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AUTHOR:
KNIGHT, WILLIAM
TITLE:
ARCH OF TITUS AND THE
SPOILS OF THE...
PLACE:
LONDON
DA TE :
1867
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II
I
Of
THb: ARCH OF TITUS VESPASIANUS.
1-K4)M A KI'.IUl M» LOrV •»! A KKCKM I'lK )T(KiKAM,
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AM)
THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE,
AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL LECTURE
WITH AUTHENTIC II.LUSTRAI'IONS,
BV
WILLIAM KNIGHT MA.
RECTOR OF ST. MICHAEL's BRISTOL AND CHAPLAIN OF THE BLIND ASYLUM,
HONORARY CANON OF BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.
\VHEN FREDERICK THE GREAT ASKED PROFESSOR GELLERT, WHAT HE THOUGHT
OF JESUS CHRIST, GELLERT IS SAID TO HAVE REPLIED,— WHAT THINKS YOUR MAJESTY
OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM?
I
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER.
1867.
l.DNDON :
K. CI.AY, SON. AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BKKAU STREET HII.L.
5
t
PREFACE.
T/i/s Lecture was read at the Bristol Fitie Arts Academy^
in aid of a fmid for bui/di?ig a School-room in my parish ;
and, having been successful in that i?istance, I have been
induced to publish it, with some enlargeitiefit, a?id with the
addition of the ?nost ijnportant authorities, in behalf of
another parochial School-room; tvhich, I am happy to say,
has also been erected by the subscriptiofis contributed to this
volume.
I trust, however, that it may be further useful, as iin-
foldijig a subject of cojisiderable attraction to those who take
an interest in Biblical a?itiquities, a?id especially as pre-
sentijig an importaiit illustration of our Lord's marvellous
prophetic prescience ; a subject which cannot be lightly
regarded by those who feel, as Christians, a godly jealousy
for the truthful ho7iour of their Lord's Word.
Ln vain did Titus try to save the Temple ; in vain did
Julian endeavour to rebuild it: the Word of God stood
fast : and, if 77ien call in question its veracity, ' the stone
will cry out of the wall ' in defence of it, as indeed it has
dotie in the presetit day. The Sculptures of Nitieveh are
indisputable witnesses to the historic records of the Old
Testatnejit, as those on the Arch of Titus illustrate the
prophetic pages of the New.
W. K.
1180/
8
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Arch of Titus (from a recent Photogram)
Coin of Titus (Gesner's r/^^^««r//^)
6"
Titus' Apotheosis (Bartoli's Adt}iirauda) ^
Keystone (Desgodetz' Edifices Antiques) ^5
Part of the Frieze (Bartoli's ^^/w/>^?'/^) . • • • 97
Seven-branched Candlestick (Reland, /^/^/.) '"
Vespasian Coins (British Museum) '^i
Erratum— Pp. i, 2,for .\.\y. 63, read h.D. y^.
y
SYNOPSIS.
Our Lord's last words to the Jews, i.-Prophecies of the destruction
of the Temple, and of the days of vengeance on Jerusalem, 2.
Roman governors of Jud^a— the national revolt, 3.— Cestius' at-
tempted suppression and defeat, 4.
Vespasian's mission and subjugation of Galilee, 5. -Imperial changes
at Rome— Vespasian Emperor, 6.
The war resumed by Titus, 7.— His advances on Jerusalem, 8. -Its
circumvallation, 9. -The Famine-Loss of the Antonia and results,
10, II.— Our Lord's prescience and sympathy, 12.— The Temple— its
destruction and that of the City, 13. -Foretold by our Lord-attested
byjosephus, 14, 15.
The captives and the slain, 16.— The conquest great, but no agno-
men, 17.- Prisoners and spoils sent to Rome, 18.— The Triumph, 19.
The Arch, 20.— Its Inscriptions, 21, 22.-Its architectural character-
istics, 23.— The Frieze, 24.— First tablet, Titus triumphant, 25.-
Second, the Temple Spoils, 26.— Their previous history, 27.— The
Table and its memorial cups, 28.— The Trumpets, their form and
use, 29.— The Candlestick, its structure and mystery, 30.
General inference, 31.— What became of the Spoils? 32, 33.— Their
sojourn at Rome, 34, 35. —Their transfer into Africa, 36, 37.— Thence
to Byzantium, 38, 39.
The Arch a witness, 40.— Subserves a purj3ose alien from that of its
authors, 41.— Its Lessons to us, 42.— The Romans gone-thc Jews
surviving, 43. —To what end? 44.
m
mmmm
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND
THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
-"«>^-
Paschal
week.
A.D. 6^,
I. In our Lord's last public address to the Jews, o
when about to take his final departure from the' SS
Temple, He tells them that the heaviest woes are
hanging over them,-their rulers, their teachers,
themselves and their metropoHs,-and that their
House would be left unto them desolate; that
House in which they so much gloried, which He
no longer calls his Father's House, but theirs ; foi
the Lord was about to withdraw from it and to
give It up to ruin.
, ' Behold,' said He, ' I send unto you prophets,
and wise men, and scribes ; and some of them ye
shall kdl and crucify ; and some of them ye shall
scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them
from cty to city ; that upon you may come all the
B
week.
A.D. 63.
P
I
2 THE ARCH OF TITUS
Our Lords righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the
last w^orvls ,| ' ,
tothejews. blood of rightcous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias
son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the sanc-
tuary and the altar. Verily, I say unto you. All
these things shall come upon this generation/ ^
And yet this denunciation was mingled with
compassion, which broke forth in those farewell
words : ^ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil-
dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold, your
House is left unto you desolate.^ For I say unto
you. Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall
say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord.'
With these words our Lord closed his mission
to the Jewish rulers and people : all his subsequent
addresses were delivered to his disciples.
^ Matt, xxiii. 34 — 2)^.
^ Qui de Templo inter-
pretantur recte agunt, nam
ab eo pendebat totus cultus
Israeliticiis, imo ipsa quoque
respublica. Praeterea Tem-
plum Judseis /car iioxrjy di-
citur n^n. Schoettgen, Jlorce
Hebr. et Talm. in Matt, xxii ;
TfS. Haec interpretatio, ob
comma 39, praeferenda esse
videtur. Rosenmiiller /;/ /.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
2. And as He was about to quit the Temple some Propiiedes
of them, astonished at his words, exclaimed, ' See to ^a^^^^
I ciples.
what stones, and what buildings are here ! ' For
we are told that many of the marble blocks, which
were used in the construction of that magnificent
edifice, were more than forty cubits long.^ What,
is all this doomed to destruction ; this House, in
which we and our fathers have worshipped, reve-
renced by prophets and adorned by kings ? Yes,
even so ; as He had already told them, when He
wept over the impenitent city. ' For the days are
coming, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and shall compass thee round, and keep thee
in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the
ground, and thy children within thee ; and they
shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,
because thou knewest not the time of thy visita-
tion.* 2
They had called Him to look at the Templets ofthede-
grandeur and stability ; He calls them to take a ofThf"
very different view of it. ' See ye not all these ^^'"^^^*
things ? Verily, I say unto you, that there shall
not be left one stone upon another that shall not be
1 Josephus, Bell.Jud. v. v. 6. 2 ^^^^^ ^ix. 43, 44.
B 2
of the
Temple.
4 THE ARCH OF TITUS
Of the de- cast down : ' and then, on their reaching the Mount
struction
of Olives, whence they had the city full in view, in
answer to the question, When shall these things
be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and
of the end of the world ? our Lord delivered that
great prophecy of his final advent in power and
glory, to judge the quick and dead, at his appear-
ing and his kingdom, and of his previous coming
in judgment on Jerusalem, with the signs of her
approaching day of doom.
In the first place He charges them — for these
prophecies assume the form of warnings, when
addressed to his disciples — to beware of being
deceived by false Christs and false prophets ; many
of whom would come in his name. He then tells
them, that they would hear of wars and tumults,
nation against nation, and kingdom against king-
dom, but that the end would not be yet : then that
there would be famines and pestilences, and earth-
quakes, with fearful signs and sights from heaven ;
yet these would be but the beginnings of sorrow :
then that his disciples would be delivered up to
councils, and be beaten in synagogues, and brought
before rulers; but that the Lord would be with
Of the days
of ven-
geance on
Jerusalem.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE. 5
them in their hour of peril. In the meantime, He Ofthedays
adds, that the Gospel of the Kingdom would be geance on
... . Jerusalem.
preached for a witness throughout the Roman
world : and that, in coincidence with that event,
Jerusalem would be encompassed with armies, — the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel,
standing where it ought not on holy ground : that
this must be taken by his disciples as a warning
to flee from the scene of approaching tribulation ;
for these would be the days of vengeance, of which
the Old Testament prophets had written, — such days
as the world had never witnessed, nor ever will again
in all time : that Jerusalem would be trodden down
by the Gentiles ; that her people would fall by the
edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all
nations : and He concludes by predicting that the
eagles of the conquerors would seize upon the
carcase of their fallen commonwealth.^
Such is the sum of those great prophecies, of The Arch
which we have in the Arch of Titus an important and'expo-
witness and expositor ; that is, of the event in
which they all converge : and in Josephus' History
of the Jewish War we have a testimony, no less
1 Matt xxiv. Mark xiii. Ljike xxi.
6 THE ARCH OF TITUS
The Arch Unexceptionable ; for not only was he present, as a
a witness
and expo- leader or as a captive, throughout the whole of the
sitor.
great conflict, but he could have had no wish to
subserve that cause to which his History has so
largely contributed.
Roman 3' When our Lord uttered these predictions
Governors, y j i j i
^ j^ Judaea had become a part of a Roman province,
33—64 and till the third year after the Ascension was
under the government of Pilate. He was suc-
ceeded by seven other procurators in the course
of the next thirty years ; under whom the Jews
had much to endure in struggling to regain
their national independence. Two of these rulers,
Felix and Florus, have been deeply branded by
their own historian for malversation in their high
office ; ^ though they were not the only ones,
according to Josephus, who abused their authority
to the basest purposes. In fact, the whole history
of this procuratorship, with the exception chiefly
of the early part of it, is but a record of oppression
and extortion, which rose at length to so intolerable
a height, as to drive the Jews into a desperate
resistance to the overwhelming power of Rome.
^ Tacitus, His/, v. x. ii.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE. 7
The flames of the revolt broke out at Cassarea, Outbreak
the head-quarters of the Roman Government, on RevoU.
Nero's conferring its municipal privileges on the ^ ^^^'
Syrian Gentiles to the exclusion of the Jews. ^
This was a great and grievous wrong. A contest
then arose there about a synagogue and an inter-
ference with the Jewish worship, which was quickly
followed, in that and other places, by tumults and
conflicts of various kinds ; sometimes traceable to
Roman violence, in others to the blind and reckless
fury of the Zealots, often to the state of the Jewish
mind in general, maddened by the falling fortunes
of their country. I can but glance at these events,
so far as the subject of my Lecture may require.
Florus, instead of vindicating the Jews, in the Slighted by
Florus.
case just mentioned at Caesar ea, took a bribe to
protect them, and left the city. Then, under
pretext of the emperor's service, he plundered
the Temple treasury at Jerusalem, and on this
exciting a violent disturbance, he broke into
houses, massacred their inmates, scourged and even
crucified some of the chief citizens; and, after
having slaughtered, in a collision with his soldiers,
^ Bell.Jud. II. xiv. 4.
8
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Urged on
by the
Zealots.
