rrna qooor (Liuo .3 >. _ IN MEMORIAM BERNARD MOSES 'M ^^= >*^>-,- /':' .".•'■• i\ I THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS FKO.\f THE IVAK WITH ROME TO THE PRESENT TIME. THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS FROM THE WAR WITH ROME TO THE PRESENT TIME. HY THE Rev. H. C. ADAMS, M.A. Vicar of Old Shoreham. Author of ' liyiehamica,' ^Schoolboy Honour," etc., etc. THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 56, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1887. X)5 IZ2> HERNARD fflOSES Butler 4: Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works. Fromb, ano London. I I i CHAP. A.D. I. 7-70. II. 71,72. III. 72-131- IV. 131-135- V. 135-323- CONTENTS. rKKKACE ....... 3 TART I. FROM THE DEPOSITION OF ARCHEI.AUS TO THE END OK THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. From the Revolt of Judas to the Siege of Jeni.salem 17 The Siege of Jerusalem by Titus . . . . 27 The Jews under the Emperors Trajan and Adrian . 37 The Revolt of Barchochebas ..... 46 Tlie Jews under the Roman Emperors from .Vclrian to Constantine ....... 53 \T. 323-363. Tlie Princes of the Captivity. — Manes. — The Jews under the Roman Emperors from Constantine to Julian ........ 63 Jovian to_lIonorius. — Mutual Jealousies and Outrages. — Suppression of the Patriarchate of Tiberias . 71 Ilonorius to Ileraclius. — Jewish Slave-holders. — Jus- tinian. — Chrosroes ...... 79 Mahomet. — Conquest of Arabia, Persia, Syria, and Egj-pt Hg The Jews in the Eastern Empire, in Spain, in France 98 The Jews under the Caliphs in the East . . . 106 The Jews of the Far East . • . • -114 The Jews under Charlemagne ..... 1:22 The Jews in Spain. — In England. — The Crusades . 131 X\'. UOO-1200. The Crusades. — Jews in France, Spain, Cormany, and Hungary . . . . • . .139 The Jews in England. — Jewish Inipo.--tors . . 14S Great Jewish Doctors. — Aben Ezra, Mainionides, Benjamin of Tudela . . • . . .156 The Jews in France and Germany .... 163 The Jews in Spain ....... 17/ The Jews in England . . • - • -179 7854 n:^ VII. 363-429- VIII. 429-622. IX. 622-651. X. 622-740. XL 740-980. XII. — XIII. 740-980. XIV. 980- II CO. X\I. 1 100-1200. XVII. — XVIII. 1200-1300. XIX. 1 200- 1 300. XX. 1 200-1 300. CONTENTS. PART II. FROM THE ItEGINNING OK THR FOURTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT TIME. CHAI". A.D. XXI. I3cx>-i400. XXII. 1300-1400. XXIII. 1300-1400. XXIV. I 300- I 400. XXV. I 400- I 500. XXVI. 1400-1500. XXVII. 1400-1500. XXVIII. 1400-1500. XXIX. 1500-1600. XXX. 1 500- 1 600. XXXI. 1 500- 1 600. XXXII. 1500-1600. XXXIII. 1 600- 1 700. XXXIV. I 600-1 700. XXXV. 1600-1700. XXXVI. 1600-1700. XXXVII. 1 700- 1 800. ^XXVIII. I 700- I 800. XXXIX. _ _i70o-iSoo. XL. 1 700- 1 800. XLI. 1S00-1885. XLII. iSoo-1885. XLIII. 1800-1885. XLIV. I 800- I 885. Tlie Jews in France ..... The Jews in Italy ..... The Jews in Germany, the Low Countries, etc. The Jews in Spain The Jews in Germany and Italy. The Jews in Spain ..... The Jews in Spain {contiuncJ ) . The Jews in Portugal .... The Jews in Italy ..... The Jews in Portugal, Spain, and Holland The Jews in Germany and Central Europe The Jews in Asia and Africa The Jews in Germany and Central Europe The Jews in Holland. — Da Costa, Spinoza The Jews in Spain, England, and Italy The Jews in the East. — Sabbathai Sevi The Jews in Spain, Italy, and France The Jews in Germany and Central Europe The Jews in Poland : The Chasidini. — Frank Mendelssohn ..... The Jews in England .... The Jews in England [continued) The Jews in France, Italy, and Germany . The Jews in other European Countries The Jews in Africa, America, and Asia. — Con- clusion ....... PAGE 189 196 2i I 219 227 -35 243 251 259 267 275 2S3 291 300 30S 316 323 .>3i 339 34S 356 364 37^ APPENDICES. APPENDIX I. Statistics of Jewish Population ........ 379 II. The Talmuds 3S5 III. The Targums, Massora, Cabbala, Sepher-Yetsira, and Zohar . . 392 IV. The Attempt, under Julian, to Rebuild the Temple . . . 39S V. The Blood Accusations ......... 403 PREFACE. 'nr^HE reader will understand that this work docs not pro- fess to be anything more than a popular history, with just so much reference to Jewish learning and controversy as may be necessary to a due comprehension of the facts related, and the character of the people treated of But such refer- ences will not, for various reasons, be frequent. Of the vast accumulations of Jewish literature, the most valuable portions are the Commentaries of their doctors on Scripture, and their contributions to grammar, mathematics, and physical science. With these, however, the writer of history has bat little concern. The abstruse and intricate speculations of the Rabbins, the subtleties of the Cabbalists, the wild fancies — or what, at all events, the sober Western intellect accounts such — of the Talmuds, the Sephcr-Yetzira, and the Zohar, might absorb whole years of study, but would yield the historian only a barren return for the labour. The poetry 3 4 PREFACE. of the Hebrews is said to be plaintive and touching, but too exclusively national to have interest for any but Jews. Their ancient historians, again, overlay their narratives with exag- geration and fable to such an extent that their statements cannot be received without the greatest caution. It is mainly from writers belonging to other races that we must derive our record of the strange and varied fortunes of the people of Israel. This must, of course, place them at some disadvantage. Yet there is no history so full of striking incident and mournful pathos as theirs, none which stirs such solemn ques- tions, or imparts so profound a wisdom to those who rightly study it. As an illustration of the sad interest it awakens, the words of Leopold Zunz, one of the greatest of modern Jews, may suffice. ' If there are gradations in suffering,' he writes, 'Israel has reached its highest acme. If the long duration of sufferings, and the patience with which they are borne, ennobles a people, then the Jews may defy the high- born of any lands.' In truth, again and again, in every suc- ceeding century of their annals, the evidences of a heroism which no persistence in severity could bend, and no pressure of persecution could break, engage the attention of the reader. Whatever may be his estimate of the worth or the demerits of the Jews, their tragic story at least commands his s}'m- » pathy. In these respects other nations, though they may not have rivalled, at least resemble, them. But there are peculiarities in their history which separate them from every other people on the earth. Foremost among these is the question — Are we still to regard them, as our fathers for so man\' generations regarded them, as lying under the special curse of God, a PREFACE. 5 ♦ perpetual monument of His anger? Was the imprecation uttered before Pilate's tribunal (St. Matt, xxvii. 25), ' His blood be on us, and on our children ! ' ratified, so to speak, by Almighty God? Is the Lord's blood still upon them? Is that the true explanation of their past miseries and their present condition ? Let us consider what the guilt of the Jews, who slew tl"^ Lord, really amounted to. They do not, I believe, them- selves deny that they arc suffering under Divine displeasure, or that that displeasure has been occasioned by their sin. On the contrary, they hold that it is their sin that has delayed, and still delays, the coming of the Messiah. But, far from thinking that sin to have been the murder of Jesus Christ, they do not consider that their fathers were guilty in that matter at all. Their law, so they contend, requires them to put to death blasphemers and setters up of strange gods. The assertion of Jesus, ' I and My Father are one,' say they, was both blasphemy and the setting up of a strange god. They would only therefore have obeyed a Divine command if they had put Him to death. But, they add, it was not they, but the Romans, by whose sentence He died, for declar- ing Himself King of the Jews. This, they say, is sufficiently evident from the manner of His death by crucifixion, which was one never inflicted by Jews, and b\' the inscription on the cross, 'This is the King of the Jews.' It is extremely doubtful, they add, whether their fathers possessed the power of putting Him to death, but at all events they did not exer- cise it. The Jewish people, according to their view, had nothing to do with the matter. Some of the multitude may have imprecated the blood of Jesus on themselves and their children ; but if so, the curse could only come on those few 6 PREFACE. • persons on whom it had been invoked. Jost and others even den}- that the Sanhedrim was ever legally convened, the meeting that condemned Jesus and delated Him to I'ilate being, as they hold, merely a tumultuary assembly of the enemies of Christ. It will, of course, be answered that to charge our Lord with blasphemy and setting up of a strange god, is simply to beg the whole question at issue between Jew and Christian. Indeed, considering that the Hebrew Scriptures distincth" declare the Messiah to be God ^ (Psa. xlv. 6; Isa. vii. 14; ix. 6, etc.), according to this view of the matter, at what- ever period He might come, it must be the duty of the Jews to put Him to death, as soon as He declared His true l character. It might be asked — How were the Jews to know r that Jesus was really what He proclaimed Himself? Our answer is, that in tlic fulfilment of prophecy in Him. in the exercise of His miraculous powers, and the superhuman holiness of His teaching, they had sufficient evidence that He was indeed the Christ. They had, in fact, tlic evidence of it which Divine wisdom accounted sufficient. Again, it was doubtless by the order of a Roman magis- trate that He was crucified ; and it may perhaps be true that during the Roman Procuratorship the Sanhedrim had no power of pronouncing a capital sentence.- Put it was the ' A Jew would doubtless deny this. I do not pursue the question fur- ther, as this is not a work of controversial theology ; and, besides, the point has been made so clear by Christian divines that there can be no need of any advocacy of mine. Let the reader who may have any doubt on the subject consider Isa. xl. 10; xlv. 24; xlviii. 17; Jer. xxiii. 6; Hosea i. 7; Zech. ii. 10, 11 ; Malachi iii. i, where not the title Klohim only, but that of Jehovah, is given to the Messiah. ^ No question has been more disputed than whether the Sanhedrim, PREFACE. 7 Jews who carried our Lord before Pilate and demanded His death. I'ar from being anxious to condemn llim, Pihite was most rekictant to order the execution. It was only \\hcn the dangerous insinuation of disloyalty to Caesar was sug- gested that he consented to their wishes. Who can doubt that the guilt was theirs? Pilate might as well have put off the blame on the centurion who commanded the quaternion at Calvary, or he on the three soldiers who put in force the sentence. The statement again, that the Sanhedrim was not convened, is in direct contradiction to that of St. Mark (xv. i). Nor does it appear that the Evangelist's assertion was ever called in question by contemporary writers. There can be no reasonable doubt in the mind of any man who accepts the Gospel narrative as a true — I do not here say an inspired — history, that the Jews of that day were guilty of the blood of our Lord, and that it was a deed of the most flagrant wickedness. But it remains to be proved that they slew Him, knowing Him to be their Incarnate God, and during the rule of the Roman Procurators, possessed the power of putting to death persons convicted of capital crimes. The statement made, St. John xviii. 31, and the action of Albinus, who, A.D. 63, deposed the High Priest Ananus, because the Sanhedrim had put St. James to death without his sanction, seem conclusive that they could not capitally punish persons convicted 0/ blasphemy, unless under the Procurators order. The case of St. Stephen, Acts viii., does not disprove this ; for that was evidently a tumultuary procedure, no sentence having been pronounced. But the Sanhedrim certainly had the power of capitally punishing some offenders, as, for instance, any Gentile passing beyond the barrier between the Temple Courts (see Jos. B.J. vi. 2, 4), an offence closely resembling blasphemy. Possibly they could inflict death for certain specified crimes, but only for these. It would be quite consistent with the principle of Roman government to allow the High Priests to punish capitally persons convicted of grave moral offences, but not such as were only guilty in matters relating 'to their own superstitions,' as they would phrase it. PREFACE. I think that would be found extremely difficult of proof. If we are to be guided by Scripture in the matter, we shall entertain a different opinion. St. Peter said to these very men, not many weeks afterwards, ' I wot that ye did it in ignorance,' and then called upon them ' to repent, that their sin might be blotted out.' ^ Our Lord also pleaded their ignorance of the nature of the deed they were perpetrating, in their behalf." l^oth these passages arc inconsistent with the idea of an abiding and inexorable curse. Their guilt was like that of the Athenian people when they condemned Socrates to death, or of that of the Florentines, when they similarly murdered Savonarola, or again of the Romans, when they a.ssassinated Count Rossi — like theirs, though doubtless more aggravated. The sin of rejecting the preachers of holiness, and silencing their voices in their blood, is one of the worst of which a people can be guilt}^ and must needs draw down the heavy wrath of the All Just ; but surely not on their descendants for all after ages. As regards the other argument advanced, no doubt the slayers of Socrates or Savonarola did not imprecate on themselves and their children the consequences of their deed, as the Jews did. But what then ? The Jews at the cruci- fixion could have had no more power than other men to cut themselves off from repentance, much less to cut their children off from it. The blood of Christ can cleanse men from any sin. This, even if it were not the plain declaration of Scripture, would be pro\cd by St. Peter's address to them, already quoted. Even were this otherwise, what claim could these men have had to represent the Jewish people? There ' Acts iii. 17. - St. Luke xxiii. 34. PREFACE. 9 were, as is shown elsewhere,^ probably some six or seven millions of Jews in the work!. Of these not one Iialf, in all h'keHhood, had heard of our Lord till after His death. Many never heard of Him for generations afterwards. Of the two or three millions present in the Holy Land when the cruci- fixion took place, not the thousandth part could have heard Pilate's protest, or the rejoinder of the crowd. On what princi[)le is this small section to be reg'arded as representing;" the whole Jewish people, for whose words and acts it is to be held accountable ? When the Cordeliers, with their frantic blasphemies, in the name of the French people disavowed God, doubtless they drew down Divine anger on all con- cerned ; but are we to believe that the guilt of their impiety will rest on the French nation for ever? Such an idea appears to me to be alien alike to the spirit of both natural and revealed religion. But it will, no doubt, be asked — How, then, is the strange and exceptional condition of the Jews for so many centuries to be accounted for? No careful student of God's Word will have any difficulty in answering this question. Great and enduring blessings had been promised to Abraham, ' the friend of God,' and to his posterity for his sake. These had been repeated to David, ' the man after God's own heart,' with an assurance of still greater mercies. The faithfulness of God to His promises is a thing wholly independent of lapse of time. To us, a promise given nearly 4,000 years ago ma}- seem a thing wholly obsolete ; to Him it is as fresh and bind- ing as if it had been made yesterday. Therefore, although any other nation but that which sprung from the loins of ' See Appcndi.K I. lo PREFACE. Abraham would have been destroyed and rooted out for such a series of rebellious deeds as that which culminated in the crucifixion of the Lord, the remembrance of Abraham and David has prevented its entire destruction. \Vc are distinct!}- told that this was the case at other periods of their history. When Jeroboam relapsed into idolatry, he and his whole race were cut off root and branch. But when Solomon did the same, the kingdom, though with reduced strength and splen- dour, was continued to his posterity. When the kingdom of Israel offended beyond endurance, it was scattered into all lands, and its nationality perished. When that of Judah was equally guilty, its dispersion was only for awhile, and then it was allowed to return and resume its national existence. A remnant of the nation was preserved for Abraham's sake, that particular remnant, for the sake of David. Such, it is most reasonable to conclude, is the true explanation of their mar- vellous history for the last eighteen hundred years. Their protracted existence in their present condition is indeed a miracle, but a miracle, not of wrath, but of mercy. This they are themselves quick to perceive. But, as in the cases above alleged, the continuance of the sceptre to Solomon's descendants, and the restoration of Judah after the Captivit}% did not exempt them from the penalty of their subsequent disobedience, so now the j^rescr- vation of Israel through so many centuries of danger and suffering, does not annul or modify the consequences of their unbelief. Like all nations which come into contact with Christianit}^ but do not accept Christ, they share the benefits of Mis sacrifice, in the amended moral tone of the world, which is the slow growth of His teaching; but the}- can only gain, or to speak more correctl}', regain. His favour, b}- taking PREFACE. 11 Him as their Lord and their God.^ They cannot rii^htly be said to be Hvini^ under a curse, but they assuredly fail to obtain a blessing. But to this they continue persistently blind. This is the key to their history. This is the explanation of their persistent isolation, their resolute endurance, their un- conquerable self-reliance. Descendants of the special favour- ites of Heaven, full}- persuaded that its favour has not been forfeited, but onl}' temporarily withdrawn, this high-spirited and gifted race has ever felt that, supported by this convic- tion, it could, like 'the charity' of St. Paul, hope and endure all things. Races that had not sprung into existence when theirs had reached the highest point of civilization and glory, might pretend to despise them : but, to use the language which Sir Walter Scott puts into the mouth of the bard, Cad- wallon, they knew that the blood which flowed in the veins of their persecutors, when compared with their own, 'was but as the puddle of the highway to the silver fountain.' - Their history is sad and humiliating to read ; and no less sad and humiliating to them, than to those whose ancestors trampled upon and persecuted them. It brings out into strong relief, not only the good, but also the bad points of their national character. The stubborn unbelief of generation after generation ; the way in which business abilit}^ under the pressure of injustice, developed into craft, into the power of ' 'Ye shall not see Mc, until the time come wlicn ye shall say. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord' (St. Luke xiii. 35) — that is, ' ye shall not apprehend Me, and the blessings I come to brinc^ you, until you acknowledge Me as the true Messiah and Saviour of the world.' To ' Ja' ' the Lord is, in the New Testament phrase, spiritually to discern and understand Him. ^ Betrothed, chap. 31. 12 PREFACE. heaping up wealth by usury, and relentless exaction of the uttermost farthing ; the slow processes by which the most manifest characteristic of a Jew became that of the harsh and merciless creditor ; — these are the dark shadows upon a great national character, and a national story of the deepest interest. On the other hand, their history shows, as no other can, the folly and wickedness of that most deadly, though some- times most fair-seeming, of all Satanic influences, religious persecution. Our fathers were wont in those evil times to enlarge with horror on the sin of the Jew in obstinately re- jecting Christ. In the day when account will be required of all, may it not be found that the deadliest of their own sins was, that by their hideous travesty of the Christian faith they shut out from the Jew the knowledge of the reality? For centuries the bitterest persecutions came from those who, while robbing and ill-treating the Jews, because the\' charged them with heaping ridicule upon Christianit}- and eagerly aiding its enemies, were themselves ignorant of the first principles of the Gospel, and devoted adherents of the Church of those times. As the Reformation of the Church developed, and as the power of evangelical principles has in- creased, the persecution of the Jew has ceased. More and more has the Church everywhere realized the truth, that Christ died for the Jew no less than for the Gentile, and that He can be better served in this respect b\' the proclamation of His own loving message of forgiveness, than by an\- attempts to usurp His function as Judge, or to compel an outward submission, in which the heart has no part. Israel has, indeed, a heavy account against the Anglo-Saxon race, though, it may be, not so heavy as against the Goth, the Teuton, and the Slav. There is some comfort in rcflectinsr I PREFACE. 13 that \vc in this century have done somewhat to reduce the balance that stands against us. May our children learn the lesson of mercy and toleration in all its fulness, and so make such reparation as is possible for the mistakes and sins of our fathers ! f J PAR T T. FROM THE DEPOSITION OF ARCHELAUS TO THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. \ CHAPTER r. A.D. 7-70. FROM THE REVOLT OF JUDAS TO THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. IT is not proposed in these pages to deal with the history of the Jews during the long period which intervened between the origin of the nation in the family of Abraham^ and their final revolt from the Roman power. The records of those times are to be found in the inspired volume, or in the nar- rative of Josephus; and we have no further concern with them than to inquire how the various changes in their fortunes — from bondage to freedom, and from freedom to bondage, under ' It is an error, I think, to connect the name Hebrew with Heber, or Eber, the great-grandr,on of Shem. Abraham was called the Hebrew, or passer over, 6 nepari^t (Gen. xiv. 13, LXX.), because, in obedience to Divine command, he ' passed over' the Euphrates, leaving his iiome and people, to settle in a strange land. Hebcr was the progenitor, not of the Hebrews only, but many other nations. The notion that they were called after him, because at the dispersion of Babel he retained and transmitted the primitive language of the world to one only of his de- scendants, is a mere fancy. He may have been, and very probably was called the ' passer' or ' carrier away,' because he was the patriarch of the dispersion. But Abraham's name was given to him for a different reason and altogether independently of II eber. 17 B 1 8 BEFORE THE SIEGE. lawgiver, judge and high priest, foreign tyrant and native sovereign, contributed to the formation of their national cha- racter — the most strongly marked, it may confidently be affir^ned, that-eyei' tlistinguished any people. The childhood" of *thQ_ Jewish nation was a hard and harsh 'oHe..' '.Xhe^lgrew -'.tip ^into national existence under alien rulers, who feared and hated them, imposed on them intolerable burdens, and would have destro)xd them from off the face of the earth, but for the Divine protection extended over them. Delivered by the same visible display of Divine power from these tyrants, they were transported to a rich and genial land, powerful and warlike nations being ejected to make way for them. Their first national, and true, idea must needs have been their special privileges as the favoured people of Heaven ; but to this they added the untrue persuasion that nothing could ever forfeit them ; and this rooted itself so deeply in their belief, that all the experience of after generations was unable to destroy, or even modify it. Their own participation in the sins of neighbouring nations — those very sins which had drawn down Divine ven- geance on tJicni — did not shake this confidence in their secure possession of Almighty favour. Visited with sharp chastisement for disobedience, they were for the moment alarmed and humbled ; but they resumed their old compla- cency the moment that deliverance from suffering was vouchsafed. The woes of foreign subjugation, e.xilc and captivity, so far affected them, that they abandoned the idolatry which had been the main cause of their miseries. But it did not abate their sense of ascendency over all other races, and of their special and inalienable possession of the favour of the Most High. It was impossible, they believed, that they could be under the dominion of any foreign people. They might seem to be so for a while, but they were not really so. The fact that they were for seventy years the vassals of the King of Babylon ; for two hundred more the dependants, to use a BEFORE THE SIEGE. 19 mild term, of the sovereigns of Persia ; for several generations afterwards at the mercy of one potentate or another, who dealt with them as his caprice might dictate ; that their own Asmomean kingdom was, in reality, but a dependency of Imperial Rome, existing only so long as she chose to permit it — all this went for nothing with them. Nay, even the re- duction of Judcca to the status of a Roman province, and the residence of a Roman procurator in Judsa, did not prevent them from repl}^ing to our Lord that ' they were Abraham's children, and had never been in bondage to any man.' So long as it was possible, on any pretext however transparent, to assert their independence, they persisted in doing so. At the same time, they were too intelligent not be aware that Imperial Rome would endure neither opposition to her arms nor evasion of her claims It must needs ha\c been long evident to them, that the time must come, sooner or later, when they would have to make their choice between genuine allegiance to, or open rebellion against, the empire of the Caesars. They were purposed, however, to defer it as long as they could. Requirements might be made, which they would rather perish than comply with ; but until these were advanced, there was no need to anticipate them ; and the mildness which always marked the Roman sway, when unopposed, its strict observance of justice in all its dealings with a conquered people,^ and its toleration of their customs and prejudices, long delayed the terrible struggle which ensued at last. The deposition of Archelaus, and the conversion of Judaea into a Roman province, brought about the first overt act of rebellion. Judas, called the ' Galilsean,' raised an insurrection, which was with difficulty put down. He took for his watch- word the significant sentence, ' We have no other master ' In proof of this maybe alleged the fact, that in the brief space of sixty years no less than four Roman procurators were summoned before the Imperial Tribunal to answer complaints brought against them by the Jews ; and two of them were punished by banishment for life. BEFORE THE SIEGE. but God.' The reasons already alleged, in all likelihood, restrained the more influential classes of the Jews from lend- ing him the support he expected. He was crushed and put to death. But the spirit he evoked lived long after him, and Josephus attributes to it all the outbreaks which ensued, which culminated at last in the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews.^ Coponius, the first Roman governor, was allowed to take up his abode at Ca^sarea without opposition. That city, rather than Jerusalem, was chosen as his seat of government probably out of consideration for the feelings of the Jews. He was succeeded after a short interval by Ambivius and Rufus. After him Valerius Gratus held the reins of power for nearly twelve years. Throughout their prefectures, and for .some years afterwards, Judaea remained tranquil. But at Rome, the Jews, who under Augustus had been treated with great indulgence, were expelled from the city by his suc- cessor, Tiberius. This act is said to have been really due to the enmity of Sejanus, though the pretext alleged was their extortion of money from Fulvia, a noble matron. Four thousand Jews were forced to enter the army, the greater part of whom died of malaria, in the island of Sardinia. After Sejanus's fall, the edict against the Jews was revoked. To Gratus succeeded Pontius Pilatus, who held office for ten years. During the government of this procurator, another formidable insurrection occurred, or rather, scries of insurrec- tions, caused in the first instance by the removal of the Roman army, with its idolatrous standards, to Jerusalem. On this occasion there was a very general rising of the people ; and ' Judas was born at Gamala, a city of Caulonitis. He was a brave, able, and eloquent man. Supported by Sadoc, an influential Pharisee, he founded the party of the Gaulonites, who were the predecessors of the Zealots and Assassins of later times. Though multitudes gathered round his standard, he was not supported by the nation generally, and the power of Rome was too great for him to contend with. He was overpowered and put to death. He is referred to in Acts v. yj. BEFORE THE SIEGE. if Pilatus had remained in power, hostilities with Rome might have broken out a generation previously to their actual occurrence. But after committing, with apparent impunity, several sanguinary massacres of Jews, whom his wanton disregard of their feelings had stirred up to insurrection, Pilatus was accused to Vitellius, the Prefect of Syria, by the Samaritans, of a similar outrage on them. Vitellius ordered him to Rome, to take his trial. There he was deposed, and .sentenced to exile. Some time afterwards Juda,\a was again converted, for a brief space, into a Jewish kingdom under Agrippa I., whose strange and terrible end is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Agrippa was the son of Aristobulus, and grandson of Herod the Great. He early attached himself to Caligula, and there- by aroused the suspicion of Tiberius, who threw him into prison. He would probably have been put to death, if the decease of the emperor had not rescued him from the danger. On his succession to the empire, Caligula gave him the tetrarchies formerly held by Lysanias and Philip, together with the title of King. But his reign was soon beset with trouble. The royal dignity bestowed on him roused the jealousy of Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee. Accompanied by his wife, Herodias, he sailed to Rome, in the hope of ousting Agrippa, by charges of disloyalty, from the Imperial favour. But Agrippa retorted on 7\ntipas ^\•ith a counter- charge of treasonable correspondence with the Parthians ; and the result was the banishment of Antipas, and the addition of his dominions to those already ruled by Agrippa. The latter was a rigid observer of the Mosaic law ; and his murder of St. James and persecution of St. Peter were pro- bably due to this, rather than to tyranny or cruelty. During his reign of seven years he seems to have done his best for his kingdom and country. He built the third wall round Jerusalem, and endeavoured to reconcile the contending factions, which were destroying the life of the nation. It was a short time before his accession that the event BEFORE THE SIEGE. occurred which roused the anger of the Jews to a higher pitch than had ever before been manifested ; and had the outrage been pushed further, a civil war would have un- doubtedly been the result. This was the attempt of the Emperor Caligula to erect his statue as that of 'The Younger Jupiter,' as he styled himself, in the most sacred part of the Jewish Temple. The design seems to have been the result of a mere whim, conceived by the half-crazy emperor, and pertinaciously persisted in, when he learned (as he did from both the Jews themselves, and Petronius, the Procurator of Syria) that its execution would occasion among the worshippers of the God of the Hebrews unspeakable horror and alarm. ^ There can be no doubt that the impiety was intended. The statue had been ordered, if not completed ; but the wise and generous procrastination of Petronius, the earnest representations of Agrippa, who was a favourite of the emperor, together with the death of the emperor himself, which followed almost immediately afterwards, averted the accomplishment of the design. The narrative of the trans- action is valuable, because it shows that at that time the Jews were disposed to wise and moderate counsels, which contrast forcibly with their reckless violence a generation later. When the fatal intentions of Caligula were made known, the whole population, we arc told, of all ranks and ages, from a vast distance round Jerusalem, crowded round the chair of the Roman procurator, declaring their dctcr- ' It was not in Judaea only tliat these feelings were aroused. In Alexandria, the proposal made by the Greeks, to place the emperor's statue in the Jewish Proseucha;, provoked riots, in which much property was wrecked, and terrible carnage took place. The Roman governor, Flaccus Aquilius, for many years a wise and able ruler, but who had grown reckless since the accession of Caligula, towards whom he bore no good will, made no attempt to repress, but rather encouraged, the outrages. He was so unwise as to openly insult the emperor's friend, Agrippa. He was arrested by order of Caligula, and put to death with barbarous cruelty. BEFORE THE SIEGE. 23 mination to die rather than witness so fearful a profanation.