It was a gay holiday, when the emperor and his son, crowned with laurel and clad in purple, passed in triumph through the crowded streets of Rome. Of the many rich spoils adorning the pageant none were gazed on with more curious eyes than the golden table, the candlestick⑥ with seven branching lamps, and the holy book of the Law, rescued from the flames of the Temple. It was the last page of a tragic story. The Jews- homeless ever since, yet always preserving an indestructible nationality-were scattered among the cities of Earth, to be the Shylocks of a day that is gone by, and the Rothschilds of our own happier age.
- W. F. COLLIER
NOTES
① Perea, a district on the east of the Jordan, extending from the lake of Gennesaret in the north to the river Arnon in the south.
② Rams, catapults, and balistas.-These were the chief military engines used by theRomans. The ram was used to destroy the lower part of the wall. It consisted of a large beam,the trunk of a fir or an ash tree, with a mass of bronze or iron, resembling the head of a ram,fastened to one end. At first the ram was borne in men"s hands; but in its more perfect form it was swung by chains from a transverse beam, and covered with a wooden roof. The balista was used to shoot stones against the battlements. Sometimes the balista threw its missiles to a distance of a quarter of a mile. The more powerful sorts are said to have thrown stones weighing three hundredweight. The catapult was used to shoot darts at any of the besieged that showed themselves on the walls. In form, the catapult was long, the balista nearly square.
③ Tower of Hippicus.-Believed to be the same as the Castle of David, at the north-western corner of Mount Zion.
④ Tower of Antonia, the citadel of Jerusalem, stood at the north-western angle of Mount Moriah. It communicated with the cloisters of the Temple by secret passages. Herod called it Antonia in honour of Mark Antony.
⑤ To grace the Roman triumph.-Seven hundred of the tallest and handsomest of the captive Jews marched in Titus"s triumphal procession, with ropes around their necks.
⑥ The golden table, the candlestick, &c.-As a permanent memorial of his victories, a triumphal arch, the most elegant in Rome, was dedicated to Titus, and completed shortly after his death. The sculpture carved on one side of the. archway, under the arch, represents that part of the procession in which Roman soldiers carried on high the spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem. There may still be distinctly recognised the golden candlestick which stood in the Temple in the time of Christ. The original candlestick used in the Tabernacle, and afterwards transferred to Solomon"s Temple, had been carried off by the Chaldeans in 588 B. C. When the Temple was rebuilt, seventy years later, a new candlestick was made, which corresponded exactly with the original one, as described in Exodus (xxv. 31-40). This candlestick was deposited in Vespasian"s Temple of Peace at Rome, where it remained for nearly four hundred years. It was carried off to Carthage by Genseric and his Vandals, in 455A.D. Belisa"rius carried it from Carthage to Constantinople, in 533. From Constantinople it was sent back to Jerusalem, and placed in a Christian church; but it disappeared thence, when or by whose hands has never been ascertained.
QUESTIONS
Who was sent by Nero to subdue the rebellious Jews? Why did he leave Syria? To whom was the siege of Jerusalem left? How did he dispose his forces around the city? What different factions existed within the city? How were these reduced to two? When did the siege open? At how many points? How did the Romans drive the Jews from the walls? When was the first wall gained? when the second? Who went to the walls to plead with his countrymen? What led many of the Jews to desert the city? What plan did Titus adopt to hem them in more effectually? Against what tower was the attack then directed? How was it gained? To what extremities did the famine drive the besieged? What brought the siege to a sudden crisis? What became a last refuge for the garrison? In how many days was it reduced? How long did the siege last? How many Jews perished? How many were taken captive? What spoils were displayed in the Roman triumph?