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THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS
MELBOURNE

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TORONTO

THE BEGINNINGS
OF CHRISTIANITY

PART JU
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

EDITED BY

F. J. FOAKES JACKSON, D.D.

AND

KIRSOPP LAKE, D.D.

VOL. T
PROLEGOMENA I

THE JEWISH, GENTILE
AND CHRISTIAN BACKGROUNDS

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

ST. MARTIN S STREET, LONDON

1920

v.l

GEORGE FOOT MOORE

PREFACE

THE great literary achievement of the last fifty years of New
Testament scholarship was the discovery and the general solution
of the synoptic problem. It is the task of this generation to
translate these results into the language of the historian ; to
show how literary complexities and contradictions reveal the
growth of thought and the rise of institutions. Though much
remains to be done, the general outline can already be seen. It
is becoming increasingly certain that Christianity in the first
century achieved a synthesis between the Greco-Oriental and
the Jewish religions in the Koman Empire. The preaching of
repentance, and of the Kingdom of God begun by Jesus passed
into the sacramental cult of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the
details are complex and obscure. What were the exact elements
in this synthesis ? How was it effected ?

The necessary preliminary to the investigation of these
questions is the study of Acts, which therefore takes its natural
place as the opening contribution to the Beginnings of Christi
anity. Whatever be the historian s judgment as to its value as
a record, without it he would be compelled to wander without a
guide in the trackless forest of conjecture as to the way in which
the Church organised itself, and began its work. The investigator
into Christian origins is fascinated by the problem presented in
the early chapters, where it is the sole authority, and is forced
to consider the actual character of the Christian faith at its

outset. To understand this it is necessary to go far afield in

order to gather material, which, though at first sight irrelevant,
bears directly on the problem.

vii

viii THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY

The first volume of Prolegomena in this work must, therefore,
be occupied with the historical aspect of the question. The
background of Acts i.-xv. is Jewish, that of the last chapters
mainly Gentile. The Christian background is common to both,
but its characteristics are rapidly changing. The first volume,
therefore, deals with these three points contemporary Jewish
history and religion, the organisation and general mental attitude
of the world of the Roman Empire, the evolution of the early
Christian preaching and ideas. In the second volume the
literary phenomena of the book are the subject of investigation.
A third volume will deal with the exegesis of the Text.

Although various scholars have contributed to these volumes,
the Editors are responsible for the whole, as, in order to give the
work coherence, they have not scrupled to rearrange, abbreviate,
or expand the chapters submitted to them ; and they are fully
sensible of the patience displayed by their fellow-workers in
accepting their suggestions. For the present volume the Editors
acknowledge with gratitude the help which they have received
from Canon Box and from Professor Wensink, as well as from
the scholars whose definite contributions are printed. They are
also greatly indebted to Miss Edith Coe for much help in the
correction of proof. They have endeavoured to indicate their
appreciation of the unfailing kindness and great learning of
Professor George Foot Moore by dedicating to him this volume.
Among many privileges which they have received in the United
States they value his help as second only to his friendship.

CONTENTS

I. THE JEWISH WOELD

PAGE

I. THE BACKGROUND OP JEWISH HISTORY. THE EDITORS . 1

II. THE SPIRIT OP JUDAISM. C. G. MONTEFIORE . 35

III. VARIETIES OF THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM. THE

EDITORS ...... 82

IV. THE DISPERSION. THE EDITORS. . . .137

II. THE GENTILE WOELD

I. THE EOMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM. H. T. F. DUCKWORTH 171

II. LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE

CHRISTIAN ERA. CLIFFORD H. MOORE . . 218

III. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY

INTRODUCTION. THE EDITORS . . . ,266

I. THE PUBLIC TEACHING OF JESUS AND HIS CHOICE OF

THE TWELVE. THE EDITORS . . .267

II. THE DISCIPLES IN JERUSALEM AND THE RISE OF GENTILE

CHRISTIANITY. THE EDITORS . . . 300

III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT ON THE SPIRIT, THE

CHURCH, AND BAPTISM. THE EDITORS . .321

IV. CHRISTOLOGY. THE EDITORS . . . .346

x THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY

PAGE

APPENDIX A THE ZEALOTS . .421

)? B NAZA.RENE AND NAZARITH . 426

C THE SLAVONIC JOSEPHUS . 433

}) D DIFFERENCES IN LEGAL INTERPRETATIONS BETWEEN

PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES . . 436

E THE AM HA- ARES (THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND)

AND THE HABEIRM (ASSOCIATES) . . 439

INDEX . . 447

THE JEWISH WORLD

THE BACKGROUND OF JEWISH HISTORY
By THE EDITORS

THE historical background of the first scenes in Acts is Jerusalem,
at the height of its fame and world-wide importance, with its
Temple, one of the wonders of the world, almost completed.

Jerusalem may perhaps be compared to our English Durham, J EEUSALE
as owing its importance to the strength of its strategical position
as well as to its sanctity. Just as in our northern city the castle
and the cathedral were almost equally difficult to attack, so in
Jerusalem the Temple was as formidable a fortress as the great
towers in its vicinity. The Holy City was never a mart of
nations, or a centre of human industry. Its Temple alone drew
men from every part of the known world, 1 and, though intensely
Jewish, its population may be described as cosmopolitan. 2 In
accessible as it was to the traveller, it attracted devout pilgrims
from the most distant countries. The normal population
cannot possibly have ever exceeded 50,000, but at the great
feasts more than a million were frequently gathered around the
Temple ; 3 and it must be remembered that the city stood in no

1 Cf. Acts ii. 5 ff. 2 Cf. Acts vi. 9.

3 Josephus would justify far higher figures. In B.J. vi. 9. 3 he says that
there were 256,500 victims at the Passover, and that there might not be less
than ten men to each victim. The Midrash on Lamentations (Echo, Kabba, 1.
2) gives a similar but much higher calculation. It relates that Agrippa wished
to know the number of the pilgrims, and ordered the priests to reserve one
kidney from each victim. They found at the end that they had 600,000 pairs
of kidneys, and the story adds that at no Paschal meal did less than ten sit
down, but that at many there sat down twenty, or forty, or fifty. But this
is only one of several very imaginative stories, and has no historical value.
VOL. I 1 B

2 THE JEWISH WORLD i

fertile district but amid barren and inhospitable mountains.
To feed the visitors to the Temple must have been no easy task,
as provisions had to be brought from a great distance.
(6) Configu- In its modern aspect and configuration, the ground occupied
site? 11 by the Holy City may be described as an uneven plateau having
a general inclination from west to east and running southward
into a kind of promontory between converging valleys. The
western valley, called Wady-er-Rababi by the native inhabitants,
is supposed to be the Valley of Hinnom ; x the eastern one is
the Valley of the Kedron, 2 in modern native parlance, Wady-
Sitti-Mariam, the " Valley of our Lady Mary." 3 Across the
Kedron Valley is Olivet, the Mount of Olives, " the mount that
is before Jerusalem." 4 The Valley of Hinnom, curving south
ward and eastward to meet the Valley of the Kedron, is shut
in on the south by a hill which since the fifteenth century has
been distinguished in Christian descriptions of Jerusalem as the
" Hill of Evil Counsel." 5 From the junction of these two valleys
the Wady-en-Nar (" Valley of Fire ") 6 runs in a south-easterly
direction down to the monastery of the Mar-Saba and the plain
at the head of the Dead Sea.

1 eys&lt; group of hills standing between the Valley of Hinnom and the

Valley of the Kedron. These hills were separated from each other

by valleys or ravines which in the course of thirty centuries,

and in consequence of the repeated destruction and devastation

1 Joshua xv. 8 ; Jer. vii. 31 ; Watson, Jerusalem, p. 6 ; G. A. Smith,
Jerusalem, vol. i. p. 175 f.

2 2 Sam. xv. 23 ; John xviii. 1. Modern tradition calls the Kedron Valley
the Valley of Jehoshaphat, thus explaining Joel iii. 2 and 12. But this
tradition is not earlier than the fourth century A.D. See the article on the
"Valley of Jehosaphat" in the Encyclopaedia Biblica.

3 Cf. G. A. Smith, op. cit. i. pp. 32, 38, 44, etc. The modern name is derived
from the subterranean chapel identified by local tradition as the burial-place
of the Virgin Mary. See Watson, op. cit. pp. 143, 185, 324.

4 1 Kings xi. 7 ; Luke xxi. 37 ; Acts i. 12.

5 See Williams, Holy City, vol. i., Supplement, p. 56. The " evil counsel "
is that of Judas, whose bargain with Caiaphas was said to have been struck
in the high priest s residence on that hill.

6 Probably so called because of its oppressive heat.

JEWISH HISTORY 3

of the city, have become choked with debris, though not to the
point of being no longer traceable. On the eastern hill stood
the Temple, represented since the close of the seventh century
by the " Kubbet-es-Sakhra," i.e. " Dome of the Rock " (gener
ally, but erroneously, spoken of as the " Mosque of Omar "J. 1
The lower half of the eastern hill was the original Sion, though
Christian tradition, since the fourth century, has assigned the
name to the western, or south-western, hill, which is about 100
feet higher, 2 and in Josephus s day was the site of the " Upper
City " or " Upper Market." 3 Between the eastern and the
western hill the course of a valley, now filled with debris varying
from 20 to 90 feet in depth, may be traced from the Damascus
Gate in the north-eastern wall of the city to its junction with the
Valley of Hinnom under the " Hill of Evil Counsel." This depres
sion, called El- Wad by the townsfolk, is the " Valley of the Cheese-
makers " (rcov TvpoTTOi&v) mentioned by Josephus, often called,
by transliterating the Greek, the " Tyropoeon." 4 Another ravine
to be discerned among the hills forming the plateau of Jerusalem
parted the western hill (the site of the " Upper Market " of
Josephus s day) from a hill lying to the north, on which now
stand the Kasr-Jalud (Goliath s Castle) and the buildings of the
Franciscan convent. 5

The walls of the present city now form an irregular quadri- (d) The
lateral with a circuit of about 2| miles. They were rebuilt, as
inscriptions at various points testify, in A.H. 948 = A.D. 1541-42 at

1 The " Dome of the Rock " was built in A.H. 72 = A.D. 691. See Watson,
Jerusalem., p. 153 ; Besant and Palmer, History of Jerusalem, pp. 94-96. It
supplied the model for representations of the Temple in numerous pictures.

2 The western hill rises to an elevation of 2550 feet above sea-level ; the
Sakhra lies at a height of 2440 feet.

3 Josephus, B.J. v. 4. 1. The use of the name Sion to denote the western
hill may be traced from the " Itinerarium Burdigalense " (A.D. 333) onwards.
See Williams, op. cit. ii. pp. 508 ff. ; P. Geyer, Itinera Hierosolymitana, p. 22, etc.

4 The " Mill-Valley " and the " Street of the Moors " (Haret-al-Magharibe)
in the modern city mark more or less clearly the line of the " Valley of the
Cheese makers. "

6 This second ravine or valley is marked by the " Suk," which runs down
from near the Jaffa Gate.

4 THE JEWISH WORLD i

the order of Sultan Suleiman, " the Magnificent." 1 This circuit
leaves out, not only at least half of the western hill, but also the
southern declivity of the eastern hill, i.e. the ground identified
as " Ophel " and the site of the " City of David," 2 both of which
areas were included within the walls of Jerusalem in the days
of Herod. 3 The line of the existing walls, however, appears to
have been that of the walls of Hadrian s Aelia Capitolina, 4
and is the same as that of the fortifications assailed and stormed
by the Crusaders in A.D. 1099.

Josephus gives a careful description of the city in his day
before he proceeds to the account of its capture and destruction
by Titus. It was built on two hills divided by a valley. The
higher of these is on the western side and was called by David
the Citadel, but in the days of Josephus the Upper Market
(77 ava&gt; ay op d). The other hill was known as the Acra, and was
crescent-shaped (d/jLffrUvpTos). According to Josephus. there
was originally 5 a third hill parted by a ravine which the
Hasmoneans filled up, desiring to join the city to the Temple ;
they changed the level of the ground, and used the soil to fill
up the intervening ravine. The Upper City was separated from
the Lower by the Valley of the Cheesemongers (77 rwv rvpoTroiuv
(f&gt;dpay^). The hills were surrounded by deep and precipitous
valleys, so that Jerusalem, except from the north, was practically
impregnable. The chief fortifications, the great towers, Hippi-
cus, Phasael, and Mariamne, and a threefold wall, defended the
city on the north where it was most exposed to attack. South
of these towers was the magnificent palace of the Herods, with

1 Williams, Holy City, vol. i., Supplement, pp. 39-40.

2 G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, vol. i. pp. 152-169.

3 G. A. Smith, op. cit. i. pp. 184-187; Josephus, B.J. v. 4.

4 G. A. Smith, op. cit. i. pp. 185-186, shows that in the fifth century the
circuit of the walls was so enlarged by the Empress Eudocia as to include the
Pool of Siloam, but this enlargement was not followed in the rebuilding of
Jerusalem after its devastation by the Persians in A.D. 614.

6 The details are obscure : for the position of the Acra, and its relation to
the other hill, see Josephus, B.J. v. 4. 1, and the discussions by G. A. Smith,
op. cit. i. pp. 154, 159 ff., and W. R. Arnold, Ephod and Ark, Harvard Theo
logical Studies, iii. p. 49.

i JEWISH HISTORY 5

spacious and well-watered gardens. 1 The outermost of the walls,
the foundations of which were laid by Agrippa I., included the
New City or suburb of Bezetha (Befefla), and was only completed
just before the siege began.

The Temple had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, who THE
spared no expense to make it one of the most famous erections
in the world. Its situation, though on lower ground than the tlon&lt;
western city, made it naturally a commanding object, and,
overlooking as it did the Valley of the Kedron, its position was
one of great strength. From Josephus it is evident that the
ground on which it stood had been made by art rather than
nature ; for, whereas the temple of Solomon stood on a small
plateau, incapable of containing more than the sanctuary,
Herod s temple, thanks to his labours and those of his prede
cessors, the Hasmoneans, was in an immense open court, adorned
with stately colonnades. 2 Built of white marble, glittering
with plates of gold, its appearance from a distance is compared
to that of the crest of a snow-capped mountain. 3

According to Josephus, the most wonderful feature of the (&)Founda-
Temple was not the beauty which met the eye, but the labour Jj^"" 1
with which the foundations had been laid. The site chosen by
Solomon was scarcely adequate for a Temple and altar. He,
however, raised a mound (^&lt;w//,a), on the east side of which he
built a porch or cloister (aroa). He also encompassed the hill
with a wall and raised the ground on indestructible foundations.
The artificial plateau thus begun was being continually increased
in size, and in the rebuilding of the Temple by Herod the walls
of the great court of the Sanctuary were four furlongs in circum
ference. 4 The Temple stood in a court 500 cubits square, but it
was not in the middle of it ; it was farthest from the south wall,
next from the east, then from the north, and nearest to the west.

The outer court, or " Mountain of the House," as it is called (c) The
in the Mishna, was famous for its magnificent cloisters, the most of t u h ^ a "

House

1 B.J. v. 1-4. 2 Antiq. xv. 11. 3.

3 B.J. v. 5. 6. 4 Antiq. xv. 11. 3

6 THE JEWISH WORLD i

celebrated of which, known as " Royal," extended from the
valley on the east to the Tyropoean on the west. It consisted of
four rows of pillars, between which were three walks each a fur
long in length. In this colonnade there were 162 columns with
Corinthian capitals, and from the battlements of the cloisters
one could not look down in the Valley of the Kedron without
feeling giddy, as it was impossible to see to the bottom of the
precipice. Josephus says that there were four gates leading to
the city on the western side ; one led to the king s palace
two led to the northern suburb ; the fourth led to the " other
city," down a great number of steps, and then up to the city,
which lay over against the Temple, in the manner of a theatre. 1
(d) The Within this outer court was the Temple (lepov), itself a series of
Jary courts leading to the Sanctuary or Holy Place (vaos). The
Gentile, who might wander at liberty among the porticoes of the
outer court, was confronted with rows of pillars on which were
inscribed warnings in Greek and Latin that he might go no
farther. 2 A Jew desiring to enter the Temple did so by ascending
fourteen steps ; he then walked ten cubits on the level, and
went up five more steps leading to each gate. Usually he entered
by the eastern gate of Corinthian bronze to the Court of the
Women, a space 135 cubits square, with colonnades like those
of the outer court and large chambers at each of the four corners.
In front of him were fifteen steps leading to another gate, larger
than the others and highly ornamented with gold and silver. 3 He
was now within the Court of the Men of Israel. Beyond was
the Altar of Burnt-offering. Another flight of steps led to the
porch with the famous golden vine over the gateway, and to
the House (vaos) itself, modelled on the plan of the Tabernacle.
First came a vestibule or ante-chamber, separated from the main
hall by doors fifty cubits high and sixteen broad ; the hall itself

1 Antiq. xv. 11. 5.

2 For the text of this warning see Appendix A on the Zealots.

3 For the identification of these gates with the Nicanor Gate, the Shushan
Gate, or the Beautiful Gate, see the note on Acts iii. 2, and cf . E. Schiirer, Die 6tpa
oder irv\rj upaia, Apg. 3, 2 u. 10, Z.N.W. vii. (1906) pp. 51 ff.

i JEWISH HISTORY 7

was divided into two by the great veil (Kararreraafjia) of Baby
lonian texture, blue, scarlet, and purple. The part nearer to
the entrance was the Holy Place, containing the golden candle
stick, the table of the shewbread, and the altar of incense ; on
the other side of the veil was the mysterious Holy of Holies.
" In this," says Josephus, " there was nothing at all."

Life in Jerusalem must have been abnormal. Unable to Lifr in
support its population, it must have depended greatly upon ll(
the numerous visitors to the Temple and the benefactions of the
devout. A powerful and wealthy aristocracy of priests con
trolled the vast revenues of the Sanctuary ; a pious proletariat
lived as best it could without regular occupations, listening to
the disputes of the Rabbis and ready at any moment to rise in
a passion of fanatical obsession. The story of the Crucifixion
as told in the Gospels may be used as a mirror to show the char
acter of the populace, the priests, and the Roman rulers in the
period antecedent to the destruction of the city in A.D. 70. Re
lated without regard to the detailed criticism of the Gospels,
the story would be somewhat as follows.

Jesus of Nazareth, the great Galilaean prophet, visits the Th Cruci

. fixionillus-

city. His fame has preceded him, and the populace gives him trative of
an enthusiastic reception. The people stream forth from the
city gate singing the Paschal hymn, " Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord." They salute him, if not as the
Messiah, 1 at least as the herald of the Messianic kingdom. The
next day he enters the Temple and drives the traders from its
courts, thereby declaring war on the priests by attacking their

1 According to Mark xi. 9, the words of the multitude were uo-avvd, ev\o"yri/Ji.{vos
6 fpx6/iei os ev ovo/mari Kvpiov, evXoyrj/jitvri 77 e p^o^vrj /ScKrtXeia TOV 7rarp6s rj/JL&v Aaveid,
uffavva ev rots v\f/iffrots. There is no necessary implication that they regarded
Jesus as the Messianic king ; he may have been welcomed solely as the herald
of the approaching (epxofj.hr)) kingdom of David. But in Matt. xxi. 9 the
words are changed to ucravva T&lt; viijj AavelS, v\oyr)/j^vos 6 ^px6//.ei&gt;os ev ovbfj.ari
KvpLov, ucrawa ev rots v^iarois. This seems Messianic, but in the next verse,
when the same speakers were asked who Jesus was, the reply given is oSros &lt;?TLV
6 Trpo^TjrTjs I77&lt;ro0s 6 airb Nafa/&gt;0 TT}S FaXtXa/as. The Messianic interpretation
is finally made quite plain in Luke xix. 38, evXay-rj^vo^ 6 /Sa(riXei)s iv di 6/xaTi
Kvpiov tv ovpav&lt;$ dprivr) Kal 56a tv v

8 THE JEWISH WORLD i

most valuable monopoly of providing sacrificial victims for the
Temple. 1 His preaching, his parables, and his decisions on
points of the Law further exasperate the ruling class. This
Paschal season was to all appearance an anxious time. Pilate
had come to Jerusalem, and Herod Antipas, according to Luke,
was there with an armed force (crvv rot? crrpaTev^ao-iv avrov 2 ), so
that evidently the Roman and Galilaean authorities feared a
serious disturbance. The sedition of Barabbas and the tumultu
ous reception of Jesus increased their apprehensions, a*nd it was
impossible to trust the temper of the people, so Barabbas was
seized and arrangements were made to arrest Jesus as quickly
as possible and execute him, contrary to Jewish law, before the
celebration of the festival. 3 Caiaphas, the High Priest, was per
suaded, according to John xi. 50, that the new prophet, whether
guilty or innocent, must die ; and procured his condemnation by
the Sanhedrin. Pilate, however, was not convinced of the guilt
of Jesus, and tried in every way to save the prisoner. According
to Luke, he even referred him to Herod, who seems to have been
equally unwilling to satisfy the thirst of the priesthood for blood.
In the meantime the priests had won over the mob, and a violent
clamour for the death of Jesus ensued. Pilate felt that at any
cost the people must be quieted before the feast day, consented
to condemn Jesus, and hurried him to his death.

This brief recital of the bare facts sheds a flood of light on
the state of the times the priesthood, suspicious of the first
symptom of a popular rising ; the populace, burning with re-
ligious fanaticism, and ready to seize any excuse for a disturbance,
and Pilate and Herod, though not without a sense of justice,
determined to preserve the peace, even, if need be, at the expense
of an innocent life. The explanation of the incident of the
Crucifixion and the conditions which it reveals lies in an histori
cal survey of the period.

1 See J. Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, pp. 466 ff.

2 Luke xxiii. 11. See A. W. Verrall, " Christ before Herod," in the Journal
of Theological Studies, April 1909 (vol. x. pp. 321 ff.).

8 Matt, xx vi. 5 ; Mark and Luke are less precise.

JEWISH HISTORY

The Jewish state, as it was in the days of the New Testament, Rise of the
began with the heroic rising of the Jews under the sons of the kings of
priest Mattathias against Antiochus Epiphanes. This led to the Judah -
extinction of the ancient high priestly stock, the independence
of Judaea, and the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty
in Jerusalem. Under these energetic and warlike princes, who
also assumed the high priesthood, the Jews threw off the yoke
of the degenerate Seleucids, and succeeded in subduing their
neighbours and extending their frontiers. After the death of
the prudent Queen Alexandra in 69 B.C., the dissensions of her The
sons compelled the Romans, who since the overthrow of Mithra- B
dates had become all-powerful in the East, 1 to interfere in Jewish
affairs, which, to do them justice, they did most unwillingly.
Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 B.C. and entered the Holy of
Holies ; but he scrupulously refrained from plundering the
Temple. 2 Under his legates the Jewish state was deprived of
the Greek towns which it had seized, but was allowed con
siderable self-government. The Roman policy to the Jews
was almost uniformly considerate. Crassus, the triumvir, it
is true, with characteristic rapacity, plundered the Temple just
before his disastrous defeat at Carrae ; but Caesar treated the
Jews with unexampled generosity, granting them exceptional
privileges, 3 and respecting their peculiar customs, such as the
Sabbatical year, gathering for common festivals, and the pay
ment of tithes to the High Priest.

The favour with which the Jews were treated was mainly The idu-
due to the sagacious policy of their Idumaean rulers, Antipater
and his sons, of whom Herod the Great was by far the most
eminent. Hateful as the family was to the Jews, it procured them
the blessings of peace and a wider domination than the nation
had enjoyed since the legendary splendours of the reign of
Solomon. For five generations the family pursued a consistent
policy of fidelity to the Roman power, not to individuals but to

1 Antiq. xiv. 2. 3. 2 Antiq. xiv. 4. 4 ; B.J. i. 7. 6.

3 Antiq. xiv. 10. 2-8.

10 THE JEWISH WORLD i

the Republic. Thus Pompey, Caesar, Antony, and Octavian,
whichever general was supreme in the East, found in the Herods
able and efficient supporters. It was the same when Augustus
assumed the principate, and down to the disastrous termination
of the Jewish war in A.D. 70. In days of adversity, as well as
in prosperity, the Herods were on the side of Rome. How
certainly they could be relied on is shown by the fact that,
after the battle of Actium, Herod the Great, who had been the
most loyal supporter of Antony, boldly avowed his friendship
for the fallen triumvir and offered to serve Octavian as faith
fully as he had his rival. He was instantly welcomed as a
trustworthy ally. 1 To demonstrate how thoroughly the Romans
accepted the services of the family, it is sufficient to say that
from about 63 B.C., the days of Antipater and Pompey, to the
death of Agrippa II. in A.D. 100 there was hardly a year in
which a Herod was not ruling in the East, or in high favour in
Rome.

Roman If anything could have prevented the catastrophe which
Swards overtook the Jewish nation, it was the general policy of Rome
the Jews, towards them. The Roman instinct for statesmanship recognised
in the Jews a peculiar people, who needed exceptional treatment.
Caesar, as has been said, granted the nation unusual privileges
by safeguarding their customs and giving facilities throughout
the Empire for the observance of the Law. The appointment
as king of the Jews of Herod the Great, who, though an Idumaean
by birth, was a Jew by religion, showed that the Romans were
anxious to grant the nation as much self-government as was
compatible with the peace of the East. 2 Even after the death of
Herod his descendants were allowed, whenever possible, to rule
over his dominions, which were divided between three of his
sons, two of whom held their tetrarchies uninterruptedly for many

1 Antiq. xv. 6. 5 ; B.J. i. 20. 1-2.

2 Antiq. xiv. 14. 4. Despite the historian s emphasis on the importance
of Herod in the East, he was only a king of secondary rank, and was not
allowed, as the superior monarchs, to coin silver, but only copper. Cf. E.
Schiirer, O.J.V. ed. 4, vol. i. p. 403.

i JEWISH HISTORY 11

years. The third, Archelaus, failed as Ethnarch in Judaea d
and when, in A.D. 6, the Romans, at the request of the Jews,!
took over his dominions, they did so reluctantly. 1 Even then!
they handed it back to Herod s grandson, Agrippa, in A.D. 41.
So anxious was Tiberius to have men in Judaea who knew the
people and understood their customs, that he appointed only
two procurators, Valerius Gratus and Pontius Pilate, during
his long principate, and left the Herods, Antipas and Philip,
undisturbed in their tetrarchies. 2

Despite the great ability of Herod the Great and the prudence Unpopu-
of Antipas in retaining the favour of Tiberius, none of the family, Jj*J2dk
with one notable exception, succeeded in conciliating their famil y-
Jewish subjects. Even Herod s government, which gave the
nation a position such as it never had enjoyed before, failed to
obliterate the memory that he was an Idumaean by birth who
had supplanted the Hasmoneans of beloved memory. His
splendid munificence in building Sebaste (Samaria) and making
the great harbour of Caesarea only aggravated his unpopularity
with the Jews. Not even the prodigal generosity with which
he rebuilt their temple, making it one of the wonders of the
world, could secure their favour. To the Romans Herod was a
capable ruler, public-spirited in his liberality, a patron of arts
and literature, whose strong hand kept his dominions at peace.
To the Jews he was little better than an Arab freebooter, with
secular ambitions and purely worldly aims, whose record was one
of savage murders prompted by insane jealousy and suspicion.
In order to estimate him justly it must be borne in mind
that the record of the Hasmoneans from the days of Judas
the Maccabee had been marked by the same stories of rebellion
and reprisal, of domestic discords terminating in bloodshed, as
the reign of Herod ; and, when Judaea was taken over by the
Romans at the earnest request of its inhabitants, the procurators

1 Antiq. xvii. 11. 2-4.

2 For Tiberius s partiality for Antipas see Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 2. 3. For
the same emperor s policy in regard to provincial governors, Antiq. xviii. 6. 5.

12 THE JEWISH WORLD i

found that their task was no less difficult than that of the Herods
or the much lamented priest-kings of the house of Hasmon.
The factions and parties of Jerusalem disturbed their peace
precisely as they had that of Herod, Alexander Jannaeus, or
even the famous Jewish champion, John Hyrcanus.
Prosperity Yet, since the day that Sosius sacked the city and placed
saiem. Herod on the throne in 37 B.C., 1 Jerusalem had grown steadily
in wealth and prosperity, and the Temple had become a centre,
not merely of national, but of world-wide interest. Despite
the smouldering discontent of its population under the pax
Romana, the Holy City increased in extent and population ;
its palaces, its fortresses, and, above all, its Temple moved the
astonishment of mankind. Never in its long history had Jeru
salem experienced such unbroken peace and progress as in the
century which preceded the outbreak of the Jewish war : the

1 riots and petty rebellions were but symptoms of troubles to
come.

Administra- After the death of Herod the Great, Judaea had been given
Judaea. by Augustus to Archelaus, whose misgovernment led to his
removal in A.D. 6. Quirinius, who then ruled over Syria, pro
ceeded to enrol the inhabitants as provincials, and the district
was separately administered by an official of equestrian rank
subject to the control of the Syrian governor. 2 The first ap
pointed after the return of Quirinius to Syria was Coponius.
Despite the unpopularity of the census, there seems to have
been very little disturbance at Judaea s passing under Roman
sway. According to Josephus, Joazar, son of Boethius,
the High Priest, persuaded the people to submit to the
inevitable ; and Judas of Galilee, called by the historian
" the Gaulonite of Gamala," failed in exciting a revolt, but
succeeded in propagating the dangerous doctrines afterwards
adopted by the Zealots in A.D. 66. 3 The successors of Coponius
are mere names to us Marcus Ambivius, Annius Rufus, and

1 Josephus, B.J. i. 18. 3. 2 Cf. Luke ii. 1 f.

3 Antiq. xviii. 1. 1 and 6; see also Appendix A.

i JEWISH HISTORY 13

Valerius Gratus. The fifth was Pontius Pilate. The seat of
the government was Caesarea Stratonis ; Jerusalem was left with
a few soldiers to keep the peace, and was governed by the High
Priest, who presided over the national council or Sanhedrin, so
that the Romans inflicted their presence on it as little as
possible.

The long administration of Pilate passed without any serious Pontius
disturbance, though Josephus relates that on two occasions ^ ll p t r e
he came in conflict with the provincials. On a visit to Jerusalem curator.
he ordered the soldiers to introduce standards bearing the image
of Caesar into the city. This was regarded by the Jews as a
deadly insult to the Law, and, when Pilate threatened the
people with death unless they withdrew their opposition, they
with one accord bared the neck to the soldiers who surrounded
them. Pilate, who must have acted under orders in departing
from the ordinary custom of respecting Jewish prejudices, pre
ferred rather to take the risk of offending Tiberius by with
drawing the images than to order a massacre, and consented to
remove the standards. 1 He found that, even when he meditated
a great benefit to the city by constructing an aqueduct twenty-
five or even fifty miles in length to bring water to the city, he
could only do so at the price of a bloody riot. Not unreasonably
he demanded that the money should be supplied by the treasury
of the Temple, but a cry of sacrilege was raised, and Pilate was
insulted by the populace. The soldiers were ordered to disperse
the people, and did so with unnecessary violence. Whether \^
the aqueduct was made or not is not stated. 2

Pilate s fall was due to an outburst of credulous fanaticism
in Samaria. An impostor offered to reveal the sacred vessels of
Moses hidden in Mount Gerizim. An armed multitude followed
him to a village called Tirabatha, where they were surprised by
Pilate s soldiers, and many were slain. The Samaritans com
plained to Vitellius, governor of Syria, who sent Marcellus to
take over the government, and ordered Pilate to report himself

1 B.J. ii. 9. 2 ; Antiq. xviii. 3. 1. 2 Antiq. xviii. 3. 2 ; B.J. ii. 9. 4.

14 THE JEWISH WORLD i

at Rome. 1 Before he arrived Tiberius was dead, and a new
regime had commenced.

Conccs- The accession of Gams, better known as Caligula, opened with

by vitdiius. good auguries for the Jews. Vitellius came to Jerusalem in
A.D. 37, and conciliated the people by an act which was highly
appreciated. Since the days of Herod the sacred robes in which
the High Priest officiated had been kept in the castle of Antonia,
adjoining the Temple, and only handed over seven days previous
to the great festivals. This meant that no one might officiate
as the supreme pontiff without the leave of the Government, as
the vestments were indispensable to the validity of the ceremony. 2
Thus the appointment of the High Priest was virtually in the
hands of the secular powers. Vitellius surrendered to the Jews
the custody of the holy garments, though he deposed Joseph
Caiaphas, the acting High Priest, and appointed Jonathan, the
son of Ananus, in his place.

Herod A new and interesting figure now appears on the stage in

the person of Herod Agrippa. This prince, unlike the other
Herodian rulers, had a hold on the affection of the Jewish nation
by being an undoubted representative of the old line of priestly
kings, since he was grandson of Mariamne, the wife of Herod,
and the last survivor of that ill-fated line. In consideration
of this the Jews were prepared to forget that he was a Herod,
and to see in him a representative of the valiant and pious
Maccabees. To his advantages of birth he added those of
education, popularity, and the reputation of being devoted to
his ancestral religion. Agrippa was the son of Aristobulus,
who was put to death in 7 B.C., and his sister was the Herodias
of the Gospel story. He married his cousin Cypros, who was
likewise of Hasmonean stock, being the grand-daughter of
Mariamne through her mother Salampsio. 3 Agrippa was educated
at Rome, and enjoyed the constant friendship of Antonia, the

1 Antiq. xviii. 4. 1. 2 Antiq. xviii. 4. 3.

3 The complicated pedigree of the daughters of Herod the Great and the
intermarriages of their children are given in Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 5. 4.

i JEWISH HISTORY 15

widow of Tiberius s brother Drusus, who was attached to the
memory of Agrippa s mother Berenice. He was the companion
of the younger Drusus, the son of Tiberius ; but, after his son s
untimely death in A.D. 23, the Emperor could not bear to see
Agrippa, so he was forced to leave Rome, deeply in debt, and
to betake himself to the East. In his desperation he meditated
suicide ; but his faithful wife, Cypros, besought her sister-in-law
Herodias, the wife of Antipas, to befriend him, and he was given
a magistracy at Tiberias and a pension. But Agrippa soon
ran deeper than ever into debt, quarrelled with Antipas, and
was obliged to take refuge with Flaccus, the governor of Syria,
on whom his brother Aristobulus was also dependent. The
malice of Aristobulus revealed that Agrippa had taken a bribe
from the Damascenes in order to influence Flaccus in a judicial
decision, with the result that Syria became no place for the
unlucky prince. He wandered from city to city, borrowing
wherever he could, and paying nobody. At last he reached
Alexandria, where he applied for assistance to Alexander, the
Jewish Alabarch, who at first refused to help him, but, moved
by the entreaties of Cypros, promised to lend 200,000 drachmas
on her security. 1 The cautious Alabarch, however, knowing
that Agrippa was not to be trusted with a large sum, stipulated
that he would only pay him by instalments. In this way he
reached Rome to find that Tiberius knew that he owed the
treasury 300,000 drachmas, and refused to see him till it was
paid. Agrippa thereupon besought Antonia, wife of the elder
Drusus, out of friendship to his mother Berenice, to lend him the
money. He repaid her by borrowing another million, and on
the residue he was able to live in splendour in the society of
Gaius, the future Emperor. Even then he managed again to
offend Tiberius, and was in prison at the time of that Emperor s
death. 2

Such was the somewhat discreditable early career of a prince
destined for a brief period to reign over nearly all the extensive

1 Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 6. 1-5. 2 Josephus, Antig. xviii. 6. 10.

THE JEWISH WORLD

Herod
Antipas.

Marriage

with

Herodias.

dominions of Herod the Great, and to die universally lamented
by the Jewish nation.

His kinsman Antipas had, by one of Herod the Great s wills,
been designated heir to his entire principality. At the death
of his father he had hoped to obtain it from Augustus, but was
obliged to content himself with the tetrarchy of Galilee and
Peraea. It is probable that he never quite lost sight of the object
of his ambition. True, however, to the policy of his family, he
remained quietly in his province, and occupied himself in building
cities like Sepphoris, Bethsaida Julias, and above all Tiberias,
which he so named in compliment to Tiberius. It was probably
in furtherance of his scheme to possess the whole of the Herodian
inheritance that he was willing to abandon his wife, the daughter
of Aretas, and persuaded Herodias to leave her husband, who
was also his brother, and marry him. Herodias s daughter by
her first marriage, Salome, was married to Philip, the Tetrarch,
and thus both brothers, Antipas and Philip, had wives of Has-
monean birth.

According to Antiq. xviii. 5. 1, Antipas, when on his way to
Rome, lodged with his brother Herod, and fell in love with his
wife. 1 She agreed to leave her husband and to marry him if

1 As told by Dr. A. C. Headlam in Hastings s Dictionary of the Bible and by
other English authorities, the story makes the first husband of Herodias live
in Rome, and related that Herod Antipas met her there. There is, however,
no support for this theory except in Whiston s translation. Josephus says,
in Antiq. xviii. 5. 1, that Antipas had married the daughter of Aretas, 0reXX6,uej os
5 tirl Pcfyc^s Kardyercu h "Rpudov d5eX0oO 6vros /c.r.X. This is translated by Whis-
ton, " When he was once at Rome he lodged with Herod," but the meaning
really is, " On a mission to Rome he lodged with Herod." The context makes
it plain that Rome was the place to which his mission was ultimately directed,
not the place in which he lodged with Herod ; for Josephus adds that the arrange
ment which Herod then made with Herodias was for her to come and live with
him (fjieTOLKlffaadai Trap atirdv) when he was back from Rome (6Vore airb Pcu/ojs
irapaytvoiTo). The narrative confirms this by going on to say that he sailed
to Rome with this agreement (/coi 6 fjv els TTJV Ptbjmrjv ?rXet ravra crwdfyevos),
and by finishing with the mention of his return after completing his mission in
Rome (^Trel 5 ^Traj/ex^pet BiaTrpa^d/Jievos tv ry Pw/iT? e0 a-rrep &rraXro), using the
same verb (o-rAXav) to describe the mission as is found at the beginning of the
story. The meaning is quite plain, and the " tradition " that the first husband of
Herodias lived in Rome ought to be abandoned. Josephus really gives no clue
as to where he really lived, but obviously it was somewhere in the East. The

i JEWISH HISTORY 17

on his return he would divorce the daughter of Aretas. Antipas,
having agreed to this, sailed to Rome. On his return to Pales
tine, his wife got wind of what he was about to do. She requested
Antipas to send her to Machaerus, a fortress on the borders of
the realms of Antipas and Aretas. From thence she had planned
her escape to her father by aid of his " generals," who passed her
from one to another till she reached her home. On learning
what Antipas was doing, Aretas made his conduct an excuse to
prepare for war. Neither king fought in person, but let their
" generals " conduct the military operations. This, perhaps,
implies that neither of them deemed it prudent to wage war
directly for fear of the displeasure of Tiberius, and therefore
incited the sheikhs subject to them to engage in desultory ex
peditions, which may have lasted some years. Aretas, however,
managed that Antipas should be ultimately defeated, and deeply
offended Tiberius by his success, who, at the request of Antipas,
ordered Vitellius to bring in Aretas dead or alive.

The defeat of the army of Antipas may quite possibly have
taken place as late as A.D. 36, but Antipas had evidently been
married to Herodias for many years. The exact date of his
marriage is uncertain, but it cannot be far removed from A.D. 23. 1

mistake of Whiston and his followers is probably a human tendency to translate
sentences separately instead of in their context, combined with the feeling that
the genitive with eirt after o-reXXo^evos is not correct Greek for " on a mission
to Rome." Possibly the feeling is justifiable, but the idiom is exactly in
accordance with the usage of Josephus, who writes, a few lines further on,
Tr{/j.ireiv avTrjv firl Maxaipovvros, with the meaning, " send her to Machaerus."
Josephus never wrote perfect Greek, and in the later books of the Antiquities
there is a marked deterioration of style ; either he or his corrector seems to
have suffered from fatigue.

1 The date seems to be fixed by the following considerations. It cannot
be much later than A.D. 23, because Agrippa I. left Rome soon after the death
of Drusus, the son of Tiberius, in that year, as Tiberius could not endure the
sight of his dead son s friends. Agrippa then went to Palestine, destitute and
meditating suicide, but was helped by Herodias to the office of the dyopavo/j.ia
in Tiberias. Her influence is only intelligible if she was already the wife of
Antipas. On the other hand, it cannot have been much earlier than A.D. 23,
as that would imply an improbable length for the war between Herod and
Aretas. It should be noted that this combination of the marriage of Herodias
with the death of Drusus destroys the value of the arguments of K. Lake in
VOL. I

18 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Death of That Antipas put John the Baptist * to death is affirmed by

Josephus as well as by the Gospels. But they differ both as to
the place and the reason of his execution. According to Josephus,
Antipas regarded John as a dangerous political influence, stirring
up unrest among the people : according to the Gospels, Antipas
was himself favourable to John, but put him to death to please
Herodias, against whose marriage with Antipas John had pro
tested. According to Josephus, John was imprisoned in Mach-
aerus ; but Mark speaks of the presence of the chief men of
Galilee at a feast on Herod s birthday, and this celebration is
not likely to have been held in a distant frontier fortress. 2 That
the Baptist, as Josephus asserts, was sent to Machaerus is ex
tremely doubtful. If he condemned the union with Herodias,
he would have been a partisan of Aretas, and to select a place
on the frontier where he might easily be rescued would have
been the height of imprudence. It is much more likely that
he was imprisoned and put to death, as Mark implies, in Galilee.
Policy of It is possible that the marriages of Antipas with Herodias

maSge! an( * of Philip with her daughter had the distinctly political
aim of legitimising this branch of the Herod family by an Has-
monean alliance, and it is not unlikely that the procurator
Pilate may have recognised this, and feared that Antipas, being

the Expositor, 1912, in favour of a late date for the marriage of Herodias, in
the belief that it must have been shortly before the defeat of Antipas by Aretas,
and therefore not long before the death of Tiberius.

1 See further, pp. 101 ff.

2 A further difficulty has been raised by the older editions of Josephus,
which in Antiq. xviii. 5. 1 referred to Machaerus in connection with the daughter
of Aretas as MaxcupoDj/ra r6re irarpi O.VTTJS VTTOT\TJ, making it thus the property
of Aretas, not of Herod. This would make the confusion worse, for Herod
could not even have been supposed by Josephus to send John to a prison which
belonged to a king with whom he was at war. But the MSS. and Niese read
i) Be TrpoaTrecrrciX/cet yap K Tr\eiovos els rbv MaxatpoO^ra TUJ re Trarpt avrrjs UTroreXet,
K.r.X., which seems to mean " for she had sent ahead to Machaerus (the last
town of Herod s jurisdiction) and to the district subject to her father, etc."
It need not be said that the change from els Maxcupowra to the dative T&lt;$ . . .
viroreXei is harsh, but Josephus was quite capable of it, and the context in
Antiq. xviii. shows quite clearly that Machaerus was Herod s frontier fortress,
not that of Aretas.

JEWISH HISTORY 19

married to an Hasmonean, hoped to induce Tiberius to add
Judaea to his dominions, for Luke relates that Antipas and
Pilate were enemies. 1

Policy rather than passion may have first drawn Herodias
and Antipas together, and it can cause no surprise that a woman
of her character resolved to put to death the Baptist if he sug
gested the illegality of her marriage and the advisability of her
husband making an advantageous peace by taking back his
wife. But, though Antipas and Herodias may have come
together first from ambition and policy, they seem to have been
united also by real affection. The words of Herodias when
Caligula offered to exempt her from her husband s sentence of
banishment are noteworthy : " It is not just that I, who have
been made a partner in his prosperity, should forsake him in his
misfortunes." 2 These are the words of a woman who not
merely has lived some years with her husband, but has also been
glad to have it so, for better or worse. Herodias was as loyal
to Antipas as Cypros was to Agrippa.

At the death of Tiberius, A.D. 37, two of the three divisions Palestine at
of Palestine were without a ruler. Philip had died in A.D. 34,
and Pontius Pilate had been recalled from Judaea in A.D. 36-37,
while Antipas had failed ignominiously in his war with Aretas.
Everything, therefore, was contributing to the advancement of
Herod Agrippa and the restoration of the Jewish kingdom.

This was the turning-point in Agrippa s career. As soon
as decency permitted, Caligula, who had succeeded his great-

made a

uncle, set Agrippa free, and gave him the tetrarchy of his uncle king.
Philip, to which he added the so-called district of Lysanias. 3
Agrippa, now a king, remained some time in Rome, and then
obtained permission to return to his native country. A pro
curator of Judaea was appointed, named Marullus.

On Agrippa s arrival in Palestine as a king, Herodias thought Herod
it intolerable that her husband should not enjoy an equally

1 Luke xxiii. 12. 2 Antiq. xviii. 8. 2.

3 Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 6. 11, but see also xix. 5. 1 and Luke iii. 1.

20 THE JEWISH WORLD i

honourable title, and persuaded him to request Caligula to give
him also the same dignity. Agrippa sent his freedman Fortuna-
tus to accuse Antipas of having plotted with Sejanus in the days
of Tiberius, and also of intriguing with the Parthians, and having
in his arsenals armour for 70,000 men. 1 This proved the ruin oi
Antipas, whose tetrarchy and treasury were alike confiscated ;
and he and Herodias, who refused to desert her husband in his
affliction, were banished to Lyons in Gaul. Their dominions were
added to the kingdom of Agrippa, who thus was master of al]
Palestine, except Judaea and Samaria.

The statue There followed a crisis in the life of Agrippa, from which
a lgu a * he emerged safely with his credit among his countrymen vastly
enhanced. Caligula, by his endeavour to set up his own statue
in the Temple, almost precipitated the outbreak of a Jewish
war, which was prevented only by the courageous prudence oj
Petronius, the governor of Syria, the intercession of Agrippa
and the timely murder of the Emperor.

There are two accounts of this affair, a contemporary versior
by Philo, who took an active part in it, and a later one by Jose
phus, who was a child at the time. There is a remarkable
silence on the part of other authorities. Tacitus, it is true
alludes to it, but Suetonius and Dio Cassius say nothing or
the subject, nor is any allusion made to it either in the Ne^
Testament or in the Rabbinical writings. Even as related, i
certain obscurity hangs over the story which cannot easily b&lt;
dissipated. 2

Tumults at Philo says that at the death of Tiberius the hostility of th&lt;
Greeks to the Jews began to be manifested. For centuries
Alexandria had been the centre of an immense Jewish community
The city was divided into five districts, two being exclusively

1 Antiq. xviii. 7. 2 ; BJ. ii. 10. 6.

2 The authorities are Philo, Adversus Flaccum and Legatio ad Gaium ; fo
a discussion of the relation of these books to each other, and the probability tha
they are the remnants of an account of the persecution of the Jews, writte:
originally in five books, see E. Schurer, GJ.V. ed. 4, vol. iii. pp. 677-682
Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 8. 1-9 ; B.J. ii. 10. 1-5 ; Tacitus, Hist. v. 9.

JEWISH HISTORY 21

Jewish. 1 The wealth of the Jews was evidently considerable, and
they were already successful in the world of finance. During the
latter years of Tiberius they had enjoyed great prosperity
under the beneficent rule of the Roman governor, A. Avilius
Flaccus. 2 But the character of Flaccus underwent a complete
change after the death of Macro, the virtuous adviser of Caligula.
It was suggested to him by false friends that the best way to
placate the Emperor would be to persecute the Jews ; 3 and on
the arrival of Agrippa at Alexandria in August A.D. 38, invested
with royal dignity, Flaccus, though he dissembled his enmity
and received the king courteously, secretly incited the mob of
Alexandria to insult him. 4

Accordingly, the Alexandrians took a miserable idiot named
Karabas, dressed him up as a king, and treated him with the
honours of mock royalty, hailing him by the Syrian title " Marin "
or Lord. This was the signal for a regular persecution of the
Jews, who were driven into a single quarter of the city, their
houses were plundered of all valuables, and many were killed
with all the refinements of cruelty known to the Alexandrian
mob. Among other insults it was determined to put the image
of Caesar into the synagogues. The mob dragged out an old
carriage (quadriga), and, placing an image of Caesar on it, brought
it into the largest synagogue in the city. Flaccus is said to have
encouraged these outrages, and to have scourged cruelly thirty-
eight members of the Jewish Senate (jepova-ia). It seems
strange that the governor could have hoped to ingratiate himself
with Caligula by conniving at the gross insults offered to his
friend Agrippa, and by subjecting peaceful Jews to intolerable
outrages. Anyhow it profited him nothing, for Flaccus was
deprived, and perished miserably in the island of Andros. 5

There seems to have been something to say on the side of
the Alexandrians, and the Jews were probably not so entirely

1 Philo, Adv. Flaccum, viii. A few Jews, but only a few, lived scattered in
the other districts.

2 Philo gives the highest praise to Tiberius s ability and prudence.

3 Adv. Flaccum, iv. 4 Adv. Flaccum, v.-vi. 5 Adv. Flaccum, xxi.

22 THE JEWISH WORLD i

peaceable as Philo desires us to understand. At any rate, the
Jews apparently were deprived of their synagogues in Alex
andria. Both parties sent embassies to Caligula, and the Alex
andrians, despite the efforts of the Jews, won over the Emperor s
favourite Helicon and obtained a favourable verdict. 1
Protest Caligula seems to have been impressed with the idea that

against the ,, . . , . . , . .

statue. the setting up of his image in the synagogues was a proof of
loyalty, and the Jewish objection to receiving it a token of dis
affection. To this Josephus attributes the order to erect a
statue in the Temple at Jerusalem, but, according to Philo, this
was provoked by the conduct of the heathen at Jamnia. This
city was the property of the Emperor, and when, in derision of
the Jews, the Greek inhabitants set up an altar which was im
mediately demolished, his procurator, Herennius Capito, gave
orders to set up the imperial image in the Temple. Thereupon
Caligula instructed Petronius, the governor of Syria, in somewhat
vague terms, to arrange for its being brought to Jerusalem,
taking due precautions against an insurrection on the part of
the Jews. The whole nation, on hearing of what was proposed,
united in a solemn but peaceful protest, which so moved Petronius
that he delayed the execution of the imperial command.
Herod This happened apparently in the winter of A.D. 39-40. In

intercedes, the September following, Agrippa arrived in Italy. He was in
the highest favour with the Emperor, having in the previous
year received the dominions of his uncle Antipas. The news
was brought to him that Caligula had ordered the erection of
his statue in the Temple, and filled him with the utmost dismay.
According to Philo, Caligula himself communicated his design

1 From a perusal of the Legatio ad Gaium it might appear that there was
only a single mission. Josephus, however (Antiq. xviii. 8. 1), says that the
Alexandrians first sent three ambassadors to Rome, of whom the great enemy of
the Jews, Apion, was one, whilst Philo headed the Jewish delegates. It was
in consequence of the ill-success of the Jews that Caligula ordered the statue
to be erected. This must have been in the winter of A.D. 38. Agrippa was not
in Rome till the following autumn. The interesting description of the reception
of the Jews in the gardens of Maecenas and Lamia (Legatio, xliv.-xlvi.) refers
to a second and later mission of Philo and /our others in A.D. 40. See Schiirer,
G.J.V. ed. 4, vol. i. pp. 500 Iff.

i JEWISH HISTORY 23

to Agrippa, who fainted with horror and was borne unconscious to
his own house, where he remained in a state of stupor for three
days. On recovering, he still imagined himself in the terrible
presence of Caesar. He summoned up courage to write a long and
argumentative letter to the Emperor, who was greatly divided be
tween his affection for Agrippa and his displeasure at having his
claim to receive honour from his Jewish subjects disputed. 1 Jose-
phus tells the story in such a way as to bring the king s conduct in
the matter into more heroic light. Agrippa invited Caligula to a
splendid banquet, and boldly preferred his request, after obtaining
a promise that the Emperor would grant whatever he asked. The
order was recalled ; but Petronius was commanded to commit
suicide. 2 Fortunately the Emperor s letter arrived after the news
of his murder on January 24, A.D. 41, had reached Syria. 3

Agrippa, who was still in Rome when Caligula was murdered, Herod
immediately threw the whole weight of his influence on the ^Sives
side of Claudius, 4 with the result that Judaea and Samaria were Judaea
given to him, and he recovered the entire kingdom of his grand
father, Herod the Great, except Ituraea, which was given to
Sohemius. 5 For a brief period of three years the Jews, with
a king of their own whom they welcomed with enthusiasm, had
possession of their own land. On the Feast of Tabernacles,
when Agrippa modestly confessed his Idumaean descent, the
people with one voice exclaimed, " Thou art our brother." 6

1 Philo, Legatio, xxxvi. ff. 2 Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 8. 7-9.

3 F. Huidekoper, Judaism at Rome, vol. i. p. 215, throws doubt on the whole
story as a fiction, designed to blacken the character of Caligula, by the Roman
aristocracy and those Jews who, like Agrippa, were intriguing on behalf of
Claudius. The interest to the student of Acts is that here an opportunity is
given of comparing Josephus with a writer like Philo whom he may have used.

4 BJ. ii. 9. 1.

5 At the accession of Caligula, Agrippa was given the tetrarchies of Philip
and Lysanias (Antiq. xviii. 6. 9). When Antipas lost his dominions, they were
given by Caligula to Agrippa (Antiq. xviii. 7. 2). At the accession of Claudius
he received " all the country over which Herod, his grandfather, had reigned "
(Antiq. xix. 5. 1).

6 Sotah, vii. 8. Josephus, Antiq. xix. 7. 4, relates how a Jew named Simon
tried to get Agrippa excluded from the Temple as no true Jew, but was over
come by the^king s affability.

24 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Death of At the same moment came the great crisis in the history of

arrest 8 oT d tne Christian Church. Evidently, though Acts gives no hint
Peter - as to the cause, the believers had lost their early favour with
the people of Jerusalem ; and Herod, bent on securing the
support of his subjects, beheaded James, the brother of John,
and arrested Peter with the intention of " bringing him before
the people," which may mean a formal trial before the Sanhedrin. 1
With no Roman judge to satisfy, and Jerusalem under a popular
and orthodox king, the apostles condemnation and death were
assured. This completely broke up the apostolic community,
at any rate for a time. Peter escaped from prison, reported him
self at the house of Mary, and betook himself elsewhere. 2

Agrippa may perhaps be described as felix opportunitate
mortis, for the experiment of a Jewish kingdom in Palestine was
doomed to failure. The more beloved a king was by the Jews,
and the more sincere his religion, the more certain was he to be
detested by his other subjects. Realising this, Agrippa resolved
to make Jerusalem his capital, and to render the city, if possible,
impregnable. The growing prosperity of the Jews is shown by
the fact that the population had overrun the ancient walls, and
that a large suburb was growing up on the northern side. This
Herod proposed to enclose with a strong wall which would render
the city unassailable on its weakest quarter. 3 That he had judged
rightly is seen by the fact that it was from the north that Titus
made his first attack on Jerusalem.

According to Josephus, the death of Agrippa took place in
the spring of A.D. 44. He was celebrating games in honour of
Caesar, on the second day of which he put on a silver robe, which
shone in the sun s rays. " Thereupon the people cried out
(though not for his good) that he was a god." The king did not
rebuke them for this impious flattery, but, looking up, he saw an
owl on a rope, and was at once stricken with pain. Even in

1 Acts xii. 4, dvayayelv avrbv rep Xa$. Cf. Acts xvii. 5, avrotis irpoayayelv et s
TOV drift-ov. 2 Acts xii. 17, eiropetidr) els trepov rbirov.

3 Antiq. xix. 7. 2 ; B.J. ii. 11. 6. The Romans refused to sanction Herod s
scheme.

JEWISH HISTORY 25

his agony he wept when he saw the people crowding round his
palace and praying for his recovery. Four days later he died,
in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Acts is in substantial agree
ment with this, save that it is implied that the occasion was a
reconciliation between Agrippa and the Phoenicians of Tyre
and Sidon, and that his death was a punishment for his impiety. 1

The mention of a quarrel with the Tyrians suggests that the
king was unpopular with his heathen subjects, on which point
Josephus, who describes his reign in the style of a panegyric, is
discreetly silent till he comes to his death, when he admits that
the inhabitants of Caesarea and Sebaste exhibited indecent joy,
insulting his daughters statues in the grossest manner. 2 He
does not, however, scruple to relate that, despite the loyalty of
his Judaism, Agrippa gave gladiatorial shows as bloody as they
were magnificent, and that at one of these 1400 perished fighting
" that both the malefactors might receive their punishment and
that this operation in war might be a recreation in peace." 3
With him the last hope of a Jewish monarchy was at an end.
" The sceptre had departed from Judah."