^ Their demeanour so deeply affected Petronius, that he thenceforth strove by every means in his power to avert the dreaded catastrophe ; and, aided by circumstances and the intercession of Agrippa, he succeeded in liis attempt. Caligula, however, could not forgive his disobedience, and it is said that the emperor's death alone saved Petronius from the consequences of his anger. Through the favour of Claudius, who now mounted the Imperial throne (and whose reign, notwithstanding one act of severity,^ was favourable to the Jews), Agrippa succeeded to the whole of the dominions of his grandfather, Herod the Great, and held them for four years, when he died, A.D. 44, in the manner already referred to ; and Judaea again became a Roman province, Cuspius Fadus being sent as governor.-'^ During his rule, and that of his successor Tiberius Alexander, the peace of Palestine continued un- disturbed, except by the outbreaks of one or two of the turbulent incendiaries, of which the land contained great numbers. These were easily put down. But during the procuratorship of Ventidius Cumanus, the animosity between the people and the Roman soldiers, which had long been smouldering, burst out into a flame. During one of the Jewish festivals, a soldier offered a gross insult to the ceremonial in progress, which roused the fur)- of the Jews against, not only the offender, but Cumanus himself The latter, hearing the furious cries with which he was assailed, marched his whole force into the Antonia, and commenced an indiscriminate massacre, in which 20,000 perished. For this outrage and his subsequent conduct in a hostile encounter ' The celebrated Philo came from Alexandria on this occasion to plead the cause of his countrymen. 2 Banishing the Jews from Rome A.D. 54. Acts .wiii. 2 ; Suet. Claud. 25. ' During his tenure of office, an impostor named Theudas, who claimed to be a prophet, raised a formidable insurrection. I5ut Fadus, a man of action, arrested and executed him. He is mentioned in Acts v. 36. 24 BEFORE THE SIEGE. between the Jews and Samaritans, Cumanus was tried at Rome, and condemned to banishment. He was succeeded by the profligate Felix, whose govern- ment was worse than that of any of his predecessors. It was, in fact, one long scene of cruelt)- and treachery. He allied himself with some of the bands of robbers now infesting Judzea, and by their aid murdered, in the very precincts of the Temple, Jonathan, the high priest, who had rebuked his vices. After eleven years of misrule, he was accused b}' the Jews in Ca^sarea of the barbarous slaughter of some of their countrymen. He was tried at Rome, but escaped through the interest of his brother, Pallas. He was, however, a vigorous ruler, and put down the notorious Egyptian Jew, who, with 30,000 followers, had raised a formidable insurrection (Acts xxi. 38). After his prefecture, and that of his more humane and upright successor Porcius Festus, the inveterate evils which afflicted the wiiolc of Judrea continued to grow in violence and intensity. Banditti overspread the country, and carried on their lawless depredations almost with impunity. Impostors and fanatics started up on every side, and drew after them great multitudes, to whom they preached rebellion against their Roman governors as a religious duty. Riot and blood- shed, and armed encounters with the Roman soldiery, became matters of continual occurrence, which the authority of the procurator was unable to restrain. The evil was aggravated by the succession of the corrupt Albinus to the office vacated by the death of Festus ; but it was not until he, in his turn, was superseded by the infamous Gessius Florus that the dis- content of the unhappy Jews culminated in the rebellious outbreak which brought on their ruin. It can hardly be supposed that it was actualls' Florus's object to drive the Jews into rebellion ; yet the course he pursued persistently from the very commencement of his rule could have had no other result. It was not merely that he took bribes from all men who sought his favour or feared his BEFORE THE SIEGE. 25 anger. He leagued with robbers and assassins, sharing their gains and countenancing their crimes. He exacted large sums alike from public treasuries and private coffers, on the flimsiest pretexts, and often on no pretext at all. He inflamed the angry feelings, already dangerously excited, by every possible insult and outrage which lawless power could exercise ; and, finally, having by pillage and butchery stirred up the infuriated Jews to refuse obedience to an authority which appeared to exist only for their destruction, he called in Cestius Gallus, the Prefect of Syria, to lead the Roman forces under his command to put down the sedition. This officer, though a man of narrow views and mediocre abilit}', was a Roman functionary, and, as such, would not act on ex parte evidence. He sent a tribune named Neapoli- tanus to Jerusalem, to inquire into the truth of Florus's charges ; and Agrippa,^ who was cognisant of what had passed, and was anxious to avert the ruin that threatened his country, accompanied him to the Jewish capital. Fully convinced of the truth of the charges against Florus, they nevertheless hesitated to uphold his accusers, and endeavoured to persuade the people to make submission to him. But they had been too deeply incensed by Florus's barbarities : and the seditious spirits among them had gained too much ascendency to allow this advice to prevail ; notwithstand- ing that the upper classes of the citizens, who were still desirous of avoiding war, declared in its favour. They drove Neapolitanus and Agrippa, with insult, from the cit)-, and openly renounced allegiance to Rome.- Shortly afterwards a new adventurer, Menahem, the son of Judas the Gaulonite, appeared, and was gladly welcomed by the people. But he soon provoked the jealousy of Eleazar, ' This was Agrippa II., son of Agrippa I. It was before him that St. Paul pleaded (Acts x.wi.). Suet. ( V^esp. 4). ■■^ According to Suetonius, Florus was slain hy the Jews in a tumultu- ous outbreak. Josephus has been thought to contradict him. But his language may be interpreted so as to harmonize with Suetonius. 26 BEFORE THE SIEGE. the leader of the Zealots, by whom he was deposed and slain. Eleazar having gained complete mastery in the city, proceeded to murder, with shameless treachery, the Roman garrison, which had surrendered on condition of being spared. Almost coincident!}- with this shocking deed, one of equal horror was perpetrated at Ca;sarea, where 20,000 Jews were slaughtered by the Greek inhabitants. In this atmosphere of treachery and bloodshed the whole nation appears to have gone mad. They were resolved, apparently, that as ever}- man's hand was against them, so should their hand be against every man. They took up arms, plundered several of the Syrian cities, laying waste the whole country round them. The Syrians retaliated with equal barbarity, ever)'where slaj-ing with- out mercy their Jewish fellow-citizens. Neither Agrippa's dominions nor Egypt escaped the contagion. In the former, a feud between Varus, the deputy, to whom Agrippa had committed the government of his kingdom during his absence at Antioch, and Philip, the general of his army, very nearly caused a civil war. At Antioch another quarrel between the Jews and Greeks, relative to the right of the former to attend public assemblies, led, first to a riot, and then to a general rising of the Hebrew population. The governor, Tiberius Alexander — who was by birth a Jew, and had some years previously been Procurator of Judaea, afterwards holding a command in Titus's arm\' at the siege of Jerusalem — sent for the principal men among the Jews, and exhorted them to use their influence in quieting the disturbance. Trailing in this attempt, he ordered out the troops, and made an attack on the Jews' quarter, in which 50,000 persons were slain. Throughout the whole of Palestine, S}Tia, and P^g\-pt, strife and bloodshed prevailed. The advance of the Roman army was anxiously looked for by all who retained their reason, as the only hope of putting an end to the frantic anarchy wherewith the whole land was now overspread. CHAPTER II. A.D. 71, 72. SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. WAR was now openly declared, and Cestius marched on Jerusalem with 10,000 Roman soldiers, and a still larger force of allies, to put down the rebellion and avenge the murder of his countrymen. The result was the most terrible disaster to the Roman arms which they had sustained since the defeat of Varus. Unsuccessful in some preliminary skirmishing, Gallus assaulted the cit}', and after five days of indecisive fighting, forced his way on the sixth to the wall on the north side of the Temple. Every effort to scale this having failed, he ordered the legionaries to lock their shields together and form the tcstudo, their usual mode of obtaining a cover, under which they undermined fortifications which they could not surmount. The manoeuvre was successful. The wall was all but pierced through, and the garrison on the point of flight, when Gallus suddenK", without any apparent reason, ordered a retreat,^ withdrew in haste, first to his camp ' By this the Christians in Jerusalem were enabled to secure their retreat to PeUa, where they remained uninjured by the fearful sufferings which ensued, so making good the Lord's promise, St. Luke xxi. 20, 21. 28 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. and afterwards to Antipatris, losing in his retreat his whole battering train and 6,ooo soldiers. The Jews had now offended beyond hope of forgiveness, and both parties braced themselves for the fierce and deadly struggle which had become inevitable. The rebels recruited their comparatively scanty numbers by securing the support of the inhabitants of Iduma^a (of whom 20,000 were enlisted), Peraea, and Galilee. On the other side, Rome summoned into the field a formidable force, which was placed under the command of T. Flavins Vespasian, the greatest soldier of his day. In the hope, apparently, that the Jews, when they learned the strength of the force sent against them, would submit without further resistance, Vespasian delayed the attack on Jerusalem for more than two years, choosing first to reduce the cities of Galilee — Gadara, Jotapata, Gischala, and others ; which, indeed, no prudent general could leave unsubdued in his rear. The whole of this province, which had been placed under the government of the celebrated historian, Josephus,^ remained throughout this period in a state of internal dissension, fomented in a great measure by the notorious John of Gischala, giving but little hope of a successful resistance to Rome when the actual struggle should begin. Yet some of these cities, notably Gamala Tarichaea, above all Jotapata, where Josephus commanded in person, offered a protracted and desperate resistance." ' Flavins Josephus was boin A.D. yj at Jerusalem, and -was connected on the mother's side with the Asmona^an family. He received a liberal education, and at the age of 20 attached himself to the sect of the Pharisees. When the war with Rome broke out he was made Governor of Galilee, and defended Jotapata for nearly seven weeks against Vespasian. When it was taken, he fell into the hands of the enemy, by whom he was favourably received. He now attached himself to the Romans, and was present in Titus's camp during the siege of Jerusalem, He accompanied the conquerors to Rome, where he wrote his historical works. He died about the end of the first centur)'. His countrymen have generally regarded him as a traitor. - The fall of Jotapata is one of those occurrences, often repeated in the history of the Jews, which strikingly illustrate their national character. SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. When the road to Jerusalem liad been hiid fully open, the civil strife, by which the empire had been distracted, had come to an end. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, one after another, had succeeded to the Imperial sceptre, only to have it snatched from their grasp ; and, finall)', Vespasian had been advanced to the throne of the Caesars. Leaving to his son Titus the task of reducing to obedience the rebellious city, Vespasian set sail for Italy ; and the Roman army, 60,000 strong,^ advanced under its new leader to the final encounter in the spring of A.l). 70. Jerusalem was at that time one of the strongest, as well as one of the most picturesque, cities in the world. It stands upon a rock}' plateau about 2,600 feet above the level of the sea. On all sides except one it is surrounded by mountains ; which do not, however, rise to a much greater altitude than the city itself. The plateau consists of two principal emi nences, Zion and Acra, on the former of which stood the Upper Cit}', or the City of David, and on the latter what was called the Lower City. A third — a smaller and somewhat lower hill, called Moriah — was anciently divided from Mount Acra by the T}Topceon, or Valley of the Cheesemongers, which was filled up by the Maccabees, who raised Moriah to the same level as the neighbouring hill. It was on the summit of Moriah that the Temple stood. In later times the suburb called Bezctha was added to the city, aiid the whole environed by walls. Of these there were three — one inside another. The first began on the north side at the tower called Hippicus, terminating at the western cloister of the Temple. The After a desperate defence, when the place had been carried by assault, the remnant of the garrison took refuge in a cavern ; and here, rejecting the offers of the Romans, they, by mutual consent, slew one another, until only Joscphus and one of his men were left alive. These two then gave themselves up to the mercy of Vespasian. ' Titus had four Roman legions, and a large force of Greek and Syrian auxiliaries. The number, 60,000, has been objected to, as an exaggera- tion, but it is probably rather under than over the mark. 30 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. second wall began at the gate called Gennath, enclosing the northern quarter of the city only, and ending at the Tower of Antonia. The third, which was designed to protect Bczetha, was incomplete at the time of the outbreak of the Jewish war, but was then completed, in anticipation of the approaching siege. These walls were strengthened by towers of solid masonry — some of the stones being of enormous size — and rose to a great height above the level of the walls. The Tower of Antonia stood on a rock ninety feet high, the fortress itself being fully seventy feet higher ; and at the portions not defended by these walls, the platform of rock itself, sinking down, as it did almost with a sheer descent, into the ravines below, formed an impregnable defence. In times when the use of gunpowder was unknown, it could be cap- tured only by blockade, or after the most frightful waste of human life. Meanwhile the city was distracted by factions, which appeared to be more likely to destroy one another than to maintain a successful defence against an enemy. After the massacre of the Roman troops, Ananus the High Priest, a wise and good man, gained some authority in the city, and endeavoured to counteract the influence of the Zealots. Me might have succeeded in averting the war. But Eleazar, the leader of the Zealots, and John of Gischala,^ the chief of the Galila^ans, conspired against him, and b}' night introduced the Iduma.'ans, in overwhelming force, into the city. B\' them j\nanus and his friends were murdered, and Jerusalem thence- forth was given up to hopeless anarchy. Such authority as there was, rested with the chiefs of the ' John was the son of Levi, and a native of Gischala, who began his career as a robber, and raised a band, it is said, of 4,000 men. In craft, daring, and merciless cruelty he has never been exceeded. He defended Gischala, from which he fled when its capture was imminent. He repaired to Jerusalem, where he {gained great ascendency, and with Eleazar and Simon defended it to the last. At its capture, he sur- rendered to the Romans, and was sentenced to imprisonment for Hfe. SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. 31 three factions, Elcazar, John, and Simon ■} but between these there was not only no accord, but the most bitter and persistent animosity. Of the Zealots there were about 2,500, of the GaliLxans 6,000, and of the Assassins (as Simon's followers were called) 1 0,000 Jews and 5000 Idum^vans. l^^ew of these, comparatively speaking, had undergone any military training. But their desperate and fanatical courage, stimu- lated by their total disregard of all laws, human and Divine, rendered them the most formidable enemies that Rome her- self ever encountered. Not only between the three leaders, but their followers also, there subsisted the bitterest hate, which they gratified by continual quarrels and murders ; and had it been in their power, they would gladly have exter- minated one another. Yet in the field they combined against the common foe with the most perfect unanimity. The great bulk of the inhabitants awaited the approach of the Romans with uneasiness and alarm. The city was densely crowded, multitudes having come in from the country to celebrate the Passover. Josephus's numbers are doubtless an exaggeration.- But, on the other hand, there has been a ten- dency among modern writers to err in the opposite direction. It may safely be affirmed that the total of inhabitants, when ' Simon, the son of Gioras, was a man as fierce and lawless, though hardly as crafty, as his rival John. He was a native of Gerasa, and first appeared in history when he attacked the troops of Cestius Galliis in their retreat from Jerusalem. Driven out of Juda:a by Ananus, he took possession with his banditti of Masada, and ravaged the neighbourhood. The Idumicans rose against him and, after several battles, drove him out of the country'. Soon afterwards they captured his wife, whom they carried to Jerusalem. Simon repaired thither wiih his followers, and terrified the citizens, by his barbarities, to surrender her to him. In the spring of the following year, A.D. 69, a party in Jerusalem, headed by Matthias, invited Simon to enter the city. Tlien ensued an internecine struggle between the three factions, which lasted until the Romans environed the city, and indeed to the end of the siege. When the city was at length captured by the Romans, he surrendered himself prisoner, was conveyed to Rome, figured in the triumphal procession of Vespasian and Titus, and was then put to death. - See Appcndi.K I. 32 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. the Roman standards came in sicjht, could not have been less than a million, and probably exceeded that amount. There was much, independently of the terror of the Roman name, to awaken their apprehensions. There had been signs in heaven and on earth of approaching disaster. A fiery sword is .said to -have hung over Jerusalem, day and night, for many months. The whole sky on one occasion was full of what seemed to be chariots and horses of fire, environing Jerusalem. It was whispered that the great gate of the Temple had opened of itself at midnight, and a voice had been heard to exclaim, * Let us depart hence.' A simple herdsman, Jesus, the son of Hanani, was suddenly .seized with the spirit of prophecy, and for several years went up and down the city exclaiming, 'Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!' He was carried before the Roman governor, and scourged till his bones were laid bare. But he never desisted from his mournful chaunt, until one day during the siege he was struck by a stone from a catapult, and slain. But nothing daunted the determined spirits of the garrison. At the very outset of the siege, Titus had a signal proof of the character of the enemies with whom he had to deal. He had approached the city for the purpose of surveying it, accom- panied by 6cxD horsemen, never dreaming that they would be rash enough to assail him, and rather anticipating that his presence would strike terror into them, and induce them to capitulate. But the moment he approached the walls the Jews sallied out, surrounding his troop, and cutting him off from his supports ; and it was only by the most desperate exercise of personal valour that he escaped being slain. On the following da\' they twice attacked the tenth legion, while engaged in fortif}'ing the camp, and threw it into confusion ; and it was Titus's promptitude alone which averted a great disaster. Soon afterwards they contrived to allure a body of Roman soldiers under the walls, by a pretended offer of .sur- render, and almost entirely cut it off It became at once evident that if these men were to be conquered, or even kept in check, the utmost vigilance and promptitude would be required. i: SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. 33 Two fortified camps were accordingly formed, too strong to be attacked e\en by desperate men ; and then the siege proper commenced. After careful survey, Titus resolved to assault the triple wall on the north side of the city ; which was, after all, less difficult to surmount than the mighty ramparts, reared b\' nature and aided by art, w hich the other parts of the defences presented. He accordingly constructed three great walls, cutting down for the purpose all the timber which was to be found near the cit}'. On these he set up his military engines, which hurled huge stones and darts against the defenders of the wall, and then set the rams at work to batter it down. Towers were also erected, sheeted with iron, so as to be proof against fire, and overtopping the defences, thus rendering it impossible for the defenders to man the ramparts. After a desperate attempt to set the works of the besiegers on fire, the Jews were obliged to abandon the outer wall, and fall back on the second. This was captured and thrown down in a much shorter space of time than had been spent on the reduction of the former. But the success was not obtained without more than one repulse, and heavy loss ; and the defences still to be surmounted appeared so formidable, garrisoned as they were by men whom nothing could daunt or weary out, that Titus resolved to make a display under their eyes of his whole military array, in the hope that by showing the impossibility of ultimate resistance, he might induce them to surrender. He caused all his troops to pass in review before him, in sight of the city, all arrayed in their complete accoutrements and ob- serving the strictest form of military discipline — a splendid but terrible sight to men who knew that it was impossible for them to offer effectual resistance. But Simon, and John, and their fierce followers knew also that they had offended too deeply for forgiveness; they looked sternly and gloomil}- on, but made no sign ; nor would they reply to Josephus, when soon afterwards he offered his intercession. Titus saw that all efforts at concilia- lion were vain, and the last scene of the fearful tragedy began. C 34 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. So unconquerable was the ferocity of the Jewish soldiery,^ that it ma\' be doubted whether even the stern discipHne, the high military spirit, and the overwhelming numbers of the Romans would not have been compelled ultimately to give way before them, if it had not been that Rome now acquired two new allies, more terrible than an}- they had yet brought into the field. Jerusalem, at all times a populous city, was now crowded to excess by strangers, who had come over to keep the Jewish Passover, and had been unable to withdraw. The supplies of food soon began to fail, and the famine which ensued grew every hour more pressing. The soldiers had to supply their own wants by making the round of the houses, and tearing their daily meals from the mouths of their starv- ing fellow-citizens. Numbers of these were dri\-en by hunger to steal out of the city by night, to gather herbs and roots, which might afford temporary relief Titus, hoping to terrify the besieged by a displa}' of severity which would save in the end more lives than he sacrificed, ordered these unhappy wretches to be crucified in the sight of their countrymen ; and the city in which the Lord of Life had undergone the same form of death was surrounded by a multitude of crosses, on which the agonized sufferers slowly yielded up their lives in torment. Others, who implored the protection of the Romans, were ruth- lessly ripped open in vast numbers by the barbarous soldiery, who believed that the fugitives had swallowed gold, which they would find in their entrails. The fate of these, dreadful as it was, was less terrible than that of the wretches who remained to perish of famine. Scenes almost too shocking for belief have yet been recorded on authority which cannot be dis- * An extraordinary instance of the desperate courage witli wliich the Jews fought occurred about this time. Antiochus, King of Commagene, had arrived in Titus's camp, with a chosen band of youths, armed in the Macedonian fashion. He expressed his surprise that Titus did not take the city by escahide. Titus suggested that he should himself make the attempt with his warriors. This he did ; but though his men fought with the utmost valour, they were all killed or severely wounded. SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. 35 puted. Husbands saw their wives perishing before their eyes, and were unable to save them ; parents snatched the food from the mouths of their starving children ; hungry wretches crawled to the walls, and entreated the soldiers to slay them, and failing to obtain this last mercy, lay down by hundreds in the streets, and died. Nay, the last horror of all but too surely was accomplished, and mothers slew and ate their own nursing children ! The numbers of the dead lying unburied soon bred pestilence, and added to the horrors of the time. An attempt was made to bury the corpses at the public expense ; but the accumulating numbers rendered this im- possible, and they were thrown by thousands over the walls in the sight of the horror-stricken Romans. Through all these frightful scenes the siege of the inner wall went on. The frantic followers of Simon and John con- tinued to fight with unabated ferocity against their enemies without and their countrymen within the wall, undeterred by the sufferings of their fellow-citizens or the near approach of the avenging swords of the besiegers. It was at this time that the judicial murder of the High Priest, Matthias, took place. He was an inoffensive old man, who had introduced Simon into the city, hoping that he would restrain the violence of John. Simon now accused him of a treacherous corre- spondence with the enemy.' He was put to death along with his sons and several of the Sanhedrin. Titus now built fresh walls on which to plant his engines ; but they were undermined or destroyed by fire, and he was compelled to surround the whole city by a vast circumvalla- tion, and then to erect fresh platforms and towers, from which the inner wall, with Antonia and the Temple, might be assailed. After several repulses and severe fighting, this was accomplished. The heights were scaled, Antonia levelled * There may have been some grounds for this suspicion. A consider- able number of the chief priests (including one of the sons of this same Matthias) effected their escape, and were kindly received by Titus. 36 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. with the ground, and the Temple itself laid open to attack. Struck with horror at the profanation of a place dedicated to the service of God, which must ensue if the strife was continued, Titus offered to permit the Jews to come forth and meet him on any other battle ground, promising in that case himself to keep the Temple inviolate from the step of any enem}'. He represented that the daily services had already ceased, and the holy ground had been polluted by human blood. He wished to have no share in such impieties, and would prevent them, if he could. His overtures were contemptuously re- jected. The Jews themselves set fire to the western cloister, and so laid bare the space between the remains of the Antonia and the Temple. Another assault was now ordered, and a close and mur- derous strife, which raged for eight hours, ensued without material gain to either party. It was the loth of August — the anniversary, always dreaded by the Jews, of the destruc- tion of Solomon's Temple. Both parties seemed to have entertained the idea that the day would prove fatal to the second Temple, as it had to the first. But this apparently had proved fallacious. The Romans had retired, and the guard for the night had been set, when suddenly a cry was raised that the Temple was on fire. Some of the Jews had again provoked a skirmish. The Romans had not only driven them back, but had forced their way into the inner- most court, and one of them had hurled a firebrand into the sanctuary itself, which had instantly caught fire. This was contrary to the express order of Titus ; and he instantly hurried down, accompanied by his officers, to extinguish the flames. The courts were full of armed men engaged in des- perate strife, and his commands were unheard or unheeded. The devouring fire wreathed round the stately pillars and surged within the cedar roofs. Before the resistance of the few survivors had ceased, the Temple was one vast pagoda of roaring flame ; and when the morning dawned, the Holy House and the chosen nation had passed away for ever. CHAPTER III. A.D. 72—131- THE JEWS UNDER TflE EMPERORS TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. ' I ''HE destruction of the Temple, though it was the death- ■*- knell of the Jewish people, did not at once put an end to the siege. The Upper City, into which Simon and John had retreated, still held out, and was to all appearance stronger and more difficult to assault than what had been already captured. But the spirit of the Jewish leaders, fierce as it was, had been broken by the failure of their cherished hope — the direct interference of Heaven in behalf of the Temple. They demanded a parley, which was granted them, and Titus would have spared their lives, on condition of absolute surrender. But they required terms which he re- fused to grant, and hostilities were renewed. After inces- sant labour, occupying nearly three weeks, Titus raised his works to a sufficient height to enable him to attack the walls by which the Upper City was guarded, and an assault was made. It was almost instantly successful. The deter- mined obstinacy of the defenders had sunk into sullen de- spair. They gave way on all sides ; their leaders took re- 38 JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. fuge in the vaults beneath the city, soon afterwards surren- dering to the mercy of Titus ; and the whole city fell into the hands of the besiegers. But even this did not put a period to the war. Three strong fortresses, Herodion, Machaerus, and Masada, garri- soned by men as fierce and resolute as the defenders of Jeru- salem itself, still remained unconquered. The first of these, indeed, surrendered as soon as summoned ; and the second, after some fierce conflicts with the Romans, was induced to do the same. But the third, Masada, the favourite strong- hold of Herod the Great, offered a long and desperate re- sistance. It stood on a lofty rock, on the south-west border of the Dead Sea, and was only accessible by two narrow paths on the east and west, winding up lofty precipices, where the slightest slip of the foot would be inevitable death. When these tracks, which were three or four miles in length, were surmounted, the fortress of Masada appeared, standing in the centre of a broad plateau, and surrounded by a wall twenty-two feet high, defended by massive towers. It was strongly garrisoned, and supplied with provisions sufficient for a siege of almost any duration. Sih'a, as the Roman general sent against it was called, blockaded the place, and then erected a mound of enormous height, on the top of which he planted his battering rams. A breach was made, to which the besieged opposed an inner wall of timber. But this the Romans set on fire and reduced to ashes ; upon which the besieged, finding it impossible to offer further re- sistance, and resolved not to surrender, took the desperate resolution of perishing by their own deed. They finst slew their wives and children. Then, appointing ten executioners for the work, they all submitted their own breasts to the sword : the ten then fell, each by his neighbour's hand, and finally the surviving one drove the weapon into his own heart ! This terrible catastrophe forms a fitting conclusion to the long catalogue of horrors which the Jewish wars record. Judaea being now completely subdued, it remained for Titus JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. 39 to determine how the vaiKiuished were to be dealt with. Further severities could hardly be required, even if the)- were possible. The numbers which had already perished are very variously stated. Those given by Joscphus may certainly be regarded as an exaggeration, while the estimate of some later writers clearly fall short of the fact.