Chapter XXXVI: Book V: The Jew and the Talmud (5)

[71] Slavery was not authoritatively condemned until the year of grace 1807. Lecky characterizes the action of Christian England here in the following eloquent words: “The unwearied, unostentatious, and inglorious crusade of England against slavery may probably be regarded as among the three or four perfectly virtuous acts recorded in the history of nations” (_History of Morals_, chap. i.). And even after 1807 it lived on an acknowledged and recognized institute of several countries. The terrible war which led to the slave abolition in the United States is still unforgotten even by this generation.

[72] Ozanam estimates the numbers of slaves in the first and second centuries of our era as amounting to half the population of the Empire. The estimate is no doubt exaggerated, but the numbers of the slave population in that period were undoubtedly very great.

[73] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol. ii. chap. iv.

[74] Hermas, the author of the famous _Shepherd_, belonged to the slave class. The Roman Bishop Pius, A.D. 142-157, was the brother of Hermas. The celebrated Bishop of Rome, Callistus, A.D. 218-222, had been a slave.

“The first and grandest edifice of Byzantine architecture in Italy--the Church of S. Vitale at Ravenna--was dedicated by Justinian to the memory of a martyred slave.”--Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol. ii. chap. iv.

[75] S. Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius Severus, _Ep._ xxiii.

[76] De Broglie, _Revue des deux mondes_, 1st Nov. 1852, reproduced in his _L’Église et l’Empire Romain_, vol. i., Avertissement, ii-iii.

[77] See, for instance, Tert. _De Idolat._ viii., where the various trades connected with idols and temples are enumerated.

[78] On these “Schools of Martyrdom,” see below, p. 198 foll.

[79] See Renan, _Marc-Aurèle_, chap. xxii.

[80] Some put this graffito a little later, perhaps in the days of Alexander Severus, A.D. 222-35.

[81] The well-known recital of the martyrdom of S. Maurice and of the Theban Legion, whether it be accepted as absolutely genuine or not, is an admirable instance of the ever-present dangers and difficulties of a Christian soldier of the Empire. The scene of the terrible and wholesale martyrdom was Agaunum (S. Maurice), some nine miles distant from Octodurus (Martigny) in the Canton of Valais, and the date was _circa_ A.D. 292-6. Maximian was then reigning as colleague of Diocletian. The authenticity of the story is maintained by Ruinart, who includes it in his _Acta Sincera_; by Tillemont, and in our days by Allard, who, however, cuts down the Legion to a cohort. Harnack, on the other hand, and others doubt its authenticity.

[82] The edicts favourable to Christianity were quietly received, even approved, in many places warmly welcomed; and vast and ever increasing numbers of the population, hitherto pagans, joined the Christian communities.

The enormous and seemingly sudden increase in the number of Christians in the Roman Empire in the latter years of the third and in the fourth centuries, is a problem which even now is something of a mystery to some historians.

[83] See Lecky, _Hist. of Morals_, chap. iii.

[84] Prudentius does not stand alone as voicing the opinions of the people. A contemporary of his--Paulinus of Nola--although far behind Prudentius in genius, was a poet of considerable power. This Paulinus, a person of high dignity and of great wealth, when still comparatively young, withdrew from the world and devoted himself to religion; he has left behind him a collection of poems, which he wrote annually on the occasion of the Festival of S. Felix, a martyr in whose honour he erected a basilica. His poems, of which some 5000 lines have been preserved, contain many vivid pictures illustrative of the popular aspect of Christianity in the latter years of the fourth century. He loves to dwell on the intense devotion of the people to the memory of the martyr whom he loved, S. Felix of Nola, and tells us of the crowds of pilgrims visiting his shrine.

Damasus, bishop of Rome, A.D. 366-84, whose many and elaborate works of restoration of the Roman catacombs are dwelt on in the section of this work treating of the great City of the Dead, beneath the suburbs of Rome, bears a similar testimony to the widespread devotion of the people to the memory of the martyrs of the days of persecution. His elaborate works in the catacombs were all designed for the convenience of the vast crowds of pilgrims, in the second half of the fourth century, from many lands to the shrines where the remains of the more famous martyrs had been deposited.