The last part of Acts, from the twelfth chapter to the end,
does not deal greatly with contemporary Jewish history, and
it is scarcely necessary to do more than to carry the narrative
in outline down to the outbreak of the Jewish war.

On the death of Agrippa the Roman Government decided Appoint-
not to entrust his dominions to his son, Agrippa II., who was High Priest
only seventeen years old, or to his uncle, Herod, King of Chalcis.
This seems a fairly conclusive proof either that Claudius and his
advisers distrusted the Herods ambition, or, as appears more
probable, that Agrippa, however popular he may have been with
the Jews, had proved incapable of satisfying the inhabitants of
the Greek cities. 4 At any rate, Rome reverted to the policy
of sending governors to Judaea.

1 Antiq. xix. 8. 2 ; Acts xii. 20-23.

2 Antiq. xix. 9. 1. 3 Antiq. xix. 7. 5.

4 Josephus says (Antiq. xix. 9. 2) that Claudius wished to appoint Agrippa
II., but his advisers said he was too young.

26 THE JEWISH WORLD i

THE PRO- The succession of procurators from A.D. 44 to A.D. 66 was rapid,

A.D. 44-66. and none of them seemed to have enjoyed the tranquil times

of Valerius Gratus or even of Pontius Pilate. The whole country,

including Galilee, was becoming daily more disorganised and

(1) Fadus. a prey to robber chieftains. Cuspius Fadus, who was appointed

on the death of Agrippa, was evidently a man of energy. Under
him the rebellion of Theudas was promptly put down. 1 He
found that the Jews of Peraea had attacked and maltreated the
Philadelphians, and punished them severely. He killed two
robber chiefs, Hannibal (Kwlftas) and Ptolemy (oXo/iato?),
and banished two others, Amaram and Eleazar. 2 This effectively
cleared Judaea of robbers for a time ; and Fadus, determining to
be master of the situation, demanded that the priestly vestments
should be delivered up to him. So serious was the opposition,
that Cassius Longinus, the praefect of Syria, thought it necessary
to come to Jerusalem himself with a strong force. However,
Claudius, at the request of the younger Agrippa, acceded to the
petition of Herod of Chalcis to have the custody of the vestments
and the appointment to the High Priesthood delivered to him.
At his death in A.D. 49 it was given to Agrippa II. 3 When,
therefore, Paul appeared before Agrippa II., it was as though
he defended himself before the secular head of the Jewish Church.

(2) Tiberius Under Tiberius Alexander, the successor of Fadus, the dis-

ier orders seem to have continued, as that procurator crucified the
two sons of Judas of Galilee, James and Simon. Alexander
was by birth a Jew, and afterwards stood high in favour with
Vespasian and Titus ; but he must have been hateful to the
people, for, though the son of the famous alabarch of Alexandria,
he deliberately apostatised from his ancestral religion.

1 Acts v. 36 f. and Antiq. xx. 5. The first two sections of Antiq. xx. 5 con
tain a hasty summary of events of the procuratorships of Fadus and Alexander :
(1) The rebellion of Theudas, (2) the famine and generosity of Helena, (3) the
crucifixion of the sons of Judas, (4) the death of Herod of Chalcis, (5) a change
of High Priests. From the mention of Judas of Galilee after Theudas it has
been inferred that the speech of Gamaliel was composed after a hasty perusal
of the chapter.

2 Antiq. xxi. 1. 3 Antiq. xx. 1. 3. See also xx. 5. 2 and 8. 8.,

i JEWISH HISTORY 27

In the eighth year of Claudius, A.D. 48, Cumanus succeeded (3) Cuma-
Tiberius Alexander in Judaea. The bitterness between the Jews ni
and Romans was constantly increasing. At the Passover a
soldier caused a riot by an unseemly gesture, and, if we are to
believe Josephus, twenty thousand people were slain. Another
soldier, when some villages were being plundered by way of
reprisal for an act of robbery, tore in pieces a copy of the Law.
Fearing that this would cause a sedition, Cumanus ordered the
soldier to be beheaded. 1 A serious outbreak followed between
the Galilaeans and the Samaritans, which demanded the inter
vention of Ummidius Quadratus, who presided over Syria, and
ended in an appeal to Rome, which was decided in favour of the
Jews, thanks to help given by Agrippa. Cumanus was banished,
and his tribune (%t,\iapxos), Celer, publicly executed in Jeru
salem. 2 The country, says Josephus, was now full of robber
strongholds, and life and property were increasingly unsafe. 3

In A.D. 52, the twelfth year of Claudius, Felix, who has been (4) Felix,
immortalised by Tacitus in the stinging epigram that he exer
cised the power of a monarch with the heart of a slave, came to
Judaea. 4 As brother of the powerful freedman Pallas, he had
influence in Rome, and he sought to gain the favour of the Jews
by marrying Drusilla, sister of Agrippa II. She was already
the wife of Aziz, King of Emesa, who had consented to embrace
Judaism ; but Felix, with the assistance of a magician of Cyprus
named Atomus, persuaded her to divorce her husband and to
marry him, heathen as he was. 5

The long procuratorship of Felix was a time of increasing Revolts
disorders ; and though he appears to have acted promptly in
dealing with the brigands, his severity only produced a greater
evil in the rise of the Sicarii or Assassins. Josephus accuses

1 B.J. ii. 12. 1 ; Antiq. xx. 5. 3. 4. 2 B.J. ii. 12. 3 ; Antiq. xx. 6.

3 Antiq. xx. 6. 1. 4 Tacitus, Hist. v. 9.

6 Felix, says Suetonius (Claudius, 28), became the husband of three queens.
Tacitus, Hist. v. 9, says that he married Drusilla, the grand -daughter of Antony
and Cleopatra. According to Josephus, Antiq. xx. 7. 2, Atomus the magician
was a Cypriot.

28 THE JEWISH WORLD i

him of having introduced them into Jerusalem in order to murder
the High Priest Jonathan, at whose request Felix had been
made procurator ; but they soon appeared as bitter enemies
of the Romans, going to the feasts with short sickle-shaped
knives concealed under their garments, and murdering those
Jews whose devotion to the Law they considered doubtful. An
Egyptian persuaded a crowd of fanatics to accompany him to
the Mount of Olives, promising that the walls of Jerusalem
would fall down and admit them to the city ; and Felix sent his
troops to disperse them, killing four hundred and taking two
hundred captive ; but the Egyptian managed to escape and
disappear from view (afavrjs eyevero). Claudius Lysias, it will
be remembered, thought that he had succeeded in capturing
him when he rescued Paul from the mob in the Temple. 1
On this occasion the description of the riot, the fury of the
populace, the formation of an association of more than forty
men who vowed that they would neither eat nor drink till they
had killed Paul, is in complete accordance with the survey of
the period in Josephus.

Jews un- At Caesarea, the capital of the province, the tension between

cL^rea! the Jews and the other inhabitants was constantly increasing. 2
As usual, the wealth of the Jewish population was a cause of
envy. It appears that the Jews provoked the quarrel ; at any
rate, riots ensued, and eventually the Jews, after the recall of
Felix to Rome, sent to accuse him. This may account for the
statement in Acts xxiv. 27 that " desiring to do the Jews a
pleasure he left Paul bound." By the influence of Pallas, Felix
was acquitted, and the Jews lost their case against the Gentiles
of Caesarea. The growing unpopularity of the Jews among the
neighbouring population was one of the chief causes of the
outbreak of the subsequent war. 3

(5) Festus. Apparently Porcius Festus, the procurator who sent Paul to
Rome, did his best to pacify the country ; but the Sicarii in-

1 Antiq. xx. 8. 6 and Acts xxi. 38. 2 B.J. ii. 13. 7 ; Antiq. xx. 8. 7.

3 Anliq. xx. 8. 10. In B.J. ii. 14. 1 Josephus gives Festus a high character.

i JEWISH HISTORY 29

creased in numbers and audacity ; whole villages were destroyed
by their marauding bands. Another impostor who led a multi
tude into the wilderness was attacked and killed by Festus. 1
Festus died in office, and his successor Albinus inherited his (6)
troubles. At the outset he was met by a scandalous usurpation
of authority by the High Priest Ananus. It appears from
Josephus s account that on his appointment Ananus assembled
the Sanhedrin and procured the condemnation of James, the
brother of Jesus the so-called Christ (rov \eyo/jLevov X/oto-roi)),
with some others, who were stoned. Albinus was indignant
that Ananus had dared to assemble the Sanhedrin without his
consent ; and Agrippa immediately appointed Jesus, the son of
Damnaeus, in place of Ananus. 2 It is interesting to remark
that Agrippa, the great-grandson of Herod, true to the tradition
of his house, never lost the favour of the Romans under Claudius,
Nero, Vespasian, and his sons, Titus and Dornitian. Under
Albinus the Temple was finished. Only one more procurator
was appointed, Gessius Florus, the last and worst. Within (?)
five years of its completion the magnificent House of the Lord
was a charred and blackened ruin.

The Christian Church in Jerusalem was naturally seldom in The Priest-
contact with the officials of the Empire ; but even its silent Jerusalem.
growth was bound to attract the notice of the hierarchy who
practically governed the city. The priesthood of the Temple had
long formed the aristocracy of the nation, and for centuries, at any
rate since the fourth century B.C., the High Priest had been
the acknowledged head of Israel. Obscurity hangs over the
rise of the hereditary priesthood in ancient Israel or even
in Jerusalem before the Captivity ; but it is certain that in
the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and probably much earlier,
the priestly pedigrees were carefully kept, and no one outside
the family of Aaron was allowed to officiate in the Temple. 3
The High Priest occupied a unique position. According to the

1 Antiq. xx. 8. 10. 2 Antiq. xx. 9. 1.

3 Ezra ii. 61-63 ; Neh. vii. 63-65.

30 THE JEWISH WORLD i

priestly code, the office could be held by the head of the tribe
alone as the official representative of Aaron, and the tenure expired
only with his life. At what date this hereditary pontificate was
instituted is doubtful ; but it existed from the Return down to
the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. At that time the wealth and
prestige attached to the office caused several claimants to arise,
and the last legitimate High Priest took refuge in Egypt and
founded the temple of Leontopolis. 1 The Seleucid kings claimed
the right of appointment ; and the military chieftains of the
priestly, but not High Priestly, family of Hasmon assumed the
pontificate in the person of Jonathan, with the consent of the
reigning sovereign, Alexander Balas. 2 Simon, John Hyrcanus,
Aristobulus I., Alexander Jannaeus, Hyrcanus II., Aristobulus
II., and Antigonus held it in succession, and Herod, when he
became king, appointed his young brother-in-law, Aristobulus
III., to the dignity. After his early death, Herod selected
several priests, whom he deposed at will. Thus it came to pass
that in the first century the High Priesthood was rarely held by
any individual for long, and was transferred from family to
family. As, however, has been the case in other priesthoods,
the members of these families intermarried, and formed an
inner circle of High Priestly houses among themselves. The
immense wealth of the Temple was in their hands, and they
controlled monopolies in connection with the sacrifices. Forming
a close corporation, these chief priests (ap^epel^), as they were
called, were the real rulers in Jerusalem ; and even Josephus, who
belonged to their order, testifies to their rapacity and arbitrary
acts. 3 They are dealt severely with by the indignant Talmudist
of a later period. 4 The New Testament only mentions three of
these High Priests by name : Annas, 5 Caiaphas, 6 and Ananias ; 7

1 Josephus, Antiq. xiii. 3. 1-3. This was in the reign of Ptolemy VII.
(Philometor), 182-146 B.C.

Josephus, Antiq. xiii. 22 and 1 Mace. x. 20.

Antiq. xx. 9. 4. 4 See below, p. 33.

Luke iii. 2 ; John xviii. 13 ; Acts iv. 6.

Matt. xxvi. 57 ; Luke iii. 2 ; John xviii. 13 ; Acts iv. 6.

Acts xxiii. 2.

i JEWISH HISTORY 31

but, during the period covered by Acts, no less than eleven, if
not twelve, reigned in Jerusalem.

According to Josephus, Annas or Ananus, the son of Seth, High
was made High Priest by Quirinius after the deposition of from ID.
Archelaus in A.D. 6. 1 When Valerius Gratus was made pro- 6 to 66&gt;
curator at the accession of Tiberius in A.D. 14 he deposed Annas
and appointed no less than four others to the office during his
eleven years tenure of the procuratorship. The last of these
was Joseph Caiaphas. 2 It is a remarkable testimony to the
general tranquillity of Judaea during Pilate s administration, as
well as to the prudence of Caiaphas, that for more than eleven
years no change was made. On Pilate s recall, Vitellius, the
governor of Syria, deposed Caiaphas and put in his place Jona
than, the son of Ananus ; and on a second visit to Jerusalem,
on his way to attack Aretas, Vitellius again changed the High
Priest by appointing Jonathan s brother Theophilus. 3 A year
or so later, Agrippa I., who had received the tetrarchy of
Philip with the title of king, and had been given the custody of
the High Priestly garments, came to Jerusalem on his way to
his new dominions. He deposed Theophilus in favour of Simon
Cantheras, a son of Boetius, of the same family as the Alex
andrian Simon, 4 whom Herod made High Priest when he married
Mariamne, his daughter. A little later, finding Simon Cantheras
unsatisfactory, Agrippa removed him, and tried to induce
Jonathan to resume the office. But Jonathan refused, and
suggested his brother Matthias, 5 whom Agrippa accepted. When
Agrippa became king of the Jews on the accession of Claudius,
he again visited Jerusalem and made a new High Priest, Elioneus,
the son of Cantheras. 6 Agrippa died shortly afterwards, and when
Fadus had in vain attempted to secure the right of appointment,
Agrippa s brother, Herod of Chalcis, nominated Joseph, the
son of Camei. 7 Before his death, the King of Chalcis once more

1 Antiq. xviii. 2. 1. 2 Antiq. xviii. 2. 3. 3 Antiq. xviii. 4. 4. 5. 3.

4 Antiq. xix. 6. 2. 6 Antiq. xix. 7. 4. 6 Antiq. xix. 8. 1.

7 Antiq. xx. 1. 3, Iwo^Try T&lt; Ka/xei. The translation given above seems
the most probable, though it of course is not certain.

32 THE JEWISH WORLD i

exercised the power of removing the High Priest, giving the place
to Ananias, the son of Nebedaeus. 1 During the administration of
Felix, Agrippa II. bestowed the office on Jonathan, who was
murdered by the Sicarii at the instigation, if we are to trust
Josephus, of the procurator. 2 His successor was Ishmael ben
Phabi. Ishmael was sent to Rome and detained there by
Poppaea, so Joseph, surnamed Cabi, was nominated in his place. 3
On the appointment of Albinus, Agrippa again changed tfie High
Priesthood by appointing Ananus, but afterwards deprived him
for executing James the Just. 4 From this time to the outbreak
of the Jewish war in A.D. 66, Agrippa II. appointed no less than
three High Priests : Jesus, the son of Damnaeus, another Jesus,
the son of Gamaliel, and Matthias, the son of Theophilus.
Constant It is worthy of notice that in this kaleidoscopic change of

priests . High Priests the procurators were less prone to make alterations
than the Herods, and that the concession which the Romans
made in giving the custody of the vestments into the hands oi
Jewish sovereigns did not do anything to secure the permanency
of the High Priest s office as prescribed in the Law. The priests
seem to have retired without complaint to make room for theii
successors. It is possible that in the later days of Jerusalem the
office was more a position of profit than of influence, and thai
the changes may have been the result of pecuniary agreements.
The Josephus and the Talmud are in complete accord regarding the

bad character of the sacerdotal rulers during the last days oi

Priests. Jerusalem. Their oppression of the poor, their extortion, the
poverty into which they suffered the poorer members of their own
order to fall, their gluttonous habits, the luxury and even in
decency of their dress, are all subjects of severe condemnation.
The ancient law that the head of the religion should be an heredi
tary High Priest, holding his office for life by right divine, had
become entirely impracticable. The office was given for briei
periods by the Roman procuratory, and it is possible that a cer-

1 Antiq. xx. 5. 2. 2 Antiq. xx. 8. 5.

3 Antiq. xx. 8. 11. 4 Antiq. xx. 9. 1.

i JEWISH HISTORY 33

tain amount of bribery was practised to secure the office. But
the patrons were, as a rule, careful to select as incumbents only
members of certain wealthy families ; and any one who had occu
pied the position was known as a High Priest, hence the plural
ap^epels in the New Testament and Josephus, the equivalent
being found in the Talmud. 1 The High Priests formed a close cor
poration, and their wealth and power made them very unpopular.
In a very severe Rabbinic denunciation of the high-priestly
families of Jerusalem four are mentioned : those of Boethus,
Hanin (Annas, or Ananos), Cantherus, and Ishmael ben Phabi. 2

The High Priest was assisted by a Council, known as the The
Sanhedrin, which, according to Josephus, 3 could not be assembled
as a judicial court, without the consent of the procurator. The
references in the New Testament imply that the High Priest had
an inner council, consisting of Chief Priests and Rabbis, which
debated matters before they were referred to the court of the
Sanhedrin. The procedure of this court is described in the
treatise of the Mishna called Sanhedrin. But this, being not
earlier than the third century, represents an ideal state of things,
and to regard it as having been in force in the first century, before
the fall of Jerusalem, is precarious. The jurisdiction of the
court, according to the Mishna, only extended to Israelites, and
care was taken to secure the accused a fair trial, and not to
punish him with unnecessary cruelty. The number of judges
varied with the gravity of the case. Where it was a matter of
life and death (judgment of souls), twenty-three were required.
A tribe, a false prophet, and the High Priest could only be tried

1 In Josephus the plural is found, B. J. iv. 3. 7. Ananus is called yepairaros
rQiv apxieptuv, and mention is made of the families from which the High Priests
were chosen.

2 Pesahim, 51 a : " Woe is me because of the house of Boethos, woe because
of their clubs ; woe is me because of the house of Hanin, woe because of their
whispering (secret machinations, or calumnies) ; woe is me because of the house
of Kathros (Kantheras), woe because of their pens ; woe is me because of the
house of Ishmael ben Phabi, woe because of their fists. They are high-priests
and their sons are treasurers and their sons-in-law are superintendents (of the
Temple), and their servants beat the people with sticks."

3 Antiq. xx. 9. 1.

VOL. I D

34 THE JEWISH WORLD i

by the full Sanhedrin of seventy-one. Every city with a popula
tion of a hundred and twenty, or, according to others, two hundred
and thirty, might have its tribunal of twenty - three. The
number seventy-one represented Moses and the seventy elders. 1
The High Priest might be a member of the court, but was subject
to its jurisdiction (" the High Priest may judge, and is judged "). 2
There is nothing said of his acting as president. The king
could neither be summoned before it nor sit as a judge ; but he
had to obtain leave of the Sanhedrin before he declared war.
In cases of money, card-players, usurers, those who traded in
the Sabbatical year or betted on the flight of doves were forbidden
to be judges or witnesses. 3 The testimony of near relatives was
excluded. Witnesses were carefully tested by intimidation.
After a decision, thirty days were given the defendant that he
might produce additional evidence.
Laws as to j n the Sanhedrin the judges were arranged in a semicircle,

evidence. . J

" like half a round threshing-floor," that all the judges might see
one another s faces. 4 Three rows of disciples sat before them,
to learn the procedure like the young Roman nobles in the
Senate House. In a case of blood, the witnesses were severally
examined. Hearsay evidence was rejected, collusion between
witnesses was provided against. Each witness was warned of
the terrible sin of bringing about the death of an innocent man.
The witnesses were examined separately. Care was taken to
elicit the strict facts. Day, month, year were all inquired into.
Every judge who extended his examination was praiseworthy.
If witnesses contradicted one another their testimony was
invalid. When a sentence of acquittal was pronounced it might
be given at once, but a night had to elapse before a verdict of guilty
was given. In counting votes, the criminal was given the benefit
of the doubt. Condemnation might not be pronounced on the day
the trial concluded. All night the judges were to discuss the
matter, and to fast and abstain from drink before they voted. 5

1 Numb. xi. 16 ; Mishna, Sanhedrin, i. 5. 2 Sanhedrin, ii. 2.

3 Sanhedrin, iii. 3. 4 Sanhedrin, iv. 3. 6 Sanhedrin, vi. 5 and vii. 1.

THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM

By C. G. MONTEFIORE

THE Jewish background of the Acts appears to be very different SYNOPTIC
from that of the Synoptic Gospels. In the latter there is placed G SP f s

. AND ACTS.

in strong and brilliant relief a great personality, who sees and (a) Atti "
condemns the defects of the religious teachers of his time. His S**k
life is placed in contrast with their life, and his teaching with religi n
their teaching. Upon the alleged contrast between him and them,
a dark background can be built up. Their inadequacies supply
material for the evangelist.

Very different is the atmosphere or the situation in Acts.
The main question in dispute is the office and function of the
dead Teacher his recent resurrection, his present position in
heaven, his future work and administration upon the earth.
The Jewish religion is hardly criticised at all. The religious
ideas of the two contending parties, as distinguished from the
one burning question, might almost be supposed to be the same.
Thus, for instance, the alleged over-emphasis on the ceremonial,
as opposed to the moral, enactments of the Law is hardly men
tioned. To the Law as a burden, difficult or hopeless for the
Jew to fulfil, except in one famous verse, there is hardly an
allusion. 1

On the other hand, the mise-en-scene, which in the Gospels (6) Types

1 Acts xv. 10. Acts xiii. 28, 29 hardly militate against the accuracy of this

statement.

36 THE JEWISH WORLD i

is so largely limited to the native Jew of Palestine, is greatly
widened in the Acts. In the enlargement resides the crux of
the situation, a burning question over and above the question
of the supposed Messiah. In the Acts we are introduced at once
to Palestinian Jews, to Hellenist Jews and to Jews of yet other
types. We are also introduced to proselytes, i.e. full and practising
members of the Jewish faith, though not Jews by birth. Lastly,
we meet with heathen interested in Judaism as a monotheistic
faith. It is in the attitude of the new branch of the old
religion to this last group and to the Gentile world as a whole
that the breach between the parent and the child is made definite.
A certain chapter of Judaism, which was less important to the
average Jew, is more so to the student of Acts. The average
Jew of even A.D. 50 or 80 was not continually worrying about
the future of the Gentile world, or about the duties of proselytis
ing. Many other elements of his religion were to him of much
greater consequence. But, as a part of the Jewish background
of Acts, the relation of Judaism to the Gentiles beyond its pale
becomes of peculiar significance. It thus comes to pass and
this is not the only instance that the " Jewish interests "
of a reader of Acts are special to that particular book. Care
must, however, be taken to distinguish between the Jewish
background of Acts and the Jewish religion in the years in which
. its story is set.

JUDAISM OF Supposing one were to compare the Judaism of the year
OT^ao 350 B.C. with that of A.D. 50, what would be the fundamental
COMPARED, difference ? Not, I take it, in the conception of God or righteous
ness, not even perhaps of the Law itself. Here there would be
developments or modifications ; but the fundamental and . far-
reaching difference would be that in 350 B.C. the average
(a) Future Jew believed that, so far as any bliss or happiness was con
cerned (whether lower or higher), death was the end ; whereas
in A.D. 50 he believed that, for the righteous at any rate, the
higher happiness would actually not be experienced till beyond
the grave. The importance of the conception of a future life

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 37

and of the resurrection of the dead in Judaism can hardly
be over-estimated. Gunkel observes rightly that these ideas
materially changed the entire religion ; they are so epoch-making
that they divide the whole religious history of Israel into two
sections : before them and after them. 1

A second important difference between 350 B.C. and A.D. 50, (&) Burden
I think, longo intervallo, should be this. In 350 B.C. there was, Testament.
outside the Law, scarcely any acknowledged corpus of Sacred
Scripture ; in A.D. 50 there was. Judaism in A.D. 50 had begun
to suffer from the burden of an inspired and perfect book, of the
authority of which its teachers were beginning to feel the over
whelming weight. When I read any early Kabbinic document,
such as the Mechilta, I feel as if one advantage of Christianity
over Judaism was that it made a fresh start. It is true it created
an extra sacred canon of its own, while retaining the older ; but
this new canon was more homogeneous, and was all written within
a short compass of time. The Old Testament goes back so far
in time, it is so varied, so bulky ! No doubt for students of
religious history this adds to its interest and importance.
But one sees the burden of it in Judaism. [( Ye search the
Scriptures." 2 Well might Jesus say this ! They were searched
and known all too thoroughly ! For the Old Testament contains
not only supreme and imperishable verities, but also much that
was, in very sooth, already obsolete even long before A.D. 50.
In other words, it was inconsistent with itself. These contra
dictions were not unperceived by Jewish teachers, who could
not explain them as we happily can do to-day. For were they
not all perfect and inspired ? Were they not all the words of

1 Kautsch, Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alien Testaments, vol. ii.
p. 370. Gunkel limits his statement to the idea of resurrection, but it would be
safer to include all the various conceptions of the future life. His words,
written about 1899, are : " Die Herkunft und Entstehung dieses Glaubens an
die Auferstehung aus den Toten ist noch immer eine ungeloste Frage. Deutlich
aber ist uns die ungeheure Bedeutung, die dieser Glaube in der Geschichte der
Religion hat : er hat die ganze Religion des Judentums umgestaltet ; dieser
Giaube inacht so sehr Epoche, dass darnach die ganze Religionsgeschichte
Israels in zwei Teile zerfallt : vorher und nachher."

2 John v. 39.

38 THE JEWISH WORLD i

the living God ? The hatreds of the hour may be forgotten
when the hour has passed. " The Lord is good to all : the Lord
is forgiving " ; and should not man imitate his Creator ?
But the same Lord " hated Esau/ and laughs at the destruction
of His enemies. May not the child mimic the Father ? It is
wonderful that the developed Judaism of, say, A.D. 400 came out
of this trial as well as it did ; that it frequently explained away
the bad by the good, and invented fresh conceptions in order to
remove lower or obsolete ideas. 1

Long before A.D. 50 the goal of monotheism had been attained.
As to the nature of this One God, there would not seem to have
been much difference of opinion between Jew and Christian in A.D.
50 or 90, nor can we say that the difference was great between pre
vailing Jewish ideas in 350 B.C. and A.D. 50. God was conceived as
very personal/ and also as very distinct from the world which He
had made. Isaiah s implication that God is spirit and not flesh
was generally accepted. By A.D. 50 the anthropomorphisms of the
Old Testament were already being explained as figurative. The
average man, to whom the words were familiar, " Ye saw no
manner of similitude ; ye only heard a voice," 2 had probably
got beyond the idea that the form of God was like the
form of man. The teachers of the first century had most
certainly got beyond it. The omnipresence of God, as taught in
Solomon s prayer or the 139th Psalm, was familiar to them, and
there was even a tendency to refine the doctrine. It is inaccurate
to suppose that God was regarded solely as transcendent :
He is in the world as well as outside. By A.D. 50 there had
been already created the conception of the Shechinah, which,
especially as regards the divine relation to man, made God as
near to every worshipper as any modern man could desire. To
the first century is attributed the explanation why God revealed
Himself in the lonely thorn bush. It was to teach that no spot

1 It should be carefully observed that the " hatred " is limited to the
enemies of the Community. It is noteworthy that the " imprecatory " Psalms
never received a personal or private interpretation.

2 Deut. iv. 12, 15.

IT THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 39

upon the earth is empty of the Shechinah. 1 Yet it was finely
perceived that God is in one sense only near when His creatures
are present, and ready to apprehend His nearness. It is they
who, for practical purposes, turn His transcendence into imman
ence. Hence the doctrine that virtue, Israel, the Sanctuary,
and the Law, all bring down God or the Shechinah from heaven
to earth, while sin and idolatry remove Him. Yet the divine
nearness realised by the Israelite through the Law did not inter
fere with the theoretic apprehension that God was not, like a
human person, limited by any particular place. A later (third
century) Rabbi declared that while the Mosaic Sanctuary was
filled by the radiance of the Shechinah, the Shechinah was not
limited by the Sanctuary. The sea rises and fills a cave of the
shore with its water, but the sea itself is no smaller than before. 2

From the Psalms onward, and throughout the Rabbinic period, (d) God
there exists a distinct idea of the relationship of God to man as
such. Man is God s special creation, for all men, not only Israel,
were created in the image of God. The most fundamental verse
in the Scripture, said R. Simon ben Azzai (second century), is,
" These are the generations of Adam," for in this verse, with
its reiteration of the creation of man in the divine image, are
inculcated the unity and greatness of the entire human race. 3
God s goodness and mercy to mankind as such are often men
tioned by the Rabbis. " Beloved is man," said Akiba, " for
that he was created in the image." 4 " When man is worthy,
they say to him, Thou wast created before the angels of the
Service ; when he is not, they say to him, Flies and gnats
and worms were created before thee." 5 The Rabbis were
not slow to grasp the various homiletic applications which could
be made of the Biblical statement that all men were descended

1 Pesikla Cahana, ed. Buber 2b ; Wiinsche, p. 3.

2 Sckechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, pp. 29-33, 48 and passim ; Pesikta
C., ed. Buber 2b ; Wiinsche, p. 3.

3 Siphra 89b on Lev. xix. 18 ; Genesis E. xxiv. ad fin. ; Wiinsche, p. ] 12 ;
Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, vol. i. (ed. 2), p. 417, n. 4, p. 422, n. 1.

4 Aboth, iii. 21, ed. Taylor. 6 Genesis R. viii. 1 ; Wiinsche, p 30.

40 THE JEWISH WORLD i

from a single ancestor. It was done, they said, for the sake of
peace among men, that one should not say to another, " My
father was greater than thine." Or again, " It was done for
the sake of peace, that the families of men should not fight with
each other. If they do so even now with one ancestor, how
much more would they have done so with two ! " 1 But yet
this general relationship of God to man is not what is commonly
before their eyes. It tended to be submerged in both directions :
it was neglected in favour of God s special relation to Israel : it
was depressed by idolaters and enemies. Yet the Rabbinic
Jew was still occasionally able to turn away his mind from the
difference between Israel and the other races of the world, and
such sentences as, " God is near to all His creatures : if they
invoke Him, He puts His ear to their mouth," are not uncommon. 2
One gets in the Midrash odd mixtures of thought showing evidence
of a certain inward struggle. The words of Psalm cxlv., " The
Lord is good to all," which were constantly upon the lips of the
Rabbis, gave them cause for reflection. Two things were sure :
God is good to all, and yet almost all non-Israelites are idolaters
and therefore sinners, oppressors, actual and potential, of Israel,
and therefore enemies of God. " Hast thou ever seen," said R.
Joshua, the son of R. Nehemiah, the Priest (fourth century), "the
rain fall on the field of X who is righteous, and not on the field of
Y who is wicked, or the sun shine upon Israel who are righteous,
and not upon the nations who are wicked ? God makes the sun
shine both upon Israel and the nations, for He is good to all." 3
Very odd is the view of R. Hiyya bar Abba (second century) that
the blessing of rain is even greater than that of the resurrection
because the second applies only to men, and of them only to Israel,
whereas the first extends to the beasts and the idolaters as well. 4

1 Sanhedrin, 37a, 38a.

2 Schechter, p. 31 ; Schwab, Jerusalem Talmud, vol. i. p. 152.

3 Pesikta R., ed. Friedmann, p. 195, a. ad fin. Cf. the fine passage in the
Mechilta on Exodus xviii. 12. Wiinsche, p. 185, on the Shechinah feeding and
satisfying all men, and even sinners and idolaters.

Bereshith R xiii., Wiinsehe, p. 58.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 41

The fact that Yahweh was both the one and only God of the
whole world, and at the same time, in a very special and peculiar
sense, the God of Israel, brought with it many consequences and
many inconsistencies. These consequences and inconsistencies
were, perhaps, even more acute and prominent in 50 and 90 A. D.
than in o50 B.C. In the first century Jewish thought felt alter
nately inclined to draw in and to reject. On the one hand, there
was a desire and a hope that all men should recognise and worship
the God of Israel, and this not only, or even not so much, for their
own sakes as for the glory of God and the glory of Israel. On the
other hand, there was the desire that Israel should be freed from
all domination and distress, and that vengeance and condign
punishment should befall the idolater and the oppressor. The
idea of God had not been brought to a complete harmony.

One has to remember that the Jew was brought up in (e) God
the belief that idolatry was not only error, but the most Gentiles:
deadly sin. Thus he acquired the genuine conviction that all
Gentiles, being idolaters, were sinners. Again, the average
Jew, who knew little or nothing of the best side of Hellenism,
noticed the unattractive side of the Gentile world, its oppres
sion and injustice, its licentiousness and profligacy. The
pious Jew between 350 B.C. and A.D. 90 was becoming stricter
and severer as regards sexual relations. To him the heathen
seemed steeped in sensuality, oppressors of the elect Children
of God, incapable of keeping the simplest rules of morality.
As such they would be at the last swept off the face of the earth
by divine retribution. We can see the various causes which
gave birth to the exaggeration of Paul in Rom. i. 18-32.

The actual position of the Gentile world gave Jewish teachers
much food for thought. Their general views reveal occasional
qualms of conscience. For the divine love for Israel, and the
divine hatred of the idolater and the oppressor, have to be
made consistent, tant bien que mal, with the divine righteousness
and compassion. Thus we find the view constantly repeated
that Israel s lesser sins are carefully and fully punished

42 THE JEWISH WORLD i

in this world in order that it may receive the full beatitude
of the world to come, while the minor and occasional
virtues of the heathen are fully and carefully recompensed
here in order that they may suffer more hereafter. It is
true that here and there a Rabbi taught a nobler doctrine.
There is a famous Rabbinical sentence, belonging to the
second century, beloved by apologists, which declares that
the righteous of all nations shall have a share in the world to
come. 1 This in later Judaism became the generally accepted
principle, but, in the earlier period, the prevailing view was : This
world is the nations : here they have the good things. In the
world to come the situation will be reversed. To them will be
the suffering and the pain : to us the gladness and the joy. 2

Concurrently, however, with this conception of the Gentiles,
which, on the theoretic side, consigned them to perdition, and,
on the practical side, fenced Israel off from social contact with
them by dietary and other laws, went the wish among many
wider spirits to attract them. Noble are the words of Hillel :
" Love the creatures, and bring them nigh to the Torah." The
story of Jewish proselytism in the first centuries, before and after
Christ, is an intensely interesting one, but cannot be told here.
Moreover the chapter in Schurer dealing with the subject, and Dr.
Hirsch s article Proselytism in the Jewish Encyclopaedia, are
accessible to all students. The one is a complement to the other.
The visions of the second Isaiah were never entirely forgotten. R.
Eleazar (third century) declared that the reason why Israel was
scattered among the nations was that proselytes might be added
to it. 3 R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos (first century), who was
not very favourable to them, yet declared, " God says, I draw

1 Tosefta, Sanhedrin, xiii. 2. The saying is from the mouth of B. Joshua
ben ^ananya, a pupil of R. Johanan ben Zaccai. Cf. Bacher, Agada der
Tannaiten, vol. i. (ed. 2), p. 134, n. 2.

2 Cf. Baba Me?ia, 33b ; Midrash Tillim, iv. 8 ; Wiinsche, i. p. 48, xcix.
1. ii. p. 96. I am inclined to think that the wicked referred to in Bereshith R.
xxxiii. (init.), Wiinsche, p. 142, are primarily not wicked Israelites, but the wicked
nations.

3 Pcsahim, 87b.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 43

near, I do not repel, so do thou, if a man comes to thee, and
wishes to be received, and if he comes with pure intent, bring
him near, and do not repel him." * Abraham was always
regarded as the type of the proselyte and as the great maker of
proselytes. In this capacity, together with Sarah his wife, he
meets us in the Rabbinical literature again and again. " The
souls that they had gotten in Haran 2 are the proselytes
whom Abraham made, for whoever makes a proselyte of
an idolater, as it were, creates him anew." 3 Abraham was
not circumcised till he was ninety-nine, so as not to shut the
door upon proselytes. 4 Many are the passages, some quaint,
yet beautiful, which praise the proselytes, and which ordain that
nothing is to be done to slight them or to cause them shame.
One of the best (of uncertain date) runs as follows. It must be
premised that the late Hebrew word for proselyte is Ger, which
in Biblical Hebrew means the foreign settler (A.V. stranger ).
Thus all the Pentateuchal injunctions about "loving the stranger"
are applied by the Rabbis (from the first century) to the prose
lytes. Quoting Ps. cxlvi. 8, " The Lord loves the righteous,"
the Midrash observes :

" A man may wish to become a priest or a Levite, but he can
not, because his father was not one ; but if he wishes to become
righteous he can do so, even if he be a heathen, for righteousness
is not a matter of descent. Thus it is written of Ps. xxxv. 19, 20,
* House of Aaron and House of Levi, but of them that fear God
it says, Ye who fear the Lord, bless ye the Lord, and it does
not say, House of those that fear the Lord. For the fear of
the Lord is not a matter of inheritance, but of themselves men
may come and love God, and God loves them in return. There
fore it says : The Lord loves the righteous. " 5

We know that in the first century A.D. the number of full
proselytes must have been considerable. This fact shows the

1 Mechilta on Exodus xviii. 6 ; Wiinsche, p. 183.

2 Gen. xii. 5. 3 Genesis R. xxxix. 14 ; Wiinsche, p. 180.
4 Mechilta on Exodus xxii. 20 ; Wiinsche, p. 305.

6 Midrash Tillim on Psalm cxlvi. 7 ; Wiinsche, p. 245.

44 THE JEWISH WORLD i

willingness, and even the desire, of many Jewish teachers to
receive proselytes, and also the attraction of Jewish monotheism.
For the full proselyte had, as it were, to become a member of the
Jewish nation as well as of the Jewish faith. He had to follow
all the ceremonial laws including the Sabbath, the festivals
and the irksome injunctions about food ; and, above all, he
had to submit to the painful rite of circumcision, for few and
far between, if any, were the Jewish teachers who were willing
to accept a proselyte on the basis of baptism alone, and with
out the covenant in the flesh. 1 It is therefore not surprising
that besides the full proselytes there existed in the first cen
tury a number of semi-proselytes, of people, that is, who had
renounced idolatry, forsworn idolatrous practices, who frequented
the Synagogue upon Sabbaths and festivals, and hovered on the
threshold of Judaism. These are the persons who are supposed
by the Eabbis to observe the so-called seven Noachide laws which
in their usual enumeration, besides (1) the prohibition to worship
idols or (2) blaspheme the name of God, forbade (3) murder,
(4) adultery, incest, and sodomy, (5) theft, ordained (6) the practice
of justice (by the establishment of law courts), and included one
semi-ritualistic and semi-humanitarian injunction, namely (7),
the prohibition to eat flesh cut from a living animal. Those who
observed these laws might find a place in "the world to come,"
but they were sometimes looked down upon as c outsiders/ with
out the full courage of their convictions. It is still less surprising
that both the half and the full proselytes were attracted in large
numbers by the preaching of Paul and his followers. For here
at last was a monotheistic religion, based upon a common faith,
independent of birth, which demanded the practice of no national
customs and outlandish rites. Here there was room for all ;
here there was equality, " neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free."
Perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that in spite of

1 Yebamoth, 46a. Ci Dr. Emil Hirsch s article on Proselytes in Jewish
Encyclopaedia.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 45

Christianity, and in spite of the difficulties which Roman law,
and afterwards Church law, put in the way of conversion to
Judaism, a number of proselytes continued to dribble in, and
that men and women were found willing to share with the Jew
his persecution and degradation.

We can observe, in some of the passages concerning proselytes (3) Why
in the Rabbinical literature, symptoms of the desire of Jewish ^ a e s g ^ n
teachers to justify the general attitude of Judaism towards to Israel
the Gentile world. It is asked, Why was not the Law given
by God to the whole human race, instead of to one people
only, if its results are so beneficial ? In the Old Testament
period, the fact that the Law was entrusted to Israel only
is merely mentioned as honourable to the nation ; 1 but
early in the Rabbinic era a feeling arose that the divine
partiality needed explanation. A legend appears under different
forms that the Law was offered to every nation in turn,
but that all refused to receive it. Or, again, it is said that
the nations did not even observe the Noachide Command
ments, so that it would have been useless and absurd to offer
them a far more elaborate code. One strange passage in the
Mechilta tells how God revealed Himself to the sons of Esau, and
asked them, " Will you receive the Law ? They said, Wliat is
written in it ? He said to them, Thou shalt not murder. They
said, That is the inheritance which our father left to us, as it is
said, By the sword shalt thou live." So the sons of Ammon are
told that the Law contains the command, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, the sons of Ishmael that it contains the command,
Thou shalt not steal, and they each, on similar grounds, refuse
to receive it. 2

Again, it is pointed out that the Law was given in the desert, (4) Traces
given openly, and in a place that belonged to nobody in particular,
because if it had been given in Palestine, the Israelites could have
said to the nations, " It is our property, and you have no share

1 Ps. cxlvii. 20.
2 Mechilta on Exodus xx. 2 ; Wiinsche, p. 208.

46 THE JEWISH WOKLD r

in it." But now " it is common property ; whoever will accept
it, let him come and accept it." l A very striking legend is
put into the mouth of R. Hanina bar Papa (third century).
" At the last judgment God will summon all the converts before
Him, and will judge the nations in their presence. He will say
to them, Why have you rejected Me, and why do you serve idols
in whom is no reality ? They will say, Lord of the world, if
we had come to Thy gates, Thou wouldst not have received us.
Then God will say to them, Let the proselytes come and testify
against you." 2 These legends are doubtless later than our
period, but they are only the culmination of tendencies which
had started at least as early as the first century.

On the whole, however, we find that national and religious
prejudices prevented the free development of the conception of
a completely impartial God. Israel is oppressed by the heathen ;
and reacts humanly towards the oppressor. He cannot pay him
back in deed ; he can only pay him back in words and theory.
God also partakes of the infirmities of His people ; and, in the
days to come, He will repay to the nations what His people
have suffered at their hands.

But it must also be observed that with this inadequate and
defective universalism there went a certain striking and peculiar
broad-mindedness. It showed a fine insight into essentials to
rise to the view that " mere Theism," the acknowledgment and
worship of God, together with the following of the simplest and
broadest rules of morality, constituted an adequate passport for
the future life and for salvation. If we compare such a
view with the idea that salvation largely depends upon the
belief in a number of theological subtleties, we cannot but be
struck with the difference. The advantage of modernity rests
here with the Eabbis. The simplicity and broadness of their
views is reflected in the familiar adage of K. Johanan (third
century), " He who refrains from idolatry is a Jew." 3

1 Mechilta on Exodus xix. 2 ; Wiinsche, p. 193.
2 Pesikta Rabbathi, p. 161a. 3 Megilla, 13a.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 47

We may also perceive in the most violent utterances against
the nations a deep and genuine detestation of idolatry, a real and
vivid conviction that monotheism and morality are as insepar
able as are idolatry and the grosser sins. From this point of
view, the hatred of the heathen was not merely a hatred of the
oppressors, but a hatred of their vices, whether exaggerated or
real.

On the whole, the conception of God s relation to the Israelite (/) God s
in A.D. 40 or 90 was very much the same as in the Psalter. God to tad.
is just and righteous ; He punishes as well as rewards ; but His
justice is surpassed by His compassion. If, in repentance, man
will advance towards Him an inch, God in loving forgiveness
will run to meet him an ell. (This last simile is familiarly
Rabbinic.)

It is often supposed that, in the days of the second Temple, (i) Direct
God became more and more transcendent, and that He only dealt
with man through the agency of angels. The development of
angelology is regarded as a symptom of extreme theoretic
transcendence and of practical religious distance. As regards
the Apocalyptic writers, there may be something in this idea ; as
regards the Rabbis, from the earliest to the latest, it is a delusion.
Doubtless angels were believed in any number of them but
they are very rarely spoken of as mediators between God and
man. For once that the Rabbis of the first century mention an
angel, a hundred times they mention God. It is God who does
the hearkening and the caring and the helping. The angels play
a secondary part and, indeed, show less affection and concern
for man than the Holy One who is their Lord and man s Lord,
their creator and his. God and Israel are united together by
means of the Law, and the Law is the direct gift of God. Dr.
Charles has said, " In New Testament times the ministry of angels
has become the universal means of approaching or hearing
from God." A reversion to an older view by the Rabbis is
said to be due to hostility to Christianity. 1 These are very
1 Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. ii. p. 13

48 THE JEWISH WOKLD i

doubtful statements. Apocalyptic writers may obtain their
revelations by means of angels. The ordinary Kabbinic Jew
approached God directly, and felt His answer in the heart.
So far as there was any mediation at all, the mediator was not
an angel, but the Law. Above all, God never needed an angel
to tell Him what man was saying. The passages from the Mid-
rash which Dr. Charles quotes as a reversion might have been
written in the first century as well as in the fourth or fifth :
" The woman in childbirth, the sea-farer, those who journey
through the wilderness, the prisoners in the gaol, those who are
in the east or the west, the north or the south God hears
them all at once." Such a passage would have been as much a
commonplace to Hillel as to Shammai, to Johanan ben Zaccai
as to Akiba. 1

(2) Mercy ^ us ^ as ^e P sa l m i s ts, so too the early and later Rabbis
and justice S p e ak constantly about the righteousness and justice of God, and

combined. J

of His mercy and lovingkindness. Like the Psalmists they held
that His mercy outstripped or exceeded His justice, but never
theless they did not allow their belief in God s mercy and in His
love of Israel to carry them to unethical extremes. Reflexion
increased in the first century, and in the third quarter of it came
the catastrophe of the Fall of Jerusalem and the Destruction of
the Temple. But neither these awful events nor the horrors of
the Hadrianic War were able to destroy the conviction of God s
goodness and compassion. Even the Psalmists are naively
conscious of an antagonism between divine justice and mercy.
In the Rabbinic development this consciousness becomes more
acute, yet a harmony is sought by making God reason about
them Himself, or by making the two attributes fundamental
aspects of the divine nature. Both divine justice and divine
mercy are necessary for the due maintenance of humanity.
A very curious passage in the Midrash of uncertain date explains
the Rabbinic view. " Like a King who had some empty goblets
and said, If I pour in hot water they will burst, if I pour in

1 Exodus It. xxviii. 4 ; Wiinsche, p. 208.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 49

cold water they will shrink. What did the King do ? He mixed
the cold water with the hot, and poured it in, and the goblets
remained unhurt. So God said, If I create the world with the
attribute (literally, measure) of mercy, its sins will become great ;
if I create it with the attribute of justice, how can it endure ?
I will create it with both ; oh that it may endure ! " l God
is declared to have two thrones, the throne of justice and the
throne of mercy, and this idea appears to be at least as old as
Akiba.

Two reasons prevented the complete moralisation of the
divine character. The first was the hatred of the idolater and of
Israel s oppressors : the second was the overwhelming authority
of the Old Testament, which occasionally encouraged a lower
conception of God as wrathful and vindictive to rise into
consciousness. So far as Israel generally, the Noachide
Gentiles, and all repentant sinners were concerned, the tend
ency was to ignore these lower conceptions or to explain
them away, but in the case of unrepentant idolaters and
oppressors, or even unrepentant Israelite sinners and apos
tates, they were still utilised and accepted. It is curious to
observe how the higher views struggle with the lower ; yet
the general tendency of the three hundred years between 50 B.C.
and A.D. 250 is unquestionably in the direction of conceiving God
as more merciful, fatherly, and gracious, even despite the awful
occurrences of the Fall of Jerusalem and the Hadrianic revolt.

How far did these events otherwise affect the conceptions
of God s relation to man and of man s relation to God ? It has
already been implied that, so far as God s relation to man is con
cerned, the ruin of the nation had no permanently bad result.
The ideas of God s compassion, equity, and love prevailed and
developed. Yet doubtless, in the early days of the agony, there
were those who, as in the Psalms, cried out, " How long ? Has
God no pity ? Does He exact the uttermost farthing of punish
ment ? " In 4 Esdras we see this tendency in both directions.

1 Genesis R. xii. ad fin. ; Wiinsche, p. 57.
VOL. I E

50 THE JEWISH WORLD i

God is conceived as unpitying ; all Gentiles and most Jews go
to perdition ; few indeed are those who enter the life of beatitude
in the world to come. And the reason is that goodness for the
ordinary man is virtually impossible. The " malignant heart,"
the " leaven in the dough," the Yeser ha-Ra, is too strong. But
for the relation of God to man, 4 Esdras (A.D. 90) is not repre
sentative even of its own age, and still less of the Judaism of, say,
A.D. 200. Like Paul, it ignores the whole doctrine of repentance
and the Day of Atonement : it makes God just and pitiless,
instead of just and merciful. It teaches that, even as regards
the Israelites, the number of admissions to the happy world to
come will be very small, whereas the Rabbinic tendency was to
open the gates of heaven wide, and to exclude from its beati
tudes, and from the joys of the resurrection life, only the gravest,
unrepentant, or falsely repentant sinners.

We pass to the relation of man, or rather of the Israelite, to
God. Here brevity becomes exceedingly difficult. It is often
supposed that between 100 B.C. and A.D. 100 the Law tended to
make the Israelites attitude towards God one of fear ; whilst
His partiality towards His own people fostered an unjustifiable
sense of self -righteousness. There is, however, good reason to
believe that the general result of the prevailing teaching was a
tolerably successful mean between these extreme defects.

It is true that God never lost His awfulness, and that man
was counselled to fear as well as to love Him. It is unnecessary
to lay any stress on the fact that in the opening Amidah prayer
certainly older than Acts God is called " great, mighty, and
awful " ; for in the very same breath He is called " the bestower
of loving-kindnesses." In a scarcely less ancient prayer His great
love and abundant pity are invoked at the beginning. He is
called " Our Father, pitiful Father, who has chosen His people
Israel in love." l

The " logic of events " tended to prevent the divine love
for Israel being used as an excuse for moral carelessness. For if

1 Authorised Prayer Book, ed. Singer, p. 39.

n THE SPIEIT OF JUDAISM 51

the horrors inflicted by Titus and Hadrian did not imply
an impotent or unjust God, did they not imply a very sinful
Israel and an exceedingly exacting God, whose judgment in
the life to come might easily be worse than death ? " Fear
him," said Jesus, " who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to
cast into hell ; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Similarly, we
have the of ten- quo ted death-bed scene of R. Johanan ben Zaccai.
When his disciples visit him, he weeps. When they ask the
reason, he replies : "If they were about to bring me before a
king of flesh and blood, who is here to-day and in his grave
to-morrow, whose wrath, if he be angry with me, is no eternal
wrath, whose bonds are no eternal bonds, whose death, if he
kill me, is no eternal death, whom I might soften with words and
bribe with money, nevertheless I might weep : but now that they
bring me before a King, who is the King of Kings, who is eternal,
whose wrath, etc., should I not weep ? Moreover, two ways are
before me, one leads to Paradise, and one to Hell, and I do not know
along which way they will make me go should I not weep ? " l
A similar gloom seems to have disturbed the soul of
R. Gamaliel, who, whenever he read the verse, " He that
doeth these things shall never be moved," was also stirred
to tears. Another version of the same story represents him
as weeping for a similar reason whenever he read Ezekiel
xviii. 6, 7. R. Akiba, however, comforted him by ingenious
exegetical devices, the point of which was to show that a man
might expect to be accepted by God if he fulfilled, not all the
conditions of the passages in question, but any one of them.
The view which underlay Akiba s exegesis was more frequent,
prevailing, and characteristic than the view that was expressed
in Gamaliel s tears. The Commandments were given such is
the regular doctrine for life and not for death. The burden is
adjusted by God s grace to the capacity of the bearer. 2 Though

1 Berachoth, 28b.
2 Sanhedrin, 8 la ; Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, vol. i. p. 88 (ed. 2).

52 THE JEWISH WOELD i

the Temple was destroyed, the love of God for Israel remains.
The Day of Atonement the sign and vehicle of God s pity
remains also. " Happy are ye," said Akiba, " before whom do
ye purify yourselves ? Who purifies you ? Your Father who is
in heaven, as it is said. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and
you shall be pure." l So too B. Johanan ben Zaccai comforted
R. Joshua as they gazed together on the ruins of the Temple.
" Woe to us, said Joshua, for the place, whereat the sins of Israel
were atoned, lies waste." Johanan replied : " Be comforted,
we have still a means of atonement which is equal to the Temple,
and that is the practice of deeds of love, for it is said, I require
love and not sacrifice." 2 It was teaching such as this which
enabled Judaism to recover from, and, in some ways, to be
religiously all the better for, the catastrophe of the destruction
of the Temple.

(2) God s It was not denied that the Fall of Jerusalem was caused by

Israel s sin. But, at the same time, there was no doubt of God s
love as well as of God s justice. It was the doctrine of the future
life and of the world to come which solved the puzzle. The
average Israelite was not afraid to die on account of what might
happen to him hereafter. On the contrary, the sore troubles
and the ruin, the martyrdoms and the persecutions, were in
tended thoroughly to punish and purify the Israelites in this
world, so that they might the more assuredly enjoy the beatitude
of the next. In this sense sufferings could be regarded as an
evidence not only of God s justice, but also of His love. The
Rabbinic doctrine already well fledged in the first century
is precisely what the ordinary reader is . familiar with in the
Wisdom of Solomon. " If in the sight of men they are punished,
their hope is full of immortality. Having borne a little chasten
ing, they shall receive great good." For what is any torture
in time compared to full beatitude in Eternity ?

RABBINIC But further, where the Rabbinic religion achieved special success

RELIGION.

1 Yoma, 85b. (Mishna, viii. ad fin.)
a Aboth E. Nathan, iv. p. lla, ed. Schechter; Pollak, p. 33 (fin.).

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 53

t
was that it not only used to the full the hope of the future, but

did not despair of this life even amid its gloom and its sorrows.
Earthly life was not a mere hard and mournful preparation for
another. It had its own peculiar joys. That this excellent
result was achieved was due to the Law.

The relation of man to God was kept permanently (a) RO-
hopeful by the progressive stress laid upon the doctrine of F
repentance. 1 There is good reason to believe that the doctrine
was well known to Rabbinic teachers as early as the first
century, even though the finest and tenderest passages about
it may belong to a later date. It is therefore the more
notable that it is found neither in 4 Esdras nor in the
Pauline literature. The general Rabbinic view was that no
sinner, however great, except perhaps the apostate, the
heretic, or the informer, would, if he repented, be shut out from
the divine forgiveness. The God who received Manasseh s re
pentance would receive almost anybody s ! Possibly the heretic
could not be forgiven because he was incapable of repentance.
No time is too early or too late for repentance. It is God s
chosen method of dealing with the sinner. If you ask Wisdom
what is the punishment of sinners, Wisdom replies, " Evil shall
pursue them." If you ask Prophecy, Prophecy replies, " The
soul that sins shall die." If you ask the Law, the Law replies,
" Let the sinner bring a sacrifice, and find atonement." But
if you ask God, God replies, " Let the sinner repent." Let a
man stand and blaspheme God in the street, and God will yet
say to him, " Repent before Me, and I will receive you." 2

In the Old Testament the doctrine of sin is not very fully (&) Origin
worked out. How far is sin always man s fault ? How far is ^^
it the fault of his parents and ancestors ? How far is it God s
fault ? Theoretic speculations about sin are almost absent ; but
throughout the Old Testament period there is generally a very
healthy and vigorous sense of human responsibility. Man need

1 Cf. C. Montefiore in Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. xvi., January 1904,
pp. 209-257. 2 Pesikta C. xxv. 158b ; Wunsche, p. 227.

54 THE JEWISH WORLD i

not have sinned, had he not chosen to do so. Sin therefore is
man s fault. Only rarely do we hear voices which say that
man not only suffers for his parents sins, but that he is so frail
that he is almost bound to fall into sin himself. Only at the end
of the Old Testament period do speculations become rife. We get
the doctrine of man s hereditary tendency to sin, of " the evil
heart " or inclination so strong within him that he cannot free
himself from its malignancy. The question is, Why did God
give him his body with its passions, and with this inclination
towards evil ?

Here it is only possible to touch upon these matters in
barest outline. The general line of development was in accord
ance with conceptions which have already come before us. God
is just: man is sinful, but yet he can master his sinful inclinations.
God is not only just, but loving and merciful : and if, for reasons
into which the Rabbis scarcely ventured to inquire, God has
created man frail, He has also given him (or at least Israel) the
means of overcoming his frailty. If God punishes sin, He also
helps to vanquish it. And if He punishes sin, He also rewards
goodness.

It cannot be said that much use is made of the fact that
the deliberate sin of Adam transmitted moral frailty to his
descendants. The results of the " evil inclination," rather than
theories as to its origin, are mainly insisted upon. And this
seems as true for the first century the age of Acts as for any
subsequent period (cp. II. Baruch, liv. 19).

Nor was " the evil tendency " often associated with the body.
It is true that the soul as it enters the body is generally conceived
as pure. " The soul which thou gavest me was pure/ says
a daily prayer at least as old as Acts. 1 But of any Platonic
attack upon the body there is little to be found. The " evil
inclination " dominates the man as a whole, and in a well-known
apologue both soul and body are held responsible for the sins
which they have helped each other to commit. This world is

1 Authorised Jewish Prayer Book, ed. Singer, p. 5.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 55

not evil because it is material : as God s creation it is essentially
good. Nor is the body evil because it is material. It is only
the seat of sin because it is the framework, or covering, of the
personality, the heart, the individual. 1

An immense portion of the area covered by the relation of God (c) Reward

and punish-

and man must, in the Rabbinic religion, no less than in the entire ment.
Old Testament, be assigned to the doctrine of reward and punish
ment. This doctrine colours the whole of Old Testament religion
in the attitude of man towards his God ; and what we have to ask
is, How far were Old Testament ideas being modified in the first
century after Christ ? Perhaps nowhere more than here did the
doctrine of the future life and of the world to come cause change
not always of statement, but of stress by bringing a particular
point to the front.

God is not only the Father, He is also the Ruler and the
Judge of man. According to the human analogy of all these
offices, God must inevitably punish and reward. Moreover,
according to the Jewish mind, requital was deeply ingrained in
the whole scheme of things. Exceptions there might be, but
these were more apparent than real. The most solemn and
the most true adage in the world was " measure for measure."
" All measures shall pass away, but measure for measure shall
never pass away." The Rabbinic uses of the word Midddh
Measure, Attribute, Quality form a chapter in themselves.

There is a fine series of paradoxes in the Midrash, according
to which the words of Genesis i. 25, 31, "it was good " and " it
was very good," are applied to various pairs the reverse way
from what one might expect. Thus the Good Inclination is
good, the Evil Inclination is very good. Paradise is good,
Gehenna is very good. The angel of life is good ; the
angel of death is very good. R. Huna (third century) said,
" The good measure (i.e. the measure of reward) is good ; the

1 Berachoth, lOa ; Sabbath, 152b ; Niddah, 30b (fin.) ; Sanhedrin, 91a (fin.),
91b (init.) ; Leviticus R. xxxiv. 3 ; Wiinsche, p. 235. Cf. Porter s essay on
the Yeser ha-Ra, pp. 98-107.

56 THE JEWISH WORLD i

measure of chastisements (or sufferings) is very good. For
through sufferings the creatures attain to the life of the world
to come." x

God punishes and rewards. The ideas of retribution and re
quital still hold good : they are intensely believed in. Calamity is
still, to a large extent, explained as the consequence of sin. When
Israel does the will of God, the nations cannot harm him : when
he does not fulfil God s will, they chastise him. And so on.
Moreover, the doctrine of measure for measure is painfully and
mechanically elaborated, and we find (as early as the first century)
much miserable argument about such and such calamities visiting
mankind because of such and such iniquities. Nonsense of this
kind still degrades some pages of the orthodox Jewish prayer
book. 2 Again, as in the Wisdom of Solomon, we are told
that God makes the punishment fit the crime. In the limb with
which men sin they are punished. And so on, and so on. It is
kinder to draw a veil over the details, and to allow them to rest
in a dusty obscurity, from which only a student of the weaknesses
and follies of mankind need, now and again, drag them forth to
the pillory in the hard, clear light of knowledge and of truth.

But these exaggerations and even perversions of Old Testa
ment doctrine are only one part of the development. There are
other parts more pleasant. Calamity and suffering may be
punishment, but they may also be purification.

(i) Purl- The calamities of Israel are mainly sent to purify the people,

suffering/ 7 m order that they may be prepared for the " world to come " ;
whilst the sins of the Gentiles are so great that they cannot be
adequately punished here. If they prosper in this world, it is,
as we have seen, part of God s dispensation that Israel should
atone for its shortcomings here, and the Gentile world for its
crimes hereafter. Thus the famous verse in Proverbs, " Whom
the Lord loves He chastens," is emphasised. " The chastenings of

1 Bereshith R. ix. fin. ; Wiinsche, pp. 38, 39.

2 Authorised Prayer Book, ed. Singer, p. 121. Cf. Aboth, v. 11-14, ed.
Taylor.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 57

love " is a familiar phrase in the Rabbinical writings. " Beloved
are sufferings," says Akiba, and the statement is repeated again
and again. And Akiba added, " Be not like the heathen, for they,
when good comes to them, honour their gods, and when punish
ment comes, they curse them, but you, when God sends you
good, give thanks, and when He sends you sufferings, give thanks
likewise." Man should rejoice in his sufferings even more than
in his prosperity, for suffering wins him the forgiveness of his
sins. Three good things have come to Israel through suffering
only : the Law, the land of promise, and the world to come.
He who rejoices in his sufferings brings salvation to the world.
What a change from the days of Job s friends or even of Job.
One Rabbi said, " He who passes forty days without suffering
has already received his future world upon the earth." x

There are also other qualifications to the view that suffering (2) vica-
is sent from God as a punishment for sin. The righteous may " u ff e s ring&lt;
suffer vicariously. Death is a form of suffering, and the death
of the righteous exercises an atoning force. This idea occurs
frequently. " As the Day of Atonement atones, so does the
death of the righteous atone." In one passage it is said that
there are Israelites who unite knowledge of the Law with good
works ; some have the former, but lack the latter ; some the
latter without the former ; some lack both. God says : Are
these to be lost ? No. All the classes are to form a single bundle,
and the one are to atone for the other. Why has God created
the sinner and the righteous ? That the one should atone for
the other. Why did He create heaven and hell ? That the one
should deliver the other. 2 The idea of solidarity was well
understood. A national calamity of necessity befalls the righteous
as well as the wicked, and in national sorrows every one must
bear his share. " The Rabbis teach that when Israel is in distress,
and an Israelite separates himself from the community, the two

1 Cf. Sanhedrin, lOla ; Meckilta on Exodus xx. 23 ; Wiinsche, pp. 227,
228; Taanith, 8a ; Arachin, 16b ; Schechter, Studies in Judaism (Series I.),
p. 275, and the passages there quoted.

2 Cf. Pesikta C. 174b, 185a, 191a, 191b ; Wiinsche, pp. 254, 269, 282, 283.

58 THE JEWISH WORLD i

angels of the Service who accompany man come and lay their
hands upon his head, and say, This man, who has separated
himself from the community, shall not see its consolation."
" When the community is in distress, a man must not say, I will
go home and eat and drink, peace be unto thee, my soul ; but
a man must share with the community in its distress, like Moses,
and then he is worthy to see its consolation." 1

It is part of the realism of Rabbinic Judaism that, in spite
of the doctrine of the future world and all its glories, death is
almost always conceived as a form of chastisement. That is
why, like suffering, it atones, whether for the sins of him who
dies, or for the sins of others. But a verse in Isaiah (Ivii. 1) was
happily in existence to hinder the odious idea that early death
was a punishment for sin from becoming too dominant. It may
be that God knows that a man would, if he lived, fall into sin,
and so God removes him from earth while he yet perseveres in
his righteousness. 2

(3) Death The doctrine of the world to come was sufficient to prevent
Hfe. 8 faith in God from suffering shipwreck, however puzzling the
events of earth. It also prevented the too unquestioning adop
tion of the doctrine of measure for measure. Men were able to
say, " We cannot understand the prosperity of the wicked, still
less the sufferings of the righteous, but we trust in God." Signifi
cant is the story about Akiba. Moses is told by God of Akiba s
wondrous knowledge, and how he will teach heaps and heaps of
injunctions (Halachoth). Moses asks to see him, and is vouch
safed a vision of Akiba and his students. After some further
conversation, Moses says to God, " Thou hast shown me his
(knowledge of the) Law ; show me now his reward." Then the
vision changes, and Moses sees them weighing Akiba s flesh
in the butcher s shop. Then Moses says : " For such knowledge
of the Law is this the reward ? " " Silence," replies God, " so I
have determined." 3

1 Taanith, lla. 2 Ecclesiastes R. vii. 15 (init.) ; Wiinsche, p. 103.

3 Menahoth, 29b.

n THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 59

Reward, like punishment, is still generally regarded as the
result of righteousness. But the more righteous a man is, the
more fitting it is that his reward should be reserved for
the hereafter. The wicked are rewarded in this world for
the lightest commands which they fulfil ; they are punished
in the next world even for the lightest sins which they
commit. The righteous are punished in this world for the
lightest sins which they commit ; they are rewarded in the next
world for the lightest commands which they fulfil. This view
was maintained by Akiba, and is general. 1 A curious if not
very pleasing remark is attributed to the son of R. Sadok
(first century). His father was cured of some malady by
Vespasian s doctors, and the son said, " Father, give them their
reward in this world, that they may not share thine in the
world to come." 2

Nevertheless, the doctrine of reward underwent many con
current modifications, but it is almost impossible to consider
these without bringing in the Law as the all-pervading influ
ence extending to every conception of religion.

The strength of the legal system was due to two influences, THE LAW.
closely connected with each other. The first was the love of &lt;j ^ in
God, the Giver of the Law ; the second was the joy in the Com
mandments. To some extent the very particularism of the
Rabbinic religion, which makes it less attractive to us moderns,
added strength to its legalism. The Law was the sign of God s
love for Israel ; He had not given them a burden, but a glory.
Every command, as one fulfilled it, was a reminder of that
gracious love, that affectionate, and yet ethical, nearness.
And here is another odd point. When a man gave alms
to the poor, he fulfilled a law of the first magnitude ; so, too,
when he visited the sick, comforted the mourner, rejoiced
with the bridegroom and the bride. Charity and benevolence
are the marks of the Israelite : he who has not compassion and

1 Leviticus R. xxvii. 1 ; Wiinsche, p. 183.

2 Lamentations R. I 5 ; Wiinsche, p. 68.

60 THE JEWISH WOULD i

shame is no child of Abraham. Nevertheless, even a heathen
might on occasion be charitable. When, however, a man affixed
a Mezuzah to his new house, he was doing something which no
Gentile ever did or could possibly do. This partook of the
nature of a delightful secret between him and his heavenly
Father. Take the analogy of a family on earth, where father
and mother are intensely beloved. In such a family there
may be a number of little customs and rules how to sneeze,
where to put the salt -cellar on the table, how to arrange
the father s dressing-room or the mother s work-box which are
only known to the parents and the children. With what delight
do the children observe these regulations ! With what happy
memories they are associated ! How each vies with the other
to do them well ! How many a laugh goes with the doing of
them ! Never do they become stale, never wearisome, never
absurd. It was something of this sort that cropped up among
the Jews as regards their relations to the Law and to God.
Obviously not all could have felt so. Not all persons love God
to-day : not all persons loved Him then. To those who did not
love Him the rules might be a burden or a nuisance, inexplicable
ordinances of an omnipotent Deity, whose odd and freakish com
mands must be sadly obeyed lest worse should befall. But to
lovers every order of the Beloved is dear : in gladness and delight
are His injunctions fulfilled. No more characteristic Rabbinic
phrase than that of the " joy of the Commandments " : Simhah
shel Misvdh. The attitude or preparation for prayer must not
be one of laziness or sorrow or lightness or jesting, but that of
" gladness in the Commandment." 1 To rejoice, and cause
others to rejoice, is the ne plus ultra of religious obedience. First,
purification : then joy ; for the second was supposed to indicate
a higher stage of religious development than the first. " Pros
perity is the blessing of the Old Testament." It would not be
true to say that prosperity is the blessing of the Rabbinic religion.
But the touch of happiness remains, and Paul s insistent rejoice

1 Berachoth, 3 la, el saep.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 61

is the most Rabbinic thing about him. The joy is no longer now
in mere outward material objects, though the worth of these is
not denied. The joy is in the Law, and even in the performance
of the most trifling Misvoth.

Already in the Old Testament there is a double relation (&) Fear
of man to God : fear and love. The same double relation was al
maintained all through the Rabbinic period, and not only
maintained, but developed. Fear is not cast out because
of love, but both love and fear become more conscious and
distinct. It is noticeable in Sirach how the love and fear of
God are used almost interchangeably. The writer seems
hardly conscious that there could be any opposition between
them. In the Rabbinic period, the implications of the two,
or the possible contrariety, are realised perfectly well. Love
is consciously and deliberately declared to be higher than
fear, but fear is not to be altogether abolished. One passes
from fear to love, but even when love is attained, one should not
wholly reject fear. That God punishes sin must never be entirely
forgotten. We have already compared the view of Jesus as
given in Matthew x. 28 and Luke xii. 4. So R. Mattai the
Arbelite (second century) said, " Grow not thoughtless of retribu
tion." And this is interpreted to mean : A man should fear
every day. He is to say, Woe is me, perhaps punishment may
reach me to-day or to-morrow. When he is prosperous, he is
not to say, Because I have deserved it, God has given me food
and drink in this world and the stock awaits me in the here
after ; but he is to say, Woe is me, perhaps only one single
merit has been found in me. He has given me food and drink
here that He may deprive me of the world to come. 1 One
would make a mistake if one were to interpret such a passage as
indicating a persistent attitude of anxious and trembling scrupu
losity, of never-ending and persistent apprehension. A passage
such as this must be taken with a due recollection of oriental
picturesqueness and exaggeration. Nevertheless, it shows that

1 Aboth B. Nathan, ix. (fin.) 21b ; Pollak, p. 52 (but incorrectly rendered).

62 THE JEWISH WORLD i

fear was still maintained. R. Jehudah b. Tema (second century)
said, " Love and fear God ! Tremble and rejoice in the fulfilment
of the Commandments." An early Talmudic passage quotes
the two Biblical commands, " Love God and fear God," and
continues thus : " Execute the divine injunctions in love and in
fear. If thou shouldst be inclined to hate (any law), know that
thou art a lover, and no lover hates : if thou shouldst be inclined
to despise (any law), know that thou fearest, and no fearer
can despise." * The difference between those who serve from
fear and those who serve from love is often discussed in the
Talmud. Did Job, for instance, serve God from fear or from
love ? R. Meir (second century) tried to combine the two, and
said that both Job and Abraham s fear of God was " out of love."
Well known is the passage which enumerates the seven classes of
Pharisees, the last and highest of which is the Pharisee from Love.
In the Jerusalem Talmud it is immediately followed by the famous
description of the death of Akiba, which bears repetition : " Akiba
was being punished before Turnus Rufus, and the hour drew
nigh for saying the Shema. He began to say it, and he laughed.
Then Rufus said, Old man, thou art a sorcerer, or thou despisest
thy sufferings. Akiba said, Calm thyself. I am no sorcerer,
nor do I despise my sufferings (for this too would have been a
sin), but all my life when I read this verse, And thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with
all thy might, I was grieved, for I said to myself, when will all
three be within my power ? I have loved Him with all my heart
and with all my might, but to love Him with all my soul ( = life)
was not assured to me. But now that with all my soul
has come, and the hour of saying the Shema has arrived,
and my resolution remains firm, should I not laugh ? He had
not finished speaking when his soul fled away." The reader
will not fail to notice that the most exalted idealism is inextricably
involved with the most careful legalism. That is Rabbinism

1 Aboth R. Nathan, xli. 67a, ed. Schechter; Pollak, p. 141 ; Jer. Berachoth.
ix. ; Schwab, i. p. 169.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 63

all over. But Akiba was not the only martyr, and all who
suffered then were but the forerunners of an immense cloud of
sufferers who have never ceased to suffer from then till now :
" They that love me and keep my Commandments." These are
the Israelites, said R. Nathan, who lived in Palestine, and gave
their lives for the Commands. " Why goest thou forth to be killed
by the sword ? Because I circumcised my son. Why goest thou
forth to be burnt ? Because I read in the Torah. Why goest
thou forth to be crucified ? Because I ate unleavened bread." l

In the middle, as it were, between religion and morality, and (c) Sancti-
casting its influence upon both, is the conception of the Sanctifica- the Name.
tion and Profanation of the Name. This conception deepened,
though it depended on, the Biblical teachings upon the subject
in Ezekiel and elsewhere, and is, in this fuller and finer develop
ment, at least as old as Akiba. The highest form of Sanctifica-
tion is martyrdom. For the Talmudists the classic period of the
Sanctification was the Hadrianic persecution. Thus, for in
stance, playing upon Psalm xvi. 3, the Midrash observes : " David
said, Thou didst increase sufferings for the generation of the
persecution, when they died for the sanctification of Thy Name.
R. Idi said, Sufferings are divided into three portions. One
portion the fathers and all the generations together have assumed ;
one portion the generation of the persecution ; one portion the
King Messiah (aliter : the generation of the Messiah). W T hat
did they do in the generation of the persecution ? They took
iron balls and made them white-hot, and put them under their
armpits, and took away their lives from them, and they brought
sharp reeds, and put them under their nails, and so they died for
the Sanctification of Thy Name." Elsewhere the same Midrash
remarks : " How many persecutions have been decreed against
Israel, but they have given their lives for the Sanctification of
the Name." 2 Rather touching is the saying of R. Hiyya bar

1 Sotah, 31a ; Jer. Berachoth, ix. ; Schwab, i. pp. 169, 170 ; Hechilta on
Exodus xx. 5 ; Wiinsche, p. 213.

2 Midrash Tillim on Psalm xvi. 3 ; Wiinsche, vol. i p. 124 ; Midrash
Tillim on Psalm xviii. 7 ; Wiinsche, vol. i. p. 149.

64 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Abba (second century) : "If you are asked to give your life for
the Sanctification of the Name, say, I am ready to give it ; only
may I be beheaded at once, and not be tortured as in the days
of the persecution." l

Certain it was that those who gave or give their lives for
the Sanctification of the Name would obtain the blessedness of
the world to come. The " Sons of the living God loved Him
even unto death." That is said to be the meaning of the
words sick of love in the Song of Solomon. " They were sick,
not through pain of head or body, but through love of the
Holy One yea, sick of love even unto death, for the Son so
loves his Father that he gives up his life for the honour of his
Father. Even as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gave
their lives, not on the condition of release, but to be burnt,
for it is said, stronger than death is love." 2

As the Sanctification of the Name was the highest duty, so
the Profanation of the Name was the deadliest sin, for which,
according to the developed Rabbinic view, there was no atone
ment but death. Even repentance, and the Day of Atonement,
and sufferings, were insufficient. 3 The Sanctification of the
Name is a peculiarly Jewish duty, which is not obligatory upon the
Gentile Theist, or the follower of the seven Noachide Commands. 4
But, over and above martyrdom, the duty of Sanctification
and the sin of profanation exercised a peculiar effect upon
Jewish life. God s honour is, as it were, put into Israelite
keeping. Here we find an odd moral result for good of Jewish
particularism. Though God is the one and only God, yet He
is in a special sense the God of Israel, and so any sin of any
Israelite, which becomes known to a non-Israelite, constitutes a
profanation of the Name. It reflects upon God s honour. The
special servants and sons of God must not sin, for their sin, if
known, reflects upon the credit of their God, who bade them be

1 Pesikta C. x. 87a ; Wiinsche, p. 112.

2 Midrash Tillim, ix. ad fin. ; Wiinsche, vol. i. p. 93.

3 Yoma. 86a. 4 SanJiedrin, 74b.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 65

holy even as He is holy, and through their holiness to show forth
His. Thus to return for a moment to religious persecution it is
permitted, in order to save one s life, to transgress all laws,
except the laws against idolatry, unchastity, and murder ; but if
one is asked openly to violate the lightest law as a sign of apos
tasy, one must unhesitatingly die. If of two possible methods
of action, one involves an ordinary sin, and one a profanation
of the Name, one must undoubtedly choose the former. It is
better, it was said, that a letter should be torn out of the
Law than that God s Name should be openly profaned. 1 It
was even asserted that it was better to commit a sin in secret
than to profane the Name openly, while, on the other hand, it
was also declared that this secret sin was itself a profanation
of the Name. 2 Thus the Sanctification of the Name became
an important string in the Jew s moral bow, and especi
ally in his dealings with the non-Jew. This point comes out
very naively in Talmudic discussions. The natural man in
the Jew was inclined to take advantage of the non-Jew, to
defraud him, in other words, when opportunity offered. For
the non-Jew was the oppressor of the Jew. But the Jew was
restrained from doing so by the law of the Sanctification. Thus
the rule stands codified : to steal from the non- Jew is a heavier
sin than to steal from the Jew because of the Profanation of
the Name. 3 Famous is the old story of R. Simeon ben
Shetah (first century), who restored the jewel which was found
upon the donkey that he had bought from certain Arabs. Char
acteristic is the remark made on his action : " Simeon preferred
to know that those Arabs said (when the jewel was restored),
Blessed be the God of the Jews, than all the reward of this world.
The cry of the Arabs was a great Sanctification of the Name."
In the passage of the Jerusalem Talmud, where the story is told,

1 Sanhedrin, 74a ; Yebamoth, 79a.

2 Kiddushin, 40a.

3 Tosefta, Baba Kama, x. 15. A certain legal deceit must not be allowed,
said Akiba, towards the non -Jew because of the Sanctification of the Name :
Baba Kamma, 113a.

VOL. I p

66 THE JEWISH WORLD i

other tales follow of the same kind. 1 Dr. Kohler is doubt
less right when he says that " to this day the warning against
profanation of the Name tends to keep the commonest Jew from
committing any act that might disgrace the Jewish Com
munity." 2

Ethics A few words may be in place regarding the effect of the Law
nla! upon the conceptions of virtue and vice, righteousness and sin,
and the methods of the divine retribution. What are supposed
to be the dangerous effects of legalism in these respects must be
well known to every reader. Nor can it be doubted that there
existed a certain tendency to look at righteousness and sin as if
a man s character could be measured in the same manner as his
weight. But the truth seems to be that though such a tendency
existed, it was checked by other tendencies, more human, more
healthy, more prophetic. There is, however, no room here
to deal with this very complicated subject more thoroughly.

The terms merit 5 (Zechuth) and " good works " (maasim
tobim) are perhaps familiar to the reader. How far, it may be
asked, did these terms, which are quite as early as Acts, generate
the idea that certain deeds were accomplished for the sake of
piling up a store of merit (and hence of acquiring reward) ? For
instance : Was a man inclined to give alms a prominent
example of good works to make for himself a treasure or store
of merit ? Already in Sirach we have the doctrine that alms
giving delivers from death and atones for sin, and this view was
general in the Rabbinic period. The word SedaJcah, which in
the Bible means righteousness, acquired in Rabbinic Hebrew
the subsidiary sense of alms-giving, and hence a famous verse
in Proverbs (xi. 4) was interpreted as a witness and proof of the
potency of eleemosynary gifts. The doctrine of Matt. vi. 20 about
treasures in heaven is essentially and even verbally Rabbinic.
Famous is the tale of King Monobazus, the proselyte (first cen
tury), who dissipated all his treasures and those of his ancestors in

1 Jerusalem Talmud, Baba Mesia, ii. 5 ; Schwab, voL x. p. 93.
2 Jewish Encyclopaedia, vol. vii. p. 485, col. 2.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 67

alms. His family remonstrate, and contrast his conduct with
that of his prudent forefather. He replies : "My ancestors
collected for below, I have collected for above ; they collected in
a place where the hand rules, I have collected in a place where it
does not ; they collected what bears no fruit, I have collected what
bears fruit ; they collected money, I have collected treasures of
souls (Prov. xi. 30) ; they collected for others, I have collected
for myself ; they collected for this world, I have collected for
the world to come." So Akiba asked by Turnus Rufus, " Why,
if your God loves the poor, does he not sustain them ? " replied,
" So that we may be saved through them from the judgment
of hell." Almsgiving and charity (deeds of loving - kindness)
are the great intercessors between Israel and their Father in
heaven. 1

As early as the first century, the division of the commands (2) Heavy
into light and heavy had been effected. From the second century commands.
comes the adage : " Be as attentive to a light precept as to a
heavy one, for thou knowest not the reward of precepts." 2
But in truth the motive for obedience was higher than this adage
would make it out. It was not merely urged, Run to do a light
command, for it will induce you the more readily to fulfil a
heavy one. The light commands were looked on as the
adornment and beauty of the Law. The verse in Canticles is
quoted : " Thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with
lilies," and these lilies are said to be the light, tender commands,
the fulfilment of which brings Israel to the life of the world^
to come. 3

It must not be supposed that the light are the ritual commands,
and the heavy the moral commands. Such a division would be
false. Some commands, such as circumcision, Sabbath, fasting
on the Day of Atonement, eating unleavened bread in the week
of Passover, though ritual, are, in Rabbinic eyes, extremely
heavy. The emphasis laid upon circumcision is remarkable.

1 Baba Bathra, lla, lOa ; Sabbath, 32a. 2 Aboth, ii. 1.

3 Aboth R. Nathan, ii. 5a ; Pollak, p. 21.

68 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Nevertheless, although many ritual commands are heavy, few
moral commands would be light.

(3) Em- It is probable that, with the rise of Christianity, the emphasis

motive. 011 on the formal side of the Law was increased. This cut more
ways than one. More and more insistence was placed upon
purity of motive : the Law for its own sake. The doctrine of
lishmah (for its own sake) is one of the distinctive glories of
Rabbinic Judaism. " To him who studies the law for its own
sake, it is a tree of life ; to him who does not, it is a mixture
of death. And be it noted that to fulfil a command for its
own sake becomes equivalent to fulfilling it from love.
Even "a sin lishmah is better than a command which is not
lishmah" meaning that it is better to fall into an unintentional
transgression with a good motive than to fulfil a command
with a bad one. 1 It was even held dangerous or wrong to say
of a command like Deut. xxii. 6, 7, " How great is God s
mercy." The laws are not mere expressions of God s mercy :
they are His arbitrary decrees. 2 A curious parallelism with the
views of Kant may be observed in certain Rabbinic phrases
and tendencies concerning the Law. Thus R. Hanina bar
Hama (third century) said, " Better is he who does some
thing because it is ordered than he who does it though
he was not ordered to do it." 3 The old saying of Antigonus
of Socho, " Be not as slaves that serve their Lord with
a view to reward," did not fall on deaf ears. It is con
stantly quoted in Rabbinical literature, as, for instance, by
R. Eleazar (third century), when, using Psalm cxii. 1, " blessed

1 Taanifh, 7a, Nazir, 23b.

2 This view, moreover, prevented superstition. There was no magic in
the ritual ordinances. Highly significant is R. Johanan ben Zaccai s remark
about the water of Numbers xix. 9. " The dead body does not (in itself)
cause uncleanness ; water does not (in itself) make clean : it is just a divine
ordinance that may not be transgressed." So Rab (third century) said,
" The commands were merely given to purify man. What does it matter
to God how an animal is killed ? " Numbers R. xix. ; Wiinsche, p. 466 ; Bere-
shith B. xliv. init. ; Wiinsche, p. 201.

8 Megilla, 25a, Berachoth, 33b ; Jer. Ber. v. 3 ; Schwab, vol. i. p. 103 ;
Kiddushin, 3 la.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 69

is he who greatly delights in God s commandments," he observes,
" only in the commandments, not in the reward of the com
mandments." 1

Thus this very legalism laid much stress on motive.
Rabbi Eleazar said that if he who unintentionally commits a
good action is rewarded, how much more he who commits
it intentionally. That God demands the heart is a familiar
Rabbinic aphorism. A combination of the doctrine of inten
tion with the doctrine of God s mercy results in the customary
teaching that the good intention, even frustrated, is reckoned
as if it had issued in deed ; whereas the bad intention, which
fails to be consummated in action, is forgiven. The distinc
tion between intention and deed is sometimes oddly manifested.
We are told of Akiba that on reading a certain passage in the
Law, he would weep and say, If he who meant to eat pig, and ate
sheep, required atonement and forgiveness, how much more does
he need it who meant to eat pig and ate it ! Or, again, if he who
meant to eat permitted fat, and ate forbidden fat, needed atone
ment and forgiveness, how much more he who meant to eat for
bidden fat and ate it ! 2 The Rabbis, who were inclined to
judge themselves severely (as indeed a Rabbinic law ordained),
did not by any means always avail themselves of the teaching
that the frustrated evil intention is overlooked by God, so far
as their own repentance and consciousness of sin were concerned.

Such teaching as this and it became a regular commonplace (4) Grace
must have provided a good corrective to the dangers of Zechuth
and to the doctrine of treasures. It was moreover often re
peated that man has no claim upon God because of his virtues.
The precipitate of early Rabbinic doctrine is contained in the
liturgy. Daily the orthodox Jew is supposed to recite the follow
ing prayer, which may be as old as the first century. " Sovereign
of all worlds ! Not because of our righteous acts do we lay our

1 Abodah Zarah, 19a.

2 Sifre, 120a ; Kiddushin, 39b, 40a ; Sanhedrin, 106b ; Kiddushin, 81b ;
Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, i. p. 326, n. 2.

70 THE JEWISH WORLD i

supplications before Thee, but because of Thine abundant mercies.
What are we ? What is our life ? What is our piety ? What
our righteousness ? . . . What shall we say before Thee, Lord
our God and God of our fathers ? Are not the wise as if without
knowledge, and the understanding as if without discernment ? "
Not improperly does Dr. Abrahams say : "In this passage we
have the true Rabbinic spirit on the subject of grace and works.
The Rabbis held that reward and punishment were meted out
in some sort of accordance with a man s righteousness and sin.
But nothing that man, with his finite opportunities, can do con
stitutes a claim on the favour of the Almighty and the Infinite.
In the final resort all that man receives from the divine
hand is an act of grace." 1 Moses, says the Midrash, used
for his prayers the expression supplication. R. Johanan said,
"Hence thou canst learn that the creature has nothing over
against his Creator, for Moses, the greatest of the Prophets,
could only come to God with supplications." 2 And the Midrash
goes on to say : " God said to Moses, Upon him who puts some
thing in My hand, I will have mercy with the attribute of mercy,
to him who puts nothing in My hand, I will be gracious with a
free gift." 3 Not even Abraham, Isaac or Jacob could go
unpunished if God dealt with them as in a Court of Law. All
need the loving-kindness of God, even Abraham. 4 Comment
ing on Ps. cxli. 1, " I cry unto Thee : make haste unto me,"
the Midrash observes : " What does Make haste unto me
mean ? I hastened to fulfil Thy commands ; so hasten Thou to
me. What is the matter like ? It is like a man who had to
defend himself before a judge. He saw that all others had
advocates to plead for them. He said to the judge, The others
have advocates ; I have no advocate. Be thou my advocate
as well as my judge. So David said, Some trust to their good

1 Authorised Prayer Book, p. 7. Annotated edition by Dr. I. Abrahams,
p. xxi.

2 Deuteronomy R. ii. 1 ; Wiinsche, p. 18. 3 Ibid. p. 19.

4 Genesis R. Ix. 2 ; Wiinsche, p. 281 ad fin. Cp. Genesis B. on xxxix. 6 ;
Wiinsche, p. 175.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 71

and upright works, and some trust to the works of their fathers :
but I trust to Thee. Even though I have no good works, yet
since I call on Thee, answer me." x

On the whole, there was doubtless a certain tendency to Tendency

to intel-

believe that the greater the works, the greater the reward,
according to the teaching " All is according to the greatness of
the work." And yet, how often other conceptions, such as
repentance and intention/ cross the retribution dogma and
drive it aside ! Famous is the tale of R. Eliezer b. Durdaiya
(second century) who was so addicted to the sin of unchastity
that it was said of him that there was no harlot in the world
whom he had not visited. It was recorded of him that, on the
occasion of his last sin, the harlot herself said to him that his
repentance would never be received.

" Then he went forth, and sat between the hills, and said, Ye
mountains and hills, seek mercy for me. But they said, Before
we seek mercy for you, we must seek it for ourselves, for it is
said, The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed/ Then
he said, Heaven and earth, ask mercy for me. But they said,
Before we ask mercy for you, we must ask it for ourselves, as
it is said, The heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth
shall wax old as a garment. Then he said, * Sun and moon,
ask mercy for me. But they said, Before we ask for you, we
must ask for ourselves, as it is said, The moon shall be confounded,
and the sun ashamed. Then he said, * Planets and stars, ask
mercy for me. But they said, * Before we ask for you, we must
ask for ourselves, as it is said, All the hosts of heaven shall be
dissolved, and the heaven shall be rolled up as a scroll. Then
he said, The matter depends wholly upon me. He sank his
head between his knees, and cried and wept so long till his soul
went forth from him. Then a heavenly voice was heard to
say, R. Eliezer b. Durdaiya has been appointed to the life
of the world to come. But R. Jehudah I., the Patriarch
(Rabbi) (second century) wept and said, There are those

1 Midrash Tillim on Psalm cxli. 1 ; Wiinsche, vol. ii. p. 234 fin.

72 THE JEWISH WORLD i

who acquire the world to come in years upon years ; there
are those who acquire it in an hour. x And he added, * Not
only do they receive the penitent, but they even call them
Rabbi ! " This phrase, " There are those who (hardly) acquire
the world to come in years upon years ; there are those who
acquire it in an hour," is often repeated. What an odd com
mentary it is upon the doctrine of measure for measure !
The Very complicated (especially in the first century) is the ques-

Ame ha- ^ Qn j low ar ^ L aw stimulated a false intellectualism ; for it
raises the whole question of the Ame ha-Are, into which it is
impossible to enter here. 2 Were there (in the first century) large
masses of Jews ignorant of the Law and hated by the Rabbis ?
The Gospel evidence for the existence of such people we know,
and there is a certain amount of evidence in the Rabbinical litera
ture which seems to substantiate, and tally with, the evidence of
the Gospels. This Rabbinic evidence concerns the Ame ha-
Ares, who are usually supposed to correspond with the neglected
and despised multitudes of the Synoptics, and with the accursed
people who know not the Law of the fourth Gospel. Some, how
ever, think that the statements in the Gospels are exaggerated :
it has even been suggested that the Ame ha- Ares of the Talmud
were not poor neglected outcasts at all. The subject is intensely
important. Nevertheless, it must be wholly omitted here, because
it does not admit of a fair presentation without a very extended
statement and discussion of all the available facts. Moreover,
these facts are extremely complicated. The passages relating
to the Ame ha-Ares admit of many conflicting interpretations,
and they are not entirely consistent with each other or with any
particular explanation of them or hypothesis. But whoever
the Ame ha-Are were, they seem to have gradually died out,
as the rule of Law penetrated more and more deeply through
every class of society. The neglected outcasts do not
appear to have continued long after Hadrian. Was the terrible
revolt a purification as of fire ? Did it produce an immense

1 Abodah Zarah, 17a. 2 See pp. 125 ff.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 73

increase of devotion, to the Law ? Did it make all surviving
Jews more closely knit to each other ? Did it cause the lax or
the outcast to seek a religious home elsewhere ? It is impos
sible to enter into these fascinating possibilities. 1

Yet even apart from the Ame ha- Ares, one may legitimately Study and
ask how far, especially in the first and second centuries, was the
intellectual element in the religion entirely beneficial. We have
seen how the study of the Law was regarded as the highest and
most inclusive of all those duties and virtues whereof the fruit is
enjoyed in this world and the stock in the world to come. A
famous passage in the Talmud, of which the conclusion is often
repeated, recounts how R. Tarphon (first century) and the Elders
were assembled in an upper chamber of a house in Lydda when
the question was raised whether study or doing was greater.
R. Tarphon said doing was greater. R. Akiba said that study
was greater. Then all agreed that study was greater because
it led to doing. 2 This does not seem wholly unreasonable.
Nor can one discount or deny the nobility (or the significance) of
the opening supplication of the Amidah, which is at least as old
as Acts. " Thou favourest men with knowledge, and teachest
mortals understanding. favour us with knowledge, under
standing and discernment from Thee. Blessed art Thou, Lord,
gracious giver of knowledge." We cannot object to the view-
that he only is poor who is poor in knowledge, or to the adage,
" Do you possess knowledge, what do you lack ? Do you lack
knowledge, what do you possess ? " 3 But what are we to
say to the phrases of R. Eleazar who observed : " If a man
has no knowledge, it is forbidden to have mercy upon him," or
" If a man shares his bread with him who has no knowledge,

1 In addition to the usual sources of information, including Dr. Biichler s
wonderfully learned work, Der galilaische Am-ha Aretz des zweiten Jahrhunderts.
it is only fair and pleasant to mention the three careful and useful papers by a
young scholar, A. H. Silver, in the Hebrew Union College Monthly for December
1914, and January and February 1915. Silver s conclusions seem to me the
fairest, most probable, and most historical that I have so far met with.

8 KiddusMn, 40b ; Jer. PesaJiim, iii. 7 ; Schwab, v. p. 45.

3 Nedarim, 48a.

74 THE JEWISH WORLD i

sufferings will come upon him " ? 1 And then we have the well-
known saying of Hillel : "No boor is a sinfearer, nor is the Am
ha-Ares pious." 2 It would be easy to make too much of
these sayings, the like of which do not appear to be very frequent.
In Hillel s saying the word pious (Hasid) has possibly a
technical sense, meaning rigidly saintly. Or, the boor is the
man of dull and coarse sensibilities ; scarcely, the simple God-
loving fool. And we must remember that this same Hillel is the
man who was always ready to pay attention to anybody, and
whose favourite adage was, " Love the creatures, and bring
them in to the Law. Be a disciple of Aaron ; love peace and
pursue it."

The Rabbis, moreover, were no close corporation. They
sprang from the people, were often lowly born, and often poor.
Many practised a handicraft, for it was forbidden to " make
a livelihood out of the Law." Some were well-to-do ; a few-
were rich. But the rich counted no higher than the poor.
It was an aristocracy of knowledge, and this aristocracy
prevented for centuries any aristocracy of wealth. The honour
paid to learning and knowledge of the Law gradually grew
more and more universal. If any family had a Scholar or
a Rabbi among its members, great was its glory. What priva
tions the student and the student s family would be willing to
suffer for the sake of learning and of study ! And it was a
genuine honour, a genuine love. The Rabbi was no priest. He
had no dispensing power. He manipulated no sacrament. He
had no keys of heaven. Not through him, but solely by your
own efforts, and by the mercy of God, could you get there. There
fore the respect paid to learning was sincere and for its own sake.
We have already noticed the constant warning against pride.

Nor must it be supposed that the Rabbis had no thought of
ordinary people, their needs, their sorrows, or their virtues.

1 Sanhedrin, 92a.

2 Aboih, ii. 6. Cp. Menahot, 43b fin. R. Meir s blessing that God has not
made him a boor.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 75

That is not so. Note their saying : "If you have no time for a
long prayer, use a short one." R. Gamaliel (end of first century)
said that the Amidah the eighteen Benedictions should be said
every day. R. Joshua (end of first century) said, the substance of
them. R. Akiba said, If a man s prayer is fluent in his mouth,
let him say the whole Amidah ; if not, let him say the substance.
Thus the Mishnah. The Gemara gives an example of a prayer
which may be called * the substance : it would take only two
minutes to say. 1 The Rabbis realised that there was a time
for long prayers and a time for short. There is a nice story of
R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanus (first century). A student was offering
prayer in the Synagogue, and was dragging out his prayer at
greater length than usual. His fellow students said to Eliezer,
Master, how he elongates ! Eliezer replied, Does he elongate
more than Moses who prayed for forty days and nights ? On
another occasion a student was surprisingly short, and his fellows
said, How he shortens ! Eliezer replied, Does he shorten more
than Moses, who prayed, " God, heal her " ? 2 Eliezer s
own example of a short prayer, such as one might pray on a
voyage in a place of danger, is very delicate. " Thy will be done
in heaven above, and give calm of spirit to those who fear Thee
below, and what is good in Thine eyes, do. Blessed art Thou,
Lord, who nearest prayer." 3 The following prayer must
clearly have been meant for the people at large : " The wants
of Thy people Israel are many, their knowledge is small : may it be
Thy will, Lord our God, to give to every one his sustenance, and
to everybody what he needs. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who
nearest prayer." 4 "I have told thee," God is made to say,
" to pray in the Synagogue, but if thou canst not, pray in thy
field, and if thou canst not, pray in thy house, and if thou canst
not, pray in thy bed, and if thou canst not, think in thy heart
and be still." 5 This does not look like the utterance of

1 Berachoth, 28b, 29a. 8 Berachoth, 34a.

3 Berachoth, 29b. 4 Berachoth, ibid.

5 Pesikta C. xxv. 158a ; Wiinsche, p. 226.

76 THE JEWISH WORLD i

haughty separatists. Nor does the story of the woman who
brought a handful of meal to the altar as her sacrifice. The
priest sneered at it. But in a dream it was said to him : "Account
not her gift as small : account it rather as if she had offered her
self." l All men, said R. Eleazar (third century), are equal
before God, women and slaves, rich and poor. He did not say,
learned and ignorant, but I feel pretty sure that we may assume
that he meant it. 2

There are many more things which should be said about the
effect of the Law upon, and its relation to, the entire religion of
the Jews in the early Rabbinic period. Many sections of the
subject have not been touched upon at all. Thus the extent,
with its effects, of the ritual laws should be discussed : the food
observances, sexual observances, Sabbath observances, the agri
cultural dues, the laws of clean and unclean, are all exceedingly
important. Divorce, polygamy, and the position and estimate
of women, would all require careful and separate treatment.

We have already noticed the immense stress laid by the
Teachers upon almsgiving and deeds of love. And here three
points are to be observed. The first is the increasing delicacy
of sentiment. Perhaps the sin which the Rabbis most repro
bate is putting one s neighbour to the blush, making him feel
ashamed in public. And therefore they lay the utmost stress
upon considerateness and delicacy in almsgiving. Much could
be written as to this, and many charming quotations could
be made. Secondly, the clear distinction had been achieved
between almsgiving and the higher love. Thirdly, while the
Teachers exalt benevolence, and even go so far as to say that
poor and rich were created for each other, the former helping
to create the merit for the latter, they are yet very keen (like
Sirach) on independence, and have many sensible remarks to
make about begging. Akiba said that it was better to go with
out the distinction of the Sabbath meal (in ordinary circum-

1 Leviticus E. iii. 5 ; Wiinsche, p. 22.

2 Exodus R. xxi. ; Wiinsche, p. 166.

RABBINISM.

ii THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 77

stances a joyful duty) than to ask the help of another. To
lend may be better than to give, and so on. 1

On two points, often discussed, Rabbinic ethics would, I (6) For-
believe, come out of a close investigation with credit and honour. g
The first concerns forgiveness. " The day of Atonement atones
for sins between a man and his God ; it does not atone for
sins between a man and his neighbour till he has become recon
ciled with his neighbour." This passage from the Mishnah is
of high importance, for it represents the considered doctrine of
the Synagogue. It is repeated in the Siphra, and a teaching of
R. Eleazar b. Azariah (first century) is added : " Words between
thee and God will be forgiven thee ; words between thee and thy
neighbour will not be forgiven thee till thou hast softened thy
neighbour." 2 It is, perhaps, true that the Rabbis thought
more of the doer than of the recipient of the wrong. They were,
perhaps, more keen to teach that the doer of a wrong should beg
pardon and seek reconciliation than that the recipient should
forgive. A characteristic story is that of R. Simon b. Eleazar
(second century). He once saw a very ugly man, and called
out, " How ugly you are." To which the man replied, " Go
to the Master who made me and reprove Him." Then the
Rabbi leapt from his ass, and begged for forgiveness. But
the man would not let him off so easily. " He followed the
Rabbi all the way to the city of his residence, and on arrival
there asked the people who their Rabbi was. They replied, Him
you follow. The ugly man said, If he is a Rabbi, may there
be few like him in Israel ! And he told them the story. They
said, Nevertheless, forgive him. He replied, I will forgive him
on condition that he never acts like that again. And the Rabbi
preached that day in the College, Let a man be always as bending

1 Cp. Pesahim, 112a ; Sabbath, 118a ; Aboth E. Nathan, iii. 8a ; Pollak,
p. 27 ; Mishnah Peah, viii. 8, 9.

2 Yoma, 85b ; Siphra, 83a and b. Cp. Dr. Charles, Religious Development
between the Old and the New Testaments, pp. 151, 152. His translation of Yoma,
86b, is erroneous, and the contrast between it and Matthew xviii. 21, 22, falls
to the ground. Cp. my article on Jewish Apocalypses and Rabbinic Judaism
in The Quest, October 1915, p. 165.

78 THE JEWISH WORLD i

as a reed and not stiff like a cedar." 1 R. Jehuda b. Tema
(second century) was wont to say, " If you have done your neigh
bour a small injury, in your eyes let it seem great ; has he done
you a great injury, in your eyes let it seem small. And forgive
those who humiliate you." 2 Often repeated, and not unjustly
famous, is the adage, " Of those who are humiliated, and do not
humiliate, who bear insults and do not reply, who fulfil (the
Commands) from love, and rejoice in their sufferings, the Scripture
says, They who love Him are as the sun when he goeth forth
in his might. " 3

A virtue often urged is, " Not to insist upon one s rights,"
which seems to turn into the equivalent of forbearance, of
yielding, of forgiveness. Thus was it said by Raba, " He
who passes over his rights, his sins are passed over." It is
recorded that R. Akiba s prayers were heard while R. Eliezer s
prayers were not heard not because Akiba was greater (i.e.
more learned) than Eliezer, but because he was more for
bearing. 4

The Rabbinical advance in ethical distinction and delicacy
is also illustrated by the example given to explain the distinc
tion between revenge and bearing a grudge, both of which are
forbidden in the same Pentateuchal verse (Lev. xix. 18). If A
asks B to lend him a sickle and B refuses, and B next day asks
A to lend him an axe, and A refuses, saying, I will not lend
you anything, because you would not lend me that is revenge.
But if A asks B to lend him a sickle and B refuses, and B next
day asks A to lend him an axe, and A does so, saying, There it is,
I am not like you, who would not lend to me that is bearing a
grudge. 5

Love. An impression is current that the word love, and the actions
or the feelings which the word denotes, were unknown in Rabbinic
Judaism. But the more one reads of Rabbinic literature, the more,

1 Abofh R. Nathan, xli. 66a ; Pollak, p. 139.

2 Aboth E. Nathan, xli. 67a ; Pollak, p. 141.

3 Sabbath, 88b. Cp. Baba Kamma, 92a, 93a.

4 Yoma, 23a, 87b ; Taanith, 25b. 6 Yoma, 23a.

[i THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 79

I think, one comes to the conclusion that there is not much to
be said for the old familiar contrast of Righteousness for Judaism
and Love for Christianity. Modern Jews in polemical literature
have often taken the foolish line of trying to turn the tables
upon their critics by saying, " We accept the contrast, and glory
in it. Righteousness is higher than love ! " The historian will
let these verbal contests and sophistries lie. He will perceive
that there was in Rabbinic literature from the first century
onwards a passionate love for God, a passionate love for His Law,
and a very real love of neighbour. These various loves were
shown by practical service, by delicate charity, and, so far as
God was concerned, by obedience culminating in martyrdom.
Life under the Law, so far as loving deeds and gentle bene
volence are concerned, leaves little to be desired.

It is another question whether there existed a feeling oi love
to all men, including the sinner and the enemy. That Hillel s
form of the golden rule is negative I do not think so important
as Christian writers, in their very natural desire to magnify
the uniqueness of the words of Jesus, always make out. That
sameHillel said, " Love mankind, and bring them in to the Law,"
which is positive enough in all conscience. Nevertheless, suum
cuique. And I should be far from attempting to deny the
original elements in the Gospel teaching. The summons not
to wait till they meet you in your sheltered and orderly path,
but to go forth and seek out and redeem the sinner and the
fallen, the passion to heal and bring back to God the wretched
and the outcast all this I do not find in Rabbinism ; that form
of love seems lacking.

These remarks are but suggestions towards a picture of the Conclusion,
tendencies of Jewish religious thought at the close of the first
century. They reveal a fine Theistic religion, peculiar and
special in its frequent strength and in its occasional weakness.
It was, at any rate, a religion in which God was a most present
reality. Let all thy deeds, said Hillel, be in the name of heaven.
In other words, let them all be done for the glory of God. It was

80 THE JEWISH WORLD i

God s glory, I fancy, and the delicate sense of charity which His
religion was generating, that prompted Hillel to provide a horse
and a slave for a poor man of noble family, and that made him,
on an occasion when there was no slave to run in front of the
horse, run some distance himself, so that the poor man might
maintain his honour. 1

" Deeds of loving-kindness " : not always the sort of deeds
which we should do to-day, but fair and delicate deeds, never
theless.

" A legal religion." Yes, but a religion which culminated
in the view that for God s sake and His Law s sake, for
the pure love of God and for the pure love of His Law, must
all commands be fulfilled, that the intention is even greater
than the deed, and that thoughts of sin are even more serious
than the sin itself. 2 " The day is short," said the stern
and rigid R. Tarphon, who had seen the Temple worship in
its glory, " and the task is great, and the reward is much."
Do you say, " Ah, always that odious mention of reward " ?
And what sort of man was this R. Tarphon ? One Sabbath
day his mother s sandals split and broke, and as she could
not mend them, she had to walk across the courtyard bare
foot. So Tarphon kept stretching his hands under her feet,
so that she might walk over them all the way. 3 Another
day, at the close of the fig harvest, he was walking in
a garden, and he ate some figs that had been left behind.
The custodians of the garden came up, caught him, and
beat him unmercifully. Then Tarphon called out, and said
who he was, whereupon they stopped and let him go. Yet all
his days did he grieve, for he said, " Woe is me, for I have used
the crown of the Law for my own profit." For the teaching
ran : A man must not say, I will study, so as to be called a wise
man, or an elder, or to have a seat in the College, but he must

1 Be,a, 16a; Kethuboth, 67b ; Jer. Peak, viii. 8; Schwab, vol. ii. p. 114.

2 Yoma, 29a init.

3 The story is most intelligently told in Jer. Kiddushin, i. 8 ; Jer. Peak,
i. 1 ; Schwab, ii. p. 9 ; Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, i. p. 344, n. 1.

11 TPIE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM 81

study from love, the honour will come of itself. 1 Finally, let
us recall what R. Eleazar b. Sadok (first century), who, an older
man than Tarphon, also saw the faU of Jerusalem, was wont to
say, " Do the words of the Law for the doing s sake, and speak of
them for their own sake. Make them not a crown with which
to exalt thyself, or a spud with which to weed." 2
A strange legalism !

1 Jer. Shebi ith, iv. 3 ; Schwab, ii. p. 358 ; Nedarim, 62b. Cp the story
in Baba Bathra, 8a, of R. Jehudah I., the Patriarch (Rabbi), and R. Jonathan
(second century), an odd mixture of intolerance and delicacy.

2 Nedarim, 62b ; Bachor, Agada der Tannaiten, i. p. 48, n. 2 and 3.

For Bibliography see end of volume.

VOL. I

Ill

VARIETIES OF THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM
By THE EDITORS

WHEN Christianity made its appearance Judaism was one of
the most active and vigorous religious forces in the world.
Religious activity is, however, mainly revealed in diversity, and
it is almost impossible for a living church to be a united one.
When men feel intensely the need of communion with God, they
differ most as to the means of attaining it. Vital religion is, after
all, a great experiment, and each man resolves to try his own
methods.

Tne 01(i Testament tells us less than we should desire about

Ancient

Israel" 10 * ^ e re ^ on ^ I srae l ^wn to the Captivity. We infer that,
upon the whole, it was traditional, national, tribal, and domestic.
But it was honourably distinguished by the constant protest
which was raised against the popular conception of Israel s
relation to God. The prophets insisted that God s favour was
not due to partiality, but had a moral end ; God had loved and
chosen Israel, not from caprice, but to work out a purpose of
his own. Even if he had instituted the sacrificial worship, which
some denied, its object was purely secondary. He desired
obedience rather than sacrifice, and preferred national righteous
ness to the due performance of religious rites. Amos in Israel
and Isaiah in Judah, though living in the midst of a people
scrupulous as to ceremonial observance, denounced the whole
apparatus of the religion around them. Others, like the " schools
of the prophets " and the Rechabites, formed separate religious

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 83

communities. In appearance, dress, and gesture the prophet
was not as other men, and he was almost always opposed to the
existing order.

The Captivity converted the Jewish nation into a church, Effect
composed of men united by ties of blood, but dispersed and captivity.
living under the most diverse conditions. They found union
in the Law, which was probably promulgated in the fifth
century B.C. But the Law could only be kept completely in
Palestine; and from this arose a distinction between Jews living in
the Holy Land and those whose circumstances compelled them
to have their homes elsewhere. These last commonly known as
the " Diaspora " or the " Dispersion " could only partially obey
the Law, and some were further divided from the native Jews by
language. Henceforward, there were two great divisions in
Judaism, alluded to in Acts vi. 1 as Hebrews and Hellenists. 1

The Law contemplated an isolated nation a peculiar people, THE LAW.
whose holiness, in the technical sense of the word, cut them () The
off from the rest of humanity. But circumstances proved too
strong for the legal ideal. The Jews discerned that the heathen
were not senseless idolaters, but rather that they had much to
teach the elect nation. They found points of contact, first with
Persia, then with Greece. Some fought against these outside
influences, some yielded, some tried to adapt them, and division
was the inevitable consequence. The dualism of Persia, the
idealism of Plato, and the asceticism of Pythagoras inevitably
modified the religion of the Law.

Even those who lived in Jerusalem, privileged to enjoy the (6) Jeru-
worship of the Temple, and able to observe the Law as no other 8t
Jews could, experienced a desire for separation. They found that
if in theory their condition was ideal, it was not so in practice ;
and the sins of the Holy City led them to wish for some place
where they could obey God in pious seclusion. Unity was soon
found to be impossible, even in the precincts of the Sanctuary.

1 Cf . also Acts xi. 20, where the reading of the MSS. varies between "
and

84 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Great obscurity hangs over the subject of the sects ; con
temporary authorities are very meagre, and often leave us in
considerable uncertainty whether what are called sects were such
in our sense of the word. In the New Testament, for example,
we read of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, perhaps Zelots,
Galilaeans, Sicarii, Samaritans, and disciples of John ; but we
have no knowledge whether any of these were formal associa
tions, for the question of the Jewish societies (Haberim) is very
difficult.

The first Christian writer to give a catalogue of Jewish sects
is Epiphanius (fl. A.D. 380). He enumerates in his Panarion
(1. 1) seven sects : Sadducees, Scribes, Pharisees, Hemero-
baptists, Nasaraei, Ossenes, and Herodians. The Samaritans
he regards as on the border-line between Judaism and Heathen
ism ; they are divided into four sects : Essenes, Sebouaei, Gor-
theni, and Dositheans. Whenever it is possible to control Epi
phanius by reference to earlier writers or known facts, his com
plete untmstworthiness is apparent. What he says about Scribes,
Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Essenes is negligible and
absurd. As to the other sects, he must be treated with suspicion.
The statements which he makes are as follows :

(1) The Hemerobaptists. These agreed with the Pharisees
and Scribes rather than the Sadducees, but insisted on daily
washings throughout the year. " For this sect maintained that
life was impossible for man, unless he were daily baptized in
water, being washed and purified (ayvi&^evos) from all guilt."

(2) The Nasaraei (Naaapaloi,) This sect existed in Gilead
and Bashan, east of Jordan. Though they accepted Circum
cision, Sabbath, the Law of Moses, and venerated the Patriarchs,
they rejected sacrifice, animal food, and the Pentateuch as alien
to the revelation given to Moses. -

This statement of Epiphanius has been used by W. B. Smith l
and others to explain the statement in the Gospels and Acts
that Jesus was from Nazareth. It is certainly true that Epi-
1 W. B. Smith, Der vorchristliche Jesus. See Appendix B, p. 432.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 85

phanius clearly distinguishes these Nasaraei from the Nazarenes
(Nafapaioi) or Jewish Christians ; and there is no proof outside
the Gospels that any city of Nazareth existed in the time of Jesus.
Moreover, Epiphanius admits that all the other sects had dis
appeared by his time, except the Nasaraei and the orthodox
Jews. There may have been such a sect ; but Epiphankis is
quite capable of inventing one by confusing its adherents with
Jews who had taken a Nazarite vow.

(3) The Ossenes. These came from Nabataea, Ituraea, and
Moab, the eastern side of the Dead Sea, but in the second century
all had been absorbed in the Gnostic heresy of Elxai. They
are described as agreeing with the Nasaraei in rejecting the
Pentateuch. Epiphanius clearly distinguishes the Ossenes from
the Essenes, but it is obvious that these are really identical. 1

The Rabbinical writings are none of them earlier than about (&)Rabbini.
A.D. 200, though based in part on tradition reaching back to the al writings&lt;
Apostolic Age.

