Chapter XV

REVOLT OF THE JEWS AGAINST TRAJAN AND HIS SUCCESSORS.

Trajan and Asia--Revolt of the Jews--Hadrian--The Jewish
Sibylline Books--The Attempted Rebuilding of the Temple--The
Ordinances of Usha--Bar-Cochba--Akiba's Part in the
War--Bar-Cochba's Victories--Suppression of the Revolt--Siege
and Fall of Bethar.

96-138 C. E.

Nerva had chosen the Spaniard Ulpianus Trajan as his successor. This emperor, who was nearly sixty years old, set about realizing his favorite idea of annexing the territories lying between the Euphrates and Tigris and the Indus and Ganges to the Roman Empire, so as to win laurels similar to those obtained by Alexander the Great. In the Parthian lands he had an easy conquest; for this ancient kingdom--partly of Greek and partly of Persian origin--was torn asunder by the various pretenders to the throne, and offered but little resistance to the conqueror. Only the Jews, who lived in great numbers in this district, under the leadership of the Prince of the Captivity, possessed a certain amount of independence, and offered resistance to the Roman conqueror. The Babylonian Jews beheld in Trajan the descendant of those who had destroyed the Temple and condemned their brethren to miserable slavery, and armed themselves as if for a holy war. The town of Nisibis, which had always possessed a numerous Jewish population, displayed such obstinate resistance that it could be subdued only after a lengthy siege. The district of Adiabene, on the center branch of the Tigris, obeyed a ruler whose ancestors, scarcely a century before, had adopted Judaism. Mebarsapes, who was now on the throne of Adiabene, was, perhaps, also inclined towards Judaism. He fought bravely against Trajan, but was overcome by the Roman forces. Trajan, unlike any of his predecessors, witnessed after a very short space of time the glorious results of his campaign. Conquests seem to have met him half-way. When he withdrew into his winter quarters in Antioch (115-116), in order to receive homage, the chief campaign was almost at an end. In the spring he again set forth, in order to crush any opposition, and to carry into effect the long-cherished plan of conquering the Jews. But hardly had Trajan set out when the conquered people on the twin rivers revolted again. The Jews had a great share in this uprising; they spread anarchy through a great portion of the Roman Empire. Not alone the Babylonian Jews, but also the Jews of Egypt, Cyrenaica, Lybia, and those in the island of Cyprus were seized with the idea of shaking off the Roman yoke. As if possessed by an overwhelming power, the Jews of this far-lying district seized their weapons, as though to show the enemy that their power was not destroyed nor their courage broken, and that they were not willing to share the weakness and degradation of the times, and to sink without an effort amongst the masses of enslaved nations. Such unanimous action presupposes a concerted plan and a powerful leader. From Judæa the rebellion spread through the neighboring countries to the Euphrates and Egypt (116-117). In half a century after the fall of the Jewish State a new race had arisen, who inherited the zealous spirit of their fathers, and who bore in their hearts a vivid remembrance of their former independence. The hope of the Tanaite teacher, "Soon the Temple will be rebuilt," had kept alive a love of freedom in the Jewish youths, who had not lost the habit of using weapons in the schools. A legend relates that Trajan's wife (Plotina) had given birth to a son on the ninth of Ab, and lost it on the feast of Dedication, which the Jews kept in memory of the victory of the Hasmonæans, and she had interpreted their sorrowing as the hatred of an enemy, and their rejoicing as joy for her loss. The Empress therefore wrote to Trajan, "Instead of subduing the barbarians, you should rather punish the Jews who revolt against you."

In Judæa the leaders of the rebellion appear to have been two courageous men from Alexandria, Julianus and Pappus. The former seems to have been the Alabarch of Alexandria, or his relative, and a descendant of the celebrated Alexander Lysimachus. He and his companion enjoyed a princely position amongst the Jews. The meeting place of the revolutionary troops in Judæa was the plain of Rimmon, or the great plain of Jezreel. There exists but a dim picture of the proceedings, and only the issue of the revolt is known with certainty. In Cyrene, whose Jewish inhabitants had been encouraged to revolt against the Romans immediately after their defeat, the rebellion was at its height. They had a leader named Andreias, also called Lucuas, one of whose names was, perhaps, of an allegorical nature.

The Egyptian Jews, who in former times had been loyal to the Romans, this time made common cause with the rebels, and conducted operations as in every other revolution. They first attacked the neighboring towns, killed the Romans and Greeks, and avenged the destruction of their nationality on their nearest enemies. Encouraged by the result, they collected in troops and attacked the Roman army under the Roman general Lupus, who commanded the legions against the Jews. In the first encounter the wild enthusiasm gave the Jews an advantage over the Romans, and Lupus was defeated. The results of this victory were scenes of horror and barbarity on both sides, as was naturally the case in a racial war between people who carried in their hearts an ancient hatred which, when it came to a fiery outburst, could only be quenched by blood. The heathens who had taken flight after the defeat of the Roman army marched against Alexandria. The Jewish inhabitants who could bear arms, and who had joined in the revolt, were taken prisoners and killed amidst fearful tortures. The conquering Jewish troops felt themselves filled with a desire for revenge. In despair they invaded the Egyptian territories, imprisoned the inhabitants, and repaid cruelties with fresh cruelties. The Greek and Roman fugitives took to their boats, in order to escape pursuit on the bosom of the Nile; but armed Jews followed close behind them. The historian Appian, at that time an official in Alexandria, sought safety by taking flight at night, and would have fallen into the hands of his Jewish pursuers, had he not missed his way along the coast. The short description of his flight and his unexpected deliverance gives some idea of the terror excited by the Jewish populations, who had suffered so long at the hands of their enemies. The Jews are said to have eaten the flesh of the captive Greeks and Romans, to have smeared themselves with their blood, and to have wrapped themselves in the skins torn off them. These horrors are quite foreign to Jewish character and customs, but it is probably true that the Jews made the Romans and Greeks fight with wild animals or in the arena. This was a sad reprisal for the horrible drama to which Vespasian and Titus had condemned the captive Jews. In Cyrenaica 200,000 Greeks and Romans were slain by the Jews, and Lybia, the strip of land to the east of Egypt, was so utterly devastated that, some years later, new colonies had to be sent thither.

