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Untitled Article
fore admits of no excuse . On the other hand , his consummate personal bravery and military talent—his generosity to his enemies—his fidelity to his friends—his knowledge of and stedfast attention to his country—his exalted piety and gratitude towards his God , justify the zealous and fervent attachment of the Jewish people to the memory of their monarch . " We are carried through the history of the periods immediately succeeding
the Old Testament in a lively and animating narrative . We are transported , in a manner , into the midst of the events , and even into all the intrigues , of the time . The tyranny and rapacity of the successive Roman governors inflame our indignation ; and the ardent devotion of the Jews to their religion , and their high-spirited resistance of every attempt to violate it , throw a splendour and a glory about them which even their civil discords and their unbounded licentiousness cannot obscure . It is true , there is nothing original in this part of the work ; it is little , so far as we have discovered , but a compilation from the books of the Maccabees and Josephus ; but the narrative is conducted in an energetic style , and with an extensive and accurate knowledge of the subject . In fact , there are no other sources of information to which he might have recourse : but we can gladly exchange the cumbersome narration of Josephus for the elegant and vigorous version of it with which we are here presented . Mr . Milman has entered into the very spirit
of this part of his subject : some of the incidents , especially that of the siege of Jotapata and its defence , are given with a dramatic effect , almost reminding us of the vivid pictures of that master of description , the author of Waverley . The strain of patriotism that pervades this part is delightful . Much as we have trespassed on the patience of our readers , we think they will be glad to read the following considerations which are offered on the commencement of the Jewish war :
" Yet , however frantic and desperate the insurrection , why should the Jews alone be excluded from that generous sympathy which is always awakened by the history of a people throwing off the galling yoke of oppression , and manfullv resisting to the utmost in assertion of their freedom ? Surely if ever people were justified in risking the peace of their country for liberty , tlie grinding tyranny of the successive Roman Procurators , and the deliberate and systematic cruelties of Florus , were enough to have maddened a less highspirited and intractable race into revolt . It is true , that the war was carried on with unexampled atrocity ; l > ut , on the other hand , insurrectionary warfare
is not the best school tor the huinaner virtues ; and horrible oppression is apt to awaken the fiercer and more savage , not the loftier and nobler , passions of our nature . And it must be buruc in mind , that we have the history of the war , only on the authority of some brief passages in the Roman authors , and the narrative of one to whom , notwithstanding our respect for his abilities and virtues , it is impossible not to assign the appellation of renegade . Josephus , writing to conciliate the Romans both to his own person and to the miserable remnant of his people , must be received with some mistrust . He uniformly calls tlie more obstinate insurgents , who continued desperately faithful to that cause which lie deserted , by the odious name of robbers ; but it may be remeinbered that the Spanish guerillas , who were called patriots in London , were brigands ia Paris . It is true , that the resistance of many was the result of the wildest fanaticism . But we must not forget in what religious and historical recollections the Jews had been nurtured . To say nothing of the earlier and miraculous period of their history , what precedents of hope were offered by the more recent legends of the daring and triumphant Maccabees ! It is , moreover , true that the Son or" Man had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem , and that the New Testament appears to intimate , that the measure
Untitled Article
The History of the Jews 381
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 381, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/21/
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