied an oblong space. 
 One of the two short lines that marked that figure ran 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 113 
 
 close under the steep Capitoline Hill. At its corner 
 nearest the Palatine stood the temple of Saturn, 
 and at its other angle the temple of Concord, near to 
 which, on the slope of the Capitoline, just off the 
 Forum, stood the strong Mamertine Prison, built in the 
 most massive style of Etruscan architecture. It was* 
 begun by Ancus Martius, and finished by Servius 
 Tullius. In ancient times a prison was a terribly sad 
 thing to look upon ; and this could tell many a melan- 
 choly tale besides its whispers about secret deeds of 
 darkness, never to be truthfully revealed. The neigh- 
 bouring temple of Concord was, on the contrary, 
 a pleasing object that gave happy thoughts. It was 
 founded by Camillus in memory of the peace made 
 between the Senate and the Commons, when the office 
 of consul was openep! to the plebeian order. The 
 temple had been restored by the Emperor Tiberius, 
 in the Corinthian style ; its portico of six columns, 
 terminated by a group of three figures embracing at 
 the top, had a graceful effect. 
 
 The temple of Saturn (already glanced at) was one 
 of the most ancient and revered in the city; it had been 
 repeatedly restored and beautified. In this temple 
 the state treasures were deposited, under the care of 
 the god Saturnus, one of the most revered of Roman 
 deities, a more just god than Jupiter. 
 
 Sweeping the eye up over the Forum to the other 
 short line that marks its oblong shape, we see at the 
 corner nearest to the Palatine the temple of Castor 
 and Pollux. When in its glory, that was one of the 
 most admirable and attractive of the sacred edifices, 
 ornamented with decorative work of the best period 
 of Graeco-Roman architecture, most delicate and per- 
 fect. The approach was raised above the Forum level, 
 
 8 
 
II 4 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and projected beyond the line of the next building, 
 the Basilica Julia. Within that spacious hall the fathers 
 of men contemporary with St. Paul had crowded to hear 
 Cicero speak. The ground on which he stood still 
 speaks of Cicero. The Roman Forum recalled the 
 departed and revived the past as much as it now does. 
 St. Paul could discern more clearly than we can the 
 spot in front of the temple of Vesta, on which the body 
 of Julius Caesar had been burnt, nearly opposite his 
 own house, and the Julian rostra near it. The limit 
 of the Forum on its short side, farthest from the 
 Capitoline, may have been rendered indistinct when 
 looked on from above, as a great deal of new building 
 was going on there, even before Nero began to build 
 his great golden house. That emperor seems to have 
 had a mania for building ; his foolish excess in that 
 kind of pride was one of the characteristics of his insane 
 or utterly ill-regulated mind. Before his wretched 
 death had relieved the world from a despicable tyrant, 
 he had covered not only the Velia, or low ridge of 
 hill and dale that runs from the Palatine towards the 
 Esquiline, with his superb erections and their surround- 
 ings, but also ground beyond. His golden palace, 
 enormous though it was, is now reduced to foundations 
 and fragments that blend with the relics of later periods, 
 so as hardly to be distinguishable. 
 
 The spectator on the Palatine, having taken his bird's- 
 eye view over the restless scene in the Forum, might 
 turn away to look on what he called Old Rome, on 
 the broken but massive walls and ramparts of the 
 Tarquins, who had carried building and draining to 
 unprecedented perfection, and on other strong masonry 
 of the period of the kings, down to some foundations 
 laid by Romulus, and vestiges of his house. 
 
Sr. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 115 
 
 A general view of Rome taken by St. Paul and his 
 companions from any one of the famous Seven Hills 
 must have been very striking to men who had but 
 lately come to the metropolis of the dominant Empire. 
 As Rome had borrowed philosophy, science, and even 
 mythology from her predecessor, Greece, as the school 
 of Athens had completed the education of Rome, the 
 city exhibited a good deal of Greek architecture, 
 mingled with the massive walls, fortifications, basilicas, 
 and other structures in the characteristic brickwork of 
 Rome. The Corinthian order had been first introduced 
 when the columns of the Temple of Zeus were brought 
 from Athens, and used in the edification of the great 
 Capitoline Temple of Jupiter. Babylon, the first of 
 the four great empires, was represented in Rome; the 
 mausoleum of Augustus . being covered with terraces 
 and trees in imitation of the Temple of Beius. The 
 dwelling houses of the patricians were graceful mansions 
 in Grecian styles of architecture ; their level lines of 
 marble masonry flanked airy colonnades interspersed 
 with courts and gardens ; those of the plebeians were 
 chiefly either old houses of a bygone generation, built 
 in heavy Roman brickwork, or of the Italian rustic 
 style, and these small low dwellings must have been 
 densely crowded together in that over-populated city : 
 many of them had flat roofs, used for domestic pur- 
 poses. This combination of ancient and modern, of 
 the grotesque and the elegant, gave to the whole a 
 strikingly picturesque character. Temples were nume- 
 rous, and variously constructed. Among them, the 
 Pantheon was then what St. Peter's is now among the 
 churches. Its portico is the oldest specimen of the 
 Corinthian order in Rome. Above that sacred edifice, 
 dedicated to all the gods of heathendom, arose no higher 
 
Ii6 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 dome, no spire, or campanile only the obelisk, the me- 
 morial of victory over Egypt, the monument engraven 
 by a Pharaoh or a Ptolemy to immortalize his deeds, 
 re-erected by a Csesar far away, yet again planted upon 
 earth, and pointing to something above it, beyond the 
 limited range of a mortal eye. The natural features 
 of the landscape given by the Alban Hills near, and 
 the Sabine Mountains in the distance, and the yellow 
 Tiber, and the campagna beyond the city, looking like 
 a sea-green heaving ocean, are features which time has 
 scarcely changed. On the banks of the river the 
 elegant circular Temple of Vesta in its full beauty was 
 a pleasing object, and near it stood a very different one 
 in the Ionic style, the Temple of Fortuna Viralis. 
 
 Of the theatres of Balbus, Marcellus, and Pompey, 
 that of Marcellus was the most extensive and magni- 
 ficent. Augustus had lavished a great deal of money 
 on it, because, having named it after his favourite 
 nephew and adopted heir, he, after the death of Mar- 
 cellus, looked upon the building as a memorial of him. 
 It was substantially Roman, but all its adornments 
 were Greek. The theatre of Pompey was also a grand 
 building. In the portico of a hundred columns attached 
 to this theatre, Brutus sat as praetor on the morning 
 of the murder of Julius Caesar, and close by was the 
 Senate House, where Caesar fell at the base of the 
 pillar on which stood Pompey's statue.* 
 
 Such was Rome when St. Paul and St. Luke, with 
 others of the little Christian brotherhood, were residing 
 there. The Pincian Hill was then in the suburbs ; the 
 wide view it commands was full of interest to intelligent 
 
 * Behind the remains of the theatre, perhaps on the very site 
 of the Senate House, stands the fine modern church of St. Andrea 
 della Valle. Walks in Rome. By Augustus Hare. 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 117 
 
 minds. It was not then, as now, the fashionable plea- 
 sure ground, but was charming in all the wildness of 
 natural beauty, enriched no doubt with varieties of the 
 euphorbia, the aloe, and the cistus, or rock-rose, which 
 daily sheds its white petals like snowflakes on the 
 ground, with the star-like anemone and all the other 
 indigenous flowers that are now abundantly gathered 
 in the woods and meadows of the adjoining Borghese 
 and Medici estates. 
 
 Being a physician, St. Luke must have been ac- 
 quainted with plants and their properties, and being 
 a disciple of the Master, who spake in parables, whose 
 daily habits and conversations were still cherished 
 recollections in the memories of living men, Luke 
 must have found types and symbols in the unsullied 
 flowers, must have gathered refreshing thoughts as he 
 plucked the lilies of the field. When walking alone, 
 he may often have been thinking of the true narra- 
 tives he compiled in his Gospel and in the Acts of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 Both these works were dedicated to his friend Theo- 
 philus, whose name only has come down to us. The 
 author of the Acts, in his preliminary dedication, calls 
 the Gospel his former treatise, which proves that they 
 were written by the same person. 
 
 The chief object of the book of the Acts is not to 
 give a continuous history of the Church, or a complete 
 life of St. Paul ; the author's main objects were higher 
 than these. This book records the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the consequent effusion of 
 the truth, and the astonishing addition so instantaneously 
 made to the number of believers in Jesus Christ ; and 
 thus it teaches the Church that without the Spirit of 
 God all other qualifications are impotent. Moreover it 
 
ii8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 bears witness to the admission of the Gentiles into the 
 Christian community. 
 
 Many of the expressions in St. Paul's epistles suggest 
 at once the idea of a physician, ready to see a parallel 
 between health of body and health of soul. They occur 
 in the pastoral epistles, which were certainly written 
 when St. Paul and St. Luke were together. In the case 
 of one of them at least, if St. Paul made use of an 
 amanuensis at all, he could only have used Luke, for 
 he says that no one else was with him. 
 
 St. Luke, as a mutual friend of St. Paul and young 
 Timothy, had doubtless often discussed with them 
 questions referred to in the letters. The strong friend- 
 ship between St. Paul and St. Luke is from some points 
 of view very remarkable ; for the educated Jew and the 
 educated Gentile might have been widely separated. 
 The one, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, entered manhood 
 under the power of all the prejudices and bigotry of 
 the narrowest of religious societies. A native of Tarsus, 
 it is true, and by law a Roman citizen, acquainted with 
 some of the works of heathen writers, but still a Jew, 
 a Roman only by accident, but a Hebrew of the 
 Hebrews in his inmost nature. What we call accident 
 is generally, and in the case of this man was certainly 
 a special guiding providence; for did not the Lord Him- 
 self say to Ananias, " He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to 
 bear My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the 
 children of Israel " ? St. Luke had culture of a different 
 kind, and his training probably was broad, as that of St. 
 Paul was narrow. Assuming that he was a Gentile 
 convert and a physician, we may fairly conclude that 
 the great writers of the ancient world were his study ; 
 that he had read the history and had witnessed the 
 struggles of different schools of thought ; that the 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 119 
 
 artistic refinement of Greece and the broad justice of 
 Rome had both their influences upon him, and we 
 know that, to crown all, he had, by his conversion to 
 Christianity, learnt all that which is most real and true 
 in Judaism itself. The two were as different in their 
 training as men could possibly be, yet, as Christians, 
 they had that in common which united them in the 
 closest bonds of friendship.* 
 
 Inspired authors were but men, in all other respects 
 equal with their fellow-men, not raised above the com- 
 monest necessities, nor independent of the influences 
 that combine to actuate our own daily lives. These 
 two were earnest, faithful teachers and writers of truths 
 in which they believed careful pastors, zealous mis- 
 sionaries ; they needed the same kinds of refreshment 
 required by all hard workers, re-creation in the most 
 literal meaning of that word, when the mind ceases for 
 awhile to search into deep things, and gladly returns to 
 the simplest ideas suggested by the familiar sights and 
 sounds that catch the eye and fall upon the ear. 
 
 When St. Paul was a prisoner in the Pretorian camp, 
 or in the barracks on the Palatine Hill, he continually 
 saw the whole armour of a soldier, the shield, the breast- 
 plate, the helmet, and the sword ; he heard all kinds of 
 martial sounds, and at appointed hours the trumpet call, 
 which gave no uncertain sound, but one well understood 
 by every Roman warrior and citizen. Then time was 
 marked, and people regulated the duties and habits of 
 life, by sun-dials and trumpets. St. Paul may have heard 
 the trumpet from his own house, and St. Luke may, 
 at the same moment, have heard it while he was pur- 
 
 * " St Luke as the Amanuensis of St. Paul." By Rev. John 
 Healy, LL.D. Published in the Homiletic Quarterly, No. 19. 
 Kegan Paul and Co. , i Paternoster Square. 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE JEWS' IN ROME. 
 
 suing the active duties of life endeavouring to convert 
 the ignorant and wayward, visiting the brethren, going 
 about doing good, while speaking of the Lord, whose 
 example he faithfully kept in view. Sometimes, perhaps, 
 he was on the hills, or on the plain outside the city, 
 seeking plants and herbs from which he could distil 
 medicine and healing balms to cure or to soothe the 
 sufferings of the body. Then the trumpet was to him 
 a call to the happy evening meal happy, because re- 
 ceived with genuine thanksgiving. Then, as with purest 
 sympathy they conversed over the adventures of the 
 day, were not that little brotherhood, including Jew 
 and Gentile, free man and slave, each and all, one in 
 Christ ? Was not each one doing his part towards 
 expressing on earth the answer to a prayer that had 
 ascended from earth to highest heaven the prayer of 
 our Lord Himself " that they all may be one"? * 
 
 Although the Apostles, and the earliest Christians 
 cotemporary with them, believed themselves to be 
 branches of the True Vine, members of a body of 
 which Christ is the Head, yet they did not separate 
 themselves from the Jews. When the Apostles arrived 
 in a town, they always went to the synagogue on the 
 following Sabbath-day, and expounded the Scriptures, 
 often explaining passages from the prophets, as all 
 doctors had a right to do. They were in the habit of 
 speaking on the same subject on two, three, or more 
 successive Sabbaths, and some of them gave long series 
 of discourses which lasted for months. They never 
 abandoned this practice, unless they were turned out 
 of a synagogue because the new doctrines they incul- 
 cated alarmed and offended the rabbis and elders, or 
 
 * John xvii. 20 and following verses. Also, "Thy will be done 
 on earth, as it is in heaven." 
 
ST. PAUL AND ST. LUKE. 121 
 
 startled the people, who were not used to having God's 
 eternal truth put before them in all its purity and force. 
 At the same time, these first Christian missionaries fear- 
 lessly stood up to speak in pagan assemblies, in the 
 basilicas and the forums, and in all other public places, 
 even in the heathen temples, where they faced the idols, 
 and endeavoured to convince the ignorant worshippers 
 of the folly of such adoration. In short, while they 
 continually prayed to Him on whom they depended, 
 they left no means untried that could possibly serve to 
 propagate the Gospel, and to touch the hearts and 
 consciences of their hearers. Bravely did they carry 
 out the Lord's injunction, " What I tell you in darkness, 
 that speak ye in light : and what ye hear in the ear, that 
 preach ye upon the housetops." * 
 
 From the memorable day of Pentecost, when thou- 
 sands of men were brought together purposely from the 
 ends of the earth, though not one of them previously 
 understood why he was thus impelled; from that day 
 forward Christianity was openly preached to the whole 
 world. In so far as it was propagated by man's agency, 
 its rapid progress may be ascribed to the free spirit of 
 its chief teachers and preachers, who, looking up to a 
 Master in heaven, felt happily independent of earthly 
 authority whenever it attempted to counteract what 
 was, they felt sure, the will of Him by whom all powers 
 that be are ordained. They still obeyed in all sincerity, 
 not in a rebellious spirit ; for their loyalty to kings, 
 priests, and rulers was grounded on the best foundation. 
 
 * Matthew x. 27 ; Luke xii. 3. Early Christian writers give this 
 view of the trials and labours of the Apostles. (See Euseb. H. E. 
 ii, 13, 15, 21 ; Cypr. Ep. 55 ; Irenaeus HI, and others, quoted by 
 Mons. le Comte de Champagny, of the French Academy, in 
 " Rome et la Judde," vol. i., pages 5860.) 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Like Jabez, they were blessed indeed, and their view 
 of this life, and of all that lies beyond it, was enlarged, 
 and their ideas of boundaries extended, which did not 
 confuse them, as it might have done, had they not at the 
 same time been made to feel the loving pressure of the 
 Hand holding and guiding them. They were kept 
 from evil, that it did not grieve them ; so they could be 
 patient under inconveniences and sufferings. The tone 
 of the apostolic mind is pitched above this world.* 
 
 We Christians use the word Apostle reverently, and 
 it is well so to do, provided we bear in mind that it 
 simply means a person sent, that every man, woman, 
 and child that has ever been called into the Hebrew or 
 the Christian Church has been, or will be, sent out into 
 the world to act, to suffer, and to influence others by 
 both precept and example. It has been so ever since the 
 God of Israel began to call His people, and to be called 
 on by them ; and at this moment, numbers that cannot 
 be counted, of whom the world knows as little or less 
 than it now knows of Jabez, are living usefully and 
 happily through evil times, under the same blessing. 
 
 * i Chron. iv. 10. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 
 
PAUL BEFORE NERO. 
 
 " And now these two men were brought face to face imperial power 
 and abject weakness ; youth cankered with guilt, and old age crowned with 
 holiness ; he whose whole life had consummated the degradation, and he 
 whose life had achieved the enfranchisement, of mankind. They stood face 
 to face, the representatives of two races the Semite in its richest glory, 
 the Aryan in its extremest degradation ; the representatives of two trainings 
 the life of utter self-sacrifice, and the life of unfathomable self-indulgence ; 
 the representatives of two religions Christianity in its dawning brightness, 
 Paganism in its effete despair. . . . But Roman law was still Roman law. 
 and except where passions of unusual intensity interfered, some respect was 
 still paid to the forms of justice. For the time, at any rate, St. Paul was 
 rescued out of the lion's mouth. There was some flaw in the indictment, 
 some deficiency in the evidence ; " * or, as Merivale suggests, "his liberation 
 was a further testimony to the acknowledged inoffensiveness of his sect."- 
 
 * " The Life and Work of St. Paul." By Dr. Farrar. 
 
V. 
 
 THE FIERY TRIAL. 
 
 IN the large basilica in, or rather adjoining, the 
 imperial palace on the Palatime, Nero presided 
 over the trials of causes such as that of St. Paul. 
 Basilicas were not roofed over until a later period. 
 This splendid hall was open to the sky, but the interior 
 was richly decorated with precious marbles. We may 
 imagine the Caesar, surrounded by his twenty council- 
 lors, all men of the highest rank and greatest influence. 
 St. Paul was brought before the tribunal under the 
 custody of his military guard. The prosecutors and 
 their witnesses were called forward ; for although the 
 subject-matter for discussion was contained in the 
 written depositions forwarded by Festus from Judea, 
 yet the Roman law required the personal presence of 
 the accusers and the witnesses. 
 
 When the parties on both sides had been heard, and 
 all the witnesses examined and cross-examined, which 
 perhaps occupied several days, the judgment of the 
 court was taken, and each of the councillors gave his 
 opinion in writing to the Emperor. Nero never dis- 
 cussed the judgment with the assessors, as emperors 
 who were better men had done. He wrote his sen- 
 tence according to his own will and pleasure, and it was 
 read in his presence by his questor.* 
 
 * Abridged from Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME.^ 
 
 There is now in Rome an interesting picture, "St. Paul 
 before Nero," by Dr. Philip. As no writer of sacred 
 or profane history has described the trial, this painting 
 must be a work of the imagination ; but the artist, who 
 loves the Jews, and searches heartily into everything con- 
 nected with their past history and present condition, 
 has thoroughly studied his subject. He has strikingly 
 delineated a scene in a hall of justice. The Emperor, 
 the questor, the accused and his accusers, and senators 
 and the vestal virgins. These women, many of whom 
 were well born, formed a very numerous and influential 
 class. They are shown as sitting in a gallery cor- 
 responding with that occupied by the senators. The 
 vestals also had the power of expressing their judgment, 
 not by word of mouth, but by the action of the hand ; 
 each one turned her thumb either up or down to indicate 
 a vote for acquittal or for condemnation.* 
 
 We have no scripture to depend upon, but we may 
 fairly suppose that St. Paul, when first tried in Rome, 
 was acquitted, and that immediately on his liberation 
 he went to Colosse, a city of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, 
 where Philemon resided, whom Paul had comm'issioned 
 to prepare for him a lodging.! The Epistle to the 
 Colossians shows that the personal supervision of the 
 Apostle was needed there. Thence he seems to have 
 travelled quickly, visiting several cities in Asia Minor. 
 We cannot be sure that he accomplished his long- 
 cherished desire to reach Spain, and to plant the Gospel 
 there. Some think he was disappointed, as we have 
 never heard of a port at which he landed, or of a church 
 founded by him in that country. The tradition among 
 
 * Dr. Philip's painting represents the last trial of St. Paul : the 
 thumbs are turned down to vote for his condemnation, 
 t See Philemon, verse 22. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 127 
 
 the earliest Fathers in favour of his having gone is 
 credible, as it agrees with his expressed intentions.* 
 His own disciple, Clement, mentioned in Phil. iv. 3, 
 afterwards Bishop of Rome, writing from Rome to 
 Corinth, states that Paul had preached the Gospel in 
 the east and in the west, that he had instructed the 
 whole world, and had gone to the extremity of the west 
 before his martyrdom. Now in a Roman author " the 
 extremity of the west" could mean nothing short of 
 Spain, and the expression is often used by Roman 
 \\riters to denote Spain.f Eusebius says, "It is cur- 
 rently reported that after defending himself successfully, 
 the Apostle again went forth to proclaim the Gospel, 
 and afterwards came to Rome a second time, and was 
 put to death by Nero." J St. Chrysostom says decidedly 
 that St. Paul, after his residence in Rome, departed 
 to Spain; and St. Jerome says he preached Christ's 
 Gospel in the west. Bishop Stillingfleet and others 
 have collected many ancient authorities to support 
 their conjecture that St. Paul went on from Spain to 
 Britain, which was well known to the Romans, and 
 considered by them to be at the farthest extremity of 
 the west. It seems likely that St. Paul may have visited 
 our island, but of this we have no proof whatever. 
 
 We can only gather from Church history that while 
 St. Paul was prosecuting his labours in the west, he 
 received sad news from Judea, of the martyrdom of 
 James the just, Bishop of Jerusalem, and of the cruel 
 persecution of the Christians throughout Judea by 
 King Herod Agrippa. It seems more than likely that 
 he wrote immediately to the afflicted brethren, but 
 opinions differ as to this part of the Apostle's life, with 
 
 * See Romans xv. 24 28. t Conybeare and Howson. 
 
 $ Hieron. Catal Scrip. 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 regard to which we really are left in the dark. Lewin 
 says : " At this time St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the 
 Hebrews; not long after that letter had been despatched, 
 Timothy arrived from Philippi, when Paul and his young 
 companion and other missionaries sailed for Judea, visit- 
 ing Crete by the way." * The Apostle seems to have 
 stayed but a short time with the Hebrew Christians ; to 
 have next made the circuit of the churches in Asia 
 Minor, and to have gone on to Corinth ; but details 
 and dates given of this part of his life cannot be firmly 
 depended upon. Certainly he intended to spend a 
 whole winter at Nicopolis ; but whether at all, or how 
 far, he was permitted to carry out that intention, cannot 
 be ascertained ; possibly he may have been arrested 
 there.t 
 
 There seems reason for supposing that before the 
 widespread persecution excited by the great fire in 
 Rome had finally subsided St. Paul was arrested on the 
 charge of his being a non-worshipper of Roman gods, a 
 follower of Christ ; which, according to a decree lately 
 promulgated by Nero throughout his dominions, was 
 dealt with as crime worthy of death. It has been 
 suggested that the Apostle was arrested at Troas, and 
 thence taken to Ephesus, where he was imprisoned ; this 
 is mere conjecture on 2 Tim iv. 13, 14. At Ephesus, on 
 Mount Piron, the remains of a tower are still pointed 
 out, in which St. Paul is said to have been incarcerated 
 before he was sent to Rome for his second trial : it is a 
 local tradition. \ Certainly on his return to Rome he 
 
 * " Life and Epistles of St. Paul." By T. Lewin. Published by 
 George Bell. 
 
 t Titus iii. 12. 
 
 t The fact that St. Paul left his cloak and books at Troas has 
 led to the conjecture that he may have left that place hastily, in 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 129 
 
 must have found that proud city like a mourning queen 
 stricken by a grievous calamity, sitting in the midst of 
 ashes. Most truly was it still a furnace of adversity in 
 which all the elements of Roman society were chaotically 
 separated. Blinded by the glare of that strange catas- 
 trophe, yet naturally seeking the cause, heathen, Jew, and 
 Christian drifted apart, losing hold of every principle of 
 common humanity, without which men cannot dwell 
 peaceably together. The Romans, as a nation, had not 
 yet learned to understand the distinction between Jews 
 and Christians ; they looked upon the disciples of Christ 
 as forming a sect among the Jews. The nobler Romans 
 of the Palatine were more favourably disposed, less pre- 
 judiced against Christianity than were their less educated 
 fellow-citizens, though converts had been made among 
 the plebeians in the unaristocratic parts of the city, and 
 among the poor Jews in the Transtevere. 
 
 St. Paul had addressed his Epistle to the whole church, 
 
 consequence of his having been arrested. We have no evidence 
 to support this supposition. There seems stronger reason for sup- 
 posing that the prime movers in the accusation against him were his 
 old adversaries, his own kindred, the Jews, who hated the Apostle 
 to the Gentiles, because they could not bear that the Gentiles should 
 be placed on an equality with themselves. The charge brought 
 against him was simply adherence to Christ. Since Nero's edict 
 had been proclaimed, Christians were considered malefactors 
 (2 Tim ii. 9, iv. 13, 14, to end of the Epistle). The second arrest 
 was brought about by Alexander the coppersmith, who ten years 
 before had stood forward as the popular speaker against Paul. 
 Soramus the proconsul seems to have been well disposed towards 
 the Apostle. Whatever were the circumstances, Paul was again 
 ordered to Rome ; and as Soramus's period of office expired at 
 that time, they may both have sailed in the same vessel, to perish 
 by the same fate in the following summer of A.D 66. Soramus 
 may have died a Christian death. Tacitus says " he was put to 
 death by Nero for his virtues " (Ann. xvi. 23). Lewin. 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 " To all that be in Rome," but one cannot read it with- 
 out seeing that it appeals chiefly to the educated classes. 
 It was precious to those who could only hear it read, 
 and partially understood what they heard ; it must have 
 been most fully comprehended, most thoroughly appre- 
 ciated, by the readers on the Palatine. Most likely it 
 was read, not by baptized Christians only, but also by 
 some of those who had not renounced all the religious 
 ideas in which they had been brought up. Conversion 
 among the native Romans was as yet rare and imperfect; 
 they were sensitive, strongly attached to the traditions 
 of their ancestors. Proselytism was not a vent for Roman 
 enthusiasm ; and they were not easily proselytised, though 
 many were not indifferent readers and hearers of the 
 books of the Old or New Testament. The wife of Aulus 
 Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, was denounced to the 
 Emperor as guilty of a foreign superstition ; this shows 
 that a Roman was not the master of his or her own 
 conscience, that the making any charge with regard to 
 religious observances was dangerous. Nero, perhaps 
 out of regard for her husband, refused to listen to the 
 accusation, and referred it to the domestic tribunal of 
 Aulus Plautius and the chief members of his family. 
 Pomponia was leniently judged, and escaped unpunished, 
 but her subsequent behaviour must have annoyed her 
 relations it was so strikingly contrary to the spirit of 
 the age and she lived on for many years in self-chosen 
 retirement and reserve. This story throws a little light 
 upon the domestic difficulties of that day ; yet, in spite 
 of them, tranquillity prevailed until the great fire sud- 
 denly ignited the wildest and the worst passions of the 
 variously constituted population of Rome. 
 
 On the I Qth of July, A.D. 64, fire burst out near the 
 Porta Capena, in that part of the Circus Maximus con- 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 131 
 
 tiguous to the Palatine and Ccelian Hills ; a part of the 
 city that contained many shops full of inflammable 
 materials, which renewed the force of the incontrollable 
 element. It ravaged the Forum, and reduced adjacent 
 temples and old palaces to blackened ruins. It swept 
 round the base of the Palatine, and soon volumes of 
 flame mounted the hill, where, notwithstanding the 
 gigantic efforts of united strength that were made to 
 stop it, great damage was done. A little subdued, it 
 descended into the valleys, and for more than a week 
 continued to burn on, though blocks of houses were 
 purposely destroyed in the hope of arresting its progress. 
 At last there was a lull, but it burst out again, and raged 
 for three days longer. Of the fourteen districts into 
 which the city was divided, three were totally destroyed, 
 and seven were uninhabitable. During those ten awful 
 days, scenes were witnessed such as no man who beheld 
 them had ever seen before. We can readily conceive 
 how some of the Christians, at least those who were 
 excitable enthusiasts, as the newly converted are apt to 
 be, in their amazement thought that perhaps this was 
 the beginning of the end. That Rome was destined to 
 be finally destroyed by fire, was an idea common to 
 both Jew and Christian, and the Christian believed that 
 fire would be let loose to do a work as awful as that 
 done by water in the days of Noah. Earnest, faithful 
 hearts were looking for that expected sign of our Lord's 
 immediate return, which they hoped they should live to 
 see. Is it not very likely that when feeling thus, ex- 
 pressions may have escaped many of them, which when 
 misrepresented and exaggerated made them objects of 
 suspicion, and laid them open to false accusations ? 
 
 When at last the conflagration had ceased, the 
 Romans could not look calmly on the devastation. 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 They were proud of their native city, and grieved to 
 the heart to see its historical memorials laid low, the 
 monuments of victories, the masterpieces of Greek art, 
 lost for ever. 
 
 Many temples, among them the splendid one of 
 Jupiter Sator, and all its surroundings, were destroyed, 
 and wherever the fire raged, statues of the gods were 
 left in a state that wounded the religious feelings of the 
 Roman people, and must have suggested thoughts to 
 the Jews and Christians, which some of them may have 
 imprudently and provokingly expressed, and have thus 
 'drawn suspicion on themselves. Who was the author 
 of the calamity ? was the one question of the day. The 
 Emperor's name was whispered ; it was well known that 
 he was passionately fond of building, and that existing 
 parts of the city hindered him from carrying out exten- 
 sive plans ; all Rome knew that his will brooked no 
 contradiction, and his foolish behaviour excited anger 
 and strengthened suspicions. 
 
 We may suppose that Nero was not altogether igno- 
 rant of the reports that stealthily gained circulation ; he 
 knew that the people hated him. But soon the great 
 popular outcry was against the Jews, by whom both 
 Jews and Christians were meant. Were they not the 
 people who had no reverence for the gods, no veneration 
 for the temples, who rejoiced at their downfall, who 
 had long been looking forward to the destruction of 
 Rome, who had said that it would take place by fire?* 
 At that crisis the smouldering embers of discontent 
 were flickering here and there, all over Judea and at 
 Jerusalem ; were at that moment beginning to burst out 
 into what proved to be the great Jewish War. The 
 
 * Jewish anticipations of Rome's destruction are scattered 
 through the Sibylline Oracles and the Second Book of Esdras. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 133 
 
 state of the fatherland could not fail to affect the feelings 
 and condition of the Jews in Rome. The whole Roman 
 world was exasperated against the Hebrew, and it was 
 quite natural to imagine that the compatriots of the 
 men who were levying war against Rome in Judea had 
 kindled the flames by which they had intended to 
 destroy the capital city of their enemies. Nero must 
 have been glad to have so good an opportunity of 
 diverting susoicion from himself; the slightest shadow 
 of a reason for doubting the loyalty of a Hebrew to the 
 Roman Government was thought sufficient to justify 
 an arrest. Tacitus tells us they were condemned on 
 the charge of arson ; hence the extreme cruelty of the 
 sentence, and the invention of a new punishment the 
 setting them on fire, which was looked upon as con- 
 sistent with the crime attributed to them. The perse- 
 cution fell on both Jews and Christians. Some represent 
 that it began with the Jews, but Tacitus evidently thinks 
 it began with the Christians ; probably it was at the 
 commencement indiscriminate. We know that all who 
 refused to worship the gods of the Romans were looked 
 upon as abominably irreligious ; and the Hebrews were 
 accused of being haters of mankind, because their ideas 
 and customs differed from those of other nations. All 
 historians agree in relating that on the whole this bitter 
 persecution fell mostly on the Christians. The cause of 
 this is not clear : their way of declaring that the world 
 was soon coming to an end by fire might have led to 
 the supposition that they had endeavoured to assist in 
 the fulfilment of the prophecies they quoted. Some 
 think that the Jews were first attacked, and did all they 
 could to throw the odium and danger on the Christians ; 
 others think it was just the reverse, that, as Tacitus 
 says, the Christians were accused, and that afterwards 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 "a vast multitude discovered by them were condemned." 
 It seems more likely that these should have been Jews, 
 than that the Christians should have betrayed one 
 another to so " vast " an extent. 
 
 We but too well know, on the testimony of all history, 
 how bitter was the feeling between the baser sort of mere 
 professing Christians and the Jews ; we know, too, that 
 the ideas of Tacitus concerning the origin and religion of 
 the Jews were very cloudy. He could have been hardly 
 capable of distinguishing Christian from Jew. The 
 persecution is an historical fact. Unfortunate persons 
 were crowded together, and very rigorously treated, 
 before they were brought forward to confess their faith, 
 and a profession of Christianity was deemed equivalent 
 to owning that they had had some share in the crime laid 
 to their charge. If condemned, they were treated as if 
 guilty of both high treason and sacrilege, and the punish- 
 ments were frightful. One of the most hideous features 
 of Roman manners was to make a festival of public 
 executions. The amphitheatres were turned into places 
 of execution, the tribunals served for the arena and the 
 criminals of the whole world were brought to Rome to 
 supply the circus for the amusement of the people. The 
 victims were reserved for a festival, to which beyond 
 doubt an expiatory character was given.* 
 
 As to the punishment of the Dirces, there can be no 
 doubt whatever. The colossal group called the Farnese 
 Bull, now in the Museum at Naples, gave the horrible 
 idea. Amphion and Zethus are binding Dirce to the 
 horns of a wild bull, which is about to drag her over the 
 rocks and briars of Cithaeron. This indifferent work of 
 Rhodian sculpture, transported to Rome about the time 
 of Augustus, was the object of universal admiration. 
 
 * Ernest Renan. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 135 
 
 What finer subject for this hideous kind of art, which 
 the cruelty of the times had brought into fashion, the 
 representation of celebrated statues by tableaux vivants ? 
 An inscription and a fresco at Pompeii seem to prove 
 that when the criminal was a woman, this terrible scene 
 was often represented on the arena. 
 
 An enormous brazen bull also appeared, made hollow, 
 like the wooden horse introduced by the Greeks into 
 the city of Troy; it was used as a furnace in which 
 condemned persons were put to death.* 
 
 The amphitheatres, which had been originally erected 
 for the combats of wild beasts, were now used for a 
 more horrible kind of conflict. Criminals covered with 
 the skins of beasts were thrown into the arena to be 
 torn to pieces by dogs. In the persecution under Nero 
 some were crucified, others had their garments saturated 
 with oil, or pitch, or resin, and were fastened to gibbets, 
 and reserved to illuminate the festival at night. When 
 the day declined, these living flambeaux were lighted. 
 In the glare of these torches the Emperor was some- 
 times seen. The circus races happened to be going on, 
 so he appeared in his jockey's dress, or drove in his 
 chariot when he mingled with the people. For this 
 horrible show of his own devising he had lent his magni- 
 cent gardens beyond the Tiber, now the piazza on which 
 stands the basilica, the cathedral of St. Peter's. f 
 
 * This, as well as the living bull dragging a female victim by the 
 hair, and many other equally shocking scenes, are represented in 
 the long series of fresco paintings round the interior of the large 
 circular church, St. Stefano Rotondo, on the Ccelian Hill. These 
 horrible pictures of the multitude of martyrs attract a wonderful 
 crowd of spectators on St. Stephen's Day. Little children are lifted 
 up by their parents to look at them. 
 
 t Hibbert Lectures for 1880. By Ernest Renan. Pages 80 90. 
 
 The reader may like to have this in the words of Tacitus. " The 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Having remarked that under this terrible tribulation 
 the enmity between the baser-minded Jews and profess- 
 ing Christians was brought out, and that either in indivi- 
 dual instances may have been ungenerous and unchristian 
 enough to throw odium and danger off themselves and 
 on their companions in misfortune, we must not leave 
 the subject without referring to the testimony of the 
 catacombs. They were then used not only for the in- 
 terment of the dead, but also for the concealment of the 
 living. Both Jews and Christians " wandered in dens and 
 caves of the earth " (Heb. xi. 3, 8). 
 
 The catacombs afford evidence of the Jews having 
 been confounded with the Christians, and that they also 
 held underground services for public worship, and buried 
 their dead in those sepulchres. 
 
 infamy of that horrible deed" (setting fire to Rome) "still adhered 
 to him. To suppress, if possible, this common rumour, Nero pro- 
 cured others to be accused and punished with exquisite tortures, 
 a race of men detested for their evil practices, who were commonly 
 known by the name of Christians. The author of this sect was 
 Christus, who in the reign of Tiberius was punished with death, 
 as a criminal, by the procurator, Pontius Pilate. At first those only 
 were apprehended who confessed themselves of this sect, afterwards 
 a vast multitude discovered by them, all of whom were condemned, 
 not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity 
 to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them 
 to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins 
 of wild animals, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs, some 
 were crucified, while others, having been daubed over with com- 
 bustible materials, were set up as lights in the night-time, and thus 
 burned to death. For these spectacles Nero gave his own gardens, 
 and at the same time exhibited there the diversions of the circus, 
 until at length these men, though really criminal, and deserving 
 exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated as people who 
 were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to 
 gratify the cruelty of one man." Tacitus, Annalxv., c. 44. 
 
1 V 
 
 THE FIERY TRIAL. ^^_ I37 
 
 In one of the galleries of the catacombs in Via 
 Portuense, containing no Christian inscription whatever, 
 there was found a lamp, having on it a representation 
 of the golden candlestick of the temple, and upon 
 the wall over it the word synagogue in Greek letters, 
 evidently indicating the place of meeting for Jewish 
 worship. The sign of the branched candlestick also is 
 inscribed on tombstones : in one remarkable instance, 
 it and the Hebrew word shalom, which signifies peace, 
 occur in connection with Christian symbols, which has 
 led to the conclusion that the sleeping-place is that of 
 a Jewess who had been converted to Christianity, and 
 a female with a decidedly Jewish name set up a slab 
 to the memory of her Roman husband. The centre of 
 the slab exhibits the monogram of Christ, with the 
 ends of the side branches turned up to form the figure 
 of the candlestick, ingeniously combining in a small 
 compass the idea of Jewish origin with Christian belief. 
 " Peace is inscribed on thousands of graves, suffering 
 on very few." * The early Christians buried their dead 
 under the feeling expressed by St. Paul, " Our light 
 affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a 
 far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The 
 catacombs show how widely Christianity had spread 
 before it was tested by persecution, and how pure, when 
 tried, it came out. The inscriptions bear no signs of 
 resentment only such as betoken sentiments of com- 
 posure, gentleness, trust in God, and love to all among 
 whom He had cast their lot in life. They show how 
 impossible it is for the sincere Christian to wilfully 
 injure a fellow-creature. What is tribulation but 
 threshing, which would not be needed if chaff did not 
 
 * " The Catacombs of Rome." By Benjamin Scott. Longman 
 and Co. 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 exist ? We must not be so blinded by the chaff that 
 we cannot see and be thankful for the heaps of good 
 ripe wheat made ready for the garner, yet still pos- 
 sessing power to make earth fresh and fruitful, and to 
 sustain the children of men ; for " the blood of the 
 martyrs is the seed of the Church." 
 
 It is generally believed that both St. Peter and St. 
 Paul were martyred in the latter part of Nero's rei^n, 
 and that St. Paul suffered, not in the full heat of the 
 persecution, but when it appeared to have passed off. 
 We have no scriptural account of his last c|ays. The 
 Second Epistle to Timothy is- the only portion of Holy 
 Writ that throws the slightest gleam of light upon them. 
 
 In the utter absence of information that can be 
 entirely depended upon as authentic, traditions have 
 gained attention, and even some wild legends related 
 in connection with them, have excited interest. 
 
 About two miles beyond the noble Basilica church 
 outside the walls, built long ago, and dedicated to St. 
 Paul, but recently restored by Pope Pius the Ninth, there 
 is another smaller church, one of three churches en- 
 closed in one garden, and taken care of by the monks 
 of La Trappe. It is called S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane. 
 This little church covers the spot on which St. Paul 
 is supposed to have been beheaded : within are three 
 springs of pure cold water. The custodian points to 
 the remains of a broken pillar, and tells you that on 
 it St. Paul's head received the death stroke ; that the 
 head bounded three times, and that where it struck 
 the ground a spring of water issued. It used to be 
 added that the three fountains were warm, tepid, and 
 cold, but that most extravagant part of the legend has 
 died out. 
 
 Undoubtedly this is a fable, one of those against 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 139 
 
 which St. Paul warned Timothy and Titus in his 
 pastoral epistles to those shepherds of the flock of 
 Christ.* But on the authority of standard ecclesiastical 
 historians we may believe that St, Paul was a second 
 time arrested, and after an imprisonment, more rigorous 
 than the former one, was put to death. He must have 
 been permitted to see or to communicate with friends 
 in Rome, as he sent their greetings to Timothy.f 
 Peter's name is not mentioned, although, according to 
 Eusebius, he was in Rome, and he and St. Paul took 
 their last missionary journey together before they were 
 imprisoned. This does not harmonize with the story 
 of Paul's arrest at Troas, and incarceration at Ephesus ; 
 but he may have been liberated, or partially so, for a 
 short time. Not long before this, when the Neronian 
 persecution was raging, St. Peter was at Babylon, safe 
 there, as that city belonged to Parthia. At Babylon 
 he wrote his first epistle, while St. Mark was with him.J 
 He may have gone thence to Rome, and there have 
 met St. Paul ; but we cannot rely on Eusebius, as all 
 the earliest ecclesiastical chroniclers accepted traditions 
 that would be rejected by modern historians ; but 
 whatever we may say of such stories, it remains pro- 
 bable that St. Peter came to Rome, and there suffered 
 martyrdom. Germs of truth are likely to exist in tradi- 
 tions beginning in the age to which they refer ; and with 
 regard to St. Peter, Papias, Irenaeus, Clement of Alex- 
 
 * I Tim. i- 4, iv. 7 ; Titus i. 14. 
 
 t Possibly Linus, named in 2 Tim. iv. 21, may be the first 
 Bishop of Rome mentioned by Irenaeus and Eusebius. Archdeacon 
 Williams suggests that Pudens, also greeted by St. Paul, may have 
 been a Roman of that name, who was once stationed in Britain, 
 who married a British lady, possibly the daughter of Caractacus ; . 
 but as Claudia was a common name, this is uncertain. 
 
 % i Peter v. 13, 7, iv. 12 to end of chapter ; 2 Peter i. 13 15. 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 andria, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius agree in stating 
 that the apostle suffered martyrdom at Rome. Papists 
 assign more importance to this fact than really belongs 
 to it ; but that is no reason why Protestants should 
 deny it. It has no connection whatever with the far 
 more important question as to the supremacy of St. 
 Peter, or of the Church of Rome. 
 
 If Eusebius be correct, as to the meeting of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, and their travelling together, then it would 
 in that case appear possible, and even not improbable, 
 that they should have been imprisoned together in the 
 Mamertine prison on the declivity of the Capitoline 
 Hill, near the arch of Septimus Severus, according to 
 the story still told when the dark dungeon beneath the 
 church of S. Giuseppe del Falegnami is shown. It is 
 impossible to imagine a more horrible dungeon, one 
 more dark, damp, and low ; indeed, the darkness is total, 
 and there could never have been one ray of daylight 
 given to cheer the captives. Its existing state answers 
 perfectly to the description of Sallust, who relates the 
 circumstances attendant on the fate of the Catiline 
 conspirators who were confined there about sixty-three 
 years before the Christian era. That historian says, 
 " In the prison called the Tullian (because, though it 
 was built by Ancus Martius, it was enlarged and com- 
 pleted by Servius Tullius) there is a dungeon ten feet 
 deep ; when you have descended a little to the left, you 
 are surrounded by walls, closed above by a low, vaulted 
 roof of stone. The appearance of it, from the filth, the 
 darkness, and the smell, is terrific." The Mamertine 
 prisons were used especially for state prisoners. We 
 can imagine that St. Peter and St. Paul may have been 
 confined there ; but few among the many visitors are 
 credulous enough to believe the guide who holds up 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. I 4I 
 
 his torch against a pillar, to which he tells them the 
 apostles were chained, yet allowed to preach and to 
 baptize with water miraculously provided for that pur- 
 pose. The pure taste of the water in that awful place 
 speaks to the heart more forcibly than words can do ; it 
 says, " Let him that is athirst come ; " and the greatness 
 of his misery, the wretchedness of his earthly condition, 
 will only make the living water more reviving. But 
 the delicious spring cannot literally verify the legend of 
 that subterranean spot* 
 
 Scripture fully manifests the genuine invincible faith 
 of those holy Apostles, though it does not put before us 
 any details of their last earthly trials and human suffer- 
 ings, but we know that they were indeed " faithful unto 
 death." 
 
 We cannot be certain as to the exact spot from which 
 St. Paul departed to receive " the crown of life," but 
 most likely he was beheaded in the valley about three 
 miles from Rome, anciently known as Aquae Salviae, 
 now called the Tre Fontane. We have no reason for 
 contradicting the tradition which has clung unswervingly 
 to that spot, although we reject the legends connected 
 with it. 
 
 We may picture to ourselves the venerable Apostle 
 going forth from Rome for the last time, to lay his grey 
 head on the block, passing under the gate which now 
 bears his name. It is a modern structure, but near it 
 stands a conspicuous object, which St. Paul must often 
 have seen, which he may have noticed as he was being 
 
 * " No positive proof has been discovered that the conical cell 
 was ever anything more than a water tank, and the name of 
 dungeon which has been attached to it is probably a medieval 
 legend, invented to indicate a spot which might be venerated as 
 the prison of St. Peter." (See " Old Rome." By Robert Burn, M.A.) 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 led out of Rome, the city he had so longed to enter. 
 The Pyramid of Caius Cestius, which in olden times was 
 thought to be the tomb of Remus, stands close to that 
 gate. We may feel certain that disappointment was 
 not at that moment the predominant feeling in the 
 mind of him who was going out to die, but rather " for 
 me to die is gain." Then he thought of " the city that 
 hath foundations," but most of Him who saith, " I am 
 the Resurrection and the Life." 
 
 Blessed words, which near that very spot awaken, not 
 the dead, but the living awaken the fainting spirits of 
 broken-hearted mourners to the realities of everlasting 
 life, at the gate of our English cemetery ; and further 
 on, the Word of God, written by St. Paul's own head 
 and hand, gives unfailing comfort. 
 
 As to the last days and death of St. Peter, Scripture 
 is absolutely silent, and traditions and legends are per- 
 plexingly abundant and inconsistent. It is generally 
 believed that this Apostle was crucified with his head 
 downwards, either on the height called 5. Pietro in 
 Montorio y on the Janiculum Hill, or in Nero's pleasure 
 ground, which is now occupied by the grand cathedral 
 of St. Peter's and the piazza in front of that edifice : 
 indeed, Nero's gardens extended over all the ground 
 now appertaining to St. Peter's and the Vatican. That 
 ground received the baptism of blood which marked 
 out Rome as the city of martyrs, to play a special 
 part in the history of Christianity, and to become its 
 second holy place. It was the taking possession of 
 the Vatican Hill by a triumphant army, of a kind which 
 the world had not yet known. The hateful madman 
 who governed the world did not perceive that he was 
 the founder of a new order of things, and had signed 
 for all future time a charter, the results of which would 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL: 143 
 
 be claimed for mankind after the lapse of 1800 years. . . . 
 Next to the day on which Jesus died on Golgotha, the 
 day of the festival in the gardens of Nero (we may fix 
 it as the ist of August, A.D. 64) was the most solemn 
 in the history of Christianity. The solidity of a con- 
 struction is in proportion to the sum of virtue, of 
 sacrifice, of self-devotion, which has been built into its 
 foundations.* 
 
 Thus were the foundations of the Church of Christ 
 laid upon Him, the chief corner-stone ; thus was His 
 death followed by that of a multitude that no man can 
 number, who now stand around His throne, on the 
 right hand of God the Father Almighty." We may 
 believe that among them are St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 enjoying the sweet repose of Paradise, each realizing 
 the promise, " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar 
 in the temple of my God." Each retaining his own 
 personal character, and yet not quite what he was during 
 the struggles and collisions of daily life. Apostles were 
 men of like passions as we are, not always subduing 
 their passions, and only subduing them at all by that 
 grace which is offered to us as freely as to them.f 
 These brother Apostles were the leaders of two distinct 
 schools of theology. St. Peter's was Judaism saturated 
 with, nay, rather regenerated by, Christianity ; for it 
 was life through Christ animating the ancient religion 
 and worship of the Israelites. St. Peter still loved the 
 types and shadows, and looked through them up to 
 the antitype. St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, 
 though by birth a Jew, and educated as a Pharisee, 
 rejoiced in the liberty of the Gospel, and held that 
 circumcision was not required. 
 
 * Hibbert Lectures for 1880, by Ernest Renan, pages 89, 90. 
 t Dr. Goulburn. 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 This rite, ordained by God's command to Abraham, 
 was the very badge of Jewish nationality, and among 
 Jewish converts were many who were afraid or un- 
 willing to give up this and other ceremonial observances 
 of the ancient religion according to the Old Testament. 
 It seems as if there were many converted Jews in the 
 church at Rome, for St. Paul wrote on this subject 
 very strongly in his Epistle to the Romans, reasoning 
 with them thus : " He is not a Jew which is one out- 
 wardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward 
 in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, 
 and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and 
 not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of 
 God ; " * and again, " The gospel of Christ is the power 
 of God unto salvation, to the Jew first, and also to the 
 Greek." f St. Paul declared that to maintain the old 
 law was to dishonour Jesus, who was made a surety of 
 a better Testament. He feared lest Christians should 
 trust in the mortal priest and his ministrations, more than 
 in Him who hath the unchangeable priesthood.J 
 
 It has been suggested that soon after St. Paul left 
 Rome, at the expiration of his first imprisonment, 
 St. Peter may have gone to that city with a view to 
 counteracting what he considered dangerous in St. Paul's 
 teaching. This is mere conjecture ; it seems far more 
 likely that the extraordinary, unprecedented calamities 
 which fell upon the Christians, when those in Rome 
 were falsely accused of having set fire to the city, 
 excited the deepest sympathy throughout the whole 
 church, and thus strengthened the bonds of brotherly 
 love ; and that the common danger may have induced 
 the two chief pastors to meet that they might consult 
 
 * Romans ii. 28, 29. Hebrews vii. 22 24. 
 
 t Romans i. 16. Romische Petrussage. By M. Lipsius. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 145 
 
 together and unite their efforts to protect and encourage 
 the terrified flock, driven hither and thither, pursued 
 by enemies more cruel and savage than wild beasts. 
 It is pleasant to think that these brothers in Christ 
 may have taken their last journey together, may have 
 been companions in captivity, and that after death had 
 released their happy spirits, their bodies may have been 
 laid to rest in the same burial place. We cannot be 
 sure of this, but certainly, about the middle of the third 
 Christian century, the mortal remains of two men, said 
 to be those of St. Peter and St. Paul, were brought up 
 to light from the catacombs of St. Sebastian, near the 
 Appian Way, and were reverently interred ; the one 
 in what had been Nero's garden, but the ground was 
 changed, everything had been altered, for nothing was 
 cherished in which Nero had delighted : there St. Peter 
 was buried, and the grand basilica that bears his name 
 arose to mark the spot. St. Paul was laid outside the 
 gate that bears his name, through which he passed on 
 his way to execution, on the Ostian road. 
 
 The first church on this site was built by Constantine, 
 the first Christian emperor. Lucina, a Roman matron, 
 gave the ground, which had been a vineyard. Succeed- 
 ing emperors enlarged the building into a basilica, and 
 under the popes it increased in magnificence and beauty. 
 Before the Reformation the sovereigns of England were 
 protectors of this church, and contributed towards its 
 preservation. On the I5th of June, 1823, the night 
 which preceded the death of Pope Pius the Seventh, 
 the noble building was almost destroyed by fire. No 
 one dared to tell the dying man, for he was very fond of 
 that church, having lived in the convent when he was a 
 quiet monk, when his life was spent in reading, teaching, 
 and simple recreations. His successor, Leo the Twelfth, 
 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 began the restoration without delay, and in a truly 
 catholic spirit, as he readily accepted contributions of 
 rare marbles, gold, silver, and precious stones, from all 
 who desired thus to do honour to the memory of the 
 great Apostle. Even Russia gave the malachite altar, 
 and the sultan of Turkey presented four columns of 
 oriental alabaster, brought to Rome by Mahomet AH. 
 The restoration was completed, and the church re-opened 
 by Pius the Ninth. Though costly, the exterior of the 
 building is heavy and unattractive, the more so, as it 
 stands on a desolate, abandoned part of the Campagna, 
 which has been deserted on account of the increase of 
 malaria having rendered it very unhealthy during great 
 part of the year. 
 