In the Island of Cyprus, which had for a long time previous been inhabited by Jews, who owned synagogues there, a certain Artemion headed the uprising against the Romans. The number of rebels was very great, and was probably strengthened by the discontented heathen inhabitants of the island. The Cyprian Jews are said to have destroyed Salamis, the capital of the island, and to have killed 240,000 Greeks.

Trajan, who was then in Babylon, greatly feared the outbreak of a revolt, and sent an army, proportionate in numbers to the anticipated danger. He entrusted an important force by land and sea to Martius Turbo, in order that he might quell the smouldering troubles of war which existed in Egypt, Cyrenaica, and on the island of Cyprus.

In the district of the Euphrates, where the Jews, notwithstanding the nearness of the Emperor's crushing army, had taken up a threatening position, he gave the chief command to his favorite general, Quietus, a Moorish prince of cruel disposition, whom he had appointed as his successor. It is not known who led the Jews of Babylon. Maximus, a Roman general, lost his life in the battle; Quietus had received orders to entirely annihilate the Jews of his district, so great was the fear and hatred of the Emperor of a nation whose power he seems in no way to have rightly estimated. Thus Trajan had to oppose the Jews on three sides, and had they united and mutually supported each other, the colossal Roman empire would perhaps have received a deadly blow. Martius Turbo, who had to oppose the Egyptian and Cyrenean revolts, went himself in his ships to the threatened spots, which he reached in five days. He avoided meeting the hostile forces in a sudden attack, coolly calculating that this would only give the victory to a people who were guided more by enthusiasm for an idea than by principles of military tactics. He preferred to weaken the rebels by repeated onslaughts, which gradually wearied them and thinned their ranks. The Jews, however, did not submit without making a brave defense. The heathen authorities, who were against the Jews, acknowledge that it was only after a contest of long duration that the Romans became masters of the situation. It was inevitable that the Romans should conquer in the end, as they had greater multitudes and greater skill in war, and especially as their cavalry had to encounter only half-armed foot-soldiers. Turbo displayed an amount of cruelty to the captives which was not strange to the Romans. The legions surrounded the prisoners and cut them to pieces, the women were lashed, and those who offered resistance were killed. The ancient Alexandrian synagogue, a marvel of Egyptian architecture, a basilica, was destroyed. From that time, says a Jewish source, the glory of Israel departed. In the massacre which Martius Turbo set on foot amongst the African Jews, the same source relates that the blood of the slain stained the sea to the island of Cyprus. This refers to the sea of blood which the Roman general shed amongst the Cyprian Jews.

Turbo, after the end of this African revolt, led his legions against Cyprus. Concerning the particulars of this war, authorities are silent. The contest, however, must have been a bitter one, for a deadly hatred arose in Cyprus against the Jews. This hatred was expressed in a barbarous law, according to which no Jew might approach the island of Cyprus, even if he suffered shipwreck on that coast.

The war of destruction waged by Lucius Quietus against the Babylonian and Mesopotamian Jews is but little known in its individual features. Only so much is certain, that he destroyed many thousands, and that he laid waste the towns of Nisibis and Edessa, which were inhabited by Jews. The houses, streets and roads were strewn with corpses. As a reward for the great services rendered by this general in fighting the Jews, Trajan named him governor of Palestine, with unlimited power, so that he might suppress the revolt in the Jewish fatherland. Trajan himself was unsuccessful in his encounters; he had to leave Babylon, give up the siege of the town of Atra, and relinquish the idea of converting the Parthian land into a Roman province.

Through the failure of his favorite plan, the emperor fell ill, and was brought to Antioch, and he died a few months later at Cilicia. His desire that his faithful general, Quietus, should succeed, was also not fulfilled. His astute wife, Plotina, set aside his last wishes, and assured the army that Trajan had, before his death, accepted his near relation, Ælius Hadrian, as his son and successor.

Hadrian, at his accession (August, 117), found that various nations were on the eve of a rebellion, and that others were taking measures to break the fetters of all-powerful Rome. Hardly had the report of Trajan's death been spread than the flames of rebellion burst forth both in the East and the West, and the wish of the nations to free themselves from the Roman yoke, in a violent manner, made itself known.

