mands of the emperor, and refused to enter upon military service, were punished with death.28

There are no records to prove the existence of any Jews in Spain in those times. Strabo, speaking of the dispersion of the Jews in different parts of the world, gives a detailed account of the provinces which they inhabited, but makes no mention of Spain: neither does Agrippa in the letter he wrote to the emperor Caius Caligula in behalf of the Hebrews, although he takes particular notice in it of all the places where they were settled.

It was in the seventieth year of the Christian era, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the emperor Titus, son of Vespasian, that the Jews spread themselves all over the world, and consequently came to swell the population of Spain: here they neither founded cities nor gave names to them, as some have asserted, without sufficient reason. They came, like conquered persons, to receive protection from others, not to build ramparts for themselves. In the cities which they were allowed to enter, they lived for many years mingled with the natives and other inhabitants ; and after that, by dint of hard labour, they had amassed riches, they made separate barriers that they might the better enjoy the comforts of life, and hold congregations

28 Suetonius says they were ordered to quit the city under the penalty of perpetual bondage, in case of disobedience: his words are, “Judæorum juventutem, per speciem sacramenti, in provincias gravioris cœli distribuit: reliquos gentis ejusdem vel similia sectantes urbe submovit, sub pœna perpetuæ servitutis, nisi obtemperassent." (Suet. in Vita Tib. Cæs. cap. XXXVI.)—Translator.

1.]

THE JEWS IN SPAIN.

21

in their synagogues with the more perfect freedom. The majority of the Jews who went to Spain lost their own language, and were very easily reconciled to the vernacular tongue of the country; and this is the reason why, according to Dr. Bernardo Aldrete,29 so few Hebrew words have been engrafted on our language, for we should, unquestionably, have had more of them had the Jews continued to use their own, and transmitted it to their descendants and the inhabitants of the cities in which they lived.

30

A very short time elapsed ere the peace of the Jews was disturbed. In the year 303, the bishops, assembled in council at Elliberis, forbad communication, dealings or contracts with them, as far as possible, alleging as a reason that the Jews were striving with most active and urgent importunities to bring over the people to the law of Moses. Moreover, they (the bishops) thundered anathemas against all who should eat in company with the Israelites, and all who should allow the latter to bless the fruits which the lands of the Christians yielded spontaneously.

In the opinion of some, these canons afford a strong argument to prove that the number of the Jews then living in Spain was exceedingly large; but in the laws of the Visigoths, the collection of which is called Fuero Juzgo, I find a still stronger

29 See Antigüedades de España, &c., por Bernardo Aldrete, lib. II. cap. 8.-Translator.

30 See 49th and 50th canons as given in Francisco Padilla's Historia Eclesiástica.-Translator.

one for holding the contrary opinion. In these statutes we learn how they divided the Peninsula: the Goths took two-thirds of it for themselves, and left one-third to the Romans; for by this name were the Spaniards of that time known to them. One of the statutes alluded to runs thus: "The partition of the mountain lands made between the Goths and the Romans must not, in any wise, be broken, provided the boundary can be proved. The Romans must not take nor lay claim to any portion of the two-thirds belonging to the Goths, nor the Goths to the remaining third which belongs to the Romans."" Whereby we see how small was the number of Jews then dwelling in Spain, when no notice of them is taken in this partition-a silence which could not have been observed had they been many in number.

Let not persons who hold the opposite opinion try to weaken this argument by saying that the Goths looked down upon the Hebrews with supreme contempt and disdain, nor ask why the former should apportion lands to folks in such little esteem with them as the latter, as being persons who were gaining a more comfortable subsistence by trading, whereas they could not reap the fruits of the land without much persevering toil and labour: such reasoning as this is built on a weak foundation, and is easily overthrown.

It was from pure ambition that the barbarians of the north quitted their own houses, and it was by pure courage that they made themselves masters of other

31 Lib. x. tit. 2. ley 8a.-Translator.

people's. All the forces which vainly attempted to dispute their passage made about as much show of resistance as a slight cloud of dust offers to a strong and impetuous wind. It was by good government that they succeeded in retaining possession of the conquered lands and dominions they had usurped, and exalted their power to the skies, laying its foundations on the real obedience and love of the natives, and not turning to account the animosities and party interests which, however much they may uphold empires for a time, eventually overturn them, resembling in this respect the foundation-stone of an old building which keeps gradually mouldering away: its ravages escape detection, till after it has crumbled to pieces, and caused the fabric it was supporting to tumble down, when it is too late for either art or industry to prevent its fall.

Now, as the Goths were not influenced in their actions by catholic intolerance, but by the desire of firmly maintaining their conquests, we can hardly suppose that when they made the division of Spain, they would have allowed the Hebrews to be forgotten had there been a large number of the latter living in their cities.

'Tis certain that the Gothic kingdoms were replete with fraternal hatreds, insults, and calamities of every description. Like rude barbarians, they were completely under the influence of their passions, especially of ambition, and rushed with furious rapidity into the commission of every crime that their unbridled wills suggested to them. Subjects ousted kings, and deprived

them by violence of their thrones and lives, sometimes by the agency of poison, sometimes by the sword; and not only were such things done by subjects, but brothers received like treatment from brothers, and children from parents. So fearful is the effect produced by the ambitious thirst of power! much more is this the case when this desire is combined with hardness of heart, ferocity of disposition, and ignorance of right! But in this age, in which crimes, and even those most repugnant to nature, had risen to such a height, the Spaniards had but few grievances to complain of. Subjugated as they were and unable to shake off the yoke of oppression from their shoulders, but at the same time living under a good government, they never took part with the factions that rose up for the purpose of wresting the sceptre from the hands of those who, in previous tumults, had received the regal dignity from the army and the people. These quarrels were confined to the Goths, and resembled those of two beasts, which, after helping one another in the struggle for a prize and succeeding in getting it, engage furiously together, each with the view of making it his own.

From the time that Ataulphus and his powerful host invaded the Spanish peninsula with fire and sword, and reduced it to obedience, with scarcely any opposition (which, according to conjectures more or less probable, happened in the year 415), till the year 586, when Recaredo the First began to reign, and, abjuring Arianism, embraced the Catholic religion," the Jews lived

32 See Francisco Pisa's Historia de Toledo, lib. II. cap. 17.-Translator.