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314 Augustine

Augustus

314

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

II.

Ex. xxiii. 18 as a prohibition against having leavened bread in one's possession when bringing the paschal lamb into the bouse. The offense committed by the sons of Aaron (Lev. x. 1) is understood by Augustine (Lev. x. 31) as being their use, in their sacrifices, of fire from some outside source and not from the altar; following in this interpretation Akiba's teaching (Sifra, ad loc), which is the accepted one among the Jews. In this same passage Augustine has a rabbinical interpretation received from his Jewish teachers, which, as now evident, is obviously the result of a mistake either in writing or in comprehension. The Rabbis very ingeniously connect the passage Leviticus x. 8 with Ex. xxix. 43; but Augustine's Jewish teacher confused the word TnjJJl ("and I will meet"), with which this verse begins, with the word 'jrijmn (" Thou hast let me know "), •occurring in Ex. xxxiii. 12; and thus gave foundation for Augustine's polemic. His dependence upon Jewish tradition did not, however, prevent him from reproaching the Jews for not understanding, or not wishing to understand, the O. T. In his " Tractatus Adversus Polemic Judoeos " he endeavors, as his main Against object, to prove from Scripture that Jews. the Law is fulfilled in Jesus, and that therefore Christians may rightfully have recourse to the O. T. even if they do not observe the Law. His endeavor to prove the Messianic character of Jesus from Psalms xliv., xlviii. and lxx. is very far-fetched as well as his plea for the rejection of the Jews, based on Isaiah ii. and Mai. i. He says on this point, "If the Jews in the 10, 11. Isaiah passage [verse 5] understand the house of Jacob to be equivalent to Israel, because both names were borne by the patriarch, they only show how incapable they are of comprehending the true contents of the O. T. " " The house of Jacob " means the rejected Jews, while "Israel" designates the Christians. The results of such polemics which, however, belong to the weakest and least important productions of his pen were, of course, quite inconsiderable. Jewish natural intelligence sufficed to warn them against such conceptions of Scrip,



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—

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ture.

In view of the almost exclusively Aristotelian character of the Jewish philosophy of the Middle

Ages, Augustine's Neoplatonism remained entirety unknown to them. As Kaufmann (" Attributenlehre," p. 41) observes, it Jewish. References is highly improbable that Saadia's polemic against the Christians, who to Augustine, desired to prove the Trinity from the personification of the divine attributes (Being, Living, Knowing), was directed against the Augustinian doctrine of the Trinity, the memoria, The agreement intelligenlia, and voluntas of God. of Saadia and Augustine concerning the creation of time (Kaufmann, I.e. 307) is based upon the fact that both depend upon the Platonic sentence, " Time came into being with the heavens" ("Timseus"). Judah Romano (born 1292) and Isaac Abravanel (died 1508) cite Augustine by name, as do likewise a number of anonymous writers about the same period. For the relation of the Keneset Yisrael (Jewish Church of the Cabalists) to Augustine's doc-

of

trine

Church,

the

see

the

Cabala,

articles

ZOHAE. Bibliography: In addition to Cbevalier, Repertoire des Sources HiMorhiues (In Moycn-Age, pp. 191-194 and 2432Editions— Tbe 2434, Paris, 1877, the following may be of use best critical edition is the Benedictine, Paris, 1679-1700. The critical edition in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiastioruiu Latinorum by the Vienna Academy is not yet complete. Translation's— In German, selected writings in the Bihli:

othek dcr Kirehenvilter, Kempten, 1809 (contains translations of tbe more important works, upon which see lie alEneycl. filr Protestioitixche Theologie, 3d ed., ii. 258). In English, Works of Augustine, by Marcus Dods, Edinburgh, 1871-76, in IS vols, (almost complete; omits only exegetical writings); P. Schaff, Nicene nnd Post-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo, 1886 (contains some of the exegetical writings). Biorraphies ANn Monographs— Poujoulat, HMoire de St. Atiguxtin, 3d ed., 3 vols., Paris, 1852; Bindemann, Der Heilige Avgustinus, 3 vols., 1844-1855-1869; Kriedrich and Paul BBbringer, Aurelius Augustiims, 2d ed., Leipsic, 18771878; Nourrison, Lit Philosophic de St. Augustln, 2d ed., 1866, 2 vols.; A. Donier, August inns, Sein Theologisehes System vuel Seiue L'liigionspliilosoplnselie Anschauung,

1873; O.

Bothmanner, Dcr Augustinisnms,

1892.

L. G.

g.

AUGUSTINUS RICTUS.

AUGUSTOW

See Ricius.

District town in the government of Suvalk, Russian Poland, on the River Netta and

the Lake Biale. In 1887 the Jewish population nearly 5,500 about half the total population.

was

—

Bibliography 1891



Entziklnpedicheski Slovar, Ha-Eshhol, Warsaw, 1887.

AUGUSTUS

i.,

St.

Petersburg,

jj

R

Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus) The first Roman emperor that bore the honorary title of " Augustus " born Sept. 23, 63 B.C. died at Nola, Campania, Aug. 19, 14 c.E. He was the son of Caius Octa vius. In his attitude toward the Jews he continued the friendly policy of his uncle, With Julius Caesar, who had made him his sole heir. <i great anxiety to arouse and to further at Rome interest in the national religion, he combined a broad (called later







Though he sanctioned tolerance for other faiths. the course of his nephew Claudius, who, while touring the Orient, had neglected to sacrifice at the Temple of Jerusalem, he showed his sympathy clearly on other occasions, both by sending gifts to the Jewish sanctuary and by causing the daily sacrifice to be

up in his name. Augustus renewed the edicts which Julius Cresar had promulgated in behalf of the Jews His Edicts, living at Cyrene and in Asia Minor, granting them perfect freedom of wor-

offered

sanctioning the collection of

ship,

money

for the

Temple, and proclaiming as inviolable their sacred books and synagogues (Josephus, "Ant. "xvi. 6, §§ 1-7). Particular regard was paid to their Sabbath neither on that day, nor on its eve after the ninth hour, could the Jews be required to appear in court; while in Rome, if a public distribution of corn occurred on a Sabbath, needy Jews were entitled to claim their share on the day following. The contemporary Jewish population of Rome was quite considerable, as appears beyond question from the several synagogues the origin of which may be traced to the Augustan age. To one synagogue the name " of the Augustesians " (awayay Avyvarijaiuv) was given, in honor of the emperor.

The

friendship between

Augustus and Herod the

Great began after the victory at Actium (Sept. 2, 31 B.C.), which rendered the former sole ruler of the Roman domain. Herod lost no time in passing over to the side of the victor, to whom he proffered all