And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Ver. 30. If we had been in the days] Either these men grossly dissembled, or their hearts greatly deceived them; for certainly a Herod and Herodias to John Baptist would have been an Ahab and Jezebel to Elias. But as it was said of Demosthenes, that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of ancestors, not so at imitating of them. a In like sort may we say of the Pharisees, they could well declaim against their forefathers' cruelties, but not so well disclaim them. They were adversus sua ipsorum vitia facundi satis, as one speaketh in a like case. They are shrill accusers of themselves.
a επαινεσαι μεν ικανωτατος ην τα των προγονων καλα μιμησασθαι δε ουκ ομοιως. Plutarch.