The oldest part of the Rabbinical literature is the reduction
to writing of the oral law as it was developed in the schools in the
first and second centuries of the Christian era. In some schools
the oral law was taught in connexion with the weekly lesson in
the Pentateuch, in others it was gone through according to an
ordered list of subjects on a system attributed to Akiba. The
former method is represented by the Mekilta, Sifra, and Sifre
(on Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers-Deuteronomy, respectively) ;
the latter, which eventually prevailed, produced the Mishna of
Jadah the Patriarch (about A.D. 200), the Tosephta, and numer
ous other works of the same kind which are known only through
quotations in the Talmuds, where they are designated as Baraitas,
or traditions extraneous to the official Mishna. The codification
of Judah came to be recognised as the authoritative Mishna, and
may be called the canon of the traditional law.

1 For the relation of Epiphanius to Pseudo-Tertullian and Philastrius and
their common indebtedness to a lost treatise of Hippolytus, see R. A. Lipsius,
Zur Quellenkritik des Epiphanius, Vienna, 1865.

86 THE JEWISH WOULD i

Henceforth the work of the schools was the discussion of the
meaning, reason, and application of the Mishna, the reconciliation
of apparently conflicting rules, and similar questions. These
discussions form the bulk of the two Talmuds, one proceeding
from the Palestinian schools, the other from the Babylonian ;
but they contain much other matter more or less loosely connected
with the subject in hand interpretation of Scripture or homi-
letical improvements upon it, Biblical legends, anecdotes, folk
lore and fable, popular superstitions. The legal matter is called
HalaJca (rule to go by), the rest is Hagada (vaguely, teaching ).
The doctors of the Law in the schools of the Mishna in the first
and second centuries are called Tannaim (Traditionists) ; their
successors down to the completion of the Talmuds are the
Amoraim (Lecturers). The compilation and redaction of the
Palestinian Talmud, erroneously called the Jerusalem Talmud,
was ended in the fifth century, that of the Babylonian half or
three-quarters of a century later.

Besides the Talmuds, which embody the labours of the
schools, there is a large body of Midrashim, representing the
teaching in the synagogues, either in the form of homilies on the
pericopes for special Sabbaths, or on the whole cycle of lessons,
or of continuous homiletical commentaries on books of the
Bible. In age, these compilations range from perhaps the fourth
or fifth century to the Middle Ages, but the material they contain
in part goes back as far as the second century.

The character of these sources explains why the student
who expects to find in them historical information is doomed
to disappointment. Even of a crisis such as the revolt under
Hadrian there is nowhere even the briefest account ; nothing
but allusions and anecdotes, chiefly about rabbis.

In the attempt to extract information about the Jewish sects
from the Kabbinical writings, the first difficulty is one of identi
fication. It is, for example, natural to look for something about
the Essenes ; but what Hebrew or Aramaic name is disguised
in this Greek word no one has been able to say even with proba-

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 87

bility, nor is the sect recognisable in any description. Another
difficulty is caused by the fact that the zeal of Christian censors
to expurgate the Talmud of all real or supposed references to
Christianity led the editors to substitute Sadducees, or some
other sect that had no friends, for the suspected word Minim
or heretics ; this confusion is, however, not beyond the
reach of remedy by recourse to manuscript evidence and early
editions. Incidentally it may be said that Gemara in modern
printed editions is a substitute for the word Talmud, in
deference to the prejudice of the censors against the very name
of the book ; the meaning, instruction/ is the same.

More satisfactory as contemporary evidence are the two ( c ) Philo
Jewish writers who employ the Greek language, Philo and Jose- ph U3 . s
phus. But unfortunately the statements of Philo are confined
to a single treatise, the De vita contemplativa, while Josephus
gives but short accounts of the sects in the second book of the
Jewish War and in the eighteenth of the Antiquities, which
constantly referred to hereafter.

In dealing with the sects the following arrangement will be
adopted : I. The Asidaeans, the earliest sect or party among
the Jews of which we have historical mention. II. The ascetic
sects, which retired to practise a stricter life. III. Those which
existed as parties in official Judaism. IV. The Samaritans,
the great formal separation from Judaism. V. The ignorant,
or " people of the Land " (pNJ"T ^Di?). VI. The writers of the
Apocalyptic literature.

I. THE ASIDAEANS

In 1 Maccabees the rising of Mattathias and his sons was THE
supported by an assembly (o-vvaywyri) of Asidaeans. We are
not told who these were, though evidently they were strict and
willing observers of the Law (e/covaia^ofjievos rov VO/JLOV). But
they had no sympathy with the political side of the Maccabean
struggle ; for directly the Syrians allowed Alcimus, a man of

88 THE JEWISH WOULD i

undoubted Aaronic descent, to go to Jerusalem as High Priest,
the Asidaeans withdrew from all participation in the struggle,
abandoning Judas the Maccabee to his fate, whereupon sixty
were slain by the Syrian general, Bacchides. 1 From this we may
infer that their acknowledged zeal for the Law did not make
them desire even the independence of their country, provided
the practice of their religion was assured to them. This would
tend to confirm the view that the Asidaeans were a sect occupied
solely in religion and indifferent to worldly affairs. Their name
has a close resemblance to the Hebrew word hasid (Ton), common
in the Psalms, and translated indifferently * saint and * holy
one. It has been supposed that Ps. Ixxix. 2 actually mentioned
the Asidaeans, when it speaks of the " dead bodies of thy holy
ones " (-p-pon). After the Maccabean war we hear no more of
these Asidaeans ; but it may be that they reappear afterward,
either as Pharisees or Essenes, or even in both sects.

The point of difficulty is this : We meet with the Asidaeans
during the Maccabean struggle, but there is no mention of Phari
sees or Essenes, and when, after that period, Pharisees and
Essenes come into our notice there is no mention of Asidaeans.
There are, therefore, three attractive hypotheses as to the course
of events after the Maccabean struggle. (1) The Asidaeans
split into two, Pharisees and Essenes, the old name being kept
by neither. (2) The Pharisees are the direct descendants of
the Asidaeans, while the Essenes have a separate origin. (3) The
Essenes represent the Asidaeans, and the Pharisees are a new
development. But no decisive evidence can be alleged in favour of
any of these hypotheses, each of which is possible enough in itself.

In support of the first may be alleged general probability,
in so far that the Pharisees and Essenes first appear after the
last mention of the Asidaeans.

1 See 1 Mace. ii. 42 (N and B read lovdaiuv and A A&lt;n8euv) and vii. 13 (irp&Tov
01 Acrt&uot). In 2 Mace. xvi. 6 these Asidaeans are wrongly confounded with
the followers of Judas. From the treatise Nedarim (Vows), 10a, it had been
inferred that the earlier o TDn were legalistic ascetics. (See Encyclopaedia
Biblica, Asidaeans, by Robertson Smith and Cheyne.1

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 80

In support of the second it has been urged that the Greek
Psalms of Solomon, which is almost certainly a Pharisaic work, 1
refers to the writer s adherents as 60-1,01, which probably repre
sents hasidim in the lost Hebrew original. But he also calls
them Sifcatoi, Trrco^oi, and a/caicoi,, and shows no consciousness
that OOYO?, or the word it translates, is the name of a party.

In favour of the identification of the Essenes with the Asid-
aeans is the fact that Philo 2 refers to them as Ecraaloi fj oaioi.
It is also urged that their attitude shows that, like the Asidaeans,
their interests were religious rather than political. But Philo
is merely translating Eo-crato^, which he probably identified with
ocrto9 ; 3 he does not mention the Asidaeans, and it is in any case
true that Ao-iSaloi and Ecrcratot cannot transliterate the same
word, while that both could be fairly translated by 60-101
is neither strange nor important. It is an abuse of criticism,
especially in the Psalter, always to see Asidaeans when
are mentioned.

II. THE ASCETIC SECTS

The Essenes were ascetics, living in communities, practising ( a ) THE
a strict discipline, and endeavouring to live an ideal life. Even EsSKNES -
in the Old Testament we meet with similar tendencies in the
" schools of the prophets," in the " sons of Rechab," and in men
like Elijah the Tishbite. Our information concerning Essenism
rests mainly on the testimony of Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the
Elder, for the accounts in Hippolytus and Epiphanius seem to be
secondary to these. 4

1 See p. 111. 2 Quod omnis probus liber, 12.

3 Cf. the quotation in Eusebius, Praep. Evang. viii. 11. 1.

4 The description of the Essenes given by Hippolytus, Refutatio, ix. 13 ff.,
seems to be taken from Josephus. There is, however, sufficient difference to
raise the question whether Josephus and Hippolytus are using a common source.
The chief point is in Refut. ix. 21, when Hippolytus says : " The adherents of
another party (among the Essenes), if they happen to hear any one maintaining
a discussion concerning God and his laws supposing such to be an uncircum-
cised person they will closely watch him, and when they meet a person of
this description in any place alone, they will threaten to slay him if he refuse

90 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Philo begins his book, De vita contemplativa, with the state
ment that he has already written on the Essenes ( Eo-o-atW Tre/n
StaXe^tfe/?), and the notices of them in his Quod omnis probus liber
and in the Apology for the Jews quoted by Eusebius are so brief
that we must assume that a treatise about them has been lost.
He regards the sect as active rather than * contemplative.
This explains the mention by Josephus 1 of an Essene acting as
a Jewish general in the war with Rome, and agrees with the
view which identifies the sect with the Asidaeans who fought
under Judas the Maccabee as long as his aims were purely re
ligious. Essenism was an order, to which members were admitted
by passing through various degrees after probationary tests.
Oaths of secrecy were imposed with a vow not to reveal the
names of the angels. Lustrations and purificatory rites were
practised. Women were not admitted, and continence was
insisted upon. The home of the sect was the western shore of
the Dead Sea, but Essenes seem to have been dispersed in several
cities, and were distinguished by their white garments and their
strict observance of the laws of legal purity. 2 It was their
practice to worship facing Jerusalem, and it has been supposed
that they even adored the rising sun.

to undergo the rite of circumcision. Now if the latter does not wish to comply,
they do not spare, but even kill him. It is from this occurrence that they have
received their appellation, being called Zelotae and by others Sicarii. And the
adherents of another party call no one Lord except the Deity, even though one
should put them to torture or even kill them."

It is possible that this passage was in a source used both by Hippolytus
and Josephus, but the facts seem sufficiently explained by a confusion made
by Hippolytus between the description given by Josephus of the Essenes and
of the * philosophy of Judas of Galilee, together with the fact that Masada,
the fortress of the Sicarii, was in the country of the Essenes (see also p. 422).

Epiphanius is completely confused on the subject of the Essenes, out of
whom he has made a Samaritan sect of Essenes and a Jewish sect of Ossenes
(Panarion, i. 10 and 19). x B.J. iii. 2. 1.

2 The article on Essenes in Hamburger s Real-Encydopadie tries to identify
the orders among the Essenes, but these are obtained only by assuming that
various classes of Jews mentioned in the Talmud by names referring to special
practices, such as Toble Shaharith, or morning bathers (Hemero baptists), really
belonged to the Essenes, for which there is no evidence.

It is, however, important to note that Josephus states that the Essenes

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 91

This view lias been based on the words of Josephus, B. J. ii. sun

8p; / \ \ /&gt; /D " &gt; N i 1 * \ worship.

. : 77y?o9 ye /jirjv TO ueiov evaepei&lt;$ totw?- irpiv jap avaa^eiv TOV

TJXiov ovBev (frOeyyovrai TWV fteftrjXwv Trarpiovs Se nvas et? avTov
eu%a? wo-Trep //cereiWre? avareiXai. As it stands, this must mean
that they prayed to the sun to rise ; but the worship of the sun
is so foreign to later Jewish custom that the suspicion is aroused
whether Josephus does not mean that they prayed to God, and
only seemed (waTrep) to supplicate the sun. On the other hand,
it has been pointed out that in B.J. ii. 8. 9 the Essenes are said
to bury excrement &&amp;gt;? ^77 ra? avyas v/3pi%oiev TOV QeoO. 1

It is in any case remarkable that they faced the East. This
is the general Semitic custom, followed by Syriac Christians ; 2
but the Jews always face towards Jerusalem and Moslems towards
Mecca. It is also possible that some attention ought to be paid
to the statement of Epiphanius 3 that the Ossenes were
mostly converted by Elxai in the time of Trajan, and that the
remnants of them, still existing to the east of Jordan, were known
as TO 76^05 2e///v/ratW, which suggests the Hebrew word for
sun (BOB).

The whole question turns largely on whether Essenism is
to be regarded as a movement entirely internal to Judaism or
as largely due to external heathen influences. The apparently
Greek character of Essenism, both in thought and practice, and
especially their similarity to the Neo-Pythagoreans, has often
been observed. 4 But it is more probable that it is due to the
wave of asceticism and of a tendency to abandon society in
favour of a more secluded and simpler life, which was sweeping
over the whole ancient world, rather than to the direct influence

were divided on the question of marriage. One party rejected all marriage
and the procreation of children : the other advocated procreation and admitted
marriage for that purpose (see Josephus, B.J. ii. 9. 13).

1 See J. B. Lightfoot s essay on the Essenes in his commentary on Colos-
sians and T. K. Cheyne s Origin of the. Psalter, p. 448.

2 Cf. Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents, pp. 24 and 60 in the Syriac text ;
Assemani, Acta Martyr. Orient, ii. p. 125.

3 Panar. i. 1. 2.

4 See especially E. Zeller, Die Philosophic der Griechen, iii. 2, pp. 277 ff.

92 THE JEWISH WORLD i

of any single cult, or of Hellenism in the strict sense. The
influences at work were intellectual and ethical rather than
national.

The Essenes sent offerings to the Temple, but whether they
offered sacrifice there is not certain ; perhaps their ritual forbade
their doing so with other Jews. Philo x says Ecrcratot . . .
Trapcovv/Aoi ocrtor^ro? eVetS?) KCLV rot? yaaXtcrra Oepairevrai
eov yeyovacriv,ov fcoa KaraOvovres aXX lepoTrpeireis ra&lt;? eavrwv
Siavoias Karao-tcevd^eiv dfyovvres. But the text of the MSS. of
Josephus 2 is et9 3e TO lepov dvaOtf/jLara crreXXo^Te? Ovcrias
Sia(f)opOT7]TL dyveiwv a? vo/jLifoiev, KOL St avro
rov KOLVOV Te^eviajjiaro^ ac/&gt; avrwv rds Overlap

7Tl,T6\OV(T{,V.

Philo has usually been interpreted to mean that the Essenes
took no part in the sacrifices of the Temple, and it is held that
Josephus contradicts him. The editors have therefore introduced
a negative into the text of the latter on the authority of the
Epitome and the old Latin version, reading OVK eVireXouo-ii/,
and emend a&lt; avrwv to e avrwv, "in their own houses " on
the authority of the Epitome. The last emendation is possible,
but the insertion of OVK cannot be justified ; the Latin version
is too free to be authoritative. Professor G. F. Moore has
suggested that the translation should be : " They furnish
votive offerings for the Temple and perform sacrifices with what
they regard as superlative purifications, and on this account,
shut off from the common courts, they perform their sacrifices
apart." vo-ia may mean minhah (cereal offering), and Josephus
says nothing about animals the only point to which Philo refers.
Moreover, though the meaning of KOIVOV Te^evio-fjiaro^ is obscure,
Josephus, if unemended, seems to say that the Essenes sent their
dvaBrjfjiara to the Temple, and themselves consecrated them in
their own way.

In any case the rejection of animal sacrifice cannot be regarded
as a complete breach with Judaism. Judaism ever since the

1 Quod omnis probus liber, 12. 2 Antiq. xviii. 1. 5.

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 93

exile and the rise of the Diaspora had been developing towards
the Synagogue and away from the Temple. A similar instance
of the rejection of animal sacrifice may perhaps be seen in the
Sibyl, 1 where it is said that the great God has no temple of
stone nor altars defiled by the blood of animals. The reference
is of course primarily to heathen sacrifice, but its tendency is
unmistakable.

The Essenes were distinguished by their refusal to use oil ; 2
for their common meals, often taken in silence ; for their esoteric
doctrines ; and for the fact that no stranger could obtain admission
to their lodges.

Philo does not allude to any peculiarity of doctrine among
the Essenes, but in the Quod omnis probus liber 3 he says : "Of
philosophy they have left the logical branch to word-catchers
as being unnecessary to the attainment of virtue, and the physical
branch to star-gazers, as too high for human nature, except so
much of it as is made a study concerning God and the creation
of the universe, but the ethical branch they study very elabor
ately, under the training of their ancestral laws, the meaning of
which it is impossible for the human soul to discover without
divine inspiration." And a little later on he says that in the
reading of " their sacred books, another of the most experienced
comes forward and expounds all that is not easily intelligible :
for most subjects are treated among them by symbols with a
zealous imitation of antiquity." It is clear that Philo commends
the Essenes for their use of allegorical interpretation. It is,
however, not certain whether the " sacred books " in this passage
refer merely to the Jewish scriptures or to books peculiar to the
Essenes. At present no Jewish Apocryphal books can be certainly
recognised as Essene in origin. Nevertheless, it is probable
that the Essenes had books of their own ; for Josephus 4 says
that the initiates into Essenism swore " to communicate their

1 Oracula Sibyllina, iv. 8 ff. 24 ff.

2 Josephus, B. J. ii. 8. 3 ; cf. F. C. Conybeare, article Essenes in Hastings
Dictionary of the Bible.

8 Mangey, ii. p. 457. B.J. ii. 8. 7.

94 THE JEWISH WORLD i

doctrines to no one in any other way than as he had received
them himself, and that he will abstain from brigandage, and
will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect and the
names of their angels."

Doctrines. Josephus, 1 however, gives more information as to their
peculiar doctrines. " The opinion is prevalent among them
that bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they are made
of is not permanent, but that souls are immortal and continue
for ever, and that they come out of the most thin air and are
united to bodies as to prisons, into which they are drawn by a
certain natural enticement ; and when they are set free from
the bonds of the flesh they then rejoice and mount upwards as
if released from a long bondage. They think also, like some of
the Greeks (reading TKTI for Tralcri), that good souls have their
habitations beyond the Ocean in a region that is neither oppressed
with storms of rain or snow, nor with intense heat, but refreshed
by the gentle breathing of the west wind which perpetually blows
from the Ocean ; while they allot to bad souls a murky and cold
den, full of never-ceasing punishments." Moreover, he com
pares 2 the Essenes with the Pythagoreans. In his Life 3 he says
that he made trial of the three sects, and afterwards passed some
time as the disciple of a severe ascetic named Bannus, whose
life was not unlike the Baptist s. But there is no reason for
assuming, as is usually done, that Bannus was an Essene. On
the contrary, Josephus says that, having passed through the
sects, he resorted to the company of Bannus, who obviously
belonged to none of them.

PHny the The Essene community, with its strange usages and beliefs,

attracted the attention of the heathen world, as is shown by the
notice given by Pliny the Elder. " Ab occidente litore Esseni
fugiunt usque qua nocent, gens sola in toto orbe praeter ceteras
mira, sine ulla femina omni venere abdicata sine pecunia
socia palmarum. In diem ex aequo convenarum turba re-
nascitur, large frequentantibus quos vita fessos ad mores eorum

1 B.J. ii. 8. 10. 2 Antiq. xv. 10. 4. 3 Vita, 2.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 95

fortuna fluctibus agit. Ita per saeculorum milia incredibile
dictu gens aeterna est in qua nemo nascitur. Tarn fecunda
illis aliorum vitae paenitentia est ! " *

The Jews of the dispersion in Egypt anticipated by centuries (6) THE

THERA-

PEUTAE.

Christian monasticism in that country. The similarity to the T

accounts given by Palladius in his Lausiac History is so striking
that many scholars were disposed to believe that the account of
the Therapeutae given by Philo was a Christian romance. But
it has now been shown that the De vita contemplativa is probably
a genuine part of the Philonic literature. 2 The book, our only
source of information, begins with an allusion to the Essenes,
whose life is contrasted with theirs as practical rather than
1 theoretic. The Therapeutae, male and female, are devoted to
a life of contemplation, and, as their name implies, are physicians
of the soul, not of the body. They begin their devotional life by an
absolute renunciation of property, and desert the towns for a life
of contemplation in the wilderness. Apparently these ascetics
existed in many parts of the world and were not confined to Jews.
But their chief home was in the neighbourhood of Lake Mareotis,
near Alexandria, where they settled on the low hills on account
of the excellence of the climate. They are compared to the
followers of Anaxagoras and Democritus. Like the later monks
of the Mareotis, the Therapeutae lived in separate houses or cells,
each with its oratory. They met together only on the Sabbath
and on the fiftieth day, in preparation for which the seventh
Sabbath was a special festival (Travvv^).

The common sanctuary used for these meetings was divided
by a wall separating the men from the women. The Law was
read and explained by the oldest or most learned man present.

1 Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 17.

2 See F. C. Conybeare, Philo about the Contemplative Life (Oxford, 1895),
and an English translation by the same writer in the Jewish Quarterly Review
for 1895, pp. 755-769; P. Wendland, " Die Therapeuten und die Philonische
Schrift vom beschaulichen Leben," in the Jahrb. fur class. Philologie, 22 Supple-
rnentband, 1896 ; and, on the other side, E. Schiirer, Geschichte d. jud. Volkes,
ed. iv. vol. iii. pp. 687 ff., where a full bibliography is given.

96 THE JEWISH WORLD i

The fiftieth day was peculiarly sacred owing to the great import
ance attached to this number, which, coming after the completion
of the seventh seven, is most holy and " ever virgin." Its
celebration differed from that of the Sabbath by the holding of
a common meal. For this purpose a table was brought in by
the young men, who acted as servants. The meal consisted of
bread and salt, but the bread was leavened and the salt mixed
with hyssop, contrary to the custom of the Temple in Jerusalem.
After this the company sang and danced through the night,
first in two choirs, afterwards mingling together in a " spiritual
bacchanal," drinking in the free love of God. At sunrise they
raised their hands to heaven, and the feast ended. 1

The custom of religious dances has many analogies in heathen
religions, but the most striking Christian parallel to this account
is in the Leucian Acts of John, which represent Christ and the
disciples as taking part in a religious dance on the Mount of
Olives on the day of the Crucifixion. 2

Unlike the Essenes, the Therapeutae admitted women to
their society, though they extolled the virtue of a virgin life in
most extravagant terms. Their main occupation was the study
of Law, which was interpreted allegorically, the composition of
hymns, and the reading of the prophets and other writings. There
is no allusion in the De vita contemplative!, to sacrifices in the
Temple or to the observance of the Law ; Philo s object is, how
ever, to emphasise, not the Judaism of the Therapeutae, but
the charm of a life of ascetic contemplation and renunciation of
the world. It has been suggested that the reason why we hear
no more of the Therapeutae after the days of Philo is that during
the troubles which befell the Jews in Egypt in the days of Caligula,
the community disappeared.

1 Philo does not connect this sanctity with the Jewish observance of the
year of Jubilee and the seven Sabbath years, but with the mathematical fact
that fifty is ayuJjraros /cai 0u&lt;ri/fwraros apidfj.&v &lt;=K rijt rov opdoyuvlov rpiyuvov
dwd/j-eus Sirtp &lt;Trlt&gt; apx^l TTJS rwv tiXwv yevtffeus Kal ffvardaews (Mangey, ii. p.
481). See also Conybeare s note ad loc. p. 102 of his edition.

2 See Ada Apostolorum Apocrypha, by R. A. Lipsius and M. Bonnet, and
* Apocrypha anecdota II.," by M. R. James in Texts and Studies, vol. v.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 97

A document was discovered a few years ago in the Cairo (c) THE
Genizah by the late Solomon Schechter, and published by him TBBS OF
in 1910, in which there is an obscure account of a migration of DAMASOUS -
Jews from Jerusalem to the land of Damascus. 1 Owing to their
being discontented with the religious condition of the Holy City,
they established themselves in a community where they could
practise an ideal life, uninterrupted by worldly cares. The
document gives us the facts in the following words : "In the
period of wrath, 390 years after God had given them into the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar, he visited them, and he made to spring
forth from Israel and Aaron a root of his planting to inherit his
land. And they knew that they were guilty men and had, like
the blind, been groping after the way twenty years, and he
raised them up a Teacher of righteousness." 2 Accordingly,

1 S. Schechter, Documents of Jewish Sectaries, vol. i. ; Fragments of a
Zadokite Work (Cambridge, 1910). There is now a fairly large literature on
the subject, but the most important contributions are : Levi, " Un e crit Saddu-
ceen ante rieur a la ruine du Temple " in the Revue des Etudes juives, 1911, vol.
61, pp. 161 ff. ; R. H. Charles, " Fragments of a Zadokite Work " in Apocrypha
and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2, pp. 785 ff. ; Ginsberg, " Eine
unbekannte jiidische Sekte " in the Monatsschrift f. Geschichte und Wissen-
schaft d. Judentums, 1911 ; G. Margoliouth, " The Sadducean Christians of
Damascus " in the Expositor, 1911, pp. 499 ff., and 1912, pp. 213 ff. ; G. F.
Moore, " The Covenanters of Damascus " in the Harvard Theological Review,
1911, pp. 330 ff.

* If the 390 years of the manuscript is right (cf. Ezek. iv. 5) and the sect
shared the common Jewish error about the duration of Persian rule, its origin
would fall somewhere in the middle of the third century B.C. But if Schechter s
conjecture, substituting the apocalyptic number 490, be admitted, it would be
brought down to Seleucid times. G. Margoliouth, accepting the text, 390,
prefers to operate with the chronological scheme of the Abodah Zarah, 86-9a and
the Seder Olam, c. 30, which allows to the Persians only 52 years (34 after the
rebuilding of the Temple), or with a still shorter computation, which (as he
interprets it) squeezes the Asmoneans, Herods, and Romans into 180 years,
and is thus able to bring his " Sadducean Christians of Damascus " down to
the beginning of the Christian era. This last abridgment is, however, a
mere misunderstanding of the Talmudic text ; and the abbreviation of the
Persian period in Abodah Zarah and the Seder Olam is the result of a calculation
which, starting with the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, and assuming
that this came to pass 490 years after the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar,
gave to Herod and his successors, the Asmoneans, and the Greeks, the years
attributed to them by Rabbinic chronology (103 + 103 + 180=386), and counting
out at the other end the seventy years of exile, had only 34 left for the Persians
(386 + 70=456 : 490 - 456= 34). It is superfluous to point out- the consequence
VOL. I H

98 THE JEWISH WORLD i

they made a " New Covenant " which God mediated by a Law
giver, or Teacher of Righteousness, also called " the Star."
They believed that they were the fulfilment of the words of
Ezekiel concerning the true priesthood of the House of Zadok.
For this reason the document was called Zadokite by Schechter ; 1
but it is more satisfactory to call the sect " the Covenanters of
Damascus," in accordance with its description in the document,
" those who had entered the Covenant."

The natural obscurity of the story is heightened by the
corruptness of the text. It appears that at the date at
which the document was written the Covenanters were still
observing the laws of the New Covenant, believing that the
last days were at hand, and expecting the coming of the
Messiah. But there is doubt as to the relation of the various
characters : " the Teacher of Righteousness," the " unique
Law-giver," " the Star," and " the Anointed One."
The The Teacher of Righteousness is mentioned in chap, i.,

and immediately afterwards there is a description of * back
sliding. This is perhaps alluded to again in chapter ix. 2 " So
are all the men who entered into the covenant in the land of
Damascus, but they turned and committed treason, etc." Im
mediately after this the text says : " They shall not be reckoned
in the assembly of the people . . . from the day when there
was gathered in the Only Teacher, until there arise the Anointed
One from Aaron and Israel." This seems to differentiate the

of these palpable and well-known facts for Mr. Margoliouth s ingenious hypo
thesis. Dr. R. H. Charles, on the other hand, naively works out the sum with
the aid of a modern hand-book of dates, and comes to the year 196 (G. F. M.).

It is, however, possible that the whole statement should be regarded as a
literary reminiscence of the Massoretic text in Ezek. iv. 5 ; or, if Schechter s
suggestion be accepted that the original text was " 490 years," it might be
merely another instance of the Apocalyptic cycle of seventy weeks of years.
In this case arguments as to the date implied by the text have little or no value.

1 Schechter also finds traces of them under this name in Kirkisani, a Karaite
writer of the tenth century. But Kirkisani probably knew Schechter s docu
ment, and it is very doubtful whether the text implies more than that the
Covenanters fulfilled the prophecy of Ezek. xliv. 15 ; it does not necessarily
mean that they were called Sons of Zadok.

2 Text B, p. 820, in Charles.

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 99

Anointed One from the Only Teacher. It is to be noticed that
the Anointed One is not from Judah. 1 The Teacher of Righteous
ness is apparently the same as the Only Teacher. In chap. ix.
Text A (p. 816) this Teacher is called " the Star," which is
explained in connexion with Amos ix. 11.

In these passages the Teacher of Righteousness is regarded
as dead, but in chap. viii. (p. 813) he is spoken of as future.
" And the nobles of the people are those who came to dig the well
by the precepts in which the Law-giver ordained that they should
walk throughout the full period of the wickedness. And save
them they shall get nothing until there arise the Teacher of
Righteousness in the end of the days." The question is whether
the text is here corrupt, or the Damascenes expected a return of
the Teacher of Righteousness. If the latter be the case, they
must have had some such doctrine as the usual one of the
return of Elijah, for the distinction between the Teacher and the
Anointed One is too clear to be set aside.

The apparent object of the Covenanters was to reproduce Life in the
in their community the life of Israel in the wilderness. They ^produced.
called their dwelling a camp, in imitation of the language of the
Pentateuch ; 2 and they professed themselves to be " those who
had entered a new covenant in the land of Damascus," that is,
observers of the Law of Moses, which the rest of the people had
despised. They had oaths on admission and a ritual of reception
of new members, which could only be performed by the Overseer
of the Sect. 3 This overseer " sat in Moses Seat " ; and under
him the people were classed as Priests, Levites, Israelites, and
Proselytes. In strict imitation of the policy of the wilderness,
the people were divided into tens, hundreds, and thousands. A
priest presided over every group, even if only of ten persons.

1 Cf. Jubilees xxxi. 12 ff., and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,
Judah xxv., in both of which there are traces of a Levitical Messiah.

2 runo camp. But that they did not literally dwell in tents is shown
by other passages.

3 The word used is npap, inspector. The suggestion that the name and
office correspond to the Christian tirl&lt;rKOTro$ is not to be taken seriously.

100 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Troubles The priestly character of the document, which has affinities

Cove. with the book of Jubilees and the Testament of the Twelve
nantere. Patriarchs, is seen in the expectation that Messiah is to come
from Levi and not from Judah. Great troubles were to herald
his appearance, and the Covenanters had already experienced
the trials of persecution and division. Even in the days of the
Founder an apostasy may have taken place, and he himself
had suffered from a " Man of Scoffing." But this is not quite
certain. The " Man of Scoffing " mentioned in 1. 10 (p. 801) is
clearly an opponent of the Covenanters : it is not so certain that
he was an apostate from them. But that there was apostasy
soon after the foundation of the sect seems to be shown by
9. 36 if. (p. 821) : " With a judgment like unto that of their
neighbours who turned away with the scornful men, they shall
be judged. For they spake error against the statutes of righteous
ness, and rejected the covenant and the pledge of faith, which
they had affirmed in the land of Damascus, and this is the New
Covenant." The probable meaning is that some Covenanters
were persuaded by the " scornful men " and returned to them,
interprets- The sect interpreted the Law very strictly, and have in this
i!aw. 3 respect some affinities with the Sadducees. There are also many
resemblances in the document to the book of Jubilees, especially
as regards the calendar, 1 and it has been maintained that both
Jubilees and the document before us are Sadducean ; but all
that has been proved is that they both are anti-Rabbinic in their
chronology and other points. In other details they do not
agree with what we know of the Sadducees. 2 One of their
characteristics was their rigid insistence on monogamy.

1 In 5. 1 ff. it is said : " With them that held fast by the commandments
of God, who were left of them, God confirmed the covenant of Israel for ever,
revealing to them the hidden things wherein all Israel had erred, his holy Sab
baths, and his glorious festivals." This seems to be an allusion to Jubilees
1. 14 and similar passages. Jubilees is also referred to by name in 20. 1 as the
accurate source of chronology, and the angelology, especially the mention of
Mastema, is the same as in Jubilees.

2 See R. Leszynski, " Observations sur les Fragments of a Zadokite Work, "
in the Revue des Etudes juives, Ixii. 190 ff. (with a reply by Levi immediately
following), and his Die Sadduzder, Berlin, 1912.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 101

The most varied opinions have been held as to the origin of
the sect. It has been suggested that they represent the pre-
Christian heresy of the Dositheans, or even that they were Chris
tians. 1 The probability is that they represent some hitherto
unknown movement in Judaism.

A separation from social life similar to the foregoing is seen (d) JOHN
in the movement inaugurated by John the Baptist, who came

" preaching in the wilderness of Judaea." Our information is AND HIS

DISCIPLES.

confined to scanty hints in the Gospels, and a short passage in
the eighteenth book of the Antiquities of Josephus, for though
there is a longer statement in the Slavonic version of the Jewish
wars, it has no claim to be regarded as the work of Josephus, and
possesses no historic value. 2

In the Antiquities 3 Josephus says : " Now some of the Jews Account by
thought that Herod s army had been destroyed by God as a Jose *&gt; hu8 -

1 The theory that the Covenanters were Dositheans is maintained by
Schechter (p. xxi). The Dositheans are an obscure body, as to whom there
are at least two traditions, which are so contradictory that it appears probable
that there were two separate sects bearing the name.

(1) The earlier of these sects was a reforming party among the Samaritans,
possibly Egyptian in origin, advocating greater strictness of interpretation of
the Law, and denying a resurrection. The authorities for this sect are Josephus,
Ant. xiii. 3. 4, where he speaks of Theodosius and Sabbaeus as representing the
Samaritans (Theodosius and Dositheus may clearly be regarded as interchange
able Greek forms of the same name), and the lost work of Hippolytus represented
by Philastrius, De Haeres. 4, and Photius, Bibliotheca, cxxi. The later Samari
tan chronicles have traces of this sect until the tenth century. (2) The other
sect of Dositheans appears as a syncretistic form of Gnosticism akin to that
of Simon Magus, who is closely connected with Dositheus, sometimes as pupil,
sometimes as master, and, in the Clementine Homilies, as a fellow-disciple
of John the Baptist. A full discussion is given by J. A. Montgomery, The
Samaritans, 1907, p. 252 ff. The Jewish and Samaritan authorities are given
at length in the Jewish Encyclopaedia, art. " Dositheus," and the Christian
traditions in the Dictionary of Christian Biography. The most important
modern treatises are by S. Krauss and A. Biichler in the Revue des Etudes juives,
vol. xlii. pp. 27 ff. and 220 ff., and vol. xliii. pp. 50 ff.

The identification of the Covenanters with Christians was made by G.
Margoliouth, " The Sadducean Christians of Damascus," in the Expositor, 1911,
pp. 499 ff., and 1912, pp. 213 ff.

8 See Appendix C for a translation of this passage.

3 Antiq. xviii. 5. 2.

102 THE JEWISH WORLD i

just punishment for his treatment of John called the Baptist.
For Herod killed him, a good man and one who commanded the
Jews, training themselves (eTraa/covo-t) in virtue and practising
righteousness to one another and piety towards God, to come
together for baptism. For thus it appeared to him that the
baptism of those was acceptable who used it not to escape from
any sins, but for bodily purity, on condition that the soul also
had been previously cleansed thoroughly by righteousness.
And when the rest collected, for they were greatly delighted with
listening to his words, Herod feared his great persuasiveness
with men, lest it should tend to some rising, for they seemed
ready to do everything under his advice. He therefore con
sidered it much better, before a revolt should start from him,
to put John to death in anticipation, rather than be involved in
difficulties through the actual revolution, and then regret it."

It is not quite certain from this passage to what class
of hearers John originally extended his baptism. According
to Whiston, 1 it means that John was addressing penitents
who were only beginning to turn to the pursuit of virtue, 2
and his translation, here as elsewhere, seems to have
had a preponderating influence in the interpretation of
Josephus. But, in view of the general context, it would rather
seem that Josephus means that John preached originally to
those who were already making especial practice of virtue
* ascetics in the original sense of the word and that so long
as his preaching was confined to this class, Herod regarded it
with indifference, but that when the rest of the public 3 (rwv

1 " He commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to justice toward
one another and piety towards God and so to come to baptism."

2 This explanation seems to have been adopted by the Epitome, which has
emended the datives into accusatives. This cannot be the true text, but there
is perhaps a possibility that the text found in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. i. 11. 5, is
right, which emends %pw/i^ots into x/&gt;w / u^ois but leaves tiracrKovo-i. unchanged.

3 The antithesis between John s original hearers and these others is
obscured by the reading of A, which has \aui&gt; for AXXwz/, and by the Latin render
ing perplurima multitude : it is entirely destroyed by the ingenious but mis
placed emendation of Niese, who suggests avdpuiruv (dvuv) for &\\i&gt;)v. E.

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 103

a\\wv] came to hear him, the movement obtained a new import
ance in the eyes of the ruler because of its possible political
consequences. The statement implies that the virtuous rather
than the sinful were invited to baptism, which was only open
to those who had already purified their souls by righteousness.

The evidence of the Synoptic Gospels in the light of modern
criticism must be divided into three groups.

(a) That of Mark, found in Mark i. 1 ff., and reproduced in The
the parallel passages of Matt. iii. 1 ff. and Luke iii. 2 ff. Gospels?

(6) That of three passages, which may be attributed to Q
in the sense that they are found both in Matthew and Luke,
though there is, apart from this, nothing to show that they
really all come from the same source. These are Matt. iii. 7-10 =
Luke iii. 7-9 ; Matt. xi. 2 ff. = Luke vii. 18 ff. ; and Matt. xi.
18 ff. = Luke vii. 33 ff.

(c) That of a passage found only in Luke iii. 10-14, where it
is combined with the other passages from Mark and Q. The
reason for thinking that this passage does not come from Q is
that it is not found in Matthew, and seems to give a picture of
John s teaching different from that in Mark and Q.

But neither Jewish nor Christian tradition gives us further
help. Christian writers are greatly interested in the Baptism of
Jesus, but little in the person of the Forerunner. The only thing
to be done is to compare the testimony of the New Testament
and Josephus.

According to Mark and Q, the mission of John was funda- N.T.
mentally eschatological ; his baptism had for its object the

forgiveness (a^eo-t?) of sins, to prepare its recipients for the com P ared -
coming of the Kingdom. His preaching was repentance, in
preparation for the coming of one mightier than John, who
would baptize in " Holy Spirit " instead of in water. The
difference between Mark and Q is merely that Q gives an
example of the preaching of John ; it entirely confirms the

Schwartz, in the Berlin edition of Eusebius, suggests that Josephus wrote
, which is more attractive, but no change seems necessary.

104 THE JEWISH WOKLD i

character attributed to it by Mark, and implies the imminent
coming of a catastrophic change. It is not, however, clear
whether the original tradition represented this preaching as
delivered to Pharisees and Sadducees, as Matthew states, or to
the Multitudes (o^Xot), according to Luke. Luke is thought to
have a tendency to refer incidents to the 6 ^Xot, but, on the other
hand, the invective of John is held to be more appropriate if he
were speaking to Pharisees and Sadducees. Both arguments have
some weight, but neither is convincing.

Lucan The passage peculiar 1 to Luke represents a different kind

of preaching. The * Multitudes are exhorted to share their
clothing and food with their poorer neighbours, publicani to
show moderation and honesty, and men in military service
to forbear from acts of violence and fraud, and from discontent
with their pay. It is possible that Luke is here using an extract
from some special source to which he had access ; it is, however,
equally possible that it is a piece of expansion due to himself,
and based merely on his own impression of the advice which
John probably gave. The skill with which Luke unites his
sources is remarkable, but when his narrative is compared with
Mark and Matthew its composite character is quite obvious.

Whatever the origin of the passage peculiar to Luke may

have been, it illustrates his tendency either to minimise the

eschatological elements in Mark, or to counteract them. It is

not so much in disagreement with the other passages in the

Gospels as on a different plane, and it is in sharp contrast to the

- renunciatory ethics of Jesus, as illustrated by " Follow thou

me ! " and " Sell all that thou hast." It is, however, worthy of

note that this version of John s words had a practical effect in

making the Church a support for organised society, thereby

neutralising the literal teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

Divergency It is obvious that these accounts in the Gospels and Josephus,

GospeiTand though they agree that John the Baptist was killed by Herod

Josephus. Antipas, 2 have points of serious divergence, and it is very desir-

1 Luke iii. 10-14. 2 See p. 18.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 105

able to see clearly exactly where this divergence comes. The
true text of Josephus represents him as preaching first to a body
of ascetics and afterwards to many others. There is nothing
in this to conflict with the Gospels, though it is so sufficiently
different from them that no attempts ought to be made to regard
the whole description as a Christian interpolation. The account
in the Gospels of the general rush to hear John and be baptized
by him obviously refers to the second stage of John s preaching,
not to the first, and confirms rather than contradicts Josephus.

The real differences are in two points. First, Josephus
entirely omits the eschatological element in John s preaching.
Secondly, he represents John as advocating bodily purification
in baptism as the crowning point of righteousness, not as a sign
of repentance for the remission of sins. The first point is merely
negative, but the second is positive and very striking.

It might be supposed that the emphasis which Josephus lays
on the fact that John s baptism was not connected with the
remission of sins goes to prove that he was consciously con
tradicting the Gospel tradition, and therefore acquainted with
it. This may be so : clearly he is contradicting something.
But it is doubtful whether this something is the Gospel tradition.
It is at least as probable that his real meaning is to distinguish
John s baptism from the ceremonial washings of the Jews, which
could be interpreted as neutralising the effect of unintentional
sins against the Law. His meaning would seem to be that he
regarded the baptism of John as resembling that of the Essenes,
in that it was not the antidote for sin or offences against the
Law, but was an act of aa/crja^.

Whether the representation of John s baptism in Josephus Marcan
is in itself more probable than the Marcan tradition is perhaps
difficult to say, but it may fairly be argued that the Marcan
tradition would never have been invented by Christians, and is
therefore probably correct. It is quite clear that the baptism
of Jesus by John is an integral part of the earliest Christian
narrative. It represents John baptizing for the remission of

106 THE JEWISH WORLD i

sins, and the people being baptized and confessing their sins, and
finally Jesus himself coming to be baptized. In view of the
Christian teaching on the sinlessness of Jesus, is it probable
that any Christian would have invented a story which could so
easily be interpreted as an acted confession of sin by Jesus, or
would have attributed remission of sins to a baptism which
Jesus underwent, if the truth were that the baptism of John
had really had the character described by Josephus ? How
improbable this is may be seen by the redactorial addition in
Matthew to the Marcan story of the Baptism of Jesus, which
makes John protest, " I have need to be baptized by thee, and
comest thou to me ? " and Jesus reply, " Suffer it now, for thus
it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness." The intention of the
editor of Matthew clearly was to prevent an undesirable interpre
tation of the Marcan narrative, and for this purpose he introduced
a view of John s baptism to " fulfil all righteousness " which
is more in line with the account in Josephus, and shows that
if that account had been generally current, Christians would
have had no tendency to invent the Marcan tradition.
Had Luke In a somewhat similar way it might be thought that the
Jofe hus account in Josephus of John s preaching resembles the passage
a common peculiar to Luke so much as to suggest their use of a common

tradition ?

tradition, for both agree in emphasising the moral nature of
John s preaching. It would, however, be a mistake to exaggerate
this resemblance, for the real difference between Josephus and
the Gospels as a whole is that Josephus clearly represents him
as preaching to those who had especially devoted their lives to
virtue, and offering baptism as the crowning point of righteous
ness, whereas the Gospels, including Luke, represent the baptism
of John as one of repentance for the remission of sins. This is
in clear contradiction to Josephus, and shows that Luke cannot
be quoted as supporting him unless the passage peculiar to
Luke be not only taken by itself out of its present context, but
also be violently implanted into a new context derived from
Josephus.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 107

With regard to the eschatological nature of John s preaching,
the reason for preferring the tradition of Mark and Q to that
of Josephus and Luke is simple. It is quite certain that Herod
imprisoned John, and that he was identified by some, if not with
the Messiah, at least with Elijah. These facts in combination
are intelligible if the tradition of Mark and Q be followed : no
government views with a friendly eye those who foretell its end,
even by the act of God. But if Josephus and Luke iii. 10-14
be followed, the situation is inexplicable. No ruler has ever yet
persecuted a teacher for telling men to be content with their
wages, and no multitude ever regarded such a one as the
Messiah or his forerunner.

How far John the Baptist founded a separate sect in Judaism The
which survived his death is difficult to say. In the earlier O f John,
strata of the Synoptic Gospels there are two references to the
disciples of John. In one they are pictured as more ascetic
than the followers of Jesus, joining in fasts with the Pharisees ; l
in the other they are the intermediaries by whom John inquired
whether Jesus were the Coming One. 2 Besides these explicit
references certain general probabilities present themselves, and
are supported by a few scattered and vague references in the
Gospels and Acts.

It is a priori probable that the disciples of John did not
all adopt the same attitude to Jesus, and that on the other hand
the Christian view of John changed as time went on.

It is clear from the Marcan account of the baptism of Jesus John and
by John, and by the question sent from his prison, that John
had not originally recognised the " Coming One " in Jesus.
The voice from Heaven and the vision of the descending Spirit
are the experience of Jesus, not of John ; and the question of
John in prison is said to have been called forth by the fact that
Jesus was accomplishing the works of the Messiah (ra epya TOV
Xpto-Toi;). The absence of these, not their presence, might
have made John doubt, if he had already held Jesus for the

1 Mark ii. 18 ff. ; cf. Matt. xi. 18 if. 2 Matt. xi. 2-Luke vii. 18 ff.

108 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Messiah ; rising hope, not waning faith, is suggested by his
question. 1

The This is the foundation for any just estimate of the probable

of John attitude of the disciples of John to Jesus ; they were uncertain,
3US - for John himself had given them no clear guidance. Some were
no doubt impressed by the teaching and acts of Jesus ; they
became his followers. Others may have gone to the other
extreme and opposed Jesus. But probably there were more
who, while accepting the preaching of Jesus, never thought of
identifying him with the " Stronger One " of whom John had
spoken. This class would in the end be indistinguishable from
those followers of Jesus who had been with him in Galilee, but
had never surmised the Messianic secret, or gone up to Jerusalem. 2
But we know nothing certain of any of these disciples of John ;
it is doubtful if any reliance can be placed on a confused tradition
that some of them were merged in the sect of the Mandaeans, 3 and
in general it seems certain that John s disciples soon disappeared.
The It is more important to notice the gradual change in the

Christian

attitude Christian attitude to John the Baptist which can be traced by
hn - a critical study of the Gospels. As soon as Jesus was recognised
as the Messiah, John the Baptist was regarded as Elijah the
" Forerunner." This is clearly very early : it is found in Q,
where it is put into the mouth of Jesus, 4 but whether Jesus really
can be thought to have said so, depends on the general estimate
of Q and the fact that in the immediate context Kingdom of
Heaven is a synonym for the Christian Church. Did Jesus use
the phrase in this meaning ? It seems improbable.

1 A distinction must be made between the original narrative and the
Matthaean version. Matthew no doubt interprets the question as due to
waning faith, just as he makes John recognise Jesus in the Jordan. Similarly,
too, Luke has embellished the narrative by making Jesus perform a special
series of miracles in order to reassure John. The story is clearly older than
its present setting, and the editorial changes in it are clearly visible.

2 It is not unlikely that Apollos, and the Ephesians who knew nothing
of the Spirit and had been baptized only with John s baptism, belonged to one
or the other of these two cognate classes.

8 W. Brandt, Die manddische Religion, Leipzig, 1889, and Manddische
Schriften, Gottingen, 1893. * Matt. xi. 14.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 109

There is also a clear tendency not merely to regard John as
the Forerunner, but to represent him as having consciously been
so. This is very plain in the Fourth Gospel, where Jesus is
pointed out by John to his disciples as the Lamb of God, to
follow whom they left the Baptist. But it is scarcely less plain
in Matthew, who inserts into the account of the Baptism an
immediate recognition of Jesus by John, inconsistent with the
implication of the Marcan narrative into which it is inserted.
Similarly the editor of Luke makes the family of John closely
related to that of Jesus ; and Jesus is recognised by Elizabeth
and her unborn -child when the mother of the Lord paid her a
visit.

This evidence, scanty though it is, clearly suggests that
there was a tendency in early Christian literature to rewrite the
story of John the Baptist, so as to bring him into conscious
subordination to Jesus. It is not impossible that this may
reflect a controversy between the disciples of Jesus and the
disciples of John, and that at the time when the gospels were
written there were still some disciples of John who did not
recognise in Jesus the Stronger One of whom their master had
spoken.

A most instructive parallel in the history of religion is pro- The story
vided by the story of the Bab in modern Islam. 1 The Bab, f E f^
whose name was Mirza AH Muhammad, was a Persian reformer
who was put to death in 1850. Fortunately Count Gobineau,
the French Minister in Persia, was interested in him, and wrote
an admirable account in his Les Religions et les philosophies dans
VAsie Centrale. He also brought back and deposited in the
Biblioiheque Nationale in Paris a MS. copy of the life of the
Bab by Haji Mirza Jani, his friend and contemporary. The Bab
appointed Mirza Yahya, under the title of Subh-i-Ezel, as his
successor, but foretold " One who should come." When Beha,

1 See E. G. Browne, The Episode of the Bab, Cambridge, 1891, especially
the introduction to the second volume, and The New History of the Bdb, Cam
bridge, 1893.

110 THE JEWISH WORLD i

the brother of Subh-i-Ezel, claimed to fulfil this prophecy, the
text of Gobineau s MS. was re-edited, in a manner which reminds
the student of the New Testament of the relation of Matthew
and Luke to Mark, and finally an entirely new story was written,
showing about as much trace of the original narrative as the
Fourth Gospel does of the Synoptic account. There are thou
sands of Behais now, many of them in America, and it is safe to
say that few of them know the story of the origin of their cult,
or would believe it if they were told.

The Bab, both in the literary and religious history of the
sect of Behaism, plays the same part as John the Baptist in
Christianity. He also foretold the coming of a Mightier One,
and the next generation of his followers identified this " One
who should come " with his disciple Beha. A few years later
the sect was known as Behaism ; the story was rewritten as the
history of Behaism, and ethics replaced eschatology. A small
party refused Beha, and remained Babis, but they gradually
lost vitality, and most remarkable of all are not mentioned
in the literature of Behaism.

III. DIVISIONS IN ORTHODOX JUDAISM

We first meet with the Pharisees in Josephus in the days
^ John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, the last survivor of
fas five Maccabean brothers. John, whose high priesthood
lasted from 135 to 105 B.C., was an able and warlike prince,
and continued the tradition of his family as a strong up
holder of the ancestral religion. Under him the Temple on
Mount Gerizim was destroyed ; the Idumaeans were conquered,
and accepted, not apparently with much reluctance, the rite of
circumcision. 1 Josephus is warm in his praise of John, and
hints that the priestly gift of prophecy was not denied to him. 2
Such a ruler found his friends among the Pharisees until the
severer members of the sect began to suspect that his ambitions

1 Antiq. xiii. 9. 1. 2 Antiq. xiii. 10. 7.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 111

were temporal rather than those of a spiritual head of the nation.
Accordingly, the Pharisee Eleazar suggested that John should
lay aside his priestly as distinguished from his temporal office,
because his mother, as Eleazar falsely alleged, had been a captive
in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 and there was consequently
some doubt as to his real descent. Hence the breach between
the Maccabean house and the sect. 2 The feud which ensued was
kept up till 78 B.C., when Alexander Jannaeus on his death-bed
told his wife, Alexandra, to make terms with the Pharisees, whose
popularity rendered them formidable. 3 Alexandra followed his
advice, and enjoyed a prosperous reign of nine years. Three
years after her death in 66 B.C., Pompey took Jerusalem and
profaned the Temple. It is to this catastrophe that we owe
the collection of Pharisaic psalms, attributed to Solomon. 4 From
these it appears that the ideal of the sect was a kingdom of the
House of David. To the Pharisees the priestly dynasty of the
Hasmoneans was a mere usurpation, and this anti-clericalism, to

1 The Talmud (Kiddushin, 66a) relates a dispute between " King Jannai
and the Pharisees." As Hyrcanus is called " high priest " and never " king,"
it is possible that Alexander Jannaeus is meant. It may well be, however,
that it really refers to John Hyrcanus, and that the Talmud has changed the name
of the Jewish ruler, because Hyrcanus is regarded in it as a model high priest,
there being nothing told to his discredit save that at the age of eighty (!) he
joined the Sadducees. See Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, pp. 95-97.

2 Antiq. xiii. 10. 5. 8 Antiq. xiii. 15. 5.

4 The Psalms of Solomon were almost certainly written in Hebrew, but are
now extant only in eight Greek MSS. and in a Syriac version (extant in two
complete MSS. and a fragment) in combination with the quite different docu
ment called the Odes of Solomon. Some of the individual Psalms may be earlier,
but there is a general consensus of opinion that there are many allusions to
Pompey, and probably to his death (Ps. Sal. ii. 30 f.), so that the date of the
collection must be somewhat later than 48 B.C. The Psalms are full of the
antithesis between " the righteous " and " the sinners," and modern com
mentators are unanimous in identifying " the righteous " with the Pharisees.
The best general account is given by G. B. Gray in Charles s Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. ii. pp. 625 ff. The Greek text is most
accessible in H. B. Swete s edition of the Septuagint, and in Ryle and James s
&a\/j.ol SoXo / utD Tos, Psalms of the Pharisees, 1891, which also gives a discussion
of the facts and a full account of all the literature up to that date. Later
literature is given by Gray (op. cit.) and more fully by J. Viteau, Les Psaumes
de Salomon, Paris, 1911, pp. 240 ff. There is also valuable material in 0. von
Gebhardt, Sl aXyuol SoXo/iwi/ros, 1895.

112 THE JEWISH WORLD i

use a modern word, distinguishes them from the Sadducees.
Their ideal state, like Ezekiel s and Dante s, 1 was not a priestly
government, but the rule of a godly non-sacerdotal prince,
prepared to enforce the observance of the Law. Their acceptance
of tradition as explaining the Law, as is indicated below, had
for its object to render workable in practice what, taken literally,
had proved obsolete and impossible. Pharisaism was, in truth,
more liberal and idealistic than Sadduceeism, and the Rabbis
who divided the sect into seven classes, only two of which,
those who fear and those who love God, are commended. 2
Under Herod the Great, a man more capable than any of the Has-

moneans, attempted to make the Jews a nourishing nation. With
great skill he faced the impossible task of conciliating the Romans
while remaining on good terms with his neighbours, and not
offending the Jewish Scribes. Sameas (Shemaia) the Pharisee,
and his master Pollio (Abtalion), had been highly favoured by
Herod for having opened the gates of Jerusalem to his army in
37 B.C. 3 But the conspiracy in favour of Herod s brother,
Pheroras, in which the Eunuch Bagoas was implicated, was
prompted by the Pharisaic hopes, 4 and the revolt of Judas of

1 Of. Ezek. xl.-xlviii., especially xlv. 22-25, xlviii. 21-22. Professor Toy
says of the prince (nasi) in his article on Ezekiel, Ency. Bibl. col. 1471 : " The
prince is a servant of the temple, subordinate in this sphere to the priests ;
it is a genuine separation of Church and State." See also The Parting of the
Roads (Arnold, 1912), Art. 1, by F. J. Foakes Jackson. Dante, in his De
Monarchia, exalts the Emperor above the Pope in all secular matters ; and, in
the Divina Commedia, papal usurpation of authority is consistently de
nounced. In the Paradiso we see what high hopes the poet indulged that
the Emperor, Henry VII. of Luxembourg, would restore the balance by his
coming to Italy.

2 See the article on Pharisees in the Jewish Encyclopaedia. The seven
classes, of which five consist of eccentric fools or hypocrites, are found in an
ancient baraita. The references given are to the Jerusalem Talmud, Berachoth
(Blessings), ix. 146; Sotah, 226, and to Schechter s edition of the Aboth of
R. Nathan, pp. 55, 62.

3 Josephus, Antiq. xv. 1. 1. Shemaiah and Abtalion form the fourth of
the five couples Hillel and Shammai being the last who are said to have
presided over the Sanhedrin. Aboth (fathers), i. 4-12. See C. Taylor, Sayings
of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 28 and 32 ; Montet, Origines des partis sadduceen et
phariseen (Paris, 1883).

