Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

destruction. The assailants, who had put on rings of palm bark to distinguish one another in the darkness, slew many of them; but at daybreak the archbishop put himself at the head of a large body of the inhabitants, attacked the enemy, killed a number, and expelled the rest from the city. He appropriated their synagogues to the church, and gave up their houses to be plundered by his followers.

It could not be expected that the governor would allow his authority to be thus encroached upon by a turbulent ecclesiastic. He sent a statement of the affair to the emperor, complaining bitterly of the interference of Cyril; but the archbishop sent a counter representation, in which all the blame was thrown upon the Jews. The people pressed him to be reconciled to Orestes, and he made an attempt, but unsuccessfully; upon which he called the monks of Nitria, a fanatical band of savages, to his assistance. Arriving to the number of fifteen hundred, they assaulted the prefect in the street, and loaded him with insults and reproaches, calling him an idolator, who merely made a hypocritical profession of the true faith. He in vain assured them that

he had received baptism at Constantinople; for amidst his protestations, one of the rioters, named Ammonius, struck him on the head with a large stone, and covered him with blood. His guards fled on all sides, afraid of being overwhelmed by numbers; and he might have been torn in pieces by the seditious monks, if the inhabitants of Alexandria, ashamed to see their governor in such a situation, had not interposed to rescue him. The fanatics were driven back to their mountains, and Ammonius was executed; but Cyril having caused his body to be taken up, and transported in solemn procession to the cathedral, panegyrized him from the pulpit as a martyr, who had fallen in the service of the church. Through bribery or bigotry, the imperial court took no notice of the seditious conduct of the archbishop; and it does not appear that the members of the synagogue obtained the restoration of their property.*

*Basnage, book vi. chap. xv. Gibbon, chap. xlviii.

About twenty years after these tumults at Alexandria, an impostor, who was named Moses, appeared among the Jews in Crete, and travelling a whole year through the island, persuaded many of the deluded Israelites to follow him as their leader. He led them to the top of a promontory, and ordered them to cast themselves down into the sea, assuring them that the water would become dry land before them, and open up a safe and easy passage to the promised land. A number of them, who were fanatical enough to obey his absurd injunction, were dashed to pieces against the rocks, or drowned in the waves. Many more would have shared the same fate, had not the crews of some fishing boats, which were on the spot, held up the bodies of the dead persons to convince them of the imposture. They were at last persuaded of the knavery, and wished to revenge themselves upon their deceiver, but he had in the meantime made his escape. Not a few of them, won over by the kindness of the Christian seamen, embraced the true faith.

About the same time, the patriachate of Tiberias expired in the person of Gamaliel; who was either deprived by Theodosius* of the honorary title of prefect, given him by former sovereigns; or, as some think, obliged to relinquish even the appellation of patriarch itself. If he retained the latter, he left no successor to whom he might transmit it; and thus the office ended, after a continuance of nearly three centuries.

* The ground of this imperial edict was the connivance of the patriarch at the erection of new synagogues, in opposition to the law of the empire.

115

CHAPTER X.

Wise Policy of the Ostrogothic Kings of Italy-Persecuting Edicts of Justinian-Dissension between the Rabbis and the People-Simeon of Emesa-The internal Slave-trade of Europe in the hands of the JewsConduct of Gregory the Great towards them-Rebellion of Meir against the Persian King, and consequent Persecution of the Babylonian Jews -Embassy of the Jews of Palestine to Nushirwan-Taking of Jerusalem by Chosroes II., and Massacre of the Christian Inhabitants by the Jews-Recovery of the City by Heraclius.-From A D. 530 to A. D. 610.