[85] Tertullian, _On Fasting_, 12.

[86] Tertullian, _To his Wife_, 5.

[87] Tertullian, _On Female Dress_, xi. 13.

[88] Examples of these are given below; see p. 313 of this work.

[89] Some of the more remarkable of these are quoted in Book IV. pt. iii. (pp. 309-312).

[90] On “the Mortality,” _i.e._ the plague of Alexandria, 20-24.

[91] This Rutilius was a Gallic gentleman of high position who had filled important offices at Rome, and had become a Senator. His undisguised opinion of the Christian sect appears in a graceful poem descriptive of a sea-trip from Rome (Ostia probably) to South Gaul. The work in question was composed _circa_ A.D. 416.

[92] The testimony of the Roman catacombs here is also very weighty. See Book III. part iii., where the numbers of martyrs and confessors buried in the catacombs are especially dwelt on.

[93] In this Third Book, where the question of the persecutions to which the early Christian Church was subjected is discussed, the period especially alluded to stretches from _circa_ A.D. 64 to A.D. 180, including the reigns of the Flavian Emperors, of Hadrian and the Antonines.

But the conditions under which the Christians in the Roman Empire lived during the century and a quarter which followed the period above referred to, in very many respects differed but little from those that prevailed in the earlier years--only in the later period there were more years of comparative immunity from active persecution, while, on the ether hand, when the comparatively “still” years came to an end, the cruelties inflicted upon the Christians were more marked, and the severity of the punishments meted out by the dominant pagan party in the State were greater and more far-reaching than in the earlier days--notably in the reigns of Maximin, Decius and Diocletian.

[94] This early and usually accepted date, _circa_ 65-7, seems the more probably correct. It is the traditional date, and generally fits in with the life and work of S. Peter as given in the ancient authorities. Prof. Ramsay, however, _The Church in the Empire_, puts it some fourteen or fifteen years later, and concludes that the Apostle’s martyrdom took place after A.D. 80. If, however, this later date be adopted, the references to the continual persecution would be even _more_ striking than if the earlier and traditional date be accepted.

[95] The reference here is to pagan Rome, as “the woman drunken with blood”; so Mommsen quoted by Ramsay, who dwells on the fact that the death of the saints springs directly from their acknowledgment of their religion, and _not_ for conviction for specific crimes.

[96] “The mind of the writer is practically restricted to the Roman world.... He thinks like a Roman that ‘genus humanum’ is the Roman world. The nations which did not worship the Roman Emperor were never present to his mind” (Ramsay, _The Church in the Empire_).

[97] So called from the position it holds between the _longer_ recension of the “ten Letters,” three of which are put aside as later compilations, and the _shorter_ recension of three Letters which Canon Cureton found in the Syrian MS. and published, believing that these “three” were the only genuine Epistles of the martyr-bishop.

[98] Prof. Ramsay, _The Church in the Roman Empire_, chap. xiii.

[99] See Part I. section 1, chap. iii. in the author’s work, _The Golden Age of the Church_, entitled, “The Monks and the Animal World,” where this interesting question has been discussed at some length, and various examples are given.

[100] The history, contents, and authenticity of this most weighty reference has been already discussed in all its bearings (see above, pp. 45-62).

[101] The well-known reference of Tacitus to the persecution of Nero has been referred to (see p. 103).

[102] The date _circa_ A.D. 117 is suggested by Bishop Westcott, and Bishop Lightfoot generally agrees in placing the writing about this time. Some would even place its composition in the very early years of the second century. The last two chapters, xi.-xii., are fragmentary, and apparently were written a little--but very little--later.