 The interior of St. Paul's Church is magnificently 
 spacious, the roof being supported by eighty granite 
 columns ; and strikingly splendid is the decoration. It 
 surpasses the basilica that was burnt, and everything 
 that betokens its connection with historical associations 
 has been carefully restored, even to the badge of the 
 Order of the Garter, which tells of bygone times. 
 
 In the open space between the transept and the nave 
 is a gorgeous baldachino, supported on four pillars of 
 the finest marble, with gilded capitals and a Gothic 
 canopy. This heavy structure surmounts the traditional 
 tomb of the Apostle, and bears this inscription : 
 
 * 
 
 " Tu es /as election^ Sancte Paule Apostole, 
 
 ^v Prasdicator veritas in Universe Mundo." 
 
 Beneath the high altar and St. Paul's shrine is a 
 smaller shrine and a very plain altar, on which is in- 
 scribed the one name "Timothei." Here the ashes of 
 Timothy are said to rest. " Strong is the temptation, 
 for once, not too exactingly to demand or to scrutinise 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 147 
 
 authority for the truth of a legend in itself so beautiful ; 
 that these two honoured servants of Christ, who had 
 loved and laboured, and wept and prayed, sorrowed 
 and rejoiced together, are now resting side by side the 
 father and his own son in the faith."* 
 
 Timothy was by birth both a Jew and a Greek : his 
 mother, a true daughter of Israel, having married a 
 Greek who lived at either Derbe or Lystra when this 
 child was born. 
 
 The question whether Clement of Rome was of Jewish 
 or Gentile origin has been frequently discussed and 
 answered in opposite ways. Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of 
 Durham, who has sifted the question, is inclined to 
 agree with those who believe that this venerable father 
 of the early Church was in a worldly as well as in a 
 spiritual sense of the expression a redeemed man, one 
 liberated from the state of bondage that either he or 
 his parents had been set free, according to the custom 
 of the times, and that consequently he was a loving and 
 beloved subordinate member in the family of a Roman 
 nobleman of high position, near the imperial throne. 
 Having stated his reasons, Dr. Lightfoot adds, "I 
 venture therefore to conjecture that Clement the Bishop 
 was a man of Jewish parentage, a freedman, or the son 
 of a freedman belonging to the household of Flavius 
 Clemens, the Emperor Domitian's cousin. It is easy to 
 imagine how, under these circumstances, the leaven of 
 Christianity would work upwards from beneath, as it 
 has done in so many other cases ; and from their 
 domestics and dependants the master and mistress 
 
 * " St. Paul in Rome." By the Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. See 
 pages 8991. 
 
 t " St. Clement of Rome." By J. B. Lightfoot, D.D. Page 263. 
 Macmillan. 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 would learn their perilous lessons in the gospel. Even 
 a much greater degree of culture than is exhibited in 
 St. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians would be quite 
 consistent with such an origin ; for amongst these freed- 
 men were frequently found the most intelligent and 
 cultivated men of their day. Nor is this social status 
 inconsistent with the position of the chief ruler of the 
 most important church in Christendom. . . . At a still 
 later date, more than a century after Clement's time, 
 the papal chair was occupied by Callistus, who had been 
 a slave of an officer in the imperial palace. The Chris- 
 tianity which had thus taken root in the household of 
 Domitian's cousin left a memorial behind in another 
 distinguished person also. The famous Alexandrian 
 father who flourished a century later than the Bishop of 
 Rome bore all the three names of this martyr prince, 
 Titus, Flavius, Clemens. He too was doubtless a 
 descendant of some servant in the family, who, according 
 to custom, would be named after his patron when he 
 obtained his freedom. The imperial household was 
 henceforward a chief centre of Christianity in the metro- 
 polis/' 4 Jews were found in large numbers at this time 
 among the slaves and freedmen of the great houses, 
 even of the imperial palace. Dr. Lightfoot tells us 
 that every time he reads the Epistle of St. Clement to 
 the Corinthians, the conviction of a Judaic authorship is 
 strengthened in his mind. The name of Clement was 
 a very common one among Romans and Romanized 
 people of the conquered nations. Tacitus mentions five 
 persons of that name, and it is often found on sepulchral 
 monuments. 
 
 St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians (iv. 3), men- 
 
 * "St. Clement of Rome." By J. B. Lightfoot, D.D. Pages 
 265, 266. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 149 
 
 tions a fellow-labourer named Clement. Origen thought 
 this man was Clement of Rome, and later writers have 
 followed him, but they cannot be identified with any 
 certainty. We hear of them as living at different places, 
 the one at Rome, the other at Philippi ; dates also do 
 not seem in favour of the identity, though they do not 
 prove it to be impossible. The Clement commendably 
 mentioned by St. Paul might have been a young man 
 who lived forty or fifty years longer in the world. 
 
 The newly recovered portion of the first or genuine 
 Epistle of Clement, which has been found in the library 
 of the Most Holy Sepulchre at Constantinople, contains 
 an earnest entreaty to the Corinthians to obey the 
 injunctions contained in the letter, and to heal their 
 unhappy schisms ; a long prayer, ending with an inter- 
 cession for rulers and governors, and a strong protest 
 against the sin of disobedience. The Epistle is pecu- 
 liarly valuable, as it enables us to more fully understand 
 the secret of papal dominion. This letter does not 
 emanate from the Bishop of Rome but from the church 
 in Rome. There is every reason to believe the early 
 tradition which points to St. Clement as its author, and 
 yet he is not once named. The first person plural is 
 maintained throughout. " We consider," " we have sent." 
 It is a letter from a community, not from an individual. 
 Irenaeus thus describes it : " In the time of this Clement, 
 no small dissension having arisen among the brethren 
 in Corinth, the church in Rome sent a very sufficient 
 letter to the Corinthians, urging them to peace." Now 
 that we possess the work complete, we see that Clement's 
 existence is not once hinted at from beginning to end. 
 The name and personality of Clement are absorbed in 
 the church of which he is the spokesman ; and the 
 words of the letter are those of earnest entreaty, of wise 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and affectionate exhortation. "It may seem strange," 
 says Dr. Lightfoot, " to describe this noble remonstrance 
 as the first step towards papal aggression ; and yet 
 undoubtedly this is the case. There is all the difference 
 in the world between the attitude of Rome towards 
 othqr churches at the close of the first century, when 
 the Romans as a community remonstrate on terms of 
 equality with the Corinthians on their irregularities ; 
 strong only in the righteousness of their cause, and 
 feeling, as they had a right to feel, that these counsels 
 of peace were the dictation of the Holy Spirit, and its 
 attitude at the close of the second century." The 
 original primacy of Rome was a primacy, not of the 
 bishop, but of the whole church a primacy, not of 
 official authority, but of practical goodness, backed, how- 
 ever, by the prestige and the advantages which were 
 enjoyed by the church of the metropolis.* 
 
 On this valuable work by Dr. Lightfoot, now Bishop 
 of Durham, which puts before us the Epistles of this 
 humble-minded though important person who appears 
 to have been at the head of the church in Rome in the 
 last years of the first century, Ernest Renan remarks, 
 " I am happy to find myself in accord with one of your 
 ablest and most enlightened critics with regard to 
 Clement of Rome. In the half shadow in which he 
 remains enveloped, and as it were lost in the luminous 
 dust of a fine historic distance, Clement is one of the 
 great figures of a nascent Christianity ; but we may 
 liken him to some head in fresco of Giotto's, old and 
 faded, but still to be recognised by its golden glory and 
 the pure and mild brilliancy of its indistinct features. 
 Everything leads us to believe that Clement was of 
 Jewish origin. He seems to have been born in Rome, 
 * Dr. Lightfoot. 
 
THE FIERY TRIAL. 151 
 
 of one of those families from Palestine which for one 
 or more generations had inhabited the capital of the 
 world. His knowledge of cosmography, and his ac- 
 quaintance with secular history, testify to his having 
 received a careful and superior education. Without 
 having any decided proof of the fact, we may admit 
 that he had had some intercourse with the apostles, 
 especially with Peter. The high rank which Clement 
 held in the purely spiritual hierarchy of the church of his 
 times, and the unequalled reputation which he enjoyed, 
 are beyond doubt. His approval was a law in itself. 
 All parties claimed his leadership, and desired to shelter 
 themselves beneath his authority. It is probable that 
 he was one of the chief actors in the great work which 
 was in process of accomplishment the posthumous 
 reconciliation of Peter and Paul by the fusion of the 
 two parties. 
 
 Clement is the first type of pope which Church history 
 presents to us. His lofty personality, which legend 
 makes more lofty still, was, after that of St. Peter, the 
 holiest figure of primitive Christian Rome. Succeeding 
 ages looked upon his venerable face as that of a mild 
 and grave legislator, a perfect homily of submission and 
 respect. Already the idea of a certain primacy belong- 
 ing to Rome was beginning to make its way to light. 
 The right of warning other churches, and of compos- 
 ing their differences, was conceded to that church. 
 Similar privileges, so at least it was believed, had been 
 accorded to Peter by the other disciples.* Thus a bond 
 which gradually grew closer was established between 
 Peter and Rome." | 
 
 * Luke xxii. 32. 
 
 t Hibbert Lectures for 1880, by Ernest Renan. See pages 123 
 to 125. 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 In the hazy distance in which we see Clement as a 
 chief pastor of the early Church, we cannot distinctly 
 trace the details of his life work at Rome, or the cir- 
 cumstances of his death. Much more clearly are the 
 fine features of his character perceptible in his writings. 
 The Church which places him as the third bishop of 
 Rome, reckons him among the martyrs; yet Eusebius, 
 when he mentions the death of Clement, does not even 
 allude to his martyrdom. He says, " In the third year 
 of the above-mentioned reign (Trajan's), Clement, 
 Bishop of Rome, committed the episcopal charge to 
 Everastus, and departed this life, after superintending 
 the preaching of the Divine Word for nine years." 
 
 He lived on the Ccelian Hill, where his house has 
 been wonderfully preserved. Of course it is below the 
 present level of the ground, but hitherto it has been 
 accessible when the water, which at times rises, does not 
 overwhelm it. Over this old home now stands one of 
 the most interesting churches in Rome. Its extensive 
 crypt between the upper church and the buried house 
 is lighted up on St. Clement's day, and most picturesque 
 is the primitive simplicity of the time-worn walls and 
 arches of Roman brickwork, though nothing in the dark 
 recesses can be clearly discerned. But light enough is 
 given to show the frescoes which are among the most 
 precious of Rome's art treasures. They may be referred 
 to the periods between the ninth and twelfth centuries, 
 scarcely in any instance to an earlier date. The mosaics, 
 also, in the upper church are curious from their great 
 antiquity. In spite of modernizations, that upper church 
 retains more details belonging to primitive ecclesiastical 
 architecture, than does any other building in Rome. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 
 
An angel said " The light of heaven 
 
 Soon faded, and the transitory rent 
 
 Through which it streamed was blocked with denser cloud, 
 
 But it had lit imperishable hopes 
 
 In human hearts and ours. How could we faint, 
 
 Or how despond, when men of flesh and blood, 
 
 Weaker than we in power, but strong in prayer, 
 
 Wrestled, and wrought, and vanquished ? Oft herein 
 
 They ministered to us, as we to them : 
 
 Without us haply human faith had failed, 
 
 Without them ours." 
 
 " Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever" 
 
 By the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 
 
 EVER since St. Paul's last sojourn in Jerusalem 
 ever since he left the city as a prisoner a guiltless 
 man, who, accused by the Jews, had appealed to Rome 
 for justice, the condition of Judea had been growing 
 more and more gloomy. The city that was ready to 
 kill God's faithful messengers was justly sentenced to 
 be left desolate. 
 
 The chosen people, blessed with the knowledge of the 
 glorious truth that Jehovah, the righteous God that 
 changeth not, is the King of all the earth, had sunk 
 into the very depths of unrighteousness, through disre- 
 garding the eternal attributes of their God, and rebelling 
 against His rule of truth and justice. While thus living 
 and acting in a state of antagonism against the Divine 
 will, heartlessly and superstitiously worshipping the 
 God of their fathers, how could they recognize their 
 Messiah, or form any higher conception than that their 
 expected King would be a man of selfish will and im- 
 perious passions like their own, endowed with almighty 
 power to crush every other nation of the earth ? Such 
 was the national feeling, but we may hope that then, as 
 in Elijah's days, when the prophet said, " I, even I only, 
 am left," the Lord saw many who were true to Him. 
 
 Perplexing, sometimes overwhelming, must this state 
 of things have been to thoughtful, religious, simple- 
 
I $6 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 hearted Jews under their own narrow-minded, self- 
 asserting priests and elders, men too blindly bigoted 
 to perceive the fine features of superior character, as 
 their treatment of St. Paul proves. That form of 
 tyranny must have been far more galling to the nobler 
 spirits than was the pressure of the foreign yoke. 
 
 Rulers unworthy of position and power seem to have 
 been the instruments chosen by God for the execution 
 of His sentence against the Jews, as a nation, con- 
 demned, because it had not accomplished its appointed 
 mission, to set, by precept and example, before less 
 favoured nations, the glory, goodness, and righteousness 
 of God, that all might be drawn nearer to Him, the 
 eternal, immovable Centre of Love, Truth, and Omni- 
 potence to bless. 
 
 A succession of evil-disposed, incompetent governors 
 were sent from Rome to Judea, men not restrained by 
 the fear of any god, or of any righteous judgment, not 
 actuated by any genuine love for their fellow-men- 
 Great must have been the trials of the Jews under 
 such proconsuls as Felix, Festus, Albinus, and Florus, 
 governors who were both scourges in themselves, and 
 snares whereby the people were provoked to desperate 
 proceedings. Of Felix, a ransomed slave, Tacitus re- 
 marks, "With the true genius of a slave he exercised 
 the tyranny of an eastern despot." Festus found the 
 priests quarrelling so bitterly, that the Temple was often 
 polluted with their blood ; and he took advantage of 
 this to serve his own worldly interests, little thinking 
 that the first year of his proconsulship was to be the 
 last of his life. 
 
 Albinus positively encouraged the brigands, by whom 
 the country was overrun, by allowing those who were 
 captured to purchase their freedom. Equally injudicious 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 157 
 
 was his hasty decision to stop the public works, and 
 at once to discharge eighteen thousand artificers and 
 labourers. The idle, starving rabble thus let loose 
 increased the difficulties of all persons who were en- 
 deavouring to maintain order in spite of civil dissension 
 and the discontent naturally felt under a foreign yoke. 
 Large numbers of the discharged labourers quitted the 
 city to become freebooters and robbers of the baser 
 kind ; thus the bands of the brigands were recruited. 
 Already they had been swelled by numbers of the 
 ignorant, who had been deluded by false Messiahs, 
 and when they had become convinced of their mistake, 
 finding their worldly prospects ruined, and themselves 
 unfit for settling down to the sober pursuits of life, they 
 had joined the brigands. 
 
 Florus felt no sympathy for the people whom he 
 governed. No grievance was redressed, no complaint 
 listened to, and the most respectable citizens were in 
 his time rudely treated. Josephus goes so far as to say 
 that Florus purposely drove the Jews into open revolt 
 with a view to their being at last really and thoroughly 
 subdued : he thought their independent spirit could 
 and must be broken. Herod Agrippa the Second still 
 bore the title of king, though his mind and his aims 
 were more Roman than Jewish, and he had lost all 
 actual power over his people, who were growing more 
 and more refractory. For the purposes of supervision 
 and coercion the king had devised a peculiar scheme. 
 He had built his palace close to the Temple, and he 
 now elevated it sufficiently to overlook the courts of 
 the Temple, which had become debased into places of 
 business and intrigue. The faction of the zealots was 
 very strong and truly dangerous; they were destroyers 
 of pure faith, of peace, and human life. The people 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 looked upon the king in his watch-tower as a spy, and 
 raised the walls round the sanctuary to shut out his 
 view. The zealots met in secret; their aim was to 
 exterminate the supporters of the foreign government. 
 The sentences pronounced by this horrible secret society 
 were executed by their sicarii, or dagger-men, in the 
 streets, or even on the steps of the Temple on occasions 
 of public festival, and no precautions prevailed to protect 
 the objects of their hatred. 
 
 Hitherto the Romans, from motives of policy, had 
 refrained from occupying Jerusalem with a military 
 force. Now they were requested by the chiefs of the 
 priesthood, of the nobility and inhabitants to protect 
 the city. This was the point to which the zealots them- 
 selves had wished to lead. Roman troops were sent 
 in. On entering Jerusalem, they found the housetops 
 thronged with an excited mutinous population, who 
 assailed the soldiers first with stones, and then with 
 deadly weapons. Agrippa in vain spoke to the people 
 in favour of his patrons : finding himself utterly power- 
 less, he hastily withdrew to Berytus (now Beyrout), where 
 he had lately built a residence to which he might retreat, 
 for he well knew that he did not reign over the hearts 
 of the Jews, that the patriots had no regard for him, 
 and looked back to the glorious era of the Maccabees. 
 The lower city and the Temple were abandoned to the 
 people, while the Romans held the citadel, with the 
 palace and other heights and towers of the upper city 
 on Mount Zion, where the Roman banners waved. For 
 seven days the possession of these respective strongholds 
 was contested, but the conflict resulted in the destruction 
 of the palace and other buildings on Mount Zion by 
 fire, the capture of the citadel, the murder of the high 
 priest, and finally the capitulation of the Romans. But 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. ^^Z 159 
 
 the zealots were resolved to render accommodation im- 
 possible, by involving the nation in unpardonable guilt. 
 The capitulation was ruthlessly violated, and every 
 armed invader was slain by the sword.* 
 
 Florus was at Caesarea when he heard that the 
 rebellion which he had long been fanning had burst at 
 last into the flames of war. The inhabitants of 
 Caesarea immediately rose against the Jews in that 
 city, and slew in one day twenty thousand. Florus was 
 suspected of having instigated this horrible massacre ; 
 certainly he caused all who endeavoured to escape to 
 be seized and sent to work as prisoners in the dock- 
 yards. This happened on the very day on which the 
 Roman soldiers were being perfidiously butchered in 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Cestus Gallus, the Governor of Syria, at the head of 
 a large army, hastened to the relief of the Romans ; 
 but moved by the earnest entreaties of King Agrippa, 
 before he advanced upon the city he offered terms of 
 accommodation. The Jews, led on by the bold Simon, 
 son of Giora, not only refused the terms, but received 
 the bearers with a shower of arrows. Thereupon Gallus 
 led his troops to the gates, and Cestus assaulted the 
 city for five days. Again the Romans were repulsed, 
 Gallus retired, and all Judea rose in rebellion. This 
 occurred early in October, A.D. 66, and the report reached 
 Nero in Greece. Understanding the importance of the 
 crisis, the Emperor immediately sent his most trust- 
 worthy captain, Vespasian, to the scene of action. 
 Vespasian was to proceed by land, collecting troops 
 and war engines on his way ; and his son Titus 
 was to go by sea to Alexandria, and summon from 
 
 * "History of the Romans under the Empire," By Dean 
 Merivale, D.D. Vol. vi.> page 534, etc, 
 
160 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 thence the fifteenth legion to serve in the impending 
 campaign.* 
 
 Both Cestus Gallus and Florus were summoned to 
 Rome to answer for their conduct: the former died 
 before his sentence was pronounced, the end of Florus 
 is not recorded. 
 
 The Jews made strenuous efforts to prepare for 
 defending their country and city. The Sanhedrin, 
 which was converted into a council of war, divided 
 Palestine into seven military districts, besides the 
 capital city. It placed Josephus, then thirty years of 
 age, in command of Galilee. He was a descendant of 
 the illustrious and beloved Asmonean family, and dis- 
 tinguished by his extraordinary abilities, which had 
 been cultivated by a superior education. His mind 
 had been expanded by travelling in foreign lands, and 
 he had spent some time in Rome. In his autobio- 
 graphy, Josephus gives the following account of his 
 journey to Rome, and his sojourn there : 
 
 " I had not long completed my twenty-sixth year 
 when a circumstance happened, which induced me to 
 make a voyage to Italy. At the time when Felix was 
 procurator of Judea there were some priests with 
 whom I was well acquainted, honourable and good 
 men, whom, on a mere frivolous casual pretext, he had 
 sent in irons to Rome to render account of their conduct 
 to Caesar. I was anxious to find some means of deli- 
 verance for these priests, and the more so as I heard 
 that even under this depressing affliction they were not 
 neglectful of religious observances, and abstained from 
 all food except figs and nuts. I reached Rome after 
 a very perilous voyage, for our ship foundered in the 
 
 *" History of the Romans under the Empire." By Dean Meri- 
 vale, D.D. Vol. vi., pages 533 538. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 161 
 
 Adriatic, and about six hundred of us were throughout 
 a whole night swimming on the sea, till at break of 
 day a vessel from Cyrene providentially came to our 
 rescue, and saved eighty of us. I landed at Puteoli, 
 and there I met with Aliturus a comedian, a Jew by 
 birth, a particular favourite of Nero. With this fellow- 
 countryman I formed a friendship ; he introduced me to 
 Poppaea, Caesar's consort, and I availed myself of the 
 first opportunity to solicit her influence in favour of the 
 priests. Their liberation was granted, and in addition 
 to this kindness I received costly presents from Poppaea. 
 On my return to Judea I was grieved on perceiving how 
 the seeds of revolution were developing. I found many 
 persons greatly elated at the revolt from the Romans. 
 Convinced of our own inferiority to the Romans in 
 military skill, I warned them not thus rashly, with utter 
 recklessness, to expose our country, our families, and 
 ourselves to the most extreme perils. My arguments 
 were unavailing, so completely were they infatuated to 
 desperation ! " 
 
 His opinion of Roman invincibility made Josephus 
 an object of suspicion, and probably also of misrepresen- 
 tation, to those of his countrymen who were prejudiced 
 against the Romans. But at that moment the Herodians 
 prevailed in the Jewish councils ; Josephus obtained the 
 appointment, with full power to conduct the defence of 
 Galilee, as he might consider most conducive to the 
 general interest. His post proved a most important 
 one ; for Vespasian's plan was to isolate Galilee from 
 Samaria and Judea, and completely to reduce it, before 
 he turned his arms against the hostile metropolis.* 
 
 At the opening of spring, a season made by the 
 genial sunshine and the flowers particularly beautiful in 
 * Merivale. 
 
 II 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Palestine, Vespasian marched into Galilee, immediately 
 took the fortress of Gadara, and proceeded to besiege 
 Jotapata, which Josephus defended vigorously for forty- 
 seven days ; but at last the town was taken by surprise, 
 and all its inhabitants were either put to the sword or 
 taken prisoners. Josephus himself was among the cap- 
 tives. He and forty of his bravest soldiers escaped the 
 general slaughter by cutting their way through the 
 enemy's ranks, and taking refuge at last in one of the 
 many caverns of that country. Vespasian found out his 
 retreat, and offered him his life on honourable terms, if 
 he would surrender. Josephus was willing to accept the 
 conditions, but his comrades would not for a moment 
 listen to them. Then Josephus, according to his own 
 account, advised that as they were resolved to die rather 
 than to surrender, their lives should ,be taken, not by 
 cruel enemies, but by their own countrymen and brethren 
 in arms, who in love and mercy would give the death 
 stroke. He proposed that lots should be drawn to mark 
 two men, the one who was to die, and the one who was 
 to kill him with the sword ; and this drawing was to be 
 repeated until only one man would be left, who must 
 take his own life. This was carried out until there re- 
 mained only two survivors, Josephus and a soldier, whom 
 he persuaded to agree with him in thinking that the 
 wisest thing they could do would be to immediately give 
 themselves up to Nicanor, the Roman officer in command. 
 This they did, and were courteously received. A military 
 escort, headed by Nicanor, conducted Josephus to Ves- 
 pasian. The Romans crowded to obtain a sight of him ; 
 the multitude of lookers-on of all classes pressed together, 
 pushing forward to get a nearer view, and his quiet for- 
 titude touched many a brave and generous heart. Titus, 
 who was looking on, felt deeply for the captive, of whom 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 163 
 
 he had heard enough to be aware that he was no 
 common man. 
 
 With cold formality he was received by Vespasian, 
 who informed the prisoner that it was his intention to 
 send him to Caesar. 
 
 In reply Josephus requested that he might be permit- 
 ted to speak in private to Vespasian. That a prisoner 
 should ask such a favour, must have been surprising, but 
 Vespasian immediately ordered his attendants, and all 
 who were present except Titus and two friends to with- 
 draw. When they had retired, Josephus broke silence by 
 thus addressing the Roman General : 
 
 " You think, Vespasian, that you have possessed your- 
 self merely of a captive in Josephus, but I come to you 
 as a messenger of greater things. Had I not received 
 a commission from God, I knew the law of the Jews, 
 and how it becomes a general to die. Do you send me 
 to Nero ? Wherefore ? Are there any remaining to suc- 
 ceed Nero, any nearer than yourself? You, Vespasian, 
 are Caesar and Emperor, you and this your son. Bind 
 me then the more securely, and keep me for yourself. 
 For you, Caesar, are master, not only of me, but of sea 
 and land, and of the human race. And I should de- 
 serve greater punishment and stricter ward if I could 
 speak to you lightly, especially on a matter pertaining 
 to God." ' 
 
 Vespasian either was, or affected to be, but little im- 
 pressed by this address ; he at first thought it only an 
 ingenious artifice to save the speaker's life. Gradually, 
 however, he was led to believe it, as he grew more power- 
 ful, and perceived other signs foreshowing the sceptre.* 
 
 The young, unsuspicious mind of Titus responded 
 directly to the words of Josephus, whom previously he 
 * See translation of Josephus by the late Rev. R. Traill, D.D. 
 
1 64 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 had admired and pitied. He could not fully express 
 his feelings, but he had no greater pleasure than that of 
 doing everything he could do to alleviate the trials and 
 discomforts of the captive. Like St. Paul, and those 
 priests whose liberation Josephus had obtained by taking 
 a journey to Rome, he now had to bear the galling chain 
 himself. Painfully irksome it must have been, but not 
 a mark of moral degradation, as it now is. In our free 
 land a chain is never seen upon a human being, except 
 on Portland Island, or near some other convict station. 
 In ancient times the chain was associated with mis- 
 fortune, but not necessarily with the deep disgrace of 
 punishment for the basest crimes. Josephus tells us 
 that he was kept in close custody, though presented 
 with raiment and other articles, and treated with kind- 
 ness and attention ; Titus contributing much to these 
 respectful courtesies.* 
 
 It appears that Vespasian retained Josephus under 
 his own control, and did not at this time send him on to 
 Nero. The distinguished captive was carried about for 
 some years by his conqueror, in a custody which he had 
 no inclination perhaps to evade. f Certainly it was 
 safer than freedom could have been to him, and literary 
 occupation may have continually refreshed him under 
 the tedium and weariness of captivity. He wrote a 
 great deal that has come down to us, and probably 
 some works that have not lived through eighteen cen- 
 turies. Vespasian and Agrippa consulted together at 
 Caesarea Philippi to arrange the best mode of co-opera- 
 tion. Very sumptuous entertainments were given. 
 Bernice, Agrippa's sister, continued to reside with him. 
 Perhaps it was at this time that she first met Titus, who, 
 
 * See translation of Josephus by the late Rev. R. Traill, D.D. 
 t Merivale. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 165 
 
 though twelve years her junior, was captivated by her 
 beauty and her fascinating manners, and ten years later 
 she was still as great a favourite with him. 
 
 The Emperor Nero may have suffered from an un- 
 easy conscience, which he could not kill, for he became 
 very restless. We hear no more of his putting on the 
 garb of a driver, and driving his chariot round his plea- 
 sure grounds, as he had been in the habit of doing, and 
 at last did on that fatal night when with festive hilarity 
 the most atrocious crime of his life and reign was 
 perpetrated. We hear no more of those gardens. Per- 
 haps he felt fearful lest he should meet one of the 
 ghosts with which they were said to be haunted. 
 Popular feeling had turned quite against him, and even 
 persons who most disliked and despised the Jews and 
 the Christians compassionated the sufferings of those 
 who had been so cruelly put to death. " This horrid 
 sacrifice," says Merivale, " so deeply impressive to sixty 
 generations of Christians, ruffled then, for a moment, the 
 feelings of Roman society. But a few days passed, and 
 when the people looked again around them they beheld 
 the reconstruction of their city commencing with extra- 
 ordinary vigour. The city of the plebs, a collection of 
 narrow winding lanes, which crept along the hollows at 
 the foot of the seven hills, thronged with high unsightly 
 masses of brickwork or woodwork, among which its 
 shifting crowds could with difficulty wind their way, had 
 long been an eyesore to the denizens of the patrician 
 mansions above. The upper growth of aristocratic 
 luxury culminating above the smoky hives of vulgar 
 industry had made Rome a double city, half Greek and 
 half Italian." 
 
 The restoration after the fire was done by government, 
 while Nero occupied himself by extending in various 
 
1 66 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 directions the limits of his own residence. His domus 
 transitoria, or house of passage, by which he had con- 
 nected his palace on the Palatine with a villa on the 
 Esquiline, spanning perhaps the hollow between those 
 hills by arches, had fallen a prey to the flames. He set 
 about building a still larger palace, which was still the 
 old mansion of Augustus and the villa on the Esquiline, 
 connected a second time by a longer series of arches, 
 under which the public below could pass. The long 
 colonnades, the baths and terraces, and other buildings 
 connected with this Golden Hcfuse were so extensive, 
 that Pliny described the city as encompassed by the 
 palace of Nero. Its name was due to the ^plendour of 
 its decorations ; it was adorned with gilded roofs and 
 sculptured friezes and panels of many-coloured marble, 
 and the choicest works of art were collected in its halls. 
 The grand entrance from the Forum was adorned by a 
 bronze statue of Nero, 120 feet high. It is worthy of 
 remark that these vast constructions were planned by 
 Roman architects, Severus and Celer; these men must 
 have ably combined engineering with architecture. 
 The rapid rebuilding of Rome tasked all the energies 
 of the Italian workmen, and the expenses of these ex- 
 traordinary renovations and improvements rendered it 
 necessary to tax the people. This was done recklessly, 
 and even the sacred treasures of the temples were seized. 
 Nero was neither respected nor loved by his subjects, 
 and at last they would not submit to his exactions, and 
 conspiracies were formed against him. One was dis- 
 covered, and many victims put to death, among them 
 Lucan the poet, and Seneca, Nero's old tutor, who, 
 being allowed the privilege of choosing his death, caused 
 his veins to be opened in the presence of his friends, 
 with whom he conversed calmly, as long as possible, 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 167 
 
 while he lay in a warm bath, to lessen pain by accelerat- 
 ing the flow of blood. He happened to have friends 
 dining with him when he received Caesar's command 
 to destroy his own life. The soldiers who brought the 
 mandate were to wait till all was over. 
 
 We are glad to know that Seneca wrote, " This day, 
 which thou fearest as thy last, is the birthday of eternity -." 
 (Ep. 1 02.) 
 
 A heart such as Nero's could not but hate the pre- 
 ceptor who had earnestly striven to make him a totally 
 different man and monarch to what he was. No doubt 
 he was glad when false witnesses helped him to get rid 
 of his mentor with some deceitful show of justice. 
 
 Surely pagans, who have lived up to their light, and 
 have died faithful to the dictates of persecuted morality, 
 have their appointed place in the ranks of the noble 
 army of martyrs ! 
 
 " The gods stretch out their hands to those that ascend. 
 Dost thou wonder that man goes to the gods f God comes 
 to men, nay, what is nearer, comes into men. There is not 
 any soul that is good without God'' Seneca, Ep. 73. 
 
 Seneca expressed so many ideas in accordance with 
 Christianity, that some of his many readers of many 
 generations have supposed that he was converted, pro- 
 bably by St. Paul. But as we have no record of this, 
 the degree of enlightenment to which a heathen philo- 
 sopher attained during, or perhaps after, the Apostle's 
 two years' residence in Rome, seems rather to indicate 
 that the influence of the Apostle's teaching and example 
 extended far beyond the hearers who habitually attended 
 the meetings at his house. Persons who, being impelled 
 by no higher motive than curiosity, seldom availed 
 themselves of the opportunity, and some not personally 
 acquainted with St. Paul, may have heard of his exhor- 
 
168 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 tations and discourses, and have derived some benefit 
 by reflecting on them. 
 
 Seneca died A.D. 65. In the following year Nero 
 carried out his long-intended visit to the East, which 
 hitherto, by various untoward circumstances, had been 
 prevented. He had thought of going to Egypt, but did 
 not get as far, being fascinated with Greece, where he 
 was flattered and homaged to his heart's content, and 
 where he was able to throw off all the restraints of 
 decorum more completely even than he could do in 
 Rome, gratifying his passion for dancing and singing 
 without the least reserve. 
 
 Some writers say that St. Paul's last trial and execu- 
 tion took place during Nero's absence from Rome, but 
 this has never been proved. We have no certain date 
 of that event ; but we know that while the Emperor 
 was in Greece the rebellion in Judea burst out, and 
 Vespasian was sent to quell it. 
 
 At Delphi, Nero consulted the oracle, which bid him 
 beware of the seventy-third year. This answer to a man 
 of thirty seemed to promise length of days ; another 
 significance was afterwards discovered. But at the 
 moment Nero, who had been feeling really alarmed by 
 murmurs throughout the Empire, that were no longer 
 stifled, and by other threatenings of an approaching 
 crisis, was reassured by the prophetic words of the 
 Pythia. He returned to Rome, completed and dedi- 
 cated a temple to Poppaea, his last wife, whose death he 
 had accidentally caused when she was in a delicate 
 state of health and he was in a furious temper. Poppaea 
 was a clever woman, with some qualities such as 
 Josephus could admire, and she liked him. She was 
 a Jewish proselyte, one of the Roman ladies of rank 
 and fashion who frequented the synagogue and adopted 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 169 
 
 some of the Jewish customs. We may hope that some 
 of the ladies gained real good there, although Juvenal 
 severely satirized them. It is supposed that the Jews 
 who came to Rome to accuse St. Paul or to bear 
 witness against him, sought access to Poppaea to request 
 her aid for the destruction of a traitor to the Jewish 
 faith. The intrigues of the imperial court were very 
 complicated, and persons of high station were not above 
 taking a bribe.* 
 
 Poppaea did her utmost to retain the affection of her 
 husband : careful to preserve her fine complexion, she 
 kept five hundred asses, and bathed every day in their 
 milk. Sad was her fate, yet she deserved it, for she 
 had* wickedly supplanted the young Octavia, Nero's 
 child-wife, whom from motives of policy he had married, 
 and soon wished to divorce. Her unmerited degrada- 
 tion had excited the sympathy of the people, who 
 crowned her statue with flowers. A pretext had been 
 invented for putting her to death before she had 
 attained her twentieth year, and most likely Burrhus 
 had been poisoned, because he had dared to say to 
 the despot, " If you dismiss the daughter of Claudius, 
 restore at least the empire' which was her dowry." 
 
 This prefect was in the habit of speaking his mind 
 boldly. He commanded the Praetorian guard, therefore 
 there is reason to suppose that he was the captain of 
 the guard into whose custody St. Paul was given by 
 Julius the centurion, who had brought him from Judea. 
 Burrhus was just the man to be influenced by Paul's 
 example, even if he were not converted to Christianity 
 by the Apostle's teaching. 
 
 Having done honour to the memory of his lost 
 Poppaea, Nero resumed his usual life of vicious and fri- 
 
 * See " The Life of St. Paul," by Conybeare and Howson, p. 745. 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 volous pleasure. Once more he celebrated the games 
 of the circus, and drove his chariot there. The Circus 
 Maximus was in the valley between the Palatine and 
 the Aventine hills. The arena had been made for these 
 chariot races and other spectacles in which the Roman 
 public greatly delighted. All the emperors had patron- 
 ized the chariot races and the Circensian games and 
 other entertainments on the circus, but not one had 
 taken part in them in the undignified way in which 
 Nero did. This year he was intending to favour the 
 public by playing to them on a new kind of water organ 
 lately invented. The Circus Maximus could accommo- 
 date about 250,000, besides about 150,000 who could 
 stand under the porticoes encircling the arena. Trophies 
 of war gave a degree of grandeur to the circus, although 
 it was thronged with idle loungers, itinerant venders, 
 market-criers, and fortune-tellers. Sanguinary combats 
 sometimes took place there, and the Porta Libitinaria 
 was used only for carrying out the slain. The Porta 
 Pompcea served for the entrance of the grand processions 
 with which the entertainments commenced, and through 
 the Porta Triumphalis the victors made their exulting 
 exit* 
 
 The enjoyment of these amusements was damped 
 by bad news. Courier after courier came dashing into 
 Rome with reports of the defection of generals and 
 legions. It soon appeared that the army had revolted. 
 Vindex had fallen, but Galba had raised the standard 
 of rebellion. Great was the excitement among the 
 senators, as well as among the people. The household 
 troops, the Emperor's own Praetorian guards turned 
 against him, and then Nero saw that his only chance of 
 safety was in flight. He begged some of the centurions 
 
 * " Historic and Monumental Rome." By C. I. Hemans. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 171 
 
 to protect him, to go with him as far as Ostia ; but they 
 refused, and one of them, blunter than the others, said, 
 " Is it then so hard to die ? " 
 
 The next morning at daybreak he secretly left the 
 palace, attended by four servants, and they safely reached 
 the villa of his freedman Phaon, about four miles from 
 the city. On the following day a slave brought papers 
 from Rome. Nero snatched them from his hand, and 
 read that the Senate had deposed him, proclaimed him 
 an enemy, and decreed his death. He said he should 
 kill himself, and the few persons about him seem to 
 have expected that he would do so. He lacked the 
 courage, but was heard talking to himself aloud, trying 
 to nerve himself to do the deed. "Fie, Nero, fie!" he 
 muttered in Greek ; " be a man ; come, rouse thee ! " 
 Thus he hesitated till he heard the trampling of a large 
 body of horsemen. At that moment he was alone with 
 the slave Epaphroditus. " Sound of swift-footed steeds 
 strikes on my ear," exclaimed Nero, quoting Homer, 
 as he pointed his sword to his own heart, and com- 
 manded the slave to drive it in.* His ashes were quietly 
 buried in a private sepulchre on the Pincian Hill. The 
 people rejoiced over his death, thinking it would bring 
 them a freedom they really would have been unfit to 
 exercise, had it been granted to them, but this they did 
 not understand. Such was the almost universal feeling ; 
 yet some unknown friend loved Nero well enough to 
 strew his grave with flowers a tribute not altogether 
 unmerited by one who had cultivated a taste for poetry, 
 which might have tended to refine the fountain-springs 
 of thought, the nobler passions of the soul, had he not 
 allowed his imagination to run wildly on into poetical 
 frenzies. We can believe that the man who met death 
 
 * From Homer's Iliad, book x., 535. 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 with words from the Iliad on his lips, might, in a 
 moment of terrible public calamity, have thought of 
 nothing better that he could do, than to take up his 
 lyre and mount to the top of a high tower, whence he 
 could survey the flaming city, and at the same time sing 
 about the destruction of Troy. 
 
 Nero had disappeared so strangely and suddenly, that 
 the Roman people could hardly believe he was dead. 
 An idea that he might be living in concealment lingered 
 among them. More than twenty years after his death 
 a false Nero was protected by the Parthians. This 
 popular notion was the foundation, perhaps, of a common 
 persuasion among the Christians that he would return 
 as the predicted Antichrist a thought not unlikely to 
 uccur to some of the martyr's relatives and friends, and 
 to circulate among them. 
 
 Much more than a dynasty expired with the last of 
 the Claudian Caesars. That event caused a radical and 
 complete change in the character of the imperial power, 
 and a change of times and circumstances. Then began 
 a new epoch which was to bring in quite a new state of 
 things. Galba, who was first proclaimed Emperor, was 
 to have but little to do with this. He was in his seventy- 
 third year, and thus fulfilled the prophecy of the Delphic 
 oracle to the satisfaction of the superstitious. Moreover 
 the steps he took to mount the throne in that year proved 
 fatal to himself. He assumed the purple in the June 
 of A.D. 68, and was assassinated in the following January. 
 
 We have digressed from our subject to contemplate 
 the last days and the death of one man who had caused 
 the death of many, the author of the first great perse- 
 cution, in the miseries of which Jews and Christians, 
 and Christianized Jews of Rome, were all more or less 
 involved. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 173 
 
 Even the Parthians had protested against the barbarity 
 of the Romans, and had requested that, for decency's 
 sake, Nero's remains might not be savagely mutilated. 
 Perhaps this foreign interference tended to prevent post- 
 humous insult ; but how little had that proud tyrant 
 thought that he should ever owe anything to the rulers 
 of Parthia ! 
 
 The struggles of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian 
 to obtain the supremacy, belong to the history of Rome, 
 as likewise the details of the never-to-be-forgotten war 
 in Judea, belong to the history of the Jews. Those 
 residing in Rome were but remotely, though sym- 
 pathetically, affected by the distress in their father- 
 land. They were now unmolested, for the madness 
 of persecution had spent itself. The Romans were 
 ashamed of what had been done, they wished the 
 odium of it to rest entirely on Nero's memory, and so 
 there was a strong reaction in favour, not of Jews or 
 Judaism, or of Christianity, but of humanity; and 
 public attention was now fully occupied by intrigues 
 and wars at home and abroad. In Rome only the 
 pen could be wielded against the Jews, and that was 
 effectually done. 
 
 As soon as he had power to do so, Vespasian released 
 Josephus from bonds, but he remained with Titus as an 
 attendant. Vespasian, having been elected, hastened to 
 Rome, leaving his son to prosecute the war in Judea, 
 and to make preparations for besieging Jerusalem. Two 
 parties existed in that city. The more moderate of its 
 inhabitants saw the hopelessness of contending against 
 Rome, and desired to submit, on the best terms that 
 could be made, rather than to risk the loss of the 
 capital, which would be inevitable destruction to the 
 nation. The other party, consisting of the desperate 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and fanatical zealots and the lower classes of the people, 
 clamoured for uncompromising resistance. A few edu- 
 cated men, animated by enthusiastic patriotism, joined 
 them. Civil dissensions had run on to civil war and 
 fighting in the streets. The zealots, being hardly pressed, 
 took refuge in the precincts of the Temple, where they 
 were closely besieged by their antagonists. Thus was 
 Jerusalem anything but "a city that is at unity with 
 itself." Its actual condition was as great a mockery 
 of the meaning of its name A Vision of Peace as 
 any mockery with which it had insulted Christ. Is not 
 this an impressive lesson ? for does not God deal with 
 individuals as with nations, especially with every one 
 whose baptismal name was given as a Christian sign 
 with no hidden meaning ? 
 
 When Titus first approached the city, he committed 
 an imprudence which very nearly cost him his life. He, 
 with a few men, got entangled in some gardens, and the 
 Jews sallied forth and separated him from the main 
 body of his escort. Titus cut his way through his 
 assailants, and was saved by the fleetness of his horse. 
 The whole army soon came up and encamped about 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Josephus was still a prisoner in the Roman camp, and 
 Titus made use of him, hoping that by his persuasions 
 the Jews might be induced to surrender. He was re- 
 peatedly put forward to deliver a message proposing 
 terms, which, considering the customs and the temper 
 of the times, were not severe ; but the Jewish leaders 
 treated all the offers of the Roman general with con- 
 tempt. Again Titus sent Josephus to intercede. He 
 addressed the leader John, but spoke in the Hebrew 
 tongue, often appealing to the multitude, beseeching 
 them to spare their country, their city and temple : 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 175 
 
 his words, broken by tears, and blended with expres- 
 sions of sympathy, were received by the people in 
 silence and dejection ; but John, after venting many 
 invectives against Josephus, finally said that no one 
 need fear that Jerusalem would be captured, for it was 
 Jehovah's city. It was more than commonly crowded ; 
 for when the Romans were marching on Jerusalem, 
 prepared to lay siege, the Jews were preparing to 
 celebrate the passover it was the last ! and was kept 
 thirty-six years after that at which the true Lamb of 
 God was sacrificed. The festival was attended by an 
 extraordinary multitude of Jews from all parts of the 
 world ; for the war-party, anxious to obtain reinforce- 
 ments, had written to their brethren in all countries, 
 inviting and urging them to come, and if need be to 
 take part in the national struggle for independence, 
 and especially in defending the holy city of David. 
 Many Christians had left the city and retired to some 
 hill country, secluded from the turmoil of these unquiet 
 times. They had watched in faith, and had recognized 
 signs predicted by their Lord : mindful of His warning, 
 they had fled from danger ; numbers of them had found 
 safety in the little town of Pella, beyond the Jordan. 
 
 The Jews felt great confidence in the strength of their 
 ramparts and triple city, within which were several forts. 
 The principal of these, the citadel, was called the Castle 
 of Antonia, having been so named by Herod after his 
 patron, the Triumvir. The Towers of Hippicus, Pha- 
 selus, and Mariamne, with probably some others, were 
 separate fortresses, constructed for mutual support. The 
 Temple itself, surrounded by an outer and inner wall, was 
 capable of resisting very formidable attacks. It com- 
 prised an outer court, equal sided, of six hundred feet 
 each way, lined with double or triple porticoes. Within 
 
1 76 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 this was an area subdivided into compartments, which 
 secluded and guarded the innermost, mysterious most 
 holy place a shrine without an idol* 
 
 All the efforts Titus made to induce the Jews to 
 capitulate were in vain, and at last, weary of the pro- 
 tracted siege, he determined upon a decisive attack. 
 
 The preparations for assault occupied the Romans 
 twenty-one days, the Jews were too weak to hinder 
 them. When all was completed, the battering-rams and 
 other engines were brought to bear upon the walls, and 
 at night a portion fell ; the Romans rushed in, but, to 
 their disappointment, found an inner wall, which was 
 obstinately defended, and at last taken by stratagem. 
 After every fort and post that could be defended had 
 been bravely held, but quickly taken, at last nothing 
 remained to the Jews but the Temple itself. All the 
 Roman soldiers looked upon the Temple with awe. 
 Titus desired to save it, not only from destruction, but 
 from pollution. " I appeal," said he, " to my own army, 
 and to the Jews beside me, aye, and to you yourselves, 
 that it is not I who compel you to defile these things ; 
 and, would you but change the scene of conflict, no 
 Roman should approach or profane the holy places ; 
 nay, I will preserve the sanctuary even against your 
 will." Many Jews gave themselves up to the Romans ; 
 they were all, for the present, sent to Gophna, with a 
 promise that when peace had been restored they should 
 be reinstated in their respective possessions. One day 
 Titus sent for these Jews, and ordered them, with 
 Josephus at their head, to make the circuit of the city 
 wall, in order to be seen by the people, and to implore 
 them to leave the insurgents. A considerable number 
 did escape and flee to the Romans. In his last speech, 
 
 * Merivale. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 177 
 
 Titus said, no doubt in all sincerity, " It seems to me 
 that the God of this place has deserted it." Convinced 
 at last that Jerusalem must be taken by force, he reluc- 
 tantly proceeded to further hostilities. 
 
 The awful calamities of that siege malicious internal 
 disagreement and strife the tyranny of the strong over 
 the weak pestilence famine that tempted a mother 
 to butcher her child are well known. With the energy 
 of despair the Jews defended their temple. Titus 
 greatly desired to take the wonderful edifice without 
 destroying, or even materially injuring it ; but it was 
 so resolutely held, that his forbearance was attended 
 with danger and slaughter to his own troops ; seeing 
 this, he reluctantly gave orders that the gates should be 
 set on fire. The flames rose very quickly, mounted in 
 continuous columns, and seized on the galleries. The 
 Jews, struck with consternation, stood motionless spec- 
 tators. All through that day and the following night 
 the fire continued to rage. The next morning Titus 
 directed a division of his troops to extinguish the flames, 
 and to prepare a way to the gates for the more easy 
 ascent of the legions. He then convened his six gene- 
 rals in council, and brought before them the subject 
 of the sanctuary. Some were inclined to enforce the 
 rights of war; for the Jews, they said, would not desist 
 from rebellious projects while the Temple remained as a 
 point of concourse to them from all quarters. Others 
 thought the Jews could be prevented from occupying 
 the Temple as a military position, and that it might be 
 spared. But, said they, " If it be used for purposes of 
 war, it is a fortress, and no longer a sanctuary." Titus 
 maintained that they ought not to wreak their vengeance 
 on things inanimate, instead of on men, nor to destroy 
 so magnificent a work, which, if preserved, would ever 
 
 12 
 
i; HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 after be an ornament to the Empire. These arguments 
 prevailed, and orders were given with a view to extin- 
 guishing the fire as quickly as possible. 
 
 Only the courts of the Temple and the fine colonnades 
 and other surroundings had suffered ; as yet the sanctuary 
 itself was in full beauty the flames had not touched it ; 
 and though war had raged round its walls, that central 
 edifice wanted nothing that could strike the eye or the 
 mind. Overlaid throughout with massive plates of gold, 
 it reflected at sunrise so fiery a lustre as could not be 
 steadily gazed upon ; the eye averted itself as from the 
 solar rays. Seen from a distance, it looked like a moun- 
 tain covered with snow; for in those parts not faced with 
 gold the building was of the purest white. On its 
 summit were fixed sharp golden spikes, to prevent the 
 birds from polluting the roof. In front of the sanctuary 
 stood the quadrangular altar, with corners projecting 
 like horns. This superb edifice was ascended on the 
 south side by a gently sloping acclivity. In its con- 
 struction no iron was used, nor was it ever touched by 
 iron. It was built of the largest stones that could be 
 hewn ; each one, before it was fixed in its place, had been 
 cut by rule, shaped to a given form and size. A barrier 
 of ornamental stonework, about a cubit high, enclosed 
 both the sanctuary and the altar, and served to separate 
 the people outside from the priests.* 
 
 Twelve steps led up to the first gate, which had no 
 doors, for it represented the invisible and unobstructed 
 heaven. The portal was faced with gold, as was all the 
 wall around it, and above were golden vines, from which 
 hung down clusters of grapes, a man's stature in length. 
 The inside portal had golden doors, fifty-five cubits high 
 and sixteen broad. Before these was spread a veil of 
 
 * JosephuSj book v. 6. 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 179 
 
 equal length with the doors. It was of Babylonian 
 tapestry, variegated with blue, scarlet, and purple, and 
 fine linen wrought with admirable skill. Nor was the 
 mixture of the material without design ; it served as 
 a symbol of the universe. The scarlet and the blue were 
 emblematical of fire and air, being similar in colour. 
 The fine linen was emblematical of the earth which 
 produces it, and the purple of the sea, also on account 
 of its origin. Embroidered on this tapestry was a 
 representation of the entire heavens, the signs of the 
 zodiac excepted. 
 
 "Within this compartment stood three pieces of work- 
 manship most admirable and universally celebrated a 
 candlestick, a table, and an altar of incense. The seven 
 lights represented the planets, for so many were the 
 branches of the candlestick. Loaves on the table, twelve 
 in number, symbolized the circle of the zodiac and the 
 year. The altar of incense, by the thirteen fragrant 
 spices with which it was replenished from the sea, and 
 from lands inhabited and uninhabited, signified that 
 all things are of God and for God. 
 
 " The innermost recess of the Temple measured twenty 
 cubits, and was separated from the outer by the veil. 
 In this nothing whatever was deposited. Unapproach- 
 able, inviolable, and to be seen by none, it was called the 
 Holy of The Holy." * 
 
 Every Roman capable of appreciating this most mag- 
 nificent work of art, this wonderful Temple, desired to 
 save it ; but it was doomed to destruction. Every 
 pillar of that Temple was to fall, not one was ever to be 
 reared in another land. A Roman soldier who had 
 received no order to do so, flung a firebrand through one 
 
 * Josephus, book v. 4. 5. Abridged from the translation of 
 Rev. R. Traill, D.D. 
 
i8o HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 of the windows of the sanctuary. The dry cedar wood 
 was instantly in a blaze. Shouts and shrieks rent the 
 air. The flames rapidly rose, and a scene of the utmost 
 confusion ensued. Titus himself, with his staff, ran to 
 the spot, and ordered, and with his own hands did, 
 everything that could be done to check the devouring 
 element, but in vain. In the excitement of that terrible 
 catastrophe the Roman soldiers became quite uncon- 
 trollable. No quarter was given or looked for on either 
 side. The Romans, losing all discipline, rushed from 
 every quarter to the scene of action, the Jews resisted 
 them with equal fury, howling and wailing as they 
 fought. John, by an astonishing feat, made good his 
 retreat to the upper town, where he found Simon. In 
 the indiscriminate slaughter a number of women were 
 put to death. They had assembled under the guidance 
 of a false prophet, who assured them that at the very 
 crisis of the siege the Messiah would appear to deliver 
 them. Tacitus thought their prophetical books had 
 led them to believe that it would be so. 
 
