The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-05-26
was done with earthly affairs as much
as if really dead

was done with earthly affairs as much
as if really dead. s
Here, too, lived Roderick, the last of
the Goths, whose unbridled passions
according to local story-caused the fall
of the dynasty. Walking along the Ia
gus one day, he saw the Jewish maiden,
Florinda, bathing In a secluded pool,
and became so enamored of her beauty
that he had her straightway seized and
carried to his castle, which outrage so
incensed the Jews, added to their other
wrongs, that they called upon the tribes
OF Barbery and Egypt to avenge them.
There is no doubt that in earliest
times many Hebrews did fly to this
then uttermost part of the earth" to
escape Assyrian tyranny; and until
their expulsion in the fifteenth century,
the influence of the thrifty race was
very marked in Spain. The laws of the
Goths, barbarous in severity, con-
demned all Jews to slavery prohibited
their worship, left their property at ev-
cry mans mercy and encouraged the
violation of their homes under circum-
stances of most atrocious cruelty.
Schooled to patience by centuries of op-
preston, the long suffering Jews en-
N'NiCN NiotllIt persecution ulllll II De-
came. even to them, intolerahle. Their
trading propensities had connected
themselves closely with the wandering
tribes Of the desert; and history con-
cedes that the sudden seizure of the Pc
ninsula by Mohammeds followers was
due, in great measure, to an extensive
conspiracy of Spanish Jews, which had
been Matching for years. Under the
Moors, the Hebrews We're treated with
distinguished consideration, not only by
the Khalfs. but also by the kings of To-
ledo, after the city was declared indie
pendent They held posts of high infu-
ence and authority, like Joseph and
Mordecai administering the offices of |
an alien government to the advantage |
of the rulers and of the people, and al |
ways with characteristic thrift, to their !
own enrichment
AS we know the Moors held SWAY
three hundred and fifty yenrs--ToIedo's
golden age of substantial building and
enlightened government, which left an
1ndelable impression upon all future
generations. During the first years of
Castlllan supremacy the Jews were
equally fortunate in Toledo, owing to a
concillatory policy that at first pre-
vailed among the conquerors-thoueh
prejudice limited them to distinctive
costume and confined their dwellings
and curious synagogues to certain
quarter of the city. But the Christians
soon broke faith with Moors and Jews
and everybody else. The terms of the
capitulation We're violated; MOSQUES
were turned into churches, and the
property of the Moors, which had been
secured to them by treaty, was taken ,
from them. Worse yet Jared the moor
Hebrews, whom to despoil seemed doing i
sod service heavy tax was set upon
every Jewish head and they were per {
nltted to retain their synagogues only c
IN the plea that they had not consented l.
o the murder of Christ When the Sa- !
nor was brought to judgement thew 9
ald the votes of the tribes were taken ;
ina one tribe had voted for his acouit- =
al-and from this particular tribe the !,
eWs OF Toledo were descended, Nav =
every Christians hand was :
galnst the unhappy race-perhaps as ;,
much on account of their facility for =
cquiring money as from religious feel -
hg. An example of this was Levi the :
reasurer of Pedro the Cruel The Jews a
erved his royal master faithfully hut -