Aug.
A.D. 66.
a large number of the irritated populace, he re-
turned to his residence at Caesarea.^
After this an effort was made by Agrippa to
induce the people to submit to Florus, till the
emperor should send them a better ruler ; but they
rejected his advice with scorn and violence: nay,
more, the priests were persuaded by the Zealots to
refuse the admission of any gift or sacrifice that
might be offered to the Temple by a foreigner.
This was denounced by the peace-party as nothing
less than a declaration of war against the emperor,
for whom they had been used to offer daily sacri-
fice, and as branding also their city with impiety ; ^
for the practice of receiving ofi^erings from foreign
princes was of long standing in the Jewish Temple,
and was expressly sanctioned by the law of
Moses. ' But it was vain to reason with the men of
this party. Florus was informed of the state of
the city ; but so little did he care for ito distrac
tions that the intelligence was welcome news to
him. These tumults served to screen his atrocities,
and to prevent complaints against him being sent
1 Bell, J ml II. xiv. 2 /^y^/ jj ^^..
^ Numbers xv. 14 — 16.
*fi
^
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE. 9
to Rome.^ Agrippa, from a wish to serve both urged on
nations, sent a large body of cavalry to keep the zLiotl
peace ; but they could not stand against the '^"!'
^ A.D. 66.
Zealots, who did not scruple to increase their power
by the introduction of many of the sicars or bri-
gands, who then infested the country in great
numbers. With these they proceeded to various
acts of violence. They destroyed Agrippa's palace
and the high priest's house. They burnt the
public records and the debtors' contracts. They
massacred the garrison of the great fortress of the
Antonia, at the north-west angle of the Temple
platform ; and, after putting down the rival band
of Manahem, they slaughtered, under a pledge of
protection, the guards that had fled to the Royal
Towers, with the single exception of Metilius,
their commander, who was spared on his engaging
to become a Jew.^
On the same day the Gentiles in C^sarea other
slaughtered all its Jewish population, to the num- cTarea''
ber of more than twenty thousand; an atrocity
which so roused the Jews in those quarters, that,
forming separate bands for the purpose, they
^ Bell Jtal II. xiv. 3.
^ Ibid. II. xvii.
lO
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Other fiercely attacked the Gentile population, while the
tumults at ^ .
Ccesarea. Gentilcs as fiercely retorted upon them ; nation
A i/ 66 against nation, as our Lord had predicted amongst
the signs of the coming judgments on Jerusalem ;
till every town, according to Josephus, had be-
come, as it were, two hostile camps. At length
the Syrian president, Cestius Callus, deeming it
imprudent to be longer inactive, while the Jews
in his province were everywhere in arms, advanced
from Antioch with the twelfth legion and a large
amount of other troops ; and sending detachments
to Zabulon and Joppa, and into Lower Galilee and
Narbatene, he checked the insurrection in all those
places, and re-assembled his forces at Cassarea.^
Cestius'ad- 4. Thcnce he advanced to Bethhoron and
vanceand 1111/-
repulse. Gibcon.-^ There he was met by a large body of
Oct
A u 66 J^^^y under Simon, son of Gioras, who fell upon
the Romans with great fury, and drove them back
with considerable loss. Cestius, however, soon
rallied and advanced, and pitched his camp upon
Scopus, about a mile to the north of Jerusalem ;
^ Bell. Jud. II. xviii.
2 In Josephus, Bell.Jiid. 11.
xix. I, it is ra/5a9, aTT€vi]')(OVTO T^9 TToAco)?.
Bell Jiid. Ti xix. 6. These
Jews, who ' swam,' as it were,
out of the city, are supposed
to be the ' strangers ' whom
St. John speaks of in his
Third Epistle ; who had mi-
grated with him at this crisis
into Asia Minor ; for whom
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
13
5. For now, encouraged by this victory over vespj
sian s
Cestius, the revolt began to assume a more impor- mission,
tant character, under leaders of great ability ; ^ j^ ^^
especially Josephus, who had under his command
the strong town of Gamala, on the east of the
Lake, and who was also president of both Galilees : ^
and, in short, so important did the revolt appear
at Rome, that Vespasian, who had just returned
from Germany and Britain, was sent by Nero to
put it down ; and in a few months was joined by
Titus, with the fifteenth legion and other reinforce-
ments ; forming altogether an army of s^xty
thousand men.^
y
As soon as the troops were organized at Ptole- Fail of
(jadaraand
mais, they advanced into the interior, and burnt the Jotapata.
town of Gadara, in revenge of outrages committed
against Cestius ; and, after a siege of forty days,
they succeeded in taking Jotapata, with enormous
slaughter and a multitude of prisoners ; amongst
whom was their leader, Josephus ; who afterwards
he pleads so earnestly with
Gaius, and who were pro-
bably soon received into the
Christian Church. — Lampe's
Comuient. in Joan. vol. i.
Proleg. I. VII. xvi.
^ Bell. Jiid. III. iii.
2 Ibid. III. iv.
II
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Subjuga-
tion of
Galilee.
Autumn,
A.D. 67.
became a great favourite of Vespasian, and even
adopted the Flavian name/
Then other towns surrendered to the Romans.
Joppa, now again in revolt, was destroyed. Tibe-
rias, on the Lake, submitted to Vespasian, and
Tarichasa, at its south-west corner, was taken by-
Titus after a very hard contest, and its vast popu-
lation slaughtered or sold : a conquest which was
considered of so much importance as to call for
special notice amongst the sculptures on the Arch.
After this and other bloody conflicts and captures,
all Galilee, with Gischala, its last survivor, sur-
rendered to the Roman arms.^
In the meantime, Jerusalem had fallen into the
hands of three fierce rival factions, and was suffer-
ing especially from the fury of the Zealots ; who,
whilst denouncing all others as enemies of their
country, were themselves chief agents of its ruin."^
6. Vespasian now began to turn his attention to
A.D. 67, 68. the Trans-jordanic towns and to the south, and
had indeed subdued, with the exception of Jeru-
salem, all the most important places in those
quarters, when tidings reached him of the death
' Bell. Jud. in. vii. viii. ^ //;;V/^ ju, ix. x. '^ Ibid. iv. vi.
Factions in
Jerusalem.
Changes at
Rome.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
15
of Nero, and of Galba's accession to the throne.
This induced him to defer all further active mea-
sures, whilst he sent Titus to congratulate the new
emperor, and to receive his commands in reference
to the war.^
Again, in the course of a few months, he began Vespasian
Emperor.
to put the army in motion, when the news arrived juiy^
of the deposition of Vitellius, who had succeeded ^'^' ^^'
Galba and Otho. Upon this the legions in Judasa
and Egypt declared for Vespasian's elevation to
the empire ; and accordingly, sending Titus to
reduce the Jewish capital, he himself set out for
Rome.^
7. In consequence of these imperial changes, Titus on
Scopus.
the war was suspended for nearly a year ; but this
was no relief to the distracted city, where faction
raged more than ever under Simon, John, and
Eleazar ; the Assassin, the Tyrant, and the Zealot,
as they have been called. Simon had possession
of the Upper town, John of the Lower town
or Acra, and Eleazar of the Temple platform ;
and thence they were carrying on their mutual
assaults, when Titus appeared upon the heights
Spring,
A.D. 70.
1 BelLJud. IV. viii. ix.
2 Ibid. IV. xi.
i6
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
17
Titus on
Scopus.
Spring,
A.D. 70
The abo-
mination of
m
near Jerusalem, with four legions and a large body
of auxiliaries/
Now it was time, if not before, for all that would
escape from the great impending tribulation to
flee to the mountains, as the Lord had charged
them; when they should see Jerusalem encom-
passed with armies ; ^ the abomination of desolation
on holy ground.' "
This portentous phrase, or at least its equivalent,
desolation, ^^g first applied to the desecration of the Temple,
when Antiochus set up in it the statue of Jupiter.^
Here it probably refers to the Roman standards,
with their tutelary images of gods and emperors,
surmounted by an eagle grasping the thunderbolt,
which were afterwards brought into the Temple by
Titus ; and which some writers on the prophecy
have regarded as the main event referred to in our
Lord's words. True it is, that act of Titus, which
we shall presently have to notice, was ^ the consum-
mation of that desolation,' which he was permitted to
bring upon God's House ; but it was rather to the
1 Bell. Jud. V. i. — iii. " 2 Maccab. i. 54, p. 49.
2 Matt. xxiY.i^, 16. Mark Cotton's ed. 3 Maccab. vi. 2,
xiii. 14; \vithZ///Cvxxi. 20, 2T. p. 170. Dan.YA.i^\.
appearing of the Roman eagles, at the head of their The
legions, near the city, rivalling the Temple of the camping.
God of Israel, that our Lord applied the language
of the prophet;^ for the whole territory, and espe-
cially Mount Olivet, on which He was standing
when He uttered the prophecy, and on which the
tenth legion was afterwards encamped, was con-
sidered by the Jews as holy ground.^ As objects
which the Romans were in the practice of wor-
shipping, these eagles were an abomination to
the Jews ; as standards round which the soldiers
rallied, they might be called * the abomination
that maketh desolate : ' the Romans called them
their gods of battle.^ Their appearance with * the
^ *Talia signa Titus con-
spicua in castris suis po-
suit, quasi templum Templo
Hierosolymitano contrarium.
Nam et Tacitus alibi ita
loquitur ; Fulgentibus aqui-
lis ?ignisque et simulacris
Deum, in modum templi.' —
Grotius, Annotat. ad Matt.
xxiv. 15.
'^ Bengel, on Matt, xxiv.
1 5 ; I Maccab. x. 3 t ; Bell,
yud. V. u. ni.
^ * Religio Roraanorum,'
says Tertullian, 'tota Cas-
trensis signa veneratur, signa
jurat, signa omnibus Deis
praeponit.' — Apol. adv. Genies,
xvii. Thus Antony is re-
presented by Tacitus as
imploring their help : ' Con-
versus ad signa et bellorum
Deos orabat.' — Hist. iv. x.
And Germanicus is said to
have exhorted his soldiers :
* Irent, sequerenturquc Ro-
i8
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
19
The
legions en«
camping.
I
legions encompassing Jerusalem/ was to be a sign
to our Lord's disciples to make good their flight
from the devoted city.^ Many had fled on the
invasion of Cestius, though it did not reach the
terms of our Lord's prophecy. Now the disciples
could not doubt that the days of vengeance were
near at hand; and in following this and other
monitions,— especially the brief interval then
aflx)rded them, and which was one of the most
remarkable circumstances of the crisis, — they fled
to Pella, on the mountain slopes of Gilead ; which,
as under Agrippa, and in alliance with the em-
peror, became their chief asylum in the great
catastrophe.^
manas aves, propria legio-
num numina.' — AnnaL 11.
xvii.
^ KvKXoVJJLivTjV VTTO (TTparo-
TTcSwv. Raphel notices kvk-
Xov^kvrjv as comprehending
the whole time of investing
the city, and or/oaTOTrcSa as
then in use for Roman le-
gions. — Annotat. in Luc. xxi.
20.
2 This well-known inter-
pretation, which is adopted
by Grotius, Wetstein, Bengel,
Newcome,Lange, and others,
results from comparing Matt.
xxiv. 15, 16, with Luke xxi.
