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IN the next year thofe of Mefopotamia appeared in arms, and in such a manner as made the whole country tremble, which obliged the emperor to fend the famed Lucius Quietus, the greatest general in the whole empire, who flew fuch vaft numbers of them as quelled them for the prefent; but, for Fear they should rife up again after he was gone, Trajan appointed him governor of Palestine, and ordered him to stay there to keep them in awe *.

Massacre THIS did not hinder those that were settled in Cyprus, an of the Cy-inland formerly described †, from making a much more dreadpriots. ful infurrection, in which their own authors make no fcruple

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to increase the number of the maffacred, instead of leffening it; though others, both Pagans and Christians make it to have amounted to two hundred and forty thousand inhabitants (U).

HOWEVER, this obliged Trajan to fend his head general Adrian against them, who, with fome difficulty, fubdued them; after which an edict was published, exprefly forbid

expresly

ding

EUSEB. in Chronic. Jud. Hift. 1 iv. c. z, & feq. XIPHIL. ex Dion. lib. Ixviii. OROSIUS, & alib. + See Anc. Hift. vol. viii. p. 236, & feq. f D10, EUSEB. ub. fup.

which we have fpoken in our
Ancient History †. Some of
the talmudists abfurdly place
this maffacre under Adrian; and
add, that he destroyed more
Jews by half at this time in
Egypt, than ever came out of it
under Mofes which, accord-
ing to the calculation we have
formerly made of thefe (*), muft
have amounted to feveral mil-
lions: but this is a Jewish exag-
geration not worth confuting.

(U) They tell us, that the re-
port they heard of other infur-
rections in different parts of the
empire, encouraged thofe of Go-
phri, fo they call that ifland (29),
to fall upon the Cypriots with
fuch fury,that they did not leave
one of them alive. Some authors

have imagined, that Egypt, and not Cyprus, was the fcene of this horrid maffacre, by fuppofing an error in the Hebrew.

occafioned בג'פרי inftead of

by the likenefs of the and 7, the r and d. But, without giving way to fuch improbable conjectures, we have proofs enough in the Acts of the apoftles of the Jews being very powerful and rich in that island, which was the native place of St. Barnabas; which is also confirmed by Heathen, as well as Chriftian, writers; particularly Dio, who tells us, that having appointed one Artemion their general, they flew 240,000 inhabitants: on which account they were forbid ever to come

(†) See Ancient Hift. vol. x. p. 317, & (M). (*) Ibid vol. iii. p. 392, fub note 448, & feq. & alib. (29) Gantz, ub fup. p. 102. Zaccbyt, in Fuckafim,

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ding the Jews to fet foot in that ifland, under the feverest penalties. Which edict was so severely kept, as we observed in the last note, that it was a very long while before we meet with any fettled there.

3. THE next infurrection was raised under their falfe The false meffiah Caziba, or, as he ftiled himself, Barchocheba; who, Meiah taking the advantage of the heart-burnings which then reigned Barcho. among the Jews, on account of Adrian's having fent a colony chab. to rebuild Jerufalem, which he defigned to adorn after the Roman style, and to call by his name Elia (to which the Jewish writers add another, and much greater cause of difcontent; viz. his having forbid the Jews to circumcise their children), fet himself up as head of their nation, and proclaimed himself their long-expected meffiah (W). He was His origin. one of those banditti that infested Judea, and committed all kinds of violence against the Romans, and was become fo powerful by this time, that he was chofen king of the Jews, or, according to their own writers, fucceeded his father and grandfather in that dignity (X), and was by then acknow

into that island; and that they even killed all those who were driven thither by bad weather. Eufebius (30) is no lefs particular about it, and only confines the maffacre to the capital of that island; tho' 'tis hard to guefs how Salamis fhould have been able to contain fuch a number of people (31); and it is more likely to have extended to all the Cypriots in general (32).

(W) We avoid for brevity's fake mentioning feveral other impoftors that had appeared before him; fome under the title of Meffiah, others only his forerunner. Gamaliel mentions two who had come to an untimely end a little before his time (33). Origen ranks Simon Magus and Dofitheus among that number. They were both Samaritans; and the latter is faid to have been

leged

mafter to the former. It doth not indeed appear from St. Luke that Simon took on him the direct character of the Meffiah, but only of a man endowed with fome fupernatural power from God (34). However, these and feveral others we pafs by, were fignal impoftors, of which these two centuries were very pregnant; most of whom, being difciples of Judah, the Gauenite fpoken of in a former part (t), did ftill infpirit the Jews with hopes that the deliverer would foon appear, and so stirred them up to fresh rebellions.