^ It is enough to say, that the whole of Galilee and Jud;ta had become one vast wreck — the fields and vineyards wasted, the woods cut down, the cities heaps of ruins, the land a gra\eyard. The \-ery soldiers were weary of the work of carnage. Yet even of the miserable remnant of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, such as were old and weakly, and would not therefore realize a price in the auction mart, were put to death. Of those that remained, the tallest and best looking were reserved to grace the triumph of the conqueror at Rome. The rest were sent to labour in the Egyptian mines, or despatched in batches to distant pro\ince.s — to work as slaves, or be exhibited in the amphitheatres, as gladiators or combatants with wild beasts. A large proportion of the captives is said to have died of hunger. As regards the leaders, the life of John was spared, though of all men who took part in the defence of Jerusalem he least deserved mercy. Simon was carried to Rome, and walked in the triumphal procession which Vespasian and Titus led up to the Capitol. This is said t(j ha\e exceeded in splendour all previous pageants. Among the spoils dis- played were the golden table, the silver trumpets, the seven- branched candlestick, and the book of the law ; and these, the sole surviving monuments of the glories of the Latter House, still remain sculptured on the entablature of the Arch of Titus, to attest to posterity this terrible talc of crime and suffering. ' According to Josephus's account, 600,000 perished of hunger during the siege ; and the total of those who died during the campaign amounted to little short of a million and half. But that he exaggerates is beyond dispute. See Appendix I. 40 JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. With the fall of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Temple, as has been already observed, the national existence of the Jews terminated. Thenceforth, though they were to be found in large numbers in almost every country in the world, they were strangers and sojourners among other nations, no longer themselves a people. It must not, however, be supposed, though the mistake is a common one, that their dispersion dates from the conquest of Judaea by Titus. They had spread into distant lands long before that time, and had formed large and powerful conimunities. It was only a por- tion of the Jews that returned from Rab}'Ion after the cap- tivity. A large number had remained behind, occupying the homes which they had made for themselves, and cnjo)-ing prosperity and peace. In Egypt and C)'rcnc they were al- most as numerous ; in Rome, and in other great Italian cities, the}' constituted no small section of the inhabitants. How widely they were scattered may be gathered from the cata- logue given by St. Luke, in his narrative of the doings of the Day of Pentecost. The real change which now took place consisted in the de- struction of their great centre of life and unit}'. It was like cutting off the main fountain in some system of artificial irrigation. The waters still remained in a hundred reservoirs, but the system itself existed no longer. With any other nation in the world, the result, in the course of a few genera- tions, would have been the disappearance of all the peculiar and distinctive features of the people. They would have become fused with, and incorporated in, the nations among whom they were dwelling, as was the case with the Danes and Saxons among ourselves. But though the}- ha\e re- sided among alien races for two thousand }-ears, they have ever dwelt, and still dwell, apart from them. They obc}- the laws and compl}' with the customs of the land in which they reside ; they converse in its language and respect its religious observances. But they cling to the Jewish laws and customs, so far as it is possible for them JEIVS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. 41 to do so. The Hebrew is still their national language ; the ancient worship of Israel the only one the\- will render. Like the stream of the Rhone at Chalons, which mingles with that of the Saonc, yet continues to retain the pecu- liarit}' of its colour, they are dwellers among many nations, but Jews after all, and Jews on!}-. It was this distinctive feature that enabled them, before the lapse of many years, to resume something of the or- ganization which had been, to all appearance, destroyed b\- the hca\'}' blow the}- had sustained. The Sanhedrin, which they had always acknowledged as the chief authority of Palestine, had escaped, it was said, the general wreck, and was presentl}' re-established at Jamnia. How far this may have been the case is a moot point in history. But it is certain that a school of theology, commanding very wide and general respect, grew up in that city ; and its presidents exercised considerable influence o\cr their country- men. The Eastern Jews were under the authority of a chief, known as ' the Prince of Captivit}-,' while those lying more to the west acknowledged a similar ruler, who assumed the title of ' the Patriarch of the West.' The synagogues also, which had in later generations been set up in e\'ery Jewish cit\% though they could not supply the void caused by the destruction of the Temple, afforded, nevertheless, something "of a centre of religious unit}'. In this manner, before the lapse of two generations, the Jews, with the amazing vitality that has ever distinguished them, had recovered in a great measure their numbers, their wealth, and their unconquerable spirit. Throughout the reigns of Titus, Domitian, and Xerwa, little is heard of them. It is said indeed that Vespasian ordered search to be made for any blood-relations of Jesus, the Son of David, whom he purposed to put to death, as possible aspirants to the crown of Judnea ; and Hegesippus affirms that two grandsons of St. Jude were cited before Domitian for the same reason. But we learn that they were at once 42 JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. dismissed as unworthy of notice. Nor, throughout Nerva's reign, was any burden laid upon them, bc}'ond the didrachma imposed by Vespasian. But during Trajan's Parthian wars, which necessitated the absence of the Roman troops from the garrison towns of Africa, the Jews in Egypt and Cyrene broke out into insurrection, and terrible bloodshed ensued. It began with the massacre of the entire Jewish population at Alexan- dria by the Greeks, who had taken up arms to oppose them. Maddened by the tidings of tliis disaster, the Cyrenian Jews are said to have committed unheard-of atrocities ; sawing in twain the bodies of their prisoners, or compelling them to fight in the amphitheatres — it was even alleged, feasting on their flesh. They arc thought to have slaughtered more than 200,000, some say 600,000 men. The revolt had hardly attained its height, when it was followed by two others, one in Cyprus, and the other in Mesopotamia. They were put down after a little \\hilc, with frightful carnage, by the Romans and more particularly by Lucius Quietus, one of the ablest generals of the day. Trajan's anger seems to have been greatly roused by the outbreak, for which he felt that his mild and ccjuitablc government had given no adequate cause. He required their total expulsion from Mesopotamia ; and it is likely that his death in the ensuing year alone prevented the accomplishment of his purpose. The Jews, however, fared little better under his successor, Adrian. This emperor had been a witness of the atrocities perpetrated by the Jews during the insurrection in C}'prus; and he had probably some reason for anticipating a simi- lar demonstration in Palestine. Scarcely fift}' }'cars had elapsed since that land had been reduced to the condition of a desert.^ But so irrepressible was the vigour of the Hebrew race, that the fields had been recultivated, the forests replant- ed, most of the cities rebuilt, and tenanted b}- large and thriv- ing populations. It was obvious, if Jerusalem should rise from ' Sec note at end of chapter. JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN 43 its ruins, and a new temple crown Mount Moriah, that a repe- tition of the war, which had cost Rome so much blood and treasure, would inevitably ensue. It is not known with any certainty what was the condition of Jerusalem at this time. When the city fell entirely into the hands of Titus, he ordered the whole of it to be destroyed, with the exception of the three stately towers of Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Psephinus, together with part of the western wall, — which was left as a shelter to the Roman camp, where about eight hundred legionaries were stationed, as a garrison, to preserve order in the neighbouring country. How long they remained there is uncertain. But no one seems to have interfered with such persons as chose to return to the deserted spot, and erect new homes out of the heaps of ruin that lay scattered round. What numbers may by this time have assembled on the site of the Holy City we are not told. But Adrian resolved to put a stop to the fancies which, not improbabl)^, really were current among the Jews, by establishing a Roman colony on the spot, and building on Mount Moriah a temple of Jupiter.^ It is probable that the emperor did not understand — indeed, no heathen could understand — the horror and despair which the publication of the design caused among the un- happy Jews. It was in their eyes the most fearful impiety — the most horrible profanation. Their only hope lay in the advent of the long-promised Messiah; who now sure)}', if ever, might be expected to appear on earth, and redeem His people from the depth of degradation and misery to which they had sunk. In the midst of these alternations of despondency and reassurance, a rumour suddenly reached them, that the long- expected deliverer Jiad at last made his appearance, and was even then, on his way, at the head of an armed force, to take possession of the ruins of Jerusalem, and prevent the per- petration of the intended impict}'. His name, they were ' He is said at the same time to have issued a decree forbidding the Jews to circumcise their children. 44 JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. told, was Barchochebas, ' the son,' that is to say, ' of the star,' — the star predicted by Balaam, ' which was to come out of Jacob, and smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.' It is likely that the faith of the Jewish people in the ap- pearance of a promised Messiah was by this time a good deal shaken. So many impostors had appeared, and lured their thousands to destruction, that even the deeply seated belief in his speedy advent was not sufficient to induce them to admit the pretensions of an}^ fresh aspirant without careful inquiry. But in the present instance there were two con- siderations, each of which had been enough by itself to remove all doubt or hesitation. The first is, what has been already mentioned, the flagrancy of the insult offered to Almighty God ; which, in the judgment of the Jews, was certain to bring down signal and immediate judgment on its authors. The other was the fact that Barchochebas had been accepted as the veritable ^lessiah b}' Akiba, the greatest of their Rabbis, and chief of the schools at Bethor. Something should be said of both these men, who pla)-cd so conspicuous a part at this crisis in Jewish history. Note to Chapter III. ox the Number Sl.\in in the Jewish W.\rs. The numbers of those slain in the Jewish wars, as reported by Josephus, are as under. At Cnesarea 20,000 At Mt. Gerizim .... 11,600 ScythopoHs .... 13,000 Alexandria 50,000 Damascus 10,000 Ascalon (3 massacres; . 20,000 Joppa 15,000 Jotapata 40,000 Gamala 15,000 Gadara 15,000 Jerusalem .... 1,100,000 At other places there were smaller totals, amounting altogether to upwards of 100,000. and makinij the entire sum of slain something less than a million and a half. But, as is elsewhere intimated (Appendix I.), Josephus's statements must be received with caution. The large population found in I'alestinc in Adrian's reign is not easily reconcilable with it. Light- JEWS UNDER TRAJAN AND ADRIAN. 45 foot's opinion seems the more probable one. Notwiihstandin;^ the threat carnage, he says, ' Tantum abluit gens a totaU et consummata deletione, ut undiqiie adhuc restaret innumera multitudo, qua" se pacate Romano nutui dedidisset, ct pace sedibus suis quiete frucretur. Ita ut Templum et Metropolim quidem desiderarcs, verum terram habitatoribus repletam, compositum Synedrii, Synagogarum, Populi statum illico cerneres.' — Lightfoot, vol. xi. 468. CHAPTER IV. A.D. I3I-I35. THE REVOLT OF BARCIiOCHEBAS. RABBI AKIBA was a proselyte of Canaanitish descent, a herdsman in the employ of a wealthy man named Kalba-Sabua. His master's dauj^htcr fell in love with him, and they were married, though without the father's know- ledge. When he learned the fact, he drove them from his house ; and Akiba, at the age of forty, began the study of the law. He obtained great reputation in it, being accounted one of the chief authorities of that Rabbinical school of interpretation which upholds the absolute integrity of the received text, and teaches that every word, nay every letter of it, has its special and mystical meaning. After twelve years of study, when he had risen to considerable eminence, he paid a visit to Kalba-Sabua, followed by 12,000 disciples, who attended on his teaching. The old man continuing indexible, Akiba returned to his studies for twelve years more, when he again appeared at his father-in-law's house, this time accompanied by 24,000 scholars. This evidence of the honour in which his son-in-law was held overcame Kalba- 46 REVOLT OF BARCHOCHEBAS. 47 Sabua's resentment, and he bestowed a large portion of his riches upon him. .At the time of the revolt from .Adrian, Akiba was nearly 120 )-ears old.' He had been recently travelling in Northern Africa and Mesopotamia, where he had witnessed the zeal of his countr\-men for the Hope of Israel ; and he was resol\-cd that he and his should not fall behind them in courage and devotion. His feelings must have been ver}- warml}- a\vakened to allow of his accepting Barchochcbas, as he called himself, as the true Messiah that was to come. Who Barchochcbas reall}' was, has always been a problem with historians. By some he is said to have been a captain of banditti, notorious for his robberies and murders. But this may, not impossibl}-, be a calumny. He ma)' have been the leader of one of the bands of wild warriors, who in those lawless times lived, like the more modern Bedouins, after a predatory manner, but are hardly to be regarded as mere robbers. Though undoubtedly an impostor, and conscious of his own imposture,- he was nevertheless a man of courage and abilit}', who might, under more favourable circumstances, have succeeded in establishing the independence of his country. His first step, as we have seen, was to march with such forces as he could raise to Jerusalem ; where he put a stop to the sacrilegious work which had been already commenced by Adrian's order. He then proceeded to the strong city of Bithor, or Bethor, which la}' at no great distance from Jerusalem. Here he was publicly acknowledged by Akiba as the Messiah, and large numbers of Jews, not from Jud.xa onl)-, but from other neighbouring countries, flocked in to his standard. The levies at his command are said to have ' So, at least, say the Jewish biographers. But as they labour to assimilate him \xi all things to Moses, it is not unlikely that they have accommodated his age to their theories. - He is said to have resorted to the expedient, already practised by pretenders before him, of filling his moudi with ligiitcd tow, and so appearing to vomit flame. 48 REVOLT OF BARCHOCHEBAS. amounted at one time to 200,000 men ; a force with which the Roman troops in Judaja were wholly unable to cope. The whole country fell under his dominion, and the utmost zeal and loyalty were displayed in his ser\'ice. The only persons throughout the whole of Palestine who stood aloof were the Christians ; who, knowing that Jesus Christ was the true Deliverer of the Jewish people, could not acknowledge any other to be such. Barchochcbas is said to have punished their defection, as he considered it, with the most savage cruelty, regarding them as rebels and traitors, more criminal than the Romans themselves. Adrian, who could not for a long time be induced to believe that the Jews, after the terrible lesson which their fathers had learned of the consequences of rebellion against Rome, would again provoke a mortal quarrel, treated the out- break as a matter of but small importance. But the tales that reached him, of large military stores being in the possession of the Jews, who had for a long time past been secretly collecting them ; of their countrymen from Egypt and the East thronging to their standard ; and even of multitudes of strangers to their faith and nation nevertheless joining them, in the hope of obtaining plunder, roused him at length to vigorous action. He sent a reinforcement of troops to Ticinius, or Tinnius, by some called Turnus Rufus,^ who commanded in Jud;ea, and recalled from Britain Julius Severus, the ablest officer of his time, to put down, what — it was now impossible to disguise — had become a dangerous rebellion. Severus, on his arrival, found the condition of things so unfavourable to the Roman arms that he did not venture to meet Barchochcbas in the field. The latter was in possession of fifty fortified places, and nearl}' a thousand villages and ' The Jews often confounded this man, who is the object of their special enmity, with the Terentius Rufus to whom Titus entrusted the final demolition of Jerusalem, and who is almost equally detested by thjm. REVOLT OF DARCHOCHEBAS, 49 towns. Rufus had done little but exercise the most merciless severities on all, e\cn women and children, who had fallen into his power ; thus, without really diminishing the stren<^th of his enemies, increasin<^ tenfold their exasperation. If he had continued in command, it is far from improbable that the yoke of Rome would, for a time at all events, have been cast off. But Severus had learned the art of war in his campaigns in Britain ; and the consequences of the change of the general in command soon became evident. Avoiding, as has been already intimated, any decisive engagement, he harassed the Jews by an endless succession of petty conflicts, in nearly all of which they were worsted, driving them into their strong holds, which he then besieged and captured,^ until nearly all that had revolted were reduced to submission.- By the end of the third year of the war, the rebels were driven into the strong city of Bithor, or Bethor, the situation of which is imcertain, but is generally believed to have been somewhere in the neighbourhood of Bethhoron. Here Barchochebas and Akiba sustained, we are told, a long and terrible siege, ' the rebels being driven,' says Eusebius, ' to the last extrem.ities by famine.' But there is no historian of this war to record its l^articulars with the minuteness and accuracy of a Josephus. The Rabbins have indeed given many details ; but it is impossible to rely on their statements. Thus, they relate, that when the prospects of the besieged became gloomy and threatening, one of the most zealous of their body. Rabbi Kliezer, the son of Hamadai, following the example of Moses at Rephidim, remained on his knees in prayer during the ' It is a doubtful point wlicther Jerusalem was one of the places so taken. It appears most probable that it was ; and that tho work of demolition, which had been begun by Titus, was completed by Adrian, and every trace of old Jerusalem destroyed. - There is evidence, however, that these successes were not obtained without severe reverses. The language of Adrian in his despatches to the Senate, in which he omits his usual assurance, that all is well with the army, is signincant of this fact. D REVOLT OF BARCHOCHEBAS. whole time that the fighting was going on ; and the result of his prayers was, that the Jews fought with signal success, ever)'where driving the besiegers back. To avert the disaster which seemed likely to result to the Roman arms, a treacher- ous Samaritan pretended to be discovered in carrying treasonable communications between the Rabbi and the Romans. Rarchochebas, without inquiry, ordered the Rabbi to be slain ; and from that moment, it is said, the courage of the besieged gave way. Bithor was at length taken by storm. Rarchochebas, according to some, was killed in action, according to others, put to death with cruel tortures by the conquerors. The slaughter that ensued is described as exceeding anything on record. The streams of blood were so great as to carry heavy stones the whole wa)' from the city to the sea, and the ground for eighteen miles round is said to have been covered with corpses ! These flights of Rabbinical imagination ma}^ be dismissed as worthless ; but the more sober historian, Dion Cassius, reports that more than half a million perished by the sword, independently of vast numbers who died by disease and famine. Judaea once more became a barren waste. The cities were reduced to heaps of ruin, and the wild beasts tenanted the streets. The inhabitants who escaped the sword were sold as slaves, and transported to foreign lands. The fate of the stern old Rabbi Akiba should not be passed over. He was treated with the utmost barbarity by Rufus, who seems to have been in command at the capture of the city. While under examination before the Roman tribunal, the hour of pra}'er came round, and Akiba, wholly disregarding the presence of his judge, and his own mortal peril, fell on his knees and calmly went through his usual devotions. Only a scanty pittance of water was allowed him in his dungeon ; ])ut though he was consumed with thirst, he applied the water to the customary ceremonial ablutions. He was sentenced to death, and executed with the most barbarous cruelty, some writers affirming that he was flayed REVOLT OF BARCHOCHEBAS. 51 alive, and afterwards slain, others that he was torn to pieces with iron combs. ^ Adrian now carried out his design, the commencement of which had been the immediate cause of the war, and built a heathen city on the site of ancient Jerusalem. This he called /Elia Capitolina — /Elia after his own name /Elius, and Capitolina, because it was dedicated to the Capitoline Jupiter. It was built in the style prevalent among the Romans of that day ; and was enclosed by a wall, which included Mount Calvary and the Hoh' Sepulchre, but did not take in Mount Zion. In the execution of his plan he was careful to show all possible dishonour to the localities which the Jews and also the Christians regarded with veneration. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was erected on the site of the Temple itself ; over the gate which looked towards Bethlehem, the city of David, a marble figure of a hog was set up ; on Mount Calvary was placed a statue of Venus, the foulest of the heathen deities ; and in the grotto at Bethlehem, where the Saviour was born, the worship of Adonis was established. Why Adrian should have been thus studious to profane these latter places, which, though they possessed special sanctity in the e\'es of the Christians, had little or none in those of the Jews, does not appear. We can only suppose that the confusion between the Jews and the Christians, who for many generations were regarded as being merely a schismatical Jewish sect, misled the Roman emperor, even at this date and that he regarded Mount Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre as spots especially venerated by Jews. It is certain that no part of his anger was levelled against the Christians. He suffered them to settle within his newly erected city, and carry on their worship there without interruption. M.\\2t. became, not long afterwards, the seat of a Christian bishopric. ' Tlic Talmud affirms that his cheerful demeanour, while subjected to the most ag^onizincj tortures, amazed his executioners, and that he told them, that having the love of God in his heart, he could not but rejoice. 52 REVOLT OF BARCHOCHEBAS. But to the Jews he extended no such grace. He issued two edicts ; one renewing the order which forbade the circumcision of their children ; the other interdicting them, on pain of instant death, from entering the newly-built city, or even approaching so near to it as to be able to discern with their eyes the sacred precincts. It would seem that this prohibition was subsequently relaxed, so far as one day in the year was concerned, the anniversary, namely, of the capture of the city in the war with Titus, and again, in that with Barchochebas ; for it is a singular fact that the two events occurred in the same month and on the same day.^ On the recurrence of that day of misery and despair, they were allowed to pass the Roman sentinels, and gaze once more on the ruins of the past. Jerome has given a moving account of the scene, which, it would appear, he himself witnessed, two centuries afterwards — the crowd of dejected exiles, the sobs of the women, the agonized despair of the men, the jeers and scoffs of the bystanders, and the rude demands of the Roman soldiers for bribes of money, as the only condition on which they could be allowed to indulge their sorrow.^ ' August 9th. This was also the day of the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. One cannot but entertain suspicion of the accuracy of these statements. ^ Their exclusion from Jerusalem is mentioned by many writers earlier than Jerome — Justin Martyr, Eusebiu?, and Tertullian, amongst others. CHAPTER V. A.D. 135-323- THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. DEPLORABLE as had been the condition of the Jews after the war with Titus, that of their descendants appeared to be still worse, when their struggle for independ- ence was closed b\- the fall of Bcthor. The devastation (^f their lands, and the destruction of their cities, could not have been worse than it was on the former occasion. But they were not then forbidden by their conquerors to return to their ancient homes, or practise the initiatory rite of their religion. To all appearance, the total extinction of the nation, by the ab- sorption of its scattered members among the various com- munities to which they had fled for shelter, must inevitably ensue. Nevertheless, this did not occur. On the contrary, a period of nearly two hundred years now elapsed, during which they continued, undisturbed by Imperial severity or intestine commotion, to recruit their numbers and increase their wealth and influence in almost ever}' portion of the Roman Empire. This appears to have been due in the first instance S3 54 THE JEWS: FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANT! AE. to the favour of Antoninus, who succeeded to the Imperial purple on the death of Adrian. A story is told of a miraculous cure of the Emperor's daughter by a Jew/ in requital of which the edict forbidding circumcision was repealed. But the story rests on no trustworthy authority. The prohibition was renewed by Aurelius, when the Eastern Jews offended him by joining the standard of the rebel Avidius Cassius. But it was soon repealed, if it was ever acted on. It is evident, however, that, notwithstanding the toleration extended to the Jews, they were closely watched, and little trust was reposed in their good faith. At Jamnia (a town, according to Eusebius, between Diospolis and Azotus), where a great Rabbinical school had been established after the fall of Jerusalem, the jealousy of the Romans was roused by an imprudent speech made by the celebrated Simon (or Simeon) Jochaides, the reputed author of the Book of Zohar, and the person by whom (as the reader is informed in the note) the cure of Antoninus's daughter is said to have been effected. On the occasion of some public debate, he denounced the rapacity and selfishness of the heathen rulers. For this expression of opinion he was condemned to death, which he only escaped by flight ; and the school at Jamnia was sup- pressed. On another occasion the periodical sounding of the trumjjct, in the month Tisri, was mistaken by the governor of the city for the signal of a general revolt. In Rome itself — indeed, in all the great cities of the Empire — during the reigns of the emperors who succeeded Aurelius, up to the time of Constantine, the Jews were but little interfered with. This was owing partly to their long residence in the capital. The date of their fii-st settlement there is unknown. ' According to others, it was the daughter of Aurehus who was healed. A deputation had been sent to protest against the severe edicts of Verus. The celebrated mystic, Simon ben Jochai, was the envoy, and he cast an evil spirit out of the Emperor's daughter. The Rabbins assert also that Antoninus received circumcision. But their testimony on this, as on many similar matters, cannot be relied on. 1 THE JFAVS: FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. 55 It has been supposed to be coincident with Pompey's victories, which probably did bring a large number of Jewish slaves to Rome. Philo's testimon\- to this fact, and to their general eman- cipation b}' their purchasers, seems trustworthy enough. But it is certain that the Jews had spread far and wide among all nations before that date, and hence it is most unlikely that so great a commercial centre as Rome would be overlooked by them. Josephus says that 8,000 of them attended when Archelaus was received by Augustus ; and though Claudius banished them, it was only temporarily. It is plain that tliere were great luunbers there, when St. Paul was imprisoned at Rome. Juvenal, again, speaks of the mendicant hordes who profaned the grove of Egeria ; and the testimony of Tacitus and Martial is to the same effect. The Jews were regarded with contemi)tuous dislike, but there was no inclin- ation to persecute them. There was another reason, too, why they were treated with leniency. After Adrian's time, attention was directed to the Christians, as the professors of a faith distinct from, and alien to, Judaism. Thenceforth the Jews were regarded in a different light. As Christianity grew and spread throughout the empire, its converts came to be accounted the deadly enemies of the State ; and the Jews, who disliked them as much as the heathen did, were naturally welcomed as allies against the common enem\-. In any persecution of the ' New Superstition,' the Jews were ever ready to take their part ■} and their wealth, their numbers, and their zeal rendered their heli) \aluable. The Pagan rulers felt but little inclination to inquire into the shortcomings and offences of such useful partisans. It will be proper here to say a few words respecting the Sanhedrin. which, during this period, as well previously and subsequcntl}', exercised a certain authorit}-. The origin of ' Thus it is mentioned that the Jews were more forward than the heathen in bringing faggots to burn the Christian martyr Polycarp— ' as is their habit,' says the historian {Polyc. Marty)-, xiii.). S6 THE JEWS: EROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. this National Council is a matter of dispute. By some it is affirmed that it was first instituted by Moses (Num. xi. i6), and is identical with the 'Elders' of Joshua xxiv. i and Judges ii. 7. But even if that be so, there is no mention of it in subsequent Jewish history for some 1,200 years, and the absolute power exercised by the kings (as e.g. i Kings ii. 27-46) is altogether inconsistent with the existence of any such judicial body in their day. Others hold that the Great Svna";ocaie, which Ezra established after the return from the Captivity, gradually developed into the Sanhe- drin. But it is denied by writers whose opinion is of weight that there was any connection between the Great Synagogue and the Sanhedrin. Its true origin seems to have been in the time of Judas Maccabseus, or possibly his brother Jonathan. We read how the latter wrote a letter to the Lacedaemonians in the names of 'Jonathan the High Priest, the Elders of the nation, the priests and other people of the Jews.' It is likcl\- that the High Priest and the Elders continued from that time forth to exercise supreme power in judicial matters, including that of life and death, until the time when Judaea became a Roman province, and disputes and jealousies with the Roman procurators on the subject ensued. The statement has already, been noticed, that the Sanhedrin escaped destruction during the war with Titus. Some of its members were slain, but the greater part were allowed — so it is averred— to depart from Jerusalem, and settle at Jamnia. Thence they removed to Sepphoris, and afterwards to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, whence the President of the Sanhedrin came to be styled ' the Patriarch of Tiberias.' His authority was acknowledged by all Jews residing within the limits of the Roman Empire.^ How far obedience to him was volun- tary, how far a matter of compulsion, it would not be very easy to determine. The Romans in all likelihood would be ' Origen affirms that the power of the patriarchs was Httle less than that of a king (Orig., Epist. ad Afric). THE JEWS: FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. $7 tolerant enough of the exercise of any such authority, which did not infringe their Imperial power — nay, would probably refer to it all matters relating to the peculiar usages of the Jews, in the same spirit in which Claudius Lysias wrote to Felix, and Gallio refused to listen to the Jewish disputants. The people on their part would readily submit themselves to the Patriarch of their own nation, if only in protest against the hated rule of the stranger. Hence, for many generations, Gamaliel and his successors wielded a wide and undisputed authority.! The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members, who were chosen entirely for the moral excellence of their cha- racters. No young or unmarried man, no alien, and no one who followed a disreputable calling, was eligible. With these exceptions, membership was open to all ranks and conditions of men. To this era belongs the Jerusalem Talmud ; but of that, and also of the Babylonian Talmud, the reader will find a full account in Appendix II. ' The Presidents of tlie Sanhedrin 1. Ezra, who, according to this list, must have survived to the reign of Darius Codomannus, fully 200 years. 2. Simon the Just (identified by some with Jaddiia who received Alexander the Great). 3. Antigonus of Soco. 4. Joseph of Zeredah. 5. Joshua, banished by Ilyrcanus. 6. Judcih, contemporary with A. Jann. 7. Shemaiah. 8. Hillel, the renowned Jewish Doctor. 9. Simeon, son of Hillel, sup- posed by some to be the same who took Jesus into his arms (St. Luke ii. 25). are said to have been — 10. Gamaliel (St. Paul's teacher). 11. Simeon, son of Gamaliel, killed during the siege of Jerusalem. 12. Jochanan. 13. Gamaliel II., son of Simeon, first Patriarch of Jerusalem. 14. Simeon, called the Just. 15. Judah II., called Hakkadosh. 16. Gamaliel III., in whose time the Sanlicdrin is said to have ceased to exist. 17. Judah II. 18. Hillel II., who drew up the permanent Jewish calendar. 19. Judah III. 20. Hillel III. 21. Gamaliel I\'., with whom the Patriarchate of Tiberias expired, A.D 429. 