 Josephus thus describes the indiscriminate slaughter : 
 " One would have thought that the hill itself on which 
 the Temple stood was seething hot, full of fire in every 
 part, yet there was more blood than fire, and those that 
 were slain were more in number than those that slew 
 them. Nowhere was the ground visible, so covered 
 was it with the dead ; and over heaps of the slain the 
 living ran after those that fled from them. But Simon 
 and John were still living, and a few brave men were 
 with them, who took up a position in the upper city, 
 on the hill of Zion, and still held out. For the last 
 time Titus demanded a parley, and, standing on a 
 bridge that connected the Temple with Mount Zion, he 
 again offered terms to the insurgents. They declined 
 
THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. 181 
 
 them, and eighteen days later Jerusalem fell. The 
 Temple had stood more than 1,130 years, from its 
 restoration, according to the words of the Prophet 
 Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus, King of Persia. 
 Josephus remarks, " It waited until the very month, 
 and the very day on which the first temple had been 
 burnt by the Babylonians." Both downfalls are still 
 solemnly commemorated on the Qth day of the Hebrew 
 month Ab. 
 
 With the destruction of the Temple, the temple service 
 was abolished, the traditions of the Levitical system 
 were no longer guarded? by a recognized succession of 
 interpreters, nor maintained as the title-deeds of an 
 authorized ministry. They were long remembered, 
 and in some degree observed in private families, but, 
 as time went on, they became less and less truthful, 
 more and more mixed up with legendary lore. The 
 distinction of tribes and families was lost; and the 
 threads of descent have never been recovered. 
 
 Such were the results of the astounding blow struck 
 by the Flavian Emperors. The idea that the great 
 kingdom which they ruled was being actually led on 
 by them under the guidance of Divine providence, and 
 was wonderfully accomplishing prophecy, does not seem 
 to have impressed their minds, nor the minds of their 
 contemporaries. They were all absorbed in the one 
 idea of looking, not for a mighty power either territorial, 
 or moral, or religious, but for the personal Deliverer 
 whose coming had been predicted, arid who would, the 
 Hebrews believed, come forth from the house of David ; 
 and the Romans as strongly desired, wished, with en- 
 thusiasm that merges into faith, that he would appear 
 in the person of one of their own emperors, and be 
 acknowledged and received as the Lord of the whole 
 
182 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 earth. " We have seen," says Dean Merivale, " the wide 
 diffusion of the Sibylline prophecies, pointing towards 
 a new advent or development in the time of Augustus, 
 and that emperor's efforts to compel the anticipations 
 of mankind to centre and terminate in himself. We 
 have remarked the ready acquiescence of the Roman 
 world in the hope that each succeeding emperor would 
 be in truth its expected preserver, and how willingly it 
 ascribed divinity to the lords of the human race." The 
 ignorant multitude worshipped Augustus with an honest 
 kind of reverence, and would have felt and done as 
 much for each one of his successors, but bitterly were 
 they disappointed in the Claudian sovereigns.* Ves- 
 pasian, coming from Egypt and Judea seemed likely 
 to -literally fulfil the promises of both the Jewish and 
 Sibylline oracles. Against his own will, for he was a 
 simple-minded man, miraculous powers were ascribed 
 to him. In his military sphere, before he had begun 
 to entertain ambitious views on his own account, those 
 who loved and honoured him thought him capable of 
 tranquilizing the disturbed Empire. When with him in 
 the east, they heard the prophecies concerning Messiah, 
 and saw that the suggestion of such an idea, as that 
 Vespasian might prove to be the expected deliverer, 
 would further his cause in the eastern part of the 
 Empire. The words of Josephus, " Vespasian, you put 
 me in bonds to-day ; but next year, when you are the 
 emperor, you will release me," were hardly prophetic, 
 as any very sagacious man, well acquainted with the 
 
 * Let us not forget that the meanings of words change with time, 
 of which our word worship is a remarkable instance. The meaning 
 now understood by it is not that attached to it by the framers of 
 our marriage service, nor by our ancestors who gave the title of 
 worshipful to the chief magistrate of every town. 
 

 
 v V 
 
 y & 
 
 IP . 
 
 THE ROMANS IN JUDEA. ^^tep*' 
 
 state of affairs in the Roman world, might have fore- 
 seen much without the aid of inspiration ; and there was 
 nothing blasphemous in what Josephus said, though it 
 coincided, and perhaps co-operated, with the idea which 
 Romans imbued with eastern notions had conceived ; 
 that Vespasian might be the promised ruler under 
 whose boundless and beneficent government all the 
 nations of the world were to be united. It is not 
 surprising that the Romans and other heathens should 
 have misunderstood the Old Testament prophecies, 
 with which they must have been very imperfectly 
 acquainted. Vespasian's friends, whose patriotic devo- 
 tion to him agreed with their own personal interests, 
 were pagans ; and the leaders of popular movements 
 among pagan nations have in all times pretended to 
 supernatural powers. Every nation that Rome had 
 subdued had fought in that spirit ; the multitude 
 believing that they were fighting under a demi-god, or 
 at least under the blessing of their ancestral gods. 
 Our own Saxon forefathers believed that they con- 
 quered by the help of Odin, a real hero, deified.* 
 
 Thus the heathen were brought up from childhood, 
 were trained and excited to superstitious worship ; but 
 it was not possible for even a religious-minded heathen 
 to think of his gods, and to enter a place of worship 
 with the same feelings as those with which a Jew and a 
 Christian enter a synagogue and a church. 
 
 * " Such were the claims of Athenio in Sicily, of Sartorius in 
 Spain. The Druids in Britain waged a religious war against the 
 Romans. Marcius the Gaul, Aurinia, Ganna, and Veleda, and 
 German professed to direct the people with a spiritual authority." 
 Merivale. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 
 
SADNESS AND MIRTH. 
 
 " Ye met at the stately feasts of old, 
 Where the bright wine foam'd over sculptured gold ; 
 Sadness and Mirth, ye were mingled there 
 With the sound of the lyre in the scented air ; 
 As the cloud and the lightning are blent on high, 
 Ye mix'd in the gorgeous revelry. 
 Ye met when the triumph swept proudly by, 
 With the Roman Eagles reared on high ; 
 I know that e'en then, in his hour of pride, 
 The soul of the mighty within him died ; 
 That a void in his bosom lay darkly still, 
 Which the music of victory might never fill. 
 Thou wert there, O Mirth, swelling on the shout, 
 Till the temples like echo-caves rang out. 
 Thine were the garlands, the songs, the wine, 
 All the rich voices in air were thine, 
 The incense, the sunshine but Sadness, thy part, 
 Deepest of all, was the victor's heart." 
 
 FELICIA HEMANS. 
 
VII. 
 THE TRIUMPH. 
 
 BEFORE the end of the war in Judea, Titus had 
 received the gratifying intelligence that his father 
 had been enthusiastically welcomed throughout Italy, 
 and especially in Rome. The Senate, who remembered 
 the calamities they had endured through the changes of 
 their princes, were glad to receive an emperor whose age, 
 reputation, and military skill inspired them with con- 
 fidence : and all classes of the people having suffered 
 from the intestine broils were longing for a ruler power- 
 ful enough to maintain the imperial sway, and thus to 
 give security and peace. 
 
 More especially did the soldiers rejoice in Vespasian's 
 elevation, for they best knew the magnitude of the wars 
 which he had brought to a successful conclusion, and 
 they had prayed that he who alone could ensure their 
 safety and add lustre to their arms might be granted 
 to them.* Since the battle of Actium, B.C. 31, the 
 aristocracy had held nearly complete control. When, in 
 A.D. 69, the popular party under Vespasian had come into 
 power, shared by Mucianus, as leader of the moderate 
 conservatives, the Senate was reconstructed, so as to 
 represent more liberal ideas, and thus a stop was put to 
 persecution on account of religious opinions. 
 
 * Josephus. 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 A rebellion broke out in Germany and Gaul, in quelling 
 which, Vespasian's son Domitian, though young, greatly 
 distinguished himself. With pagan military pride Titus 
 honoured his brother by giving a triumphal feast at 
 Caesarea on Domitian's birthday, when more than two 
 thousands Jews were " butchered to make a Roman 
 holiday." 
 
 Thence Titus went to Berytus (now Beyrout), where 
 he spent some time. There Agrippa and Bernice were 
 residing in a superb newly erected palace. 
 
 Breaking up from thence, Titus passed through several 
 Syrian cities; everywhere sumptuous shows were ex- 
 hibited, in which the captive Jews were made to display 
 their own ruin. To us it seems astonishing that Titus 
 should have so deeply stained himself with the blood- 
 thirsty sins of the age. We can only say that he was a 
 pagan, and that he had been greatly exasperated by the 
 obstinate resistance of the Jews, by their contemptuous 
 rejection of his clemency, and by the destruction of 
 the Temple, which he had determined to preserve as a 
 standing memorial of his great victory. At Antioch he 
 received an embassy from the king of the Parthians, who 
 presented him with a crown of gold on his conquest of 
 Judea. 
 
 The inhabitants of Antioch wished him to expel all 
 the Jews residing in their city, but this Titus refused to 
 do. Failing in this request, the people of Antioch pre- 
 ferred a second, soliciting him to remove the brass 
 tablets on which the privileges of the Jews were in- 
 scribed. This also Titus negatived. As these Jews 
 had never positively resisted his will, he retained some 
 sense of justice with regard to them. Leaving to the 
 Jews of Antioch everything they had previously enjoyed 
 in that city and country, he set out for Egypt. In the 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 189 
 
 course of the journey he passed through Jerusalem. 
 Of the vast wealth of the town no small portions still 
 continued to be found among the ruins. Much of it 
 was dug up by the Romans, the greater part was 
 brought to light through information given by the 
 captives. Gold and silver, and other valuables were 
 discovered, which the owners had stored underground 
 against the doubtful fortune of war.* The exact fulfil- 
 ment of prophetic words now came to pass through the 
 diligent search made for hidden treasures. f 
 
 Titus proceeded on his intended journey to Egypt, 
 and having as quickly as possible crossed the desert, he 
 reached Alexandria. When he had determined on 
 sailing for Italy, he sent back to their former stations the 
 two legions that had accompanied him, and made ar- 
 rangements for taking with him to Rome seven hundred 
 captive Jews whom he had selected as remarkable for 
 their stature and the beauty of their persons, and with 
 them their leaders, John and Simon, that they might all 
 be exhibited at the triumph. A favourable voyage 
 brought them speedily over the sea, and Titus was most 
 highly honoured by his father's going forth from Rome 
 to meet him. The citizens crowded to behold the 
 gratifying sight, and were transported with enthusiasm 
 on thus at once seeing their Emperor and his two heroic 
 sons happily united. 
 
 Not many days elajpsed before it was announced that 
 one common triumph should celebrate the victories, 
 though the Senate had decreed a separate one to each. 
 When the day arrived on which the celebration was to 
 take place, all the people, a countless multitude, issued 
 forth from their houses to see the pageant. Every spot 
 was occupied wherever it was possible to stand, leaving 
 
 * Josephus. t Matt. xxiv. 2 ; Jer. xxvi. 18. 
 
IQO HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 only the space open to the processions which were to be 
 the objects of attraction. Day had not yet dawned when 
 the whole of the military marched out in companies and 
 divisions under their officers, and drew up around the 
 gates of the palace, not the upper palace, but that near 
 the Temple of Isis, for there the imperitors had slept 
 that night, and when daylight was breaking on the fol- 
 lowing morning, Vespasian and Titus came forth un- 
 armed, arrayed in robes of purple silk, and crowned with 
 laurel. They proceeded to the Octavian Walk, for there 
 the Senate and the chief magistrates, with all of eques- 
 trian rank, awaited their arrival. In front of the colon- 
 nades a tribune had been erected, which the Emperor 
 and his son ascended, to sit on ivory chairs. 
 
 This Portico of Octavia was the most important and 
 graceful structure of its kind. It had been erected by 
 the Emperor Augustus, and named after his beloved 
 sister Octavia, the mother of Marcellus. The portico 
 occupied an oblong space ; its colonnades were supported 
 by 270 columns ; under them stood sculptures, valuable 
 beyond all price statues and other works of Greek art 
 by the first masters, Phidias, Praxiteles, and Lysippus, 
 famous for his equestrian statues. Within the spa- 
 cious area of the Octavian Portico were two temples, 
 to Jupiter and Juno, built from the designs of Greek 
 architects.* 
 
 In the pleasure ground belonging to this fine edifice 
 all the magnates of Rome assembled around the Emperor 
 and the victorious princes, and the multitude crowded 
 densely around them. 
 
 As Vespasian and Titus took their seats, loud acclama- 
 tions of joy burst from the troops ; all the companies 
 
 * C. I. Hemans. The noble statue of Mars, reposing now in the 
 Ludovisi Villa, is said to have been found there. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 191 
 
 were bearing many testimonies to their valour. Ves- 
 pasian, having acknowledged their welcome, made the 
 signal for silence. Deep and universal stillness prevail- 
 ing, he rose, and covering his head with his cloak, he 
 offered up the usual prayers, Titus praying also in the 
 same manner. 
 
 The prayers ended, Vespasian addressed the general 
 assembly in a short speech, and dismissed the soldiers to 
 the customary repast provided for them by the Emperor. 
 He then retired to the gate, which, in consequence of 
 the triumphal processions always passing through, had 
 received its name Porta Triumphalis. Here they first 
 took refreshment, and then, having clothed themselves 
 in the triumphal robes, and sacrificed to the gods, whose 
 statues stood by the gate, they commanded the pageant 
 to move forward, driving through the circus and theatres, 
 that the assembled crowds might have a passing view. 
 Platforms also had been constructed for the spectators, 
 many of them three or four stories high. They were so 
 large, and had been so quickly raised, that the public 
 felt distrustful of their safety. These temporary erec- 
 tions were gay with tapestries interwoven with gold, 
 while gold and ivory ingeniously wrought were affixed 
 round them all, and they were also decorated with large 
 pictures representing incidents that had occurred in all 
 the wars in which Vespasian and his sons had been 
 victorious. The war in Judea was exhibited in numerous 
 representations, divided into different sections, affording 
 an extremely vivid portraiture of its events. 
 
 Here was to be seen a happy country devastated ; 
 there, entire bodies of hostile armies slaughtered, some 
 again in flight, others led into captivity, fire cast into 
 temples, houses overthrown, and their owners buried 
 under their ruins, and other still more horrible pictures, 
 
I 9 2 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 all so true to life, that to persons unacquainted with the 
 incidents it seemed as if they were actually occurring 
 before their eyes. On each of these platforms was 
 placed the governor of one of the captured cities, in the 
 situation in which he was taken. 
 
 All the men who had appointed places in the proces- 
 sion displayed on their dress choice and magnificent 
 ornaments, which attracted great admiration. Many 
 species of animals were led along, all wearing appropriate 
 decorations. The men in charge of them wore purple 
 garments and dresses interwoven with gold. Moreover, 
 in the crowd of captives, not one was to be seen un- 
 adorned ; the beautiful variety of their dresses concealing 
 from view any unsightliness arising from the wretched 
 condition of their bodies. An extraordinary number of 
 things were carried along in the procession. Various 
 productions of different nations, curious or sumptuous, 
 exhibited the extent and greatness of the Roman Empire 
 on that day. Silver and gold and ivory in profusion, 
 wrought in multitudinous forms, Babylonian tapestries, 
 transparent gems, some set in crowns of gold, others in 
 various fashions, had been collected together, and flowed 
 on like a river. " So vast was the display, that we thence 
 learned," says Josephus, " how erroneously we had sup- 
 posed any of them to be rare." He tells us that very large 
 images of the gods of conquered people appeared' in the 
 show, some of which were of very singular workmanship. 
 Probably these graced the triumph on behalf of Domitian. 
 The spoils in general were borne in confused heaps, but 
 conspicuous above all were the vessels taken in the 
 Temple of Jerusalem. A golden table, many talents 
 in weight, and a candlestick made in like manner of 
 gold, but constructed in a fashion quite different from 
 any in ordinary use, for in the centre, affixed to a 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 193 
 
 pedestal, rose a pillar from which extended slender 
 branches resembling the figure of a trident, and to the 
 top of each of these was attached a brazen lamp. These 
 lamps were seven, indicating the honour paid to that 
 number among the Jews. After these was borne the 
 law of the Jews last of the spoils. 
 
 Then followed men carrying images of victory, all made 
 of ivory or gold. Next came Vespasian in a chariot, 
 then Titus in another, and his brother Domitian riding 
 by his side on a very fine charger. 
 
 When the victors arrived at the Capitol, the procession 
 stopped ; for there, in accordance with an ancient custom, 
 was offered the solemn sacrifice to Jupiter, which formed 
 the climax to the pomp of an imperial triumph; and 
 there they waited until it was announced that the chief 
 leader of the conquered enemy was no more.* On this 
 occasion, Simon, son of Gioras, was put to death, who had 
 been led in the procession among the captives with a 
 halter round his neck. He was executed at the foot of 
 the Capitoline Hill, while the conquerors were worship- 
 ping in the Temple of Jupiter. When the customary 
 sacrifices and prayers were ended, the imperial party 
 returned to the palace, where they entertained all who 
 had not prepared sumptuous banquets at home. 
 
 The crowds dispersed, but not until the mob had 
 loudly shouted their insults against Simon, even after 
 death had released him from their malice. John of 
 Giscala was imprisoned for life. In spite of the preju- 
 dices of Josephus, the tranquil far-seeing eye and firm 
 hand of History has written the names of the Jewish 
 leaders of that hopeless, desperate war among those of 
 the heroes of all generations, who have sacrificed their 
 lives to a sense of duty to their country.f 
 
 * Josephus. t Josephus and C. I. Hemans. 
 
 13 
 
194 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The Emperor, who was in his sixty-second year, was 
 old enough to feel fatigued by the long ceremonial. 
 Dean Merivale remarks: " He was prouder, we may 
 believe, of the distinguished son who had shared his 
 triumph, than of the acclamations with which he was him- 
 self greeted. He owned that, as far as he was personally 
 concerned, he cared not for these honours. But on that 
 auspicious day the most experienced and wisest men 
 must have rejoiced in the proclamation that followed the 
 triumph, a solemn announcement of peace throughout 
 the Empire, and the Temple of Janus was closed. It 
 had stood open from the birth of Christ to the overthrow 
 of the Jewish nation; for the Senate had refused to 
 sanction Nero's caprice in closing it on his prcarious 
 accommodation with Parthia.* 
 
 It was a small bronze temple, containing nothing but 
 a bronze statue of the two-faced god ; said to have been 
 erected by Numa, near the south-eastern base of the 
 Capitoline Hill, on the site or close to the spot where 
 had formerly stood the Jannalis, as it was called, which 
 was not a temple, but a gateway leading from primitive 
 Rome, the original beginning of the town on the Pala- 
 tine Hill, to Saturnia, the little town of the Sabines on 
 the Capitoline Hill. They were nothing more than 
 villages rudely built and fortified. 
 
 After the rape of the Sabines, Romulus and Tatius 
 made peace, and concluded a friendly alliance. They 
 then agreed to build a gateway between their towns, 
 and to set up a strong gate which was to be open in 
 time of war, that the allies might readily communicate 
 with each other, but shut in time of peace, to prevent 
 Romans and Sabines from quarrelling, when they were 
 
 * Merivale. The triumph is thought to have taken place in the 
 summer of A.D. 71. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 195 
 
 not occupied with external warfare. Thus had origin- 
 ated the custom of closing the Temple of Janus whenever 
 universal peace was proclaimed. 
 
 The Templum Pads was another building, which in 
 all probability stood on the site now occupied by the 
 remains of the grand Basilica of Constantine.* 
 
 This temple having been recently destroyed by fire, 
 Vespasian determined to erect in its stead an imposing 
 temple of Peace as a pledge of his policy. 
 
 The still substantial ruins, strong walls and magnifi- 
 cent arches which now mark that spot may therefore 
 be looked on with singular but manifold interest. The 
 spot reminds us that in darkest times, when ferocious 
 cruelty prevailed, the most warlike nation of the earth 
 built a temple to Peace. Again, it reminds us that 
 Vespasian and Titus, noble pagan heroes, chosen by 
 God to execute His sentence against Jerusalem, having 
 conquered and triumphed, desired to magnify and adore 
 Peace, and to call down its blessings on themselves 
 and their people ; and moreover, Constantine's Basilica 
 speaks of the first emperor who bent the knee before 
 the true Prince of Peace. The Roman's nobly con- 
 stituted mind was in darkness, until the Light that 
 shineth in darkness " was kindled in his heart.f 
 
 Returning to the Flavian period, and to the days of 
 Josephus, we cannot follow a better guide than that 
 historian, who tells us that a great many bands of the 
 captive Jews were set to work under Roman masons. 
 The temple of Peace was quickly completed in a style 
 far beyond anything of the kind that had previously 
 been raised in Rome. The wealth lately acquired sup- 
 plied the means of embellishing the edifice with works of 
 art, paintings, and ancient statues. In that shrine were 
 
 * Parker. f St. John i. 5. 
 
196 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 accumulated and stored up all those objects for a sight 
 of which men had wandered over the whole world, 
 anxiously desiring to see them while they lay in 
 different countries. Here Vespasian laid up also the 
 golden candlesticks and vessels from the Temple of 
 Jerusalem, on which he prided himself. The law of the 
 Jews, however, and the purple veils of the sanctuary, he 
 ordered to be deposited and kept in the palace. Thus 
 says Josephus, who was at that time living in Rome. 
 He had accompanied Titus on his journey from Alex- 
 andria, and Vespasian had received him kindly, had given 
 him a pension, and placed him in apartments in a house in 
 which he had himself resided before his elevation to the 
 throne. So the Jewish historian had seen the triumph he 
 fully and vividly described. Here he no doubt enjoyed 
 the companionship of men whose works, like his own, 
 have survived to our day. During this reign dissent 
 from heathen theology was permitted, and did not even 
 entail the loss of social standing, if we may judge from 
 the elder Pliny's case.* A prince arriving at power 
 after the disorders of civil war must necessarily be 
 burdened for years with heavy responsibilities and 
 anxious cares. Desiring to limit his own personal ex- 
 penditure, Vespasian checked the dissipation of the 
 finances in the foolish luxuries that had prevailed to an 
 extravagant degree in the imperial court. With a view 
 to this he ordered the demolition of at least the greater 
 
 * Pliny's views of a divine nature accord with monotheistic 
 ones, and contradict the idolatry that had been upheld by the 
 previous emperors and the aristocracy. He considered it an im- 
 becility to enquire for the appearance and form of a god. The 
 belief of marriages among the gods, that some were super- 
 annuated and for ever hoary, others always young, some winged, 
 and some lame, arose, he said, from the puerility of persons almost 
 insane. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 197 
 
 part of Nero's Golden House. But that emperor had 
 built also a gymnasium for athletic sports and gladia- 
 torial shows in which he delighted, and which had long 
 been popular with the Romans. Cicero in one of his 
 letters remarked, " Magnificent are they indeed, but 
 what pleasure can there be to a cultivated mind in the 
 spectacle of an unarmed man exposed to be torn by a 
 furious beast, or of a noble animal transfixed by darts ? 
 Such pastimes had suited Nero's taste, and he was also 
 fond of the more harmless amusement of sham sea- 
 fights, and to provide for that kind of entertainment he 
 had made a large reservoir, quite an artificial lake, in 
 which vessels with two or three or four rows of oars, 
 Hke those of the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, could fight 
 with grand effect. 
 
 Julius Csesar had instituted these sports, but had 
 erected for them only a wooden amphitheatre. Au- 
 gustus had proposed to build one substantially, but left 
 it to his successors to carry out his plan, which Nero 
 commenced to do by erecting his gymnasium and nau- 
 macia. These Vespasian left standing, and included 
 them in his design for an enormous amphitheatre. 
 Nero had built on ground that had been previously 
 built upon, as some very ancient foundations prove 
 and the long thin bricks used only in his time show a 
 little of Nero's work, included in the Flavian amphi- 
 theatre, with that of successive later ages. Tnus 
 Vespasian became involved in demolition and exten- 
 sion, and in this pulling down and building up large 
 numbers of the captive Jews were employed. As ship 
 after ship unloaded its hundreds, the government had 
 to find for them shelter, food, and work. Doubtless the 
 provision was wretched and the labour hard, and all 
 was embittered by the loss of home and fatherland, 
 
198 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and by galling slavery, against which the human heart 
 naturally revolts. 
 
 The part of Rome which is still the Jewish quarter 
 was that selected for the reception of those who came 
 in like a flood after the fall of Jerusalem ; yet not all 
 at once. Judea could not instantly be almost emptied 
 of her people. Travellers by land and sea were subject 
 to hindrances, and dependent on winds and waves ; so a 
 long time elapsed before all the bands of these prisoners 
 of war had been brought over. The newly arrived must 
 have felt a little comforted on finding fellow-countrymen 
 quite settled in that district ; many of them belonging 
 to families who had resided there ever since the Jews 
 had returned to Rome, not .very long after they had all 
 been banished from the city by the Emperor Claudius. 
 We know that Aquila and Priscilla soon went back, 
 Some returned to the Transtevere, and others, perhaps 
 chiefly the upper-class Jews, then settled in this quarter 
 of the city, near the Portico of Octavia, the Theatre of 
 Marcellus, and the old fish-market, of which such curious 
 relics are still to be seen even to the stone slabs on 
 which the fish were laid. 
 
 In the absence of certain information on that point, 
 we may suppose that after the triumph of Vespasian 
 and Titus the Jews' quarter acquired the name of the 
 Ghetto, for that name is thought to be derived from 
 ghat, a Hebrew word which signifies broken ; and in 
 various forms of the verb it has a rather different mean- 
 ing from the root, as shaven, cut down, cut off, abandoned. 
 (See the Hebrew in Isa. xiv. 12, xv. 2 ; Jer. xlviii. 25, 37 ; 
 Zech. xi. 10, 14.)* 
 
 We need not imagine the wretched abodes of poor 
 
 * From "The Ghetto in Rome." By the Rev. Dr. Philip. 
 Claudian Press, Florence, 1875. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 199 
 
 Jews encroaching on the public walk and the stately 
 precincts of the magnificent Portico of Octavia. The 
 better sort of Hebrews may have settled there before 
 the fall of Jerusalem, and may have continued to dwell 
 near that attractive centre of fashion ; and the poorer 
 sort may have in the course of centuries crept up to that 
 arch. 
 
 Now, the ancient people, and their high, quaint, dingy, 
 dilapidated houses, which look about coeval with the 
 neighbouring palace of the Cenci, blending with that 
 ruined Portico of Octavia, form beautiful and most 
 interesting pictures. 
 
 Even in times far back, when the Jew was free to 
 choose his place of abode, many of the race had settled 
 in this part of Rome, as well as beyond the river, and 
 outside the city, near the fountain of Egeria. It has 
 lately been ascertained that the classic ground connected 
 by the poets with the memory of Numa is on the estate 
 of the Villa Mattei, on a farm beyond the pleasant 
 garden. There, in a meadow we see the remains of a 
 small temple or grotto built in with the rough brick- 
 work of a farm building, beneath which is a deep well 
 of excellent water. This spot, now said to be the real 
 Egeria, is not near the venerable clump of fir trees, 
 which from generation to generation has been kept up 
 because it was fully believed to be the grove in which 
 Numa conversed with the Nymph : it still exists, and is 
 visible from the Appian Way, lying between the tomb 
 of Cicilia Metella and the city. Byron's description is 
 no doubt true to what he saw, and to the tradition 
 sanctioned by history in his day.* 
 
 All the Jews who had been residing in or near Rome 
 before the fall of Jerusalem, continued unmolested if 
 
 " Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," canto iv. 115118. 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 they entirely and silently submitted to the government 
 under which they were living ; but the humiliation of 
 Judea, and the influx of such large numbers of unfor- 
 tunate fellow-countrymen, could but be disadvantageous 
 as well as grievous to them. The most prosperous 
 could not feel happy, and, as an old Roman proverb says, 
 " Grief is an unjust valuer of things." * 
 
 It was well that in Josephus his brethren had a second 
 Joseph, a powerful advocate, one who possessed the con- 
 fidence of the Emperor and his sons. By desire of the 
 imperial family, and in token of mutual regard, the 
 name of Flavius had been prefixed to that of Josephus, 
 in accordance with the old and common custom. The 
 historian was now putting together all the information 
 he had gleaned, all his notes and recollections con- 
 cerning the Jewish war. In his autobiography, which 
 was written later, he says, 
 
 " As a prisoner, I was compelled to attend Vespasian and 
 Titus, at first in bonds, but afterwards, being set free, I accom- 
 panied the latter when he advanced from Alexandria to carry 
 on the siege of Jerusalem. During the period of the siege 
 nothing escaped my observation, and as to what occurred 
 under my eye in the Roman camp, I carefully noted ft ; 
 while it was I alone who understood the reports made by 
 deserters from the city. Afterwards, when enjoying leisure at 
 Rome, and having all my materials in readiness, I engaged 
 the assistance of persons competent in the Greek language, 
 by whose aid I composed my history. Confident of the truth 
 and accuracy of what I had written, I submitted it to Vespasian 
 and Titus, to whom the first copies of the work were presented, 
 and afterwards to many of the Romans who had acted a part 
 in the war." t 
 
 * Seneca. 
 
 t See " Life of Josephus, and Historical Authority of his 
 Writings," appended to the Rev. R. TrailFs " Translation of the 
 Jewish War." Houlston and Wright. 1868. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 201 
 
 Twelve thousand Jewish slaves are said to have been 
 employed for five years in building the great amphi- 
 theatre, and ten million of Roman scudi expended upon 
 it in the same time. The scudo was equal to about four 
 shillings. 
 
 Nothing certain has been ascertained as to who was 
 the architect of the Colosseum. An inscription found in 
 the catacomb of St. Agnes, in memory of Gradentius, 
 has suggested the idea that he designed it and directed 
 the work, and that he afterwards suffered as a martyr 
 within its walls. Another sculpture upon a tomb repre- 
 sents the machine used for raising large stones to the 
 top of a high wall. This also leads to the conjecture 
 that some of those who helped to erect the Colosseum 
 perished in it as gladiators or martyrs. The general 
 form of the building is oval, and it had four principal 
 entrances. The one now remaining is thought to have 
 been the entrance for the Emperor and his suite, for it is 
 not numbered, as were the other entrances and seats. 
 The amphitheatre was calculated to hold 87,000 persons, 
 and was admirably adapted for its purpose. There were 
 three principal staircases by which spectators ascended 
 to the higher tiers of seats, and these were so arranged 
 that the different orders could disperse without meeting 
 each other. The numerous places of egress, called 
 vomitaria, and the windows to light the staircases, were 
 contrived with great skill.* Spectators were protected 
 from the heat of the sun by a great awning suspended 
 by cords from masts or poles fixed at the top. Pliny 
 describes an awning which represented a midnight sky 
 spangled with stars. 
 
 A letter is still extant, written by a young country 
 lad to his friends at home when he was enjoying his 
 
 * Parker on the Colosseum. 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 first visit to Rome. "We saw," he says, "the theatre 
 with interwoven beams rising to heaven, so high as 
 almost to overlook the Tarpeian Rock. The steps are 
 immensely high, and the sloping passages gently de- 
 scend. What shall I describe further ? I saw all kinds 
 of wild beasts, and herds of shapeless animals bearing 
 the name of horses, but deformed ; hippopotami, the 
 offspring of the Nile. Oh how often have we trembling 
 seen the arena sinking in parts, and a gulf burst open 
 in the ground, from which wild beasts have emerged ! " 
 
 This was comparatively innocent sport ; the abomi- 
 nable cruelties committed in that amphitheatre are well 
 known. 
 
 Seneca mentions an occasion on which a large number 
 of bodies were exposed to view of men who had fought 
 with beasts, and been unable to defend themselves with 
 their swords and shields. He remarks that the persons 
 who encouraged these combats were as savage as wild 
 beasts. To make an exciting spectacle, criminals were 
 torn to pieces by ferocious animals. Near the amphi- 
 theatre stood the gladiators' fountain, in which the sur- 
 vivors washed their wounds and refreshed themselves 
 after the conflict. 
 
 Between the Colosseum and the Capitol stands the 
 Arch of Titus, on the road which runs under the 
 Palatine Hill, having that majestic height on the one 
 side, and on the other the excavated Forum Romanum, 
 which lies below the level of the present surface of the 
 earth. 
 
 The arch was erected by the senate and the people 
 under the Emperor Domitian, after the death of his 
 brother Titus, as the inscription shows. 
 
 How singular is the interest which that arch inspires ! 
 
 * Calpurnius. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 203 
 
 How manifold are its points of contact with the heart 
 " that believeth unto righteousness," and with the mind 
 which has received impressions from the Old Testament 
 and the New from history from life in bygon*e ages, 
 so far as we can enter into it from life in our own day, 
 and from the harmony brought out of it all, in spite of 
 reckless selfishness, of cruel warfare, of which the war cry 
 was extermination ! Perhaps already the people of that 
 generation know far better than we do why these things 
 were permitted. 
 
 Looking upon that Arch of Titus, one seems to feel 
 that the hand of time has been held back by a mightier 
 Hand, which has carefully guided " the effacing fingers ; " 
 so that while they have swept off the gloss, they have 
 left all that makes the venerable beauty of the ancient 
 structure perfect, and have lightly touched most of the 
 sculpture and the yet legible inscriptions over the arch. 
 The bas relief in the interior represents the triumph. 
 Very distinctly we see the. silver trumpets, the golden 
 table, and the seven-branched candlestick, upreared 
 before the victors. Photography brings everything out 
 wonderfully. 
 
 The sculptors, who patiently worked on, cutting those 
 figures and letters one by one, knew as little about the 
 then undiscovered process as we know about the ways 
 and means whereby things now hidden will be made 
 clear in a future day the day of manifestation, when 
 light has done its work in darkness has stamped the 
 features of the lives of men. 
 
 Considering the circumstances of the times, it is 
 highly probable that a great many captive Jews were 
 employed in the erection of that arch, but we have no 
 proof that it was entirely built by them. It is said that 
 a Jew would not pass under it, that he would make a 
 
204 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 long circuit to avoid so doing.* This may have been 
 true with respect to some; they were a strong-willed 
 people, and when under chastisement apt to be " stiff- 
 necked," as Scripture expresses it. But among them 
 there were always faithful hearts trusting in God, be- 
 lieving that their country would one day be restored to 
 them or to their children, and that till Jehovah took 
 them back, He would be with them, as He had been 
 with their ancestors in Babylon. The pious Jew knows 
 his God as the Good Shepherd who watches over every 
 sheep and lamb of his flock, and seeks the lost, and leads 
 the weary to the fountain in the desert. Believing this, 
 he is led on over rough paths, or pathless wilds, to the 
 green meadows and the still waters. He does not fear 
 to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, for 
 under every trial the rod and the staff of his Shepherd 
 comfort him, and will do so until we are all gathered into 
 one fold, under one Shepherd, the Shepherd of Israel. 
 
 " With the reduction of Palestine the consolidation of 
 the Roman Empire was completed. From the Mersey 
 to the Dead Sea, no nation remained erect, and the 
 resistance of the last free men on her frontiers had been 
 expiated in their blood. 
 
 "The boasted restoration of the Capitoline Temple 
 was a vain attempt to retain hold of the past, to revive 
 the lost or perishing, to re-attach to new conditions of 
 thought a worn-out creed of antiquity." f 
 
 The Jews, though subjected to a second captivity and 
 dispersion, were not annihilated, and will return when 
 
 * This story of the Jews not choosing to pass under the Arch of 
 Titus can be traced no farther back than to Madame de Stael, who 
 does not give her authority. She relates the story, and remarks 
 that it is to be hoped it is true, as great calamities should be long 
 remembered. 
 
 t Dean Merivale. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 205 
 
 their long day of humiliation is over. As the Arch of 
 Titus stands, bearing witness to the past, pointing for- 
 ward to the future, so also do existing customs of the 
 Jews, as well as their actual condition. 
 
 " To this day the Hebrews in every country of their 
 exile and dispersion have continued to observe the Qth 
 day of the month Ab (which corresponds with our 
 25th day of July) in memorial of both the first and 
 the second destruction of their city and sanctuary ; next 
 to the great day of atonement, it is the most strictly kept 
 of all their fasts. Even on the previous day the pious 
 Israelite takes nothing beyond what absolute necessity 
 requires. He seats himself on the ground either at home 
 or in the synagogue, by the dim light of a small candle, 
 and the evening service commences with the I38th 
 Psalm. 
 
 " Mournful and penitential psalms are chanted in suc- 
 cession throughout the day, (every Hebrew day begins 
 at sunset.) The lamentations of Jeremiah are revived, 
 because many striking features once fulfilled in the 
 taking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians were still more 
 signally accomplished in its destruction by the Romans. 
 But ' these dry bones shall live.' ' Jerusalem shall be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the 
 Gentiles be fulfilled.' 
 
 " The city has been trodden underfoot successively by 
 the Romans, Persians, Saracens, Egyptians, Franks, and 
 Turks, from the days of Simon the son of Gioras and 
 John of Giscala to those of Sir Moses Montefiore and 
 the foundation of a bishopric at Jerusalem by Frederick 
 William IV., King of Prussia, and Queen Victoria." t 
 
 * Luke xxi. 24. 
 
 t " Israel and the Gentiles." By Dr. Isaac Da Costa, of Am- 
 sterdam, a Jew by birth, who gratefully expresses his thanks to 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Since the consecration of our Church on Mount Zion, 
 eventful years have elapsed, important events have 
 crowded upon one another so rapidly that we have 
 hardly had time to reflect on their importance and their 
 signification. 
 
 May we not now couple with the name of Sir Moses 
 Montefiore that of his friend Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of 
 Beaconsfield ? and do not their names encourage us to 
 look for what is to follow after God shall have accom- 
 plished to scatter the power of the holy people ? 
 
 We ought to cherish warm feelings of attachment to 
 their holy land. Is it not the cradle of the Gospel, in 
 which the good tidings were first preached by Jews to 
 Jews, whence it was sent forth on its career of spiritual 
 conquest, to grow up into the fifth great power a king- 
 dom set up by the God of heaven, which shall never be 
 destroyed, the kingdom of which Christ the Messiah, 
 the Anointed One, is worthy to be both High Priest 
 and King ? * 
 
 As God, the Creator, and man, made in God's likeness, 
 are triune, such also is the view of God's kingdom given 
 to man in his present state. The Father's kingdom, 
 the Redeemer's kingdom, the spiritual kingdom of the 
 Holy Ghost, are three in one, as presented to our three- 
 fold though individual power of perception. Thus, 
 though we cannot perceive it with our bodily senses, we 
 can form conceptions of a spiritual kingdom, on which 
 the Holy Ghost descends, seeking fellowship with the 
 spirits of men. We are capable of believing that the 
 Father of spirits gave His only begotten Son, to be, 
 
 Almighty God for his conversion to Christianity. The book was 
 published in London by Nisbet, of Berners Street, in 1850. 
 * Daniel ii. 34, 35, 44 ; xii. 7. 
 
THE TRIUMPH. 207 
 
 even while invisible to mortal eyes, with His people 
 alway, even to the end of the world. 
 
 In the redeemed earthly kingdom, that same Lord, 
 appointed by the Eternal Father, is King of kings. The 
 One Seed of Abraham. He has been visibly lifted up on 
 the cross, He will visibly sit on the throne, and again 
 the Holy Ghost will descend to confer manifest gifts 
 and blessings. 
 
 For the coming of our Father's kingdom we daily 
 pray, in words dictated by our Lord Himself, and written 
 under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Is not faith in the Unity of the Eternal Trinity the 
 ground on which the Christian stands ? and, standing 
 upon that ground, is he not very near his Hebrew 
 brother ? Only the veil divides us, through which the 
 Jew cannot see. The Christian sees through it, though 
 but indistinctly; he sees, because his face is turned 
 towards the light, towards the Sun of his soul.* 
 
 Deeply affecting is it to hear a Jew emphatically ex- 
 press his faith in words we reverence " Hear, O Israel : 
 the Lord our God is one Lord " words from the book of 
 Deuteronomy, which, according to St. Mark, were exactly 
 quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 
 
 When a son of Abraham meets us with these words, 
 to us doubly sacred, can we not persuade him that we 
 hold that truth as firmly as he does ? can we not draw 
 his attention to everything that proves, or even sym- 
 bolizes, the Unity of the Trinity ? 
 
 The books of the New Testament, though not ac- 
 cepted as the word of God, are now read by Jews. Can 
 we not help them to catch sight of the farthest point 
 to which the eye of faith is directed by prophecy ? f 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 14 16 ; Isa. xxv. 7. 
 
 t Deut. vi. 4 ; Mark xii. 29 ; I Cor. xv. 21 29. 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 
 
He beheld the city, and wept over it." LUKE xix. 41. 
 
 " Where high the heavenly temple stands, 
 The house of God, not made with hands, 
 A great High Priest our nature wears, 
 The Guardian of mankind appears, 
 
 Our fellow-sufferer yet retains 
 A fellow-feeling of our pains, 
 And still remembers in the skies, 
 His tears, His agonies, and cries. 
 
 In every pang that rends the heart, 
 The Man of sorrows had a part ; 
 He sympathizes in our grief, 
 And to the sufferer sends relief." 
 
 MICHAEL BRUCE. 
 
VIII. 
 
 UNDER THE YOKE. 
 " He beheld the city, and wept over it." LUKE xix. 41. 
 
 WITH the utmost pomp those rolls on which 
 the Jewish law was written, wrapped in their 
 own strong and splendid coverings, had been carried in 
 triumph before the Roman conquerors. May we not 
 think that in the midst of the noisy tumult of that day, 
 watchful ears caught the gentle voice of the silver bells 
 attached to the rolls, and that to every listening ear 
 their chime was as a paraclete a helping, strengthening 
 comforter ; even to those who did not yet understand 
 that in our Lord Jesus Christ the law had been accom- 
 plished, that by Him it had been perfectly fulfilled 
 " all the types and shadows finished" and therefore now 
 it might be laid to rest ? The door of a new temple of 
 peace, and the gates of a glorious palace, were opened to 
 receive the precious relics of the past. 
 
 The law was not annihilated ; on the contrary, the 
 altered state or condition under which it existed gave it 
 power, and it was more vividly present than ever to the 
 Hebrew mind, and obtained more hold. upon the heart. 
 " Their law, in the full sense of the word, was a reality, 
 what no enemy could destroy, or even keep in custody, 
 and this they the better understood when the venerated 
 parchment rolls had been taken from them. Though 
 
212 LIS70RY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 they were captives or homeless fugitives, they became 
 more equal to their vocation as the sons of Abraham, 
 and bravely bore throughout the Roman world, and 
 beyond it, the commandments delivered from Sinai, and 
 the fortitude, patience, and hope resulting from an earnest 
 faith in the God of their fathers." * 
 
 In all the cities of the Empire the Jews were allowed 
 to meet together in their synagogues, and no doubt the 
 wealthy members of the community in Rome provided 
 for the accommodation of the greatly increased numbers. 
 We read of several instances during the war in which 
 Agrippa pleaded successfully for the people ; we may 
 therefore suppose that to his life's end he used his 
 influence on their behalf. For years Bernice held great 
 power over Titus ; but when he had ascended the throne, 
 he yielded to public opinion, and gave her up, and the 
 Jewish princess returned alone to live on a fine estate 
 that had been assigned to her when the affairs of Judea 
 were settled. 
 
 It is very remarkable that the expulsion of the Stoics 
 took place in the year following that in which the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem occurred. There was, as we have 
 seen, a strong affinity between Judaism and Stoicism. 
 Long before the Christian era, the Stoics had borrowed 
 from the Jews views of the one God, and of the Divine 
 will, with which the acts of men should accord, and 
 they reasoned on wisdom meaning moral intelligence ; 
 consequently their notions of morality were superior 
 to those of other heathens. At this time Demetrius 
 the cynic, and many other teachers of stoic doctrines, 
 discussed continually and publicly subjects which almost 
 distracted some of their hearers.f 
 
 What these exciting subjects were, we are not in- 
 * Dean Milman. t Dion Cassius 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 213 
 
 formed ; they may have concerned Rome's destruction 
 and the end of the world, both of which at that date 
 were subjects of popular anxiety. Not that these ideas 
 were new, or confined to the Stoics ; they had long 
 been afloat, had been perhaps a little forgotten, but 
 earthquakes and the horrors of war had lately revived 
 them. 
 
 Mucianus, agreeing with many who considered the 
 stoic teaching dangerous, persuaded Vespasian to 
 promptly expel those philosophers from Rome. They 
 were permitted to leave quietly, and were not further 
 molested. Those among them who lived up to their 
 ideal of a noble life must have obtained influence for 
 good. " Their teaching was distasteful to the sensualist 
 and the tyrant, its tone rebuked his follies and his vices ; 
 it set up a higher standard than the will of Caesar, and 
 despised servile flattery. It taught men to care very 
 much for a good, conscience, for personal dignity and 
 freedom, and to think slightly of short-lived goods, over 
 which the will has no control. Here was a rule that was 
 not without a certain grandeur, however wanting it 
 might be at times in tenderness and sympathy."* 
 
 Such was the seed widely sown immediately after the 
 great scattering of the multitudinous seed of Abraham, 
 innumerable as the sand of the seashore. 
 
 Josephus had been put into possession of estates in 
 his native country, more productive than the land near 
 Jerusalem which had formerly belonged to him ; but he 
 remained in Rome to finish his seven books on the 
 Jewish War ; and having completed that task, he began 
 " The Jewish Antiquities " in twenty books. In his 
 autobiography he says that he wrote it expressly for 
 the use of his excellent friend Epaphroditus, who may 
 
 * W. W. Capes, M.A. 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 possibly be the fellow-labourer honourably mentioned 
 by St. Paul* 
 
 The patron of Josephus was most highly respected ; 
 "a man eager in pursuit of every branch of learning* 
 but especially of history ; he himself having been long 
 concerned with affairs of state, and having had personal 
 experience of many changes, under all exhibiting an im- 
 movable adherence to what is virtuous and noble." With 
 this valued friend the historian enjoyed familiar intercourse 
 for many years, and occasionally they corresponded. 
 
 Josephus wrote "The Antiquities of the Jews" in the 
 hope of doing something towards rescuing his country- 
 men from the contempt and hatred which they had to 
 encounter. This is manifestly the chief object of the 
 work. Throughout the world the Jew had become not 
 only so unpopular as to be generally distrusted and 
 derided, but he was altogether misunderstood, even 
 by persons well disposed, and well informed on most 
 subjects. 
 
 The injustice of Roman historians and other writers 
 was cruelly adding to the force of ill-natured prejudice ; 
 and Josephus, keenly feeling this, took up his pen in 
 defence of his own people, and dedicated, or addressed, 
 his work to the learned and influential Epaphroditus. 
 
 A strongly exaggerated style of writing was so com- 
 pletely the style of that age, that no historian, scarcely 
 a philosopher, was superior to it. Josephus exaggerated, 
 allowed himself to be unduly influenced by personal 
 considerations and ungenerous prejudices. 
 
 Suetonius, who gained the reputation of being im- 
 partial, eulogizes Titus ; shows him to have been 
 naturally amiable and liberal. Titus did not like to 
 send a petitioner away unsatisfied. " No man," he said, 
 
 * Philippians ii. 25. 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 215 
 
 " ought to leave the prince's presence disappointed." He 
 was the first emperor who gained equally the regard 
 of the nobles and the people, which his father had 
 endeavoured to do with incomplete success. But his 
 career was brief; he reigned only two years alone after 
 Vespasian's death, and that short span was clouded 
 with national calamities. Rome was stricken with fire 
 and pestilence, and the great eruption of Vesuvius 
 occurred, which buried the cities of Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii. In A.D. 80 he opened the Colosseum with a 
 grand ceremony, gorgeous shows, and exciting combats. 
 A battle between cranes and dwarfs was the fanciful 
 novelty on that occasion. At the close of the day, 
 when the trials of strength were ended, Titus was seen 
 shedding tears. Possibly he was unnerved by bodily 
 weakness, for life was fleeting away, though he had not 
 attained his fortieth year. 
 
 The high character which all Romans agree in 
 ascribing to Titus has not been contradicted by Chris- 
 tian historians ; but by the Jews the memory of the 
 Flavian princes has naturally been held in the greatest 
 abhorrence. They invented the wildest legends to 
 blacken the fame of Titus, and to represent his mis- 
 fortunes and the sufferings of his last painful illness as 
 special judgments and punishments decreed by Divine 
 justice. Certainly one of those stories, and perhaps 
 more, were admitted into the Talmud.* 
 
 Vespasian had proved a wise and beneficent ruler, one 
 who firmly maintained the reputation of Rome and her 
 military power ; he had set on foot useful works, and 
 had encouraged literature, though he was not himself 
 capable of appreciating it. When on the imperial 
 throne, he had retained the manners and habits of his 
 
 * Salvador quoting the Talmud, Dom. Rom. en Judee, ii. 498. 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 former life more than was consistent with his high 
 position. The manners of his sons were moulded to 
 the fashions of the day, but they both inherited some 
 good natural qualities from the simple, honest Sabine 
 stock whence they had sprung. The deepest foundation- 
 stones of character are innate, and the very earliest 
 impressions which the mind receives cannot be quite 
 obliterated as if they had never been there. 
 
 Domitian was able to see the great need of a radical 
 reformation in public morals, and no sense of his own 
 personal vices, no shame on their account, deterred him 
 from vigorously attempting to effect reforms which 
 public scandals had shown to be so necessary that 
 they were called for. The Emperor and his counsellors 
 were extremely severe on the Vestal Virgins. High 
 honours belonged to their office, and they were high- 
 born ladies, but the laxity of manners permitted to 
 prevail generally had long polluted their home and 
 their temple. Two condemned culprits were allowed to 
 kill themselves, but a third was put to death according 
 to the rules of Numa, the founder of the Order. Cor- 
 nelia, with a loaf of bread, a flask of water, and a lamp, 
 was duly buried alive in a vault prepared to receive her. 
 Numa had decreed that stoning to death was to be the 
 punishment, but Tarquin the Elder had substituted the 
 lingering death which gave time for repentance. This 
 punishment had fallen into disuse, had not been exe- 
 cuted for two centuries, when it was revived by Domitian. 
 That emperor next investigated the conduct of singers 
 and dancers at the theatres, and this class furnished 
 guilty persons, who first were condemned to suffer 
 death, and then in a whirl of excitement, greater even 
 than that in which they had lived, they met death 
 dramatically on the arena of the great amphitheatre* 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 217 
 
 Now and then one had self-possession and strength 
 enough to conquer a lion or a tiger, and in these rare 
 instances the Emperor's pardon was generally granted. 
 The decree aimed against players, singers, and dancers, 
 was accompanied by a proclamation against the MatJie- 
 matici, an awful set, or rather sets, of strange diviners of 
 secrets, believed in, though feared by Roman people, 
 not as high-minded as Cicero, who thus describes and 
 comments on them : " I care nothing for the Marsian 
 augurs, nor for strolling astrologers, nor for the gipsy 
 priests of Isis, nor for the interpreters of dreams ; for 
 these possess neither science nor art, but 'are super- 
 stitious and impudent impostors. They are either lazy 
 or mad, or act to gain a livelihood. They know not the 
 right path themselves, but pretend to show it to others, 
 that they may by their promises gain a penny."* 
 
 These meddlers in the occult sciences, very like the 
 wizards, witches, and seekers of the philosopher's stone, 
 of the middle ages, had been agitating society, high and 
 low, with visions and predictions. It was very difficult 
 to arrest, judge, and convict the evil-doers of this large, 
 heterogeneous, strange class, which included many for- 
 eigners ; so they were sought for, by means of devices as 
 cunning as those by which they themselves deceived the 
 world, and eluded justice. 
 
 It is not surprising that the Romans should have 
 confounded uncompromising, zealous, and fanatical Jews 
 with these mathematics. That there were Jews who 
 misdirected their zeal, and fell into fanaticism, the 
 history of the Jewish war undoubtedly proves. Many 
 Romans may have thought with Lucan. " Judea," says 
 that poet, " adores some unknown, undiscovered city." 
 After the destruction of their ^temple, the Jews' faith, 
 
 * Cicero, Divin. i. 58. 
 
