Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/164

 jews 146 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, mankind, and claiming the exclusive possession ofdi- XVI. . . '__ vine knowledge, should disdain every form of worship except its own, as impious and idolatrous. The rights of toleration were held by mutual indulgence : they were justly forfeited by a refusal of the accustomed tribute. As the payment of this tribute was inflexibly refused by the jews, and by them alone, the consider- ation of the treatment which they experienced from the Roman magistrates, will serve to explain how far these speculations are justified by fiicts, and will lead us to discover the true causes of the pei'secution of Chris- tianity. Rebellious Without repeating what has been already mentioned, frws, ° ^ ^^ ^^^^ reverence of the Roman princes and governors for the temple of Jerusalem, we shall only observe, that the destruction of the temple and city was accompanied and followed by every circumstance that could exas- perate the minds of the conquerors, and authorise reli- gious persecution by the most specious arguments of political justice and the public safety. From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting na- tives*; and we are tempted to applaud the severe reta- liation which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable ene- mies, not only of the Roman government, but of hu- man kind''. The enthusiasm of the jews was supported " In Cyrene they massacred two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks ; in Cyprus, two hundred and forty thousand; in Egypt, a very great multi- tude. Many of these unhappy victims were sawed asunder, according to a precedent to which David had given the sanction of his example. The victorious jews devoured the fiesh, licked up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle round their bodies. See Dion Cassius, 1. Ixviii. p. 1 145. •^ Without repeating the well known narratives of Josephus, we may learn from Dion (1. Ixix. p. 1162.) that in Hadrian's vsar five hundred and