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The Church History of Eusebius
Chapter VI.--The Misfortunes which overwhelmed the Jews after their Presumption against Christ.
1. After the death of Tiberius, Caius received the empire, and, besides innumerable other acts of tyranny against many people, he greatly afflicted especially the whole nation of the Jews. 1 These things we may learn briefly from the words of Philo, who writes as follows: 2
2. "So great was the caprice of Caius in his conduct toward all, and especially toward the nation of the Jews. The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities, 3 and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself (for in permitting others to erect them he really erected them himself). The temple in the holy city, which had hitherto been left untouched, and had been regarded as an inviolable asylum, he altered and transformed into a temple of his own, that it might be called the temple of the visible Jupiter, the younger Caius." 4
3. Innumerable other terrible and almost indescribable calamities which came upon the Jews in Alexandria during the reign of the same emperor, are recorded by the same author in a second work, to which he gave the title, On the Virtues. 5 With him agrees also Josephus, who likewise indicates that the misfortunes of the whole nation began with the time of Pilate, and with their daring crimes against the Saviour. 6
4. Hear what he says in the second book of his Jewish War, where he writes as follows: 7 "Pilate being sent to Judea as procurator by Tiberius, secretly carried veiled images of the emperor, called ensigns, 8 to Jerusalem by night. The following day this caused the greatest disturbance among the Jews. For those who were near were confounded at the sight, beholding their laws, as it were, trampled under foot. For they allow no image to be set up in their city."
5. Comparing these things with the writings of the evangelists, you will see that it was not long before there came upon them the penalty for the exclamation which they had uttered under the same Pilate, when they cried out that they had no other king than Caesar. 9
6. The same writer further records that after this another calamity overtook them. He writes as follows: 10 "After this he stirred up another tumult by making use of the holy treasure, which is called Corban, 11 in the construction of an aqueduct three hundred stadia in length. 12
7. The multitude were greatly displeased at it, and when Pilate was in Jerusalem they surrounded his tribunal and gave utterance to loud complaints. But he, anticipating the tumult, had distributed through the crowd armed soldiers disguised in citizen's clothing, forbidding them to use the sword, but commanding them to strike with clubs those who should make an outcry. To them he now gave the preconcerted signal from the tribunal. And the Jews being beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, while many others were trampled under foot by their own countrymen in their flight, and thus lost their lives. But the multitude, overawed by the fate of those who were slain, held their peace."
8. In addition to these the same author records 13 many other tumults which were stirred up in Jerusalem itself, and shows that from that time seditions and wars and mischievous plots followed each other in quick succession, and never ceased in the city and in all Judea until finally the siege of Vespasian overwhelmed them. Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes which they dared to commit against Christ.
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Caius' hostility to the Jews resulted chiefly (as mentioned above, chap. 5, note 4) from their refusal to pay him divine honors, which he demanded from them as well as from his other subjects. His demands had caused terrible disturbances in Alexandria; and in Jerusalem, where he commanded the temple to be devoted to his worship, the tumult was very great and was quieted only by the yielding of the emperor, who was induced to give up his demands by the request of Agrippa, who was then at Rome and in high favor with him. Whether the Jews suffered in the same way in Rome we do not know, but it is probable that the emperor endeavored to carry out the same plan there as elsewhere. ↩
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Philo, Legat. ad Caium, 43. ↩
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en tais allais polesi. The reason for the use of the word "other" is not quite clear, though Philo perhaps means all the cities except Jerusalem, which he mentions a little below. ↩
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"Caius the younger,' to distinguish him from Julius Caesar who bore the name Caius, and who was also deified" (Valesius). ↩
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This work is probably the same as that mentioned in the beginning of chap. 5. (See chap. 5, note 1.) The work seems to have borne two titles he presbeia and peri areton. See Schürer, ibid. p. 859, who considers the deutero here the addition of a copyist, who could not reconcile the two different titles given by Eusebius. ↩
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This is rather an unwarranted assumption on the part of Eusebius, as Josephus is very far from intimating that the calamities of the nation were a consequence of their crimes against our Saviour. ↩
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Josephus, B. J. II. 9. 2. ↩
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semaiai kalountai ↩
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John xix. 15. ↩
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Josephus, B. J. II. 9. 4. ↩
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Heb. qrbn; Greek korban and korbanas. The word denoted originally any offering to God, especially an offering in fulfillment of a vow. The form korbanas, which Josephus has employed here, was used to denote the sacred treasure or the treasury itself. In Matt. xxvii. 6, the only place where this form of the word occurs in the New Testament, it is used with the latter meaning. Upon this act of Pilate's, see above, chap. 5, note 9. ↩
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Josephus, in Ant. XVIII. 3. 2, says that the aqueduct was 200 stadia long. In the passage which Eusebius quotes the number given is 400, according to the Greek mss. of Josephus, though the old Latin translation agrees with Eusebius in reading 300. The situation of the aqueduct we do not know, though the remains of an ancient aqueduct have been found to the south of Jerusalem, and it is thought that this may have been the same. It is possible that Pilate did not construct a new aqueduct, but simply restored one that had been built in the time of Solomon. Schultz (Jerusalem, Berlin, 1845) suggests the number 40, supposing that the aqueduct began at Bethlehem, which is 40 stadia from Jerusalem. ↩
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See B. J. II. 10, 12 sqq. ↩
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Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία
Ϛ Ὅσα Ἰουδαίοις συνερρύη κακὰ μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τόλμαν.