The Parthian lands, where Trajan had just established the semblance of the Roman rule, some of the districts of Asia Minor, whose agricultural wealth had been appropriated by the officers of the emperor, Mauritania and Sarmatia, and distant Britain--all seized upon this moment of weakness to strive for independence.

The Jews of Palestine, whose hatred towards the Romans was yet stronger, had already organized a rebellion, for the suppression of which Quietus had been sent out by Trajan, after he had completed his work in the lands of the Euphrates. He had not yet succeeded in mastering the revolt when Hadrian became ruler. Historians are silent as to the nature of the war in Judæa. The Jewish sources call this second rebellion "the war of Quietus" (Polemos shel Kitos). It appears to have taken an unfavorable turn for the Jews, for fresh signs of public mourning were added to those observed for the destruction of the Temple by the teachers of the Law. It was forbidden that brides should wear wreaths on their weddings, or that the Jews should learn Greek. It is not clear whether this prohibition was directed against the Greek language or the Greek customs; as little is it possible to discover the connection between this war and a distaste for what was Greek. Perhaps the Greeks of Palestine became false to their allies, and left the Jews in the lurch. The Synhedrion of Jamnia appears to have been destroyed under Quietus, but the Jewish people were soon delivered from the merciless oppressor, whose plans for their annihilation could not be carried into effect. The new emperor himself put an end to his general's career. Hadrian, who had more ambition than warlike courage, and whose innermost aspiration was for the nimbus of royal authority rather than for a rough and troublesome military existence, drew back at the prospect of so many revolts, and from the chance of a long and wearisome war. Already envious of the reputation of his predecessor, with whom he had no sympathy, and whom the Senate had been unwearied in granting triumphs, Hadrian, for the first time, swerved from the hard and fast line of Roman politics, and was inclined to be yielding. In the same spirit, he permitted the Parthians to be ruled by their own prince, renounced all claims on them, and appears to have made concessions to the other provinces, and to have granted the Jews their apparently harmless requests. Amongst these they expressed a wish for the removal of the heartless Quietus and the restoration of the Temple. The all-powerful general was deposed; and though the jealousy of the emperor with regard to this great and powerful ruler was a chief reason for his removal, it yet was made to appear as if it were done to favor the Jews, and to do away with their chief grievance. Before Quietus fell into disgrace he was about to pronounce sentence of death on the two Jewish leaders, Julianus and Pappus, who had fallen into his hands; they were to be executed in Laodicea. He had said to them, "If your God is powerful, as you assert, He may rescue you from my hands." To which they replied, "Thou art scarcely worthy that God should perform a miracle for thy sake, who art not even an independent ruler, but only the servant of one higher." At the very moment when the two prisoners were being led to a martyr's death, the order came from Rome which deposed their executioner from the governorship of Judæa.

Quietus left Palestine, and was soon afterwards executed at the command of Hadrian. The day of the release of Julianus and Pappus, 12th Adar (Feb.-March, 118), was celebrated as a memorable event, and the college appointed it as a half-holiday, under the name of Trajan's day (Yom Trajanus). It is not to be doubted that the Jews made the re-erection of the Temple on its former site a condition of their laying down arms. A Jewish source relates this fact in clear terms, and Christian accounts positively aver that the Jews on several occasions endeavored to restore the Temple, and this can only refer to the early years of Hadrian's reign. The superintendence of the building of the town, Hadrian is said to have entrusted to the proselyte Akylas. Great was the delight of the Jews at the prospect of again possessing a holy fane. Fifty years had elapsed since the destruction of the Temple, just the same period as had formed the interval between the destruction of the first sanctuary and the return from Babylon. The keenest hopes were aroused by Hadrian's assent. A Jewish-Alexandrian poet expresses in Greek verse the feelings which filled every breast. The unknown poet places his words in the mouth of a heathen prophetess, the Sibyl, the sister of Isis. She first recites, in enigmatic references, the names of a long line of Roman conquerors from the time of Cæsar--

... and after him there came
As king a man who wore a silver helm--the name
He bore was of a sea--a worthy man, far-seeing,
And 'neath thee--thou good and splendid raven-locked,
And 'neath thy race, this happened for all times,
That there arose a god-like race, indwellers of heaven,
Who e'en on earth surround the town of God,
And unto Joppa surround it with high walls,
And boldly raise their towers to heaven's heights.
No more the death sound of the trumpet's cry--
No more they perish at the foe's rash hands;
But trophies shall float in the world o'er evil.
Torment thy heart no more, nor pierce with sword thy breast,
Thou godly one, too rich, thou much-loved flower,
Thou light so good and bright, desired and holy goal!
Dear Jewish land! fair town, inspired of songs,
No more shall unclean foot of Greeks within thy bounds
Go forth.
But in honor thy faithful ones shall hold thee;
And they shall serve thy board with holy words,
With varied offerings, and with welcome prayers.
Those who remorseless send ill words to heaven
Shall cease to raise their voices in thy midst,
Shall hide away until the world has changed.
For from the heavenly land a happy man comes forth,
Within whose hands a scepter given by God;
And over all he rules with glory, and to the good
Again he giveth riches, bereft of them by others gone before,
The towns by fire leveled to the very earth,
And burnt the homes of men who once did evil.
But the town beloved of God he made
Brighter than stars or sun, and than the moon,
Adorned them brightly, and reared a holy Temple.

