Part 8 (1/2)
=The Jews.=--The little kingdom of Jerusalem maintained itself for seven centuries, governed now by a king, now by the high-priest, but always paying tribute to the masters of Syria--to the Persians first, later to the Macedonians and the Syrians, and last of all to the Romans. Faithful to the end to Jehovah, the Jews (their proper name since the return) continued to live the law of Moses, to celebrate at Jerusalem the feasts and the sacrifices. The high-priest, a.s.sisted by a council of the elders, preserved the law; scribes copied it and doctors expounded it to the people. The faithful obliged themselves to observe it in the smallest details. The Pharisees were eminent among them for their zeal in fulfilling all its requirements.
=The Synagogues.=--Meanwhile the Jews for the sake of trade were pus.h.i.+ng beyond the borders of Judaea into Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and even to Italy. Some of them were to be found in all the great cities--Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth and Rome.
Dispersed among the Gentiles, the Jews were strenuous to preserve their religion. They raised no temples, for the law prevented this; there could be but one Jewish temple, that at Jerusalem, where they celebrated the solemn feasts. But they joined themselves together to read and comment on the word of G.o.d. These places of a.s.sembling were called Synagogues, from a Greek word signifying meetings.
=Destruction of the Temple.=--The Christ appeared at this moment. The Jews crucified him and persecuted his disciples not only in Judaea but in every city where they found them in any number. In the year 70 A.D.
Jerusalem, in revolt against the Romans, was taken by a.s.sault, and all the inhabitants were ma.s.sacred or sold into slavery. The Romans burnt the temple and carried away the sacred utensils. From that time there was no longer a centre of the Jewish religion.
=Fortunes of the Jews after the Dispersion.=--The Jewish nation survived the ruin of its capital. The Jews, scattered throughout the world, learned to dispense with the temple. They preserved their sacred books in the Hebrew tongue. Hebrew is the primitive language of Israel; the Jews since the return from Babylon no longer spoke it, but adopted the languages of the neighboring peoples--the Syriac, the Chaldean, and especially the Greek. The Rabbis, however, instructed in the religion, still learned the Hebrew, explained it, and commented on the Scripture.[43] Thus the Jewish religion was preserved, and, thanks to it, the Jewish people. It made converts even among the Gentiles; there were in the empire proselytes, that is, people who practised the religion of Jehovah without being of the Jewish race.
The Christian Church, powerful since the fourth century, commenced to persecute the Jews. This persecution has endured to this day in all Christian countries. Usually the Jews were tolerated on account of their wealth and because they transacted all banking operations; but they were kept apart, not being permitted to hold any office. In the majority of cities they were compelled to wear a special costume, to live in a special quarter,[44] gloomy, filthy, unhealthy, and sometimes at Easter time to send one of their number to suffer insult.
The people suspected them of poisoning fountains, of killing children, of profaning the consecrated host; often the people rose against them, ma.s.sacred them, and pillaged their houses. Judges under the least pretext had them imprisoned, tortured, and burned. Sometimes the church tried to convert them by force; sometimes the government exiled them _en ma.s.se_ from the country and confiscated their goods. The Jews at last disappeared from France,[45] from Spain, England, and Italy.
In Portugal, Germany, and Poland, and in the Mohammedan lands they maintained themselves. From these countries after the cessation of persecution they returned to the rest of Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[41] Exodus iii, 1-10.
[42] There is much uncertainty regarding the chronology of this period.--ED.
[43] The Talmud is the acc.u.mulation of these commentaries.
[44] The Jewish Quarter at Rome was called the Ghetto. This name has since been applied to all Jewish quarters.
[45] Except at Avignon, on the domains of the Pope, and in Alsace-Lorraine.
CHAPTER IX
GREECE AND THE GREEKS
=The Country.=--Greece is a very little country (about 20,000 square miles), hardly larger than Switzerland; but it is a country of great variety, bristling with mountains, indented with gulfs--a country originally const.i.tuted to influence mightily the character of the men who inhabited it.
A central chain, the Pindus, traverses Greece through the centre and covers it with its rocky system. Toward the isthmus of Corinth it becomes lower; but the Peloponnesus, on the other side of the isthmus, is elevated about 2,000 feet above the sea level, like a citadel crowned with lofty chains, abrupt and snowy, which fall perpendicularly into the sea. The islands themselves scattered along the coast are only submerged mountains whose summits rise above the surface of the sea. In this diverse land there is little tillable ground, but almost everywhere bare rock. The streams, like brooks, leave between their half-dried channel and the sterile rock of the mountain only a narrow strip of fertile soil. In this beautiful country are found some forests, cypresses, laurels, palms, here and there vines scattered on the rocky hillsides; but there are no rich harvests and no green pasturages. Such a country produces wiry mountaineers, active and sober.
=The Sea.=--Greece is a land of sh.o.r.es: smaller than Portugal, it has as great a coast-line as Spain. The sea penetrates it to a great number of gulfs, coves, and indentations; it is ordinarily surrounded with projecting rocks, or with approaching islands that form a natural port. This sea is like a lake; it has not, like the ocean, a pale and sombre color; usually it is calm, l.u.s.trous, and, as Homer says, ”of the color of violets.”
No sea lends itself better to navigation with small s.h.i.+ps. Every morning the north wind rises to conduct the barques of Athens to Asia; in the evening the south wind brings them back to port. From Greece to Asia Minor the islands are placed like stepping-stones; on a clear day the mariner always has land in view. Such a sea beckons people to cross it.
And so the Greeks have been sailors, traders, travellers, pirates, and adventurers; like the Phnicians, they have spread over all the ancient world, carrying with them the merchandise and the inventions of Egypt, of Chaldea, and of Asia.
=The Climate.=--The climate of Greece is mild. In Athens it freezes hardly once in twenty years; in summer the heat is moderated by the breeze from the sea.[46] Today the people still lie in the streets from the month of May to September. The air is cool and transparent; for many leagues could once be seen the crest of the statue of Pallas.
The contours of distant mountains are not, as with us, enveloped in haze, but show a clear line against the clear sky. It is a beautiful country which urges man to take life as a feast, for everything is happy about him. ”Walking at night in the gardens, listening to the gra.s.shoppers, playing the lute in the clear of the moon, going to drink at the spring at the mountain, carrying with him some wine that he may drink while he sings, spending the days in dancing--these are Greek pleasures, the joys of a race poor, economical, and eternally young.”
=Simplicity of Greek Life.=--In this country men are not melted with the heat nor stiffened with cold; they live in the open air gay and at slight expense. Food in great quant.i.ty is not required, nor warm clothing, nor a comfortable house. The Greek could live on a handful of olives and a sardine. His entire clothing consisted of sandals, a tunic, a large mantle; very often he went bare-footed and bare-headed.
His house was a meagre and unsubstantial building; the air easily entered through the walls. A couch with some coverings, a coffer, some beautiful vases, a lamp,--this was his furniture. The walls were bare and whitened with lime. This house was only a sleeping place.