Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/181

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIUi:. 103 1. The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect CHAP, the truth of this extraordinary fact, and tlie integrity _J '__ of this celebrated passage of Tacitus, The former is Hemaikson confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who „f jj^p-'tyf mentions the punishment which Nero inflicted on the relative to ... p 11111 I tliepersecu- christians, a sect ot men who had embraced a new and ti„n of the criminal superstition '". The latter may be proved by I'l'^^t'-in^ the consent of the most ancient manuscripts ; by the inimitable character of the style of Tacitus; by his re- putation, which guarded his text from the interpola- tions of pious fraud ; and by the purport of his narra- tion, which accused the first christians of the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that they pos- sessed any miraculous or even magical powers above the rest of mankind". 2. Notwithstanding it is proba- ble that Tacitus was born some years before the fire of Rome °, he could derive only from reading and conver- sation the knowledge of an event which happened dur- ing his infancy. Before he gave himself to the public, he calmly waited till his genius had attained its full ma- turity ; and he was more than forty years of age, when a grateful regard for the memory of the virtuous Agri- cola, extorted from him the most early of those his- torical compositions, which will delight and instruct the most distant posterity. After making a trial of his strength in the life of Agricola and the description of Germany, he conceived, and at length executed, a ■" Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16. The epithet o( maiejica, which some saga- cious commentators have translated magical, is considered by the more ra- tional Mosheini as only synonymous to the exitiahilis of Tacitus. " The passage concerning Jesus Christ, whicii was inserted into the text of Josephus, between the time of Origen and that of Eusebius, may furnish an example of no vulgar forgery. The accomplishment of the prophecies, the virtues, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus, are distinctly related. Jo- sephus acknowledges that he was the iNIessiah, and hesiUites whether lie should call him a man. If any doubt can still remain concerning this celebrated passage, the reader may examine the pointed objections of Le Fevre, (^Uavercamp. Joseph, toni. ii. p. 267 — 273.) the laboured answers of Daubuz, (p. 187 — 232.) and the masterly reply (Bibliolheque Ancienne et Moderne, torn. vii. p. 237 — 288.) of an anonymous critic, whom I believe to have been the learned abbe de Longuerue. ° See the lives of Tacitus by Lipsius an.l the abbe de la Bleterie, Dic- lionnaire de Bayle a I'article Tacite, and Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin, torn. ii. p. 38G. edit. Ernest. M 2