(X) These pretend, that Coziba I. and grandfather to this we are upon, was raised by the Jews to that title fifty-two years after the ruin of the temple, and died at Bither, a city near Jerufalem, and the then

(30) Chron. & Hift. lib. iv. (31) De bac vide Are. Hift. wol. viii. p. 244, & feq. (32) See Bajnag. Hift. des Juifs. I. vii. c. 11. §. 24. (33) Ats v. 36, & feq. (34) Ibid. viii. 9. (†) Anc. Hift. vol. x. p. 467 (G). 477, & 529 (V).

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leged their meffiah. However, to facilitate the fuccefs of this bold enterprise, he changed his name into that of Barchochab, or Barchocheba; alluding to the ftar foretold by Balaam 3. 2. He pretended to be a ftar fent from heaven, to restore his nation to its antient liberty and glory (Y). Precurfor. And, 3. Chofe for his precurfor the famed Akiba, of whom we have spoke at the beginning of this chapter +; who, being then in high repute among the Jews, as chief of their Sanhedrim, declared him to be the ftar that was to arife out of Makes Bi- Jacob. The perfecution which they had suffered under Adrian ther his re- had fo far paved the way for these two impoftors, that they fidence. quickly raised an army, out of their own nation, of 200,000 men, of prodigious ftrength and courage, and made Bither the place of their retreat, and the capital of this new kingdom (Z).

Declares

war a

gainst Adrian, A.

C. 134

HERE Barchochab was anointed king, and caused fome money to be coined with his name, by which he proclaimed himfelf the meffiah and prince of the Jewish nation; but deferred declaring war against the Romans, till Adrian had quitted Egypt; fo that it did not break out till the 17th year of that emperor's reign, as a late author hath plainly shewn ". Adrian feems at firft to have neglected this new revolt; and as the Jews had been fo effectually humbled by his prede

8 Numb. xxiv. 17. fup. & Auct. ab eo ætat.

P. 127, fub not. h Vid. BASNAG. ub.

capital of his kingdom. He
was fucceeded by his fon Rob
or Rov; and afterwards by his
grandfon Romulus, furnamed Co-
ziba, who, according to them,
was afterwards put to death by
his own men, because he was
wanting in one main characte-
ritic of the Meffiah; viz. the
difcerning a guilty perfon by
the smell (35). These make
the reigns of the three Coziba's
to have laited twenty-one years,
or even beyond; whereas the
ancient chronicle makes no
mention of the two former, and
allows but two years and half's
reign to the latter; and is, in

all probability, the most to be depended upon (36).

(Y) For proof of which, he was wont to vomit fire and fmoke out of his mouth when he spoke, to amuse the populace.

(Z) We have already spoken of this city, and its numerous academy. St. Jerom calls it Betkoron; and both he and Eufebius place it in the neighbourhood of Jerufalem. However there were two towns of that name; viz. this about twelve miles, and another about fiftytwo, from that metropolis (*).

(35) Seder Olam, cap. 31. vid. & Gemar. tract. Sanhedr. c. 11. R. Abr. Cabbala. Hift. Gamiz, ub. fup. ad an. 388. p. 102. (36) See Bafnage, ub. fup. !. vi. c. 12. §. 11. (*) Eufeb. & Jerom, loc. Hebraic. See alfo Ane. Hift. vol. . 277 (B), &c. 394.