On the extinction of the Western Empire, Odoacer, a fortunate general in the service of Rome, assumed the title of King of Italy. After a reign of fourteen years, being defeated by Theodoric, ruler of the Ostrogoths, he was put to death by order of the conqueror, who founded a dynasty of Gothic sovereigns in Italy. He divided a third part of the country among his victorious soldiers, but ever afterwards administered the law with strict impartiality; striving by his wisdom and justice to make his subjects forget that they were ruled by a barbarian. During his reign, Italy enjoyed a peace and prosperity to which it had been a stranger in the declining years of the empire. He was an Arian, but he tolerated the orthodox faith, and the Jews shared the blessings of his wise administration. He told them, indeed, that they seemed far more anxious for temporal prosperity than for eternal happiness; but he judiciously endeavored, by his impartial government, to assist them in acquiring the former; and did not, like many bigoted princes before and since, attempt by persecution to force them to embrace that creed, which he believed to be the only means of obtaining the latter. He repressed the forward zeal of the Christians at Rome, Milan, and Genoa, where the synagogues had been plundered or burnt; and commanded restitution to be made to the sufferers. His prudent maxims

were probably adopted by his successors; for we find that when Belisarius, the general of the Emperor Justinian, invaded Italy, the Jewish merchants of Naples stirred up the inhabitants to make a desperate resistance to the Roman army. The siege lasted twenty days; and the Israelites, who defended the quarter next the sea, fought with distinguished bravery. But a secret passage into the city being pointed out to the imperial commander, a chosen body of his troops made good their entrance at the dead of night. He is said, by some authors, to have given strict orders that the lives of the people should be spared; but other writers affirm that a general massacre took place, without regard to age or sex; and, if these accounts be correct, we may be sure that especial cruelty would be shown towards the Jews, as the authors of that resistance which had detained the invaders so long under the walls. Though Belisarius was recalled before he had completed the conquest of Italy, he obtained an able successor in Narses, who destroyed the Ostrogothic kingdom in 553, twenty-seven years after the death of Theodoric, its founder.

The Neapolitan Jews had too good reason to make a fierce resistance to the Roman arms, for the condition of their brethren in the Eastern Empire had become very unfavorable. Justin the elder issued a decree which prohibited all unbelievers, whether Heathen, Jews, or Samaritans, from exercising the functions of the magistracy; alleging as a reason, that it was indecorous to allow such persons to pass sentence upon Christians, lay or clerical. The Samaritans had in some measure provoked this severity by more than one instance of sedition, of which the inhabitants of their chief city, Sichem, had been guilty; but neither the Heathens nor the Jews appear to have in any respect forfeited the character of loyal and peaceable subjects. The edict of Justin was far surpassed in severity, by the various ordinances issued by his nephew. Justinian, who had paid considerable attention to the study of theology, was desirous to bring the whole empire into conformity with his religious opinions. "He was, in effect, the pope as well as the em

peror of the Roman world.” * But unhappily the means which he adopted to secure the prevalence of orthodox opinions, were often of the most questionable kind. He endeavored to coerce his subjects into the true faith; he hunted out those who still, with more or less secresy, adhered to Paganism, forcing them to receive baptism; and seventy thousand are said to have been thus obliged to profess Christianity in Asia Minor. He constrained the heretics to embrace orthodoxy, or leave the imperial dominions; and an obstinate congregation of Montanists were burnt in their conventicle, whither they had retired for protection. But the most refined and systematic persecution was directed against the Jews and Samaritans. The latter people were goaded by the oppression they sustained into a desperate rebellion, in which they were headed by an individual, named Julian, who appears to have been a false Messiah. They ravaged the country with fire and sword, destroyed the churches, and murdered or shamefully insulted the clergy. A regular force being sent against them, they were routed in a well-contested engagement, their leader slain, and themselves massacred or sold as slaves. A hundred thousand persons are said to have perished in this revolt; and such of them as survived and escaped slavery, chose to make a profession of the Gospel, rather than have their property confiscated. They still, however, continued in secret to practice their ancient faith; but this dissimulation transpiring, was forbidden by a proclamation of Justin the younger, who had now ascended the throne.

As the Jews are the more immediate subjects of this history, the enactments of Justinian with respect to them require a more explicit mention. He sent orders to the governor of Africa to prohibit the performance of their worship, and to apply the synagogues to the service of the church. The most remarkable consequence of this edict was the conversion of the Jews at Borium, a strong city on the frontiers of the Pentapolis, where there was a splendid

* Milner's History of the Church, cent. vi chap. üii.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »