Invasive Tax Enforcement
Besides other taxes, that on the Jews was levied with the utmost rigour, and those were prosecuted who without publicly acknowledging that faith yet lived as Jews, as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised.
Translated by J.C. Rolfe.
Credits
Suetonius, Domitian 12.2, from Suetonius, vol. II, trans. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 38 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914), pp. 365–67.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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