218 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and their strong opinions, and the religious hope to 
 which they clung more firmly than ever, must have made 
 them a very mysterious people to the Romans. Juvenal 
 reproaches them with worshipping nothing but the 
 clouds and the sky-god beyond them, while they made 
 a traffic of their superstitious dreams. We have seen 
 how a highly talented and educated son of Abraham 
 made use of his imaginative faculties and quick wit to 
 save his own life, and to obtain a safe and good position. 
 Considering the character of the Jew as it has been 
 marked in every generation, at least since their fall, we 
 see how the baser sort, when contending against degrad- 
 ing poverty and undeserved contempt, made use of 
 their natural gifts as an Oriental race to obtain their 
 livelihood by illicit means and practices ; by playing 
 on the credulity and vague superstitious notions of the 
 Roman people. The Emperor and the Senate were 
 right in resolutely determining to inquire into the habits 
 and doings of all branches of the noxious mathematici ; 
 but the persecution that followed is unjustifiable: we 
 cannot desire to justify it. Domitian was a cruel man ; 
 he had been badly brought up in his young days, by 
 those who had charge of him, while his father was far 
 away on military duty. 
 
 In Church history this persecution is reckoned as the 
 second of the ten ; both Jews and Christians, whom the 
 Romans still looked upon as a Jewish sect, were involved 
 in it. Every persecution made more apostates than 
 martyrs. If it be true that St. John, the beloved apostle, 
 was summoned to Rome to be tried, and that he stood 
 before Domitian as St. Paul had stood before Nero, he 
 must have been sentenced, not to death, but to banish- 
 ment. That he wrote the Apocalypse in the island of 
 Patmos, some time between the great fire at Rome 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 219 
 
 and the destruction of Jerusalem, is now, after close 
 investigation, generally considered a settled question. 
 The story of his having been thrown into a caldron of 
 boiling oil has no historical foundation.* We may 
 suspect that the cup of poison from which he brought 
 forth a serpent is also a baseless fabrication. 
 
 We hear of two other men who were brought before 
 Domitian : their story has been so pleasantly related, 
 that we will take it exactly as it is written for us. 
 
 " Two young men were brought into the basilica, and dragged 
 forward ; who could have shown their father's name in the great 
 census of Augustus, as a son of David at Bethlehem ; and had 
 not their father been one of those twelve who had chiefly 
 preached that strange new error ? The two men stood before 
 the Emperor, they said they were sons of Judas, son of Cleopas : 
 their father and two of their uncles had been of the twelve, they 
 had been cousins, called brethren of their Lord ; they were 
 like Him, of the old lineage of David, but, for their own part, 
 they sought no earthly thrones for themselves, or any one else ;, 
 they were hard-working men, and in witness thereof they 
 spread out their hands, horny with the use of the spade, and 
 they owned nothing but a few acres of land. 
 
 " * But what is this kingdom ? ' still asked the Emperor. 
 
 " ' It is a kingdom/ said the sons of St. Jude, ' a kingdom 
 far away. We look not for it till earth be at an end, and our 
 King cometh to make a new heaven and a new earth.' 
 
 11 Domitian feared them no longer, but let them depart to 
 their homes, and even became convinced that the Christians 
 meant him no harm." t 
 
 These simple-minded men, through a pure faith, 
 working on strong common sense, seem to have escaped 
 the delusions and the confusion of ideas prevailing 
 among both Jews and Christians, which led them into 
 danger of becoming objects of suspicion to the Romans ; 
 
 * Dean Merivale. 
 
 t From "The Exile of Patmos." " The Pupils of St. John the 
 Divine." By C. M. Yonge. Macmillan's " Sunday Library." 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 because both Jew and Christian, first literally interpreted 
 the prophecies in which they trusted, and then defined 
 their own interpretations more exactly than the Word 
 of God defines its predictions ; descending to details not 
 yet given to us, and which perhaps may not be made 
 clear until the second advent of Christ is an accom- 
 plished fact. Till He come, it is well to remember a 
 caution which belongs alike to Jew and Christian : 
 " God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let 
 thy words be few " (Eccles. v. 2). 
 
 Forgetting this text, both Jew and Christian entered 
 into full descriptions of their glorious anticipations. Each 
 person, according to the bent of his disposition and the 
 force of his imagination, conceived his own picture of the 
 promised city and its King ; and some pure-hearted 
 enthusiasts, and some designing party-leaders, not con- 
 tented with forming and enjoying their own views, 
 disseminated them, convinced others, and gathered 
 disciples who implicity followed them. Jewish Rabbis 
 spoke and wrote in highly allegorical language, and did 
 not guard the people against puting too literal an inter- 
 pretation on figures of speech. They said, " In that 
 day there will be corn on the top of the mountains, and 
 the stalks will be like palm trees or pillars; nor will it 
 be any trouble to reap it, for God will send a wind which 
 will blow down the white flour from the ears. A single 
 grape will load a waggon or a ship; and when it is 
 brought to the house, they will draw wine from it, as from 
 a cask. In the days to come, say the Rabbis, God will 
 bring together Sinai and Tabor and Carmel, and set 
 Jerusalem upon them. The city will cover as much 
 ground as a horse can run over from the early morning, 
 till its shadow is below it at noon."* 
 
 * " The Life and Words of Christ." By C. Geikie, D.D. 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 221 
 
 They described in glowing language the beauty and 
 glory of the city, but did not perceive, or at least did 
 not teach the people, the unchangeable truth, that how- 
 ever delightful the next world or the next dispensation 
 may be, still then and there it will be quite as true as it 
 now is here, that not the gratification of the perfected 
 senses, not the exercise of complete sets of faculties, not 
 our love of the world, but our love of the Father, will con- 
 stitute our happiness. There is a difference between 
 loving gifts and pleasures for the sake of the giver, who 
 is very dear to us, and loving the giver for the sake of 
 what he gives us. Our experience in this world teaches 
 us which is the nobler motive, and it is pointed out in 
 Scripture, especially in the Gospel and Epistles of Saint 
 John, the beloved disciple, the apostle of love, from 
 whose book of Revelation the Christian's brightest anti- 
 cipations are drawn. Equally vivid are the pictures of 
 Messiah's reign, drawn by the Jews from the books of 
 the Hebrew prophets ; but at the period of time we are 
 now considering they searched enthusiastically for every 
 sign that could feed their hopes of rising to worldly pre- 
 eminence, and treading down all other nations of the 
 earth. Jerusalem was to succeed Rome as the mistress 
 of the world, and their minds being filled and satisfied 
 with that view, they missed attaining to the spiritual 
 meaning of their prophecies; they thought only of a 
 triumphal reign of the Son of David, a climax of na- 
 tional pride, grandeur, and terrestrial enjoyment. Thus 
 were their thoughts diverted from Jehovah. Those who 
 do not seek to know the character and attributes of 
 God cannot understand how " Christ in these last days 
 cometh to us from the Father," as is declared at the 
 beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews, written A.D. 
 64, shortly before the fall of Jerusalem. " It was to a 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 people infatuated with visions of outward felicity that 
 Jesus Christ came, with His utterly opposite doctrines of 
 the aim and nature of Messiah and His kingdom. Only 
 here and there was there a soul with any higher or 
 purer thoughts than such gross, material, and narrow 
 dreams."* 
 
 Consequently, the Jews, as a nation, had rejected the 
 Redeemer, and had been delivered up to the Romans, to 
 be humbled and proved under the conflict of feelings and 
 opinions between the schools of the Rabbis and those of 
 the pagan academies. Every important pagan temple 
 had its academy or college attached to it, on a system 
 very much like that afterwards formed by the Church of 
 Rome for her conventional institutions. We have seen 
 that philosophy which characterized the pagan schools 
 had become a real power, and a very dominant one, 
 because it brought out man's reasoning faculties and 
 his power of self-control, and brought them to bear 
 upon common life, so that where Christian influences 
 were unknown, philosophy was the chief moral teacher 
 of mankind. 
 
 These schools had not failed in course of time to 
 propagate ideas which met and in different degrees 
 and various ways affected the ideas of Jews and even 
 of Christians. Shaken together as were these people 
 of different races by the force of extraordinary events, 
 every man who at all believed in Divine omnipotence 
 felt that it had been signally exercised. Many souls 
 were roused to a sense of spiritual truth, but they did 
 not all wake to take the same view ; every man, 
 whether heathen, Jew, or Christian, saw according to 
 the heartiness of his faith and the extent of his know- 
 ledge. 
 
 * " The Life and Words of Christ.' 3 By C, Geikie, D.D. 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 223 
 
 This revival of religious sentiment was, among the 
 Romans, much more profound and energizing than 
 that which had formerly resulted from Augustus 
 Caesar's endeavours to effect a religious reformation. 
 It was too thorough and too reasonable to be satisfied 
 with worshipping the Emperor ; aspiring to the higher 
 adoration of goodness and virtue, it led men to ponder 
 on the great problems of life, and to justify the ways 
 of Providence. 
 
 The literary tone which a century before had been 
 worldly, sceptical, and careless, was becoming earnest, 
 and not unfrequently devout ; and familiar letters show 
 that religion was with most a matter of serious concern, 
 and a real motive force in action. The numerous 
 inscriptions of this period enshrine many of the most 
 cherished feelings of every social class and race, and 
 the epitaphs attest in every variety of tone the hopes 
 and fears of a life beyond the grave. Yet the popular 
 religion continued polytheistic. Numberless gradations 
 of beings between the infinite God and finite man were 
 thought to exist, and imagination peopled the universe 
 with ghostly visitors, and with an endless hierarchy of 
 supernatural agents.* 
 
 There was still, as regards religious belief, a gulf, 
 deep and wide, between the Romans and the Jews. 
 Both Jews and Christians might be branded as im- 
 pious in the Roman sense ; that is, as deniers of the 
 Roman divinities, and as tempting men to withdraw 
 from their service. The sincere Jews, by the innate 
 power of sincerity, seem to have gained influence over 
 many of the Romans ; for not a few citizens were 
 
 * See chapter on " Revival of Religious Sentiments." Epochs 
 of Roman History. The Early Empire By W. W. Capes, M.A. 
 Longman. 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 accused of impiety, of having withdrawn from the wor- 
 ship of the gods. This charge was advanced against 
 persons of rank, and combined with those of neglecting 
 the duties of a citizen, and adopting Jewish manners. 
 Whether these culprits were considered guilty of 
 Judaism or of Christianity is not clear. For some time 
 past the imperial household had been a centre of Chris- 
 tianity, the ladies of the court had shown decided 
 leanings towards it. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot, in commenting on the singular reserve 
 maintained by St. Clement throughout his Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, points out that we should bear in mind the 
 close connection of the writer and the bearers of the 
 letter with the Emperor's household. The persecutor 
 and the persecuted met, as it were, face to face. They 
 mixed together in the common affairs of life ; they even 
 lived under the same roof. Thus the utmost caution 
 was needed. Clement refers to the sudden and repeated 
 calamities and reverses under which the church in Rome 
 was suffering, but says not a word about the nature of 
 these calamities, nor a word here or elsewhere about 
 their authors, but he mentions the Neronian perse- 
 cution, and adds, " We are in the same lists, and the 
 same struggle awaits us. The letter therefore was 
 probably written while the church was at the mercy of 
 Domitian's caprice, still uncertain when and where the 
 next blow would fall ; but it could hardly have been 
 written before the two most illustrious members of the 
 congregation had suffered, the one death, and the other 
 banishment, on account of their adherence to the 
 Christian faith. Domitian, as he advanced in years, 
 had grown more and more tyrannical. In the fifteenth 
 year of his reign he accused some of his highest nobles, 
 and among them some of his near relations. His first 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 225 
 
 cousin, Flavius Clemens, and his wife Domitella, and the 
 Consul Achilius, were arrested and accused of atheism, 
 which meant refusing to worship the heathen gods, and 
 to this was added the vague charge of withdrawing from 
 the civil and religious duties of a citizen. Achilius, 
 though a man highly respected in Rome, was convicted, 
 and condemned to fight on the arena. He came off 
 victorious in the combat with the beast, and was sent 
 into exile, whence he never returned. Flavius Clemens 
 was executed, his wife Domitella and her two sons were 
 banished. These, and other instances of death or ban- 
 ishment, bravely met by Jews and Christians, constitute 
 what has been called a persecution ; but Dean Merivale 
 thinks it has been too hastily dignified by that name. 
 
 Those were bad times ; men gave way to ferocious 
 passions, and bloody scenes were but too common. No 
 greater contrast can be conceived than the spirit of the 
 age and that of St. Clement's letter, which is remarkable 
 for its gentleness and forbearance, and for its lofty 
 moral elevation, so conspicuous in the attitude of these 
 Roman Christians towards their secular rulers, whom at 
 this time they had little cause to love. In the prayer 
 for princes and governors, in the lately recovered close 
 of the epistle, this sentiment finds its noblest expression : 
 " Guide our steps to walk in holiness and righteousness, 
 and singleness of heart, and to do such things as are 
 good and pleasing in Thy sight, and in the sight of our 
 rulers. Give concord and peace to us and to all that 
 dwell on the earth, . . . that we may be saved while we 
 render obedience to Thine Almighty and most excellent 
 Name, and to our rulers and governors upon. earth ; . . . 
 that we, knowing the glory and honour which Thou 
 hast given them, may submit ourselves unto them, in 
 nothing resisting Thy will. . . . Do Thou, Lord, direct 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 their counsel according to that which is good and well- 
 pleasing in Thy sight, that administering in peace and 
 gentleness, with godliness, the power which Thou hast 
 given them, they may obtain Thy favour." When we 
 remember that this prayer issued from the fiery furnace 
 of persecution, after the experience of a cruel and 
 capricious tyrant like Domitian, it will appear truly 
 sublime sublime in its utterances, and still more 
 sublime in its silence.* 
 
 It seems that many Jews, condemned on different 
 pretexts, or for various offences in the course of years, 
 were by Domitian sentenced, not to death, but to hard 
 labour in mines and quarries in distant provinces of the 
 Empire. Among the quarries of Carrara there are a 
 number not worked now, known as the Roman quarries, 
 and an old chronicle of Carrara informs us that these 
 marble quarries were worked by captive Jews. That 
 Jewish slaves worked on both the Colosseum and the 
 baths of Titus, as their forefathers laboured in Egypt, 
 is a popular idea. Using portions of the Golden House, 
 Vespasian had begun those baths ; they were carried on 
 by Titus, and completed by his brother. The enormous 
 ruins on the Esquiline, not far from the Colosseum, bear 
 testimony to their magnificence. Here and there the 
 frescoes are wonderfully preserved especially on the 
 high roof of a long corridor. The guide holds up his 
 torch on a pole to show the delicately painted flowers, 
 griffins, animals, and birds ; the most interesting is the 
 eagle copied by the first Napoleon, as his ensign. In 
 one of the nine chambers is the well-known group of 
 Venus with two Cupids, and doves hovering above. These 
 frescoes were supposed to be the most perfect remains 
 of pictorial art in Rome, but they are inferior to those 
 
 * " St. Clement of Rome," page 268. 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 227 
 
 that have been found in the baths of Livia, on the 
 Latin Way. The Laocoon was discovered in the baths 
 of Titus ; the ruins are now scarcely distinguishable 
 from those of Nero's " Golden House. Public baths 
 were places of amusement, as well as refreshment. 
 Fellow-citizens met at these institutions, which fill a 
 prominent place in the social life of the Romans ; they 
 were, in fact, not unlike the large club houses of our day. 
 
 Domitian did not escape the common fate of the 
 tyrant ; he died by violence. The successful conspiracy 
 against him spread far and wide, but one hand only 
 gave the fatal stroke that of a freedman of the late 
 Senator Clemens, who had sworn to avenge his master's 
 death. 
 
 The freedmen now constituted a very large class ; the 
 offspring of all the conquered people mingled with those 
 of all the most criminal and unfortunate Romans who 
 had fused in the furnace of adversity, from which they 
 had been brought out one by one through many gene- 
 rations. This great body of redeemed men had grown 
 up under influences of gratitude, which have elevating 
 power, but do not make the heart of man less sensitive 
 to subsequent tyranny and unkindness. As the class 
 had gained strength, it had naturally acquired inde- 
 pendence of feeling, which had been promoted by the 
 education given to his freemen by many a generous 
 master, who preferred being served by men free and 
 intelligent, to being served entirely by slaves, who saw 
 that it was well to have these men standing between 
 him and his slaves. From small beginnings in every 
 town, and on every large estate in the provinces through- 
 out Rome's wide dominions, the system of redemption 
 was working out results decidedly good, but not un- 
 mixed with evil. 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The recent war and other circumstances had tended 
 to enlarge the class, and now a considerable number of 
 those who formed that strong bone of the body politic 
 were Jews. Disabilities, unjust and cruel, legal restric- 
 tions which closed against them all that were considered 
 the most honourable paths of life, and heavy taxes, kept 
 them in the background ; but the number of Jews who 
 became freedmen made the class very different to what 
 it would have been without them. The very lowest 
 grade of free Jews were so dirty, disorderly, and unsettled 
 in their habits, as to annoy their neighbours, and cause 
 disturbances. Domitian repeatedly drove them out of 
 Rome, but they contrived after a while to return. At 
 last he granted them leave to live outside the walls, 
 and many of them paid a small sum for permission to 
 encamp on the ground round the old grotto, long ago 
 erected over the beautiful spring of pure clear water, 
 which for ages was believed to be the fountain of Egeria. 
 Here the lowest Jews lived like gipsies; and being them- 
 selves an eastern people, their natural faculties enabled 
 them to live on their strongly imaginative wits, and to 
 encircle themselves with a haze of mystery which kept 
 alive a half-fearful kind of wonder, through which they 
 were looked upon by their equally ignorant and super- 
 stitious neighbours, the corresponding class of a western 
 people, among whom they were scattered. Egeria's 
 Grove was stealthily visited by young men and maidens 
 of the city ; for there fortune-tellers and all kinds of 
 soothsayers might haply be found. Under trees in the 
 ancient grove, that used to be kept sacred to the memory 
 of Numa and the Nymph, these vagabond Jews passed 
 the night with their families, and in the morning went 
 into Rome to beg, or to sell the most trifling articles, 
 among which matches and bits of old glass are especially 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 
 
 mentioned. They were so poor, that many of them 
 possessed nothing but the little basket in which they 
 carried their food, and the bed and pillow stuffed with 
 hay, all of their own manufacture. Some of them kept 
 pigs, not for their own consumption, but obviously be 
 cause that animal costs little or nothing to keep, and 
 may be profitably sold. 
 
 Juvenal has given one pleasing description of the Jews 
 enjoying the rural occupation of haymaking under and 
 around those old trees. In another Satire he vividly 
 pictures an aged Jewess who has crept from her lonely 
 bed to pursue her vocation, and with a trembling voice 
 is accosting a woman of fashion, who, successfully 
 charmed by those few whispered words, crosses the hand 
 of the weird priestess of the tree with a piece of money. 
 The gift is small, for the Jew will sell you any dreams 
 you like for a trifling coin. Probably they traded on the 
 dream or interpretations of Joseph and Daniel, making 
 the Romans believe that the God of the Prophets en- 
 dowed His people with supernatural insight into the 
 future. 
 
 It is not known whether Josephus remained in Rome 
 when a new dynasty sat on the throne. We are assured 
 by his own grateful words that he was treated with 
 respectful kindness by Domitian, as he had been by 
 Vespasian and Titus. He may, like Bernice, have ended 
 his days in his own land, on his ample estate; he may 
 have felt it was the right thing to do, as the absence 
 of Judea's wisest and wealthiest sons could but complete 
 the work of ruin; and Josephus loved his country, al- 
 though he was not willing to lose his life in the struggle 
 for national independence, which he had done his 
 utmost to prevent, and which he knew to be utterly 
 hopeless. With him the instinct of self-preservation 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 seems to have been strong ; he was not a Maccabee or a 
 martyr. He saved his 'own life, and it was worth saving, 
 for it was not a useless one. His literary work, which 
 cost him years of hard labour, is still valuable, and his 
 personal influence worked for good with both Jews and 
 Romans, between whom he stood as a mediator, privileged 
 to speak with the Emperors, who condescended to treat 
 him as a friend. By means of the dates found in his 
 works it has been ascertained that he was living and in 
 full possession of his intellectual faculties in the year of 
 our Lord 102. He was then in his sixty-fourth year; but 
 even tradition does not attempt to tell us where he was, 
 and beyond that we lose all trace of his existence. If 
 Josephus were living when the "Histories"' of Tacitus 
 came out, he must have felt indignant and deeply grieved 
 by the manner in which that historian wrote of the Jews. 
 While there were thousands of native Jews and prose- 
 lytes at Rome, instructed in the history given in the 
 books of Moses, when all the sacred records of the Jews 
 were within his reach, when he could read the works of 
 Philo and Josephus, Tacitus accepted the legends of 
 Greek mythologists and writers of fabulous tales, and 
 drew his information from the hostile Egyptians who 
 came to the Roman camp, and probably from two pre- 
 tended sages of Alexandria, Manetho and Chaeremon, 
 mentioned by Josephus as impostors, who circulated 
 falsehoods about the origin of the Jews. But students 
 of every generation who have read the works of Tacitus 
 must be at a loss to understand what could have in- 
 duced him to sully his reputation by passages like the 
 following : 
 
 " Before relating the final destruction of this famous city, it 
 will be well to explain its origin. The Judaei, it is reported, 
 fleeing from the island of Crete, alighted on the farthest corner 
 
UNDER THE YOKE 231 
 
 of Libya, at the period when Saturn was driven from his realm 
 by Jupiter. This fact is established from their name : Ida is a 
 famous mountain it Crete, and its people, the Idaei, became 
 denominated with a barbaric extension of the sound Judise. 
 Some relate that in the reign of Isis a multitude of people over- 
 flowing the limits of Egypt, cast themselves on the neighbour- 
 ing countries under chiefs named Hierosolymus and Judas. 
 Others again assert that the Jews were a swarm of Ethiopians 
 driven by internal animosities to flee their country in the days 
 of Cepheus. Again it is related that certain wanderers from 
 Assyria in quest of lands occupied a part of Egypt, and quickly 
 possessed themselves of Hebrew towns and territories, and the 
 regions bordering upon Syria. Finally, another tradition 
 assigns them a nobler origin, declaring that their city, Hiero- 
 solyma, was built and named by the Solymi the (Lycian) people 
 celebrated by Homer." 
 
 Tacitus evidently wished to give the idea that the Jews 
 were properly no nation at all, and consequently entitled 
 to none of the consideration due to the kingdoms of the 
 earth. It was only by establishing their descent from 
 an Homeric people, as Tacitus suggests, that they could 
 claim any right to the protection of international law. 
 
 " Most writers agree," he continues, "that a loathsome skin 
 disorder once prevailing in Egypt, King Bocchoris was com- 
 manded by the oracle of Hammon to purge his realm of this 
 brood of people, and dismiss them to other lands, as hateful 
 to the gods. Thus brought together and abandoned in the 
 desert, when the rest were overwhelmed with their distress, 
 Moses, one of the exiles, exhorted them to expect no help 
 from gods or men, but to trust in him as a divine leader. . . . 
 They consented, and commenced their journey at random, 
 with no idea whither they were going, or with what object. 
 Nothing so distressed them as the want of water. And now 
 they were reduced to the last extremity, and flung themselves 
 in despair upon the ground, when a herd of wild asses was seen 
 making their way from feeding on a hill covered with wood. 
 Moses followed, expecting them to lead to some grassy spot, 
 and discovered abundant springs under their guidance. Thus 
 refreshed, the fugitives completed a journey of six days, and 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 on the seventh day took possession of lands, driving out their 
 owners, where they founded their city and consecrated their 
 Temple. To make himself a nation for the time to come, 
 Moses appointed them new rites, opposed to those of all man- 
 kind besides. Among them everything elsewhere sacred is 
 held profane; all things are lawful which to us are forbidden. 
 . . . Profane, they say, are those who fashion a figure of 
 the Deity with perishable materials, after a human likeness. . . . 
 Accordingly they suffer no such images in their cities, or even 
 in their temples. They concede no such flattery to kings, 
 no such compliments to Caesars. But because their priests 
 played on pipes and timbrels, and wore ivy garlands, and a 
 golden vine was found in the Temple, some have thought that 
 Father Bacchus, the conqueror of the East, was worshipped by 
 them, though their usage bore little resemblance to his : inas- 
 much as Bacchus instituted brilliant and joyous rites, but the 
 ceremonial of the Jews is pitiful and sordid." * 
 
 " It may be feared," observes Dean Merivale, " that 
 Tacitus was incapable of understanding the burning 
 zeal and solemn enthusiasm which marked the most soul- 
 stirring struggle of all ancient history Tacitus 
 
 commences his review of Roman affairs with the period 
 which succeeds the revolution, after its first and imme- 
 diate fruits had been reaped, and the benefits, undeniable 
 as they were, which it in the first instance produced, 
 had lost some of their original brightness in his country- 
 men's memory. The Caesarean usurpation had run a 
 course of sixty years years of unexampled prosperity, 
 as Tacitus must himself have acknowledged had he set 
 them fairly before his eyes when he takes up the thread 
 of events, and devotes the labour of his life to blazoning 
 the disasters which have never ceased (as he pretends) 
 to flow from it. He confines himself to the decline and 
 
 *Tac. Hist. v. 5 : Judasorum mos absurdus sordidusque. Trans- 
 lated by Dean Merivale. (See " Hist, of the Romans under the 
 Empire," vol. vi., page 554, etc.) 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 233 
 
 fall of the system which had now indeed passed its brief 
 and fallacious prime. He traces the failing fortunes of 
 the republic from the defeat of Varus and the gloom 
 diffused over the city in the last days of Augustus, and 
 closes his gloomy review with the fall of the last of the 
 despots, the mean, the cruel, the jealous Domitian. 
 Thus he embraces precisely the whole period by which 
 the crimes of the Caesars were chastised : nor will he mar 
 the completeness of this picture by introducing into it 
 the figures of those regenerators of the Empire, whom 
 he himself lived afterwards to see, the records of whose 
 virtue and fortune he reserves for the solace of his old 
 age. . . . We may believe that the author of the Annals 
 and the Histories regarded the two as a single entire 
 work, and it is possible that he may have contemplated 
 them himself under one title. The unity of their com- 
 mon design, as a lasting record of Caesarean revolution, 
 traced to its distant consequences, would have been 
 marred by a glowing conclusion on the fame and 
 prosperity of Trajan, nor do we know that Tacitus ever 
 accomplished the labour of love which he anticipated 
 as his crowning work. Perhaps, after all, he felt that 
 the senatorial government of his patron rested on no 
 solid foundations, and shrank at the last moment from 
 glorifying the merits of a constitution which depended 
 on the moderation of its chief alone.* 
 
 * This review of the works of Tacitus is abridged from " The 
 History of the Romans under the Empire," by Dean Merivale. (See 
 vol. vi., page 560 ; vol. vii., pages 292, 293.) 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 
 
Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn, 
 Mourn, widow'd queen, forgotten Zion, mourn. 
 Is this thy place and city, this thy throne, 
 Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone, 
 Where suns unblest their angry lustre fling, 
 And wayworn pilgrims seek the scanty spring ? 
 Where now thy pomp, which kings with envy view'd ? 
 Where now thy might, which all those kings subdued ? " 
 
 " Palestine'' By Bishop Heber. 
 
IX. 
 
 FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 
 
 AFTER the Temple of Jerusalem had been de- 
 stroyed, there yet remained on earth one which 
 was modelled after the pattern of that grand national 
 sanctuary, and to which the heart of the Hebrew 
 naturally turned under its feeling of religious desti- 
 tution. The Temple at Heliopolis in Egypt had been 
 erected by the chief priest Onias, with the sanction of 
 the Ptolemies, during the persecution carried on by 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, against the Jews. 
 Onias, with a few companions, sought refuge in Egypt, 
 and Ptolemy gave him a tract of ground in the pre- 
 fecture of Heliopolis, on which he built a small town 
 on the model of Jerusalem, with a temple to correspond. 
 The king of Egypt moreover granted an extensive 
 district as a source of revenue to support this Jewish 
 temple and its priests, that there might be a plentiful 
 supply of necessaries for the service of God. 
 
 Dispossessed of their ancestral estates, multitudes 
 of the Jews, accepting the doom of national dispersion, 
 had chosen to migrate to those localities within and 
 beyond the Empire, where Jewish colonies already 
 existed. Large numbers transported themselves to 
 Cyprus, Mesopotamia, and Egypt Among the emi- 
 grants were many zealots, who, pretending as usual to 
 a divine mission, inflamed the minds of their country- 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 men, brought together seditious persons from all 
 accessible places, and roused fanaticism to the pitch of 
 rebellion. They fortified their little town and temple ; 
 but the gates were opened at the first summons, and 
 the Roman government, with singular forbearance, only 
 expelled the Jews from the spot, forbidding them to 
 meet there for worship ; and every inhabitant was 
 required to make an acknowledgment of submission 
 to the Roman Emperor. On this occasion, such was 
 their firmness, and such their desperation or strength 
 of purpose, whichever we may call it, that it could 
 but excite universal astonishment. Under every bodily 
 torture and suffering devised for this one object, to 
 make them acknowledge Caesar as their lord, not 
 one complied, nor was shaken for a moment, but sub- 
 mitted to the rack or the flames, as if with bodies 
 insensible, and with souls in them that almost rejoiced 
 in suffering, maintained their resolution. But what 
 most struck the spectators was the courage of the 
 children, not one of whom could be persuaded or forced 
 to call Caesar lord.* 
 
 This inquisition was simply political. Both Jews 
 and Christians were required to express in a prescribed 
 form of words their submission to the Emperor ; it 
 was like taking an oath of allegiance. They were 
 called on to do this wherever their numbers made them 
 objects of suspicion or of fear. The Roman government 
 always dreaded political combinations, and by this 
 inquisition and this sacrifice of human life they thought 
 to stamp out insurrection. Yet the religion of the in- 
 domitable race was not proscribed ; and though the 
 gates of the Temple at Heliopolis, which had been 
 garrisoned as a fortress, were closed, the Jews were 
 
 * Josephus. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 239 
 
 allowed to worship in their synagogues. This is the 
 last incident of the war, the after-clap of the subsided 
 storm. * 
 
 The Jews now quietly dispersed themselves : many 
 of them went to Alexandria, where a Jewish colony 
 had existed ever since the days of Alexander the 
 Great ; others went to join their brethren who had 
 settled at Babylon. The nation thus divided into two 
 distinct bodies, the Eastern and the Western Jews ; 
 the former inhabited Babylonia, Chaldea, Assyria and 
 Persia, and were governed by a ruler chosen by them- 
 selves whom they called the Prince of the Captivity ; 
 the latter, who dwelt in Egypt, Palestine, and the 
 European portions of the Roman Empire, were presided 
 over by one who bore the title of Patriarch. 
 
 Domitian had died childless, so the race of the Flavii 
 had reigned during only two generations. 
 
 The appointment of Nerva to the imperial dignity 
 forms a marked epoch in Roman history. Unlike his 
 predecessors, he was neither a warrior, nor had his 
 family been ennobled by military renown. He was 
 simply a distinguished senator, advanced in years, 
 and the first of a line of Emperors appointed solely 
 by the Senate, but he was liberal enough to abhor 
 every kind of Persecution. 
 
 The excellent Nerva had great consideration for the 
 Jews ; he relieved them from some of their disabilities 
 and taxes, and even permitted them to rebuild the city 
 of Tiberias as the residence of their Patriarch. 
 
 During the great war Tiberias had opened its gates 
 to Vespasian, and its inhabitants had been spared. It 
 stands on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, so often 
 trodden by the Saviour's feet, so frequently mentioned 
 
 * Merivale. 
 
2 4 o HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 in the Gospels. Indeed, in a peculiarly marked way, 
 which we cannot clearly understand, that beautiful 
 district was distinguished. It was watered by the 
 Jordan, overlooked by Mount Tabor a mountain to 
 which tradition points as that of the Transfiguration, 
 on which the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel were 
 mysteriously represented. And there Christ more than 
 once appeared after His resurrection.* 
 
 Tiberias became the chief seat of Judaism, the centre 
 to which the Hebrews in every part of the world looked 
 for direction and support, as the power of the Patriarch 
 who ruled the Western Jews was superior even to those 
 of the Prince of the Captivity in Babylon, the chief 
 seat of the East. The highest Jewish school was esta- 
 blished at Tiberius, which regulated instruction in all 
 places where the Jews resided in any considerable 
 numbers. There, the doctors of the Law interpreted 
 the national Scriptures, and overlaid them with tra- 
 ditions : first with the Commentary of Mishna, and 
 later with that of Gemara ; and thus the simple text 
 came to be but imperfectly known by the people, who 
 were led to think more of the commentaries ; as in our 
 Saviour's time passages of Scripture were obscured 
 rather than explained by teachers whom He rebuked, 
 exposing the rottenness of all such systems of edifica- 
 tion. As time went on, the Jewish mind became more 
 and more blinded by Rabbinism, which has t been justly 
 called Jewish popery. 
 
 The office of patriarch rose to importance, compassing 
 even a kind of political power, although it was of an 
 exclusively religious character, including no positive 
 temporal authority over the scattered Jewish com- 
 munities. The Patriarch presided over an assembly 
 * St. Matthew xxviii. 7, 16 ; St. John xxi. i. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 241 
 
 which bore the name of the Sanhedrim, but we have 
 no evidence that that body had continued its sittings 
 throughout all the troubles of Judea ; it seems there- 
 fore likely that it was re-constituted at Tiberias. The 
 Jews in Palestine founded schools for expounding the 
 Law, and for preserving scraps of literature which had 
 not fallen into the hands of the enemy, nor been 
 destroyed by fire or other casualties of war and an- 
 archy. These records, many of which were recovered 
 in an injured, imperfect state, were collected together 
 and compiled by the doctors of the Law, who thus 
 ultimately produced the celebrated Talmud of Jerusa- 
 lem ; while similar academies among the eastern Jews 
 produced the Talmud of Babylon. 
 
 The reign of the amiable, moderate Nerva was a happy 
 time for the Jews, and we may suppose that it was 
 especially so to those in Rome, on whom the light of his 
 truly venerable countenance fell. It is thought that at 
 this time St. John was set at liberty, and returned to 
 Ephesus, where he lived in peace to the end of his long 
 life. What a special blessing must that dear pastor's 
 presence have been to the church at Ephesus a little 
 band of Christian people remarkable for their persevering 
 labour and patience and hatred of evil principles, but 
 who had left their first love. By the well-known voice 
 of an exile come back to his home, they were warmly 
 greeted, and then exhorted to turn their hearts back to 
 seek the Lord, and to do their first works, and were 
 subdued and ruled, not by energetic power, nor by 
 strength of mind, for St. John was old and infirm, but by 
 his unfailing love and gentle, steadfast endurance. This 
 Apostle, the last called away of the twelve, attained his 
 hundredth year. He survived the Emperor Nerva, who 
 died rather suddenly, after a reign of little more than 
 
 16 
 
242 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 sixteen months. Though he reigned so short a time, 
 not one of the Emperors is more vividly characterized in 
 the effigies which remain of him in busts and medals. 
 Among the treasures of antiquity preserved in modern 
 Rome, none surpasses in form and dignity the sitting 
 statue of this Emperor, which attracts all ages in the 
 Rotunda of the Vatican ; embodying the highest ideal 
 of the Roman magnate, the finished warrior, statesman, 
 and gentleman. The antiquity of this remarkable statue 
 is acknowledged.* 
 
 The death of Nerva left Trajan sole emperor. He 
 had previously been adopted as a son by Nerva, and 
 associated in the government. The defiant attitude of 
 the Praetorian Guards, who demanded the blood of all 
 who had conspired against Domitian, had made the old 
 Emperor feel the need of a colleague. 
 
 Trajan was the son of a gallant officer who had taken 
 part in the wars against the Jews and the Parthians. 
 This Emperor in his youthful days had been trained in 
 the camp by his father's side, and had gained the love 
 and confidence of the legions among which he had 
 helped to wage the border warfare of the Empire. Thus 
 he had risen in the army, and at the same time had 
 shown remarkable talent for administration, as well as 
 for war, which led to his holding not only military, but 
 also civil appointments. He was periodically recalled 
 from the camp to become a praetor or a consul. 
 
 By the adoption of such a colleague, Nerva silenced 
 all discontent ; even the Praetorian Guards were satisfied, 
 and the few remaining months of Nerva's reign were 
 passed in tranquillity. His death was sincerely lamented ; 
 for by his character and conduct, not only during the 
 short time he had sat on the throne, but throughout his 
 * Merivale. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 243 
 
 life, he had gained esteem and affection. So perfect was 
 the public peace at the moment of his decease, that 
 Trajan did not find it necessary to hasten to Rome in 
 order to take up the reins. They had devised a system 
 of government which was working well and quietly. He 
 had won important victories on the Rhine, and was en- 
 gaged in securing the borderland by the erection of a 
 line of fortifications. This work completed, he com- 
 menced in the Black Forest a rampart which was to 
 extend from the Rhine to the Danube. Thus a year 
 elapsed between the death of Nerva and Trajan's tri- 
 umphal entry into Rome. His demeanour on the occasion, 
 and also that of his wife, was warmly applauded. The 
 Emperor received the greetings of the senators as gra- 
 ciously as he had accepted them when he was going 
 forth to war as a fellow-subject : among them he was 
 distinguished only by the height of his stature and the 
 dignity of his bearing. Plotina, as she was about to 
 ascend the stairs of the palace, seeing the eyes of the 
 multitude fixed on herself, looked round on the people, 
 and spoke to them pleasantly. At that moment the 
 uncertainty of the tenure by which everything in this 
 life is held, was the uppermost thought ; it impelled her 
 to aspire to equanimity of mind, and she promised that 
 should fate require her to do so, she would leave the 
 palace as calmly as she was entering it. Trajan volun- 
 tarily renewed the oath he had previously made in 
 writing, that he never would harm the person of a 
 senator, and he faithfully observed it. He was very 
 severe on the dilators, gangs of spies, or secret informers, 
 which had greatly increased in numbers and flourished 
 in Domitian's time, as that Emperor did not hold him- 
 self above accepting such vile service. This augmented 
 class had grown utterly corrupt, and had worked a great 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 deal of malicious mischief in its own evil way ; dilators 
 were very much feared and detested by the people. 
 Nerva had brought some of them to justice ; but, being 
 a merciful man, he shrank from the responsibility of 
 punishing them according to the cruel customs of his day, 
 and consequently many had hitherto been allowed to 
 escape. Relations and friends of persons who had been 
 put to death, and others who had themselves suffered 
 under false accusations, through the fabrications or mis- 
 representations of these dilators, were clamouring for 
 revenge, and among them were senators and patricians, 
 who openly blamed the too lenient Nerva. Trajan had 
 no scruples ; he immediately set on foot a strict investi- 
 gation, and showed no pity to those who were tried and 
 found guilty. Pliny describes an extraordinary scene in 
 the circus, when these condemned malefactors, exhibited 
 in chains, and barbarously insulted, were exposed to the 
 scorn of the people infuriated against them. As well as 
 the law could draw the line, they were divided into two 
 sections, condemned to either banishment or death. 
 Great was the general satisfaction given by the fatal 
 performances on the arena of the amphitheatre, when 
 the wretches, in horrible earnest, ended their untruthful 
 lives in the presence of the densest crowds of spectators. 
 In no other city of the world was the population 
 made up of such very various elements. The inhabitants, 
 as a mass, comprised people of all races. Three of these 
 the North African, including Alexandrians, and the 
 Capadocians, and the Jews had each a distinct quarter 
 in Rome. All the people, having more or less suffered 
 through these tale-bearers and false witnesses, were in a 
 state of violent excitement. The Hebrew in the late 
 season of dire adversity had felt that his voice would 
 touch the heart of no earthly king ; he had cried, in the 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 245 
 
 words of the Psalmist, " Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, 
 O God ! " " Let his way be dark and slippery ; " " Let 
 his net that he hath hid catch himself ; into that very 
 destruction let him fall." 
 
 Standing, with light on one side, and darkness on the 
 other, the sons of Abraham saw the shadow of Jeho- 
 vah's Hand pass by, and it comforted them. Only those 
 Christians, really separated from the multitude by the 
 circumcision of the heart, felt that they must not rejoice 
 over enemies who were meeting the same terrible fate 
 which they had brought upon others. 
 
 These gangs of dilators lived by lying, as robbers live 
 by stealing. The best of them had a sense of honour 
 somewhat like that which exists among thieves ; they 
 outraged truth for the sake of furthering some object 
 they had in view. Among them were men who had, 
 not a dead, but a perverted conscience ; who thought 
 their object right and important, and that the end 
 justified every means by which it might be attained. 
 Other dilators, whose ideas never ascended above the 
 lowest level of thought, simply maintained with perfect 
 self-complacency the virtue of fidelity to those who 
 paid them well. During times when secret conspiracies 
 were frequently formed, this degraded class was active 
 under the guidance of conspirators, or of those who 
 suspected and were tracking them. Trajan did his ut- 
 most to discover both those employed in the nefarious 
 work, and their employers ; for he justly considered the 
 latter as the more culpable, when by means of false 
 accusations the life or the reputation of the innocent had 
 been sacrificed. 
 
 This Emperor's otherwise fine character was debased 
 by cruelty ; public executions and popular entertain- 
 ments, games they were called, were conducted by him 
 
246 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 with atrocious barbarity, and occasionally blended to- 
 gether on the arena of a provincial theatre, or on that of 
 the Roman Coliseum.* 
 
 Neither the stern duties of administering justice, nor 
 the flattery of the senate, nor the homage of the people, 
 was as much in accordance with Trajan's taste as were 
 the activity and ambition of the military career. In the 
 fourth year of his reign he gladly quitted Rome to make 
 war on theDacians, and he conquered them, and added the 
 province that was last annexed to the Roman Empire. 
 Slight as are the political traces left of the great Dacian 
 wars, they are eminently distinguished by their sculp- 
 tured monument still standing upright in the forum which 
 was constructed under Trajan's direction, and which 
 bears his name. A narrow isthmus separated the city 
 from the Campus Martius, and this neck of higher ground, 
 covered perhaps with the miserable cabins of the poor, 
 was surmounted by the remains of the Servian wall that 
 ran along its summit. 
 
 Step by step the earlier emperors had approached to 
 the foot of this obstruction, and Nerva had completed a 
 small forum begun by his predecessor, to which he had 
 given his own name. Trajan undertook to complete the 
 whole of the bold design, and his architect triumphed 
 over all obstacles, sweeping away every building on the 
 site, and levelling a large area, on which he built halls 
 and chambers connected by galleries supported by rows 
 of strong and beautiful columns. The new forum had 
 
 * According to Dion Cassius, the games after Trajan's victory 
 over the Dacians lasted one hundred and twenty-three days. Ele- 
 ven thousand animals, wild and domestic, were killed in them, 
 and ten thousand men were compelled to fight with beasts : we 
 may conclude that most of them were killed. See " Judaism in 
 Rome," page 292, note. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 247 
 
 rooms for public use and recreation, and two libraries, 
 one for Greek, the other for Roman volumes, and it was 
 bounded on the west by a fine basilica. This forum, with 
 all its adjuncts, occupied many years in building. The 
 area was adorned with numerous statues. The balus- 
 trades and cornices of the whole mass of buildings flamed 
 with gilded images of arms and horses. Here stood the 
 great equestrian statue of the Emperor, and here was 
 the triumphal arch decreed him by the Senate, adorned 
 with sculptures, which two centuries later were trans- 
 ferred by Constantine to his own. The one object in 
 Trajan's forum, to which the eye was principally directed, 
 was the column which rose majestically in the centre to 
 the height of 128 feet, sculptured from the base of the 
 shaft to the summit with the story of the Dacian wars, 
 shining in every volute and moulding, brilliant with 
 gold and pigments, and crowned with the statue of the 
 conqueror. 
 
 The most interesting feature of this graceful historic 
 monument is the spiral band of figures which throughout 
 encircles it. To the subjects of Trajan this record of 
 his exploits in bold relief must have given a vivid and 
 sufficient idea of the people, the places, and the actions 
 indicated; even to us, after so many centuries, they 
 furnish a correct type of the arms, the arts, and the 
 costume both of the Romans and barbarians, which we 
 should vainly seek for elsewhere. 
 
 Beyond the basilica in Trajan's forum, and within the 
 limits of the Campus Martius, the architect who had 
 raised the buildings in the forum, erected moreover a 
 temple for the worship of Trajan himself; but this work 
 belonged probably to the reign of Trajan's successor.* 
 
 * Abridged from Merivale's " History of the Romans under the 
 Empire," voL vii., pages 243247. 
 
248 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The subsequent exploits of Trajan were compressed 
 within a short space of time. He launched his victorious 
 legions against the centre of the Parthian power, and 
 broke it. No sooner had he crossed the Tigris, than all 
 the tribes of the far East were fluttering with the fear 
 of his descent upon them. Ctesiphon, the chief city 
 of the Parthians, at once opened its gates ; the king 
 made good his escape into Media, but his daughter 
 and his golden throne were captured. The restless 
 ambition of the conqueror was not yet satisfied. Seeing 
 a vessel on the Persian Gulf, laden for India, and about 
 to sail, he exclaimed, " Were I still young, I would not 
 stop till I too had reached the limits of the Macedonian 
 conquest." He knew it not, but even when he spoke 
 those words, Trajan's conquering power had reached 
 its appointed bounds. Reports of insurrectionary 
 movements in olirferent parts of the Empire prevented 
 further advance ; he turned back towards Rome, and 
 the homeward march was hindered, not only by diffi- 
 culties of all sorts, by intense heat, and an extraordinary 
 storm, but also by his own failing health. 
 
 It was at this crisis that the great rebellion of the 
 Jews broke out ; we may call it another Jewish war, 
 which burst out at once in several quarters. It must 
 have been long impending, and at last began like a 
 movement sympathetic with the death spasms of Ar- 
 menia and Parthia.* 
 
 Several collisions had lately occurred between Jews 
 and Gentiles, or between Jews and the imperial forces, 
 but the scanty records left us throw but little light on 
 the causes of these insurrections. No doubt the pro- 
 hibition of their national rite most violently excited the 
 
 * " History of the Romans under the Empire." By Dean 
 Merivale. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 249 
 
 Jews, and this happening at a time when other nations 
 were at war with Rome, they thought it a favourable 
 opportunity for rising simultaneously in Syria, Egypt, 
 Cyrene, and Cyprus. Horrible barbarities were per- 
 petrated on both sides ; one indiscriminate massacre 
 being avenged by another. 
 
 The reports of these outrages greatly troubled Trajan ; 
 he was moving on with the army, but was so ill as to be 
 scarcely equal to the fatigue. His disease, the dropsy, 
 made him very irritable, and he fancied he had been 
 poisoned ; but if so, it was by the air and climate, not 
 by the hand of man. He sent Hadrian, his best general, 
 to Cyprus, which was very unfortunate for the Jews, 
 not only for those in the island, but for the whole race, 
 as what Hadrian heard of the Jews, and what he saw 
 of their cruelty, especially to the natives, whom they 
 slaughtered more recklessly than they did the Roman 
 residents, turned his mind so against the Hebrews, 
 that he never got over the impression. After more 
 bloodshed the rebellion in Cyprus was quelled, and all 
 the Jews were banished forbidden to set foot on the 
 island on pain of death, and this sentence was executed 
 on some who had been driven into the harbour by 
 stress of weather. Most likely this was done by a civil 
 or military officer on the spot, who had reason to hate 
 the Jews, and power to act up to the letter of the law. 
 The widespread rebellion was so well concerted, that 
 it could not be quickly put down. Trajan is accused 
 of having been extremely severe he was a stern ruler, 
 and now a dying man. He did not reach Rome, could 
 proceed no farther than Selinus in Cilicia, where he 
 expired early in the August of A.D. 117, having reigned 
 not quite twenty years. Like the Great Alexander, he 
 had been cut off in the far East, and had appointed no 
 
250 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 successor. Before that last bitter Jewish war was over, his 
 ashes reposed in a golden urn at the foot of his column. 
 
 Hadrian was elected by both the Senate and the 
 army to succeed Trajan. Platona liked him, and having 
 no son, wished him to succeed ; stories are related of 
 her endeavours to aid in the cause, but these are not to 
 be relied on as certainly authentic. He was distantly 
 related to Trajan, the son of a cousin ; he had at ten 
 years old lost his father, who left him under the charge 
 of Trajan and another guardian. The boy was sent 
 to Athens for education, and there he not only acquired 
 information on all the branches of learning then taught 
 in the best schools, but also imbibed a taste for argu- 
 ment, and for the investigation of all sorts of subjects 
 that came before him. He received the ordinary train- 
 ing in arms and feats of agility, and when old enough 
 was appointed by his influential guardians to a civil 
 office in Rome. 
 
 Hadrian's after-life was remarkably consistent with 
 this bringing-up. He celebrated Trajan's triumph mo- 
 destly, declining to be the chief recipient of homage. 
 An image of the great conqueror was borne with all 
 customary honours to the temple of Jupiter Capi- 
 tolinus, crowned with a golden laurel crown, which 
 Hadrian gave to the nation. With the spoils of war 
 he was liberal, and devoted a large sum of money to 
 establishing an institution begun by his predecessor for 
 the maintenance of orphans. We can understand his 
 interest in this good work, for he had been left an 
 orphan boy, and had been kindly and well provided for 
 by Trajan. Then he headed his forces, and took the 
 field against a wild horde of Sarmatian horsemen who 
 were bearing down upon Dacia. After his first suc- 
 cesses against those barbarians, he thought it wise to 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 251 
 
 abandon that province, which was not worth the men 
 and money which, if it were retained, must be devoted 
 to it. He therefore entirely withdrew the legions, and 
 broke down the bridge that Trajan had built over 
 the Danube. The troops set free were required in 
 the East, to complete the suppression of the Jewish 
 disturbances. The flames of insurrection which had 
 broken out in so many quarters had been concentrated, 
 and burnt more fiercely than ever in the ancient centre 
 of Jewish nationality. 
 
 The contest had, on the side of the Jews, taken the 
 character of a fanatical war. All the Hebrews remain- 
 ing in Palestine, reinforced by the fugitives who had 
 been elsewhere subdued, and who had fled from scenes 
 of persecution, constituted a formidable number; though 
 again and again their faith had been mocked, their 
 credulity imposed upon, yet still they were ready to 
 follow any leader who proclaimed himself the pro- 
 mised Deliverer. Martius Turbo, who was appointed 
 to the chief command of the Roman army in Palestine, 
 was perfectly amazed at the fanaticism of the Jews. 
 The allegorical autobiography of Rabbi Akiba is a 
 most curious legend. The story ends well ; for at last, 
 after innumerable difficulties hinted at in a mystic 
 style, he returned to his wife his bride, who is no 
 other than Jerusalem itself, and she received him 
 joyfully, and, covered as she was with rags, an outcast 
 and a beggar, he presented her to his astonished 
 followers, for he had brought with him twice twelve 
 thousand disciples. The poetical narrative is somewhat 
 in the style of " The Song of Solomon." Its meaning 
 was dark to the Romans, and is so to us, except as we 
 know the Jews understood it to mean that Akiba was 
 a champion who was to lead them on to glory. In 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 sober truth, he was one of the most learned men of the 
 age, and had held a high position among the doctors 
 of the Law and other learned men at Tiberias. He 
 was, or pretended to be, one hundred and twenty years 
 old ; so he, like Samuel, nominated a new David to 
 be the head of God's people. That was the light in 
 which he put himself. He girded Barchochebas with the 
 sword, and placed the staff of command in his hand.* 
 As long as he was successful, vast numbers trusted in 
 him ; but the fortune of war turned. At the storming 
 of Bethar, Barchochebas was killed on the field, and 
 Akiba was taken prisoner, and most cruelly put to 
 death. Barchochebas had struggled with the frenzy of 
 insanity and the obstinacy of despair. Every excess 
 of cruelty was committed on both sides ; for the Roman 
 losses had been so uncommonly great as to make them 
 furious with a feverish thirst for vengeance. " It is 
 well, perhaps," says Merivale, " that the details of this 
 mortal spasm are almost wholly lost to us." The name 
 Barchochebas signifies " son of a star," and was assumed 
 with reference to the prophecy of Balaam. The disap- 
 pointed Jews, when his defeat and death had proved 
 him to be a deceiver, spoke of him not as Barchochebas, 
 but as Bar Cozibah, " the son of a lie." This Jewish 
 war, which was in fact a series of revolts, with mere 
 lulls between the storms, began before the death of 
 Trajan, and lasted sixteen years. Its final conclusion 
 is a turning-point of history as important as that of 
 A.D. 71. Beyond A.D. 133, the Jews were never again 
 what they had been ; they did not rally as they had 
 done from the effects of the blow struck by Titus. 
 Dion Cassius gives the number of Jews slain in battle 
 as 580,000, and adds that the multitudes that perished 
 * Barchochebas, also called Barcochab. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 253 
 
 by famine and pestilence exceed all calculation. Allow- 
 ing for exaggeration, we must believe that hundreds 
 of thousands perished in these latest combats, and that 
 each of the revolts was followed by wholesale cap- 
 tivity and general banishment. Almost all Judaea's 
 people were sent away as slaves or exiles, and but very 
 few of the most prudent or fortunate, who escaped 
 death and capture, cared to stay ; they left the shores 
 of their native country as emigrants, seeking refuge in 
 some foreign country. Whole districts were so de- 
 populated, that the land went out of cultivation, and 
 beasts of prey made their dens in ruined towns and 
 villages. Not until this epoch was the dispersion final 
 and complete. Not until now was Jerusalem occupied 
 by a Roman colony, which received the name of ylia 
 Capitolina, and the supreme god of pagan mythology 
 was installed on the summits of Moriah and Zion. 
 The fane of Jupiter was erected on the site of the 
 Holy Temple, and a shrine of Venus flaunted on the 
 spot to which tradition points as that on which our 
 Lord's crucifixion took place. But Hadrian had no 
 intention of insulting the disciples of Jesus, and this 
 desecration was probably accidental, if the tradition 
 be true, which is questionable. A Jewish legend relates 
 that the figure of a swine was sculptured over a city 
 gate in mockery of the Jews. With equal scorn they 
 retorted that the effigy of the unclean animal, which 
 represents to their minds every low and bestial appetite, 
 was a fitting emblem of the colony and its founders.* 
 In this New Jerusalem no Jew desired, or would have 
 been permitted, to reside. 
 
