1 Earliest Rome

I I . T H R E A T S T O T H E R O M A N O R D E R
In memory of an epidemic when they were infected by the scabs to which this animal is
prone. To this day they bear witness to their historic hunger by frequent fastings, and
Jewish bread is still made without leaven to recall their hurried meal. They say that they
decided to rest on the seventh day because that marked the end of their toils; then the
lures of sloth led them to give over the seventh year too to inactivity. Others say that this
rest is in honour of Saturn, either because the Idaeans (who had been expelled with
Saturn and whom we believe are the founders of their race) transmitted the fundamentals
of their religion; or because, of the seven planets that govern the human race, Saturn
moves in the highest orbit and has the greatest power; in addition, many of the heavenly
bodies run on courses in multiples of seven.
(5) These rites, whatever their origins, are sanctioned by their antiquity. But their
other practices are perverse and disgusting, and have lasted only because of their
depravity. Wretches of the worst kind who scorned their ancestral religions used to send dues and contributions there , which increased
the wealth of the Jews. And the Jews, though extremely loyal and ready to show
compassion to each other, are implacably hostile to the rest of the world. They eat apart,
they sleep separately, and though thev are a most lascivious people they abstain from
intercourse with foreign women; but among themselves nothing is illicit. They
established the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others.
Those who go over to their ways adopt the same practices, and the first lesson they learn
is to despise the gods, disown their country and to have little regard for their parents,
children and brothers. However, they take pains over increasing their numbers. They
think it a crime to expose any offspring born as heirs, and they consider the souls of those
killed in battle or by the executioner to be immortal. Hence their passion for procreation
and their scorn of dying. They inhume rather than cremate the dead, in accordance with
Egyptian custom; they give the same care to the dead and hold the same beliefs about the
underworld, but they hold a contrary belief about the gods. While the Egyptians worship
many animals and half-human, half-bestial images, the Jews concede only one divine
power, which can be perceived by the mind alone. They regard as impious those who
create images of the gods from perishable materials in the likenesses of humans, for the
supreme and eternal power is inimitable and immortal. 1
Therefore they do not place any
images In their cities, let alone in their temples ; their kings ate not
accorded this flattery, nor are the Caesars thus honoured. But because their priests used
to chant to the pipe and cymbals, wearing garlands of ivy, and because a golden vine was
discovered in their temple, some people have considered that they worship Father Liber,
the conqueror of the East, but this view is incompatible with their customs. For Liber
established happy and joyful rites, while the practices of the Jews are bizarre and sordid.
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1, For this idea see Varro in I. Ia and 12.6a.