4 Antiq. xvii. 2. 4.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 113

Galilee in A.D. 6 was supported by Sadduk, a Pharisee. Upon
the whole, however, the Pharisees were more anxious to observe
the Law than to interfere in politics.

Josephus states that the Pharisees differed from the Saddu- Doctrine,
cees on the question of Free Will and Determinism. He repre
sents the Essenes as absolute fatalists and the Sadducees as
insisting on free will ; but declares that the Pharisees took a
middle path, saying that, though God has foreseen everything,
man is allowed to make his choice between good and evil. As a
Pharisee himself he finds consolation in the thought that Jeru
salem and the Temple fell in accordance with the will of God,
since inanimate objects can no more escape their destiny
(el/jbapfjuevrj) than men. 1 According to him the Pharisees be
lieved that the souls of good men return to life in other bodies,
and that those of the bad are eternally punished. In B.J. ii. 8.
14 he says that they think that " every soul is incorruptible,
but that only the souls of the good pass over (/jLerafialveiv)
to other bodies, and those of the wicked are chastised with
eternal punishment." In the parallel passage in Antiq. xviii. 1. 3
we read that the souls of the evil are to be " detained in an
everlasting prison," but the souls of the good " will have easy
access to living again (paarwr^v rov ava/Siovv 2 )."

It is, of course, not impossible that Josephus, or the Pharisees,
meant that this " living again " and passing over to another
.body would be the result of the Resurrection. If so, however, it
is not a " resurrection of the body," but the vivification of a
new body with an old soul ; and the resemblance to the fifteenth
chapter of 1 Corinthians is obvious and significant. The exist
ence of this exposition of doctrine in Josephus has been somewhat
overlooked, but it is clearly of the utmost importance for the
understanding, not only of the Jewish doctrine of the Resurrec
tion, but also of the popular belief in the return of Elijah or of

1 Josephus, B.J. ii. 8. 14, and Antiq. xviii. 1. 3.

2 It is interesting to notice that this word is used of the resurrection of
Jesus in the Apology of Aristides, xv. (pera 5 rpets ^/xfyas dveftlw).

VOL. I I

114 THE JEWISH WORLD i

others of the prophets, and may have had its influence on the
Pauline doctrine of the indwelling Christ. There appears to be
no other equally full statement of Pharisaic opinion on the subject
of a future life.

Law and But the distinguishing feature of Pharisaism was its reverence

for tradition as supplementing the Law. The Sadducees are
said by Josephus to have maintained that the Law, and nothing
but the Law, was binding, but the Pharisees considered that the
obligations prescribed in the Law had been modified by tradition.
This tradition, according to the Rabbis, Moses had delivered to
Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, the
Prophets to the Men of the Great Synagogue. " They said three
things : Be deliberate in judgment ; and raise up many disciples ;
and make a fence to the Law." The last is interpreted by C.
Taylor, 1 " Impose additional restrictions so as to keep at a
safe distance from forbidden ground," thus sanctioning additions
to explain and amplify the Law, not, however, to make it bur
densome, but to facilitate its fulfilment.

(ft) THE Various interpretations of the name Sadducee have been

gi yen &gt; but the most probable derives it from Zadok the
priest, who, under Solomon, supplanted Abiathar. Ezekiel,
when he reconstructed the ideal Temple at Jerusalem, pre
scribed that no one should be allowed to exercise the priestly
office in it but those who were sons of Zadok (Ezek. xliv. 15).
If such be the case, it might be expected that the party of the
priesthood would adopt a name derived from their ancestor
who acted as priest in the earliest days of the Temple, and the
evidence both of Josephus and of the New Testament is strongly
in favour of the Sadducees being in general the priestly party
as opposed to the popular sect of the Pharisees. It would,
however, be a mistake to regard this distinction as universally
and exclusively true, and to lay too much stress on the Sadducees
being the priestly party. The passages commonly quoted in

1 Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 25.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 115

support of this are Acts v. 17 and Antiq. xx. 9. 1 ; but the fact
that Josephus specially informs us that Ananus II., the High
Priest who condemned James the Just and quarrelled with
Albinus, was a Sadducee, shows that it was not a matter of course
that the holder of the office should attach himself to that party,
and in Antiq. xviii. 1. 4 he expressly says that the Sadducees
were unwilling to accept public offices.

When we turn to the Rabbinical writers we find a legend Legendary
that two sects originated from the disciples of Antigonus of Socho ngm
(third century B.C.), in consequence of his famous saying : " Be
not as slaves which minister to the Lord with a view to receive
recompense ; but be as slaves that minister to the Lord without a
view to receive recompense." Thereupon two of his disciples,
Zadok and Boethus, understood that their master meant to
deny a future life, and in the spirit of " Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die," decided to live in luxury, and from them
arose the sects of the Sadducees and Boethusians. 1 The
unhistorical character of this story is shown by the representa
tion of the Sadducees elsewhere as extremely rigorous in
judgment ; and when, in the time of the widow of Jannaeus,
Alexandra Salome (76-67 B.C.), their code was abolished by the
Sanhedrin, under Solomon ben Shetah the Pharisee, the day
was kept as a festival. From the earlier Rabbinic writers the
Sadducees appear to have had many regulations different from
those of the Pharisees ; but their disputes turn mainly on legal
points, the Sadducees being on the whole supporters of the
priesthood and of a more literally conservative interpretation of
the Law than their rivals. 2

The New Testament and Josephus are in general accord Doctrine,
in regard to Sadducean doctrine and opinions. The sect first

1 The evidence for this is very late. It is found in the Aboth of R. Nathan
(eleventh century), which quotes a Midrash to this effect. See Jewish Encyclo
paedia, " Boethusians."

2 See p. 87 for the reason why the Rabbinic statements in the Talmud aa
to the Sadducees are peculiarly open to doubt ; and for instances of the differ
ences in teaching between Sadducees and Pharisees see Appendix D.

116 THE JEWISH WORLD i

appears under John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.), who espoused their
cause when the Pharisees had given offence by recommending
that a light sentence should be passed on Eleazar ; but after
this we hear nothing of them till the days of the New Testament.
Josephus says of the Sadducees : (1) They rejected the Tradi
tion, and only held to be obligatory what they found in
the written word. 1 (2) They were rich, and not as popular
as the Pharisees. 2 (3) Their followers were only those of the
highest rank. 3 (4) They denied that man is under the constrain
ing influence of fate (el/jbappevrj), the doctrine of the immor
tality of the soul, and rewards and punishment after death. 4
(5) They held their opinions rather as private individuals than
as magistrates ; for, when in office, they had to defer to the
Pharisees in order to conciliate the public. 5

In the Gospels the Sadducees are only once mentioned by Mark,
in connexion with the question about the seven brethren in the
Resurrection ; 6 in Matthew they come with the Pharisees to
John s baptism, 7 and they are substituted for Mark s Herodians
in the injunction to beware of the leaven. 8 In Luke they are
only mentioned in the question about a resurrection, taken
from Mark, 9 and are unnoticed in the Fourth Gospel. All there
fore to be inferred from the Gospels is that the Sadducees denied
the Resurrection and were one of the two leading sects. In
Acts they appear three times : in iv. 1, in connexion with the
IJigh Priest and the o-Tparrjyo^ of the Temple, as arresting the
Apostles ; in v. 17, with the chief priests under similar circum
stances. In the account of the debate in the Sanhedrin, some
wished to put the Apostles to death (if the reading be correct) ;
but the Pharisee Gamaliel advised moderation. Finally, in
xxiii. 6, we find Paul before the Sanhedrin, composed of Pharisees
and Sadducees, appealing to the one against the other ; and we
are told that the Sadducees denied a resurrection, angels, and

1 Antiq. xiii. 10. 6; xviii. 1. 4. 2 Antiq. xiii. 10. 6. Of. also xviii. 1. 4.

3 Antiq. xviii. 1. 4. 4 B.J. ii. 8. 14. 6 Antiq. xviii. 1. 4.

6 Mark xii. 18. Matt . m. 7. a Mat t. X vi. 1 ff.

9 Luke xx. 27.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 117

spirits. Thus, both in Acts and |Tosephus, their distinguishing
tenet is the denial of a resurrection. The rejection of angels
and spirits is not mentioned by Josephus, but, as in the New
Testament, the Sadducees appear to have had sympathies with
the ruling class, and to have been harsher in judgment and
more impatient of innovation than the Pharisees, to whom both
Josephus and Acts ascribe a disposition to mercy.

Closely connected with the Sadducees, as we have seen, Boe-
are the family for they can hardly be termed the sect of t]
the Boethusians. They probably really are derived from
Boethus, the father of Simon, an Alexandrian whom Herod
made High Priest in order to marry his daughter Mariamne,
not to be confused with Herod s Hasmonean wife of the same
name. This was in 26 or 25 B.C., and from that time down to
the Fall of Jerusalem the family frequently enjoyed the High
Priesthood. The Rabbinical writings have allusions to the
Boethusians as a sect of the Sadducees ; but their questions
mainly turn on points of ritual. 1

It does not seem necessary to class all the ruling priests as
Sadducees or Boethusians ; but it is natural that they should
be attracted by ideas favoured by a select few, mostly rich men,
rather than by those of a popular party like the Pharisees.

The chief Jewish teachers contemporary with the New (c) JEWISH
Testament known to us by name are Hillel, Shammai, Gamaliel

the Elder, and Johanan ben Zakkai. CHRISTIAN

TIMES.

Hillel was a Babylonian, and a contemporary of Herod the miiei.
Great. He found his way to Jerusalem, and, despite extreme
poverty, became a student of the Law. The whole aim of his
interpretation was the bettering (Tikkun) of Israel. In character

1 Josephus, Antiq. xv. 9. 3. Simon the son of Boethus was an Alexandrian.
For the succession of the Boethusian pontiffs see Derenbourg, op. cit. p. 156.
Derenbourg on p. 137 gives an account of a controversy in which the Boethusians
maintained their view that Pentecost could only be kept on the first day of
the week.

118

THE JEWISH WORLD

Shammai.

School of
Hillel.

he is represented as gentle and kindly : the story is told of him
that to a would-be proselyte, who would only listen while he
could stand on one leg, he explained the Law in the well-known
saying, " What is hateful to thyself do not to another." 1 Like
Paul in the case of Timothy, he seems to have accepted an
Alexandrian, whose right to be reckoned as a Jew was disputed,
on the marriage document (Ketubbah) of his mother. Though he
was held in the highest honour, no miracles are credited to Hillel. 2

Shammai, the rival and contemporary of Hillel, is nearly
always mentioned together with him ; and in the Talmud the
characteristic of his teaching is its unbending severity, though
he is represented as not lacking in amiable qualities. 3 Both
these teachers are better known as the founders of two schools,
the Beth-Hillel and the Beth-Shammai. 4 These are not, as is
frequently assumed, to be classed as Pharisees and Sadducees,
though the tendencies they exhibit are not unlike those of the
great sects.

The principles of Hillel were continued by his family ; 5
but the great representative of the more liberal side of Judaism is
Johanan ben Zakkai, whose school at Jabneh, after the destruc
tion of Jerusalem, laid the foundation of Rabbinic practice and
theology. He represents the pacific school of the Pharisees.

1 Of. Matt. vii. 12; Did. i. 2; Aristides, 15; Apost. Const, i. 1 ; Tobit,
iv. 15 ; and Philo quoted by Eusebius, Praep. Evan. viii. 7 ; and see G. Resch,
Texte und Unters. xxviii. 3, p. 134, and the notes on Matt. vii. 12 in A. Reach s
Aussercanon. Paralleltexte, and in the commentary on Acts xv. 20, 29.

2 Aucun personnage de I antiquite rabbinique n est plus connu que Hillel. Sa
pauvrete* et son abn6gation, tant qu il fut jeune ; sa patience et sa mansue tude,
lorsqu il enseigna dans son ecole ; la science et la sagacit6 qu il d6ploya dans
la discussion, sont devenues populaires, et il sera difficile de dem^ler ce qu il
y a de vrai dans les anecdotes que le Thalmud a conserves, et ce que la
poesie legendaire de la nation y a ajoute (Derenbourg, op. cit. p. 181).

8 See Derenbourg. op. cit. p. 189.

4 Derenbourg, op. cit. pp. 176 ff. ; Jewish Ency., arts. "Hillel" and
" Shammai," and also " Bet Hillel " and " Bet Shammai." Three hundred and
sixteen controversies between these schools are preserved in the Talmud,
and in only fifty -five instances were the Shammaites on the side of
leniency.

5 The succession appears to have been Hillel, Simon I., Gamaliel I.,
Simon II., Gamaliel II.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 119

When the strife of parties became unendurable he escaped from
Jerusalem in a coffin. He settled at Jabneh (Jamnia), where he
founded his famous school. Like Josephus, he escaped from
his distracted countrymen to the Romans, but the Jews held
him in the highest honour, though Josephus does not so much
as mention his name. 1 Gamaliel (or Gamliel) I., well known to
readers of Acts, is perhaps in reality the most shadowy figure
of all. 2 Josephus (Vita, 38) implies that he was a Pharisee by
his statement that his son Simon belonged to the sect, but the
Rabbinical traditions concerning him often confuse him with his
grandson Gamaliel II. He is credited with having been the first
of the seven teachers who received the title of Rabban, and
according to Jewish tradition he succeeded his grandfather
Hillel and his father Simon as nasi and first president of the
Sanhedrin. We possess three letters from him, two to Galilee
and one to the Diaspora ; the tradition that he ordered the
removal of the Targum of Job from Jerusalem is our oldest
evidence for a Targum. He is not called a Pharisee except in
Acts v. 34 fL, and the only early statement that he ever taught
is that of Acts xxii. 3 ; but there is a saying of his preserved in
the Aboth of R. Nathan, comparing his pupils to fish.

The Herodians are twice mentioned in Mark iii. 6 and xii. (d) THE
13 (cf. the parallel in Matt. xxii. 16) as conspiring with the
Pharisees against Jesus. The only reason for considering them
as a religious sect is the absurd statement of Epiphanius
that they interpreted the words of Gen. xlix. 10 (" The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, etc."), of Herod presumably
Herod the Great ; but probability and the form of the word in
Latin suggest that they were the partisans of Herod. The
Herod of the Gospels being Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee,

1 There is an interesting article on Johanan ben Zakkai in the Jewish
Encyclopedia. See also Burkitt s account in his Jewish and Christian Apoca
lypses, p. 8, also E. Levine in The Parting of the Eoads, p. 299. Derenbourg,
op. cit., devotes a chapter to Johanan (chap. xix.).

2 See Jewish Encyclopaedia, art. " Gamaliel."

120 THE JEWISH WORLD i

1 Herodian would then naturally mean one of his court or of his
party. It is noticeable that in Mark these * Herodians appear
once in Galilee and once in Jerusalem on an occasion when,
according to Luke, Herod was in that city.
Herods as Although there is no other evidence as to the existence of a

benefactors. , , f TT -,. T i

party, much less a sect, of Herodians, some Jews may have
fixed their hopes on the Herodian family as saviours of the
nation. Herod the Great certainly did all in his power to con
ciliate his Jewish subjects, especially the Pharisaic party. His
rebuilding of the Temple was a truly splendid bid for popularity ;
and though it failed in its object, it must have impressed many
with a sense of Herod s value to the Jewish State. Of Herod s
sons and successors, Archelaus proved a complete failure ; but
Philip, as tetrarch of Ituraea (4 B.C. to A.D. 34), was regarded as
a model ruler, and Antipas governed Galilee and Peraea with the
marked approval of Tiberius. It is possible that Antipas s mar
riage was prompted by a politic desire to secure Jewish support
by an alliance with a Hasmonean princess. 1 The Baptist s
disapproval of this may well have been, as Mark says, the cause
of his execution ; and Herod s attitude to Jesus may be accounted
for in the same manner. Herod Agrippa at a later date was
accepted by the Jews as the best of kings, being, like his sister
Herodias, a Hasmonean on the mother s side.

IV. THE FORMAL SEPARATION FROM JUDAISM

Both Acts and the Third Gospel show an interest in the
Samaritans. In the Old Testament their origin is traced to the
Cuthean settlers whom Esarhaddon (682-669 B.C.) placed in
the cities of Samaria. They are described in the decidedly
malicious account given in 2 Kings xvii. as instructed by a priest
of Bethel in the worship of Jahveh but combining it with idolatrous
practices. But in the Book of Ezra they profess to serve Jahveh

1 See Chs. I. and III.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 121

as the Jews did ; 1 and Zerubbabel, in repulsing them, says
nothing of their idolatry, of which no proof exists. Two genera
tions later we find their leader Sanballat hindering Nehemiah s
work, but at the same time in alliance with the High Priest
Eliashib, to whom he was related by marriage. Josephus,
by confusion of dates, makes Sanballat a contemporary of
Alexander the Great, a century later than Nehemiah. 2 In
Ecclesiasticus they appear as a schismatical sect, " The foolish
people who dwell in Shechem."

The bitterest hostility existed between Jews and Samaritans, Samaritans
but this did not prevent their frequent agreement in matters of j^^ (
belief. It is significant that in many points the Samaritans, who
owed their temple to a priestly revolt against the layman Nehe
miah, are said to have had an affinity with the Sadducees.
Though Josephus says that Shechem had become a place of
refuge for Jews who had broken the Law, the Samaritans
obtained a qualified recognition at Jerusalem, and were admitted
to the precincts of the Temple. Their Halaka was in many
respects stricter than that of the Rabbis, especially as regards
the observance of the Sabbath, and one of the Rabbis, Simon
ben Gamaliel (A.D. 165), commended them as being more scrupu
lous than the Jews. They were to be restored to Judaism,
according to the Masseket Kutim, when they renounced Gerizim
and confessed Jerusalem and the Resurrection of the dead. 3
The Samaritan canon is restricted to the Law, and in no sense
extends to the Prophets and Hagiographa. 4 On the whole,

1 Ezra iv. 2. They claim that they seek the same god as the Jews, and
say that they have done sacrifice to him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of
Assyria, " which brought us up hither."

2 This question is discussed below, pp. 140 ff.

3 In J. A. Montgomery s The Samaritans (Philadelphia, 1907), chapter xi.,
there is a summary of all the legislation regarding the relation of the Jews to
Samaritans in the treatise Masseket Kutim (Cutheans, i.e. Samaritans).

4 The refusal to accept aught but the Law was not, perhaps, from a Jewish
standpoint in any way heretical. See C. Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers
(1877), p. 119 (Excursus I.). R. Johanan said: " The prophets and the Hagio
grapha will cease, but the five books of the Torah will not cease." See also
another saying in op. cit., Excursus on The Sadducees, p. 128.

122

THE JEWISH WORLD

Samaritan
peculiari
ties of
doctrine.

Samaritans
inN.T.

Samaritanism, like the sects in the Russian Church, was always
more conservative than the parent church of Jerusalem.

It is not possible to obtain complete certainty as to the belief
of the Samaritans in the first century, for our evidence is all
derived from Samaritan documents which are considerably later
than the facts described ; from Christian writers, who are in the
main no earlier and far less trustworthy ; and from the rather
extensive correspondence between the Samaritans and scholars
in Europe in the seventeenth century. 1

The points of importance are : (1) The complete restriction
of the Scriptures to the Pentateuch, and a corresponding exalta
tion of Moses. (2) The belief that Gerizim, not Zion, was the
Mount of God, and that Gerizim was the appointed place for the
Temple and the ritual of the Pentateuch. (3) A belief that in
the last days there would arise a prophet, either like Moses or
actually a reincarnation of Moses, who was called the Taheb
(inn), meaning either " the Restorer " or possibly " he who
returns." He would restore the days of grace, which had ended
with the backsliding of Eli, and after living one hundred and ten
years would die. There would follow the day of judgment and
resurrection, when the righteous would go to the Garden of
Eden, and the wicked would be burned. It is, however, possible
that some of this belief is a later accretion, as, according to Origen, 2
the Samaritans denied not only a Resurrection, but even all
future life. On the other hand, Justin Martyr 3 declares that
the Samaritans believed in a future Messiah, which may refer to
the belief in the Taheb, though as Justin also states that they
derived their belief from the Prophets, confidence in his statement
is shaken. 4

Two attitudes towards the Samaritans can be traced in the
Synoptic Gospels and Acts.

1 See J. A. Montgomery, The Samaritans, p. 3.

2 In Matt. xxii. 23, ed. Delarue, p. 811, and Horn. xxv. p. 365.

3 1 Apol. 53.

4 According to Epiphanius, the Samaritans, like the Jews, were divided
into sects (see p. 84).

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 123

(a) In the instructions to the Twelve in Matt. x. 5, Samaria
is coupled with the Gentile world and is excluded from the
mission-field of the Twelve. " Go not into a way of the Gentiles,
and enter not into any city of the Samaritans." 1 This appears
to represent the opinion of one of the editors of the First Gospel
as to the attitude of Jesus and of the first disciples towards the
Samaritans. Whether the same editor is responsible for Matt.
xxviii. 19 (" Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all
the heathen ") must remain doubtful. Whoever inserted this
passage clearly regarded it as cancelling Matt. x. 5, but the latter
verse is probably evidence that some circles of Christians claimed
the authority of Jesus for not preaching either to Gentiles or
Samaritans.

Was this also the attitude of Mark ? There is no decisive
evidence, for in the Marcan narrative Samaria and the Samaritans
are not mentioned. All that can be said is that, according to
Mark, Jesus preached only in Galilee and to Jews in the district
of Tyre and Sidon, for the Gentile woman of Syrophenicia in
Mark vii. 26 is clearly intended as the " exception which proves
the rule " in the true sense of that phrase.

(b) In the Third Gospel and in Acts the opposite view is
clearly maintained, that Jesus and His disciples ranked the
Samaritans with the Jews rather than with the Gentiles. This
may perhaps be seen in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
x. 25 ff.) and in the story of the grateful Samaritan leper (Luke
xvii. 11 ff.), but is clearest in Luke ix. 52, which represents the
Samaritans as rejecting Jesus when he tried to approach them,
and in Acts i. 8, when Samaria is coupled with Judaea. It
is also implied by the general narrative which represents
the Apostles as willing to preach and baptize in Samaria, but

1 It is sometimes held that these injunctions were only intended to apply
to a special journey of the Twelve. It is of course possible that this was the
meaning of Matthew as it stands now, but the editor has actually omitted from
the Marcan narrative, which ho has combined with these instructions, all those
details which might imply that a special journey was intended. Cf. Mark iii.
13 ff., vi. 6 ff. with Matt. x. 1 ff., and note especially the absence in Matthew
of any parallel to Mark vi. 12 or to vi. 30.

124 THE JEWISH WORLD i

requiring a special revelation before they would approach the
Gentile Cornelius. Moreover, in the account of Philip s work
in the " city of Samaria," Simon is represented as an enemy,
not because he was a Samaritan, but because he was a /j,dyos,
who was declared to be the Great Power of God.

In the Fourth Gospel there is nothing but the story of the
woman at the Well of Samaria and the use of Samaritan by the
Jews as a term of abuse in John viii. 48 ; * but it is clear that
the Johannine tradition, like the Lucan, desired to represent
Jesus as accepting Samaritans.

Josephus declares that the Samaritans were friendly with
the Jews when they were in prosperity, but hostile when things
went badly in Judaea ; a statement which is hardly borne out
by facts. Under Pilate a fanatic assembled an armed crowd,
promising to show them the sacred vessels hidden by Moses on
Gerizim, and Pilate s severity in quelling the disturbance led to
his recall. 2 This would be in A.D. 36 ; and in about the year 52,
under Cumanus, there was a serious quarrel between the Jews
and the Samaritans owing to a massacre of Galilean pilgrims
and consequent reprisals. On the outbreak of the war the
Samaritans suffered with the Jews ; Sebaste (Samaria) was
burned 3 in A.D. 66 ; and the following year witnessed a Samari
tan revolt against Rome, suppressed by Vespasian s officer
Cerealis. After A.D. 70 the Samaritans suffered for their religion
together with the Jews. 4 On the whole we may perhaps infer
that the Samaritans differed less from the Jews than is supposed,
and that the undoubted mutual hostility has been exaggerated.

1 The story of the Woman of Samaria supplies the following details : (1)
That the disciples went into the city of Sychar to buy food presumably, there
fore, Samaritan food was regarded as clean ; (2) the contradictory statement
that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, though this is possibly
an addition to the text ; (3) the remark of the woman claiming that she was
a descendant of Jacob, and that her fathers " worshipped on this mountain "
(Gerizim) ; (4) that the difference between Jews and Samaritan turned on the
proper place of the Sanctuary ; (5) the recognition by the woman that Messiah
will come ; (6) that many of the Samaritans believed on Jesus in contradiction
to Luke ix. 52. a Antiq. xviii. 4. 1-2.

3 B.J. ii. 18. 1. * B.J. iii. 7. 32.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 125

Both from Acts and Josephus it appears that they were equally
susceptible to revolutionary influences.

V. THE IGNOEANT OR " PEOPLE OF THE LAND "
THE AME HA- ARES

The relation of the stricter Jews towards the so-called "people THE
of the land " ( ( Ame ha- Ares) is a question of some difficulty,
needing careful discussion. 1 It has been held by many, including
the writer of the Third Gospel, that the Pharisees represented
the rich and the people the poor, and that the mission of Jesus
was intended for the humble and ignorant. But this scarcely
represents the feeling of the time. Judaism was, it is true,
sacerdotal and aristocratic in the neighbourhood of the
Temple ; but elsewhere it ignored distinctions of rank among
Israelites. The Temple worship existed because of the Law,
which every good Jew made the supreme object of life to
observe, even though he could only on rare occasions offer sacri
fice. But to observe the Law a profound knowledge of its re
quirements was needed, demanding long and arduous study.
Consequently learning and religion went hand in hand, and a
truly pious Jew had to be expert in all the subtleties of the Law.
An aristocracy of learning open to all grew up, independent of
birth or official rank, in which a proselyte, like Aquila, or one
who confesses that he had been an Am ha- 9 ares, like Akiba, might
take a leading place, whilst the High Priest himself might be
rigidly excluded by his ignorance.

Thus the Am ha- ares was separated by a formidable barrier Judaism a
from the learned Jews, which, however, he could surmount by
obtaining proficiency in the Law. With all its faults the legalism
of Judaism has had its advantage in making knowledge a neces
sary part of religion ; and the high intelligence displayed by the
Jewish race is in a great measure due to the fact that the discipline

1 The details are discussed at greater length in Appendix E, by Prof. G. F.
Moore. See above, Ch. II.

126

THE JEWISH WORLD

of learning the Law has been* continued for many generations.
To be a devout Jew a man has had to become somewhat of a
trained lawyer; and dreary as the Talmud seems to the un
initiated, it has proved (like the Mathematical Tripos and Greats)
of great value to those who subsequently apply themselves to
other pursuits. Devout Jews formed themselves into haberim
(societies) in order to maintain the distinction between themselves
and the A me ha- ares, whose ignorance of the Law rendered them
liable to contract ceremonial impurity.

VI. THE APOCALYPTIC THOUGHT AND LITERATURE

Rabbis and The Jewish Rabbis were interested in conduct, and their
hl8tory * main object was to explain a law designed to produce a per
fect man, living in all respects in accordance with the will of
God. They cared little for history, except in so far as it
interpreted their code. Nevertheless among the Jews, as in
every other nation, there were some to whom history appealed ;
less, however, as a statement of events than as an explanation
of their causes and mutual relation. The modern man, who
is in this respect the descendant of the Greeks, endeavours
to produce a philosophy of history agreeing with his own theory
of the universe : and to do so he investigates facts in accord
ance with laws of evidence derived ultimately from the logic of
Aristotle. The Jewish writer knew nothing of Aristotelian logic :
his view of the universe was not only different from ours but
wholly contradictory to it ; and he cared little for accurate
statement.

The earliest philosophy of history which can be traced in
^he literature of Israel is expressed in the Book of Deuteronomy.
j^ was the gmi pl e theory that when Israel was faithful to the
Lord it prospered, and when it was unfaithful it suffered adver
sity. The theory was worked out in the Books of Samuel and
Kings, and in a cruder and more mechanical manner by the

Old

of history,

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 127

Chronicler. It can be traced still further in the writings of
Josephus, and in a Christianised form in the Church History of
Eusebius. It was held firmly by the prophets, but many of the
predictions which they made on the strength of it remained
unfulfilled. Therefore there arose a school of writers who took
up and reinterpreted the more picturesque of the unfulfilled
predictions of the prophets, especially such passages as Isaiah
xxiv. to xxvii., the last chapters of Ezekiel, and parts of
Zechariah. To these they added new and gorgeous imagery of
their own, much of which is probably drawn from ancient Baby
lonian and Persian sources.

In this way, just as the study of the Law produced the Mishna, interests of
the study of the history of unfulfilled prophecy produced the
Apocalyptic Pseudepigrapha. While the legalist concerned
himself with the Law, to solve the problem, " What shall I do
that I may inherit eternal life ? " and found guidance in the
written and unwritten Law of Moses, the writers of this literature
were interested in history and prophecy, in the past, present,
and future of Israel. They sought inspiration from the ancient
records of the human race and of the fathers of Israel preserved
in Genesis, and from the ecstatic utterances of the Hebrew
prophets. But it is misleading to draw a hard-and-fast line be
tween the two schools of thought. The legalist could sometimes
share in the enthusiasm of the visionary, who, in turn, might be,
for all his dreams and revelations, zealous for the Law. Just
as a priest or a Rabbi might belong to any one of the
sects of the Jews, so there was no reason why the philosophy
of history should have been in the hands of one sect
rather than another. It is no doubt true that in the main
the members of the same sect held similar opinions and interests,
but though the fullest allowance be made for this, adherents
of various sects might occupy themselves with the philosophy
of history, and even adopt the same methods. It is there
fore not surprising that traces of all the sects have been
found in the Apocalypses. But after all the main thing

128 THE JEWISH WORLD i

is to set forth the literary method of the writers of this
literature and their theory of history.

Chief Apo- The chief Jewish Apocalypses are the following : 1 the Book
of Daniel, the Ethiopic Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, the
Slavonic Enoch, the Apocalypse of Ezra (4 Ezra), the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch, the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, the
" Book of Baruch," the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Greek Life
of Adam, and the Latin Life of Adam and Eve.

With them may be reckoned also the Psalms of Solomon,
the Book of Jubilees, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,
and the Sibylline Oracles, all of which represent a mixture
of apocalyptic hopes with other interests. The Book of
Jubilees, for instance, is in the main a legal book, while the
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs is very largely a moral
treatise. There is nothing surprising, in this, for it is in itself
entirely natural that those who are interested in the philosophy
of history should endeavour to set it out in relation to other
subjects ; and this especial philosophy had always as its practical
object the heartening and comfort of the righteous in affliction
by explaining the will and purposes of God. It is in this
respect that the Apocalyptists approach most nearly to the
Prophets. The difference between them is that the prophets
in general represent God s purposes as at least in part conditional
on men s conduct. Though the Prophets foretell the future,
they acknowledge that the actual events depend on what
men do. Thus the doctrine of a free will is in the main
characteristic of their teaching ; and the prophets, like the
legalists, were above all anxious to direct the will of
man aright. But the Apocalyptists are determinists : they
regard history as the working out of a predestined plan,
of which they explain either the whole or some part.
Nothing can change it. It is true that even the Apocalyptists
never fully extended this determinism to individuals, it is

1 The most convenient translation is R. H. Charles s The Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 129

one of history, not of individual character and destiny. 1 In
dividuals may achieve salvation or damnation by their conduct,
but the individual is rarely the centre of Apocalyptic interest.
The point which the writers emphasised was that the plan as
a whole is fixed, arranged in periods of chronology, and cannot
be changed, and that it is so ordered that, properly understood,
it ought to be of infinite comfort to the oppressed righteous,
heartening him patiently to endure to the end.

The Apocalyptic period in Judaism between the publication Period of
of Daniel and the appearance of the Syriac Baruch and 4 Ezra Apocalyptic
embraces some three centuries (165 B.C.-A.D. 120). Daniel is literature -
the earliest, and is followed by the groundwork of the present
Book of Enoch, chapters i.-xxxvi. and Ixxii.-cviii., which is assigned
to about 100 B.C. This book is really a collection of a large
Enochian literature. The Apocalypses of Baruch and Ezra
are perhaps the latest, and are almost contemporary with the
chief writings of the New Testament. None of these books
have survived in their original Jewish form in Hebrew or
Aramaic, with the exception of the canonical Book of Daniel.
Most have been enshrined in translations, many of which have
only recently been recovered. They are, moreover, only a few
remnants of a much greater literature which consisted of many
books. All are late in date, but all ascribed to early writers.
This discrepancy between the facts and the titles gave rise
to various artifices of explanation, of which that in 4 Ezra 2 is
the most complete.

According to this, in Ezra s time the Bible was lost, and
Ezra by inspiration restored it with the assistance of an angel.
The incident is thus related in chap. xiv. 44 ff. :

1 As Akiba is reported to have said : " All is foreseen by God, and the power
of Choice is given to man " (Aboth, 3. 19). Cf., too, Hanina s saying : " All is
in the power of Heaven, except the fear of God," which means that God can
do everything except make a man religious (Berachotk, 336). The contrast
between this and Paul, and still more Calvin, is remarkable.

2 4 Ezra is the technical term for chaps, iv.-xiv. of 2 Esdras in the Apocrypha,
also known as the " Fourth Book of Esdras."

VOL. I K

130 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Legendary So in forty days were written ninety-four books. And it came
oTth&lt;r y to pass when the forty days were fulfilled, that the most High spake
Scriptures, unto me saying : The twenty-four books that thou hast written,
and n publish, that the unworthy may read therein ; but the seventy last
Apocryphal, thou shalt keep, to deliver them to the wise among thy people. For

in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and

the stream of knowledge.

That is to say, twenty-four books are the canonical scriptures
of the Jews, open to all men. The seventy others are not for
profane eyes ; only the wise may read them, for they alone can
appreciate their meaning. The point of the story is to explain
why these books which claimed such antiquity had not previously
been known. It is exactly the same motive which makes the
writer of Daniel state that he had been bidden to seal up the
vision. The books were represented as having been the posses
sion of a select circle, and dealt with mysteries which were not
for the profane. There is little reason for thinking that this was
really true. Few books are ever circulated privately, except
when a larger public is not to be obtained.

Definition The word Apocalyptic as applied to these secret books needs
ryptic 008 definition. It is the disclosure of that which is beyond human
knowledge. 1 The seer is dealing not so much with human
events as with divine, and this is characteristic of Apocalyptic
works. The writers tell partly the history of the past, partly
the history of the future, and partly they explain the mysteries
of the natural and spiritual world, but they do so, not in order to
relate facts or even to influence conduct, but to explain prin
ciples and causes, and quite especially chronology. These
causes and principles are indeed very different from those with
which the modern student of the philosophy of history operates,
but the intention was similar.

The difference between apocalyptic and prophetic writing
is easier to appreciate than to define. In general it may be
said that prophecy is usually national and moral, while the

1 Cf. Torrey in Jewish Ency., " Apocalyptic Literature."

m THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 131

Apocalyptists pay more attention to systems of chronology,
in the How and When of history. The centre of their
interest was not, as ours is, the accurate presentment of the
facts of history, but rather the elaborate schematising of events
and dates, spending much ingenuity in arranging history into a
fixed and symmetrical system of chronology which governed
rather than expressed its course. They were the direct ancestors
of Julius Africanus and the author of the De Pascha Computus.
They are concerned with the relation between events in heaven and
the kingdoms and empires of the world, and therefore they spoke
of angels, demons, and the supramundane representatives of
men and nations who operated partly in accordance with the
will of God, partly in opposition to it, and so produced that
strange mixture of motives and curious combination of creation
and destruction which makes up the history of the world.

None of the earlier books of the Old Testament are apocalyptic, The Book
and even among the later ones none has so exclusively that
character as to be called an Apocalypse, except the Book of lypse&gt;
Daniel. In this there are a series of visions, in which the relation
between events in heaven and the kingdoms and empires of the
world is explained. The seer beholds Israel in the centre of
every scene which is presented to the eyes of his imagination,
but not as isolated from the world. The allusions which he makes
to events are represented to be prophetic, nevertheless they are
unmistakable references to what happened centuries after the
days of the supposed Daniel. The seventh chapter illustrates
this. Three fierce beasts appear and after them a fourth, dreadful
and terrible," who destroys them, and in this beast the horn
arises with " eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
great things." Then heaven is opened and " the Ancient of
Days " is seen ; " thousand thousands ministered to him, and
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." The
invisible court of heaven and its countless hosts of divine beings
are disclosed. In the midst of this tremendous scene " the
judgment is set, and the books are opened." Then another

132 THE JEWISH WOELD i

mysterious figure appears. " I saw in the night visions, and,
behold, one like a Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven/
and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near
before him. And there was given to him dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom ... his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away." x

Here most of the typical conditions of an Apocalypse are
fulfilled. It is pseudonymous, inasmuch as the assumed writer
is a sage of bygone days. It is interested in Israel, but not
exclusively ; the kingdom of him who comes on the clouds
embraces " all people, nations, and languages " ; the beasts
are not merely symbols ; they are actually existing supra-
mundane powers, whose actions are reflected in the history of
the nations. There is a heavenly vision of the consummation
of the age. Moreover, the prophecy is a sealed book. Pro
fessedly it is not intended to circulate among those of Daniel s
generation : " the words are closed up and sealed until the time
of the end." 2

No other prophecy in the Old Testament, despite the attend
ant visions, can be called Apocalyptic in this sense. The con
cluding chapters of Ezekiel have a superficial resemblance to
an Apocalypse ; but the essential conditions are hardly fulfilled.
The prophet sees no heavenly temple, but an idealised restoration
of the House in which he had ministered ; and in the national
triumph only Israel shares, and forms a perfect community in
its own land. Even the earlier visions of Divine majesty, the
living creatures, the wheel within wheels, are personal rather
than world-wide. Nor is there any idea that the revelation is
primarily meant for posterity.

Apocalypses One feature, often present in Apocalypses but lacking in

antediluvian Daniel, who in this respect is more like the prophets of the older

world. order, is the interest in the history of the first age of the world,

the fall of angels, and the revelations made to antediluvian

patriarchs. The story of the early ages of the world is regarded

1 Dan. vii. 1-14. 2 Dan. xii. 9.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 133

as fraught with a deep meaning revealed to the saints of old,
who reserved its disclosure till the fulness of the times. Whether
those who first read them seriously believed in the words of the
Epistle of Jude l that " Enoch, seventh from Adam," actually
prophesied is immaterial ; but in one thing Jews and Christians
agreed they allowed the entire literature to sink into obscurity.

The most marked characteristic so far as literary method is Extant
concerned is the consistent use of previous material. Every a^cm^/a
Apocalypse which we possess seems to be made up of fragments tions -
of earlier works belonging to the same type. Frequently it is
possible to distinguish these sources, but critics have possibly
gone rather further than the evidence warrants them in assigning
dates and making statements about the opinions of the authors
of the various sources, for it is certain that the writers who pro
duced the present documents did not look on themselves merely
as editors. They were writing books by the method of com
pilation, but they troubled themselves little in the accurate
representation of their sources. What they desired was to set out
their own opinions, and they were willing to treat their sources in
any way which rendered them better adapted for this purpose.

In the accomplishment of this task they produced an almost The End
infinite variety of combination, often involving illogical and self- Beginning,
contradictory statements. For though many of the visions of
the Apocalyptists are worked out with fantastic minuteness,
they cared really more for the principles than they did for the
details of history. The End was to be as the Beginning ; and
their interest in " the Beginning " was entirely due to this.
The End was their real preoccupation, and the most marked
characteristic of their belief was the certainty that the End
was close at hand. Much of the interest of the subject for the
student of Christian origins is the picture which is presented of
the time immediately preceding and following after the End ;
for the End was after all not final, it was only the End of this
world, and after it would arise the World to Come.

1 Jude 14.

134 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Woes The general picture, of which the details vary in each book,

deliverance^ is that a period of great and unprecedented suffering the Woes
will pass into one of prosperity and happiness for the chosen
people. This will be succeeded by a last effort on the part of
the powers of evil, who will be finally and completely defeated.
Then will come the resurrection of the dead, the great judgment,
and the End, after which will begin the New Age or the World
to Come. Such are the general outlines of the Apocalyptic
picture ; but there is considerable variation. The days of
prosperity which succeed the Woes are sometimes pictured as
the reign of that anointed prince or Messiah whose coming was
foretold by the prophets. Sometimes the Messiah does not
appear at all, and the custom of nevertheless referring in such
cases to this period as Messianic, though general, is to be de
precated. Similarly the judgment is sometimes carried out by
God, sometimes by his representative. Sometimes the final
effort of evil seems to be omitted. In general, however, the
characteristic features remain, and it is perhaps well to remember
that every Apocalypse is not necessarily a complete picture of
everything which its writer might have accepted.

Persian It may be legitimate to inquire whether this Apocalyptic

picture is a genuine outcome of Judaism at all. In its main
characteristics Persian influence is very marked. The religion
of Zoroaster is based on the great strife in heaven and on earth
between the powers of good and evil, ending in a spectacular
triumph of righteousness. Ormuzd and his angels strive with
Arihman and his angels, just as Michael does with Satan. In
the end a Saviour comes, in the person of Shaosyant, and executes
judgment, bringing about a new order. This is the essence of
Apocalyptic revelation, heaven and hell crowded by angelic and
demonic hosts, a Saviour interfering in the cause of right, the
final judgment, the End, and the World to Come. 1 In reality it
is in contrast with the Jewish conception of Messiah, an anointed
king vindicating (for in that sense the word " to judge " is em-
1 See below, pp. 269-277.

in THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN JUDAISM 135

ployed) and establishing a kingdom in which the Law is supreme.
Nevertheless, the Persian eschatology as a whole was taken over
by Jewish thought, and the question naturally arose of its
relationship to the prophetic doctrine of an anointed king of the
house of David. It would have been possible to identify the
new world with the kingdom of the anointed prince of the house
of David, and in the end that identification was possibly made
in some Jewish circles, but, in the main, Jewish thought followed
a different line of development. The days of the anointed king,
when they were not omitted altogether, were kept as the closing
period of this age, which the Resurrection was to follow rather
than precede. His reign was to precede the End, and he,
like all other men, would die, even though an extremely long
life was granted him. After his death and that of the rest
of mankind would come the resurrection and the judgment,
which would settle whether men should or should not pass
on into a life of happiness in the new world. This is the
theory presented in 4 Ezra and in the Apocalypse of Baruch.
It is noticeably similar to that of Paul in 1 Corinthians xv.
and to the vision of the End and of the New Creation in
Revelation xix.-xxii. It was probably held at least by some
Rabbis, but in Judaism interest in eschatology gradually atrophied
under the intenser study of the Law, and Christianity in the end
accepted a simpler form, which identified the World to Come with
the Days of the Messiah, and translated it from Earth to Heaven.

The reason for the very sudden decline of Apocalyptic litera- causes of
ture for Ezra is not only the finest but almost the last of the d(
series can be explained in the main by two considerations. The
type of thought which it represents could not survive the dis
illusionment caused by the failure of Bar Cochba and the final
downfall of the Jewish state. In the second place, there seems
to have been a considerable growth of what we shpuld now call
theosophy among the Jews, and the Rabbis set their faces sternly
against it. At one time at least the first chapters of Genesis and
of Ezekiel were forbidden to all under the age of thirty. The

136 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Rabbis were successful in their campaign, and the Apocalyptic
literature probably went down together with the theosophy for
which it provided so much tempting material. It revived again
in the Middle Ages in the form of the Hekeloth, much of which
is preserved in the Cabbala. In this fragments of the Apocalyptic
literature can still be traced, though not in such a form as to be
directly identical with the recensions which still survive.

Conclusion. The Fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, marked the downfall of the
priestly party and the disappearance of the Sadducees. Johanan
ben Zakkai and the founders of the New Judaism were in sym
pathy with the Pharisees, on whose teaching the Rabbinical
principles were mainly based; and Sadducee and Boethusian
became terms of reproach.

The common view that the Pharisees were a sect occupied
in trivial matters of ritual, and making the Law intolerable
by their traditions, is as erroneous as that the Sadducees were
worldly men promoting scepticism in faith and laxity in conduct.
In many instances the Sadducees demanded more from their
followers than their rivals ; and the Pharisaic traditions made
the Law easier to obey. The allegation that the Sadducees not
only denied the Resurrection, but also rejected all the prophets,
is probably based on the legend which connected this dis
credited party with the Samaritans.

The fundamental difference between the Pharisees and the
other sects seems to have been that, whereas Essenes, Sadducees,
and the Covenanters of Damascus always looked to the past, they
took count of the present and the future. In their hands, not in
those of the Sadducees or Samaritans with their unchangeable
law, or of the Covenanters with their ideal of an Israel in the
desert, or of the Apocalyptists with their fantastic history, or of
the ( Ame ha-Ares with their uninstructed piety, lay the future of
Judaism.

JERUSALEM

A.D.70.

Based uponjfap inJH^EnydopcatiicL, R&gt;L 7. Jty permission if Messrv FurikSrVlagnalLs.

W I o r

Rabbis were successful in their MSJAJ&IFHaipocs^p

literature probably went dow; .O\ &lt;Q*^ theoso^hy f

which it provided so much tempt: ial. It revh^d aga;

in the Middle Ages i Rekeloth, myfoi wfci

preserved in the fragments of th/Apocalyp

,ture can still be ; h not in suclp form as to

dire^Jv identical \vi* &gt;ns which sjfll survive.

Tllfc j :salem, A.D. 70, marked^the downfaU of the

j^nd the disappearance of ti^ Sadduceejy

i^/j ^S^^^n^gof the l^W Jud^nfwere in sym-
patWwith the Ph^e^^^o^toa^mg the Rabbinical
priK iles were mainly base^f)M^Mucee and Boethusian

^ / ^*r a4e.loii^9emfif1

bedtnib teAs of reproach. x ,

AAmiTumMMM. th&t^Che Phari^awere a sect occupied
in trWWBULt^-wff/nraal, and maldngN^eLaw intolerable
by tleir tracUtions^ae-v^jieous as that the tWducees were

[ n Mariy instance^tp 6 SaiJG^sj demanded ml)re f^om tl
fol &lt;fef!|j han tbe/r rivals ; and ^

^^LrlLi The alle;.: ^tio? ||^\ _ _

mpphets,
i this dis-

and the
on .-.

to^Jie^ast, they
ncfs^ not in
^geable
in the
or of
fufibe of

\ t_J

\ ^^

Xv se^gjiis to h4ve been
enanters o

the future. In
.ucees or bapa ntans with thlir

with their ideal of
.pocalyptistsj with their f anta^licj
.rap kith their un|nstruct(

THE DISPERSION
By THE EDITORS

THE name in the Bible for the scattered Jewish communities THE
was "The Captivity," the late Greek equivalent being SiaaTropd, 1
Dispersion ; but the word " sojourner " always applied with
peculiar force to the nation of Israel. The patriarchs were
wanderers, and even in their most prosperous days their
descendants occupied only portions of Palestine by a precarious
tenure. The kingdom, from the accession of Saul to the
fall of Samaria in 722 B.C., can scarcely have lasted much
more than three hundred and fifty years. Even during that
period the Israelite nation never possessed a great part
of the country claimed as its inheritance, and Galilee was
called "the circuit" (GaUl) of the Gentiles. 2 After 722 B.C.,
those who claimed to be genuine sons of Jacob occupied only
the highlands of Judah and Benjamin, a few villages around

1 See note by J. H. Ropes in the International Critical Commentary on the
Epistle of James, p. 120 ff. The word diacnropd is comparatively rare in the
LXX. and is never used to translate nSu, though in later Hebrew, as the title
NnVu ran of the Prince of the exiles in Babylon testifies, it was the equivalent
of Siao-Tropd. As Dr. Ropes remarks, "It is not a regular representative of
any Hebrew word." In the LXX. it has generally the sense of violent dis
persion, as of a discomfited army.

2 Isaiah ix. 1. See also 1 Kings ix. 11. Galilee means the "circuit," and
is always used with the article. In 2 Kings xv. 29, Galilee is described as
" all the land of Naphtali." In the story of the birth of Jacob s sons Naphtali
is said, like Gad, Asher, and Dan, to be the son not of a wife, but of a concubine,
i.e. of mixed, not of pure race. Gen. xxx. 8.

137

138 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Jerusalem. From a very early time the outskirts of the Israelite
territory had been subject to frequent raids, and the appearance

(a) Assyria, of the Assyrian armies was marked, not by one, but by
many captivities. Thus in the days of Pekah Tiglath-pileser
carried away a large number of captives from northern
Palestine, Galilee, and Gilead. 1 When Sargon took Samaria
the inhabitants of the district were transplanted, some as
far as Media. 2 His son Sennacherib boasts that he took
captive no less than two hundred thousand Judeans. 3 So
far as we are able to judge these exiles did not retain
their customs nor their religion, but amalgamated with the
surrounding nations. Still there is no reason why the later
captives from Judah should not have found the ground of a
religious settlement prepared for them by their countrymen. 4
In the sixth century B.C. the deportations were carried on, in

(6) Babylon, perhaps a more systematic fashion, by the Babylonian Nebuchad
nezzar. At any rate, the ties with the old country were not
completely broken, and the Jewish settlements retained their
distinctive features. 5 From the later books of the Old Testa
ment, however, it is plain that the Temple at Jerusalem, even
when it lay in ruins, attracted pilgrims and was regarded as a
peculiarly sacred spot. 6 The policy of the great king was not
to make his deportations on a large scale, but to select the best
and richest for removal, leaving the common people behind to
cultivate the land. 7 From the days of the Babylonian captivity
the strength of Judaism was in the East rather than in Judaea.

1 2 Kings xv. 29. 2 2 Kings xvii. 6.

3 Taylor Cylinder, see King, First Steps in Assyrian, p. 61 ; and Ball, Light
from the East, p. 187.

4 Josephus, Antiq. xi. 5. 2, al 8 deKa (j&gt;v\ai irtpav eialv Ei)0pdrou &us devpo,
jUnpidSes &Treipoi /cat apiB/j.^ yvwffdrjvat. //.?? dvvd[.&lt;.et&gt;ai. Of. also Tobit i. 14, where
it is implied that the sons of tribes in captivity remained true to their religion.
Cf. E. Schiirer, G. J. V. vol. iii. p. 8.

5 2 Kings xxiv. 14 ; Jer. Iii. 24-25. For the maintenance of a connection
between the exiles and the Jews see Jer. xxiv., Ez. viii. 16, and passim,
Zech. vi.

6 Jer. xli. 5. 7 Jer. xxxix. 10, Iii. 16 ; 2 Kings xxv. 11.

iv THE DISPERSION 139

voluntary migration southward. Since the days of Isaiah, at
any rate, Egypt had had an attraction for Israelites. When
Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Babylonians the Jewish
exiles formed a colony at Tahpanes (Daphne). 1 Under the
Persian rule in Egypt they evidently enjoyed the protection of
the conquerors, and established themselves as far south as the
first cataract at Yeb (Elephantine). A flood of light has been
shed on this Jewish settlement by the discovery of the Mond-
Cecil papyri, a series of family deeds, one dated possibly as early
as 494 B.C. 2 The community had for years enjoyed the right of
having its own temple with its altar and sacrifices, and was under
protection of the Persian viceroy. It was evidently composed
of prosperous traders ; and though it incurred the enmity of the
Egyptian priesthood, it was on friendly terms with the people.
These Egyptian Jews maintained a connection with the temple
at Jerusalem and the High Priest.

The Old Testament supplies evidence that the Jews were (d) Persia,
numerous and influential in the Persian Empire, whose founder,
Cyrus, was regarded as their special protector, and his son,
Cambyses, sanctioned their worship in Egypt when he sup
pressed the native religion. 3 Nehemiah received his appoint
ment as Governor of Judaea at Susa (Shushan) in Persia, 4 and
the scene of the Book of Esther is laid in the same place. 5
Thus by the commencement of the fourth century before
Christ there were Jewish communities in Upper Egypt, Meso
potamia, Persia, and Media.

With the appearance of Alexander the Great in Syria, Judaism Alexander
entered upon a new phase. Hitherto it had belonged to the

1 Jer. xliii. 7. The prophet addresses the Jews at Migdol, Tahpanes, Noph,
arid in the country of Pathros, Jer. xliv. 1.

2 A. van Hoonacker, Une Communaute judeo-arameenne, etc. (Schweich
Lectures, 1914). The papyri are family deeds purchased by Mr. Robert Mond
and Lady William Cecil in 1904, and published at Mr. Mond s expense by
A. H. Sayce and A. E. Cowley, entitled Aramaic Papyri discovered at Assuan,
1906. In 1907 Prof. Sachau edited Drei aramdische Papyrusurkiinden
aus Elephantine. Berlin.

3 Sachau, op. cit. i. 13-14. * Neh. i. 1. 5 Esther i. 5.

140 THE JEWISH WORLD i

East, now it was to assimilate itself to the West also. When
Hebrew ceased to be in common use, the Jews adopted Aramaic,
a kindred language originally spoken by the tribes to the east of
Palestine, the dialects of which were current in the fifth century
B.C. from the Nile to the Tigris ; but henceforward Greek was to
be also a vehicle of Jewish thought. For the visit of Alexander
to Jerusalem Josephus is our sole authority, 1 and his narrative
is not easy to reconcile either with that in the canonical book of
Nehemiah, nor with the Mond papyri ; since the events of the
fifth and fourth centuries B.C. are inextricably confused.
Narrative According to Josephus, after the capture of Tyre, Alexander

s was visited by Sanballat, a Cuthaean, who had been sent by
Darius Codomannus as governor of Samaria. Manasseh, the
brother of Jaddua, the High Priest, contrary to the law had
espoused Nicaso, Sanballat s daughter ; and Sanballat had
promised him a more valuable priesthood than that of the Temple,
together with the government of the fertile territory of Samaria.
Taking advantage of a sedition in Jerusalem and the fact that
Jaddua had provoked Alexander by his obstinate loyalty to
Darius, to whom he had sworn allegiance, Sanballat obtained
permission to erect a Temple on Mount Gerizim and to instal
Manasseh and his followers, who had deserted Jaddua. Alexander
in the meantime marched to Jerusalem to punish the High
Priest. 2 But when the army reached Sapha (Mizpah, now
Nebi-Samwil) the High Priest came forth at the head of the
people in his sacred garments. To the surprise of all, Alexander
fell down before Jaddua in adoration, and when Parmenio, his
general, asked the reason, he declared that he did not adore the
priest but the God of the Jews ; for he had had a vision of a
man like Jaddua when he was in Macedonia who promised that
God would conduct his army and give him dominion over the
Persians. 3 Accordingly he granted all the requests preferred

1 Joseph. Antiq. xi. 8. 1-7. 2 Antiq. xi. 8. 5.

3 Antiq. xi. 8. 5, /ecu irpbs e^avrbv Staa/ceTrro/i^i y yu.cu TTUJS av /cparTjcrca/u TTJS
Acrt as, Trape/ceXetfero /J.TJ /m^XXetv dXXd Oapffovvra diafialvetv avrb^yap fj
/uoi TTJS oTpcmaj /ecu rrjv Hep&lt;ruv Trapadu&lt;reiv

iv THE DISPERSION 141

to him by the High Priest, allowed the Jews the free exercise
of their religion in Judaea and also in Babylon and Media,
exempted them from taxation every seventh year, and offered
to those who would enlist in his army the right to adhere to
their ancestral customs. Alexander, says Josephus, was the
more ready to favour the Jews because he had been shown the
Book of Daniel and understood that his conquest of Persia had
been foretold. The Samaritans laid claim to the same privi
leges, declaring that they too were Israelites, and tracing their
pedigree to Joseph. They admitted that they were not Jews :
and Alexander neither granted nor refused their request. 1 He
commanded Sanballat s troops to follow him to Egypt, and
granted them lands in the Thebaid. The Temple on Gerizim
remained, and became the resort not only of the Samaritans, but
of all discontented Jews. 2 In 331 B.C. Alexander went down to
Egypt, and in the winter laid the foundation of Alexandria, in
which he settled a number of Jews.

