"Vespasian passed some months at Alexandria, having resolved to defer his voyage to Italy till the return of summer, when the winds blowing in a regular direction, afford a safe and pleasant navigation. During his residence in that city, a number of incidents out of the ordinary course of nature seemed to mark him as the peculiar favourite of the gods. A man of mean condition, born at Alexandria, had lost his sight by a defluxion in his eyes. He presented himself before Vespasian, and falling prostrate on the ground, implored the emperor to administer a cure for his blindness. He came, he said, by the admonition of Serapis, the god whom the Egyptians hold in the highest veneration. The request was, that the emperor with his spittle would condescend to moisten the poor man's face, and the balls of his eyes. Another, who had lost the use of his hands, inspired by the same god, begged that he would tread on the part affected. Vespasian smiled at a request so absurd and wild. The wretched objects persisted to implore his aid. He dreaded the ridicule of a vain attempt; but the importunity of the men, and the crowd of flatterers, prevailed upon the prince not entirely to disregard their petition. He ordered the physicians to consider among themselves, whether the blindness of the one, and the paralytic affection of the other,

were within the reach of human assistance. The result of the consultation was, that the organs of sight were not so injured, but that by removing the film or cataract the patient might recover. As to the disabled limb, by proper applications and invigorating medicines, it was not impossible to restore it to its former tone. The gods, perhaps, intended a special remedy, and chose Vespasian to be the instrument of their dispensations. If a cure took place, the glory of it would add new lustre to the name of Cæsar; if otherwise, the poor men would bear the jests and raillery of the people. Vespasian, in the tide of his affairs, began to think, that there was nothing so great or wonderful, nothing so improbable or even incredible, which his good fortune would not accomplish. In the presence of a prodigious multitude, all erect with expectation, he advanced with an air of serenity, and hazarded the experiment. The paralytic hand recovered its functions, and the blind man saw the light of the sun. By living witnesses, who were actually on the spot, both events are confirmed at this hour, when deceit and flattery can hope for no reward*."

In the first of these paragraphs Tacitus incul

Tacit. Hist. lib. 5. 81, 82.

cates, that Basilides was one of the principal men in Egypt, and that he was a priest of Serapis. But in truth he had been a slave, and was at this very time a freedman of Vespasian*: and the Roman historian has falsified this account of him, in order to form a more exact counterpart to Josephus, who was a leading man and a priest among the Jews; thus making it appear, that Serapis, no less than the God of Israel, foresaw and foretold by his minister the future elevation of Vespasian. From the. appearance or vision of Basilides in the temple, the priests taught that emperor to infer the decrees of heaven in favour of his future reign. This is a fiction, and a fiction too very contemptible, founded on the name of Basilides, which in Greek means the form or appearance of a king.

Tacitus, I have already observed, understood that Josephus, when speaking of the oracle being fulfilled in Vespasian, alludes to its ultimate and more complete fulfilment, in the second coming of Christ: and his object is to undermine this opinion, by opposing to our Lord, Serapis, the tutelar divinity of Egypt. His design is more evident from the section following, in

* Suetonius is my authority for this faet-Basilides libertus obtulisse ei visus est. Vespas. 7.

which he accounts for the origin of Serapis ; and in which he insinuates, that Jesus before his ascension came to destroy his own community, whereas Alexandria, by the advent and under the auspices of Serapis, would become a city flourishing and great among the nations. The passage is too important to be omitted. "Concerning the origin of the god Serapis, the account given by the priests of Isis is as follows. At the time when Ptolemy, the first of the Macedonian race, who settled the government of Egypt, had raised walls and ramparts to defend the new-built city of Alexandria, and afterwards gave a temple, and rites of national worship, a youth of graceful mien, and size above the human form, appeared to him in a midnight vision, commanding him to send some of his trusty friends as far as Pontus, to bring from that place into Egypt the statue of the preternatural being then before him. By his compliance with those directions, the prosperity of the whole kingdom would be advanced, and the city, which should be so happy as to possess that valuable treasure, would be great among the nations. In that instant, the youth was seen mounting to heaven in a column of fire." I need not apprize my readers, that the last sentence is opposed to the ascension of Christ, as related in the first chapter of the Acts. Tacitus has, unluckily for him,

noticed one material circumstance, namely, that he was the first author* who has thus recorded among the Romans the advent of Serapis in Egypt, and his ascension into heaven. We have, therefore, sufficient ground for concluding, that the story was fabricated after the promul gation of the gospel, in order to set aside the miracles on which it is founded.

Tacitus had read the testimony which Josephus, in his Jewish Antiquities, bears to the wisdom, the wonderful works, and the love of truth, which distinguished Jesus Christ. He knew that the same things were attested by multitudes besides in every country, and were so generally believed, that they could not be contradicted with effect. The Roman historian, therefore, prudently declined to cail their truth in question; and he attempts to set aside the miracles of Jesus, or to render the belief of them unavailing, by ascribing similar wonders to Serapis, acting through the instrumentality of Vespasian. The blessed Jesus extended his tender regard principally to the poor, and he once healed a man having a withered hand in the presence of his enemies. He also gave eyes, by merely putting spittle upon them, to one known

* Origo Dei nondum nostris auctoribus celebrata, lib. 4. 83.