Akylas became celebrated through his new Greek translation of the Holy Scriptures. The license with which the Christians treated the old Greek version appears to have awakened him to the necessity of a simple but fixed form of translation. As the Christians read the Holy Scriptures at their service, and employed the Alexandrian translation of the so-called Seventy (Septuaginta), they were anxious to deduce from this text numerous references to Christ. They changed various sentences and added others, in order to obtain the desired prophecies about Christ from the Greek text, which they held sacred. Several passages may be found employed by the teachers of the Church in confirmation of the teachings of Christ, which cannot be found either in the Hebrew or in the original form of the Greek text. The Gnostic sects, for their part, did not fail to make the needful additions, so as to give their teachings the authority of the Bible. The school of one Artemion is expressly named as having defaced the Greek translation. The Jews, on the other hand, startled at the alterations made in order to confirm the Christian point of view, did not hesitate to introduce changes of their own in order to remove all apparent allusions to Christ. The Septuagint was, therefore, the meeting-place for violent encounters, and the traces of the contest are plainly to be seen in the maimed condition of the text.
A good Greek translation of the Bible was likewise a necessity for every Greek-speaking Jew. At that time it was a universal custom to interpret the portions read from the Bible into the language of the country. On these grounds, Akylas, who had a perfect knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages, began a new translation, in order to counteract the unlicensed violence done to the text. For this purpose, while translating, he kept strictly to the original Hebrew text, and with excessive caution rendered word for word, without regard to the fact that thereby the sense became incomprehensible to the Greek readers. The literalness of Akylas' translation, which has become proverbial, extended to such particles as have a twofold sense in Hebrew, and these ambiguities he desired to retain in his rendering. He wished to make the meaning contained in the Hebrew perceptible in its Greek form. It was known in Greek as the "Kat' akribeian" (the perfect fitting). This translation, on account of its exactness, set at rest all doubts, and comforted the consciences of the pious. The teachers of the Law used it universally for public readings. The Ebionites, to whom the older translation was also objectionable, employed that of Akylas in their services. An Aramæan translation was made partly from that of Akylas on account of its simplicity, and was called Targum Onkelos.
A great sensation was at that time created in Rome by the conversion to Judaism of Flavius Clemens and his wife Flavia Domitilla. Flavius was a cousin of the Emperor Domitian; he was also a member of the Senate, and Consul. His wife was also a near relative of the Emperor. Their two sons had been named as Cæsars by Domitian, therefore one of them would have become emperor. What a brilliant prospect for the Jews that a near relative of the Emperor Titus should reconstruct the Temple which the latter had destroyed! Although Clemens probably kept his adherence to Judaism secret, yet it was known to the Jews in Rome, and to the leaders in Palestine. On receipt of the news, together with the information that a decree of extermination had been passed against the Jews residing in the provinces of the Roman Empire, the four chiefs, the Patriarch Gamaliel and his coadjutor Eliezer, the son of Azariah, Joshua and Akiba, set out on the journey to Rome. When not far from the capital of the world they heard the thousand-voiced noises of the city, and were painfully affected when they thought of the desolate silence which reigned on the Mount in Jerusalem. They shed tears at the contrast. Akiba alone maintained his cheerful demeanor, and consoled his sorrowing friends with the words: "Why do you weep? If God does so much for His enemies, what will He not do for His favorites?"
In Rome they were treated with great reverence, both by the Jews and the proselytes, and they had an opportunity of answering many religious questions. But they had arrived at an unfavorable moment. Domitian was at the height of his bloodthirsty tyranny.
The period of favor towards the Jews on the part of the Flavian house was at an end. Even Titus, Domitian's predecessor, had already wiped away from his mind the recollection of all he owed to them. His love for the Jewish Princess Berenice he suppressed. When Titus became sole ruler, Berenice journeyed a second time to Rome to remind him of his promise of marriage; but she came too soon or too late. Titus at that time played the part of a reformed sinner, and wished to show the Romans that he had put aside the past. He banished Berenice from Rome, who, as was said, left, but with a broken heart. Berenice personified the relation of Rome to the Jewish people, who were first in high favor, and afterwards cast into banishment and misery. It is not known for how long a time the Jewish Princess survived her disgrace. Titus showed no more gratitude to her brother, Agrippa II. He left to Agrippa his kingdom or principality as it had hitherto existed, but did not enlarge it as his father had done. Domitian, the third of the Flavians, had no reason for displaying any favor to Agrippa. When the latter, the last of the Judæan kings, died (92), the Emperor appropriated his territories, and made them into a province of Syria.