[103] So Harnack; Duchesne, in his _Histoire ancienne de l’Église_, vol. i. p. 225 (published 1908), generally adopts Harnack’s conclusions respecting the early date. Lightfoot (vol. i. p. 360, _Clement of Rome_) also leans to the conclusion that the Clement of the _Shepherd_ is the illustrious Bishop of Rome. This would postulate the earlier date for parts of the work.

[104] What Hermas wrote specially of Rome, no doubt in a very large degree was the state of things in the provinces of the Empire. This is clear from the great and _general_ popularity enjoyed by the _Shepherd_ in the first two centuries. The picture of Christian life in Rome was recognized as an accurate picture of their own life, by the citizens of Corinth and Alexandria, by the dwellers in Ephesus and Antioch.

[105] A more detailed description of the famous _Dialogue_ of Minucius Felix will be found on pp. 145-6.

[106] Side was a maritime town of Pamphylia. Philip wrote in the early part of the fifth century.

[107] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, chap, iii., “The Persecutions,” pp. 497-8.

[108] “It is not lawful to be you,” but it is impossible to render in English the full force of this epigrammatic saying of Tertullian.

[109] De Boissier, the Academician, specially calls attention to it as a somewhat novel piece of very early ecclesiastical history, and he refers his readers to a comparatively little known study on this subject by M. Le Blant, a well-known scholar in early Christian lore; of this “Study” of Le Blant, De Boissier speaks with the highest praise.

[110] S. Cyprian, Epist. lxvi. _ad Thibaritanos_.

[111] A very ancient and probably an authoritative reading. When in the text the language of didactic calmness passes suddenly into the language of emotion: “How strait is the gate,” etc.--S. Matt. vii. 13, 14.

[112] Tertullian, _Ad Martyres_, 3.

[113] Quoted in the _Scorpiace_ of Tertullian, and much more from S. Paul to the same point.

[114] Although the usual date given for this last attack on Christianity is a few months after the death of the Emperor Marcus. There is no doubt that they belong to the policy of persecution carried out by Marcus, and that the reaction in favour of Christianity noticeable in the reign of Commodus, his successor, had not had time to make itself felt.

[115] Compare the quotations taken from these writings given above.

[116] A short account of the principal of these Itineraries is given on pp. 227-8.

[117] See pp. 227-8.

[118] Allard translates these lines: “Si vous voulez savoir, ici reposent amoncelés les ossements d’un grand nombre des saints; ces vénérables tombeaux gardent les corps des élus dont le royaume des cieux a tiré à lui les âmes sublimes.” “Des polyandres, ou tombes consacrées à des centaines, peut-être à des milliers de corps, s’ouvraient en plusieurs parties des catacombes. Ces tombes étaient toujours anonymes, remplies de martyrs--‘quorum nomina scit Omnipotens’ selon l’expression du Pope Pascal.” ... “M. De Rossi croit reconnaître dans une fosse profonde qui s’ouvre sous la niche profonde à gauche de l’autel dans la chapelle Papale ... le polyandre célèbre où reposaient, selon d’anciens documents, une multitude innombrable de martyrs enterrés ‘ad sanctam Cæciliam.’” (See Allard, _Rome Souteraine_ (Northcote & Brownlow), _Cimetière de Calliste_, 216-18; and see too note on p. 218.)

[119] Dean Stanley of Westminster.

[120] It was in the year of grace 1578 that some workmen digging out sand in a vineyard about a mile from Rome on the Via Salaria came upon the gallery of a subterranean cemetery, with dim paintings and many ancient inscriptions upon the walls.

This striking discovery excited much curiosity at the time, and the world of Rome, recalling to mind the long-forgotten story of the Catacombs, became suddenly conscious that beneath its suburbs lay a vast unexplored City of the Dead.

[121] Refer here to pp. 289-297, “Crypt of S. Cecilia.”

[122] Several additional discoveries of historic crypts have been made since this computation was made.

[123] Other tombs of the famous martyr-sons of Felicitas have since been identified, and much knowledge of this incident in early Christian history has been brought to light.

