Introduction to Triumpho del Govierno Popular
Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Born a converso in Spain, Daniel Levi (a.k.a. Miguel) de Barrios emigrated to Livorno to convert to Judaism, and after some travels settled in the Sephardic congregation in Amsterdam. He is known to have continued to compose poetry for Catholics with whom he maintained contact in Brussels through the 1660s, and to have been ignited with messianic enthusiasm in the early 1670s. The Triumpho del Govierno Popular, y de la Antiguedad Holandesa describes the political and religious ‘government’ of the community, and includes accounts of its literary and charitable associations, along with poems, encomia, funeral orations, and other miscellanea from de Barrios’ Jewish oeuvre. This excerpt constitutes the opening of the work, part of a 58- page introduction which sets a theme for the rest by relating the exilic governance of the Jewish people to the six days of creation, and the restored monarchy of the messianic age to the seventh day, on which God rested. The seven numbered stanzas of the dedicatory poem correspond to the seven sections of this introduction. Although the subject of the governance of contemporary Jewish society is unusual for early modern Jewish writings, the work is representative in some ways. It shows the remarkable association with Spanish literary and political culture among the converso-descended Sephardim of Amsterdam, it describes a fairly typical communal organization, and it tells us about the flourishing of literary ‘academies’ among some elite Jews. The interest in contemporary Jewish life as an object of exposition and analysis could also be seen as characteristic of the period, similar to Leone Modena’s Historia de’ riti hebraici, but concerned with cultural and political matters rather than with specifically religious practices.
Further Readings
Bodian, Miriam. “Biblical Hebrews and the Rhetoric of Republicanism: Seventeenth-Century Portuguese Jews on the Jewish Community.” AJS Review 22, no. 2 (1997): 199-221. Kaplan, Yosef. From Christianity to Judaism: The Story of Isaac Orobio De Castro. Translated by Raphael Loewe. New York: Littman Library, 1989.
Kaplan, Yosef. From Christianity to Judaism: The Story of Isaac Orobio De Castro. Translated by Raphael Loewe. New York: Littman Library, 1989.
Lieberman, Julia Rebollo. El Teatro Alegórico De Miguel (Daniel Leví) De Barrios. Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta, 1996.
Pieterse, Wilhelmina C. Daniel Levi De Barrios Als Geschiedschrijver Van De Portugees-Israelietische Gemeente Te Amsterdam in Zijn ‘Triumpho Del Govierno Popular’. Amsterdam: Scheltema & Holkema NV, 1968.
Révah, I. S. “Les Écrivains Manuel De Pina Et Miguel De Barrios Et La Censure De La Communauté Judeo-Portugaise D’Amsterdam.” Tesoro de los Judios Sefardíes 8 (1965): 74-91.
Scholberg, Kenneth. La Poesía Religiosa De Miguel De Barrios. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1962. ---. “Miguel De Barrios and the Amsterdam Sephardic Community.” Jewish Quarterly Review 8, no. 2 (1962): 120-59
Wilke, Carsten Lorenz. “La Trompette Du Jugement De Miguel De Barrios: Essai De Déchiffrement”.” In Mémorial I.S. Révah, edited by Henry Méchoulan and Gérard Nahon, 515- 27. Paris, Louvain: E. Peeters, 2001.
The Triumph of Popular Government
And of Dutch Antiquity
Triumpho del Govierno Popular
Daniel Levi (a.k.a. Miguel) de Barrios, 1683
Translated by Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA
The Triumph of Popular Government,
And of Dutch Antiquity
Dedicated in the Year 5443.
DANIEL LEVI DE BARRIOS.
To the most illustrious Lords Parnassim, and Gabbai of the Holy Congregation of Amsterdam,
Ishac Belmonte. Iacob Abendana de Brito.
Iacob de Pinto. Ishac Levi Ximenes.
Abraham Gutierres. Mordechay Franco.
Iosseph Mocat[a]
The Hebrews are flowers of the law,
And the masters are bees who, among the leaves,
sustain themselves by its keepers.
PREFACE
The saintly architect of the holy people
Calls the law science, and understanding
Because it gives them happy knowledge
Of that which he covers with his glorious mantle.
The Atlases of the firmament
Sustain* their beautiful congregation, and I sing, Unless Nessus prevents it by stealing its honor,
And the shirt of Holland poisons it.[1]
*Parnassim means “sustainers”
The triumph of the popular government I sing,
To the sweet sound of the harp of history,
In a Hebrew chorus with a voice of weeping,
Which is an echo of the Israelite memory.
The waters of the red Rhadamanthus[2]
Do not flood the camp of its glory.
As much as I channel Orpheus’ passion,
So much do I harness the spirit of David.
Give to me O Great God! in erudite zither, A pen so sweet, and hand so resonant,
That it will serve as wings to your blessed law,
And that it will resemble your fiery dawn.
To the judges who consider your infinite
majesty dwelling among angels,
I offer that which I sing, and that which I write, Because through these, I receive your light.
To the most Illustrious Lords Parnassim, and Gabbai Of the Holy Congregation of Amsterdam.
Ishac Belmonte. Iacob Abendana de Brito.
Iacob de Pinto. Ishac Levi Ximenes.
Abraham Gutierres. Mordechay Franco.
Josseph Mocata
VERY ILLUSTRIOUS LORDS.
1 Democracy means popular dominion in Greek; monarchy government of one; and aristocracy designates that of the noble betters.
2 The politico of the latter is strict, that of imperial sovereignty is severe: but democracy is more gentle, and better to the high patron.
3 He chooses the Judge whose rule is wise, who teaches with example and just proof, more than with words.
4 He who governs this way improves and elevates, because the voice of the people is a divine voice, and fortunate is the judge who knows to take it up.
5 God created the universe in six days,
6 and divided it into three worlds: the first 6 and divided it into three worlds: the first monarchy with high hierarchies; the second noble with celestial privilege. The third shows itself to be of elements in mixed and proportional groups.A propitious bond now holds all in the six,* With union, with nobility, and with judgment. *parnassim
7 On the seventh day, God rested; his people did well to rest with Joseph.* From the six Parnassim, justice comes piously to Joseph, who is the seventh: these are the seven Judaizing marvels that the tree of the law constantly signifies.
*Gabbai
GLOSS I.
The generality of political peoples consists of three main divisions: the first is monarchy, .or singular, like that of Moses, Saul, David, and Solomon. The second is aristocracy, or noble; like that of Joshua, of the sacred Judges, and the Maccabees: and the third is democracy, or popular, like that of the Israelites in Egypt, in Babylonia, and in all the places where they are dispersed with the Mosaic law, ever since the Assyrians expelled the Israelites, and the Romans the Jerusalemites.
GLOSS II.
Aristotle, with the authority of Homer, distinguishes monarchy from tyranny in that the monarch puts the good of the subject before his own good; and the tyrant puts his own good before that of his subjects. Moses distinguished himself [in this], putting the elect nation before his own life, praying to the Sovereign Majesty, either that he would erase him from his book, or that he would pardon the criminal offense that the Israelite people had committed against his eternal sovereignty. This is the one who is the good monarchical pastor, but not like Nimrod, who named himself monarch in Babel out of ambition, and is a tyrant, because with the desire to rule, he does not attend to the common utility, but .rather erects towers of vain confidence, either by opposing himself to the divine superiority, like Sennacherib and Antiochus; or by eternalizing his name in images and metal engravings like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, and Titus.
On a similar topic a poet sang,
All this life is theft
the burglar does not give an affront
because since this world is a sale
the robber is proper in it.
You do not desire to castigate anyone
for stealing silver, or copper;
because flogging is for he who chances
to be poor in favor and appearances.
This world is a game of tricks
that only he who steals can win, and rule.
With the sword of this example I defeat those who affirm majestic rule to be better than noble or popular for the conservation of the people, because rare is the royal that puts the benefit of his vassals before his own, and rare are the vassals who serve God more than the king, because most, caught in the spell of the world, only try to win the grace of the king; and the few who do procure the grace of God are not agreeable enough in the eyes of the vain, like those who are cheered by the lively vanities of pompous accoutrements. Thus I determine that a monarchy unlike that of Moses, with fear of God, deserves the name of tyranny, and that Moses, being so just, did not believe himself capable of ascending the Israelite throne, nor of taking the divine embassy, when he said to the supreme king: Send for whomever you will send.[3]
Jerome, Sixtus of Sienna, and Francisco Vales, write that the dreamed statue represents the four monarchies, Babylonia, Persia or Media, Greece, and Rome. Better, they say it is the four general tyrannies, shown in four different metals: either for the coins that take foreign arms, or for the arms that take foreign coins. People imitate those showoffs when the wheels of fortune make them pompous with the vanity of seeing their colorful adornment; and when they are undone by the horror of seeing their feet of clay.
