“Thou living wonder of Jehovah’s word! Thou, that without a priest or sacrifice, Ephod or temple, lone ’mid human-kind, Cleavest to thy statutes with unswerving mind, As though enthroned upon His mercy-seat, The spreading of the cherubim between, Jehovah still were seen! Hebrew, come forth! dread not the light of day, Dread not the insulter’s cry; The arch[30] that rose o’er thy captivity No more shall turn thee from thy destined way.” ——“It comes—the appointed hour; Hebrew, beneath the arch of Titus pause! And in the closing scene of Rome’s last power, Thy prophet’s roll unfold. Lift up thy voice!—the day-spring from on high Warns that the hour draws nigh: The far seas and the multitude of isles, All in their tongues have heard, Each lisps the living word; Hebrew, on thee redemption’s angel smiles. The stone cut out without a hand Now spreads its shade o’er earth, And shall to heaven expand. Tell the dispersed; kings with their fleets shall come To bear the wanderers home, Their queens shall fold thy nurselings on their breast, A light o’er earth shall flow, From Zion’s hallowed brow, And there the Lord thy God, enthroned in glory, rest.”[31] ----- [25] In the Sotterania a monument, purporting to be that of Gaudentius, the architect of the Coliseum, has been discovered. It appears from the inscription that he was beheaded by Vespasian for being a Christian. The name of this martyr is the only one connected with the martyrology of the period; but as Vespasian put to death many of the descendants of David, some of these may have been Christians. [26] Neither the charge nor the time of the former trial are known. [27] Unchastity in the vestal was called incest. [28] See Appendix, Note XIII. [29] See Appendix, Note XIV. [30] The Jews never pass under the arch of Titus; to this day they go out of their direct way to avoid it. [31] Sotheby. A P P E N D I X. NOTE I. “Nero arrived at Corinth, and was there surprised to see by what a narrow isthmus the two seas were separated. The project of piercing through the land, and forming a navigable canal to connect the two seas, (the Ionian and Ægean,) and render it unnecessary for mariners to sail round the Peloponnesus, struck his fancy, and fired him with ideas of immortal fame. The Greeks opposed the design, and endeavoured to dissuade him from undertaking it. The language of superstition was, that to attempt to join what had been severed for ages would be an impious violation of the laws of nature.