58 THE JEWS: FROM ADRIAN TO COXSTANTINE. To resume our narrative. At the accession of Septimius Scvcrus, who attained the Imperial purple at the close of the struggle which ensued after the murder of Commodus, the Jews are said to have received harsh treatment at his hands ; which may well occasion the reader surprise, as they almost everywhere joined his standard, as the rival of their bitter enemy, Niger. Yet it is certain that he re-enacted the old laws against proselytism, or entering the precincts of Jerusalem ; and, if Euscbius is to be credited, he actually made war on the Jews, and a triumph was decreed him for his successes in the campaign.^ But even if this be true, his anger must soon have subsided ; for during his reign they enjoyed a consider- able share of his favour, for which writers hint that they had to pay heavily. It would appear again that they prospered under the rule of his depraved and barbarous son Caracalla.^ This Emperor is said in early life to have been warmly attached to a Jewish playmate, the only person for whom he seems ever to have felt any affection. A few years afterwards they had a still more extraordinary and discreditable patron in Heliogabalus, the very vilest, it may safely be affirmed, of all the Roman emperors. Actuated by the strange caprice which commonly swayed his actions, he adopted the Jewish customs of circumcision and abstinence from swine's flesh. It does not appear, however, that he bestowed any special marks of regard on the Jews, in consequence of the inclination he showed for their peculiar tenets. Their religion, in fact, was only one out of man}- from which he borrowed one observance or another ; and if it is true that he was on the point of pro- ' It may be that it was not against the Jews, but the Samaritans, that Severus waged war, and that he temporarily confounded them with the Jews. The Romans continually made such mistakes. - Some of the Rabbins assert that Caracalla received circumcision, but with no more evidence in support of their statement than in the instance of Antoninus. There was, however, something unusual in the education of Caracalla. Tertullian says that he received a Christian education ' lacte Christiano educatus ' (Tertull. ad Scop.). If so, he proined but little by it. THE JEWS: EROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. 59 claiming himself to be the chief object of all religious worship, which all must render him on pain of death, his murder came only just in time to save them from a sharp persecution. Under his successor, Alexander Severus, they are thought to have experienced unusual kindness,^ because that prince had imbibed from his mother Mamm;ea (the disciple, it is said, of Origen) a great prejudice in their favour. He did show some feeling of this kind, in that he set up the statue of Abraham in his private chapel, as one of those worthy of Divine honours. But it should be borne in mind that this virtuous prince was after all a heathen, and had very vague and imperfect ideas about religion. He regarded all good men as equally worthy of honour, and his theology hardly extended further. In the shrine already referred to, he placed not only the statue of Abraham, but of Orpheus, Apollonius Tyaneus," and Jesus Christ ! It is needless to say that the man who did this could have been no proselyte to Judaisin (let the Rabbins say what thc\- will), or to Christianity either. A similar protection was extended to the Jews during the reign of Philip the Arabian — another sovereign about whom similar fancies are entertained by Jewish writers, and with no more reason, apparently, than in the other instances. The Christians also experienced the same merciful sway. But with the accession of Decius, A.D. 249, the persecution of the Christians, which had slumbered, with only some slight and ' This seems to have been notorious, as the nickname of the ' Ruler of the Synagogue,' given him by the wits of the day, seems to indicate. - This extraordinary man was born at Tyana, in Cappadocia, a year or two before our Lord. Hiorocles, A.D. 300, wrote a comparison between him and Jesus Christ, in which the main points of resemblance are his (sup- posed) miraculous birth and power of working miracles, liis attempt to reform the religion of the world, and the voice from heaven, which is said to have summoned him from earth. His history, written by Phiiosiratus is overlaid with exaggeration and fable ; but he is to be regarded rather as an enthusiast and a mystic than as an impostor. His fame was at its zenith in the time of Alexander Severus. 6o THE JEWS: FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. partial renewals, since the time of Aurelius, broke out with i^reater violence than ever, and continued to rage, with rare intermissions, through the reigns of successive emperors, until the accession of Constantine. There is little or nothing to record respecting the Jews during this period, so far as those of the West are concerned, unless the war waged by one of the most powerful of the later occupants of the Imperial throne, Aurclian, with Zcnobia, Queen of Palmyra, may be thought to have some relation to Jewish affairs. This princess is said to have been a descendant of the Asmona-vin family, or, at all events, of Jewish birth,^ and to have been brought up in the Jewish faith. Some go so far as to say she was a zealous professor of it.- It is certain that she built splendid synagogues for the use of the Jews, and advanced them to the highest posts of dignity. The celebrated Paul of Samosata,^ who enjoyed her special favour, has been thought to have attempted to effect a reconciliation between Chris- tianity and Judaism, insisting on the necessity of the rite of circumcision, and teaching that Jesus was, although a man, one in whom the Divine yloyo? dwelt. This, it is thought, may have had her approval. If such was really his design, it proved, as might have been expected, a total failure, both parties alike rejecting his teaching. After the fall of Zenobia, he was deprived of his office, and vanished into obscurity. ' Theodoret, de Hcer. Fab. Aihanas, de solit. vi'f. * Zenobia has been claimed as an upholder of, if not a convert to, Christianity. She was probably an eclectic with no settled faith. Hence her patronage of Paul. * This notorious heresiarch was a native of Samosata, in Syria. He was made Bishop of Antioch a.D. 260 ; but his elevation seems to have turned his head. He thenceforth affected great state and splendour. Encouraged by the favour of Zenobia, he usurped great power in the Church. To gain her favour, it is said, he attempted the alleged com- promise between Judaism and Christianity. A council was held A.D. 265, to consider his opinions, over which Firmilian presided, and by which he was condemned. He refused to obey the decree ; but a second council was thereupon summoned, by which he was deposed, and its sentence was confirmed by Aurelian. THE JEWS: FROM ADRIAN TO CONSTANTINE. 6i Hut in ail}' case her liistor)- belongs more properly to that of the Eastern Jews, that large section of the Hebrew race which had spread far to the eastward of the great river, and who dwelt under the rule of the Patriarch, known by the title of the ' Prince of the Captixit).' It will be proper now to turn to their affairs. CHAPTER VI. A.D. 323-363. THE PRINCES OF THE CAPTIVITY. — MANES. — THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS FROM CONSTANTINE TO JULIAN. IT is probable that the authority exercised by the Patriarchs of the East^ grew up after the abandonment by Adrian of his predecessor's conquests beyond the Euphrates. The power of the Parthian kings had been broken by the victories of Trajan ; and in the remoter parts of their dominions they exercised but a feeble authorit)-. Hence little opposition would be offered to the rule of the Jewish Patriarch — the less, because the respect and obedience rendered to him did not in any way trench on the allegiance due to the civil ruler. His power appeared to be everywhere firmly established ; yet in the ensuing generation it was assailed, and in a great measure superseded, by the interference of his Western rival, the Patriarch of Tiberias. Simeon, son of Gamaliel H., called ' Josephus, who wrote as late as Trajan's reign, evidently knows nothing of them. 69 THE PRINCES OF THE CAPTIVITY. 63 ' the Just,' was a man of ambitious and restless character. Believing that Jerusalem was the true centre of Jewish unity, and that his Patriarchate was, in reality, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, he argued that he ought to exercise undivided sway over the whole of the Jewish communit)', and regarded iiis brother of Bab\-lon as a usurper. He sent a delegate to him, accordingl}-, who was instructed to approach him with all possible deference ; but as soon as he had made good his position, to throw off the mask, and demand his submission, His scheme took effect : the delegate was kindly received, and admitted to the confidence of his entertainers ; when he suddenly changed his tone, and sharply censuring some of the prince's acts, required, in the name of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, that they should be rescinded. A scene of angry resistance followed. But the name of Jerusalem had too strong a hold on the heart of every Jew to allow of any suc- cessful opposition. The Babylonian potentate was obliged to succumb, and until the Patriarchate of Tiberias ceased to exist continued to hold a place subordinate to his rival. But in the succeeding century the Prince of the Captivity recovered all, and more than all, the power exercised by his l^redecessors. Tales are related of his grandeur and mag- nificence, which it is difficult to credit, and the more so, because they do not seem to have diminished after the accession of the Persian kings,^ who might reasonably have been expected to be jealous of such subjects. The Patriarch was wont to be installed in his office with the greatest pomp. He was carried in a splendid procession, attended by the Rabbins, and preceded b\- trumpets, to the Synagogue, where he was formally admitted to his office, amid the prayers and blessings of the people. He then returned in like fashion to his palace, where he entertained his chief officers at a sumptuous banquet. He lived in the seclusion usual among ' The Parthian kingdom, after a long decline, may be said to have died out, A.D. 230. 64 THE PRIXCES OF THE CAPTIVITY. Eastern potentates. But whenever he went abroad or entered a house he was received with every token of respect. He would sometimes, we arc told, pay a visit to the kinij ; when one of the royal chariots would be sent for his use — which, however, he would decline, rememberinij that, after all, he was an alien and a captive. Rut this studied humility was visible in nothing else. lie was robed in the most splendid vest- ments, and preceded by a guard of fifty soldiers. The way was cleared before him, and all who met him saluted him with the profcnmdest respect. At the door of the palace he was met by the royal officers, who conducted him to the king's presence ; where, after the first reverence had been paid, he was placed on the left hand of the throne, to confer with the sovereign on the affairs of the State. It seems that intercourse with the Persians, who were fire worshippers,^ and at least as bigoted in their religious opinions as the Jews, did not bring about enmity and per- secution. Yet many of the Jewish practices must have been highly offensive to them. Thus the Jews have always interred their dead, and that practice is an abomination in the eyes of the Ghcbirs. Again, there were certain occasions when no lights were permitted to be kindled except in the Fire Temples;" and the Jews were, in consequence, obliged to extinguish their household fires. We should naturally have expected that some at least among the Jews would refuse compliance, and so bring themselves into collision with the law. But we do not hear of any disputes of this kind^ until the time of Sapor, who, at the outset of his reign, had shown the Jews great favour. But having embarked one day in a ' See note at the end of the chapter. - Such is Jost's statement (ii. 141). He adds that the Jews obeyed the edict, but very unwillingly. ^ Nothing more, that is, than discontented murniurs. It is related that when Abba bar Huna lay sick at Pumbcdilha, and Rabbi Jchuda was attending him, a Magian came into the room and carried off the light : whereupon the Rabbi prayed that the people might pass under the dominion of the Romans again, rather than endure such ignominy. THE PRINCES OF THE CAPTIVITY. 65 controversy with the Rabbins on the subject of the burial of tlic dead, he required that the}- should produce some passage out of their Scriptures in which interment in the earth was ordered. The doctors, unable to do this, gave some evasive answer ; which so incensed him that he began a fierce per- secution. Sapor, however, died A.i). 272, and we do not hear that the persecution was continued. This is also the era of the notorious Mani, or Manes, who founded the sect which caused such widespread strife and division in the Christian Church. He is said by some to have held many conferences with Jewish doctors during Sapor's reign, and to have urged upon them that the acts attributed to their God in the Old Testament, such as the extirpation of the nations of Canaan, were inconsistent with the Divine attribute of mercy. He was, in fact, according to Mani's teaching, the God of Darkness ; from whom they ought to turn, to worship the God of Light. It is needless to say that the Jews utterly rejected his teaching. Through their influence, he lost the favour of Sapor, and was banished from his dominions.^ Turning again to the West, we now come to the era of Constantine, when the pagan idolatry was abolished by law, and the religion of Christ publicly recognised. It is obvious that this was a matter which gravely affected the Jews no less than the heathen. They were as much opposed to the newly authorized faith as any pagans could have been — far more so, in fact, because they had a profound belief in, and an earnest zeal for, their own creed, which was altogether wanting in the instance of the heathen. It would seem that the Roman Emperor contemplated making the religion of Christ the religion of the world ; in which case he must insist ' The date of Mani's birth seems uncertain. The time when he attracted notice was circ. 272. He returned to the Persian Court circ. 278, when Hormisdas, or some say Varanes, caused him to be flayed alive, for faihng to cure the king's son ; but Beausobre discredits this story. £ 66 CONSTANTINE. on its adoption by the Jews, as well as by all the other subjects of the Roman empire. Whether the idea of compul- sory conversion was ever entertained must remain doubtful. But it is tolerably clear that Constantine did hope for. if he did not anticipate, their adoption of his own faith. Confer- ences with Jewish doctors were held in his presence, at which the disputants on both sides not only upheld their cause by arg-ument, but endeavoured to prove its truth by resort to miracles. If Constantine hoped anything from trials like these, ^ in which ain'thing that appeared to be preternatural was claimed on the one side as having been effected by the finger of God, and denounced on the other as due to the agency of Satan — he was certainly disappointed ; and to this failure perhaps ma}- be imputed the severe laws against the Jews, some of which he certainly decreed. Thus he issued an edict that any Jew who imperilled the life of a Christian should be burned alive ; he forbade proselytizing by the Jews on the severest penalties ; he prohibited Jews from having Christian slaves. In one of his Acts he styles the Jews 'the most hateful of all people.' On the other hand, he has been unjustly charged with acts of positive cruelty towards them, which would have soiled the lustre of his name, if thc\' had been really committed. It is said, for instance, that having heard that large numbers of them had assembled for the purpose of rebuilding Jerusalem, he ordered their ears to be cut off, and themselves banished,- and again that he required them to accept baptism, whether they would or not, and to cat swine's flesh on Easter Day.^ But these charges refute ' To quote an example of these. A disputation was held between the Rabbins and the Christians, headed by Pope Sylvester. The Jews brought in an ox, and one of their miracle-mongers whispered the name of God in its ear, whereupon it instantly fell dead. But Sylvester, no-way discomposed, ordered the ox, in the name of Jesus Christ, to return to life. Upon which, we are told, it got up and began feeding ! '^ Chrysost. Or. ifi Jud. . He seems to have cdnfounded Constantine with Adrian. * Eutych. vol. i. 466. I CONS TANS. JULIAN. 67 themselves. Jerusalem was a large and noble city in his day, and it is absurd to talk of the Jews having wished to rebuild it. Nor among all his edicts, preserved in the Theodosian Code, is there a word about cutting off ears or compulsory eating of pork. During this reign the Jews in Persia are accused of having stirred up a sanguinary persecution against the Christians. The latter had, for a long time past, been making their way into Sapor's dominions, to the great vexation of the Jews. But when at last they had succeeded in converting to their faith Ustazades, one of Sapor's chief officers, the irritation of the Jews rose to so great a height that they persuaded Sapor to put down the growing evil by the severest measures. A long and bloody persecution ensued, in which Simeon, Bishop of Ctesiphon, suffered mart}'rdom, the newly built churches were destroyed, and every trace of Christianity obliterated. Constans, the son of Constantine, who succeeded to the throne A.D. 353, far from relaxing any of the severities laid on the Jews by his father, proceeded to greater lengths against them. Provoked by an insurrection they had raised in Judaja, he re-enacted the laws of Adrian and his father — adding to them that any Jew who married a Christian, who circumcised, or even kept, any Christian slave, should be put to death. He also greatly increased the heavy taxes with which they were already loaded. It is no wonder that the accession of Julian — who, immedi- ately after his assumption of the purple, publicly declared his abnegation of Christianity — should have been hailed by the Jews, as well as the pagans, as the dawn of a new day of freedom and prosperity to them. They hastened to present him with an address, representing, among other grievances, the great wrong done them in their exclusion from Jerusalem, the scene of the ancient glories of their race, the never- forgotten home of- their ancestors, though the heathen were permitted to dwell there without molestation. While the most sacred sites were hidden b)' Christian churches, and 68 ATTEMPT TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE. devoted to Christian worship, the spot where their own beloved Temple had once stood lay desolate, and they were not even permitted to approach and gaze upon its ruins. Julian replied even more favourably than they could have hoped. He addressed the Jewish patriarch as ' his brother ; ' he inveighed against the unmerited severity with which they had been treated ; he remitted the imposts of which they complained ; annulled the decree by which they had been forbidden to enter Jerusalem ; and finally gave them per- mission to rebuild the Temple on Mount Moriah, promising them every help in the execution of the work, and appointing one of his own favourite officers, Alypius, to superintend it. His motives for this extraordinary step arc not difficult to conjecture. He had not the slightest inclination to Judaism, being a devoted follower of the ancient creed of Greece and Rome, as held by the sages, whom he had made his study. But he wished, in the first place, to repair the injustice of past years ; in the second, to conciliate the Jews, whose help might be of the greatest service to him in his Persian expedition ; and in the third, to confute and establish the falsehood of Christianity. It was well known that the universal belief among the Christians was, that the voice of prophecy had declared that the Jewish Temple should never be rebuilt ;^ at all events, never until the Jewish people had accepted Jesus Christ as their God. If then he could prove that their belief was untrue on one point, why might it not be untrue on all ? It is needless to say that this unexpected grace filled the whole Jewish world with wonder and delight. Funds for providing the required materials poured in, in abundance ; thousands offered themselves as labourers ; men of the highest position and wealth, even delicately nurtured ladies, were seen digging up the ground with pickaxes made of gold and silver, ' Probably founded on Daniel i.\. 26, 27. But that prophecy is obscure, and susceptible of a different interpretation. Even if the Temple had been rebuilt, every one of our Lord's prophecies would still have been fulfilled. (See Appendix iv.) ATTEMPT TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE. 69 or carrying away the earth in silken handkerchiefs. The work advanced with great rapidit)-, till it was suddenly inter- rupted by flames bursting forth from the ground, accompanied by earthquakes, which repeatedly injured or destroyed the labourers engaged in the undertaking, and ultimately com- pelled them to desist from it.^ Other strange circumstances are said to have accompanied this occurrence. Fiery crosses filled the air, and were seen on the dresses of the fugitives, as they escaped from the dangerous precincts. Some of the latter, who fled to the shelter of a neighbouring church, found the doors closed by some unseen power against them. Doubtless much that has been related must be regarded as idle tales, the result of panic or exaggeration. But to suppose the whole occurrence to be simply attributable to natural causes appears impossible. This, however, is a matter requiring careful and minute inquiry. The reader will find a full examination of it in Appendix IV. Not long afterwards (on the 26th of June, ySi) the death of Julian, in battle with the Persians, put a period — not only to any renewal of this particular undertaking — but to the hopes in which the Jews had indulged, of Imperial favour especially bestowed on them. So ended the last recorded attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple. Note to Chapter VI. on the Religion of the Magi. The origin of this religious belief is lost in the darkness of antiquity. The Magi existed, a body highly honoured, long before the time of Zerdusht or Zoroaster, who lived B.C. 589. He seems to have remodelled and formulated the ancient doctrine. According to his teaching, there are two independent ruling powers, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the principles of good and evil, symbolized by light and darkness.- Ormuzd created man good and happy. Ahriman marred his happiness by the introduction of evil. The strife between these two is to continue, until the victory is finally gained by Ormuzd. Their religious rites are of a very simple character. They had origin- ' Cyril, it should be remarked, says nothing of these miracles, which are reported by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodorct. ^ Comp. Isa. xlv. 6, 7, where the idea is directly confuted. ^o THE PRIiXCES OF THE CAPTIVITY. ally neither temples, altars, nor statues, though later on, fire temples were built. They adored fire, light, and the sun, as the emblems of purity and beneficence. But, in the first instance at all events, they did not regard these as independent deities ; though afterwards, following the rule of all false religions, they offered worship to the symbols them- selves, instead of the principles symbolized. They exposed their dead to be devoured by vultures, considering it an abomination to bury them in the earth. They still exist, a numerous people, in India, under the name of Parsees, a name derived from Pars, said to be the ancient de- signation of Persia. By some it is affirmed that Zoroaster maintained the existence of a third deity, superior to the other two. CHAPTER VII. A.D. 365-429. JOVIAN TO HONORIUS. — MUTUAL JEALOUSIES AND OUT- RAGES. — SUPPRESSION OF THE I'ATRIARCHATE OF TIBERIAS. JOVIAN, a stern enemy of the Jews, succeeded to the throne vacated byJuHan,but, fortunatel)' for them, reigned for a few months only. Valens and Valentinian, who fol- lowed, reinstated the Jews in the possession of their ancient rights, but withdrew the exemption from serving public offices, which they had hitherto enjo\'ed. Under their rule, as under that of all succeeding emperors to the time of Justinian, the main things that attract the reader's notice are the mutual jealousies of the Jews and Christians, for ever breaking out into acts of lawless violence, the blame of which does not lie wholly on one side. The idea seems to have possessed the minds of the Christians, e\en of their bishops (whose training and office should ha\e taught them better), that the Jews as a race were the personal enemies of Christ,^ ' I have elsewhere pointed out how fearfully mistaken is such a belief. CJrantinjj, for the arguments sake, that the Jews who crucitied our Lord 72 JOVIAN TO HONOR lUS. and, as such, objects of aversion and horror. This was a fruitful source of the wrongs, oppressions, and cruelties with which the pages of their after history are so deeply stained. The emperors strove, to the best of their ability, to hold the balance of justice evenly between the contending parties, but often found it impossible to do so. Thus, a synagogue having been burnt by the Christians at Rome (a.D. 387), Maximus the Usurper, who was at that time in possession of the capital, ordered it to be rebuilt by those who had wrecked it. For this righteous act he was denounced by Ambrose,^ Bi.shop of Milan, who attributed his subsequent fall and ruin to that act, and induced Theodosius to revoke the decree. A similar outrage having been com- mitted at Osrhoenc, a city of Mesopotamia (a.D. 395), the same order was issued by Theodosius himself. But Ambrose again interfered, and addressed a most indignant letter to the Emperor. Overlooking altogether the wrong committed by the Christians, he argued that it was most unjust to re- quire them to take part in building up a Jewish synagogue ; which was, he says, ' the home of perfidy, the dwelling-place of impiety.' It is said also, by Zonaras, that he preached publicly to the same effect at Milan ; but of that there is no evidence. Theodosius, who entertained the profoundest re- spect for Ambrose, was overawed, and withdrew his edict.^ But that his conviction as to the justice of the case was are to be regarded as His enemies, and, as such, just objects of our abhorrence, their genuine descendants, those who should inherit that abhor- rence, are not their children according to the flesh, but they (St. John viii. 41, 44) who imitate their deeds. These are their genuine children. These ' crucify the Son of God afresh.' If we must abhor any as the enemies of Christ, let us abhor these. ' Ambrose, Epist. xxix. * A similar case occurred at Antioch, under Theodosius II. (a.D. 423), where the clergy were ordered to make restitution to the Jews, whose synagogue they had gutted and plundered. The celebrated Simeon Stylites interfered on this occasion, and succeeded, as Ambrose had done, in annulling the Imperial order. JOVIAN TO HO NO RT US. 73 unaltered, we may see b}- the law which Theodosius promul- gated in the last year of his life, which secured protection to the Jews in the exercise of their religion, and decreed the punishment of all who assailed them.' On the other hand, the Jews were not behindhand in displaying a very turbulent and rancorous temper. On all occasions which offered themselves, and these were neither few nor trivial, they did their best to harass and mortify the Christians. The Arian controversy, which so grievously dis- tracted the East, and for so long a period, could not have concerned them. Yet they were always ready to .support the Arian leaders with their influence, and unite with Arian mobs in attacking the churches of the Orthodox. Nor were these the only outrages the}' committed. At some of their feasts, when, ' flown with insolence and wine,' they issued forth from the banqueting chamber, they were wont to insult and attack any Christians they might meet. At the feast of Purim in particular such displays were likely to occur. On that occa- sion it was their practice to erect a gibbet, to which a figure representing Haman was fastened, and whenever his name occurred in the service for the day they broke out into furious execrations against him. On the occasion of one of the celebrations of this feast at Inmestar, a city of Chalcis, near Antioch, their insolence was carried to a most shocking height. Rushing out into the street, some of the drunken Jews seized on a Christian boy whom they met, and dragging him into the house, fastened him to the gibbet, from which the figure of Haman had been removed, and which, in mockery doubt- less of the crucifixion, had been fashioned in the shape of a cross.^ They then proceeded to scourge the lad so severely that he is said to have died under their hands. The Christians ' Cod. Thcod. viii. 16. * It is not improbable that the tradition of this occurrence gave rise to the charge so often made, and which seems so inexplicable, against the Jews in after ages, of crucifying boys in mockery of the Saviour's passion, though no evidence of such an act was ever produced. 74 JOVIAN TO HO NOR I US. were roused to fury by the murder, and a bloody fight ensued, in which many lives were lost. This occurred A.D. 412. Several strange stories are told of occurrences during the early part of the fifth century, which illustrate the temper of the times. They are mostly concerned with conversions ; to effect which great zeal was undoubtedly displayed ; but it is not often of a kind that we can cither admire or approve. Offers of worldly advantages of one kind or another were made by those who were anxious to secure converts ; and no one will wonder at hearing that many, in consequence, professed themselves willing to submit to baptism. These converts, however, were not inclined to be content with profit- ing once only by so easy a mode of obtaining the good things of life. They presented themselves as candidates for baptism at the churches of every sect in Constantinople. The practice was detected. A tradition relates that when one of these pseudo-converts was brought to the font, the water receded from the sacred vessel, so that the ministrant could not per- form his office. Startled at so strange an occurrence, he set on foot a strict inquiry, and elicited the fact that the man had already been baptized in the churches belonging to every sect in the city, except the one in which this incident was reported to have occurred. Unfortunately, the church be- longed, not to the Orthodox, but to the Novatians. The extent to which the scandal had reached is proved by the enactment of a law, which forbade the baptism of any Jew, until strict inquiry had been made as to his character and motives, and a certain noviciate passed. Not unfrcquently the conversions were what may be termed wholesale, large bodies of men offering themselves at the same time for admission to the Church ; and these were brought about after what most persons would consider a strange fashion. Thus, in the island of Minorca (A.D. 418), Severus, the bishop, had been greatly distressed by the presence of a Jewish synagogue under a Rabbi named Theodorus, and exerted himself to the utmost to effect their conversion. He JOVIAN TO HONORIUS. 75 had heard that Thcodorus was a man of unusual learning and ability, as well as of the highest character, and well accus- tomed to controversy — a formidable antagonist, in fact, for whom, it was to be feared, the bishop himself was no match. Nevertheless, fortified by the possession of the relics of St. Stephen, wliich, it appears, had been left in the island, he challenged Theodorus to a disputation, which he proposed to hold in a church at Magona. The Jews declined the contest, on the ground that it was their Sabbath day, on which they could enter no unclean place. The bishop then proposed that the meeting should take place in the Jews' .synagogue ; and when they came up in large numbers to his house, to decline that suggestion also, he solved the difficulty by marching with all his followers to the synagogue. A riot broke out in the street, and the Christians pursued their opponents into their place of worship, which they plundered and then burned. This procedure failing to convert the Jews, a dispu- tation was at last held, at which Theodorus made an oration so learned and powerful that Bishop Severus was unable to answer him. Happily, however, there was no need for him to do so. When he had concluded, the whole of the Christians, anxious to gain .so worthy a proselyte, broke out into a general cry, 'Theodorus, believe in Christ.' The Jews mistook the words for ' Theodorus believes in Christ,' and straightway, stricken to the heart by this terrible apostasy, fled into the woods, leaving Theodorus in the hands of the Christians. The bi.shop did not fail to point out to him that the hand of Heaven was plainly discernible in what had passed ; and Theodorus, perplexed by the position in w hich he found himself placed, angered at his desertion b\' his countrymen, and possibly influenced by the hopes of worldly advancement, submitted to baptism ; and his example was followed by his congregation. The bishop plumed himself on his victory, and besought his brethren ever^'where to adopt the same method with the Jews. In burning down .synagogues, as Milman remarks, they were read}' enough to adopt his advice. 