The great expectations formed with regard to the restoration, which had appeared like a pleasant dream, paled before the stern reality. Scarcely had Hadrian taken a firm footing in his kingdom and calmed the unruly nations, when, like other weak princes, he began to diminish his promises, and to prevaricate. One report relates that the Samaritans--who were jealous that the object of their aversion, the Temple of Jerusalem, should again rise from the dust--endeavored to represent to the Emperor the danger of such a restoration; as their forefathers had formerly demonstrated to the Persian rulers, so they endeavored to prove to the Roman emperor that the building of the Temple was a mere subterfuge to bring about a total separation from Rome. Hadrian, however, would probably have come to this conclusion without the interposition of the Samaritans. In any case, while he did not venture wholly to retract his word, he began to bargain. It is said by some that he gave the Jews to understand that the Temple must be erected on a different place from that on which stood the ruins of the former building, or that it must be built on a smaller scale. The Jews, who well understood this temporizing, and saw therein only a retractation of the imperial promise, were not inclined to let themselves be played with.

When matters had reached this pass, many people armed themselves and assembled again in the valley of Rimmon, on the plain of Jezreel. When the royal epistle was read out the masses burst into tears. A rebellion and an embittered war seemed imminent. But there were still lovers of peace amongst the people, who recognized that a rebellion, under the circumstances then existing, would be dangerous. At the head of this party was Joshua. He was immediately sent for to tranquillize the excited populace by his influence and eloquence. Joshua addressed the people in a manner which has always appealed to the masses. He related a fable, and drew a moral which applied to existing circumstances: "A lion had once regaled himself on his prey, but a bone remained sticking in his throat. In terror he promised a great reward to any one who would extract the bone. A crane with a long neck presented himself, performed the operation and claimed his reward. The lion, however, said mockingly, Rejoice that thou hast withdrawn thy head unharmed from the lion's jaws. In like manner," said Joshua, "let us be glad that we have escaped unscathed from the Roman, and not insist on the fulfilment of his promise." Through these and similar exhortations he prevented an immediate outbreak. But the nation was filled with the idea of rebellion, and adhered to it in a manner worthy of a better fortune.

Joshua was the chief leader of the people in the time of Hadrian, and appears to have performed the duties of Patriarch, for Gamaliel had probably died at the commencement of Hadrian's reign. The honors paid to his dead body show the high esteem in which he was regarded by the people. Joshua, Eliezer, and his disciples mourned for him; Akylas the proselyte--as was customary at royal funerals--burnt clothes and furniture to the amount of seventy minas. When reproached for this extravagance he said, "Gamaliel is worth more than a hundred kings, from whom the world gains nothing." A striking contrast to this display was afforded by the simplicity of the shroud which Gamaliel had expressly ordered before his death. It was customary at that time to clothe the corpse in costly garments, an expense which fell so heavily on those of small means, that many deserted their dead relations in order to avoid the outlay. To prevent such expense, Gamaliel ordered in his last will that he should be buried in simple white linen. From that time greater simplicity was observed, and it became the custom at funeral feasts to drink a cup to the memory of Gamaliel. He left sons, but the eldest, Simon, appears to have been too young to undertake the patriarchate, which, therefore, devolved on Joshua probably (as his representative, Ab-bet-din). After Gamaliel's death Joshua was desirous of abolishing various ordinances which the former had enforced, but he was opposed by Jochanan ben Nuri, who was supported by most of the Tanaites.

It is hardly possible to doubt that the Jamnian Synhedrion removed to Upper Galilee after the death of Gamaliel, and Usha (El-Uz) in the vicinity of Shefaram (Shefa-Amar), between Acco and Safet, became the seat of the Synhedrion. Ishmael is mentioned amongst those who emigrated to Usha. Here the Synhedrion made various enactments of high moral and historical importance, which took the form of laws, under the title of Ordinances of Usha (Tekanoth Usha). One of these laws decreed that a father must support his young children--the boys until their twelfth year, and the girls until they married. Before this time the provision for children had been left to the option of parents. Another law enacted that if a father during his own lifetime gave up all his property to his son, it followed, as a matter of course, that the son must support both his father and the wife of his father. A third law limited the reckless devoting of the whole of a man's property to charitable purposes, which custom prevailed at that time. This law prescribed that only a fifth part of the property might be given away. Isebab, who afterwards died the death of a martyr, was desirous of dividing his whole property amongst the poor, but Akiba opposed him, referring him to this law respecting property. One decision of Usha seems to have been directed against Gamaliel's severe employment of the interdict. It decreed that no member of the College should in future be excommunicated unless he actually despised and revolted against the whole Law, like King Jeroboam. This circumstance shows that the unity of the Law was so established that a difference of opinion no longer implied, as formerly, a total break, and Joshua, no doubt, had contributed to this result.

