They therefore set up
no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this
homage both to their own kings and to the Roman emperors.
no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this
homage both to their own kings and to the Roman emperors.
Tacitus
Another is that they are obstinately loyal to each
other, and always ready to show compassion, whereas they feel nothing
but hatred and enmity for the rest of the world. [480] They eat and
sleep separately. Though immoderate in sexual indulgence, they refrain
from all intercourse with foreign women: among themselves anything is
allowed. [481] They have introduced circumcision to distinguish
themselves from other people. Those who are converted to their customs
adopt the same practice, and the first lessons they learn are to
despise the gods,[482] to renounce their country, and to think nothing
of their parents, children, and brethren. However, they take steps to
increase their numbers. They count it a crime to kill any of their
later-born children,[483] and they believe that the souls of those who
die in battle or under persecution are immortal. [484] Thus they think
much of having children and nothing of facing death. They prefer to
bury and not burn their dead. [485] In this, as in their burial rites,
and in their belief in an underworld, they conform to Egyptian custom.
Their ideas of heaven are quite different. The Egyptians worship most
of their gods as animals, or in shapes half animal and half human. The
Jews acknowledge one god only, of whom they have a purely spiritual
conception. They think it impious to make images of gods in human
shape out of perishable materials. Their god is almighty and
inimitable, without beginning and without end.
They therefore set up
no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this
homage both to their own kings and to the Roman emperors. However, the
fact that their priests intoned to the flute and cymbals and wore
wreaths of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in their temple[486]
has led some people to think that they worship Bacchus,[487] who has
so enthralled the East. But their cult would be most inappropriate.
Bacchus instituted gay and cheerful rites, but the Jewish ritual is
preposterous and morbid.
The country of the Jews is bounded by Arabia on the east, by Egypt 6
on the south, and on the west by Phoenicia and the sea. On the Syrian
frontier they have a distant view towards the north. [488] Physically
they are healthy and hardy. Rain is rare; the soil infertile; its
products are of the same kind as ours with the addition of balsam and
palms. The palm is a tall and beautiful tree, the balsam a mere shrub.
When its branches are swollen with sap they open them with a sharp
piece of stone or crockery, for the sap-vessels shrink up at the touch
of iron. The sap is used in medicine. Lebanon, their chief mountain,
stands always deep in its eternal snow, a strange phenomenon in such a
burning climate. Here, too, the river Jordan has its source[489] and
comes pouring down, to find a home in the sea. It flows undiminished
through first one lake, then another, and loses itself in a
third. [490] This last is a lake of immense size, like a sea, though
its water has a foul taste and a most unhealthy smell, which poisons
the surrounding inhabitants. No wind can stir waves in it: no fish or
sea-birds can live there.
other, and always ready to show compassion, whereas they feel nothing
but hatred and enmity for the rest of the world. [480] They eat and
sleep separately. Though immoderate in sexual indulgence, they refrain
from all intercourse with foreign women: among themselves anything is
allowed. [481] They have introduced circumcision to distinguish
themselves from other people. Those who are converted to their customs
adopt the same practice, and the first lessons they learn are to
despise the gods,[482] to renounce their country, and to think nothing
of their parents, children, and brethren. However, they take steps to
increase their numbers. They count it a crime to kill any of their
later-born children,[483] and they believe that the souls of those who
die in battle or under persecution are immortal. [484] Thus they think
much of having children and nothing of facing death. They prefer to
bury and not burn their dead. [485] In this, as in their burial rites,
and in their belief in an underworld, they conform to Egyptian custom.
Their ideas of heaven are quite different. The Egyptians worship most
of their gods as animals, or in shapes half animal and half human. The
Jews acknowledge one god only, of whom they have a purely spiritual
conception. They think it impious to make images of gods in human
shape out of perishable materials. Their god is almighty and
inimitable, without beginning and without end.
They therefore set up
no statues in their temples, nor even in their cities, refusing this
homage both to their own kings and to the Roman emperors. However, the
fact that their priests intoned to the flute and cymbals and wore
wreaths of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in their temple[486]
has led some people to think that they worship Bacchus,[487] who has
so enthralled the East. But their cult would be most inappropriate.
Bacchus instituted gay and cheerful rites, but the Jewish ritual is
preposterous and morbid.
The country of the Jews is bounded by Arabia on the east, by Egypt 6
on the south, and on the west by Phoenicia and the sea. On the Syrian
frontier they have a distant view towards the north. [488] Physically
they are healthy and hardy. Rain is rare; the soil infertile; its
products are of the same kind as ours with the addition of balsam and
palms. The palm is a tall and beautiful tree, the balsam a mere shrub.
When its branches are swollen with sap they open them with a sharp
piece of stone or crockery, for the sap-vessels shrink up at the touch
of iron. The sap is used in medicine. Lebanon, their chief mountain,
stands always deep in its eternal snow, a strange phenomenon in such a
burning climate. Here, too, the river Jordan has its source[489] and
comes pouring down, to find a home in the sea. It flows undiminished
through first one lake, then another, and loses itself in a
third. [490] This last is a lake of immense size, like a sea, though
its water has a foul taste and a most unhealthy smell, which poisons
the surrounding inhabitants. No wind can stir waves in it: no fish or
sea-birds can live there.