20, 21. It has, hovi^ever,
been questioned in two of
the most important recent
commentaries ; but not, as it
appears to me, with success,
(i) It is objected that to
/JScAvy/Att must mean a pro-
8. Titus' first object, on arriving at Jerusalem, tuuV^
was to ascertain the inclinations of the Jews ; for advance.
fanation by the Jews them-
selves. But the word is
applied, as we have seen,
I Maccab. i. 54, to a statue
which was set up by heathen
hands; and Josephus applies
Dan. ix. 27, to the desola-
tion by the Romans, Antiq.
x. xi. BScXvyfta is defined
by Cyril Alex, in Schleusner,
Lex. Vet. Test. : Trpa^ts Trapa
Tov TrpocrrjKOVTa Xoyov irpar-
rofievrj, Kal ttolv ctScaAoi', Kat
Tray eKTvmofJLa avOpojirov ovro)
tKaXciro Trapa Toi;8atots. (2)
It is objected that the Ro-
man eagles could be no sign
to the Jews, having been
seen by them on holy ground
for many years, and even at
the time when the prophecy
was uttered. On the con-
trary, we are told by Josephus
that, when at peace with the
Jews, the Romans never used
to take their idol standards
into Jerusalem, Antiq. xviii.
iii. ; that when Pilate did so
he was obliged immediately
to remand them to Caesarea,
Ibid, and Bell. Jud. 11. ix. ;
and that when Vitellius was
about to march through
Judaea, soon after our Lord
delivered this prophecy, he
sent his forces by another
route, in deference to the
representations of the Jews,
who said that the laws of
their country would not
tolerate the presence of these
idols. Ajittq. xviii. V. (3)
It is objected that t6t^o%
aytos can mean only the
Temple. But is there not
here an obvious distinction
between tottos dytos and to
tcpoV ? Our Lord's citation
is from Dan. LXX. Cod.
Alex. ix. 27 : *E7rt ro Upov
P/BiXvyfia tujv €pr)[jL) orTao-ts, *Fu)fxaioL 8<
clXov TTJv oracrtv, rprcp yv iroXv
Twv T€i)((x)y d;(vpa)Tepa. — Bell.
Jud. v. vi.
^ A rough, and it may
be an exaggerated estimate,
founded on the number of
Iambs which are said to have
been offered at the pass-
over, A.D. 63, of which an
account was taken by order
of Cestius. According to one
manuscript they amounted
to 256,000; according to
another, to 255,600. There
were probably at least ten
partakers of each lamb, and,
in addition to these, there
were a great many other
persons who were cere-
monially unfit. Bell. Jud.
VI. ix. It should also be
borne in mind that, at this
great festival, the suburbs
of the city were generally
covered with tents and other
temporary structures, for the
reception of the multitudes
who frequented it.
April,
A.D. 70.
23
THE ARCH OF TITUS
1 :
t
\
ii
on Ophel, the southern ridge of Mount Moriah,
and in the Valley of the Tyropceon, they waged
their bloody conflicts from day to day.^
Titus takes Titus, having completed his arrangements, at-
waiir^"^""^ tacked the outer wall of the city, which soon gave
way before his engine, the Conqueror; and he
advanced his camp into the New town, or Bezetha,
and took up his position at the north-west corner,
where the Assyrians under Sennacherib had for-
merly encamped. From that point he extended his
forces even to the ridge of the Valley of the Kedron ;
the district which has since been the ground of attack
by the Saracen, the Crusader, and the Turk. On
the fifth day from the reduction of the first wall,
Titus assailed the second ; which formed the out-
ward boundary of the Lower city, from the Gate
of Gennath to the tower of the Antonia ; and he
entered through the breach with a thousand men,
the band which he usually retained about his
person. From this position he was soon driven,
but he recovered his ground in a few days, and,
after demolishing the second wall, began to think
of attacking the inner one; the Jews still re-
^ Be//. Jud» V. ii. — vi.
I
o^
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
23
taining the Upper city, the Temple, and the
Antonia.^
Well aware of the strength of their position, Titus pro-
^ . . poses a
Titus sent Josephus to confer with his country- surrender,
men, and to propose terms of surrender. But his
proposal met with no response but curses, jeers,
and missiles from their engines, though their intes-
tine difficulties were rapidly increasing from the
failure of their stores and the prospect of a
famine, which was gaining upon them every day ;
a calamity which the factions had hastened on by
their reckless destruction of each other's granaries.^
At length, with a view to force them to sur- Rejected;
he tries to
render, Titus began to scourge and crucify those compel
thenu
who, in order to escape the famine, came " over
to the Roman camp. Thus hundreds perished
every day; Titus continuing to warn their leaders
not to compel him to destroy their town and
Temple ; suggestions which were answered only by
declaring, — That they preferred death to slavery,
and that their Temple would be saved by Him
who dwelt in it ; in whose hands was the issue of
the war.^
1 Be//.Jud. V. vii. viii. 2 /^/^ ^ j^ 3 /^/^, y xi.
24
THE ARCH OF TITUS
i
I
False
hopes of
the be-
sieged.
A pro-
])hecy mis-
taken.
So indeed they persisted in declaring to the
last ; sustained moreover by a firm belief in what
Josephus calls an ambiguous prophecy : That
about this time. One from their country would
obtain the dominion of the world.^ This, says he,
they applied to themselves ; and many of their wise
men were deceived in their judgment of it; for,
in his opinion, it plainly indicated the supremacy
of Vespasian, who had been proclaimed emperor in
Judaea.^
The prophecy is that in the book of Micah,
which the Sanhedrin adduced when Herod de-
manded of them where the promised Christ would
be born.^ It seems, in a vague and mutilated
form, to have been widely known amongst the
heathen, and to have given rise to those well-
known expectations, which Roman writers, as well
as Josephus, referred to Vespasian's elevation to
the throne. Had it not been shorn of its com-
mencement and its close, — the rise of this great
^ lo C€ errapav avTOvs tt/s X^pas It? arrwr a/a^ct tt/s
fxdXtoTa TTpos ToV TToXe/xoVj ^v OLKOViiivr]*;. — BelL Jud, VI. v.
XprjO-f^^^ d/>t^t/3oXos djuoiws iv ^ Bell. Jud. VI. v. 4.
TolsUpoLs €vpr)ix€i/ooivr) crov,
Kat irpos TO cSa^os y (x)V7]
(TOV daOevyjaci. Many early
writers have noticed our
Lord's adoption of this LXX.
version of the prophecy;
which, compared with Jo-
sephus' account of the cap-
ture of Simon and his com-
panions (Be//. Jud. VII. ii.),
affords a curious and interest-
ing illustration of what Bacon
calls ' The germinant accom-
plishment of prophecies,
extending throughout many
ages, though their height
and fulness may refer to one.'
Adv. of Learnings Book ii.
Vitringa takes the same view
of it.
^ Be//. Jud. V. xii.
30
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Titus'
apology.
A further
proposal.
I! ^
ever it might satisfy himself or others ? Why, if
he really pitied their sufferings, did he drive to
this extremity a brave people, whose only crime,
so far as he was cognizant, was that of standing up
for their national liberty ? This ^ Darling and de-
light of all the world,' though such was the cur-
rent phrase of his admirers, was but a strange
phenomenon, as Niebuhr remarks.^ Whatever
claim he may have had to the title, as com-
pared with persons of his own age and order, we
look in vain for any just ground for it, even in
the partial pages of Josephus.
1 1. Still we are told that he wished to save the
city : and having heard that the daily sacrifice had
ceased, and that the people were in consequence
greatly disheartened, he proposed to John of
Gischala, who held the Antonia, to come down and
terminate the war, without involving the Temple
in ruin. 'If,* said he, 'you will but change the
scene of conflict, no Roman shall approach or
profane the holy places : nay, I will save them
even against your will/ ^
1 Suetonius, Tit. Flav. by Schmitz, vol. ii. p. 242.
Vesp. i. ; Niebuhr's Rome^ 2 ^^// jjf^f yj jj^
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
31
q-.
This, like all his previous proposals, was re-
jected. Upon which, as he could not bring up all
his forces, owing to the confined nature of the
ground, Titus selected the best men of each century,
and ordered them, under command of Cerealius,
to attack the Jewish garrison the night following.
All the night he watched the conflict, as did also
the Jewish chief; and the struggle continued,
neither party yielding, till near the middle of the
next day.^
In the mean time another division of Romans,
having broken through the foundations of the
Antonia, had forced a wide ascent as far as the
Temple; though they suffered severely from the
resistance of the Jews, who fought with" all the
vigour and daring of despair. At length the
Jews were driven into the Temple; from which
they then cut off^ all connexion with the Antonia,
breaking and burning the colonnades that had
connected them ; severing, as it were, the infected
limbs.^
The Anto-
nia assault-
ed.
Severed
from the
Temple.
July 17.
A.D. 70.
^ Bell. Jiid. VI. ii.
K.opvovjJL€vov rov TToXi-
fiov Kttt Tw vaQ 7r/3oo'cp7rovT09,
KaOaTTEp fTr)irofi€vov (rojfjiaTOif
aTreKoiTTOV rd TrpocLXrjfi/jLci^a
fxiXrj (i.e. Ttts o-Tods), (f)Odvovr€^
Trjv €1% TO 7rp6(t)vrj<:
KOI o\l/€L TTpocroyiTov oj3ep6i
7r6o-TaToa:^. — Autiq. xv. xi.
He says nothing of the three
other sides of the Temple ;
and it is doubtful whether
Kara tov KopLvdtov rponov
amounts to what we should
call 'of the Corinthian order.'
In another place he ap-
plies the word Ko/otv0«os to
the roofing of Solomon's
palace.— y^«//jj7. viii. v.
D 2
H
/'.
li
r I
;(i
'ii
i!
3<5
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Titus' wish this magnificent edifice, which we should seek
to save the ^ ^ . .
Temple, in vain in any other writer. He speaks of its im-
posing position on the platform of the lofty
Eastern hill, hanging over the valley of the Ke-
dron; of its double colonnade of thirty cubits'
breadth, and, including the Antonia, six furlongs
long ; its gates and doors of vast dimensions, over-
laid with gold and silver ; its pavements of various
kinds of marble ; its cedar roofs and ceilings of
exquisite workmanship ; its sacred inclosures, court
within court, each ascending higher than the outer
one, each increasing in local sanctity, according to
the theory of the Temple ritual, till they reached
the Holy Place, with its symbolical services,' and the
Holy of the Holy within its veils ; never intruded
1 BelL Jud. V. V. 5. 'Ev€-
(j>aivov, K.T.X. But when Jo-
sephus tells us that the
Candlestick symbolized the
seven planets, and the Shew-
bread loaves the circle of
the zodiac, we cannot but
recognise a vicious system
of Typology; which, however
it may have been advocated
by Philo, and by greater
names than his, has been
very justly condemned by
Bahr ; as placing the symbols
of the Mosaic religion sub-
stantially on a footing with
those of Heathenism, and
employing both alike in the
service of a mere Nature-
worship. See Fairbairn's
Typology of Scripture^ vol.
ii. p. 243.
y
\
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
37
on by footstep, touch, or sight J As to its exterior, Titus' wish
as seen from Mount Olivet, it must, from the pecu- Tem^L!'''
liar construction of its courts, have been visible
far above its walls and cloisters; and its upper
front was covered with plates of gold, which shone *
with fiery radiance in the morning sun. Milton
notices this view of the Temple, and had evidently
in his mind the striking image with which Josephus
closes his description.^
The holy City lifted high her towers.
