Augustine scholar Paula Fredriksen notes in a recent publication, “Augustine even defended current Jewish practice. ‘It is a miracle to be greatly respected (revera multum mirabile),’ he continued, ‘that while all the nations subjected to Rome went over to the rituals of Roman worship, … the Jewish nation under foreign monarchs whether pagan or Christian has never lost the sign of their law, by which they are distinguished from all other nations and peoples’ (12.13). Some divine initiative must continue to preserve and to protect Jewish practice (12.13) – in fact, Augustine concluded, any monarch whether pagan or Christian who tries to impede Jews from living according to their traditions will meet with divine vengeance seven-fold.