ceffor,

ceffor, he would hardly imagine they could be fo foon in a condition to make head against him. But when he found what fhoals of banditti, and other ftraggling Jews flocked to Barchochab, he thought fit to fend Tinnius Rufus, with a strong Bither bereinforcement, against them; though they did not prove fuf- fieged and ficient to prevent the impoftor's gaining great advantages taken. over him, and maffacring all the converted Jews, as well as Romans and Chriftians, that came in his way. At length Julius Severus, who was then in England, and was one of the greatest generals of his age, was fent against them; who, not thinking it fafe to engage fo vaft and powerful an army, contented himself with defeating them by parties, by which means he did at length fo inclose them as to cut off all fupply of provifions, and went and laid fiege to Bither. The befieged made a ftout defence, and Triphon, a famed rabbi, was put to death for having proposed to furrender the place; but it was at length forced to it by the death of Barchochab, Its dreadwho had been killed in it; after which followed a moft dread- ful fate. ful flaughter of the Jews, infomuch that their writers affirm, that a far greater number of them perished than at first came out of Egypt; and the scholars, who had defended it fo gallantly, though with no other weapons than their writing pencils, were flung by thoufands into the flames, with their books tied about them (A). As for Akiba, after a very fevere imprisonment, he was condemned to a cruel death; and

(A) The Jews add, that when the head of the impoftor was brought to Adrian, he expreffed a defire of feeing his body; but that, when they came to take it up, they found a ferpent twined about the neck; which fo fcared them, that the emperor, being told of it, declared, that God alone was able to kill fuch a man. But that did not hinder his cheat from being found out at laft; upon which account they changed his name into that of Barchozab, or the fon of impoftor or lie.

They add, that the maffacre was fo dreadful and univerfal, that they found upon one fingle ftone the fculls of above 300

children, which had been dash-
ed against it: the brooks were
fo fwelled with the blood of the
flain, that they carried large
ftones quite into the fea, though
at four miles diftance from it;
and the ground round about was
fo inriched with the carcafes
of the flain, that it wanted no
manuring for seven years. In
memory of this, the Jews ap-
pointed a kind of mournful
hymn to be used on the 18th
day of the moth Ab, anfwer-
ing to our July and August, in
which they styled Adrian a fe-
cond Nebuchadnezzar, and pray
to God to remember that ty-
rant, who deftroyed 480 fyna-
gogues (37).

(37) Vid. Lent, de Judeor, Pfeudo-Mess. p. 17, & feq. Bafnag, ub. jup.

with him, the Jews tell us, died the glory of the Jewish law (B)... Number of THE Romans, on the other hand, loft a vast number of flair, &c. their own troops; and, if we may believe their own authors, it was one of the bloodiest wars they ever waged. Five hundred and eighty thousand were killed on the Jews fide, befides vaft multitudes of others which perished by famine, fire, and other calamities ; which could not be done without great loffes on the enemy's fide; the former being ever known to fight most desperately, and felling their lives at a dear rate. Befides, at the taking of the city of Bither, they had ftill fifty ftrong caftles well garrifoned. However, upon the death of their chiefs the reft made but faint efforts; and the war came foon to an end.

Jerufalem

ADRIAN took the advantage of this peaceful interval rebuilt, for finishing his design of rebuilding Jerufalem. We have A.C. 137. formerly taken notice of the difference between this new city and the old one, with refpect to its cincture †, though, in the main, the old foundations were still made ufe of for it. This defign was carried on, not in favour of the Jews, who might the rather have been induced to new revolts, had they been allowed to fettle in it. It was defigned, on the contrary, to mortify and humble them, by rearing so many heathenish ftructures, as should make them abhor coming into it (C); befides a fevere edict of that prince, which exprefly

i Dio in Adrian. p. 263. Anc. Hift. vol. ii. p. 473.

(B) He had his flesh torn off with iron combs (38). Lightfoot mentions him as the only confiderable person that fuffered in this maffacre (39), though a good number of others, no lefs celebrated, were likewife put to cruel deaths; particularly Judah the fon of Bava, who, notwithstanding the emperor's orders against filling up the va. cant places of the fanhedrin, did appoint five doctors into that body, and, among them, the famed R. Meir; who, tho'

HIDRON, Chr. p. 168.

+ See

all the reft deferted the place, yet ftood firm till he had received fome hundreds of wounds in his body (40).

(C) Accordingly we find, that he ordered the ancient monuments to be demolished, and a theatre and other public buildings to be built of the materials. Some of the stately ftones of the temple were likewife put to the fame profane ufe; and, in their room, ftatues of the heathen gods and goddeffes were fet up in that holy place, and

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(38) Min. in Sota. (39) Chronic. Temp. v. & vi, tom. xi. p. 144. De bis vid. Mifb. ub. fup. Gemar, trail. fanbedr. Bartoloq, tom. Wagens. in Sota. Bafnag. & al,

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