BOOK XVIII.

BARCOCHАВ.

Character of the Ensuing History-Re-establishment of Jewish Communities-Origin and Growth of Rabbinism-History to the Time of Trajan-Insurrections in Egypt, Cyrene, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Palestine-Rabbi Akiba-Barcochab--Fall of Bither.

THE political existence of the Jewish nation was annihilated; it was never again recognised as one of the states or kingdoms of the world. Judæa was sentenced to be portioned out to strangersthe capital was destroyed-the temple demolished -the royal house almost extinct-the high priesthood buried under the ruins of the Temple. Our history has lost, as it were, its centre of unity; we have to trace a despised and obscure race in almost every region of the world; and connect, as we can, the loose and scattered details of their story. We are called back, indeed, for a short time to Palestine, to relate new scenes of revolt, ruin, and persecution; we behold the formation of two separate spiritual states, under the authority of which the whole nation seems to range itself in willing obedience; but in later periods we must wander over the whole face of the habitable globe to gather the scanty traditions which mark the existence of the Jewish people among the different states of Asia, Africa, and Europe-where, refusing still to mingle their blood with any other race of mankind, they dwell in their distinct families and communities, and still maintain, though sometimes long and utterly unconnected with each other, the principle of national unity. Jews in the indelible features of the countenance, in mental character, in customs, usages, and laws, in language, and literature, above all in religion; in the recollections of the past, and in the hopes of

the future; with ready pliancy they accommodate themselves to every soil, every climate, every gradation of manners and civilization, every form of government; with inflexible pertinacity they practise their ancient usages, circumcision, abstinence from unclean meats, eating no animal food which has not been killed by a Jew; rarely intermarry, except among each other; observe the fasts and festivals of their church; and assemble wherever they are numerous enough, or dare to do so, in their synagogues for public worship. Denizens everywhere, rarely citizens; even in the countries in which they have been the longest and most firmly established, they appear, to a certain degree, strangers or sojourners; they dwell apart, though mingling with their neighbours in many of the affairs of life. For common purposes they adopt the language of the country they inhabit; but the Hebrew remains the national tongue, in which their holy books are read, and their religious services conducted-it is their literary and sacred language, as Latin was that of the Christian church in the dark ages.

The history of the modern Jews may be comprehended under three heads: 1st, Their literature, which, in fact, is nearly the same with that of their law and their religion, the great mass of their writings being entirely devoted to those subjects: 2. Their persecutions: 3. Their industry. With regard to the first point, it would not be consistent with the popular character of our work to enter into it, further than as it has influenced the character and circumstances of the nation. The second will be too often forced upon our notice: at one pe