[124] The tomb of S. Peter and its surroundings will be described at length in Appendix II., which follows the section treating of the “Catacombs,” where is related the thrilling story of what was discovered when the excavations required for the support of the great bronze canopy of Bernini over the tomb of S. Peter were made in A.D. 1626, in the pontificate of Urban VIII. (Appendix II., S. Peter, pp. 279-88.)

[125] Marucchi, _Itinéraire des Catacombes_, A.D. 1903.

[126] The story of the tomb of S. Cecilia and her crypt is told in detail in the section immediately succeeding this general sketch of the catacombs, pp. 289-97.

[127] Further details respecting S. Zeno will be found below, p. 276.

[128] Further details respecting the identification of this once famous shrine will be found below on pp. 301-2.

[129] The Church of S. Suzanna has a striking history. It was rebuilt by Maderno for Sixtus V, on the site of an ancient church or oratory erected by Pope Caius, A.D. 283, in the house of his brother, who suffered martyrdom with his daughter, Suzanna, because she refused to break her vow of perpetual virginity by a marriage with the adopted son of the Emperor Diocletian. The bodies of these two martyrs still rest beneath the high altar.

[130] In two of the MSS. of the second edition or Recension of the _Liber Pontificalis_ under the account of Pope Pius I (A.D. 142-57), we find the following note, which contains much of the substance of the above extract from the “Acts” of SS. Pudentianæ et Praxedis above quoted: “Hic (Pius) ex rogatu beate Praxedis dedicavit ecclesiam thermas Novati, in vico Patricii, in honore sororis sue sanctæ Potentianæ (Pudentianæ), ubi et multa dona obtulit; ubi sepius sacrificium Domino offerens ministrabat. Immo et fontem baptismi construi fecit, manus suas benedixit et consecravit, et multos venientes ad fidem baptizavit in nomine Trinitatis.”

[131] See on p. 272, where details are given of the translation of these confessors and of certain of the bishops of Rome originally interred in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, into the basilica of S. Sylvester, erected over the Priscilla Catacomb by Pope Sylvester, and named after both. The basilica in question was discovered by De Rossi in A.D. 1889, in the course of his investigations at S. Priscilla.

[132] The important and interesting details which follow here have been largely taken from the chapter which treats of Ubaldi’s _Memoir_ by Mr. Barnes in his admirable and massive work entitled _S. Peter at Rome_ (1st edit. 1900). The writer of this book can hardly find terms to express his deep admiration for the learning and information contained in Mr. Barnes’ work on the subject. It is by far the most exhaustive and scholarly work on the subject in our language.

[133] The text of the _Liber Pontificalis_ mentions the Cemetery of Prætextatus as the site of the lost tomb. It was there where her husband Valerian and his brother and the officer Maximus had been buried. Duchesne, the learned editor of the _Liber Pontificalis_, suggests that the body of S. Cecilia had been removed from its original resting-place in the Crypt of S. Callistus, and had been secretly placed for safety’s sake in the Cemetery of Prætextatus. De Rossi, however, and later Marucchi, believe that the Cemetery of Prætextatus, through an error in the _Liber Pontificalis_, had been written for “Cemetery of Callistus.”

[134] The writer of this book simply tells the story as it has been handed down and often repeated. From the clear testimony of the responsible and eminent witnesses above referred to--such men as Baronius, Bosio, and Maderno--there seems little doubt but that they had looked upon the hallowed remains resting as Maderno in his marble portrait has depicted her. De Rossi and others seem to represent the state of the body as though it had been miraculously preserved; the truth probably is that the body of Cecilia had been carefully and skilfully embalmed owing to the loving care of her friends, and laid in the peculiar position in which she breathed her last. The high rank and great wealth of her family, and the usual gentle and humane practice of the Roman Government in the case of those who had been judicially put to death, would bear out this explanation. No expense would have been deemed too great by the powerful family of Cecilia to do honour to her precious remains.

