Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/184

 IGG THE DECLINE AND FALL CMAP. XVI. Oppression of the jews and chris- tians by Domitian. tures. The followers of Judas, who impelled their countrymen into rebellion, were soon huried under the ruins of Jerusalem; whilst those of Jesus, known by the more celebrated name of christians, diffused them- selves over the Roman empire. How natural was it for Tacitus, in the time of Hadrian, to appropriate to the christians the guilt and the sufferings, which he might, with far greater truth and justice, have attri- buted to a sect whose odious memory was almost ex- tinguished ! 4. Whatever opinion may be entertained of this conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) it is evident that the effect, as well as the cause, of Nero's persecution, were confined to the walls of Rome " ; that the religious tenets of the Galila?ans, or christians, were never made a subject of punishment, or even of enquiry ; and that, as the idea of their sufferings was, for a long time, connected with the idea of cruelty and injustice, the moderation of succeeding princes inclined them to spare a sect, oppressed by a tyrant, whose rage had been usually directed against virtue and innocence. It is somewhat remarkable, that the flames of war consumed almost at the same time the temple of Jeru- salem and the capitol of Rome " ; and it appears no less singular, that the tribute which devotion had des- tined to the former, should have been converted by the power of an insulting victor to restore and adorn the splendour of the latter^. The emperors levied a ge- neral capitation tax on the Jewish people ; and although the sum assessed on the head of each individual was in- " See Doclwell, Paucitat. Mart. 1, xiii. The Spanish inscription in Gi uter, p. '238. No. 9, is a manifest and acknowledged forgery, contrived by tiiat noted impostor Cyriacus of Ancona, to fiatter the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards. See Ferreras, Histoire d'Espagne, torn. i. p. 192. " The capitol was burnt during the civil war between Vitellius and Ves- pasian, the 19th of December, A. D. 69. On the 10th of August, A. D. 70, the temple Of Jerusalem was destroyed by the hands of the jews themselves, rather than by those of the Romans. >■ The new capitol was dedicated by Domitian. Sueton. in Domitian. c. 5 ; Plutarch in Poplicola, tom. i. p. 230. edit. Bryan. The gilding alone cost twelve thousand talents, above two millions and a half. It was the opi- nion of Martial, (1. ix. Epigram. 3.) that if the emperor had called in his debts, Jupiter himself,even though he had made a general auction of Olym- pus, would have been unable to pay two shillings in the pound.