[474] Cp. Luke xviii. 12, 'I fast twice a week.'
[475] Cp. Deut. v. 15.
[476] Cp. Lev. xxv. 4, '... in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.'
[477] The seventh day being named after Cronos or Saturn (cp. chap. [2], note [464]).
[478] Reading commeent (Wölfflin).
[479] This refers to proselytes, who, like Jews resident abroad, contributed annually to the Temple treasury. They numbered at this time about four millions. Romans naturally regarded this diversion of funds with disfavour.
[480] Jewish exclusiveness always roused Roman indignation, and 'hatred of the human race' was the usual charge against Christians (see Ann. xv. 44).
[481] The strict regulations of Deut. xxii. &c. give a strange irony to this slander. Most of these libels originated in Alexandria.
[482] 'A people,' says the elder Pliny, 'distinguished by their contemptuous atheism.'
[483] Agnati, as used here and in Germ. 19 means a child born after the father has made his will and therein specified the number of his children. The mere birth of such a child invalidated any earlier will that the father had made, but the fact of its birth might be concealed by making away with the baby. This crime seems to have been not uncommon, but there is no evidence that 'exposure of infants' was permitted.