Page 134 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

R DING _LESSONS• 133
LE'GIONS n., the Roman army :-originally a body of chosen or se­ lected men. The Theban or "Happy Legion," who, with their general o cers, were massacred r refusing to sacri ce to idols, consisted of nearly 7,000 men. F. and S. l ion, om lego, L., I choose.
PAS1CHAL, a., relating to the Passover, a ast instituted among the Jews, in memory of the time when God, smiting the rst-born of the Egyptians, passed over the habitations of the Hebrews. L. and G. pascha; Heb. pesakh, fo pass over.
ZEALOTS (zel'-), n., persons whose ardour outstrips their judgment. L. zelot , om zelos, G., and this om zeo, I boil.
SIEGE, n., a setting or besetting with an armed rce. F. siege, om sedes, L., a seat : the besiegers are said to sit down be re a place: RAZED (rayzd), pt., laid in ruins; levelled with the ground. L.
rasus; rado, I scrape, scratch up, &c.
IMPLA1CABLE, a., maliciously obstinate; not to be appeased. F. and
. implacable, om placo, L., I appease.
Ju1DAISM, n., the rit s or religion of the Jews. F. Judaisme, om
Juda.
1. AT the rst appearance of the insurrectio of the Jews against the power of the Romans, the Chris­ tians, who partook not of the visionary hopes of the Jewish enthusiasts, and who were mind l of the
warnings of their Lord ( £att. xxiv. 16), ed to Pella in Petrea. Vespasian was sent to Judea to suppress the rebellion, and a er he had been proclaimed em­ peror of Rome, his son, Titus, conducted his irr ist­ ible legions to the walls . of Jerusalem. The paschal solemnity had drawn a countless multitude into the city, and whilst their enemy approached om with­ out, all was con sion within. The zealots were en­ gaged in daily and bloody strife; citizen slew citizen, and the blood of the murdered oftentimes pro ned the holy of holies in the temple.
2. At length the city was stormed and taken ; the temple was burned ; more than a million of the in­ habitants perished, during the siege and in the attack, by mine, by the sword, or i the ames. Ninety­ seven thousand were sent away in chains, for the barbarous sport of their conquerors in the theatre, or to be sold as slaves in their markets.
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