Of the enduring “popularity”--to use a commonplace expression--of S. Cecilia, the fact of Cecilia being one of the few chosen female saints daily commemorated in the canon of the Mass, may be fairly adduced. She is classed with Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Anastasia, and Agnes.

It is often asked why she is looked on as the patroness of music. Nothing but pure tradition can be alleged here, but the tradition is a very ancient one. Wordsworth writes of her as

“rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen of harmony.”

Compare too references in Dryden, “Alexander’s Feast,” and Pope, “Ode on S. Cecilia.” Raffaelle paints her as wrapped in ecstasy and surrounded by instruments of music.

The tradition is that when Valerian, her husband, returned from baptism, he found her singing hymns of thanksgiving for his conversion. Angels, it is said, descended from heaven to listen to her sweet voice.

No allusion, however, to her musical power is made in the Antiphone sung at her Festival. A verse of the appointed anthem runs thus:

“While the instruments of music were playing, Cecilia sang unto the Lord and said, ‘Let my heart be undefiled, that I may never be confounded.’”

In one of the chapels of the great Church of the Oratory in London there is a beautiful replica of the dead Cecilia of Maderno.

There is another replica of Maderno’s figure now placed in the niche of the recently-discovered crypt of S. Cecilia, where the sarcophagus which contains the body of the saint originally was placed.

[135] A “luminare” (plural “luminaria”) was a shaft communicating with the surface of the ground which admitted light and air. Many of these were constructed by Pope Damasus in the fourth century for the sake of pilgrims visiting the historic crypts.

[136] In support of this conclusion, above ground, over this area of the great “Callistus” Cemetery, important Columbaria have been found belonging to the “gens Cæcilia.” Thus long before S. Cecilia’s time the spot had been evidently the burying-place of the illustrious house to which she belonged.

[137] The eldest of the “seven” was the well-known S. Januarius.

[138] The manner of death of this illustrious family of Christian martyrs was as follows, as far as we can gather from the concise notices in the “Acts”:

Januarius, the eldest, was beaten to death by whips loaded with lead.

The second and third brothers apparently met with the same doom.

The fourth was thrown down from a height, and so died.

The three remaining brothers and their mother Felicitas were dealt with more mercifully and were decapitated.

[139] Agapitus is so spelt in the rough graffite here referred to.

[140] S. Augustine in the first quarter of the fifth century, _circa_ A.D. 421, in reply to a question addressed to him by S. Paulinus of Nola, discusses the question whether or not is it advantageous to be buried close to the grave of a saint? The little work of Augustine, however, broadens out into points connected with the doctrine of “Invocation of Saints.” A résumé of some of S. Augustine’s thoughts and arguments will be found in a short Appendix to this chapter.

[141] The initial letters of the Redeemer’s names and principal titles (in Greek) made up the word ἰχθύς or fish. Thus:

=Ι=ΗϹΟΥϹ = Jesus.
=Χ=ΡΙϹΤΟϹ = Christ.
=Θ=ΕΟΥ = of God.
=Υ=ΙΟϹ = Son.
=Ϲ=ΩΤΗΡ = Saviour.

[142] See especially Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25-v. 4; S. Luke, xv. 4, 7, and above all S. John x. 11, 16.

[143] Dean Stanley of Westminster, _Christian Institutions_, chaps. xiii., xiv.

[144] Dean Stanley (_Christian Institutions_) calls attention to the curious fact that the popular religion of the first two centuries, as shown in the catacomb witnesses, ran, in some particulars, in different channels from the contemporary writers whose reliquiæ have been preserved, and also from the paintings and writers of a later period; for instance, the “Good Shepherd” is very little alluded to even by the writers of the second and third and fourth centuries; _e.g._ Irenæus and Justin, Athanasius and Cyprian. If we come down much later, scarcely any notices of the “Shepherd” occur in the _Summa_ of Thomas Aquinas; none in the Tridentine Catechism; none in the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles; none in the Westminster Confession.