The tolerable relations between Hadrian and the Jews did not last much more than a decade. He could not forget that he had been compelled to make concessions to the despised nation, and the latter could not forget that he had broken faith with them, and had deprived them of their fairest hopes. This mutual antipathy displayed itself during Hadrian's journey through Judæa. The emperor, urged by vanity, and a desire to be called the father of his country, and impelled by a restlessness and want of occupation, which drove him from one spot to another, had visited nearly all the provinces of the great Roman empire, for the purpose of seeing everything with his own eyes. Hadrian's petty curiosity led him to concern himself with all manner of things, to desire to be considered as a philosopher, and better informed than his contemporaries in all matters. Whether he judged the condition of other provinces correctly may be doubted; he certainly was deceived in his hasty judgment of the Jews. During his visit to Judæa (130), it is probable that those people, such as the Romans, Samaritans, and Christians, who disliked the original inhabitants (the Jews), approached him with subservience, in order to greet him as a demi-god, or even as a god. A pantomimic conversation, which was held between a Christian and a representative of Judaism, Joshua ben Chananya, in Hadrian's presence, describes their respective positions. The former showed by gestures that the God of Israel had hidden His face from the Jews; the latter showed, by a movement of the arm, that God still stretched forth His hand to protect Israel, and this pantomime Hadrian desired to have explained to him. He seems to have had many interviews with Joshua. Several conversations between Hadrian and the Tanaite have been handed down, of which one appears to be credible. He asked him, "If you are as wise as you assert, tell me what I shall behold this night in my dreams." Joshua replied, "Thou wilt dream that the Persians (Parthians) will subdue thee, and compel thee to guard low animals with a golden scepter." This retort was well chosen, for the superstitious emperor feared the Parthians beyond all nations, and did his utmost to maintain peace with them.

Hadrian thought that he had nothing to fear from Judæa. He informed the Roman Senate of the peaceful disposition of the Jews, and they perpetuated their credulity by various coins, in which the emperor is represented dressed in a toga, raising a kneeling Jew from his humble position. Three boys (probably emblematic of the districts of Judæa, Samaria, and Galilee) hand him palm branches. He thus cherished the expectation that racial and religious differences would soon disappear, and that the inhabitants would merge their identity in that of the Romans. In order to induce such a state of things he drew up a plan, which could not have been more unfortunately conceived. Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, but as a pagan city. Whilst he repaired to Egypt to commit other follies, the desecration of the holy city was commenced. The Jews naturally did not remain unmoved at this act, which was to erase their name as a nation and a religious body from the book of the living, and a bitter feeling overcame them. Joshua again appears to have endeavored to bring about a reconciliation in order to frustrate the thoughtless plan of the emperor, and to allay the discontent of the people. Though an aged man, he traveled to Egypt in order to induce the emperor to alter his mind.

But his prudent suggestions were ridiculed; the emperor would only mock at the Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian religions, with which he thought himself thoroughly acquainted. He wrote at this time to his brother-in-law, "No president of the synagogue (Rabbi) of the Jews, no Samaritan, no Christian priest, honors anything but Serapis. Even that patriarch who has come to Egypt [probably Joshua] was compelled by some to worship Serapis, and by others to worship Christ." Joshua returned to Judæa after his fruitless visit, and appears to have died soon after of grief and old age. It was justly said of him that with his death wisdom and prudent moderation came to an end. After his decease there occurred wide-spread movements and contests in Judæa, which were among the most memorable in its history, and there was no one to stem the tide.

So long as Hadrian remained in Syria (130-131) the malcontents did not commence the revolt for which they had probably been long preparing. The weapons prepared by the Jewish smiths for the Romans were made (in anticipation of their being used against themselves) weak and useless. In the hollow chalk mountains of Judæa the insurgents silently prepared underground passages and refuges, which were used as secret armories before the war, and afterwards as secret ambushes, from which the enemy could be attacked. Akiba seems to have developed a silent but effective activity in his preparation for a revolt. After the death of Joshua he was recognized as the head of the Jewish community. Hadrian, lulled into security, discovered the conspiracy only when it broke out at the various points of the Roman empire, so skilfully had the Roman spies been deceived. When the revolt was about to commence everything was in readiness. There were stores of arms, means of communication, warriors, and even a powerful leader, who, through his strange position, infused religious enthusiasm and warlike courage. It was considered as a favorable sign for their daring undertaking that two of the stations of the Roman legions had been destroyed. Cæsarea and Emmaus had been swallowed up some years before by an earthquake. Cæsarea was the Roman capital of Judæa, the dwelling-place of the governor, and, like Rome, it brought down the hatred of the Jews on itself. The peculiar idea was entertained, that, as the greatness of Cæsarea had dated from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, so from the fall of Cæsarea Jerusalem would again attain to power. Emmaus had been the dwelling-place of eight hundred soldiers of Vespasian who had served there; it therefore had been used as a second citadel.

The chief hero of the revolt was Bar-Cochba, who inspired the Roman empire in its then state of weakness with as much terror as Brennus and Hannibal had formerly done.

Not a trace, however slight, can be found of the descent and early life of this much reviled and misunderstood personage. Like the hero of every revolution, he suddenly appeared as the perfect incarnation of the nation's will and the nation's hate, spreading terror around, and standing as the center-point of an eventful movement. His real name was Bar-Kosiba, doubtless from the town of Kosiba, and was not a nickname meaning "son of lies." Bar-Cochba was a symbolical Messianic name which Akiba had given him. When Akiba, actively engaged in the deliverance of the Jewish people, first saw Bar-Cochba, he was so impressed with the appearance of the man that he said, "That is a Messianic king." Akiba applied to him the verse of Scripture, "Kosiba has arisen as a star (Cochba) in Jacob." Akiba was confirmed, by the imposing personality of Bar-Cochba, in his hopes that the Roman power would soon be overthrown, and that the splendors of Israel would once more shine forth, and he looked forward through this means to the speedy establishment of the Messianic kingdom. He cited the verse of the prophet Haggai with regard to this (ii. 21), "Yet a little and I will shake heaven and earth."