There is, as has been indicated, a startling anachronism Discrepancy
between Josephus and the canonical book of Nehemiah, the w
scene of which is Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes,
445 B.C. According to this, Sanballat was the principal adversary
of Nehemiah. He was a Horonite, whose daughter was married
to a grandson of the High Priest Eliashib. 3 Similarly in the
Mond papyri the Jews in Egypt complain to the sons of Sanballat
of the destruction of their Temple at Yeb in the fourteenth year
of Darius Nothus, 411 B.C., thus confirming the statement in
Nehemiah that Sanballat lived a century before Alexander the
Great. Nevertheless, Josephus is probably right when he hints
that Alexander was desirous of con cilia ting both the Jews and
the Samaritans, and it is noteworthy that he admits that the
latter were reinforced by Jewish schismatics. It has been pointed
out that the constant intercourse between the Jews of Jerusalem
and their brethren in the East must have made them invaluable
as guides to an army, like that of Alexander, destitute of maps

1 Antiq. xi. 8. 6. 2 Antiq. xi. 8. 7. 3 Neh. xiii. 28.

142 THE JEWISH WORLD i

and topographical knowledge : 1 and they also possessed many
qualities useful to settlers in a new commercial capital like
Alexandria. The Hellenisation of Judaism may therefore well
be traced to the days of Alexander the Great.

THK The early dispersion was undoubtedly eastward, and in the

N enumeration of those who were in Jerusalem on the day of

IN THE

Pentecost the first mentioned in Acts are Parthians, Medes,
Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, 2 all inhabitants of
lands then outside the limits of the Roman Empire. Of this
dispersion we learn nothing further from Acts ; but its importance
to a student of Christian origins is not inconsiderable, as it was
through the Jewish settlements that Christianity spread eastward
as well as westward. The diffusion of Christianity eastward is,
however, a subject on which we have no precise information.
Acts, our sole contemporary authority, is silent, and tells of no
missionary work outside Palestine, save that undertaken by Paul
and Barnabas. Nevertheless, the early and widespread Christian
legend that the Twelve, some years after the Ascension, divided
the known world among themselves into spheres of missionary
labours shows the belief that from the first Christians travelled
far and wide preaching the Gospel ; and for such labours an
extensive Jewish dispersion was a valuable if not indispensable
assistance. But though this legend may be as old as the second
century, 3 the scenes of the labours of the Apostles are as unknown
to Eusebius as they are to us. For their journeys eastward he
has nothing on which to rely, except the Abgar legend, which
makes Thomas send Thaddeus 4 (Addai) to Edessa in fulfilment
of the promise of the Saviour. In enumerating the parts of
the world in which the apostles preached Christ, he has to

1 Cf. Mahaffy, The Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 85 : " Hence to an invader of
Asia who had no maps, no full information as to the routes and resources for
feeding an army, no organised system of interpreters, these Jews were the
natural intelligence department."

2 Acts ii. 9.

3 Lipsius in Diet. Christian Biography, art. " Apocryphal Acts."

4 H.E. ii. 1.

iv THE DISPERSION 143

rely solely on the New Testament and a statement in Origen s
Commentary on Genesis which alludes to Thomas having preached
in Parthia.

The Parthian Empire, which rose during the decay of the () in the
Seleucids, was one of the most warlike, if the least civilised of Empire.
the great monarchies of the Ancient East. But if the remains
of its buildings and sculpture are rude and barbarous compared
to what the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks have
left in this part of the world, the Parthians had military ability
enough to hold the Romans at bay in the days of the later republic
and earlier Empire ; and except under Marcus Aurelius, when
Avidius Cassius invaded the country, no expedition against them
proved in the end successful. Extending from the Euphrates
almost to the frontiers of Hindostan, the Parthian dominions
divided the civilised world known to classical antiquity with the
Roman. Even Palestine was not safe from the Parthian armies,
and Josephus has repeatedly indicated their importance in Jewish
politics. The crushing defeat of Crassus in 54 B.C. is only alluded
to in passing ; l but a few years later the country was overrun
by the Parthians, who took Jerusalem and placed Antigonus,
the son of Hyrcanus s brother Aristobulus, on the throne. 2
Josephus in the later books of the Antiquities shows further
interest in the affairs of Parthia. He mentions that about
36 B.C. the command of Tiberius Vitellius, the imperial governor
of Syria, made a treaty with Artabanus III., King of Parthia,
who had been deposed but had recovered his kingdom. On this
occasion Herod Antipas played a prominent part. Vitellius and
Artabanus met in the middle of a bridge made across the Euph
rates and were entertained magnificently by Antipas. Among the
presents of the Parthians to the Romans was a Jewish giant
named Eleazar who was seven cubits high. Antipas on this
occasion incurred the enmity of Vitellius by sending the news
of the completion of the treaty to Tiberius more speedily, 3

1 Antiq. xiv. 7. 3. z Antiq. xiv. 13.

3 Antiq. xviii. 4. 4-6.

144 THE JEWISH WORLD i

showing that the tetrarch was deeply involved in Parthian
politics, and was in closer touch with the Emperor than even the
governor of an imperial province like Syria.

Asmaeus ^ jjg^^ j s g]^ O n the number, the power, and the turbulence

Auiiaeus. o f the Jews in Parthia by the story of the two brothers Asinaeus
and Anilaeus, related by Josephus. 1 They were natives of the
city of Nahardea near Nisibis and were apprenticed to a cloth
weaver. As, however, he presumed to chastise them, they left
his house, taking with them weapons, and established themselves
in a place between two rivers which, in addition to its strength,
was well suited for cattle. There they built a fortress and
exacted tribute from the neighbourhood, and soon became so
sufficiently formidable as even to excite the apprehension of
King Artabanus. An army was equipped by the governor of
Babylonia ; and it was decided to attack their stronghold on the
Sabbath day, when they, as Jews, might be expected to be
inactive. But Asinaeus, disregarding the scruples of some of
his followers, boldly led forth his troops and gained a complete
victory over the royal army. Artabanus, seeing that it was
necessary to conciliate the two brothers, sent for them under safe-
conduct, which he refused to violate, though urged to do so by
his generals. On his return from the royal presence Asinaeus
became more powerful than ever, and for fifteen years he and
Anilaeus were the most honoured satraps in Mesopotamia.

At the end of this period Anilaeus married a Parthian lady,
whose husband he had previously killed in battle. Like
Rachel, also a native of Mesopotamia, 2 she took away with her
her ancestral images, and, to the great scandal of the Jewish
community, persisted in worshipping them. Asinaeus was at
last induced to remonstrate, whereupon the lady, fearing his
influence with her husband, poisoned him, and Anilaeus reigned

1 Antiq. xviii. 9. 1-9.

2 Gen. xxxi. 30-35. Rawlinson, Sixth Great Monarchy, p. 400, has some
interesting remarks on the use of teraphim or household images by the Parthians,
who were nominally Zoroastrians, and therefore, like the Jews, averse to image
worship.

iv THE DISPERSION 145

alone. Even then his good fortune did not desert him. Sup
ported by his countrymen he was able to defeat Mithradates,
the son-in-law of King Artabanus ; and a war ensued between
the Jews and Babylonians. In the end Anilaeus was betrayed
and killed whilst overcome by drink. After his death the Jews
took refuge in Seleucia in Mesopotamia, which was inhabited
by a mixed population of Greeks and Syrians. Joining the
latter in sedition, the Jews were betrayed by their allies : fifty
thousand were slain, and many fled to the adjacent royal
city of Ctesiphon. This happened about A.D. 41 when the
unanimity which Greeks, Syrians, and Babylonians showed
in their animosity forced the Jews to entrench themselves
in Nahardea and Nisibis. 1 This narrative reveals some
thing of the character of the Jewish inhabitants in the
Parthian Empire, their aptitude for war, their tendency
to brigandage, their devotion to their ancestral customs,
and their unpopularity with the people among whom they
lived.

That the Jews extended their influence by making proselytes (6) Helena
is shown in the case of Izates, King of Adiabene, and his mother,
Helena. 2 The conversion of this powerful and successful monarch
was begun by a Jewish merchant named Ananias, who, however,
refused to advise that Izates should incur the risk of offending
his subjects by being circumcised. A more earnest Jew, however,
named Eleazar, persuaded the king to submit to the rite. Despite
the hostility of his brothers, some of whom he sent as hostages
to Claudius to Rome and others to Parthia, he maintained
himself on the throne of what in modern parlance would be
called a " buffer " kingdom between the rival empires. After
encountering many perils and having been the means of restoring
Artabanus to his throne, Izates died, and his body and that of
his mother, Helena, were sent by Monobazus, his successor, for
interment at Jerusalem.

1 Antiq. xviii. 9. 9. 2 Antiq. xx. 2. 1-5, 3. 1-4, 4. 1-3.

VOL. I L

146 THE JEWISH WORLD i

(c) Jewe in So important was the dispersion among the Parthians in
MriuTand the eyes of Josephus that his first literary effort was a history
EIam of the Jewish war, written especially for the Jews of the East. 1

Of Jews in Parthia proper, or the district supposed to have
been the home of the Parthians, we have a record preserved in
the Chronicle of Eusebius, George Syncellus, and Orosius, that
Artaxerxes Ochus about 350 B.C. transported some rebellious
Jews from Egypt to Hyrcania by the Caspian Sea, where there
were still Jews in the fifth century A.D. 2 In Media there was a
Jewish community at a place called Gazaca, so ignorant that
they had never heard of the Halaha (rules for observing the law) ;
and when Akiba told them the stories of the Flood and of Job,
they were quite new to them. 3 In Elam or Persia there had, as
has been shown, long been Jews in Susa or Shushan, but there is
no evidence of their presence elsewhere. There remains in the

(d) Meso- catalogue of Acts ii. only Mesopotamia, which was undoubtedly
potamm. ^^ ^ t k e greatest j ew i sn centres in the world. 4 Two cities,

Pumbeditha and Nahardea, were afterward famous in the
Talmud as academies of rabbinical learning. The only other

(e) Arabia. Eastern country mentioned in Acts is Arabia, 5 which according

to Josephus was immediately adjacent to Palestine. 6 From
Galatians i. 17, where Paul says he went to Arabia and returned
to Damascus, it might be inferred that Damascus

1 Proem, ad B.J. The Prince of the Captivity who was the head of the
Jews in Mesopotamia, and claimed to represent the family of David, is said
to have been recognised by the Parthians. See Jewish Encyclopaedia, art.
" Exiliarch."

2 Juster, Les Juifs dans V Empire romain, vol. i. p. 203 ; Orosius 3. 7. 6.

3 Juster, op. cit. vol. i. p. 203, note 2. Neubauer, Geographie du Talmud,
pp. 375, 392.

4 Juster, op. cit. vol. i. p. 201, gives a list of towns east of the Euphrates
in which there is evidence for the presence of Jews. The testimony is, how
ever, in many cases so late that our knowledge of the actual condition of the
Dispersion in the first century A.D. besides what we find in Josephus and Acts
is very scanty. He enumerates twenty-six towns or countries. Of these
eleven are first mentioned by Christian writers after the middle of the fourth
century, and twelve occur in the Talmud as cited by Neubauer, the earliest
part of which, the Mishna, was not written before the second or third centuries
A.D. For Jews in Edessa in the first century see Burkitt, Early Eastern Chris
tianity, p. 16. 5 Acts ii. 11. 6 Antiq. xviii. 5, I,

iv THE DISPERSION 147

was outside its borders. 1 In the peninsula of Arabia there were
undoubtedly Jewish settlements ; but only four towns are
mentioned as such, and the evidence for some of these is
actually as late as the Mohammedan Era. 2

In Palestine the Jews were more truly a Dispersion than DISPERSION
inhabitants of their own land. In the days of the Maccabees, PALESTINE.
for example, Galilee had so few Jews that they could be rounded
up and settled around Jerusalem by Judas. 3 Bashan and Gilead,
afterward the Decapolis and Perea, were covered with cities
with Greek or Macedonian names, as was also the coast. 4 The
great herd of swine on the shores of the lake of Galilee may be
cited as evidence of a large Hellenic or non- Jewish population. 5
At Caesar ea the Jewish inhabitants provoked the Greek majority
by their claims to control the city, and the Jewish war began
by an insult to their synagogue. Sebaste was practically a
heathen city, and joined with Caesarea in celebrating the death
of Agrippa with indecent manifestations of delight. 6 Tiberias
in Galilee was largely Gentile, as it was considered by Jews to
be unclean, being built over an ancient burying-place. 7 When
Jesus sent his disciples to visit the cities and villages of Galilee
he warned them, " Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into
a city of the Samaritans enter ye not. This is a conclusive
proof that in the time of Christ it was necessary for an
Israelite travelling in Palestine to discriminate between one
of his own towns and those of strangers. 8

Syria, according to both Josephus 9 and Philo, 10 was a great IN SYRIA.
centre of the Dispersion. It may be meant by "Judaea" in
Acts ii., for which it is substituted by Jerome, whereas Tertullian

1 For the meaning of " Arabia " from Herodotus onwards see Conybeare
and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, vol. i. p. 117. Justin, Trypho, 78,
says Damascus did belong to Arabia, but had been assigned in his day to
Syrophoenicia.

2 Juster, op. cit. vol. i. p. 203, note 4. 3 1 Mace. v. 23.

4 Cf. such names as Dium, Pella, Anthedon, etc. etc.

5 Mark v. 1 ff. ; Matt. viii. 28 ff. ; Luke viii. 26.

6 Antiq. xix. 9. 1. ; B.J. ii. 14. 4. 7 Matt. x. 5; cf. Judg. xix. 12.
8 Antiq. xviii. 2. 3. B.J. vii. 3. 3.

10 Legal. 32 (Mangey, ii. 582).

148 THE JEWISH WORLD i

has Armenia. 1 Syria included the Roman province and Palestine,
Commagene, Emesa, Abilene, and the kingdom of Chalcis.
Forty-one cities have been enumerated in this district as having
Jewish inhabitants, more than half being in Palestine. These
extend from Samosata in the north to Raphia in the south.
The towns outside the Holy Land, of which it can be said
that there are traces of Jewish settlements anterior to
A.D. 100, are Antioch, Seleucia, Apamaea, Arados, the kingdom
of Chalcis, the tetrarchy of Abilene ruled over by the Herods,
and Damascus. 2

(a) Antioch. Antioch, which played so important a part in the early history
and development of Christianity, evidently contained many
Jews, who must have constantly been there at any rate since
Palestine passed under the Syrian monarchy in 198 B.C. Josephus
says that Seleucus Nicator gave the Jews the privilege of citizen
ship, and all their rights were restored after the death of their
enemy, Antiochus Epiphanes. When Titus visited the city in
A.D. 70 the Jews were both numerous and unpopular. 3 Four of
the names of the five given in Acts xiii. 1 as inaugurating
the mission to the Gentiles, Barnabas, Simeon, Manahem, the
foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul, are markedly
Jewish. The frequent warnings of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch,
early in the second century, against Judaising, indicate that he
may have presided over a Christian community surrounded by
Jews, 4 and John Chrysostom three centuries later preached
frequently at Antioch against them. 5

1 Is it possible that Judaea in Acts ii. means that Syria is the land of Israel
in its fullest extent from the river of Egypt to Hamath ? In this case it would
come next to Mesopotamia working eastward. In Luke iv. 44, els ras (rvvayuyas
rijs lovdaias must mean the synagogues of northern Palestine, i.e. Galilee,
the Decapolis, and places visited by our Lord, and not the territory of Judaea
proper. See Neubauer, Geographie du Talmud, p. 5.

2 Juster, op. cit. vol. i. p. 194.

3 Joseph. Antiq. xii. 3. 1 ; B. J. vii. 3. 3, vii. 5. 2.

4 Ignatius, Magnesians, c. 10.

6 See Juster, Les Juifs dans V Empire romain, vol. i. pp. 62, 195. He points
out that H. Winckler (" Die Golah in Daphne," AUorientalische Forschungen,
2te Reihe 3. 408-424, 1901) and also A. Marx try to prove that the settlement
of Jews at Antioch was very early.

iv THE DISPERSION H9

Damascus was also important as a Jewish centre, though the (6) Damas-
evidence for the presence of a Dispersion rests chiefly on the Cl
New Testament and Josephus. 1 According to the latter the
Jews must have been very numerous, as 10,000, or even 18,000,
were massacred in the Jewish war. 2 It is generally assumed by
commentators that Damascus was under the jurisdiction of
Aretas, but this may be due to a misunderstanding of Paul s
words in 2 Cor. xi. 32. Damascus was one of the cities of the
Decapolis ; at least according to Pliny the Elder, who died in
A.D. 79. These cities were a confederation of Greek towns
bound together by common sympathy and interest. Probably
it was formed when Pompey liberated the Hellenic cities from
the Jewish domination into which they had been brought by
Alexander Jannaeus. Despite its large Jewish colony, Damascus
was essentially Greek in the days of the Acts, and the coins when
the city was autonomous all bear the names of Greek deities,
especially Zeus. 3 Under Augustus and Tiberius there were
imperial coins of the city, but there is a gap after them till the
time of Nero. It has been consequently inferred from 2 Cor. xi. 32
that, during the principates of Caligula and Claudius, the govern
ment of Damascus passed into the hands of Aretas. But,
in view of the undoubted fact that Damascus was essentially
an Hellenic city and therefore since Pompey s time most un
likely to be placed under a Semitic ruler, it is possible that
4 Apera rov /3acrt\eo)9 typovpei rrjv iroXw T&V
means that Aretas s officer was watching outside
and not inside the walls to prevent Paul from escaping. 5

The provinces of Asia Minor enumerated in Acts ii. are ASIA

MINOR.

1 For the Covenanters of Damascus see pp. 97 ff.

2 B.J. ii. 20. 2 ; vii. 8. 7.

3 Schiirer, G.J.V. ii. pp. 47 and 150 ff.

4 For the meaning of the word ethnarch see Lake, Earlier Epistles of St. Paul,
p. 322.

6 See the note in McGiffert s Apostolic Age, p. 164. He does not offer this
suggestion, though he gives the gist of the difficulty as to the position of
Aretas, for whose authority in Damascus there is 110 evidence besides
2 Corinthians save the negative one of the coins.

150 THE JEWISH WORLD i

Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, and Bithynia. In Acts vi. we find a
synagogue of Cilician Jews ; and 1 Peter is addressed to Galatia
and Bithynia in addition to the provinces above mentioned.
Phrygia, which occurs in Acts ii., was not a province, but a
district, part in Asia and part in Galatia. Of these seven
provinces, into which, with dependent kingdoms, the peninsula
was divided, no towns of Cappadocia, Pontus, or Bithynia are
named in the New Testament, but in all the other cities which
are mentioned Jewish communities are assumed to exist. Nothing
is said of Paul s work in Perga of Pamphylia, where he landed,
but at Pisidian Antioch he and Barnabas found a synagogue, 1
where Paul made his address. It is the same with Iconium in
the south of the Roman province of Galatia. 2 Ephesus in Asia
was evidently an important Jewish centre. The Jews of Asia
at Jerusalem accused Paul of bringing Greeks within the pre
cincts of the Temple. 3 But there is no necessity to labour to
prove the wide diffusion of the Jewish community in this part
of the Roman Empire. 4

MACEDONIA, But for Acts, scarcely anything would be known as to the Jews
of Macedonia and Greece ; for excepting a statement in Philo 5
there is no other early evidence of their presence in the Balkan
peninsula. Yet from Acts we learn that not only were there
Jewish colonies in all the towns mentioned as visited by Paul,
but that at great mercantile centres like Thessalonica and Corinth
Jewish mobs were formidable disturbers of the peace. 6 Even
at Athens, the centre of Hellenic culture, a city frequented by
scholars, Paul could find a synagogue wherein to dispute with
the Jews. 7 Cyprus, the ancient Kittim or Chittim, was known

1 Acts xiii. 14. 2 Acts xiv. 1. 3 Acts xxi. 27 f.

4 Juster, Les Juifs, vol. i. 188-194, gives no less than seventy-one names of
cities in Asia Minor in which the presence of Jews of the Diaspora has been
traced.

6 Legatio 36. Agrippa in his letter to Caligula enumerates the Jewish
colonies. In Europe the Jews were in Thessaly, Boeotia, Macedonia, Aetolia,
Athens, Argos, Corinth, and in the most fertile part of the Peloponnesus. They
were also in the islands of Euboea, Cyprus, and Crete.

8 Acts xvii. 5 f., xviii. 12 f. 7 Acts xvii. 17.

iv THE DISPERSION 151

to the ancient Hebrews as an isle in the Great Sea, and at Salamis,
on its eastern extremity, there was evidently a Jewish population,
as the word synagogue occurs not in the singular but in the
plural. 1 Paphos, on the western side, was the seat of the govern
ment, where Paul and his companions met Sergius Paulus and
his soothsayer the Jew Elymas. The revolt of the Jews of
Cyprus was one of the most formidable of their uprisings in
the days of Trajan and Hadrian. 2

Gyrene was largely inhabited by Jews, said to have been GYRENE.
settled by Ptolemy Lagus. 3 From the days of Sulla they showed
themselves exceedingly turbulent, and Lucullus, when he visited
the country, had to allay their disorders. 4 Strabo, when he
testifies to the widespread dispersion of the nation, says that
in the city of Gyrene the Jews formed the fourth division of the
population which consisted of citizens, husbandmen, strangers
(fjieroiKot), and Jews. 5 Jewish settlements are frequently
alluded to in the New Testament, yet no missionary is said to
have visited the country, though the first preachers to the
Gentiles at Antioch were men of Cyprus and Cyrene. 6

In Egypt there is abundant evidence of Jewish settlements EGYPT.
in papyri, inscriptions, etc., and Philo, in his book against Flaccus,
estimates that his countrymen numbered a million dwelling from
the descent to Libya to the border of Ethiopia. 7

The Jewish community in Alexandria was one of the most Alexandria,
numerous, wealthy, and privileged in the world. Founded by
Alexander the Great as the mart to connect the East with the

1 Acts xiii. 5.

2 Juster, op. cit. p. 189; Dio Cassius Ixviii. 32.

3 Joseph. Contra Apion. ii. 4.

4 Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 7. 2 (quotes Strabo), Plutarch Lucullus.

6 Joseph, i. c. Strabo the geographer (A.D. 12) is an authority for the dis
persion. " It is not easy," he says, " to find a place on earth which is not
occupied by Jews."

6 Matt, xxvii. 32 ; Mk. xv. 21 ; Luke xxiii. 26 (Simon of Cyrene) ; Acts ii.
10; Acts vi. 9; Acts xi. 20; Acts xiii. 1.

7 In Flaccum, 6, oik airoStoixrt, /mvptdduv Karbi&gt; oi TTJV ^AXe^dvSpeiav KO.I ryv
X&PO-V lovScuoi KaTOMOvvres airb TOV irpbs Aij3vr)v /caraj3a^/u,ou /u^xpi T&V opluv
Aidwrrias.

152 THE JEWISH WORLD i

West, it passed at his death into the hands of his general, Ptolemy
Lagus, whose house proved almost invariably friendly to the
Jews. Renouncing all ambitious schemes of world domination,
the Ptolemies devoted their energies to the administration of
the country which had fallen to their lot. 1 Under them Egypt
was governed as far as possible in accordance with its ancient
customs, and enjoyed a period of remarkable prosperity. The
dynasty aimed, not without success, at making Alexandria not
only a prosperous mercantile community but the intellectual and
even the religious capital of the Hellenic world. In the Museum
we have a prototype of the modern collegiate foundation, with
its chapel, library halls, and extensive courts, even with its
clerical president. The naturalist could study the animals of
Africa in the Zoological Gardens. The great Temple of Serapis
was dedicated to a God neither local nor national, but common
to humanity, and the imposing ritual of the Isis worship spread
from Alexandria throughout the world. In this cosmopolitan
home of the culture of Hellenism the Jew found himself not a
despised sojourner but an honoured citizen. His status was
almost that of the Macedonian colonist, and he furnished
the armies of the Ptolemies with useful troops. 2 His special
quarter was on the shore east of the island of Pharos, which was
perhaps the more agreeable because it was " harbour less," that
is, remote from the noise and bustle of the trading district. 3 But
in most parts of the city Jews were to be found, and their
synagogues were in different places. The most magnificent
diuplustin is described in a boraitha in the Talmud. 4 It could
contain twice the number of men who came out of Egypt at the
Exodus. There were seventy-one golden seats, also seats of

1 J. P. Mahaffy, Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 78. The great historic claim
to honour of the first Ptolemy " was that he saw the need of abstaining from
the imperial tradition of Alexander the Great and trying to be a benefactor
(cvepytrrjs) to his subjects." Cf. Biggs, Christian Platonists of Alexandria.

a Joseph. Contra Apionem, ii. 4.

3 Joseph. Contra Apionem, ii. 4; called the Delta, B.J. ii. 18. 8.

* Talmud, Suklcah v.

iv THE DISPERSION 153

silver. Each, trade sat apart when a stranger came he sat with
his trade and found employment. The voice of the reader could
not be heard in so vast an assembly, so when the time came to
say the " Amen " the attendants had to signal to the congregation
by waving flags. Nowhere did the religion of the Jews excite
more interest, if we may accept the story of the translation of
the Law in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus under royal patron
age. 1 Nowhere were the Jews safer from persecution than at
Alexandria under the Ptolemies. Nowhere, perhaps in conse
quence, did Jews assimilate more readily the culture and
philosophy of the Greeks. The legend says that its church was
founded by Mark, but there are only two mentions of Alexandrian
Judaism in the New Testament.

The real interest of Judaism in Alexandria, however, centres ALEX -

.,..,. . i i r T ANDRIAN

neither in its history nor its extent, but in the type of literature
it produced. Here is found the earliest attempt to use the
Greek language to express Hebrew thought. As the Alexandrian
grammarians were the interpreters of the classics of Greece to
the world, so the Alexandrian Jews expounded their own litera
ture. The translation known as the Septuagint was one of the ( ft ) The

LXX.

momentous events in history. In the second century B.C. (6) Ecci
Jesus, the son of Sirach, says he came into Egypt and made a iasticus -
translation of a book of wisdom, written in Palestine by his
grandfather, known to us as Ecclesiasticus. The so-called (c) The
Wisdom of Solomon is supposed to have been written in Solomon.
Alexandria, and gives us a picture of the Jewish community
in that city. The wicked are portrayed as ridiculing the ascetic
life of the righteous, and preferring the pleasure of the moment
to the burden of the Law. They utterly deny the future life.
" The body," say they, " shall be turned into ashes, and our
spirit shall vanish as soft air." 2 Their philosophy does not
allow them to tolerate the righteous, whose very presence is

1 Described in the Letter of Aristeas, supposed to be a courtier of Ptolemy
Philadelphia (287-247 B.C.), to his brother Philocrates. It is undoubtedly of
later date.

2 Wisdom ii. 3.

154 THE JEWISH WORLD i

a reproach to them : and they persecute them bitterly, even
to the death. The author finds consolation in the thought that
the righteous do not die ; "though they are punished in the sight
of men," they have a hope " full of immortality." * The joy of
the righteous is in the spirit of wisdom which, " entering into
holy souls, makes them friends of God and prophets." 2
Phiio. This religious tone, with tendencies towards asceticism,
philosophy, and mysticism, seems to distinguish the Alexandrian
from the Palestinian Jew ; but it is seen in its fulness in one
extraordinary man, who but for Josephus and the Christian
fathers might have passed into oblivion. Except for one incident
in his life when he acted as the champion of his countrymen
in Alexandria during the persecution in the days of Caligula,
we have no information concerning Philo, the most remarkable
of the Jews of the Dispersion in the first century, who combined
philosophy with the strict and loyal observance of the Law of
Moses. To the student of early Christianity, Philo is of supreme
interest as a Jewish teacher who strove to construct a bridge to
unite Hellenic culture to the religion of his ancestors. Though
in no sense Christian, Philo is the parent of much Christian
terminology and even theology ; and his writings indicate how
the attempt was made to appropriate the wisdom of Greece
and adapt it to the monotheism and ethics of Judaism.
So far he is like Paul; but as a Jew his whole attitude
is orthodox, and unexceptional. Though his Bible is the
Septuagint and his knowledge of Hebrew seems to have been
imperfect, he was acquainted with the methods of interpreta
tion common in the Rabbinic teachers, and accepted to the
full the consequences of a belief in the verbal interpretation
of the Law. He regards Moses as the inspired teacher of all
philosophy and the Pentateuch as the sum of wisdom. As to
the obligation to keep the Law in its integrity, he has no doubt.
Thus far Philo is an uncompromising Jew. On the other hand,
he does not regard the Law as given to a single nation, but as
1 Wisdom iii. 1. 2 Wisdom vii. 27.

iv THE DISPERSION 155

containing a revelation to the world. The God revealed in it is
conceived philosophically as transcendent, but mediated to the
world by the Logos, or active divine intelligence, the creative
word and revealer of God, and also by the \6yoi, or partial
manifestations of Divine reason.

Philo s theological ideas do not completely make a coherent
system, and all his philosophy is influenced by ethical considera
tions. Here he is thoroughly in accord with his Christian suc
cessors, for he was already an old man in A.D. 40, who were
enthusiastic in promoting the morality of the inspired Old
Testament. The great difference between him and them was
that Philo sought to make men recognise that the Law contained
all true wisdom and was therefore applicable to the whole world ;
whilst the Christian teachers gradually reached the position
that Israel received the universal religion, not through the Law,
but through the Messiah foretold by the prophets, whom they
recognised in Jesus. Later generations, however, recognised
an affinity between the Logos of Philo and the Logos incar
nate in Jesus, and welcomed this intensely Jewish Alexan
drian as a forerunner, if not actual adherent, of the Christian
faith. 1

Judging by the philosophy of Philo, Alexandria would not
be the place where the Christian message as originally presented
would be acceptable. Messianism, however conceived, would
not appeal to those who delighted in allegorical interpretation
and philosophic treatment of scripture ; and possibly it was not

1 Philo s importance as an intermediary between Hellenistic Judaism, and
consequently Christianity, and the philosophy of his age can hardly be over
estimated. Influenced perhaps by Posidonius he brought forward those
principles of Pythagoreanism, Platonism, and Stoicism which the fathers of
the Church afterwards assimilated. There are bibliographies of the Philonic
literature in Schurer and Brehier, I dees de Philon d Alexandrie. The best
editions of the text are Mangey s, London, 1742, Holtsem, 1893-1901, and
Cohn and Wendland (in course of publication), though separate treatises have
been edited by F. C. Conybeare (On the Contemplative Life) and by Cumont
(De aeternitate mundi). Drummond, Philo Judaeus, and C. Bigg, Christian
Platonists of Alexandria, are the best English authorities for reference. Philo
has been translated in the Bohn series, 1854-55.

156 THE JEWISH WORLD i

till Christian piety began to see in Jesus the divine, pre-existent
Logos that the new religion found a home there.

JEWS IN A chapter in 1 Maccabees relates the embassy sent by

ROME. j u d as to Rome. In 161 B.C., the last year of his life, Judas

(a) Em- J

bassies of heard of the fame of the Romans, that they had subdued
Maccabees. Galatia and possessed the rich mines of Spain ( Ifiepia). 1 The
connotation of Gaul with Spain may possibly imply that Judas s
informants, or rather those of the author of 1 Maccabees, were
Jews who had come from the maritime cities of Provence and
Spain, which had long been trade centres for Greeks and Cartha
ginians. Judas naturally knew of the victories of Rome nearer
home over Philip, Perseus, and Antiochus. 2 He had also received
a garbled account of the Roman constitution. No Roman wore
a crown or royal purple. Their rulers were three hundred and
twenty and met in a senate-house every day. Each year they
committed their government to one man to whom all were
obedient, and thus there was neither strife nor emulation in
Rome. The crudity of this account, especially the mention of
only one instead of two consuls, shows that the description may
have been almost contemporary ; for it represents what an
Eastern people might be expected to report of a Western nation
of which nothing was known save by hearsay. 3 The embassy
was favourably received and a treaty made, 4 which was twice
renewed by the successors of Judas : 5 but nothing came of the
Roman alliance except that it may have encouraged certain Jews
to establish themselves in the city.

(6) Expui- In 139 B.C., in the consulship of Popillius Laetus and Marcus

Jews Calpurnius, the praetor peregrinus forced the Jews to go back

to their home for corrupting public morals by their worship of

1 1 Mace. viii. 1 ff.

2 1 Mace. viii. 5. 6. Philip had been defeated at Cynocephalae (197 B.C.),
Antiochus at Magnesia (191 B.C.), and Perseus at Pydna (168 B.C.).

3 1 Mace. viii. 14-16.

4 1 Mace. viii. 22-32 ; Josephus, Antiq. xii. 10. 6.

5 1 Mace. xii. 1-4. This is followed by a longer account of a treaty between
the Jews and the Lacedaemonians, with whom they claimed kinship : xiv. 24 ff .,
xv. 16 ff. ; Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 5. 8, xiii. 7. 2, xiii. 9. 2.

iv THE DISPERSION 157

Jupiter Sabazius. Such is a statement found in Valerius Maxi-
mus, but the meaning is uncertain. 1 Perhaps the Jews tried to
proselytise in favour of their God, Jahweh Sabaoth (Kvpios
&lt;7a/3aw&), in whom the Romans saw the oriental Zeus Sabazius.

After this nothing more is heard of the Jews in Rome till the (c)
triumph of Pompey, when in 62 B.C. he brought many of them community
captives. A large number of these were set free and obtained m Rome&gt;
the citizenship, settling in the district beyond the Tiber. 2 They
enjoyed the right of practising their national religion undisturbed,
having their own synagogues, and collecting and remitting the
Temple tax regularly to Jerusalem. The Jewish community
formed a distinct feature in the life of the City. They are alluded
to by contemporary social observers like Horace 3 and Juvenal. 4
When Cicero delivered his oration on behalf of Flaccus in 59 B.C.
he declared that he had to beware of the Jews, many of whom were
doubtless in the audience, 5 and the lamentations of the Roman
Jews at the tomb of Caesar, their generous protector, was a notable
feature of the public distress. 6 Under Augustus they were
treated with marked favour, and of the nine synagogues, of
which traces are preserved in inscriptions, one is that of the
Augustesians and another of the Agrippesians Jews of the
household of Augustus and of his friend and minister Agrippa. 7

In the days of Tiberius another banishment of the Jews from (rf) Jews
Rome is recorded. A lady named Fulvia was swindled by a
Jew who collected offerings to the Temple, and appropriated the

1 Cf. E. Schiirer, G. J. V. vol. iii. p. 58. The words are " Idem (the praetor
Hispalus) Judaeos, qui sabazi Jovis cultu Roraanos inficere mores conati erant,
repetere domos suas coegit."

2 Phil. Legat. p. 23, TT\I&gt; irepav TOV Ti/3^oeo;s Trora/uou fj.eyd\-r]i&gt; rfjs Pw^s
diroTo/j-riv, sc. the Janiculum.

3 Horace, Sat. i. 4, 141-3.

4 Juvenal, Sat. iii. 12-16. 6 Pro Flacco, 28.

6 Suetonius, Caesar, 84.

7 The other seven are the Volumnesians (Bo\ov/j.j&gt;-r]&lt;rto}v), Campesians
(Campus Martius), Siburesians (Subura), a synagogue of Aifiptuv (Hebrews),
a synagogue " of the Olive," a synagogue RepvaKXyo-iuv or BepvaxXupuis (i.e.
vernaculorum), and a synagogue ~K.a\Kapr}&lt;rlwi&gt; or lime-kiln workers. See
Schiirer, G.J.V. vol. iii. pp. 83 ff.

158 THE JEWISH WORLD i

money. On the complaint of her husband Saturninus, Tiberius
ordered the Jews to be expelled from the city, and four thousand
were sent to penal servitude or to make war on the robbers in
Sardinia. Josephus remarks that some refused to serve in the
army on conscientious grounds. 1 This was in A.D. 19, and it is
said that the Emperor was influenced in his action by Sejanus. 2
The Jews were allowed to return in A.D. 31, 3 and Claudius at the
beginning of his principate published an edict in favour of the
Jews, 4 but later occurred the famous expulsion for tumults
instigated by " Chrestus." 5 Such sporadic action on the part
of the Government was powerless to keep them out of the city :
they soon flocked back and exercised a good deal of secret
influence. They seem, from the inscriptions, to have had their
own senates (ryepovcriai), each with a president (yepovo-idpx rjs) :
their rulers (apftovres) are also mentioned. 6 They enjoyed the
patronage of great ladies like the Empress Poppaea, to whom
Josephus owed an introduction through Aliturus, the Jewish
actor. 7 The Herods mingled freely with the Roman aristocracy. 8
Their religion was recognised, and of all inhabitants of the empire
the Jews alone were exempted from adoring the Emperor. The
influence of the early Jewish Christian community at Rome
was evidently considerable, and disseminated by those who
travelled far afield like Aquila and Priscilla. 9

Of the Dispersion west of Rome we learn nothing from the
New Testament, but it was already in existence, as Paul s desire
to go to Spain seems to indicate. 10 In fact the words of the Sibyl,

1 Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 3. 5; Tacitus, Ann. ii. 85; Suet. Tiberius, 36.
3 Euseb. Chronic, ed. Schoene, ii. 150, and see Schiirer, G.J.V. vol. iii.
p. 61.

3 Philo, Legal. 24. 4 Josephus, Antiq. xix. 5. 2.

5 Acts xviii. 2; Suetonius, Claudius, 25. See also Dio Cassius, Ix. 6,
according to whom Claudius merely forbade Jewish assemblies. Tacitus and
Josephus say nothing about the expulsion.

6 Schiirer, op. cit. vol. iii. pp. 84 ft .

7 Vita, 3. 8 Supra, pp. 14 ff.

9 Aquila and Priscilla are at Corinth, Acts xviii. 2 ; Ephesus, Acts xviii. 26,
and Home (or Ephesus ?), Rom. xvi. 3.
1 Romans xv. 28.

IV THE DISPERSION 159

which may be as early as 140 B.C., may be applied to the Dis
persed of Israel :

Trda-a Se &gt;yaia &lt;re6ev 7r\rfpr)s KOI Traaa OaXaao-a. 1
The bonds of union which kept together as a single body a nation UNITY OF

. , - , , DISPERSED

so widely scattered, numbering, it has been computed, as many JBWS .
as from six to seven million souls, were stronger than those which
the Jews have possessed since the destruction of that great
centralising influence, the Temple of Jerusalem. How united
in feeling were the Jews is shown in Acts in the unanimity
with which they acted everywhere, except at Rome, 2 in opposition
to Paul. Jews in every part of the world were reminded of
their common nationality by the systematised order in their
communities.

The Temple tax, based on a law in Exodus xxi. 2-6 : () The
" When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their shekel.
number, then shall they give every man a ransom of his soul
unto the Lord, when thou numberest them ; that there be no
plague among them when thou numberest them. This they
shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered
half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty
gerahs), an half-shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every
one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty
years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The
rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less, when
they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for
your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the
children of Israel ; and shalt appoint it for the service of the
tabernacle of the congregation." As in the time of Nehemiah
the Jews at Jerusalem resolved to pay the third part of a shekel
every year for the service of the sanctuary, it has been supposed
that the law of the payment of the half-shekel is one of the latest
parts of the Priests Code. But the law does not appear to
suggest that the payment was annual, but was only demanded

1 Orac. Sybil, iii. 271. a Acts xxviii. 21-22.

160

THE JEWISH WORLD

(6) Syna
gogue
worship.

when a numbering of the people took place. 1 The tax was levied
on every Jew of the age of twenty, and it was regarded as a
privilege, as it was an open question whether a woman or a minor
could offer it. The money was collected and stored in certain
places for remittance to Jerusalem. 2 It was known in the first
century as the BiSpa^fia, because, as it had to be paid in Tyrian
money, "His ^D5, the half-shekel, was equal to two drachmas of
that coinage. It is so called in Josephus and in Matthew xvii. 24,
where the stater is found in the fish s mouth to pay the tax for
Jesus and Peter at the request of ol TO SiBpa^fjua \ajjL/3dvovTs?
After the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, the money
was exacted as the fiscus Judaicus by the Roman Government.

The synagogue worship, it may be said without exaggera
tion, proved to be the salvation of Judaism. The religion
contemplated by the Law could only have been practised in
Palestine, within easy distance of the Temple. As it was, the
Jewish communities were kept together in every city and a
worship was provided which could be practised anywhere,
without sanctuary sacrifice or priesthood.

The first direct notice of a Jewish community away from
ie Palestine is that of the colony of Yeb (Elephantine), which in
the sixth century B.C. had a temple and altar of its own. 4 In
the seventy-fourth Psalm the heathen are said to have destroyed
all the " houses of God " hn "nmo in the land. These have
been explained as synagogues and the Psalm assigned to the

1 Neh. x. 32 ; cf. Numb. i. 1 ; Schiirer, p. 24, note 104; G.J.V. ii. p. 314,
note 49. According to some authorities, 2 Chr. xxiv. 4-10 seems to contem
plate an annual tax. See also 4 Mace. iii. 20.

2 Cf. especially Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 9. 1. One of the charges against
Flaccus is that he would not allow the money to be sent out of his province
of Asia to Jerusalem. Cicero, Pro Flacco, 23.

3 Schiirer, loc. cit. note 52; Matt. xvii. 24; Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 9. 1,
calls this tax SidpaxfJ-ov, in B.J. vii. 6. 6 860 8pax/J.d.s, in Antiq. iii. 8. 2 &lt;rlK\ov
rb ijfuffv. The LXX. translates in Exodus xxx. 13, ijjuffv TOV didpax/mov,
reckoning by the Alexandrian double drachma. For a fuller discussion see
Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, art. " Money," by A. R. S. Kennedy.

4 The Temple at Yeb was spared by Cambyses (528-521 B.C.) when he
destroyed the idolatrous temples of Egypt. Mond Papyri, vide supra.

Temple at

iv THE DISPERSION 161

Maccabean period, so that the worship is thought to be traceable
to that age. But the inference is precarious, and all that can be
said with confidence is that in the days of the New Testament,
Philo, and Josephus, synagogues were to be found throughout
Palestine and Egypt and in every part of the Empire. 1 Nay, so
popular was this form of worship that, under the very shadow
of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Jews of different nations had
their synagogues. 2 It is remarkable that " Luke " gives the only
description of synagogue worship in the New Testament, as he
does also of the Temple services ; and except for three brief
notices from Philo, the third Gospel and Acts are our oldest
authorities for the worship, the Mishna from which our main
information is derived being some century or more later. Jesus,
according to Luke iv. 16-21, entered the synagogue at Nazareth
on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. He was given the scroll
of Isaiah, and having read it he rolled it up and handed it to the
attendant (vir^perrj) and sat down. He then expounded the
passage he had read. When in Acts xiii. 15, Paul and Barnabas
were in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch the " rulers " sent to
them after the reading of the Law and the prophets to ask if
they had aught to say. Thereupon Paul stood up and addressed
the people. In Luke xiii. 14, the ruler (apxio-vvdycoyos) is
evidently responsible for order being maintained ; for he rebukes
the woman for coming to the synagogue to be healed. Philo
truly says that the distinctive feature of the synagogue worship
was the reading of the Law ; 3 to which were added selections

1 Schiirer remarks, G.J.V. vol. ii. p. 517 f., on the rarity of the use of the
word synagogue, so common in the N.T., in Philo and Josephus. Philo, Quod
omnis probus liber, c. 12, says of the Essenes, they come to Holy places which
are called synagogues. But ordinarily he uses irpovevxn (cf. Acts xvi. 13 and
Josephus, Vita 54) : nor is it certain that he uses the word synagogue in our
sense. Josephus has synagogue thrice : Antiq. xix. 6. 3 ; B.J. ii. 14. 4. 5.,
vii. 3. 3.

2 Acts vi. 9.

3 Philo s descriptions of the synagogue are : (1) from the lost Hypothetica
quoted in Eusebius, Praep. Evan. viii. 7 ; (2) De Septenario, 6 (Mang. ii.
282) ; (3) Quod omnis probus liber, 12 (Mang. ii. 458) ; (4) De Somniis, ii. 18
(Mang. i. 675). The passages are given in Schurer, G. J. V. ii. pp. 527 f.

VOL. I M

162 THE JEWISH WORLD i

from the prophets. But in the days of the New Testament at
any rate instruction was a leading characteristic of the synagogues,
and naturally disputation was combined therewith. Jesus is
said to have taught, Paul to have disputed in them. 1 The
synagogue, moreover, seems to have been the centre of every
Jewish community, each with a jurisdiction of its own. Indeed
as early as the fourth Gospel the synagogue became a synonym
for Judaism, and the term for excommunication was CLTTOCTV vd-
70)709 yeveorOcu. 2 Two portions of the ancient liturgy of the
first century are still in use. The Skema&gt; " Hear Israel the
Lord thy God is one Lord," consisting of Deut. vi. 4-9, xi. 13-21,
Numb. xv. 37-41, and the Shemoneh Ezreh or " eighteen bene
dictions " with an added prayer against apostates.

(c) study The study of the Law was the supreme duty of every Jew,
and the result was an educational system which bound together
the dispersed nation. Though some of the Law could only be
observed in Palestine, such as attendance on the Temple services
and the payment of the tithe of the produce of the Land, yet
the Jews in heathen countries adhered to the Law as strictly as
possible. Philo s liberalism, as shown by his Platonising ten
dencies, has no place for Jews who showed laxity in regard to
their legal obligations. 3 The children learned the Scriptures,
like Timothy, the son of a Gentile father and Jewish mother,
from infancy, 4 and before the legal age they were encouraged to
practise such laws as fasting on the Day of Atonement and
observing Tabernacles. A late tradition in the Baba Bathra in
the Babylonian Talmud says that Jesus the son of Gamaliel
(possibly High Priest A.D. 63-65) ordered that there should be
teachers of boys in every province and every town. 5 The
rigidity with which separation from the Gentiles was practised
is seen throughout the Pauline Epistles and Acts . The Hellenistic
Jews were in fact active and zealous for the Law throughout the

1 Mark i. 21 ; Acts xviii. 4. J John ix. 22.

8 Philo, De migrations Abrahami (i. 950). 4 Acts xvi. 1 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15.

Baba Bathra 21a, quoted fully in Schiirer, 0. J. V. ii. p. 494.

iv THE DISPERSION 163

Empire : and its observance kept them separate from other men,
and united to one another.

The obligation to visit Jerusalem was felt by every Jew, as the (0 visits to
crowds which assembled on the occasion of the festivals testified.
Naturally a Jew living in a country remote from the Holy City
could rarely visit the Temple ; but Jerusalem was the heart of
the whole system of the Dispersion. Thither the Jews crowded,
and returned strengthened in their devotion and with a stronger
sense of national unity. The Paschal season, according to the
Talmud, was heralded by the repair of the bridges throughout
Palestine and the whitening of the Sepulchres, the latter with
the object of preventing the pilgrims unwittingly incurring defile
ment. 1 After the Jewish war the Roman Government, realising
how great was the danger of Jerusalem becoming a centre of
disaffection, prohibited the Jews from approaching the city, and
the erection of the purely Gentile city of Aelia Capitolina by
Hadrian was a proof of the seriousness of their apprehension.

The common immunities and privileges of the nation are (e) im-
a standing proof of the wisdom and toleration of the Roman ^ mt]
Government, which under no provocation allowed the Jews to P rivile g es -
be persecuted for their religion. In this they followed the
general policy of the Seleucids and Ptolemies, and their toleration
extended to all nationalities in the Empire, which were allowed
to maintain their peculiar customs and worship, and even to
form communities of their own. The Jews, however, had such
distinctive peculiarities that separate legislation was necessary
to secure them. The Temple tax, which had been held back
by Flaccus in Asia, under Augustus was allowed to be freely paid. 2
Titus, in addressing the Jews, expressed his opinion that this
concession was the greatest made by the Romans to their nation.
" It can, therefore," he continued, " be nothing but the kindness
of the Romans which hath excited you against us ; who in the

1 Box, Religion and Worship of the Synagogue, p. 356, alluding to the Mishim,
Shekalim 1.

2 Philo, Legatio 23.

164 THE JEWISH WORLD i

first place have given you this land to possess : and in the next
place have set over you kings of your own nation ; and in the
third place have preserved the Laws of your forefathers to you,
and have withal permitted you to live either by yourselves or
among others ; and what is our chief favour of all we have given
you leave to gather up the tribute which is paid to God, with
such other gifts as are dedicated there ; nor have we called those
who carried these donations to account, nor prohibited them till
at length you became richer than we ourselves, even when you
were our enemies : and you made preparation for war against us
with our money." 1 These words, put into the mouth of Titus
by Josephus, give a just description of the indulgent attitude of
the Romans towards the Jewish people. In addition to this the
observance of the Sabbath was carefully safeguarded, and the
Jews were frequently exempted from military service. Josephus
has carefully preserved the decrees in their favour ; and has
recorded the indulgence shown to their prejudices by Julius
Caesar and continued by Augustus. 2 In civil cases, according
to Josephus, they enjoyed a separate jurisdiction. In Alexandria
and Gyrene they formed a distinct community of their own, and
in Rome each separate synagogue seems to have exercised its
own jurisdiction. But the widespread belief that the Jewish
authorities had power to arrest transgressors of the Law and to
beat or imprison recalcitrant Jews throughout the empire is not
supported by any further testimony than that of Acts.
Proselytes. Proselytism was carried on during the first century with
energy, and in the Gospel according to Matthew it is declared
that the Pharisees would " compass sea and land to make one
proselyte." 3 To Roman society Judaism was interesting, and
not altogether unattractive. There was an air of mystery about

1 Josephus, B.J. vi. 6. 2 (Whiston s translation), rb 5 ^yiarov 5a&lt;r/ji.o\oyTi&gt;
re vfjuv ^?rt rep 0e$ Kal avad fifJt.OiTa crv*\\yei,v ^Trerp^a/j-ev, Kal TOVS ravra (pepovras
otir {vovdTr)&lt;ra/j,ev oijre 4i&lt;u\v(rafj.ev tva TJ/JUV ytvr)&lt;rde 7rAov&lt;rtc6re/30t Kal TrapaaKeva&lt;r-/i-
ffde rots 7)/j,eTtpoi? xp^ucKn Kad THAW.

2 The edicts are quoted in Antiq. xiv. 10 and Antiq. xvi. 6. For the policy
of Augustus, see Philo, Legatio 40.

8 Matt, xxiii. 15,

iv THE DISPERSION 165

it ; the Jew was credited with supernatural powers, and the
purity of his domestic life commended itself to those disgusted
with the relaxed morality of their age. It was in appeal to this
feeling that Josephus, when he wrote his Life in the closing days
of his career, thoroughly understanding those whom he was
addressing, emphasised his unblemished priestly lineage, his
father s piety, his own precocity in understanding the Law of
God, and his asceticism in accustoming himself to the three sects,
and to the rigid discipline of the hermit Bannus. 1 At the critical
moment of his life he did not hesitate to declare himself a
messenger sent by God to announce to Vespasian that he would
possess the empire of the world, and evidently impressed the
general and his son Titus with the idea that he was an inspired
prophet. 2 The very facts that the Jew worshipped a God whose
name was unknown, and that he obeyed a law which to the
world seemed unnatural and repugnant, contributed to surround
him with an atmosphere of mystery so that men and especially
women were irresistibly attracted towards so strange a religion,
but it seems probable that many stopped short of complete
adhesion to it. The synagogues, according to Acts, were largely
attended by non-Jews, 8 who seem to have been called " God-
fearers," 4 and there were persons who, even though, like Timothy,
they were the children of a Jewish mother, and had received a
careful instruction in the Scriptures, yet had never undergone
the indispensable rite of circumcision. Submission to this pain
ful and even dangerous ordinance had the effect of making many
men hesitate to become Jews, and the majority of those who
formally joined Israel were evidently women. Undoubtedly
most Gentiles who admired the tenets of Judaism were satisfied
with remaining as friendly outsiders, nor did the Jews object
to this arrangement. Strictly, of course, these Gentiles had no
position in the community of Israel. Until they had been

1 Vita, c. 1. 2 BJ. iii. 8. 9.

3 Acts xiii. 44 ff.

4 This subject will be discussed in the Commentary*

166 THE JEWISH WORLD i

circumcised, and had taken upon them the obligation to accept
the whole Law, they could not look to share in the glories of
the Messianic age, though they were, according to some Rabbis,
not without hope for the world to come. But in such matters
there were teachers more charitable than logical ; and the
language of eschatology is, as a rule, conveniently vague.
izates of A striking example of a believer in Judaism who hesitated
to become a full Jew is seen by Josephus s account of the royal
convert Izates of Adiabene, which has already been mentioned. 1
Izates, before he became king, was converted through the women
of his household by a Jewish merchant named Ananias. His
mother, Helena, at the same time embraced Judaism inde
pendently. Under her influence Izates became so zealous for
Judaism that he decided to be circumcised, but was dissuaded
by both Helena and Ananias, who dreaded the effect on his
subjects. Ananias was succeeded by a more uncompromising
teacher, named Eleazar, who assured Izates that by not being
circumcised he was guilty of great impiety. Thereupon Izates
obeyed, and became a Jew in every respect. This illustrates in
all probability the attitude of many a sympathiser with Jewish
teaching, as well as two types of propagandism. In Ananias is
seen the Jew who is satisfied that a Gentile should accept his
belief and no more, in Eleazar the man who will admit of no
compromise. 2 It is noticeable that the Sibylline Oracles urge
the Gentiles to worship the true God and expect the judgment,
but demand nothing more except that they should take a bath
of purification. 3

It may indeed be said that the story of the conversion of
Izates is not very conclusive, for the advice of his first spiritual
guide was dictated by motives of prudence or by fear. Even

1 Antiq. xx. 2. 4.

2 Exactly the same thing is recognisable in the spread of Jewish Christianity.
Like Ananias, Paul and his school desired acceptance of their doctrine as of
primary importance : like Eleazar, James and the Jews of Jerusalem demanded
that the genuineness of belief should be tested by a man s willingness to be
circumcised. 8 Orac. Sibyll. iv. 165.

iv THE DISPERSION 167

more instructive, therefore, though less historical, is the story of
Antoninus and Rabbi (Judah na-hasf), in which the Patriarch
assures the Emperor that he will be admitted, without circum
cision, to a place at the banquet in the world to come at
which the Leviathan will be served up. The Emperor, how
ever, did not feel so sure about it, inasmuch as without
circumcision he could not be allowed to eat the Paschal lamb
in this world, and accordingly had himself circumcised. As
a reward for this supererogatory virtue, in the procession of
righteous proselytes in the world to come Antoninus will head
the whole line. 1

The interest in the subject of Jewish proselytism is twofold. Zeal in
As affecting the purity of the race, much depends on the extent
to which it went on under the Roman rule from the days of
Pompey to the fall of Jerusalem. The extraordinary increase
of Jews in the Empire may have been due to the widespread
propagation of their religion, rather than to any unusual
fecundity. Though most adults remained permanently in the
fringe of the Synagogue, content with the certainty of the joys
of the World to Come, without seeking to secure also the Days
of the Messiah at the expense of circumcision, their children
probably went further, became proselytes in the fullest sense,
and were merged with Jews by blood. To this Juvenal bears
witness in the famous passage in which he described the progress
of a family toward Judaism. The father keeps the Sabbath and
eschews pork, worshipping the clouds and the God of the sky.
The sons become circumcised, despise the laws of Rome, and
learn and tremble at those of Moses ; they join those who are
so separated from ordinary humanity that they will tell the
way or show where water can be found only to those of their
own religion. 2 To the student of Christian origins, moreover, it
is interesting to enquire how far the first missionaries took over
the more liberal Jewish methods. They seem to have copied

1 Jewish Encycl. Art. " Antoninus in the Talmud," by Dr. L. Ginzberg.
2 Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 96-106.

168 THE JEWISH WORLD i

them in insisting that the worship of one God was the true

natural religion of mankind, and that what was commendable in

heathen systems and philosophies was due to divine revelation.

Many a half-proselyte was doubtless attracted by their preaching,

and having begun in the synagogue ended in the church.

importance Such was the Dispersion, a world-wide organisation of a

sio^tT* nation and a religion, permeating an immense empire and ex-

christian- tending far beyond its frontiers. The Jews outside Palestine

were a people practically ignored by Greek and Roman antiquity,

scarcely heeded in their classical literature. If noticed at all

they were scoffed at as beggars or credulous impostors, but

nevertheless they had filled the world, and their settlements

formed a series of posts along the great highways of trade and

empire from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic. The extent of

the Dispersion was probably far greater than the evidence of

inscriptions shows ; for poor men, as most of the Jews undoubtedly

were, leave few if any permanent memorials, and between the

Jews of the first fifty years of our era and those who appear in

Church history or Rabbinical literature lies as a gulf the

Jewish war, and the extermination of a great part of the nation.

