jealoufy, must have awaked their attention to it, and engaged their recital of it, had it been frue,

lity faved her, from maternal tenderness, and given her to be nurfed and brought up in the neighbourhood, Metamorphof. lib. 10. p. 119. Pater peregre proficifcens mandavit uxori fuae, quod enim farcina. praegnationis oneratam eam relinquebat, ut fi fexus fequioris edidiffet foetus, protinus quod effet editum necaretur, &c.' The Chriftian fathers, again, are full of reproaches and invectives against this, as a prevailing evil among the Gentiles their enemies. So Justin Martyr in his first apology presented to one of these last named emperors, even Antonine the Pious, in the year of Chrift 140. pp. 70, 71. Nay, Tertullian, in his apology written about the year 200. fcruples not ta fay, that many who were then thirsting for the blood of Chriftians, yea many of the most upright magiftrates themselves, had been guilty of drowning their infants, or of exposing them to perish by hunger, or cold, or carnivorous animals, cap. 9. ' Quot vultis ex his circumstan'tibus, et in Chriftianorum fanguinem hiantibus, ex ipfis etiam vobis ⚫ juftiffimis et feveriffimis in nos praefidibus apud confcientias pulsem, qui natos fibi liberos enecent? fiquidem et de genere necis differt, utique crudelius in aqua fpiritum extorquetis, aut frigori, et fami, et ⚫ canibus exponitis. Ferro enim mori aetas quoque major optaverit.' And in his first book to the Nations, he fays, No laws were more fafely or fecurely violated among them, than even the laws which ⚫ forbid to put children to death,' referring, I fuppofe, to the practice of destroying them in cafes where the laws gave no allowance to do it, cap. 15. Vos quoque infanticidae, qui infantes editos enecantes legi'bus quidem prohibemini, fed nullae magis leges tam impune, tam fe· cure, fub omnium confcientiae unius a -----tabellis eluduntur, &c.' And, (to pass the words of Minutius Felix, cap. 30. as he wrote only a little later than Tertullian;) Lactantius, who flourished after the beginning of the fourth century, under Conftantine, fhews it to have been still a frequent custom to ftrangle or expofe children, lib. 5. c. 9. adding, that if, amidst this last treatment, they were preserved alive through the humanity and compaffion of any stranger, they were either educated for flavery, or for the brothel-house, lib. 6. cap. 20. to whom I might fubjoin Arnobius, and Julius Firmicus Maternus who wrote after both. Nor was even the edict of thefe emperors, Valentinian,

feeing it was altogether unprecedented. I anfwer, it is contrary to all probability, to fuppofe that they amounted to a tenth part of the number Mr. Voltaire mentions. In towns containing 20 or 25000 fouls, there are not born in one year more than 1000 children, of whom not a few die from time to time, by maladies or cafualties incident to that tender age,before they have compleated, or even begun, the fecond year of life. Bethlehem was but a small town, of little note or fame, till it became illuftrious, according to the prediction of Micah, by his nativity, which gave rife to the dismal tragedy we are speaking of. By confequence, it must not have been very populous. And indeed it could not be of great extent; for

*

Valens and Gratian, effectual to put an entire ftop to the long established corruption, as appears from penal statutes enacted in fucceeding times against it. It feems probable, the world owes the abolition of this favage and inhuman custom, which continued among the Romans after they were arrived to their highest improvement in science and polite arts, more to the prevalence of the Chriftian religion, than many are willing to acknowledge; on which account, I have been more full in ftating both the law and the usage.

*John, in his gospel, calls it xwun, a village, vii. 42. It is true, Luke beflows upon it the appellation of Toxic, ii. 4. But Epiphanius Haeres, 51. is fuppofed by many to inform us, that one copy of the evangelists read here, xwunr, instead of Tox; though, I confefs, others think by his phrafe αντίγραφον των ευαγέλιτων, he only intended to acquaint us, that it was so called by another writer of our Lord's life, even John. Justin Martyr, who had good opportunities for knowing its fize, having been born at Flavia Neapolis, the antient Sichem, in the fame country of Palestine, ftiles it xwun, Apolog. 2. page 75. and Dialog. with Tryphon, p. 303. yea, xwpior oμingor, a little plot. Jerome, moreover, who refided at Bethlehem in the latter part of his life, in his epiftle to Marcella, names it villam pauperculam; nay, vilJulam: and in his commentary on Micah, vix parvum viculum. It must

the hill on which it stood, and of which it occupied only a part, according to travellers, does not exceed in its whole circumference a thousand paces, that is, a fingle mile. Nor could its coafts be very wide, fince, according to Jerome and others, Jerufalem was fituated within fix + miles; but, according to Juftin Martyr, within five; and, according to Jofephus, within four miles of it on the north: and Elam was ftill lefs diftant from it on the fouth. The children, then, in this place and its confines, from two years of age and under, who were cut off by Herod's decree, must have been but a handful in comparifon. Why then should it be thought strange, that these Gentile writers, who had fo large a field before them, and who needed to treat of so great a variety of events interefting to the Roman government, fhould have been filent about this flaughter of fome babes in a small corner of the empire, for the fake of therefore have been a place very inconfiderable for its fize, and therefore could contain no great number of babes under two years of age. Ladoire, a French author, in his Travels into the Holy Land, in 1719, fays, 'It is at present a very small town, containing scarce 300 ⚫ houfes.'