 When the first centenary of the crucifixion came round, 
 
 * " Romans under the Empire." By Dean Merivale. Vol. vii., 
 pages 397-400. 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 it found Judea and Jerusalem perishing in this protracted 
 agony this second and final destruction ; but centuries 
 rolled on before the direct and indirect effects of this 
 last rising of the Jews had ceased to agitate world-wide 
 spheres of thought and action, in which they had been 
 felt as much as in the land and in the city. The gene- 
 ration which witnessed this crisis, witnessed also the last 
 days of stoicism. Some persons already in its ranks 
 retained their allegiance, but no one born during or 
 after the Jewish war under Hadrian is known to history 
 as a stoic. Many stoics embraced Christianity : at the 
 same time the final separation of the Christians from the 
 Jews took place.* 
 
 All things had conspired to make the Christians wish 
 to be no longer confounded with the Jews in the Roman 
 mind. The Emperor Hadrian showed some leaning 
 towards Christianity, or at least a wish to judge of it 
 himself ; for he allowed Christians, as well as other sec- 
 tarians, to expound their doctrines and to defend their 
 customs in his presence. There is not the least evidence 
 that he was in any degree converted, but he listened, 
 and so far respected and favoured the Christians as to 
 give them a formal acknowledgment of his recognition 
 of their perfect independence of the Jews. This was 
 made so clear by imperial decree, that henceforth the 
 Christians could not as heretofore stand in the same 
 category with the Jews. A proclamation or decree 
 aimed against the one body would no longer affect the 
 other, and the man who could prove himself to be a 
 Christian was no longer in the eye of Roman law a 
 Jew, even if he were by birth a son of Abraham. This 
 final cutting of the cord was not done painlessly, with- 
 out exciting mutual rancour. Henceforward they were 
 
 * "Judaism in Rome.' r 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATR7ARCPIAL RULE. 255 
 
 not to be companions in adversity ; and there is reason 
 to fear that too often the baser members of each com- 
 munity cherished malignant thoughts, which made them 
 active, though generally secret enemies, and thus the 
 gulf between them widened and deepened. The earnest Q 
 Christian cannot altogether forget his Lord's injunc- v 
 tion, " Love your enemies," but this can hardly be ^ 
 expected from even a guileless Israelite, who has not 
 yet seen Jesus, although he is well known and loved by 
 his Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel.* I 
 
 That Jewish war in the days of Trajan and Hadrian 
 stamped itself in unmistakable characters on the mental %A] 
 and social history of the second century, as one of the 
 
 most noteworthy contests in the world's history. After 
 its termination the influence of the Jews in Europe was )f * 
 at an end. Thenceforward they were an isolated people, 
 unappreciated, too often calumniated or maltreated, 
 whilst, no doubt, they suffered in character and culture 
 from the position in which they were placed, f 
 
 Hadrian did not aspire to further conquests, did not 
 glory in the extent of his dominions, but he had resolved 
 to make himself personally acquainted with all his 
 provinces. 
 
 He set out on his travels, and from that period the 
 only history of Hadrian and his times is the confused and 
 imperfect record of his journeys through every province of 
 his empire, broken only by occasional sojourns at his 
 provincial capitals, till he settled finally for his last few 
 years in Rome. 
 
 It was his object, partly from policy, and partly 
 
 from a love of acquiring positive information by means 
 
 of his own observation, to inspect every corner of his 
 
 dominions, to examine into its state and resources, and 
 
 * St. John i. 45 49. t " Judaism in Rome," page 15. 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 to make himself acquainted with its wants and capa- 
 bilities. Curious also about the character of men, he 
 studied on the spot the temper, abilities, views, and 
 feelings of the multitude of officials with whom he had 
 ordinarily to correspond at a distance. There is some- 
 thing sublime in the magnitude of the task he imposed 
 on himself, and in which he persevered.* 
 
 Hadrian, as we have seen, had enquired into the doc- 
 trines of the Christians closely enough to excite a hope 
 in their minds that he might become a convert. He 
 had also studied the Old Testament and the laws and 
 customs of the Jews ; and these excited his curiosity. 
 He could have obtained but a very imperfect knowledge 
 of the Jewish Scriptures and their law, his mind being 
 occupied with so many subjects, though it was more than 
 commonly capacious, and his memory was excellent. 
 
 We are now endeavouring to form a just idea of the 
 treatment which the Jews were receiving in Rome. In 
 the absence of positive information we surely cannot 
 do better than to look to the ruling power at Rome. 
 Hadrian's commanding mind, which cared more for 
 grasping correct knowledge of the world, than for grasp- 
 ing territory, influenced the state of things in the metro- 
 polis of his empire, even when he was far away. He 
 was deeply prejudiced against the Jews as a race ; what 
 he had seen and heard in Cyprus had rendered this 
 prejudice indelible. He thought them a rebellious 
 people, who had been abandoned by their own God, as 
 their own sacred writings had threatened would be the 
 result of disobedience. But his knowledge of charac- 
 ter can scarcely have failed to convince him that the 
 stubbornness of the Jew, which made it impossible to 
 
 * "History of the Romans under the Empire." By Charles 
 Merivale, D.D. Vol. vii., page 427. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL 
 
 subjugate his spirit, might prove a valuable quality in 
 a well-disciplined and liberally cultivated mind. We 
 do not hear that he abridged such privileges as they 
 had been enjoying since Nerva relieved them from some 
 of the disabilities and imposts which had heavily op- 
 pressed them. Hadrian was not likely to emancipate 
 Jewish slaves, or in any way to favour the turbulent 
 lower classes, whose increase in number he could not 
 desire, but rather their extermination. Yet, with the 
 educated Jew, this emperor was capable of sympathiz- 
 ing, and such he may have upheld, while, as a people, 
 the Jews were rapidly sinking into contempt and poverty. 
 They still manifested an immense deal of party spirit : 
 of the several parties holding different views of their 
 condition, duties, and prospects, the Zealots and the 
 Moderates were still the chief. Josephus had belonged 
 to the latter. He had passed away, but those who were 
 living in the capital as inoffensively as he had done 
 were probably better off than they would have been 
 in any other city of the Empire. That peaceful class 
 had congregated in Rome in large numbers, partly for 
 security's sake, taking refuge from their own fellow- 
 countrymen, the Zealots and Sicarii, those dangerous 
 political enthusiasts who would postpone every desper- 
 ate scheme for national resuscitation, to get vengeance 
 on their own brethren, the Moderates or Herodians. 
 Consequently, the Moderates were a numerous body, 
 which had taken root in the midst of Roman society, 
 and formed a respectable, quietly conducted portion of 
 the population, who strongly supported one another. 
 
 With the exception of an occasional return to Rome, 
 and a short sojourn there, Hadrian lived the life of an 
 imperial traveller, until the infirmities of declining years 
 checked his energy, and his wanderings ceased. Already, 
 at his command, noble structures had arisen in almost 
 
 I? 
 
258 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 every quarter of Rome, the most magnificent of which 
 was the Temple of Rome and Venus with its double 
 cells placed fantastically back to back. It was raised 
 upon an embankment on the high ground between 
 the Forum Romanum and the Amphitheatre, immedi- 
 ately overlooking the colossal edifice. Hadrian, having 
 again taken up his residence in his capital, occupied 
 himself very much with building, first a university, 
 to which he gave the name of Athenseum, in memory 
 of the city, always dear to him, in which he had 
 received his own education ; and having finished that, 
 he built his own tomb. The mausoleum of Augustus 
 was full; there were in it no more vacant sepulchral 
 chambers. Nero's remains had been removed from the 
 Pincian by Vespasian ; Nero was the last emperor 
 buried there ; since his interment it had been closed, 
 and now another mausoleum appeared, almost confront- 
 ing it, on the further bank of the Tiber. 
 
 Procopius describes the tomb of Hadrian as built of 
 large blocks of Parian marble, closely fitted together 
 without cement, or clamps to bind them ; he says, " The 
 four sides of the basement are equal, each about a stone's 
 throw in length, and the height is greater than that of 
 the walls of the city. On the summit are admirable 
 statues of men and horses of the same material; and as 
 this tomb formed a defence to the city, thrown out be- 
 yond the walls, it was joined to them, by the ancients, 
 by two arms built out to it, so that it seemed to rise out 
 of them like a lofty turret."* Few are the buildings 
 which have passed through such strange vicissitudes as 
 has the tomb of Hadrian, which we see as the Castle of 
 St. Angelo. Its founder threw a bridge across the river, 
 
 * Translated by Story. See " Castle of St. Angelo," chap, i., 
 page 6. Published by Chapman and Hall. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE 259 
 
 to make a suitable approach to this place of interment, 
 which, according to Procopius, seems to have been from 
 the first intended also to serve the purpose of a military 
 defence, thrown out with that intention beyond the city 
 walls, yet connected with them. 
 
 In the last years of his life, Hadrian often retired from 
 the city to enjoy comparative seclusion and the lovely 
 scenery around his villa at Tivoli, among the ruins of 
 which have been found some of the most beautiful works 
 of art now exhibited in Rome. Yet those last days were 
 terribly trying ; he was tormented by a painful disorder 
 which caused excessive irritation, under which, from 
 caprice and vexation, he even put innocent persons to 
 death, though his adopted son and heir, the gentle 
 Antoninus, remained with him, and did all he could to 
 subdue these bursts of temper, to which the Emperor 
 gave way under the wearisome pressure of maladies be- 
 yond the reach of medicine. 
 
 " On the whole," says Dean Merivale, " I am disposed 
 to regard the reign of Hadrian as the best of the im- 
 perial series, notwithstanding the ebullitions of passion 
 which clouded his closing career. His defects and vices 
 are those of his time, and he was indeed altogether the 
 fullest representative of his time, the complete and 
 crowning product, as far as we can judge, of the crown- 
 ing a g e f Roman civilization. . . . Hadrian reconciled 
 with eminent success things hitherto found irrecon- 
 cilable a contented army and a peaceful frontier, an 
 abundant treasure and a lavish expenditure, a free senate 
 and a stable monarchy and all this without the lustre 
 of a great military reputation, the foil of an odious pre- 
 decessor, or disgust at recent civil commotions." 
 
 Perhaps Hadrian would not have been quite the 
 man he was, if he had never read the Old Testament 
 
260 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Scriptures, and listened to the arguments of chief Rabbis, 
 and of eminent theologians of the Church, though he 
 disappointed both Jews and Christians, as he turned 
 neither to Judaism nor to Christianity ; and so in his 
 own unaided strength, or rather in his own mortal weak- 
 ness, he met the king of terrors, passed through the last 
 'and greatest trial, the dissolution of the body, without 
 sustaining faith and tranquilizing peace. The decay of 
 nature under protracted disease may expose the soul to 
 temptations as many and as great as those which beset 
 the martyr. Hadrian's edict, forbidding circumcision, 
 remained in force after his death. The Jews again took 
 up arms, and the restoration of the national rite was the 
 avowed object of the revolt. Antoninus Pius repealed 
 the arbitrary law, and he then easily suppressed the 
 insurrection. Antoninus, who was a humane man, showed 
 clemency and favour to the Jews in other ways. 
 Humanity had lately made decided progress among all 
 classes, and under the rule of the first Antoninus procu- 
 ratorsj were especially directed to exercise moderation, 
 to spare the needy, to indulge the unfortunate, to listen 
 to every complaint against the tyranny of the powerful, 
 and as far as possible to redress real grievances. 
 Antoninus was fond of quoting Scipio's noble sentiment, 
 " I prefer the life and preservation of one citizen to the 
 death of a hundred enemies." 
 
 Although Antoninus had restored to the Jews the 
 right to circumcise their own children, yet he strictly 
 forbade them to make proselytes. This Emperor con- 
 tinued the improvements in Rome ; he completed 
 Hadrian's mausoleum, and erected a graceful column, 
 though inferior in height to Trajan's Pillar. The at- 
 tainment of power had wrought a marked change in 
 almost all the earlier Caesars, in some for the better, but 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 261 
 
 generally for the worse. In Antoninus it made no 
 change at all. Such as he had been, kind, modest, and 
 dignified, as a senator, such he continued to be as 
 emperor. He bore himself in all respects towards his 
 inferiors as he had formerly wished his superiors to bear 
 themselves towards him. Antoninus had a happy 
 temperament, a cheerful, contented disposition ; he was 
 apparently the happiest man of whom heathen history 
 makes mention, and, being both virtuous and happy, 
 he may very likely have done more good than any 
 other.* 
 
 It may be well here to mention a civil law, which, 
 when instituted, was doubtless intended to work equally, 
 yet, in process of time, its weight fell unfairly on the 
 Jews. The law obliged all citizens to take upon them- 
 selves certain public offices. Those officers appointed 
 to receive public moneys were responsible for the pay- 
 ment ; consequently, the citizens tried by all evasions, 
 to escape the unpopular office, and when they could not 
 do so, they defended themselves against loss by forcing 
 the money out of the poor inhabitants by every kind of 
 tyranny. Persons desiring to be free from the heavy 
 duties of the decurionate were permitted to appeal to 
 the Emperor, giving their reasons for wishing to be held 
 independent of the obligation. Thus room was left for 
 injustice and favouritism. Antoninus Pius was a man 
 superior to prejudice and unfair partiality ; but Con- 
 stantine the Great and some of the intervening em- 
 perors granted exemptions so easily to Romans, that 
 the Jews were the more heavily burdened with public 
 duty in consequence, and bitter jealousy was excited. 
 This, however, proves that the right of the Jews to 
 Roman citizenship was fully recognized. The Patri- 
 * " History of the Romans under the Empire." By Dean Merivale. 
 
262 t HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 a^chs and Rabbins had the same exemption from all 
 civil and military offices, as had the Christian clergy. 
 
 The good Antoninus died in A.D. 161, at an advanced 
 age, giving to his guard, as his last watchword 
 " Equanimity I" 
 
 In that philosophic age a thoughtful Roman generally 
 gave a dying word a word expressing the idea which 
 at that last moment he commended to his survivors. 
 
 Antoninus Pius and his successors are combined by 
 historians as the Antonines, as Vespasian and his sons 
 are called the Flavian Emperors. 
 
 The gallant Marcus Aurelius repulsed a simultaneous 
 attack of all the races on the northern frontier, Germans, 
 Scythians, and Sarmatians. The war was continued 
 through the winter and summer ; they fought on the 
 frozen bosom of the Danube, and through heat more 
 distressing than the cold. The victories gained are 
 commemorated by a graceful column, banded like that 
 of Trajan with spiral sculpture, by which the incidents 
 are recorded. It was crowned with the statue of the 
 Emperor, but that either fell or was removed, and 
 replaced by a figure of St. Paul. This magnificent 
 and interesting monument was erected by the senate ; it 
 now stands between the Corsoand the Parliament House. 
 
 The name of Marcus Aurelius is still peculiarly loved 
 and honoured in Rome, is given now and then by 
 parents to a boy, for with many of the citizens he is the 
 favourite emperor. Perhaps the feeling would ere this 
 have died out had it not been kept alive by that grand 
 old bronze statue on the Capitoline height, which stands 
 in the centre of the square in front of the Capitol. 
 
 "Of all the Caesars whose names are enshrined in 
 the pages of history, or whose features are preserved in 
 the repositories of art, one alone seems still to haunt 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 263 
 
 the eternal city in the place and the posture most 
 familiar to him in life. In the equestrian statue of 
 Marcus Aurelius, which crowns the platform of the 
 
 Campidoglio, imperial Rome lives again We 
 
 stand face to face with a representative of the Scipios 
 and Caesars, with a model of the heroes of Tacitus and 
 Livy. Our other Romans are effigies of the closet and 
 the museum, this alone is a man of the streets, the Forum 
 and the Capitol.* 
 
 We pay the highest compliment to the memory of 
 Marcus Aurelius, by comparing him with our King 
 Alfred. Were they not both harassed by the invasions 
 of barbarous plundering enemies ? Were they not both 
 warriors, legislators, philosophers, authors of works, on 
 a variety of subjects ? Were not both fond of learn- 
 ing, and wise enough to see that wisdom is the right 
 application of knowledge, and that of all the different 
 kinds of knowledge, that, after such knowledge of God 
 as man can at present attain, self-knowledge is the most 
 needful, which can only be gained by habitual self- 
 examination ? f In one respect their lot was different. 
 " The fortunes of Alfred's country have increased in 
 power and brightness, like the sun ascending to its 
 meridian, whereas the decline of which Aurelius was the 
 melancholy witness was irremediable and final, and his 
 pale solitary star was the last apparent in the Roman 
 firmament." J 
 
 Again, there is a difference, a contrast even more note- 
 worthy ; the one was a pagan, the other a Christian. 
 
 * Dean Merivale. 
 
 t A Diary kept by Marcus Aurelius shows that he was a sin- 
 cerely conscientious man. 
 
 " History of the Romans under the Empire," vol. vii., pages 
 597, 59S. 
 
264 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 From our present point of view, looking on Marcus 
 Aurelius with reference to our subject, the weak and 
 imperfect side of his character must be turned towards 
 us, and all his fine qualities cast in the shade. His 
 bigoted devotion to false religion must be repulsive to 
 us, when we see in him a relentless enemy to both the 
 Jews and the Christians. He was not naturally cruel, 
 not a Nero or a Domitian, quite the reverse ; but he was 
 jealous of the honour of his pagan gods; he thought 
 that refusing to bow down to them in their temples 
 was insulting the majesty of the national divinities. 
 The calamities which succeeded each other with awful 
 rapidity the horrible incidents of warfare with barba- 
 rians famine earthquakes, and great conflagrations 
 excited the superstition of the people ; they thought 
 their gods were angry, and required to the propitiated 
 by more zealous and frequent worship. Superstitious 
 observances which had become almost obsolete were 
 revived, and new shrines were raised to every deity 
 whose power might temper the air or the water, the 
 sunshine or the moonshine, which was supposed to 
 either breed pestilence, or to bear it away ; and many 
 were the sacrifices offered, 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, who looked on all his subjects with 
 a more equal comprehensive regard than this prede- 
 cessors had done, felt that all should unite in this 
 adoration to ^deprecate the divine wrath ; and he saw 
 no excuse for the horror with which Jews and Christians 
 shrank from joining formally in a service which the 
 chief ruler of the state had prescribed, deeming it right 
 and decorous. It vexed and astonished him ; he felt, 
 without being aware of it, that this obstinate refusal to 
 conform to his religious edicts showed ill-feeling towards 
 himself personally, and contempt of the imperial autho- 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 26$ 
 
 rity ; and when this idea had taken possession of his 
 mind, Aurelius made nonconformity a crime, which, if 
 persisted in, would be punished with death, as were all 
 kinds of flagrant disobedience to Roman law and the 
 proclamations of the Imperitor. 
 
 Justin, always spoken of as Justin the Martyr, was 
 beheaded in Rome ; Polycarp was put to death in 
 Smyrna, where the mysterious volcanic force was 
 frightening the inhabitants into an excess of utterly 
 unreasonable superstition ; so they lighted such fire 
 as they could command, to consume unbelievers who 
 would not pray with them, and a number of Jews 
 helped them to kindle it. Ignatius had suffered at 
 Antioch, in Trajan's time. These, and others, as strong 
 in the faith, were among the brave leaders of the Lord 
 of hosts' most noble army of martyrs, which includes 
 thousands whose names are -unknown to us ; surely 
 among them must be those of many heroes of the 
 Hebrew Church, who sacrificed to God their mortal 
 lives ; whose names are written in the " Lamb's book 
 of life," "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
 world." 
 
 " Before the mountains were brought forth" before 
 Moriah, Zion, and Calvary stood round about the place 
 that was being prepared for a Jerusalem on earth. 
 
 From the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession 
 of Septimus Severus, Rome was in a terribly unsettled 
 state, governed by four emperors in succession, every 
 one of whom was murdered. Pertinax, who reigned 
 but three months, was the only one of the four worthy 
 of esteem. 
 
 Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, actually bought 
 the imperial crown. He gave a sum equal to about 
 200 of our English money to every soldier of the 
 
266 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 powerful praetorian guard, which numbered about 12,000 
 men. 
 
 As to the Jews who were living in Rome during this 
 period, we find in trustworthy history nothing about 
 them worth mentioning, and in evil times we gladly 
 remember that truthful saying, " The silence of history 
 is praise/' No doubt every Jew sympathized more or 
 less with his brethren in the far East, with those in 
 Palestine who dared not enter the ancient city of their 
 fathers, or rather, that which under a heathen name 
 occupied its site. Yet they had blessings to be thankful 
 for ; free liberty of exercising their own worship, with 
 the single restraint that they should not attempt to 
 proselyte others ; their Patriarch was permitted to 
 receive tribute, and to appoint to all offices which 
 solely respected themselves ; and they chose from among 
 themselves a council for the regulation of their own 
 religious affairs. When Hadrian abandoned the terri- 
 tory lately acquired by Trajan, the Jews in Mesopo- 
 tamia fell under the power of the Persians, but were 
 made over from the Patriarch of Tiberias to the Prince 
 of the Captivity, and thus still had their own Hebrew 
 chief ruler. Persia rapidly attained dominion, rose to 
 be one of the leading Powers, when the old Roman 
 Empire was splitting into east and west, and when 
 Rome was sinking from her formerly pre-eminent 
 position. 
 
 Owing to the larger measure of influence granted 
 to the Jews by the Persian monarchs, the Prince of the 
 Captivity greatly exceeded the Patriarch of Tiberias in 
 splendour. He resided in a magnificent palace, had his 
 cupbearers and other officers of state, and was compli- 
 mented with valuable presents by all who approached 
 him ; and when on occasions of state he visited the 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 267 
 
 Shah, he was arrayed in cloth of gold, fifty guards 
 marched before him, and all the chief men among the 
 Jews, near enough to join his train, did homage to their 
 own prince, and fell into the procession.* 
 
 Although the Patriarch of Tiberias maintained less 
 state, yet he held more power than his brother who 
 ruled in the East, and by their co-operation the 
 nationality of the Hebrews was preserved ; and this we 
 should bear in mind when we read general statements 
 describing the degradation of the Jews. 
 
 Dean Milman concisely puts before us the four im- 
 portant turning-points of Jewish history in these ages 
 we are now contemplating, that occur between the 
 commencement of the third and the middle of the 
 eighth centuries, which opened views that could not 
 fail to affect, not only the condition, but also in some 
 degree the national character, of the Jew throughout 
 the world. 
 
 ist. The restoration of the Magian religion in the 
 East, under the great Persian monarchy, which arose on 
 the ruins* of the Parthian Empire. 
 
 2nd. The establishment of Christianity as the religion 
 of the Roman Empire. 
 
 3rd. The invasion of the Barbarians who destroyed 
 that Empire. 
 
 4th. The rise and progress of Mahometanism. 
 
 The Patriarchate maintained full power over all the 
 Jews throughout the Roman Empire until about the 
 middle of the third century, when the scattered people 
 had become incorporated into two communities one 
 under the Papacy, the other under the Caliphate. Then 
 the Patriarchate was shaken, but lasted in a declining 
 state for nearly two centuries before it quite collapsed. 
 
 * " History of the Hebrew Nation." By Rev. T. W. Brooks. 
 
 ^^s== 
 
 5 
 
 r*>> o* 
 
268 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 In the time of the Antonines and their successors, 
 and even in Constantine's day, it was still efficient. 
 The Jewish people, high and low, rich and poor, con- 
 curred in their faithful attachment to their synagogue, 
 and in strict subordination to their religious teachers. 
 Every synagogue was visited in turn by the Patriarch's 
 legate, every year a proclamation was made in every 
 synagogue, by sound of the trumpet, commanding the 
 payment of the tribute. Its final day of settlement 
 was the last day of May. On the return of these 
 legates to Tiberias, they informed the Patriarch of the 
 state of every synagogue, assisted him as counsellors, 
 and held a distinguished rank among the people.* 
 
 No doubt there was in Rome a large body of Jews 
 who were satisfied with the basest means of making 
 money, and who, when they were successful in so doing, 
 grew abjectedly mean, covetous, and avaricious, till their 
 Ghetto was avoided by prudent, respectable persons. 
 The poorest among them had managed to hold the 
 ground that Domitian had granted to them, for which 
 they paid a kind of rent. The lovers of poetry had 
 not been able to chase them and their filthy encamp- 
 ment away from Egeria. The vagabonds had contrived 
 to hold a curious sort of freedom there. 
 
 But we may well ask, Can a conquered race, ham- 
 pered and kept down by disabilities, and oppressed with 
 imposts, be expected to stand more firmly upright, 
 maintaining righteousness and dignity more nobly than 
 does the race that conquered it ? Let us see how it 
 was with the Jews' fellow-citizens the great mass of 
 the Roman people. 
 
 Dean Merivale plainly tells us that the masses of the 
 free population of Rome were in fact helpless. They 
 * " History of the Jews." By Dean Milman. 
 
FINAL DISPERSION UNDER PATRIARCHAL RULE. 269 
 
 had become detached from the nobles, their natural 
 leaders, by habits of mutual independence and distrust, 
 which their princes had fostered in both classes. Steeped 
 in slothfulness and poverty, they had neither intelligence 
 nor resources. Mingled and confounded with the crowd 
 of enfranchised slaves of foreign origin and ideas, they 
 had lost the traditions of race which had formerly 
 bound the Roman citizens together, and gave them con- 
 fidence in one another. Disarmed, disorganized, and 
 untrained, it was impossible for them to act against 
 the moral weight of the wealthy and the noble, still more 
 against the sword and the spear of the legionaries and 
 the praetorians. They had now ceased altogether to be 
 counted among the political forces of the Empire. We 
 may dismiss them henceforth from our consideration.* 
 
 Moreover, all history convinces us of the importance 
 of feminine influence, though it should be unobtrusive ; 
 and when we seek to know Roman women of those 
 times, such as occupied high positions, whose deeds 
 were recorded in their country's annals, we find that 
 we cannot look into their conduct, we must turn away 
 from the revolting ideas it suggests, repugnant to purity, 
 modesty, and humanity. Modern historians cast a veil 
 over it, which we dare not withdraw. Pagans though 
 they were, those women are without excuse ; the stories 
 of Lucretia and Cornelia might have taught them better 
 things. 
 
 The Antonines were unhappy in their wives. Faustina, 
 the wife of Antoninus Pius, was not worthy of him, and 
 to us it seems well that her death occurred in the early 
 part of his reign. He gave her divine honours which 
 had become a sort of last complimentary homage to the 
 departed who had held high positions in this world. 
 * " History of the Romans under the Empire," vol. vii. 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE JEWS 2 A ROME. 
 
 Antoninus did not take another wife, and he gave 
 Anna Faustina, his only child, in marriage to his 
 adopted son and heir, Marcus Aurelius. She proved 
 as worthless as her mother. Aurelius acted wisely and 
 kindly ; he would not believe the evil reports, nor any- 
 thing that was said to him against his wife ; but when- 
 he went forth at the head of his army to meet the 
 barbarians, he would not leave her behind. Unaccus- 
 tomed to the hardships of camp life, which she had 
 not desired to encounter, and which were severely felt, 
 even by strong men during that campaign, Faustina fell 
 sick and died on the way, when they were advancing 
 from Carnuntum. She was numbered among the deities ; 
 and when her apotheosis was proclaimed, her widowed 
 husband publicly thanked the gods for having given 
 him "such a wife, so obedient, so affectionate, and so 
 simple." It is possible that Anna Faustina may have 
 been calumniated : a large proportion of the iniquity 
 which made and left its marks on that age was 
 magnified by slanderous tongues. 
 
 The graceful ruins of the Temple of Antoninus Pius 
 and Faustina in the Roman Forum have been mixed 
 up with the masonry of mediaeval times. Its columns, 
 monoliths of green- veined marble, are still standing, and 
 supporting the inscribed architrave ; and on the side 
 walls are beautiful friezes, displaying in finely sculp- 
 tured relief, griffins, candelabra, and other distinguishable 
 ornamentation. The remains of this ancient temple are 
 built into the walls of a church, and altogether blended 
 with it. The original edifice, raised above the' road 
 from which it was approached by twenty-one steps, 
 must have been magnificent 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 
 
" As in an orchard of olives, upon every tree there are left three or four 
 olives ; or as when a vineyard is gathered, there are left some clusters for 
 them that diligently seek through the vineyard : even so in those days 
 there shall be three or four left by them that search their houses with the 
 sword. And the earth shall be made waste, and the fields thereof shall 
 wax old, and her ways and all her paths shall grow full of thorns, because 
 no man shall travel therethrough. . . . 
 
 " Be of good comfort, O Israel, and be not heavy, thou house of Jacob. 
 
 " For the Highest hath you in remembrance, and the Mighty One hath 
 not forgotten you in temptation. 
 
 " Now therefore set thine house in order, and reprove thy people ; comfort 
 such as be in trouble, and renounce corruption. Let go from thee mortal 
 thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature, and 
 set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto thee, and so haste thee to 
 flee from these times." 2 Esdras xvi. 29 32 ; xii. 46, 47 ; xiv. 13 16 
 
X. 
 
 IN THE AGE OF CONSTANT INE. 
 
 THE portion of the Second Book of Esdras, from 
 which these sentences are drawn, is generally 
 supposed to have emanated from a Jewish mind in a 
 season of extraordinary national distress. With regard 
 to the time at which it was produced under this pressure 
 of sorrow, those who have considered the subject are 
 not of unanimous opinion, but it is clear that the author 
 was sorely perplexed and deeply grieved by the wretched 
 condition of the Jewish people when they were com- 
 pletely subjugated and trodden down by the Gentiles. 
 Esdras appears to be an assumed name, and in the 
 book, which was not all written by one person, we find 
 a great many ideas, figures of speech, and expressions 
 borrowed from the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Prophets, 
 and the Apocalypse. The first two chapters are sup- 
 posed to have been prefixed later by a Christian. The 
 significant name of Babylon is used to designate the 
 great and proud metropolis, the reigning city. There 
 were strong reasons for avoiding all mention of the real 
 name of the existing mistress of the world, and with 
 regard to everything directly or indirectly referring to 
 Rome, plain words were highly dangerous ; there was 
 safety only in symbols and allegories, and language 
 ingeniously enigmatical. The allegory in the eleventh 
 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 chapter, of the eagle with twelve wings, means, as is 
 explained in the following chapter, the same kingdom as 
 that seen by Daniel in a vision, and twelve of its kings 
 who reigned one after the other. The series might 
 begin with Julius, the first Caesar, or with Augustus, the 
 first Imperitor.* If we begin the series with Julius, 
 and include Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, it would expire 
 with Domitian, at the close of the first century of 
 the Christian era. If we omit them, it would expire 
 with Hadrian. Frederick Huidekoper points out that 
 there is a difference between eastern and western writers 
 which deserves, but seems to have escaped, attention. 
 Western authors count Galba, Otho, and Vitellius as 
 belonging to the series. Some, at least, of the eastern 
 ones omit them, perhaps because in their quarter of the 
 world these three emperors were regarded rather as un- 
 successful aspirants than as emperors. Eusebius and 
 some other early writers place Vespasian as the successor 
 of Nero. If the author of the chief part of the Second 
 Book of Esdras were an Asiatic Jew, or wrote chiefly 
 for Asiatics, the omission would be natural, and the 
 sufferings of the Jews, of which we read in that book, 
 seem consistent with their condition when the great 
 war burst out at the end of Trajan's reign, and during 
 that of Hadrian. Terrible instances of oppression and 
 cruelty occurred in the reign of Domitian, but the whole 
 nation was not then so utterly broken up and cast down. 
 And at that time, according to Juvenal, Judaism at 
 
 * The length of the second reign seems to mark it as that of 
 Augustus. Also there is a difference between Galba, Otho, and 
 Vitellius. Galba may justly be said to have ruled during the few 
 months that constitute what historians following Suetonius call his 
 reign. He sat down on the throne, and wielded the sceptre. Otho 
 and Vitellius wielded only the power of the sword. 
 
IN THE AGE OF CO. VST AN TINE. 275 
 
 Rome was swelling its ranks with converts.* Not until 
 the latter part of his reign did Domitian become a 
 persecutor. 
 
 The harrowing descriptions scattered through this 
 wildly poetical, incoherent book of Esdras are brightened 
 by gleams of faith, dartings forth of strong convictions 
 that chastisements for sin work together with all things 
 for good to those who love God ; that the horrible eagle 
 is doomed to perish ; that the earth may rest ; and 
 that at last the happy time will come when the Most 
 High will openly triumph over evil, and deliver all who 
 have trusted in Him, out of every sorrow and trouble. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the work is Jewish, 
 although it no longer exists in the language in which 
 it was originally written, which was most likely Hellen- 
 istical Greek. Three translations, in Latin, Ethiopic, 
 and Arabic, are extant. The retranslation in our English 
 Apocrypha is from the Latin. The name of Jesus in 
 chapter vii. 28 is an interpolation unsupported by the 
 Arabic and Ethiopic. f 
 
 When Niger and Septimus Severus were contending 
 for the imperial crown, the Samaritans took up arms 
 for Niger, the Jews threw themselves into the party 
 of Severus. That able general soon triumphed over 
 all opposition, and severely punished the partizans of 
 
 * See "Judaism at Rome," pages 130, 131, 489, 490. 
 
 f The translations extant do not completely and entirely agree. 
 The retranslation from the Latin is that which is printed in the 
 Apocrypha of our English Bibles, though with the addition, from 
 some different Latin text, of two chapters at the beginning and two 
 at the end. On the other hand, a passage of some length h?s 
 been either by accident or design dropped out of the Latin copies . 
 See "Judaism at Rome," page 130, in which the author quotes 
 from an appendix to the fourth volume of Whiston's " Primitive 
 Christianity 
 
276 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 his rival. The Samaritans then forfeited their privilege 
 of Roman citizenship, and to the Jews it was confirmed, 
 and they were set free from some of the restrictions to 
 which they had been hitherto subjected. The new laws 
 made by Septimus Severus were lenient to the Jews ; 
 they were permitted to have the guardianship of pagans 
 were allowed to undertake educational work which 
 opened to them a wide and most important field ; and 
 they were exempted from some burdens which had 
 distressed them greatly, as being incompatible with 
 their religious customs and national habits; but they 
 were still forbidden to return to Palestine. The main- 
 tenance of that prohibition was not unreasonable, for 
 the Jews in the East were restless ; once more they 
 endeavoured to throw off the yoke of Rome, and Judea 
 was invaded by her own sons. The rebellion was 
 quickly put down by Severus, and he treated even those 
 who had risen up against him with moderation ; he did 
 not forget that many Jews had fought bravely under 
 his banner, he was capable of seeing something noble 
 in the obstinacy of the race, in its devotion to its own 
 religion, and its love of independence, and he did not 
 despise it in accordance with the popular cry of the 
 degenerated Romans. 
 
 Under the protection of this emperor, the Jews re- 
 siding in Rome lived as prosperously as their fellow- 
 citizens ; the tide of Rome's fortune had turned, but 
 her people were perhaps not the less happy because 
 the heaving ocean of their national life was not crested 
 with glory and wealth as heretofore. Yet still they 
 were victorious, and the Roman warriors, with their 
 emperor at their head, were honoured by a triumph, 
 and an arch was built as a lasting memorial of the 
 military achievements of this reign. 
 
IN THE AGE OP CONSTANTINE. 
 
 As we stand near the Arch of Titus, we can look 
 across the Roman Forum to that of Septimus Severus. 
 Standing on that spot, one is glad to be reminded that 
 God gave the Jews favour in the sight of the heathen, 
 and " a little refreshing in their bondage." * 
 
 Knowing the Jews to be good soldiers, this emperor 
 encouraged them to enter the army, by giving them a 
 fair chance of attaining promotion and renown, with 
 its stimulating rewards : Jews must have taken part in 
 the conflicts depicted upon that arch. The relievi on 
 the north side represent an attack on the city of Atris, 
 in Arabia ; the taking of Seleucia, on the canal be- 
 tween the Tigris and Euphrates ; and the capture of 
 Ctesiphon. Near the highest angle, at the spectator's 
 right, is represented the siege of Babylon. A rudely 
 designed building with a dome is intended for the 
 famous Temple of Belus ; and on the south side are 
 represented the campaigns in Mesopotamia; but here 
 the sculptures are so much damaged, that but little can 
 be distinguished. We can discern, however, on the 
 standards, the dragons adopted by the Romans after 
 those successful wars of Septimus Severus. In the 
 scene of the triumph on the frieze we distinguish, 
 among the small figures in low relief, the seated Roma 
 receiving homage from the subject Parthia, who kneels 
 before her.f Thus on the two fronts were represented 
 the campaigns and victories of the honoured Emperor. 
 On the summit was placed the imperial effigy in a 
 bronze chariot drawn by two or four horses. 
 
 The sculptures on this Septimian Arch, representing 
 
 * Ezra ix. 8, 9. 
 
 f Abridged from " Historic and Monumental Rome." By 
 Charles Isidore Hemans. Williams and Norgate, 14 Henrietta 
 Street, Covent Garden , London. 
 
278 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the Oriental victories gained in the years 195 to 198, be- 
 tray an unaccountable and hopeless decline in art, when 
 compared with the beautiful relievi of 125 years earlier 
 date, on the similar monument erected in honour of 
 Titus.* 
 
 Septimus Severus, when his strength was failing, went 
 to Britain, explored in wild Caledonia, and died at 
 York. Throughout his long reign the Jews were 
 kindly treated, and his successors did not reverse his 
 decrees, in their favour. Down to the accession of 
 Constantine the Great they suffered but little molesta- 
 tion, all the while they did not themselves disturb the 
 public peace by some act of enmity against the Chris- 
 tians which occasionally caused an outrage or a tumult ; 
 but generally, when this occurred, the Romans were 
 more disposed to take part with the Jews than with 
 the Christians. The former were decidedly favoured 
 by Elagabalus, the priest of the sun, who, being on his 
 mother's side connected with the imperial family, 
 ventured on asserting a claim to the throne, and was 
 accepted by the Romans as their emperor.t Having 
 come from the east, he naturally sympathized with his 
 subjects of eastern origin, and moreover he had been 
 nursed in his childhood by a Jewess, to whom he was 
 warmly attached, and this attracted him towards her 
 people. He went so far as to endeavour to incorporate 
 the Jewish doctrines and customs into that strange 
 medley of superstition which constituted his ideal 
 religion ; he even tried to impose the rite of circum- 
 cision upon his Roman subjects, and to forbid the use 
 of pork, but of course this was resisted, and he was 
 obliged to yield. On the other hand, Elagabalus was 
 
 * " Historical and Monumental Rome." By C. I. Hemans. 
 t Or Helio^abalus. 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 279 
 
 also disappointed by the Jews, as they refused to 
 accept the Emperor's offer of an amalgamation, a com- 
 promise between their own religion and that of the 
 Romans. Their refusal threatened to bring serious 
 consequences on them, which were averted by the 
 death of Elagabalus. Alexander Severus was a philo- 
 sopher, who honoured both Abraham and Jesus Christ. 
 In a private apartment, a sort of temple for contem- 
 plation, he set up their statues among a series of those 
 of all the greatest teachers of mankind, and he looked 
 upon them devoutly, as objects which helped to direct 
 meditation. This amiable emperor was not gifted with 
 conspicuous talents ; his intellectual faculties were such 
 as impelled him to choose discriminately, and to follow 
 eminent leaders of thought, rather than to take the 
 lead. He read with tranquil interest the writings of 
 poets, orators, and philosophers, and he liked to make 
 himself acquainted with the works of the good and 
 wise wherever they might be found. He favoured the 
 Christians ; and their bishops, in their avowed capa- 
 city, habitually attended his court. A dispute arose 
 between the Jews and the Christians over a piece of 
 ground in the Transtevere, on which the Christians 
 wished to build a church. The matter was referred 
 to the Emperor's judgment, and he decided in favour 
 of the Christians, who consequently were enabled to 
 raise in the district westward of the Tiber, where the 
 Jews were so numerically strong, the first edifice of 
 important aspect and size that was reared in Rome 
 for Christian public worship. The happy reign of 
 Alexander Severus was brought to an abrupt con- 
 clusion by a mutiny in the army, headed by an officer 
 named Maxentius. Alexander fell, and this man, by 
 birth a Thracian peasant, was invested with the purple. 
 
280 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The degradation of Rome seemed complete when its 
 chief was a mere illiterate barbarian, ignorant even of 
 the Greek language, the common vehicle of all polished 
 thought for so many centuries ; and this usurper was 
 followed by a succession of emperors, during whose 
 brief and feeble reigns the Empire of the Caesars sank 
 into still deeper weakness and humiliation, until the 
 accession of Diocletian, which marks a new epoch in 
 the history of the Romans.* 
 
 Had Diocletian known how to make the most of 
 the advantages of the position he attained, there might 
 have been a revival, if but for a short time, of imperial 
 rule. The Senate had lost the confidence of the nation ; 
 it had long been nothing more than the stronghold 
 of old and vain tradition, and had ceased to control the 
 march of affairs. Diocletian had no need to submit 
 to its prejudices, or to buy its favour by ignoble con- 
 cessions. The nobles of Rome had relinquished all 
 interest in affairs which they could no longer aspire 
 to conduct. All the power left was in the army, and 
 that was not strong enough to maintain order through- 
 out the Empire, which had so far outgrown its strength, 
 and was harassed on all sides by bold invaders. 
 Diocletian was highly esteemed by the legions ; he ex- 
 hibited great talent in the field ; and he more justly 
 appreciated the needs of the commonwealth than his 
 predecessors for many generations had done.f 
 
 But the oriental character of his administration, his 
 abandonment of Rome, his partition of the govern- 
 ment into separate satrapies, with divided interests, each 
 having its own jurisdiction, tended to hasten on rather 
 than to retard the dissolution of the Empire. He main- 
 tained magnificent state at Nicomedia ; it is doubtful 
 * Merivale. + Ibid. 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 281 
 
 whether he ever visited Rome until his triumph, in the 
 twentieth year of his reign ; and on that occasion he 
 stayed only two months. He did not care to reside 
 in the old capital, as it was his policy to lessen the 
 authority of the Senate and the power of the ancient 
 Roman families. 
 
 During this reign the tenth and last persecution 
 of the Christians took place. They had become a 
 numerous and influential body. Church building had 
 progressed with wonderful rapidity. About eighty 
 years after the erection of the first large church in the 
 Transtevere, forty churches existed in Rome. 
 
 Some of these edifices displayed a degree of archi- 
 tectural splendour, and were furnished with chalices, 
 lamps, and chandeliers of gold and silver. Christians 
 were found in the highest ranks of society, and the 
 highest offices of the army and the state. At this crisis 
 of rapidly attained worldly prosperity, it pleased God 
 to test their hearts, to throw His gold into the fire, to 
 separate pure metal from dross. He chose to prove and 
 to purify the best from its earthly alloy. The persecu- 
 tion seems to have arisen out of the grief and anger which 
 Diocletian arid his son-in-law felt on account of the con- 
 version of their wives. The Empress Prisca joined the 
 Christians at first secretly, afterwards in open opposition 
 to Diocletian's will ; and their daughter Valeria, the wife 
 of Caesar Galerius, who was associated in the govern- 
 ment of the eastern part of the Empire, followed her 
 mother's example. Galerius, who had always bitterly 
 opposed Christianity, was terribly enraged, and he 
 persuaded Diocletian to issue a series of edicts. The 
 first decreed that all who refused to sacrifice to the 
 gods of the Empire should lose their offices, rank, 
 property, and civil privileges; that the Christian 
 
282 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 churches should be razed to the ground, their sacred 
 books destroyed, and endowments consficated. Other 
 edicts followed ; none of them expressly enacted the 
 punishment of death, but it often resulted from torture, 
 and in many cases it was inflicted, as on Alban, the 
 first martyr of the British Church. Thousands were 
 tortured, imprisoned, or sent to the mines. 
 
 The Jews were not at all involved in this persecution } 
 excepting in so far as there seems reason to suppose 
 that the basest individuals among them sided, not 
 with the sufferers, but with the persecutors. 
 
 Diocletian set up two pillars in Spain, on which were 
 inscriptions declaring that he had extended the Roman 
 Empire from east to west, and abolished the superstition 
 of Christ, and extended the worship of the gods. He 
 died about ten years after he had erected those pillars, 
 but he had lived long enough to hear of the edict 
 which at last guaranteed to the Christians an established 
 position in the commonwealth. 
 
 Diocletian's last years were miserable, all the more 
 so, as he had ruled ably, with judgment and prudence. 
 But persecuted by relentless enemies, chiefly those of 
 his own family, or men whom he had raised, he was, 
 as he advanced in years, so much harassed, that he 
 abdicated the throne ; and then the competition for 
 the imperial power caused great confusion. Diocletian 
 would fain have returned to the helm, but his relations 
 and old associates repeatedly drove him from it. Con- 
 stantinus, the ruler of the Gaulish provinces, was much 
 beloved both in the army and by the people. On 
 his death, which occurred at York, his son Constantine 
 was proclaimed in that city, Emperor of Rome ; but 
 for six years he confined himself to the administration 
 of the northern provinces, and carried out his father's 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 283 
 
 conciliatory policy. He married Fausta, a daughter 
 of the ex-Emperor. However politic this union may 
 have been, it produced* for Diocletian- only an increase 
 of trouble in his family ; and at last the aged man put 
 an end to his own life, by the desire of his daughter's 
 husband, the reigning Emperor. 
 
 In A.D. 312, Constantine, having gained a series of 
 brilliant victories over his rival, Maxentius, entered 
 Rome, and was acknowledged chief ruler of the whole 
 Empire. Maxentius, when attempting to escape, had 
 been drowned in the Tiber ; other adversaries made 
 peace, and Constantine reigned alone. In the year 
 after that of his accession he issued from Milan the 
 famous edict which gave the imperial sanction to the 
 religion of the Christians, and assured them of his favour 
 as well as his protection. He was at heart a Christian, 
 and very zealous in the cause of Christianity ; but, as 
 regards its fundamental principles, he was ignorant, and 
 therefore misapprehended the doctrines to which he 
 listened with reverence. His thoughts about the holy 
 sacraments were so darkened by superstitious fears, 
 that he could not be persuaded to be baptized until 
 he lay on his deathbed, knowing that he was departing 
 this life ; and through that same ignorance he could but 
 dimly see the meaning of our Saviour's precepts, although 
 he believed in the glad tidings of salvation, and declared 
 that, when on his march from Gaul, he had beheld the 
 vision of a brilliant cross in the sky, inscribed with the 
 legend, " Conquer in this." 
 
 Merivale remarks : " It is not necessary to believe 
 that this was either a miracle or an imposture. Con- 
 stantine was a man of strong imagination, exalted by 
 wonderful successes." 
 
 We should always remember that with God all things 
 
284 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 are possible. It is as easy for Him to work by miracle 
 as by means. To us, at present, the miracle seems the 
 more wonderful and glorious ; but by-and-by, if we 
 should be permitted to see how God has worked by 
 means of His own laws how He has done to exact 
 perfection the most complicated work, in and for every 
 race and nation, and every individual soul, it may then 
 seem to us most stupendously wonderful and glorious, 
 where we see that it has been carried through from 
 beginning to end, without breaking one of the least of 
 the code of laws to which He subjected Nature, or one 
 of the ordinances of divine grace on which both the old 
 and the new covenant are founded. 
 
 Certainly Constantine won a victory that seated him 
 securely on the imperial throne, and he always affirmed 
 solemnly that he had gained it under the power signified 
 by the luminous cross which at mid-day had appeared 
 in the heavens, shining over him and his army. He 
 had the famous standard made, consisting of a cross 
 and the letters XP surrounded by a garland. New 
 religious ideas did not diminish the worldly ambition 
 of this prince, whose object was the unity of the Empire, 
 and through everything he pursued this aim till he had 
 attained it. 
 
 The triumphal arch which he erected in Rome, in 
 honour of his victory, still remains. This magnificent 
 relic of antiquity is most valuable to the archaeologist, 
 as the bas-relief which represents the triumph shows 
 the Roman Forum as it was in the days of Con- 
 stantine. From the epigram on the arch we may 
 infer that a senate, still chiefly heathen, agreed that 
 the record chiselled on the marble monument should 
 be so carefully worded as to be consistent with the 
 Emperor's declaration to satisfy Constantine, and gra- 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANT1NE. 285 
 
 tify the Christians, without offending the pagans. The 
 phrase, " instinctu Divinitatis? is so singular, that 
 archaeologists long assumed it to be a substitute for 
 some other words originally inscribed. But Chev. de 
 Rossi has ascertained, through minute inspection, that 
 no alteration has been made.* Magnificent as is the 
 Arch of Constantine, it nevertheless speaks of the de- 
 cline of art, as it was not in the first instance decorated 
 with entirely new sculpture. It seems that the Arch 
 of Trajan had fallen into a dilapidated state, and instead 
 of being restored, it was destroyed, and some of its 
 sculptures used to ornament that raised in honour of the 
 reigning Emperor. 
 
 That arch has stood through nearly sixteen centuries. 
 The name of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, 
 which was revered by Christian barbarians, seems to 
 have defended it against the rude treatment which 
 injured or destroyed most of the grand monuments of 
 Rome. Groups of fine trees stand near it, and a shady 
 avenue leads from the Arch up the Via di S. Gregorio. 
 In the tranquillity of night the scene is solemnly 
 beautiful, when the full moon shines on the Colosseum, 
 the ruin of the Gladiator's fountain, and the Arch of 
 Constantine. 
 
 The establishment of Christianity necessarily affected 
 the condition of the Jews. Those among them who were 
 maliciously disposed towards the Christians had no longer 
 the opportunity of procuring their punishment by accus- 
 ing them on account of their religion, before the Roman 
 tribunes. Under this Emperor and his immediate succes- 
 sors the Jews were deprived of some privileges they had 
 enjoyed under the late pagan emperors, and laws and 
 edicts were promulgated, the special object of which was 
 * " Historical and Monumental Rome." By C. I. Hemans. 
 
286 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 to humble the Hebrew community. The first of these 
 laws enacted that if a Jew should kill or endanger the 
 life of a Christian convert, he should be burnt to death. 
 Another statute prohibited the Jews from proselytising ; 
 they were to make no converts. A third decree made 
 it unlawful for a Jew to possess Christian slaves. This 
 was a necessary legal act, as many wealthy Jews had 
 purchased slaves, and had abused their power even to 
 forcing circumcision upon them. The rapid growth of 
 Christianity had tended to strengthen the influence of 
 the rulers of the synagogues, by constantly keeping 
 alive the vigilance and inflaming the zeal of the more 
 steadfast adherents of the old law. Thus the enmity 
 between Jew and Christian had been kept up to a high 
 degree of malice, and the contest between them had 
 been, on the whole, a not unequal one, until an Em- 
 peror of Rome threw the weight of his power entirely 
 on the side of the Christians. The Jews, to whom this 
 great change was an unexpected stroke of adversity, 
 could not rejoice over the pros'pects of a speedy abo- 
 lition of idolatry by that means, and they regarded 
 the triumph of the Christians with emotions of mingled 
 envy, anger, and astonishment. The early Christians 
 accuse the rulers of the synagogues of having sent 
 messages to every part of the world for the purpose 
 of anathematizing them in all the synagogues, and 
 uttering a solemn curse upon the name of Jesus Christ. 
 It is by no means unlikely that these legates had 
 received instructions to warn all faithful Israelites 
 against this detested innovation, and to counteract 
 by every means in their power, the progress of this 
 new religion.* 
 
 Great must have been the dismay of the Jews when 
 
 * Milman's " History of the Jews 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 287 
 
 the edict of Constantine was promulgated, and bitter 
 must have been their grief when another new Jerusalem 
 appeared on the site of their ancient city. Constantine 
 restored its name, destroyed the heathen temples, erected 
 magnificent shines over the sepulchre of our Lord and 
 other holy places. As yet, in a Christian shrine God 
 only was worshipped only to the eternal Persons of 
 the Godhead were the prayers of the primitive Church 
 addressed. 
 