76 JOVIAN TO HONOR I US. Another general conversion took place in Crete (a.D. 432) where the circumstances, though not exactly similar, were equally strange. An impostor, who had assumed the name of Moses, gained so much influence over the Jews in that island. who, we are told, were numerous and wealthy, as to persuade them that he could open a way for them to the Holy Land through the waters of the Mediterranean, as his namesake had done of old through those of the Red Sea. The delusion spread so far, that the Jews abandoned their houses and lands and all their personal possessions, except such as they could carry with them, and having been led b}' their conductor to the top of a high rock, threw themselves by his order into the sea. He himself then disappeared,^ having probably reaped all that he could hope to gain by the transaction. Great numbers were drowned, and more would probabl)^ have shared their fate, if it had not chanced that there were some fishing boats lying off that part of the coast, which came to their assistance. The occupants of these boats were Christ- ians ; and this circumstance, added to the fact that the impostor had been a Jew, induced large numbers to adopt Christianity. Turning to Egypt, always a place of importance in Jewish history, we learn that there were, about the middle of the reign of the Emperor Thcodosius H., great disturbances, caused mainly by the continual feuds between the Christians and Jews. The latter had always been conspicuous, not more on account of their wealth and numbers, than of their turbulent spirit. This, however, was in a great measure stirred into action by the accession of Cyril to the bishopric of Alex- andria, vacated by Theophilus, A.D. 412. Cyril was a man of great force of character, but vain, hasty, and imperious. He soon obtained a most commanding influence in the city, ' The historian Socrates is persuaded that the impostor was a demon, who assumed human shape to bejjuiie the Jews. But sceinj that the cheat resulted in a numerous conversion to the Christian faith, it is strange that he should have entertained such a notion. JOVIAi\ TO HONORIUS. 77 of which the Prefect Orestes was naturally jealous. Desiring to punish the insolence of Cyril's followers, he ordered one of lliLMH, Micrax, a schoolmaster, who had committed some breach of the peace, to be publicly scourged. Cyril sent for the Jews who had delated Hierax to Orestes, and threatened them with his anger unless they adopted a different course in their dealings with the Christians. Anticipating that this threat would soon be followed by an open attack upon them, the Jews resolved to be beforehand with him. Having put on rings of bark, in order to be able to distinguish one another in the dark, they raised at midnight the cry that one of the principal churches was on fire. The Christians rushed out in great numbers to extinguish the flames, and the Jews falling upon them, made a great slaughter of them. In the morning Cyril armed his followers, and assailing the Jews in his turn, slew great numbers, plundered and burned their houses, and drove the survivors out of the city. Orestes interfered on their behalf, but was himself attacked, and wounded in the head by a stone. Both parties made their appeal to Theo- dosius, at that time a boy of fourteen. Whether it was that the Court of Constantinople was too much engaged with affairs of State to attend to troubles in Egypt, or that Cyril's pri\ ate influence gained the ascendenc}', we are not told ; but it does not appear that any of the criminals, not even the murderers of Hypatia,^ were ever punished, or the Jews, who had been e.xpelled from Alexandria, reinstated in their homes. Some years afterwards (a. I). 429), the Jews received a severe blow in the suppression of the Patriarchate of Tiberias ; which had existed for about three hundred years, but now expired in the person of Gamaliel IV., the ninth patriarch who had ' Hyp.itia was a young lady of .Alexandria, professing heatlienism, and of rare accomplisliments, great beauty, and uns[)Otted character. Cyril is said to have been jealous of her influence in the city ; and, in the hope of pleasing him by the deed, the fierce Christian mob tore her from her chariot, and cut her to pieces with oyster shells. This barbarous and revolting murder is the worst deed of those cruel and lawless times. 78 JOVIAN TO HONORIUS. held that office. The revenue by which the patriarchs had been supported, was derived from certain duties levied upon the Jews residing in all quarters of the empire, the patriarch's collectors being sent everywhere for that purpose. It is pro- bable that the tic which united the Jews to the ancient centre of their faith had for a long time been growing gradually weaker, as the severance itself widened ; and the periodical visits to Jerusalem, which had kept up the bond of attach- ment, had long ceased to be observed. It is said that petitions were presented to the emperors requesting the abolition of the impost. However that may have been, an edict was issued by Honorius, forbidding the levying of the duty at Rome, and, most probably, in any part of the Western empire. That raised in the East appears to have gone directly into the Imperial trcasur\-. This step did not formally abrogate the patriarchal office, but it was a deathblow to it. Gamaliel retained the name, and some show of authority, during the remainder of his life, but no successor was appointed when he died. Wn^ CHAPTER VIII. A.U. 429-622. IIONORIUS TO HERACLIUS. — JEWISH SLAVE-HOLDERS. — JUSTINIAN. — CHOSROES. THE great change in the condition oi Europe, the first symptoms of which had appeared a generation or two previously to this era, now began to make itself everywhere felt. The irruption of the barbarian tribes of the North, which resembled at first the few drops of an approaching shower, became, as the century advanced, the heavy downpour of the storm itself Every year witnessed their further advance into Europe, in vast and irresistible hordes, disorganizing, and, in some instances, wholly changing the face of society. There were new rulers in the seats of Government, new languages spoken in the streets o{ cities. The armies carried strange standards, and wielded weapons hitherto unknown in Euro- pean warfare. Even at the plough and by the cottage fireside, there were forms and faces of a type hitherto unknown. In many places the ancient inhabitants had been driven into exile ; in many more, they had been put to the sword ; in many more, they cowered out of the sight of their new 8o HOXORIUS TO HERACLIUS. masters. There must have been terrible and protracted suffer- ing among high and low alike. But there was one class upon whom these woes fell harmlessly, and this class was the Jews. It is bitter for men to be driven from their homes and deprived of their rights of citizenship. But the Jew had no home to lose, no right of citizenship to forfeit. His nationality had long been destroyed, and could not be taken from him. He was like Ladurlad, in Southey's poem, whom the flood could not swallow up or the sea-monster destroy, because Kehama's curse had rendered him secure against all minor ills. If the country in which the Jew was a sojourner was threatened by the approach of an invading horde, he simply removed else- where, and took his money with him. Nay, the march of the barbarian armies, which brought terror and destruction to others, was to him a source of profit. When some bloody defeat on the battle-field, or some frightful sack of a populous town, had plunged a whole people in misery and desolation, the Jew would drive a thriving trade with the ignorant conquerors, purchasing of them the spoil they had obtained by the plunder of palaces and churches, for, it might be, the twentieth part of their value, and conveying it to lands which were, as yet, safe from invasion ; where they sold it again at an enormous profit. Their establish- ment in all the great cities of the known world, and the strong bonds of brotherhood which subsisted among them, made it easy for them to carr)- on mercantile transactions of this kind ; nor can the rapidity with which they acquired wealth — and which was popularly attributed to their alliance with the Evil One — be any cause of wonder to us. Even in times when the principles on which commerce is conducted have become generally understood and acted on, the Jews have always had the advantage over their Christian neigh- bours, by reason of their greater astuteness and perseverance. But in those days, when they alone understood those principles, e\en in the rudest manner, it would have been HONORIUS TO HERACLIUS. 8i a marvel indeed, if they had failed to gather riches, almost as easily as a child gathers pebbles on the shore. One very profitable, but somewhat odious, branch of corri- merce seems to have fallen almost entirely into their hands. After one of the great victories of the Goths or Huns, when large numbers of captives became the property of the barbarian conquerors, their native ferocity often induced them to put their vanquished enemies to the sword ; and possibly they might always have done so, had it not been that avarice, stimulated by the offer of money in exchange for them, proved the more potent passion of the two. The Jew knew what would be the value of an able-bodied slave in the markets of Alexandria or Constantinople, and was willing to pay, it might be, the sixth part of that price to the Goth or the Ilun, for the prisoner whom he had at his disposal. None but the Jews, as has been observed, pursued this particular traffic ; and the consequence was, that large numbers of Christian slaves passed into the possession of Hebrew masters, who in every city exposed them publicly for sale. It would not have been human nature if the Jews, despised and rejected as they were by their Christian fellow- citizens, had not experienced a sense of triumph, at finding themselves in this manner the undisputed owners and masters of those who had long held them in contempt. It is even less wonder that the spectacle should have roused the greatest indignation among the Christians themselves. By the ancient law it was illegal, nay, a capital offence, for a Jew to keep a Christian in bondage. But either this law was treated from the first as a nullity, or it had been repealed by one of Constantine's successors ; for the edict of Honorius, while it forbids Jews to proselytize their Christian slaves, allows the full right of ownership over them. Now, however, the Jews had become the masters, not of a few Christian bondsmen, but of large numbers of them, many being persons belonging to a higher station, and reduced to their present state of degradation by having been conquered F 82 HO NOR I us TO HERACLIUS. in battle with the barbarians. This appeared an intolerable scandal ; and it is not unlikely that the old lawof Constantine would have been re-enacted, if it had not been for the pretty certain fact that, in that case, all prisoners taken in battle would thenceforth be massacred. Therefore, though many efforts were made, and especially by the Church, to mitigate the evil, it was never proposed to prohibit the purchase of slaves by Hebrew masters. The Council of Macon, A.D. 582, distinctly lays down that 'the conditions upon which a Christian — whether as a captive in war or by purchase — has become the slave of a Jew, must be respected.' All that is stipulated for by that, or any other of the many Councils which deal with the subject, is, that the slaves shall have the right of purchasing their own freedom, or that others shall have the right of purchasing it for them. The Councils, further, continually exhort the clergy, indeed, all Christians, to shelter any slaves who may take refuge with them from the tyranny of their masters, and even to pay the price which will redeem them from captivity. It is needless to add that these injunctions had but little effect. Neither clergy nor laity have, in any age, except that of the Apostles, been thus ready to part with their money for the benefit of any unhappy sufferer who might appeal to them. Gregory the Great, who succeeded to the Papal chair A. I). 590, was very earnest in his efforts to put down a traffic which he regarded as abominable. His letters, addressed to kings and bishops and others in authorit}', evince the warmth of his zeal and the nobility of his nature ; but they show also that all efforts, up to that time, to eradicate the evil had proved abortive. The condition of the Italian Jews at this period seems to have been unusually prosperous. Ihey were protected by Theodoric, who several times — at Rome, at Milan, at Genoa — interfered to chastise those who had wrecked and plundered Jewish synagogues, and directed that due reparation should be made. The Bishops of Rome, throughout the ccntur)', HONORIUS TO IIERACLIUS. $5- and especially Gregory, towards its close, treated them with justice and clemency, and, though filled with an earnest desire for their conversion, repressed all violence or imprudent zeal. But it was dilTercnt in other parts of the world about this time. The attempts at proselytizing, which had hitherto- erred on the side of holding out worldly inducements to bribe men to embrace the Gospel, were now exchanged for the still worse method of violent compulsion. Chilpcric, the youngest son of Clotairc I., a monster of lust and cruelty, appears to have been the first who practised this. Believing, perhaps, that his own misdeeds might be atoned for by what he regarded as zeal in the cause of Christ, he forcibly compelled all the Jews in his dominions to receive baptism on pain of instant death. They appear to have complied — nothing more than the mere performance of the ceremony having been required of them — but to have carried on their own form of worship exactly as before. Turning now to the Eastern Empire, we find that there is but little mention of the Jews during the fifth ccntur\' of Christianit}'. But, whatever changes took place in their condition, we may reasonably infer that they were changes for the worse. Notwithstanding the religious distractions of the reign of the Eutychian Anastasius, the Church continued throughout this century to grow in power, several of the Roman emperors, Theodosius II., Marcian, and Leo, being her devoted adherents. We do not wonder at hearing that in the reign of Justin I., A.I). 518, who was at least as orthodox as any of his predecessors, the Jews were excluded by statute from all offices of state, as well as from holding commissions in the army. His nephew, Justinian, who succeeded him, not only confirmed these laws, but evinced such harshness to both Jews and Samaritans, as provoked a rebellious out- break among the latter people. One Julian, who (like so many before and after him) professed him.self the Messiah, stirred up an insurrection, and was onl)- put down and slain after a bloody battle. Many of the Samaritans, we are told, 8+ HONORIUS TO HERACLIUS. became converts to the Gospel : but there are shrewd reasons for suspecting that their motive was to escape thereby the consequences of their rcbelHon. Encouraged apparcntl)- by this success, Justinian proceeded to still harsher measures against the Jews. He no longer allowed their evidence to be taken against Christians. He materially limited their power of making wills and disposing of tlicir pro[)ert}'. He enacted that in case of a marriage between a Jew and a Christian — which he strongly discouraged — the control of the children should belong to the Christian parent. Finall\', he interdicted the use of the Jewish Mishna, as a production full of absurdrt)' and falsehood, and urged the use of the Greek language by the Jews, instead of the Hebrew. It is hardly necessary to add that these harsh measures had but little effect. The use of the Talmud was not discontinued, and the empire experienced, in the aliena- tion of a wealthy and powerful bod}'', such as the Jews then constituted, a sensible loss of strength.^ A few years after- wards a new Imperial decree somewhat modified the rigour of these enactments. The Samaritans were allowed to make wills ; but in case of intestac\% if any of their children had embraced the Christian faith, they inherited the father's property to the exclusion of the others ; if a will had been made, unbelievers could inherit one-sixth onh' of the property under it. About twenty-five }-ears afterwards, the Jews and Samaritans in Ca;sarea broke out in insurrection, and were with difficult}- put down. Farther eastward, under the reigns of the Persian sovereigns, ' Wliat injury they were capable of inflicting on their oppressors, was seen plainly cnouj^ii at the siege of Naples by Belisarius. Convinced that they would receive no mercy at his hands, the Jews persuaded the citizens to abandon the proposals for capitulation which they were meditating, by promising them supplies of provisions and arms. The siege was in consequence considerably prolonged ; and when the assault took plncc, the Jews defended one quarter with a desperation which caused great loss of life. IWNORIUS TO HERACLIUS. 85 beginning with that of Artaxerxes (the successor, A.D. 384, of Sapor), the Magians, who had obtained the upper hand in the royal counsels, persecuted Jews and Christians with equal severity. Even tlic observance of the Sabbath by the former is said to have been suppressed. Nevertheless, we are told that the Prince of the Captivity still retained his office, and even his wealth and dignity. The animosities between him and Chanina, the master of the Jewish schools, are related at length by the historians of those times ; but are inter- mingled with wild and fanciful tales, to which it is impossible to attach any credit. It was at some time during this dark period that the Babylonian Talmud, to which reference was made in a recent chapter, first saw the light. It was mainly the work of Rabbi Asa, or Asche, chief of the schools at Sora. But he died before its completion, and the finishing touches were given to it by his pupils. The date of its appearance is a matter of much dispute ; but the probability is that it was first published during this period. (See Appendix II.) Not long after its appearance — early in the sixth century — a fierce persecution was set on foot by Cavades, or Kobad, one of the Persian kings, who desired to oblige all unbelievers in Magianism to embrace its tenets. In his time a Rabbinical impostor, named Meir, who probably pretended to be the Messiah, raised a rebellion, which was prolonged for se\'en years. Whether the insurrection was due to the persecution or the persecution to the insurrection, does not clearly appear. The impostor pretended, as nearly all his prototypes had done, to work miracles, and, amongst others, to raise up a fiery column, which always accompanied his march, as had been the case with his fathers in the wilderness. He was defeated, and slain by Kobad, and the Prince of the Cap- tivity was involved in his fate.' ' He was hanged, togetlier with the President of tlie Council. No successor to him was appointed. His son, Zutia II., fled to Judica, and 86 HOXORIUS TO HERACLIUS. The Jews fared no better under Chosroes, or Nushirv-an, called 'the Great,' ^ who closed their schools and forbade the propagation of their faith. But, notwithstanding this harsh- ness, the severities of Justinian were felt by the Western Jews to be so intolerable, that they sent a deputation to Chosroes, inciting him to make war on the empire. They roused his cupidity by describing to him the riches which were to be found in Jerusalem, and offered to aid him with 50,000 men. Chosroes listened to their overtures, and twice made prepara- tions for war. But on the first occasion Justinian purchased peace by payment of a large bribe ; and on the second the superior generalship of Belisarius obliged him to retreat. After a reign of nearly fifty years, Chosroes was succeeded by Hormisdas, a weak and vicious ruler, but who nevertheless permitted the Jews to reopen their schools ; and a new series of presidents of these, called the Gconim, or the illustrious, assumed authority. Hormisdas was assassinated after a reign of eleven years, and a usurper named Behram (or Varanes, as he is also called) .seized the throne, and received consider- able support from the Jews. B}' the help of the Greek Kmperor Mauritius, Hormisdas's son, Chosroes II. succeeded in cnishing Behram, punishing at the same time with great severity the Jews, who had upheld him. Among others, the Jews of Antioch were put to death, or reduced to slavery. In A.I). 602, Mauritius was murdered by Phocas, who became President of the Senate there. Tlie ofrice, however, was subsequently revived, and lasted as late as the eleventh century. The Resch Glutha, or E.\ilarch, as the Prince of the Captivity was called, was, it should be remarked, a distinct person from the Geon. The latter was concerned with religious matters only ; the former, with politics. ' Of this king many fables are related. A monkish chronicler says that he besieged a fortress defended by evil spirits. Failing to take it by assault, he summoned the ministers of all the religious bodies in his dominions, and ordered them to use their superhuman powers for its capture. The Magi, the Magicians, and the Jews, each in turn essayed the task, but in vain. But, it is added, when the Christian priests em- ployed the sign of the cross, the place was immediately captured. HONORIVS TO HERACLIUS. 87 usurped the throne ; and Chosrocs, claiming to avenge his old ally, declared war on the assassin and marched on Constantinople. Meanwhile the Jews in Palestine, too eager to wait for the arrival of Carusia, Chosroes's general, rose against Phocas, who had attempted their forcible conversion, and laid siege to Jerusalem. It was defended by the Bishop Zacharias, whose first step was to seize all the Jews in the city. The besiegers gained possession of the suburbs, and began burning the Christian churches. The besieged re- taliated by beheading 100 Jewish prisoners for every church destroyed. Neither party would be outdone in barbarity. Twenty churches were demolished, and the heads of 2000 Jews were thrown over the city wall ! Unable to reduce the place, the Jews retired to join Carusia, under whose standard they presently entered Jerusalem. They had the insults and wrongs of five centuries to avenge, and they exacted the penalty with no sparing hand, their Persian allies permit- ting them apparently to do much as they pleased. Every Christian church was destroyed, and the entire Christian population, to the number of 90,000, massacred. But neither they nor Chosroes reaped much advantage from this success. The war with Phocas was carried on with various fortune until 610, when Heraclius,^ the son of the Exarch of Africa, attacked Constantinople, overthrew Phocas, and was proclaimed emperor in his place. After a few years of inaction, he roused himself to confront the enemies of the empire. In a campaign, extending over several years, con- ducted with amazing energy and ability, he recovered the whole of the provinces overrun by Chosroes, who was soon afterwards deposed and slain. Palestine was among the ' Heracliiis is one of the most extraordinary characters in history. Some of his exploits are as grand as any achieved by the most renowned of his predecessors, while sometimes his conduct was unaccountably weak and contemptible. He began by restoring the ancient glory of the Roman empire, but he left it at last weaker than he had found it. The first few years of his reign arc the last of Roman glory. HONORIUS TO HERACLIUS. countries reconquered ; and we are told that in 629 Heraclius went as a pilgrim to Jerusalem, where the cross was replaced in its ancient position, the Christian bishop restored to his patriarchal throne, and heavy retribution exacted of the Jews. Among other severities, the law of Adrian was revived, forbidding the Jews to approach nearer than three miles' distance from Jerusalem. But a new actor now appears on the scene, destined to exercise the most momentous influence on the fortunes of the Jews for many generations to come. We must direct our attention to him. CHAPTER IX. A.D. 622-651. MAHOMET. — CONQUEST OF ARAHIA, PERSIA, SYRIA, AND EGYPT. MAHOMET was born at Mecca, in the April of the year 569. His father Abdallah, and his mother Amina, belonged to the illustrous tribe of the Koreish ; and the guardianship of the Kaaba,^ the great centre of Arabian worship, was hereditary in his family. Brought up in a priestly household, a man of his intelligent mind would naturall}' be drawn to examine the received traditions and ceremonial of the national faith ; and, considering how corrupt and degraded this had become in his day, we can well ' Tlie Kaaba is said to have been built by Ishmael, aided by his father Abraham, in imitation of the shrine which, according to legend, existed in Paradise, and in which Adam worshipped. In one corner of it stands the sacred stone, believed by the Arabs to be the Guardian Angel oi Adam and Eve, changed into that shape, in punishment of the neglect which permitted their fall. It was originally of a dazzling white colour, but the kisses of sinful men have reduced it to its present blackness. To this shrine the Arabs make their pilgrimages, performing seven circuits round it, in memory of the seven circuits which the Angels in Paradise had been wont to practise. 89 90 MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. understand how an earnest desire to reform and purify it would suggest itself to him. That Mahomet was, in a certain sense, an impostor cannot be denied ; though he cannot fairly be considered such at the outset of his career. But his genuine wish to rescue religion from the grossness of idolatry, and his enthusiastic belief in the sacredness of his mission, became gradually lessened by the admixture of worldly policy, which is ever tlie besetting danger of reformers. Then pious frauds were resorted to, to ensure the success which zeal and honesty had failed to obtain. When these, too, failed, simple imposture was employed — though, so far as we can judge, his belief in his divine office remained unimpaired to the last. Such has been the history of many a religious zealot before, and since, his time, though none have ventured to put forth claims so daring, or have produced results so vast and enduring. All sorts of portents are related to have occurred coin- cidently with his birth. A divine light illuminated Mecca and its vicinity ; the palace of the Persian kings tottered to its foundations ; the sacred fire of the Magi was extinguished in the Gheber temples ; the newborn infant raised his eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, ' God is great.' But notwith- standing these, and many other, divine tokens of the mission he was to accomplish, he continued to lead the life of an ordinary Arab, until at the age of twenty-five a marriage with a wealthy widow, named Kadijah, lifted him to a position of importance amongst his countrymen. Some fifteen years afterwards the corrupt state of the national religion' — which, it is probable, had always more or less engaged his thoughts — seems wholly to have engrossed them. He withdrew from society, passing his days and nights in mountain caverns, visited by continual dreams and ' The idolatry of the Arabs was, at this time, of the grossest kind. No less than 360 idols had been set up in the Kaaba— nir ny of them gods of neighbouring nations, or of deceased kings and patriarchs. i MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. 91 visions. The idea took possession of his mind that the Deity had sent into the world a succession of Prophets, each of whom was to restore to its pristine purity the faith, which Iiad been gradual!)' declining" since the removal of his predecessor. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, had all in this manner succeeded one another. Now the time had arrived for the appearance of another — that other being himself This was the revelation which had been vouchsafed to him ; this was the message^ he was to deliver to men. He returned home, and began to attempt the conversion ot proselytes to this belief; but his progress was slow, and the opposition he provoked bitter and deadly. He was in his fifty-third year when the crisis of his career arrived, and he had to fly, at the imminent peril of his life, from Mecca to Medina. This is regarded by the disciples of Islam as the first open promulgation of their faith. At Medina he found himself at the head of an armed force, with which he resolved to enter on his mission of converting the world. At the same time he determined that the instrument by which this was to be effected was the sword. The attempt seemed a wild one. Yet we must remark that the condition of the world at that period was unusually favourable to it. There existed then but two powerful sovereignties — the Eastern Empire, governed by Heraclius, and the Persian kingdom of Chosroes and afterwards of Yezdegird. The two last named were men of very ordinary capacity ; and either indolence or the pressure of external circumstances kept Heraclius inactive. Nor could they com- ' The Koran claims to be, not the composition of Mahomet, but a divine revelation, which he had to report with the minutest accuracy. It professes to republish what had been already delivered to Abraham, Moses, and Christ, and now more explicitly, to Mahomet. It teaches I. The Unity of God. II. The Ministrations of Angels and Prophets. III. Absolute Predestination, or Fatalism. IV. The Resurrection and Future Judgment. It rejects the Trinity, and Godhead of our Lord, and insists on the divine mission of Mahomet. In tliis last particular, and in the respect shown to Christ, it differs from Judaism. 92 MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. mand the services of any great soldier, such as Aetius, or Narses, or Belisarius, whose military genius might avail in driving back the invasion of barbarous and fanatic hordes. They were also greatly weakened by long and desolating wars. But, however propitious the occasion may have been, it is obvious that Mahomet, whatever might be his ultimate views, could not then attempt hostile measures against them. Necessarily his first task must be to reduce to obedience the inhabitants of Arabia itself; and the most formidable of these were the various Jewish communities, with which the land was at that time overspread. For many centuries previously to this time, seven or eight at the least, a Jewish kingdom had been established in that district of Yemen which was known as Homeritis. During the long ages when their brethren, in the Holy Land and elsewhere, were experiencing the most terrible miseries, the Jews of Homeritis seem to have lived in unbroken peace and prosperity in the lovely and fertile valleys of Arabia Felix. The Arians, after a while, had made their way into the country ; and with them, as seems alwa}'s to have been the case, the Jews lived on terms of amit}\ But when the Catholic Christians also obtained a domicile in the country, under the protection of the neighbouring King of Ethiopia, Dunaan, the Homeritic king, made an effort to exterminate them. He attacked their principal city, Nagra, with a large army, induced it to capitulate, and then, breaking faith, slew and imprisoned the chief men among the Christians. They were avenged in the ensuing \-car b}- the King of Fthiopia, who marched against Dunaan with 120,000 men, conquered, dethroned, and slew him. With him the Homeritic king- dom expired; but the subjects of Dunaan formed themselves into a number of independent tribes, more difficult, probably, to subdue than any single community would have been. Mahomet seems to have hoped at first to bring these over .; to his views. As has been pointed out, their faith was nearly the same as that proclaimed by himself, except as regarded MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OE ARABIA, ETC. 93 that one article of his own supernatural claims. But the fact of his descent from Ishmael, instead of Isaac, was an insuper- able obstacle to an}- acknowledgment of him b}- them ; and he was obliged to resort to the method of conversion which he had himself proclaimed. The tribes of Kainoka and of Nadir, the inhabitants of Koraidha, Fadai, and Khaibar were attacked in turn, and in every instance o\crpowcrcd and almost exterminated. The most merciless severity was shown to the conquered. Seven hundred Koraidhites, who had surrendered to his mcrc\% were dragged into the city of Medina, and slaughtered in cold blood, in the presence of the Prophet, who himself enjoined and applauded the deed. In the same spirit, after the capture of the citadel of Khaibar, Kenana, the gallant Jewish prince, was put by the conquerors to the severest tortures, to induce him to confess where he had concealed his treasure ; and when these failed to accomplish their purpose, his head was struck off with a sabre. But Mahomet narrowly escaped, at this time, feel- ing the vengeance of the Jewish people, by the act of a woman. On his arrival within the citadel, he required that some food should be served, and a shoulder of lamb was placed before him and his followers. But the first mouthful caused him severe internal pain ; and though he instantly vomited forth what he had eaten, his system had imbibed so much of the poison which the meat had contained, as to cause him continual paroxysms of suffering during the remainder of his life. The Jewish woman by whom the lamb had been poisoned calmly avowed and justified the dced.^ Her fate is uncertain. Having now attained the position of an independent potentate, Mahomet despatched letters to Heraclius, Chosroes, and the Governor of Egypt, inviting them to adopt his faith. By Chosroes these were received with scorn and anger ; by ' ' If he is the Messiah,' she said, 'the poison cannot hurt him ; if he is not, he is an impostor, and deserves death.' 94- MAIIOMET.-CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. the other two, we are told, with civility and feigned respect. Nevertheless, reports were brought that Heraclius was assembling an arm}- for the purpose of crushing him; and it is probable that Mahomet would now have followed out what had long been his persistent purpose, and entered on the forcible conversion of neighbouring nations, if he had not felt the approaching decay of the powers of life. He did go so far as to assemble an army, and advance across the country to Tabuc ; but the tidings brought him that the Syrians had collected large bodies of troops, and the experience of the battle of Muta, in which they had proved themselves formidable enemies, induced him to withdraw to Medina. But after his death, Abu Beker, the first Caliph, prepared to carry out without delay the programme of his predecessor. An army was sent into Irak, the ancient Chaldsa and Babylonia, under Khaled, called the ' Sword of God,' and one of the most able of the Moslem leaders, with orders to over- run and subdue Hira, Cufa, and Aila, all of them tributary kingdoms owning the suzerainty of Persia.^ Khaled accom- plished his task with astonishing rapidity and completeness ; and when he was withdrawn to take the command in Syria, his successors followed up his victories, with but few reverses, into the very heart of Persia, won great battles, captured Modayn, Ilamadan, and Istakan (the ancient Ctesiphon, Ecbatana, and Persepolis), and finally hunted down and slew the hapless Yezdegird. With him the Sassanian dynasty came to an end, and the whole of Persia, A.l). 65 i, submitted to the dominion of the Caliphs. The like amazing success marked the progress of the warriors of Islam in S}-ria and P^gj-pt. In the former country, notwithstanding that they were opposed to disci- ' When Cliosroes received Mahomet's letter, inviting liim to embrace Islamism, he disdainfully tore it in pieces. Wiien Mahomet heard of this he exclaimed, ' Even so shall his kingdom be torn.' Doubtless Abu Beker had this in mind when he sent out the expedition. MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. 95 plined troops, who still retained the tradition of ancient Roman warfare, their fiery valour proved cver}'\vhcre vic- torious. The liefht Arab horsemen recoiled indeed from the serried ranks of the Grecian phalanx ; but only to return again and again to the encounter, till their trained antagonists were daunted or wearied out. Whether they fought behind the ramparts of a fortified city or in the open plain, it was the same. Bosra, Damascus, Baalbcc, Emesa, after protracted sieges, were compelled to open their gates to the conquerors. At Aizhadin, and on the banks of the Yermouk, military skill and superior numbers were alike of no avail to check the overwhelming tide of conquest. After allowing themselves a brief repose, the victorious Saracens advanced to besiege Jerusalem, a city regarded by them with a reverence almost as deep as that of the Jews themselves.^ The reader has already been told how nature and art have combined to render this city almost impregnable to assault. In the present instance its fortifications had been carefully repaired and strengthened, in expectation of a siege ; it was well victualled, and garrisoned by a large and disci- plined force. Against an enemy so inexperienced in the arts of warfare as the Saracens, it might well have defied even the most persistent blockade. Yet but four months elapsed before an offer of surrender was made and accepted, and the Caliph Omar- arrived to arrange the terms. These were, that the lives and property of the inhabitants should be spared, and the free exercise of their religion allowed; but upon conditions to which nothing but the fear of immediate and inevitable death could have induced the Christians to submit. They ' On tlie morning of the ass.iiilt on Jerusalem, the address of Moses to tlie Israelites in tlie Koran, ' Enter, O ye people, into the Holy Land, which God hath destined for you,' was shouted aloud after morninj; prayer, by the whole besieging army. ' Omar had succeeded Abu Bcker, a.d. 633, loss than two years after the death of the Prophet. He was the Caliph who burned the Alexan- drian librar)-, and was the first of the Ommiadcs. 96 MAHOMET.— CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. were to build no new churches ; set up no new crosses ; were to make no proselytes to their faith ; nor hinder any Christian from professing. Islamism. They were to wear a peculiar dress, carr\^ no arms, possess no Moslem slaves, and salute every Mussulman as a superior ! On the site of the Jewish temple, which had so long lain desolate, a Mahometan mosque was erected : in which, from that day to this, with but a brief intermission, the worship of Islam has been carried on. If the narratives of the conquests of Persia and S}'ria appear to us surprising, that of Egypt must be regarded with still greater wonder. The empire of the Pharaohs had indeed greatly deteriorated from its ancient consequence and strength; but it was still a powerful State, capable of bringing numerous armies into the field. Nevertheless, Amru, who was entrusted with the command of an expedition to overrun and subdue it, had but five thousand men assigned him for the purpose. With these he proceeded to invest Farwah, or Pelusium ; and having captured this city through the treachery of the governor, marched on to Alexandria. That also, after a siege of fourteen months, was surrendered to them, and the submission of all Egypt followed. In recording this extraordinary career of conquest, our con- cern of course is, how it affected the Jews ; and everywhere it will be found that — as in the instance of the incursion ol the Northern nations — what was ruin and misery to others failed to injure, nay, benefited them. In Persia, Yezdegird had visited them with the most cruel persecutions, had shut up their synagogues and schools, and slain numbers who refused to embrace Magianism. In Palestine they had been subject to harsh laws, unmerited scorn, and exclusion from their ancient capital. In Africa, they had similarly undergone violence at the hands of Arian Vandals and Catholic Chris- tians. All this had now come to an end. Their new masters allowed them equal rights of residence and citizenship, the free exercise of their religion, the secure tenure of their MAHOMET — CONQUEST OF ARABIA, ETC. 97 property, equality of imports with their Christian neighbours. Whoever else might have reason to lament the change which had passed over the face of the world, they, at least, had none. CHAPTER X. A.D. 622-740. JEWS IN THE EASTERN EMPIRE ; IN SPAIN, IN FRANCE. RECURRING now to the Jews under the rule of the Eastern emperors, we cannot fail to be struck by the difference of the demeanour exhibited by these latter towards them from what has been recorded of the Moslem conquerors. Mahomet, it is true, would permit the existence of but one faith in Arabia ; but outside the bounds of that sacred land, all who would acknowledge the dominion of the Caliph were secure from insult or wrong. But the Christian emperors of Constantinople^such of them, that is to say, as felt them- selves strong enough to invade the rights of any portion of their subjects — made it a matter of conscience to endeavour to require the acceptance of Christianity by the Jews, though at this period they did not proceed to inflict penalties in case of refusal. Even Phocas, whose zeal for the faith could not have been very keen, had sent the Prefect Georgius to Jeru- salem, requiring the principal Jews there, on their allegiance, to receive baptism. Heraclius attempted the same, using, it is said, violent and cruel measures to accomplish his purpose, 98 II JEIVS JN THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 99 but with very partial success. This emperor had two special causes of dislike to them, one of which appealed to the nobler, the other to the weaker side of his character. The first was the recollection of the barbarities practised b}' them at the capture of Jerusalem by the Persian troops ; the second, the prediction delivered to him by a soothsayer in whom he trusted, that the Roman empire should be overthrown by a circumcised people.^ Ignorant altogether of the storm which was gathering in the mountains of Arabia, he na4:urally pre- sumed the people in question to be the Jews, and therefore sought to avert the evil by converting these to the Gospel. He is said to have been so far influenced by his alarm as to despatch letters to the Kings of Spain and France, urging them to unite with him in the extirpation of the dangerous race. Whether any of the many feeble successors to the purple who intervened between him and the Isaurian Leo pursued the same policy, we are not informed. But it is unlikely that they would attempt it. The existence of a circumcised and warlike race different from that of the Jews, would in their time have become matter of notoriety ; and alarm would have been directed to a different quarter. Nor would it have been either safe or politic to attack the Jews. Their wealth and intelligence rendered them useful instruments in carrying out the imperial policy, and their numbers and turbulent spirits discouraged interference with them. In the numerous riots which took place between the Orthodox Christians and their adversaries, the Jews were wont to interfere and gi\c the preponderance to the latter.- Unless they provoked inter- ference of the authorities by actual sedition, it is likely that they would be left to themselves. ' One would suspect the genuineness of this story, but that historians accept it apparently without doubt. - The Jews took the opportunity of the popular outbreak against Martina and Heracleonas, to desecrate the church of St. Sophia with every kind of outrage, and apparently witli impunity. THE JEWS IN SPAIN. But when a powerful ruler in the person of Leo again grasped the sceptre, A.D. 716, the case became different. It was said, indeed, that this emperor had been promised the purple, on condition of his employing the power thus com- mitted to him in the destruction of images in Christian churches ; but the tale rests on no trustworthy evidence, and is disproved by his acts at the very outset of his reign ; for he was no sooner seated on his throne than he required that all his Jewish and Montanist subjects should submit to baptism. The Jews seem to have consented to the ceremony, though they continued the exercise of their own faith without change. What part they took in the subsequent destruction of images,^ and wrecking of Christian churches, may readily be surmised from what has been already told. Passing to Spain, we find the Jews, during this century, occupying a different position, and subjected to far heavier penalties. In this country they had long been settled, cer- tainly previously to the Christian era, and, as it would appear, lived in peace and security. Previously to the Council of Elvira, no law is recorded to have been made which restrained their liberty. But it was then decreed that no marriages should take place between Christians and Jews, nor should they sit down to table together. This was the first note, as it were, of the bigotry and intolerance which after- ward rang with such hideous discord throughout the length and breadth of Spain. The outburst was checked for a while by the incursion of the Visigoths, who, though Christians, professed the Arian creed. With them, as has been already remarked, the Jews always lived on terms of amity. Jiut towards the end of the sixth century Reccared abjured Arianism, embracing the Catholic faith ; and a new condition of things was soon the result.^ By the decree of the Council ' Beyond doubt they were charged with having incited it. ^ I do not desire to imply that the concord between the Arians and Jews, as contrasted with the disagreements between the Catholics and Jews, is any ground for commending the one or blaming the other. It THE JEWS IN SPAhV. of Toledo, held in the fourth year of his reign, Jews were not allowed to have Christian slaves, or to hold public offices, or marry Christian wives, or sing psalms when carrying their dead to the grave. These decrees were soon followed up by much severer measures. Sisebut, who succeeded to the Gothic kingdom A.D. 612, is supposed to ha\-e received an urgent entreaty from the Emperor I Icraclius, as has already been intimated, to put down Judaism throughout his dominions.' -VVl-^ethr-.r the- report be true or not, he certainly acted as though such n'a? his intention. He issued the command that all Jews' should' offer themselves for baptism, imprisoning many, and putting to death many more, who would not obey his order. Large numbers abandoned their whole possessions, and migrated to various parts of Gaul. Yet the Spanish historians affirm that as many as 90,000 were baptized, not because of any change in their convictions, but through dread of the consequences of refusal. After the death of Sisebut there seems to have been a short lull in the storm of persecution, and many of the pseudo-converts thereupon returned to the profession of their ancient faith. The fourth Council of Toledo, held A.D. 633, under the presidency of Isidore of Seville, enacted that ' men ought not to be forced into believing, but believe of their own free will.' Rut although Isidore — to whom in all likelihood this single ray of light in the midst of surrounding darkness must be attributed — could thus give expression to the language of charity and truth, he was not wise enough, or perhaps influen- tial enough, to be consistent; for the decree adds, immediately afterwards, that all who had received baptism — whether will- ingly or unwillingly — must be compelled to abide by it, 'because otherwise the Holy Name of God would be bias- may not unreasonably be argued that it is the indifference of the Arians to our Lord's honour, and the zeal of tlie Catholics for its maintenance, which occasion both the concord and the strife. I only record the fact. THE JEWS IN SPAIN. phcmcd, and the faith disgraced ; ' as though there was not worse blasphemy and deeper disgrace in a false profession than in an honest renunciation ! The same Council adds decrees against which Isidore's large and charitable nature must have rebelled. The 6oth canon requires ' that the sons and daughters of Jews should be separated from their parents, lest they be involved in their errors ; ' the 63rd, that 'Jews who have Christian wives, if they wish to live With them, must become Christians ; and if they r-c fuse to obey, they are to be separated ; ' the 64th, that 'Jews who wcie formerly Christians are not to be admitted as wit- nesses ;' the 65th, that 'Jews and their descendants are not to hold public offices, and an)' one who obtains such office shall be publicly scourged.' A still more monstrous decree enacts that any Christian convert who so much as speaks to a Jew shall become a slave, and the Jew he spoke to be publicly scourged ! The twelfth Council of Toledo, in 681, repeats these merci- less severities, which (it is no wonder to find) could not be carried into effect, except by direct State interference, and adds others of a like character. ' The Jews,' it is ordered, ' are to offer themselves, their children, and their ser\-ants for baptism:' thc)- 'shall not celebrate the Passover, or practise circumcision :' they 'shall not presume to observe the Sabbath or any Jewish festival : ' they ' shall not dare to defend their religion to the disparagement of the Christian faith : ' and ' they shall not read books abhorred by the Christian faith.' The penalties for breach of these and the like statutes had hitherto been death. But the extreme severity of such a sentence, it is argued, had acted as a preventive to its being enforced. Therefore new orders were issued, by which the rigour of the punishments was abated. Henceforth, if a Jew profaned the name of Christ or of the Holy Trinit)% or rejected the Sacraments, or kcj^t the Jewish feasts, or worked on the Sunday, he was only to receive one hundred lashes on his naked bod\', and afterwards be put into chains and THE JEWS IN SPAIN. 103 banished from the country, his whole property being confis- cated to the State ! If a man circumcised his child, he was to suffer mutilation, or if it were a woman who so offended, she was to lose her nose. If a Jew presumed to take a public office under a noble, he was to forfeit half his property, and suffer scourging ; but if it was under an ecclesiastical superior that he undertook a situation of trust, he was to lose his whole estate, or be burned alive ! The reader will surely call to mind Solomon's saying, respecting the ' tender mercies of the wicked,' as he reads these ordinances. But the avenger was at hand. For some years past the tide of Saracen conquest had been rolling along the northern coast of Africa, until it had reached the kingdom of Morocco ; when it must turn southward into the barren wastes of the Sahara, or northwards, into the populous and fertile land of Spain. There could be little doubt which of the two they would prefer ; and Wamba, one of the wisest and ablest of the Gothic sovereigns of Spain, in anticipation of such a catastrophe, collected a fleet, with which he encountered the Saracens, A.D. 675, and inflicted on them a disastrous defeat, which deferred the invasion of Spain for nearly forty years. But in the reign of Egica, and still more in that of his suc- cessor, Witiza, the imminent danger of the Spanish monarchy became so evident, and the fear that the Jews would co-operate in and accelerate the Mussulman invasion so alarming, that measures were taken to prevent it which indicate at once terror, haste, and self-reproach. At first attempts were made to intimidate the Jews. Egica declared that he had learned, by their open avowal, that the Jews had plotted with enemies beyond the sea to effect the ruin of Christendom. Therefore, to counteract their efforts, all Jewish children upwards of seven years old were to be taken from their parents, the males married to Christian girls, and the girls to Christian men, and the children in all in- stances brought up in the Christian belief, so that in the next generation the Jews might cease altogether to exist as a 104 THE JEWS IN SPAIN. separate people. This seems to have had no other effect than that of causing a general flight of Jews from Spain, the very- thing of all others likely to bring about the mischief that was dreaded. Witiza endeavoured to repair the mistake. He issued a proclamation permitting all Jews to return to Spain, and enjoy there the full rights of freedom and citizenship. Rut the step was taken too late. If the Jews had concerted with Muza the invasion of Spain, as their enemies affirmed, their intrigues could not be annulled. In the year 711, two years after the accession of a new sovereign, Roderic,' to the throne, the Moors crossed into Spain ; a decisive battle was fought on the banks of the Guadelete, in which the Moslems were victorious, and the Gothic kingdom of Spain ceased to exist. Once more the miseries of fire and sword, which laid waste the whole of the Spanish peninsula, inflicted no suffering on the Jews residing within it. Whether any of the accusations with which the Christians have assailed them — of leaguing with the Moslem, furnishing them with secret information, opening the gates of beleaguered cities to them and the like — contain any admixture of truth, it would be difficult to say. In some instances the charges are manifestly false ; in others the decision is very doubtful. But even allowing them to be true, it cannot be matter of wonder that men so persistently wronged and slandered should turn on their oppressors, when the opportunity was given them. The settlement of the Moors in Spain was followed by a long period of prosperity and peace, during which the Jews became famous throughout ' The commonly received story — that Count Julian persuaded Muza to invade Spain, in order to avenge the viohition of his daughter Klorinda — is in all likelihood mere fiction. It is not mentioned by any historian for nearly 500 years after Roderic's death, and then only as a legend. Con- sidering the manners of the time and the unbounded licence of the Gothic kings, it is most unlikely that such an act, if perpetrated, would have been so furiously resented : and the invasion of Spain is to be accounted for in a more simple way, viz., the carrying out of Mahomet's plan of progressive conquest. THE JEWS IN THE EASTERN EMPIRE. Europe for their wealth, their intelligence, and their learning. A famous Hebrew school was founded at Cordova, to which students from all parts of Europe arc said to have resorted. In France, during this century, something of the same spirit seems to have prevailed, by which the Catholic kings of Spain were actuated. Chilperic, as has been already recorded, to- wards the end of the previous century had insisted on the compulsory baptism of his Jewish subjects. Early in the seventh century Clotaire II. issued a decree forbidding Jews to hold any military or civil office. Dagobert, who reigned from 628 to 638, enacted still more sternly, that the whole of his Jewish subjects should forswear their faith or depart from his dominions. It is said that he too acted under the influence of the Emperor Heraclius.^ But of this there is no evidence, and it has been urged that the royal order, if issued, was but little observed, since the Jews, in the southern parts of his kingdom at least, continued to be a numerous and wealthy body throughout his reign. Wamba, the Gothic king of Languedoc, however, certainly took the step in question, and banished them from his kingdom. ' Rabbi Joseph, i. p. 2. CHAPTER XI. A.D. 740-980. JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. '^T^HE period which ensued after the Conquest of Persia -L and Syria in the East, and of Spain in the West, is called by Milman the ' Golden Age of Judaism ' ; but the title does not suit very well with the circumstances of the case. It was not, as the Golden Age of legend is represented to have been, a peaceful and happy beginning, which the crimes of men gradually embittered and corrupted. It rather re- sembled a succession of cool showers on a burning summer day, when the fierce heat of the morning is tempered during the midday hours, but only to break out with more intolerable oppression as the afternoon comes on. The contrast which this lull in the storm of injustice and cruelty presented to the savage fur\' of preceding, as well as after times, is indeed most striking. Ever)'where the flames of persecution sank down ; and what had been a consuming fire smouldered on, with only a feeble flicker here and there, to show that it was not quite extinct. In the B)'zantine empire we are told singularly little of the 106 JEWS UA'DER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. 107 condition and actions of the Jews during this period. The emperors who filled the throne were, for the most part, men of very ordinary ability. Nor were there among their subjects men of greater mark. ' On the throne, in the camp, and in the schools,' says the historian Gibbon, ' we search, perhaps with fruitless diligence, for names and characters that deserve to be rescued from oblivion.' This may in itself exi)lain why so little is heard of the Jews. Occupy high positions in Church or State we know they could not, or openly interfere with the direction of public affairs; and what private influence they might exercise in these would be carefull}' kept secret. As for attacks upon them, we have already seen that their numbers, their rare intelligence, and their ever increasing wealth, rendered them a dangerous body for an}- but a power- ful ruler to assail ; and assuredly the weak and incompetent occupants of the imperial throne at that era would be but little inclined to make the experiment. What little has been recorded goes to prove that the emperors were anxious to conciliate them. Xicephorus, who recei\'ed the purple A.D. 793, is said to have shown them particular favour, probably because of their acquiescence in his iconoclastic views ; and Michael the Stammerer, whose reign dates from 821, was reviled by his enemies as being half a Jew.^ When we remember how Constantinople was at this period distracted at once by civil and religious factions, and that the Jews — however little they might seem to be personally interested in the question at issue — were always read}' to throw their weight into the one scale or the other, we shall cease to wonder that they remained wholly unmolested. In the dominions of the newly established (\-iliphs they were not onl}' left in peace, but treated with especial honour.- ' Similarly, and for the like reason, Constantine Copronymus was nicknamed ' the Jew.' ^ The Caliph Almamon, a great patron of learning, caused many of the Rabbinical books to be translated into Arabic, and placed in the Royal Library at Bagdad. io8 JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. The victorious Arabs were but a rude and uncivilized people, and the aid of the Jews in teaching them the arts and pleasures of a refined state of society was found alike useful and welcome. Their learning, their intelligence, their wide- spread knowledge of foreign lands, rendered them especially cjualified for this office. Omar, the second Caliph, is related to have entrusted the coinage to a Jew, immediately after his accession to the throne. It was a subject with which, as might be expected, he had no acquaintance, nor was there any one among his principal officers who knew more of the matter. Similarly, if an embassy was to be despatched to a foreign sovereign, or a subsidy negotiated, the person selected for the office would in all likelihood be a Jew. When Abu Giafar imposed a heavy fine on the Christians, it was to Hebrew officials that the collection of the impost was com- mitted ; and even between sovereigns so potent as Charle- magne and the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, the envoy who was entrusted with the letters and presents was a Jew. In war they were no less necessary than in peace. The sums required for the equipment of a fleet or the victualling of an army were furnished from Hebrew coffers. Nor were their avocations limited to this. The Jews would accompany the march of the Mussulman armies, and — as their fathers had done in the instance of the Gothic and Hunnite invasions — purchase from the ignorant soldiery the plunder they had amassed, at a price which brought them an enormous profit.^ or it might be a captive whose family or friends afterwards redeemed him at a price tenfold exceeding what they had given. We learn that at this time they almost entirely abandoned agriculture ; partly because of the heavy tax laid on unbelievers, and partly because ' After the capture of Rhodes, a Jew belonging to Edessa purchased the remains of the celebrated Colossus, which had been Ixing on the ground since its overthrow by an earthquake. It h.ad been seventy cubits high, and was constructed of brass. The fragments are said to have loaded nine hundred camels. Probably the purchase money was a sum r.diculously small, the profit enormous. JEW'S UNDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. 109 trade had become so much more profitable to them. The>^ cultivated also astrology and medicine, and became every- where the most successful professors of both sciences. In many, if not in most of the royal courts, the chief physicians and astrologers were Jews. Nor were they less successful in literature. In the East and West alike, their schools were crowded with students, and the. names of their learned men of this era are held in reverence even to the present day. It is at this date that we first hear of a sect called the Karaites.^ They claim, indeed, a far greater antiquity, in- sisting on their descent from the ten tribes led captive by Shalmaneser, and putting forward a catalogue of their doctors, in regular succession from the time of Ezra. But it is believed that their first founder was one Ananus, a Babylonian Jew of the race of David, who, together with his son Saul, A.U. 750, entered a public protest against the extent to which tradition had corrupted the written word, and insisted on this latter as the sole rule of faith. We have evidence in the Gospels, of of the length to which tradition had run even in our Lord's day, and how He had declared that the Pharisees ' had made the Word of God of none effect ' through it. But after that time the Cabbalist and Masoric Rabbins, who were the suc- cessors of the Pharisees, laid greater stress than ever on the importance of tradition; and the completion of the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century, was, as it were, the keystone 01 their work. We cannot wonder that men of sense and reverent feeling should be shocked at the wild fables and ridiculous fancies of the Talmudists. It would appear that a strong feel- ing was widely entertained in secret on the subject ; but its first expression was due to the failure of Ananus to obtain the dignity of Prince of the Captivit)', for which office he was a candidate. Disgusted at the election of a younger man to the post, Ananus gathered together the remains of the old ' Tcxtiialists, that is. It was attached to them in the first instance as a term of reproach. no JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. Sadducean party, or what was so called, and induced them to nominate him as a rival to his successful opponent. Ananus was thrown into prison, but gained the ear of the Caliph sufficiently to obtain his release. He then retired, with his followers, to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where they established themselves as a separate sect. They still exist, chiefly in Eastern countries, and in parts of Europe, especially the Crimea.^ Notwithstanding the general prosperity enjoyed by the Jews at this period, there were some reverses. Giaffir, called the Great, is said to have issued an edict requiring Christians and Jews alike to embrace Islamism. Al Wathek also, the suc- cessor of Mamun, one of the Abbasside Caliphs, residing at Cufa, inflicted heavy fines upon them, partly because they had committed frauds in the management of the finances en- trusted to them, and partly because they refused the religion of Mahomet. But the amount of suffering inflicted could not, in either instance, have been great. Motakavel, however, his bro- ther and successor, was still harsher in his dealings with them. He compelled them to wear a leathern girdle, to distinguish them from the Faithful. He prohibited them from using stirrups when they rode on horseback, and afterwards from riding horses at all. A summary of the various badges and ' The tenets of the Karaites are said to have been : 1. The Creation of the world, as opposed to its eternal existence. 2. That God had no beginning, has no form, and that His unity is absohite. 3. That He sent Moses, and dehvered to him the Law. 4. That every believer must derive his belief from the simple interpre- tation of Holy Scripture, without regard to tradition. 5. That God will raise the dead, and judge men hereafter. 6. That He has not cast away His chosen people. In recording these opinions, it should be noted that it is quite possible (indeed, likely) that a party existed among the Jews, long previously to the time of Ananus, who held notions identical with or very like tiiem, and who were also called Karaites, /.t'., 'Textualists ;' but they did not with- draw themselves into a separate community, under the name of Karaites, until A.D. 780. JEWS UXDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. in marks of degradation imposed on the Jews by European and Asiatic sovereigns would form a curious study. To this period also belongs the strange story of the kingdom of Khozar, which has been regarded by some historians as being full of misstatement and exaggeration, and by some as simple fiction. Khozar belonged to the Turcomans, a heathen people ; and it is reported that, somewhere about the middle of the eighth century, Bular, its king, a pious and thoughtful prince, received a revelation through a dream, — or, according to another version, through the instruction of an angel, — which showed the hollowness of the religion he pro- fessed. Thereupon he began to make inquiry after a purer faith : and having conversed with learned men professing Christianity, Islamism, and Judaism, he made his election in favour of the last-named creed. According to one version of the story, he came to this resolution in a somewhat singular manner. Con- versing apart with a Christian, he asked of him whether he did not consider Judaism preferable to Mahometanism, and was answered that he did. Then holding a similar discussion with a Mahometan, he inquired whether he did not regard Judaism as superior to Christianity. Receiving an affirmative answer here also, he decided in favour of the first-named faith, as it appeared that it held the first place in the estimation of the Jew, and the second in that of each of the other two. Having himself received circumcision, he sent for learned Jews from neighbouring countries, by whom in time the whole of his people were brought over to the faith of Israel. A taber- nacle was erected, similar to that set up by Moses in the wilderness, and the Jewish worship regularly carried on. The authenticity of the story having been disputed some two centuries and a half afterwards. Rabbi Hosdai, a learned man, much patronized by Abderraman, the Caliph of Cordova, resolved to ascertain the truth respecting it, and obtained, with considerable difficulty, a letter from Joseph, the reigning sovereign of Khozar. In this the king relocated the history of his ancestor's conversion, very much as popular rumour had 112 JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS IN THE EAST. stated it. The letter of Hosdai is still extant, as well as the reply, and there seems no reason to doubt the authenticity of the former, at all events. Basnage and others reject the whole story as fable. It is argued that this kingdom of Khozar, when searched for, could no more be found than the Eldorado of the Spaniards, or the dominions of Prester John ; even the famous traveller of Hosdai's time, Benjamin of Tudela, though anxious, for the credit of his patron, to discover it, entirely failed to do so. But modern research has proved that such a kingdom did at all events exist ; and the most judicious historians, Jost among them, incline to believe that the story may have at all events a groundwork of truth. In Spain, during this period, all seems to have gone pros- perously with the Jews, except that an impostor named Serenus, who professed, as so many before and after his time have done, to be the Messiah, taking advantage of the un- settled state of things between France and Spain, persuaded large numbers of his countr}-men to follow him into Palestine, where he proposed to set up his kingdom. He does not seem to have reached the Holy Land, and the greater part of his followers perished in the attempt. Those who survived returned to their homes, but only to find that their possessions had been confiscated to the State. In the year 750 a revolution took place at Damascus, during which nearly the whole of the Ommiad dynasty (as the descendants of Caliph Omar were called) was cut off, and Abul Abbas succeeded to the Caliphate. Yusef, the Mussulman Emir in Spain, sided with the usurping famil}- ; but the Moorish chiefs generally were desirous of establish- ing their own independence, and finding in Abderachman ben Moasiah a still surviving representative of the Ommiad family, placed him on the throne, under the title of the Caliph of Cordova. His government was wise and powerful, and under him the Jews attained the zenith of their prosperity. We are now about to transfer our attention to the countries JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS JN THE EAST. 113 of Western Europe, where occurred almost ev^ery event of importance in which the Jews are concerned for several ensuinij centuries. But before doing so, it will be proper to record what is known of the Hebrew communities who dwelt in those countries of the distant East which acknowledged neither the sceptre of Rome nor of Persia. The records of these are very scanty, and rest upon very doubtful authority, but that affords no sufficient reason for not preserving all that can be gleaned from various sources respecting them. H CHAPTER XII. THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. HOW far the bounds of the authority possessed by the Prince of the Captivity extended must ahvays be a matter of uncertainty. Records exist of what occurred in the Roman empire down to the time of its fall, which may be relied on with tolerable certainty. The kingdom of Persia also has its historians, who throw a fair amount of light upon what passed in that country during the centuries with which we have been dealing. But of what took place farther cast- ward we have no trustworthy knowledge at all. In Arabia, as we have seen, there existed numerous and flourishing Jewish communities — indeed, a Jewish kingdom had endured for many ages there, able to hold its own with neighbouring sovereignties. Again, it is certain that there were not only Jews in Parthia and Media, in Elam (or Persia), Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Phr}-gia, Panii)h}-lia, and lonia,^ as noted ' 'Asia' in Acts ii. 9, no doubt means the Roman province, over which a pro-consul ruled. It comprised Ionia and Mysia, Ephesus being its capital. It is mentioned also Acts xvi. 6. "4 THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. 