rfeited by a refusal of the accustomed
tribute. As the payment of this tribute was inflexibly refused by the
Jews, and by them alone, the consideration of the treatment which they
experienced from the Roman magistrates, will serve to explain how far
these speculations are justified by facts, and will lead us to discover
the true causes of the persecution of Christianity.

Without repeating what has already been mentioned of the reverence of
the Roman princes and governors for the temple of Jerusalem, we
shall only observe, that the destruction of the temple and city was
accompanied and followed by every circumstance that could exasperate the
minds of the conquerors, and authorize religious persecution by the most
specious arguments of political justice and the public safety. From the
reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce
impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the
most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the
recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities
of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous
friendship with the unsuspecting natives; [1] and we are tempted to
applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of
the legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous
superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of
the Roman government, but of human kind. [2] The enthusiasm of the Jews
was supported by the opinion, that it was unlawful for them to pay
taxes to an idolatrous master; and by the flattering promise which they
derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah would soon
arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest the favorites of
heaven with the empire of the earth. It was by announcing himself as
their long-expected deliverer, and by calling on all the descendants
of Abraham to assert the hope of Israel, that the famous Barchochebas
collected a formidable army, with which he resisted during two years the
power of the emperor Hadrian. [3]

[Footnote 1: In Cyrene, they massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus,
240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude. Many of these unhappy victims
were sawn asunder, according to a precedent to which David had given the
sanction of his example. The victorious Jews devoured the flesh, licked
up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle round their bodies.
See Dion Cassius, l. lxvii