Note 458 — Chapter V · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE ESSENES
Reading edition
It should be noted that what is said here of the Jews applies not to the Hebrew race in general, but only to those members of it who settled in Palestine after the return from the Captivity. Winwood Reade puts the matter with no less truth than point when he says (Martyrdom of Man, p. 203): “The people who did return were chiefly the fanatics, the clergy, and the paupers. The harvest ... was worthy of the seed.”