Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/183

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1G5 rect the cruelty of Nero against the christians of Rome, C ii A P whose obscurity, as well as innocence, should have ' shielded them from his indignation, and even from his notice. The jews, who were numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country, Avere a much fitter object for the suspicions of the emperor and of the people ; nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished na- tion, who already discovered their adhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have recourse to the most atrocious means of gratifying their implacable revenge. But the jews possessed very powerful advocates in the palace, and even in the heart of the tyrant ; his wife and mis- tress, the beautiful Poppaea, and a favourite player of the race of Abraham, who had already employed their intercession in behalf of the obnoxious people ^ In their room it was necessary to offer some other victims ; and it might easily be suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were innocent of the fire of Rome, there had arisen among them a new and perni- cious sect of Galilaeans, which was capable of the most horrid crimes. Under the appellation of Galilaeans, two distinctions of men were confounded, the most op- posite to each other in their manners and principles; the disciples who had embraced the faith of Jesus of Nazareth % and the zealots who had followed the stand- ard of Judas the Gaulonite *. The former were the friends, the latter were the enemies, of human kind ; and the only resemblance between them consisted in the same inflexible constancy, which, in the defence of their cause, rendered them insensible of death and tor- ■■ The player's name was Aliturus. Through the same channel, Joseph us (de Vila sua, c. 3.) about two years before had obtained the pardon and release of some Jewish priests who were prisoners at Rome. p. 102, 103.) has proved that the name of Galilaeans was a very ancient, and perhaps the primitive, appellation of the christians. ' Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 1,2; Tillemont, Rtiine des Juifs, p. 742. The sons of Judas were crucified in the time of Claudius. His grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was taken, defended a strong fortress with nine hundred and sixty of his most desperate followers. When the battering ram had made a breach, ttiey turned their swords against their wives, their chil- dren, and at length against their own breasts. They died to the last man.
 * The learned Dr. Lardner (Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. ii.