ALFRED J. CHURCH
THE
S TORY O F TH E LA S T
DAYS
OF J ERUSALEM
THE
STORY OF THE LAST
DAYS
OF JERUSALEM
BY THE
REV. ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF LATIN AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
Author of “Stories from Homer”, etc. <...> In this story I have followed the narrative of Josephus,
making many omissions but no other change of importance. <...> It
did not fall within the scope of my work to estimate his veracity
and trustworthiness; but I may here say that a close acquaintance with his history will not incline the reader to put much
confidence in his narrative on any point where interest or vanity
may have tempted him to depart from the truth. <...> In one matter,
which is of such interest and importance that an account of it
may be given here, he seems to have deliberately falsified history. <...> The passage may be
thus translated.
"Titus is said to have called a council of war, and then
put to it the question whether he ought to destroy so grand a
structure as the Temple. <...> Some thought that a sacred building, more famous than
any that stood upon the earth, ought not to be destroyed. <...> If it
were preserved, it would be a proof of Roman moderation: if
destroyed, it would brand the empire for ever with the stigma of
cruelty. <...> On the other hand there were some, and among these
Titus himself, who considered that the destruction of the Temple was an absolute necessity, if there was to be a complete
eradication of the Jewish and Christian religions. <...> These superstitions, opposed as they were to each other, had sprung from
the same origin; the Christians had come forth from among the
Jews; remove the root and the stem would speedily perish."
In the interest, doubtless, of his Imperial patrons, the
family of Vespasian*, Josephus represents the destruction of the
Temple as having been accomplished against the will of Titus.
*
For a strange instanse of his flattery of this family, see p. 80.
3
The Story of the Last Days of Jerusalem
Preface
I have to express my obligations <...>
The_story_of_the_last_days_of_Jerusalem.pdf
ALFRED J. CHURCH
THE
STORY OF THE LAST
DAYS
OF JERUSALEM
Стр.1
THE
STORY OF THE LAST
DAYS
OF JERUSALEM
BY THE
REV. ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF LATIN AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
Author of “Stories from Homer”, etc.
SIXTH THOUSAND.
LONDON.
SEELEY & CO., ESSEX STREET, STRAND
1889
Стр.2
TO
MARIANNE THORNTON
IN REMEMBRANCE OF MANY KINDNESSES
Стр.3
PREFACE.
In this story I have followed the narrative of Josephus,
making many omissions but no other change of importance. It
did not fall within the scope of my work to estimate his veracity
and trustworthiness; but I may here say that a close acquaintance
with his history will not incline the reader to put much
confidence in his narrative on any point where interest or vanity
may have tempted him to depart from the truth. In one matter,
which is of such interest and importance that an account of it
may be given here, he seems to have deliberately falsified history.
The ingenuity of a German critic, Jacob von Bernays, detected
in the Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus (a Christian writer,
A.D. 350 — 420) a very slightly disguised quotation from one
of the lost books of the History of Tacitus. The passage may be
thus translated.
"Titus is said to have called a council of war, and then
put to it the question whether he ought to destroy so grand a
structure as the Temple.
Some thought that a sacred building, more famous than
any that stood upon the earth, ought not to be destroyed. If it
were preserved, it would be a proof of Roman moderation: if
destroyed, it would brand the empire for ever with the stigma of
cruelty. On the other hand there were some, and among these
Titus himself, who considered that the destruction of the Temple
was an absolute necessity, if there was to be a complete
eradication of the Jewish and Christian religions. These superstitions,
opposed as they were to each other, had sprung from
the same origin; the Christians had come forth from among the
Jews; remove the root and the stem would speedily perish."
In the interest, doubtless, of his Imperial patrons, the
family of Vespasian*, Josephus represents the destruction of the
Temple as having been accomplished against the will of Titus.
* For a strange instanse of his flattery of this family, see p. 80.
3
Стр.4
The Story of the Last Days of Jerusalem
Preface
I have to express my obligations to Dean Milman's
History of the Jews, and to the article, "Jerusalem," by Mr.
Ferguson, in the Dictionary of the Bible.
A. J. C.
Hadley Green,
November 13th, 1880.
4
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