Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/186

 168 THE DECLINE AND FALL CiiA V. tlieir answers, soon convinced liiin that they were nei- ' ther desirous nor capable of disturbing the peace of the Roman empire. They frankly confessed their royal origin, and their near relation to the Messiah ; but they disclaimed any temporal views, and professed that his kingdom, which they devoutly expected, was pvu'ely of a spiritual and angelic nature. When they were examined concerning their fortune and occupa- tion, they showed their hands hardened with daily labour, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence from the cultivation of a farm near the village of Cocaba, of the extent of about twenty-four English acres'^, and of the value of nine thousand drachms, or three hundred pounds sterling. The grandsons of St. Jude were dismissed with compassion and contempt''. , Execution But although the obscurity of the house of David the consul *^"o^^t protect them from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present greatness of his own family alarmed the pvisil- lanimous temper of Domitian, which could only be ap- ])eased by the blood of those Romans whom he either feared, or hated, or esteemed. Of the two sons of his uncle Flavins Sabinus % the elder was soon convicted of treasonable intentions; and the younger, who bore the name of Flavius Clemens, was indebted for his safety to his want of courage and ability ^ The em- peror, for a long time, distinguished so harmless a kins- man by his favour and protection, bestowed on him his own niece Domitilla, adopted the children of that mar- riage to the hope of the succession, and invested their father with the honours of the consulship. But he had computed, would scarcely amount to nine acres. But the probability of circumstances, the practice of other Greek writers, and the authority of M. de Valois, incline me to believe that the nXkOpov is used to express the Roman jugerum. '' Eusebius, iii. 20. The story is taken from Hegesippus. ' See the death and character of Sabinus in Tacitus, Hist. iii. 74, 75. Sabinus was the elder brother, and, till the accession of Vespasian, had been considered as the principal support of the Flavian family. ^ Flavium Clementem patruelem suum contemlissimie inertia ... ex fenu- issiina suspicione intt-retnit. Sueton. in Dornitian, c. 15.
 * = Thirty-nine TrXiQpa, squares ot an hundred feet each, which, if strictly