Monarchy is a kind of king shooting bullets of execution, with thunderous orders: and aristocracy is a sonorous harp handled by one who is affirmed in the seat of government, and practicing it bodily with his vigilant zeal, in order to keep it in good standing with his protection. The key of his affability is to temper the chords of the different wills, with the hands of his mercy and justice, to bring together varying desires in the agreeable harmony of conforming differences.
Sir Isaac Abarbanel favored my opinion, proving by various examples that the government of nobility is better than royalty; and if sometimes the divine dominion does not endure, it is because discord divides it, but when love brings the parts into conformity, it endures. Moses wanted a government reciprocally divided because aristocracy offers to the government the help that people give each other; and Moses knows that even in order to raise his hands to heaven, it was necessary that Aaron and Ur help him. Monarchy is an empire of one, and Adam was only one without Eve, until God saw that man being alone would not be good. For this Solomon says: Two are better than one, and Cicero: The governor, and magistrate is a law that speaks. Therefore, aristocracy is better for man than monarchy, as it was seen even by Moses, as God relieved him of it, adding to him the aristocracy in the form of the seventy elders whom He commanded him to choose, saying to him: They shall share the burden of thepeople with you, and you shall not bear it alone.[4] With the same consideration Isaiah said about the holy city: I will restore your magistrates as of old, and your counselors as of yore. After that you shall be called City of Righteousness Faithful City.[5]
Solon advises: Learn first to be governed, when you ambition to govern, because he who does not govern himself thus cannot govern others well. Moses governed with strength, as the more the eternal majesty exalted him with the monarchical and aristocratic gifts, the more he modestly desired that all would be prophets, so that all would equal him, and all being equal, they would not have occasion to hate the government of one, nor that of the nobles, including the two governments in the popular, which always elects the governor. Moses wanted this because (according to Pliny’s delineation), “He who may rule, and reign over all, is best elected by all.” In this manner: “The art of governing the cities and republics of the world holds first and primary place among all the arts.” Aristotle and Plato say about this: “The populace does not exist for the cause of the governor: rather the governor exists for the cause of the populace.” From this I conclude that the popular rule[6] is more beneficial than that of the nobility, and the crown, because there is no noble without the plebeian nor king without people; but there can be plebe without noble and without king, electing judges who, in administering and governing the republic, have and respect public things as private ones, and private things as public ones.
Therefore the popular government is better than the noble, if the noble than the kingly: because the popular, with reciprocal equality, maintains itself without the necessity of the noble, nor of the royalty, as the royalty and the nobility require the plebe that chooses the judges.
I Democracy means popula_r_ dominion in Greek; monarchy government of one; and aristocracy designates that of the noble betters.
[Glosses III and IV deal mainly with an elaborate history of Jewish monarchies.]
GLOSS V.
Which describes the three states of Israel, monarchical, illustrious [i.e., noble], and popular, and shows that in all of them is resplendent the particular providence that God has with the Israelites.
[Section I is a poem of praise for the so-called Third Monarchy (of Moses), and Section II explains why it did not last long.]
§. III.
Which shows how it is more loving of the infinite omnipotence to conduct his people to .the holy land than to administer medications to it, to liberate it from Egypt, and to part the Red Sea to let it pass through it on foot.
