Theme for discussion:
Contrast the ancient gnostic with the modern agnostic.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ROME'S REGIME AFTER JUDEA'S OVERTHROW.
| Roman Emperors | Jewry | ||
| Titus | 79 | Jamnian Academy | 70 |
| Domitian | 81 | Clemens, Roman proselyte, | |
| put to death, | 95 | ||
| Nerva, | 96 | Revolt of the Diaspora, | 115 |
| Trajan, | 98 | Aquila's Bible translation | |
| about | 128 | ||
| Hadrian, | 117 | Akiba, president of Sanhedrin | 130 |
| Antoninus Pius, | 138 | Bar Cochba insurrection, | 132-135 |
Proselytes Again.
The Emperor Vespasian, who had permitted the institution of the Jamnian Academy, was succeeded by his son Titus. Titus lived too briefly after he became emperor to exert a decided influence on Israel, but it could never forget that to his hand had been entrusted the final overthrow of Judea. His brother Domitian, however, the next emperor, was a tyrant and a degenerate. It is said that at one time he contemplated the extermination of the Jews. The Jewish tax (Fiscus Judaicus) was collected with needless cruelty and indignity. He bitterly persecuted those Romans who in spite of Israel's fallen fortunes, were still drawn to its Faith and made severe laws against those who encouraged conversion. Proselytes came in sufficient numbers to make the subject an important theme of discussion in the Jewish Academy. It was probably in Rome itself where the spread of Judaism most alarmed the emperor. Perhaps its teachings reached the Romans through the Jewish prisoners of war. Certainly many high born Romans were enthusiastically prepared to make sacrifices for its cause. It is said that even Flavius Clemens and his wife Flavia Domitilla, relatives of Domitian and possible heirs to the throne, were pledged to Judaism. Clemens was put to death and his wife was exiled. But a step, and Judaism might have mounted the imperial throne of Rome and have exchanged destinies with Christianity. Perhaps not even then, for its unbending monotheism and strict Law brooked no easy compromise. However, it is one of the might-have-beens of history.
One of the most famous proselytes was Aquila, a Greek of scholarship and wealth. Dissatisfied with the later Greek translations of the Bible, distorted to fit Christian doctrine, Aquila made a literal translation from the Hebrew that so commended itself to the Rabbis that it became the "authorized version," so to speak, for the Synagogue. An Aramaic (p. 60) translation of the Bible, following his model, was called after him Targum Onkelos—which means "a translation like that of Aquila." It is often printed with the Hebrew texts of Scripture to-day.