Note 311 — Chapter XVII · THE JEWS OF THE EMPIRE TILL THE REVOLT

That Tacitus shows a strong antipathy to the Jews can scarcely be questioned. It is in these chapters (Hist. v. 2. seq.) more than most others, that we are able to see the rhetorical historian of ancient times almost in the act of preparing his narrative. The sources of Tacitus are open to us. That he used Manetho and Apion instead of Josephus and Nicolaus is itself ample indication of the complete lack of conscience with which such a writer could select his evidence according to the thesis he meant to establish.