All the attributes of the Lord are included in four: the first is physician, because no one knows as well as he how to apply natural medicines to ailments since he is the author of nature. The second attribute is that of redeemer, because only he has the power to liberate those who implore him from the strongest prisons as the people of Israel did, distressed and captive to Egyptian violence. The third attribute is that of wonder-worker, as he did when he broke the swollen waves of the Red Deep, guiding the Israelites in order to flood the violent Egyptians, and draw the elect people out of their oppression. The fourth attribute is that of life-giver, as it is he who gives a soul to each creature, and especially to man, instilling it in him with a puff of breath, and promising to return him to life as was revealed to Ezekiel chapter 37. Thus said the Lord God to these bones: …I will put .breath to into you and you shall live again.[7] Several expositors hold that these bones are those of the Israelite corpses, a symbol of which is offered in the cadaver of Jacob and that of Joseph brought from Egypt to the promised land, signaling that all the righteous of Israel who die in foreign kingdoms will return to life in the sacred Jerusalemite homeland, as the translator[8] Onkelos declares: and here the prophecy calls it land of the living, because they are resuscitated there, going out of death to life: and no people in the arms of death, like Israel in sickness, in prison, and in the persecution of the Pharaoh, more marvelously escapes than by the divine hand throwing the Canaanites out of the desired land. Thus I determine that it is greater to guide Israel in the manner of that time to the holy land, than to cure it, than to free it, and than to part the Red Sea, because only the author of the living can return and unite them in holy peace and brotherhood, guiding them by him[self] alone, and not by some celestial chaperone like the one that guided them in the exit from Egypt until it brought them into the promised Land. The healing, liberating, and miracle-working can be granted to the physicians, the powerful, and the magicians: but not the resuscitating as he granted to the prophet Elijah, and twice to Elisha, once in the hospice of the widow, and the other in the sepulcher of his terrible cadaver.[8]
My son Simon Levi Caniso declared the same in the Masquil Eldad Yeshiva, in the following manner.
[A short, repetitive paragraph follows.]
§. IV.
Which formally lays out the popular governments of the Jews in the places [to which] they were expelled.
The second popular government began with the Israelites dispersed by the Assyrians and continued with the captives of Judah in Babylonia. The former arrived as far as Zarphat, or France, with the Phoenicians; and the latter got as far as Zepharad, today Spain, with the Phoenicians, Babylonians, and the Kings of Dara and of Fez; that then included Barbary, encrypted in the anagram Zefarad which is Dara Fez. The Prophet Obadiah certified it: And that exiled force of Israelites [shall possess] what belongs to the Phoenicians as far as France, while the Jerusalemite exile community of Sepharad shall possess the towns of Austria.[9]
There were three popular, or inferior
Governments of Israel, one among the Egyptians
A dynasty called Pastoral
Another among Babylonians and Phoenicians.
The third is of Sustainers
Or Parnassim, with such facades
In various temples among various peoples
That in them God has his luminaries.
The infinite mercy also came to the Mosaic popular governments among the Babylonians, and among the Phoenicians, by the concert that they had with the three holy Patriarchs Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, [which] textually conforms to the 26th chapter of Leviticus: …in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or spurn them so as to destroy them, annulling My covenant with them: for I the Lord am their God.[10]
The first Israelites who sent gifts to the Kings of Judea after the Babylonian captivity were those of Spain among the Phoenicians, whence the ancient Rabbis said in the Gemara of Menahot in the last chapter: From Tyre to Carthage they know Israel and the Lord of Heaven.[11] Because Carthage is in Spain; and Julian in his adversaries number 134 claims that the Hebrews of Spain paid tribute to the Kings of Judah. Pellizer refers to this in octava 42 of the Gongorical Panegyric; and Fray Juan de la Puente in book 3 chapter 13 page 1 writes: the Jews who lived in Athens and in Spain persuaded the Athenian and Spanish Gentiles to build an altar to the Holy God of Israel.
The Doctor Isaac Cardoso, in the First Excellence of the Hebrews, folio 16, writes with Strabo, There are 4 types of men in the city of Cyrene: citizens, workers, foreigners, and the fourth Jews. And these four segments existed in all the cities. It would not be easy to find a place in all the world where, once this nation was received into it, it did not prevail, because Egypt, and Cyrene, many other provinces have admitted its religion, maintaining large congregations of Jews who have increased themselves with time and live with their own laws.[12] Josephus, in Antiquities book 14 chapter 12, affirms that those of his nation fill all corners of the earth; and Philo in the book that he wrote on the Embassy to Emperor Caius Caligula, introduces King Agrippa of the Jews, saying to the Emperor that Jerusalem is not only the metropolis of Judea, but also of many provinces where the Jews live, for colonies of Hebrews were transferred to them, as in Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Macedonia, Athens, Argos, Corinth, the Islands of Eubea, Cyprus, Crete, and in the other part of the Euphrates: and in sum all the fertile cities, and the settlements of Jews in Asia, Africa, and Europe are abundant, as much maritime as landlocked or islands.[13] And against Flaccus the president of Egypt, he says that they will not fit in one sole province, because there are so many of them, settled in many cities, provinces, and islands of Europe and of Asia, recognizing as their head the holy city. Strabo, speaking of Alexandria, affirms that the Hebrews had assigned streets where they lived, with their own jurisdiction (fueros), with governors of their own nation, with absolute power as if they were a republic of their own.
