The Toleration And Persecution Of The Jews In The Roman Empire PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ... considered as a pious duty and not the fulfillment of an unjust demand on the part of the procurator. In taking a retrospective glance at the condition of the Jews in the Roman Empire, during the reigns of Julius Caesar and Augustus, we have found that upon the whole it was a period of marked toleration. From a political standpoint, despite the occasional oppression of the procurators, despite the fact that the new form of government necessarily undermined some of the precepts of the Law and brought about a natural conflict between the ambitious aims of Jews and Romans, the former, nevertheless, enjoyed a considerable measure of freedom in self-administration and as a close analysis of events has shown, the advantages of Roman rule overbalanced its disadvantages. Although the Roman authorities had a perfect right to interfere in the legislation and in the administration of the law in non-autonomous communities, they took but little advantage of this right in the case of Judaea.1 In fact, many concessions from the point of view of law were granted to the Jews. In one case the Jews were given the privilege of proceeding against Roman citizens according to Jewish law. If at any time one who was not a Jew intruded into the inner courts of the Temple, in Jerusalem, he could be sentenced to death by the Jewish court, even though he were a Roman.2 The subjecting of Roman citizens to the laws of a foreign city was regarded as an extraordinary concession, and, as a rule, was given only to those communities which were recognized as liberae.1 The Sanhedrin, moreover, was given the right to try Jews from different parts of the empire, even if the offense had not been committed in Judaea, and was purely a question of religious belief.2 In more than...