 The eastern Jews, grieved and exasperated beyond 
 endurance by these changes, joined the Magians, 
 massacred their Christian neighbours, and destroyed 
 their churches; but strength was given to Rome, and 
 that rebellion was quickly quelled. It had, however, 
 the effect of making the yoke of the Jew heavier, and 
 increasing his unpopularity. But as a nation, though 
 scattered, they had an innate strength which, enabled 
 them to stand against this ; it was the kind of strength 
 given by union. Still in every city colonized by Jews 
 there was a synagogue or more than one, according to 
 the number of their people, and each synagogue had its 
 appendant law court, in which lectures were given, and 
 knotty points of the law debated ; and though the spirit 
 of independence was gaining influence, they, as yet, all 
 maintained allegiance to the patriarchate. The Jews 
 also had their own market, ruled by their own officers, 
 who regulated the price of every commodity ; and the 
 Roman citizens were free to buy in the Jews' market, 
 if they pleased. The Jews were not exclusively and 
 absolutely shut up in their ghetto by an emperor, but 
 by a pope of Rome.* 
 
 * Paul the fourth fixed the Jews in their ghetto about A.D. 1555 
 Then it was ordered that the Jews' gate should be closed at nine 
 o'clock in the winter, and at half -past ten in the summer. 
 
 Of 
 
288 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Rome had lived through its springtime of fresh, vigo- 
 rous energy, when its sap was rising, and all its vital 
 activity at work. It had passed through a glorious 
 summer-tide, and we may call the age of Constantine 
 its golden autumn. As a seed vessel bursts, the 
 territorial part of the Empire, though looking bright, 
 was ready to split, was actually splitting. As, in that 
 metaphorical light, we look upon it, we may at one 
 moment admire the brilliant tints, catching a ray from 
 the sun, and in the next, when a cloud is passing by, we 
 may see it as a withered thing that speaks of death. 
 Let us carry on the simile a little further, and rest our 
 faith on words which have a meaning far wider than the 
 whole compass of the vegetable kingdom : " Fruit whose 
 seed is in itself." 
 
 Old Rome's work was nearly done ; it had but to 
 scatter its seed on the earth. 
 
 Neither Diocletian nor Constantine could have pre- 
 vented a rupture; it was only theirs to choose in which 
 portion of their dominions the imperial court should 
 chiefly reside. Diocletian, as we have seen, had chosen 
 the east as the division of the Empire which he deemed 
 most worthy of his presence; and perhaps this policy 
 had tended to a temporary restoration of imperial 
 Roman authority, and Constantine had followed it up 
 by spending much time at Nicomedia in Bithynia. Not 
 being perfectly satisfied with that site, his eye had often 
 rested on, and his thoughts had reverted to, Byzantium, 
 on the European shore at the southern mouth of the 
 Bosphorus. 
 
 He considered the situation, and decided that it was 
 admirable for defence, and not less so as an administra- 
 tive centre. He planned a city himself, marked out the 
 ground to be included within the walls, and proceeded to 
 
IN THE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 289 
 
 fill the space, which was not inferior to the area of 
 Rome. The Emperor required the nobles of the Empire 
 to erect palaces for their families, and he created for it 
 a new senate and hierarchy of officers, after the model 
 of the ancient capital. The city and senate of Rome 
 remained as before, while those of Constantinople were 
 endued with equal honour and authority; and enjoyed 
 moreover all the advantages of the imperial presence. 
 Two capitals could not long exist on equal terms. Rome 
 sank into a provincial metropolis, such as Alexandria, 
 Antioch, or Treves, and Constantinople became the 
 mistress of the world.* 
 
 Constantine died in the May of A.D. 337, seven years 
 after the solemn dedication of his new city. Eusebius, 
 Bishop of Caesarea, the historian, to whom he was much 
 attached, was with him at the last, and baptized him. 
 
 The memory of this distinguished sovereign has been 
 as much injured by the panegyrics of the Christians, as 
 by the unscrupulous detraction of the pagans. Only ex- 
 perienced, thoughtful writers, who are capable of entering 
 into the mental struggles of an age of transition, should 
 attempt to delineate the personal character of Constan- 
 tine. Undoubtedly, his reign of thirty-one years was 
 glorious, untroubled by such dissensions as had previously 
 prevailed, and his conduct of affairs on every frontier 
 promoted prosperity : although the borderlands suffered 
 from the incursions of the barbarians, after the Roman 
 legions had been removed from the garrisons on the rivers. 
 
 Constantine defeated 100,000 Goths, and received into 
 his territories, as his subjects, 300,000 Sarmatians, and 
 gave them land to cultivate. They had been driven 
 from beyond the Danube by their own slaves, who had 
 successfully risen up in rebellion against them. 
 * Merivale. 
 
 19 
 
2QO HISTORY OP THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 All the people beyond the limits of the Empire were 
 called Barbarians, but the name did not then signify 
 what it now does ; the word did not convey the ideas 
 which it now suggests to our minds. It meant little, 
 if anything more than not Roman. The number of 
 barbarians who were enrolled in Constantine's grand 
 army is incalculable. 
 
 Thus by both the sword and the ploughshare, by 
 warfare and by peaceful labour, the miry potter's clay, 
 having been brought into contact with the iron, was 
 being mingled with it ; for the fourth great revolution 
 in the history of the world was impending; the agencies 
 that were to accomplish it were already working. 
 
 It was long ago since the Romans had first come into 
 collision with the Gauls; they had often harassed the 
 republic, and had proved formidable enemies to Julius 
 and Augustus Caesar, but in course of time they had 
 not only been overcome by the Romans, but moreover 
 had been in a degree assimilated with them : Gauls and 
 Romans had blended, though not very closely. Gaul was 
 much more extensive than modern France ; it included 
 also Belgium, a part of Holland, the Rhine provinces, 
 and the greater part of Switzerland. Rome had subdued 
 the Gauls so completely, that she had Romanized, or 
 Latinized them, as some historians express it. In 
 southern Gaul, Rome had most successfully produced 
 a likeness of herself. The Gauls belong to the great 
 Keltic or Celtic race. The whole human race has been 
 scientifically separated, first into grand primary divisions, 
 each of which in later generations divided again and again, 
 and the divisions and subdivisions cannot yet be posi- 
 tively and clearly defined, because ethnology is a science 
 in its infancy. It has not yet reached the stage at which 
 a science can be taught to the multitude as a positive 
 
IN ThE AGE OF CONSTANTINE. 291 
 
 branch of general knowledge. Botany is an older science; 
 it can be definitely taught on the Linnaean system, 
 and also on that of the Natural Orders; both systems 
 are studied by persons who desire to become well ac- 
 quainted with that subject. Ethnology, though but a 
 young growing science, has already done good service 
 to those time-honoured sciences, geography and history. 
 It is now generally thought that Europe was peopled 
 by several migrations, or, as they have been called, 
 waves of population, all flowing from one point in the 
 East. Of these, the two principal were the Kelts and 
 the Germans, both branches of one greater branch or 
 race, supposed to have sprung from Japhet.* The Kelts 
 seem to have made their way into Europe through the 
 districts bordering on the Mediterranean ; they spread 
 themselves over all Western Europe. The Germans 
 entered Europe from the shores of the Black Sea, 
 advanced through the centre of the continent, until they 
 came in contact with the Kelts, whom they gradually 
 drove on to the west and south-west. The Germans 
 themselves were urged on westward by a new migration, 
 the Sclavonic, as tribes of Sarmatians were pressing 
 them from behind.! 
 
 * " Celt, Roman, and Saxon." By Thomas Wright. Page i. 
 
 According to the system of ethnology set forth in Dr. Latham's 
 " Universal History of the Varieties of Man," the Lapetidcs, one of 
 three primary divisions, comprehended among other races the 
 Celts, the Goths, and the Sarmatians. The Goths subdivided very 
 numerously. Their Teutons included the Mceso-Goths and the 
 high and low Germans, which split into many tribes. But not 
 until about the tenth century did the Latin writers upon German 
 affairs begin to use the words Teutonicus and Teutonico whence 
 our English word Teuton. Previously those nations were known 
 only as Goths, Allmen, or Germans. On this Grimm remarks that 
 " Teuton sounded more learned." 
 
 t " Celt, Roman and Saxon." By Thomas Wright. 
 
292 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Readers who desire to learn more about the origin 
 and languages of these nations should study Dr. 
 Prichard's work, " TJie Eastern Origin of the Celtic 
 Nations^ edited by Dr. Latham, who says, " In arguing 
 that the Celts, or Kelts, were of Eastern origin, Dr. 
 Prichard meant this, viz., that they were in the same 
 predicament with certain other nations, to which, by 
 universal consent, or nearly so, an Eastern origin was 
 attributed : these nations being those belonging to the 
 Gothic or German, the Slavonic, the Lithuanic, the 
 Greek, the Latin, and Sanskrit groups. That these 
 formed a class was certain. It was certain, too, as all 
 but universal consent could make it, that they formed a 
 class of Eastern origin. But it was not certain, that to 
 this class the Kelts belonged. Whether they did so or 
 not Dr. Prichard inquired, and, after inquiry, decided 
 the question in the affirmative.* 
 
 A fusion of races may produce a valuable compound. 
 The benefit derived from the assimilation of the Kelt 
 with the Roman was not all on one side. The Kelt 
 was naturally gifted with vivid imagination, warm 
 enthusiasm, quick perception of the perfect and the 
 beautiful, with love of simile and all poetical concep- 
 tions.f The noble race produced a succession of re- 
 markable persons, who, thanks to Tacitus, shine out 
 with an imperishable light amid the degradation of the 
 world. \ 
 
 But in the fourth and fifth centuries, stronger, wilder 
 
 * " The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nation." By James Cowles 
 Prichard, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. Edited by R. G. Latham, M.A., 
 M.D., F.R.S. Published by Houlston and Wright, London, 1857. 
 (See page 73.) 
 
 t Matthew Arnold. 
 
 ^ Montalembert's " Monks of the West." 
 
IN THE AGE Of CONSTANTINE. 293 
 
 waves of people poured down on the Roman dominions. 
 First, the Sclavonic Sarmatians, then all the Gothic 
 hosts, including Germans or Allmen, and Franks, as the 
 smaller tribes were called, who gained importance by 
 confederation. No less daring and irresistible were the 
 Mongolic nations Tartars, Huns, Bulgarians, and the 
 unbrotherly Avars and Turks. 
 
 When Romans and barbarians were thus mingled 
 together, wonderfully did the condition of the Empire 
 and the feelings of its mixed population answer to the 
 few prophetic words " But, they shall not cleave one to 
 another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."* 
 
 We often read of Scythians ; that word did not signify 
 a race, it meant nomadic people who had become dis- 
 tinguished by the habit of wandering for the sake of 
 pasturage, rather than of pushing on for the sake of 
 conquest ; but the word fell into indiscriminate use, and 
 when the general condition of the earth had become 
 more settled, its meaning was obscured. 
 
 All these nations, not at once, and in their full force, 
 but in strong representative bodies of brave rude war- 
 riors, came down on the Empire, sometimes several ot 
 them invaded simultaneously, sometimes in quick suc- 
 cession, on first the western and afterwards on the 
 eastern division of the once enormous dominions. The 
 grand old city fell, was no more what it had been, was 
 not Rome as we have been looking upon it, the metro- 
 polis of the whole world. As such it ceased to exist, 
 yet something survived that decease, its better part was 
 not dead, it is still living under altered conditions, in 
 another state of life. 
 
 Dean Merivale concisely tells us, that " the Empire 
 of Rome was destined to last for eleven centuries, and 
 * Daniel ii. 43. 
 
294 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 to be continued through a second existence, with its seat 
 transferred to Constantinople, for just eleven centuries 
 more, while no small portion of the ideas which it pro- 
 duced, or which accumulated round it its laws, its 
 language, its social and civil usages still exist. The 
 basements of Rome were laid in an antiquity beyond 
 the ken of human intelligence, but we may at least 
 trace them down through a long succession of ages, and 
 discover how they were piled up from era to era, from 
 revolution to revolution, till they formed the soil upon 
 which the historic city was erected, and still continues 
 to stand."t 
 
 t "General History of Rome." By Charles Merivale, D.D. 
 Page i. Longman & Co. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 
 
" But their days, 
 
 Their hours are numbered. Hark, a yell, a shriek, 
 A barbarous outcry, loud, and louder still, 
 That echoes from the mountain to the sea ! 
 And mark, beneath us, like a bursting cloud, 
 The battle moving onward ! . . . . 
 
 From the depth 
 
 Of forests, from what none had dared explore, 
 Regions of thrilling ice, as tho' in ice 
 Engendered, multiplied, they pour along, 
 Shaggy and huge ! Host after host, they come, 
 The Goth, the Vandal ! and again the Goth ! " 
 
 ROGERS. 
 
XI. 
 
 DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 
 
 ETURNING to the latter days of the Roman Em- 
 JL V pire, we find that Constantinus, who succeeded 
 his father, Constantine the Great, showed kindly feeling 
 towards the Jews, until insurrections in Palestine induced 
 him to change his merciful policy, and to deal very 
 severely with the whole scattered nation. They were for- 
 bidden under pain of death from possessing Christian 
 slaves, and from marrying Christian women ; these pro- 
 hibitions show that they must have grown wealthy, 
 and also that the animosity between Jew and Christian 
 was less universal than it had been. The interdict of 
 Hadrian, which prohibited their approach to the Holy 
 City, was renewed. Christian pilgrims were crowding 
 into Jerusalem, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 stood in lofty state on the hill of Calvary, while the 
 hill of Moriah was still desolate, as it had been left by 
 the plough of the conqueror. The Empress Helena, the 
 mother of Constantine the Great, had built the Church 
 over the Sepulchre, and believed she had discovered 
 remains of the true cross, of which an inexhaustible 
 supply of splinters were being disseminated through the 
 Christian world. It is curious that the actual discovery 
 of the cross is ascribed to a Jew. 
 
 During the disturbances caused by the Arian con- 
 troversy in the restless city of Alexandria, the Hebrews 
 
298 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 joined with the pagans on the side of the Arian bishop, 
 against Athanasius and his followers ; frightful excesses 
 were committed, churches burnt, and horrible outrages 
 perpetrated under this perverted religious excitement. 
 
 The accession of Julian, whose enmity to the Chris- 
 tians was well known, delighted the Jews, and the Apos- 
 tate surpassed their most sanguine anticipations ; for 
 he immediately rescinded the decrees of Constantine 
 against the Hebrews, relieved them from their burdens, 
 annulled the ban which had so long excluded them from 
 their own land, and invited them to rebuild their Temple 
 on the old site. Never since the commencement of the 
 captivity had such joyful hopes animated the hearts of 
 the sons of Abraham. They thought the Restoration 
 was at hand, and some of them entertained the idea 
 that Julian would prove to be their Messiah. To aid 
 the work in Jerusalem, Jewish money poured in, and 
 bands of strong men of all ranks hastened thither to 
 take part in the labour. The ground was being cleared, 
 and the new foundations laid, when a sudden explosion, 
 caused possibly by fire-damp, occasioned so much alarm 
 and confusion, that the work was interrupted, and soon 
 afterwards finally stopped by the premature death of 
 Julian, in the second year of his reign. Before his ac- 
 cession, he had successfully repulsed an invading troop 
 of the Alemanni, a Teutonic tribe. Jovian reversed all 
 his predecessor's decrees, undid everything that Julian 
 had done ; but, fortunately for the Jews, his reign was 
 very short. Valentinian and Valens restored and con- 
 firmed their civil rights, which they continued to enjoy 
 under Gratian and Theodosius, notwithstanding the 
 hard, inhuman prejudices entertained against them 
 by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who acquired and main- 
 tained great power over those two successive emperors. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 299 
 
 Gratian, in his boyhood, had been confided by his father 
 to the care of Ambrose, who was considered the great 
 teacher of the day. The youth had learned to under- 
 stand the baptismal covenant, and was prepared, by 
 God's help, to do his part. Up to this time the 
 Emperors had assumed the title of Sovereign Pontiff, 
 which each had borne until his death, after which 
 he had been deified, and his successor had been invested 
 with that title, as well as with that of Imperitor, or 
 Emperor. When the envoys of the Senate brought the 
 pontifical robes to Gratian, he decidedly refused to wear 
 them. Monuments exist, on which the title of Pontiff 
 follows this Emperor's name, but he did not accept the 
 title, and never wore the vestments attaching to it. 
 
 It is sad to read that in after years Gratian, though 
 he always professed Christianity, lost the esteem of his 
 subjects 'by addicting himself to idle and unworthy 
 pleasures. He was strangely attracted towards Alaric, 
 a brave Goth, to whom he entrusted the protection of 
 his person, and they spent much time in hunting, till 
 it was whispered that the Emperor was becoming a 
 barbarian himself, unlike the descendant of a long line 
 of Roman princes. He was assassinated by a follower 
 of the usurper Maximus. For a moment the power 
 over the Roman world was once more divided among 
 a triumvirate, but the Western Empire was soon re- 
 stored under Theodosius, who in history is distinguished 
 as Theodosius the Great. 
 
 Both in the East and West the Jews were treated 
 as useful loyal subjects, although a calamity occurred, 
 which greatly disturbed both Jews and Romans through- 
 out the Empire. A lawless party of bigoted Christians 
 wantonly burnt a synagogue to the ground. Theodosius 
 issued an edict ordering them to rebuild it, and directed 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the Bishop of Callinicum, on the Euphrates, to see it 
 done. 
 
 Thereupon Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, broke out into 
 the most vehement expressions of indignation; for to 
 him it appeared utterly inconsistent for a Christian 
 sovereign to protect the Jews. Not content with address- 
 ing a violent letter on the subject to the Emperor, who 
 was at that time staying in Milan, Ambrose launched 
 out against him from the pulpit. Theodosius yielded 
 to the daring Churchman, the edict was recalled, and 
 the Jews had to do without that one synagogue until 
 nearly the end of this Emperor's life and reign. Then, 
 being removed from under the immediate influence of 
 the Bishop, he ventured to think for himself, and re- 
 flection gave him higher views of righteousness and 
 Christianity. Determined to do justice to the Jews, he 
 issued another edict that secured religious liberty to 
 them, and condemned to the severest punishment all 
 persons who should plunder and destroy their synagogues. 
 Although Bishop Ambrose took such narrow, prejudiced 
 views with regard to what was due to the Jews, yet the 
 power he obtained over the mind of Theodosius was 
 generally well exercised. When the Emperor, being 
 greatly provoked by a rebellion that had broken out 
 at Thessalonica, sent a hasty order commanding a 
 general massacre, Ambrose remonstrated with him, and 
 obtained a promise that the cruel order should be re- 
 voked. Theodosius, however, allowed it to be executed, 
 and 7,000 persons were slaughtered in cold blood. When 
 the deed was done, and the Emperor's passion had 
 passed off, he was tormented with remorse ; and in an 
 agony of self-reproach was about to enter the church 
 at Milan. Ambrose met him in the porch, and sternly 
 forbade him to enter. Theodosius pleaded the example 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 301 
 
 of David. "You have imitated David in his crime, 
 imitate him in his repentance before you presume to 
 enter the house of God," was the reply. The Emperor 
 submitted, and, as the Bishop directed, expressed his 
 contrition publicly for the sin of which he had been 
 guilty. 
 
 The penitence of Theodosius became a favourite 
 subject with preachers and painters, and is remarkable 
 as being the first instance of such ecclesiastical authority 
 being exercised over a sovereign prince. 
 
 Power was at this time given to the Church, that it 
 might accomplish the destruction of paganism. We 
 well know that often by individual members it has been 
 abused, yet shall we not still be warmly grateful for 
 the loving condescension of the Almighty Father and 
 Ruler of His large family, who permits His children to 
 help in doing His work weak, foolish, and ignorant 
 though they are ? 
 
 Bishop Ambrose seems to have been raised up to 
 lead on his fellow-men in the last pitched battle against 
 idolatry. Before that last struggle with paganism, there 
 still existed in Rome 152 heathen temples, and 183 
 chapels dedicated to different gods and goddesses, and 
 the shrines of Romulus and of the Caesars, and of Vic- 
 tory, a kind of deified impersonation of Rome herself, 
 of which the people were both proud and fond. The 
 story of the last attack upon the favourite statue in the 
 Forum, the earnestness with which it was defended, and 
 re-erected only to be thrown down again, is touching. 
 
 Thirty-eight years elapsed from the baptism and death 
 of Constantine until the pagan altars were overthrown, 
 the temples closed, the sacrifices abolished ; and the 
 two men under whose command that iconoclastic victory 
 was gained were Ambrose and Theodosius. Yet how 
 
302 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 strangely history repeats itself! That zealous Bishop 
 so highly eulogized the martyrs, ascribed to their ashes 
 the power of working miracles, and made them objects 
 of such homage as soon became adoration that expressed 
 itself in a kind of idolatrous worship. 
 
 In the year 397, Ambrose rested from his labours. 
 One of his good works, as far as we can judge, the com- 
 plete abolition of gladiatorial shows, was achieved in 
 A.D. 404 ; his influence had done it, though he did not 
 live to hear of the legal prohibition which put an end to 
 those horrible exhibitions. 
 
 While the power of the bishops of the Church was 
 increasing, that of the Jewish Patriarch was dwindling 
 away. Theodosius had recognized the power of the 
 Patriarch to punish the refractory members of the Jewish 
 community ; the prefects were forbidden from interfer- 
 ing with the judicial courts of the Jewish primate. 
 
 When disputes arose between Jews and Christians, 
 both parties were expected to appear before the ordinary 
 tribunals. Jews, carried beyond the bounds of reason 
 and prudence by hot indignation against their adver- 
 saries, appealed to heathen tribunals, not only to decide 
 their litigations with Christians, but also appealed to the 
 civil authority against the injustice of their own judicial 
 authorities. Such suicidal action could have but one 
 result, that of bringing the Patriarchate under contempt, 
 and hastening its downfall. The formerly revered and 
 potential office, after having exercised authority for 
 nearly three centuries, expired in the person of Gamaliel. 
 Theodosius either divested that Patriarch of the hono- 
 rary title, and virtually destroyed his authority, or, as 
 some suppose, did away with the office. The offence 
 alleged against the Patriarch was his having built new 
 synagogues in defiance of the law, which required the 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 
 
 imperial sanction. Gamaliel may have been permitted 
 to retain the empty title ; but at his death no successor 
 was appointed, and this spiritual monarchy of the West 
 was finally dissolved. Its power may be said to have 
 passed into the hands of the chief Rabbis. The Jeru- 
 salem Talmud had already been compiled as a new 
 code ; it embodied and preserved the learning of the 
 schools in Palestine, which, before the fall of the Patri^ 
 archate, had very much deteriorated. The Talmud of 
 Babylon, a later compilation, eclipsed the more obscure 
 and less perfect work of the Jews in Palestine, and 
 became the law and religion of the whole race.* 
 
 Ever since the death of Constantine, the Goths had 
 been harassing the old Empire, and during the last 
 thirty years they had made frightful inroads, terribly 
 disturbing the Romans and Romanized Gauls in the 
 provinces ; and at last they effected a settlement on the 
 south bank of the Danube. Theodosius, finding that 
 he could not drive them away, made an agreement with 
 them, that they should defend the Danubian frontier ; 
 and under his control they might have proved useful 
 dependants on the Empire, but his successors had not 
 his firmness of character and his organizing talents. 
 Before his death, Theodosius divided the Empire between 
 his two sons, making Arcadius, the elder, Emperor of the 
 east, and Honorius, the younger, Emperor of the west : 
 in their time occurred the great Gothic invasion. 
 
 Alaric first invaded Italy in the year 400 of the 
 Christian era, and carried off an extraordinary amount 
 of all sorts of plunder. Two years later he returned, 
 but was forced to surrender, and to make a treaty, 
 the conditions of which he immediately broke. Re- 
 peatedly he returned, and threatened Rome, and at 
 * Dean Milman's " History of the Jews." 
 
304 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 last actually laid siege to the city, and at the head of 
 his victorious host he entered it on the 24th of August, 
 A.D. 410, exactly 800 years from its conquest by the 
 Gauls under Brennus. 
 
 The cowardice of some of the people, and the trea- 
 chery of slaves, many of whom were related to besieging 
 warriors, helped the enemy to find an easy access to 
 the Salarian Gate, by which they entered ; and in the 
 dead of night the blasts of the Gothic trumpets resound- 
 ing through the streets awoke the inhabitants to such 
 a scene of horror as that generation had never before 
 witnessed. The air was rent with mingled cries of fear 
 and triumph, agony and death. Down every street the 
 helpless and the innocent were rushing at their utmost 
 speed, vainly striving to escape from pursuers who 
 under such excitement were perfect savages. 
 
 Happily, their leader, Alaric, was not a heathen 
 barbarian ; though ignorant and fierce, he was a Chris- 
 tian. He did not order that the inhabitants should be 
 put to the sword, and the city set on fire ; on the 
 contrary, he exhorted his soldiers to spare the lives of 
 the unresisting, and to respect the Christian churches, 
 especially the shrines of the holy Apostles St. Peter 
 and St. Paul. But his greedy barbarians demanded 
 pillage, and for six days Rome was abandoned to them, 
 with only one restriction. By Alaric's command, the 
 churches were to be respected, and all who sought 
 refuge in those sacred edifices, even the pagans, were 
 to be safe, protected from every kind of violence. At 
 that moment, Jews, infidels, heretics, and Christians 
 were densely crowded together in the one fold, and no 
 doubt emotions of real charity were awakened in the 
 hearts of some persons, who, as long as they lived, were 
 the better for that experience. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 305 
 
 Often had Rome pillaged other cities, and proudly 
 had she held the spoils of the wide world : gold and 
 jewels, precious fabrics of Eastern looms, massive plate, 
 costly vases from the homes of the patricians, were 
 quickly carried off in baggage waggons ; works of art 
 shared the same fate, though they were not appreciated 
 according to sentiments of cultivated taste, but entirely 
 according to their material value. Violence and cruelty 
 could but prevail, resistance provoked further injury ; 
 treasures of all kinds were brought to light by threats 
 and tortures, and many were the fathers, sons, and 
 brothers slain in the defence of families and homes. 
 Anecdotes are related of this terrible time, which show 
 that the ignorant superstition of these barbarous enemies 
 in various instances saved their victims from death or 
 dishonour. 
 
 Alaric was soon satisfied with his triumph ; he left 
 Rome not many days after he had entered it, and did 
 not trouble himself to impose any ruler or any govern- 
 ment on the city. His warriors were impatient to get 
 plunder elsewhere, and he led them on through fertile 
 Italy to its southern extremity, allowing them to com- 
 mit terrible ravages by the way. The rich and beautiful 
 island of Sicily attracted the Goths ; the mighty host 
 embarked, but their rude galleys were driven back by 
 a heavy storm ; and while they were preparing for a 
 second attempt to cross the Channel, their great chief 
 was taken from them by a stroke of sudden illness. 
 The deep grief of that wild multitude found vent in the 
 ready zeal with which, in obedience to his last command, 
 they diverted the course of a river, and buried him 
 beneath its bed, throwing into the grave heaps of the 
 most precious things which they had brought with them 
 from the sack of Rome. Then they turned the stream 
 
 20 
 
306 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 back to its ancient course, that its waters might for ever 
 hide and guard the tomb of Alaric. 
 
 In this time of anarchy and general distress the 
 Romans and the Jews were very often involved in the 
 same disasters ; the Jews had the advantage ; they 
 were more free from local atachments of all kinds, 
 more accustomed to be roughly rocked to and fro, and 
 pitched up and down on the waves of life's turbulent 
 ocean ; they were more quickly ready for a sudden move, 
 more independent of home comforts. Above all, they 
 were not so dispirited as every patriotic Roman must 
 have been by the melancholy changes affecting the 
 whole Empire, and especially the grand old city; and 
 when the worst of the storm of war had passed off, the 
 Jews could more easily approach the barbarians as 
 friends. They followed the camp of the invaders, and 
 trafficked with them for the spoil. Before the era in 
 which these wild foes came down upon Rome, the Jews 
 had become the great slave dealers of the world. Again 
 they were able to buy Christian slaves for themselves, 
 and might do so thinking they could now treat them as 
 they pleased, for who would check them as several of the 
 Emperors had done ? Gibbon says, that sometimes 
 Jews actually took up arms, and joined the barbarians 
 in their attacks upon the Romans, or helped them to 
 defend places already captured.* The family traditions 
 of the Jews about the fall of Jerusalem, and the arbitrary 
 prohibition which had separated them so entirely from 
 their own land, must have made it hardly possible for 
 them to love Rome. 
 
 On the death of Alaric, his wife's brother, Ataulphus, 
 was elected chief of the Gothic host. He had lately 
 married Placidia, a daughter of Theodosius the Great. 
 
 * " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. vii., p. 129. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 307 
 
 This princess had been found among the captives, and 
 she pleased Ataulphus. She accepted her fate, which 
 most likely she could only have avoided by putting an 
 end to her own life, and being a Christian, she could 
 not look upon suicide as did the heathen. Perhaps she 
 perceived something in Ataulphus superior to the vulgar 
 barbarian, good traits of character which she might be- 
 the means of developing and refining. She was rewarded 
 by finding that under her influence he became impressed 
 with the dignity of the Roman government, and the 
 complexity of the institutions wherewith it sustained the 
 civilization of -the age. So deeply did he feel this, that' 
 he shrank from quartering upon Italy a swarm of savage 
 conquerors, and refrained from establishing his own 
 camp in Rome. He is reported to have said, "There 
 was a time when I aspired to make the ancient capital 
 of the world my own capital, to convert Romania into 
 a Gothia, to call myself no longer Ataulphus but Caesar 
 Augustus ; but I have discovered that the barbarians 
 can never be subjected to civil institutions. My Goths 
 can never be made Romans. Society shall not perish. 
 I will restore the Roman Empire, and protect but not 
 rule it,"* 
 
 Ataulphus withdrew from Italy, and established a 
 permanent kingdom on the ctfast of the Mediterranean, 
 in Southern Gaul ; his dominion extended beyond the 
 Pyrenees ; he had a royal re^idence in Spain, but spent 
 more time at Narbo in Gaul : he styled himself King 
 of the Visigoths. Thus Ataulphus nobly surrendered 
 Rome to Honorius, from whonr'n'e did not withdraw 
 the allegiance of the conquered Romans. He acknow- 
 ledged the imperial supremacy over both Romans 
 and Goths. " This kingdom of the Visigoths," says 
 * Merivale. 
 
3 o8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 Merivale, " rudely foreshadowed the fiefs of the feudal 
 vassals of a later age. It sprang from the same 
 Teutonic soil, and was due, perhaps, to the same cast 
 of political ideas, from which so much of the policy 
 of modern Europe has derived its shape and character." 
 In that deluge of barbarism, the Goths were but as 
 a wave driven forward by other rollers overtaking it. 
 Next came the Huns, with Atilla at their head the 
 dreaded foe, not of the Romans only, but also of the 
 Goths, and all the other tribes that had come from the 
 north down upon the old empire, which already they 
 were tearing in pieces before its political life had quite 
 departed and become a thing of the past. These 
 vultures left the prostrate dying prey to attack the 
 living enemy. Visigoths, Burgundians, and the con- 
 federation of the Franks joined the Gauls and Romans, 
 and under the command of Aetius they won the victory 
 at Chalon on the Marne, which saved Europe from 
 being overwhelmed by that wildest of wild races, 
 rushing on its way from the great wall of China to the 
 Atlantic Ocean. It belonged to the Turanian or Mon- 
 gol race, that subdivided into many nations, among 
 which are the Turks and Bulgarians. All that has 
 been said of the Huns agrees exactly with the eloquent 
 description in the book of Joel.* Atilla bore the repu- 
 tation of being more ferocious and rapacious than any 
 of the chieftains who had preceded him, and in this 
 fame he delighted, for he called himself " The Scourge 
 of God." Though defeated at Chalon, he was not dis- 
 couraged, and in the following year he led another host 
 into Italy. The marauders sacked and destroyed 
 Aquileia, Padua, Verona, and other towns, and devas- 
 tated all the beautiful country through which they 
 
 * Chapter ii. 210. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 309 
 
 passed. The terrified people fled before the " De- 
 stroyer" and his barbarous warriors, and took refuge 
 among the fishermen's families living in the little islands 
 of the Veneti. From this small and sad beginning 
 arose the most curiously charming of European cities. 
 Persons whose imagination has been at all educated, 
 when, for the first time, they look upon her towers, 
 walls, roofs, and her own Venetian shutters, all vividly 
 reflected in the tranquil water, naturally take a momen- 
 tary glance over her story, from Atilla's day to our 
 own. Ere darting thus through the strong lights and 
 shadows of prosperity and crime, we should be sure 
 the arrow has its proper weight, we should remember 
 that these contrasts of splendour and power, misery and 
 oppression, characterize, not Venice especially, but the 
 times in which she rose. Between us and those medi- 
 aeval ages lies a halo of romance ; we see everything 
 trembling in its glimmer, like the wavering pictures 
 broken by the oars of the dark-robed gondola, that 
 ministers to business and to pleasure, that lulls to 
 rest the weary traveller's conflicting thoughts, till he 
 is conscious of but one idea ; that the Queen of the 
 Adriatic is a fascinating city. 
 
 Rome, dreading the approach of Atilla, knowing that 
 the day was gone by in which she could refuse to treat 
 with an enemy at her gates, sent ambassadors to the 
 king of the Huns. There was yet one man in Rome, 
 who, more than any other, deserves to be called the 
 last of the Romans ; no warrior, no statesmen, but a 
 Christian bishop Pope Leo the Great. This prelate 
 had contended boldly for the primacy of his native 
 city among the sees of Christendom at the Council of 
 Chalcedon. He now did her better service in accom- 
 panying the imperial envoys to the camp of Atilla, and 
 
3io HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 enforcing their persuasions by spiritual exhortations, 
 which exercised no little influence over the minds of 
 the rude heathen. He assured them that Rome was a 
 sacred city, that to attack it would be an act of fatal 
 impiety, and in proof of this reminded them that Alaric 
 had not long survived his sacrilegious exploit.* 
 
 The Hun was naturally impulsive, and changeable 
 as the wind ; he had become almost devoted to a love 
 of gold, and as yet his religious notions were nothing 
 better than the darkest, wildest superstition. Atilla 
 accepted the promise of a large sum of money, in 
 consideration of which he relinquished his intention of 
 proceeding to Rome. Probably we are but imperfectly 
 -acquainted with the circumstances that converged at 
 that crisis ; mystery seems to shroud them and the 
 death of Atilla, which quickly followed. He was found 
 dead in his bed, bathed in blood, but it seems to have 
 been admitted that sudden decease was the result of 
 natural causes. 
 
 Rome had had a narrow escape, and very short was 
 her reprieve. Valentinian, then upon the throne, was a 
 thoroughly contemptible man. Jealous of the popularity 
 of Aetius, the hero of Chalon, the Emperor stabbed 
 him with his own hand, and he himself fell under the 
 stroke of an assassin not many months later. His 
 murderer proposed to his widow, pleading that it was 
 for love of her that he had taken the life of her 
 husband. In this dilemma the unfortunate Eudoxia 
 sent a messenger to Geneseric, a powerful chief of the 
 Vandals, who acknowledged the supremacy of Rome, 
 begging him, as a loyal prince, to avenge the death of 
 the sovereign Emperor, and to set her free from this 
 painful position. Geneseric accepted the invitation with 
 
 * Merivale. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 311 
 
 such alacrity, that he arrived before it was thought 
 possible that he could do so. Once more at the head 
 of a long procession of clergy, Pope Leo approached a 
 mighty host of armed barbarians, thirsting for blood 
 and spoil. The Vandal king received him graciously, 
 but would only promise mercy to the unresisting, and 
 that the principal buildings in the city should be pro- 
 tected as much as possible from fire. The Empress 
 went forth to meet her champion, arrayed in imperial 
 robes. 
 
 Unfortunately for her, the day of chivalry was not 
 yet dawning ;. she was instantly stripped of her splendid 
 dress, her gold and jewels, and her train of silk ; and 
 with her three daughters was transported to Africa. 
 For fourteen days the city was given up to the plunder- 
 ing soldiers, and the Vandals, and the Moors with them, 
 were found to be more cruel and insatiable than the 
 Goths. The treasures of the imperial palace, the gold 
 and silver vessels in the churches ; the statues of pagan 
 divinities and of justly renowned Romans, the gilded 
 roof of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the plate and 
 ornaments of private individuals, were leisurely conveyed 
 to the Vandal fleet, and shipped to Africa. To this 
 systematic spoliation we must assign the loss of most 
 of the best known monuments of national history and 
 of foreign conquest. Amongst these were the precious 
 records and ornaments of the Capitol, and there, care- 
 fully preserved, as long as Rome could guard them, 
 were found the golden table, the seven-branched candle- 
 stick, and the silver trumpets. No grace of art, no 
 charm of historic association, affected the rude minds of 
 the African pirates, who, by a strange mockery of for- 
 tune, became masters of all the treasures which during 
 ten centuries of civilized life had been accumulated in 
 
312 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the temples and in the marble palaces of the world's 
 metropolis.* 
 
 Objects reverenced as connected with Jewish, pagan, 
 or Christian worship shared the same fate ; all were 
 shipped for transportation. A terrible tempest rose 
 while the fleet was at sea ; ships were wrecked, lives 
 lost, and much of the valuable booty went down to the 
 depths of the ocean. The table and the golden candle- 
 stick reached Carthage safely, and sixty thousand cap- 
 tives, f The excellent Deogratius, Bishop of Carthage, 
 did all he could to relieve the distress ; he allowed two 
 of the basilica churches to be used as hospitals, and 
 even sold some of the consecrated vessels of gold and 
 silver. Private charity was active, yet the trouble seemed 
 greater than any that had ever been known before : no 
 one could remember such experiences, occurrences that 
 had altered the whole tenor of their lives. 
 
 In those calamitous times, when war was raging, and 
 iniquity abounding everywhere, not a few among the 
 peace-loving Christians retired from the haunts of men, 
 under the idea that they might thereby escape both 
 temptation and trouble ; and some, who thought that 
 the end was very near, fled from a doomed world, and 
 tried to be alone with God, if by any means they might 
 save each man his own soul in that dread day.J 
 
 In the sweat of his brow the hermit built his hut, 
 worked hard to redeem from some remote wilderness, 
 which hitherto had sheltered only wild beasts, ground 
 
 * " The Fall of Rome." By J. G. Sheppard, D.C.L. pp. 250. 25 1. 
 
 t The Foram and Temple of Peace, built by Vespasian and 
 Titus, was devastated by fire A.D. 191. 
 
 The treasures from Jerusalem are said to have been rescued ; but 
 no special mention is made of the Law, which was placed in that 
 Temple of Peace. 
 
 t The Rev. Charles Kingsley. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 313 
 
 enough to produce, by means of continual cultivation 
 and labour, the simple food necessary to sustain his life. 
 When tired nature needed rest, he sat down to read and 
 write. Anchorites generally spent a great deal of time 
 over their manuscripts, perusing again and again the 
 few they possessed or could borrow, and cheered on 
 by the idea that in adding to the existing number they 
 were doing most valuable work. Their compositions 
 naturally partook of the peculiarities engendered by 
 their solitary life. Complete isolation weakens those 
 mental faculties which are given to us to be used in 
 the world, over-strains the nerves, inflames the imagina- 
 tion, and gives it undue ascendency. Very evident are 
 the effects of this on the religious literature of the 
 period. 
 
 This movement was begun by individuals who thus 
 separated themselves from society, and devoted their 
 days to prayer and meditation. But the weight upon 
 the spirits proved such as few could bear entirely alone ; 
 these recluses gathered round them small fraternities, 
 congregated, first in small, and afterwards in larger 
 bodies ; and thus a new agency originated in the 
 Church, and grew and spread irresistibly, over the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 Among the lives of the hermits, that of St. Jerome is 
 one of the most interesting ; and, strange to say, it is 
 full of variety. While he lived in the world, he heartily 
 entered into its pleasures, and fell into some of the sins 
 which beset the students of those days, as of these. At 
 the age of twenty he was baptized, and returned home 
 to Aquileia, where he was strongly affected by the 
 preaching of Evagrius, a nrssionary, who fired the 
 imaginations of the young by his descriptions of Syrian 
 monasticism. Jerome tried the life, enjoyed its charms 
 
3 i4 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and blessings, but could scarcely bear its hardships. 
 After three years, his health having suffered from his 
 austerities, and having been annoyed by neighbouring 
 hermits, be returned to the cities, choosing not the least 
 among them, but Antioch, Constantinople, where he 
 was delighted with the preaching of Gregory Nazianzen, 
 and Rome, where the pope appointed him to the impor- 
 tant office of his own secretary. He was the foremost 
 priest in Rome, and many looked upon him as the 
 probable successor to the See. But Jerome had retained 
 his love of the ascetic life, and he advocated it so effec- 
 tually in Rome, that a group of noble Roman ladies 
 embraced it, and put themselves under his direction. 
 After visiting Egypt and Jerusalem, they finally settled 
 at Bethlehem, where Jerome spent the remaining thirty- 
 one or thirty-two years of his life. One of the ladies 
 thus describes the home to a friend in Rome : " Come 
 out of Babylon, and let each one save his soul; so speaks 
 the Scripture. At Rome you have a holy Church, you 
 have the trophies of apostles and martyrs, you have 
 paganism crushed at your feet, and the Christian name 
 daily growing into greater majesty ; but you have ambi- 
 tion, pomp, a huge city, noise, vanity, and pride. Come 
 to Bethlehem, come to Jesus Christ's little city, and see 
 our rural solitude, and share our silence, that nothing 
 but the chanted psalm ever breaks ; where the tiller of 
 the soil sings " Alleluia," as he guides his plough ; where 
 the hot reaper at his rest in the noontide, and the vine 
 dresser, busy with his curved knife among the vines, 
 refresh themselves with verses from the songs of David." 
 Paula, who wrote this letter, built two monasteries at 
 Bethlehem, one for men, the other for women. Jerome 
 sold his little patrimony, and contributed towards the 
 cost. He lived not far from the Grotto of the Nativity, 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 315 
 
 in a cell in the limestone rock.* Here, being the revered 
 centre of both circles of recluses, he was spared the trials 
 of loneliness, while he enjoyed its advantages, when he 
 needed to be undisturbed ; and then his solitude was 
 cheered by a faithful animal a lion, which he had 
 tamed and trained to be as obedient and companionable 
 as a dog.f 
 
 From his home in the rock Jerome carried on an 
 extensive correspondence, and took part energetically 
 in the theological controversies of the day. Here he 
 studied Hebrew, under a Jew ; did so stealthily for 
 years, because he feared to offend the prejudices of 
 Christian brothers and sisters. By his aid he accom- 
 plished his great work a Latin translation of the whole 
 of the Old and New Testaments, from the original 
 languages. His version was called the Vulgate ; it was, 
 until the Reformation, the authorised version of the 
 entire Western Church, and continues to be used by 
 the Roman Catholics. 
 
 When commenting on the prophetical books, Jerome 
 mentions the tribes of Israel : at that time they were 
 believed to be widely dispersed, but not lost ; and their 
 restoration was looked forward to as unanimously as was 
 that of the Jews. St. James had addressed his Epistle 
 to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. They were 
 
 * "Turning-points in Church History." By the Rev. E. L. 
 Cutts, B.A. 
 
 + Among the fine pictures in the Vatican, one of the most touching 
 is " St. Jerome's Last Communion," Dominichino's masterpiece. 
 A young priest is holding up the dying man. St. Paula kneeling, 
 kisses one of the emaciated hands. Jerome's still eager eye is 
 fixed on the priest who is about to administer the sacrament. A 
 deacon holds the cup, an attendant the book. The lion, with a 
 look full of grief, droops his head, resting it on his paws, as he lies 
 by the side of his master. 
 
316 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 thought to be " scattered among the Parthians, Medes, 
 Indians, and Ethiopians, living in a state of dependence 
 on the barbarous nations there,"* somewhat as the Jews 
 lived dispersed among the more civilized nations. 
 Jerome confirms this view in his notes on Joel and 
 Hosea. Commenting on the third chapter of Joel, he 
 says, "They dwell in the cities and mountains of the 
 Medes to this day."f Media ran round two sides of the 
 Caspian Sea, and joined Armenia, and in an opposite 
 direction stretched away to Assyria. Its boundaries 
 shifted, sometimes encroaching on neighbouring coun- 
 tries. The name first appears in Scripture in connection 
 with the Israelites. J 
 
 The Jews in general considered that the ten tribes, 
 and all who had preferred remaining among the heathen 
 when they might have availed themselves of the edict 
 of Cyrus, had, by failing to return to their inheritance, 
 cut off themselves and their children from its advan- 
 tages; that nevertheless all the sons of Abraham who 
 continued to acknowledge and worship the one God, still 
 did their part, man by man, according to the measure 
 of his faith, towards accomplishing the word of God. 
 Therefore they were like seed widely sown ; faithful 
 Israelites were good seed ; the unfaithful, such as .gave 
 little or no sign of religious or moral vitality, were the 
 worst portion of the seed, withered, decayed, lost, or 
 rather incorporated in the earth, which was enriched by 
 
 * Sulpitius Seroms, contemporary with Jerome, lib. ii. c. 26. 
 
 t Jerome wrote in the fifth century. The subsequent conquests 
 of the Mahometans disturbed those countries during the anarchy 
 the Israelites had ample opportunity of retiring to the fastnesses 
 bordering on the Caspian Sea, or of plunging into that vast, im- 
 perfectly known territory eastward of that sea. See " History of 
 the Hebrew Nation." By Rev. J. W. Brooks. 
 
 J 2 Kings xvii. 6, xviii. u. 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 317 
 
 its physical properties.* On the other hand, the Jews 
 thought that fragments and individuals of the ten tribes 
 who had returned to the Holy Land with the two, by so 
 doing resumed allegiance to the House of David from 
 which their ancestors had fallen, and were therefore 
 restored and incorporated into the body of the Jewish 
 nation, as it had been called since the return from cap- 
 tivity. Christians as well as Jews considered Josephus 
 to be the great authority on the history of the Hebrew 
 nations (or the twelve tribes descended from Israel). 
 Copies of the works of Josephus, or of portions of them, 
 were treasured, in the earliest monasteries and in hermits' 
 cells ; and all the few existing manuscripts, which had 
 cost so much careful toilsome writing, were perused by 
 those thoughtful readers again and again with unabated 
 interest.f 
 
 Jerome always gladly entertained travellers who hap- 
 pened to pass his secluded abode, and he heard from 
 
 * Gen. xii. 13, xviii. 18 ; Jer. xxxi. 27 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 8 12 ; 
 Hosea ii. 23 ; Zech. x. 9. 
 
 It was, with few exceptions, the less noble and wealthy families 
 who listened to Zerubbabel, and availed themselves of the edict of 
 Cyrus. The prosperous, who had already spread themselves over 
 the provinces of Babylonia, or who were dwelling at ease in the 
 great, luxurious, yet busy city of Babylon, did not for the most part 
 desire to return to Judea, and did not embrace this opportunity for 
 so doing. As time went on, a great many Israelitish families grew 
 rich and very numerous, which induced them to emigrate for com- 
 mercial purposes. Colonies from Babylonia founded cities on 
 distant shores, several on the coasts of Spain, which were flourish- 
 ing in early Christian times. See" Israel and the Gentiles." By 
 Dr. Isaac Da Costa. 
 
 t Josephus says, " There are but two tribes in Europe and Asia 
 subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates 
 till now, and are an immense multitude that cannot be reckoned 
 t>y numbers." A ntiquities I. xi. c. v. 
 
3i8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 them a little news of the world he had renounced. He 
 says that he often took in Roman wayfarers, men well 
 born, well educated, and once wealthy, reduced to such 
 a state of destitution that they thankfully accepted alms. 
 Romans begged their bread in Judea ! 
 
 Probably most of them were Christian Romans who 
 had come to see the Saviour's birthplace. What else 
 could have attracted them to that spot ? 
 
 The custom of making pilgrimages to holy places was 
 beginning to prevail, and with it a childlike faith which 
 gave a new kind of life to the wearied heart, refreshment 
 to the unfortunate. They believed in a special provi- 
 dence guarding the pilgrim, and that all he needed by 
 the way God would provide. On this happy enthusiasm 
 the Jew looked with amazement, for Roman and Jew 
 had been bound together for a moment by the strong 
 tie of fellow-suffering, and the earnest Jew as well as 
 the Christian had enthusiastic faith. Both overtaken by 
 the storm, each fixed his anchor on the selfsame Rock. 
 This in the blinding darkness they could not see, but 
 sure and safe was the anchorage afforded by the Rock. 
 Jew and Christian understood that figure which occurs 
 in the Old Testament Scriptures as often as in the New. 
 
 The Jews of all ranks who had been settled in Rome 
 had shared in all the calamities that had befallen the 
 Romans, and had also lost all their possessions. We 
 have already seen that Jews and Christians had, in a 
 visionary kind of way, looked forward to the destruction 
 of the city of Rome, as they both had prophecies in 
 their sacred books which pointed to the destruction 
 of a sinful city, that had defiled itself by all kinds of 
 wickedness, especially cruelty and oppression, and had 
 shed the blood of martyrs. All the Eastern Jews had 
 clung firmly to this old persistent faith : those living 
 
DURING THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 319 
 
 prosperously in Rome had cast the subject off their 
 minds, but the troubles caused by barbarian invasion 
 revived it. 
 
 Yes ! every generation has to learn by heart and by 
 experience that " one day is with the Lord as a thou- 
 sand years, and a thousand years as one day," and 
 learning this, while it exercises patience, confirms faith. 
 We have remarked that the word day bears its most 
 limited meaning, or it may signify a generation, a cen- 
 tury, a period ; the lifetime of a man of a kingdom 
 of the world itself. 
 
 All that we know of what we call the universe con- 
 vinces us that its Creator and Upholder forms circle 
 within circle, sphere within sphere, wheel within wheel ; 
 and the Christian knows that of all the life-spans that 
 have run their course in fleeting days and years, and 
 left their mark, never to be obliterated, that day of 
 thirty-three years, the life of the Redeemer on earth, 
 has pre-eminent undying power, though, while those 
 years were running on, outside spans looked more 
 important. The day of the Roman Empire had begun 
 before Augustus Caesar unconsciously aided in the fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy by issuing a decree that all the world 
 should be taxed ; and, having run its course, its sun 
 went down behind those terrible storm-clouds that 
 gathered blackness, one over the other, and burst in 
 that extraordinary flood, when the cultivated earth was 
 deluged with races of men, half-civilized, or savage as 
 the Huns ; hordes driven onwards from far countries, 
 whose features and languages and manners were all 
 strange in the old Roman world. 
 
WHEN IMPERIAL POWER FELL, AA'D PAPAL 
 POWER ROSE. 
 
 21 
 
"That the world such, at least, as they saw it then- -was doomed, 
 Scripture and their own reason taught them. That they were correct in 
 their judgment of the world about them, contemporary history proves 
 abundantly. That they were correct, likewise, in believing that some 
 fearful judgment was about to fall on man is proved by the fact that it 
 did fall ; that the first half of the fifth century saw, not only the sack o f 
 Rome, but the conquest and desolation of the greater part of the civilized 
 world, amid bloodshed, misery, and misrule, which seemed to turn Europe 
 into a chaos which would have turned it into a chaos, had there not been 
 a few men left, who still felt it possible and necessary to believe in God, 
 and to work righteousness." REV. CHARLES KINGSLEY. 
 
XII. 
 
 WHEN IMPERIAL POWER FELL, AND PAPAL. 
 POWER ROSE. 
 
