it taught them perpetually that freedom was the noblest thing a man can have ; it was the glorious memorial of a glorious history ; it was a reminder that theirs was a nation set apart from the rest of the world. To defend the Temple from outrage and pollution was indeed the bounden duty of every Jew. And these Eomans, what would they do with it ? Had they not the keys of the treasury where the vestments of the priests were laid up ? Had not one of their emperors ordered a statue of himself to be set up, an impious idol, in the very Holy of Holies ? A handful of men, they offered war to the mistress of the world. True, the insurgents were rude and unlettered, who knew nothing of Eome and her power. Even if they had known all that Eome could do, it would have mattered nothing, for they were fighting for the defence of all that made life sweet to them ; and they were sustained by false prophets, poor brainstruck visionaries, who saw the things they wished to see, and foretold what they wished to happen. God might interfere; the mighty arm which had protected them of old might protect them again. The camp of the Eomans might be destroyed like the camp of the Assyrians ; and because these things might happen, it was a natural step, to an excited and imaginative people, to prophesy that they would happen. But when the time passed by, when none of these things came to pass, and the deluded multitude hoped that submission would Jbring safety at least, the tenacity of their leaders held them chained to a hopeless defence. Whether Simon and John fought on with a stronger faith, and still in hope that the arm of the Lord would be stretched out, or whether they fought on with the desperate courage of soldiers who preferred death by battle to death by execution, it is impossible now to say. It has been suggested by Josephus, as well as by modern writers, that the courage of the Jews was shaken by predictions, omens, and rumours ; but if there were predictions