[145] Mommsen, Renan, and Ramsay without hesitation ascribe the statement quoted here as taken by Sulpicius Severus (fourth century) from the lost portion of the _Histories of Tacitus_.

[146] Talmud (Bab.), treatise “Gittin,” 56A.

[147] The arch was completed by Domitian after the death of Titus.

[148] The golden relics were deposited in the Temple of Peace, which Vespasian built opposite the Palatine; it was dedicated A.D. 75. The temple in question was destroyed completely by fire in the reign of Commodus. The temple copy of the Torah was taken to the imperial palace. The Emperor Severus, who built a synagogue for the Roman Jews, handed over this precious MS. to the Jewish community in Rome. The MS. has disappeared, but a list of some of the readings of this venerable codex has been preserved in the Massorah, and is still available for use.

[149] The authorities for the details of this terrible and protracted war are Dion Cassius and the notices in the Talmud, especially in the treatise “Gittin.”

[150] But these numbers, as we have stated, although derived from contemporary authorities, are evidently very much exaggerated.

[151] What the Mishnah was will be explained below (p. 358), where a general description of the Talmud is given.

[152] These singular assertions will be found in the Mishnah, in the Talmudic treatises of the Sanhedrim and the Baba-Bathra.

[153] Halachah signifies literally custom, practice, rule. The term is further explained and illustrated in the following chapter on the “Contents of the Talmud.” Haggadah, which generally signifies Tradition, is also explained and illustrated (see Appendix).

[154] These Scribes, their position and means of livelihood, are discussed more fully below on p. 350.

[155] The Mishnah and the Gemara are explained in detail below on p. 358.

[156] Dr. Emanuel Deutsch.

[157] The period here referred to extended from the return from the Captivity--the days of Ezra--roughly until the Christian era.

[158] At the close of this Fifth Book is a short general description of “Haggadah.” See, too, in the Appendix for a further description of Haggadah and Halachah.

[159] Of Akiba, the Mishnah tells us, as he was in his last agonies, while his flesh was being torn with combs of iron, he kept repeating the words of the “Shema” invocation, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One.” He lingered over the word _One_, and expired as he uttered the word “One.” The ministering angels then said before the Holy One, “Such is Torah (the Law), and such is its reward.” Bath Qol (the heavenly voice) went forth and said. “Happy art thou, Rabbi Akiba, that thou art invited to the life of the world to come....”

Such was the end of Akiba, the most exalted, most romantic, and most heroic character perhaps in that vast gallery of the learned of his time. The most remarkable period of his career may be dated about A.D. 110-35.

[160] The preliminary work of Hillel in this direction of arranging and codifying seems not to have been carried on.

[161] “Haggadah,” as the better-known word, is substituted for the more accurate plural form “Haggadoth.”

[162] For a full definition of these two famous terms _Mishnah_ and _Gemara_, see below, p. 358, where the terms in question are explained at some length.

[163] The Palestinian Gemara was closed nearly a century and a half before the Babylonian Gemara was completed.

[164] The Rabbinic school of Sura was founded by Rab, one of the most important pupils of R. Judah Ha-Nasi (Rabbi).

[165] _Mishnah._--A noun formed from the verb “shanah,” to repeat. In post-Biblical Hebrew the verb “shanah” acquired the special meaning of “to teach” and “to learn” that which was not transmitted in writing, but only _orally_. Evidently the idea of _frequent recitation_ underlies the word.

Mishnah signifies “Instruction”--the teaching and learning the tradition. It is the Law which is transmitted _orally_, in contrast to the term Mikra, which signifies the Law which is written and read.

The Halachah, finally redacted by Judah Ha-Nasi the Holy (Rabbi), _circa_ A.D. 200-19, were designated the Mishnah, and were adopted by the Rabbis of the Gemara as the text upon which they worked. This Mishnah of R. Judah the Holy was adopted simultaneously by the Rabbis and Doctors of the Law in the academies of Palestine and Babylonia.

