going on for the same length of time, in his fourth d. I hope to shew elsewhere, that the second of Darius most probably bears date B. C. 521 medio: and his fourth B. C. 519 medio. The period of seventy years, that is, the appointed duration of the punishment of the Jews, properly began with their first captivity, B. C. 606: and properly ended with their restoration by Cyrus, B. C. 536. Yet seventy years of Divine indignation, or of national suffering and humiliation, were either just expired, or still current, B. C. 521, and B. C. 519.

It would be easy to ascertain these periods, by referring the former to B. C. 590 exeunte, when the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was begun; and the latter to B. C. 588 med., when it was brought to a close. But this is not our business at present. What I would observe upon them is, that the same priod of seventy years, which was properly and primarily intended of the duration of time between B. C. 606, and B. C. 536, the beginning and the close of the Jewish captivity, is yet referred in the above passages to other extremes; within which some dispensation of retributive judgment was still going on, or was only just brought to a close. A coincidence, analogous to this, will be shewn to hold good in the present instance, if it can be rendered probable that as the first Jewish war began A. D. 66, U. C. 819, so the latter was ended A. D. 136, U. C. 889.

Capitolinus informs us that the rebellion of the Jews was scarcely over at the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius; which bears date from July 10, A. D. 138, U. C. 891.

According to Eusebius, the siege of Bitthera, or

d Zech. vii. 5. I. e Appendix, Dissertation xxii.

iv. vi. 118. C.

f Vita, 5.

g E. H.

Bither, where the Jews made the most obstinate resistance, was not begun before the eighteenth of Hadrian, A. D. 134, U. C. 887.

By Dio or Xiphilinus", the close of the war is placed about the time of the death of Servianus; who was living and consul, A. D. 134, U. C. 887, and at the time of the adoption of Ælius Verus, U. C. 888 or U. C. 889: nor did his death long precede that of Hadrian himself1, July 10, A. D. 138.

These concurrent testimonies seem to imply that the war could not have been concluded before A. D. 135 or 136. And so by Eusebius, Chronicon-ArmenoLatinum, its close is regularly represented, Hadriani xix. Ol. 228. 4. This year answers to A. D. ¦¦¦; and if the war was really brought to an end in the fifth Jewish month, it expired in the latter half of the nineteenth of Hadrian, A. D. 136, U. C. 889.

136

Eusebius' date is confirmed by Jerome: who, among other expositions of the prophecy of the seventy weeks, having given that secundum Hebræos, sums up the account in these terms: Hæc loquuntur Hebræi, non magnopere curantes a primo anno Darii, regis Persarum, usque ad extremam subversionem Jerusalem, quæ sub Hadriano eis accidit, supputari olympiades centum septuaginta quattuor, id est, annos sexcentos nonaginta sex, qui faciunt hebdomadas Hebraicas nonaginta novem, et annos tres : quando Cochebas, dux Judæorum, oppressus est, et Jerusalem usque ad solum diruta est.

The first of Darius is here confounded with the first of Cyrus, regis Persarum, B. C. 560*. In other

* Just as Suidas, voce 'Avagipéns, according to his present μένης, reading, confounds the first of

h lxix. 15. 17.

Cyrus, Olympiad 55, with the capture of Sardis, B. C. 548. Cf. ad ̓Αριστέας.

i Spartian, Hadrianus, 23. Verus Cæsar, 3. Dio, lxix. j Operum iii. 1117. in Dan. ix. ad calcem.

17. Spartian, Hadrianus, 15. 25.

respects the calculation is sufficiently exact: for six hundred and ninety-six current years, beginning B. C. 560, would be brought to an end A. D. 136.

There is good reason, then, to conclude that the second Jewish war terminated A. D. 136, U. C. 889, or thereabouts*.

The question of the time of its commencement is much more difficult. Yet I shall endeavour to shew that it may probably be dated A. D. 127, U. C. 880.

Jerome, in three places of his works, reckons it fifty years between the former war and the latter: which, though referred to the end of the former, A. D. 75, and to the beginning of the latter, will not place this later than A. D. 125, U. C. 878.

In his account of the exposition of the seventy weeks, secundum Hebræos, before mentioned', he supposes them to reckon it forty-nine years from the death of Vespasian to the time of the events in question. Vespasian died June 23, A. D. 79: whence, forty-nine years bring us to A. D. 128, U. C. 881.

Ab Hadriani temporibus, says he elsewhere", usque ad imperium Constantini, per annos circiter centum octoginta, in loco resurrectionis simulacrum Jovis; in crucis rupe statua ex marmore Veneris a gentibus posita colebatur †. As Constantine's reign bears date

*This date for the conclusion of the war is virtually confirmed by what Suidas, Þλéуwv, observes of the Olympiads of Phlegon of Tralles; a digest of universal history, down to the 229th Olympiad, where it closed. The same work contained in brief the particulars of the Jewish war, as

well as other historical matters of various kinds-apparently among the last or latest which it recorded. We may presume then the war was just over where it closed, Olympiad 229, which bears date B. C. 137.

