68
CHRISTIANITY IN TALMUD
shalt not seek their peace or their prosperity
all [thy] days.'
He said to him, ' What is
the punishment of this man ?' He replied,
Per semen fervens.'
He called up Jesus by necromancy. He
said to him, I Who is honoured in this world?'
He replied, I Israel.' I What about joining
them?' He replied, I Seek their good, seek
not their harm. Every one who injures them,
[it is] as if he injured the apple of his eye.'
He said, ' What is the punishment of this
man?' He replied,
'
By boiling filth.' For a
teacher has said, 'Every one who mocks at the
words of the wise is punished by boiling filth.'
Come and see the difference between the
sinners of Israel and the prophets of the
peoples of the world who serve a false religion.
Commentary.-This extract forms part of a long
Midrash chiefly concerned with the war against Ves-
pasian and Titus, and reported by R. Johanan (200-279
A.D.).
The story of Onqelos b. Qaloniqos, nephew
of Titus, is introduced immediately after the descrip-
tion of the death of the latter. Whether Onqelos
the Proselyte, who is mentioned elsewhere in the
Talmud, really was the nephew of Titus, I do not
know, and the question is of no importance for the
present purpose. The object of the gruesome story
contained in this passage is to show the fate of the
three chief enemies of Israel,
i.e.
Titus, Balaam and
Jesus. Each suffers the punishment appropriate to
the nature of his offence.
The modern editions of the Talmud, which have
been subjected to the censor of the press, do not
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