[2.6.1] μετὰ δὲ τὴν Τιβερίου τελευτὴν Γάϊον τὴν ἀρχὴν παρειληφότα, πολλὰ μὲν εἰς πολλοὺς καὶ ἄλλα ἐνυβρίσαι, πάντων δὲ μάλιστα τὸ πᾶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος οὐ σμικρὰ καταβλάψαι· ἃ καὶ ἐν βραχεῖ πάρεστιν διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ καταμαθεῖν φωνῶν, ἐν αἷς κατὰ λέξιν ταῦτα γράφει· [2.6.2] «τοσαύτη μὲν οὖν τις ἡ τοῦ Γαΐου περὶ τὸ ἦθος ἦν ἀνωμαλία πρὸς ἅπαντας, διαφερόντως δὲ πρὸς τὸ Ἰουδαίων γένος, ὧι χαλεπῶς ἀπεχθανόμενος τὰς μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις πόλεσιν προσευχάς, ἀπὸ τῶν κατ' Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἀρξάμενος, σφετερίζεται, καταπλήσας εἰκόνων καὶ ἀνδριάντων τῆς ἰδίας μορφῆς, ὁ γὰρ ἑτέρων ἀνατιθέντων ἐφιείς, αὐτὸς ἱδρύετο δυνάμει, τὸν δ' ἐν τῆι ἱεροπόλει νεών, ὃς λοιπὸς ἦν ἄψαυστος, ἀσυλίας ἠξιωμένος τῆς πάσης, μεθηρμόζετο καὶ μετεσχημάτιζεν εἰς οἰκεῖον ἱερόν, ἵνα Διὸς Ἐπιφανοῦς Νέου χρηματίζηι Γαΐου». [2.6.3] μυρία μὲν οὖν ἄλλα δεινὰ καὶ πέρα πάσης διηγήσεως ὁ αὐτὸς κατὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν συμβεβηκότα Ἰουδαίοις ἐπὶ τοῦ δηλουμένου ἐν δευτέρωι συγγράμματι ὧν ἐπέγραψεν «Περὶ ἀρετῶν» ἱστορεῖ· συνάιδει δ' αὐτῶι καὶ ὁ Ἰώσηπος, ὁμοίως ἀπὸ τῶν Πιλάτου χρόνων καὶ τῶν κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος τετολμημένων τὰς κατὰ παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους ἐνάρξασθαι σημαίνων συμφοράς. [2.6.4] ἄκουε δ' οὖν οἷα καὶ οὗτος ἐν δευτέρωι τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου αὐταῖς συλλαβαῖς δηλοῖ λέγων· «πεμφθεὶς δὲ εἰς Ἰουδαίαν ἐπίτροπος ὑπὸ Τιβερίου Πιλᾶτος νύκτωρ κεκαλυμμένας εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα παρεισκομίζει τὰς Καίσαρος εἰκόνας· σημαῖαι καλοῦνται. τοῦτο μεθ' ἡμέραν μεγίστην ταραχὴν ἤγειρεν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις. οἵ τε γὰρ ἐγγὺς πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν ἐξεπλάγησαν, ὡς πεπατημένων αὐτοῖς τῶν νόμων· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀξιοῦσιν ἐν τῆι πόλει δείκηλον τίθεσθαι». [2.6.5] ταῦτα δὲ συγκρίνας τῆι τῶν εὐαγγελίων γραφῆι, εἴσηι ὡς οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν αὐτοὺς μετῆλθεν ἣν ἔρρηξαν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ Πιλάτου φωνήν, δι' ἧς οὐκ ἄλλον ἢ μόνον ἔχειν ἐπεβόων Καίσαρα βασιλέα. [2.6.6] εἶτα δὲ καὶ ἄλλην ἑξῆς ὁ αὐτὸς συγγραφεὺς ἱστορεῖ μετελθεῖν αὐτοὺς συμφορὰν ἐν τούτοις· «μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ταραχὴν ἑτέραν ἐκίνει, τὸν ἱερὸν θησαυρόν, καλεῖται δὲ κορβανᾶς, εἰς καταγωγὴν ὑδάτων ἐξαναλίσκων· κατήιει δὲ ἀπὸ τριακοσίων σταδίων. πρὸς τοῦτο τοῦ πλήθους ἀγανάκτησις ἦν, καὶ τοῦ Πιλάτου παρόντος εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, [2.6.7] περιστάντες ἅμα κατεβόων. ὁ δὲ προήιδει γὰρ αὐτῶν τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ τῶι πλήθει τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐνόπλους, ἐσθήσεσιν ἰδιωτικαῖς κεκαλυμμένους, ἐγκαταμίξας καὶ ξίφει μὲν χρήσασθαι κωλύσας, ξύλοις δὲ παίειν τοὺς κεκραγότας ἐγκελευσάμενος, σύνθημα δίδωσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος. τυπτόμενοι δὲ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι πολλοὶ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πληγῶν, πολλοὶ δὲ ὑπὸ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἐν τῆι φυγῆι καταπατηθέντες ἀπώλοντο, πρὸς δὲ τὴν συμφορὰν τῶν ἀνηιρημένων καταπλαγὲν τὸ πλῆθος ἐσιώπησεν.» [2.6.8] ἐπὶ τούτοις μυρίας ἄλλας ἐν αὐτοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις κεκινῆσθαι νεωτεροποιίας ὁ αὐτὸς ἐμφαίνει, παριστὰς ὡς οὐδαμῶς ἐξ ἐκείνου διέλιπον τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν ἅπασαν στάσεις καὶ πόλεμοι καὶ κακῶν ἐπάλληλοι μηχαναί, εἰς ὅτε τὸ πανύστατον ἡ κατὰ Οὐεσπασιανὸν αὐτοὺς μετῆλθεν πολιορκία. Ἰουδαίους μὲν οὖν ὧν κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τετολμήκασιν, ταύτηι πηι τὰ ἐκ τῆς θείας μετήιει δίκης·