In A.D. 71, Titus, with his father Vespasian and brother Domitian, with extraordinary pomp and a carefully arranged pictorial display, entered Rome. This triumph was adorned with a long train of captive Jews, some of whom were publicly put to death as part of the great show. Among the more precious spoils of the fallen city were conspicuously displayed some of the celebrated objects rescued by the victors out of the burning Temple,—such as the famous seven-branched sacred candlestick; the golden table of shewbread; the purple veil which hung before the Holy of Holies; and the precious Temple copy of the Torah—the sacred Law of Moses.
The story of the great triumph is still with us, graved upon the marble of the slowly crumbling Arch of Titus,—the traveller may still gaze upon the figure of the great general, crowned by Victory, in his triumphal car driven by the goddess Rome, and upon the same imperial figure borne to heaven[1] by an eagle. Still the carved representation of the sacred candlestick of the seven branches, and the golden table, are beheld by the Christian with mute awe; by the Jew with a mourning that refuses to be comforted. But the sacred things[2] themselves over which brood such ineffable memories are gone.
The fall of Jerusalem, the utter destruction of the Holy City, the burning of the Temple, really sealed the fate of the Jews as a separate nation. The centre of the chosen race existed no longer. The sacred rites, the daily sacrifice, and the offering ceased for ever. The great change in Judaism we are going to dwell upon must be dated from the year 70. But more terrible events had yet to happen before the Jew acknowledged his utter defeat, and recognized that a great change had passed over him and had finally
- ↑ The arch was completed by Domitian after the death of Titus.
- ↑ The golden relics were deposited in the Temple of Peace, which Vespasian built opposite the Palatine; it was dedicated A.D. 75. The temple in question was destroyed completely by fire in the reign of Commodus. The temple copy of the Torah was taken to the imperial palace. The Emperor Severus, who built a synagogue for the Roman Jews, handed over this precious MS. to the Jewish community in Rome. The MS. has disappeared, but a list of some of the readings of this venerable codex has been preserved in the Massorah, and is still available for use.