And higher yet the glorious Temple rear'd
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topp'd with golden spires.^
E/cetTo Sc ovh\v oXws ev
aJrw, aftarov Se kol axpavTov
Kul uOearop r^v irao-iVj dyCov Sk
ayiov iKaXeiTo. ~ Be//. Jud,
V. V. 5. Of course this state-
ment must be understood in
a general sense, and subject
to the well-known exceptions
referred to in Hebrews ix.
7, 25-
^ nXa^i yap xP^^jov cTTi/oa-
pats KCKaXv/x/xeVos TrdvToOey,
VTTO ras TTpoiras dmroAas Trvpu)-
^€crTdT)]v aVcVaAAcj/ airyryi/, /cat
Twv /3ta^o/x,eV(ov Ihlv fas oj/^ct?
wnrep r^XiaKOLs aKTLtnv d-rri-
aTp€\f/€. Tots y€ /X^J/ €L(Tas fitj rivi irpoa-
KaOc^ofxivoi fJLoXvvoLTO Tujv op-
vioiv. — Be//. Jud. v. v. 6.
2 Paradise Regained, iv.
545--548.
■vm
¥
38
THE ARCH OF TITUS
\
V i
%
II
Left
desolate.
But all in vain was the desire to save it. The
priests had heard, a few weeks before, on entering
the Temple on the night of the Pentecost, the voice,
as of a multitude,—^ We are departing hence/ '
Nay, our Lord, as we have seen, had declared to
the people, when about to take his final leave of
the Temple,— That their House would be left unto
them desolate. And desolate it was thenceforward,
in the truest and most pathetic sense of his words.
For, though the Jews retained it for many years,
and continued also to enrich and adorn it, up to the
very eve of its destruction, its doom was sealed, its
desolation had begun with the departure of that
^ Kara Se rriv koprrjv, rj
H€PTr}K0(7T7J KaXctTttt, VVKTiOp
ol UpeL apfjiaTOe Urbe Roma,
I. xxii.
" Ovid, from remembrance
of similar pageants (for he
was at Pontus when he wrote
I
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
55
details ; he says it was impossible to recount them
all ; but that such was the number and such the
magnificence of the spoils, of things most rich and
rare in nature and in art/ that it seemed as if the
products of different nations had been brought there
together, on that day, and had passed before him
like a flowing river.^ There was silver, gold, and
ivory in all manner of forms ; gems, in crowns and
in other fashions; tapestries of the rarest Baby-
lonian embroidery. There were also in the pomp,
in appropriate trappings, foreign animals of various
kinds; and other productions of the conquered
country which would be likely to interest the citizens
of Rome.^ But the objects, which, according to
the verses), speaks of these
Tituli or placards, in a
triumph of Tiberius. ' Ergo
omnis poterit populus spec-
tare triumphos. Cum que du-
cum titulis oppida capta
leget : Vinclaque captiva re-
ges cervice gerentes. Ante
coronatos ire videbit equos.'
— Trist. IV. ii. 19 — 22.
^ ^Afxrj^avov Se Kara rrjp
d^t'ai/ tiTTc'iV Twv OtafxdriJiV cK€t-
vitiv TO 7rXijOov(T€wavti)fx€vr] Tracra kol oa(pvr).
I
The Brackets underneath the cornice are formed
of dolphins resting upon shells, and are supposed
to symbolize the shore of Gennesareth.^ On the
Keystone, which is now much decayed, but which
was once considered the finest in Rome, there are
the relics of a helmeted female figure, probably
designed for Rome herself She is standing in
front of some military weapons : her left hand
rests upon a shield ; with the right she seems to
be in the act of welcoming her victorious sons on
their way to the Capitol.^
24. We may now notice those more important
|)arts, to which the whole structure may be con-
sidered as subservient. Under the vault, and on
each side of its chamber, are the two noted bas-
reliefs : the one on the North side representing the
Emperor, passing through the city in his chariot to
the Capitol; the other, the spoils which were carried
before him : and on the Frieze, that runs across
the whole upper structure, or did, at least, when
it was entire, we have a representation of another
part of the pomp, consisting of such living objects
^ Taylor and Cresy, Archi- plates iv. — viii. pp 9 — 12.
tccfural Antiquities^ vol. 1. - See p. 65.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
73
li
fl
as were deemed legitimate subjects for the Frieze,
and from which, indeed, it took its earlier name.^
Here we have, first, two Roman soldiers, one TiuT'iitvc^
with a shield, the next with a title-board or
placard ; then a sacrificer in a lictor's apron,
leading two bulls about to be offered, in their
ornamented cloths and fillets ; followed by an
attendant with a pitcher of wine and a basket
of perfumes for the sacrifices. Then we have
another priest, leading another decorated bull ;
soldiers in tunics, crowned with laurel, and bearing
the Roman oblong shield ; a person in a toga and
another with a placard. Then comes another
sacrificer with a bull, and an attendant with an
incense-basket, as before ; followed by senators,
and by another sacrificer and a bull. Then we have
another incense-bearer, another votive bull, and
two more senators.^ And, lastly, we have several
persons carrying on a stage the recumbent figure
of a bearded old man, whose left arm rests upon
^ ' Zwoi^opos Vitruvio dicitur
per ilia in columnis inter
epistylium et coronicem, quae
pulvinatis sr^pe figuris visi-
tur, ornamentisque diversis
instructa. Vulgo La Prize.'
Stephens' Ihesaurus^ s. v.
- So Bellori /// /.
i
74
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
75
If
J
Tlu- 1-
nezf
Some
"ions
por-
lost.
an urn. He is supposed to represent the river
Jordan, or, according to Bellori, the lake of Gen-
nesareth;^ at whose south-west corner, where the
Jordan resumes its course, Titus took, as we have
heard, the town of Tarichasa, which made him
master of nearly all Galilee. Thus Statius repre-
sents the river Inachus, as sculptured on the palace
walls of Argos : ' Pater ipse bicornis In tevam
prona nixus sedet Inachus urna.'^ And it is to
such figures as this that we are indebted for the
symbols of our old Father Thames.
It should also be mentioned, before we quit the
Frieze, that, at each extremity, where it was con-
tinued over the capitals of the outer columns, — as
appears from the prints of Donati and Montfaucon,
—there was a female figure, seated on the ground,
1 i
Tarich?eis, ad Lacum
Gennesar,' says Bellori, ' na-
vali praelio devictis, simula-
crum Lacus ipsius in Trium-
pho ducitur.' Venuti rather
refers the figure to the River
Jordan. ' Vi si vede nel
principio del fregio scolpita
la figura d' un Vecchio
portata da due Uomini, che
rappresenta il Fiume Gior
dano, per mostrare, che da
Tito venne soggiogata la
Giudea, seguitandovi per il
sagrificio il Bove, e altre
piccole figure.' — Antichita di
Roma, p. 14.
' Thebaid. 11. 217.
IMPERATORIS TITI TRIUMPHALIS POMPA.
IN ARCUS TITI ZOPHORO VERSUS AMPHITHEATRUM.
REDUCED FROM BARTOLl's ADMIRANDA.
I'
f
THE ARCH OF TITUS.
77
similar to those on the Vespasian coins ; and with Some por-
* tions lost.
which indeed we have been long familiar in the
lines which form the sequel of those just cited
from Pope's Ferses on Medals. He is contending
for the advantages of the medal and the coin, —
and in this instance with obvious truth, — over the
records of the sculptor and the architect.
Ambition sigh'd : she found it vain to trust
The faithless column and the crumbling bust.
Huge moles, whose shadows stretched from shore
to shore,
Their ruins perished, and their place no more.
Convinced, she now contracts her vast design.
And all her triumphs shrink into a Coin.
A narrow orb each crowded conquest keeps.
Beneath her palm here sad Judaea weeps.
And thus has she continued, for nearly eighteen
centuries, to affirm the fact of her subjection to
Rome, and to illustrate also the symbolism of her
prophets; who, under this and other kindred images,
foretold the very captivity recorded on these coins.^
^ See Addison's notice of engraving at the end of this
these coincidences, Dialogues volume.
on Medals,^. 134; and the
I
78
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
79 .
First
Tablet.
Titus tri-
umphant.
25. On the right hand side of the inner walls of
the Arch, we have the Conqueror in his triumphal
car, with many of the friends and attendants who
formed his personal staff on the occasion.
The chariot, commonly used in triumphs, differed
from the military and from the circus chariot/ It
was like a short circular tower, as we see It on the
Arch and on coins and medals. It was usually
made of ivory and gold ; a work of great artistic
skill ; and it was generally drawn by four white
horses abreast. Pompey, on his return from Africa,
appeared with elephants harnessed to his car;^ but
the white horses, which were introduced by Camll-
lus, at no small sacrifice of popularity,^ was the
style affected by most of the imperators : and all
the more, no doubt, from Its having been deemed
a sort of assumption of divine honours.
^ Zonaras, A?inales, vii.
XXI. Corpus Byzant. Tom.
X. p. i.
2 Pliny, -^/j/. NaturaL viii.
§ii.
^ * Maxime conspectus
ipse est, curru equis albis
juncto urbem invectus : pa-
rumque id non civile modo,
sed humanum etiam, visum.
Jovis Solisque equis, aequi-
parari Dictatorem, in religi-
onem etiam trahebant ; tri-
umphusque ob earn unam
maxime rem clarior, quam
gratior, fuit.' — Livy, Hist. v.
xxiii.
IMPERATOKIS TIT I JUDAICUS TRIUMPHUS.
REDUCED FROM BARTOLl's ADMIRANDA.
.*'>■.
THE ARCH OF TITUS.
ai
Titus, as was usual, is standing in his chariot, Titus tri-
umphant.
and has in his hand a military baton : the reins are
hung across the antux. A winged figure of Victory,
from behind him, holds a large crown or chaplet
over his head. Nor was this altogether an invention
of the sculptor; for there seems to have been a
person appointed for the purpose of carrying the
crown on these occasions : and, in earlier times, a
slave was deputed to stand behind the conqueror as
he rode along in triumph, to remind him, — that
he too was but a man, and should not be too much
elated by his victory.^ Juvenal alludes to this
singular custom, and fancies how Democritus would
^ Tertullian appeals to this
practice, in defining and
defending the kind of reve-
rence and obedience which
were due from Christians
to the reigning emperor.
* Non enim Deum impera-
torem dicam, vel quia men-
tiri nescio, vel quia ilium
deridere non audeo, vel quia
nee ipse se Deum volet dici.
Si homo sit, interest homini
Deo cedere ; satis habet
appellari imperator. Grande
et hoc nomen est, quod a
Deo traditur. Negat ilium
imperatorem, qui Deumdicit :
nisi homo sit, non est im-
perator. Hominem se esse
etiam triumphans in illo
sublimissimo curru admo-
netur. Suggeritur enim ei a
tergo^ Respice post te, homi-
nem memento te.' Apologeti-
ciis adv, Ge?ites, cap. xxxiii. ;
Semler, vol. v.
? !
82
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Titus tri- have been amused to see the noble Roman in such
umphant.
circumstances.
In tunica Jovis et pictae Sarrana ferentem
Ex humeris aulaea togae, magnasque coronse
Tantum orbem, quanto cervix non sufficit ulla.
Quippe tenet sudans banc publicus, et, sibi consul
Ne placeat, curru servus portatur eodem.^
In Jove's gay tunic, and embroider'd vest
Of Tyrian tapestry, superbly drest ;
While at his side the sweating menial bore
A monstrous crown, no mortal ever wore ;
The menial destined in his car to ride.
And cool the swelling consul's feverish pride.