According to the affirmation of Josephus book 1 chapter 5, the Hebrews or Israelites began to call themselves Jews for the Tribe of Judah which had seniority since those of the proper Tribe of Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity, along with those of Benjamin, and the fragments of the other tribes that had mixed with them. Chapter 2 of Esther tells us this, as it calls Mordechai, being Benjaminite, a Jewish man: and Chronicles book 2 chapter 30 number 25 affirms that many of those of Israel will unite with those of Judah in the time of the King Hezekiah. Achior tells this to Holofernes in chapter 5 of Judith: Now they have returned to their God, and have come back from the places where they were scattered, and settled in the mountains, and returned to occupy Jerusalem.[14]
Those Israelites or Jews who do not rebuild the second temple will not lose their democratic government, giving clear light of the eternal divinity among the nations with observable demonstrations, as the prophet Micah announced in chapter 1 number 11: _For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name is great among the nations; and in every place offerings are presented unto My name, even pure .oblations; for My name is great among the nations, saith the Lor_d of hosts.[15] Menasseh ben Israel in book 2 of Conciliador, Jeremiah question 4, declared: In all the places where Israel lives, they know the holiness of the law, as the Real Prophet said in Psalm 72 verse 2. In Judah is God known; His name is great in Israel;[16] and according to Hebrew grammar the letter [ [17]] Bet which is translated as In denotes place: and this signifies that in all places where Israelites reside, the Blessed God is known by half of them. David does not say that in Judah, but that in Israel great is the name of the creator: and Israel, being the first to be captive among the nations, began to publish among them the divine greatness as he said: Great is my name among the Nations.[18] Only the Mosaic people can testify among the nations that they have the true knowledge of the supreme archetype, who in chapter 43 of Isaiah twice calls them his witnesses:[19]and in another place Light of the nations.[20]
Chapter 9 of Esther number 30 shows that in all 127 provinces of King Ahasueras there were Jews, and in all of them half had the divine knowledge,[21] with which Darius, because of the miracle done for Daniel in the lions’ den, announces to all those of his empire, that they should love the God of Israel, because he is a living God, and permanent from eternity, and his reign incorruptible, and his dominion without end.
Endnotes
[1] The meaning is not entirely clear. Nessus is the third named centaur in Greek mythology,EMW2004 a symbol of incivility and the wild side of human nature. He is said to have tried to steal Deianira, the betrothed of Hercules, just before their wedding. Hercules shot him with a poisoned arrow during the attempt, and before he died Nessus gave Deianira a garment soaked with his blood. He told her to take it to Hercules, since it would preserve Hercules’ love for her, but actually it poisoned Hercules when he put it on.
[2] Rhadamanthus was one of three judges of souls in the underworld, known for his stern and unbendable virtue.
[3] Exodus 4:13, usually translated as “send someone else” (NRSV) or “make someone else Your agent” (JPS), but de Barrios gives a more literal translation.
[4] Numbers 11:16
[5]Isaiah 1:26
[6] Text reads domicilio, abode, instead of dominio, rule, seemingly in error.
[7]Ezekiel 37:6
[8]Onquel. en Cant. 5.
[9] De Barrios seems to refer to the resuscitation of the child of the Shunemite widow, and of the dead man who touched Elisha’s funeral bier.
[10] The quote is from Obadiah 1:19 (JPS), but where de Barrios has “France” the Hebrew has “Zarphat,” and where he has “Austria” the Hebrew has “the Negev.” It is not yet clear whether this is de Barrios’ innovation, or that of his source.
[11]Leviticus 26:44
[12] see Menachot 110a
[13] These lines are also found in Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews Book 14 Chapter 7, where they are attributed to Strabo. Similarly the last lines of this paragraph (ending with “a republic of their own”) are included in the same chapter of Josephus.
[14] Philo, On the Embassy to Gaius, chapter 36 lines 281-2
[15] Similar to Judith 5:17
[16] Malachi (not Micah) 1:11
[17]Psalm 76:2 (not 72:2)
[18] A Hebrew letter is inserted here, which looks more like a Kaf than a Bet.
[19] Malachi 1:11
[20] Isaiah 43:10
[21] Isaiah 49:6
[22] Esther 9:30 confirms the presence of Jews in all 127 provinces, but does not mention what portion of them have divine knowledge.