All did not, however, share Akiba's pious enthusiasm. Jochanan ben Torta, a teacher of the Law, replied dubiously to his high-flying hopes, "Sooner shall grass grow from thy chin, Akiba, than that the Messiah will appear." The respect and attention, however, which Akiba displayed towards Bar-Cochba were sufficient to surround him with a halo, as of a higher God-given power, which gave him unquestioned authority, and increased the means at his disposal.

There is no record in Jewish sources of miracles performed by the Messianic king for the gratification of the populace. But an account of the enemy relates how Bar-Cochba puffed forth burning tow from his mouth to give himself the appearance of spitting fire. The Jewish accounts speak of his enormous bodily strength. They relate that he cast back with his knees the huge stones thrown by the Romans by means of machines on the Jewish army. There is no hint given that he pursued any selfish end by his Messianism; he was actuated only by the wish to win back freedom for his people, to restore the tarnished glory of the Jewish state, and to throw off at once and for ever the foreign rule which, during two centuries, had interfered with the interests of Judaism. So energetic a mind, combined with great military talent, even though it failed to secure a favorable result, should have received juster recognition from posterity, and certainly does not deserve the prejudice which it met with from interested contemporaries. The Jewish warriors from all countries poured forth to aid the Messianic king, and the revolt became one of great dimensions. Even the Samaritans joined their former opponents, as the chronicles relate. Heathens themselves made common cause with the Jews, impelled by a desire to shake off the unbearable Roman yoke. It seemed as if the whole Roman empire were about to receive a heavy blow, by which the various members of its gigantic body were to be rent asunder. From these facts the number of the warriors cannot be considered as exaggerated if the Jewish sources put them down as 400,000, whilst the Pagan historian Dio Cassius rates them even at 580,000. Bar-Cochba felt so confident in his own courage and the numerous warriors at his command, that he is said to have uttered the blasphemy, "Lord, if thou dost not help us, at least do not help our enemies, and we shall not be defeated."

Tinnius Rufus, the Governor of Judæa, was not prepared for the enormous military power opposed to him, and he soon had to retreat before the troops of the warlike Messiah. Rufus withdrew from one citadel to another, and in one year (132-133) fifty fortified places and 985 cities and villages fell into the hands of the rebels. It appears that the whole of Judæa, together with Samaria and Galilee, were evacuated by the Romans, and fell into the possession of the Jews. When Hadrian received the first news of the revolt in Judæa, he laid no great weight upon it; but when one report after another of the defeat of the Roman troops reached him, he sent relays and his best generals to the scene of action; these, however, had no better fortune than Rufus. It is not to be doubted that Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Jewish victors, who may have contemplated the restoration of the Temple; but in the midst of the war, and continually harassed by the Roman legions, they had no time to undertake so extensive a work. Bar-Cochba, in order to announce national independence, performed a sovereign act of power by causing Jewish coins to be struck. These were called Bar-Cochba coins, and also coins of the Revolution.

Notwithstanding the deep hatred entertained by the Jews for their enemies, they did not avenge themselves upon such as fell into their hands. It was only against the Jewish Christians who lived in Judæa that Bar-Cochba displayed his hostility, because they were considered as blasphemers and as spies. This hatred against the Jewish Christians was increased because they refused to take part in the national war, and were the only idle lookers-on at the fearful spectacle. One of the oldest Christian sources relates that Bar-Cochba had demanded of the Christians to deny Jesus, and to take part in the war with the Romans, and that those who refused to do so were punished with heavy penalties.

When the State was restored and all laws again came into force, the Jewish authorities felt themselves justified in summoning those of their countrymen before the justice-seat who not only denied the Law but held it up to ridicule. It is nowhere related that the Christians were compelled to recognize and believe in Bar-Cochba as a new Christ. Such compulsion seems to have been foreign to the new Jewish State. Later Christian chronicles, in their usual manner, have greatly exaggerated the floggings to which the Jewish Christians were subjected, until they assumed the proportions of actual persecution, accompanied by death and martyrdom, for which there is no historical basis. The Evangelists, who, before the appearance of Bar-Cochba, had spoken of the warlike preparations, and all events of the time, in a veiled but perfectly comprehensible manner, alone relate the position of the Jewish population towards the Christians. They seem to hint that even in the midst of Christianity there was great dissension, and that some who were eager for the cause of liberty, reported their more indifferent coreligionists with much zeal to the Jewish authorities. These Evangelists make Jesus utter a prophecy which foretold a coming change, as though he, amidst these stormy days, would appear in the flesh at the Last Judgment.

This prophecy of Jesus displays the gloomy tendency of the times of Bar-Cochba. The words run:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of
wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but
the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in
divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves: for
they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues
ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel
must first be published among all nations. But when they shall
lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye
that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death, and the father the son; and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be
put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.

