66

"that the same persons should be kings and priests, whose administration of justice mingling with religion raised up an incre"dible power."

46

In the remainder of the account, Justin states, that "the wealth of the nation in"creased, by revenues from balsam, which is produced only in their country, for that "there is a valley which is enclosed with "continued mountains, as by a wall, and in a manner resembling a camp; that the space consists of two hundred acres, and is "called Jericho, wherein there is a wood "remarkable for its fruitfulness and pleasant appearance, being distinguished for its "palm-trees and balsams.”

He describes the balsam-tree as having a form similar to the fir-tree, excepting that it is not so lofty. He remarks that it is cultivated like a vine; and that this tree, in a certain time of the year, exudes the balsam. He observes that the place is not more remarkable for its warmth, than for its exuberance, since as the sun is more ardent here, than in any part of the world, there is a kind of natural and perpetual glow in the sultry air. He relates, that the lake of Asphaltites, on account of its magnitude, and the tranquillity of its waters,

was called the Dead Sea, for that it is not moved by the winds, (which are resisted by the bitumen by which it is rendered stagnant) nor does it endure navigation, because all things which are without life sink into the deep, so that it does not sustain any matter unless what is smeared with alum.

Justin concludes his account with observing, that the Jews were first subdued by Xerxes, king of the Persians; that they afterwards surrendered themselves to Alexander, and that they were long subject to the Macedonian empire in the kingdom of Syria; that when they revolted from Demetrius, and sought the friendship of the Romans, they first among the Orientalists, obtained freedom, the Romans then easily conceding what did not belong to them *.

The whole sketch of history which Justin has transmitted with regard to the Jews, preserves, amidst palpable misrepresentations, the most clear and unequivocal proofs of an original foundation in truth.

* Lib. xxxvi. c. 2, 3. p. 528. Edit. Wetsten.

and a little hay, as living in a state of mendicity, near the fountain of Egeria, hiring its grove and temples *.

There is a passage in the sixth satire of Juvenal, in which he remarks, that a greater confidence would be placed in the Chaldæans, because the oracles of Delphi had ceased alluding, no doubt, to the silence of the oracles, produced by the influence of Christianity. He demonstrates in almost every page, the necessity which existed for that Divine Revelation; and even the addresses which he represents to have been daily offered up to the gods, serve to shew how much the best institutions of religion were perverted, in the practices of his age. He informs us also that there was a general incredulity in his time, concerning a state of future rewards and punishments, produced probably, as he seems to intimate, by the fabulous representations with respect to the infernal regions, which were given in popular superstition; and he considers that this

*Sat. iii. 1. 12-16.

Line 554. In the time of the Consul Lucius Emilius Paulus, 167 years before Christ, the oracle of Delphi was in the highest repute. Livy, lib. xlv. § 27.

Juvenal, Sat. x. line 23. et. seq.

was one cause of the crimes committed by men released from all fear of future judgment *.

Juvenal mentions in various places the persecutions to which the Christians were exposed. He speaks of the pitched vestments, in which they were burnt, fixed to the stake, producing a long furrow, as their bodies were dragged along the dust of the Arena +.

See also Sat. viii. 1. 235, and Se

Sat. ii. 1. 149-152. + Sat. i. 1. 155. 157. neca. Consol. ad Mar. c. 20.

CHAP. LVIII.

Junianus Justinus.

THE period in which Justin lived is not ascertained. He is generally allowed to have flourished before the Emperors were converted to Christianity; and the clearness and politeness of his style, indicate an earlier period than the reign of Theodosius, in which he is placed by some writers, while others, who appear to have confounded him with Justin Martyr, represent him to have dedicated his work to Antoninus.

The work of Justin is an abridgment, in forty-four books of Trogus Pompeius, who lived in the reign of Augustus, and wrote the history of ancient nations, and particularly of the Macedonians, from the time of Ninus to that of Augustus. That part of the work which relates to the Jews, may be extracted, as affording proofs of the erroneous representations which continued to prevail with re