נגד פלאקוס ז׳Against Flaccus 7
א׳
1[44] But since he worked hand in hand with them in all their misdeeds he did not scruple to use his superior power to fan the flames of sedition perpetually by still more novel additions of evil, and as far as lay in his power filled, one may also say, the whole habitable world with racial conflict.
ב׳
2[45] For it was perfectly clear that the rumour of the overthrowing of the synagogues beginning at Alexandria would spread at once to the nomes of Egypt and speed from Egypt to the East and the nations of the East and from the Hypotaenia and Marea, which are the outskirts of Libya, to the West and the nations of the West. For so populous are the Jews that no one country can hold them,
ג׳
3[46] and therefore they settle in very many of the most prosperous countries in Europe and Asia both in the islands and on the mainland, and while they hold the Holy City where stands the sacred Temple of the most high God to be their mother city, yet those which are theirs by inheritance from their fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors even farther back, are in each case accounted by them to be their fatherland in which they were born and reared, while to some of them they have come at the time of their foundation as immigrants to the satisfaction of the founders.
ד׳
4[47] And it was to be feared that people everywhere might take their cue from Alexandria, and outrage their Jewish fellow-citizens by rioting against their synagogues and ancestral customs.
ה׳
5[48] Now the Jews though naturally well-disposed for peace could not be expected to remain quiet whatever happened, not only because with all men the determination to fight for their institutions outweighs even the danger to life, but also because they are the only people under the sun who by losing their meeting-houses were losing also what they would have valued as worth dying many thousand deaths, namely, their means of showing reverence to their benefactors, since they no longer had the sacred buildings where they could set forth their thankfulness. And they might have said to their enemies
ו׳
6[49] “You have failed to see that you are not adding to but taking from the honour given to our masters, and you do not understand that everywhere in the habitable world the religious veneration of the Jews for the Augustan house has its basis as all may see in the meeting-houses, and if we have these destroyed no place, no method is left to us for paying this homage.
ז׳
7[50] If we neglect to pay it when our institutions permit we should deserve the utmost penalty for not tendering our requital with all due fullness. But if we fall short because it is forbidden by our own laws, which Augustus also was well pleased to confirm, I do not see what offence, either small or great, can be laid to our charge. The only thing for which we might be blamed would be that we transgressed, though involuntarily, by not defending ourselves against the defections from our customs, which even if originally due to others often ultimately affect those who are responsible for them.”
ח׳
8[51] It was by saying what he should leave unsaid and leaving unsaid what he should say that Flaccus treated us in this iniquitous way. But what were the motives of those whose favour he was seeking? Was it that they really wished to honour the Emperor! Was there then any lack of temples in the city, so many parts of which are consecrated and give all that is needed for the installation of anything they wished?
ט׳
9[52] No, what we have described is an act of aggression by bitterly hostile and crafty plotters in which the authors of the outrages would not appear to be acting unjustly and the sufferers could not oppose them with safety. For surely, my good sirs, there is no honour given by overthrowing the laws, disturbing ancestral customs, outraging fellow-citizens and teaching the inhabitants of other cities to disregard the claims of fellow feeling.