But the fact of the Dispersion is undoubted, and is one of the

chief clues to the early history of the Christian Church. Not

only its organisation, but the spirit which animated it, and the

ideals which it taught were part of the heritage which the Church

shared with the Synagogue. Though possessed with instincts of

self-preservation and adaptability almost unique in humanity, the

Jew is essentially an idealist, cherishing dreams of happiness and

peace in a future age of righteousness. A pilgrim and stranger

upon earth, he always desires a better country, which, like Moses,

he sees at a distance though he cannot enter it. This vision

in years of adversity comforted the children of Israel in

strange lands, and in the days of persecution proved to be the

inspiration of the sons of the Church.

THE GENTILE WORLD

THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
By H. T. F. DUCKWORTH

I. ITS ORIGIN DOWN TO 63 B.C.

IN the first century A.D. the Roman Empire still contained a con- Diversities
siderable variety of governments. There were many autonomous
cities, each with its own territory, its own laws and magistrates,
and its own currency. There were dependent kingdoms and Empire
principalities. A confederacy of cities existed in Lycia down
to A.D. 43, when it was dissolved by Claudius " ob exitiabiles
discordias." 1 There were tribal cantons, which the Emperors
endeavoured to reorganise as municipalities, similar to those of
Italy. But while the imperium exercised in a spirit of monarchy
clearly tended towards uniformity, as may be seen especially in
the municipal laws of Julius and Augustus, progress of this
tendency was far from being hasty or indiscriminate. The
" settlement of the Principate," as the constitutional Acts of
27 and 23 B.C. are collectively called, certainly was the beginning
of a distinctly marked epoch in the history of Rome s depend
encies. But the transition was not accompanied by disturbing
alterations or drastic and hurried reconstruction.

The Romans had no preconceived theory of the government of
subject countries. They preferred to make use of such machinery
of government as they found already in existence. Thus they
were willing to utilise clan-chieftains and clan-councils as organs

1 Suetonius, Claudius, 25.
171

172 THE GENTILE WORLD n

of their suzerainty, making them responsible for the collection
of stipendia 1 and the maintenance of order, much as the Planta-
genets and Henry VII. attempted to govern Ireland by making
the native chieftains their liege-men.

Government, however, through the intermediate agency of
clan-chieftains, was found especially in Spain to be unsatis
factory, the chieftains so often proving unreliable ; and the
Romans as a rule set about establishing (among the native
population) city - communities of men drawn mostly from
Rome or Italy. The Roman Commonwealth was essentially a
city-state, and its external relations down to the end of the
third century B.C. had been generally entered into with similar
political units. Wherever, therefore, the Romans found such
organisations already existing, they used them to support their
imperium ; and, even where there were none, they endeavoured
to create them as educational centres for training half-civilised
communities in Roman habits and manners.

West Owing to this wise policy the peoples of the West became

Romanised: Romanised, and ultimately more Roman than Rome herself,
continues But f or the same reason the peoples of the East became Hellenised.
Rome saved a great portion of the work done by Alexander,
and even rounded it off in certain regions, for instance in Cappa-
docia. It stands to the credit of Roman imperial policy that
Bithynia produced Dio Chrysostom, Arrian, and Dio Cassius ;
that Athens, Tarsus, and Alexandria continued to be habita
tions of Greek learning and letters ; that Cilicia produced Paul,
and Cappadocia Basil and the two Gregories. The countries
between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean were saved
from the Parthians by having been annexed to the Roman

1 As to stipendia there were two theories. According to one, they were a
war-indemnity. But this theory did not fit the case of subject countries which
had become provinces by bequest of native rulers, as Asia did in 133 B.C. and
Cyrenaica about forty years later. In such cases, therefore, stipendia were
defined as rent paid to the Roman People for soil of which it had become the
owner. See Greenidge, Roman Public Life, pp. 319 - 320 ; Tenney Frank,
Roman Imperialism, pp. 94 and 245.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 173

Empire ; and though Hellenism was destined to be submerged
by waves of Saracen and Turkish invasion, it received from
the Roman Emperors a political organisation which enabled
it for many centuries to resist the Moslems, and became the
groundwork of an ecclesiastical system which sheltered Greek
nationality in the worst days of Turkish despotism.

First on the chronological list of Roman provinces 1 comes Earliest
Sicily, whence the Romans expelled the power of Carthage in
the first Punic War, 264-241 B.C. Next comes Sardinia, seized
in 237 B.C. when Carthage was engaged in a struggle for life with
a host of insurgent mercenaries. In 227 B.C. two additional
praetors, one for the government of Roman Sicily, the other for
that of Sardinia with the adjacent Corsica, were elected. Thirty
years later, two more praetors were instituted for the government
of the territory acquired in Spain, which was divided into a
Nearer and a Further province (Hispania Citerior, Hispania
Ulterior). After the overthrow of the House of Antigonus at
Pydna in 168 B.C., Macedonia was divided into four confederacies,
mutually isolated as far as possible (according to the time-
honoured maxim divide et impera), but not actually superintended
by a Roman governor until the advisability of placing one on
the spot, with an army, had been proved by an insurrection
which broke out in 148 B.C. Macedonia became a province in
146 B.C., and in the same year Carthage was destroyed and the
series of Roman governors of the Provincia Africa began. The
greater part of the dominions of Attalus, King of Pergamum, who
bequeathed them to the Roman People at his death in 133 B.C.,

1 Provincia signifies primarily a branch of affairs administered by a magis
trate elected by the Roman People as an agent of its sovereignty
(imperium). For instance, the duties and functions of the Praetor Urbanus
constituted a provincia ; so did those of the Praetor Peregrinus. The
conduct of a campaign, or a series of campaigns, was a provincia (cf. Livy,
xxxii. 27 and 28 ; xxxiii. 43 and 44 ; Suetonius, Caesar, 19), as was
also the supervision of affairs in a conquered country ; and thus we
arrive at the use of provincia to denote a certain area of territory, whose
inhabitants were styled " allies of the Roman People," but treated as
subjects, inasmuch as they were made to pay stipendia either in money or
in kind.

174 THE GENTILE WORLD n

was organised as a Roman province in 129 B.C. The Balearic
pirates compelled the Romans in 123 B.C. to place their islands
under the governor of Nearer Spain ; and about the same time
measures were taken for the formation of a Roman province
between the Alps and the Pyrenees. This province was known
as the Narbonese (Provincia Narbonensis) from the name
of its chief city and headquarters of government, the Roman
colony Narbo Martius, founded in 118 B.C. It was also
spoken of as Gallia Transalpine^, in contradistinction from
Gallia Cisalpina, the region between the Alps and the Apen
nines. The depredations practised by the Cilician pirates
caused in 102 B.C. the institution of the Cilician province by
the appointment of a Roman praetor to set up his headquarters
at some place on the Cilician coast and conduct such operations
as he should find practicable by land or sea, or both, against
the pirate strongholds. With the exception, however, of a
vigorous invasion of the inland region by P. Servilius Isauricus,
about 76 B.C., nothing of note was effected against the Cilician
pirates until 67 B.C., when Pompey was armed with extra
ordinary powers for their suppression.

Sicily made When the Romans replaced the Carthaginians in Sicily,
tributary. ^^ proclaimed the inhabitants of the island their allies, but
made them tributary, thus inaugurating a new policy in
dealing with allied communities, since hitherto they had been
content with, at most, controlling external relations and
requiring military aid. It cannot be said that any economic
motive of empire shows itself in the history of Roman
annexations between 241 and 133 B.C., although the tribute
of Macedonia was utilised in 167 B.C. to relieve all land
owned by Romans in Italy from taxation, a privilege which in
course of time became attached to the soil of the whole peninsula. 1
But this seems to have been the most that was achieved in the
century after 241 B.C. by way of lightening Roman financial

1 This exemption was abolished by Diocletian and Maximian. Arnold,
Roman Provincial Administration, pp. 188-189 (ed. 1906).

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 175

burdens at the expense of subject-allies. The Spains were but
lightly taxed ; for Carthage (or rather Hamilcar) had pursued
a lenient policy towards the Celto-Iberian population, which
Rome continued. Even Sicily did not contribute greatly to the
treasury of the Roman Commonwealth. As early as 149 B.C. a
special commission (quaestio extraordinaria) was instituted for
dealing with charges of extortion (res repetundae) brought against
Roman provincial governors ; for the Senate did not deliberately
wage wars of conquest to find opportunities of speedy enrich
ment for individual members of its order.

Moreover, the policy of Rome never was one of " expansion," Rome
except under constraint. To give permanence to the victories unwi
over Carthage, obtained at the cost of enormous expenditures
of blood and money, it was necessary that Rome should take the
position previously held by her rival in Sicily, Sardinia, and
Spain. The early victories in the East, won at Cynoscephalae
in Thessaly (197 B.C.) and Magnesia by the Maeander (190 B.C.),
and the invasion of Galatia by Gnaeus Manlius Vulso (189 B.C.), 1
were not followed by any annexations either in the Balkan
Peninsula or in Asia Minor. The Macedonian province was
not constituted until experience had proved the advisability of
stationing a Roman army to protect the city-republics of Greece
and Macedonia against the southward movements of the barbar
ous nations such, for example, as the Celtic Scordisci of the
region between the Morava and the Drave whom the House of
Antigonus had held at bay for a hundred years. In overthrowing
that dynasty the Romans had made themselves liable for its
responsibilities. The territories of Corinth and Thebes became
Roman state-domains, but the taxes imposed upon Macedonia

1 Professor Tenney Frank, in his recent work on Roman Imperialism, re
presents " Sentimental Philhellenism " as the motive of the Senate in resolving
to make war upon Philip V. of Macedonia. When the Romans had " arranged
themselves " with Philip, they were assailed by his ally Antiochus of Asia. The
object of Vulso s expedition into Galatia was to " put the fear " into the Celts.
Vulso may be said to have been quite successful. All Asia Minor rejoiced over
the humiliation of the Celts, whose aggressiveness had made them odious to
their neighbours.

176 THE GENTILE WOKLD n

were only one half of those which had been paid to the kings. 1
When Carthage was destroyed, lest she should once more become
a menace to the very existence of Rome, a considerable proportion
of her territory was made over to neighbouring Punic cities.
Policy The province of Asia, as we have seen, fell to Rome by bequest.

Gracchi Left to itself, the Senate would probably have refused to take
SenatTto U P ^ ne ^ er ^ a g e ^ Attains ; but Tiberius Gracchus, realising how
accept Asia, usef ul the revenue to be drawn from the Pergamene realm would
be in financing his policy of agrarian reconstruction, forced the
Senate s hand. Here, certainly, the economic motive appears ;
but Gaius Gracchus s institution of the system of levying tithe
in Asia, by the agency of Roman tax-farmers entering into con
tracts with the censors in Rome not, as in Sicily, by that of
local authorities making arrangements with the governor at the
provincial capital was as much political as financial in its aim ;
as was also his lexfrumentaria, the beginning of the pauperisation
of the plebs Romana. He sought to make of the equites, the
financial aristocracy, a perpetual opposition to the Senate, and
to enforce the precedent set by himself and his brother for putting
the determination of great questions of policy into the hands of
the people, instead of leaving it to the Senate. Sulla for a time
substituted in Asia the payment of fixed stipendia instead of
tithe, but the old system censoria locatio decumarum provinciae
Asiae was restored in the consulship of Pompey and Crassus
eight years after Sulla s death.

Mithradatic Gyrene was bequeathed to the Romans by Ptolemy Apion in
96 B.C., but it was not until 75 B.C. that they entered definitively
upon that inheritance. Nicomedes Eupator of Bithynia, 2 dying
in 75 B.C., followed the example of Attalus of Pergamum and
Ptolemy of Gyrene ; and the attempt of Mithradates of Pontus to

1 Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 319.

2 It was under the regime of the Hellenising Asiatic rulers of Bithynia that
the cities of Nicomedia (Ismid), Nicaea (Isnik), and Prusias (Broussa) were
founded. Nicaea and Broussa are notable names in Byzantine and Turkish
annals, and the former stands out prominently in the history of Christianity.
Nicomedia was the residence of Diocletian and the starting-point of the last
persecution of the churches by the Roman State.

j THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 177

prevent the execution of Nicomedes will was the immediate cause
of the great Asiatic war in which the destinies, not only of Asia
Minor, but also of Syria, were decided for centuries to come. It
then became clear if indeed the previous conflict between
Mithradates and Rome (88-84 B.C.) had not already brought
the truth to light that in order to hold those regions of Asia
Minor which had been bequeathed to her by their kings, Rome
must acquire the rest of the great peninsula either by arms
or by treaties supported by force. Furthermore, the confusion
and helplessness of Syria could not be regarded as a matter
of indifference, if only because it constituted a danger to the
position of Rome in the lands between Ararat and the Aegean.

The year 63 B.C. is of importance as the beginning of a new POMFEY S
epoch in the history of the countries lying between the Caucasus ME^OF
and the Mediterranean, more particularly of Syria and Palestine. THB EAST -
It was in 63 B.C. that Rome s great enemy, Mithradates of Pontus,
ended his days, that Jerusalem, for the first time, was taken by
a Roman army, and that the seven centuries of Roman domination
over Syria and Judaea began ; 1 and from then until his departure
from the East to Rome at the beginning of 61 B.C. Pompey was
busy with the organisation of Asia Minor and Syria. 2

At the time when the final conflict with Mithradates of Pontus
began, Rome had two provinces on the Asiatic continent, Asia
and Cilicia, the latter consisting only of a strip of territory, or
perhaps a series of detached strips, on the Cilician coast. To
these Pompey added Bithynia, including the western part of
the kingdom of Pontus.

In Asia he maintained the division into conventus for the Asia,
purposes of judicial and financial administration, made by Sulla

1 Augustus was born September 23, 63 B.C., possibly the Day of Atonement,
on which Pompey entered the Temple.

2 On Pompey s organisation of Asia Minor and Syria, see Mommsen, History
of Rome, bk. iv. ch. v. ; Schiirer, Q.J.V. vol. i. pp. 291 ff., and vol. ii. pp. 101 ff.
( 12 and 23) ; Ramsay, Historical Commentary on Qalatians, pp. 95-106; Tenney
Frank, Roman Imperialism, ch. xvi.

VOL. I N

178

THE GENTILE WOKLD

Cilicia.

Crete and
Cyprus.

Settlement
of Syria.

in 84 B.C. ; but the condition of the province was not prosperous,
though Lucullus, in 69 B.C., had made a heroic attempt to relieve
the distress caused by Sulla s imposition of a fine of twenty
thousand talents and the extortions practised by the Roman
negotiatores, to whom the Asian city-governments had recourse
in order to meet this demand.

In Cilicia the suppression of the pirates by the capture of their
fleets and strongholds in 67 B.C. was followed by an effective
extension of the province northwards from the maritime region.
In the treatment of the captive pirates, Pompey displayed a wise
humanity by giving them new homes in cities of Eastern Cilicia
(Cilicia Campestris), which in the disturbances of the half-century
preceding had been declining in population and wealth. 1 Cilicia,
in the political sense of the term, now extended, not only along
the sea-coast from the Indus 2 (the boundary of Caria and Lycia)
to Issus and Alexandria ad Amanum, the modern Alexandretta,
but also to a considerable depth inland, so as to include Pisidian
Antioch, Philomelium, Iconium, Derbe, Laranda, and Anazarbus.

The island of Crete, invaded and occupied in 67 B.C. because
its harbours were at the disposal of the Cilician pirates, was
added to the number of Rome s provinces. Cyprus, on the other
hand, was allowed to remain under the sovereignty of one of the
Ptolemies. 3

A wide sweep of territory, 4 extending from the Euphrates to
the north-eastern boundary of Egypt and the base of the Sinai
Peninsula, was made into the province of Syria. Pompey, on

1 Captive Cilicians were settled at Mallus, Adana, Epiphania, Soli (which
was new-named Pompeiopolis) and other Cilician towns. Pompey no doubt
counted upon the new townsmen to exert their fighting quality to good purpose
in defending their possessions against the hill-tribes which had not yet been
reduced to submission.

2 For the name see Livy xxxviii. c. 14.

3 Ptolemy Alexander II., who was murdered by his palace-guards after a
reign of nineteen days in 81 B.C., had bequeathed his kingdom, which included
Cyprus, to the Roman Republic. The Senate, however, was not eager to make
Cyprus a province, and Ptolemy of Cyprus retained his position by paying
tribute to all the influential members of that exalted order.

4 Tacitus, Ann. iv. 5, ingens terrarum sinus.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 179

his departure from this region at the end of 63 or the beginning
of 62 B.C., left Scaurus, one of his quaestors, in command pro
praetore, with two legions. But the government both in Cilicia
and in Syria was to a considerable extent carried on by the
agency of vassal-princes and autonomous cities, whose several
territories lay within the sphere of the governor s imperium.
Thus, in Cilicia we find, for example, the priest-princes of the
temple of Zeus at Olba, and the " dynasts " who reigned over
various clans in the valleys of Mount Amanus, on the eastern
border of the province. In Syria, Pompey had found the heritage
of Seleucus in the hands of a number of usurpers, such as the
Jew Silas, who held Lysias, 1 Cinyras the tyrant of Byblus, and
Dionysius the tyrant of Tripolis. Ptolemaeus, son of Mennaeus,
was lord of Chalcis and Heliopolis, and a number of other places
extending from the sea-coast to the Hauran. The Hasmonaeans
of Judaea had destroyed or subjugated a number of autonomous
Greek or Graeco-Syrian cities. The King of Nabataea had
extended his power northwards through the country east of
Jordan as far as Damascus. Pompey deposed and put to death
a number of these usurpers, who were indeed no better than
robber-captains ; but rulers who could show fairly respectable
title-deeds, or were willing and able to compound adequately for
their offences, were spared. Thus Sampsiceramus, the priest-
king of Emesa, was left in possession. Ptolemaeus, son of
Mennaeus, saved himself by disbursing a thousand talents, which
Pompey turned over to his army-pay department. The temporal
power of the Jewish High Priest was restricted to the bounds
from which it had broken in the time of Hyrcanus and Alexander
Jannaeus, the Hellenic cities which the Jewish priest-princes
had made tributary being restored to their former independence,
though not exempted from tribute to Rome. The cities thus
restored took the Roman annexation of Syria as the era of their
local chronologies, or at least looked back to it as a happy event.
The list is a notable one. Along the coast were Dora (Dor of the

1 Josephus, Antiq. xiv. 32.

180 THE GENTILE WORLD n

Old Testament), Stratonis Tunis, Apollonia, Joppa, Jamnia,
Azotus, Anthedon, Gaza with its port -town Maiouma, and
Raphia. Inland were Samaria, Scythopolis, Hippos, Gadara,
Abila (east of Gadara), Canatha (in the Hauran or Bashan),
Pella, Dium, Gerasa. At the time of Pompey s arrival in Pales
tine, the cities of Philadelphia, Ptolemais (St. Jean d Acre), and
Ascalon were independent. Their freedom was confirmed by
Pompey, though they were probably still under an obligation
to supply the governor of Syria with military aid if required. 1
Roman rule Under an agreement made between Lucullus and a Parthian
em ^ ass y m ^ B - c -&gt; tne Euphrates had been recognised as the
boundary between the Roman and the Parthian Empires. But
Pompey, in 64 B.C., had sent more than one army across Northern
Mesopotamia, from Armenia into Syria, and finally annexed
Northern Mesopotamia to the dominions of Tigranes, King of
Armenia, who had become Amicus Populi Romani. To the
number of " friends of the Roman People " were also added the
Arab princes who had established themselves at Edessa in
Osrhoene, the region lying immediately on the left bank of the
Euphrates from the crossing opposite Samosata down to the
city of Nicephorium, near the confluence of the Euphrates and
the Bilechas (Belik), 2 and at Palmyra.

1 On the subject of the Hellenistic cities of Palestine and their relation to
the Roman province of Syria, see Schiirer, 0. J. V. vol. ii. pp. 95-222 ( 23) ;
also Holm, Hist, of Greece, vol. iv. pp. 594-595 (E.T.). From Josephus, Antiq.
xiv. 4. 4, 5. 3, and B. J. i. 7. 7, 8. 4, it appears that the actual reorganisation
was carried out by Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria 57-54 B.C. The local
chronologies appear on the coins minted by the several cities. "Apxo^res,
BovXrj and A?}/zos are the constituent factors in every case, so far as is known ;
the fiov\T?i or city-council being a relatively large body. The polities were
timocratic or moderately democratic. " Syria, of all countries," says Holm,
" is a proof that the modern definition of a province as an administrative area
does not quite hit the mark. Syria was a province, and yet consisted only of
cities and districts which governed themselves. All that Rome did in Syria
was to exercise supervision and raise taxes " (loc. cit.).

2 Osrhoene or Orrhoene means " the country of Osrhoe or Orrhoe," i.e. the
country lying round about the city of Urha, which after Alexander s conquest
of the Persian Empire received a Macedonian colony and was new-named
Edessa, after the burial-place of the Macedonian kings. Another Macedonian
settlement was planted at Carrhae. Callinicum, the second name of Nice-

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 181

From the point of view of physical geography, the region Northern
known in ancient times as Commagene is the northernmost part s y" a -
of Syria. The governor of Syria exercised a general supervision,
but the actual administration was left to a prince of the House of
Seleucus, who had been set up as king by Lucullus in 69 B.C.,
and confirmed in possession of his throne by Pompey five years
later. Samosata, the chief city of Commagene, commanded one
of the crossings of the Euphrates. Pompey authorised the king
of Commagene, as a friend and ally of the Roman People, to
take possession of territory on the left or Mesopotamian bank
of the river, in order that he might hold, not only the crossing,
but also the approach to it. To the north of Osrhoene, and on
the same side of the river, the region of Sophene was annexed
to the kingdom of Cappadocia, which received an extension
eastward and southward ; by the annexation of Cilician terri
tory, lying between Castabala and Derbe, to the south, 1 and
of the region of Melitene (Malatiyeh) to the east. In this
manner two important crossings of the Euphrates came to
be held by kings allied to the Roman Commonwealth, and far
more dependent upon its favour than were the kings of
Armenia and Osrhoene. 2 A third crossing (Zeugma), the most
important of all, as it lay nearest to Antioch and the valley of
the Orontes, was directly under Roman supervision. 3

Between Cappadocia and the Roman provinces of Cilicia, a alatia&gt;
Asia, and Bithynia-Pontus lay the Galatian principalities. These
had at one time been twelve in number, each of the three

phorium, recalls the memory of Seleucus Callinicus, who reigned 246-226 B.C.,
but Holm makes Alexander himself the founder of this city. See Holm, op.
cit. vol. iii. pp. 381 and 393, and vol. iv. p. 113. The Arab princes of Edessa
intruded themselves in the midst of the confusion of the epoch 164-83 B.C.,
when the Seleucid kingdom broke up.

1 Strabo, Geographia, xii. 1. 4.

a Mommsen, Hist, of Home, bk. v. ch. iv.

* Ultimately it was discovered that the soundest plan was to put Roman
forces in occupation of all the crossings of the Euphrates. This was clearly
recognised by Vespasian, who took action accordingly. See Stuart Jones, The
Eoman Empire, p. 119.

182 THE GENTILE WOELD n

" nations " of the Tolistoboii, Trocmi, and Tectosages being
divided into four. 1 The vicissitudes of the contests between
Mithradates and Rome had left only three of the original twelve.
The most important of these three was the principality of Deio-
tarus, chief of the Tolistoboii, the " nation " which occupied the
region including, geographically but not politically, the city of
Pessinus with its famous temple of the Mother of the Gods, whose
symbol had been taken to Rome in 204 B.C.

Kingdom In southern Paphlagonia, a small kingdom, standing to the

Roman province of Bithynia in much the same relation as that
of Emesa stood to Syria, was assigned to Attalus, who claimed
descent from Pylaemenes, a Paphlagonian king, who appears in
the cycle of Trojan legend as an ally of Priam. Naturally, the
" Troiugenae " of Italy were not unwilling to confer an inexpen
sive favour upon a " kinsman."

Diversities Asia, west of Armenia and the Euphrates, as Pompey left it
mentl^ 11 m 62 B.C., has been compared with the Holy Roman Empire of
Asia Minor, ^g Mid^ Ages. In both cases there is a wonderful melange of
polities vassal-princedoms, great and small, some possessing,
in name at least, the dignity of kingdoms, free cities, and tribal
cantons. The priestly princedoms of Judaea, Emesa, Venasa,
Comana of Cappadocia, Comana of Pontus, Olba, Pessinus, and
Ancyra may be compared with the prince-bishoprics of mediaeval
Germany. A comparison may also be not unfitly made between
Roman Asia and Britain s Indian Empire. The vassal-prince
doms and the free cities of Roman Asia were " protected states."
The King of Cappadocia might be compared with the Nizam of
Hyderabad. The resemblance between the position of the King
of Armenia and the Amir of Afghanistan is striking. Again, the
Empire of the Roman People in Asia and the Empire of the
British Crown in India resemble each other in their tolerance of

1 A council of 300 principal men of the Galatians, joined with the tetrarchs
and other rulers, held session at a place called the Drynemetum (Oak-grove ?).
It was a sort of Areopagus, taking especial cognizance of cases of murder. This
council had ceased to assemble by the time that Galatia became a united
vassal-kingdom. See Strabo, xii. 5. 1-2, and p. 200 below.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 183

a great and interesting variety of religious beliefs and practices.
The temple of Hanuman in Benares, with its sacred monkeys,
may be compared with the temple of Atargatis at Hierapolis in
northern Syria, with its sacred fish. 1 Along with the variety of
religions in Roman Asia there subsisted, as in modern India,
a considerable variety of languages, though native Asiatic
dialects (especially in Asia Minor) were making way for Greek
to an extent to which the native dialects of India have not
yet made way for English, which, however, has a position not
very different from that which Latin held in Asia.

The reason why Pompey left so many kingdoms and princi- Policy of
palities still standing in Asia Minor and Syria, instead of dividing e st3Siing
the whole region between the Aegean and the Euphrates, the natlv . e
Euxine and Arabia Petraea, into provinces supervised and palities.
governed by proconsuls and propraetors, was that following the
traditional policy of the Republic, he sought to make as few changes
as possible, consistently with serving Roman interests, and to
avoid the expenditures which would have been necessitated by
a large increase in the number of provincial governors and of the
Roman armies of occupation. Though he opened copious sources
of revenue for the treasury, he desired to restrict the expenditure
of the Republic. Again, kings or dynasts or high priests with a
life-tenure were found to be better adapted for turbulent tribes
than proconsuls or propraetors, who held their positions only
for a year or two. It was indeed a very serious defect in the
Roman provincial system that the ordinarily brief tenure of
provincial governorships left their occupants no sufficient time
even if they had the desire, which was not always the case to
make themselves properly acquainted with the countries and
populations over whom they presided. But even if all pro
consuls and propraetors had been indisposed to regard the
provinces as latifundia, of which they were the successive villici,
the great difference between the Romans and some of the tribes

1 The inclusion of Egypt in this comparison would make the resemblance
between the Roman and the British Empire still more impressive.

184

THE GENTILE WORLD

Pompey s
treatment
of Greek
cities.

(a) In
Syria.

and nations of Asia made it wise to leave these primitive folk
under rulers whose methods of government were familiar and
comprehensible to them. With the progress in enlightenment
which set in after Augustus had given to the Roman world " laws
whereby it might dwell in peace under a prince," 1 the occupation
of vassal-kings, dynasts, or tetrarchs was more and more assumed
by city-governments, which grew in number. As the need of
vassal-princedoms ceased, they were gradually abolished, and
by the end of Vespasian s reign (A.D. 69-79) there was hardly one
of them left.

It is impossible to tell with any degree of assurance whether
Pompey believed that what the Romans had to do in Asia was
to complete the work begun by Alexander and carried on by the
House of Seleucus, so far as it lay within their power. But it
is quite certain that in preserving or restoring the autonomy of
existent cities, and in founding new ones, Pompey continued the
policy of Alexander and the Seleucidae. 2

Mention has already been made of his liberation of Graeco-
Syrian cities which in the course of some seventy or eighty years
before his arrival in Syria had been subjugated or even razed
to the ground by the Jews, or had fallen under the usurped power
of robber-captains such as Cinyras of Byblus. When, therefore,
Pompey returned from Palestine and Syria to Rome, he left a
region largely occupied by autonomous, though tributary, city-
states, whose elected magistrates and officials took a vast amount

1 Tacitus, Annals, iii. 28, deditque iura, quis pace ac principe uteremur.

2 " The most striking feature in the internal policy of Seleucus and his
successors is the attempted transfer into Asia of Greek urban life " (Scott Fer
guson, Greek Imperialism, p. 196). This transfer had been begun by Alexander.
The kings of the House of Seleucus were more truly successors of Alexander
than any other dynasty which arose upon the break-up of his vast empire.
Holm observes that the title of a5e\&lt;pol drj/noc assumed by the cities of the
Seleucian Tetrapolis Antioch, Seleucia Pieria, Apaniea, Laodicea (modern
Latakia) in the epoch 150-130 B.C. and stamped upon their coins is a mark of
" genuine Greek civilisation in the middle of the East, an interesting contrast
to the inscription adc\&lt;f&gt;uv GecDv on the Egyptian coins, which occurs just at
that time " (Hist, of Greece, vol. iv. p. 446, E.T.). On the subject of cities of
Alexander and the Seleucidae, consult Holm, op. cit. vol, iii. ch. xxvii., vol. iv,
chaps, v. and xiii.

i THE EOMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 185

of details of judicial and fiscal administration off the hands of
the Roman governor and his staff. Similarly in Asia Minor, (&j in Asia
besides repopulating with captives from Western or Highland
Cilicia a number of cities in Eastern or Plain Cilicia which had
fallen into decay, he founded a score of new cities, most if not all
of which were formed by concentrating the population of a number
of villages. Although he often reversed arrangements made by
Lucullus, he followed the same line of policy in the treatment of
cities. Cyzicus, Sinope, and Amisus were put in enjoyment of
enlarged territories, taken from old royal domains or perhaps
from those of temples ; Heraclea Pontica recovered her territory
and harbours ; and thirty-nine cities in all were added to the
number of those which had been in existence before the Mithra-
datic Wars.

The Romans, as has been said, never interfered with Oriental
those religions of their allies and dependents which neither K
sanctioned practices nor stimulated policies detrimental to the
well-being of the Commonwealth. Even then they intervened
to correct and restrain, not to extirpate. The orgiastic perform
ances of the " Great Mother of the Gods " were actually intro
duced from Phrygia into Rome by authority of the Senate in 204
B.C., and the goddess had her temple placed within the pomerium. 1
Wild and repulsive as these ceremonies were, and though for a
considerable period no Roman was allowed to become a priest or
minister of the goddess, yet a festival in her honour was added
to the Roman calendar. 2 Of exactly the same nature were the
ceremonies of the goddess of Comana in Cappadocia, called Ma
by the natives, but identified by the Romans with Bellona, a
goddess of war and slaughter. She was brought to Rome
about 90 B.C. by soldiers who had served under Sulla in Cilicia.

So long, then, as the Asiatic priest-princes paid tribute and Priestly
stirred up no rebellions, there was no cause for deposing them or
proscribing their religions. At the same time, Pompey did not
hesitate to abridge the extent of the temple domains if accessions

1 Livy xxix. 14, xxxvi. 36. 2 Ovid, Fasti, iv. 179 f.

186

THE GENTILE WORLD

The Jews.

City
govern
ments.

Pompey
and the
Jews.

of territory were required for the foundation of a new city or the
resuscitation of an old one. He seems, however, to have respected
the territory of the Sun-god El-Gabal, who reigned in the person
of his high priest over Emesa and its neighbourhood, of Apollo
at Daphne on the Orontes, and of Atargatis at Hierapolis.

Although the Jews were allowed, in accordance with this
policy, to retain their own lands, their priestly rulers being merely
deprived of cities annexed by them in war, it appears that the
tribute exacted from Judaea was one-third of the seed, or about
one-thirtieth of the crop, and the Mosaic tithe had still to be
paid to the Temple. 1

It is uncertain whether Pompey found any occasion to make
changes in the existing forms of city-government. The thing
to be desired, and even insisted upon, from the Roman point of
view, was that important public offices should be accessible only
to men who stood to lose most heavily by wars or revolutions,
and whose position in their community was analogous to that
of the nobiles in Roman society. In the case of those cities which
were resuscitated after destruction by the Jews, or by the tyranny
of robber-chiefs (such as, for example, Dionysius in the Syrian
Tripolis), Pompey had no difficulty in setting up such constitu
tions as best suited the interests of Rome. The extent to which
the constitutions of other cities required modification probably
depended upon the ratio in which the numbers of the artisans
and mechanics stood, in the several instances, to the total of the
citizen-body. In most, if not in all, of the Syrian cities, and in
a considerable number of the cities of Asia and Cilicia, there
were settlements of Jews, who enjoyed equal rights of citizen
ship with their Gentile neighbours. Pompey left these in
possession of their citizen-rights, which had originally been
conferred by the Seleucidae, 2 but a large number of Jewish
prisoners of war was brought to Rome by Pompey and his officers
and legionaries. These, of course, were slaves, yet before long
many of them were manumitted. As libertini, however, they

1 Tenney Frank, Roman Imperialism, p. 320. 2 Jos. Ant. xii. 3. 1.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 187

were under obligation to serve the interests of their patroni, and
it need not be doubted that these Jewish freedmen supported
their patrons in the factions of the last years of the Republic.
Besides these Jewish prisoners of war, there were many from
other nations of the East. By manumission they passed into
the great body of freedmen of Oriental origin who formed so large
a part of that Plebs Romano, which was contemptuously sniffed
at as faex Romuli by Cicero, 1 and despairingly denounced, in a
phrase nearly identical, by Juvenal s friend Umbricius. 2 The
swelling of the ranks of the urban electorate might perhaps
have been checked if censors had been regularly chosen at that
time. But from 69 to 27 B.C. there were no censors. Moreover,
consuls and praetors and all the nobiles of Rome were equally
interested in having at their several service persons who could
be counted upon to make themselves useful, especially at elections.

On his return to Rome from the East in January, 61 B.C., Return of
Pompey submitted to the Senate for ratification the arrangements toRome.
he had made in Asia Minor and Syria and his promises of rewards
for his soldiery ; but at the instance of Lucullus and others, who
were jealous of his fame, or despised him for having disbanded his
army before he approached the capital, his request was refused.
In his irritation against the Senate, Pompey lent a willing ear
to the proposals of Gaius Caesar, who returned in the summer of
60 B.C. from the government of Further Spain and victories over
the Lusitanians. Caesar wished to be elected consul for the
following year. He undertook that, if Pompey would give him
his support and influence, the ratification of the Eastern settle
ment and provision for Pompey s veterans would not be delayed.

1 Cicero, ad Att. ii. 1. 8. Cf. ad Ait. i. 16. ll, ilia contionalis hirudo aerarii
misera ac ieiuna plebecula.

2 Juvenal iii. 60,

Non possum ferre, Quirites,

Graecam urbera ; quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei ?
lam pridera Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes
Et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordas
Obliquas nee non gentilia tympana secum
Vexit et ad oircum iussas prostare puellas.

188 THE GENTILE WOULD n

By reconciling Ponipey and Crassus, who had been estranged
since their consulate in 70 B.C., Caesar completed his preparations
for his political campaign. An agreement was privately made
between the three that " nothing should be done in the Common
wealth that any one of them misliked." l This formed the " First "
Triumvirate, so called to distinguish it from the " Second "
Triumvirate of Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian in 43 B.C. Caesar
was elected consul, and though his colleague, Marcus Bibulus,
opposed him from the very start, he bore down the opposition
with unprecedented violence.

Cicero s In the year of Caesar s first consulship, i.e. 59 B.C. " the

pro Fiacco. consulship of Julius and Caesar " Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who
had been appointed propraetor of Asia three years before, was
prosecuted in Kome on a charge of maladministration. He was
defended by Cicero, the greater part of whose speech on this
occasion is still extant, and throws light on the relations of Greeks
and Jews to Kome. Complaints were lodged against Flaccus by
Greeks, by Jews, and even by Komans resident in the province.
On the other hand, witnesses to his virtues were brought from
Achaea, Boeotia, Thessaly, Athens, Lacedaemon, and Massilia.
Between these Greeks " ex vera atque integra Graecia " and the
Asiatic Greeks Cicero drew a very effective contrast, sharpening
his point by citing Greek proverbs upon the contemptible qualities
of the Phrygian, the Mysian, the Carian, and the Lydian. But
the true Roman feeling towards Greeks in general, whether of
Greece or of the Hellenic Diaspora, breaks out in an earlier
passage in the oration, in which he roundly declares that " testi-
moniorum religionem et fidem numquam ista natio coluit ; totius-
que huiusce rei quae sit vis, quae auctoritas, quod pondus,
ignorant." In reply to complaints which came in the form of
resolutions (tyyty Icr par a) passed by the popular assemblies of
Greek cities, Cicero recalls how Greece of old was brought to ruin
libertate immoderata et licentia concionum, and censures the Greek

1 Suetonius, Caesar, c. 19, ne quid ageretur in republica, quod displi-
cuisset ulli e tribus.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 189

city-states of the time for continuing the practice of deciding
the most important questions in assemblies intoxicated by
oratory. The passage suggests that in Asia the city-governments
were democratic in practice. Passing on to the Jewish witnesses
for the prosecution, Cicero lowered his voice lest, as he pretended,
Jews in the audience should hear him, and begin an emeute
in order to break up the defence. In exposing the frivolity of
the Asiatic Greeks he had already remarked that persons from
the province of Asia frequently disturbed political gatherings
in Rome. The Jews complaint against Flaccus was that he had
prohibited them by edict from sending money to the Temple in
Jerusalem. Large sums collected for transmission to Jerusalem
had been confiscated at Apamea, Laodicea, and Adramyttium.
But Cicero argued that Flaccus had acted in the interest of the
province, just as Pompey had shown himself considerate towards
Judaea when he left the treasury untouched after the capture
of the Temple. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, Cicero says
bluntly, were suspiciosa ac maledica civitas. As for the Jews
religion, it was a barbara superstitio, utterly alien to the
splendour of the Roman Empire, the dignity of the Roman name,
and the tradition received by the Romans from their forefathers
" all the more alien, now that this nation has shown the sentiments
it entertains against our Empire, by taking up arms against it,
and has proved how dear it is to the immortal Gods, by its sub
jugation, its dispersion, its enslavement."

Some five years later, in 66 B.C., Aulus Gabinius, proconsul Gabinius.
of Syria, after suppressing a Jewish rebellion stirred up by the
Hasmonaean princes Aristobulus and Alexander, divided Judaea
into five separate and independent districts, each under a timo-
cratic or aristocratic government. The several headquarters of
these governments were fixed at Jerusalem, Jericho, Amathus
(in Peraea), Gazara, 1 and Sepphoris (Galilee). A similar plan
had been followed, more than a hundred years before, by L.

1 I.e. Gezer on the confines of the hill-country and the Plain of Sharon.
The reading Taddpoit in Josephus, Ant. xiv. 5. 4, is erroneous.

190 THE GENTILE WORLD n

Aemilius Paullus in organising Macedonia after the overthrow of
the native kingdom. But whereas Aemilius Paullus had lightened
the fiscal burdens of Macedonia, Gabinius made those of Judaea
heavier.

Crassus Twelve years later, in 54 B.C., Marcus Licinius Crassus arrived

in Syria and did without hesitation what Pompey had refrained
from doing. He plundered the Temple-treasury at Jerusalem,
and stripping the sanctuary itself of its golden ornaments, carried
off some ten thousand talents, to which he added the spoils of
Atargatis, the goddess of Hierapolis-Bambyce, and other Syrian
temples.

The From 56 B.C. to the outbreak of the civil war in 49, Cilicia

omudl should be regarded as a specially important province, almost
as important as Syria and decidedly more so than Asia, for while
Cilicia was governed by proconsuls, Asia was governed by pro
praetors. 1 It does not appear that any legions were now stationed
in Asia, but there were two in Cilicia. The importance of the
province was further increased by the transfer from Asia to
Cilicia of the conventus or " circuits," which were judicial and
fiscal divisions of territory, of Cibyra, Apamea, and Synnada.
The island of Cyprus was annexed to it soon after the death of
Ptolemy (58 B.C.). It was thus to the proconsul of Cilicia, rather
than to the propraetor of Asia, that the Cappadocian king now
looked for protection against foreign or domestic enemies. The
sea-front of the province extended from the boundary of Caria
on the river Indus to the Promontory of Ehossus beyond Alex
andria ( Alexandretta) on the Gulf of Issus, and it was part of
the governor s business to see to the welfare of the Lycian Con
federacy. Within the province were included, besides the Lycian
Confederacy, the autonomous cities of Attalia, Cibyra, Laodicea

1 On the subject of the Cilician Province in 56-50 B.C. see Ramsay, Cities
and Bishoprics of Phrygia, vol. i. pp. 10-11, 341, and Historical Commentary on
Galatians, p. 105 f. The letters of Cicero which belong to the years 51 and 50,
in which he was proconsul of Cilicia, are collected in vol. iii. of Tyrrell and
Purser s edition of Cicero s correspondence. See also Nos. 32, 36-40, and 42 in
Watson s Select Letters cf Cicero and the introduction to Part II. of the work.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 191

on the Lycus, and its neighbours Hierapolis and Colossae ; Apa-
mea (the ancient Celaenae, also known as Apamea Cibotus),
Apollonia, and Antioch in Pisidian Phrygia, Philomelmm,
Laodicea in Lycaonia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Laranda, Tarsus,
Mopsuestia, Mallus, Alexandria on the Gulf of Issus, Soli (new-
named Pompeiopolis), Seleucia on the Calycadnus, Selinus, Side,
and Aspendus. 1 At Olba the High Priest of Zeus, who claimed
descent from Teucer, brother of Ajax and son of Telamon, was
ruler over the surrounding territory. 2

In the Taurus mountains (especially in Pisidia and Isauria) Cicero pro-
were tribes of marauding hillmen under their several chieftains. cmcTa Ol
Other tribes of marauders had their strongholds in the Amanus
range on the borders of Cilicia and Syria. Cicero, who was sent
as proconsul to Syria in 51 B.C. under the provisions of the law
de iure magistratuum, carried by Pompey in the year preceding,
had to undertake an expedition against the fortress of Pindenissus,
which he reduced on December 17, after a siege of forty-seven
days. For this success he was to his immense gratification hailed
as " Imperator " by his legionaries.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched upon Rome, Defeat
Pompey withdrew to Epirus, and summoned to his aid the powers U
of the East, where his name was still one to conjure with. On
August 9, 48 B.C., in the battle of Pharsalus in Thessaly, the days
of his supremacy were finally numbered. Flying from that
stricken field to the sea-coast, he took ship for Egypt. As he
was being rowed in a boat from his ship to the beach near the
promontory called Mons Casius, some miles east of Pelusium, he
was murdered. His dead body, from which the head had been
hacked off, was thrown into the sea, from which, however, it
was subsequently rescued for cremation. To this pitiable and
terrible end came the man who had extended the Imperium
Populi Romani to the Euphrates and Ararat :

1 See the map of Asia Minor in 56-50 B.C. contained in Ramsay s Historical
Commentary on Galatians.

2 Strabo xiv. 15. 10.

192

THE GENTILE WORLD

Perman
ence of
Pompey s
work.

THE CIVIL
WAR AND
RECON-

48-12 B.C.

iacet ingens litore truncus
Avulsumque humeris caput, et sine nomine corpus. 1

Nevertheless, the work that Pompey had done in Asia Minor
and Syria continued to stand. He had restored or preserved
a number of autonomous cities, Hellenic or Hellenised, and even
added new foundations. It is true that his work in the East,
so far as the preservation or enlargement of urban life was con
cerned, was a work which had been begun, more than two hundred
and fifty years before, by Alexander, and carried on by Seleucus
and his successors. But Pompey found much on the point of
falling into ruins, and to him is due the praise of a preserver,
restorer, and promoter of the civilising enterprises of the Mace
donian kings. As we follow Paul on his journeys from province
to province and from Greek city to Greek city ; as we observe
the growth of ecclesiastical organisation upon the basis of the
cities, beginning in the Eastern provinces, and note the develop
ment of Christian theology by Greek learning sheltered by Roman
law in Greek cities ; we see the Church using instruments provided
by Alexander and the Seleucidae, and preserved by Pompey and
the Romans. The testimony of Velleius Paterculus deserves a
place among the records of the Church as well as of the Empire
" Syria Pontusque Gnaei Pompeii virtutis monumenta sunt."

When the victory of Caesar Octavianus over Antony and
Cleopatra brought an end to civil war and reunited East and West,
the victor was hailed by his fellow-citizens as the Preserver
and Restorer of the Republic, and by the subject-allies as a
Divine Deliverer, a god dwelling among them in visible presence.
Such phrases as PACATO ORBE TERRARUM, RESTITUTA REPUBLICA,
or REPUBLICA CONSERVATA, found in inscriptions dating from
the years immediately following the end of the civil wars, are
true signs of the times. 2 No less remarkable was the permission
given by Caesar Octavianus to the provincials of Asia and Bithynia

1 Virgil, Aen. ii. 557, 658.

C.I.L. i. vi. 1527 and 873. Cf. Velleius Paterculus ii. 89. The temple
of lanus was closed (on January 11) in 29 B.C.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 193

to build and dedicate temples to him and the goddess Roma
at Pergarnum and Nicomedia, the headquarters of the respective
provincial governments. 1

Finding in 28 B.C. that his continuance at the head of the Settlement
State was desired, and being at the same time resolved that the
" restoration of the Republic " should not become a meaningless
phrase, Octavian entered into negotiations with the Senate
immediately upon taking office on January 1, 27 B.C., as consul
for the seventh time. An agreement was reached, the terms of
which were as follows : He was to be elected consul, as heretofore
since 32 B.C., year by year. He was to be commander-in-chief
of the legions, auxiliary forces, and fleets of the Commonwealth.
He was to control foreign relations ; declaring war, making peace,
negotiating treaties, setting up and putting down vassal-princes.
He was to have charge over certain countries, to which he could
send his deputies as governors. 2 His person was to be as
sacred as those of the tribuni plebis, with whom he had been
associated, though as a superior rather than as an equal, by
investiture with tribunicia potestas in 36 B.C. The military
and civilian powers assigned to him by this arrangement were
to be retained for ten years, reckoned from the kalends of
January 27 B.C. The provinces not specially assigned to his

1 Dio Cassius li. 20. This took place in 29 B.C., the year of Octavian s
fifth consulate. Notice that Octavian " gave orders " (ttyriKev) to the Romans
resident in Asia and Bithynia to dedicate temples to Roma and Divus lulius
(i.e. the deceased dictator) at Ephesus and Nicaea respectively, while he " per
mitted " (tirtTpe\j/ev) the provincials to dedicate temples to himself and Roma
at Pergamum and Nicomedia. Dio observes in passing that Octavian called
the provincials " Greeks " ("EXA7?j/ds o-0as &lt;?7riKaX6ras). Octavian became the
divine i]ye/j.u)i&gt; of the Greek cities of Europe and Asia. In the epoch of the
gradual expansion of Imperium Populi Romani eastward Greek cities had made
the Genius or " Fortune " of Rome, or individual Roman commanders even
Verres ! their divine or semi-divine yyeubves. The Smyrnaeans built a temple
to Rome as early as 195 B.C. The example set by the provincials of Asia and
Bithynia was followed by those of Galatia when their country became a
Roman province, i.e. 25 B.C. See Mommsen, Res Gestae Dim Augusti.

2 These, at the time when this agreement was made, were (1) Lusitania ;
(2) Hispania Citerior or Tarraconensis ; (3) Gallia Transalpina, from the
Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast to the Rhine ; (4) Syria, with Cilicia
(5) Cyprus ; (6) Egypt.

VOL. I

194 THE GENTILE WORLD n

supervision were restored to the jurisdiction of the Senate and
People. 1 A lex de imperio C. lulii C. F. Caesaris, embodying this
agreement made between Octavian and the Senate, was carried
on January 13, 27 B.C. Three days later the Senate conferred
upon Octavian the title of Augustus. At the same time it was
ordered that a corona civica of oak-leaves should be set up over
the door of Octavian s house and the door-posts wreathed with
garlands of laurel. 2 This was to be done in recognition that his
victories and policy had restored and preserved the Republic.

Settlement In 23 B.C. a new settlement was made. Augustus, at the end
of June in that year, abdicated the consulship (which he was
then holding for the eleventh time), and it was agreed between
him and the Senate that for the government of the provinces
committed to his charge he should henceforth exercise proconsular
authority, without the necessity of resigning it in order to enter
the pomerium, within which arms must make way for the toga.
His tenure of tribunicia potestas was formally renewed, and this
became the basis of Imperial chronology. As consul he had en
joyed precedence (mains imperium) over all provincial governors,
proconsuls as well as propraetors ; it was now laid down that his
proconsular authority was to be superior to that of all other
governors. 3 At the end of 18 B.C. his tenure of imperium was
renewed for five years, then for another five, after which it was
continued by decennial renewals. 4

Pontifex In 12 B.C., on the death of Lepidus, Augustus caused himself

to be elected Pontifex Maximus by the votes of the Roman People. 5

1 Dio Cassius liii. 1-12 and xiii. 1. Dio drew upon Tacitus, Annals, i. 11-13,
for material wherewith to embroider his account of the proceedings in the
Senate at the beginning of Octavian s seventh consulship.

2 Compare the Aureus of 27 B.C. described in Rushforth, Latin Historical
Inscriptions, pt. i. No. 2.

3 Dio Cassius liii. 32. 5. 4 Dio Cassius liii. 16. 2.

5 Monumentum Ancyranum, c. 10, Pontifex Maximus ne fierem in vivi
conlegae locum, populo id sacerdotium deferente mihi, quod pater meus habuit,
recusavi. Cepi id sacerdotium aliquod post annos eo mortuo qui civilis motus
occasione occupaverat. (Augustus refers to Lepidus, who " snatched " an
election to the office in the confusion following upon the death of Caesar the
dictator.)

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 195

From henceforth the presidency of the Pontifical College was per
petually associated with the Principate as the position of the
Chief of the State came to be called until late in the fourth
century.

After the first settlement of 27 B.C. there were changes in the Provinces
distribution of provinces between the Princeps and the Senate,
The important distinction between the two groups was that

and the

armies were stationed in the Imperial, but not in the Senatorial, Senate.
with the exception of Africa. The " provinces of Caesar " fell
into two classes : (a) those to which legati pro praetore who had
been members of the Senate were sent, subdivided into provinces
to which consulares, and provinces to which praetorii were ap
pointed ; and (6) those given to praefecti or procurators of
Equestrian rank. 1 Augustus reorganised the Equestrian Order,
giving its members new opportunities of serving the State by
creating a number of new offices prefectures and procurator-
ships some of which in course of time became far more important
than the old Republican magistracies. Chief among these new
offices were the prefectures of Egypt, of the City, of the Watch,
of the Corn-supply, and of the Praetorium. 2 The Prefect of
Egypt was a viceroy the Roman Emperors were kings of Egypt
and no senator was ever appointed to this position or even per
mitted to enter the country. This precaution was taken in
order to eliminate as far as possible the risk of an ambitious
senator making Egypt a base of operations against the Princeps
or the Principate. 3 It was from this very base, however, that
Vespasian operated for the overthrow of Vitellius.

All governors of Senatorial provinces were called proconsuls,
whether they had held the consulship or not. 4 Augustus re-
enacted the Lex Pompeia of 52 B.C., which fixed an interval of

1 Legati pro praetore : TrpeafSevTas CLUTOV avTi&lt;rTpa.Tr)yovs re 6vo/j.dfe&lt;rdcu, K&V
K rdv vira.TevK()T&lt;j)v cDcri, 5t^rae, Dio liii. 13. 5 ; Praefecti : eirapxoi ; Pro-
curatores : lirLrpoTroL.

2 Praefecturae (a) Aegypti, (b) Urbis, (c) Vigilum, (d) Annonae, (e) Praetorii.

3 Tacitus, Ann. ii. 59; Hist. i. 11 ; Dio li. 17, Hi. 42.

4 AvduiraTOL, Dio Hi, 13, 34.

196 THE GENTILE WORLD n

five years between an urban magistracy (viz. praetorship or
consulship) and a provincial government, but made it apply to
these provinces only. Proconsuls held their governments only
for a year. Legati pro praetore and procuratores (governing
minor provinces) held office during the Emperor s pleasure.
Tiberius was especially given to prolonging the tenure of governors
in his provinces. Thus Poppaeus Sabinus was governor of
Moesia for some twenty-four years in all. Valerius Gratus was
procurator of Judaea for eleven years ; Pontius Pilate for ten. 1
Procura- Provincial governors all received fixed salaries, and provincial

land taxes were no longer collected by competing firms of publi-
cani, but by agents and officials of municipalities. These were
supervised, in " Caesar s Provinces," by procurators, whose
power often rivalled that of the legati pro praetore, as may be
seen in the record of Catus Decianus in Britain. 2 PuUicani,
however, still were employed to collect certain kinds of revenue. 3
On the whole, the condition of the provinces was vastly improved 4
the spread of Caesar- worship is one of the indications of this
and of the two main groups those assigned to the Emperor s
more direct and especial supervision and control were the better
governed. In A.D. 15 the provincials of Achaea and Macedonia
onera deprecantes petitioned for transference from the Senatorial
or Popular to the Caesarian class of provinces, and the change
was maintained until A.D. 44 5 nearly thirty years. In order
to deal effectively with brigandage in Sardinia, it was found
necessary to make the island a Caesarian province under a
procurator from A.D. 6 to 66, and all provinces added to the

1 Arnold, Roman Provincial Administration, p. 121 ; Tacitus, Annals, i.
80. 2; Dio liii. 13 ; Furneaux, Annals of Tacitus, vol. i., Introd. p. 117 f.

2 Arnold, op. cit. pp. 124-125.

3 Tac. Ann. iv. 6. The " publicans " mentioned in the Gospels must have
been collectors employed by Herod Antipas. They were therefore not Romans
at all, and had no connection (directly, at any rate) with the Roman authorities.

4 Tac. Ann. i. 2, neque provinciae ilium rerum statum (the Principate)
abnuebant, suspecto Senatus Populique imperio ob certamina potentium et
avaritiam magistratuum.

6 Tacitus, Annals, i. 76 ; Sueton. Claudius, 25 ; Dio Cassius Ix. 24.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 197

Empire after 27 B.C. were placed in the Caesarian class and
put under the government either of legati or procurators.

The best general description of the elaborate system of strabo.
provincial government which was thus built up by Augustus,
and continued for so long a time, is that of Strabo, who ends
his Geographia with an account of the divisions of the Empire
as it was in the time of Augustus. The reference in it to Ptolemy,
King of Mauretania, shows that it must have been written not
earlier than A.D. 23, when Ptolemy succeeded his father Juba.
But Strabo quite rightly regards the settlement of Augustus
as fundamental, and his account might equally well be taken,
with the exception of small details, as a description of the Empire
at any time during the first century ; for, however much the
city of Rome suffered in the time of Caligula or Nero, the Provinces
were well governed, and a general continuity of policy was main
tained from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. The addition of
other provinces such as Galatia or Cappadocia affected the
details but not the principle of government or the character of
the organisation.

The Monumentum Ancyranum is of course extremely import
ant, but it was not intended to serve the same purpose as Strabo
had in mind, and is less useful to the investigator of the general
constitution of the Provinces. It is therefore appropriate to
finish this section by quoting in full Strabo s account :

" The Romans," he says, " possess the best aiid most famous
portion of the inhabited earth ; their empire surpassing all others
whereof we have record. Beginning with a single city, Rome, they
established their power over all Italy for military and political
purposes. And after Italy they annexed the neighbouring
countries by exercising the same valour. Of the three continents,
they hold almost all Europe, saving only the region beyond
the Ister (Danube) and the districts by the shore of the Ocean
between the Rhine and the Tanais (Don) ; the whole of that
coast of Libya which lies nearest to us is also theirs, the rest
of that continent being desert or inhabited by rude nomads ; and
in like manner the sea-coast of Asia on our side is all subject
to them, if we leave out of the account the straitened and savage

198 THE GENTILE WOKLD n

tracts where Achaei, Zygi, and Heniochi subsist by piracy or pas
turage. Of inland and upland Asia part is Roman, part is held by
the Parthians and the barbarians beyond Parthia, Indians, Bactrians,
and Scythians to the north and east, also Arabs and Ethiopians,
and the Romans are constantly annexing portions of these territories.
The whole region subject to the Romans consists of two parts ; one
is governed by kings, the other, called the Provinces, is adminis
tered by governors and tax-gatherers, whom the Romans send
thither. There are also free cities, some of which were free when
they first entered into friendship with Rome ; to others the Romans
themselves have given freedom by way of showing their esteem.
Certain princes, tribal chieftains (^vAa/D^oi), and priests are also sub
ject to them. Now these people live under their respective ancestral
laws.