Thus a father of the Church comforted the Christian community in Judæa. It appears that the Synhedrion of the time of Bar-Cochba introduced some innovations in order to work against the increasing spread of the worship of Jesus amongst the Jewish Christians, and to promote a means of recognizing those who were for them or against them. It had been the habit for centuries past never to pronounce the sacred name of God, IHW, but to substitute the word Lord (Adonaï). The Christians, however, had accustomed themselves to call Jesus "Lord." To counteract this, the Synhedrion enacted that the name of God should be used as in ancient times, and that this name should be introduced even into the formula of greeting.

The newly founded kingdom of Bar-Cochba had already subsisted during two years (132-134). With deep concern Hadrian beheld the continuous progress of the Jewish revolution. It had taken a course and an extent which opened up a vista of unlooked-for results. Every auxiliary force which he had sent to join in the contest suffered defeat, and every fresh general left his reputation on a Jewish battle-field. Hadrian was obliged to summon his greatest general, who at that time was repressing the revolt of a nation who loved freedom equally well, namely, the Britons. Julius Severus was recalled to Judæa, as he seemed to be the only man who could measure swords with the great hero, Bar-Cochba. Severus, on his arrival, found the military position of the Jews so secure and inaccessible that he did not venture to give them battle immediately. The chief stronghold of the Jews during this war was the district around the Mediterranean Sea which had for its central point the town of Bethar (Bither). This fortress, the ruins of which are still to be seen, is only one Roman mile (four-fifths of a geographical mile) distant from the sea.

Besides Bethar, Bar-Cochba had fortified several other towns, which were probably placed under special commanders. In the north, at the foot of the Galilean highlands, at the entrance to the great plain of Jezreel (Esdraelon) there were three cities, which formed a triangle of fortresses from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. To the west near Acco there was Cabul, or Chabulon; three miles from this, towards the southeast, there was the fortified town of Sichin, near to Sepphoris, in a fruitful plain. About three miles further, to the east of Galilee, and on the lake of the same name, stood Magdala (Tarichæa). All three towns, Cabul, Sichin and Magdala, are described as having been densely populated, and they formed the outposts which were to prevent the invasion of the Romans on the side of Syria and Upper Galilee. The inhabitants of Sepphoris appear to have secretly maintained their devotion to the Romans, as they had formerly done under Vespasian and Trajan. Full confidence was not placed in them, but the more reliable towns of the neighborhood were chosen as meeting-places. A second line of fortifications was in the middle of the Jewish territory, and was greatly favored by the conformation of the ground. One of the chief fortresses which Bar-Cochba probably again put in a state of defense was Tur-Simon, doubtless named after Simon the Hasmonæan. This fortress was also said to have so numerous a population that, every Friday, three hundred large baskets of loaves were distributed amongst the army. Here, according to legend, the revolt broke out, on account of an offense given by the Romans to the inhabitants.

Julius, whose rapid glance no doubt perceived the difficulty of obtaining a victory, owing to the strong fortifications, the number of warriors and their fanatical courage, avoided a decided battle, which would have been desired by Bar-Cochba, who relied on the number and devotion of his troops. Like Vespasian, Severus purposely prolonged the war by divers attacks. He reckoned more especially on the scarcity of food which must inevitably ensue in a land-locked territory, when the hands which should hold the plow were engaged with the sword. He contented himself with depriving the enemy of food, with attacking the separate bodies of Jewish troops, and harassing them with his cavalry. These tactics fully succeeded, more especially as all prisoners were immediately put to death.

The particulars of this revolutionary war were no doubt as memorable as those of the war with the Zealots, but no account has been preserved to tell posterity of the death-struggle of the Jewish nation. The heroic deeds of the Zealots--Bar-Giora and John of Gischala--have been immortalized by their greatest enemy, against his will, but no pen was found to commemorate on the tablets of history the warlike deeds of the last of the Jewish heroes. It almost seemed that the remembrance of their prowess, destined as the new generations were to forget the arts of war, was to be totally forgotten Only a few traits have been preserved to us of the war, which bear witness, not only to the courage of the Jews but also to their all-defying enthusiasm for the cause of their race.

If, as the geographical position of Judæa demanded, the first attack of the Romans was made on the north, on the Syrian and Phœnician side, the three northernmost citadels of Cabul, Sichin and Magdala must have been first attacked. The Jewish sources which have handed down the details of the war, as given by survivors, relate the manner of the destruction of these three cities, and the circumstances which led to their downfall. Cabul fell through internal dissensions; Sichin through sorcery, by which an unlooked-for attack was probably meant; lastly, Magdala, the birthplace of the penitent Mary Magdalene, fell, weakened through the vices of its inhabitants. After the fall of the three strongholds on the borders, the war was virtually at an end, just as in the first revolution, after the subjection of Jotapata and Gischala, the land was considered as subdued. The plain of Rimmon seems to have been another seat of the war, for the Roman legions had to traverse this plain in order to reach the interior of the land. On this plain a terrible battle seems to have taken place, which became the subject-matter of many a legend. The next campaign of the Romans was evidently directed against the cities in the mountains. Legend relates how 100,000 Romans marched into the citadel of Tur-Simon with drawn swords, and how, during three days and nights, they massacred the inhabitants. The fifty fortified places occupied by the Jews fell one after another into the hands of the enemy, and the Roman generals gave battle to the Jewish army on fifty-two, or, according to some authorities, on fifty-four occasions. The circle drawn round Bethar, where Bar-Cochba and the flower of his army had retreated, became ever narrower. All fugitives had betaken themselves to his side, in order to escape the sword of destruction and to find a place of refuge. On this spot, where the two greatest generals of the time--Julius Severus and Bar-Cochba--were opposed, the decisive conflict was to take place.

