CRUCIFIXION. 



375 



LiKxion. ordered soldiers, who had forcibly despoiled the inhabi- 

 "V" / tants of a province of their property, to be crucified on the 

 spot, of delinquency ; and it is elsewhere said, " for he 

 crucified soldiers, and subjected them to servile punish- 

 ments." Fugitives are said, by Valerius Maximus, to 

 be most deserving of crucifixion, cruce dignissimi fu- 

 gilivi, which Livy illustrates in the punishment of de- 

 serters thus: de perfugio gravius quam defugitivis con- 

 sultum: Nominis Latini qui erant securi percussi. Ro- 

 mani in criecem sublati. Thieves and robbers in parti- 

 cular were condemned to crucifixion, of which we have 

 an example in the two thieves mentioned by the evan- 

 gelists : and Valerius Maximus, in a chapter on Seve- 

 rity, relates, that a wild boar of extraordinary size be- 

 ing brought to Lucius Domitius the Roman governor 

 of Sicily, he ordered a shepherd who had killed the 

 animal, to appear before him. An edict having lately 

 been promulgated, that no one should be in possession 

 of a weapon, because the province had been pillaged 

 by robbers, he asked how the shepherd had killed the 

 boar ; and on his answering that it was with a boar- 

 spear, ordered him to immediate crucifixion. By the 

 Mussulman laws, a magistrate may condemn certain 

 highway robbers, either to the cross or to lose their 

 hands. But for one robbery, both punishments cannot 

 be inflicted, because by the code of the Mahometans, 

 no single offence can receive a double punishment. 



In the destruction of an enemy, in religious persecu- 

 tions, or popular commotions, it is likely that neither 

 age, sex, nor condition, was respected : and we read of 

 women being condemned to the cross. Eurydice, queen 

 of Ptolemy Philopater having been put to death, and 

 the king passing his time in weakness and debauchery 

 inconsistent with the benefit of the state, a tumult was 

 excited, wherein the courtezans who lived with him 

 were crucified to avenge the fate of his queen : Tibe- 

 rius also, on a certain occasion of adultery in the temple 

 of Isis, ordered a female called Ida, to be crucified as 

 well as the priests of the temple ; and female martyrs 

 suffered in this manner during the persecutions for 

 Christianity. The fortitude of Simeon, a Christian 

 ecclesiastic who was crucified, at the venerable age 

 of one hundred and twenty, has been handed down to 

 the admiration of posterity. But the cross has been 

 made a more terrible instrument of destruction to a 

 vanquished enemy. Thus Alexander the Great, we 

 have already observed, crucified the Sogdian officers 

 •and their leader, at the foot of their strong hold ; and 



at a another time, after putting eight or ten thousand Crucifixion- 

 Tyrians to the sword on taking their city, he crucified '"" *"Y"*""' 

 2000 more along the shores. Triste deinde spectaculum 

 victoribus ira prcebuit regis. Duo millia in quibus occi- 

 dendis defecerat rabies crucibus affixi per ingens litoris 

 spatium perpenderunt. Not less sanguinary was the 

 vengeance of the Romans against the Jews ; Minutus 

 Alexander crucified 800, and Quinctilius Varus 2000, 

 on account of some revolt. Titus, whom we are wont 

 to esteem as humane and merciful, crucified above 500 in 

 a day; and at the sack of Jerusalem, under his command, 

 the Romans, wherever they could seize the affrighted 

 fugitives, either in hatred or derision, nailed them to 

 crosses about the walls of the city, until the multitude 

 was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and 

 crosses for the bodies. 



Crucifixion has been considered the most cruel of pu- 

 nishments, and merited by the most atrocious offences 

 only; but the barbarity of mankind has made little 

 distinction in making punishments commensurate with 

 crimes; and condemnation to torture has been dealt with 

 a lavish hand. That the pain of the cross is cruel cannot 

 be denied, yet we are perhaps accustomed to exaggerate 

 it from our unacquaintance with other punishments. 

 Examples are not wanting of persons having been taken 

 down from the cross alive, and surviving the laceration 

 of their members. Josephus the historian relates, that 

 on leaving a particular town in Judea, he saw a great 

 many of the enemy crucified ; but it grieved him much 

 to recognize three of the number with whom he had 

 been in ultimate habits. He hastened to inform Ti- 

 tus of the fact, who immediately ordered them to be 

 taken down, and their wounds carefully healed. Two 

 nevertheless perished : but the third survived. See 

 Seneca de Consolatione, ad Marciam, § 20. Petronius 

 Arbiter Satyricon, cap. 3. Valerius Maximus, lib. vi. 

 cap. ii. externorum. § 1. cap. iii. § 5. Suetonius in Vita 

 Galbce, cap. 9- — in Vita Dornitiani, cap. 10. — Augusti, 

 cap. 68. Justin Historia, lib. xxii. cap. 7. lib. xxx. 

 cap. 1, 2. Livius Historia, lib. xxx. cap. 43. — lib. xxxiii. 

 cap. 36. Quintus Curtius, lib. iv. cap. 4. — lib. vii. cap. 1 1 . 

 Eusebius Historia Ecclesiaslica, lib. xi. Josephus De 

 excidio Judworum, lib. v. cap. 12. Zonaras Annates, lib. ii. 

 Vulcatius in Vila Avidi Cassia. Gallonius de cruciali- 

 bus Martyrum. (c) 



CRUDIA, a genus of plants of the class Decandria.,, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 214. 



CRUSADES. 



Crusades, (^rtjsades, military expeditions, undertaken by the 

 ""Y"""' Christians of Europe, for the deliverance of Judaea from 

 the dominion of the Turks and Saracens. These ex- 

 peditions, like some which are recorded in the history 

 of the heroic ages of antiquity, shew the power of super- 

 stition to inflame the passions, and call forth the ener- 

 gies of the human mind. The mere prosecution of a 

 ioolish object may often be productive of greater bene- 

 fit, than the actual accomplishment of one more judici- 

 ous. If eagerly pursued, it augments activity by exer- 

 cise. Even though unattainable, it puts ingenuity to 

 the stretch, and acquaints us with our possession of 

 powers, which may afterwards be better directed ; and 

 as chemistry was promoted by a search after the philo- 

 sopher's stone, the revival of civilisation was accelerat- 



ed in Europe by a childish contest for a barren moun- 

 tain in Asia. We shall treat the subject, therefore, as 

 deriving more importance from its moral consequences, 

 than from its historical facts, which differ little from 

 those of other religious wars ; and having given a rapid 

 outline of the latter, we shall consider the former at 

 greater length. 



About 70 years after the death of Christ, the city of 

 Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by Titus. In the 

 year 130, it was rebuilt by the Emperor Adrian, and 

 the Christians were permitted to return to it. Their 

 establishment, however, was by no means flourishing, 

 till Constantine embraced their faith, when his Empress 

 Helena visited Jerusalem, and having ordered all the 

 places which had been signalized by evangelical event* 



Crusade.'. 