+ See Relandi Palestina, 416. 445. 445. 480, &c.

That St. Matthew ufes the expreflion Tarras, in defcribing the flaughter of the infants here, is no evidence that they were very numerous. It is well known, that the term is applied by Greek writers, where perfons of one age or rank are univerfally cut off, whether they be more or fewer. That men have fwelled the numbers of those babes fo much, may have proceeded in part from the pathetic and flowery declamations of orators, and the exaggerations of poets, for whofe figurative manner of speaking, allowance ought to have been made, as well as from the reading of that paffage of fcripture, Rev. xiv. 4, 5. in the church, by public appointment, on the festival of the martyrdom of the Innocents.

the interests of a petty prince? And how ridiculous is it to make their omiffion to mention it, a ground of unbelief, efpecially when it is confidered, that they either, through ftudy of brevity, pafs Herod's ftory altogether; or if they do not, they comprize S all they tell us about his elevation to the throne, his behaviour in it, his death, and the divifion of his kingdom among his fons, whofe very names withal they omit, in three or four lines!

It deferves, nevertheless, to be observed, while there is fo entire filence about this barbarous action among contemporary Gentile writers, that Macrobius, a Pagan author, towards the end of the fourth century, in a dialogue which receives its name from the feafon at which it is laid, the feftival which was folemnized in honour of Saturn, introduces Avienus, alfo a heathen, relating among many other witty fayings or jefts of Auguftus, one which proceeded upon that emperor's information of Herod's order to kill boys under two years of age, as an uncontroverted fact.

Thus all which Tacitus fays on the fubject is, 'Regnum ab 'Antonio Herodi datum victor Auguftus auxit. Poft mortem Herodis, nihil expectato Caefare, Simon quidam regium nomen invaserat. Is a Quinctilio Varo Syriam obtinente punitus. Et gentem co'ercitam liberi Herodis tripartito rexere.' Hiftor. 5. 9. Strabo, again, is equally brief and concife, lib. 16. Edit. Cafaub. 765. Herod, a 'man of the country, having arrived at the priesthood, furpaffed fo much thofe before him, efpecially in familiarity with the Romans, ⚫ and in administration, that he obtained the title and dignity of king, 'first from Antony, and afterwards from Caefar Augustus. But of his 'fons, he himself flew fome, for having laid fnares against his life. Others he left his fucceffors when he died, having affigned each his 'fhare of that territory which belonged to him.'

Avienus's words are, 'When * Auguftus heard, that ⚫ among the boys under two years of age, whom Herod king of the Jews commanded to be put to death in Syria, that prince's own fon had been also flain, he said, It is better to be Herod's hog than his fon.' And is it not prefumable he put this account of the occafion of this fmart fpeech of the emperor, which alludes evidently to the tenderness of the Jewish people toward fwine, as they forebore to eat their flesh, into the mouth of Avienus on the teftimony of fome antient writer, fince he profeffed to his fon, that his book was just a collection of all his reading both Greek and Latin, for his advantage; fuitably to which, it is found to contain accurate extracts from older authors, where, by their preservation until our time, there is any room for comparison? Nay, is it not probable he did fo, on the teftimony of a heathen writer, rather than of the evangelift, or any other Chriftian, fince he himselft, together with

*Macrob. Saturnal. 2. 4. Cum audiffet Auguftus inter pueros quos in Syria Herodes rex Judaeorum, intra bimatum juffit interfici, 'filium quoque ejus occifum, ait, melius eft, Herodis porcum effe * quam filium.'

+ I am fenfible, fome have paid little regard to Macrobius's teftimony, because they have thought him a Chriftian; though Collins hath only faid, 'Perhaps he was a Christian.' But for this opinion, I know no pretence, except that he bore public offices in Theodofius's time, which is no good reason, fince under this emperor, there were Pagans both in the schools of philosophy and rhetoric, and in the fenate, and in places of magiftracy. See Lardner's Testimonies, book 4. chap. last, P. 460.-466. And there are many strong arguments against it ; particularly, that the whole scope of the book where this repartee is found, is to vindicate the system of polytheism, and to justify the heathen fuperftition, and that the interlocutors are zealous friends thereof, as in the next note.