" The division of the provinces has varied from time to time.
At present it stands as it was ordered by Caesar Augustus. When
the Republic (&gt;} Trarpis) entrusted him with the supreme command
(TYJV Trpocrrao-iav rtjs lyye/xovtas), and he was appointed master of peace
and war for life, he divided the whole territory into two, assigning
one part to himself, and the other to the People. His share was
all that needed a military garrison, namely, the barbarous country
bordering on peoples not yet brought under authority, or rugged
and sterile land, the inhabitants of which, owing to their general
poverty and abundance of strongholds, are unbridled and insubordi
nate. To the People he gave the rest because it was peaceful and
could be governed without an armed force.

" He subdivided each part into provinces, called respectively
Imperial (KaiW/aos) and Popular (rov Sfaov). To Imperial Provinces
Caesar himself sends governors and commissioners, from time to
time changing their frontiers and polities as occasion demands. To
the Popular Provinces the People send praetors or consuls. These
provinces also are subject to changes of boundary, whenever expedi
ency requires. Among the governments Caesar established a dis
tinction by making two of them consular, namely, Libya, the terri
tory subject to the Romans, but not including the part formerly
ruled over by Juba, and now by his son Ptolemy ; and Asia, the region
lying within the Halys and Mount Taurus, but not including the
Galatians and the nations subject to Amyntas, nor yet Bithynia
and the Propontis. Ten provinces he put under praetors. In Europe
and the adjacent islands, Further Spain, as it is called, which lies
round the river Baetis (Guadalquivir) and the Atax ; in the Celtic
country the Narbonese region ; Sardinia with Corsica is the third ;
Sicily the fourth ; the fifth and sixth are Illyria, adjoining Epirus,
and Macedonia ; the seventh is Achaea, extending as far as Thessaly,
Aetolia, Acarnania, and certain Epirote tribes assigned to Macedonia ;

CON CILIA

i THE KOMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 199

the eighth, Crete with Gyrene ; the ninth, Cyprus ; the tenth, Bithy-
nia, with the Propontis and certain parts of Pontus. The remaining
provinces are Caesar s. To some he sends men of consular rank to
administer ; to others those who have been praetors ; to others men
of the equestrian order. The kings, princes, and decarchies are,
and always have been, included in his department."

In the countries lying to the east of the Adriatic the Romans THE PRO-
found, as in Italy, a number of political associations, each with
its religious observances. The policy of the Romans was opposed
to the existence of separate political unions in countries dependent EMPIRE.
on them. On the other hand, they seldom interfered with the
religions of their subjects or allies if these religions neither
disturbed the peace nor encouraged barbarities. Even so,
they only interfered to protect the maiestas of the Roman
People, since it was part of their political tradition to win
the good -will of other nations by respecting their gods.
When, therefore, the Romans dissolved a league or con
federation, they preferred that league - festivals should be
only temporarily abolished, and the federal sanctuaries be
closed only until the political situation was assured. Thus
the formation of the Roman province of Macedonia in 146 B.C.
was accompanied by the dissolution of all existing confederations
in Greece, but later on " the Romans," as Pausanias puts it,
" took pity on Greece and restored to the several nations their
ancient councils." 1 The " councils," however, were restored
only so far as they were purely religious, for although the cities
of Greece were left with a full measure of internal autonomy,
all their relations, both within and outside Greece, were controlled
by Rome.

In Asia Minor these self-governing religious communities in Religious
Roman times were numerous. The constituent states of the ^unities
Ionic Dodecapolis, originally a political union, maintained a jJ. A8ia
common cultus and temple of Poseidon upon the promontory of
Mycale near Miletus. Immediately to the south of them lay

1 Pausanias, vii. 16. 9-10.

200 THE GENTILE WORLD n

the Dorian Pentapolis, maintaining the worship and temple
of Apollo upon the Triopian headland. 1 A number of Carian
village-communities maintained the house and worship of Zeus
Chrysaoreus (Zeus of the Golden Sword) in a place near which
arose in the Macedonian epoch the city of Stratonicea. 2 The
Celtic tribes settled in Phrygia had federal magistrates and
military commanders and a federal council of 300 members,
which met periodically at a place called Drynemetum. 3 There,
we may be certain, stood a temple, within the precinct of which
the council held its sessions. In Lycia twenty-three cities entered
into confederation after the abolition of the Rhodian hegemony
by the Romans in 167 B.C. Coins of the confederation bear
the image of Apollo Lycius, indicating that the worship of
Apollo at Patara was federal. 4 The Panionic League, the
Dorian Pentapolis, the Galatian and Lycian confederations
all survived the establishment of Roman supremacy in
Asia Minor in 133 B.C. But while the first two had for
centuries been confined to religious functions, the Galatians
and Lycians continued to exercise political power. The
Galatian assembly at Drynemetum became extinct as a
political body under Deiotarus, Tetrarch of the Tolistoboii, who
about 47 B.C. made himself monarch over all the Galatian tribes. 5
The Lycians continued as a confederation in free alliance with
Rome until the reign of Claudius, who annulled their liberties
because of their destructive quarrels. 6 There was also in the
Roman province of Asia a league of cities lying between the

1 See Herodotus, i. 142-148 ; Strabo, Geogr. xiv. 1. 1-3 and 20. Smyrna
was not reckoned as a member of the Ionian Dodecapolis by Herodotus. After
its restoration by Lysimachus in 290 B.C. it was added as a thirteenth to the
league on the recommendation of the Ephesians.

2 Strabo, xiv. 2. 25.

3 Strabo, Geogr. xii. 5. 1. Drynemetum (ApiW/itroi ), may possibly be a
Gallo-Greek hybrid name meaning " oak-grove." See p. 182, n. 1, above.

4 Strabo, Geogr. xiv. 3. 3. Cf. Head, Historia Numismatum, "Coins of
Lycia."

8 Ramsay, Historical Commentary on Galatians, pp. 96-101.
6 Suetonius, Claudius, c. 25. " Exitiabiles discordiae " had brought the
Achaean League to ruin in 146 B.C.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 201

Hellespont and the Gulf of Adramyttium, known as the Ilian
Confederation (TO KOLVOV rcov DueW). Among its gods it placed
Alexander the Great, by whom it had been founded.

These associations of cities probably were the models on Emperor
which the Commune Asiae was formed, though they were not con- Asia." P
stituents of it. 1 Dio Cassius says that (in 29 B.C.) Augustus gave
permission to build and dedicate at Pergamum, the provincial
capital, a temple in honour of himself and Roma. 2 A similar
authority was given at the same time to the provincials of
Bithynia, who desired to set up a temple in honour of the Em
peror and Roma at Nicomedia. 3 Four years later the kingdom
of Galatia became a Roman province, a legatus Augusti pro
praetore taking the place of the native king. 4 The headquarters
of the new province were established in the ancient Phrygian
city of Ancyra, and there the KOIVOV of the Galatians, consisting
of deputies from the Celtic tribes and the cities of Northern
Phrygia, erected a temple dedicated @eo5 Se/Satrro) real ea Poo/i^.
At what date this dedication took place is a matter of uncertainty.
The temple at Pergamum was not dedicated until ten years after
permission for its erection had been given. 5 It is certain, how
ever, that the Sebasteum or Augusteum at Ancyra must have
been completed by the end of Augustus s reign, for Tiberius caused
a copy of his predecessor s Index Rerum Gestarum to be inscribed
upon its walls, 6 and the inscription must have been cut in the
first year of the new principate August A.D. 14 to August A.D. 15. 7

Guiraud, Assemblies provinciates dans V Empire romain, p. 63.

Dio Cassius li. 20. Above, p. 193, n. 1.

Dio Cassius, loc. cit. A Kowbv r&v Riduvuv is presupposed.

Dio Cassius liii. 26. 3.

Guiraud, Assemblies provinciales dans V Empire romain, pp. 25, 30.

Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 25-26 ; Tac. Ann. i. 78.

7 See Th. Mommsen, Res Gestae Divi Augusti, or Shuckburgh s edition of
Suetonius s Life of Augustus, Appendix A. In addition to the Latin original,
a Greek version was also engraved upon the walls of the Augusteum at Ancyra,
in usum provincialium. This bilingual record (generally known as Monumentum
Ancyranum) occupied a considerable space on the outer side of the walls of the
Na6s or Cella. An inscription found on the doorway begins with the words
r&lt;\A&lt;vrcoN TO lepON iepAC&lt;\/v\eNON Gecoi CeB&crcoi KM Gecoi PCOMHI, and

202 THE GENTILE WORLD n

The cities in the south-eastern and north-eastern districts
appear to have formed separate icoivd, 1 but the legend of Thecla
contains an indication that Antioch of Pisidia belonged to the
KOLVOV rwv YdKar&v, which built the temple and maintained the
worship of Rome and the Emperor at Ancyra. 2

In the formation of KOIVCL and concilia for the worship of the
Imperial divinities the general plan was that there should be
one such organisation for each province. This rule, however,
was subject to exceptions. For example, in Gaul 3 there
was one concilium for three provinces. In some instances
one province had more than one concilium or KOIVOV belonging
to the Imperial system. Down to the end of the second
century there were two in Achaea : that of the Achaeans, and
that of the " Free Laconians," who had obtained authority to
form a KOIVOV of their own, which the Empire hesitated for a
long time to withdraw. The same privilege was accorded to a
group of Greek cities on the western shore of the Euxine, known
as the Hexapolis of Tomi, which was not merged in the commune
Moesiae Inferioris. The cities of Lycia continued to form a
KOLVOV by themselves after their annexation to the province of
Pamphylia in A.D. 43. There was a KOLVOV of Cilicia separate
from that of Syria. The cities of Eastern Pontus continued as
a separate KOIVOV after the annexation of that region to Galatia.

calls the temple TO ceB&CTHON. The commune, of Galatia is commemorated
under the title KOLVOV TdKaruv on the coins of Ancyra.

1 Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 46, 60. M. Guiraud thinks it possible that the Koivbv
FaXarwj was formed upon the old league of Galatae or Gallograeci which used
to assemble at Drynemetum. Probable enough, if that KOLVOV consisted only
of the Tolistoboii, Trocmi, and Tectosages. But that is uncertain. Reid,
Municipalities of the Roman Empire, p. 379, thinks the Galatian KOLVOV was
not ethnic.

2 Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 390-396 ; Cities of
St. Paul, p. 239.

3 The altar of the Three Gauls was inaugurated on August 1, a day already
observed by the Gallic " nations " in honour of the sun -god Lug (whose name
is the basis of Lugdunum). See Guiraud, p. 45 ; Suetonius, Claudius, c. 2 ;
Morivale, History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. iv. pp. 238-239 (ch. xxxvi.).
The territorial boundaries of the Three Gauls (probably delimited in 16 B.C.)
did not correspond with the ethnic divisions of Aquitani, Celtae, and Belgae.
There were large " Celtic " districts in (political) Aquitania.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 203

Thessaly had its KOLVOV distinct from that of Macedonia. Thus
in a number of provinces there was more than one provincial
Koivov organised for mutual aid under the patronage and for the
worship of the Imperial divinities, the Emperor and Roma. 1

Dio Cassius observes that the example set by Asia and concilia
Bithynia in the fifth consulate of Octavian (29 B.C.) was followed
in every province of the Empire. By the end of Augustus s
principate most of the provinces of the Empire must have had
concilia and all the appurtenances of the Imperial religion. There
is clear proof of the existence of such organisations in the Tarra-
conensis, the Three Gauls, Thessaly, Achaea, Asia, Bithynia,
Galatia, and Syria in A.D. 14. 2 It is also most probable that
Baetica and the Narbonensis had their concilia established by
that date, though there appears to be no mention of either in any
inscription or any passage in the historians referring to the
principate of Augustus. 3 A KOLVOV of Cyprus comes to light in
the time of Claudius. It may be regarded as the continuation
of a Cyprian KOIVOV existing in the epoch of the Ptolemies (295-58
B.C.), with the Emperor and Roma substituted for the Macedonian
monarchs as objects of worship. 4 Prosecutions instituted at Rome
in the principate of Nero by " Lycii," " Cilices," " Cretenses,"
" Cyrenenses," and " Mauri " are held to be evidence of the
existence and activity of concilia or &lt;rvvoSoi and /cotvd of Lycia,
Cilicia, Crete, Cyrene, and Mauretania under that Emperor. 5 With
the exception of the Mauretanian concilium, all might have been
in existence under Augustus. The Lycian KOLVOV was indeed

1 See Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 51-60, especially 60. The Free Laconians were
Laconians exempted by Augustus from the jurisdiction of the Spartan
authorities. See Pausanias, III. xxi. 6.

2 Tacitus, Annals, i. 78 ; Suetonius, Claudius, 2 ; Dio Cassius liv. 32 and
li. 20 ; Mommsen, Res Gestae Dim Augusti, p. x ; Roman Provinces, i. pp. 94
and 264 (E.T.) ; Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 56-59.

3 Hardy, Provincial Concilia, in vol. i. of Studies in Roman History, pp. 250-
251.

4 Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 59 and 42 ; Sakellarios, Kypriaka, vol. i., inscriptions
of pre-Roman date mentioning rb ttotvbv TUV Kvrrpluv.

6 Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 30 and 33, xiv. 18 and 28 ; Guiraud, pp. 58-59 ;
Hardy, op. cit. p. 279.

204

THE GENTILE WOELD

the Lycian confederation founded in 167 B.C., but deprived by
Claudius of its functions as a political cruo-r^a. 1 A concilium
Britanniae may have been in process of formation in A.D. 62,
when the Iceni rose in rebellion against Koman sovereignty. 2
The prosecution of a governor of Sardinia in A.D. 58 ob provinciam
avare habitam was probably instituted by a concilium Sardiniae. 3
For the service of the altar of the Emperor and Roma erected by
Drusus in 10 B.C. on the left bank of the Rhine, near a town of
the Ubii, a German tribe which had been permitted to settle on
that side of the river, a concilium Germaniae must be supposed. 4

The principal function of these provincial concilia was the
due performance and maintenance of the worship of Rome and
the reigning Emperor. By a natural process, the worship of the
Divi Augusti, i.e. the deceased Emperors, was added. Octavian,
however, appears to have desired that only provincials (i.e. socii
et amid, peregrini) should worship Rome and the living Emperor,
while Roman citizens should worship only the deceased chiefs of
the Roman Commonwealth. At the time when he permitted the
erection of temples in honour of Rome and himself at Pergamum
and Nicomedia by the " Greeks " of Asia and Bithynia, he ordered
the erection of temples in honour of Divus Julius at Ephesus and
Nicaea by the Roman citizens resident in those provinces. 5

This was no new thing in the East. The Seleucidae of Syria
appear to have sought reinforcement for their claims to suzerainty
over the Greek cities of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia
not a few of which they founded or enlarged by assuming a
divine character and title. With the native Asiatics they had
no trouble, and the way of the Ptolemies in Egypt, so far as the

1 Strabo, Geogr. xiv. 3. 3 ; Head, " Coins of Lycia " in Hist. Numism. ;
Sueton. Claudius, 25.

2 Tacitus, Annals, xii. 32, xiv. 31 ; Mommsen, Roman Provinces, i. pp. 191-
192 (E.T.) ; Hardy, op. cit. p. 250.

3 Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 30.

4 Mommsen, Roman Provinces, i. p. 35 (E.T.). In A.D. 51 the oppidum
Ubiorum was incorporated in the veteran settlement called Colonia Agrippina,
the modern Cologne. In the same year a similar settlement was formed at
Camulodunum, the modern Colchester. See Tacitus, Ann. xii. 27 and 32.

5 Dio Cassius li. 20. See p. 193, n. 1, above.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 205

native population was concerned, was equally smooth and easy.
When the power of Rome began to overshadow the Greek East,
Greek city-states which felt the need of a protector, or discerned
the signs of the times, found a new god. The Smyrnaeans in
195 B.C. dedicated a temple to Roma. 1 Alabanda followed their
example in 170 B.C., Athens three years later. 2 The cultus per
formed in these temples was probably in honour of the " Fortune "
( T ^% 7 ?) f Rome, and we may suppose that the statues of the
goddess were modelled upon the celebrated rv^rj of Antioch,
which was copied upon the coins of Tarsus and Iconium. 3 This
" Fortune " of Rome was what the Romans themselves called
" Genius," i.e. " the natural god of each individual thing or place
or man." 4 It was a great power manifested in the victories
of the Roman People. But Greek admiration of the prowess
of Roman armies could express itself in a more directly personal
manner. Divine honours were rendered to the proconsul Titus
Quinctius Flamininus when he broke the power of Macedon in
battle and proclaimed the liberation of Greece at the Isthmian
Games in 196 B.C. 5 Later still, statues, quadrigae, and even
temples were set up by the Asians in honour of Roman governors,
and Cicero preens himself so much on refusing such marks of
honour that one cannot doubt that they had become a provincial
tradition in Cilicia. Mark Antony presented himself to the
Greeks on both sides of the Aegean in 42 B.C. as an " avatar "
of Dionysus. 6

In the course of the last century of the old Roman Republic, Divine
the influences of the East steadily became stronger, especially ^

Caesar.

1 Tacitus, Annals, iv. 56.

2 Livy xliii. 6 ; Reid, Municipalities of the Roman Empire, p. 423 ; Hardy,
Studies in Roman History, i. p. 244.

8 Ramsay, Cities of St. Paul, pp. 187, 238, 368, 369.

* Servius on Virgil, Oeorg. i. 302; cf. Horace, Epp. ii. 2. 187-189. Note
the Greek rendering of the formula used by the proconsul of Asia in examining
Polycarp, 6/j.ocrov rrjv Kaurapos r^xn v Eusebius, H.E. iv. 15. Mart. Polyc. ix., x.

6 Plutarch, Flamininus, c. 16.

6 Cicero, ad Atticum, v. 21. 7 ; ad Quintum fratrem, i. 1. 9 ; Sueton. Augustus,
52, and Shuckburgh s note. Plutarch, Antonius, 24 ; FerrerOj Grandeur et de
cadence de Rome, vol. iv. p. 51.

206 THE GENTILE WORLD n

among those classes to whom Cicero refers as " misera et
ieiuna plebecula." Caesar s victories may justly be said to
have exalted him to heaven, and this apotheosis was no private
affair, but the act of the Senate and People. 1 His statue, even
while he was yet alive, was set up in the temple of Quirinus with
that of the god. To Cicero and all such as were like-minded with
him, Caesar " a-wvaos Quirino " was highly displeasing, but the
People loved to have it so. The public worship of Caesar, however,
was instituted for Romans only, and Caesar was not proclaimed
" Divus " by a formal vote of the Senate until after his death.
Throughout the history of " Caesar- worship " only deceased
Emperors are "Divi," and only such as had " heaven decreed to
them " by the Senate, which by withholding the formal relatio
inter deos of a departed Emperor could declare his acts to be null,
and so relieve his successor from obligation to maintain or execute
them. Augustus secured for Caesar a place among the gods
of Rome along with Jupiter and Quirinus, and gave orders to
the Romans resident in Asia and Bithynia for the erection of
temples to " the Divine Julius " at Ephesus and Nicaea, but
would not accept divine honours from the provincials for himself
save as the associate or assessor of the goddess Roma, and refused
them altogether in Rome and Italy. 2 This refusal was dictated
by his determination to preserve not only Rome, but Italy (which
since 90 B.C. was all Roman) in the Imperial position in which
he found them. If he was to be worshipped as a god by Romans,
he would be deified in the Roman way, after death and by decree
of the Senate. The great household of the Republic, of which
he was not only Princeps but Pater, 9 should worship him after
the manner in which every familia worshipped its Di Manes.
Rome and Italy, however, appear to have thought Augustus s
refusal of divine honours " in his own country and in his own
house " a law to be honoured in the breach rather than in the

1 See Smith s Diet. Antiq. s.v. "Apotheosis."

2 Dio 51. 20 ; Suetonius, Augustus, 52.

3 Horace, Carm. i. 2. 50, hio ames dici Pater atque Princeps. So Augustus
was formally entitled Pater Patriae in 2 B.C. ; Mon. Ancy. c. 35.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 207

observance. In the municipalities private or municipal devotion
raised sacella in his honour whilst he yet lived, 1 and in Rome itself
his Genius was associated with the Lares Compitales or gods of
the " parishes." 2 It might be said that he himself had given
encouragement to these forms of apotheosis by accepting the
title of Augustus (January 16, 27 B.C.). 3 But, with the exception
of Tiberius, no other Emperor received divine honours in his
lifetime in Rome or Italy, 4 and in some instances the Senate
withheld the formal relatio inter deos. 5

It is not certain whether the cultus of deceased Emperors Worship of
was joined to that of the reigning Emperors in the practice of all Emperors.
the provincial concilia. There is evidence to show that it was so in
the Spanish provinces and in Sardinia. 6 A priest of the Templum
Divi Augusti is mentioned in an inscription found at Narbonne,
and a " chief priest of the Augustus and his divine ancestors "
(ap^iepevs rov Se/^acrroO Kal r&v Oeiwv Trpoyovcov avrov)
in an inscription found on the site of Sparta. 7 But the worship
of the departed princes maintained at Narbonne and Sparta was
probably a municipal cultus, separate from and independent of
the cultus maintained by the concilia of the Narbonensis and
Achaea. Among Egyptians, Syrians, Anatolians, Greeks, and
the nations of the Empire generally, the worship of departed

1 Hardy, op. cit. pp. 241 and 244, n. 50.

2 Augustus divided Rome into 14 regions and 265 vici. The lares or guardian
spirits of each vicus had their chapel (aedicula) at a compitum (street-crossing).
See Shuckburgh on Sueton. Aug. 30.

3 Dio Cassius liii. 16, A^ouo-ros cos /ecu Tr\etiv TL f) /card, avdp&irovs &v eTre/cX?^.
wavTa yap ra eVrt/xorara Kal ra iepwrara atfyovara TrpoffayopeveTai. Ovid, Fasti,

i. 609 f. :

Sancta vacant augusta patres ; augusta vocantur

Templa sacerdotum rite dicata manu.
Huius et augurium dependet origine verbi,

Et quodcumque sua luppiter auget ope.

4 Rushforth, Latin Historical Inscriptions, p. 56.

5 See Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 28-29. This withholding of relatio inter deos
was known as damnatio memoriae, and carried with it the annulment of the
dead man s public acts.

6 See Hardy, op. cit. p. 245, n. 51.

7 Hardy, op. cit., loc. cit. ; Guiraud, p. 32, n. 4.

208 THE GENTILE WORLD n

princes and mighty men was still practised. 1 But the proper
objects of the worship offered by the provincial concilia were
Rome and the reigning Emperor, for it was in honour of Rome
and the living Imperator Caesar that the provincial caerimoniae
of Asia and Bithynia, which set the example to the rest of the
subject-countries, were originally and expressly instituted. The
cultus of deceased Emperors might be joined with the provincial
cultus of the living Emperor. But it was not an essential part
of the provincial cultus. Again, a cultus of the first Augustus
might be instituted in this or that city while he yet lived and
continued after his death. But that would be an affair quite
distinct from any cultus of his successors, whether in their life
time or after their death. At the same time, a community
which had once organised the cultus of a living Emperor might
find itself visited with severity if it neglected him after his death. 2
In the caerimoniae of the provincial concilia, the offering of sacri
fice to Rome and the reigning Emperor, M. Guiraud finds " not
religion, but rather homage done to the Roman State and its
Head." 3 They were forms borrowed or conveyed from religion
for the purpose of expressing loyalty.

The provincial concilia consisted in each case of deputies
(legati, (TvveSpoi,, tcowofiovXoi) from the civitates of the province.
These deputies were chosen, in the Western provinces, by the
decuriones, city-councillors, of municipia and coloniae, or by the
councils of civitates, which were cantonal rather than municipal

1 For example, the tomb of Antiochus of Commagene, who died in 34 B.C.,
was also a temple, at which offerings were to be made to his ghost. See Momm-
sen, Roman Provinces, ii. p. 125 (E.T.), and compare Holm, Hist, of Greece, iv.
p. 573. Sparta worshipped Agamemnon, Menelaus and Helen, and Lycurgus ;
Pausanias iii. 19. 9, 16. 5, 15. 3. Alexandria venerated her founder and his
successors of the House of Lagus (see Strabo xvii. 1. 8 and Dio Cassius li. 16).
Strabo mentions a Caesareum (i.e. a templum Divi lulii) as one of the chief
buildings of Alexandria (xvii. 1.9). Athens maintained the worship of Theseus ;
Pausanias i. 17. 2.

2 Tacitus, Annals, iv. 26, obiecta publice Cyzicenis incuria caerimoniarum
Divi Augusti, additis violentiae criminibus adversus cives Romanos, et amisere
libertatem. Cf. Dio Ivii. 24. " Publice " may mean that the charge was brought
against Cyzicus by the commune Asiae.

3 Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 32-33.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 209

communities. In the Eastern provinces they were chosen either
by the city-councillors ({3ov\evraL) or by the citizen-assemblies
(dfc/cXrjortai). 1 There is evidence showing that a civitas or
7ToXt9 might send more than one deputy, 2 and it is possible that
some endeavour was made to have the constituent communities
represented in proportion to population.

The priest of the provincial altar or temple of Rome and the Office of
Emperor was president in the assembly of the legati or &lt;rvve&poi
of the cities in each province. On monuments of the Imperial
religion set up in the Western provinces this functionary is men
tioned under the title of sacerdos or flamen. 3 On those which
were set up in the Eastern provinces he is generally described as
apXiepev?. He was elected by the legati or avveSpoi,, who con
stituted the provincial council. From a passage in one of the
orations of Aristides, a sophist of the Antonine epoch, it appears
that in Asia the avv&piov drew up a list of " papabili," from
which the final choice was made by the proconsul. 4 There is
nothing to show or suggest that any such procedure existed
elsewhere among the provinces. Elections were apt to be
tumultuous affairs, at any rate where they were decided
by a popular vote, for the office of flamen provinciae was one
of great honour. The holder for the time being was the chief
personage among the provincials, 5 and those who had held it

1 The city-councils (sometimes called senates) in Roman municipalities
were considerably smaller than those of the Greek 7r6\eis, in proportion, at any
rate, to the number of townsfolk, and their magistrates less numerous than the
Greek Apxovres.

2 Aristides speaks of Smyrna sending synedri to the noivbv of Asia. The
Thorigny inscription bears record that the civitas Viducassium elected and sent
to the concilium III. Galliarum one T. Sennius Soleinnis as deputy inter ceteros.
See Hardy, op. cit. p. 253. Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 64-65. There is no evidence,
however, to show that the same practice was observed in all the provinces.

3 See Hardy, op. cit. p. 257.

4 A similar procedure was instituted under the Ottoman regime for the
election of patriarchs in the Greek Church.

6 Preference was given to men who had held the chief offices in their severa
municipalities. The statement that a flamen or sacerdos had held such offices
occurs frequently on inscriptions (omnibus honoribus in patria sua functo).
Ilpwros r?ys cTrctpxeias has been found as a title or description of a provincial
high priest in Asia and in the Narbonensis. See Hardy, op. cit. p. 258.
VOL. I P

210 THE GENTILE WORLD n

flaminales viri, as they were called in the West formed the
highest stratum of provincial society. The prestige and im
portance of the office is shown by the fact that in Asia, if not
elsewhere, the provincial high priest was an eponymous official,
by reference to whom events were dated. 1

If to be high priest to Roma and the Emperor was an honour
able office, it was no less an onerous one, especially in the Eastern
provinces. The high priest of the Imperial gods was called upon
to find the expenses of the ludi (070)1/69) which were celebrated
at the time of the assembly of the legati (o-vveSpoi) under his
presidency. The variety and magnificence of these exhibitions
would naturally be much greater in such provinces as Syria,
Asia, Africa, and the Three Gauls than in Macedonia, Achaea,
Crete, or Pannonia. There were chariot-races more to the
public taste in the East than gladiator-combats, wrestling
matches, foot-races, and contests of musicians and orators. 2 The
provision of spectacula in Rome was notoriously an expensive
affair. In the provinces it was probably not much less a drain
upon individual fortunes, and the requirement of wealth for
the high priesthood of the province in course of time tended to
make the office hereditary.

High The high priest might be chosen from the burgess-roll of

A^ any civitas from which deputies were sent to the concilium.

Thus the succession of " high priests of Asia," so far as it has
been recovered, includes the names, not only of citizens of
Pergamum, Ephesus, Smyrna, and other cities where the con
cilium assembled, but also of men from cities where the temples
and worship of the Imperial gods were purely municipal.

1 See two inscriptions quoted by Hardy, op. cit. pp. 257-258 : (a) 28o!;ei&gt;
TO?J tiri 7-775 Acrtes "E\\r)&lt;rtv iv KOU&gt;IJJ, KXavdtov Aoi^TTTrou dpxie/^ws TTJS Aalas :
(b) ^do^ep TOIS iirl TTJS Acrfas "EXA tyO tv, Tt^3. KXaudlou Hpa5ou dp%te/)^a&gt;s Beds
Pci/uijs icai 0eou Ka/crapos. Note that the members of the KOLVOV or &lt;rvv5piov are
called "BXXipei and that they are said to be " over " the province.

a Polycarp was burnt in the stadium at Smyrna (Mart. Polyc. in Eusebius,
H.E. iv. 15). Thecla was condemned to be torn in pieces by a lioness in the
stadium at Pisidian Antioch. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, pp.
400-401 These martyrdoms were enacted at provincial ludi.

i THE KOMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 211

The " high priests of Asia," whose names have been preserved,
came from thirty different cities of the province. 1 In the Eastern
provinces the pomp and circumstance of the high priesthood of
Roma and the Emperor appear to have been much greater than
in the West, and the high priests bore grandiloquent titles. Thus
the high priest of the Galatians assumed the title of " Galatarch "
(Galatarcha, TaXardpxrjs). Analogous titles were borne by the
several high priests of Bithynia, Asia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Cilicia,
Syria, Phoenicia, Pontus, and Achaea. 2

The concilia met annually, but not at the same date in every Meetings
province. For the Three Gauls, the date of the annual assembly
was August 1, a day which had been observed from time im
memorial by the Gallic tribes and clans in honour of the sun-god.
The assembly of the concilium Asiae was held at the end of winter
or the beginning of spring. The annual period is inferred from
a variety of data, the most important of which, perhaps, are the
records of prosecutions instituted by various provinces against
governors who had abused their powers. 3 Sixteen such pro
secutions are known to have been instituted in the course of the
century following the death of Augustus, i.e. A.D. 14-114. Such
proceedings could only have been undertaken by an association
meeting in congress at least once in every year, and the prosecu
tors who appeared in Rome were in each case legati of the province
concerned, i.e. deputies of civitates of that province and members
of its concilium. Provincial legati also used to appear in Rome
for the purpose of testifying to a governor s admirable qualities

1 The larger TroXets and civitates, however, would stand at an advantage over
the smaller in this respect, inasmuch as their men of wealth would be more
numerous. See Hardy, op. cit. p. 260.

a Hardy, op. cit. p. 261 ; Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 97-99. The identity of the
provincial "ruler" (Asiarch, Galatarch, Pontarch, etc.) with the provincial
high priest is shown by (1) the Martyrium Poly carpi, which calls Philip of Tralles
" high priest " (sc. of Asia) in one place and " Asiarch " in another ; (2) Modes-
tinus in the Digest, xxvii. 1. 6 : tdvovs iepapxla, olov Aviapxla., BiQvvapxla,
Ka-mradoKapxia, 7ra/&gt;^x a dXeiTovpyTjo-lav dirb tirLrpoirQiv (exemption from under
taking guardianship) ; (3) a reference in a law of Constantino, A.D. 336, to
persons quos in civitatibus sacerdotii id est Phoenicarchiae vel Syriarchiae orna-
menta condecorant. 3 Hardy, Studies in Roman History, i. pp. 254-255.

212 THE GENTILE WORLD n

of heart and head. Now in the Provinciae Populi the governors
usually held their positions for a year only. The legation brought
a copy of a conciliar decree declaring the noble acts of the gover
nor, and ordering that the memory thereof should be preserved
by means of an enduring monument, such as a slab of white
marble, engraved with the text of the decree and set up in the
provincial Augusteum. 1 Whether forwarded to Rome by a
legation or not, such decrees in honour of officials whose sojourn
in the province did not last longer than a year could not very well
be carried by a council meeting at longer intervals.

In the greater number of cases the provincial temple of
Roma and Augustus stood in the city which was the provincial
capital, but there were some in which it was built elsewhere.
Wherever that sanctuary stood, there was the meeting-place
of the concilium or avveSpiov. Thus, for example, the KOLVOV of
Cilicia assembled at Tarsus, the KOLVOV of the Galatians at Ancyra,
the concilium Africae at Carthage, that of the Tarraconensis at
Tarraco. The concilium III. Galliarum did not, strictly speak
ing, assemble at Lugdunum, but in a sacred precinct at the very
confluence of the Saone and Rhone and between the two streams.
The KOLVOV of Achaea assembled, not at Corinth, but at Argos.
In Asia the KOLVOV or avveSpLov rfjs Acrm? was convened at first in
the precinct of the Temple of the Emperor and Roma at Perga-
mum. But in course of time other cities of the province also
obtained authority to erect Augustea, and after the principate of
Augustus that city ceased to be the only one within whose coasts
the concilium Asiae could assemble and the provincial o/yoW? be
held. In the latter part of the first century there were five or
six cities, in addition to Pergamum, in which the concilium from
time to time assembled. This multiplication of assembly-places
in Asia was allowed by the Emperors in order to appease the
rivalries of the Asian municipalities. 2

1 Hardy, op. cit. pp. 275-276.

2 See Hardy, op. cit. p. 256 ; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, pp.
289-290. The provincial dyuves were held at Smyrna in A.D. 155 ; see the
Martyrium Polycarpi. It is not certain that the provincial assembly met in

THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 213

The title of Ao-tap^?, Asiarcha, is especially interesting, as The

it occurs in Acts xix. 31. A passage in Strabo indicates that it
was known in Asia in the time of Pompey, and that it then
denoted one who was a provincial notable or magnate. The city
of Tralles, so the geographer informs us, was remarkable for the
number of wealthy men who dwelt there, some of whom were at
all times to be found among the magnates of the province (ol
irpwrevovres Kara rrjv eirap^Lav). These were known as Asiarchs.
Conspicuous among them in former times had been one Pytho-
dorus, a native of Nysa, a town not very far distant from Tralles.
Pythodorus had migrated to Tralles in order to identify himself
with an illustrious community, and had become famous through
his friendship with Pompey. His daughter Pythodoris was Queen
of Pontus in Strabo s day. 1

Under the Principate, the chief priest of the temple inaugur
ated at Pergamum in 19 B.C. was at first the only ap^epev^ rfjs
A0-M&5, but the passage just cited from Strabo shows that he was
not the only Aaidp^rj^, though doubtless he was o Ao-iapxys,
Asiarch par excellence. It is not likely that any one would have
been recognised as an Asiarch, unless in addition to being wealthy
he had held all or most of the offices of importance in his native
city, and these were the qualifications required of one who was
to hold the office of " high priest of Asia." These high priests,
then, would be " Asiarchs " before they were appointed, and
naturally continued to be known as " Asiarchs " after they had
retired from their sacerdotal office. It is possible that in course

the leading cities according to a rota, for there is numismatic evidence to show
that it met at Pergamum both in A.D. 97 and in the year following. Apparently
there was some order of precedence among the cities. At any rate, Magnesia
(ad Sipylum) did not claim to be higher than seventh. On the other hand,
Pergamum s claim to stand first was vigorously disputed by Ephesus and
Smyrna. The Ephesians, indeed, claimed to be ^bvoi Trpwroi Acrfos. See the
descriptions of coins of Pergamum, Ephesus, Smyrna, etc., in Head s Historia
Numismatum. In the course of the first century the places where the concilium
Asiae might be held came to include Ephesus, Sardis, Smyrna, Laodicea,
Philadelphia, and Cyzicus. Compare the seven cities of Apoc. i.-iii.
1 See Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 105-106 ; Strabo, Geogr. xiv. 1. 42.

214 THE GENTILE WORLD n

of time the title " Asiarch " became so closely associated with
that of " high priest " in any case the Asiarchate of the high
priest would quite outshine that of other principal notables or
grandees that only those who had " passed the chair " of the
high priesthood were allowed to style themselves " Asiarchs." x
But it is doubtful whether this usage had become established
so early as the principate of Nero, who was Emperor when the
silversmiths riot disturbed the peace of Ephesus.

In consequence of the rivalry of the leading cities of Asia,
the Emperor authorised not only the erection of temples of
Roma et Augustus, but also the assembly of the concilium Asiae, at
other cities besides Pergamum. The priests of these other
temples were appointed by the concilium, and it was not necessary
that they should be natives of the cities to which they were
appointed, like the " high priest of Asia," only for a year. They
were also styled " high priests " (ap^epel^) and even " Asiarchs."
Moreover, inscriptions mention a " high priest of the temples
which are in Smyrna," a " high priest of the temples which are
in Ephesus," and a " high priest of the temples which are in
Pergamum." The mention of temples in the plural must be
understood to refer either to the first, second, and third neo-
koreia 2 or " caretakership " claimed by those cities, or to temples
such as the one Smyrna erected and dedicated in honour of
Tiberius, Livia, and the Senate, in addition to that of Roma
and Augustus, in the latter years of Tiberius s principate. 3 The
relation of the " high priest of the temples which are in Per
gamum " to the " high priest of Asia " is obscure. The high
priesthood of Asia may have become detached from exclusive
connection with the temple and altar at Pergamum, being ex
panded into a general supervision of temples, altars, priests,
rites, and all the apparatus of the Imperial cult in the province
in short, an Asian pontificatus maximus or summus episcopatus.
It is noteworthy that monuments in Asia were dated with

1 Guiraud, op. cit. p. 106.

a See. Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, ii. 84, 91.
8 See Tacitus, Annals, iv. 15, 55, 56 ; Hardy, op. cit. pp. 262-263.

THE KOMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 215

reference to " high priests," never with reference to "Asiarchs."
This can only be accounted for on the supposition which on
other grounds is well warranted that the high priesthood was
held only for a year, while the aaiap^ia was a permanent status,
not an office.

The prosecution of provincial governors who practised The con-
extortion or otherwise oppressed the subject population became
an important function of the communia. Litigation was expensive,
and the communal area (treasury) of the province contained
larger resources to draw upon than would have been available
for most of the individuals and many of the communities which
from time to time were the victims of abuse of authority on the
part of proconsuls, legates, or procurators. By the time of
Nero s principate, the provincials were even becoming formidable
to their governors. Honorific decrees passed in favour of the
" lords of the world " by provincial councils became desirable.
They might be aids to promotion, and governors so generally
canvassed and intrigued for them that the practice had to be
checked as detrimental to the prestige of the Roman name. 1

The Emperors made use of the concilia in the government
of the provinces. Imperial rescripts dealing with various
matters of public concern, such as infanticide, cattle-stealing,
or the granting of freedom from taxation to certain professions
or occupations, are known to have been addressed to these bodies. 2
Nevertheless, the concilia did not obtain legal recognition as
administrative authorities. The " encyclical " sent out by the
Senate in A.D. 238, calling the Empire to arms in support of the
Gordians against Maximin, contains an exhaustive list of the
organs of government, but the concilia are not mentioned among
them. 3

1 Hardy, op. cit. pp. 271-282 ; Tacitus, Annals, iv. 15, xiii. 33, xv. 20-22.

2 Hardy, op. cit. pp. 271-272.

3 lulius Capitolinus, Maximinus, 15 : S.P.Q.R. per Gordianos principes a
tristissimis bellis liberari coeptus, proconsulibus praesidibus legatis ducibus
tribunis magistratibus ac singulis civitatibus et municipiia et oppidis et vicis
et castellis salutem, quarn nunc prioium recipere coepit, dicit.

216

THE GENTILE WORLD

The real status of the provincial concilia appears to have been
the same as that of the collegia and sodalitates, which were licensed
and regulated by the State, but were not, strictly speaking,
" public bodies." At any rate they were not recognised organs
or agents of the sovereign authority of the Roman Commonwealth.
The term KOLVOV, used in the Eastern provinces to denote a pro
vincial council, was also in common use as a name for private
associations, e.g. TO KOLVOV TWV Aa/jLTraftLO Twv T&V ei&gt; TLar/Aw, and
the Latin word concilium might be employed to denote a private
as well as a public corporation. Like the multitude of small
/coivd, dlaaoi,, collegia, sodalitates, the provincial concilia con
sisted of official and unofficial members, maintained their several
funds, worshipped Roma and the Emperor, and celebrated
festivals. The difference lay in the scale of the functions exer
cised, and further, in the fact that the provincial concilia might
enter into direct relations with the Senate or the Emperor. 1

Inscriptions and coins supply data for the history of the
concilia down to the end of the reign of Gallienus, A.D. 268. For
the next fifty years or so there is no mention made of them. 2 They
were not destroyed by the triumph of Christianity over paganism,
but the character of their periodical festivals was changed in
that they ceased to be religious observances, the cultus of Roma
and the Emperor having come to an end. Gladiator-combats,
however, and chariot-races, wrestling-matches, ludi scenici, and
venationes were still kept up, as long, at any rate, as money was
available to provide such spectacles. The Church did not demand
their abolition, though it condemned their being celebrated on
Sundays and other great days in the ecclesiastical calendar. 3

Such was the general organisation of the Roman world
into which Christianity began to penetrate so soon as it
ceased to be exclusively Jewish. To the student of Christian

1 See Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 113-119 ; Hardy, p. 266. The
mentioned in the quotation were probably an association maintaining religious
observances, in which a torch-race (Xa/j-iraS^opLa) was the distinctive feature.

2 Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 219, 221. 3 Guiraud, op. cit. pp. 245-246.

i THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 217

origins it is important to understand generally the growth of the
provinces, the outline of their administration, and the nature of
the concilia, which, without being identical with the provincial
government, were closely connected with it, and especially were
responsible for the regulation of the cult of the Emperor and of
Roma. The persecution or toleration of Christians depended on
the attitude of concilia and governors alike, and before persecu
tion could be severe it required active hostility from both.

The system thus established by Augustus remained without
radical change until the time of Diocletian. The most important
movements of that period (A.D. 14-284) may be summarised as
follows. The number of provincial governments was increased,
partly by the substitution of legates or procurators for client-
princes, partly by new conquests, partly by division of old
provinces. There was also an increase in the number of com
munities organised on the Roman municipal pattern. Free
cities adopted Roman municipal institutions ; coloniae civium
Romanorum were formed out of legionary camps or settlements
of veterans. The distinction between Romans and provincials
was abolished by Caracalla s celebrated edict of A.D. 212, which
made Romans of practically the whole of the free population of
the Empire. Caracalla s object, however, was merely fiscal ;
he was bent upon increasing the number of those who paid the
succession -duty known as vicensima haereditatium. Over against
the increase in the number of Roman or Romanised municipalities
must be set the increase of their dependence upon the Imperial
Government. 1 The position of Italy gradually changed until it
became identical with that of the provinces. This change
indeed was foreshadowed in 23 B.C. by the introduction of
proconsular imperium within the pomerium. 2 Septimius Severus
stationed a legion at Albanum. Diocletian repealed the exemption
from land-tax which Romans in Italy had enjoyed since 167 B.C. 3

1 Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, p. 222. 2 Dio. 53. 32. 5.
3 Arnold, Roman Provincial Administration, pp. 169-170, 189-190.

LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA

BY CLIFFORD II. MOORE

THE civilised world in the first century was politically and in
tellectually a unit ; but this unity was the result of a long and
important development. In the fourth century B.C. the countries
Mace- about the Mediterranean had no common language, habit of

donians.

thought, or form of government. Although the Greeks had
established themselves on the western coast of Asia Minor at
an early date, and, since the eighth century, had sent colonies
to South Italy, Sicily, Southern Gaul, Northern Africa, and even
to the shores of the Black Sea, they had not yet succeeded in
making their language a common medium of communication
among the peoples included in the Mediterranean basin ; nor
had they impressed their intellectual habits on them. The
whole area was split up into a number of states without common
aims or interests. Yet the fourth century saw in Greece a power
which was to begin the process of unification. Philip of Macedon
(359-336 B.C.) seems to have been the first Western ruler to
conceive adequately the notion of a great empire ; and ten
years before Philip s death the aged Isocrates, with an imperial
vision which none of his fellow-countrymen ever displayed,
urged Philip to make himself leader and champion of Greece
against the Great King, that he might destroy the Persian power,
or at least annex all Asia Minor, in which the surplus population

218

ii LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 219

of Greece might find an outlet. When in 336 B.C. the assassin s
dagger cut short Philip s triumphant progress, he was succeeded
by his son Alexander, whose accomplishments were destined to
be greater than his father s dreams. Before the Greeks could
mature their plans to rid themselves of the Macedonian domination,
Alexander had reconciled or overawed the several states and
been elected supreme general of Hellas against Persia. A cam
paign in Thrace and a revolt in Greece proper detained him until
the spring of 334 B.C., when he crossed into Asia Minor. It is
needless to follow the details of his conquests : how in the next
ten years he conquered all the lands, including Egypt, bordering
on the eastern Mediterranean, and carried his victorious arms
through modern Persia and Turkestan, across the Himalayas
by the Khyber Pass into the Punjab, from whence he descended
the Indus river, and returned overland through Baluchistan
and Persia to Babylon, where he died in 323 B.C. Thus Alex
ander showed the possibility of a great political empire, in which
the distinction between Greek and barbarian was to be broken
down ; the Greek was not to dominate the Oriental or the
Oriental the Greek, but each was to have his place in a cosmo
politan state. Indeed Alexander had begun to effect a fusion of
West and East. His death cut short its full realisation, but
nevertheless the Greek colonies which he had planted opened up
new worlds for trade, and spread the Greek tongue so widely
that, although most of his colonists ultimately were absorbed
by the surrounding peoples, the language survived and became
a lingua franca over at least the western half of the territories
subdued by him. Although his political empire was divided
immediately after his death into separate kingdoms, the Diadochi
still fostered Hellenism : their capitals were centres of Greek
culture, and they prided themselves on their Hellenic inheritance.

During the last three centuries before our era, the centre of Alexandria
the Greek intellectual world was Alexandria in Egypt. Here Sat^*
East and West met. The Greeks had long been in Egypt and oentre of

&&amp;gt;7 ^ Hellenism:

the older groups of Jews now received large accessions. The the Jewish

element.

220 THE GENTILE WORLD n

Hellenising of the Jews advanced rapidly, and before the close
of the third century B.C. a translation of the Pentateuch had
been made into Greek for the use of the Jews of the Diaspora,
who had forgotten their ancient tongue ; in Palestine itself the
Greek language, and even Greek customs, won their way, at least
by the second century B.C. The revolt under the Maccabees had
important religious results, but it did little to stay the spread of
Greek civilisation. If so conservative a people as the Jews could
not resist the advance of Hellenism, we can well understand its
conquests over less tenacious peoples. With the Greek language
went Greek ideas and habits of thought, and during the three
centuries preceding our era an intellectual unity was gradually
established throughout the lands bordering on the eastern half
of the Mediterranean as far as the Euphrates. In many places
still farther east the Greek language was at least understood
and Greek ideas were not unfamiliar.

After 300 B.C. a new power rose in the West, which rapidly
extended its conquests to the whole Mediterranean area. By
270 B.C. Rome had subdued all the Italian peninsula south of the
Arno and the Rubicon. At the end of the third century she had
twice defeated Carthage, and had taken as provinces Sicily,
Corsica, Sardinia, and much of Spain. She next turned to
Greece and the East. When the Emperor Augustus died in
A.D. 14, Rome was virtually mistress of all the lands bordering
on the Mediterranean, which had literally become a Roman lake.
The western and northern boundaries of the Empire were the
Atlantic Ocean, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Black Sea ;
on the east lay the Parthian Empire, separated from that of
Rome by Armenia, the Euphrates, and the deserts of Arabia ;
and on the south in Africa the Sahara formed a natural frontier.
Within these limits many peoples and nations had been welded
into a single empire by the political genius of the Romans, whose
work was so well done that, from the time of Augustus, Italy
and the provinces remained, with trifling exceptions, well governed
and contented for more than two centuries, in spite of the con-

ii LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 221

dition of the capital under such emperors as Caligula, Nero,
Domitian, and Commodus.

Just as the Greek language and civilisation had spread over Latin
the eastern half of the Mediterranean area, so in the West the
consequence of political conquest was the establishment of the Roman9 -
Latin tongue ; but in the East it made no great headway against
Greek. The result was that, although local languages and
dialects long persisted among the lower classes and in the remoter
districts, Latin and Greek were the two languages of the Roman
Empire ; moreover, cultivated Romans wrote and spoke Greek
with facility, so that from one end of the Empire to the other
Greek was a common medium for polite and learned society.
Thus the Empire was unified in speech as well as in government.

But this was not all. Rome from an early period was in- influence
fluenced by Greek thought and institutions, first through the
Greek colonies in South Italy and in Sicily, later from Greece
herself. The Romans generally recognised that their civilisation
was inferior to that of the Greeks, and were ready to learn.
From the Greeks they received their alphabet, their weights
and measures, and certain political institutions ; but Greek
influence was even greater in the fields of art, literature,
religion, and philosophy.

Tradition says that Greeks were found in Latium before the
founding of Rome, and there is no doubt that Greek traders
penetrated central Italy at least as early as the seventh century
B.C. With them they brought their gods, who were freely re
ceived, and sometimes so completely adopted that they passed for
Italian divinities : thus Hercules was established at Tibur ; and
the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, at Tusculum, whence they came
to Rome. In Etruria the Greek Zeus, Hera, and Athena were
identified with an Etruscan triad, which was established in Rome
on the Capitoline Hill by the Etruscan Tarquins, under the
Italian names of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. In the course of
the next three and a half centuries the Romans contact with
the Greeks led them to recognise more of their gods, some of the

222 THE GENTILE WORLD n

most important being brought in at the direction of the Sibylline
books that collection of oracles which tradition said had been
purchased by one of the later Tarquins. These divinities
were Apollo, Hermes (Mercury), the triad Demeter, Dionysus,
and Kore (Ceres, Liber, and Libera), Poseidon (Neptune),
Asclepios (Aesculapius), Pluto and Persephone (Dispater and
Proserpina), and Aphrodite (Flora), and doubtless many others.
In fact, by the second Punic War (219-202 B.C.) most of the chief
gods of Greece were domiciled at Rome, generally under Roman
or Italian names, their very images being modelled on those by
famous Greek artists. Subsequent conquests brought vast
numbers of works of art to the West, which not only helped
to educate the artistic sense of the Romans, but also aided in
establishing the Greek concepts of the gods in the Roman mind.
The result was that as early as the end of the third century B.C.
the old Roman-Italian religion, which was practical and exact, well
suited to a small and unimaginative community, was so overlaid
by Greek ideas and blended with them that much of its original
character and content was obscured for the Romans themselves.
Roman Nor was Greek influence confined to religion ; eventually it

deriveT 6 covered ever 7 field of tne intellectual life of Rome. At the fall
from O f Tarentum in 272 B.C. a young Greek captive was brought to

Rome and employed by his master to teach his children. When
set free he continued his profession under the name of Livius
Andronicus. Since, however, there was no Latin literature
available for purposes of instruction, he translated the Odyssey
into rude native verse, the Saturnian measure, and thus became
the founder of Latin epic poetry. In 240 B.C. he introduced
dramatic poetry to Rome by putting on the stage a tragedy and
a comedy adapted from the Greek. A generation later Naevius
wrote an epic on the Punic War, and before another had passed
Ennius had adopted the Greek hexameter for his Annales, a
poetic history of Rome. From that time to the close of antiquity
every epic poet drew his form, his imagery, and many of his
incidents from the Greek epics.

IT LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 223

The drama, which tradition said was started by Andronicus,
was cultivated by many. Although only plays by Plautus and
Terence have been preserved to us in their entirety, we know
that numerous tragedies and comedies produced before the
middle of the second century B.C. had served to familiarise the
Romans with Greek ideas of dramatic art and with the social
aspects of Greek life.

The glorious outcome of the Second Punic War prompted
the Romans to begin the writing of history ; but inasmuch as
the only prose which had been developed for historical purposes
was Greek, Roman history was for about half a century
composed exclusively in that language. Cato the Censor then set
the fashion of using Latin, but the form of history still continued
to be modelled on the Greek. Soon after the middle of the
same century oratory began to be moulded after Greek exemplars.
In fact, in every major form of literature, the influence of the
Greek on Roman literature is apparent. Moreover, Greek myths
and legends were adapted to Roman conditions ; genealogies were
invented and incidents narrated in Greek fashion, so that Latin
literature became Greek not only in form but also in content.

The captured Greeks took their captors captive by becoming Greek
their schoolmasters. During the third and second centuries JJjfthe 06
before our era, the older education was supplemented by a study Roman

J J educational

of Greek language and literature, taught since the time of the system.
Second Punic War in well-to-do families by private teachers.
Before the middle of the second century schools were established
in which a considerable number of pupils were taught together,
and at its close Greek rhetoricians had begun to give formal
instruction. The study of literature, and especially of rhetoric,
served to make Greek habits of thought and forms of expression
universal in the West as well as in the East.

Greek philosophy made itself felt in Rome soon after the influence
close of the Second Punic War, when Epicureanism, Stoicism, pl^ophy
the teachings of the later Academy, and later Aristotelianism in Rome -
all found their adherents.

224 THE GENTILE WORLD n

() stoicism The most important philosophical teacher of the second
(Panaotius). cen ^ ur y was Panaetius of Rhodes, who may properly be con
sidered the founder of Roman Stoicism. His chief disciples
among the Roman aristocracy were Laelius and the younger
Scipio, who formed the centre of the Scipionic Circle, which in
its day did much to extend Hellenising influences. Panaetius
modified the severe and uncompromising doctrines of antiquity
and accommodated the teaching of Stoicism to that of other
schools, being especially influenced by the Academics and the
Peripatetics. Although he could not wholly abandon the Stoic
paradox that the sapiens can never err, he contented himself
with preparing his disciples for the ordinary demands of life
without insisting solely on the ideal of the " wise man," He
laid much emphasis on the gradual advance in virtue as
contrasted with the older doctrine of the sudden acquisition of
perfection. Indeed, he held that steady progress through the
honourable practice of daily duties was all that could be
reasonably required of his disciples. He even allowed the
pursuit of external advantages so long as they did not interfere
with that of virtue.

Panaetius, in fact, had been greatly influenced by Aristotle s
doctrine that virtue is a mean between two vices, that is, between
two extremes. Of course such doctrine was in direct opposition
to the older Stoics ; and for their ideal of Wisdom Panaetius
substituted Soberness or Balance. He did not hold with
Aristotle that the highest life was one of contemplation. On
the contrary, he encouraged the practice of the active social
virtues of his age. In this he prepared the way for the sadder
days of the Empire, which demanded the tonic of a practical
philosophy.

The common-sense attitude of Panaetius largely explains
his influence in establishing his modified Stoicism as the chief
Roman philosophy from his time to that of Marcus Aurelius ;
for, although the Stoics continued to teach the encyclopaedia
of philosophy physics, logic, metaphysics, etc. the interest

ii LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 225

of the Romans was centred in ethics, which became for them the
art of living in such a way as constantly to advance in virtue.
The aim of the devout under the early Empire cannot be better
stated than in Seneca s words :

I am not yet wise, nor shall I ever be. Do not ask me to be
equal to the best, but rather to be better than the base. This is
enough for me to take away daily something from my faults and
daily to rebuke my errors. I have not attained complete moral
health, nor shall I ever attain it. 1

Epictetus s definition of philosophy is also illuminating :

What is philosophy ? Is it not a preparation against things
which may happen to a man ? 2

Although Marcus Aurelius was the last great Stoic, Stoicism did
not die with him. It ceased to be prominent as a separate school,
only because its principles had been largely absorbed by others,
including Christianity.

In the last century and a half of the Republic, a time of (&) Epi-
political struggle and disaster, of growing scepticism toward the and
traditional forms of religion, of rapidly increasing wealth and M y stlcl8m -
complexity of life, many Romans found refuge in the
quietistic teachings of the Epicureans. Some turned to
scepticism or to mysticism, though other philosophies had also
their adherents. The significant point is that all intellectual
Romans had adopted some form of Greek philosophic thought
as well as Greek habits of expression.

Yet the eastern half of the Mediterranean still remained the Philosophic
home of learning. Alexandria maintained the