'i; n the second chapter of the Acts; but there are grounds for behevHig that they extended much farther eastward Ihe trad.tions of the Early Church affirm that the Gospel was preached by several of the Apostles-notably by Thomas > S.mon Zelotes, and Matthias-i„ Asiatic Ethiopia, or thL Land of Cush ; the bounds of which are wholly uncertain but uh.ch extended a long way to the eastward of the two great r,vcrs. It is stated tl,at they encountered opposition from the Jews of those regions.^ Benjamin of Tudela also affirms that the authority of the Resch Glutha 'extended eastward to the Iron Gates, and as far as India.' This assertion must be regarded as doubtful ; but it certainly „oes o prove that there were Jewish communities in the dLncts he names Nothing, indeed, is more probable than that the Jews should have migrated towards the East, when Chosroes let loose agamst them the merciless wrath of an Eastern cspot. To the West lay the Roman en,pn-e, .vhere h^ laws agamst their nation were in force : to the South the new Arabian impostor was persecuting their countrymen • to the North all uas barren and ungenial. But to the East were nch and pleasant regions, where, though they mi^ht encounter hostility from neighbouring tribes, they were stro^n^ hough there ,s great likelihood of their having done this there is no certainty. We must acquiesce in Milman's' opmion, that 'the h.stoiy of the Oriental Jews at this early period ,s so obscure, so entirely or so nearly fabulous, that It may wisely be dismissed.' But though authentic history does not record the immigra- tion of the Jews into these countries, there are nof wanUng mcidental evidences to the fact. Take as an example the collection of Eastern tales called the Arabian Nights The date of these cannot be later than the eighth centur,-, aiul See further on uhat is said of the Jews of Malabar. „(, THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST^ .hcy^arc probably nu,ch Cde,-. In ^^^f^l^^^ which they rclate.-Pcrsia, Turkestan, Ind.a, China etc., the ; es nee of Jews as an integral part of the popu.at.on . : as a matter of course. In Ba.sora, in Kas ga. a other cities, there is the Jewish merchant, the J ew.h ph>.. cian, the Jewish banker-no strangers -■"; '^J'^^^J °^ , nised citizens. In the tale of ' The Kmg of the Black Isles tibed in the story as a part of ^^^-^^^^^^^ of Persia the people of the country are represented as bcm„ In'ed b> cnchantnrent into four different khrds of fishes ef:; being the Mahometans. ./. y«.,. he Chnst.ans a the Parsees. No writer would have ■■*°^;-^,;'^ J" ^^^l story, if the Jews had not formed a con.siderable and ,eco, nised part of the population. A fact also is recorded by a Mahometan h.stonan o t h^. ninth century, .vluch shows that even so far -' - ^1 a the lews were to be found in large numbers. He states tmu then the :ebe, Baechoo took Canton, he massacred >.o,ooo Mahometans, Jew,, Christians, and Parsees. The most interesting evidence on th.s -^1 ct -s de ed from the narrative of the Jesu.t Rico ,n the sixteenth 7 t It will be remembered how, 150 years before, "■ Xa ier had failed in his earnest efforts to gain access fo the Celestial Empire. When Ricci succeeded ad had established himself in ^^X::^:^^^:^ the irrival by a stranger, who protcsscci r . - of the same faith with himself. RicQi presenee of persons «^ ^^^^^^ ^^^,.^ ,^ ,,,,d reverently took his vis tor mto the chapel, ^\nclc ' to he altar-piece representing the Virgin Mary and the f ,L four Fvan-rehsts, whom he assumed to be r'""ftheTwl 'But-further conversation elicited the •some of the Twelve. 1 ^^^ rtirM—rtiit;::;^^^^^^^ in die third volume of liis edition of Tacitus. THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. 117 and supposed the portraits of the Evangelists to be some of the twelve Patriarchs. Great curiosit}' was aroused in Europe by the publica- tion of Ricci's narrative, but further inc^uirics were checked by his death in 16 10. His successors later in the same century, Eathers Gozani, Domengc, and Gaubil, transmitted a good deal of interesting information to their friends in Europe, though they were greatly hampered by their ignorance of Hebrew. Towards the close of the century other missionaries arrived, who were acquainted with the Jewish language; and probably a very complete knowledge of them would have been arrived at, if it had not been that in 1723 the Jesuits were driven out of China, and the country remained closed for nearly 100 years to Christian missionaries. Nevertheless, much valuable and interesting information was obtained. It appeared, in the first place, that the Chinese Jews were ignorant of our Lord's existence, and did not understand the meaning of the crucifix. When asked if they had heard of Jesus, they replied that there was a holy man so called, who was the Son of Sirach, but they knew of no other. They also had never heard of the Septuagint or Samaritan versions, and their Hebrew text is without the vowel points.^ Eurthcr, they do not call themselves Jews, but Israelites. They are strict observers of the Sabbath, never kindling fires or preparing food on that day. They practise circumcision, and intermarry only with their own people. They keep the Passover, the feasts of Weeks and Tabernacles, and the great Day of Atonement. They believe in a resurrection, in Purgatory and Hell, in Paradise and heaven, in angels and spirits, and in a final judgment. Their place of worship more nearly resembles the ancient Jewish Temple than the synagogue of later times. It has ' When questioned as to the absence of these vowels, they are said to have answered, that God delivered the words to Moses with such rapidity that he had no time to insert the vowels. THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. a Holy Place, and a Holy of Holies, in which are deposited the Books of the Law, and which is entered by the High Priest only. The latter, however, does not wear the Aaronic vestments, a scarf of red silk being his sole distinguish- ing badge. They still expect the IMessiah to come, but their belief on this point is vague. From some of the particulars recorded of them, the idea was once entertained that they were the descendants, not of the remnants of the Captivity, but of the ten tribes. This, however, is an evident error, as they not only possess the Book of Ezra, for whom they profess profound respect, but those of Esther and Maccabees also. There is the greatest difficulty in determining when they first arrived in China. According to some authorities, the im- migration began several centuries before the birth of Christ. According to others, it was coincident with the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, or Pompey's Jewish wars, or the siege of Jerusalem under Titus. Others date it from the period of Chosroes's attempts at forcible proselytism ; and it is certain that there is a mixture of Persian words in their language, which lends some likelihood to this belief The most reasonable opinion at which we can arrive is, that although there may have been some connection for commercial purposes in very early times — as early even as those of David and Solomon — there was nothing like a settlement before the 3rd or 4th century preceding the birth of Christ. Then it seems likely that a number of Jews, who may in the first instance have left Palestine under terror of Haman's perse- cution, established themselves in China. There may have been other immigrations between that time and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. But at that period there was a second and a larger influx. From the Jews who then entered China the greater part of the modern Chinese Jews are descended. A third considerable entrance into the country may have taken place in the reign of Chosroes, the likelihood of which has already been pointed out. Supposing these various THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. 119 bodies to have settled in different districts widely removed from one another, the strange variations in their statements respecting their ancestry and date of settlement^ in China would be accounted for. This theor}' is in some degree sup- ported by the fact that many of the Chinese Jews report themselves as having sprung from seven tribes, each called after the name of one of the emperors of China. It is not unreasonable to argue that each of these tribes was called after the name of the emperor during whose reign it arrived in the countr}-. But, whatever may have been the true length of their residence, it is certain that the Taou-kin-keaon (dividers of the sinew, Gen. xxxii. 32), as the Chinese call them, have retained in those far distant lands, and in that extreme isola- tion, their own habits, sentiments, and religious peculiarities as inflexibly as their countrymen in other lands have alwa)'s done. The annals of the Jews of Malabar date their arrival in that country as having occurred A.l). 70, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. But others place this event in the fifth century of Christianit}-, when one of the persecutions occurred in Persia, and caused a numerous exodus of the Jews. The title which the Hebrew leader of the refugees is said to have borne is Rabbana ; and that variation of the title Rabbi is said to belong to that special epoch. In features and colour these Indian Jews very nearly resemble the other inhabitants of the countr}- ; but their religious customs, their prayers, and their reverence for the Talmud, distinguish them clearly enough from all others. The Jews of Cochin China also claim a very high antiquity. In the latter part of the 17th century a letter was sent by them to the Synagogue of Portuguese Jews at Amsterdam, in which they asserted that their fathers had emigrated to the ' Thus, Father Alvarez, the Portuguese Jesuit who wrote a histoiy ot China, affirms that the Jews had not been settled there for more than 600 years. THE JEWS OF THE EAR EAST. Indies when the Romans conquered the Holy Land ; that they had founded an independent kingdom, which had lasted for a thousand years, during which time seventy-two kings had succeeded one another. But a civil war having broken out in consequence of the rivalry of two brothers, a neighbour- ing sovereign had subdued them. Since that time they had been in subjection to him ; but they were nevertheless well treated and their religion tolerated. How much of this may be true, it would be difficult to say ; but it appears to be beyond a doubt that the Jews of that country have long enjoyed great prosperity, and populate large and important cities. Mention is also made of another race of Jews dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Mahrattas. They call themselves Beni- Israel, and acknowledge no relationship with the Jews of Malabar, China, or Cochin China ; but we are told that their Jewish ph}-siognomies allow of no doubt of their origin ; nor do they bear any resemblance to their Hindoo or Ma- hometan neighbours. There are other distinctions also be- tween them and the other Oriental Hebrews. While they resemble them in the invocation of the Supreme God, in the obser\-ance of circumcision on the eighth day, in their ob- scr\^ance of feasts and fasts, and especially of the great Day of Atonement, they do not celebrate the Feast of Purim and Dedication, do not possess the prophetical writings, have no remembrance of the destnjction of the second Temple by Titus — in fine, are unacquainted with the history of their people since the time of the Babylonish captivity. If it were not a subject which past experience warns every prudent man to avoid, one would be tempted to inquire whether here were not to be found some genuine traces of the lost tribes of Israel. Other fancies have been put forward by one writer or another, intimating the wide dispersion of the Hebrew race, which nia}' be mentioned as curious historical puzzles, though nothing more. Among these is the tale of the Jewish in- THE JEWS OF THE FAR EAST. 121 scription found on a tomb in the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores, which seems to intimate that some Jews once settled there ; who must have subsequently died out. Also the report of the Spaniards who conquered Peru, and who affirmed that they found in that country a large and stately edifice, built after a fashion and by the use of tools unknown to the Peruvians. Tradition affirmed that it was the work of ' bearded men ' in very ancient times. It was dedicated to the one Maker of the world, and bore all the appearance of a Jewish synagogue ! CHAPTER XIII. .\.i). 740-980. ^•IIi: JEWS UNDr.R CIIAKI.KMAGNE. THE Mahometan invaders of Spain having accompHshcd the conquest of that country, again turned their arms northwards, and passed the Pyrenees, but only to encounter, on the plains of Tours, decisive and disastrous defeat.^ We learn that the Jews were suspected of having invited, or at least encouraged, the attempt. To repeat the remark made in a previous chapter — when we call to mind the treatment they had recei\cd at the hands of some of the P'rankish kings, and contrast it with the toleration exhibited b\' the Moslem conquerors of Spain, such an accusation does not seem to us a very improbable one, though no certain evidence of it has been produced. Similarly, some sixt}- )-ears after- wards,^ when the Moors again burst into Aquitainc, and were repelled by the Count of Toulouse, the Jews are charged with having betrayed that city into the hands of the invaders. ' At the hands of Charles Martel, A.D. 732. - A.D. 793. It is likely that the Jews of Bcziers were charged at the same time, or possibly a few years later, with a similar offence. (See p. 27.) I THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 123 After the retreat of the enemy, and recapture of the town, it is said that the emperor had resolved to punish severely the treachery of the Jewish conspirators, but was persuaded to limit the retribution he exacted to their leaders. Basnage disputes altoi^ether the accuracy of the allegation. But some truth in the story there must be. It is an unquestioned fact that for a considerable period after the Saracen irruption — as late indeed as the twelfth century — it was the custom at Toulouse for a Jew, acting as the representative of the whole of his co-religionists in the city, to appear three times in every \-ear at the gate of one of the churches in Toulouse, and there receive a box (or, as some report, three boxes) on the ear,^ and at the same time pay over a fine in the shape of thirteen pounds of w'ax. It would be difficult to understand what could have been the origin of a custom like this, — which reminds us of the penalty imposed on the citizens of Oxford, for their alleged participation in the bloodshed of St. Scholastica's day, and which was exacted up to the commencement of the present centur\-, — unless it was the story of their betrayal of the city, as above related. But if Charlemagne was cognisant of the disaffection of his Jewish subjects, he took the wisest, and, as the sequel proved, the most effectual mode of curing the evil. A study of this great man's life will convince us that he regarded his sovereignty, not merely as a trust committed to him by the Divine Ruler of the Universe — for that many sovereigns have done — but as a trust held on behalf of the Catholic Church of Christ, which was, in his view, identical with the State.- It followed therefore that, in his eyes, whosoever ' Hallam ('.Middle Ages,' vol. ii. p. 225) quotes from a French historian that it was the custom at Toulouse, at this time, to give every ]q\s a blow on the face on Easter Day, and that this was commuted for a tine some time in the 12th century. This is plainly the same story, with some variations. - The theocracy of the Old Testament, where the religious and civil ruler were one and the same, and which probably was the primitive form of government (Gen. xiv. 18), was the model which Chatlcaiagnc con- sidered all ru'.crs ou 'ht to follow. 124 THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. refused obedience to the Church was a rebel to the State ; and the Jews, according to this view of the matter, must be the most inveterate of all rebels. It is creditable to him, therefore, that he not only abstained from religious persecu- tion, but awarded the most even-handed justice to his Hebrew subjects. He required of them no more than simple obedience to the laws of the land in matters which did not put any constraint on the conscience. Thus, in the instance of nuptial contracts, he did not allow them to marry within the degree prohibited to his other subjects, nor to dispose of their pro- perty after a manner contrary to his laws. But these are requirements to which citizens of any country might be reasonably expected to conform. So again, the edicts which forbade them to keep Christian slaves, or to purchase or keep in pawn the sacerdotal vestments, or the sacred vessels used in churches, were obviously made, not for the injury of the Jews, but for the benefit of the Christian communit}'. Had such practices indeed been permitted, they could have had no other effect than that of exciting prejudice and disgust against the Jews. But there was no restriction imposed on their commerce, no special fines levied on their effects. They dwelt in ease and luxury, in houses as handsome and well furnished as their inclination prompted and their purses would allow. The most splendid quarter in the rich town of Lyons was that inhabited by the Jews. In Narbonne, of the two prefects of the city, one was always a Jew. The same state of things continued through the reign of the son and successor of Charlemagne, Louis le Debonnaire. At his court we are told the Jews possessed so much influ- ence, that nobles and envoys of foreign princes paid court to them, and offered bribes to secure their favour. An officer known as the ' Master of the Jews,' whose business it was to take special care of their interests, resided in the precincts of the palace. They were permitted to enjoy, not only all rights possessed by their Christian fellow-subjects, but even more. The day on which markets were wont to be held, THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 125 if it chanced to be a Saturday, was sometimes altered for their convenience. Charters are still extant, in which special privileges, such as exemptions from tolls and taxes, or per- mission to hire Christian slaves, are granted to Jews. In criminal and civil actions, their rights were as much respected, their evidence was accounted as good, as that of the other citizens of the countr)-. Their lives were protected by a heavy penalty imposed on any one who slew them. They were exempted from ordeal by fire or water. Their slaves could not be baptized without their consent. They were free to build their s\-nagogues where thc}' pleased, and carry on their peculiar form of worship within them. A condition of things like this could hardly fail, sooner or later, to provoke the anger and jealousy of the clergy. Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, saw with indignation the growth of their wealth and importance. It was not only that the ports were crowded with their merchantmen, the quays piled with their bales, the streets thronged with their slaves ; that while Christian men walked afoot, clad in mean apparel, and lodged in humble cottages, the Jew reclined in his chariot arrayed in gorgeous attire, or feasted in a splendid palace. This might be borne. But their synagogues vied in mag- nificence with the stateliest Christian churches, and their preachers drew away crowds who ought to worship at Catholic altars. It was even said that they sold Christians as slaves to the Moors. Agobard exerted his episcopal power to remed\' the mischief, so far as he was able. He forbade under pain of spiritual censure, his flock to sell Christian slaves to the Jews,^ or to work for them on Sundays or holidays, or to buy wine of them, or deal with them at all during the season of Lent. It is a marked sign of the times, that the Jews ventured to appeal to the king against this exercise of the bishop's ' It would appear from this, tliat tlie law prevalent in the last reign forbidding Jews to hold Christian slaves, had been relaxed. 126 THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. authority. Louis sent three commissioners to Lyons to inquire into the matter, who decided against the bishop. Mortified and astonished, he preferred fresh charges against the Jews, and when these also failed of their effect, himself repaired to Paris, and demanded a personal interview with the emperor ; it was all in vain. He was refused an audience informed that the emperor had dismissed his appeal, and was ordered to return to his diocese ! We can hardly believe that this took place in a country which, two centuries before, had seen Jews forcibly dragged to the font for baptism, and, three centuries afterwards, witnessed their forcible expulsion from the country, for no other offence than that of their national existence. Under Louis's successor, Charles the Bald, the Jews still continued to enjoy immunity from the persecution ; but signs were not wanting that this state of things was not long to endure. Remegius, Bishop of Lyons, following up with more success the efforts of Agobard, caused — we are not told by what means — so many Jewish boys and girls to be brought to baptism, that the parents were fain to send their children to be educated in Aries and other cities. Following up his advantage, Remegius petitioned the emperor that the Bishop of Aries might be admonished to pursue the same course as himself. It would appear that Charles granted this request, for we are informed that great numbers of Jewish children were now baptized. Not long afterwards he is said to have been poisoned by his Jewish physician, Zcdckias, who was believed to have been incited to the murder by his country- men. Whether this is true or not must be regarded as a doubtful matter. It was certainly a most fatal as well as a most wicked policy, if it was really adopted. The effect of the death of Charles was to break up the existing authority in France. The strong hand which upheld the law was with- drawn. Disorder and anarchy ensued, from which none suffered so much as the Jews. Popular rumours accused them of secretly abetting the inroads of the Normans, from THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 127 which the country now began seriously to suffer. It was urged that when the invaders overran districts and sacked cities, the Jews alone escaped injury. This was possibly due to the same causes which had exempted them from suffering during the incursions of the Goths and Huns and other Northern nations, and which have been adverted to in a previous chapter. But, however that may be, it was believed that they were secretly in league with the Northmen, and they became in consequence everywhere the objects of popular execration and attack. At Beziers, in Languedoc, it became the practice every }'ear to drive them about with volleys of stone, from Palm Sunday to Tuesday in Easter Week. During the feeble reigns of Louis II., III., and IV., Lothair, Charles II., and III., scarcely any mention is made of them. But what little is told goes to prove that their position was continually growing worse. As the power of the kings diminished, the protection they were able to extend to the Jews diminished also. The great feudatories dealt with them as they pleased, disregarding the ro}-al authorit}', or employing it for the oppression of the Jews. During the reign of Charles III., called the Simple, we find the Archbishop of Narbonne demanding (a.D. 897) and obtaining from the king a grant of all the landed property in the possession of the Jews throughout his diocese. Whether this was the effect of an act forbidding the Jews to hold landed property, or mere lawless pillage, makes little difference. Similarly, in 889, the Archbishop of Sens, without any cause assigned or reference to the royal authority, expels the whole of the Jews from the bounds of his episcopate. In Spain, however, the interval of peace and goodwill lasted long beyond the times of which wc are now writing. From the foundation of the ^^loorish kingdom of Cordova by Abderachman I., A.I). 755, to the close of the tenth century, whatever civilization and learning still existed in Europe found its most congenial home in his dominions. Under him and his successors, the Jews appear to have enjoyed, not onl}" 128 THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. the impartial protection of the laws, but free participation in all public offices and distinctions. They were eminent as ministers of state, ambassadors, and financiers. Under him and his successors, the schools at Toledo, Granada, and Cordova became famous throughout the world, and it was said that there was not a Jew to be found through the whole of Spain who could not read his Bible. Hitherto the great centres of learning had been in the East, and the most promising scholars, even from Spain itself, had resorted thither. But the Persian Caliphate had, for a century or two, been undergoing a gradual but total change. The sovereigns were enervated by ease and luxury ; usurpers rent away large portions of their dominions ; and the great Emirs grew ever more independent, grasping at last nearly the whole power of the Crown. It was probably these new rulers who set on foot the persecution of their Jewish fellow-subjects. Indifferent as Omar himself could have been to the high repute which the Oriental Academies had attained, they shut up the Jewish Colleges, exiled their learned doctors, and in fine, A.D. 980, drove the Jews altogether from Bab}'lon. Four of the most renowned of the Rabbins were captured, on their outward voyage, by one of the corsairs belonging to the Caliph of Cordova, whom he had sent to cruise in the Greek Archipelago. These four were Rabbi Shemariah, Rabbi Ho- shiel. Rabbi Moses, and his son. Rabbi Hanoch. The fate of these four was remarkable. Utterly ignorant of the high value which men of culture and refinement would set upon his prisoners, the corsair sold Shemariah at Alexandria, and the slave rose to be the chief man among the Alexandrian Jews. Rabbi Hoshiel he similarly disposed of to a purchaser on the coast of Africa ; and Hoshiel was thence conveyed to Alkihoran, where he attained the rank of Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Moses and his son he conveyed to Cordova. It chanced that the wife of the former was a beautiful woman, and the brutal corsair, captivated by her charms, assailed her with his importunities. T^inding herself wholly in his power, she THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 129 inquired of her husband whether, at the Day of Judgment, the sea would give up its dead. He answered her from the 68th Psalm, 'The Lord said. Mine own will I bring again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the sea;' on receiving which reply, seeing no other way of escaping vio- lence, she plunged into the sea and was drowned. A similar tale is told of Esther Cohen in the sixteenth century. On the arrival of the captives at Cordova, the two Rabbins were ransomed by their countrymen, though the latter knew nothing of their ability and learning. Their condition was .so miserable that they had no clothes, but only some rags of sackcloth to cover their nakedness. In this sordid guise they entered the schools, over which Rabbi Nathan presided. The discussion in progress was on the subject of the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Moses took part in it, and expounded it with such learning and clearness that Rabbi Nathan rose from his seat and said, ' The stranger in sackcloth is my master, and I am his pupil. Make ye him judge of the Congregation of Cordova.' All present assented. Riches and honours became immediately his portion, and he allied himself with one of the wealthiest families in Cordova. The captain of the vessel, learning the value of the captive, for whom he asked no more than the ordinary price of a slave, wished to cancel the sale ; but when the matter was referred to the Caliph, he would not allow it. By one of the disciples of Moses, Rabbi Joseph, the Talmud was translated into Arabic, and gained the translator great repute, though he was afterwards dis- graced and driven into exile. Rabbi Hanoch, the fourth of the captives, succeeded to his father's office at his death. By him the fame of the College of Cordova was raised to the highest pitch it attained. The decay of the Babylonian schools had been in progress throughout the tenth century, learning and ability alike, as the reader has heard, being transferred to the flourishing Rabbinical establishment in Cordova. The quarrels between David ben Zacchai, the Prince of the Captivity, and the I THE JEWS UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. celebrated Saadi ben Joseph, the Geon, did much towards bringing this about. There was a temporary rally, when the renowned Schcrira, and after him, his scarcely less dis- tinguished son, Hai, held the office of Geon. But the former was deposed and put to death by the Caliph Ahmed Kader ; and though Mai escaped and transferred his office to Hiskiah, the great-grandson of David Zacchai, yet the respite was for two years only. At the end of that time the Caliph Abdalla deposed Iliskiah, and finally closed the schools. With Iliskiah, A.D. 1038, the line of the Resch Glutha is generally considered to have become extinct. CHAPTER XIV. A.D. 980-1100. THE JEWS IN SPAIN. — IN ENGLAND. — THE CRUSADES. '\T7'ITH the downfall of the Carlovingian dynasty, a ' * period of seven centuries began, during which the Jews undcrw^cnt the most terrible wrongs and sufferings in almost every European country. In .some lands persecution showed itself earlier, in others later ; in some it reached a greater height, in others it lasted longer. But several generations passed before it was displayed in all its horrible deformity. During the interval we have now under consideration, A.D. 980 to 1 100, though acts of injustice and cruelty were occasionally perpetrated, and a fierce spirit of intolerance manifested — which, it was but too evident, needed only to be roused by some popular tumult, to run to the most fearful hcight.s — yet none of the terrible tragedies were enacted b}- which the suc- ceeding generations were disgraced. It is somewhat strange that the first mas.sacrc should have occurred among a people heretofore remarkable, not merely for their toleration of the Jews, but for the kindness and con- sideration uniformly shown them. But in 1068 an insurrection 132 THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. broke out in Granada, durinfr which 1500 famiHes were slaughtered. It had been caused partly by the pride of Rabbi Joseph, the chief minister of the Moorish king. His father, Rabbi Samuel, had gained the ro}-al favour by his knowledge and ability ; and at his death the same high office had been continued to his son. But the latter differed in character from his father, who had ever shown himself humble-minded and forbearing. The hauteur and implacable temper of the son raised him up enemies among the grandees, who were ever on the watch for an occasion to effect his fall. About the same time a fanatical zealot provoked an insurrection by attempting to convert the Moorish people of Granada to the Jewish faith. This is an act forbidden by the laws of every Moslem State, under penalt\- of death. The indiscretion was taken advantage of by the enemies of Joseph. He was assassinated b}- the insurgents ; the preacher was hanged, and the mob, not satisfied with this revenge, and doubtless in no way unwilling to despoil the wealthy Jews, attacked and pillaged their houses, massacring them, as the reader has heard, to the number probabh' of seven or eight thousantl persons. Monstrous and barbarous as this outbreak was, it must be allowed that it was mainly provoked by the Jews themselves ; but in what ensued a few years afterwards at the Court of Ferdinand the First, called the Great, the aggression was wholly unpro\-oked. This monarch, who united under his sway the crowns of Leon and Castile, had resolved on a religious war for the extirpation of the Moslem power in Spain. But, before entering on this, he was advised by his queen, Donna Sancha, that the surest way to call down the blessing of Heaven upon his enter[)risc, would be to mas- sacre all the Jews in his dominions! It is a redeeming feature in the sad history of that time, that the Spanish bishops interfered, and forbade the massacre on pain of spiritual penalties, and the reigning Pope, Alexander II., uj)hcld them in their action. Ferdinand's successor, Alphonso THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. 