And there was something in this monitory office
of the slave characteristic of severe old Rome, and
of her just jealousy of these triumphal honours.
Some indeed of her distinguished men declined
^ Juvenal, Sat. x. 38 — 42.
Some writers say that this
officer was the Roman Car-
nifex; but his contact even
with the crown would have
been deemed a pollution.
Pitiscus, Lex. Antiq. Ro7n.
s. v. Carnifex. Nor is it
probable that he actually
uttered the admonitions, sug-
gested by Tertullian. * Nam
vel silente servo,' as Pitiscus
remarks, * id ille (Imperator)
intelligebat.' S. v. Triumph-
antes. His presence in the
chariot was enough.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
83
them ; and many must have felt, as one acknow- Titus tri-
umphant.
ledges, that it was but a childish sort of gratifica-
tion, and could give the conqueror no substantial
pleasure.^ Milton, from a higher point of view
than Roman magnanimity seems to have reached,
sympathises more with the conquered than the
conqueror, and calls his triumph * an insulting
vanity.' Such are the terms in which he represents
our Lord as rejecting the Tempter's offer of these
dignities of * great and glorious Rome.' ^
Nor is the tablet wanting in any of its essential
details ; though Vespasian, who preceded Titus, is
not there, nor Domitian, who followed him on
^ * Disseres de triumpho :'
says Cicero : ^ Quid tandem
habet iste currus % quid vinc-
ti ante currum duces? quid
simulacra oppidorum % quid
aurum? quid argentum ? quid
legati in equis, et tribuni?
quid clamor militum ? quid
tota ilia pompa % Inania
sunt ista, mihi crede, delec-
tamenta paene puerorum,
captare plausus, vehi per
urbem, conspici velle. Qui-
bus ex rebus nihil est, quod
solidum tenere, nihil, quod
referre ad voluptatem corpo-
ris possit.' Orat in Pisonem^
§ 25. Must not Cicero have
felt that there was truth in
this disparagement of tri-
umphal honours, though he
puts it into the mouth of one
who decried only what he
could not obtain ?
^ Paradise Regained^ iv.
45, 138.
G 2
F( .^'
I I
Titus tri-
ll iiiphant.
Second
Tablet.
The
Temple
Spoils.
84
THE ARCH OF TITUS
horseback. He is supported, in the background,
by twelve lictors ; whose rods of office are without
their axes:' and, in front and round about the
chariot, by senators and others in their festival
costume, — ' an ample train of nobles all in white,' ^
—crowned with laurel and with branches in their
hands : and some mythical personage, by the side
of the chariot, seems to be marshalling the proces-
sion. The horses are decorated with the sacred
crescents which were worn in the circus and on all
great occasions; and Rome herself, distinguished
by her spear and helmet, conducts them by a little
leading rein.^
26. The sculptures, on the other side of the
Arch, represent the spoils which were taken from
the Temple. They are borne aloft by Roman
1 One might perhaps ex-
pect this omission on such
an occasion as a triumph :
but it may be otherwise ac-
counted for. By a regulation,
introduced by Valerius, in
the first consulate, it was
enacted, that the axes should
never be carried through the
city; a restriction which Dio-
nysius Halicarnassus tells
us (Antiq. Rom. v. xix.) con-
tinued up to his time.
2 ' Praecedentia longi Ag-
minis officia, et niveos ad
fr£ena Quirites.' Juvenal, Sat.
X. 44.
3 Bellori's Comment, in
Bartoli, p. 8. Montfaucon,
n Antiq. Expl. Tom. v. vii. v.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
85
IMrERATORIS TITI JUDAIC US TRIUMPH US.
REDUCED FROM BARTOLIS ADMIRANDA.
r
\/\
THE ARCH OF TITUS.
87
soldiers, not by Jewish captives, as some writers The
' •' *' ■*• Temple
represent them ; for they are crowned with laurel, Spoils.
and they have in their hands the short and pointless
spears that had been given them when they started/
They are also accompanied by persons of higher
rank, with laurel crowns and branches, as before,
and one of them carries some trappings on his
breast.^
These, as the most important part of the Spoils,
seem to have closed this section of the pomp, and at
I •
^ See Note 2, p. 52.
2 Bellori says, in reference
to this figure, which comes
immediately after the candle-
stick, — ^Eques phaleris orna-
tus habetcingulum in pectore
cum claviculis aureis.' But
he does not tell us what
these phaler<2 are, which this
Roman knight is carrying.
Of course they must be Jew-
ish spoils. They are strapped
across the breast of the
bearer, and they remind us
of the high-priest's ephod and
breastplate. We have, in-
deed, no account in Josephus
of these pontifical append-
ages having been exhibited
in the procession; but he
tells us, in a passage already
referred to, that, together
with the candlestick and
other implements, one of the
priests delivered to Titus
'the vestments also of the
high-priests, with the precious
stones; and many other ar-
ticles belonging to the sacred
service.' Ta cvSv/u-ara twv
ap)(l€p€WVj (TVV TOtS XldoL^, Kttt
TToWa Twv TTpos Ttts Upovpytu^
(rK€vo)V aXXa. Bell, Jud. vi.
viii. 3.
i H
The
Temple
Spoils.
88
THE ARCH OF TITUS
a short distance before the conqueror's car. There
are also three Title-boards above them, similar
to those which we have seen upon the Frieze ;
which had probably inscriptions, for the information
of the multitude, stating what these objects were,
and whence they had been taken. There is one
above the Table, another near the Candlestick,
and a third, which must have indicated the Book
of the Law ; which, however, is no longer visible.
Villalpanda thinks that the Book was omitted,
as a less imposing object ^ than the other spoils. '
Prideaux suggests that it was not inserted for
want of sufficient space to introduce it, together
with the coffer in which it was kept.^ Dr. Card-
well seems to think that this Book was nothing
more than a tablet of gold, or of some other
metal, inscribed with some portions of the Divine
Law ; of which, he says, there were many in the
Temple, and one of more importance than the
rest, which had the Ten Commandments engraved
upon it.^
1 * Minus speciosum.' Vil- Vol. i. i. 3, p. 166.
lalpiinda. ^x/>/(7//af.t/i£2ec/i. -^ Cardwell, Adiiotat. ad
Tom. II. V. 4. BelL Jud. vii. v. § 53.
2 Prideaux, Connection.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
89
None of these conjectures are satisfactory. Yet The
Temple
here it seemed as if our inquiry must end, till, on Spoils.
turning to the pages of an early modern writer,
who must have been familiar with the Arch, for
the first half of the fifteenth century, it appeared
that the Book, — which Josephus describes as the
last or crowning object of the spoils,^ — had not
been forgotten by the Roman sculptor, nor had
anything else been substituted for it. Biondo, or
Blondus, as he is commonly called, one of the
earliest of the Italian antiquaries, and for many
years the pope's secretary, tells us in his work,
De Roma 'Triumphante^ that the Book of the
Jewish Law was extant in his time, amongst the
marble sculptures on the Arch, together with the
golden Table and the Candlestick : and it is a
curious circumstance, which may account in some
measure for the doubts and conjectures above-
mentioned, that in later editions of Biondo^s
work, this notice of the sculptured spoils is
wanting. While the marble record was yielding
U T€ VOfXOQ O TiOV loV-
8a (W eVi TuvTOLS (/. e. the
golden Table and the Can-
dlestick) €cj>ep€To rwv Xa<^vpo)v
TeXiVTaloS' Bell. Jud. VI I.
V. 5-
90
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
91
The
Temple
Spoils.
i
to decay the written one was also becoming
obsolete.^
Such then are the Spoils, which, according to
Josephus, made the greatest figure in the Triumph.
Nothing is said of the Ark of the Covenant,
which Pitiscus and others say was carried in the
procession ; probably mistaking this Table for the
Ark, as has been done by many writers. For
Jewish authorities are generally agreed that there
was no Ark in the second Temple. Josephus
says there was nothing at all in the Holy of
Holies in his time.'^ Pompey, on entering, found
^ After incorporating into
the work above mentioned
the greater part of Josephus'
account of the Triumph,
Biondo adds : — ' In Titi Ves-
pasiani triumpho inde gratio-
siora sunt quam a Josepho
scribuntur ; quod ea in mar-
moreo triumphaU arcu suo
Romse ad sanctam Mariam
novam videmus extare ; quae
apud Hierosolymam in tem-
plo reperta sunt : Mensa
aurea, et Candelabrum auro
factum ; cujus formam mehus
lapis quam Joscphi descriptio
nobis ostendit : postea por-
tabatur Lex Judaeorum mar-
morea item extans.' De
jRomd Triiimphantey Lib. x.
p. cxxxi. b. Venet. 15 11. I
cite from a copy in the Bris-
tol City Library. In two
later editions, printed by
Froben, at Basil, in 1531 and
1559, the* account of the
Triumph concludes as in Jo-
sephus ; but it is not followed
by an appeal to the sculptures
on the Arch.
BclL Jud. V. V. 5.
it utterly empty '} a circumstance which Lucan is The
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Temple
supposed to refer to, when, in speaking of Judaea^s Spoils.
subjection to his hero, he calls her the worshipper
of an unknown God."
And, as from respect for their sacred character,
these spoils had the highest place of honour in the
Triumph, a like distinction was also assigned them
amongst the sculptured records of the Arch ; where
they still affirm their high and ancient origin,
notwithstanding all the changes to which they
had been subj'ect, from the time of the erection
of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, till their
appearance on the shoulders of their Roman
conquerors. And it may be well to take a glance
at their eventful history, as far as we can trace
them through this long and chequered interval.
27. What became of the Tabernacle vessels we Their
previous
know not : but we are told that, when Nebu- history.
chadnezzar took the Temple, he carried out the
treasures of the Lord's House, and cut in pieces
^ * Inde vulgatum. Nulla
intus Deum effigie vacuam
sedem et inania arcana.'
Tacitus, Hist. v. 9.
^ * Cappadoces mea signa
timent, et dedita sacris In-
certi Judaea dei.' Civ. Bell.
II. 592.
rf;-
92
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
93
Their
previous
history.
I
all the vessels of gold which Solomon had made
for the Temple-service;^ that is, the larger and
more important implements. Many of the smaller
ones were taken to Babylon, and, after having
been exhibited at Belshazzar's feast, were brought
back on the return from the Captivity. Those
that had been destroyed were restored by Ezra,
in pursuance of the orders of the Persian kings.'-'
These again became the prey of the spoiler.
For though the Jews, under their Persian rulers,
had much rest for many years, a great change
again came over them, and they fell away from
the Divine favour. They began to affect the vain-
glory of the Greeks, and to adopt much of their
life and manners. Their high-priesthood, having
also become a rich and an important temporal
sovereignty, involved the pontifical families in
strife ; and, in the midst of their feuds about the
succession, Antiochus Epiphanes entered the city,
and carried off from the Temple the golden altar,
and the candlestick, and the shew-bread table, and
other costly things ; and went away with them
into his own land.*^ So that, when Judas Macca-
^ ?. Kijjgs xxiv. 2 Ezra vi. vii. ^ i Maccah. i.
b^us succeeded, about three years after this second '""^^^^^^^^^
spoliation, in regaining possession of the plundered ^^'^^°'*y-
Temple, he too had to enter on the work of
restoration, as Ezra and his companions had done
before.
