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[213]
"Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of Rome, to the magistrates,
senate, and people of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Delos,
and some other Jews that sojourn there, in the presence of your ambassadors,
signified to us, that, by a decree of yours, you forbid them to make use
of the customs of their forefathers, and their way of sacred worship. Now
it does not please me that such decrees should be made against our friends
and confederates, whereby they are forbidden to live according to their
own customs, or to bring in contributions for common suppers and holy festivals,
while they are not forbidden so to do even at Rome itself; for even Caius
Caesar, our imperator and consul, in that decree wherein he forbade the
Bacchanal rioters to meet in the city, did yet permit these Jews, and these
only, both to bring in their contributions, and to make their common suppers.
Accordingly, when I forbid other Bacchanal rioters, I permit these Jews
to gather themselves together, according to the customs and laws of their
forefathers, and to persist therein. It will be therefore good for you,
that if you have made any decree against these our friends and confederates,
to abrogate the same, by reason of their virtue and kind disposition towards
us."
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