133 4- _ — _ __ VI., adopted a totally different policy. He found himself so hardly pressed by the action of the Moors in Africa, that the help of the Jews became a matter of pressing necessity with him.^ He in consequence not only avoided all persecuting measures, but bestowed on them so many favours and pri- vileges, that Pope Alexander's successor severely censured him for his policy, which he declared to be ' a submission of the Church to the synagogue of Satan.' At this period we have to mention, as we have not done previously, the position of the Jews in England. It is a popular mistake to suppose that they made their appearance there, for the first time, in the train of William the Norman. Many Jews, no doubt, settled in England at that time ; but others had been resident there, though probably in scanty numbers, before this date. A canon of Egbert of York (made A.D. 740) prohibits Christians from taking part in the Jewish festivals. There is mention of them a hundred years later in a charter granted to the monks of Croyland. The laws oi Edward the Confessor (A.D. 1041) declare them to be the property of the sovereign, as was the case at that time in France. But it was not until the reign of William Rufus that they took any part in English history. Then we find that that king, who cared little for religion in any shape, and entertained a bitter dislike to the clergy, permitted the Jews publicly to uphold their religion in any way they pleased. Nay, he proclaimed a formal disputation between the advo- cates of the rival religions in London, and swore, if the Rabbins got the better of the Bishops, * by St. Luke, he would turn Jew himself!' The Jews are said to have claimed the victory, though we do not hear of the king keeping his vow. At Rouen, afterwards, he entertained a complaint made by certain Jews, that their children had been beguiled into pro- > It was this Alphonso who wrote the singular letter to Yusef, king of the Almorarides, inviting him to fight a pitched battle on the ensuing Monday, ' because,' he said, ' Friday would not suit the Mahometans in his army, or Saturday the Jews, or Sunday the Christians.' 13+ THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. fessing Christianity, offering at the same time to pay a hand- some sum if the children returned to their ancient faith. The king took the money, and ordered the converts to abjure their new profession. P^aiUng in one or two instances to effect this, we are told he was very unwilling to refund the money paid him. These incidents, scandalous as doubtless they are, show nevertheless that the Jews at this time enjoyed immunity from persecution ; unless, indeed, the heavy and lawless exac- tions made on them by the Norman kings themselves are to be regarded as acts of persecution. The property of the Jews was by no means secure from tJiem, but it was secure from all other spoilers. We are told that in London and York they dwelt in splendid mansions, resembling the castles of the barons ; while in Oxford they possessed three halls for the education of their youth, — Lombard Hall, Moses Hall, and Jacob Hall ; nor does their presence seem to have been objected to.^ They had a cemetery at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. But it will now be proper to enter on a consideration of the causes which led to the renewal of popular bitterness against the Hebrew race in all the countries of Europe. First among these must be noted the prevalence of the Feudal System. This singular institution was, we must allow, in theory, both comprehensive and consistent. The position and duties of every man were defined, the rights of every man secured and protected. The serf tilled his feudal superior's lands ; the freeman fought his battles. Both received in return mainten- ance and protection, while from the feudal baron there lay an appeal to the sovereign. But at the same time we must also ' There appears, indeed, to have been at tliat time an amount of tolera- tion which may well surprise us. One Mossey, a Jew of Wallingford, was wont, we are told, openly to ridicule the miracles of St. Frideswide. He would crook his fingers as if they were paralysed, and presently straighten them, or limp like a cripple, and then suddenly leap or dance, crying out ' A miracle ! ' This was a calm on the edge of a storm such as has rarely been seen ! — 'Rise, Fall, and Future Restoration of Jews,' ch. iii. THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. 135 allow, as a matter of fact, that under it the very extremity of lawless injustice prevailed — that every feudal castle was prac- tically the stronghold of an arbitrary and irresponsible despot, whose soldiers executed his pleasure, howcxcr iniquitous or barbarous, without scruple and without remorse. Still, all classes had nominally the guardians of their rights and interests, with the single exception of the Jews. The latter could not be feudatories. The law of the land and the pre- judice of the people would not have suffered that ; nor could they be serfs or vassals. They never practised agriculture, and the noble profession of arms would have been thought disgraced b\' their admission to it. Consequently, they had no place in society, nor were there any to whom they could appeal for justice or protection, except where they were directl}' the dependants of the sovereign himself But even where this was the case, any attempt to obtain justice was precarious and perilous. If one of the robber barons seized a Jew who might be travelling through his domains, and sub- jected him to agonizing tortures mitil he had obtained his release by paying a large sum of money — there was practically no remedy. The attempt to obtain it would probably end in twofold loss and suffering to himself /\ny s}'mpathy shown him by the peasantry or townsfolk would bring, in all likeli- hood, the vengeance of the aggressor on them. If they concerned themselves in any way with the sufferer, it would probably be by following the example set them by their superiors, and maltreating and plundering him. In this manner the Jews became the outcasts of society ; and all classes of men were willing enough to adopt the ignorant and rancorous intolerance of the clergy of the da}', who (with some noble exceptions) inveighed against them as the enemies of Christ, finding in the odium thus cast on them an excuse for their own lawless rapacity and violence. Another reason for the general dislike in w hich they were held was their wealth, and the manner in which it had been amassed. Thc\' were, as has been alrcad)' intimated, the only 1^6 THE JEWS IX SPA IX AXD EXGIAXD. bankers, almost the only traders, of the day. They had become an absolute necessity of life to many classes of men. If the sovereign wished to negotiate a marriage, or embark in a foreign war, a large sum of money was required, which the Jews alone could supply. The same was the case with the nobles and land-owners of lesser rank ; and even the Christian merchant could sometimes save his credit only by a timely loan, which was to be obtained from none but Hebrew coffers. It was affirmed that the usury exacted for these was in- ordinate ; that the Jews took advantage of their opportunity to accumulate enormous gains, to the total ruin of their debtors. The rate of interest demanded was, as a general rule, extortionate. Yet it should be borne in mind that the monstrous injustice often shown them, when they were, — on any pretext, or on no pretext at all, — despoiled of their money, if it did not render the exaction of these terms neces- sary to secure to the lender, in the long run, his fair profit, it did offer a strong temptation for exaction, and gave him a ready excuse for offering only the hardest terms to the borrower.^ Whatever value, however, this argument may possess, it was utterly disregarded by the enemies of the Jews in those days, who took into account only two facts — one, that the Jews demanded an enormous amount of usur\', which brought them immense wealth, and the other, that its pa}'- ment reduced themselves to poverty. These influences had been for a long time at work, causing the Jews to be regarded with ever-increasing disfavour. But it may be doubted whether they would ever have burst forth into the furious volcano of persecution which the next genera- tion witnessed, if it had not been that the element of religious fanaticism was now added to those already at work. The cry that Christ was dishonoured through the profanation of the * It is plainly intimated by Bernard of Clairvaulx that there were Christians (he probably meant Lombard merchants) who exacted more excessive usury than the Jews themselves. THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. 137 scenes of His birth and crucifixion by the unhallowed rites of the Infidels, and that it was the bounden duty of all faithful Christians to wrest the holy places from their ^rasp, now resounded through Christendom, and roused an enthusiasm of which the world had never before beheld the like. It may surprise us, not that this feeling should have been awakened, but that it should not have been awakened before. Three hundred and fifty years had elapsed since the conquest of Jerusalem by the Saracens ; and ever since then it had been in the occupation of the unbelievers. Why was the possession of the Holy City by them a greater outrage on the feelings of Christian men in one generation than in another ? Or are we to suppose that men were more zealous for God's honour in the eleventh than they had been in the seventh century ? No, not so. The causes which provoked the Crusades were different from these, and they are of import- ance to us, because they throw a light on the feeling which simultaneously arose against the Jews also. During the first two centuries of the occupation of the Holy City by the Saracens, the latter had been ruled by the Ommiad or Abasside Caliphs — men who, for the most part, governed equitably, and were courteous and tolerant in their dealings with strangers. The number of pilgrims who visited Palestine was small, and they were uniformly received with friendliness. But in the tenth century, when the idea w^as widely entertained throughout Western Europe that the world was on the very point of coming to an end, and further, that all who died in the Holy Land would certainly be saved, the number of those who travelled thither was greatly multiplied. Those who returned brought back with them tales of outrage and unprovoked insult, which everywhere roused indignation. Jerusalem had passed into the hands of the Turks, a fierce and uncultured race, who had adopted Islamism in its most fanatic spirit. The murder of men, and the outrages offered to women, were good deeds in their eyes ; and where they abstained from this extremity of violence, it 138 THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND ENGLAND. was only to display their hate and scorn under some other form. The resentment which these wrongs called forth had spread through all European countries. The air was, as it were, everywhere charged with inflammable vapour, and it needed only the torch which Peter the Hermit had lighted to cause it to burst forth in one consuming flame. ' Death to the Infidels. It is the will of God!' was the cry that rang throughout Europe. All men hastened to obey the call. From the king on his throne to the journe\-man in his work- shop, they bound the cross on their shoulders, and went forth to rescue the Holy Land from the profane grasp of the un- believers. This is the age of the five celebrated Talmudists, called 'the Five Isaacs,' all of them bearing that name. They are distin- guished as Isaac of Cordova, of Lucena, of Barcelona, of Pumbeditha, and of Fez. The Spanish Poet Halevi was born towards the close of this period. From the middle of the eleventh century, Spain was for four hundred years the chief seat of Rabbinical learning. The great schools were at Barce- lona, Granada, and Toledo. To this era also belongs the renowned Solomon Gabriol, poet and philosopher, author of ' The Fountain of Life.' He was born at Malaga, 102 1, and died A.D. 1070. CHAPTER XV. A.D. II0C-I200. THE CRUSADES. — JEWS IN FRANXE, SPAIN, GERMANY, AND HUNGARY. DEATH to the infidel. It is the will of God!' Such was the cry that rang through Europe — ' Death to the Moslem, whose unhallowed shrine overshadows the holy- place, in which the Saviour Himself has worshipped, whose blasphemies awake the same echoes which His Divine preaching once called forth 1 ' Yes. But were these the only shrines where false worship was offered? were they in Jeru- salem the only ones who blasphemed the Lord ? If the slaughter of the unbelieving Turk was acceptable to the Most High, why not that of the unbelieving Jew? It was strange that this peril should not have been dreaded by the Jews dwell- ing in the lands which the mania called forth by Peter the Hermit overspread. But it does not seem to have done so ; they made no attempt to escape from the approaching danger. They even continued the ordinary course of their business, making the same enormous gains out of the Crusaders' necessities, which thc\' had done out of every other political movement for generations past. The great baron, who had I40 JEWS IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. vowed to lead his hundreds, or it might be his thousands, of armed followers to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, mortgaged his lands, or his jewels, or perhaps sold them outright, to the Jews, on such terms as we can hardly believe that the one could have asked or the other agreed to. Poorer men parted with their all on the like terms. But that there were some shrewd men left among the Christians, who were not carried away b\- the tide of popular excitement, the whole wealth of the community would have passed into the hands of the Jews. It is needless to add that the bitter feelings towards this isolated race — who were for c\cr battening on the wants and sufferings of others — were greatly aggravated by these proceedings, and it was not long before this burst out into a flame. All over Xorthcrn France and German}-, the Jews seem to have been numerous at this time ; but in what is now Rhenish Prussia, and along the banks of the Moselle, they were to be found in the greatest abundance. It Was near the city of Treves that the first vast multitude of undisciplined fanatics assembled, under the leadership of Walther von Habenicht and Peter the Hermit. As they set forth, under the guidance of a goat and a goose, to find their way to the Holy Land, a cry was suddenly raised, doubtless by some enemy of the Jews, that while they were marching to destroy the enemies of the Lord Jesus in Palestine, they were leaving unassailed at home those who were not only His enemies, but His murderers — the Jews ! The cry was instantly caught up, the frantic crowd rushed into Treves, and began a general pillage of the Jews' houses, and a massacre of their occupants. Taken by surprise, the authorities offered no interference ; indeed, no interference they could have offered would have been of the slightest avail. The unhappy Jews, equally unprepared, could neither resist nor escape. Scenes too shocking for description ensued. Women tied heavy weights round their necks, and threw themselves into the rivers to avoid the last dishonour. Men slew their own children, to JEIVS IX FR.IXCE, SPAIN, AXD GERMANY. \\i save them from the tortures to which they would be sub- jected ; their own h\cs they }'ielded up in despairing silence. Some fled to the citadel, hoping to be protected against the violence of their assailants ; but the Bishop of Treves received them with threats and reproaches, refusing to interfere in their behalf, unless they would accept baptism. The same scenes took place in Cologne, Worms, Spires, and Mayence. Everywhere the only hope of escape from torture and death was baptism ; except, indeed, where a heavy bribe had been paid for episcopal protection, or where, as at Spires, the Jews armed themselves and sold their lives dearly. The tide of murder rolled on, sweeping the shores of the Maine and the Danube, the same scenes being everywhere repeated. In Bavaria, it is said that as many as 12,000 Jews were slaughtered. The Emperor Henry IV^. seems to have been the only potentate whom these atrocities struck with horror. He issued a decree, repairing, so far as was possible, the wrongs that had been done, and forbidding them for the future. But, for the most part, the historians of those times relate the horrors that took place with a sangfroid which speaks volumes as to the light in which they were regarded by those who witnessed them. Hut the three mighty hosts, led by Peter and his two colleagues, passed on and perished, and the exhaustion succeeded which such a drain on the population must necessarily occasion. It was not until half the twelfth century had passed away that the crusading mania was again roused. Then a fanatic monk, named Rodolph, commenced a mission through the German cities, calling on all men, by the watch- word * Hep, Hep ' (the initials of the words Hierosolyma est perdita) to assist in slaying antl crushing the enemies of God. The Jews knew too well, by past experience, that they were included under this latter term, and many effected a timely retreat. Nevertheless, a frightful carnage took place in Strasburg, Mayence, and the other Rhine cities, encouraged, unhappily, by too many of the clergy. It is like a bright 1 42 JFAVS IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. gleam of sunshine on a dark November day, to read the protest addressed by the saintly Bernard of Clairvaulx, to his brother clergy against the blind and savage spirit by which Rodolph was possessed.^ 'The Jews,' he writes, ' ought not to be persecuted; they ought not to be put to death, they ought not to be driven into banishment. What says the Scripture? " Slay them not, lest My people forget." The Jews are living monuments to re- mind us of the sufferings of the Lord. Therefore it is that they are scattered. . . . Therefore they endure a hard bondage under Christian princes ; yet, in the eventide of the world, they will be converted, and He will remember them. Addressing Rodolph himself, he says, ' You are of another mind from Him who said, " Put up thy sword into the sheath, for he that takcth the sword shall perish with the sword." Does not the Church triumph more gloriously over the Jews when she refutes and converts them, than if she slew them with the edge of the sword?' It is satisfactory also to learn that Pope Eugenius III. advocated the same view, and that Rodolph was ordered back to his convent, though not before he had occasioned the most terrible crimes and sufferings. But the condition of the Jews grew no better, but rather worse, as the century advanced. The calumn}- — whether it was the revival of an ancient accusation against the Jews, or one newly invented at this period — of crucifying boys at their Passover, in mockery of the Saviour's passion, was widely diffused and credited. It was reported that, about A.D. iiSo, during the youth of Philip Augustus, they had in this manner murdered one Richard, a youth belonging to Pontoise ; and, in confirmation of the truth of the story, the body, when it was conveyed to Paris, worked many miracles. Philip had no sooner ascended his throne than he put forth an edict, ' Arnold, Archbishop of Cologne, also did his best to discountenance the persecutors. He gave them the fortress of Wolkcnstcin as a refuge, nnd they there made an armed and successful defence. JEWS IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. 143 A.I). 1 182, whereby all debts due to Jews were annulled, and all pledges held by them were to be restored to the original owners. Not satisfied with this display of somewhat cheap generosity, he made a second proclamation, confiscating all their property which was not removable, and commanding them to sell everjlhing else belonging to them, and depart from his dominions. In vain they appealed for mercy. King and nobles and bishops alike closed their ears. The twofold offence of holding heretical opinions and mortgages on estates was not to be forgiven. It will readily be credited that at the enforced sale of their goods the prices bidden were of the lowest. The unhappy Jews were compelled to depart, amid the execrations of the populace, from the homes in which their whole lives had been passed, carrying with them little but their wives and children. It was not enough that they had been, by the most high-handed injustice, stripped of their possessions ; they were not to be allowed to remain in the land where the wrong had been done, and so remind the doers of their crime ! It will surprise no one to be told that their removal did not increase the wealth or relieve the public burdens of the nation. It was found that the expulsion of the Jews was, as Fouche said of the murder of the Duke d'Enghicn, ' more than a crime, for it was a blunder.' Within twenty years Philip found it necessary to issue a new edict, permitting their return. But it does occasion our wonder to hear that the Jews consented to the step. It speaks volumes for the depth of the misery to which they had been reduced, that they could be prevailed on to trust themselves again to the justice and mercy of a king who had so flagrantly proved his disregard ol both.^ Not long after their return, we are told tliat they held * They were not readmitted without the enactment of several laws which materially affected their future position. Among others, they were obliged to wear a distinctive badge ; and the persons to whom they might lend money, the articles they might receive in pledge, and the amount of interest they might require, were all settled by statute. 144 JEWS IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. an assembly by permission of the Queen's mother, at a castle on the Seine. Here the old charge of scourging, crucifying, and crowning with thorns a youth whom they had seized was once more alleged against them. Philip repaired in person to the spot, where he condemned eighty of the accused to be burned alive.^ In Spain, during this century, the Jews were still equitably dealt with, though there were signs of the change of feeling towards them which was gradually taking possession of the public mind. For this two causes may be assigned. In the first place, the power of the Mahometans, who had always been the protectors of the Jews, was fast waning ; and the Christian sovereigns no longer dreaded the enmity of the Jews, who in previous generations might have been dangerous allies to their rivals. In the second, the downfall of the Ommiad Caliphs, who had uniformly been just and generous in their dealings with the Jews, proved most disastrous to them. The Almohades, who, A.D. 1150, superseded them, were fierce and bloody fanatics, inclined to force the faith of Islam on all with whom they came in contact. One of the first edicts of Abdcl-Mumen, the founder of the dynasty, required all his subjects, of whatsoever creed, to profess Mahometanism. The usual consequences followed. Many Jews went into volun- tary exile ; many more made an outward profession of their persecutor's creed, still secretly retaining their own. The happy days of the Spanish Jews were over. Moorish rule was ended. In the Christian kingdom, however, justice and right still prevailed. The royal authority was uniformly e.xertcd for the protection of peaceable and unoffending men. But there were occasions on which this power proved insufficient to restrain the violence of the people, who had probably learned from their neighbours to regard the Jews with disfavour. ' Sec a full discussion of this charge and its probable origin. Appendix \. JEWS IX FRAXCF, SPAfN, AXD GERMANY. 145 Thu<;, a riot occurred at Toledo, A.D. 1108, instigated, in all likelihood, by the crusaders, who were just on the point of setting out for Palestine. The populace, under the usual pre- text of slaying the enemies of Christ, attacked and burned the houses of the Jews, wrecked the synagogues, immolating the Rabbins, as it were, on their own altars, and made a general massacre of the common people. Alphonso tried in vain, first to repress, and then to punish, the offenders. But this occurrence, shocking as it was, was a mere temporary outburst of popular fury. It was not repeated, not even in the reign of his descendant, Alphonso VIII., in 1171, when, above all other times, a Jewish massacre might have been looked for. This king had become deeply enamoured of a beautiful Jewess, named Rachel Fermosa. For her societ)- he neglected his queen, and withdrew himself from public business. Grave misfortunes ensued : his forces were defeated at Alarcos, and the kingdom menaced by the hostility of the neighbouring states. The people believed that these calamities were due, not to the bad administration of public affairs, but to the indignation of Heaven at the king's unhallowed affection for an unbeliever. Their jealousy was also roused by the favour shown to her countrymen. A rebellion broke out, the rioters burst into the king's palace, and assassinated Fermosa before the eyes of her lover. But they satisfied themselves with her death, and did not molest the Jewish favourites whom she had patronized. Alphonso IX. showed even greater favour to the Jews than had been bestowed on them by his predecessors. Innocent III. repeated in his instance the charge which Gregory VII, had brought against his ancestor, ' of elevating the Synagogue at the cost of the Church.' He relieved both Jews and Moors, we are told, from the payment of tithes, and allowed them to hold landed property, — a rare privilege in those days. One of his laws — which allowed a Jew, in the event of one of his slaves being converted to Christianity, to claim, at the hands of the person who had converted him whatever indemnity K 146 JEWS IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. he might think proper — seems to be as unfair to the Christians as the legislation of those times usually was to the Jews. In Hungary, German)', and Bohemia, their condition, dur- ing the period we have under consideration, appears to have been prosperous. Ladislas, King of Hungary, convened, we are told, a Synod in 1092, in which various regulations relating to the Jews were made. It was ordered that if a Jew bought a Christian slave of either sex, the slave should be set at liberty, and the price paid for him confiscated to the bishop. His son Coloman re-enacted this prohibition against the use of Christian slaves, but permitted the Jews to pur- chase and cultivate lands, on condition of employing Jewish or pagan labour, and settling in such places only as were under the jurisdiction of a bishop. These laws prove that the Jews must have been both a numerous and wealthy part of the population. In Germany and Bohemia they had many stately syna- gogues, particularly in the great towns, and were not inter- fered with by the government Nevertheless, they did not escape persecution. A fanatic priest, named Gotesel, incited a band of lawless ruffians, amounting in number to fifteen thousand, to attack the Jews ; and he was supported, it is believed, in secret, by persons high in authority. He plun- dered the property of the Jews, outraged their women, and massacred the men all over Franconia. He then entered ilungary, and commenced perpetrating the like atrocities; when he was attacked and slain, together with the greater part of his followers. Soon afterwards the Landgrave of Leiningen declared in like manner a religious war against the Jews, and having assembled a body of troops, committed great havoc among them, pursuing them at last, like his pre- decessor, into Hungary ; where, like his predecessor again, he was defeated and slain. ^ ' Rabbi Joseph has i:;iven us (vol. i. 30, 35) a long and terrible picture of the barbarous cruelties inthcied at this period on his countrymen, JEIVS /X FRAXC/-:, SPAIN, AND GERMANY. 147 In Russia, early in the twelfth century (a.D. i 1 13), there was a savage outbreak in the city of Kief, against the Jews. The same cry seems to have been raised which has so frequently been heard in other lands, their accumulation of wealth, at the cost, it was supposed, of their neighbours. The merciful Vladimir, who succeeded to the throne, tried to protect them, but could only do so by assenting to their expulsion from Russia. This was their first, and their longest, term of banishment from aii}^ European country. They were not allowed to return for 600 years. During this period lived Solomon, called Rashi, or as it is more commonl}' written, Jarchi. He was the most re- nowned of the many commentators on the Talmud. It is said that no edition of that work has appeared since his time which had not his commentary appended to it. He was born A.D. 1040, and died A.D. 1 105. in consequence of their refusnl 'to submit to the proud waters, or enter the House of Error ' {i.e., to be baptized, or be admitted to the Church). Com p. Psalm cxxiv. 4. CHAPTER XVI. A.D. \ \oo-i2oo {ionn'/iucd). JEWS IN ENGLAND. — JEWISH IMPOSTORS. IT has been noted in a previous chapter that, up to the end of Wilham Rufus's reign, the chief hardship that befell the Jews in England was, that the Norman kings extracted large sums from them, partly as loans — for which, perhaps, payment was hardly contemplated by either party — and partly as the price of the protection afforded them. The same state of things continued during the reigns of Henry I., Stephen, and Henr\- 11. Throughout this long period, — not much less than a hundred years, — the Jews continued to gather in riches without molestation, to an extent which proved ruinous to themselves in subsequent generations, little as they anticipated such a result at the time.^ There were not wanting signs, however, which might have indicated the approaching danger. During the reign ' At a Parliament held at Northampton, when it was proposed to raise a tax for an expedition to the Holy Land, the Jews were assessed at ;^6o,ooo, and the whole of the rest of the population of the country at ;{^7o,cx30 only. 1*8 JEWS /A' ENGLAND— JEIVJSH IMPOSTORS. 149 of Stephen, A. I). 1 145, the charge was made against the Jews, — for the first time in ICngland, if not in Europe, — of having kidnapped and crucified a boy at Norwich, in con- temptuous parody of the Saviour's passion. The case was brought before the notice of the king, and the accused were adjudged to pa\' a (\nc to the Crown — a most suspicious termination of the inquiry. No further outbreak, however, occurred : and during the protracted reign of his successor, Henry II., the same condition of things continued. That able and powerful monarch, whatever might be his difficul- ties with the clergy, repressed with a strong hand all overt acts of violence against the peculiar people, wdio looked to him for protection.' But he could not j^revent their grow- ing unpopularit}'. Society had become largely influenced by the crusading spirit. The loss of Jerusalem, — which had been wrested by so large an expenditure of blood and treasure from the hold of the Infidel, — roused cver\'where a more bitter feeling than ever against the enemies of Christ. It was mainly through the Crusades that the Jews had acquired their w'ealth ; and the spectacle of unbelievers living in ease and luxur\-, at the cost of the faithful servants of Christ, whose bones were whitening the plains of Palestine, or who had returned to England to pine in poverty, stirred public indignation to the utmost. The train was already laid for a furious onslaught upon them. It needed but a sj)ark to bring about the explosion. The crisis came almost immediately after the death of Henry. Anxious at once to show their lo\-alt\' and secure the protection of the new sox-ereign, the Jews sent a depu- tation, consisting of men of the highest repute among them, to attend the coronation of King Richard, and present him with rich gifts suitable to the occasion. Their presence ' Two of these, similar to the outbreak in Stephen's time, occurred in 1 160 and 1181. It has been shrewdly remarked, that the Jews were always charged with this crime just at the times when tlie l' their own people ; Jjut tlieir learning and abiHty is lost on other readers. Nevertheless, there are some great names amon<^ their literary celebrities, which are familiar to the ears of all students, and with which all ou