Although the Mishnah may be said to consist chiefly of Halachah, it contains several entire treatises of an Haggadic nature--_e.g._ “Aboth,” “Middoth,” etc.--and numerous Haggadic pieces are scattered here and there among the Halachah. In both the Talmudim (the Palestinian and Babylonian) there are thousands of Haggadic notices interspersed among the Halachah.

The Rabbis of the Mishnah were termed Tannaim; the earlier Rabbis of the Gemara were termed Amoraim.

The Rabbinical headquarters of Palestine and Babylonia alike regarded the study of the Mishnah as their chief task. In Palestine the principal academies were Jamnia (Jabne), Lydda, and subsequently Tiberias. In Babylonia the principal seats of the academies were Sepphoris, Nehardea, Pumbeditha, and especially Sura.

_Gemara._--The word signifies “that which has been learned,” the learning transmitted to scholars by tradition; and in a more restricted sense it came to denote “the traditional exposition of the Mishnah.”

_Talmud_ primarily means “teaching,” though it denotes also “learning”; practically it is a mere amplification of the Mishnah, the Talmud being made up of the Mishnah and Gemara.

Like the Mishnah, the Talmud was not the work of one author, or of several authors, but was the result of the collective labours of many successive generations, whose task finally resulted in the great and complex book known as the Talmud.

The Palestinian Talmud received its present form in the academy of Tiberias; the Babylonian Talmud, largely in the academy of Sura.

[166] R. Akiba (early second century) in the Mishnah treatise “Pirke Aboth” used to say, “Massorah is a fence to the Torah.” This has been generally understood as a reference to the Massorah of which we are speaking here. But many scholars now consider that R. Akiba was referring in this saying to “tradition” generally, and they understand the word Massorah as correlative to “Kabbala” (tradition in general), such as is embodied in the Mishnah.

[167] “It is evident that some of the ‘dicta’ of the Rabbis, such as, for instance, the above-quoted passages, are not intended to be taken literally, but are the paradoxes of idealists, which leave us in some doubt as to how much they supposed to have been revealed explicitly to Moses.”--_Pirke Aboth_ (Sayings of the Fathers), note by Dr. Taylor, Master of S. John’s, Cambridge, p. 122.

Dr. Taylor, however, adds that “such statements have to be taken into account in estimating the ancient Rabbis’ views of revelation.”

[168] “For when they shall rise from the dead [men and women are both alluded to] ... they are as the angels which are in heaven” (S. Mark xii. 25). The prominent position of women in the early Church is asserted in the “Gospels” and “Acts”; they never are alluded to as occupying an inferior place. See below, p. 380, for a further note on the position of women.

[169] Renan recognizes the service rendered by the Talmudical Rabbis to Christianity, but while acknowledging this, curiously limits it to the preservation of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament Scriptures, which he thinks would probably have been lost but for the labours of the Rabbis of the Talmud--he characterizes this as “un service du 1^{er} ordre.” To him the Hebrew Old Testament is an incomparable monument of history, archæology, and philology. The deeper signification of these sacred records, which in the hearts of earnest Christians constitutes their exceeding preciousness, finds little place, alas, in the cheerless conception of the brilliant French scholar.

[170] While it is generally acknowledged that the decisions arrived at in connection with the Law of Moses termed “Halachah” were transmitted _orally_, certainly until the time of R. Judah the Holy, known as Rabbi (end of second century), the “Haggadic” decisions here alluded to were committed to writing at a much earlier date.

[171] See on page 367 for further details on the position held by women in Israel.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, spelling and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.

2. Where appropriate, original spelling has been retained.

3. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. and X^{xx}.

4. Both the spelling of Sulpitius (p.32) and Sulpicius (p. 73) are correct.

5. In a few instances the page numbers in the index were incorrect. these have been silently corrected.

6. Italics are shown as _xxx_, bold print is shown as =xxx=.