Bethar was, no doubt, filled to overflowing by the contingents who came in from all sides. The sources could not speak with sufficient hyperbole of this final scene of the defense; they relate, amongst other things, that several hundreds of schools existed in Bethar, and that the numbers of the pupils were so great that they boasted that they could overthrow the enemy with their writing-reeds. The siege of Bethar probably lasted for a year, and the duration of the whole war was about three years and a-half. We are left in uncertainty as to the various incidents of the siege, as also regarding the causes which led to the fall of the citadel. A Jewish authority relates that the river Joredethha-Zalmon faithlessly deprived the besieged of its waters, which may mean that the summer heat dried it up. A somewhat vague account from Samaritan sources recounts that the food-supplies, which had been secretly conveyed into the town, were suddenly cut off; this agrees with the Jewish accounts, which relate that Bethar fell through the stratagems of the Samaritans. The Jewish sources assert that Eleazar of Modin prayed in sackcloth and ashes that Bethar might be spared; and perhaps his piety inspired the besieged with endurance and courage.

Hadrian, or his general, being wearied with the long contest, was about to raise the siege, when a Samaritan promised to aid him, and told him that Eleazar was the guardian spirit of the citadel, adding that "so long as that hen cackles in ashes Bethar is impregnable." Thereupon the Samaritan, passing through a subterranean passage, approached Eleazar whilst he was engaged in prayer, and whispered in his ear. The spectators, whose suspicions were aroused by this secrecy, led him to Bar-Cochba and related the incident. The spy, when questioned, declared: "If I tell thee the truth, my master will kill me; and if I keep it from thee, thou wilt kill me; but I would rather die by thy hand than by my masters." Bar-Cochba, suspecting a traitorous understanding between Eleazar and the enemy, summoned him to appear, and questioned him as to his meeting with the Samaritan. Eleazar, who had been absorbed in his devotions, and had hardly noticed the Samaritan, could only reply that he knew nothing of the matter. Bar-Cochba, who thought that he was being deceived, struck Eleazar a blow with his foot, and, enfeebled as he was by fasting, Eleazar fell down dead. Then a voice was heard: "Thou hast lamed the arm of Israel and blinded his eyes; therefore shall thine arm and thine eye lose their power."

The Samaritan sources describe the conquest of Bethar as similar to that of Jerusalem. Hadrian, they assert, who had laid siege to the city, had already raised the siege, as the inhabitants had obtained supplies, which they showed to the enemy. Then two Samaritan brothers, who were held imprisoned by the Jews, contrived to throw over the wall a letter wrapped in linen to Julius, saying that if the exits were guarded the inhabitants of the town would certainly die of starvation. He followed their advice, and entered the city on a Sabbath. So much is certain, that the Romans, introduced by a traitor into a subterranean way, massacred the people of Bethar. This is described with fearful detail. Horses were said to wade to the nozzle in blood--a river of blood flowed into the distant sea, carrying bodies along with it. One can scarcely credit the numbers said to have been slain, and yet they are confirmed both by Jewish and by Greek historians. The authentic historian Dio Cassius relates that besides those who died of hunger and fire, there fell half a million Jews.

The loss of the Romans was equally great, and Hadrian did not dare employ in his message to the Senate the usual formula, "I and the army are well." The Senate did not decree the Emperor a triumph, but a medal was struck in commemoration of the services rendered by the army. This coin bore the inscription, "Exercitus Judaicus. Thanks to the army victorious over the Jews." Bethar fell, as tradition relates, on the 9th Ab, the date on which the Temple had twice been reduced to ashes. The end of the mighty Bar-Cochba is not known. One who brought his head to the Roman General boasted that he had killed him. His body, however, was found crushed by a snake. On this the conqueror said, "Had not God's hand killed him, a human hand could not have injured him." Hadrian established three military stations to capture the fugitives, in Chamath (Ammaus near Tiberias), in Kephar Lekitaja, and in Bethel. Whoever escaped the one garrison was captured by the other. Thus all the warriors were destroyed, all towns and villages laid waste, and the land was literally converted into a desert. The prisoners, mostly women and children, were dragged by thousands to the slave markets of Hebron and Gaza, where they were sold. There were, however, some fugitives who lived in caves in order to escape the enemy. But even this miserable existence was not permitted to them. Heralds announced that to those who voluntarily yielded themselves up, mercy would be granted. Many listened to the temptation, but were carried off to the plain of Rimmon, and the victors were commanded to massacre their prisoners before Hadrian tasted food. Many fugitives, however, fled to Arabia, whence that country obtained its Jewish population, which afterward played so important a part in its history. Hadrian also caused foreign Jews to feel the weight of his anger, and imposed on them a tax much heavier than that exacted by Vespasian. In memory of this last revolt, the Jews, as a sign of mourning, decreed that brides should no longer be carried in beautiful sedan-chairs into the houses of their bridegrooms.