Originally posted by tabibito
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Again from Smallwood:
Philo says in the Legatio that Augustus' measures for the protection of the Jews secured their religious liberty throughout the empire during his principate and his successor's, "although there was an upheaval in Italy when Sejanus was contriving his attack. For Tiberius realized immediately after his death that the charges brought against the Jews living in Rome were unfounded slanders, fabricated by Sejanus; he wanted to wipe out the Jewish race because he knew that, if treachery threatened the emperor, they would be his sole, or at any rate his keenest, champions against treason, whether actually attempted or merely plotted. He instructed all provincial governors to reassure the members of the Jewish race resident in their cities by telling them that retribution would fall on those few of them who were guilty and not on all indiscriminately; furthermore, there was to be no break with tradition, but governors were to treat both the Jews themselves and their laws alike as a sacred trust, since they were people of a peaceful disposition and their laws were conducive to public order."
However, that was all before 66 CE. After 70 CE Jews would most certainly not have been recruited [nor wanted] for the army!
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