Domitian, who, like Titus at his accession, had promised to bring back a golden era, became, during the course of his government, just as sinful and bloodthirsty as Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. He was worthy of his nation and his times, of which the poet Juvenal said—"It would be difficult to avoid satirizing them." The Jews had to suffer bitterly under this reign of blood. Domitian insisted on the payment of the Jews' poll tax, and levied it in the most humiliating manner, and under circumstances of peculiar severity. Severe, however, as he was towards the Jews, Domitian was doubly hard towards the proselytes, and suffered them to feel the full weight of his tyrannical power. Those who were accused of a bias for Judaism were, by the emperor's command, dragged before a tribunal, and if their fault was proved against them, they were visited with the full punishment of the Roman law against irreligion. Proselytes were, therefore, despoiled of their property, sent into exile, or condemned to death. Tacitus relates, in his inimitable style, that executions not only took place from time to time and at long intervals, but that they occurred in continuous succession. At this time (95) Flavius Clemens was condemned to death, Domitian having heard of his leaning towards Judaism. Neither his relationship with Domitian nor his high rank could protect him. The four teachers of the Law from Palestine, who had come to Rome on his account, and who expected a brighter future from him, were witnesses of his death. His wife, Domitilla, who was exiled to the island of Pandataria, is said to have declared to the teachers of the Law that Clemens had been circumcised before his death.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, with his friendly feelings towards Rome, appears to have taken part in the lawsuit against Flavius Clemens and the other Jewish proselytes. He stood in high favor with the Emperor Domitian and the Empress Domitia; but owing to the position which, during the last Jewish war, he assumed towards the Romans, he became so hated by his countrymen that constant complaints about him were made to the emperor. Once he was even accused of treason to Domitian by the teacher of his own son. In his spare time Josephus occupied himself with a comprehensive work on Jewish history from its commencement to the period before the war, and this he completed in twenty books in the thirteenth year of Domitian's reign (93). With much trouble and at great expense he had collected and used non-Jewish sources, had brought them into unison with the historical accounts of Holy Writ, and thus erected a national monument, by which the deeds and thoughts of the Jewish nation became known to the cultured world. But soon after he erected for himself a monument of shame. Justus of Tiberias, his former enemy, had meanwhile written his history of the Judæan wars, in which he represented Josephus as an enemy to the Romans, a statement which might have led to unpleasant consequences. Josephus felt that his honor was attacked and his life threatened. Not much was needed for the suspicious tyrant Domitian to cast a man from the highest grade of his favor to the abyss of a disgraceful fall. In order to justify himself against the accusations of his enemy, Justus of Tiberias, Josephus appended to his history a description of the events of his own life, describing his conduct during the war. To clear himself from the imputations cast on him, he represents his own character in a most unfavorable light, as though he had always held with the Romans and betrayed his own people. But in his fourth work, published in 93 or 94, Josephus, though he could not entirely redeem his character, yet clearly evinced his deep love for his religion and his race, and thereby earned for himself the thanks of his people. In two books against the Greeks and against Apion, he opposes, with deep conviction, the accusations made against Judaism and the Jewish race, and upholds the religious and moral superiority of the Jewish law. These two books are probably intended to win over enlightened heathens to Judaism. Josephus points out with joy that many of the heathens amongst the Greeks and Romans already honored the God of Israel and followed His laws. These books were dedicated to his friend Epaphroditos, a learned Greek, who was strongly inclined towards Judaism. No doubt Josephus endeavored personally to win over proselytes. He must have associated with Flavius Clemens, as he lived in the Flavian palace. When Domitian carried into effect the sentences pronounced against his cousin Clemens and the followers of Judaism, it is probable that a prosecution was commenced against Josephus for having led them astray. A philosophical essay concerning the laws of Judaism, which he promised to publish in his last books, remained unwritten, as his thread of life was cut short probably by Domitian. The Jewish patriots, however, were so embittered against Josephus that they did not express any sorrow at his death, which was probably that of a martyr. Nor was it referred to by the four teachers of the Law, who left oral traditions as to the death of Flavius Clemens.
A complete contrast to the character of Domitian was presented by his successor Nerva. Just, wise and humane, he was only wanting in the freshness and courage of youth, in order to give effect to his wise ordinances, and to restore the Roman empire, shattered as it had been by Domitian's cruelty and caprice.
The Jews and proselytes immediately felt the effect of the change of ruler. During the short period of his reign—which only lasted sixteen months, from September 96, till January 98—Nerva, who had to put an end to various perversions and abuses in the constitution, yet found time to occupy himself with the Jews. He permitted every man to acknowledge his faith as a Jew, without thereby incurring the punishment of an atheist. The Jews' tax also, if not quite set aside, was levied with kindness and forethought, and accusations against those who avoided this tax were not listened to. This act of toleration on Nerva's part appears to have been of so great importance that a coin was struck in order to commemorate it. This coin, which is still preserved, represents on the one side the Emperor Nerva, and on the other a palm-tree (symbol for Jews), with the inscription, "Fisci Judaici calumnia sublata" ("Accusations on account of the Jews' tax are at an end"). It is probable that the four Tanaites, who were still in Rome at the time of the death of Domitian and the accession of Nerva, had furthered this favorable turn of events by opposing the complaints against Judaism, and by inducing those in power to form a better opinion of it. This reign, which was of but too short duration, terminated the period of favor shown towards the Jews, and with Nerva's successor there began afresh the old hatred between the Romans and the Jews, and soon both nations again stood, sword in hand, arrayed against one another.