CHAPTER XVII

THE JEWS OF THE EMPIRE TILL THE REVOLT

Footnote 275:

Verg. Ecl. i. 6-7; Georg. i. 503; Horace, Odes, I. ii. 43; Ovid, Ex Ponto, ii. 8.

Footnote 276:

Xen. An. IV. i. 2-3.

Footnote 277:

Cic. ad Att. i. 1.

Footnote 278:

While notoriously corrupt governors like Cotta (130 B.C. E.), Cic. Pro Mur. 58, and Aquilius (126 B.C.E.), Cic. Div. in Caec. 69, were acquitted, a rigidly honest man like Rufus was convicted under such a charge. Dio Cassius, fr. 97.

Footnote 279:

Ditt. Or. inscr. no. 456, l. 35; from Mytilene, 457, 659.

Footnote 280:

The Edict of Caracalla, called the Constitutio Antonina or Antoniniana, has been known in substance for a long time. Recently fragments of its exact words in Greek were discovered in a papyrus (Giessen, Pap. II. (P. Meyer), p. 30 seq): δίδωμι τοῖς συνάπασιν ξένοις τοῖς κατὰ τὴν οἰκονμένην πολίτειαν Ρωμαίων μένοντος παντὸς γένους πολιτευμάτων χωρὶς τῶν δεδειτικίων. The exact effect of the decree is not yet quite clear. It seems evident that the _dediticii_ were excluded.

Footnote 281:

Dio Cassius, xxxvi. 6.

Footnote 282:

Suet. Aug. 93.

Footnote 283:

Josephus, Ant. XIV. x.; XII. iii. 2.

Footnote 284:

The “heterodox Jewish propaganda” is of course Christianity. The success of Paul and other missionaries in Asia Minor is best indicated by the churches of Asia to which Revelations is addressed.

Footnote 285:

Horace, Ep. II. ii. 184. The sumptuous present of Aristobulus, which formed part of Pompey’s triumphal procession, Josephus, Ant. XIV. iii. 1. Pliny, Hist. Nat. XXXVII. ii. 12, must have made the Jewish kings symbols of enormous wealth. None the less, Herod’s unsparing severity toward his own sons was also well known, and it is said to have elicited from Augustus the phrase _mallem Herodis porcus esse quam filius_—Macrob. Sat. II. iv. 11—a jest which, as Reinach points out (Textes, p. 358), is of doubtful authenticity, and certainly not original.

Footnote 286:

Josephus, Ant. XX. iii.

Footnote 287:

Judea herself was free from tribute, but Herod was responsible for certain Arab revenues. Besides, he received from Augustus a number of Greek towns (Josephus, Wars, I. xx. seq.), and his kingdom included further Batanaea south of Damascus, Galilee, and Peraea, the Greek cities across the Jordan and south through Idumaea. All this was held by him as the acknowledged beneficiary of Rome (Josephus, Ant. XV. vi. 7).

Footnote 288:

Josephus, Ant. XV. i. 2.

Footnote 289:

Josephus, Ant. XVII. vi. 6.

Footnote 290:

Cf. ch. XI., n. 15. Cf. also Josephus, Ant. XVII. x.

Footnote 291:

Not merely composed of Herod’s old soldiers (Josephus, Ant. XVII. x. 4). Matt. xxii. 16; Mark iii. 6; xii. 13.

Footnote 292:

Madden, Coins of the Jews. Cf. also Josephus, Ant. XVIII. iii. 1.

Footnote 293:

Josephus, Ant. XX. viii. 11.

Footnote 294:

Josephus, Ant. XX. v. 4.

Footnote 295:

Josephus, Ant. XV. xi. 15.

Footnote 296:

Josephus, Ant. XVI. vii.-viii. seq. The many children of Herod’s ten wives were in almost constant intrigues against him and one another.

Footnote 297:

Strabo, xvi. 755.

Footnote 298:

It is necessary at every point to note the uncertain character of our evidence. The _Historiae Philippicae_ of Pompeius Trogus written under Augustus would have been of inestimable value for us, if we had them in full. But we possess them merely in the summary of Justin (third century?), which gives us all the substance, but little or none of the personality of the writer. And in this case the loss is the more serious because Trogus seems to have had a keener feeling for the dramatic character of events and a broader sympathy than many other ancient historians.

Footnote 299:

Josephus, Ant. XVII. x. 9.

Footnote 300:

This is the Varus made famous in the Teutoburg battle. The insurrection mentioned in the text is the _polemos shel Varos_ of the Seder Olam.

Footnote 301:

Caesar, Bell. Gall. iii. 10.

Footnote 302:

Josephus, Ant. XVII. x. 9.

Footnote 303:

Nicolaus of Damascus, philosopher and historian, was Herod’s principal Greek adviser and the advocate of the Jews in many public controversies. As far as we can judge from fragments, his History of the World, in no less than 114 Books, was a loosely connected compilation rather than a work of literary merit.

Footnote 304:

Josephus, Ant. XVIII. i. 1 and 6.

Footnote 305:

A complete investigation of this subject is contained in Domaszewski, Die Religion des römischen Heeres.

Footnote 306:

Cagnat. in Dar.-Sagl. Dict. des ant. s. v. legio, p. 1084.

Footnote 307:

The signa were actually worshiped by the soldiers. They are the _propria legionum numina_. Tac. Ann. ii. 17. Cf. Cagnat., _op. cit._ p. 1065. Domaszewski, _op. cit._ p. 115.

Footnote 308:

To the sense and tact of this typical Roman official the averting of a crisis in the history of Palestinian Jewry is due. The rebellion which Gaius would undoubtedly have provoked might have dragged other parts of the world with it, and at that time the conditions were less favorable for re-establishment of the empire than in 68 C.E.

Footnote 309:

Josephus, Ant. XVIII. vii. 2.

Footnote 310:

Josephus, Ant. XIX. vi.

Footnote 311:

That Tacitus shows a strong antipathy to the Jews can scarcely be questioned. It is in these chapters (Hist. v. 2. seq.) more than most others, that we are able to see the rhetorical historian of ancient times almost in the act of preparing his narrative. The sources of Tacitus are open to us. That he used Manetho and Apion instead of Josephus and Nicolaus is itself ample indication of the complete lack of conscience with which such a writer could select his evidence according to the thesis he meant to establish.

Footnote 312:

Cagnat. Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pertin. ii. n. 176.

Footnote 313:

Cf. for the Jewish feeling toward him, Jos. Ant. VI. i. 2; Ketub. 17a; Pes. 88b. He is represented as a rigidly observant and pious Jew. However, the boon companion of the young Gaius and the voluptuaries of the imperial court must have undergone an overwhelming change of heart if he was really worthy of the praise lavished upon him.

Footnote 314:

Josephus, Ant. XIX. vii.

Footnote 315:

Josephus, Ant. XX. i. One of the slain rioters is named Hannibal.

Footnote 316:

Josephus, Ant. XX. v.

Footnote 317:

Josephus, Ant. XX. viii.