 WE have seen how the flood of barbarian invasion 
 overwhelmed one half of the ancient provinces 
 of Rome ; these conquests, both by their effect and 
 their example, threatened the speedy downfall of the 
 rest. At the beginning of the sixth century of the 
 Christian era the Empire of Constantinople, in like 
 manner attacked by enemies, and showing symptoms 
 of decay, seemed very near its end, but the genius of 
 one man averted dangers, and corrected defects ; the 
 tottering empire was upheld, and the emperors were 
 enabled for a time to resume their former ascendency, 
 and to wrest from the hands of the barbarians their 
 most important possessions. This saviour was Belisa- 
 rius, whose name in his native Illyrian (or Sclavonic) 
 language signifies the White Prince, as Belgrade or 
 Beligrad means the White City. 
 
 Belisarius rose into notice in the reign of Justin the 
 First, when that emperor, having survived the military 
 prowess to which he owed his reputation, and his eleva- 
 tion to the imperial throne, was sinking into the dotage 
 of his faculties. His death left Justinian sole sovereign 
 in fact as well as in name.* 
 
 Then there were three very remarkable contemporary 
 
 * " The Life of Belisarius." By Lord Mahon, afterwards Earl 
 Stanhope. 
 
324 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 sovereigns reigning over the world. Nushirvam, whom 
 the eastern historians celebrate as the greatest and most 
 glorious of Persian monarchs. Theodoric, the Gothic 
 king of Italy, who extended his dominions, and governed 
 with extraordinary vigour and ability ; and Justinian, 
 Emperor of the East. 
 
 The first named of these reigned in a sphere beyond 
 the limits of our subject. Theodoric humanely pro- 
 tected the Jews all over Italy, and repressed the violent 
 measures against them to which his fanatical Christian 
 subjects were too much disposed to resort. For this 
 impartial justice, often denied to them, the Jews were 
 sincerely grateful, as they soon had full opportunity of 
 showing ; they defended the Gothic monarchy with the 
 same indomitable stubborn firmness with which they 
 had defended their own country : none of the king's 
 subjects were more ready to contribute money, to shed 
 their blood, and to give their lives to the cause of their 
 protectors. Theodoric was an Arian, and the Jews 
 before his time, ever since Arius had first preached his 
 heretical doctrines in Alexandria, had sided with that 
 powerful sect, against which every kind of war was 
 waged by orthodox Christians.* 
 
 After the conquest of Italy by the barbarians, it 
 might have been expected that the subjects of Con- 
 stantinople would no longer call themselves Romans, 
 but this title was too glorious to be so easily relin- 
 quished. In every succeeding age the rabble of Greek 
 armies still boasted of their kindred with the ancient 
 legions, and the name of Romania was applied to the 
 varying limits of Byzantine territory, until it settled 
 on Thrace, to which they were latterly confined. At 
 the accession of Justinian, however, the boundaries of 
 
 * A natural combination. Arians denied the doctrine of Christ. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 325 
 
 his empire were nearly the same as those of the 
 Ottoman at present. In comparing Justinian with his 
 contemporaries at Ctesiphon and Ravenna, it may be 
 remarked that their very unequal merit has been almost 
 equally rewarded by fame. Nushirvam's name has not 
 lost its lustre, Theodoric yet lives in the rustic songs 
 and legends of his countrymen, and Justinian's name 
 is adored by civil lawyers. By their absolute power 
 and the length of their reigns all three possessed the 
 means for effecting their plans of conquest or reform. 
 Yet, while the kings of Persia and Italy are indebted to 
 their own achievements for renown, the Emperor only 
 shines as a general or a legislator through the borrowed 
 light of Tribonian and Belisarus.* 
 
 The former, after obtaining high reputation at the bar, 
 rose through a succession of state offices to those of 
 prefect and consul. The Emperor intrusted to him the 
 responsible office of superintending the formation of a 
 new code of laws. His labours resulted in the produc- 
 tion of the celebrated Digest and Pandects which pro- 
 cured for Justinian the reputation of being the greatest 
 of lawgivers, the reformer of Roman jurisprudence. 
 
 Most interesting is the career of Belisarius, for he was 
 a great and good man, as well as a wonderful military 
 genius, a prescient general, and when surrounded by 
 his soldiers, whom he looked on as his comrades, though 
 he kept them under discipline, he was the bravest of 
 the brave. 
 
 When Justinian was meditating on an expedition to 
 Africa, all the generals of the so-called Roman army 
 shared so strongly in the public panic, that even ambi- 
 tion yielded to alarm, and they shrank from the com- 
 mand of the intended expedition. Belisarius accepted 
 
 * Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope). 
 
326 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the responsibility, and the designation, " General of the 
 East." The mariners of the fleet set their sails and 
 plied their oars so well, that, in spite of boisterous gales, 
 the landing was soon effected at Grasse, fifty miles from 
 Carthage. Here the invaders met with so little resist- 
 ance, that they had leisure to admire and enjoy the 
 beautiful country palace of King Gelimer, surrounded 
 by a delightful garden. It was called Paradise, and 
 seems to have been as worthy of the name as a pleasure 
 ground on earth can be. 
 
 But now those who had loved this pleasant home, 
 looking upon it as their own, had to learn how uncer- 
 tain is the tenure by which all earthly things are held. 
 Procopius describes the sparkling fountains, the groves 
 and flowers, and tells us that although the soldiers 
 helped themselves to as much fruit as they could eat, 
 yet so great was the abundance, that it was hardly 
 missed. Belisarius strictly restrained his men from 
 plundering the country or the private citizens. The 
 moderation of his army, so different to the conduct of 
 the barbarians, and his own courteous, friendly behaviour, 
 gained the confidence and good-will of the Africans, 
 who crowded to the camp, and brought provisions for 
 sale, which were fairly paid for. 
 
 Gelimer was absent from Carthage. He was a usurper, 
 having dethroned the aged and infirm Hilderic, who 
 had become imbecile, Justinian had espoused the cause 
 of Hilderic, and it served as the pretext for this attack 
 on Carthage. 
 
 When Gelimer received intelligence of the landing 
 and progress of the Romans, he was greatly enraged, 
 and immediately gave orders that the captive Hilderic 
 should be put to death ; a crime committed in the 
 passion of the moment, which was as impolitic as cruel. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 327 
 
 The Vandals were totally defeated in a great battle 
 which took place ten miles from Carthage ; then all 
 idea of resistance was abandoned, the gates of the city 
 were thrown open, and the chains across the entrance 
 to the harbour removed. Citizens who had maintained 
 allegiance to the poor old King Hilderic welcomed the 
 Romans with bonfires and illuminations ; the partizans 
 of Gelimer sought the sanctuary of churches. Belisarius, 
 before he entered the city, made a fine speech to the 
 troops. He reminded them that the Africans had 
 formerly been, like them, subjects and citizens of Rome, 
 and that their allegiance was transferred to the Van- 
 dals, not through any voluntary rebellion, but through 
 a foreign conquest, from which none had suffered so 
 severely as themselves. " It was," added Belisarius, 
 " the knowledge of these sufferings which impelled the 
 Emperor to send forth this expedition, and it would be 
 as absurd as criminal for the Roman soldiers to treat 
 with outrage or oppression the very people for whose 
 deliverance they were sent here." The army then 
 entered Carthage, and Beiisarius gave a grand banquet 
 in the palace ; he seized for his sovereign, the royal 
 treasure, but forbade his soldiers to pillage the city ; 
 this, however, he found it impossible to prevent, and 
 after making a vain attempt to restore discipline, he 
 passed the night of his victory with all the anxiety and 
 alarm of a defeat. Conquest was not yet assured, and 
 Gelimer was undaunted ; he assembled all the troops 
 he could command, and some friendly Moors joined 
 his standard. Although the Vandal king had in a 
 moment of great excitement committed a horrible crime 
 in putting to death the aged Hilderic, the consequences 
 of which had so quickly recoiled on himself, yet he was 
 not habitually cruel, and he had generally acted with 
 
328 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 good judgment, and had shown great military skill. He 
 intrenched himself in the mountain of Papua, near 
 Hippo-Regius. The steep and craggy sides of this 
 height presented an insurmountable barrier to the as- 
 sailants, and it was inhabited by a wild tribe of Moors, 
 who readily afforded refuge to the king. Against a 
 place thus fortified by nature, force was useless ; Belisa- 
 rius could but blockade, and, pressed by famine, Gelimer 
 at last surrendered, and was taken back to Carthage 
 as a prisoner. With the capitulation of Gelimer, the 
 Vandal war was at an end. Belisarius only remained 
 for a short time to make such arrangements as might 
 render the acquired territory permanently useful to the 
 Empire ; but while he was thus serving his country, 
 enemies were intriguing against him at Constantinople, 
 poisoning Justinian's mind with vague suspicions that 
 he was lingering on in Africa in the hope of gaining such 
 popularity as might help him to acquire undue power. 
 It was well known that the soldiers he commanded were 
 devotedly attached to him, and it was remembered that 
 one half of the emperors since the time of Augustus 
 had been raised by the army to the imperial throne. 
 Informed by friends of these machinations, Belisarius 
 with a heavy heart left the city he had conquered, with 
 the captives and the spoil. He had the honour of bear- 
 ing away the golden table and the seven-branched 
 candlestick, which graced a second triumph. A change 
 worthy of observation had altered some of the customs 
 pertaining to a triumph. The conqueror, instead of 
 sitting in a grand chariot of war, drawn perhaps by 
 elephants, if he had reaped his laurels from lands but 
 lately reclaimed from their ancient forests, now marched 
 on foot at the head of his companions in arms. Imme- 
 diately after the Vandal spoils, above which were upheld 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 329 
 
 those redeemed treasures, so deeply significant, so won- 
 derfully real, came Gelimer, still wearing the royal purple, 
 and maintaining the dignity of a king. Marching slowly 
 through Constantinople at the head of the captives, he 
 continued to repeat in a loud voice, "Vanity of vanities! 
 all is vanity ! " 
 
 May we not ascribe the modification of ancient usages 
 to the profession of national Christianity ? On reaching 
 the Hippodrome, Gelimer was commanded to prostrate 
 himself before Justinian. Scarcely had he risen, when, 
 acting on a generous impulse, Belisarius did homage in 
 the same manner, to show the Vandal king that he 
 had merely made such tokens of submission as Romans 
 were in the habit of making to their Emperor. Justinian 
 assigned to the Vandal monarch an extensive estate in 
 Galatia and to this peaceful secluded abode he retired. 
 
 Those words of Solomon applied more forcibly and 
 exactly to the fate of the victor than to that of the 
 vanquished, for although for a time Belisarius was load- 
 ed with honours, thanked and praised, and liberally 
 rewarded, yet in the end his enemies prevailed, and 
 certainly .he experienced the extremes of prosperity 
 and adversity, although it may be doubted whether the 
 story that his eyes were put out, and that the blind old 
 hero begged his bread, be literally true. There is no 
 ground for believing that he was in any way a party to 
 the conspiracy against Justinian's life, of which he was 
 accused, and for which he was condemned. He was 
 ruined by jealousy. Justinian, quite unconsciously to 
 himself, was jealous of the man to whom the military 
 glory of his reign was really attributable. From the 
 same cause Tribonian suffered, though in a less degree, 
 and he in some measure deserved his fall, as his ambi- 
 tion appears to have been of a selfish character ; yet, as 
 
330 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 he, being a quick-sighted and experienced lawyer, had 
 done much towards the formation of that code which 
 commands the admiration of the world, his disgrace left 
 a stain on Justinian's memory ; all generations have 
 since perceived that his suspicious jealousy encouraged 
 and empowered that of baser-minded men than himself. 
 For Justinian, in spite of some weakness of character, 
 was, on the whole, a man of superior abilities, who had 
 risen from an obscure family chiefly by the force of his 
 own talents, which were of no common 'character. The 
 desire to reform Roman jurisprudence, and the resolu- 
 tion to do so, originated in his own mind, as, no doubt, 
 did also most of the wise conceptions of justice and 
 prudence which lie at the foundation of that important 
 science. He was gifted with extraordinary genius for 
 organization, which led him sometimes into the error 
 of carrying reliance on rules and regulations too far, 
 and thus too much restricting the liberty of, not only 
 the Jews, but, in a less degree, of all his subjects. In 
 approaching Justinian as we have done, through the 
 Jews, and Belisarius, and Tribonian, we have seen quite 
 the worst side of his character. He was a conscientious 
 man, his religious opinions were strong, and generally 
 he acted upon them consistently, even when they ran 
 counter to his desires. He wished to keep the golden 
 table and the candlestick in his own palace, but a zealous 
 Jew convinced him that it could not be their proper 
 place, yet his feelings as a Christian sovereign prevented 
 him from returning them to the Hebrews. On mature 
 consideration, he arrived at the conclusion that they 
 belonged to the Church of Christ ; he entrusted them to 
 the Bishop of Jerusalem, and sent them back to that city, 
 to be placed in the principal church, and some other 
 smaller sacred vessels were distributed among the other 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE, 331 
 
 churches in that venerable city, where they remained 
 until they were, for the third time, carrried away among 
 the spoils of war, when Chosroes the Second, King of 
 Persia, captured Jerusalem in A.D. 614.* 
 
 They were taken to Persia, and beyond that we have 
 no trace of them ; and now it seems remarkable that 
 the country in which the branched candlestick that 
 Old Testament type of God's ancient Church was lost 
 sight of, the Jews of our own generation are calling to 
 the Christian Church, expressing their unwillingness to 
 receive the Gospel. A touching appeal from forty lead- 
 ing Jews of Hamadam, the old Ecbattna, requesting 
 that Christian teachers might be sent to them, has 
 recently been made.f 
 
 The strength and the civilization of Italy had com- 
 pletely centred in Rome to an unhealthy degree. The 
 heart of the Empire did not so act as to do its duty to 
 the great body of the nation. Both numerically and 
 intellectually the people of Italy were in a weak, poor, 
 neglected condition ; for the cream of the population 
 had for centuries gone to or near Rome. Consequently, 
 the so-called barbarian leaders were more civilized 
 
 * " Historical and Monumental Rome." By C. I. Hemans. pp. 
 442, 443, etc. 
 
 t For a long time past, the ground has been under preparation, 
 and the blessed seed has been taking root and developing. Six- 
 teen years ago, a missionary, named Briihl, who was then at Y\ 
 Bagdad, wrote " Hitherto we have had to beg the Jews to accept '' 
 a N ew Testament, and to read and examine into its precious truths, 
 but now many come of themselves to ask for it, and when they Vw f^ 
 obtain it, read it diligently and earnestly." 
 
 This accounts for the present movement in Persia, for the appli- 
 
 cation now made by the Jews in Hamadam, who tell us that if they >A i ** j 
 
 s in Persia will follow their example. 
 See "The Untended Flock." By W. Harden, B.A., clerical secre- 
 
 become Christians, all the Jews in Persia will follow their exampl 
 See " The Untended Flock." By W. Harden, B.A., clerical se 
 tary of the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. 
 
332 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 than their Italian subjects. Odoacer, who compelled 
 Augustus, the last Emperor of the West, to abdicate, 
 ruled the country wisely and beneficently, until, in his 
 turn, he was defeated and deposed by Theodoric. This 
 king, though a Goth, deserves the surname of Great 
 better than do many sovereigns to whose names the 
 proud title is appended. We have seen how the schools 
 of Greece cultivated the Roman mind ; in Theodoric we 
 see what they did for a Goth, who in early life had lived 
 in the midst of Greek culture. Under his government 
 Italy recovered prosperity, agriculture and industry 
 revived, literature and the fine arts were encouraged, 
 throughout the land improvements were carried on, and 
 new monuments erected ; yet his life was one continued 
 struggle ; very stormy was the glory of his reign. Dis- 
 agreements occurred among the Goths themselves, and 
 also between Goths and Romans, and between the reign- 
 ing sovereigns. 
 
 This clashing of interests inspired Justinian with am- 
 bitious views ; he anticipated a reunion of the great old 
 Roman power of the past. Under the influence of this 
 hope, and under this condition of affairs and feelings, 
 antagonism was naturally engendered, which soon broke 
 out into open war. Belisarius was appointed to head 
 the troops that with hostile intentions were ordered 
 to Rome. 
 
 We can better imagine than define the feelings with 
 which, under such circumstances, Belisarius, Procopius, 
 and other noble-minded, educated men, whose ancestors 
 were Romans, who called themselves Romans, approached 
 the Eternal city, after it had been for sixty years under 
 the dominion of the Vandals and Goths. During that 
 time Rome had enjoyed the blessings of peace and 
 prosperity, it had been an object of peculiar care atten- 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 333 
 
 tion, and munificence, and had received the respect and 
 honours due to the ancient mistress of the world.* 
 
 The Jews of Rome and Naples sided with the Goths, 
 by whom they had been uniformly well treated. The 
 Vandals had left them free to exercise their religion, 
 and by Theodoric they had been decidedly favoured. 
 
 Justinian, on the contrary, had treated the Jews in 
 his dominions very harshly ; had deprived them of all 
 political privileges, and excluded them from every office 
 of dignity and emolument. Many of Justinian's enact- 
 ments were particularly vexatious to the Jews, as they 
 dealt with things appertaining to their own religious 
 usages among themselves, regulating their calendar and 
 the worship of their synagogues, and even prescribing 
 the use of the Greek instead of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 To such tyranny the Jews were unaccustomed ; for in 
 the more vigorous days of the Roman Empire they had 
 been recognized simply as followers of another religion, 
 and they had never been persecuted on merely religious 
 grounds. f They were accused sometimes falsely, but 
 it was always on political grounds. 
 
 The conduct of the Jews during the war between the 
 eastern Romans of Constantinople, and the Goths who 
 held old Rome, claims our admiration ; for they warmly 
 espoused the cause of those who had befriended them, 
 and under whose government they had enjoyed justice 
 and security. The Jews very bravely defended one 
 quarter of Naples ; but the town was taken, and every 
 Jew was put to the sword, irrespective of age or sex. 
 Belisarius had no sooner secured the fortune, than he 
 strove to restrain the bloodshed of that day ; but his 
 
 * "Belisarius." By Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope). Page 184. 
 t "History of the Jews." By E. H. Palmer, M.A. Pages 214, 
 215. Published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
334 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 men had been brought up under the most cruel pre- 
 judices against the Hebrews, and had been maddened 
 by their enthusiastic resistance and by their firm loyalty 
 to the Goths. 
 
 From Naples the victorious army proceeded to Rome. 
 The feelings with which Belisarius and many of those 
 who were with him looked upon the venerable birth- 
 place of the Empire induced a brotherly feeling towards 
 the inhabitants of the city, and not a few of them felt 
 something akin to this when they saw the army of the 
 Roman Empire preparing to invest and blockade Rome. 
 There was also religious sympathy between them, such 
 as could not exist between Romans, who now for gene- 
 rations had professed the faith of the Christian Church, 
 and Goths, who were Arians. 
 
 Unable to withstand the evident inclinations of the 
 Roman people, and to sustain a siege without their 
 co-operation, the Gothic garrison marched out of the 
 Flaminian gate, now Porta del Popolo, and Belisarius 
 entered by one on the other side of the city. The 
 Gothic general refused to join in even a necessary flight : 
 with noble firmness he would not quit his post, and was 
 taken prisoner. Belisarius sent him to Justinian with 
 the keys of the city. He immediately began to repair 
 and fortify the walls, as he foresaw a strong probability 
 that they would soon have to sustain a siege. 
 
 Rome was fiercely assailed by the Goths, who were 
 now commanded by Vitiges. Hordes of Franks and 
 Germans flocked to his standard ; he promised them 
 the city of Milan, if they could take it. After a dreadful 
 siege, during which multitudes died of famine and 
 disease, Milan fell, and its inhabitants were mercilessly 
 slaughtered. Belisarius was shut up for more than a 
 year within the walls of Rome by Vitiges, but the 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 335 
 
 arrival of reinforcements from Greece changed the 
 fortune of war. The barbarian, as the Greeks and 
 Romans still called him, was forced back into Ravenna, 
 his own capital, the last stronghold of his power. It 
 was taken after a stout resistance by the troops of the 
 Empire, and with it fell the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. 
 The achievement was wonderful, for it was performed 
 by Belisarius at the head of an army which scarcely 
 ever exceeded 20,000 men. 
 
 This event made a sad change for the Jews in Rome. 
 All the noblest and best men of that people had borne 
 arms against .the Empire, many were put to death or 
 banished, and those who remained were treated with 
 the greatest rigour, were disqualified from holding civil 
 or military offices under the state, and inhibited and 
 shackled in many other respects ; indeed, the Jews living 
 under the dominion of Rome had become very much 
 less independent and happy than those who had scattered 
 themselves beyond its now circumscribed limits. 
 
 Before the irruption of the northern barbarians, there 
 were a great many Jews in Belgium, all along the course 
 of the Rhine, and in such parts of Germany as were at 
 all civilized ; and also in Gaul, Italy, and Spain. Of 
 their original progress into these countries history takes 
 no notice, for they did not migrate in swarms, or settle 
 in large bodies, but sometimes as slaves following the 
 fortune of their masters, sometimes as single enterpris- 
 ing traders, they had travelled on, and advanced as 
 profit or convenience tempted, till they reached the 
 verge of civilization. On them the successive inroads 
 and conquests of the barbarians fell much more lightly 
 than on the native inhabitants. Attached to no fixed 
 residence, with little interest in the laws and usages 
 of the different provinces of the Empire, rarely encum- 
 
336 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 bered with landed property, or with effects that could 
 not easily be moved, sojourners, not settlers, denizens, 
 rather than citizens, they could retreat before the cloud 
 burst, to the more secure dwelling-places of their 
 brethren, and bear away with them the most valuable 
 portion of their goods. Without much difficulty they 
 shifted their quarters, and found new channels for their 
 trade, as fast as the old ones were closed.* 
 
 The period of European history which intervened 
 between the fall of Rome and the coronation of Charle- 
 magne, A.D. 800, may be called the pushing period ; 
 for all the now half-civilized nations were struggling 
 together, and driving one another into the positions in 
 which they finally settled. Among the Teutonic tribes 
 in the central and northern parts of the continent there 
 was continual agitation. The Burgundians and .the 
 Franks were driving the Gauls, and in our own island 
 the Saxons were pushing the Kelts westward, and 
 founding the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, which finally 
 were united by Egbert, the contemporary of Charle- 
 magne ; and these are but examples of what was 
 occurring everywhere. The young kingdoms of modern 
 Europe were all fighting for the ground they were to 
 occupy, on which they afterwards settled and spread. 
 Meanwhile, commotion was universal and incessant ; 
 peace seemed to have departed from the earth. 
 
 Through burning towns and ravaged fields the Jew 
 travelled, less grieved than most people by surrounding 
 misery which enveloped those with whom he had no 
 strong tie of attachment. If splendid cities became a 
 prey to the flames, or magnificent churches lay in 
 ashes, his meaner dwelling was abandoned without 
 much regret, and with no serious loss, and even his 
 
 * " History of the Jews." By Dean Milman. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 337 
 
 synagogue might perish in the common ruin, without 
 either deeply wounding the religious feelings of the 
 worshippers, who had no particular local attachments, 
 and the humble edifice could be restored at no great 
 expense. 
 
 Where battles were fought, and immense plunder 
 fell into the power of the wandering barbarians, the 
 Jews were at hand to traffic the worthless and glittering 
 baubles with which ignorant savages are delighted, or 
 the more useful, but comparatively cheap, instruments 
 and weapons of iron and brass, for the more valuable 
 commodities of which they knew not the price or the 
 use. These, by the secret correspondence which the 
 Jews had already established with their brethren in 
 every quarter of the world, were transported into more 
 peaceful regions, which still afforded a market for the 
 luxuries of life. As to the particulars of this commerce, 
 we have no certain information, but if it existed to the 
 extent we have reason to believe it did, it must have 
 been highly lucrative, when the sellers were ignorant 
 barbarians, and the purchasers intelligent and perhaps 
 not over-scrupulous traders. Perhaps by keeping alive 
 the spirit of commerce the Jews were really the means 
 of promoting the civilization of these wild hordes.* 
 
 But the branch of commerce which the Jews con- 
 trived to monopolise was the trade in slaves, which 
 they carried on throughout Europe, reaping enormous 
 profits by this inhuman traffic. The Jew not only 
 drove his gangs of slaves to the different markets, wher- 
 ever he could get the best price, but he moreover 
 bought, in perhaps a somewhat more private way, those 
 among the unfortunate who were of gentle birth fine 
 youths and fair young maidens, whom he either kept 
 
 * Abridged from Dean Milman's " History of the Jews." 
 
 22 
 
338 HISTORY OF . THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 for his own domestic use, or passed on into the hands 
 of strangers with whom he could make the best bar- 
 gains. Yet this slave dealing, revolting as it is to look 
 back upon, had, in those cruel times, some good effect 
 towards mitigating the atrocities of war. Slavery was 
 a great evil, but it prevented massacre. Those savage 
 warriors could not make use of all the captives they 
 took ; they had no respect for human life ; they valued 
 a slave only according to the price at which he might be 
 sold. Dean Milman remarks : " This state of things 
 must have inspired a kind of revengeful satisfaction in 
 the mind of the zealous Israelite. While his former 
 masters, or at least his rulers, the Christians, were wail- 
 ing over their desolate fields, ruined churches, pillaged 
 monasteries, and violated convents, he was growing rich 
 amid the general ruin. 
 
 Certainly, under this kind of commercial prosperity, 
 the character of the Hebrew must have rapidly and 
 terribly degenerated, and the gulf between the Jew and 
 the Christian must have deepened and widened. 
 
 When we remember that this slave trade was a very 
 different one from that against which Wilberforce 
 contended, that it dealt not only with the lowest classes 
 and races of men, women, and children, but with all 
 classes of the unfortunate that the detestable trade 
 was covetously grasped by the Jew that he grew rich, 
 or was always supposed to have grown rich upon it 
 we can better understand why he was hated and de- 
 spised. It accounts for the fact that the Hebrew race 
 was more crushed in Christendom than it had ever been 
 in the pagan world ; so that when the popes had gained 
 ascendency, they were generally more at enmity with 
 the Jews, than the emperors (with a few exceptions) 
 had been. It also gives a clue to one reason why a 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 339 
 
 Jew often hid his gold, and deceived the world as to 
 the amount of his wealth. It became generally known 
 that a great deal of money was hoarded up among the 
 Jews, and this was really the secret incentive to many of 
 those persecutions under which they suffered. Long ago 
 they had been warned by the prophet Isaiah that for the 
 iniquity of covetousness the Lord would smite His people.* -\ 
 
 While Jews were growing passionately fond of money, <7~$ 
 churchmen, not only bishops, but also priests, monks, 
 
 and hermits, were growing as ardently fond of power ; / 
 and falling into this excess, many Christian men and ^ * * 
 women grasped authority in a spirit that undermined r 
 the foundations of Christian character. Often pride 
 rather than humility was the governing principle, and 
 self-denial, though ostentatiously practised, did not go 
 so far as to curb self-will, and to restrain the temper 
 that will not brook contradiction. Thus bigotry became 
 engendered, around which all the follies and cruelties of 
 superstition are sure to germinate and to grow rampant, 
 and to hide the ground of the truth in which both 
 the Hebrew and the Christian Church was planted 
 the simple truth that by the law of nature and the 
 law of grace God demands of man self-sacrifice. Self- 
 confidence and self-assertion deluded Augustine, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Jerome, the monk of 
 Bethlehem, and many other good men, into making 
 great mistakes. Jerome felt the need of a Hebrew 
 teacher, but had not truthfulness and courage enough 
 to acknowledge it ; he did not see that the Church 
 needs " not mere Hebrew scholars, but Hebrew spirits 
 Hebrew men, who can see all heaven and earth 
 with the eyes of Abraham, David, and St Paul." f 
 
 * Isaiah Ivii. 17. 
 
 t " I would therefore entreat you and every other converted Jew 
 
340 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 The Bishops of Rome were distinguished by the 
 title of Pope, which as yet meant little more than 
 father, a word signifying the union of reverence with 
 affection ; but the papal power, as that expression is 
 now understood, did not then exist.* 
 
 It was the result of a struggle ; claims were made, 
 and for some time were strongly resisted.! When 
 John, Bishop of Constantinople, asserted the supremacy 
 of that see, Gregory, Bishop of Rome, declared that in 
 his opinion the title of Universal Bishop was contrary 
 to the spirit of the Gospel, and injurious to the Church. 
 Pope Gregory wrote, " Whosoever designates himself 
 Universal Priest, or in the pride of his heart consents to 
 be so named, he is the forerunner of Antichrist.''^ 
 
 Gregory the First had a keen perception of right 
 and wrong, and when he felt convinced that any course 
 of action was right, nothing diverted him from his 
 purpose. This characteristic is illustrated by the well- 
 known story connected with the conversion of the 
 Anglo-Saxons. The fair boys from Britain, whom he 
 admired and pitied, were most likely exposed for sale 
 in the Forum by a Jewish slave dealer. 
 
 The Jews were not only dealers in, and owners of, 
 
 not to sink your nationality because you have become a member 
 of the Universal Church, but to believe with the old converts of 
 Jerusalem that you are a true Jew because you are a Christian, 
 that as a Jew you have your special office in the perfecting of the 
 faith and practice of the Church, which no Englishman or other 
 Gentile can perform for you ; neither to Germanize nor Scoticise, 
 but try to see all heaven and earth with the eyes of Abraham, 
 David, and St Paul." Rev. Charles Kingsley to Adolph Saphir, 
 Esq., then a student in Edinburgh. (See " Life of Charles Kingsley," 
 vol i., p. 281.) 
 
 * See " Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury." By Dr. Hook. 
 
 t Dr. Hook. 
 
 % See " Eighteen Christian Centuries." By Rev. James White 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 341 
 
 slaves, many of them had become proprietors or culti- 
 vators of land in Italy, and employed large numbers T/ . 
 of slaves on their farms. Some of these Hebrew^; 
 masters were very tyrannical, quite forgetful of the laws 
 and injunctions of Moses, which should have taught 
 them moderation and mercy ; moreover instances oc- 
 curred in which circumcision was forced on Christian 
 slaves. 
 
 This evil did not escape the vigilance of Gregory, 
 who consequently effected a reformation in the laws, 
 with a view to protecting Christian slaves against the 
 arbitrary conduct of Jewish masters. He ordained that 
 those who had been long in servitude, and had proved 
 faithful while under the yoke, should be considered 
 as attached to the soil ; and that if the Jew resisted 
 this, or in any way abused his seignorial right to trans- 
 plant the slave from the soil to which he belonged, 
 he should lose his lease of land, as well as his right 
 over the slave. No Jew or heathen who wished to 
 become a Christian was to be retained in slavery. 
 Gregory, who greatly desired the conversion of the 
 Jews, ransomed an immense number of Jewish slaves 
 immediately on their receiving baptism ; and he or- 
 dained that taxes peculiar to the Jews should be 
 remitted with regard to all who embraced Christianity. 
 Many letters of Pope Gregory on this subject are 
 extant ; one to Leo, Bishop of Catania in Sicily, esta- 
 blishes the curious fact that the Samaritans shared this 
 traffic with the Jews. Gregory wrote 
 
 " A circumstance both revolting and contrary to 
 law hath been made known to us. We are informed 
 that certain Samaritans, resident at Catania, buy hea- 
 then slaves, whom they are so daring as to circumcise. 
 You must investigate this affair with impartial zeal, 
 
342 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and take such slaves under the protection of the Church, 
 and not suffer these men to receive any repayment. 
 Besides this loss, they must be punished to the utmost 
 extremity of the law." 
 
 " In all other respects Gregory maintained that 
 tolerance towards the Jews which, with few exceptions, 
 they enjoyed during the period of confusion, and even 
 for some time after the conversion of the barbarians 
 to Christianity. For, during all this time, the Church 
 was sadly occupied in mourning over the ravages which 
 enveloped the clergy and people in common ruin, or, 
 more nobly, in imparting to the fierce conquerors the 
 humanizing and civilizing knowledge of the Gospel. 
 It had not the power, we trust not the will, to persecute. 
 The Church was in adversity, that best school of Chris- 
 tian virtue." * 
 
 Many of the barbarian nations had become more 
 settled, and partially civilized ; the Lombards were the 
 wildest and most formidable of Pope Gregory's time ; 
 and they had embraced the Arian religion. Antharis, 
 their leader, was ambitious enough to dream of playing 
 over again the part of Theodoric, or of perhaps reviving 
 the glories of the ancient Empire ; this may fairly be 
 inferred from his adoption of the name of Flavius, 
 which had distinguished imperial princes. He enlarged 
 his dominions, he baffled his Byzantine enemies, he 
 drove 'back the Franks who had dared to invade his 
 territories, and he carried fire and sword into the 
 dominions of the Church. His brilliant reign was brief, 
 and he left a young widow who was highly esteemed 
 and much beloved by the Lombards. 
 
 The chiefs agreed to accept as their king the man 
 on whom Theolinda should bestow her hand. She 
 
 * " History of the Jews." By Dean Milman. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 343 
 
 chose her cousin Agilulf, Duke of Turin. Theolinda, 
 a Bavarian by birth, had been brought up in the 
 orthodox faith, to which she was heartily attached. 
 Of this Gregory took advantage ; he addressed to the 
 Lombard queen several letters, which aided Theolinda 
 in converting her husband from the Arian heresy. 
 Agilulf accepted the doctrines of the Church, professed 
 tc be a faithful member, restored the treasures he had 
 plundered, and reinstated the bishops whom he had 
 deposed. Whereupon Gregory rewarded him by the 
 gift of the famous Iron Crown, which twelve hundred 
 years later Napoleon claimed as the prize of victory, 
 and which now belongs to the King of United Italy. 
 It is a broad circlet of gold set with precious stones ; 
 to the interior is affixed a slender iron circlet, said to 
 be a nail of the true cross beaten out into that form. 
 
 Pope Gregory framed the Liturgy and ritual of the 
 Church of Rome, appointing observances for solemn 
 days Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter ; and through 
 the efforts and skill of this energetic bishop, Church 
 music acquired its distinguishing character of solemn 
 harmony. 
 
 From the Arch of Constantine, near the Coliseum, 
 a road shaded by an avenue, which under an Italian 
 summer's sky is most delightful, leads to Gregory's 
 old convent and the church that bears his name ; it 
 stands on part of the ground formerly occupied by 
 the convent. Montalembert calls this spot the cradle 
 of English Christianity. Referring to its proximity to 
 the Coliseum, he says, " It touches the soil steeped in 
 the blood of thousands of martyrs, and faces Mount 
 Palatine, the cradle of pagan Rome, still covered with 
 the vast remains of the palaces of the Caesars. Where 
 then is an Englishman, worthy of the name, who can 
 
344 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 without emotion stand in that little corner of ground, 
 whence came to him faith, the name of Christian, and 
 the Bible of which he is so proud ? " 
 
 It is a green corner, a nook in the valley between the 
 Ccelian and the Palatine hills. Left chiefly to natures 
 guardianship, it looks like a little bit of England, the 
 quietest corner of a village green, or of a wild orchard 
 quite in the country. It may thus strike a traveller 
 resting on the lowest steps of the numerous flight, 
 hoary with age and grey moss, but enlivened by a tiny 
 fern, and by the smallest Linaria, which seems to lead 
 such a happy life, basking in the sunshine of to-day, 
 though rooted among the stones that tell of the years 
 that are past. The steps lead up to the church and 
 adjoining convents on the edge of the Ccelian hill ; which 
 in earliest times was called " The Hill of Oaks." It ex- 
 tends from St. John Lateran to the site of the ancient 
 Porta Capena, at the commencement of the Appian 
 Way, and from the Fountain of Egeria to St. Gregory's 
 Church and its surroundings. The traveller should 
 ascend the steps, and pass through the cloistered court 
 of the church into the convent garden. There the view 
 obtained is Rome the ancient, and beyond it the 
 modern city a view not to be forgotten. 
 
 And all the things connected with Gregory's life are 
 more simply real than are most of such things exhibited 
 in Rome. The convent garden is not modernized, and 
 the flowers blooming there are those that must have 
 refreshed and cheered Gregory, through all the changing 
 scenes of life a life of study, of toil, and anxiety ; sup- 
 ported, guided, and sweetened by those old cardinal 
 virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. The church has 
 been repeatedly restored ; it includes the monastic cell 
 
 * " Monks of the West." By Montalembert. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 345 
 
 that used to be in the convent the little private chamber 
 in which Gregory slept, and studied, and probably often 
 wrote. The side of the cell formerly occupied by his 
 bed is guarded by an iron grating, through which, by 
 the light of a lamp, is shown a coloured picture of the 
 saint in repose. His chair is more attractive, because it 
 is simply an antiquated seat, and looks really what it is 
 said to be. It is of fine white marble, perhaps from 
 Carrara, semicircular, and is still, from its size and form> 
 a comfortable chair. In the garden Gregory played as 
 a child; for it belonged to his mother Silvia's house, 
 remains of which are existing. 
 
 Gregory was well born, and inherited a great deal of 
 property. When he had attained to manhood, he built, 
 close to his mother's house, a convent, which he called 
 St. Andrew's, in which he lived for many years as a 
 monk. In that garden of his childhood's home, three 
 chapels now stand, built in the sixteenth century. That 
 of Ste. Silvia, in which we see a fine statue of Gregory's 
 mother, and over it a fresco by Guido, intended to repre- 
 sent God the Father and a choir of angels. The second 
 chapel of St. Andrew contains two famous rival frescoes 
 by Guido and Domenichino. Guide's is a touching 
 picture : he has put St. Andrew before us as on his 
 way to execution, followed by a Roman crowd. He 
 has just caught his first sight in the distance of the cross 
 on which he is to suffer ; he has thrown himself on his 
 knees, and with his eyes on the cross is thanking God, 
 and praying for strength to pass through the last trial. 
 Domenichino's is by many preferred as a painting, 
 but the subject, the saint on the rack, is not pleasing, 
 though well treated. The third chapel, of Ste. Barbara, 
 contains a statue of Gregory, with the dove on his 
 shoulder, according to the legend, and the table at 
 
346 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 which he daily fed twelve poor men, after he had washed 
 their feet. The Roman breviary relates that on one 
 occasion a thirteenth guest, an angel, sat down as one 
 of the company. 
 
 This story, and other more authentic incidents in 
 Gregory's life, are represented in rude frescoes on the 
 walls. Two of the largest pictures are historically in- 
 teresting. One represents Gregory taking leave of 
 Augustine and the other monks ; bestowing, with his 
 blessing, his parting presents,* The companion frescoe, 
 a scene in Canterbury, is amusing, for it shows that the 
 Roman painter understood our Anglo-Saxon ancestors 
 about as well as Tacitus understood the Jews. Ethel- 
 bert is .graciously receiving the missionaries; he wears 
 a primitive gold crown, but the king and his people are 
 perfect savages, and Queen Bertha does not appear. 
 
 Gregory's life in the convent was tranquilly happy ; 
 and after his elevation to the papal chair he regretted 
 the seclusion he had felt impelled to quit. One day, 
 Peter the Deacon, the playfellow of his boyhood, and 
 the companion of his studies, to whom he was warmly 
 attached, found him looking very sad, and inquired as 
 to the cause. " My grief," answered the Pope, " is that 
 which oppresses me every day, always old, yet always 
 new, by its daily growth. My poor soul remembers 
 what it was formerly in our monastery. . . . And now, 
 in consequence of my pastoral charge, it has to hear 
 the thousand affairs of men and of the age, and the 
 getting soiled in this dust. I think of all that I have 
 
 * We hear of only one copy of the Bible, one Testament, and a 
 Psalter. The monks accustomed themselves to commit whole 
 chapters to memory, which they repeated when giving instruction. 
 Gregory afterwards sent them manuscript Gospels ; two are still 
 existing, one in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 
 and the other in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 347 
 
 suffered and of all that I have lost. Here I am tossed 
 upon the ocean, all beaten and broken by the tempest. 
 Looking back upon my life is like looking back towards 
 the quiet shore ; and the worst of it is, that being thus 
 driven before the stormy wind I can hardly get a glimpse 
 of the port that I quitted." * 
 
 Although Gregory so vehemently objected to the as- 
 sumption of the title of Universal Bishop, yet certainly 
 he laid the foundation of the temporal power of the 
 popes. Little did he anticipate, indeed he could not 
 foresee, many of the results of that achievement results 
 which would not have been altogether such as have 
 occurred, had all his successors been men as pure in 
 heart and as noble-minded as himself. Montalembert 
 says 
 
 " By his genius, but above all by the attraction and 
 influence of his virtue, he originated and organized the 
 temporal dominion of the popes ; he developed and 
 regulated their spiritual sovereignty, he founded their 
 paternal supremacy over the new-born kingdoms and 
 nations destined to become the great people of the 
 future, under the names of France, Spain, and England. 
 It may be truly said that he inaugurated the middle 
 age, modern society, and Christian civilization." 
 
 With the most benevolent intentions, Gregory spent 
 a great deal of his own private money on the purchase 
 of slaves. We may look on the ground round his 
 mother's house and his own convent, and imagine how, 
 long ago, it was tilled by those young strangers in a 
 foreign land, the lads from Northumberland, and by 
 Jews whom this philanthropist bought because they 
 had been converted to Christianity, and needed to be 
 shielded against the bitter animosity of their relations 
 
 * Montalembert's " Monks of the West." 
 
348 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 and of all their own .people, and also Christian slaves 
 whom he had redeemed to set them free from the power 
 of Jewish masters. 
 
 Gregory died A.D. 604, the year in which Mahomet 
 openly proclaimed himself a prophet. In A.D. 606 the 
 Emperor Phocas decreed that the Church of Rome 
 should be the head and mistress of all the Churches, 
 and Pope Boniface the Third assumed the title of Uni- 
 versal Bishop, against which Gregory had so resolutely 
 protested.* 
 
 Thus simultaneously arose those two powers, destined 
 to become widely extensive and supremely dominant. 
 By one or other of them every acknowledged nation of 
 the earth was subdued, and by both of them the home- 
 less nation was affected, not only in its condition as a 
 nation, but moreover in the character and pursuits of 
 its scattered people. Portions of the Transtevere, and 
 the whole of the Ghetto, are the parts of Rome less 
 altered by time than are all the other districts of the 
 city. Comparing the present aspect of the Ghetto and 
 its inhabitants with the earliest descriptions of it that 
 can be found, the very little alteration that has occurred 
 during the course of the last twelve and a half or thirteen 
 centuries is astonishing. 
 
 We see very narrow streets united by crooked lanes, 
 houses so old as to be falling into ruin, yet utter ruin 
 has not abolished the Jews' Ghetto it has lived on in 
 a perpetual state of decay. Here and there its buildings 
 are supported by huge props of timber, but they are 
 
 * According to Bishop Newton, a cycle of 1,260 years was clearly 
 marked out as of great prophetical significance. The temporal 
 power of the Popedom was not to be materially diminished until 
 after that term of years had run out. (See Newton on the Prophe- 
 cies, Dissertation xiv., on the seventh chapter of Daniel.) 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 349 
 
 full of Hebrew life, lying prostrate at the foot of the 
 majestic height crowned by the Capitol of Rome. Some 
 of the houses have been grand in their day, irregularly 
 built, and mostly with overhanging roofs, but not with- 
 out pretensions to architecture, as some of the ancient 
 pillars and doorways indicate ; and woodwork on which 
 are quaint carvings and devices of beasts and birds, and 
 a few Jewish emblems, all in a worn-out, neglected con- 
 dition, all in harmony with the surrounding relics of 
 the portico of Octavia, the theatre of Marcellus, the fish 
 market of old Rome, the Flamminian circus, the Jewish 
 ambassador's residence in the Forum Judaeorum, and 
 the circus of Balbus. In the open space called Piazza 
 della Scuola, the cleanest part of the Ghetto, stand 
 three synagogues, for German, Spanish, and Italian 
 Jews, all built on the foundations of the large one erected 
 in the reign of Titus. The chief synagogue is adorned 
 with sculpture and gilding. On the external frieze we 
 observe the seven-branched candlestick, Miriam's timbrel, 
 and David's harp. On the interior frieze are represen- 
 tations of Noah's ark, the tabernacle, and the temple, 
 with its surrounding courts ; and the sacred furniture 
 and vessels ; also the symbols of the twelve tribes, each 
 in gold, on a white banner; and other national emblems; 
 but the Jew in charge of this house of prayer cannot 
 explain them. 
 
 Restoration must from time to time have been made, 
 or the Ghetto could not have been thus preserved ; but 
 still the aspect presented seems, through all these cer,- 
 turies, to have been consistent with the meaning of its 
 name, " Broken and Destroyed!' 
 
 European costumes have changed, but everywhere 
 the poor Jew is still conspicuously shabby and dirty ; 
 not as picturesque as the ragged Italian, nor does he 
 
350 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 look as light-hearted. The air in these narrow streets 
 is so revoltingly impure, that one can but expect to see 
 pale and haggard faces. The wonder is, how people 
 can live on, enjoying any degree of health and strength 
 and spirit in such a noxious atmosphere. They look 
 thin, sickly, and miserable ; yet here they are, in spite 
 of all the revolutions that have overthrown governments 
 and institutions, political and religious. 
 
 The Hebrew Church bestows much teaching and 
 exhortation on its young members before they are ad- 
 mitted to full religious privileges and undertake conse- 
 quent responsibilities. The higher classes are no doubt 
 carefully instructed, but they do not now live in the 
 Ghetto. Great ignorance exists there ; for a missionary 
 now working among them found Jewish women who 
 had not heard of Abraham, and knew nothing about 
 Jerusalem. The men of the lowest classes are taught 
 something ; but such ignorance on the part of their 
 mothers, wives, and daughters, shows the education to be 
 superficial, not such as is calculated to touch the heart 
 and to make them acquainted with Jehovah, and their 
 relationship to Him. 
 
 As regards spiritual destitution, this Jews' quarter 
 must be very much as it was in those early summer 
 days of A.D. 596, when the prior of St. Andrew's Convent 
 and the chosen band of missionaries those forty self- 
 denying, devoted men who had undertaken to bear the 
 Gospel to the heathen Saxons of Britain, were hurrying 
 up and down the streets of Rome, making their pre- 
 parations for leaving the civilized world. 
 
 Though it has no ground of its own to stand upon, 
 the Hebrew race lives on, and is not without internal 
 power which energizes activities that bear witness to the 
 existence of life both natural and political. So singular 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELLPAPAL POWER ROSE. 351 
 
 is this race, that notwithstanding the material difference 
 wrought by time in the amount of knowledge acquired 
 by man, and in the opinions and manners of all the 
 people of the earth, still the Hebrew of to-day is the 
 only type of what he was when Rome, when Greece, 
 when Persia, and when great Babylon were flourishing. 
 Then the Jewish nation had already begun to be that 
 strange people whom we know so cosmopolite, and at 
 the same, time so distinct. 
 
 The race is certainly one of- those most fully endowed 
 by God, for He has given it courage with patience, 
 energy with reticence, impulsive eloquence with delicately 
 clever stratagem, and strong reasoning power. 
 
 " In present as in ancient times, but much more now 
 than then, Jewish sects multiply, and religious opinions 
 are deep. Their intellectual centre, the law, is drowned 
 under commentaries ; their ritual centre, the Temple, no 
 longer exists ; their hierarchical centre, the high-priest- 
 hood, has disappeared. Nevertheless unity subsists, unity 
 of race, not unity of faith ; national, not religious unity. 
 Coherent, notwithstanding its dispersion ; one, notwith- 
 standing its differences; powerful, in spite of depend- 
 ence ; indestructible, in spite of political annihilation ; 
 the Jewish race was neither the least wealthy, nor the 
 least free, nor the least influential of those subjected 
 to the Roman Empire, as to-day it is neither the 
 least wealthy, the least powerful, nor the least inde- 
 pendent of those now living in the midst of Christian 
 kingdoms."* 
 
 But the Jewish nation had then something which it 
 now has not religious zeal, springing from an ardent 
 
 * Translated from " Rome et la Judee." Par M. le Comte de 
 Champagny, de PAcade"mie Frangaise. Paris, 1876. (See vol. i., 
 chap, iv., pp. 125, 143.) 
 
352 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 desire for the conversion of the world, that all the 
 people of the earth might know the God of Israel. 
 
 Such was her feeling, because she then had religious 
 hope ; she believed in the future restoration of her 
 political life, though it seemed to be extinguished, and 
 in her religious life, which had hitherto been a life, not 
 of perfect fruition, but of expectation. She hoped that 
 this restoration might be near at hand. She had her 
 past glory to look back on, but she thought more about 
 the future. Whatever view she took of coming glory, 
 she dwelt on it more than on that which had existed 
 and was departing, though still she then had her im- 
 posing religious ceremonies, her grand solemn forms of 
 worship, her holy city and temple, her hierarchy and 
 her law.* Hers was not yet that " decapitated religion" 
 which has lost not only the most brilliant objects of 
 desire that can glitter under our created sun, but also 
 its institutions of the past even that wreck of a law 
 that cannot be utterly destroyed, because it was given 
 to her by God Himself, when she was a pilgrim nation 
 journeying to her promised land ; and she received 
 and held it in faith, expecting completion and perfect 
 accomplishment, though, while her patience was tried 
 by the long waiting for fulfilment and clearer light, she 
 was too apt to deceive herself, and to mistake a shadow 
 for a substance.! " Blindness in part is happened to Israel, 
 iintil the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" wrote Paul, 
 a Hebrew, to the Romans. J Under this depressing 
 condition they have lost the old national ardour for 
 winning souls ; nevertheless, in the heart of many a son 
 of Abraham it exists in all its purity and fervour. The 
 Jews nationally are no longer propagandists, but they 
 
 * "Rome et la Judde," vol. i., p. T44. t Ibid. 
 
 J Rom. xi. 25 27. 
 
IMPERIAL POWER FELL PAPAL POWER ROSE. 353 
 
 can sympathize with Christians in the spirit of missionary 
 enterprise, as some did, to a certain extent, when Bishop 
 Armstrong was founding the mission stations in Kaffraria, 
 and no doubt this case is not a solitary instance. The 
 readiness and liberality with which Jews assist in pro- 
 moting all kinds of useful and benevolent objects is too 
 universally known to need exemplifying. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 
 
JEWISH VIEWS CONCERNING THE STATE OF THE 
 DECEASED. 
 
 From a Manual intended for Young Rabbis. 
 
 "Children of the house of Israel ! in this life of frailty, where all that i 
 united to us by the strongest bonds to-day, is to-morrow relentlessly torn 
 away, where nothing is permanent except change, nothing constant except 
 instability, it is the greatest comfort to us to have one steadfast pillar, 
 Remembrance. . . . The ancient heathens adorned the graves of their 
 beloved ones with flowers and wreaths, for they thought that the souls of 
 their beloved were laid in the tomb ; they materialised the soul, they were 
 only heathens. But the Jewish religion, which also makes use of symbols, yet 
 not to materialise the spiritual, but to spiritualise the material, teaches us to 
 seek the souls of the departed, not in the grave, but in heaven, in the bosom 
 of God, the Father of Love. Therefore, on the recurrence of such com- 
 memorations, Israelites do not strew earthly flowers on the grave, but offer 
 spiritual wreaths to heaven ; they offer prayers to God for the blessedness of 
 the departed. . . . Let every Israelite join in the heart-affecting prayer, 
 * May God remember the soul of my father, of my Lord N. , of the son of 
 M., who is gone to his everlasting home, because I offer here a charity for 
 him ; for the reward of this may his soul be bound up in the bundle of life, 
 together with the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Rebekah, Rachel, 
 and Leah, and others, male and female, who are in Paradise.' " Dr. S. M. 
 SCHILLER-SZINESSY. See "After Death," pages 57, 58. By H. M. 
 Luckock, D.D. Rivingtons. 1882. 
 
XIII. 
 WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 
 
 THE oldest Jewish cemetery is that near the Porta 
 Portese, which was situated conveniently for the 
 colony in the Transtevere. There is also an extensive 
 one not far from St. Gregory's Church, on a ridge in the 
 valley of the Aventine. Among the emblems sculptured 
 on the tombs, the nationally characteristic are the Star, 
 the Lion of Judah, and the seven-branched candlestick 
 the cedar of Lebanon, and vines and olive branches 
 variously arranged. 
 
 Among the simply suggestive emblems, the flight of 
 time is represented by the hour-glass, with or without 
 wings. We see the shock of corn, and the sickle that 
 cuts it down : inverted torches are numerous, and over 
 one a butterfly disporting in the sunshine betokens faith 
 in the new life of the liberated soul. Many tombs are 
 sculptured with funereal urns, flowers, wreaths, palm 
 branches, and crowns of victory. A strong tower, often 
 in connection with the lion, is a favourite device. In 
 another Hebrew cemetery, the secretary-bird, carrying 
 away the serpent, beautifully sculptured, points forward 
 to the triumph of all that is good, and the destruction 
 of evil. 
 