^ Then,' as we read in the first Book of the
Maccabees, ^they took whole stones, according
to the Law, and built up a new altar according to
the former ; and made up the sanctuary and the
things that were within the Temple, and hallowed
the courts. They made also new holy vessels ; and
into the Temple they brought the Candlestick,^
and the Altar of incense and the Table. And upon
the Altar they burnt incense ; and the lamps that
were upon the Candlestick they lighted, that they
might give light in the Temple. Furthermore,
they set the loaves upon the Table, and spread out
^ In our common version
there is here an interpolation.
* And into the Temple they
brought the candlestick and
the altar of hirnt-offermg and
of incense.' But the burnt-
offering altar had no place in
the vaos or sanctuary, and its
restoration by Judas is men-
tioned just before, v. 47 . Our
translators seem to have fol-
lowed the Alexandrian text
instead of the Vatican ; in
which dXoKauTw/AaTwv /cat are
wanting.
Their
previous
history.
I P^
It'
Date of
their con-
struction.
B.C. 164.
94
THE ARCH OF TITUS
the veils, and finished all the works which they had
begun to make.'^ And, in devout commemoration
of these events, they instituted the Feast of the
Dedication ; at which, about two centuries after,
our Lord, as the Evangelist relates, was present,
and walked in the Temple in Solomon's porch. ^
Thus the Hebrew Ritual was once more
restored ; and, by the superintending care of its
Divine Author, it continued till those vessels of
the worldly sanctuary, with the sanctuary itself,
were superseded by the manifestation of the new
and living Way into the Holiest of all by the
blood of Jesus ; according to the order of the
true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not
man.^
These vessels then, which were carried in
the Triumph, date their construction from this
cleansing of the Temple, two hundred and thirty-
four years before its pillage and destruction by
the Romans. And, though nothing is said of any
models or directions, which Judas Maccabeus had
recourse to in his work, we may conclude that
1 I Maccab. iv. 47—51- ^ John x. 22, 23.
3 Hebrews ix. 8; x. 19; viii. 2.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
95
he would look to the Old Testament ritual, — to
the pattern originally given to Moses : and it will
be interesting to the Biblical student to see how
these reconstructions, in their chief features, appear
to justify their venerable paternity.
28. The rules for the construction of the Shew-
bread Table are given at large in the Book of
Exodus.
' Thou shalt also make a Table of Shittim
wood,' that is, of the wild Acacia of the desert*/
'two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a
cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half
the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it
with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold
round about. And thou shalt make unto it a
border of a hand-breadth round about, and thou
shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof
round about.' ^
As to the relative proportions of these Tables, —
the draft in Scripture and the sculptured figure, —
Date of
their con-
struction.
B.C. 164.
The Shew
bread
Table.
Order for
its con-
struction.
Compared
with sculp-
tures on
the Arch.
^ Gesenius, s. v. Shittah.
It was the chief growth of
the Desert, though rare in
Palestine. An incidental
confirmation of the text.
Dean Stanley's Sinai and
Palestine^ p. 20.
2 Exodus XXV. 23 — 25.
.^■■3"
96
THE ARCH OF TITUS
I* ^
1
Order for there is a general agreement in length and height.
the Table
compared xhc breadth of course is lost in a bas-relief; though
with the
Sculptures, ^j^^ sculptor has rather unartistically given us three
sides in one view. We must make, however,
the most of what the hand of Time has left us ;
and must direct our attention almost exclusively
to Reland's authentic copy of the Table. For we
learn from one of the artists employed by him,^
that, on close inspection of the Sculptures from a
scaffold, which he had erected to facilitate his
work, he found them to be different in some par-
ticulars from what he had supposed them to be
from below. Bartoli's representation of the Table,
in the print of the spoils which has just come
before us, though a few years earlier than that of
Reland, is not an exact copy of the Table, at that
time. Nor was it his object to give these Sculp-
tures in the state of decay in which he found them;
but, as we learn from the title of his work, to
1 See Letter to Reland by
Antony Twyman, June 20,
17 10. He is speaking espe-
cially of the Candlestick; but
the remark applies to the
other sculptures ; which were
copied at the same time by
another artist. De Spoliis
Templi Hierosol. in Arcu
Titiano. cap. i. p. 5.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
97
THE SHEWBREAD TABLE, WITH ITS MEMORIAL CUPS
AND THE TRUMPETS.
AS THEY APPEARED A. D, MDCCX.
FROM RELAND, DE SPULIIS TEMPLI UlEROSOLYMrrANI IN ARCL
TITIANO.
H
;m
l' ..ij"^^
'W
lit \
i
THE ARCH OF TITUS.
9^
represent them as restored to their original beauty : The Shew-
bread
a work which^ with the exception of a few arbitrary Table.
details^ he has executed with great effect.
One of the first things that strike us in this
sculptured Table is the circumstance that its sur-
face is not surmounted by that serrated sort of
border, which is attached to all the ordinary prints
of it; but for which there appears to be no au-
thority.^
We read indeed that the Table was to have what
is called, in our version, a crown of gold ; that is,
a golden wreath or' border,^ all round the frame-
work ; which still forms part of the sculptured
work; the upper frame remaining, though much
decayed, the lower one reduced to two mere frag-
ments. We may also trace upon the frames
themselves this ^border of a handbreadth round
about,' or rather the marks of the place where it
had been ; a sort of narrow groove or indentation,
as Josephus describes it in his Antiquities?
1 Reland, De Spoliis, cap.
vii. pp. 70, 71.
^ Avenarius, Lex. Hebr.
s. V. IT p. 213.
KoiXati'f-at . . . Kara ira-
H 2
\Q.iaT'r]V TO eSaipog eXiKog Trepi-
dEOv(rr]S TO T€ avu) Koi ro Karcj
fiipo'S Tov o-(J^aro?. Antiq,
Jud. III. vi. 6.
lOO
THE ARCH OF TITUS
n
I i'i
The Shew-
bread
Table.
The Ritual also directs that the Table shall have
four golden rings in the corners of the feet, for
receivincT the staves by which it was to be carried ; ^
and Villalpanda suggests that the fragments of the
frame, which once connected the legs of the Table,—
two of which have long since disappeared,— indi-
cate the places of two of these rings.' But it is
doubtful whether there were any such appliances
in the Table which was made for Solomon's
Temple, when the service was limited to one
locality : ' and it is not probable that they would
be restored in any subsequent reconstructions.
We may also observe that, though in Bartoli's
Table ' he has restored some parts of the original
design, he is not correct in the plinth which he has
added, as the base on which the Table rests. In
Reland's print,' which may be regarded as authentic,
and which exactly agrees with the present state of
the sculpture, except that now it is still more
decayed, instead of this plinth there is nothing
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
lOI
1 Exodus XXV. 26, 27.
2 Explanat, Ezech, v. iv.
70.
^ Jahn, Archceologia Bib-
lica, § 331 : e contra, Re-
land, De SpoliiSy cap. x.
* See print, p. 85.
'* See p. 97-
more than the stage on which the spoils were TheShew-
bread
carried in the procession ; as is indicated also by Table.
the peculiar formation of the only foot which is
visible.
. Josephus compares the Shewbread Table with
what were then called Delphic tables, a costly kind
of furniture then common in Rome."^ The upper
parts of the feet, he says, were square, the lower
parts were perfectly finished, like those attached to
Doric couches ; ^ which probably means that they
terminated in the finished foot of an animal ; as
tSpvcrat (Mo)i)o-^s) A€A<^iKars
7rapa7r\7](Tiav. Antiq. Jlld.
III. vi. 6. Bishop Patrick
understands Josephus as
saying that the Shewbread
Table * was like the famou's
Table at Delphi.' Comment.
on Exod. XXV. 23. But, if
such had been his meaning,
would he not have said ttJ
kv AcX^ots TrapaTrXrjarLav, not
AeX(l>iKaL
I02
THE ARCH OF TITUS
■1
.1
; V.
The Shew- appears in Reland's copy of the sculptured work.
TaWe. So that in this respect the Table in the spoils,
though it agreed with the one with which Josephus
was familiar, must have differed from the draft in
the sacred ritual : a difference which was probably
owing to the fancy of the last restorers of the Tem-
ple-service, or of some Grecian artist employed by
them. That this figure, however, is the Shewbread
Table, we have other and not uninteresting proof
There were four sets of vessels belonging to this
Table; and Reland has expended much curious
learning in endeavouring to distinguish their several
forms and uses.^ There was also, as we learn from
a Rabbinical writer, a large staff of officers who
had to attend upon it :' for it was evidently served
with great ceremony ; according to the character of
that Dispensation, which might well be called the
^Mother of Form and Fear;' but which was
wisely designed to instruct her children in the ways
best adapted to their age and circumstances.
We learn from the ritual order in Leviticus, that
twelve Cakes of fine flour, according to the number
of the tribes of the people, were to be set upon the
^ De Spoliis, cap. xi. - Ibid. p. 117.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE. 103
Table continually, in two piles of six cakes each ; ^^^|^^^"
and that a Cup of pure Frankincense, for a memo- ^abie.
rial to the Lord, was to be placed upon each pile.
The Cakes were to be changed every sabbath day,
and to be distributed amongst the priests ; and the
Frankincense, that had been placed upon them,
was to be burnt ; in token that the Bread, though
not to be destroyed, had been given to the Lord
as a burnt offering.^
As to the mystic purport of this ordinance,
though it does not necessarily belong to our
inquiry, it may tend to throw some light upon it.
This Holy Place of the Lord's House, what was it
but a figure of that Church or community into
which his covenant people were admitted by the
Sacrifice and the Laver in the outer court ? What
the priests, who ministered therein, but the repre-
sentatives of the chosen people, thus brought into
near and privileged communion with Him who
dwelt especially within the inner veils ? And what
the Bread, which they placed there before Him, —
thence called the Bread of his presence, — but the
common symbols of those elements of Life, — it
1 Levit. xxiv. 5 — 9.
'.HI '
104
THE ARCH OF TITUS
l\
i\
m
The Shew- may be of Life both bodily and spiritual, — which
Table. j^jg people were always receiving at his hands, and
were always again devoting to his service ; and of
which this Incense was the well-known figure ; a
sort of embodied act of praise, continually ascend-
ing to the gracious Giver ? ^ And we learn from
Josephus' account of the Table, that there were
two small golden Cups, belonging to it, for holding
the Frankincense in these services.^
These are undoubtedly the two Cups which we
still see upon the sculptured table; and which
were probably brought to Titus by one of the
priests, who is said to have rescued many of the
spoils. In Bartoli's engraving^ — why, we cannot
say, — there appears to be only one Cup : in
The me-
morial
Cups.
^ Such is Tirin's explica-
tion of this ordinance. * Per
hos panes xii. Tribus pul-
chre significabant se a Deo
continuo ali, et gratitudinis
ergo perpetuum quasi sacri-
ficium illi offerre, et vicem
referre : nam et Thus pani-
bus istis imponebant {Levii.
xxiv.), et a solis sacerdotibus
edendi erant hi panes.' Pol,
Syn. in Exod. xxv. 30.
- 'EttI To-vTr]^ (/.^. the Table)
SLeridea-av apTO)v re StuSeica
a^i'/xovs Kara k^, aTraXkrjXovs
K€Lfxevov 54- Rosenmiiller, how-
ever, interprets c-jpto not of
the fruit, but of the flower.
— Scholia in Exod. xxv. 34.
