Florus mentions the jews particularly in his history and makes pretty an acerbic say about them. To wit:
"furthermore, roll his army southwards, he [Pompey] passed consume the Lebanon in Syria and consume Damascus, and ramp the Roman morals even if the delightful scented groves and wooded area of frankincense and liniment. He found the Arabs put to provision out any orders which he rule contribute. The Jews attempted to defend Jerusalem; but this as well he entered and saw the large secret of that licentious nation laid open to view, the universe under a golden vine. Human being ordained arbiter in the midst of the two brothers who were disputing the throne, he deep in favour of Hyrancus and threw Aristobulus inwards poke, in the role of he was seeking to stimulate his power.'" (1)
We can in the aristocratic piece that Florus' quotation of the jews stands out pretty pleasantly from his quotation of the other peoples of the Core East having the status of he pleasantly states that in the Arabs were a multiparty and earlier than generous pursuit who hurriedly recognised the new follower survival seeking to work with utterly than pointlessly frustrate the power of Rome. The jews by adapt obstinately refused to recognise the new follower survival and tried to dispute a war in opposition to the cosmopolitan superpower that was Rome.
The origin of this inflexibility Florus pleasantly locates in the jewish religion in so far in that their view the jews were the Singled out pursuit who were divinely bound to settlement once again the world and for whom circuitous the round to non-jews was the concluding answer of meekness. For devout jews for this reason to dispute with Rome was a produce of holy war in opposition to heathens and idolaters who were poorer beings than they the Singled out nation of Yahweh. The fact they were effectively safe to lose a war with Rome allegedly never occurred to them apparently on the logic that Yahweh would put your oar in on their behalf as he had done in the myths of the Torah.
Other than Yahweh was to send no Messiah to aid the jews and the lack of celestial reinforcements was even expert evident: even so the jews pointlessly fought on until Pompey took the capital of Jerusalem. In the function of Pompey entered the Summit of Solomon as Antiochus Epiphanes has done decades as a result of he found; to his absolute awe as Florus implies, that the jews worshipped; to his cause, pretty absolutely nothing (i.e. they were atheists in Graeco-Roman eyes).
The "fair-haired Ass'" mentioned by Poseidonius had disappeared; as this was now the time of supremacy by Yahweh purists as loathsome to the old-fashion semi-polytheistic priesthood, and nothing had been put in its place. Moderately put forward was proper a vacuous space: this is what Florus rites having the status of he calls the jews" licentious" in so far as they idolization pretty absolutely nothing (and like so licentious in the role of they make a derision of all here clerical rituals). They benefit from no god, they do not fee to him, they noticeably use a to start with temple to idolization the thin air and suggest that in the role of they say so: an almighty god exists.
We can as well see this touch in Juvenal who justifiably berates the jews in the role of they" idolization nothing but the smoke" (2) and in Dio Cassius who states that the jews "'never had any any statue of their god even in Jerusalem itself'" and charmingly conquer their god "'to be unnameable and small". (3)
In heart as well as Florus is natural ability the jews the utmost harebrained of all nations in that they are irreligious; to an ancient polytheistic perspective, and that in malevolence of this blasphemous nature; which would comprehensibly make them pragmatists and relativists, the jews carry on on act ardently for their belief in nothing but air (i.e. they are clerical zealots not realists).
Subsequently we can see that Florus is actually telltale that the jews are not brave warriors, rescue fights or even very passing, but utterly are a pursuit who benefit from no philosophy, no religion and even less regular sense. Or put in frequently Roman language: the jews are; distant as Tacitus reverse described them, (4) the draw of the uncivilised barbarian and everything that was bad in the world.
In heart as well as to Florus the jews are the stupidest of all men who; such as Cervantes' Don Quixote or Voltaire's Candide, involve they are in fact the best!
REFERENCES
(1) Florus Epit. 1:40.29-30(2) Juv. 14(3) Cassius Dio 37:17.3(4) Tac. Hist. 5:3-8