 On several of the tombs in the Aventine cemetery we 
 see three poppy heads bound together. Poppy seed is 
 the emblem of sleep, and may here signify sleep " until 
 
358 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the day break, and the shadows flee away." A small 
 oblong citron, called in Hebrew the ethrog, is a favourite 
 emblem. This pretty golden fruit is used for decorating 
 the tents for the feast of Tabernacles, and we find it 
 sculptured on gravestones. Jewish tradition says it is 
 the forbidden fruit of the garden of Eden. 
 
 The pomegranate, which often appears, is an admi- 
 rable emblem. The exterior of the fruit represents the 
 body already showing symptoms of decay, but we know 
 that out of sight lies the richness and the sweetness 
 ripening to perfection, while all that meets the eye is 
 hardening, fading, and withering. Its seed is in itself, 
 as was ordained in the beginning. It exhibits a mani- 
 fold life, unity in multiplicity, and multiplicity in unity. 
 Every pomegranate has many seeds, each seed has its 
 vitality, its germinating power to do its part towards 
 renewing the face of the earth when the winter is past. 
 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans burnt their dead ; 
 the custom of burying was brought from the East, by 
 the Jews, who had inherited it from their forefathers, as 
 the Old Testament Scriptures abundantly prove. Accord- 
 ing to Prudentius, the care bestowed on the remains 
 of the departed arose out of a loving hope that they 
 would rise again. " There will come an age when 
 genial warmth shall revisit these bones, and the soul 
 resume its former tabernacle," said the ancient people. 
 
 In later ages, both burning and burying were cus- 
 tomary with the Romans, according to circumstances 
 and convenience ; the latter was the less expensive. 
 
 We have seen that both Jews and Christians were 
 involved together in most of the persecutions. They 
 both made hiding-places for the living, and graves for 
 the dead, under the surface of the earth, using or 
 extending the catacombs when persecution rendered 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES 
 
 it necessary for both Jews and Christians to worship 
 secretly. In the rude underground synagogue and 
 church, each assembly of the faithful met to perform 
 their religious services, as nearly in accordance with 
 their ritual as straitened circumstances would permit. 
 The catacombs being perfectly dark, artificial light was 
 always required; terra-cotta lamps were used, and 
 have been found in abundance, of various shape and 
 size ; thousands have been discovered. Some persons 
 have endeavoured to trace to these services in the 
 catacombs the custom of worshipping by lamp or candle 
 light, but history contradicts that construction of the 
 original motive of " candle religion," and refers it un- 
 deniably to a different source. The employment of 
 artificial light for the mere purposes of rendering objects 
 visible is quite distinct from the ceremonial use of it. 
 This, against which an ancient homily on the "peril of 
 idolatry" energetically declaims, appears to have been 
 generally connected with idolatry, excepting in the case 
 of the Jewish ritual, and was unknown to Christians 
 until after the time of Constantine. The use of lights, 
 being an element of pagan worship, was universally 
 reprobated by the Church during the first three centuries. 
 Tertullian instances the lighting of mid-day candles as 
 a ceremony from which all wise men are exempt. He 
 ridicules those who lavish vain lights upon the noon- 
 day. And Lactantius, who died A.D. 325, says of the 
 pagans, " They slay rich and fat victims to God, as if 
 He were hungry; pour libations to Him, as if He were 
 thirsty; and burn lights, as to one living in darkness.* 
 
 In the catacombs, lamps were necessary, and many 
 persons who there acquired the habit of worshipping by 
 such dim, fitful light may, partly for association's sake, 
 * " The Church in the Catacombs." By Charles Maitland, M.D. 
 
36o HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 have preferred it. When the persecution had passed 
 over, and the customs of peaceful times had been 
 resumed, those subterranean meetings must have been 
 very solemn recollections of a time when, as they 
 prayed and sang, surrounded by the dead, God seemed 
 very near to those who had drawn near to Him, in 
 spite of difficulties and danger. 
 
 In the tranquil after-times, when the Church had rest, 
 though the probability of renewed persecution remained, 
 she encouraged the assembling of congregations in the 
 catacombs on the anniversaries of martyrdom on days 
 called Natalitia, or birthdays, because the saints were 
 then admitted into the unseen world. These lamp- 
 light meetings beside the grave of a departed friend 
 reanimated the faith of those who exhorted one another 
 to fellow the good example, and who partook together 
 of the funereal meal provided on these occasions. 
 
 This custom, which made it sure that loving eyes 
 would look, at least once a year, on every stone which 
 hid from sight the bones of a martyr, whose name was 
 inscribed thereon, gave a constant stimulus to fortitude 
 and zeal. But the Natalitia celebrated after Constan- 
 tine's conversion tended in a lamentable degree to 
 secularise religious worship : the festival was thrown 
 open in the hope of obtaining converts ; and many of 
 the pagan poor, having been fed at the expense of 
 the Church, became suddenly convinced of the truth of 
 Christianity.* 
 
 There was no catacomb used for martyrs alone ; they 
 were laid among the departed in the city of the dead ; 
 each has one of the narrow beds, raised tier above tier 
 on both sides of the long, low, dark, winding passage, 
 only wide enough for the living to pass on one by one 
 * "The Church in the Catacombs." By Charles Maitland, M.D. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 361 
 
 till they gain a nook formerly used as a place of worship. 
 Of this they are here and there reminded by a fresco, 
 or the vestiges of one. The Jewish candlestick is un- 
 mistakably Hebrew ; the Good Shepherd as decidedly 
 Christian ; for although the Jew knows his God as the 
 Great Shepherd who protects, guides, and feeds him, 
 yet he never thus represents Jehovah. Representations 
 of God are nowhere allowed among Jews, except by 
 verbal description of His attributes. 
 
 Bronze and terra-cotta lamps were used by both Jews 
 and Christians : a few relics of them are left in the cata- 
 combs, and in some of the open sepulchres a few bones 
 and a little dust may still be seen. Many of the stones 
 that closed the graves have been removed to museums 
 or churches. The palm branch has been looked upon as 
 a symbol denoting martyrdom, but it is not to be de- 
 pended on as a sign that cannot mislead. One of the 
 prettiest couple of palm branches with a crown uniting 
 them is inscribed to the memory of a little girl of three 
 years old. It appears improbable that she suffered mar- 
 tyrdom at so early an age. A number of devices, now 
 recognized as trade symbols, used to be looked upon as 
 indicating the instruments by which the deceased suffered 
 torture and death. The comb used by wool combers in 
 conjunction with a pair of shears suggested horrible 
 ideas. The knife and the mallets do not quite fix the 
 occupation, as they are useful in many trades ; women 
 may have been employed in beating flax, as well as in 
 combing wool. A pair of slippers marks the stone put 
 up by a shoemaker to mark the grave of his " most 
 worthy wife." 
 
 An enormous vessel, formerly supposed to be a furnace 
 used in the martyrdom of Victorina, is now decidedly 
 thought to be an ancient bushel measure filled with corn 
 
362 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 which denotes that Victorina, or her husband, or perhaps 
 the head of her family, was a corn grower or a corn dealer. 
 A saw, chisel, and adze tell that Banto was a carpenter. 
 
 In the catacomb of S. Calixtus, the fosser, or grave- 
 digger, has a very elaborate monument. On either side 
 of this Diogenes is seen a dove with an olive branch, 
 the common emblem of peace. He is pictured as a man 
 holding a pickaxe in one hand and a lamp in the other. 
 In the background we see the walls of the chapel or 
 nook pierced with graves closed by slabs, in front of 
 which the digger stands ; the cutting instruments and 
 compasses used for marking out graves appear on the 
 floor. His loose dress is marked with the cross, to 
 indicate the faith in which he lived and died. 
 
 In an ignorant age, when very few of the multitude 
 could read, it was well to make use of symbolic figures, 
 which caught the eye easily, and were generally under- 
 stood. 
 
 The purely allegorical symbols are very plain, such as 
 the fish and the ship to represent the Church, the dove 
 with the olive branch and the anchor to tell of faith and 
 hope. The peacock, as regards its meaning, is not so 
 clear, but it is sai-d to have been used as an emblem of 
 immortality. This idea was borrowed from the pagans, 
 as were also those which ascribed a glorious meaning to 
 the laurel crown and the palm branch; but they received 
 additional significance when inspired writers made use 
 of them to express typically the promises of Holy 
 Scripture. They are, as we have seen, to be found in 
 the burial grounds of the Jews, and may have been 
 equally used by them in the catacombs. 
 
 Many of the written inscriptions plainly tell of 
 martyrdom, and cannot be misunderstood, as this 
 
 " Primitius in peace, after many torments, a most valiant martyr. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 303 
 
 He lived thirty-eight years. . . . His wife raised this to her dearest 
 husband, he well deserving." 
 
 And 
 
 " Here lies Gordianus, deputy of Gaul, who was executed for the 
 faith, with all his family : they rest in peace. Theophila, a hand- 
 maid, set up this." 
 
 A palm branch is traced on the tablet. 
 
 This stone puzzled the archseologians, as the inscrip- 
 tion was in very bad Latin, cut in Greek characters. 
 An observation in Julius Caesar's account of the Gallic 
 wars was recollected, and it threw light on the subject. 
 Caesar says that the Druids of Gaul were accustomed 
 to use Greek letters in their secular transactions, and 
 that they managed the education of the people. This 
 accounts for Theophila's Greek. Afterwards, when she 
 came to Rome in her master's family, she picked up a 
 little Latin, but only by ear. Yet, notwithstanding her 
 ignorance and other impediments, she contrived, by the 
 aid of a stone-cutter almost as ignorant as herself, to put 
 up this respectful memorial, which has lasted so long. 
 
 With most ancient nations the custom prevailed of 
 enclosing in the tomb a small cup or vase supposed 
 to contain the tears of the mourners. The Christians, 
 though rejecting the name lachrymatory, retained the 
 cup, probably to hold spices and myrrh, which were 
 much used at the burial of the dead. The cups found in 
 catacombs vary in shape from the tall thin lachrymatory 
 of the heathen to the open saucer of painted glass of 
 the fifth century. The cup often enclosed in the tomb 
 is sometimes drawn on the gravestone. The idea which 
 long prevailed, that these cups originally held the blood 
 of the martyrs, was quite a mistake, which arose out ot 
 the fact that they, as well as the lower part of the grave, 
 were often found tinged with a red colour ; but this was 
 
364 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 produced by decomposition of either the bodies or the 
 spices. The most ancient cups bear no inscription ; 
 after the end of the fourth century they were some- 
 times marked with inscriptions in honour of saints ; 
 but no such cups are found of the earlier Christian 
 times. 
 
 Instruments of torture have been found in the cata- 
 combs, but their number has been greatly exaggerated. 
 The whole stock discovered consists of three terrible 
 hooks, called ungula> with which the sufferers were torn 
 on the sides, and a large comb, which is supposed to be 
 one used for tearing flesh. These instruments may have 
 been buried with the martyrs. From Rabbinical writ- 
 ings, antiquaries have discovered that Jews who had 
 been stoned or beheaded were interred with the swords 
 or stones used in their execution. With regard to the 
 Christians, a few instances were the exceptions, not the 
 rule, which seems to have restrained resentful feeling, 
 and to have placed around the dead only symbols of 
 peace, of innocence, and charity, and inscriptions evincing 
 trust in God, submission to His will, and affectionate 
 esteem for the departed. 
 
 The phonetic signs used for expressing names are 
 very curious ; thus the name Navira is given by a ship, 
 Leo by a lion. Two casks represent Doleus the father 
 and son, dolium being the Latin for cask. 
 
 Porcella means a little pig. On a gravestone we see 
 the pig, with this inscription beneath : 
 
 " Porcella sleeps in peace. She lived three years, ten months, 
 and thirteen days," 
 
 The tomb of a man named Draconitius exhibits a 
 dragon, that of Onager an ass. We can imagine that 
 the non-reading friends of these departed ones looked 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 365 
 
 with loving eyes on any signs which recalled dear names 
 and happy recollections connected with them. 
 
 One inscription states what had been paid for the 
 grave, a sum equivalent to i 2s. /d. in English money. 
 
 Outside the ancient Porta Capena, near the beginning 
 of the Appian Way, the Jews had a catacomb, which till 
 lately has been supposed to be exclusively a Hebrew 
 place of interment. In A.D. 1862, Raffaele Garrucci 
 wrote a description of it, and positively expressed the 
 opinion that it had been used only by the Jews, because 
 the Romans could not lawfully sell a pagan burial place 
 to Jews, and, on the other hand, Jews were not likely to 
 wish to purchase one, but would have preferred burrow- 
 ing in new ground. That appears a reasonable con- 
 clusion at which to arrive ; but recent investigations 
 have at least thrown doubt upon it. 
 
 A member of the Rothschild family was thinking of 
 purchasing the catacomb, but abandoned the intention, 
 because competent judges, after careful examination, 
 pronounced it to be not entirely Hebrew, although the 
 candlestick and other unmistakable symbols prove that 
 a number of Jews were there laid to rest. We cannot 
 decidedly account for this difference of opinion. Could 
 it be possible that after the Romans had renounced 
 paganism, the law which protected pagan cemeteries 
 might have been repealed, and the ground sold to Jews ? 
 And perhaps the Hebrew propensity for driving a good 
 bargain, or the idea that the hiding-places might be 
 useful, should perilous times again put the lives of Jews 
 in jeopardy, might have tempted them to buy. 
 
 Raffaele Garrucci thinks the rectangular room, in which 
 is some well-preserved mosaic pavement, was a synagogue, 
 Synagogues and burial places were often near together ; 
 and there was sure to be water for the supply of the 
 
366 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 synagogue ; therefore the existence of a spring confirmed 
 Garrucci in his opinion. The Hebrew catacomb, as it 
 is called, is entered by passing through the vineyard 
 Randanini, which is not far from the columbarium of 
 the freedmen of Octavia. A columbarium was a tomb 
 house containing regular tiers of niches, like pigeon 
 holes. This one has nine tiers all round; every niche 
 was made to hold one or two cinerary urns. Here and 
 there a small bust stands beside an urn, and there are a 
 few cups and lamps. 
 
 But to return to the Jews' catacomb, or rather to the 
 pleasant vineyard commanding a grand view of the Alban 
 hills, and an interesting and picturesque one of the city : 
 but, alas! the catacomb cannot at this moment be en- 
 tered; therefore it is impossible to make fresh observations. 
 It was as accessible as are the other catacombs, until an 
 abominable thief contrived to carry away some of the 
 valuable curiosities. A lawsuit is going on, and until the 
 affair is settled, no one is allowed to go in ; we must 
 therefore be satisfied with glancing over descriptions 
 given by those who have seen it. 
 
 Augustus Hare says : " It is entered by a chamber 
 open to the sky, floored with black and white mosaic. 
 .... The following chamber has the remains of a well. 
 Hence a low door forms the entrance of a gallery, out of 
 which open six cubicula, one of them containing a fine 
 white marble sarcophagus, and decorated with a painting 
 of the seven-branched candlestick. A side passage leads 
 to other cubicula, and to an open space which seems to 
 have been an actual arenarium. A winding passage at 
 the end of the larger gallery leads to the graves in the 
 floor, divided into different cells for corpses, called cocim 
 by Rabbinical writers. A cubiculum at the end of the 
 catacomb has paintings of figures Plenty with a cornu- 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 367 
 
 copia, Victory with a palm branch, and others. . . . The 
 inscriptions are in great part in Greek letters expressing 
 Latin words. They refer to officers of the synagogue, 
 rulers, and scribes." This author expresses the opinion, 
 which generally prevailed when he wrote, five years ago, 
 that this cemetery was exclusively Jewish; and there 
 is, he says, another small Jewish catacomb behind the 
 basilica of St. Sebastian. 
 
 The catacombs were burrowed through mines of a 
 volcanic kind of sand, a brittle crumbling substance. 
 Cubicula are roomy caves, ambulacres are passages be- 
 tween the narrow shelf-like graves. A Crypta arenaria 
 means a group of these caves and passages made in 
 that peculiar volcanic sand. 
 
 In descriptions of these cemeteries we read that 
 pagans, Jews, and Christians lie in the same catacomb, 
 though perhaps in different parts of its extensive 
 ramifications ; this has lately been contradicted. The 
 subjects of the frescoes are taken from both Old and 
 New Testament. Of course, those from the Bible narra- 
 tives may have been put up by either Jew or Christian ; 
 but there is one scriptural character of the Old Testa- 
 ment frequently represented. It must have been a 
 favourite subject, not only with the early Christian 
 artist, but also with the rulers of the early Christian 
 Church. 
 
 The prophet Jonah is shown under three circumstances 
 of his life. First, being thrown into the sea ; secondly, 
 being swallowed by a marine monster ; thirdly, when he 
 is thrown up by the monster on the shore. No doubt it 
 was as a type of resurrection that the subject was se- 
 lected. Moreover a fourth circumstance has often been 
 traced Jonah looking down upon the condemned city, 
 while reposing under the shelter of his gourd; and in 
 
368 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo we find a full ex- 
 planation of the meaning. " In that," says St. Augustine, 
 " we have an allegorical figure of what took place after 
 the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jonah is grieved at the 
 conversion of Nineveh, of which he had prophesied the 
 ruin ; in the same way the converted Jews were grieved 
 at the conversion of the Gentiles, from whom they had 
 hitherto considered themselves entirely and for ever 
 separated by the especial election of God, who had chosen 
 them to be His own people, to the exclusion of all others. 
 Jonah is grieved to see his miraculously formed gourd, 
 which had protected him from the heat, withered as 
 quickly and miraculously as it had at first arisen. He 
 did not grieve over the loss of 120,000 innocent perishing 
 souls ; this did not appear very sad to the prophet ; and 
 thus also the christianized Jews distressed themselves over 
 the loss of their special promises of temporal blessings, 
 given particularly to them under the Old Testament. 
 
 " These ancient promises of good things to be received 
 by them in this world were dear to them, and they did 
 not trouble themselves about the innumerable multitude 
 of nations who would have been excluded from the 
 kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Saint Augustine's reasoning shows us that the Chris- 
 tian Church, gathered from out of every nation in his 
 and preceding times, was not ready, not fit to receive 
 her Lord and King, whom she was ardently longing to 
 welcome. It shows us that her people needed not so 
 much to be encouraged by the hope of earthly bless- 
 ings as to have their aspirations raised to heavenly ones ; 
 their eyes needed to be attracted upwards, not rivetted 
 on the earth, looking for those things which are to be 
 accomplished when earth's Redeemer, David's Son, the 
 Lord of all, returns. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 369 
 
 Moreover, St. Augustine's notions, though we may 
 not entirely agree with them, help us to more clearly 
 see how full of mercy is the delay which tries the 
 patience of the faithful : but it does not convince us that 
 a promise, once made by Jehovah, which hitherto has 
 been but partially fulfilled, can become like a withered 
 thing that is never to revive. " The grass withereth, 
 the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand 
 for ever" 
 
 Truer than is the needle to the pole are those words 
 to their eternal meaning. Outward agitation may shake 
 the case that holds the compass, and the needle may 
 tremble and quiver, and seem to have lost its mysterious 
 connection with the pole ; but directly rest is obtained 
 it proves its fidelity to the ancient law of nature ordained 
 by the Creator. Has any one passage in the Word of 
 God less claim upon our faith than another ? Every 
 one which conveys a promise of material blessing must 
 eventually be fulfilled, although it may be long with- 
 held, while those persons who are to be the recipients 
 are learning the relative value of temporal and spiritual 
 blessings ; so that, like Abraham, they may " be blessed, 
 and be a blessing." 
 
 The Bishop of Hippo was not singular in condemning 
 a self-deceptive kind of religion based on the feelings 
 of the natural man, rooted in selfish ambition. Other 
 chief pastors saw the danger, and endeavoured so to 
 feed the sheep of the flock, as to strengthen them 
 against it. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, in whose life- 
 time the last great persecution of the Church occurred, 
 openly expressed the conviction that it was needed to 
 chasten and subdue a spirit of unholy pride which had 
 crept into the Church, and to restore purity and self- 
 denial. An ancient homily with quaint simplicity 
 
 24 
 
370 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 strikes at the root of this evil, and the words written 
 so long ago have not lost their force : 
 
 " Let us then have faith, brothers and sisters. We 
 are contending in the lists of the living God, and we 
 are trained by the present life, that we may be crowned 
 with the future. No righteous man hath reaped fruit 
 quickly, but waiteth for it. For if God had paid the 
 recompence of the righteous quickly, then straightway 
 we should have been training ourselves in merchandize, 
 and not in godliness; for we should seem to be righteous, 
 though we are pursuing not that which is godly, but 
 that which is gainful." 
 
 Such sound and sensible exhortations guarded persons 
 who in a humble frame of mind gave them earnest 
 attention. Nevertheless the evil grew, although its 
 power was, we know, entirely under the control of Him 
 through whom alone we can " overcome evil with 
 good." 
 
 Yet two great evils were allowed to assume an attrac- 
 tive and a noble aspect. First, under what was called 
 an Agapae, or lovefeast, the most dangerous senti- 
 ments were fostered rather than discouraged ; secondly, 
 self-constituted teachers inflamed human passions to 
 make their fellow-men neglect the duties of life, and 
 court a martyr's death. Examples are given in Dr. 
 Maitland's " Church in the Catacombs." 
 
 The lovefeast had been commented on by St. 
 Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians.* Tertul- 
 lian shows us what that feast had degenerated into 
 what it was more than a hundred years later than the 
 apostolic age ; he thus bitterly satirizes it : " Your love 
 boils in the kettle ; your faith glows in the kitchen ; 
 Your hope is in the dish." 
 
 * i Cor. xi. 1922, 29, 30, 33, 34. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 371 
 
 The same author tells us how Christians were urged 
 on to desire the crown of martyrdom by being led to 
 think that all the most glorious promises of Holy Scrip- 
 ture belong only to those whose lives are literally 
 sacrificed, who bear bodily torture and suffer death in 
 testimony of their faith. The importance of Christian 
 life was under-valued ; it was distinctly separated, un- 
 naturally disjoined from Christian death ; whereas death 
 is the last act of life ; and that Good Shepherd, pictured 
 on the walls of the catacombs, who leads His sheep 
 through the green pastures, strengthens every faithful 
 one, and comforts him in the dark valley, whether he 
 die a natural or a violent death. Of all the victors who 
 have conquered sin, triumphed over temptation, and 
 trustfully given themselves up soul and body into God's 
 safe keeping, we may say 
 
 " They climbed the steep ascent of heaven 
 
 Through peril, toil, and pain. 
 O God, to us may grace be given 
 To follow in their train." 
 
 Among the grand and stimulating examples which 
 history sets before us, those of the holy martyrs must 
 always hold a foremost place, yet one cannot help wish- 
 ing that their sufferings had never been painted as a 
 panorama on the interior of that fine old circular church 
 S. Stefano in Rotondo, or their lives collected in a " Book 
 of Martyrs." 
 
 Dr. Maitland points out that Martyrology has its three 
 characteristic styles, each of which indicates the period 
 of time to which it belongs. First, the Primitive style; 
 secondly, the Florid ; thirdly, the Debased. 
 
 The primitive, as illustrated by the inscriptions in the 
 catacombs, is pure, almost as simple as are the records 
 of Scripture concerning the deaths of the martyrs ; and 
 
372 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 the little that is added is full of natural pathos. The 
 florid style is exaggerated, becomes exceedingly so, 
 and by its redundance we know that the debased is not 
 far off. 
 
 The field of the human mind, on the wilderness of this 
 world, is that on which the Hebrew Church, the Christian 
 Church, and every hierarchal body has to do its work 
 and to exercise its influence. This unquestionable fact, 
 from its very simplicity, is apt to slip out of thought, 
 with its appendant consequences, but should be recalled 
 when we consider the state of the churches at any given 
 period of the world's history ; for, to judge fairly, we 
 must take into account the moral and intellectual con- 
 dition of the multitudes through which a church has to 
 carry its teaching and its discipline, and over whom it 
 endeavours to obtain authority and power for good. 
 The Church of Rome had to overawe the rude bar- 
 barians, and to labour for their conversion ; and skilfully 
 did she form her plans, achieve her spiritual conquests, 
 and at the same time strengthen her temporal power, 
 and extend and establish her dominant rule. Amidst 
 the confusion which prevailed long after the break-up of 
 the old Empire, and the forcible influx of new customs, 
 manners, and habits of thought, she laid the founda- 
 tions of civil, social, and educational organization. The 
 fathers of the Church were but men ; we perceive their 
 shortcomings and mistakes more clearly than we can 
 see the impediments they had to overcome or to circum- 
 vent. They seem to us to have been too ready to yield 
 to the lingering heathen ideas and tastes of the people, 
 and, on the other hand, too arbitrary and domineering. 
 Certainly they countenanced, and even sanctioned, foolish 
 and untruthful legends, and permitted heathenish customs 
 to defile their lovefeasts. At meetings instituted in 
 
WHA7 THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 373 
 
 honour of the saints, things were said and done much 
 more consistent with the pagan than with the Christian 
 religion. We desire not to justify anything that was 
 wrong ; but when we reflect on what the chief pastors 
 of the Church accomplished in those dark ages, we must 
 gratefully acknowledge that it was a noble task, which 
 could have been done only by the help of God. 
 
 The removal of the seat of imperial government from 
 Rome to Constantinople made way for the seat of a 
 chief ruler of the Church to be placed most advantage- 
 ously in an independent and commanding position. 
 The new throne in the city on the seven hills was an 
 effectual sign of a new form of government. The crozier, 
 which represented the crook or rod and staff of the chief 
 shepherd, became an ensign of almost unbounded power, 
 which was either well used or misused by the popes, 
 as it had been by the kings and emperors of Rome, 
 according to the personal character of each man thus 
 exalted. Though not miraculously raised above human 
 weakness and short-sightedness, such popes as Sylvester, 
 Damasus, and Gregory the First did a vast amount of 
 good, each in his generation. 
 
 The masterpiece of ecclesiastical policy was accom- 
 plished when Pope Leo the Third placed an imperial crown 
 on the head of Charlemagne. The Church of Rome had 
 conceived a bold project, had formed an alliance with 
 the Carolingian house, and had revived in that family the 
 Empire which had been dead for 300 years. 
 
 It seems that at this important crisis in the world's 
 history the sons of Abraham were not so trodden under 
 foot, nor so hampered by disabilities, as to be unable to 
 take part in the excitements and duties of their day, nor 
 was a superior man of Hebrew birth prevented from 
 rising to eminence. One named Isaac was cabinet 
 
374 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 minister to Charlemagne, who sent him twice on con- 
 fidential embassies to the Caliph Haroun Alraschid. 
 
 The mild aspect under which both Popery and 
 Mahometanism arose, led the Jews to mistake their real 
 nature ; but no sooner were those revolutions completed, 
 which established their power, than the gleam of sun- 
 shine on the Hebrew's path was overcast, and ages 
 of misery succeeded. The ninth and two following 
 centuries are appropriately called the dark ages ; for 
 Popery, in the fullest and worst sense of the expression, 
 meaning an inhuman compound of ignorance and bigotry 
 and superstition, reigned. It completely crushed the 
 Jew, which is the more remarkable, because the principles 
 that constituted it were the counterpart of that Rabbinism 
 which had grown up in the Jewish Church, and which 
 were indeed derived from it. What an awful amount of 
 evil sprang out of that exaltation of human traditions 
 over the simple truth as it is given us in Scripture, and 
 out of the superstitious multiplication of ceremonies 
 and forms of godliness, to neglect of its power, and that 
 self-conceited fanatical bigotry which considered the 
 expression of its hatred against those who differed from 
 it as the most decisive evidence of piety towards God ! 
 Under this tyranny the prophecies against the ancient 
 people were literally fulfilled, which makes it the more 
 certain that those in their favour will be as exactly 
 accomplished. The Jew did become " a proverb" "a 
 byword" "a reproach" as had been foretold. Accord- 
 ingly, we find them deprived of independence, kept back 
 by unjust restrictions and prohibitions, and, later on, 
 insulted, robbed, exiled, and slaughtered, both by their 
 governors and their fellow-subjects.* 
 
 * " History of the Hebrew Nation." By the Rev. J. W. Brooks. 
 Pages 501504. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 375 
 
 Popery imitated with wonderful exactness, not the 
 originally pure, but the corrupted Hebrew Church, 
 which had made " the word of God of none effect " by 
 the traditions it had admitted. Under its rule, the 
 most atrocious conduct toward the Jews was not only 
 allowed, but encouraged. They were reduced to a state 
 of political prostration, and undoubtedly, generally 
 speaking, they fell into a condition of moral degrada- 
 tion, such as this treatment could not fail to produce. 
 Individual exceptions do but confirm this rule. Never- 
 theless, one who knew it well assured us that the 
 Jewish mind, the living Hebrew intellect, has held, and 
 is holding and wielding, a wonderful power over the 
 world.* 
 
 He further said : " The Semites exercise a vast 
 influence over affairs, by their smallest, but most pecu- 
 liar family, the Jews. There is no race gifted with so 
 much tenacity, and such skill in organization. These 
 qualities have given them an unprecedented hold over 
 property, and illimitable credit. As you advance in 
 life, and get experience in affairs, the Jew will cross you 
 everywhere. They have long been stealing into our 
 secret diplomacy, which they have almost appropriated ; 
 
 * " I speak not of their laws which you still obey, or of their 
 literature with which your minds are saturated ; but of the living 
 Hebrew intellect. You never observe a great intellectual move- 
 ment in Europe in which the Jews do not greatly participate. The 
 first Jesuits were Jews. That mysterious Russian diplomacy 
 which alarms Western Europe is organized and carried on prin- 
 cipally by Jews. That mighty revolution which is at this moment 
 preparing in Germany, and which will be in fact a second and 
 greater reformation, and of which so little is known in England, is 
 entirely developing under the auspices of Jews, who almost mono- 
 polise the professional chairs in Germany. As to the German 
 professors of this race, their name is legion." Benjamin Disraeli. 
 (Written in A.D. 1844.) 
 
376 HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ROME. 
 
 in another quarter of a century they will claim their 
 share of open government"* 
 
 Can we doubt the existence of light more than we 
 doubt that of darkness ? 
 
 Should we further pursue the course of our subject, 
 it will be ours to mark that " God divided the light 
 from the darkness." We shall not clearly see how 
 or when it was done. Who has ever seen the actual 
 break of dawn, which occurs beyond the limits of our 
 view, beyond our horizon? 
 
 " The gazing eye no change can trace, 
 But look away a little space, 
 
 Then turn, and lo ! 'tis there." Keble. 
 
 In that growing light we shall see good things that 
 were round us, even when we saw them not. They 
 are good because they were called into existence by 
 the voice of God, the unchangeable Jehovah, with 
 whom is no darkness at all ; and hereafter light in full 
 glory will show us beauty and variety, and order and 
 design, all brought out of the chaos through which, 
 " guided by the historic muse," we have groped our way 
 
 " . . . . From age to age, 
 Through many a waste, heart-sickening page." Keble. 
 
 The mythology of the middle ages, which has choked 
 up the fountain-springs of modern history, is more sim- 
 ply poetical, therefore more pleasing, than is pagan 
 mythology. All the streams of European history sprang 
 up in the dark ages ; they were earnestly sought and 
 found, and in some measure cleared from the rank 
 weeds in and around their channels, by those inde- 
 fatigable hermits and monks, who collected chronicles 
 and traditions, and compiled them, writing in their 
 
 * " Endymion." By Lord Beaconsfield. Chap. xx. 
 
WHAT THEIR BURIAL PLACES SHOW. 377 
 
 caves and cells : after awhile they, with exquisite care, 
 illuminated their manuscripts. The bards added to 
 the stock of early literature by celebrating the exploits 
 of favourite heroes, and wandering minstrels composed 
 and sang their songs, describing what they had heard 
 and seen. From the " Lays of the Troubadours," which 
 have been collected, we may gather what the crusaders 
 and their contemporaries thought of the Jews. We have 
 seen how they were treated by classical authors ; it 
 would be interesting to mark how they have been dealt 
 with by modern writers. A sweep through our own 
 literature, from Shakespeare to George Eliot, would 
 give a fair example, although it might be well also 
 to look into that of other European countries ; but 
 this work, if carried on, must be produced in another 
 volume. 
 
" In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel ', 
 and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I 
 have given for an inheritance unto their fathers" JEREMIAH iii. 18, 
 and xxxi. 
 
 " And they shall be one in mine hands" EZEKIEL xxxvii. 19. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 , a talented and highly educated Greek, 
 -L searched into the antecedents and traditions of the 
 nations whom he saw so strangely and quickly revo- 
 lutionizing the world. Dean Abbadie studied the 
 chronicles of that historian of the dark ages, in the light 
 of the eighteenth century ; and to him the idea sug- 
 gested itself, that in that era so remarkably signalized 
 by national eruption and distress of nations, the children 
 of the twelve sons of Jacob met, being brought together 
 for the purposes of Divine Providence, although the 
 tribes were as insensible to the relationship, as were 
 Joseph's brothers when they met him as a stranger bear- 
 ing an Egyptian name. It may be that his life was a 
 prototype of the fate of those tribes who were to be 
 headed by the descendants of Ephraim, his younger son, 
 elected to the chieftainship, whose name is often used 
 in Scripture to designate all Israel. 
 
 On a passage in Procopius' " History of the Gauls, 
 Persians, and Goths/' Dean Abbadie remarks : 
 
 " Perhaps if we were to search very closely into the 
 subject, we should find that the people who made irrup- 
 tions into the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and 
 whom Procopius reduces to the number of ten, were, in 
 fact, none other than the ten tribes of Israel, living thus 
 far in a state of separation, keeping near the part of 
 the world on which they had been exiled and dispersed, 
 
380 APPENDIX. 
 
 until they quitted that neighbourhood of the Black and 
 Caspian Seas, their place of exile, because the land could 
 no longer maintain them. Everything strengthens this 
 conjecture. The extraordinary increase of the people, 
 foretold so precisely by the prophets, the number of the 
 tribes, the custom of living in tents, and other customs 
 of these Scythians, like those of the children of Israel."* 
 Abbadie proceeds to show all the points of similarity 
 which mark these Sycthians as a people to whom the 
 prophecy in the tenth chapter of Zechariah, from the 
 6th verse, may possibly apply. In the days of the 
 Hebrew prophets all those regions around the Black and 
 Caspian Seas had been called the north country, because 
 they lay northward of the then great empires of Baby- 
 lonia and Persia, and in the days of Procopius all that 
 part of the world was successively occupied, overrun by 
 restless tribes living in tents, always ready to migrate, 
 yet gaining power enough to make them formidable 
 enemies to the divided Roman Empire. As well 
 as the light of his times permitted, Procopius wrote the 
 histories of several of the so-called barbarian nations, 
 which more than a thousand years later were read by 
 Dean Abbadie. As we read his comments, it seems that 
 in his time it was not as decidedly ascertained as it now 
 is, that Scythian was not the name of any particular 
 race, but was originally a word applicable to all nomadic 
 people wandering on for pasturage. Abbadie was a 
 man of deep learning, and the peculiar circumstances of 
 his life had made him widely acquainted with the Euro- 
 pean world. He came to England with King William 
 the Third, who made him Dean of Killaloe in Ireland, 
 and Minister of the Savoy in London. 
 
 * " Le Triomphe de la Providence," tome ii. 1 77. Par le Dr. 
 Abbadie. Amsterdam, 1723. 
 
APPENDIX. 381 
 
 Abbadie did not trace the tribes beyond the age of 
 Constantine, not further than the period which, though 
 extending beyond his time, may well bear the name of 
 the Emperor who inaugurated it ; and which was indeed 
 a blessed time of rest to the Christians after the perse- 
 cutions through which the Church had passed under the 
 pagan emperors. But we cannot think with Abbadie 
 that all Isaiah's grand predictions, and Jer. xxxi., and 
 the Book of Micah received complete ultimate fulfil- 
 ment in the age of Constantine ; and likewise several 
 passages in the Book of Hosea, metaphorical prophecy 
 which Abbadie decidedly applies to the Israelites, but 
 thinks that admission into the Christian Church, in a 
 figurative sense, entirely fulfilled them. He was so per- 
 fectly satisfied with the glorious view of all those bar- 
 barous nations brought together by God's guiding 
 providence, in order that they might be within hearing 
 of the gospel ; he rejoiced so contentedly in the know- 
 ledge that, one after another, they became converted, 
 either before or soon after they had settled themselves, 
 and thus formed Christian kingdoms, all comprehended 
 in the one fold of the Church, that he cared to go no 
 further. Evidently his mind was completely filled with 
 the idea that the blessed privilege of being a member of 
 Christ's Church so far surpasses that of being a son of 
 Abraham, that the latter distinction is quite merged in 
 the former. Very literally did he understand the third 
 chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. He 
 looked upon the inheritance referred to in verse 24 
 as a spiritual birthright, as far superior to any earthly 
 heritage, even to all that is earthly in that of the sons of 
 Abraham and the royal line of David, as is the im- 
 mortal spirit in man superior to his earthly tenement. 
 From the depths of his heart, Abbadie repeated the 
 
382 APPENDIX. 
 
 words of the Apostle to the Gentiles : " The new man is 
 renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that 
 created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, cir- 
 cumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Sycthian, bond 
 nor free : but Christ is all, and in all." 
 
 Abbadie had translated the liturgy and psalmodies of 
 the Church into different languages, and he felt perfectly 
 happy in the thought that in the Christian Church all 
 the descendants of Abraham, and all the families of the 
 earth are united as the members of one family, enjoying 
 the richest and best heritage, and that they all sing to- 
 gether the songs of Zion, calling the God of Israel their 
 God, and Abraham their forefather. This view filled 
 Abbadie's heart with fervent gratitude ; and believing, as 
 he did, that Israelites were comprehended in the enor- 
 mous masses of invaders that fell upon Rome, seeming 
 to destroy civilization, and threatening to bring back 
 chaos, but which were ere long reduced to order under 
 settled governments, Abbadie felt that they and their 
 children had every right to sing with one accord, 
 " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited 
 and redeemed His people," and to repeat all passages 
 from both the Old and New Testament which are incor- 
 porated into the liturgies of the Universal Church of 
 Christ. This new embodiment of holy words did not 
 disprove the higher antiquity of their origin, did not 
 alter their signification, nor weaken their claims, as por- 
 tions of the Word of God, on man's trustful faith. 
 
 Abbadie's ideas are tinged with Calvinism ; when 
 studying his life, one sees it could hardly be otherwise. 
 He was born of Huguenot parents in the south of 
 France, and educated in his boyhood by the celebrated 
 La Placette, before the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes, which blighted the hopes and prospects of his 
 
APPENDIX. 383 
 
 early manhood. His life work was done in Paris, in 
 Brandenburg, then just developing into the kingdom of 
 Prussia, in Holland, in Ireland and England. In the 
 Reformation, a work of centuries, Abbadie did his part 
 carefully as a theological writer. He arrived in England 
 just at that crisis of our history which we call the Revo- 
 lution. As to his opinions with regard to the ten tribes, 
 he held them in an enquiring rather than in a dogmatical 
 spirit. The subject was one of the popular topics of his 
 day, and nothing that was written upon it by those who 
 thought they had found all the lost tribes, or who ex- 
 pected to find them all hidden in narrow secluded 
 localities, or perhaps at the North Pole, satisfied him. 
 How could a race which, according to the word of God, 
 was to increase rapidly, and some of its nations were to 
 spread very vigorously and widely, and every one was 
 to have some kind of power, continue, through rolling 
 ages, to be concealed in the secret places of the earth ? 
 
 It is an open question : we did not open it, and 
 perhaps we cannot close it. Dean Abbadie opened it 
 two hundred years ago, but not at all widely. His 
 ideas, though not on the whole coinciding with those 
 of the Jews on the subject of the dispersion of the ten 
 tribes, yet agree with them in one respect. He con- 
 tinually remembered, and used in argument, the Scrip- 
 tural simile of seed dispersed over fields by a husband- 
 man, not sown by the winds. Seed does not lose its 
 identity by being sown ; it is still wheat or barley or 
 flax : by it we identify the field as one of wheat or barley 
 or flax ; the ground is marked by what it has reproduced. 
 
 If Abbadie had thought about the kingdoms which 
 arose out of the division of the Roman Empire, no one 
 could have been more capable of doing so dispassionately, 
 unbiassed by natural prejudices. By birth he was a 
 
384 APPENDIX. 
 
 Frenchman. He loved, no doubt, his childhood's home 
 and the kind pastor to whom he owed so much, but he 
 had little reason to love a kingdom which in that day 
 was not worthy of its noblest subjects. Neither a 
 Prussian, a Dutchman, an Irishman, nor an Englishman, 
 he dwelt with each of these people, was a leading man 
 among them was one with them in days of excitement 
 and trouble, when sympathy is awakened which does 
 not pass away as though it had not been. And he 
 had known their great men, had stood before their 
 kings, had gained the confidence of princes and sove- 
 reigns, and had used his influence on behalf of persons 
 and classes of persons who needed consideration in 
 hard times ; but, wide as was the scope taken by his 
 intelligence, yet he did not at all go into the origin of 
 modern kingdoms and states in the dark ages. This 
 has been done by trustworthy historians of all the 
 leading nations, among whom our own Sharon Turner 
 maintains a good reputation.* Many persons who now 
 look into the question opened by Dean Abbadie, believe 
 that they see much more than he did. That is very 
 likely ; knowledge is a growing light, increased by the 
 rapidity of locomotion, and enterprising explorers have 
 traversed and examined vast tracts of the world, which 
 two centuries ago was all unknown land.f 
 
 * " The Saxon was one of the Gothic States, and it was as far 
 west as the Elbe in the days of Ptolemy. The Saxons were there- 
 fore in all likelihood as ancient visitors of Europe as the Belgas, 
 the Germans, or any other Gothic tribe. Their situation seems 
 to indicate that they moved among the foremost columns of the 
 vast Gothic emigration ; but the particular date of their arrival on 
 the Elbe, or their particular derivation, it is impossible to prove, 
 and therefore unprofitable to discuss." From " History of the 
 Anglo-Saxons" vol. i., page 22. 
 
 t Daniel xii. 4. 
 
APPENDIX. 385 
 
 Since Abbadie's time several travellers have felt con- 
 vinced that they have discovered some tribe, or portion 
 of a tribe of Israelites. Most interesting is Dr. Wolff's 
 account of those he found in Afghanistan. 
 
 The Rev. Jacob Samuel, of Bombay, a converted Jew, 
 describes what he believes to be a remnant of Israel, 
 dwelling in Dagistan, on the ridge of the Caucasus, 
 which divides Georgia from the Caspian Sea. These 
 people have many customs which led this Hebrew 
 traveller who found them to believe in their Israelitish 
 origin. Dr. Samuel particularly remarks on their way 
 of fighting their neighbour, the mounted Cossack. They 
 strike at the heels of his horse, which reminded him of 
 the Patriarch Jacob's prophetic blessing : " Dan shall be 
 a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth 
 the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards."* 
 
 Their cunning dexterity in war is proverbial. They 
 had never seen a printed book until the Russians con- 
 quered Georgia, but they possess the Pentateuch written 
 in the ancient Hebrew character, not the Chaldaic, as 
 are the copies preserved by the Jews ; and they have none 
 of the portions supposed to have been written by Ezra.f 
 
 The destiny of each son of Jacob is distinctly given 
 in the eloquent language of inspired prophecy, as ex- 
 pressed by the dying father when he blessed his sons, 
 and by Moses before he went up to the top of Pisgah, 
 to see the land which the Israelites were about to enter, 
 though he was not to lead them over the river. The 
 future of Joseph and his sons is particularly described 
 in magnificent allegorical language.! 
 
 * Genesis xlix. 17. 
 
 f " The Remnant Found." By the Rev. J. Samuel. Hatchards. 
 1841. 
 $ The blessing of Joseph, Gen. xlix. 2227; Deut. xxxiii. 1318. 
 
 25 
 
386 APPENDIX. 
 
 The blessing pronounced upon Asher is remarkable.* 
 As well might we try to count the stars of heaven and 
 the sand of the seashore, as to reckon the multitude 
 of persons, gathered from every generation, from under 
 every kind of trouble and anxiety, from soldiers on the 
 battle-field, and sufferers on the bed of death, who have 
 been helped and comforted by those few words, "As 
 thy days, so shall thy strength be." Though we cannot 
 count them, it does us good to look up to heaven and 
 down upon the earth. f 
 
 That overflow of blessing poured into Asher's cup, of 
 which, in the fullest, clearest, most literal sense, all the 
 families of the earth have partaken, cannot have left 
 the cup dry. It is the most precious heritage of those 
 children included in Asher's portion of good things, and 
 they are holding it wherever they may be. Surely 
 not an iota of a promise made by God through His 
 inspired prophets can any one of those tribes have lost ! 
 
 Asher did not in ancient times gain worldly renown 
 the tribe did not produce a judge or a hero. One name 
 alone shines out of the general obscurity the aged 
 widow Anna, who saw the infant Saviour in the Temple, 
 " and gave thanks unto the Lord, and spoke of Him to all 
 them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." 
 
 When all the tribes were living in the Holy Land, the 
 ten which formed the kingdom of Israel were often 
 called Ephraim, just as the name Judah included Judah 
 and Benjamin. Ephraim was a very numerous tribe, 
 and was allowed to exercise some control over the 
 others. This fact, and also that to it belonged the 
 ancient town of Shiloh, where Joshua set up the taber- 
 nacle and divided the land, should be borne in mind 
 
 * The blessing of Asher, Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25. 
 t Genesis xv. 5, xxii. 17. 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 when we read the prophetical books. Zechariah, who 
 distinctly predicts the restoration of the ten tribes, by 
 the names of Joseph and Ephraim, cannot refer to the 
 return of such of their people as came back with their 
 brethren of Judah. He wrote after the Jews had re- 
 turned from. Babylon; his prophecies concerning the 
 still scattered tribes must therefore relate to an event 
 which has not yet come to pass. 
 
 Dr. Latham states with regard to the Hebrew race, 
 that the ten tribes have either become extinct or incor- 
 porated, that the Jews are not incorporated, but dispersed, 
 and have lost national existence.* The continuance of 
 Jewish nationality in spite of dispersion is seen more 
 clearly by an historian than by an ethnologist. 
 
 Dr. Latham's statement (see foot-note) fits in re- 
 markably with Dean Abbadie's idea that the ten tribes 
 were mixed with only their own old home neighbours 
 and the Samaritans who had occupied their vacated 
 land, employing and dwelling with the poorest Israelites 
 who had been left behind ; that these people, all mono- 
 theists, were held in a state of separation from the 
 heathen until after the Gospel had been proclaimed to 
 them, and they had had the opportunity of receiving or 
 
 * Beni Israel Hebrews The twelve tribes. Area, Palestine. 
 
 Divisions. Samaritans and ten tribes. 
 
 Jews, tribes of Judah and Benjamin. 
 
 " Division i. Samaritans ten tribes, and Galileans. Canonical 
 books. The Pentateuch. 
 
 " Alphabet A nearer approach to the Phoenician than the Jewish, 
 probably an older form. 
 
 "National existence terminated A.D. 721, since then either extinct 
 or incorporated. 
 
 " Division 2. The Jews' national existence terminated A.D. 89. 
 Since then dispersed, but not incorporated. 
 
 " The Jews are still often considered a nation by reason of their 
 maintaining a national religion and national customs." 
 
388 APPENDIX. 
 
 rejecting it ; that multitudes of Israelites were admitted 
 into the Christian Church, before, as a nation, they were 
 spread and lost sight of, ere many centuries had passed 
 away. 
 
 Ethnologists use the terms incorporation, fusion, or 
 infusion, absorption, and others.* The distinctive mean- 
 ing of each of such words should be firmly grasped, 
 while at the same time we bear in mind the fundamental 
 truth, that words are signs of ideas. 
 
 The more closely we reflect on incorporation, the 
 more are we convinced of the fulness of its meaning. 
 Our food is incorporated in our bodies ; every sort does 
 its own duty, gives one kind of required strength. 
 Within the bosom of our mother earth are formed 
 rocks, metals, and jewels; all are incorporated in the 
 terrestrial globe. In due time each substance becomes 
 distinguishable by man, and is discovered. Can we not 
 conceive it possible that under the direction of a spe- 
 cial providence the ten tribes may have been so incor- 
 porated in other nations that they may hereafter be 
 distinguished ? 
 
 Particular tribes may have been incorporated into 
 certain races or families of the earth, which, blessed by 
 the infusion of the Abrahamic element, may have received 
 distinctive recognizable qualities developing in course 
 of time. Whether all the complete tribes, or severed 
 portions of them, are being dealt with alike, or are being 
 
 * "A superior race cannot be absorbed in an inferior. The 
 fact is, you cannot destroy a fact, a simple law of nature, which 
 has baffled Egyptian and Assyrian kings, Roman emperors, and 
 Christian inquisitors. No penal laws, no physical tortures can 
 effect that a superior race should be absorbed in an inferior, or be 
 destroyed by it. The mixed persecuting races disappear, the pure 
 persecuted race remains." Comngsby. By Benjamin Disraeli. 
 
APPENDIX. 389 
 
 ruled variously by a manifold exertion of Divine mercy, 
 we know not. But whether unitedly or separately they 
 have been incorporated, or whether as pure Israelites 
 they are existing on the surface of the earth, as flowers 
 and fruits of Palestine are found, called by new or altered 
 names in different languages, flourishing in distant lands 
 to which they have been transplanted, or in which they 
 have been sown : however that may be, surely they 
 will be discovered, known by their characteristics and 
 also by the condition in which they will be found. We 
 know that in the latter days they will be giving glory 
 to God by bearing witness to the unfailing truth of 
 Scriptural prophecy, from the Book of Genesis to that 
 of the Revelation of St. John.* 
 
 Abraham, when called and blessed by the Lord, that 
 he might be a blessing, must have thought on God's 
 previous goodness towards him; and when blessed again, 
 after he had separated himself from the wickedness of 
 Sodom, and again after the great trial of his faith, he 
 must have remembered how he had been hitherto blessed 
 how he had been called and led from his father's 
 house. Every noteworthy scene and adventure he and 
 those who accompanied him had met with on the journey 
 must have been fresh in his recollection. Memories of 
 the past invigorated his faith ; but, as regards the future, 
 he can have formed but vague ideas as to how and when 
 God's promises would be fulfilled, although he firmly be- 
 lieved in them. And thus was it also with St. John. 
 Most likely he understood those portions of the revela- 
 tion he was inspired to write, which related to the past 
 to the five fallen forms of Roman government. The 
 form existing in his day was the imperial government. 
 Beyond this St. John in the power of the Spirit could 
 * Genesis xii. 3, xiii. 14, xxii. 17 ; Rev. vii. 39, xxi. 12. 
 
390 APPENDIX. 
 
 prophesy.* He painted in vivid words a series of 
 terrible or glorious allegorical pictures, which he may 
 not himself have understood. That in Rev. xvii. 12 re- 
 presents ten European kingdoms which arose from the 
 upheaving and breaking of the Roman power. Mighty, 
 cruel, and world-wide was it in St. John's day, yet it was 
 doomed to pass away from the west and from the east ; 
 but when its sun had quite gone down, an after- glow 
 revived, and spread and faded. During the course of 1 
 many generations imperialism existed in the person of 
 the Emperor of Germany, who was styled Emperor of 
 the Holy Roman Empire until A.D. 1806, when Napo- 
 leon compelled Francis the Second to renounce the 
 throne and relinquish the title.f 
 
 * Rev. i. 10. 
 
 t " From the explanation given in Rev. xvii. 10, 1 1, we learn that 
 the seven heads represent seven kings or forms of the supreme 
 government, of which five were fallen or past in St. John's days. 
 One then existed, and another was to come and to continue a short 
 space. It is added that this seventh form of kingship, or govern- 
 ment, would be so modified as to form an eighth. The five fallen 
 forms of Roman government, we gather from Tacitus, were the 
 (i) Kingly, (2) the Consulate, (3) the Decemvirate, (4) the Military 
 Tribuneship, (5) the Triumvirate. Tacitus gives six, but especially 
 says of the Dictatorship, that it was only taken as a temporary 
 office. ... In Rev. xvii. 12, the ten horns are said to represent 
 ten kings or kingdoms, which are to arise out of the Roman power, 
 weaker in their nature than the empire out of which they spring, 
 as we learn from the clay being mixed with iron in the toes of 
 Nebuchadnezzar's image. These are plainly commonwealths of 
 Europe which rose on the overthrow of Rome in the fourth and 
 fifth centuries, by the Gothic nations. Even Machiavel makes 
 these out to be just ten, and Schlegel, in his "Philosophy of 
 History," says they have always on an average been ten." 
 (Abridged from " Palestine Repeopled," by Rev. James Neil, B.A., 
 formerly Incumbent of Christ Church, Jerusalem. Published by 
 Nisbet, Berners Street.) 
 
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