+ These allusions of Jerome to the above idols, and their

k Operum ii. 610. ad calcem. Epp. Critica: iii. 65. ad calcem. in Isaiæ vi: ibid. 725. ad calcem. in Ezech. v. Cf. Julius Pollux, Chronicon, 218. 1 Operum iii. 1117. ad medium. m Operum iv. Pars iia. 564. ad medium, Epistolæ, xlix.

July 25, A. D. 306, one hundred and eighty years before that would be A. D. 126, or 127.

It thus appears that he has three dates, none of which would be true in any sense, except as referred to the beginning of the second Jewish war-A. D. 125, A. D. 126, A. D. 128. The true year is as likely to be between the second and the third of these, viz. A. D. 127, as any where else.

Epiphanius supposes forty-seven years between the destruction of Jerusalem, and Hadrian's visit to Judæa, followed by the rebellion of the Jews". If we refer this date to A. D. 70, it will place the revolt in the very first year of Hadrian, A. D. 117. It appears, however, from the context, that, whether right or wrong in itself, the date to which he refers is the second of Titus, U. C. 833-834, A. D. 80-81: fortyseven years from which actually expire, A. D. 127– 128. It confirms this construction that they are supposed to expire in the twelfth of Hadrian. The twelfth of Hadrian bears date Aug. 11, A. D. 128, U.C. 881.

The motive to the Jewish rebellion, according to Spartian, was their being forbidden to practise the rite

sites, are illustrated by Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iii. 26. 497. D. 41. 503: Sulpicius Severus, ii. 45: Socrates, i. 9. 37. B. 17. 46. C: Sozomen, ii. 1. 440. C: Theodorit, i. 16. 45. D: Julius Pollux, Chronicon, 218. The existence of a statue of Venus, or a temple, dedicated to her, upon the site of mount Calvary, in particular, throws light upon an obscure allusion in Ambrose, i. 938. D. E. in Psalm. xlvii. §. 5, which would other

wise be unintelligible: Simul quia Dominus secundum cæli tractum in Venerario passus est, qui erat locus in latere aquilonis. The Venerarium might denote the site of the temple or image of Venus, upon mount Calvary, from the time it was first set up there: and the spot might retain the name, even after the temple or image had been removed, and the church of the Holy Sepulchre erected in its stead.

n Opera, ii. 170. B. De Mensuris et Ponderibus, xiv. 170. A. xiii.

o Cf. also 169. C. D.

of circumcision: according to Dio, was the foundation of Elia Capitolina on the site of the ancient Jerusalem, and of a temple of Jupiter on the site of the former temple P. According to both, however, the precise time of the revolt was the interval between Hadrian's presence in Judæa, and his visit to Syria or Egypt 9.

The reign of this emperor was almost entirely spent in travelling from place to place; and there was scarcely a quarter of his dominions, however remote, which he did not visit once at least. The times and orders of his journeys, however, are very difficult to be fixed and the attempts of learned men, to follow and trace them year by year, are after all chiefly conjectural. If the reader is curious to see them chronologically arranged, he may consult Tillemont; or Eckhel, who has stated them in conformity to the opinions of Tillemont". It is unnecessary for our purpose to consider the date of his visits to any part of the empire, except Syria, Judæa, or Egypt: since it seems to be agreed that the rebellion of the Jews broke out soon after the emperor had, some time or other, paid a personal visit to their country, either in his way to Egypt or on his return from it*.

* Dio, lxix. 12, implies that it was after his return. He implies also that Hadrian came into Syria from Egypt, not into Egypt from Syria; passing

through Judæa by the way. Spartian, 14, implies that he came into Egypt, peragrata Arabia.

P Spartian, Hadrianus, 14. Dio, lxix. 12. Cf. Philostorgius, vii. 11. 507. According to Jerome, in Chronico, ad ann. Hadriani xx. Ælia was not founded until after the war, in Hadrian's twentieth. It might have been founded before, but finished only then. The motive to the rebellion, alleged by Spartian, is confirmed apparently by a rescript of Antoninus Pius, produced by Casaubon, in his notes ad locum, from Modestinus. The prohibition in question seems to have been removed at the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius; and about an hundred years after, Origen, Contra Celsum, ii. 13. Operum i. 399. A. speaks of the Jews as alone enjoying by law the right of practising circumcision. ¶ Spartian, Hadrianus, 14. Dio, lxix. 11, 12. r Doctrina Numorum Veterum, vi. 480.

seqq.