Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and IITacitus, Cornelius
History
Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II
Tacitus, Cornelius
Rome -- History -- Civil War, 68-69; Rome -- History -- Flavians, 69-96
Such was the city and such the people with which Titus was faced. As
the nature of the ground forbade a sudden assault, he determined to
employ siege-works and penthouse shelters. The work was accordingly
divided among the legions, and there was a truce to fighting until
they had got ready every means of storming a town that had ever been
devised by experience or inventive ingenuity.
FOOTNOTES:
[460] A.D. 70.
[461] See ii. 4; iv. 51.
[462] XXII Deiotariana and III Cyrenaica.
[463] Cp. ii. 4.
[464] There seems little to recommend Tacitus' theory of the
identity of the Idaei and Judaei, though it has been suggested
that the Cherethites of 2. Sam. viii. 18 and Ezek. xxv. 16 are
Cretans, migrated into the neighbourhood of the Philistines.
The Jewish Sabbath (Saturn's day) seems also to have suggested
connexion with Saturn and Crete.
[465] Elsewhere the Idaei figure as supernatural genii in
attendance on either Jupiter or Saturn.
[466] Ethiopian here means Phoenician. Tradition made Cepheus,
the father of Andromeda, king of Joppa.
[467] From Damascus, said Justin, where Abraham was one of
their kings, and Trogus Pompeius adds that the name of Abraham
was honourably remembered at Damascus. These are variants of
the Biblical migration of Abraham.
[468] _Il._ vi. 184; _Od._ v. 282.
[469] Another piece of fanciful philology, based on a
misinterpretation of a Greek transliteration of the name
Jerusalem. The Solymi are traditionally placed in Lycia. Both
Juvenal and Martial use Solymus as equivalent to Judaeus.
[470] The only known King Bocchoris belongs to the eighth
century B.C., whereas the Exodus is traditionally placed not
later than the sixteenth.
[471] See Exod. xvii.
[472] i.e. an ass. The idea that this animal was sacred to the
Jews was so prevalent among 'the Gentiles' that Josephus takes
the trouble to refute it.
[473] Cp. Lev. xvi. 3, 'a young bullock for a sin offering,
and a ram for a burnt offering.' Tacitus' reasons are of
course errors due to the prevalent confusion of Jewish and
Egyptian history.
[474] Cp. Luke xviii. 12, 'I fast twice a week.'
[475] Cp. Deut. v. 15.
[476] Cp. Lev. xxv. 4, '... in the seventh year shall be a
sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the Lord:
thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.'
[477] The seventh day being named after Cronos or Saturn (cp.
chap. 2, note 464).
[478] Reading _commeent_ (Woelfflin).
[479] This refers to proselytes, who, like Jews resident
abroad, contributed annually to the Temple treasury. They
numbered at this time about four millions. Romans naturally
regarded this diversion of funds with disfavour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account