itself, so often imaged to the mind of the Jewish people
by the figure of a maiden, a wife, or a widow.

This mystic bride required him to repair to the schools, acquire
knowledge and wisdom, surround himself with disciples; and such, as we
have seen, was the actual policy of the new defenders of Judaism.

The damsel was rebuked by her indignant father; but when, after the
lapse of twelve years, Akiba returned to claim his bride, with twelve
thousand scholars at his heels, he heard her replying that, long as he
had been absent, she only wished him to prolong his stay twice over, so
as to double his knowledge; whereupon he returned patiently to his
studies, and frequented the schools twelve years longer. Twice twelve
years thus passed, he returned once more with twice twelve thousand
disciples, and then his wife received him joyfully, and, covered as she
was with rags, an outcast and a beggar, he presented her to his
astonished followers as the being to whom he owed his wisdom, his fame,
and his fortune.

Such were the legends with which the new learning was consecrated to the
defence of Jewish nationality.

The concentration of the Roman forces on the soil of Palestine seems to
have repressed for a season all overt attempts at insurrection.

The Jewish leaders restrained their followers from action as long as it
was possible to feed their spirit with hopes only. It was not till about
the fourteenth year of Hadrian's reign that the final revolt broke out.

When the Jews of Palestine launched forth upon the war, the doctor
Akiba gave place to the warrior Barcochebas. This gallant warrior, the
last of the national heroes, received or assumed his title, "the Son of
the Star," given successively to several leaders of the Jewish people,
in token of the fanatic expectations of divine deliverance by which his
countrymen did not yet cease to be animated. Many were the legends which
declared this champion's claims to the leadership of the national cause.
His size and strength were vaunted as more than human. "It was the arm
of God, not of man," said Hadrian when he saw at last the corpse
encircled by a serpent, "that could alone strike down the giant." Flame
and smoke were seen to issue from his lips in speaking, a portent which
was rationalized centuries later into a mere conjurer's artifice. The
concourse of the Jewish nation at his summons was symbolized, with a
curious reference to the prevalent idea of Israel as a schoo