2 Fiirst, Ibid. s. v. "ift^o-
VQ)v. . . . Aean76Trj<; jxev yap
ov luovop efxov gv Katcra^, aXKd
KUL yrjs Kal Oa\do-ar]<; kol Tray-
i
1)
i
124
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
125
Their
sojourn
at Rome.
too ready to foster the suggestion of his heathen
flatterers, — That there was nothing beyond the
reach of his high destiny ; nothing, after all the
good fortune that had befallen him, too great to
be believed.^
This temple was, however, but a short-lived
monument, whatever may have been the object
in erecting it. It lasted but Httle longer than a
century : but even that was longer than the Flavian
dynasty, which came to so ignoble an end in
Domitian. It was destroyed by fire in the reign
of Commodus, in a manner that could not be
accounted for, and which w^as considered as omi-
nous of the disastrous times that ensued.^ It was
burnt to the ground ;* and could not, therefore,
have been that building whose ruins bore so long
the name of Vespasian's Temple of Peace, and
ros avOptJTTiDV yivovc. . . . Kara
fjLLKpov Be ek iritrriv vir-qyeTO.
Bell.Jud. III. viii. 9.
1 ' Ciincta Fortunae suae
patere ratus,' says Tacitus,
' nee quidquam ultra incredi-
bile.' — Hist. iv. Ixxxi. Such,
too, was the notion under
which Vespasian, when in
Egypt, was prevailed upon
to try his hand at miracles,
just after he had been raised
to the empire by the voice
of his legions.
2 Herodian, Hist. lib. i.
cap. xiv.
have hardly lost it even now. If, however, we Their
sojourn
may credit later writers, the Jewish spoils did not ^^ ^°"^^-
perish with this temple : but how they were
saved, and where they were deposited, till we
hear of them again, we know not/
n^t^. As for the story, still current in Rome, and a doubt-
ful story.
which has been referred to in some recent works,^ a.d. 312.
— that the golden Candlestick was lost in the Tiber,
when Maxentius, after his defeat at Saxa Rubra,
was attempting to cross the Milvian bridge, —
there does not seem to be any reliable authority.
None is given in the works above mentioned.
Nor is there, as I learn from a friend, whom I
requested to examine the sculptures on the arch
1 In Dyer's Ruins of
Rome, there are some lines
on ' Salem's sacred spoils,'
which were deposited in
this Temple of Peace; but,
amongst other mistakes, he
says, that these spoils are
now * entombed there, be-
neath the sunk roof.' With
most antiquaries, up to the
time of his poem, he was
under the impression that
the enormous ruined vaults,
on the north of the Forum,
were the remains of this
temple. It is now generally
held that they are the ruins
of a Basilica of Constan-
tine, and that of Vespasian's
temple there are no remains.
— Burton's Antiquities, vol. i.
p. 218.
2 Dean Stanley's Eastern
Church, Lecture vi. p. 226.
Dr. Smith's Dictionary of the
Bible, vol. i. p. 250.
■ I
I
n
b
(
126
THE ARCH OF TITUS
A doubt-
ful story.
A.D. 312.
Further
history of
the Spoils.
Their
transfer
into
Africa.
A.D. 455.
of Constantlne, — where, if anywhere, we might
expect to find it, — any trace of this story ; though
Constantine's arch was built to commemorate this
very victory at the Milvian bridge, and he is
represented, on one of its bas-reliefs, as bearing
down upon Maxentius, who is struggling under-
neath him in the river*
36. But though we must question the truth of
this story, we have other information as to the
fate of these Spoils, which is entitled to much
more credit.
We are told by Theophanes that, on the third
day after that on which the emperor Maximus
was killed, Genseric, the Vandal, having entered
Rome, sent on shipboard all the money that
he found there, and the most remarkable things
in the city; amongst which there were certain
golden treasures and jewels, that had belonged to
the churches, and Hebrew vessels which Titus, after
the capture of Jerusalem, had brought to Rome ;
and, taking with him Eudoxia, the queen, and
her daughters, he sailed away with them to Africa.^
1 'O Se Ti^epLXOQ /xiyScvoc "Pio^rjv Trjy. rjfiiparfiga-cliayfiQ
uuTw aiTLffrdvroQ, dcriiXOey elg Ma^i/xov, Knl Xa/Bwv Travra ra
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
127
37. Another notice of Jewish spoils, about half other
spoils in
a century later than the preceding, occurs in France.
. A.D. 509.
Procopius's History of the Gothic War, He states,
in his account of the exploits of Theodoric, that
the old town Carcaso, in Languedoc, then in the
hands of the Visigoths, was vigorously besieged
by a body of Germans, in consequence of a report
that royal treasures were concealed there, which
Alaric the elder had brought from Rome; and
that amongst them there were costly things which
had once belonged to Solomon, and many other
articles, adorned with precious stones, which the
Romans had formerly brought from Jerusalem.
We are not told how far this report was true, as
to the treasures being Jewish treasures ; but that,
on the arrival of Theodoric, who came to protect
the rights of his grandson, the city was relieved
of its besiegers; and that, after his return from
XPVf^ara, kol to. ttjq TroXcwy
OcdfxaTa elg ra 7rXo7a ijji/SaXioVj
€v OLQ rjaav KeLfjujXia oXoxpvcra
KOL SidXida €KKXr)ata(mKd, kol
aK€u7j ^EPpaLKoi, drrcp Ovecnra-
(Tiavov Tltoq fJLerd tyjv dXioo-iv
Icpvo-oXvfidiv clg *P(o/x.?;j/ ^'yaye,
(Tvr TOVTOig XajStJV kol Evdoiiav
Tyv f^amXio-crav, kol rdg Ovya-
TC/oac avrrjg, elg 'A^piKrjv dire-
TrXcuo-c. — Theophanis Chrono-
graphia, Corpus Byzant. Hist.
torn. vi. p. 75.
\
>
128
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Further
transfer
to Byzan-
tium.
A.D. 534.
f .
Other conquests, he carried off the treasures to
Ravenna/
.38. What became of these treasures does not
appear. But, with regard to the spoils before
mentioned, which Genseric had carried away into
Africa, we have further information in another
work of Procopius.
^ KapKacnavrjv ^€ TroXXfj
(TTTOV^rj kiroXiopKoW iir^i top
paaiXtKov irXovrov ivravda
e:rvdovTO elvat, ov Srj Iv Toig
avo) xpovoig 'AXapixoQ o irpea-
pvTaTOc, 'FiopL-qv kXiijv, iXiyt-
caTO. cv rote rjv kol to. %o-
XopuDVOQ Tov 'EjjpaLuyv fiaoTL-
Xiuyg KeLfi-qXia a^ioOeara kcra-
yavoi^a. irpaata yap XiOog
avTOJV TO, TToXXa €KaXXu)7rit,€Vf
airep c^ 'iepoaoXvpLwv Pw-
fxaiOL TO TToXaiov elXov
XprjfiaTa re XajSwv ^v/xTravra,
oca €V ttoXel KapKatriaprj eK€LTO,
€C "Pdpevvav Kara raxog uTrq-
Xavv€v. — Z>e Bello Gothico ;
Corpus Byzant. Hist. torn,
ii. p. 25. Reland cites only
the first portion of these pas-
sages (part of which seems to
be incurably corrupt), omit-
ting the transfer to Ravenna ;
probably from mere inadver-
tence, as it stands at some
distance from the former
part. As, however, he places
it just before the account
of Genseric's spoliation, it
looks, in his narrative, as
if these spoils at Carcaso
might have gone back to
Rome, and have been even
the very spoils which Gen-
seric found there : whereas
Genseric's sack of Rome was
in A.D. 455, the very year
of the birth of Theodoric ;
whose interposition in behalf
of his grandchild, the son of
Alaric the Second, was, as we
have seen, some fifty years
later, about a.d. 509.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
129
He tells us, i„ his History of the Vandal Their
IVar, that, after the subjugation of the Vandals "tL'^.
m Africa, Belisarius came with Gelimer, and a ^''''^^^'
large amount of spoils, to Byzantium, and there
enacted something of what the Romans call a
triumph : yet not exactly in their ancient fashion ;
for he went on foot from his house to the palace,'
with the thrones and chariots of the Vandal queen,'
and with the spoils which Genseric had carried off
from Rome; and that amongst them were the
vessels, which, on the destruction of Jerusalem,
Titus had transported with other things to Rome.'
He adds, that a }^^, happening to see them, said
to a person well known to the emperor,— That, in
his opinion, it was not expedient that the spoils
should be taken into the palace; for that they
could never be kept in any other place than that
where of old they had been deposited by King
Solomon [that is, supposing them to have be-
longed to the first TempleJ ; that this was the
reason why Genseric had taken the Roman palace,
and why the Romans had now taken that of the
Vandals. The historian adds, that, on hearing these
words, the emperor (Justinian) was alarmed ; and ..
130
THE ARCH OF TITUS
Transfer to speedllv sciit them all away to the holy places
Byzantium, r -^ ^
A.D. 534. of the Christians in Jerusalem.
These appear to be the last tidings of these
Spoils : vague enough and unsatisfactory, as to the
specific articles themselves ; whether they consisted
up to this period, of all those articles to which our
1 I subjoin the whole pas-
sage, as it is the last account
of these Spoils ; and we may
remember that the writer
was the general's attendant
and secretary :— ^Hv Se Xd-
0vpa /X£V, oo-tt 8^ vTTOvpyia rrj
jGoo-tXeW avelaOaL ciw6€t, OpovoL
T€ xpvo-ot, Kal 6xrit^o.Tay ote ^
T^v j8ao-t\eo>c yvvaiKa 6x^'i-Oe. KOI KOapiOQ TTOXVG €/C
XCdiOV CVTt/X(OV (TVyK€ifl€VOg' CK-
TTw/xara t€ xP^o-5, kol ra ciXXa
$ufnravra, ocra cte t»)v ^affi-
\ioi£ Boivqv xpiqailiO" V^ ^^
Ktti apyvpog cXkwv /xvpiaSag
raXaVTCov TroXXae, kqI Travrwv
Twv fiaaiXiKwv K€tp.r]Xioiv 7ra/x-
TToXv Tt XP^fta- 5t€ Vt^epixov
TO cv 'Pw/xt; o-c7KOToe iraXd-
nov, (oaTTcp €V toTc efnrpoadev
XoyoiQ eppeOr]- h toIq koX ra
'lovSatwv K€Lfiil\ia ^v, a^rep
Ov€/xatwv /jacriXcia
cTXc, ml vvr Td BavSiXwv o
*Po)/iat(ov o-rparos. ravra iirel
dv€i/€X0crra fiaaiXevg ^kov(T€v'
^hia€ T€, Kal ^vp.Travra Kara
rdxoQ k rC)v XpicrTiaviZp rd kv
'Upo(ToXvp,oiQ Upd €7r€/x4/€V.—
Be Bello Vandal lib. n. cap.
ix. Corpus Byzant. tom. i.
pp. 39^^ 399-
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE. 131
attention has been directed ; as to the mode of Transfer to
, . Byzantium.
their conveyance, and as to the sacred places, to a.d. 534.
which they are said to have been consigned. Gib-
bon says, with more than usual reverence for such
matters, if indeed he meant to be reverential, but
with somewhat less than his usual accuracy, — ' The
holy vessels of the Jewish Temple, after their long
peregrination, were respectfully deposited in the
Christian church of Jerusalem/^ He does not say
what church, though there must have been many
churches at that period in Jerusalem. Nor is Pro-
copius more explicit. In fact, the arrival of the
Spoils at Jerusalem, though not improbable, can
hardly be proved. Not that there are no subsequent
historical accounts of sacred relics in that city ;
for we have notices, even in the next century, of
many sacred things in the churches at Jerusalem,
which were plundered and carried oiF by the
Persians •} but there is no mention of these Jewish
^ Decline and Fall, chap,
xli. A.D. 534.
^ See Chronicon Faschale,
Corpus Byzant. Hist, tom.
iv. p. 306 ; and Contextio
Gemmarum, sive Eutychii
Annales, edited by Selden
and Pocock, tom. ii. pp. 211
—215.
K 2
%
132
THE ARCH OF TITUS
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
^33
-V
Transfer to spoils. So that I cannot but concur with Reland,
Byzantium. ^
A.D. 534. that this account of their having been despatched
by Justinian are the last tidings which we have of
them.^ Whether they ever reached Jerusalem is
uncertain ; and it is all but certain that they never
came back to Rome.
^^. Adrichomius, a writer of the sixteenth cen-
tury, in a work on the Geography of the Holy
Land, gravely tells us that the Ark of the
Covenant, the Tables of the Law, the Rods of
Moses and Aaron, and some portions even of the
Shewbread were, in his days, in the church of
S. John Lateran, in Rome,^ but he says nothing of
Not in
Rome.
1 * Quid porro bis Spoliis
accident, et an navis, cui
credita sunt, in Palaestinam
appulsa sit, aut alia his
vasis reditum prseciderint,
nos latet. Certe Hieroso-
lymis nunc non conspici-
untur.' — Z>e Spoliis, p. 138.
2 ^Quse quidem omnia,'
says Adrichomius, ' Area
videlicet, auro tamen nu-
data, Tabulae Legis, Virgae
Moysi et Aaronis, Panes
quoque Propositionis, ac
quatuor columnae, Romae in
Ecclesia S. Joannis Lateran-
ensis adhuc conservantur.'
— Theatruin Terrce SanctcE,
Sect. 77, p. 159. The same
fabrication about the Ark is
also repeated by Minutolius,
Dissert. Roman. Antiq. Illust.
in Sallengre's Thesaurus, vol.
i. p. 118 ; and he adds, after
reciting the account of Justi-
nian's despatching the spoils
the Shewbread Table, nor of any of the other spoils ^ot in
^ ^ Rome.
in question. So that if these relics really survived
the burning of Vespasian's Temple of Peace, there
is probably some truth in these accounts of their
having been carried away from Rome ; otherwise,
we should probably have heard of them again,
somewhere or other, in that great storehouse of
ecclesiastical antiquities, as well as of the less
veritable relics, the Ark, the two Tables, and the
Rods of Moses and Aaron ; for these things are
admitted by the Jews to have been lost on the
destruction of the first Temple.
40. Still, whatever may have become of these The Arch
a Witness.
Spoils, — whether there be any truth or not in
these stories of their transfer by Genseric into
Africa, and of their reappearance in a second
triumphal pomp, in the second great capital of
the Roman empire, — these Sculptures survive, and
have been bearing their testimony for nearly
eighteen hundred years ; a record of the desola-
tion which our Lord foretold would come upon
to Jerusalem, ' Plura qui cu-
pit, adeat Lipsium, De Mag-
nit nd. Romcc, lib. 11 1. c. vi.'
This, however, is but a false
light : I have turned to Lip-
sius : there is nothing more.
134
THE ARCH OF TITUS
The Arch
a Witness.
Jerusalem and upon her Temple ; which was
always deemed her proudest boast, as the palace
of the city of the Great King. That edifice, which,
through all its varying forms and fortunes, was for
ages the bond of national union, the centre of the
affections of every loyal son of Israel ; and which
fell at last only when its faithless people fell away
from the covenant of the God of their fathers ;
rejecting the King whom He had sent to reign
over them; and scornfully refusing, for forty
years, all offers of the Gospel of his grace, till
their City, Temple, Saviour, — all was lost.^
^ * Neque eversa est Ju-
dseorum respublica,' says
Limborch, 'nisi postquam
Euangelium omnibus qua-
quaversum Judaeis praedi-
catum, et ab iis rejectum
esset ; ne quisquam se ob
alterius crimen, aut totum
populum ob Hierosolymi-
tanorum solummodo crimen
(uti hie facit Vir doct.)
puniri conqueri posset. Id-
que juxta vaticinium Serva-
toris nostri Jesu Christi,
Matt. xxiv. 14 : " Et praedi-
cabitur hoc Euangelium
Regni in universo orbe "
(quousque nempe Judsei sunt
dispersi) " in testimonium
omnibus gentibus;" (quod
nempe non ob crimen solum
Hierosolymitanorum, sed to-
tius populi inter omnes gen-
tes dispersi, templum et res-
publica evertatur,) " et tunc
veniet consummatio." ' — Dc
Verit. Relig. Christ. Arnica
CoUatio cum erudito Judceo,
Quaist. II. cap. vi. p. 252.
See also the remainder of
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
135
1^
A I. We see then how this Arch subserves a Subserves
• . a purpose
purpose, which was never thought of by the ^^^^^^7^^
Romans who erected it. They built it to perpe- ^"^^'''^•
tuate the triumph of their arms, and of the great
general who had led them to victory. They have
exhibited him and his victorious army in what
they deemed the summit of human glory ; and
with the view to transmit to future times some
record of the power and splendour of that empire,
which, as it had extended to the ends of the
known world, they fondly thought would also last
for ever. Their visions of glory have long since
vanished ; while these records of their fallen power
and grandeur serve to establish the claims of that
Kingdom, which was destined to succeed their
fourth great monarchy ; to surpass the utmost limits
of the Roman sway ; to be spread out under the
whole heaven ; an everlasting dominion which shall
not pass away :' and which had already begun, much
to the annoyance of the votaries of Heathendom,^
this able and interesting
answer to Orobio : ' De
praesenti Judseorum disper-
sione, et qua ratione in ea
ut populus separatus subsis-
tant.'
1 Daniel y\\. 3 — 14.
■^ Witness those indignant.
"J ; '
Its Les-
sons to us.
>"
136
THE ARCH OF TITUS
to take root amongst them far and near, before the
destruction of those typical services, which perished
for ever with the Jewish Temple.
42. There are also other thoughts that naturally
arise, as we look at these memorials of a Church
and of an Empire which have long since passed
away. What a lesson do they read to every
Christian nation, especially- to such a nation as
ours, to know the times of visitation, to under-
stand our privileges and our duties, to see why
God has so richly endowed us with the light of
his truth and the power of diffusing it ; to be like
Israel, a blessing in the midst of the earth : and
to know when God is coming near us in distress
of nations, tribulation, perplexity ; the shaking
of the powers of the political firmament, that
lines of Rutilius on the pro-
gress of the Gospel, to the
extrusion of the gods of old
Rome, by despised and sub-
jugated Jews. 'Atque uti-
nam nunquam Judaea subacta
fuisset, Pompeii belHs, im-
perioque Titi. Latius excisae
pestis contagia serpunt, Vic-
toresque suos natio victa
premit' — Iter. i. 395. ^ Would
that Judaea ne'er had fallen
a prey To Pompey's arms
and Titus' princely power !
The exscinded pest still
wider works its way ; The
conquered trample on their
conqueror.'
\
\
'J
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
137
the Kingdom that cannot be shaken may re- its Les-
sons to us.
mam ! ^
For there are, no doubt, for every people, as
for every soul of man, definite times of visitation,
of which one must be the last. Hence it concerns
us to mark and understand the grace and mercy of
that visitation, as well as that it has its appointed
limit.^ Jerusalem unhappily would know neither :
Jerusalem was accordingly crushed to the earth.
Her beautiful House was made desolate, her
children were dispersed throughout the world;
and so must they continue till they welcome with
blessing the long-rejected King of Israel.^
43. And yet, what a striking contrast is their The
Romans
State, even m their present fall and dispersion, to gone— the
Jews sur-
that of the conquerors, who erected this Arch ^^^"S-
to commemorate their domination over them!
Though no longer enjoying any political exist-
ence, they exist as a people in almost every country
in the world ; in regions which their conquerors
never reached ; where not even the Roman name
was known; bearing about with them the same
1 Luke xxi. 25 — 27 ; Heb.
xii. 26, 27.
^ Stier onZ^/^^ xix.43,44.
^ Matt. xxii. 7 ; xxiii. 39.
ill
fi
'1
);
U8
THE ARCH OF TITUS
The
Romans
viving.
distinctive marks of race and of religion, as when
gon"-the our Lord predicted the fall of their common-
^"^''''" wealth, and when Titus led them through the
streets of Rome in fetters. They abide, as it is
predicted, ^ they shall abide, many days,'— now
the days of nearly eighteen hundred years,— ^with-
out a king, and without a prince, and without
a sacrifice, and without an image, and without
an ephod, and without teraphim/ ' For they are
now as adverse to all idol worship as they were
prone to it in former times.
44. But are they to continue in this state ?
Are they to be merely witnesses of those glorious
promises to others, of which they are not to be
partakers themselves? Is the Trumpet-call never
to be heard again in Israel, summoning together
their scattered children? Is the light of their
Candlestick quenched for ever? Is the Holy
Table never again to be spread for them, in
testimony that the Lord is keeping house amongst
them ; feeding them with the Bread of his pre-
sence, the joy and strength of man's heart ?
^ Hosea iii. 4.
To what
end ?
I.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
139
Surely, the word of promise tells us, that Israel's To what
present doom is not to last for ever. ^ They
shall seek the Lord their God, and David their
King ; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness
in the latter days.' ^
^ It shall come to pass that the great Trumpet
shall be blown;' — not the silver trumpet for the
restoration of the Tabernacle, but the great mystic
Trumpet of the world's jubilee :^ — ^and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of
Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,
and shall worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at
Jerusalem.' ^
The sacred Table shall be again set up for
them, — as it is indeed for all God's people now>
^ Hosea iii. 5.
2 That is, not the Chatzot-
zerah^ but the Shophar ; as
it is here, Isaiah xxvii. 13.
^ This is part of a great
prophecy which seems to be-
long to the last age of the
present dispensation ; and
which could not have been
fulfilled, as Vitringa has
shown, in the days of Heze-
kiah, nor in the return from
Babylon, nor as yet in these
times of the Gospel. As-
syria and Egypt are pro-
bably the two great mystic
world-powers which will fall
before the final trumpet-call
to Israel. See Vitringa on
Isaiah xxvii. 13 ; and his
'ETTt/xcT/oov ad cap. xi. 15, De
Assyn'd mysficd.
\)
ft
s
I
\
'< \
To what
end ?
140
THE ARCH OF TITUS
— in thankful remembrance of a greater redemp-
tion than that of Israel by the Angel of the
Covenant : who still leads and feeds his chosen
in the wilderness; still sends them Bread from
heaven, and admits to communion and fellowship
with Him, not the members of one tribe only, but
'the spiritual house, the holy priesthood' of all
who are true believers in his name.^
The great Candlestick shall be again lighted
up for them with the light of the knowledge
of God's glory, in Him who is the very Light
of Light ; who walks in the midst of his golden
candlesticks ; whose light shall then be seven times
multiplied. ' For the light of the moon shall be
as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun
shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in
the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his
people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. '^
^ I Peter ii. 5, 9.
2 Isaiah xxx. 26.
AND THE SPOILS OF THE TEMPLE.
141
VESPASIANUS.
A.U.C. DCCCXXIV. A.D. LXXI.
TITUS VESPASIANUS.
A.U.C. DCCCXXXIII. A.D. LXXX.
CITED IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE FRIEZE, § 23.
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